Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Navajo Nation In 3 States Battles To Control Soaring Infection, Ramp Up Testing; New Hot Spot Emerges In Georgia
Los Angeles Times: 'We’re Vulnerable': On The Navajo Nation, A Rush To Curb The Coronavirus
Road closures, mask mandates and weekend curfews have not stopped a troubling upward trajectory of coronavirus-related deaths on the Navajo Nation, a high desert landscape with underfunded hospitals and overburdened doctors stretching across three states. As more states begin to ease stay-at-home orders, a desperate attempt to halt coronavirus cases is underway on the country’s largest reservation, which spans Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. But such efforts have proved difficult, because of the remoteness of the reservation and the lack of electricity and running water in some homes. (Lee, 5/6)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: In Northeast Georgia, A New COVID-19 Hot Spot Emerges
A new coronavirus hot spot has emerged in northeast Georgia, stirring fears the region could see the devastating human toll already experienced in the state’s opposite corner. The number of new cases in the Gainesville area increased exponentially each week during April, according to state data. By Tuesday, nearly four dozen patients had died in the area’s dominant hospital system. (Judd, 5/5)
Kaiser Health News: How The Pandemic And An Anti-Vax Health Official Are Roiling A Montana Community
Even as Montana begins a gradual easing of stay-at-home restrictions intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the political schism it highlighted is creating reverberations in one community in the northwestern corner of the state. A Flathead County health board member who led a movement to disparage the protective safety orders and downplay the virus is now the subject of two competing petitions — one to expel her from office and another to keep her. (McLaughlin, 5/7)
KQED: Chinatown Housing Group Feeds Vulnerable SRO Tenants – By Reviving Legacy Restaurants
To prepare meals for her family these days, San Francisco Chinatown resident Tina Yu keeps a careful watch outside of her single room occupancy unit, or SRO, on Stockton Street. Yu monitors how many of her neighbors are in the building’s communal kitchen at one time: If there are more than two people inside, she will hold off cooking and wait. (Lei, 5/6)
KQED: Track Us Better: Overlooked Pacific Islanders Hit Hard By Coronavirus
Across the country, the novel coronavirus has laid bare the life-and-death consequences of racial inequality, which has disproportionately killed more African Americans. Now, a stunningly similar pattern has emerged among Pacific Islanders in California, exposing a public health blind spot that will likely require re-evaluating coronavirus tracking for this small, communal population. (Botts, 5/6)
KQED: Bay Area Counties Report Steep Drop In Calls To Child Abuse Hotlines During Pandemic
Social service agencies are usually alerted to potential child abuse instances through mandated reporters, like teachers, who are required under state law to call if they have reason to believe a child is being abused. But that's far less likely to happen with kids out of school and families forced to shelter in place due to the coronavirus, Marchman said. She noted that abuse and neglect are more likely to occur during times of crisis. (Siler-Gonzales, 5/6)
Houston Chronicle: ‘Long And Hard’ Houston Recession Ahead As COVID-19, Oil Bust Batter Local Economy
The Houston region could lose 83,200 net jobs by the end of 2020, according to the most recent estimate by Bill Gilmer, economist and director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business. Before the virus upended life here and across the country, Gilmer had forecast in January that the region would add a net 47,000 jobs this year. (Douglas, 5/6)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: School Uses High-Tech Lab To Protect Medical Workers During COVID-19
As healthcare workers worried about personal protective equipment shortages, a private school community in metro Atlanta looked at its new, state-of-art, high-tech fabrication lab and asked: How can we help?Ryan Diamond, a rising senior at The Weber School, a Jewish high school in Sandy Springs, watched news reports of how a Georgia Tech lab, with funding from the Coca-Cola Company, produced equipment for those on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Diamond knew his school’s lab was capable of manufacturing similar products. (Berrios, 5/6)
WBUR: 'Boston Hope Gave Me That — Hope': Coronavirus Care And More For Homeless Population At Field Hospital
The facility — which was conceived and constructed by city and state leaders, the private health care providers now running it, and Suffolk Construction — has allowed Boston to have a ready supply of beds for people who are homeless, as it's worked toward testing the entire adult homeless population for the coronavirus over the last few weeks (testing that is expected to be complete this week). The Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to cover 75% of the costs tied to the facility, according to Mayor Marty Walsh's office. (Joliocoeur, 5/7)
Boston Globe: With An Increase In Violence During The Pandemic, Pastors And Residents Call For More Services In Boston Neighborhoods
A coalition of ministers, residents and Boston Police Commissioner William G. Gross Wednesday issued an urgent call for increased attention to the root causes of gun violence in city neighborhoods following an increase in shootings during the coronavrius pandemic. Coalition members repeatedly expressed their support for Governor Charlie Baker, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Boston police, and Transit Police during a meeting with reporters outside a Dorchester barbecue restaurant where multiple shots were fired last December that also included prayers for peace in the city and good health during the pandemic. (Ellement and Berg, 5/6)
Boston Globe: In New Initiative, Minority-Owned Restaurants Will Help Serve Meals To Those In Need
In an initiative announced Wednesday by the City of Boston, a group of local minority-owned restaurants will be tapped to help serve free meals to those in need during the pandemic. The program, called CommonTable, will be run by CommonWealth Kitchen, a nonprofit that provides a shared kitchen space in Dorchester to startup food businesses, most of which are minority-owned. It will provide free meals to needy families and seniors through a $461,688 grant from the Boston Resiliency Fund, which was created to serve the community as it weathers the crisis. (Nanos, 5/6)
