Study Shows Mask-Wearing Halves Risk Of Getting Covid
A poll by Axios showed that people who wore masks "all the time" were less than half as likely to test positive for covid than people who never used masks. Separately a CDC official says the U.S. health care system is not ready for the next pandemic.
Axios:
Exclusive: People Who Wore Masks Were Less Likely To Get Sick
Turns out that wearing a mask and social distancing really weren't a waste of time. Exclusive polling data from our Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index, which started in March 2020, shows that the respondents who reported never wearing masks were twice as likely to test positive for COVID as those who said they wore masks all the time. (Nather, 6/7)
Axios:
No. 2 CDC Official Says U.S. Isn't Ready For The Next Pandemic
The U.S. health care system was "overwhelmed" by COVID-19's "complex, systemwide assault" and remains unprepared for another pandemic, Anne Schuchat, the No. 2 official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a Friday interview on NPR's Morning Edition. The U.S. response "wasn't a good performance," Schuchat, the principal deputy CDC director, said. "But another threat tomorrow, we're not where we need to be. We're still battling this one." (Chen, 6/4)
In updates on where covid cases are rising or falling —
Salt Lake Tribune:
COVID-19 Cases Rise Following Memorial Day Holiday
Utah experienced another post-holiday bump in COVID-19 cases this week as they rose, on average, by almost two per day over the same day last week. On Sunday, the Utah Department of Health reported 223 cases, which is 47 more than May 30, but no deaths. This past week’s numbers are still lower than what the state saw last year in the week following Memorial Day when the pandemic was just heating up, however. In 2020, positive cases rose by an average of 48.7 cases per day compared to the same day the previous week. That included a jump of 160 cases — from 183 to 343 — from the Friday before the holiday to the one after. (Jag, 6/6)
ABC News:
Why These 2 Missouri Counties' COVID-19 Surges Are Among Worst In The Country
Sherry Weldon thought the worst of the pandemic was over for Livingston County, a rural area in northern Missouri, after the winter. Confirmed cases had essentially dropped down to zero. Schools had largely stayed open. But starting at the end of April, cases started popping up. "Then in May, it just hit really quick -- with a vengeance," Weldon, the administrator of the Livingston County Health Department, told ABC News. (Deliso, 6/6)
Cincinnati Enquirer:
Ohio Reaches Fewer Than 50 COVID-19 Cases Per 100,000 Residents, Former Benchmark To Lift Health Orders
Ohio has had fewer than 50 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks, state officials announced Saturday. Gov. Mike DeWine had set a goal to get to that 50-case benchmark – called a case incidence rate – as a condition for lifting the state’s coronavirus health orders, including the mask mandate. He abandoned that goal on May 12, announcing instead the health orders would be lifted three weeks later, on June 2. At the time, DeWine predicted the rate – 123 at the time – would fall to 50 around or soon after June 2. On Saturday, three days after the orders ended, the number reached 49.5, according to the Ohio Department of Health. (Borchardt, 6/5)
AP:
New England's Success Against COVID-19 Could Be A Model
For Dr. Jeremy Faust, the moment he realized the pandemic no longer dominated his workday came over Memorial Day weekend, when he didn’t see a single coronavirus case over two shifts in the emergency room at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Kerry LaBarbera, an ER nurse a few miles away at Boston Medical Center, had a similar realization that same weekend, when just two patients with COVID-19 came through her unit, one of the busiest in New England. (Marcelo, 6/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California One Of Just Two States At CDC's Lowest Level Of COVID Transmission
California continues to help set the pace for U.S. COVID-19 recovery, now ranked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of just two states at the lowest level of coronavirus community transmission. In fact, according to the CDC’s four-level color-coded system, California’s transmission metrics were the lowest out of all 50 states as of Saturday. The CDC determines the level of community transmission based on the number of cases in the last seven days per population of 100,000, and the number of tests in the last seven days that yield a positive result. (Hwang, 6/6)
AP:
Northern California County Changes COVID-19 Death Reporting
A Northern California county has changed its methodology to record coronavirus deaths, causing its fatality figures to decrease by 25%. The official COVID-19 death count in Alameda County, in the San Francisco Bay Area, fell from 1,634 to 1,223 after officials changed the criteria for fatalities to match state and national definitions, the county’s public health department said in a news release. (6/6)
WUSF 89.7:
Florida To Discontinue Release Of Daily Coronavirus Updates
The Florida Department of Health will no longer offer daily updates on coronavirus data that has been used to track information including the number of cases, deaths, and vaccines across the state. Christina Pushaw, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary, told News Service of Florida [paywall] in an email that the declining number of cases across the state prompted the decision. (Lisciandrello, 6/4)
