Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Georgia Governor Backtracks On Mask Mandates
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Kemp’s Latest Order Allows Local Mask Mandates For The First Time
After months of opposing local mask mandates, Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order on Saturday that empowers many Georgia cities and counties to impose face covering requirements to combat the coronavirus. More than a dozen governments have already adopted those requirements over Kemp’s objections, and the governor had gone to court to block them. (Bluestein, 8/15)
The New York Times: New York Has A 14-Day Quarantine. Many New Yorkers Are Ignoring It.
Earlier this summer, Sasha Pagan burst into tears during her nursing shift at a hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It had been a normal day in the pediatric unit, apart from the masks and the Covid-19 protocols, when a patient arrived for some testing. She was screened at the front door, answering “no” when asked whether she had traveled outside of New York state within the past two weeks, currently a prerequisite for nonemergency medical treatment. But at the end of the appointment, the patient admitted to having been in Florida six days earlier. (Krueger, 8/16)
Politico: Chicago Mayor: 'We're Never Going To Get Everything That We Need From The Federal Government'
Cities and states across the country "are never going to get everything that we need from the federal government" when it comes to combating Covid-19, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Sunday. "If we waited for them, we'd be in dire straits," Lightfoot told Margaret Brennan on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It would be great if there was not the chaos that we've seen at the federal government — the White House fighting the CDC, the HHS hijacking the reporting process. And still, we don't have a consistent testing regime. We still don't have a federal mask policy." (Mueller, 8/16)
AP: Cuomo: Health Workers To Supervise Annual 9/11 Light Tribute
The annual light display honoring victims of 9/11 is back on, officials announced Saturday, saying New York health officials will supervise this year’s tribute to ensure workers’ safety amid concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic. “This year it is especially important that we all appreciate and commemorate 9/11, the lives lost and the heroism displayed as New Yorkers are once again called upon to face a common enemy,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. (8/15)
CNN: Florida Sheriff's Lieutenant Dies After Being Hospitalized For Weeks With Coronavirus
A 20-year veteran of a sheriff's department in South Florida has died of Covid-19 after weeks in the hospital. Lt. Aldemar "Al" Rengifo Jr., 47, of the Broward County Sheriff's office (BSO) died Sunday, according to a BSO press release. Rengifo had been hospitalized since July 27. (Holcombe, 8/17)
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Jefferson Parish Correctional Center Placed On Lockdown After Coronavirus Outbreak
The Jefferson Parish Correctional Center was placed on lockdown Friday morning because of an outbreak of coronavirus infections in the Gretna jail. Forty-four inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, and six were awaiting test results as of Friday, according Jean Llovet, health services director for CorrectHealth Jefferson, the company contracted by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office to handle medical care. (Hunter, 8/14)
In news from California —
The Wall Street Journal: California Braces For More Blackouts As Heat Wave Scorches West
California was struggling to deliver enough power to keep the lights on for the first time in nearly two decades as a severe heat wave broiled the region, and officials warned of potentially more rolling blackouts if high temperatures persist. Residents across the state were blasting their air-conditioning units while sheltering at home as coronavirus cases continue to climb. That has put enormous strain on California’s electric grid, which is in the middle of an unprecedented transition as policy makers continue to reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels to generate power. (Blunt and Calfas, 8/16)
The New York Times: Rolling Blackouts In California Have Power Experts Stumped
As temperatures began to rise in California on Friday and again on Saturday, the manager of much of the state’s electric grid called on utilities to cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers. But the rolling blackouts on those days left some of the state’s energy experts bewildered. They said that the utilities had plenty of power available and that the blackouts weren’t necessary. The grid’s capacity may be tested in coming days as temperatures are forecast to reach into the triple digits again in some places. (Penn, 8/16)
In news from Iowa, Massachusetts and Oklahoma —
NPR: 'The Devastation Is Widespread.' Iowans Continue To Struggle Following Deadly Derecho
Thousands of Iowans are still coping with the aftermath of a storm that pummeled the state last Monday with 100-mile-per-hour winds — a storm that flattened corn and soybean crops, damaged grain elevators and leveled banks, churches and homes. More than 158,000 Iowans were still without power as of Friday evening, according to Iowa Public Radio. By Sunday morning, more than 98,000 continued to lack power, according to the monitoring site PowerOutage.US. (Silva, 8/16)
AP: Second Massachusetts Resident Infected With EEE
A second Massachusetts resident has been infected with Eastern Equine Encephalitis. Public health officials say the woman in her 60s was exposed to the potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease in Hampden County. As a result, the state is raising the EEE risk level in Wilbraham to critical. (8/15)
The Oklahoman: As Questions Mount, Prospects Dim For Federal Bill On Oklahoma Reservations
Prospects have dimmed for federal legislation this year to clarify Oklahoma’s criminal and civil jurisdiction in the wake of a momentous U.S. Supreme Court decision that could soon mean nearly half the state is Indian reservation land. Sen. Jim Inhofe, the most senior member of the state’s congressional delegation, said last week that it would be “very difficult” to get a bill passed this year addressing the myriad issues — including taxation and regulation — raised by the court’s ruling that the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation was never terminated. (Casteel, 8/16)
