Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Mortality Statistics Tell Heartbreaking Story Of Those Who Didn't Need To Die
The Washington Post: U.S. ‘Excess Deaths’ During Pandemic Surpassed 1 Million, With Covid Killing Most But Other Diseases Adding To The Toll, CDC Says
The United States has recorded more than 1 million “excess deaths” since the start of the pandemic, government mortality statistics show, a toll that exceeds the officially documented lethality of the coronavirus and captures the broad consequences of the health crisis that has entered its third year. The excess-deaths figure surpassed the milestone last week, reaching 1,023,916, according to Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. The center updates its estimate weekly. (Achenbach, 2/15)
In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —
Bloomberg: Idaho Withdraws Hospital Rationing As Staffing Improves
Idaho, one of the least-vaccinated U.S. states, withdrew pandemic hospital rationing Tuesday as staffing and blood supplies improved, officials said. Hospitals in the southern part of the state, including the capital of Boise, were placed under crisis standards of care during the Covid-19 omicron outbreak earlier this year. Even so, Idaho’s hospitals remain under stress, Dave Jeppesen, director of the state Department of Health and Welfare, said during an online briefing. (Del Giudice, 2/15)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: COVID-19 Levels In Wisconsin Wastewater A Sign Omicron Is In Decline
Wastewater from both the Jones Island and South Shore sewer sheds in Milwaukee have shown a decline in the presence of COVID-19 over the last month, yet another sign that the omicron variant surge is nearing an end, health officials said Tuesday. "Throughout the pandemic, these trends have been predictive and largely mirror disease burden in the community as reflected through case numbers and positivity rates," said Ben Weston, chief health policy adviser for Milwaukee County. "Similar to other points in the pandemic, this trend reflects the trajectory of the current phase of the pandemic, which is that our disease burden from omicron is quickly and thankfully receding." (Bentley, 2/15)
Bay Area News Group: CDC: Omicron Drove Up Kids' COVID-19 Hospitalization Rates
Bay Area pediatricians knew omicron was like nothing they’d seen before for their youngest patients, and a new study released Tuesday confirms their alarm: The highly contagious variant sent kids to U.S. hospitals at rates four times higher than delta, and rates were higher still for those under age 5, who are too young for COVID-19 vaccination. Although kids have been least vulnerable to the virus, the rise in severe illness among them as cases surged this winter alarmed health officials who have pleaded with parents to get their children vaccinated. “We all went into pediatrics to make kids better, so seeing them suffer in the hospital and outside, it’s hard,” said Jenna Holmen, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, which was forced to double occupancy in some rooms during the height of the omicron surge. (Woolfolk and DeRuy, 2/15)
CNBC: Moderna CEO: Reasonable To Think Covid Pandemic May Be In Final Stages
Moderna’s CEO Stephane Bancel said it’s “reasonable” to assume that we may be approaching the final stages of the pandemic. “I think that is a reasonable scenario,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” when asked about views that the Covid-19 pandemic may now be in its final stages. “There’s an 80% chance that as omicron evolves or SarsCov-2 virus evolves, we are going to see less and less virulent viruses,” he said Wednesday. He also said there’s another “20% scenario where we see a next mutation, which is more virulent than omicron.” (Bala, 2/16)
The Washington Post: CDC Lowers Cruise Travel Warning From ‘Very High’ To ‘High’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says taking a cruise now presents a lower risk than it did at the end of 2021 — at least in some cases. On Tuesday, the public health agency lowered its travel health notice for cruises from Level 4 to Level 3, which indicates covid-19 levels on ships are “high” rather than “very high.” The agency had been warning all travelers to avoid cruise travel regardless of vaccination status since Dec. 30, after the omicron surge sent cases on ships soaring. (Sampson, 2/15)
Dallas Morning News: 5 Gorillas Infected With COVID-19 At Dallas Zoo Have Omicron Variant, Results Confirm
The five gorillas at the Dallas Zoo who tested positive for COVID-19 last week are infected with the omicron variant. Lowland western gorillas Asha, B’Wenzi, Marcus, Shana and Shanta tested positive for the virus Feb. 7 from samples that were taken Feb. 1. The National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed the zoo’s preliminary results Tuesday, the zoo said Tuesday on Facebook. All of the gorillas are still asymptomatic, the zoo said. (Marfin, 2/15)
Bloomberg: Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Toddler Tests Positive, Spurs Warning On Covid Risk
Joining worried parents across the country, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced on Twitter Tuesday that his 4-year-old daughter had tested positive for Covid-19. “Staring at my daughter’s positive test, I asked myself the same questions many parents have asked: Will my child be ok? Could I have done more to protect her? Was this my fault? In these moments, it doesn’t matter if you’re a doctor or Surgeon General,” Murthy wrote. “We are parents first.” (Muller, 2/15)
Also —
CIDRAP: Many COVID-19 Patients Left With Bills After Cost-Sharing Waivers Expired
A large proportion of US COVID-19 patients were left with thousands of dollars of hospital bills after many health insurers stopped issuing cost-sharing waivers in early 2021, finds a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open.A team led by University of Michigan at Ann Arbor researchers mined the IQVIA PharMetrics Plus for Academics database for COVID-19 hospital claims for patients covered by Medicare Advantage or private insurance from Mar 1, 2020, to Mar 30, 2021. (2/15)
