Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
COVID Controversy Overshadows Dodgers' World Series Win
The Wall Street Journal: The Dodgers’ Justin Turner Tested Positive For Covid-19. Then He Returned To The Field To Celebrate.
Amid the chaos of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrating their first title since 1988 on Tuesday night, third baseman Justin Turner made his way to the middle of the festivities. He wasn’t supposed to be there. Partway through Game 6 of the World Series, the Dodgers learned that Turner had tested positive for the coronavirus, the first Major League Baseball player to do so in nearly two months. Per MLB’s pandemic protocols, the Dodgers immediately removed Turner from the lineup and instructed him to isolate. His teammates finished off the Tampa Bay Rays without him in the dugout. As the party raged on, Turner defied orders and returned to the field. He hugged his teammates. He kissed his wife. He sat inches away from manager Dave Roberts—without a mask—to take part in a team photo. In an interview with Fox afterward, Roberts said, “I didn’t touch him.” (Diamond, 10/28)
In other sports news —
The Star Tribune: NCAA Decision On Testing Rules Could Impact Whether Schools Restart Sports
A meeting of the NCAA’s Board of Governor is expected to possibly act on recommendations proposed in late September suggesting all athletes be tested three times per week during the season. The recommendations were specific to basketball, but realistically, they apply to all winter sports. That frequency — three times weekly — felt like a gut punch to schools in conferences that lack the money of Power Five goliaths such as the Big Ten, which provides daily antigen testing to its teams. (Scoggins, 10/27)
Yahoo Sports: Tom Brady Claims On COVID-19 Death Toll, Suicide Deemed 'False' By PolitiFact
On Tuesday, Tom Brady made a claim on Instagram that death by suicide has outpaced COVID-19 deaths in the last two months. PolitiFact, a website dedicated to combating misinformation and run by the Poynter Institute, looked into Brady’s claim and concluded that the statement by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback was false. (Owens, 10/27)
The Washington Post: Paralympian Blake Leeper, Ruled Ineligible For Olympics, Says He’s ‘Baffled’ By The Decision
In the summer of 2019, Blake Leeper sprinted once around an oval track faster than all but four men in America. His simple athletic feat since has unspooled into abundant complexity. It raised questions of fairness, the role of technology in sports and who should get to compete against whom. Leeper was born without legs from the knee down. He runs on prosthetics similar to those South African Oscar Pistorius used at the 2012 Olympics. Leeper made it his goal to become the second double-amputee to compete at the Olympics. His finish at the 2019 U.S. outdoor championships showed it might be possible from a competitive standpoint. World Athletics, track and field’s global governing body, ruled he could not compete because it said his prosthetics gave him an unfair advantage. Leeper appealed. (Kilgore, 10/27)
