Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: School Officials Face Worst Case Scenario; Dangers Of Delaying Childhood Vaccines
The Washington Post: School Officials Are In An Impossible Situation — Thanks To Trump’s Failures
“I’m worried. I’m worried about everything. Each possibility I come up with is a bad one . . . I keep waiting for someone higher up to . . . come to their senses. I’m waiting for real leadership, but maybe it’s not going to happen.” That was Jeff Gregorich, superintendent of a small school district in Arizona, talking about having to make the agonizing decision of whether to open schools during a pandemic. Mr. Gregorich, like countless other school officials across the country, finds himself in an impossible situation — thanks to President Trump’s abysmal failure to shape or even attempt an effective strategy to contain the spread of the deadly virus. Everyone — parents, principals, teachers, government officials and the students themselves — desperately wants a return to the classroom. (8/10)
Tampa Bay Times: Local School Boards Should Make The Coronavirus Call
To safely reopen schools in a few weeks, school boards across Florida need independence to make decisions that suit the particular facts in their home counties. They need support, not interference, from state officials and the educational bureaucracy. And they need money, not threats, to provide a safe, productive learning environment. It will be expensive to do it right, but it will cost even more — in health and in educational outcomes — if educators get it wrong.The Hillsborough County School Board should have the right to decide that education will be all-virtual for the first four weeks of the school year. (8/11)
Dallas Morning News: COVID-19 Infections In Classrooms Shouldn’t Be A State Secret
The Texas Education Agency and the Texas Department of State Health Services are discussing whether data will be kept on COVID-19 infections in schools and provided to the public.The answer should be an emphatic “yes” on both counts. The last thing schools need is too little information about the spread of the coronavirus in classrooms. Collecting infection information and making it publicly available would provide crucial insight into how safely school districts are managing the return to in-person instruction on campuses. (8/11)
The New York Times: What If Some Kids Are Better Off At Home?
In the early morning hours of Monday, March 9, I was locked in battle with my oldest son, Izac, then a freshman in high school, over what felt like his one-billionth request to skip his 7 a.m. physical education class. He said he was tired and anxious and begged for a break. I told him that when you commit to something, you show up. End of story. And so off he went to school, bleary-eyed and resentful. One difference that became clear within a few weeks of lockdown: My son was happy. (Joanna Schroeder, 8/10)
Philadelphia Inquirer: Delaying Vaccines Due To COVID-19 Can Deprive Your Child Of Lifesaving Preventative Care
During the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many families not only socially distanced from each other, but also from their pediatrician. As a primary care pediatrician, I heard from patient families who would rather wait until after the pandemic to see me for preventative care. That sounded like a good idea when we thought COVID-19 was a fleeting issue, but now, I am yearning for my patients to return.So upon learning that the Pennsylvania Department of Health is temporarily suspending the regulations requiring immunizations for school attendance, I worried even more if my patients would delay routine child care. (Katie Lockwood, 8/10)
Stat: Data Standards Could Help Wearables Restart Clinical Trials
The biotech and pharma industries are at a pivotal moment, facing a pandemic that’s caused three out of every four clinical trials worldwide to be suspended or delayed. At the same time that hundreds of companies are racing to move forward with trials for Covid-19 treatments and vaccines, thousands more are worrying about how they’ll be able to conduct other trials in the midst of a global lockdown. (Jordan Brayanov, Jen Goldsack and Bill Byrom, 8/11)
Dallas Morning News: Instead Of Cutting The Police, Proposed Dallas Budget Funds Help Where It’s Needed
Before [T.C.] Broadnax and his senior staff delivered his plan, we had every reason to believe the city’s budget would be far worse than it appears to be in terms of widespread cuts to city services and staff, as well as short-sighted reductions in the police department budget. Instead, thanks in part to a surprising amount of new construction still happening in Dallas, Broadnax was able to present a budget that makes important investments. Those include the expansion of the city’s RIGHT Care program — teams of social workers, paramedics and police officers who respond to mental health calls. (8/9)
