Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Covid Forever? Most Think Virus Will Be Around For Rest Of Their Lives
The Hill: Majority Of US Thinks COVID Will Never Go Away: Poll
The Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index found that 78 percent of Americans surveyed agreed with the statement “We will never fully be rid of the coronavirus in my lifetime.” This trend was consistent for Democrats, Republicans and independents. (Choi, 7/19)
On the rise of BA.5 —
Reuters: Omicron BA.5 Makes Up Nearly 78% Of COVID Variants Circulating In U.S. - CDC
The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron was estimated to make up 77.9% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 16, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday. (7/19)
Also —
The Boston Globe: Can You Still Use An At-Home COVID-19 Test Past Its Expiration Date? It Depends
Once again, COVID-19 is on the rise, and this time, the highly contagious BA.5 Omicron subvariant is driving new cases and reinfections. But if you stocked up on at-home rapid antigen tests during previous surges, you may have noticed the fine print on the packaging shows your tests are past due.Don’t throw them out just yet. The Food and Drug Administration has advised against using at-home COVID-19 tests beyond their expiration dates, warning that expired test kits could provide unreliable or invalid results. But the expiration dates — printed on the outside of the boxes — are not always accurate. (Pan, 7/20)
NPR: Boosters For People Under 50 Are Under Debate
The Biden administration is trying to decide whether to make a second COVID-19 booster more widely available to protect more people against the latest surge driving up infections and hospitalizations this summer. (Stein, 7/19)
The Washington Post: Schools Race To Improve Indoor Air Quality As Coronavirus Cases Climb
The benefits of doing so stretch far beyond controlling covid-19. Study after study proves that cleaner indoor air leads to better student health, higher attendance rates and even improved academic performance. But when schools received an influx of funds in the early days of the pandemic, most districts neglected to use the money to make investments in their ventilation systems, according to Anisa Heming, director of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council. (Beard and Roubein, 7/19)
Politico: Covid Cases Are Skyrocketing Again. States Have No New Plan
There are no new plans or bold initiatives on the horizon, officials in 10 states told POLITICO, even as much of the South remains unvaccinated and vaccination uptake among children nationwide is well below what state and federal officials would like. Instead, state and federal strategies for managing 130,000 new daily Covid cases in the U.S. are largely the same as they were for managing 30,000 new daily cases four months ago. (Messerly, Mahr and Cancryn, 7/20)
