Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: With School Starting, Should Kids Mask Or Not Mask?; How To Prepare For Covid As Fall Nears
The Washington Post: I’m A Doctor. Here’s Why My Kids Won’t Wear Masks This School Year
For the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, my family and I were extremely cautious. I gave birth in April 2020, shortly after covid-19 hit. To protect the baby, my husband and I pulled our then-2-year-old son out of preschool. We socialized outdoors only, at a safe distance from others. I limited indoor activities to work and grocery shopping, and I was never without my N95. (Leana S. Wen, 8/23)
The Star Tribune: 'High Plateau' For COVID As Fall Nears
Nationally, close to 400 people a day on average succumb to the still-circulating, still-evolving virus, according the COVID tracker maintained by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The daily average of new hospital admissions is above 5,000. (8/23)
USA Today: Back To School And Vaccinated After So Much Loss Due To COVID
Like most kids, my daughter doesn't like shots. So getting my 4-year-old her COVID-19 vaccine in August, before school started back up, wasn't what she (or I) would consider fun. (Carli Pierson, 8/23)
Also —
The New York Times: Anthony Fauci’s Retirement Marks The End Of An Era
Infectious disease outbreaks often come and go, though some persist over the long haul, much like the man who has occupied the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984: Dr. Anthony Stephen Fauci. (Gregg Gonsalves, 8/23)
The Washington Post: Fauci Carried All Our Angst And Anger With Patience And Decency
For the last three years, this trim, gray-haired doctor with the wire-rimmed glasses has been the vessel into which the country has poured all its fears and frustrations. He is hero and tormentor. Truth-teller and unreliable narrator. He has borne our angst. And through it all, he’s shown the public nothing but patience and decency — and only the occasional flares of angry exasperation mostly reserved for a senator named Rand Paul (R-Ky.) whose preferred response to the pandemic might be summed up as do-as-little-as-possible. (Robin Givhan, 8/23)
