Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
If Covid Distorted Your Sense Of Time, Don't Panic: You're In The Majority
The Washington Post: Pandemic Trauma Caused Many To Lose Their Sense Of Time
Did you lose track of time during the early days of the pandemic? If so, you’re not alone. A new study says a majority of Americans experienced time distortions at the beginning of the pandemic, which are common during traumatic times. (Blakemore, 9/5)
More on the pandemic's effects —
Chicago Tribune: University Of Chicago Offers Class On Medical Misinformation
Patients have long been told to turn to their doctors for accurate, trusted health information. But in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors’ voices have sometimes been drowned out by social media users who blast misinformation across the globe, leading patients to make questionable, and sometimes dangerous, choices about their health. (Schencker, 9/6)
Wyoming Public Radio: University Of Wyoming Researchers Will Help Formulate Post-Pandemic Modeling For Future Pandemics
The University of Wyoming was recently selected as one of just a few research institutions nationwide to receive approximately one million dollars in grant funding for research into pandemic modeling. (Cook, 9/2)
The CT Mirror: CT Hospital Housekeepers Push For Essential Worker Relief, Benefits
During the terrifying spring of 2020, as COVID-19 paralyzed the nation and hospitals buckled, Katherine Stearns was on the front lines in Windham Hospital’s emergency room. Stearns works as the lead housekeeper at the hospital. (Golvala, 9/4)
KHN: ‘He Stood His Ground’: California State Senator Will Leave Office As Champion Of Tough Vaccine Laws
A California lawmaker who rose to national prominence by muscling through some of the country’s strongest vaccination laws is leaving the state legislature later this year after a momentous tenure that made him a top target of the boisterous and burgeoning movement against vaccination mandates. State Sen. Richard Pan, a bespectacled and unassuming pediatrician who continued treating low-income children during his 12 years in the state Senate and Assembly, has been physically assaulted and verbally attacked for working to tighten childhood vaccine requirements — even as Time magazine hailed him as a “hero.” Threats against him intensified in 2019, becoming so violent that he needed a restraining order and personal security detail. (Hart, 9/6)
In updates on the spread of covid —
CIDRAP: Study: Previous COVID-19 Infection Offers Protection Against BA.5
Infections with previous COVID-19 variants offer more protection against the Omicron BA.5 subvariant in vaccinated people compared with vaccinated people who had no previous infections, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study yesterday. (9/1)
CIDRAP: Low Testosterone In Men May Raise Risk Of COVID Hospitalization
Men with low testosterone levels and COVID-19 were more than twice as likely as men with normal concentrations to be hospitalized, but those treated with hormone replacement therapy weren't at elevated risk, suggests an observational study today in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 9/2)
USA Today: CDC Report: 44% Of People Hospitalized With COVID Got Third Dose, Booster
Nearly half of Americans hospitalized in the spring for COVID-19 were fully vaccinated and got a third dose or booster, according to a report by the CDC. (Rodriguez, 9/2)
Also —
San Francisco Chronicle: UC Berkeley To Require, But Not Enforce, Indoor Masks For Students Who Decline Flu Vaccine
UC Berkeley will again require students and employees who choose not to get vaccinated against influenza to mask up indoors during the upcoming flu season, a rule that has been in place since 2020 but led to outcry last week from critics of vaccines, masks and mandates relating to either. (Asimov, 9/3)
