Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
The New York Times: Do Rapid Covid Tests Still Work?
We’ve all heard the anecdotes: Your friend’s spouse or child gets Covid-19 — a known exposure to the virus, all the hallmark symptoms, a positive test, no question about it. Then your friend starts to feel crummy, so they do a quick swab, but their test result is negative. What gives? Experts say that rapid home tests are still a helpful tool for stopping the spread of Covid-19, but they’re not foolproof. Here are a few explanations for why you might get a false negative result — and how to increase your chances of accuracy next time. (Smith, 1/25)
The New York Times: Inside The Hospital Where Damar Hamlin’s Life Was Saved
Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills player whose heart stopped during a game in Cincinnati on Jan. 2, should not have survived, if statistics on cardiac arrests are any guide. Mr. Hamlin “was dead,” when he fell to the ground, said Dr. Timothy A. Pritts, chief of the section of general surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where Mr. Hamlin was treated. (1/22)
The New York Times: CPR And Defibrillators: What You Need To Know
Before 1958, there was no such thing as CPR. If someone’s heart stopped because of cardiac arrest, that person fell to the ground, with no pulse, no breathing. And they were simply declared dead. All of that changed when doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore discovered cardiopulmonary resuscitation by accident when studying how to shock a heart. When they pressed defibrillator panels to the chest of a lab dog, they saw a blip in blood pressure. They pressed harder and discovered they could push blood through the body. And thus was born CPR. (Kolata, 1/22)
The Washington Post: How Do You Live To Be 100? Good Genes, Activity And Friends
Experts predict that the number of centenarians — people who live to be at least 100 years old — will continue to rise in the coming decades. While genetics play a large role in healthy aging, physical activity, social support and where you live also can influence your chances for living a very long life. Sister André, a French Catholic nun born Lucile Randon, who was the world’s oldest living person, recently died at the age of 118. Now the two oldest living people are believed to be María Branyas Morera, a 115-year-old Spanish woman born in the United States, and Fusa Tatsumi, who lives in Osaka, Japan, who is also 115 but 52 days younger than Morera, according to a database by the Gerontology Research Group. (Amenabar, 1/25)
The Wall Street Journal: A Happy Memory Can Help You Fall Asleep, If You Know How To Use It
Now, sleep researchers say that what we think about as we try to go to sleep is just as important. They recommend that as we prepare to drift off, we practice something called savoring, which is imagining a positive experience we’ve had in great detail. Savoring is well-studied as a strategy to improve our general well-being. A considerable body of research shows that it can boost mood and help reduce depression and anxiety. Now, psychologists believe it can help us fall asleep and have better sleep quality, and are starting to study its effectiveness. (Bernstein, 1/24)
The Washington Post: Cooking Tips And Workarounds For People With Disabilities
Cooking and baking can be difficult for many people; some may be dealing with age-related changes, others may have health conditions, injuries or disabilities, including pain and fatigue. But there are strategies and equipment that can make creating good meals at home easier. ... Here’s what occupational therapists and home cooks with disabilities recommend. (Yap, 1/24)
The Washington Post: Scientists Invented A Melting Liquid Robot That Can Escape From A Cage
This tiny robot can melt, escape from a prison by sliding through secure bars, and then reform into a solid and complete tasks. ... “Potentially, this material system can be used for applications in flexible electronics, health care, and robotics,” Chengfeng Pan, an engineer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who co-authored the study, told The Washington Post. (Sands, 1/26)
The New York Times: The Hospital Makes A House Call
Manuelita Romero sipped cranberry juice as she lay in her bed, surrounded by pillows, blanketed under a soft white cover patterned with blue-and-green flowers. She was 92 and wearing pearl earrings and a necklace of rosary beads. Her bedroom, in a sandy, one-story adobe-style house in southwestern Albuquerque that she shared with one of her sons, was decorated with figures of saints and angels, along with more than a dozen crosses. Perfume bottles, hair spray and tubes of lotion crowded the top of her gold-trimmed cream dresser. Her house was very small but cheery and cozy, with crochet, flannel and serape coverings on the furniture and bright lemon-yellow cabinets in the kitchen. (Ouyang, 1/26)
