Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Coronavirus Lawsuits Begin For Disney's Cruise Line
Orlando Sentinel: Disney Cruise Passengers Sue, Claim They Caught The Coronavirus On Ships
Disney Cruise Line is facing four federal lawsuits from Utah and Arizona tourists who claim they contracted the coronavirus while on board the Disney Fantasy ship last March, just before the cruise business docked during the pandemic. The tourists said they contracted the virus while on board and began feeling sick, according to the four lawsuits filed March 2 in federal court’s Orlando division that each seek unspecified damages. (Russon, 3/8)
In other public health news —
AP: COVID-19 Claims 15 People In Life Of One Milwaukee Woman
The first person Kimberly Montgomery lost to COVID-19 was her aunt. She had trouble breathing, so her daughter dropped her off at the emergency room. It was the last time her daughter saw her alive. Then, one after another, 14 other people in Montgomery’s world — family members, friends, friends who were like family — succumbed to the same disease. (Antlfinger, 3/8)
ABC News: Daughter Takes Job At Nursing Home To See Dad During Pandemic
A Minnesota woman took a job in a nursing home facility so she can be close to her father amid COVID-19. Lisa Racine is a part-time food nutrition assistant at the Good Samaritan Society in Stillwater, Minnesota, where her dad, Harold Racine, 87, is a resident. (Pelletiere, 3/8)
KHN: Ouch! Needle-Phobic People Scarred By So Many Images Of Covid Shots
Each night it’s the same. Story after story on the TV news is about the covid vaccination effort, and they are all illustrated with footage of needles sinking into exposed upper arms. Could those visuals, ostensibly making this all seem routine, backfire? (Appleby, 3/9)
KHN: Without A Pandemic Safety Net, Immigrants Living In US Illegally Fall Through The Cracks
Ana’s 9-year-old son was the first in the family to come down with symptoms that looked like covid-19 last March. Soon after, the 37-year-old unauthorized immigrant and three of her other children, including a daughter with asthma, struggled to breathe. For the next three weeks, the family fought the illness in isolation — Ana clutching the top of door frames to catch her breath — while friends and neighbors left food on the porch of their home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Ana and her children never took tests to confirm they caught the coronavirus, but the pressure in her lungs, the fever, the headache and the loss of smell and taste convinced her it couldn’t be anything else. (Dawson, 3/9)
KHN: Behind The Byline: Reporting Road Trip
KHN has never been busier ― and health coverage has never been more vital. The Behind The Byline series on YouTube and Instagram TV offers an insider’s view. ... In December, KHN correspondent Aneri Pattani hit the road to report from inside a nursing home that had been largely locked down for months. Such access is something many journalists had not been able to secure throughout the pandemic. This video is about her journey, and what it took to keep a high-risk, older population safe while reporting. (Pattani, 3/9)
