Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Covid Surges In South, Florida Detects Variant First Identified In Colombia
Fox News: Florida Hospital Reports Colombian COVID-19 Variant Increase: What To Know
In Florida, where COVID-19 community transmission is ranked high by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), researchers say a new variant that originated in Colombia is popping up in sequencing testing. One hospital official told Local10.com that the spread is likely due to travel between Colombia and Miami. "In the last week, 10% of our patients had the Colombian variant," Carlos Migoya, CEO of Jackson Health, told the news outlet. "Why? Because of the travel between Colombia and Miami." The variant, identified as B.1.621, was first identified in Colombia in Jan. 2021, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In late May, the health agency designated the variant for "Further Monitoring." The CDC has not yet classified it as a variant of concern or interest, but reports that it’s been detected in about 2.7% of testing samples. (Hein, 7/28)
The Washington Post: A Coronavirus Variant First Identified In Colombia Has Reached Florida. Here’s What You Need To Know.
Health experts will keep B.1.621 on their radar as the fall season looms and as parts of the country still lag in their vaccination efforts, experts told The Post. Public Health England noted last week that there is currently no evidence to indicate that the variant causes more severe disease or evades the efficacy of vaccines. Yet the agency has designated the variant to be under investigation as it continues to conduct lab testing to better understand the impact mutations have on the coronavirus. (Beachum, 7/28)
In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —
Bloomberg: Texas New Covid Cases Top 10,000 A Day For First Time Since February
Texas logged more than 10,000 in daily new virus cases for the first time in almost six months as the latest wave of the pandemic intensifies across the second-most populous U.S. state. The caseload surged by 10,086 in the past 24 hours, a 55% increase from Tuesday’s addition and the highest since Feb. 9, state health department figures showed. Hospitalizations, meanwhile, have more than doubled this month to 5,292, the data showed. Intensive-care occupancy by virus patients has pushed above 10% in three of the state’s 22 trauma service areas, and one of those regions has zero ICU capacity left. (Carroll, 7/28)
Bloomberg: Covid Strains Hospitals In U.S. South, Echoing Pandemic Peak
Hospitals in states where Covid-19 cases are once again surging are beginning to feel the strain in their emergency departments and intensive care units. State health officials in Mississippi have told hospitals there to delay many elective surgeries beginning next week and are forming a central command to help search for ICU beds. As of Tuesday, 28 hospitals in the Gulf state didn’t have any ICU beds available as Covid-19 admissions tax hospitals that are already dealing with everyday emergencies like strokes and car crashes, said Jim Craig, senior deputy for the Mississippi Department of Health, in a briefing with reporters. (Edney and Armstrong, 7/28)
Newsweek: Arkansas Hospital Says Not A Single ICU Patient Is Vaccinated As Delta Surges
Officials at Arkansas' largest healthcare organization said not a single COVID-19 patient at Baptist Health Medical Center Little Rock's intensive care unit (ICU) is vaccinated. "The vast majority of patients that are in the hospital are not vaccinated," Dr. Eric Bravo, the medical director of Baptist Health's hospitalist program, told Newsweek on Wednesday. "I would say, I have not personally seen anybody in the ICU that's been vaccinated." (Fung, 7/28)
Bay Area News Group: COVID: 36 California Counties Would Now Qualify For Purple Tier
As the delta variant surges across California, more than half of the Golden State’s 58 counties would now qualify for the most-restrictive purple tier under the state’s recently-retired color-coded blueprint for regulating businesses, schools and social gatherings. Thirty-six counties have COVID case rates that top the threshold — triple the number from last week, according to an analysis by the Bay Area News Group. From tiny Del Norte County on the far north coast, with a vaccination rate of under 50% of its eligible residents, to San Diego on the southern border with more than 80% of its eligible residents at least partially vaccinated. (Blair Rowan, 7/28)
Fox News: COVID-19 In Los Angeles: Over 25% Of Cases Are Fully Vaccinated People
Health officials in Los Angeles County said over 25% of new coronavirus cases are among those who have been fully vaccinated, an increase from last month, according to a report Wednesday. Health officials have called the vaccines effective and said breakthrough cases are to be expected, but the number is a noticeable increase from June when fully vaccinated individuals accounted for 20% of the county’s infections, Fox 11 Los Angeles reported. (DeMarche, 7/28)
The Hill: Nationals Postpone Game Against Phillies After 4 Players, 8 Staffers Test Positive For COVID-19
The Washington Nationals are postponing their game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday due to a COVID-19 outbreak on the team. Four players and eight staffers tested positive for the coronavirus on the Nationals team, The Associated Press reported. “Tonight’s scheduled game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals has been postponed to allow for continued testing and contact tracing involving members of the Nationals organization,” the team’s statement reads. (Lonas, 7/28)
CNBC: Delta Variant: The Epidemic Will Sweep Across The U.S. At Different Times, Dr. Scott Gottlieb Says
Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC that he expects surging U.S. coronavirus cases, linked to the highly transmissible delta variant, to start decreasing in just a few weeks. “Probably, in two or three weeks, I think that we were probably about three weeks behind the U.K.,” said the former FDA chief in the Trump administration. “The U.K. clearly is on a downslope...I would expect some of the southern states that really were the epicenter of this epidemic to start rolling over in the next two or three weeks.” (DeCiccio, 7/28)
KHN: Unraveling The Mysterious Mutations That Make Delta The Most Transmissible Covid Virus Yet
Upon first inspection, the mutations in the highly contagious delta covid variant don’t look that worrisome. For starters, delta has fewer genetic changes than earlier versions of the coronavirus. “When people saw that the epidemic in India was driven by delta, they did not suspect it would be so bad or overtake other variants,” said Trevor Bedford, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. But those expectations were wrong. (Szabo, 7/28)
