Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Transparency, Honesty Are Essential About Fatality Figures; Reopening Is Much Harder, Riskier Than Locking Down
The New York Times: How Many Covid Deaths? Don’t Ask President Trump
The fatality numbers are, to be sure, heartbreaking: more than 85,000 Americans dead and more than 1.4 million infected. But many public health experts, including some within the Trump administration, have been stressing that, if anything, Covid-19 deaths and cases are being undercounted. Appearing before a Senate committee on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and a key member of the president’s coronavirus task force, told lawmakers that the real death toll was “almost certainly higher” than the official count. (The hearing was conducted virtually because Dr. Fauci, two other members of the task force who were testifying and the committee’s chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander, were all self-quarantining after possible exposure to the virus.) Despite this, President Trump and some top administration officials seem to suspect that the number of Covid-19 deaths is being overstated. (5/17)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: The Lie That Coronavirus Deaths Are Overcounted Could Lead To More Of Them
President Donald Trump has called the pandemic a “war,” and as always, the first casualty of war is the truth. An ominous new strategy is emerging on America’s political right, one reportedly being entertained by Trump himself, of claiming coronavirus deaths are being overcounted. Of the many lies the president has spun, this would be among the most dangerous. Throughout the pandemic, what should be a purely scientific and economic debate has morphed into a strangely ideological one. Conservative media and activists amplified Trump’s early dismissal of the threat. Some alleged that the dire predictions and resulting societal shutdowns were part of a scheme to hurt Trump politically by hurting the economy. (5/16)
The Wall Street Journal: Lockdown Puts Brazilian Lives At Risk
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro opposes the stringent lockdown some state governors have imposed on the Brazilian economy, and for weeks he’s been battling political opponents who favor it. On Friday his health minister resigned but what is more important is that the arguments to open with common-sense precautions are gaining ground internationally. A recently released National Bureau of Economic Research working paper finds that Covid-19 policies targeted at the most vulnerable populations “significantly outperform” broad lockdowns: “Most of the gains can be realized by having stricter lockdown policies on the oldest group.” Even Unicef, which usually takes fashionably leftist positions, warns that a strict lockdown policy in the developing world could kill more people than the virus. (Mary Anastasia O’Grady, 5/17)
The New York Times: Germany Is Reopening. And Learning A Tough Lesson.
In its handling of the coronavirus, Germany has been something of a model, alternately admired and envied across the world. For good reason: The curve has flattened. The number of people newly infected each day is stable. The absolute number of deaths and the fatality rate remain low compared to other countries. And the reproduction factor — a key metric to measure the virus’s spread — hovers around one, meaning that on average, one infected person infects only one other person. The first wave of the virus has passed. Germany, cautiously, is reopening. But as it gradually eases up, opening shops, schools and even museums, the country is learning a tough lesson: The way out is much harder than the way in. Loosening the lockdown, even in conditions of relative success, is fraught with difficulties. (Anna Sauerbrey, 5/18)
The Wall Street Journal: How WHO Lost Its Way
Some change inevitably will come to the World Health Organization (WHO) after its deadly failures during the Covid-19 pandemic. But real reform will require more than technocratic tweaks, and member states should focus on fundamental questions about the agency’s purpose. (5/15)
Los Angeles Times: Social Distancing Is A Luxury My Family Can't Afford
On Monday afternoon, the phone rang. Shortly after my father picked it up, I heard him express shock in our native Filipino tongue. He didn’t have to tell me what had happened. I could guess. A patient he had briefly interacted with at the nursing home where he works had died of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. “Why don’t I take the couch at night?” he suggested. But we all knew that wouldn’t help. My parents, my older brother and I live in a tiny one-bedroom apartment and breathe the same air. (M. David, 5/17)
Boston Globe: With Plummeting Revenues, State Should Impose A Temporary Tax Increase
Last month, economists estimated state revenues for fiscal 2021 will fall short of projections by $5 billion to $6 billion — a drop of nearly 20 percent. But the shortfall may be larger, since recent reports indicate that GDP has slowed more than expected, and more than one-fifth of the labor force is currently unemployed, working reduced hours, or had given up looking for work. Worse, revenues have plummeted exactly when more public spending is desperately needed to cover escalating public health costs and the greater demands on safety-net programs due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Alan Clayton-Matthews, Michael Goodman, and Alicia Sasser-Modestino, 5/15)
Houston Chronicle: Texans Too Smart To Get Suckered By Coronavirus Protest Stunts
The sign-waving, horn-blaring, gun-toting protesters may make for good TV, but they are not representative of most Texans who, to paraphrase our mothers, have the good sense God gave them to come in out of a pandemic. Polls have consistently shown that most people strongly support the social-distancing measures and crowd restrictions that have helped to slow the spread of the new coronavirus and saved thousands of lives. A recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll found that 77 percent of Texans favor requiring residents to stay at home except for essential activities. A whopping 80 percent support restricting the size of gatherings to 10 people or fewer. (5/14)
