Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
California Issues Curfew, Work Safety Rules; New Hampshire Mandates Masks
Los Angeles Times: California Imposes 'Limited' Curfew Amid COVID-19 Surge
Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced a mandatory overnight stay-at-home order that will be instituted throughout most of California to combat a surge in new coronavirus cases, a measure that comes just days after the governor enacted a dramatic rollback of reopening in much of the state. The order issued by the California Department of Public Health will prohibit most nonessential activity outside the home from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. in counties in the strictest tier of the state’s reopening road map — the purple tier. The restriction goes into place on Saturday and lasts through Dec. 21, though it could be extended. (Willon, Luna and Reyes-Velarde, 11/19)
AP: California Adopts Stricter Workplace Pandemic Safety Rules
California officials on Thursday approved new regulations requiring employers to implement safety measures aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace, the latest state to adopt stricter rules. The state’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board heard testimony on an emergency temporary standard that requires businesses to educate employees on ways to prevent infection, provide free personal protective equipment and offer free COVID-19 testing to all employees if three or more employees are infected with the coronavirus within a 14-day period, among other measures. (Rodriguez, 11/20)
The Hill: New Hampshire To Issue Statewide Mask Mandate
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) on Thursday issued an executive order implementing a statewide mask mandate beginning Friday amid a new surge in coronavirus infections. According to the order, everyone within the state over the age of five must wear facial coverings while in public, both outside and indoors, “where they are unable to or do not consistently maintain a physical distance of at least six feet from persons outside their own households.” (Castronuovo, 11/19)
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The New York Times: States That Imposed Few Restrictions Now Have The Worst Outbreaks
Coronavirus cases are rising in almost every U.S. state. But the surge is worst now in places where leaders neglected to keep up forceful virus containment efforts or failed to implement basic measures like mask mandates in the first place, according to a New York Times analysis of data from the University of Oxford. ... Outbreaks are comparatively smaller in states where efforts to contain the virus were stronger over the summer and fall — potential good news for leaders taking action now. States and cities are reinstating restrictions and implementing new ones: In recent days, the governors of Iowa, North Dakota and Utah imposed mask mandates for the first time since the outbreak began. (Leatherby and Harris, 11/18)
KHN: Trump’s Lame-Duck Status Leaves Governors To Wing It On COVID
Not long after the world learned that President Donald Trump had lost his reelection bid, states began issuing a new round of crackdowns and emergency declarations against the surging coronavirus. Taking action this time were Republican governors who had resisted doing so during the spring and summer. Now they face an increasingly out-of-control virus and fading hope that help will come from a lame-duck president who seems consumed with challenging the election results. (Volz, 11/20)
AP: 'Help Us': Doctors Implore Minnesotans To Follow Virus Rules
Doctors urged Minnesotans on Thursday to take COVID-19 seriously and to comply with new restrictions that take effect Friday night as they provided dramatic accounts of how the state’s health care system — especially its health care workers — is at a breaking point. Dr. Carolyn McClain, an emergency physician at Twin Cities hospitals, said the pandemic has been one of the hardest times of her life. She worked in Haiti after the catastrophic earthquake of 2010 but said that she could at least go home after that. (Karnowski and Forliti, 11/20)
ABC News: Contact Tracing For COVID-19 Maxed Out In Colorado
Colorado's contact tracing capacity is tapped out, according to local health departments. "Right now, we have about 1,400 cases or contacts of cases waiting to be reached out to," Christine Billings, the emergency preparedness and response coordinator for Jefferson County Public Health told ABC Denver affiliate KMGH-TV. (Schumaker, 11/19)
