Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Research Roundup: COVID-19, Medicaid Expansion, Antibiotics, And More
Health Affairs: Estimating The Infection Fatality Rate Among Symptomatic COVID-19 Cases In The United States
Knowing the infection fatality rate (IFR) of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 infections is essential for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data through April 20, 2020, we fit a statistical model to COVID-19 case fatality rates over time at the US county level to estimate the COVID-19 IFR among symptomatic cases (IFR-S) as time goes to infinity. The IFR-S in the US was estimated to be 1.3% (95% central credible interval: 0.6% to 2.1%). County-specific rates varied from 0.5% to 3.6%. (Basu, 5/7)
JAMA Internal Medicine: Development And Validation Of A Clinical Risk Score To Predict The Occurrence Of Critical Illness In Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19
Collaborating with the National Health Commission of China, we established a retrospective cohort of patients with COVID-19 from 575 hospitals in 31 provincial administrative regions as of January 31, 2020. Epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, and imaging variables ascertained at hospital admission were screened using Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) and logistic regression to construct a predictive risk score (COVID-GRAM). The score provides an estimate of the risk that a hospitalized patient with COVID-19 will develop critical illness. Accuracy of the score was measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Data from 4 additional cohorts in China hospitalized with COVID-19 were used to validate the score. Data were analyzed between February 20, 2020 and March 17, 2020. (Liang et al, 5/12)
American Academy Of Pediatrics: ACA Medicaid Expansion And Insurance Coverage Among New Mothers Living In Poverty
ACA Medicaid expansions are associated with increased Medicaid coverage and reduced uninsurance among poor new mothers. Opportunities remain for expansion and nonexpansion states to increase insurance coverage among new mothers living in poverty. (Johnston et al, 5/1)
CIDRAP: Paper Addresses Liability Concerns For Antibiotic Stewardship Programs
A white paper published today in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology calls on antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs) to take steps to address the potential legal implications of stewardship activities. The paper, written by a team of legal and antibiotic stewardship experts, aims to address some of the concerns that ASPs, which are now required in most US hospitals, have about liability to patients they neither see nor examine. (5/13)
Urban Institute: How Government Jobs Programs Could Boost Employment
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) created during the Great Depression showed how a large-scale, federally funded, locally administered jobs program could address an employment crisis. Through a similar program today, state and local governments could use federal resources to help job centers, public schools, nonprofits, and private companies hire workers to address critical needs during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. These could include public health department staff, teachers’ aides in schools, child and elder care providers, and construction workers for housing and infrastructure projects. (Acs, 5/6)
