Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: COVID Relief Is Long, Long Overdue For Unemployed; Lockdowns Are Fueling Inequality
Houston Chronicle: Do Your Job. Congress, Trump Must Reach COVID Relief Deal Now.
The crisis demands urgency. An estimated 32 million people — about 1 in 5 workers — were drawing unemployment in July, many having been displaced from jobs that no longer exist and may never return. Millions of families are facing eviction notices that could push homeless figures to levels unseen since the Great Depression. The idea of holding back on another round of stimulus in hopes that the pandemic will go away and things will get better is delusional. (8/6)
Los Angeles Times: Trump's Move To Help The Jobless Is Wrong On So Many Levels
President Trump says he’ll ride to the rescue of jobless Americans if Congress fails to act, telling reporters that he will soon sign an executive order restoring at least some of the extra unemployment benefits that expired at the end of July.For Democrats, it’s kind of like having an uncle they barely know show up at a family reunion and expect a hug. They would look churlish if they complained about an increase in benefits, and yet having Trump provide it unilaterally would be wrong on a bunch of levels. (8/6)
USA Today: Coronavirus Ride: Four Ways America Can Get Back On Track
A leading science institute forecasts that U.S. coronavirus deaths will exceed 200,000 by Election Day. Dr. Deborah Birx, President Donald Trump's COVID-19 response coordinator, says the epidemic has entered a new phase and is extraordinarily widespread. "Right now, the virus is winning and Americans are losing," says Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And an America with 4% of the world's population accounts for more than 22% of global lives reported lost to the disease. Never mind Trump optimism Never mind the president's fanciful optimism. It is. time to reset the nation's fight against the coronavirus. (8/6)
CNN: The Mystery Of Dr. Birx
As the Covid-19 debacle continues to worsen, Dr. Deborah Birx, who entered the scene in March as Corona Task Force Chair Vice President Mike Pence's "right arm," has emerged as a new person to blame. Initially, and widely, viewed as someone of experience, savvy and integrity, she currently finds herself in a crossfire hurricane, equally disparaged by President Donald Trump, who called her "pathetic," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who announced she had "lost confidence" in Birx, and a number of professional peers who once welcomed her appointment. (Kent Sepkowitz, 8/6)
The Wall Street Journal: How Lockdowns Fuel Inequality
Business Insider, known for click-bait, last weekend tweeted out a nine-minute video on inequality and billionaire wealth during the pandemic. President Trump took the bait, perhaps because Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had a cameo, and he retweeted the video with a comment: “Too much income disparity. Changes must be made, and soon!” Bernie Sanders couldn’t have said it better. Politicians want to blame the rich, but their policies are contributing to these wealth disparities. Some corporate executives have become richer on paper as their stock prices rise, while government lockdowns and pandemic legislation have created winners and losers in the real economy. (8/6)
Stat: ICE Must Stop Using Solitary Confinement For Covid-19 Quarantine
After months of social distancing, many of us are feeling its effects. Experts have delineated the mental and physical health impacts of isolation caused by the pandemic, and those who have experienced home quarantine have been particularly vulnerable to loneliness and depression. (Samara Fox, Ellen Gallagher and J. Wesley Boyd, 8/7)
The Hill: Coronavirus Flattens Workers And Business As Government Expands
The federal government is a little like the Energizer Bunny. In this case, it just keeps growing and growing and growing. It expands through sickness and health, through good times and bad. (Stephen Moore, 8/6)
The Hill: The Destructiveness Of Science Mimicking Social Media
Publicity about progress on COVID-19 research has highlighted how a social media mindset is seeping into science with potentially disastrous consequences. Researchers at academic institutions and biotech companies have rushed to share findings on COVID-19, even though they know (or ought to know) that the available data aren’t yet sufficient to support their theories or products. These symptoms reflect an insidious problem. Researchers and companies have fallen prey to a celebrity culture whereby the quest for five minutes of fame is more alluring than the painstaking restraint and rigor that the scientific method demands. (Dr. Kim-Lien Nguyen, 8/6)
Bloomberg: Coronavirus: The U.S. Needs An Airplane Mask Mandate
In a country where Covid-19 remains out of control, it’s wrong for anyone not to wear a mask on a commercial airplane. Increasing evidence shows that good cloth face coverings significantly lower the spread of the novel coronavirus at close quarters — and that not wearing them is risky, because this germ is so often breathed into the air by people who don’t yet know they have it. One passenger on a flight from Singapore to Hangzhou, China, was infected by neighboring passengers when he merely let his mask slip below his nose while talking with his family. It is one thing for people to take chances with their own health. It’s quite another when their reckless behavior also puts others at risk. The evidence clearly shows that this is the case with masks during the pandemic. (8/6)
The Washington Post: Covid-19 Threatens To Overwhelm The Developing World
As covid-19 burns its path across the United States, we have seen how a high level of infection in a city or region can overwhelm hospitals, swamp testing services, strain supply chains for protective equipment, crowd out surgeries and generally cause havoc with health infrastructure. Now consider those challenges vastly magnified, with casualties measured in millions. The covid-19 storm has arrived in the developing world. (Michael Gerson, 8/6)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Mercy Health Committed To Addressing Health Care Inequality
Cincinnati is not unlike many communities across the country, struggling to make sense out of what has happened to those impacted by racial inequality and injustice – and how we will pull together to move forward, to heal and to learn. (Dave Fikse, 8/6)
