Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Mental Health Experts' Warning: New Moms Seeing Increase In Anxieties, Postpartum Depressions
The New York Times: Experts Fear Increase In Postpartum Mood And Anxiety Disorders
After going through a harrowing bout of postpartum depression with her first child, my patient, Emily, had done everything possible to prepare for the postpartum period with her second. She stayed in treatment with me, her perinatal psychiatrist, and together we made the decision for her to continue Zoloft during her pregnancy. With the combination of medication, psychotherapy and a significant amount of planning, she was feeling confident about her delivery in April. And then, the coronavirus hit. (Lakshmin, 5/27)
Stateline: This Disaster Season, 'Everything Is Complicated By COVID-19'
If a hurricane bears down on Florida this summer, residents likely won’t be told to evacuate to the safety of a high school gymnasium or large civic building. Instead, they may be asked to download an app that assigns them to an open hotel room — a shelter from both the storm and the threat of a COVID-19 outbreak. State officials have mapped out all of Florida’s 5,000 hotels, along with the wind rating of each facility and whether it has a generator on hand. So far, they’ve persuaded 200 hotels to sign up to serve as shelters; they’re aiming to reach 1,000. (Brown, 5/28)
The New York Times: ‘Just Sitting In Limbo.’ For Many Professionals, Careers Are On Hold.
After five years at the wellness industry start-up she co-founded in San Francisco, Hasti Nazem decided it was time for her next adventure in Silicon Valley. Her last day was March 5. Two months later, the job market has imploded, promising leads have dried up, and Ms. Nazem, 35, is stuck in limbo. She is mining her network for introductions, but still without a full-time job. “I’m mostly having Zoom calls with strangers,” she said. (Gelles, 5/27)
The New York Times: They Predicted ‘The Crisis Of 2020’ … In 1991. So How Does This End?
They called it the Crisis of 2020 — an unspecified calamity that “could rival the gravest trials our ancestors have known” and serve as “the next great hinge of history.” It could be an environmental catastrophe, a nuclear threat or “some catastrophic failure in the world economy.” That was 1991. The scholars responsible were William Strauss and Neil Howe, whose book “Generations” introduced a provocative theory that American history unfolds in boom-to-bust cycles of roughly 80 years. (Peters, 5/28)
The Wall Street Journal: Why Does Zoom Exhaust You? Science Has An Answer
Tammy Sun, the quintessential Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur, fired off an uncharacteristically low-tech Tweet recently. “Zoom fatigue has me wanting a landline and a rotary phone,” wrote the founder and CEO of Carrot, a startup that provides fertility benefit plans for companies. Ms. Sun likes Zoom a lot. In fact, she says she’s a “power user,” spending nine out of 10 conversations on it, six days a week. The hours aren’t the problem, she says, it’s the real-time image of herself on the Zoom grid, reflecting her every move as if she were in front of a mirror. “I’m flat-out not used to that,” she says. (Morris, 5/27)
ABC News: Domestic Violence Centers Navigate Coronavirus Crisis As Calls Spike
Domestic violence has seen a dramatic increase during the novel coronavirus pandemic, with victims cooped up with their abusers under stay-at home orders and unable to access services they normally would utilize for support, according to officials. As resource centers face this new crisis, their services "are vital now more than ever," Keith Scott, the director of education at The Safe Center, a Long Island, New York-based domestic violence resource center, told ABC News. (Torres, 5/28)
ABC News: Battling Cancer And COVID-19: Patients And Survivors Worry About Lost Time
For Meredith Minister, this was supposed to be a summer of living it up and dancing away fears of late-stage metastatic cancer. "I am in a place with cancer where I am just trying to make decisions to live my life as long as it lasts, and not trying to lengthen my life by decreasing its quality," said Minister, 36, a religious studies professor and amateur dance enthusiast, who is no longer receiving treatment for her disease... Many of the 15 million Americans living with cancer are coming to terms with a pandemic that has upended support systems and coping mechanisms, facing difficult choices about how to live fully in the era of social distance. (Dwyer, 5/28)
CNN: Practice Sun Safety To Stay Healthy Outside During The Pandemic
As we welcome sunshine and warmer weather after being hunkered down for weeks, many of us will be more excited than ever to spend time outside. But whether you are simply looking for some fresh air during a walk or hoping to get an extra dose of the "sunshine vitamin" — that is, immunity-supporting vitamin D — dermatologists say it's as important as ever to practice safe sun to protect against skin cancer. (Drayer, 5/28)
The Wall Street Journal: A Truck Driver’s Long Haul During Coronavirus Crisis: ‘You Realize Just How Alone We Are’
Robert Greene’s lonely job has gotten even more isolating in recent months. The longtime truck driver’s income has plummeted, and places to eat, shower and sleep during his journeys have become harder to find. His wife’s recent battle with coronavirus only increased the stress felt by someone spending so much time on the road. Mr. Greene, a 52-year-old from Fairborn, Ohio, has been driving trucks for about three decades and logged thousands of miles in his big rig during the pandemic. He has recently hauled everything from meat to bodies bound for the crematorium. (Smith, 5/28)
Kaiser Health News: For Seniors, COVID-19 Sets Off A Pandemic Of Despair
As states relax coronavirus restrictions, older adults are advised, in most cases, to keep sheltering in place. But for some, the burden of isolation and uncertainty is becoming hard to bear. This “stay at home awhile longer” advice recognizes that older adults are more likely to become critically ill and die if infected with the virus. At highest risk are seniors with underlying medical conditions such as heart, lung or autoimmune diseases. (Graham, 5/28)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Coronavirus: What To Know As You Reschedule Your Delayed Health Care
Health care across Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky is awakening from state-ordered closures to nonessential surgery and procedures imposed in March as part of the public health defense against the new coronavirus pandemic. It’s not clear yet what the new day will bring to Cincinnati area medicine, which lost millions of dollars in the six-week stop to hospitals’ most lucrative revenue stream. A few quickly employed tools, such as the pandemic-fueled push to telemedicine, will stick around. (Saker, 5/27)
