Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
The New York Times: Inside The Chaotic, Cutthroat Gray Market For N95 Masks
In his 30 years as a doctor, Andrew Artenstein had never worried about N95 respirators. The chief physician executive of Baystate Health, he ran his four hospitals in western Massachusetts exactingly, and an essential face covering being out of stock was inconceivable. His doctors, nurses and other responders went through about 4,000 a month, usually for treating patients with airborne diseases. There were always more in the warehouse, just outside the city of Springfield, where Baystate is based. But on April 6, as the novel coronavirus stampeded through the Northeast, Artenstein rose in predawn darkness, on a mission to secure about a quarter-million masks for his thousands of staff members. Baystate Health was just days away from running out. (Bock Clark, 11/17)
The Washington Post: A 28-Year-Old ‘Nerd’ In Baltimore Invented A New Type Of Mask, And Tapped Into The Strangeness Of This 2020 Holiday Season
Narwhals are social creatures. The whales with spiraled tusks jutting from their heads have been known to live in small groups that, at times, come together to form large pods. In that way, they are not unlike humans during the holidays. That alone would have made the name Narwall Mask fitting for the product Alex Rattray invented and publicly launched this week. When the Baltimore resident first started creating the full-face mask based on snorkeling gear, he held hopes it would bring people together during a pandemic that was forcing them apart. (Vargas, 11/18)
Los Angeles Times: T-shirt? Towel? Some Experts Say It’s Time To Get Beyond States’ Anything-Goes Approach To Masks
With more states requiring face coverings indoors to prevent the spread of COVID-19, gaiters and bandannas have become popular accessories, particularly among college students and other young adults. Less restrictive than masks, they can easily be pulled up or down as needed — and don’t convey that just-out-of-the-hospital vibe. But tests show those hipper face coverings are not as effective as surgical or cloth face masks. Bandannas, like plastic face shields, allow the virus to escape out the bottom in aerosolized particles that can hang in the air for hours. And gaiters are often made of such thin material that they don’t trap as much virus as cloth masks. (Hawryluk, 11/18)
The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Pandemic Underscored Importance Of IT In Medical Research
Data storage, cloud computing and artificial intelligence were important tools for Covid-19 investigators this year, as scientific teams learned about the virus and its impact on patients. Beginning in March, multidisciplinary teams with skills in medical imaging analysis and machine learning were critical for sifting through large Covid-19 data sets, said Jayashree Kalpathy-Cramer, scientific director at the Center for Clinical Data Science. The center is part of Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Many of us dropped all other research and tried to focus entirely on doing Covid modeling,” Dr. Kalpathy-Cramer said. (Casetellanos, 11/13)
Modern Healthcare: Tattoos With Microsensors Could One Day Warn Of Health Risks
Someday, your tattoo may do more than adorn your skin. It could save your life—or at least alert you to a medical threat. That’s the proposition behind research by Carson Bruns, assistant professor of materials, biomedical, micro/nanoscale at the University of Colorado at Boulder. (11/14)
Undark: Wasp Venom Can Save Lives. But The Supply Chain Is Shaky.
One morning in the fall of 2019, Zach Techner stepped into a heavily woven white beekeeper’s suit, pulled on rubber boots and thick orange gloves, and wrapped duct tape around his cuffs and along the zipper. He slid safety glasses over his eyes and a netted hood over his head and zipped it shut. He was preparing to collect one of the most dangerous wild creatures in the United States: yellow jackets. (Hoag, 11/16)
The Washington Post: Echoes Of A Pandemic: Experts Fear Lessons From The 2009 H1N1 Vaccine Drive Are Being Ignored
News that a vaccine would be available in record time brought relief to Kelly Moore, director of the Tennessee Immunization Program, and a whole new set of worries: how to build a network of pandemic vaccine providers from scratch and guarantee equitable access to communities of color and rural spots across the state’s 95 counties. It was just over a decade ago, and the H1N1 influenza virus was rampaging across the country. “We invested huge amounts in 2009,” said Moore, now associate director of the vaccine education organization Immunization Action Coalition, describing a whirlwind of spreadsheets and brainstorming sessions that ultimately brought 1,500 pharmacies, hospitals and clinics together in a coordinated operation. (Stead Sellers, 11/7)
Also —
NPR: More People Can Access Surgery. That's Great For Them, Awful For The Planet
Add surgeries to the list of human activities making the climate hotter and more volatile. "Surgical, obstetric, and anaesthesia care is one of the major contributors to climate change within the health sector," according to an article published this month in The Lancet scientific journal by doctors and researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. They worry that the climate impact of current surgical practices will get worse as lifesaving procedures become accessible to the 5 billion people around the world, mostly in low- and middle-income countries, who currently can't get them. (Lu, 11/17)
Houston Chronicle: Death Doulas Help The Dying Meet Their End With Affirmation Instead Of Anxiety
Just as birth doulas help expectant parents bring new life into the world, end-of-life doulas help the dying cope with their next journey. They help the dying and their survivors face death with empowerment and affirmation instead of fear and anxiety. Also known as death doulas, these trained professionals provide the terminally ill and their families physical and emotional support before, during and after death. These are nonmedical services that often include relaxation exercises, funeral planning, educating the family on their loved one’s condition and simple companionship. (Guzman, 11/18)
NPR: Inside China's Online Fentanyl Chemical Networks Helping Fuel The Opioid Crisis
He is a slight, bespectacled man. Colleagues at the industrial materials company where he works describe him as a humorous but diligent employee, known for driving his white Jeep around town in northwestern China's Ningxia region to meet potential clients. Unbeknownst to them, he goes by Benjamin Chen online, where he has a whole other business: He is a popular seller of the chemicals used to make the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl. NPR has identified him but is not using his real name because of the illegal activity in which he's involved. (Feng, 11/17)
The Washington Post: The Unusually Flexible Joints That Gave Her A Boost In Gymnastics Portended A Malady That Took Years To Diagnose
Tarryn Simone Jacobson remembers walking out of a tryout for an elite New Jersey gymnastics team, climbing into her mother’s car and tearfully announcing she had broken her wrist. Her mother was skeptical: Wouldn’t the coaches have told her if something serious had happened to her 9-year-old? Hours later, X-rays confirmed the little girl’s claim. Jacobson’s growth plate was fractured in several places, the first of multiple sprains, dislocations, torn ligaments and other afflictions that would befall her as a young gymnast and later an adult. (Boodman, 11/14)
The New York Times: Recession With A Difference: Women Face Special Burden
For millions of working women, the coronavirus pandemic has delivered a rare and ruinous one-two-three punch. First, the parts of the economy that were smacked hardest and earliest by job losses were ones where women dominate — restaurants, retail businesses and health care. Then a second wave began taking out local and state government jobs, another area where women outnumber men. (Cohen, 11/17)
