Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Mormon Missionaries Quarantined After Bringing Covid To Kiribati
Salt Lake Tribune: Returning LDS Missionaries In Quarantine After Bringing COVID To A Pacific Nation Despite Following Health Precautions
Earlier this month, a plane, chartered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and carrying mostly former missionaries, inadvertently brought the first cluster of COVID-19 cases to Kiribati, an island nation between Hawaii and Australia. Shortly after the pandemic began in 2020, Kiribati had closed its borders — even to its own citizens living abroad, including full-time Latter-day Saint missionaries, who typically serve between 18 months and two years. Some of those on the flight had been away for more than 3½ years, church spokesperson Sam Penrod told the Deseret News. (Fletcher Stack, 1/25)
And more covid news from around the world —
Bloomberg: Covid Cases In U.K. Start To Slow Down, Study Shows
About two-thirds of the participants in a large U.K. Covid-19 study who tested positive this month reported a previous infection with the virus, researchers found. Another 7.5% said they suspected they’d had an earlier case, according to the React-1 study led by Imperial College London. Researchers looked at infections among some 100,000 volunteers from Jan. 5 to Jan. 20. (Anghel, 1/26)
The Boston Globe: Australians Can Be Fined $1,000 For Not Reporting A Positive Rapid Test. In Massachusetts, Reporting A Test Isn’t Even Possible
If a person in Sydney tests positive for COVID using an at-home rapid test but fails to report it to authorities, they could be slapped with a $1,000 fine. Halfway around the world in Massachusetts, however, even someone eager to report a positive at-home test has no means of alerting health authorities. In the past few months, at-home rapid tests have ballooned in popularity as quick screening tools to slow the spread of the virus. Federal and state officials have slowly begun distributing the tests at little or no cost to residents. And the general public — aware of Omicron’s sharp rise, but uninterested in further lockdowns — gobbled them up, stalking pharmacies before dawn and scouring online inventory. (Krueger, 1/25)
Stat: Hong Kong May Become A Living Laboratory In Search For Covid-19 Answers
In the two months since it first hit the world’s Covid-19 radar, scientists have generated an astonishing amount of information on the Omicron variant. Still, key questions remain about Omicron, as well as about a new subvariant, known as BA.2. Among them: How much more transmissible is BA.2 than its wildly transmissible parent? Answering questions like these can be challenging, sometimes almost impossible, in many locations because such a large proportion of people has been vaccinated, previously infected, or both. That can make it hard to tease out whether certain outcomes are attributable to changes in the virus versus the result of built-up human immunity. But it turns out there is a place where clear answers to key questions may be within reach — if that place is really, really unlucky. That place is Hong Kong. (Branswell, 1/26)
In other global developments —
AP: Thailand First In Asia To Move To Decriminalize Marijuana
Thailand on Tuesday became the first country in Asia to approve the de facto decriminalization of marijuana, though authorities have left a grey area around its recreational use. Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced that the Narcotics Control Board had approved the dropping cannabis from the ministry’s list of controlled drugs. (Ekvitthayavechnukul, 1/26)
AP: WHO Chief Makes Case For 2nd Term As Ethiopia Criticizes Him
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus laid out more plans Tuesday to fight the virus as he pitched his case for a new five-year term and faced criticism from his own country — Ethiopia — over his comments about the embattled Tigray region. edros, who like many Ethiopians goes by his first name, is running unopposed for a second term as WHO director-general. That makes his presentation to the U.N. health agency’s executive board a bit of a formality, since he is all but certain to win re-election when the WHO Assembly takes place in May. (Keaten, 1/25)
Bloomberg: WHO’s Tedros Nominated For Second Term As Covid Keeps Spreading
The World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus moved closer to serving a second term after securing the group’s nomination. The WHO’s executive board’s nomination on Tuesday paves the way for his official reappointment in May. A director-general can be reappointed once, meaning Tedros is eligible for an additional term of five years. Tedros was the only candidate to be proposed. (Gretler, 1/25)
