Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC Urged To Improve Its Guidance On Workplace Aerosol Covid Transmission
CBS News: Democratic Leaders Criticize Biden Administration's "Outmoded" Guidance On Aerosol COVID-19 Spread
A group of House Democratic leaders are questioning the basis for the Biden administration's guidance on aerosol transmission of COVID-19, which they say relies on "outmoded" science. In a four-page letter addressed to White House COVID response chief Jeff Zients, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky and acting Labor Secretary Al Stewart, four House committee chairs say they have "serious questions" about the adequacy of the CDC's guidance on workplace protection from aerosol transmission. For the last two weeks, scientists, experts and unions have been prodding the administration to be more specific about guidance on exposure to small aerosol particles that carry COVID-19, which they say the CDC's official guidelines downplay. (Erickson and Tin, 3/1)
In other updates on covid research and testing —
Fox News: COVID-19 At-Home Rapid Test Gets Emergency Use Authorization
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization on Monday for a rapid at-home COVID-19 test that delivers results without the use of an outside laboratory. The QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test must be obtained via prescription and can be used by individuals 14 and older, or individuals 8 and older as long as an adult collects the nasal swab sample. The test can be prescribed by a health care provider for individuals who are within six days of symptom onset. (Hein, 3/1)
CIDRAP: Preceding Statin Use Associated With Lower In-Hospital COVID Mortality
Patients who used statins prior to COVID-19 hospitalization were almost 50% less likely to experience 30-day in-hospital mortality compared with those that didn't, according to a retrospective study published late last week in Nature Communications. Statins are drugs meant to reduce blood fat for conditions such as high cholesterol, and, as such, they have anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting properties. (3/1)
The New York Times: A Covid Vaccine Side Effect, Enlarged Lymph Nodes, Can Be Mistaken For Cancer
Coronavirus vaccinations can cause enlarged lymph nodes in the armpit or near the collarbone, which may be mistaken for a sign of cancer. As vaccines are rolled out across the country, doctors are seeing more and more of these swollen nodes in recently immunized people, and medical journals have begun publishing reports aimed at allaying fears and helping patients avoid needless testing for a harmless condition that will go away in a few weeks. (Grady, 3/1)
The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Virus Studies Yield New Clues On Pandemic’s Origin
As a World Health Organization team digs into the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, other scientists are unearthing tantalizing new clues suggesting that the virus behind it evolved naturally to infect humans. At least four recent studies have identified coronaviruses closely related to the pandemic strain in bats and pangolins in Southeast Asia and Japan, a sign that these pathogens are more widespread than previously known and that there was ample opportunity for the virus to evolve. (McKay, 3/1)
The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Vaccines Yield Breakthroughs In Long-Term Fight Against Infectious Disease
The pandemic has opened a new era for vaccines developed with gene-based technologies, techniques that have long stumped scientists and pharmaceutical companies, suggesting the possibility of future protection against a range of infectious disease. Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, which was authorized Saturday for use in the U.S., is at the vanguard of a class of shots designed to mobilize a person’s immune defenses against the disease. It will be the first Covid-19 vaccine administered in the U.S. that uses viral-vector technology, which employs an engineered cold virus to ferry coronavirus-fighting genetic code to the body’s cells. (Loftus, 2/28)
