Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
High School Students Suffering From Long-Haul Symptoms, Too
CNN: Kids Struggle With Covid-19 And Its Months Of Aftermath
Veronica Richmond is just 15, but she's skipped three grades and is about to graduate from high school in Boise, Idaho. But the self-described photographer, biologist, poet, graphic designer and debater now has a new identity she never wanted. She is a Covid-19 long hauler, along with her sister Audrey and mother Jamie. (Prior, 10/12)
KHN: COVID Takes Challenge Of Tracking Infectious College Students To New Level
As the return of college students to campuses has fueled as many as 3,000 COVID-19 cases a day, keeping track of them is a logistical nightmare for local health departments and colleges. Some students are putting down their home addresses instead of their college ones on their COVID testing forms — slowing the transfer of case data and hampering contact tracing across state and county lines. (Weber, 10/12)
In other news —
Georgia Health News: Reaching For Fitness Among Middle School Girls
In the fifth grade, 51 percent of girls in Georgia have healthy aerobic ability. By the 12th grade, the number plummets to 31 percent. What’s causing this drop? And what can be done about it? A group of nonprofits, led by the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation, have decided to focus on the issue — and on middle school girls’ fitness. (Miller, 10/9)
The Salt Lake Tribune: Research Shows School Absences Rise With Air Pollution
New research has documented a direct correlation between absenteeism among Salt Lake City school students and air pollution levels, even at times when air quality is not particularly bad. An interdisciplinary team led by University of Utah atmospheric scientist Daniel Mendoza examined three years worth of absence data from 36 schools, comparing it with ambient levels of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, and ozone recorded by a network of sensors set up around the city and mounted on TRAX trains. (Maffly, 10/11)
In higher-education news —
Omaha World-Herald: Some Regional Colleges See Drop In Enrollment, While Health Care, Online Programs Do Well
Schools that focus heavily on health fields, including the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Nebraska Methodist College, Clarkson College and Lincoln’s Bryan College of Health Sciences had enrollment jumps this fall. (Ruggles, 10/11)
Politico: ‘Twindemic’ Test: Massachusetts, Many Colleges Mandate Winter Flu Shots
More than a million Massachusetts students need a flu shot by New Year’s Eve if they hope to attend classes come January — making the state a national proving ground for battling a feared winter “twindemic" of flu and coronavirus. Protesters have swarmed downtown Boston and the state Capitol in the seven weeks since Republican Gov. Charlie Baker issued the first-of-its-kind requirement for students from preschool through college. As the Massachusetts mandate plays out, other states have weighed similar requirements while colleges throughout the country pile on their own orders to prevent flu patients from clogging doctors offices and emergency rooms alongside people infected with coronavirus this winter. (Perez Jr., 10/9)
