Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: COVID-19 Lessons From Italy On Trying To Prevent The Health Care System's Collapse; People Need To Hear The Truth About The Dangers
Boston Globe: A Coronavirus Cautionary Tale From Italy: Don’t Do What We Did
What has happened in Italy shows that less-than-urgent appeals to the public by the government to slightly change habits regarding social interactions aren’t enough when the terrible outcomes they are designed to prevent are not yet apparent; when they become evident, it’s generally too late to act. I and many other Italians just didn’t see the need to change our routines for a threat we could not see. (Mattia Ferraresi, 3/13)
The New York Times: We Need Social Solidarity, Not Just Social Distancing
Social distancing — canceling large gatherings, closing schools and offices, quarantining individuals and even sequestering entire cities or neighborhoods — seems to be the best way to slow the spread of the coronavirus. But it’s a crude and costly public health strategy. Shuttering shared spaces and institutions means families lose child care, wages and social support. What’s more, it’s insufficient to protect the older, sick, homeless and isolated people who are most vulnerable to the virus. They need extra care and attention to survive, not society’s back. (Eric Klinenberg, 3/14)
WBUR: Comprehensive Social Distancing Is Difficult And Necessary. Here's How To Keep Your Family Safe
Our health system will not be able to cope with the projected numbers of people who will need acute care should we not muster the fortitude and will to socially distance each other starting now. On a regular day, we have about 45,000 staffed ICU beds nationally, which can be ramped up in a crisis to about 95,000. Even moderate projections suggest that if current infectious trends hold, our capacity (locally and nationally) may be overwhelmed as early as mid-late April. Thus, the only strategies that can get us off this concerning trajectory are those that enable us to work together as a community to maintain public health by staying apart. (Asaf Bitton, 3/14)
Boston Globe: Social Distancing In The Coronavirus Pandemic — Maintaining Public Health By Staying Apart
The wisdom, and necessity, of this more aggressive, early, and extreme form of social distancing can be found in various articles published recently. These statistical models drive home the point about what we need to do now to avoid a worse crisis later. Historical lessons and experiences of countries worldwide have shown us that taking these actions early can have a dramatic impact on the magnitude of the outbreak. So what does this enhanced form of social distancing mean on a daily basis, when schools are canceled? (Asaf Bitton, 3/14)
NBC News: F. Diane Barth: The Coronavirus-Required Quarantines And Social Distancing Aren't Easy When You Live Alone
Patient concerns about COVID-19 have colored almost every session I've conducted in my practice for the last week, no matter who the client was and no matter what problems had brought them into therapy to begin with. But one concern kept coming up for my single clients — as well as friends and colleagues who live alone — in particular: the isolation they expected to experience while working from home if (or more likely when) their offices closed for health reasons. (F. Diane Barth, 3/15)
CNN: What Matters: No One Knows What The Post-Coronavirus Reality Will Be Like
A cruise ship with passengers in isolation has been denied entry at Caribbean ports. Nike and Urban Outfitters joined Apple and other retailers closing down stores... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended late Sunday that all gatherings of 50 or more people be canceled or postponed for at least the next eight weeks. But it feels like a lot of the country has followed a good portion of the world and shut down itself already. (Zachary B. Wolf and Paul LeBlanc, 3/15)
Fox News: Children And Coronavirus — This Is What You Should Tell Them
Everyone is nervous and worried that we will be the next Italy, a country on lockdown with 21,157 cases and 1,441 deaths, 368 of them over the past day. If we are worried, that means our children are worried, and the question comes up over and over, what to tell them? For starters, as I wrote in my book, "False Alarm, the Truth About the Epidemic of Fear," if we show our children that we are worried or unsure, then they will worry too. Which is not to say that we should hide the truth or pretend that all is OK. But if we demonstrate courage or the ability to laugh or love in the face of a looming threat, our children will see that too and emulate it. (Marc Siegel, 3/15)
Boston Globe: Boston’s Infectious Disease Specialists’ Message To The Public: Don’t Be Cavalier About The Coronavirus
While it is true that many schools and businesses have closed and numerous activities, sporting events, and conferences have been canceled, there is still an undercurrent of denial and skepticism about the warnings. The fact is we are no longer at a point where containment is an option. Rather, our focus must be on mitigating the spread and impact of the coronavirus as much as possible. This can happen only if our communities and our nation heed the clear and horrifying warnings coming out of China, Italy, and Iran — we must act fast and now to prevent the same kind of catastrophic scenario from happening here. (3/13)
The New York Times: This Is One Anxiety We Should Eliminate For The Coronavirus Outbreak
In his recent Oval Office speech, President Trump pledged that Americans won’t receive surprise bills for their coronavirus testing. The goal is good; we need people who are lightly symptomatic to be tested without fear of high personal costs. But it was an empty promise. Unless swift action is taken, surprise bills are coming. And they could exacerbate a public health crisis that is already threatening to spiral out of control. (David Anderson and Nicholas Bagley, 3/15)
The New York Times: A Brain Hack To Break The Coronavirus Anxiety Cycle
Anxiety is a strange beast. As a psychiatrist, I have learned that anxiety and its close cousin, panic, are both born from fear. As a behavioral neuroscientist, I know that fear’s main evolutionary function is helping us survive. In fact, fear is the oldest survival mechanism we have. Fear helps us learn to avoid dangerous situations in the future through a process called negative reinforcement. (Judson Brewer, 3/13)
