Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hospitals Across The Country Packed
Bloomberg: Hospitals Deluged As Vaccine Still Months Away For Most In U.S.
Covid-19 has hospitalized almost twice as many Americans as at any point in the pandemic, leaving medical providers on the brink of crisis with vaccine doses months away for most people. The U.S. health-care system and those who serve it are enduring more strain than ever. And the virus’s grip on hospitals has shifted toward more rural communities, where treatment alternatives are scarce.In the near term, sustained patient loads threaten to accelerate deaths, as access to critical care declines in intensive-care units. Longer term, the risks are more systemic: fatigue, attrition and mental-health damage to the doctors and nurses working to care for the sick. (Querolo and Tozzi, 12/22)
In California —
Los Angeles Times: COVID Wave Pushes California To Brink Of 2 Million Cases
It took almost 10 months for California to record its millionth confirmed coronavirus case. Now, just six weeks after crossing that milestone, the state is on the cusp of surpassing 2 million. The staggering rate of growth demonstrates how widely the coronavirus is circulating statewide and underscores the reality that activities and behaviors thought to be relatively safe just weeks ago now carry a higher risk of infection than ever before. (Money and Lin II, 12/22)
Fox News: Amid California’s Coronavirus Hospitalization Surge, ‘Don’t Share Your Air,’ Plead Health Officials
With many hospitals in California at or on the brink of capacity and Gov. Gavin Newsom recently warning that COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state could reach 100,000 by January, "don’t share your air with others," pleaded various doctors and health officials in the state on Tuesday. In a joint press conference, officials with some of the state’s larger hospital systems, including Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health and Dignity Health, as well as officials with California Health and Human Services Agency, and others, pleaded with Californians to continue to take precautions against COVID-19. (Farber, 12/22)
San Francisco Chronicle: 65 Patients, Staff Infected At Napa Psychiatric Hospital
Sixty-five patients and staff at California’s oldest psychiatric hospital have been diagnosed with coronavirus infections — the facility’s largest spike in patient cases since the start of the pandemic, according to data reported Friday on the state website. Since March, more than 150 patients and staff have tested positive for the virus at Napa State Hospital, a psychiatric facility located alongside the Napa Vallejo Highway, as the virus continues ravaging long-term mental health care facilities. (Arredondo, 12/21)
In Texas —
Houston Chronicle: Latest COVID-19 Projections Suggest Houston Could Be Nation's Next Hot Spot
The spread of COVID-19, steadily increasing in Houston and Texas since the beginning of November, is expected to accelerate in coming weeks, according to the latest modeling, a trajectory that could make the city and state one of the nation’s next hot spots. The models project COVID-19 numbers — cases, hospitalizations, deaths — to continue rising in Houston and many other parts of Texas before likely peaking sometime in January. Parts of the state at crisis levels the past month have peaked. (Ackerman, 12/22)
CNN: This Houston Hospital Is A Perfect Microcosm Of How Coronavirus Is Escalating
In June, Houston's United Memorial Medical Center was so overwhelmed by the pandemic that two of its wings had been transformed into Covid-19 wards. Now, there are three. Dr. Joseph Varon, chief medical officer, hadn't had a day off since the virus hit months earlier. He still hasn't. (Marquez, Croft and Sung, 12/22)
In Massachusetts, Tennessee and Pennsylvania —
Boston Globe: How Nurses And Doctors At UMass Memorial Are Battling A Second Surge Of COVID-19
Nurses and doctors on the front lines are more confident in their ability to help these patients now, after enduring the surge in the spring, and are armed with more knowledge and treatments to combat the disease. But that doesn’t diminish the enormity of the challenge at hand. They are weary from the work, frustrated that it’s happening again, and worried about how bad it will get this time. (Dayal McCluskey, 12/22)
NPR: As Covid Cases Surge, Tennessee Hospitals Near Breaking Point
COVID-19 is hitting a handful states harder than anywhere else — California, Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee. And in Tennessee, hospitals are having to improvise, as nearly 3,000 people are hospitalized for COVID-19 and treatment is underway for far more COVID patients than ever thought possible. Clinicians say they are trying to bend but not break as they wait for vaccines. (Farmer, 12/22)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: In Rural Pa., Largely Untouched By COVID-19 In The Spring, Deaths Are Now Surging: ‘It’s Just Scary’
In April, as coronavirus gripped portions of southeastern Pennsylvania, western and central counties like Mifflin remained largely unaffected. But within the first weeks of December, it’s been the tiny central Pennsylvania county — with nearly three dozen COVID-19 deaths this month — that has seen the highest coronavirus death rate per capita in the commonwealth. As the first wave of coronavirus cases ravaged urban hubs like Philadelphia and New York City in the spring, rural Pennsylvania hospitals planned and waited. But many residents bristled at COVID-19 restrictions, not yet seeing the devastation firsthand. Mask wearing was often seen as political, and the mitigation efforts frivolous in towns largely untouched by the virus. (Goodin-Smith, Nark, Purcell and Tai, 12/23)
