Advanced Cancers Surging; Screening Slowdowns During Lockdown Blamed

The New York Times: Advanced Cancers Are Emerging, Doctors Warn, Citing Pandemic Drop In Screenings 
Months of lockdowns and waves of surging Covid cases throughout last year shuttered clinics and testing labs, or reduced hours at other places, resulting in steep declines in the number of screenings, including for breast and colorectal cancers, experts have said. Numerous studies showed that the number of patients screened or given a diagnosis of cancer fell during the early months of the pandemic. By mid-June, the rate of screenings for breast, colon and cervical cancers were still 29 percent to 36 percent lower than their prepandemic levels, according to an analysis of data by the Epic Health Research Network. Hundreds of thousands fewer screenings were performed last year than in 2019, according to the network data. (Abelson, 3/17)

In other public health news —

The Washington Post: Ford Announces Work-From-Home Policy For Employees 
Ford Motor Co. says it will begin phasing in a new remote-office work model, one of the first in the auto industry, giving tens of thousands of employees the option to continue doing their jobs from home indefinitely. The Dearborn, Mich.-based carmaker announced the new policy during a virtual town hall meeting Wednesday — one year after it sent workers home to wait out the pandemic — and said it would apply to all non-place-dependent workers. The balance between remote and in-person work will depend on the individual employee’s needs and those of their manager, said David Dubensky, chairman and chief executive of Ford Land, the company’s real estate subsidiary. (Denham, 3/17)

ABC News: Michelle Obama Launches 'Pass The Love' Campaign To Donate 1 Million Meals 
The former first lady is leading a new effort to fight hunger and food insecurity in the U.S. In tandem with the debut of Michelle Obama's new kid's food series "Waffles + Mochi" that began streaming Tuesday, she kicked off a new nonprofit campaign with Partnership for a Healthier America. (McCarthy, 3/17)

KHN: Need Amid Plenty: Richest US Counties Are Overwhelmed By Surge In Child Hunger 
Alexandra Sierra carried boxes of food to her kitchen counter, where her 7-year-old daughter, Rachell, stirred a pitcher of lemonade. “Oh, my God, it smells so good!” Sierra, 39, said of the bounty she’d just picked up at a food pantry, pulling out a ready-made salad and a container of soup. Sierra unpacked the donated food and planned lunch for Rachell and her siblings, ages 9 and 2, as a reporter watched through FaceTime. She said she doesn’t know what they’d do without the help. (Ungar, 3/18)

The New York Times: How The U.S. Reopening Might Affect Anxiety Patients 
When the pandemic narrowed the world, Jonathan Hirshon stopped traveling, eating out, going to cocktail parties and commuting to the office. What a relief. Mr. Hirshon suffers from severe social anxiety. In the past, casual get-togethers and meetings came with a rapid heartbeat and clenched fists. He preferred to interact virtually, and welcomed the Zoom meetings that others merely tolerated. Even as he grieved the pandemic’s toll, he found lockdown life to be a respite. “There is cognitive dissonance to feeling good in the middle of the pandemic,” he said. Now with normalcy about to return, Mr. Hirshon, a public relations consultant, finds himself with decidedly mixed feelings — “anticipation, dread and hope.” (Richtel, 3/17)

The Washington Post: Boston Marathon Icon Dick Hoyt, Renowned For Pushing His Disabled Son, Dies At 80
Dick Hoyt was such an iconic figure at the Boston Marathon that in 2013, a statue was erected in his honor near the starting line in Hopkinton, Mass. The statue shows two people: Hoyt and his son Rick, in a wheelchair being pushed, as he was for tens of thousands of miles over hundreds of endurance events, by his devoted father. Dick Hoyt died Wednesday at age 80, leaving organizers of the Boston Marathon and many others “tremendously saddened.” (Bieler, 3/17)

In news about masks —

The Washington Post: FAA Proposes Fines Over Refusal To Wear Face Masks 
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that two passengers could face tens of thousands of dollars in fines for refusing orders from flight attendants to wear masks and, in one case, shouting obscenities. A woman on a Dec. 27 JetBlue flight from Boston to Puerto Rico refused multiple requests to wear her mask and remain seated with her seat belt fastened, authorities said. The woman allegedly shoved a flight attendant multiple times, shouted obscenities at her and then threatened to have her fired. (Aratani, 3/17)

AP: Woman Refuses To Wear Mask In Texas, Again, Gets Arrested 
An Oregon woman who was recorded on police body camera video refusing to wear a mask at a Texas bank last week was arrested Wednesday after declining to wear a mask inside another Texas business. Terry Wright, 65, already had a warrant out for her arrest after she refused to wear a mask in a Bank of America branch in Galveston, Texas, last Thursday. On the video, she taunts the officer, asking if he's going to arrest her. (3/17)