Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
The Washington Post: The Search For Coronavirus Patient Zero, From Wuhan To Paris To Milan
On Dec. 8, 2019, the accountant began to feel ill. He did not frequent Wuhan’s Huanan seafood market, he would later tell World Health Organization experts investigating the coronavirus’s origin. He preferred the RT-Mart near his home on the eastern bank of the Yangtze River — a sleek, multistory supermarket where magnetized escalator ramps sweep customers and their shopping carts from floor to floor. He hadn’t traveled outside of Wuhan in the days before his illness. If someone caught the novel coronavirus by crawling in a bat cave, it wasn’t him. (Dou, Li, Harlan and Noack, 7/7)
Reuters: China’s Gene Giant Harvests Data From Millions Of Pregnant Women
A Chinese gene company selling prenatal tests around the world developed them in collaboration with the country's military and is using them to collect genetic data from millions of women for sweeping research on the traits of populations, a Reuters review of scientific papers and company statements found. U.S. government advisors warned in March that a vast bank of genomic data that the company, BGI Group, is amassing and analyzing with artificial intelligence could give China a path to economic and military advantage. As science pinpoints new links between genes and human traits, access to the biggest, most diverse set of human genomes is a strategic edge. The technology could propel China to dominate global pharmaceuticals, and also potentially lead to genetically enhanced soldiers, or engineered pathogens to target the U.S. population or food supply, the advisors said. (Needham and Baldwin, 7/7)
KQED: Heat-Related Deaths Could One Day Match Those Of Infectious Diseases
It was the most extreme heat wave on record in the Pacific Northwest. And as officials count the heat-related deaths over the next weeks, it will almost certainly turn out to be one of the deadliest. In Vancouver, British Columbia, police responded to at least 65 sudden deaths suspected to be heat-related. And the province’s chief coroner said in late June that at least 486 deaths likely linked to the heat. The residents of one British Columbia community, Lytton, where a temperature of 121 degrees Fahrenheit was higher than any ever recorded in Canada, were ordered to evacuate because of an encroaching wildfire. (Berwyn, Bruggers and Gross, 7/6)
AP: Wildlife, Air Quality At Risk As Great Salt Lake Nears Low
The silvery blue waters of the Great Salt Lake sprawl across the Utah desert, having covered an area nearly the size of Delaware for much of history. For years, though, the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River has been shrinking. And a drought gripping the American West could make this year the worst yet. The receding water is already affecting the nesting spot of pelicans that are among the millions of birds dependent on the lake. Sailboats have been hoisted out of the water to keep them from getting stuck in the mud. More dry lakebed getting exposed could send arsenic-laced dust into the air that millions breathe. (Whitehurst, 7/6)
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AP: Blades Of Steel: Johns Spotlights Mental Health In Hockey
Stephen Johns worked out at the rink, trying to get back to playing after a concussion. Dallas Stars teammates asked how he was doing but never quite understood. “They kind of went on about their days not really knowing what was really going on, kind of the thoughts I was having and the severity of the depression and anxiety,” Johns said. “Once I started being more open about it, guys would come out and say, ‘Man, I had no idea you were going through that,’ and ‘I wish I would’ve known, wish I could’ve helped.’” Johns figured out last year he couldn’t keep playing hockey, hung up his ice skates and eventually strapped on rollerblades with the goal of helping others. The 29-year-old who recently announced his retirement from the NHL is rollerblading across the U.S. and making a movie about it to bring awareness to depression and anxiety, which could be another major stride for a sport still trying to raise acceptance and management of mental health concerns. (Whyno, 6/27)
CBS News: CC Sabathia Once Woke Up Naked At A Jay-Z Party After A Drinking Bender. Now The MLB Pitcher Is Opening Up About His Addiction And Recovery.
CC Sabathia's left arm has taken him from the streets of Vallejo, California, to the mound at Yankee Stadium. One of the most dominating pitchers of his generation, Sabathia is a six-time All-Star, Cy Young Award Winner and ace of the 2009 World Series Champion New York Yankees. But his on-the-field success came with off-the-field heartbreak. Sabathia lost his dad and a beloved cousin during his playing career, while his addiction to alcohol grew. In the opening lines of his new book "Till the End," Sabathia called himself a "weird alcoholic." "I would pitch, and then the next three days, I would drink. So the day after, right after I came out of the game, I would need a drink and would drink the next three days, and I would take two days off, pitch and do it all over again," Sabathia told CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King. "So I kind of had a routine where I would normalize drinking for three days, like a bender, and would detox myself, be able to pitch — and do it all over again." (Novak, 7/5)
The Washington Post: Richard Lewontin, A Preeminent Geneticist Of His Era, Dies At 92
Ever since the mid-1800s, when Charles Darwin articulated the theory of evolution and the Moravian monk Gregor Mendel discerned the basic principles of heredity by crossbreeding peas in his garden, scientists, philosophers, social scientists and theologians have debated the implications of genetics on the origins, meaning and future of human life. In the second half of the 20th century, one of the most prominent scientists to spar in that arena was geneticist Richard C. Lewontin. (Langer, 7/8)
