Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Researchers Start National Study On COVID's Impact On Cancer Patients
Detroit Free Press: Beaumont Seeks Cancer Patients With Coronavirus For New National Study
How do cancer patients fare when they contract the novel coronavirus? A new study at Beaumont Health aims to answer that question. Researchers are now enrolling adults who are actively undergoing cancer treatment as part of a new National Cancer Institute COVID-19 in Cancer Patients Study at Beaumont hospitals in Dearborn, Farmington Hills, Royal Oak and Troy. (Shamus, 8/20)
Detroit Free Press: Flint Water Crisis Settlement Includes $9M For Special Education
Special education programs in Flint and neighboring school districts will receive at least $9 million in new funding as part of the settlement of lawsuits related to the Flint water crisis. The settlement still needs court approval but it's expected to improve special ed services in Genesee County for as many as 18,000 students who were exposed to lead poisoning after the city switched water sources in April 2014. (Wisely, 8/20)
PBS NewsHour: 6 Years After Water Crisis Began, What Has Changed In Flint — And What Hasn’t
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, exposed major health and environmental concerns for residents and prompted new scrutiny of access to clean drinking water in the U.S. But Flint is still grappling with the consequences of its crisis, including financial and legal liability. John Yang reports and talks to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician who helped sound the alarm about Flint’s water. (8/20)
The Washington Post: Coronavirus Caseload Falls Again In D.C. Region As Maryland Marks Testing Milestone
The daily coronavirus caseload in the greater Washington region tumbled again Thursday, hovering at a multiweek low, while Maryland officials celebrated a milestone in the state’s declining test positivity rate. The seven-day average number of new infections in D.C., Maryland and Virginia fell to 1,531, a number last recorded in mid-July. That is down from 2,083 average daily cases earlier this month, as officials were announcing new restrictions to avoid the kind of caseload spikes being recorded elsewhere in the country. (Hedgpeth and Moyer, 8/20)
AP: Utah Sets Pandemic Safeguards For People With Disabilities
Utah became the fifth state Thursday to overhaul crisis guidelines that could have deprived people with disabilities of doctors’ care if hospitals become overwhelmed during the coronavirus pandemic. The changes approved by federal officials settle a complaint from disability advocates and set a new standard for other states, said Roger Severino, director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Whitehurst and McCombs, 8/20)
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Nursing Home Visits May Soon Be Possible After Months On Lockdown; See Next Steps
For more than five months, Louisiana's nursing homes have been on strict lockdown in a desperate attempt to prevent the coronavirus from infiltrating facilities where it has proved the most deadly. But while that policy has undoubtedly prevented infections and deaths, it has also isolated the elderly and infirm, as homes have refused to admit visitors and at times confined residents to their rooms, discontinued communal meals and ruled out many social activities. (Roberts III, 8/20)
In updates from California —
Kaiser Health News: California’s Data Failures Stymie Efforts To Curb The Virus
The failure of California’s infectious disease monitoring system for a stretch of at least 20 days in July and August triggered potentially deadly fallout that continues to reverberate across the state. The fallout has been most severe in heavily populated counties, which rely primarily on a statewide electronic information system to guide their pandemic response. Local health departments couldn’t clearly see where the coronavirus was spreading, dramatically slowing their efforts to trace and track new infections — leading to more death and disease, public health officials said. (Barry-Jester and Hart, 8/21)
San Francisco Chronicle: SF Stays On California Coronavirus Watch List, Despite Newsom’s Hopes
San Francisco failed to meet two of California’s six coronavirus thresholds Thursday and remains on the state’s watch list, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s prediction a day earlier that the city could be removed. The disappointing news represented dashed hopes for some businesses and private schools, which might have seen a faster path to reopening if Newsom’s forecast had held true. (Li, 8/20)
Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Shifts CARE COVID Funds From Sheriff To Health
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Wednesday to allocate $45 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to its county health department. Most of the money – $19.2 million – will go to pay for a badly needed increase in microbiologists and other health staff within the Sacramento County Department of Health Services. (Breton, 8/20)
