Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Please Fly The Friendly Skies: United Aims To Lure Back Flyers With Tests
The Washington Post: United To Be First U.S. Airline To Offer Covid-19 Tests For Passengers
In what the aviation industry hopes will be a new strategy for getting people flying again, United Airlines will become the first U.S. carrier to offer customers covid-19 tests. Starting Oct. 15, United customers traveling between San Francisco and Hawaii will have the option of taking a covid-19 test before they board their flight. A negative result would allow them to skip the mandatory 14-day quarantine requirement for travelers headed to the state. (Aratani, 9/24)
The Hill: Google Searches Related To Anxiety, Panic Attacks Spike During Pandemic
A new study found that people are increasingly turning to Google for knowledge about ways to relieve anxiety amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The study from researchers at Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans and Central Michigan University found a spike in Google search trends related to anxiety and techniques used to manage its symptoms, such as yoga. Researchers say the increased anxiousness is due to the pandemic. (Bowden, 9/24)
The Washington Post: Diners Angry About Masks And Other Coronavirus Rules Prompt Training For Restaurant Workers
Six-plus months into the pandemic that has upended the way many businesses operate, videos of irate customers refusing to wear masks or maintain social distance are by now no novelty. Restaurant workers have frequently borne the brunt of people objecting to policies put in place by their establishments or by local and state orders, with conflicts big and small — caught on viral video or mostly unnoticed — playing out in dining rooms around the country. (Heil, 9/22)
The Washington Post: Coronavirus Infections Spike As Seasonal Farmworkers Are Blocked From Testing
In Yakima County, Wash., some fruit orchard owners declined on-site testing of workers by health departments at the height of harvest season even as coronavirus infections spiked. In Monterey, Calif., workers at some farms claimed foremen asked them to hide positive diagnoses from other crew members. And in Collier County, Fla., health officials did not begin widespread testing of farmworkers until the end of harvest, at which point the workers had already migrated northward. At the height of harvest season, growers supplying some of America’s biggest agricultural companies and grocery store chains flouted public health guidelines to limit testing and obscure coronavirus outbreaks, according to thousands of pages of state and local records reviewed by The Washington Post. (Reiley and Reinhard, 9/24)
In other public health news —
Boston Globe: State Regulators Issue New Restrictions On ‘Forever Chemicals’
After years of research showing the dangers of so-called forever chemicals, state regulators Thursday joined a growing number of their counterparts in other states in issuing significant new limits on the human-made compounds in drinking water, a move hailed by environmental advocates. The long-awaited rules come as per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, known as PFAS, have been found in an increasing number of communities across the state. The chemicals have been linked to cancer, low infant birth weights, and a range of diseases. (Abel, 9/24)
San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Hidden Cost’ Of Wildfire Smoke: Stanford Researchers Estimate Up To 3,000 Indirect Deaths
More than two dozen people have died as a direct result of California’s devastating wildfires so far this year. But the actual number of lives lost because of them may have been much higher. Researchers at Stanford University estimate that the pollution from an unprecedented stretch of heavy wildfire smoke is likely to have led to at least 1,200, and up to 3,000, deaths in California between Aug 1. and Sept. 10 that otherwise would not have occurred. (Vainshtein, 9/24)
Sacramento Bee: Black Mental Health Strained By Racism, COVID-19 In 2020
Ongoing police violence against Black men and women has inflamed racial tensions. A global pandemic has killed Black people in disproportionately high numbers. And these extraordinary traumas come to a community whose mental and physical health already suffer because of anti-Black sentiment. The suffocation of George Floyd under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis ignited a summer of national reckoning on race. Sacramento activist Jamilia Land summed up the anguish: “How do you heal a wound that never closes?” (Smith and Anderson, 9/24)
GMA: My Eating Disorder Thrived During The Pandemic: COVID-19 Quarantine Sparks Concern Of Eating Disorder Crisis
After struggling for years with disordered eating and more recently a severe eating disorder, Kwolanne Dina Felix, a college junior in New York City, realized early this year that the eating disorder had taken over her life and she was ready to seek recovery. Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States and, like so many others with eating disorders, Felix saw her condition spiral out of control. (Kindelan, 9/25)
Kaiser Health News: Heartbreaking Bills, Lawsuit And Bankruptcy — Even With Insurance
Matthew Fentress was just 25 when he passed out while stuffing cannolis as a cook for a senior living community six years ago. Doctors diagnosed him with viral cardiomyopathy, heart disease that developed after a bout of the flu. Three years later, the Kentucky man’s condition had worsened, and doctors placed him in a medically induced coma and inserted a pacemaker and defibrillator. Despite having insurance, he couldn’t pay what he owed the hospital. So Baptist Health Louisville sued him and he wound up declaring bankruptcy in his 20s. (Ungar, 9/25)
In obituaries —
The New York Times: Henry Van Ameringen, Friend Of L.G.B.T.Q. Causes, Dies At 89
Henry van Ameringen, a low-key philanthropist who was an early and major donor to L.G.B.T.Q. and AIDS causes, died on Sept. 9 at his home in Manhattan. He was 89. Chris Cormier Maggiano, a friend and adviser, confirmed his death. Mr. van Ameringen (pronounced am-ehr-ING-en), whose father made a fortune in the fragrances business, gave away some $200 million, Mr. Maggiano estimated, and was among the first openly gay major donors to fund L.G.B.T.Q. and AIDS-related organizations, both large and small, at a time before they enjoyed more mainstream support. (Genzlinger, 9/24)
