Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Emergency Physicians Give Thumbs Up To Performing CPR On Strangers, But Slight Risk Exists
CNN: It's Still Safe To Perform CPR During The Pandemic, Study Says
Imagine taking a walk in your neighborhood, carefully staying 6 feet apart from others to ensure social distancing. You see an elderly man collapse on the sidewalk, having a heart attack. Everything you've heard of late tells you to avoid close contact with strangers, especially the elderly, during the pandemic. Is it safe to perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to try to save his life? Or are you risking being infected with the novel coronavirus or giving it to a dying man? (Prior, 6/10)
The New York Times: Farewell To Gummy Bear Jars: Tech Offices Get A Virus Safety Makeover
When employees at Salesforce, the cloud software giant based in San Francisco, eventually return to their office towers, they may find that the fun is gone from their famously fun-loving workplaces. No more chatting in the elevator. No hugging. No more communal snack jars.Before employees can even go into the office, they will be required to fill out online health surveys and take their temperature. If they pass the health screening and have a good reason to go in, Salesforce will schedule their shifts — and send them digital entry tickets for the lobby with an arrival time. In the lobby, employees will be asked to wait for the elevator on social-distancing floor markers and stand on other markers once inside the elevator. (Singer, 6/10)
The New York Times: What Jury Service During The Coronavirus Pandemic Looks Like
Dylan Potter, a public defender in Portland, Ore., found himself in late April searching for case law on what had been an obscure legal question: whether witnesses are allowed to wear masks. He found one decision on whether a confidential informant could testify in a ski mask (no), and another on whether Islamic veils were permitted in court (it depends). But nothing addressed what Mr. Potter was about to encounter: a jury trial in the midst of a pandemic in which face coverings have become a matter of health and safety. (Dewan, 6/10)
The New York Times: How Architecture Could Help Us Adapt To The Pandemic
The last class Joel Sanders taught in person at the Yale School of Architecture, on Feb. 17, took place in the modern wing of the Yale University Art Gallery, a structure of brick, concrete, glass and steel that was designed by Louis Kahn. It is widely hailed as a masterpiece. One long wall, facing Chapel Street, is windowless; around the corner, a short wall is all windows. The contradiction between opacity and transparency illustrates a fundamental tension museums face, which happened to be the topic of Sanders’s lecture that day: How can a building safeguard precious objects and also display them? How do you move masses of people through finite spaces so that nothing — and no one — is harmed? (Tingley, 6/9)
The New York Times: What If Working From Home Goes On … Forever?
Josh Harcus sells robots for a living. Robotic vacuum cleaners, to be specific — a model called the Whiz, which his employer, SoftBank Robotics America, released here last fall. The company, part of a group owned by the Japanese conglomerate, has deployed more than 6,000 of the robots around the world, including at Facebook headquarters. They look like something out of “Wall-E”: a rolling gray cylinder about thigh-high that trundles back and forth over carpets, sucking up dirt. Many of Harcus’s customers are major airports and hotel chains or the huge cleaning companies hired by them. SoftBank Robotics rents the units to clients, at an annual cost of $6,000 per machine. It’s an expensive lease, so all last fall and through the winter Harcus was traveling around, showing off the Whiz, pressing the flesh to convince customers of its value. (Thompson, 6/9)
PBS NewsHour: This Chart Can Help You Weigh Coronavirus Risks This Summer
While state and local governments have outlined multi-phase plans to reopen their economies from pandemic closures, many of us are without a roadmap for how to assess lingering risks as we begin to engage in aspects of public life after months of isolation. (Vinopal, 6/9)
The New York Times: When Will It Be Safe To Sing Together Again?
Imagine the scene: You’re at church, belting out a hymn, and the sound is so joyful that you turn, smiling, to look around. You notice a spray of spit coming from the mouth of the person next to you: One particularly large droplet arcs toward the person in front, then lands, right on their neck. Three months ago, you might have thought that moment was gross. Today, you’d probably find it frightening. In the space of a few months, group singing has gone from being something life-affirming to a potential source of disease, even death. (Marshall, 6/9)
The Hill: Substance Use Up Amid Pandemic: Survey
Some people with substance use disorders have increased their usage during the pandemic, according to a survey released Tuesday. A survey of more than 1,000 people conducted by the Addiction Policy Forum found that 20 percent said they or a family member have increased substance use since COVID-19 began. Four percent reported overdoses, and 1 percent of those were fatal, according to the survey. (Hellmann, 6/9)
