Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Suicides Drop During The Pandemic
AP: US Suicides Dropped Last Year, Defying Pandemic Expectations
The number of U.S. suicides fell nearly 6% last year amid the coronavirus pandemic — the largest annual decline in at least four decades, according to preliminary government data. Death certificates are still coming in and the count could rise. But officials expect a substantial decline will endure, despite worries that COVID-19 could lead to more suicides. It is hard to say exactly why suicide deaths dropped so much, but one factor may be a phenomenon seen in the early stages of wars and national disasters, some experts suggested. (Stobbe, 4/8)
In other public health news —
The Washington Post: July 4 Parade In D.C. Cancelled Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
The National Park Service announced Thursday that the Independence Day parade in the nation’s capital will be canceled for a second year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The event would have commemorated the nation’s 245th birthday. (Moyer, 4/8)
The Washington Post: Woman Conceives Baby While Pregnant
Rebecca Roberts and her partner struggled with infertility for more than a year, so when they got a positive result with an at-home pregnancy test, they were overjoyed. ... But her excitement abruptly shifted to shock five weeks later at the 12-week ultrasound appointment, when the sonographer spotted something astonishing: It appeared as though Roberts was suddenly carrying two babies — one of which was considerably less-developed than the other. The room fell silent. ... Her pregnancy was diagnosed as superfetation, a rare condition in which a woman who is already pregnant conceives another baby. (Page, 4/8)
ABC News: Baby Heads Home After Nearly 700 Days In Hospital
A Michigan baby is now home with her family after a hospital stay that lasted 694 days. Valentina Garnetti was diagnosed in utero with hypoplastic left heart syndrome -- a condition that affects normal blood flow through the heart and causes the left side of the heart to not form correctly. The 1-year-old remained in University of Michigan's CS Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor since the day she was born. (Pelletiere, 4/9)
AP: A Year After COVID-19 Superspreader, Family Finds Closure
With dish soap, brushes and plastic water jugs in hand, Carole Rae Woodmansee’s four children cleaned the gravestone their mother shares with their father, Jim. Each scrub shined engraved letters spelling out their mother’s name and the days of her birth and death: March 27, 1939, and March 27, 2020.Carole passed away on her 81st birthday. That morning marked a year since she died of complications of COVID-19 after contracting it during a choir practice that sickened 53 people and killed two — a superspreader event that would become one of the most pivotal transmission episodes in understanding the virus. (Valdes, 4/9)
The New York Times: Has The Era Of Overzealous Cleaning Finally Come To An End?
When the coronavirus began to spread in the United States last spring, many experts warned of the danger posed by surfaces. Researchers reported that the virus could survive for days on plastic or stainless steel, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised that if someone touched one of these contaminated surfaces — and then touched their eyes, nose or mouth — they could become infected. ... But the era of “hygiene theater” may have come to an unofficial end this week, when the C.D.C. updated its surface cleaning guidelines and noted that the risk of contracting the virus from touching a contaminated surface was less than 1 in 10,000. (Anthes, 4/8)
