Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: CDC's Disappearance Is Hurting Public Health; Focus Testing On Most Vulnerable In Nursing Homes
The Washington Post: The CDC Has Gone Silent. Its Voice Must Be Restored.
What ever happened to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? The nation’s public health agency, long considered world-class, a source of expertise, rapid response and trusted communications in multiple disease outbreaks, has been sidelined in the largest public health emergency of the past century. The American people are worse off for it. The CDC and the voice of its scientists must be restored. Last Sunday, President Trump’s White House trade adviser, Peter Navarro, complained that the CDC “really let the country down with the testing.” According to The Post, Deborah Birx, who is overseeing the administration’s coronavirus task force, confronted Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, at a White House meeting, saying she was frustrated at the agency’s antiquated system for tracking virus data. “There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” she was quoted by sources as saying. (5/21)
Stat: Focus Covid-19 Testing On Nursing Home Patients And Workers
Less than 1% of Americans live in nursing homes, yet these facilities account for between 15% and 25% of Covid-19 cases and half of all deaths from the disease in some states; in Minnesota, nursing home residents and workers account for 81% of all Covid-19 deaths. If we hope to contain SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, until we have better treatments or a vaccine, we need a concerted national testing effort focused on nursing homes. From a public health perspective, they are not only areas of focused harm but are also wells of infection that may keep the pandemic rolling unless we take drastic steps. (Donald H. Taylor, Jr., 5/22)
The New York Times: Hospitals Are Making Too Many Errors During The Coronavirus Crisis
The mean arterial pressure was well over 100 and the patient’s heart rate was racing. In an emergency room hastily converted into an I.C.U., abnormal vital signs were not unusual. Intubated coronavirus patients lined the unit, ventilators and IV pumps crammed in between their beds. The patients needed fluids, sedatives, paralytics, antibiotics. Some needed heparin (a blood thinner) for the raging blood clots that Covid-19 incited. Others whose blood pressure had plummeted were being given vasopressors. (Danielle Ofri, 5/22)
The Washington Post: The ‘Us And Them’ Pandemic Shows America Is Still Impervious To Black Pain
When the official counts began to show that covid-19 was hitting black communities in America with a particularly deadly punch, I had to admit to feeling dread on two levels.The first was a deep concern about widespread illness and death in majority-black counties and Zip codes. The second wave was a deep-seated concern about how the rest of America would respond to that. (Michele L. Norris, 5/21)
The Hill: Warnings And Policies For Black And Brown Communities With COVID-19
Mourning is still occurring in America, particularly among people of color. Former President Barack Obama highlighted it in his speech to the Class of 2020, saying that the “pandemic has shaken up the status quo and laid bare a lot of our country’s deep-seated problems.” When Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot was recently asked about the fact that 70% of those who have died from COVID-19 in Chicago are African Americans, she called the news “absolutely shocking” and “really hard for me to take…in.” While I appreciate Mayor Lightfoot’s emphatic response, as an African-American health professional I must disagree with her on one critical point: Nothing about this outcome is shocking. (Christie Lawrence, 5/21)
The New York Times: Treating Mild Coronavirus Cases Could Help Save Everyone
President Trump said this week that he was taking the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a measure against Covid-19, the illness caused by SARS-CoV-2. This, even though he is not known to have tested positive for the virus or to have any symptoms of the disease — and even though scientific evidence is growing that the drug offers no benefit to Covid-19 patients and could be dangerous to some people. The president’s decision is puzzling. And yet it does highlight the urgent need to devote more attention and resources to drugs that can prevent Covid-19 or stop mild cases from getting worse. (Richard Malley and Marc Lipsitch, 5/22)
Stat: After A Covid-19 Diagnosis, An Antibody Test Offered Me A Little Comfort
There have been approximately 5 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 around the world. I’m one of them. In March, my partner, a sheriff’s deputy and first responder in New Hampshire, tested positive for the disease. A few weeks later, so did I. Our symptoms varied, and his were more severe than mine. We both feel fortunate to have recovered. But, like millions of others who have done so, we’ve been left with a burning question: Now what? Are we now immune from future infection? And, if so, for how long? (Alexander Spinelli, 5/21)
The Hill: Nutrition Policy Must Be At The Center Of The Conversation
In the coming months, much conversation will be centered around how to mitigate and prepare for pandemics like COVID-19. As we look at the death toll from this disease, reports show that many of the people who died had obesity and other related ailments including Type 2 diabetes. There’s a clear correlation between death rate and obesity and diabetes — the more severe, the higher the death rate. One way to mitigate these problems is to put nutrition at the forefront of the conversation. With a healthy population, America is better prepared to fight viruses or other unforeseen health concerns. (Jeff S. Volek, 5/21)
Stat: Approve The At-Home Test That Can Speed Cervical Cancer Detection
My husband, our first-grade child, and I managed to get on what was likely one of the last planes out of Nicaragua the day President Trump banned overseas flights from Europe due to the Covid-19 outbreak. It was an abrupt end to our latest journey to a part of the world where cervical cancer, which I study, often means a premature death with disastrous consequences for the family that is left behind. (Emma McKim Mitchell, 5/22)
