Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
100,000 Lives Lost: 'Great-Grandmother With An Easy Laugh', He 'Liked His Bacon Crispy', 'Nurse With Zest For Travel'
The New York Times: Remembering The Nearly 100,000 Lives Lost To Coronavirus In America
As the U.S. approaches a grim milestone in the outbreak, The New York Times gathered names of the dead and memories of their lives from obituaries across the country. (5/24)
The Washington Post: Covid Death Trackers Replace National Mourning
Before dawn broke in Riverside, Calif., political scientist Kim Yi Dionne grabbed her iPhone from the bedside table to check the grim daily toll of covid-19. Deaths were a bit lower in the United States that morning. But like other hardened watchers of such tallies, Dionne was skeptical that the pandemic was easing. More likely it was just a quirk, she thought, a product of the natural rise and fall in the statistical flow, a bureaucratic rhythm in counting the dead. This macabre ritual — searching for meaning in numbers that pulse up and down, day after day — is one countless Americans have adopted. (Timberg, 5/24)
Reuters: U.S. CDC Reports 1,637,456 Coronavirus Cases, 97,669 Deaths
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday reported 1,637,456 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 15,342 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 620 to 97,669. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on May 24 versus its previous report a day earlier. (5/25)
Reuters: WHO Warns Of 'Second Peak' In Areas Where COVID-19 Declining
Countries where coronavirus infections are declining could still face an “immediate second peak” if they let up too soon on measures to halt the outbreak, the World Health Organization said on Monday. The world is still in the middle of the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak, WHO emergencies head Dr Mike Ryan told an online briefing, noting that while cases are declining in many countries they are still increasing in Central and South America, South Asia and Africa. (5/25)
The Associated Press: Risks Complicate Reopenings As WHO Warns 1st Wave Not Over
The risks of reigniting coronavirus outbreaks are complicating efforts to fend off further misery for the many millions who have lost jobs, with a top health expert warning that the world is still in the midst of a “first wave” of the pandemic.“ Right now, we’re not in the second wave. We’re right in the middle of the first wave globally,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, a World Health Organization executive director. (Kurtenbach, 5/26)
