Perspectives: Turning Inward Is Wrong Path For Countries To Take During Pandemic; Just Maybe There Is Already A Vaccine At Hand

Los Angeles Times: 'Every Country For Itself' Won't Stop Global Coronavirus Crisis 
Has there ever been a crisis as truly global as this one? If I email with my cousin Susanne outside Vienna, she’s locked in her house, avoiding the virus. So is my old colleague, Said, who is at home in his apartment in East Jerusalem. So was Luly in Beijing, until a few weeks ago when restrictions there were eased. This microscopic virus knows no national borders. And it kills indiscriminately — Italians as well as Iranians, Americans as well as Russians. There are a couple of ways to respond to this if you’re Donald Trump or Xi Jinping or Angela Merkel. You can conclude, quite rationally, that we’re all in this together and that we need to reach out across borders and oceans to encourage cooperation to understand and beat back the pandemic that threatens us all. Or, you can hunker down inside your own country, bar outsiders from entering, wrestle other nations for scarce resources, seek your own cures and hurl blame at each other to divert attention from your own mistakes. (Nicholas Goldberg, 5/1)

The Washington Post: China Has Turned To Bullying To Avoid Accountability. It May Be Working On Europe. 
China's effort to avoid accountability for the novel coronavirus pandemic through a global propaganda campaign seems to be doing as much harm as good for Beijing. Attempts by government officials and state media to cast blame on the United States or other Western countries for the origin and spread of the virus have triggered a backlash; deliveries of humanitarian supplies have led to reports about their poor quality. Rather than retreat, President Xi Jinping’s regime has turned to a familiar tactic: bullying. Its diplomats are demanding that governments offer praise for China’s handling of the epidemic or censor reports on its failings, and they are threatening consequences if their requirements are not met. Disturbingly, this tactic appears to be working with the European Union. (4/30)

The New York Times: What If We Already Have A Coronavirus Vaccine?
As the world waits for a coronavirus vaccine, tens of thousands of people could die. But some scientists believe a vaccine might already exist. Surprising new research in a niche area of immunology suggests that certain live vaccines that have been around for decades could, possibly, protect against the coronavirus. The theory is that these vaccines could make people less likely experience serious symptoms — or even any symptoms — if they catch it. (Melinda Wenner Moyer, 5/1)

CNN: This Is What Happens When Coronavirus Research Funding Gets Political 
The public health threat of the Covid-19 pandemic has made the American public acutely aware of the impactful work done by researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. Federally funded researchers from coast to coast and beyond are working feverishly to understand SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. These scientists are racing to understand its makeup, its mechanism of entry into the human body, its characteristics outside the body and what existing therapies may help patients while a vaccine is being developed. Why, then, did the NIH last week, as first reported by Politico, terminate a grant that supports leading research into how coronaviruses can be transferred from their natural host of bats to humans? (Benjamin Corb, 4/30)

Stat: Cancer Research Offers Faster Ways To ID New Covid-19 Treatments 
In the cancer research and treatment community, the treatment of one patient can inform the treatment of others. Real-world data are routinely collected from tens of thousands of cancer patients through services like CancerLinQ and Flatiron, as well as data deposited in publicly maintained databases, including one run by the nonprofit organization I founded, Cancer Commons. Doctors can mine these AI-driven databases to advance cancer research and learn how treatments — some of which are already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for other uses and can be used off label — have worked for similar patients in the past. (Marty Tenenbaum, 4/30)

Stat: The U.S. Needs To Manufacture More CPAP Machines 
I don’t want to be intubated. That was my main thought a few weeks ago as I lay in bed at home, having trouble breathing and watching my pulse oximeter show that my blood oxygen was under 93% when it should have been over 95%... Because I had been short of breath, exhausted, and feeling a tightness in my chest before testing positive for Covid-19, my father sent me a continuous positive airway pressure machine, also known as a CPAP, to help me breathe. This device is commonly used to treat obstructive sleep apnea. (Matthew Putman, 5/1)

Boston Globe: As Coronavirus Infections Peak, Profit-Driven Hospital Systems Must Be Held Accountable
If you are Black or brown in this country, you are more likely to contract and die from COVID-19. According to a recent Washington Post analysis, counties that are majority-Black have three times the rate of infections and almost six times the rate of deaths as their white-majority counterparts. As alarming as those statistics are, they are, sadly, not surprising. Even in a crisis, the same profit-driven decision-making and disregard of vulnerable populations responsible for the inequities and injustices that plague American health care in normal times are at work. That means that people of color and other vulnerable populations are at a disadvantage that can be fatal. (Alecia McGregor, Shalanda Baker, Camara Jones and Michelle Morse, 4/30)

Cincinnati Enquirer: More Minority Physicians Are Key To Eliminating Health Disparities
The Cincinnati Medical Association believes that increasing the number of underrepresented minority (URM) physicians is fundamental to eliminating the health disparity. For the URM population, access to physicians who look like them is important.  The URM physician is someone who is culturally connected to them and who understands their lives and challenges as much as their clinical needs. The African American patient is much more likely to discuss the impact of racism on his/her life with an African American provider who faces those same challenges. (Roosevelt Walker III, 4/30)

ABC News: Spanish Translations, Outreach Lacking Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
"Why aren't we hearing from the Spanish-speaking commissioners at news conferences?" The questions began as "chisme" -- chatter among friends. Friends fueled by the same life story of immigrant parents who sacrificed for us... As COVID-19 began its wrath on central Florida, the questions continued. (Alvarez, 4/30)

The Hill: An Urgent Need To Reopen Medical Care For All 
Each day a new story of crowded hospital corridors and exhausted health care workers appears in our newspapers. But another story, equally tragic, is unfolding in the privacy of our homes. Countless Americans with chronic conditions and other serious illnesses languish in isolation without access to care. While hospitals have of course remained open for urgent care, patients with less critical needs have been relegated almost entirely to virtual visits. (Dr. William Haseltine, 4/30)

Stat: The Covid-19 Pandemic Will Make Medical Students Better Doctors 
When I graduated from medical school more years ago than I care to remember, my training as an intern and a resident followed an unrushed, traditional path. Medical students at the time were introduced to patients gradually, and we took our time engaging with the trying challenges that make up the bulk of a physician’s career. This year, students graduating from the medical school where I am dean and other school are facing a very different time line: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many of them have been called upon to volunteer or work in hospitals before their time in medical school was over. (Lawrence G. Smith, 5/1)

 Houston Chronicle: COVID-19 Taking An Economic Toll On Texas Doctor’s Practices 
Oil has grabbed most of the headlines since COVID-19 shut down the Texas economy, but perhaps the most critical sector, health care, stands to take an even bigger bite out of the state’s prosperity. Gov. Greg Abbott’s order suspending non-essential health services, and new guidelines for social distancing, are slashing revenues at private practices. Primary care doctors and specialists have seen revenues drop by up to 90 percent, according to a recent survey by trade publication MDLinx. (Chris Tomlinson, 4/1)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Supporting Those On Pandemic’s Frontlines
Are we just vital statistics, waiting to be calculated? COVID-19 has infected and killed more than 50,000 Americans. We must remember that every single one of these deaths is a loved one — a son or daughter, a father or mother, a husband or wife, a friend, a colleague. And in the background of each one of those deaths is a healthcare worker. A doctor holding the phone allowing loved ones to say goodbye, a caring nurse holding the hand as the family cannot, a respiratory therapist ensuring they are breathing comfortably. (Jesse O'Shea, 4/30)