Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pandemic Didn't Worsen Uninsurance Rate, Report Finds
Axios: U.S. Uninsurance Rate Unchanged During Pandemic Despite Layoffs
Despite layoffs, losses of income and employer-backed insurance during the pandemic, the uninsurance rate did not change between March 2019 and April 2021 thanks to increased enrollment in public coverage, according to a new report out today by the Urban Institute. More than one in 10 adults (11%) overall were still uninsured in April 2021, including nearly 20% of adults in states that have not expanded Medicaid. (Fernandez, 8/23)
In environmental news —
CBS News: Orlando Declares Water Shortage Linked To Rise In Florida COVID-19 Cases
A flood of COVID-19 cases in Florida is leading to a water shortage in Orlando, with the city asking residents to cut their usage for at least several weeks to conserve resources for hospitalized patients. A surge in hospitalized patients in the state is creating "a regional shortage of liquid oxygen," the Orlando Utilities Commission announced Friday. Liquid oxygen is also used to treat water, and its diversion to hospitals is straining the region's water supplies. City officials are asking residents to stop watering their lawns and washing their cars to save water for COVID-19 patients. (Ivanova, 8/20)
KHN: As Temperatures Rise, So Do The Health Risks For California’s Farmworkers
Leoncio Antonio Trejo Galdamez, 58, died in his son’s arms on June 29 after spending the day laying irrigation pipes in California’s Coachella Valley. News of his death reverberated through the largely Latino community near the Mexican and Arizona borders — another casualty in a dangerous business. “Farmworkers are at the front lines of climate change. And, in some instances, we’re seeing a perfect storm battering our workers: covid-19, wildfire smoke and heat,” said Leydy Rangel, a spokesperson for the United Farm Workers Foundation. (Green and de Marco, 8/23)
On maternal health —
Houston Chronicle: Texas Is Boosting Healthcare Access For New Moms, But There's A Catch
Doctors and health care advocates have been trying for years to expand Medicaid in Texas, especially for new moms who can experience life-threatening depression and physical complications in the months after giving birth. So when Republicans this spring agreed to a modest boost in postpartum benefits, from two months to six, many were elated. Even Gov. Greg Abbott, a critic of the government health program, was celebrative, hosting a ceremonial signing of House Bill 133 into law with fellow conservatives. (Blackman, 8/23)
AP: WVa Partnership Gets $1M Grant To Assist Rural Maternal Care
A partnership dedicated to improving health outcomes for pregnant women and their babies in West Virginia has been awarded a $1 million federal grant. Sen. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced the funding for the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (8/23)
And in public health news influenced by covid —
San Diego Union-Tribune: A San Diego Health System Delays Procedures Due To Staff Shortage, COVID
Scripps Health has begun delaying some medical procedures and is considering consolidating some of its outpatient locations due to a shortage of qualified workers even as COVID-19 continues to increase demand for hospital beds, officials said. Chris Van Gorder, the health system’s chief executive officer, said in an email that the number of delayed operations remains very small — nowhere near the near-total shutdown of elective medical work undertaken in 2020. (Sisson, 8/21)
The Atlantic: Will Pandemic Fatigue Change How We Process Disasters?
Last week, the psychologist Steven Taylor was at a socially distanced get-together with some relatives and their friends when the conversation turned to the chaos in Afghanistan. Someone mentioned the sickening footage of desperate Afghans clinging to American military aircraft as they departed. Then one man made a remark that caught Taylor off guard: The videos, he said, were funny. Others agreed. Taylor was appalled. It was one of the most disturbing things he’d heard all week. Worse, he doesn’t think it was an isolated instance of casual sadism. Taylor studies disaster psychology at the University of British Columbia, and he knows how intense, sustained stress can desensitize the mind. What most concerned him about the incident was what it suggested about the pandemic’s effects on our experience of other disasters and, more broadly, our ability—or inability—to empathize. (Stern, 8/22)
KHN: Pandemic Unveils Growing Suicide Crisis For Communities Of Color
Rafiah Maxie has been a licensed clinical social worker in the Chicago area for a decade. Throughout that time, she’d viewed suicide as a problem most prevalent among middle-aged white men. ntil May 27, 2020. That day, Maxie’s 19-year-old son, Jamal Clay — who loved playing the trumpet and participating in theater, who would help her unload groceries from the car and raise funds for the March of the Dimes — killed himself in their garage. “Now I cannot blink without seeing my son hanging,” said Maxie, who is Black. (Pattani, 8/23)
The Wall Street Journal: Remote Work May Now Last For Two Years, Worrying Some Bosses
With the latest wave of return-to-office delays from Covid-19, some companies are considering a new possibility: Offices may be closed for nearly two years. That is raising concerns among executives that the longer people stay at home, the harder or more disruptive it could be to eventually bring them back. (Cutter, 8/22)
Also —
AP: State Drops 'Do Not Eat' Advisory For Illinois River Fish
Illinois public health officials have dropped a “do not eat” advisory for sport fish in the Illinois River for the first time since the 1970s. The Illinois Department of Public Health relaxed the warning because concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, have declined, the Chicago Tribune reported. The toxic contaminants were banned in 1979 but stick around in the environment, prompting the advisory. (8/22)
CIDRAP: Two Wisconsin H1N2v Flu Cases Linked To County Fair
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported two variant H1N2 (H1N2v) flu cases, both involving patients 18 or older who attended the same county fair in Wisconsin that had swine exhibits. One adult was hospitalized, and both have recovered from their infections. No human-to-human cases have been linked to either person. (8/20)
