Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Federal Watchdog Finds Errors In NIH Tracking Of Group Studying Covid
The New York Times: N.I.H. Did Not Properly Track A Group Studying Coronaviruses, Report Finds
The National Institutes of Health made significant errors in its oversight of grants to a nonprofit group that has come under fire from congressional Republicans for its research collaborations in China, an internal federal watchdog agency said on Wednesday. The findings, outlined in a 64-page report describing missed deadlines, confusing protocols and misspent funds, reinforced concerns about the federal government’s system for monitoring research with potentially risky pathogens. (Mueller and Stolberg, 1/25)
More about several investigations —
San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Provocateur Greene Selected To Investigate Pandemic Response
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has appointed controversial Georgia Republican and COVID conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene to a panel that will lead an investigation into how the government handled the coronavirus pandemic, according to McCarthy’s office. (Vaziri, 1/25)
Roll Call: Broad Focus Planned For Revamped COVID Panel Under GOP Majority
The new chair of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is planning a wide focus on future pandemic preparedness and the impacts of the pandemic on the economy, education and the national supply chain. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, who serves on the Ways and Means Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, categorized the panel’s mission as an “after-action review” and “lessons learned.” He also plans to continue work on the origins of COVID-19 he started through the intelligence committee. (Clason, 1/25)
CIDRAP: Delays, Snags Hampered HHS Pandemic Relief Efforts To Vulnerable Groups
A new US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report shows that the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS's) distribution of federal pandemic relief funds to support communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19 was hampered by delayed state acceptance of the funds and resource problems. Released yesterday, the report details how HHS allocated $29 billion of a total of $75 billion (over 35%) to four agencies to direct these funds to Hispanic, Black, American Indian/Alaska Native communities and to populations older than 65 years, rural residents, nursing home residents and staff, unvaccinated people, and other vulnerable groups. (Van Beusekom, 1/25)
California court pauses law that penalizes doctors for spreading misinformation —
San Francisco Chronicle: California Law That Targets COVID Misinformation Halted By Court
Judge William B. Schubb of the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of California granted the motion filed by a group of doctors for a preliminary injunction. Schubb said that, because the “scientific consensus” (on COVID, in this case) is ill-defined and vague, the physician plaintiffs in the lawsuit are “unable to determine if their intended conduct contradicts the scientific consensus, and accordingly ‘what is prohibited by the law.” (Parker, 1/25)
KHN: More Californians Are Dying At Home. Another Covid ‘New Normal’?
The covid-19 pandemic has spurred a surge in the proportion of Californians who are dying at home rather than in a hospital or nursing home, accelerating a slow but steady rise that dates back at least two decades. The recent upsurge in at-home deaths started in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, and the rate has continued to climb, outlasting the rigid lockdowns at hospitals and nursing homes that might help explain the initial shift. Nearly 40% of deaths in California during the first 10 months of 2022 took place at home, up from about 36% for all of 2019, according to death certificate data from the California Department of Public Health. By comparison, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that about 26% of Californians died at home in 1999, the earliest year for which data on at-home deaths is accessible in the agency’s public database. (Reese, 1/26)
