House Covid Panel Releases Final Report Critical Of Pandemic Response
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic criticized efforts of the WHO, as well as social distancing and mask mandates, and credited Operation Warp Speed. Also in covid-related news, Donald Trump's health agency nominees, nursing homes, and more.
CNN:
House Covid-19 Panel Releases Final Report Criticizing Public Health Response To The Pandemic
A Republican-led House committee investigating broad aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects in the US released a final report Monday summarizing its two-year effort, saying it hoped the work would “serve as a road map for Congress, the Executive Branch, and the private sector to prepare for and respond to future pandemics.” In the 520-page report, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic concludes that the coronavirus “most likely emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China,” citing factors like biological characteristics of the virus and illnesses among researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in fall 2019. (Dillinger, 12/2)
The Hill:
Read House Oversight Committee's COVID-19 Report On Origins, Response
Read the full report here. (12/2)
Politico:
GOP-Led House Panel Blasts Andrew Cuomo's Covid Response
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have tried to “inappropriately” influence the testimony of a former aide before speaking to a House panel investigating his administration’s Covid-19 policies, a Republican-backed report found. Cuomo, a Democrat who is weighing a bid for New York City mayor, contacted the former adviser, Jim Malatras, days before he was due to speak with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. (Reisman, 12/2)
In related covid news —
Politico:
Trump’s Health Nominees Want Covid Vindication. Here's How Their Critique Has Aged.
The Covid wars are still raging in 2024, and now the Covid contrarians are in charge. President-elect Donald Trump has rounded out his roster of health agency nominees by picking Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University physician and economist who criticized lockdowns, school closures and health agency leadership during the pandemic, to lead the National Institutes of Health. (Schumaker, Perez Jr., Cirruzzo and Leonard, 12/2)
KFF Health News:
Nursing Home Industry Wants Trump To Rescind Staffing Mandate
Covid’s rampage through the country’s nursing homes killed more than 172,000 residents and spurred the biggest industry reform in decades: a mandate that homes employ a minimum number of nurses. But with President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the industry is ramping up pressure to kill that requirement before it takes effect, leaving thousands of residents in homes too short-staffed to provide proper care. (Rau, 12/3)