Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The Path Forward Will Likely Be Difficult But Some Experts See Rays Of Hope Along The Way
The New York Times: The Coronavirus In America: The Year Ahead
The coronavirus is spreading from America’s biggest cities to its suburbs, and has begun encroaching on the nation’s rural regions. The virus is believed to have infected millions of citizens and has killed more than 34,000. Yet President Trump this week proposed guidelines for reopening the economy and suggested that a swath of the United States would soon resume something resembling normalcy. For weeks now, the administration’s view of the crisis and our future has been rosier than that of its own medical advisers, and of scientists generally. (McNeil, 4/18)
Stat: As The Coronavirus Swept Over China, Some Experts Were In Denial
The response to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and other countries has been hobbled by a host of factors, many involving political and regulatory officials. Resistance to social distancing measures, testing debacles, and longtime failures to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic all played a role. But a subtler, less-recognized factor contributed to the wasting of precious weeks in January and February, when preparations to try to stop the virus should have kicked immediately into high gear. (Branswell, 4/20)
NBC News: During The Coronavirus Pandemic, Doctors Forced To Learn Lessons On The Fly
Nearly two months after the first case of the coronavirus was reported in the United States, medical professionals across the country are reflecting on what they wish they had known when the outbreak began: how quickly it would sweep through their communities, how devastating the emotional toll would be, how unprepared they and their health care systems were to treat a disease they had never seen before. (Silva, 4/17)
Modern Healthcare: Doctors May Be Wrongly Treating Heart Attacks In COVID-19 Patients, Study Finds
Doctors could inadvertently be treating COVID-19 patients who suffer heart attacks in ways that may not help save their lives, according to new research.A letter published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine involved a case study of 18 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 during the first month of the epidemic in New York City. Researchers found patients had elevated electrocardiogram readings usually associated with having a heart attack yet 10 showed no signs of arterial blockage. (Johnson, 4/17)
KQED: Using Lessons From The AIDS Pandemic To Inform Palliative Care For COVID-19 Patients
Pantilat became a pioneer in palliative medicine, shepherding patients through serious illness and the dying process. He founded, and now directs the palliative care program at UCSF, where he’s setting the protocols that are guiding how the first generation of COVID-19 patients dies. (Dembosky, 4/18)
NBC News: What A Renowned Infectious Diseases Doctor Learned When He Got COVID-19
Dr. Michael Saag is one of the nation's best authorities on the coronavirus — not only because he's researched viruses for more than three decades, but also because he recently recovered from the illness himself... He was diagnosed with COVID-19 just over one month ago, on March 16. He described the illness as a "horror" that included fever, muscle aches, fatigue and difficulty thinking. (Edwards, 4/19)
