Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
China's Failed Alarm System: Some Wuhan Health Officials Kept News Of Spread In Dark For Too Long
The New York Times: China Created A Fail-Safe System To Track Contagions. It Failed.
The alarm system was ready. Scarred by the SARS epidemic that erupted in 2002, China had created an infectious disease reporting system that officials said was world-class: fast, thorough and, just as important, immune from meddling. Hospitals could input patients’ details into a computer and instantly notify government health authorities in Beijing, where officers are trained to spot and smother contagious outbreaks before they spread. It didn’t work. (Myers, 3/29)
The Associated Press: City At Center Of China's Virus Outbreak Gradually Revives
Shopkeepers in the city at the center of the virus outbreak in China were reopening Monday but customers were scarce after authorities lifted more of the anti-virus controls that kept tens of millions of people at home for two months. “I’m so excited, I want to cry,” said a woman on the Chuhe Hanjie pedestrian mall who would give only the English name Kat. She said she was a teacher in the eastern city of Nanjing visiting her family in Wuhan when the government locked down the city in late January to stem the spread of the coronavirus. (3/30)
The Wall Street Journal: China Gets Back To Work While U.S. Extends Coronavirus Shutdowns
China’s major industrial provinces fully resumed production on Monday, a top government official said, two months after a near-nationwide shutdown of factories, workplaces and retail outlets because of the coronavirus pandemic. The revving up of China’s economic engine contrasts with the situation in the U.S., which on Sunday extended social-distancing guidelines until the end of April as coronavirus infections continued to surge across the country and globally. Many businesses are likely to operate at reduced capacity or remain closed during this period. (Ping, 3/30)
The New York Times: Coronavirus Crisis Awakens A Sleeping Giant: China’s Youth
Students have flooded social media to organize donations for Chinese doctors battling the coronavirus epidemic. Workers have marched in the streets to demand compensation for weeks of unemployment during citywide lockdowns. Young citizen journalists have taken to YouTube to call for free speech. The coronavirus outbreak has mobilized young people in China, sounding a call to action for a generation that had shown little resistance to the ruling Communist Party’s agenda. (Wang and Hernandez, 3/28)
The Associated Press: Tokyo's Infection Spike After Olympic Delay Sparks Questions
Before the Olympics were postponed, Japan looked like it had coronavirus infections contained, even as they spread in neighboring countries. Now that the games have been pushed to next year, Tokyo’s cases are spiking, and the city’s governor is requesting that people stay home, even hinting at a possible lockdown. The sudden rise in the number of virus cases in Tokyo and the government’s strong actions immediately after the Olympic postponement have raised questions in parliament and among citizens about whether Japan understated the extent of the outbreak and delayed enforcement of social distancing measures while clinging to hopes that the games would start on July 24 as scheduled. (Yamaguchi, 3/30)
The Associated Press: Blissful Ignorance? Submariners Likely Unaware Of Pandemic
Of a world in coronavirus turmoil, they may know little or nothing. Submariners stealthily cruising the ocean deeps, purposefully shielded from worldly worries to encourage undivided focus on their top-secret missions of nuclear deterrence, may be among the last pockets of people anywhere who are still blissfully unaware of how the pandemic is turning life upside down. (Leicester, 3/30)
The Associated Press: Fit, Healthy 33-Year-Old Recounts Falling Ill To Coronavirus
Andrea Napoli didn’t fit the usual profile of a coronavirus patient. At 33, he was in perfect health, with no history of respiratory disease. And he was in top physical shape, thanks to regular workouts, including water polo training. Still, Napoli, a lawyer in Rome, developed a cough and fever less than a week after Italy’s premier locked down the entire nation, including the capital which had continued life as usual while the virus raged in the north. Until that day, Napoli was following his routine of work, jogging and swimming. (Santalucia, 3/29)
The Associated Press: Fearing Gaza Virus Spread, Hamas Preps For Mass Quarantines
When Nima Amraa returned to the Gaza Strip from neighboring Egypt earlier this month, she was surprised to learn she was being placed in a makeshift quarantine center set up by the ruling Hamas group. But her initial jitters turned to fear when two fellow travelers in another facility tested positive for the coronavirus — the first cases to be confirmed in Gaza. (Akram, 3/30)
Reuters: Coronavirus Deaths Fall Again In Italy But Lockdown Extension Looms
The number of deaths from coronavirus in Italy fell for the second consecutive day on Sunday but the country still looked almost certain to see an extension of stringent containment measures. (Segreti, 3/29)
Reuters: Special Report: Five Days Of Worship That Set A Virus Time Bomb In France
From the stage of an evangelical superchurch, the leader of the gospel choir kicked off an evening of prayer and preaching: “We’re going to celebrate the Lord! Are you feeling the joy tonight?” “Yes!” shouted the hundreds gathered at the Christian Open Door church on Feb. 18. Some of them had traveled thousands of miles to take part in the week-long gathering in Mulhouse, a city of 100,000 on France’s borders with Germany and Switzerland. For many members of this globe-spanning flock, the annual celebration is the high point of the church calendar. This time, someone in the congregation was carrying the coronavirus. (Salaun, 3/30)
CNN: State Department Says It's Retrieved Over 18,000 US Citizens Stranded Abroad Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
The US State Department has repatriated more than 18,000 Americans who had been stuck abroad amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. As of Saturday afternoon, the agency reported it had retrieved 18,406 US citizens aboard more than 178 flights. The announcement, which the agency detailed on its website, comes after State Department officials said Friday that about 33,000 Americans were still seeking assistance from the US government to get home. The department said it had planned more than 60 repatriation flights for this week and that it would add more as needed. LeBlanc, Atwood and Hansler, 3/29)
