Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Justice Clarence Thomas Hospitalized With Infection
USA Today: Supreme Court Justice Thomas Admitted To Hospital With Infection
Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has been hospitalized for the past two days and is being treated for an infection, court officials said Sunday. Thomas, the most senior associate justice on the high court, is being treated with intravenous antibiotics, the court said, and his symptoms are improving. The Supreme Court said Thomas was admitted to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., on Friday after experiencing flu-like symptoms. Court officials said Thomas expects to be released in a day or two. Thomas did not have COVID-19, the court said. (Fritze, 3/20)
The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Hospitalized With Flu-Like Symptoms
“He underwent tests, was diagnosed with an infection, and is being treated with intravenous antibiotics,” the court’s statement said. “His symptoms are abating, he is resting comfortably, and he expects to be released from the hospital in a day or two.” Justice Thomas, 73 years old, is a 1991 appointee of President George H.W. Bush and the longest-serving member of the current court. (Bravin, 3/20)
In news about the flu —
CIDRAP: US Flu Activity Continues Slow Rebound
Flu activity continued to rise in most of the nation last week, with three more pediatric flu deaths reported, but markers are still below epidemic baselines, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest update. The national percentage of outpatient visits for flulike illness rose slightly, to 1.7%. (3/18)
The Atlantic: America's Flu-Shot Problem Is Also Its Next COVID Problem
About 18 years ago, while delivering a talk at a CDC conference, Gregory Poland punked 2,000 of his fellow scientists. Ten minutes into his lecture, a member of the audience, under Poland’s instruction, raced up to the podium with a slip of paper. Poland skimmed the note and looked up, stony-faced. “Colleagues, I am unsure of what to say,” he said. “We have just been notified of a virus that’s been detected in the U.S. that will take somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 lives this year.” The room erupted in a horrified, cinematic gasp. Poland paused, then leaned into the mic. “The name of the virus,” he declared, “is influenza.” (Wu, 3/18)
The New York Times: Shrugs Over Flu Signal Future Attitudes About Covid
When Dr. Arnold Monto, a public health researcher at the University of Michigan, lectures about influenza, he starts by saying: “Flu is bad.” “You don’t have to start a lecture about hypertension by saying, ‘Hypertension is bad,’” he noted. It’s self-evident. But he has to convince his audiences that flu is, in fact, bad. In good years, it kills Americans in the low tens of thousands and sickens many times more. Yet even in the time of Covid, flu, the other respiratory killer caused by a virus, is underestimated. Almost half of American adults don’t bother to get vaccinated against it. (Kolata, 3/18)
