Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Doctors Have Long Played Observer To Social Movements. But Are The Tides Shifting?
Stat: Health Care Workers Say Protesting Racial Injustice Should Be Part Of The Job
Amid the dual crises of a global pandemic and a reckoning with systemic racial injustice, health workers and health educators are grappling with a momentous question that hovers between personal and professional: how much of an activist should a health care worker be? Doctors, epidemiologists, and nurses are increasingly abandoning their characteristic reticence in favor of direct advocacy. (Hailu, 6/16)
The Associated Press: Poll: Black Americans Most Likely To Know A COVID-19 Victim
African Americans are disproportionately likely to say a family member or close friend has died of COVID-19 or respiratory illness since March, according to a series of surveys conducted since April that lays bare how black Americans have borne the brunt of the pandemic. Eleven percent of African Americans say they were close with someone who has died from the coronavirus, compared with 5% of Americans overall and 4% of white Americans. (Stafford and Fingerhut, 6/15)
NPR: SPLC Announces $30 Million To Help Register Southern Voters Of Color
The Southern Poverty Law Center says it will make $30 million in grants available to nonprofit groups in five Southern states to help register and mobilize voters of color. The campaign will go through this year's election, as well as the 2022 midterm elections. "The United States has a long history of denying voting rights to its citizens, especially black and brown people, returning citizens and young people," said SPLC president Margaret Huang. (Fessler, 6/15)
Los Angeles Times: Attorney General, FBI To Monitor Inquiry Into Robert Fuller’s Hanging Death
Authorities said Monday that the cause of death of Robert Fuller, who was found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, has been deferred pending further investigation as the state attorney general sends investigators to assist in determining whether the young Black man died by suicide or was the victim of foul play. Sheriff’s homicide investigators plan to survey the area for surveillance video, conduct a forensic analysis of the rope used in the man’s death and research his medical history locally, as well as in Arizona and Nevada, where he had lived in the past, Capt. Kent Wegener said. (Money, Tchekmedyian and Chabria, 6/15)
WBUR: GirlTrek Uses Black Women's History To Encourage Walking As A Healing Tradition
Before Philadelphia's stay-at-home order went into effect in March, Iresha Picot walked in parks and neighborhoods all over the city, often meeting up with black women of all ages. Even though she's been careful to follow social distancing guidelines, Picot says she's still able to connect with a community nearly 100,000 strong. (McCabe, 6/16)
