Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
More Covid Restrictions Lifted, But Virus Still Popping Up
AP: NY Lifts Statewide Virus Curfew For Indoor Bars, Eateries
Bars and restaurants no longer have to close at midnight across New York state, as its coronavirus curfew for indoor dining ended Monday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last month that the restriction would be lifted. With that, establishments can return to the closing times that their liquor licenses or other regulations allow. A similar pandemic curfew for outdoor dining ended May 17, although some local governments have their own closing-time rules for outdoor tables. (5/31)
Houston Chronicle: Bill Fails, Leaving Gov. Abbott With Near-Complete Control Of Texas Pandemic Response
The state Legislature won’t curtail Gov. Greg Abbott’s pandemic powers, after members of the House and the Senate failed to hash out their differences over it. The measure, House Bill 3, was priority legislation in the lower chamber, and variations of the bill had passed both the House and the Senate. But representatives appointed to find a compromise missed a key deadline late Saturday to release new bill text, killing the measure. (Harris, 5/30)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio's COVID-19 Health Orders End After Tuesday, But Some Remain
Starting Wednesday, there is no state order requiring nonvaccinated adults to wear face coverings indoors or bars and restaurants to space out tables. State-set restrictions have waned in recent months: first in February with the elimination of the curfew and most recently with exemptions for fully vaccinated people. The mask order has been in place since July 23, 2020. DeWine announced May 12 the orders would come off in three weeks, despite not yet meeting his goal of 50 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the previous two weeks. A few days later, DeWine halted enforcement of the mask mandate at retail businesses. (Borchardt, 5/31)
In other updates about the spread of covid —
San Francisco Chronicle: Northern California Counties Once Spared By COVID-19 Now Seeing Cases Surge
As the coronavirus pandemic wanes across California, a handful of counties along the northernmost edge of the state that were spared the worst of last year’s surge are now seeing an alarming rise in cases driven by the spread of variants and deep-rooted resistance to vaccines. With the state’s June 15 target for reopening in view, that could be cause for concern. “Right now, Shasta County is a red tier county in a sea of orange and yellow counties,” said Kerri Schuette, program manager of the county’s public health department, referring to California’s color-coded assessment of risk levels. “We still have a very high case rate.” (Vaziri, 5/30)
Fox News: Nearly Half Of COVID-19 Patients Experience Functional Decline After Hospital Stay
A study of COVID-19 survivors found that up to 45% of those who were hospitalized for the virus experienced a significant functional decline after being discharged. Researchers said the findings highlight the need for rehabilitation in this patient population post-release. The study, which was conducted by Michigan Medicine and published in the journal PM&R, included data from charts of 300 adult patients who were hospitalized for COVID-19 between March and April of 2020. Researchers found that among patients who experienced functional decline, 80% were referred for additional therapy post-discharge, while nearly 20% of all patients lost so much ability that they were no longer able to live independently upon release. (Hein, 5/29)
KHN: Little-Known Illnesses Turning Up In Covid Long-Haulers
The day Dr. Elizabeth Dawson was diagnosed with covid-19 in October, she awoke feeling as if she had a bad hangover. Four months later she tested negative for the virus, but her symptoms have only worsened. Dawson is among what one doctor called “waves and waves” of “long-haul” covid patients who remain sick long after retesting negative for the virus. A significant percentage are suffering from syndromes that few doctors understand or treat. In fact, a yearlong wait to see a specialist for these syndromes was common even before the ranks of patients were swelled by post-covid newcomers. For some, the consequences are life altering. (Loose, 6/1)
CIDRAP: Children Have More Complications With COVID Than With Flu, Study Finds
Hospitalization, hypoxemia, pneumonia, and other complications were found more in children who contracted COVID-19 than in those who had seasonal flu, according to a study today in Pediatrics. The researchers drew from databases in France, Germany, Spain, South Korea, and the United States to analyze data on 242,158 youth (18 years and younger) diagnosed as having COVID-19 from January to June 2020, 4.0% of whom were hospitalized. They then compared 30-day outcomes, including hospitalization, death, pneumonia, and multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), with 2,084,180 children who had the flu during the 2017-18 season. (5/28)
Also —
Axios: How We'll Memorialize The Toll Of The Coronavirus Pandemic
A pandemic that has killed 3.5 million people globally — and perhaps far more — is beginning to be publicly memorialized. COVID-19 is a global pandemic, but the experience of it has been fractured by where people live, their race, their age, where they work and what their politics are — creating a challenge for those tasked with memorializing it. Last week, officials from New York's Department of Sanitation unveiled what they said is the city's first permanent memorial to victims of COVID-19: a statue dedicated to the nine sanitation workers lost to the virus last year. (Walsh and Snyder, 5/29)
The New York Times: The Pandemic In The U.S. Has Vastly Improved. For These Families, The Worst Has Just Begun.
After more than a year of pandemic restrictions, many Americans are leaving their masks behind, making summer travel plans and joyously reuniting with family and friends. As more are vaccinated and new infections plummet, there is a sense that the worst of the pandemic is over in the United States. But for people like Michele Preissler, 60, the worst has just begun. (Mervosh, 5/31)
PBS NewsHour: 5 Tips From Mental Health Experts On Transitioning Out Of COVID Restrictions
With vaccines widely available and case numbers dropping, cities around the U.S. are dropping restrictions and focusing on “getting back to normal” for the summer. But for many — after more than a year in isolation — “normal” feels scary. Experts say we need to talk more about what transitioning to a more open society will be like — and what our new normal will be like. Here are some tips on how exactly to do that, from Riana Elyse Anderson, a psychologist at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, and psychiatrist Dr. Jessi Gold, from the Washington University of Medicine in St. Louis. (Partridge, 5/31)
CNN: Covid-19 Infection Leaves Big Medical Bills For Some Survivors
"My job is to go out and sing, and entertain these residents in the senior living facilities. And I need to be able to hear the frequencies, and I lost those during my infection with Covid." A battle with Covid-19 left singer Irena Schulz with pain in her ears and hearing loss, jeopardizing her job performing for elderly and dementia patients if she could no longer hear the music. "I have been suffering from severe depression because I can't hear. And then I had this ringing in my ears that is just -- it's deafening. I didn't really want to wake up in the morning. I just was that depressed," Schulz told CNN's Elizabeth Cohen in an interview. (Enriquez, 5/31)
The New York Times: How Dogs Are On The Covid-19 Front Lines
Bobby was a good boy. So was Bravo. Angel was a good girl, and when she sat, furry hindquarters sliding a little on the tile floor, she raised a paw for emphasis, as if to say, It’s this cotton ball that my keen nose has identified, the one that smells like Covid-19. The three Labradors, operating out of a university clinic in Bangkok, are part of a global corps of dogs being trained to sniff out Covid-19 in people. Preliminary studies, conducted in multiple countries, suggest that their detection rate may surpass that of the rapid antigen testing often used in airports and other public places. (Beech, 5/31)
