Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Occurrence Of A Second Wave Is Avoidable This Summer; Good COVID Lessons Include Biotech's Strong Response
The Washington Post: A Devastating Second Wave Is Possible. But There Are Ways To Avert It.
Summer beckons, and the coronavirus pandemic is still running strong in the United States. Fortunately, there is more clarity now about how to fight it than in the terrible early weeks. A devastating second wave is possible — but can be averted.All available evidence points in one direction — that people and governments should be as relentless as the virus. Wear masks; wash hands; avoid crowded, confined spaces; and set up adequate testing and contact tracing. (6/9)
Stat: What Being Stricken With Covid-19 Taught A Biotech CEO
On March 14, at 10 a.m., I got the call that I had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. At first, I was incredulous, trying to understand where I might have contracted it. Next, I got worried. Who had I been in contact with that I might have transmitted the virus to? Finally, I faced a nagging feeling that maybe, at 47 years of age and male, I might be at risk of a bad outcome. (Cedric Francois, 6/11)
The Washington Post: How Amateur Epidemiology Can Hurt Our Covid-19 Response
Although it’s wonderful to see widened interest in epidemiological principles that just a few months ago were obscure, it’s alarming to see the exponential rise of not only the novel coronavirus but also of clueless opinions about how to track and halt the spread of disease. This endangers our efforts to get the epidemic under control while we reopen our economy. Here are six of the most egregious amateur epidemiology errors and five places we should focus our attention instead. Cases. Obsession with case counts is misleading; we estimate that only about 10 to 15 percent of U.S. infections are diagnosed. (Former CDC director Tom Frieden, 6/10)
CNN: Trump's VA Is Treating Veterans With Unproven Drug
The Department of Veterans Affairs could learn an important lesson from their colleagues at SpaceX and NASA after the historic launch to the International Space Station last month was initially postponed due to inclement weather. When there's a storm rolling in, you don't fly into it, no matter how much a powerful person looking on wants it to happen. For months now, we've been hearing President Donald Trump tout the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a "game changer" without providing any evidence of its efficacy as a treatment for coronavirus patients. Trump, who took a two-week course of the drug as a prophylactic, has asked, "What do you have to lose?" (Paul Rieckhoff, 6/10)
Stat: A Pandemic, A Funeral, And A Chance To Help Heal The World
At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference for biotech investors in San Francisco this January, I was huddling with my colleagues on Johnson & Johnson’s external global leadership team when our executives from Shanghai and Australia shared scuttlebutt about a virus disrupting J&J’s Asia operations. Another SARS epidemic, I told myself: a serious but regional outbreak... It’s interesting the negotiating we do with ourselves as we try to process a paradigm-shifting catastrophe. (Michelle McMurry-Heath, 6/11)
The Washington Post: We Are Living In A Bipartisan State Of Denial About The Coronavirus
I have some good news and bad news. The good news: At last, there is some bipartisan agreement in America. The bad news: It’s a tacit agreement to pretend that the threat from the novel coronavirus has somehow gone away. Covid-19 has become the forgotten plague — and it’s nowhere near ending. The mass demonstrations following George Floyd’s death were well warranted, but they also posed a significant public health risk on both sides of the barricades. (Max Boot, 6/10)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: Dicamba Ruling Marks Another Trump Administration Letdown For Farmers
A federal court has come down hard on the Environmental Protection Agency for allowing farmers to continue spraying the weed killer dicamba on crops even though it was obvious the chemical was toxic to nonresistant crops. The immediate ban imposed by the court on continued dicamba spraying seems certain to deal a catastrophic blow to an agriculture industry that has grown heavily dependent on the herbicide. This is yet another Trump administration mess that should, by now, have farmers questioning why the president deserves any continued support. President Donald Trump launched a disastrous trade war with China that destroyed their biggest export market. His bungled response to the pandemic further evaporated markets and put a stranglehold on produce-distribution networks. (6/10)
