Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Covid Pandemic Declared 4 Years Ago Today: It's Killed Nearly 1.2 Million Americans
Axios: The Day Everything Changed
A new chapter in global history — the pandemic era — came crashing into existence four years ago today. It's pretty rare to be able to point to a single day that transformed the whole world. But March 11, 2020, is one of those days. (Baker, 3/11)
ABC News: On 4-Year Anniversary Of The WHO Declaring COVID A Pandemic, A Look At The Virus By The Numbers
Monday marks the 4-year anniversary of the WHO declaring the COVID global outbreak to be a pandemic. Since the pandemic began, more than 1.18 million Americans have died from COVID-19, according to CDC data. The U.S. crossed the 1 million mark on May 12, 2022. Here's a look at the virus in the U.S. by the numbers. (Kekatos, 3/11)
Time: The Isolation Of Having Long COVID As Society Moves On
March 11 marks four years since COVID-19 became a pandemic. Much of society has moved on, but those with Long COVID are feeling left behind. Cynthia Adinig, 38, has been dealing with symptoms of Long COVID since 2020, and says that, as someone who is immunocompromised, trying to avoid reinfection in a society in which most people have stopped masking has drastically impacted all aspects of her life. “It shrinks everything down so much,” she says. “My world gets smaller and smaller outside of these doors.” (Shah, 3/11)
CIDRAP: SARS-CoV-2 RNA Can Persist In Blood, Tissue, May Play Role In Long COVID, Research Suggests
SARS-CoV-2 viral fragments can remain in blood and tissue for more than a year after infection, which researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) say could contribute to long COVID. In two studies, the researchers found SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the blood for up to 14 months post-infection and for more than 2 years in connective-tissue samples from 171 COVID-19 survivors without evidence of reinfection. (Van Beusekom, 3/8)
KFF Health News: Why Covid Patients Who Could Most Benefit From Paxlovid Still Aren’t Getting It
Evangelical minister Eddie Hyatt believes in the healing power of prayer but “also the medical approach.” So on a February evening a week before scheduled prostate surgery, he had his sore throat checked out at an emergency room near his home in Grapevine, Texas. A doctor confirmed that Hyatt had covid-19 and sent him to CVS with a prescription for the antiviral drug Paxlovid, the generally recommended medicine to fight covid. Hyatt handed the pharmacist the script, but then, he said, “She kept avoiding me.” (Allen, 3/11)
