Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Deaths Rising Back Up To Tragic Levels Of The Spring
CNN: The US Just Recorded More Than 2,000 Covid-19 Deaths In A Day. One Model Predicts That Number Will Keep Growing
More than 2,000 American deaths were recorded by Johns Hopkins University on Thursday -- the highest number since early May. And as the virus runs unabated across US communities, experts warn the coming weeks will likely be brutal and the pandemic's death toll will keep climbing. (Maxouris, 11/20)
The Atlantic: America Is On Track To Hit A COVID-19 Death Record
The United States has made huge advances in fighting the coronavirus. The astonishingly high death rates the country saw during the spring have fallen, and Americans are much more likely now than they were then to survive a COVID-19 hospitalization. New treatments have, in some cases, helped speed recovery—President Donald Trump has trumpeted his own bout with the virus as proof that there is a “cure” for the illness. (There is not.) These developments have given Americans the impression that no matter how high cases surge, deaths might not reach the heights of the spring. But the truth is grimmer. The story people want to believe about how much treatments have improved in recent months does not hold up to quantitative scrutiny. (Madrigal and Moser, 11/19)
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Infections Set Another Daily Record
The U.S. logged its highest number of newly reported Covid-19 infections in a day and reported record hospitalizations for the 10th day in a row, as the coronavirus pandemic surges through the country. The U.S. reported 187,833 new cases for Thursday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, exceeding its last daily record by more than 10,000. That record was set last Friday, when the U.S. reported 177,224 new cases. (Martin, 11/20)
More on the death toll —
The Washington Post: Comparing 250,000 Covid-19 Deaths To Other U.S. History Death Tolls In Wars And Pandemics
At least 250,000 people in the United States have died of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, since February, and many public health officials warn the pandemic is just entering its deadliest phase. Yet, as the country confronts this horrifying death toll, there is little understanding of what a loss of this size represents. Here is some historical perspective about losing a quarter of a million people, looking at major events in our past that have cost American lives. (Brockell, 11/19)
ABC News: An American Tragedy: Inside The Towns Hardest Hit By Coronavirus
A South Dakota doctor is moonlighting as a newspaper columnist, urging readers to protect themselves against the virus that killed both his parents. The sheriff in a Kansas town is fighting for his life in a Denver hospital he was sent to for critical care. (Schumaker and Nichols, 11/19)
NPR: COVID-19 Denial Still Rampant In Some Coronavirus Hot Spots
Signs posted at the entrance to the grocery store in northwest Montana told customers to wear a mask. Public health officials in Flathead County urged the same. Coronavirus infection rates here are among the highest in the state. Infection rates in the state are among the highest in the United States. And still, Craig Mann walked out of the grocery store, past the signs and toward his truck, maskless and resolute. The pandemic that everyone's talking about? "It's absolute garbage," he said. (Rott, 11/19)
