Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'A Mind-Numbing Figure': COVID-19 Has Killed 1,000,000 People So Far
The Washington Post: Global Death Toll Tops 1 Million As U.N. Chief Warns That ‘Misinformation Kills’
The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic eclipsed 1 million on Monday night — a figure that carries an incalculable human cost, and is almost certainly an undercount. Calling the milestone “agonizing,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said Monday that it was crucial that the international community learn from the mistakes made in the first 10 months of the pandemic. “Responsible leadership matters,” he said. “Science matters. Cooperation matters — and misinformation kills.” (Noori Farzan, 9/29)
Reuters: Global Coronavirus Deaths Pass 'Agonizing Milestone' Of 1 Million
The number of deaths from the novel coronavirus this year is now double the number of people who die annually from malaria - and the death rate has increased in recent weeks as infections surge in several countries. “Our world has reached an agonizing milestone,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. “It’s a mind-numbing figure. Yet we must never lose sight of each and every individual life. They were fathers and mothers, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, friends and colleagues.” (Wardell, 9/28)
The New York Times: Virus Has Killed 1 Million Worldwide
In the 10 months since a mysterious pneumonia began striking residents of Wuhan, China, Covid-19 has killed more than one million people worldwide as of Monday — an agonizing toll compiled from official counts, yet one that far understates how many have really died. The coronavirus may already have overtaken tuberculosis and hepatitis as the world’s deadliest infectious disease. And unlike all the other contenders, it is still growing fast. (9/29)
AP: Worldwide Grief: Death Toll From Coronavirus Tops 1 Million
Joginder Chaudhary was his parents’ greatest pride, raised with the little they earned farming a half-acre plot in central India to become the first doctor from their village. For the coronavirus, though, he was just one more in a million. After the virus killed the 27-year-old Chaudhary in late July, his mother wept inconsolably. With her son gone, Premlata Chaudhary said, how could she go on living? Three weeks later, on Aug. 18, the virus took her life, too — yet another number in an unrelenting march toward a woeful milestone. Now, 8 1/2 months after an infection doctors had never seen before claimed its first victims in China, the pandemic’s confirmed death toll has eclipsed 1 million, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. (Geller and Jain, 9/29)
Newsweek: As Coronavirus Deaths Pass 1 Million, These Are The Countries Worst Affected
Coronavirus deaths across the globe have surpassed one million, according to the latest report by Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The U.S. has the highest death toll in the world, with 205,072 fatalities, followed by Brazil (142,058), India (96,318), Mexico (76,603) and the U.K. (42,019), in the top five ranking of countries with the most deaths. The seven-day moving average of daily new deaths in the U.S. rose from late March to April 17, when the figure peaked at 2,248, before briefly flattening out through late April and declining through early July, according to data compiled by Worldometer. (Kim, 9/29)
Reuters: Timeline: How The Global Coronavirus Pandemic Unfolded
Here are some key developments as the novel coronavirus spread around the world: Dec. 31, 2019: China alerts the World Health Organization of 27 cases of “viral pneumonia” in the central city of Wuhan. Authorities shut down a wet market in Wuhan the next day, after discovering some patients were vendors or dealers. (9/28)
In related news —
Bloomberg: Warning Signs Are Flashing Ahead Of Covid’s Second U.S. Winter
Public health officials in the U.S. could take heart at the end of the summer. Even as the new coronavirus continued to spread, fewer people were winding up in the hospital because of Covid-19, and fewer were dying. Now, as the seasons turn, there are signs suggesting there will be more deaths and serious illness ahead. (Cortez, 9/28)
Reuters: Why The Coronavirus Death Rate Still Eludes Scientists
Global deaths from COVID-19 have reached 1 million, but experts are still struggling to figure out a crucial metric in the pandemic: the fatality rate - the percentage of people infected with the pathogen who die. Here is a look at issues surrounding better understanding the COVID-19 death rate. (Beasley, 9/28)
