Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Customer Safety?: Southwest To Fill Middle Seats; Target To Offer Shopping Appointments
The Washington Post: Southwest Will Start Filling Middle Seats Dec. 1
Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines, which has been limiting the number of seats sold on its flights since May, announced in its third-quarter earnings report today that it will halt the practice beginning Dec. 1. The policy will go into effect after Thanksgiving, which typically brings the busiest air travel day of the year. (McMahon, 10/22)
The Washington Post: Target Offering Shopping Appointments During Holiday Season
At a time when the thought of holiday crowds might be more frightening than festive, Target is introducing a new safety measure: reservations. ... During the holidays, shoppers can visit Target.com/line to see if there is a line outside their local store and reserve a spot. They’ll be notified when it’s their turn to shop. (Telford, 10/22)
The Washington Post: Virus Shutdowns Took A Grim Toll On Amputee Veterans Who Died By Suicide, Families Say
As coronavirus restrictions unfurled a dangerous mix of depression and anxiety, the scourge of suicide cut through a tiny community of amputee veterans in recent months, claiming at least three in a group where isolation is already a potent risk factor. (Horton, 10/22)
North Carolina Health News: Halloween 2020: Should Kids Trick-Or-Treat?
Halloween is on the horizon and many families are wrestling with the idea of letting their kids deck themselves out in costumes and go trick-or-treating. Pandemic fatigue has set in at many households, making many nostalgic for the days when the little kids could parade around as little Elsas, fearless Spidermen, witches, ghosts or Avengers on a mission to collect candy at every door. (Blythe, 10/22)
KHN: Travel On Thanksgiving? Pass The COVID
Molly Wiese was truly stumped. Her parents and siblings live in Southern California, and Wiese, a 35-year-old lawyer, has returned home every Christmas since she moved to Minnesota in 2007. Because of the pandemic, Wiese thought it would be wiser to stay put for once. But in June, Wiese’s father was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and they feared this could be his final holiday season. (Almendrala, 10/23)
KHN: Workers Fired, Penalized For Reporting COVID Safety Violations
When COVID-19 began making headlines in March, Charles Collins pulled out a protective face mask from the supply at the manufacturing company in Rockaway, New Jersey, where he was the shop foreman and put it on. The dozen or so other workers at the facility followed suit. There was no way to maintain a safe distance from one another on the shop floor, where they made safety mats for machines, and a few of the men had been out sick with flu-like symptoms. Better safe than sorry. Management was not pleased. Collins got a text message from one of his supervisors saying masks were to be used to protect workers from wood chips, metal particles and other occupational safety hazards. “We don’t provide or for that matter have enough masks to protect anybody from CORVID-19 [sic]!” If workers didn’t stop using the masks for that purpose, the supervisor texted, “we’ll have to store them away just like the candy!” “I was shocked,” said Collins, 38. “They weren’t taking it seriously.” (Andrews, 10/23)
In school news —
The New York Times: Schoolchildren Seem Unlikely To Fuel Coronavirus Surges, Scientists Say
Months into the school year, school reopenings across the United States remain a patchwork of plans: in-person, remote and hybrid; masked and not; socially distanced and not. But amid this jumble, one clear pattern is emerging. So far, schools do not seem to be stoking community transmission of the coronavirus, according to data emerging from random testing in the United States and Britain. Elementary schools especially seem to seed remarkably few infections. (Mandavilli, 10/22)
Arizona Republic: Even At School For Deaf Kids, Online Learning A Struggle For Deaf Boy
Marci Barenburg's 8-year-old son, Eric Cardenas, is deaf and attends the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind's Phoenix campus. Eric has been with the same cohort of kids since kindergarten, forming "really tight" bonds that Barenburg doesn't believe would be as plentiful in a school not specifically designed for kids like him. She said all students and staff on campus know sign language. ... Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The school sent kids home and went fully remote on March 16. "He went from being the kid whose favorite thing in the world was school to ... absolutely hating school," she said. "He would beg not to do schoolwork and do online school. He would do it, but it would take a lot of work and he would have a lot of fits." (Frank, 10/21)
