Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As The COVID Surge Continues, Testing Efforts Feel The Strain
The Hill: Coronavirus Surge Puts Renewed Strain On Testing Capacity
The surge in coronavirus cases across the country has put a strain on U.S. testing capacity — again. Six months into the pandemic, the U.S. has significantly increased its testing abilities. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the nation averages about 600,000 tests per week, and the country conducted about 15 million diagnostic tests in June alone, according to the COVID Tracking Project. (Weixel, 7/7)
Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus CA: Sacramento Test Centers Closing Amid Case Surge
The coronavirus pandemic is becoming an increasingly urgent situation in the Sacramento region and across California as a whole, both of which are grappling with record-setting influxes of new cases and quickly filling intensive care units of some hospitals. The newest and most severe local setback came with Monday’s announcement that Sacramento County will need to at least temporarily close five community test centers this week, all of them in underserved communities, due to a lack of testing materials caused by a nationwide supply shortage. (McGough, 7/7)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Kemp Seeks Federal Funds And Expanded COVID-19 Testing In Gwinnett
Gov. Brian Kemp has asked the federal government to send more resources to expand COVID-19 testing in Gwinnett County and to renew funds needed to keep the National Guard staffing testing sites around the state. Kemp on Tuesday asked for help getting personal protective equipment like masks and gloves for the state’s first responders and essential workers and an extension in funding for the Georgia National Guard, which has been performing COVID-19 testing and sanitizing long-term care homes during the pandemic. (Coyne, 7/8)
AP: N.C. Residents Won't Need A Doctor's Order For A COVID Test
North Carolina announced Tuesday that residents will no longer need a doctor’s referral to get a coronavirus test. The order, lasting until Gov. Roy Cooper’s current state of emergency is rescinded, aims to encourage more Black, Hispanic and Native American residents to get tested. (Anderson, 7/7)
Kaiser Health News: COVID-Tracking Apps Proliferate, But Will They Really Help?
My 18-year-old daughter, Caroline, responded quickly when I told her that she’d soon be able to download an app to alert her when she had been in risky proximity to someone with COVID-19, and that public health officials hoped to fight the pandemic with such apps. “Yeah, but nobody will use them,” she replied. (Wolfson, 7/8)
Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Retool Contact-Tracing Processes For Staff Amid COVID-19
When a healthcare worker tests positive for COVID-19, it kicks off a labor-intensive process inside the hospital to track down which colleagues they've interacted with and therefore could be infected, too. That's not unique to the novel coronavirus. If an employee is diagnosed with an infectious disease that can be transmitted in the workplace, infection prevention and occupational health teams have to figure out who else might have been exposed. (Cohen, 7/7)
In related legislative news —
Modern Healthcare: Democrats Ask Trump Administration To Make Insurers Pay For Back-To-Work COVID Tests
Democratic leaders of House and Senate health-related committees asked the Trump administration to revise guidance that would exempt insurers from paying for occupational COVID-19 testing. (Cohrs, 7/7)
