Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
A Blood Or Saliva Test To Predict Your Covid Immunity? Maybe Soon
Boston Herald: MIT Researchers Create Test To Predict COVID Immunity, Harvard Scientists Develop Test For Both Virus And Antibodies
MIT scientists on Tuesday announced they’ve developed a blood test that may predict COVID immunity. The announcement came a day after Harvard researchers said they’ve built a saliva test that detects the presence of both antibodies and the virus. (Sobey, 8/10)
Studies on long covid may not bear fruit —
Axios: Clear Results Elusive In Long COVID Studies
There are 26 clinical trials underway to find an effective treatment for long COVID, but many of them are too small or lack the necessary control groups to give clear results, according to Nature. (Reed, 8/10)
More on the spread of covid —
ABC News: Hundreds Of Americans Still Dying Of COVID Each Day Despite Signs The Latest Surge May Be Slowing
On average, nearly 400 American deaths to COVID-19 are reported each day, a daily total that has not seen any significant declines since the spring. Over the last seven days alone, the U.S. has reported just under 2,700 COVID-19 deaths. (Mitropoulos, 8/10)
The Mercury News: Is COVID Losing Its Fangs And Becoming More Like The Flu?
Today’s hyper-transmissible strain of the COVID-19 virus has sent cases soaring across the country. But rising deaths — the grim marker of earlier dangerous surges — haven’t kept pace, and the average risk of dying from an infection is dropping to levels almost as low as seasonal influenza, leading epidemiologists say. Is the COVID virus — that has killed more than 1 million Americans — losing its fangs? (Woolfolk, 8/10)
North Carolina Health News: What Does ‘Back To Normal’ Mean For People Hit Hardest By The Pandemic?
North Carolina’s state of emergency due to COVID will be lifted next week and even as things get “back to normal,” advocates for some of the people most impacted by the pandemic caution against forgetting some of the pandemic’s lessons about inequality. (Thompson and Crumpler, 8/11)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Reports One Of Lowest COVID Case Rates In US
A downturn in COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases continued for the fifth straight week in both Clark County and Nevada, with the state reporting one of the lowest case rates in the country. Nevada reported 109.5 cases per 100,000 people over the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. average is more than twice that, at 227 cases per 100,000. (Hynes, 8/10)
AP: Abrams Tests Positive For COVID-19, Has Mild Symptoms
Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has COVID-19, her campaign said Wednesday. Abrams campaign spokesperson Alex Floyd said Abrams tested positive for the respiratory illness Wednesday morning after giving a public speech on the economy Tuesday night in Atlanta. (8/10)
In mask news —
AP: Masks To Be Required Again At Great Smoky National Park
Masks will once again be required for visitors inside all Great Smoky Mountains National Park buildings due to the high transmission of the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the park’s website, the mask mandate will apply to all visitors regardless of vaccination status. (8/11)
The Boston Globe: New Study Based On Mass. Schools Finds Masks Protected Students, Staff From COVID-19
A study comparing the experience of Massachusetts schools that maintained masking requirements early this year with those that dropped them has provided new evidence that masks are beneficial in protecting students and staff from COVID-19. (Finucane, 8/10)
San Francisco Chronicle: Uber, Lyft Facing Fines For Failing To Provide Drivers With Proper COVID-19 Protections
State workplace safety regulators cited ride-hailing companies Lyft and Uber for failing to provide masks and gloves to their drivers and otherwise prevent the spread of COVID-19, and for excluding drivers from their general injury and illness prevention plans, Cal/OSHA documents show. “This is the first time that a state safety agency has extended workplace protections to gig workers, and challenges the companies’ (claim) that they have no responsibility to ensure safety of drivers,” Rideshare Drivers United, a group which represents thousands of gig workers, some of whom brought the complaints, said in a statement. (DiFeliciantonio, 8/9)
