Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Free Covid Tests For People With Visual Impairment Now Available
CNN: Biden Admin Announces At-Home Covid Tests For Blind And Low-Vision People
The Biden administration on Thursday rolled out free at-home Covid-19 tests that are designed to be more accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired. White House Covid-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said the administration will provide more accessible, rapid self-tests to Americans across the country for free through Covidtests.gov, which ships tests through the US Postal Service. (Judd and Vazquez, 6/23)
In case you missed it: Why the new tests matter —
The New York Times: At-Home Coronavirus Tests Are Inaccessible To Blind People
Christy Smith has never been tested for the coronavirus. As a blind person, she can’t drive to testing sites near her home in St. Louis, and they are too far away for her to walk. Alternative options — public transportation, ride share apps or having a friend drive her to a test site — would put others at risk for exposure. The rapid tests that millions of other people are taking at home, which require precisely plunking liquid drops into tiny spaces and have no Braille guides, are also inaccessible to Ms. Smith. Many people who are blind or have limited vision are not being tested as often as they would like — and some are staying isolated because testing is too difficult. (Morris, 1/12)
WGBH: Blind People, Disability Advocates Say, Need More Accessible At-Home Coronavirus Tests
There are workarounds. Apps like Be My Eyes, which is free, and Aira virtually connect blind or low-vision people with a sighted person to assist with life tasks, such as interpreting coronavirus test results. The National Federation of the Blind is now offering blind people free access to Aira to help with at-home testing. There are also some tests, like the kit from Cue Health Inc., that can send results to a smartphone using Bluetooth technology, which could then be read with a screen reader audibly. Those apps and tests, however, can be costly or raise privacy concerns with sharing medical information to third parties. A pack of three tests from Cue Health costs $474. Another at-home coronavirus test, made by Ellume, can be used with a free app that includes video and audio instructions, and can send results to an email address. Its retail price is around $38 for a single test. (Smith, 2/2)
More on the spread of covid —
The New York Times: The White House Covid Czar Says He’s Still Optimistic About More Aid, Despite Recent Republican Objections.
President Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator said Thursday that he remained optimistic that Congress would approve billions of dollars in new emergency aid to fight Covid, even as Republicans on Capitol Hill have made clear the aid package is all but dead. “I’m an eternal optimist,” the coordinator, Dr. Ashish K. Jha, told reporters during a White House briefing. “I remain convinced that Congress is not going to walk away at this point in the pandemic, when we have made so much progress.” (Stolberg, 6/24)
The Atlantic: Five COVID Numbers That No Longer Make Any Sense
What unites many of these numbers is the tendency, especially in the United States, to pick thresholds and view them as binaries: above this, mask; below this, don’t; after this, exposed, before this, safe. But some of the COVID numbers that have stuck most stubbornly in our brains these past 20-odd months are now disastrously out of date. The virus has changed; we, its hosts, have as well. So, too, then, must the playbook that governs our pandemic strategies. With black-and-white, yes-or-no thinking, “we do ourselves a disservice,” Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist at George Mason University, told me. Binary communication “has been one of the biggest failures of how we’ve managed the pandemic,” Mónica Feliú-Mójer, of the nonprofit Ciencia Puerto Rico, told me. Here, then, are five of the most memorable numerical shorthands we’ve cooked up for COVID, most of them old, some a bit newer. It’s long past time that we forget them all. (Wu, 6/23)
NBC News: These ER Doctors Said Profit-Driven Company Officials Pressed Them To Work While They Had Covid Symptoms
In January, Sonali Patel, an emergency department doctor at a big Houston hospital, became ill while on duty. After testing positive for Covid, she said she told her boss she had the coronavirus and was going home. “He insisted I stay and finish the shift,” she recalled in an interview with NBC News and in a recent lawsuit. “I told him it’s not the safe thing to do. We have a ton of immunocompromised patients and we were putting them at risk.” By requesting time off from work while sick with Covid, Patel breached an unofficial policy promoted by officials at the hospital staffing company she works for — American Physician Partners — according to the lawsuit filed against the company by her and seven physician colleagues. (Morgenson, 6/24)
AP: Vermont's State-Run COVID-19 Testing Sites Ending
Vermont’s state-run COVID-19 testing sites are closing for good by Saturday. The state first opened sites in the spring of 2020 to help slow the spread of the virus. The Health Department said at-home tests are available at pharmacies and online and meet most testing needs. The tests are covered by many insurance providers and Vermonters are encouraged to have some at home in case they develop symptoms, the department said. (6/23)
