Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Slew Of Ethical Guidelines For Health Workers In Charge Of Rationing Ventilators Vary Significantly
The Washington Post: Pandemic Triage: 29 Plans, 29 Different Approaches For Allocating Ventilators In The Event Of A Shortage
Who is given preference if there’s a shortage of ventilators? Who is not? Since the early days of the novel coronavirus pandemic, hospitals have been scrambling to update documents that describe how they would allocate scarce resources. Citing the sensitive nature of their life-or-death deliberations, many hospitals have declined to talk on the record about their plans. Now, a paper published in the Annals of Internal Medicine gives the first broad look at some of those rationing documents. (Cha, 4/28)
The Associated Press: Airway Experts' Work Puts Them Inches From Where Virus Lives
It starts with pulling on head-to-toe protective gear. Then comes a brisk walk down a hospital corridor, triple-gloved hands pushing a rattling anesthesia cart toward a door that leads to a frightened patient, gasping for air. Hundreds of times every week during this pandemic, doctors and nurses treating critically ill COVID-19 patients steel themselves for a procedure that remains anything but routine. (Tanner, 4/29)
Kaiser Health News: Widely Used Surgical Masks Are Putting Health Care Workers At Serious Risk
With medical supplies in high demand, federal authorities say health workers can wear surgical masks for protection while treating COVID-19 patients — but growing evidence suggests the practice is putting workers in jeopardy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently said lower-grade surgical masks are “an acceptable alternative” to N95 masks unless workers are performing an intubation or another procedure on a COVID patient that could unleash a high volume of virus particles. (Luthra and Jewett, 4/28)
CNN: Lorna Breen, An ER Doctor Who Continued To Treat Patients After She Recovered From Covid-19 Has Died By Suicide
A New York City emergency room doctor who recovered from Covid-19 and continued to treat coronavirus patients has died by suicide, her father confirmed to CNN. Dr. Lorna Breen, 49, died a hero, said her father, Philip Breen. "She was in the trenches," he said. "She was a hero." (Romine, 4/28)
The Washington Post: Nurses Are Trying To Save Us From The Coronavirus Virus, And From Ourselves
First, arrive at work before dawn. Then put on a head cover, foot covers, surgical scrubs, and a yellow plastic gown. Next, if one is available, the N95 mask. Fitting it to your face will be the most important 10 seconds of your day. It will protect you, and it will make your head throb. Then, a surgical mask over the N95. A face shield and gloves. Cocooned, you’ll taste your own recycled breath and hear your own heartbeat; you’ll sweat along every slope and crevice of your body. (Zak and Hesse, 4/28)
ABC News: The Grim Task Of Processing Death Certificates During The Coronavirus Pandemic
Krista Martino is on a team of six at the Meriden City Hall in Connecticut. As part of social distancing measures during the coronavirus pandemic, they're divided equally into two shifts, each working two-and-a-half days a week. Martino doesn't know if they could handle working any more than that right now. As an assistant city clerk, the Connecticut resident signs marriage licenses, birth certificates and, with increasing frequency, death certificates. (Deliso and Wagschal, 4/28)
Kaiser Health News: Lost On The Frontline: A 9/11 First Responder, He Answered The Call During The Pandemic
America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical staff account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides. Some of them do not survive the encounter. Many hospitals are overwhelmed and some workers lack protective equipment or suffer from underlying health conditions that make them vulnerable to the highly infectious virus. (4/29)
Detroit Free Press: Feds: Allure Medical Employees With COVID-19 Treated Patients
Patients filled waiting rooms at Allure Medical's clinics, sitting next to each other and not adhering to social distancing recommendations aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Employees worked without proper personal protective equipment, in close contact with each other and patients. Five employees tested positive for the coronavirus yet continued to work and treat mostly older patients, dozens of them in many cases. (Hall, 4/29)
KQED: Though Widely Discredited, Bakersfield Doctors' COVID-19 Test Conclusions Spread Like Wildfire
They dressed in scrubs. They sounded scientific. And last week’s message from two Bakersfield doctors was exactly what many stuck-at-home Americans wanted to hear: COVID-19 is no worse than influenza, its death rates are low and we should all go back to work and school. ...But public health experts were quick to point out the major flaws in the doctors’ methodology – namely that only a tiny percentage of Californians have actually been tested, a group that is more likely to test positive and is not representative of the larger population. (Ostrov, 4/28)
San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Hospitals Slash Workers’ Pay As Losses From Coronavirus Pile Up
Since mid-March, Bay Area hospitals have delayed most surgeries and turned away many face-to-face visits with nonemergency patients. The mandatory safety measures cost the medical centers their primary source of revenue as they prepared for the COVID-19 surge that, for the most part, never came. (Moench, 4/28)
