Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Turkish Man Tests Positive For Covid For 14 Months
Reuters: Turk Sets Unenviable COVID Record By Testing Positive For 14 Straight Months
When Muzaffer Kayasan first caught COVID-19, he thought he was destined to die since he was already suffering from leukemia. Fourteen months and 78 straight positive tests later, he is still alive - and still battling to shake off the infection. Kayasan, 56, has Turkey's longest recorded continuous COVID-19 infection, doctors say, possibly due to a weakened immune system from the cancer. Despite being in and out of hospital since November 2020, his spirits have been high. (Dikmen, 2/14)
In other global covid news —
USA Today: CDC: US Travelers Should Avoid 135+ Destinations Due To COVID
Federal health officials are warning U.S. travelers to avoid more than 135 destinations as of Monday due to COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved South Korea, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Comoros, Saint Pierre and Miquelon and French Polynesia to its level 4 COVID-19 risk category Monday due to “very high” levels of the virus. Larger countries are considered to have very high COVID-19 levels when they report more than 500 cases of new cases per 100,000 people over the past 28 days. (Shulz, 2/14)
Bloomberg: Canada Protest: Ontario To Drop Covid Vaccine Passport Requirements On March 1
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Canada’s largest province will drop many of its pandemic-fighting measures next month as cases and hospitalizations decline. Proof-of-vaccination requirements and capacity limits in indoor public settings are among the measures that will be dropped as of March 1 if the health-system continues to improve, Ford said Monday. Masking requirements will remain in place, the province said. (Orland, 2/14)
Axios: Hong Kong "Overwhelmed" By COVID Surge
Daily coronavirus cases in Hong Kong have increased by about 20 times over the past two weeks, overwhelming the city's hospitals and forcing its government to change its response strategy, Reuters reports. Hong Kong's government said Sunday that it would roll back its policy of hospitalizing all people who test positive for the virus and would instead prioritize hospital beds for children, older people and other individuals with serious infections, according to the New York Times. (Knutson, 2/14)
In celebrity news —
AP: Prince Charles' Wife Camilla Tests Positive For COVID-19
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall has tested positive for COVID-19 four days after her husband Prince Charles was confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus, the couple’s office said Monday. Clarence House said Camilla was self-isolating. Charles has been isolating since he tested positive on Thursday, but Camilla had continued with public engagements while taking daily tests. Both Charles, 73, and 74-year-old Camilla are triple-vaccinated. ... Charles is believed to have met with his mother Queen Elizabeth II early last week when both were at Windsor Castle. Buckingham Palace hasn’t said whether the 95-year-old queen has tested positive, though it said last week she wasn’t displaying symptoms. (2/14)
Bloomberg: Is Novak Djokovic Anti Vaccine? He's Willing To Sacrifice Trophies To Avoid Shot
Novak Djokovic has made it clear: He will not get a Covid vaccine. The world’s top tennis player said he’s willing to sacrifice trophies and skip Wimbledon in order to avoid a Covid-19 shot. At stake, he said, was freedom of choice. “The principles of decision-making on my body are more important than any title, or anything else,” Djokovic said in an interview with BBC journalist Amol Rajan. Djokovic is at the heart of a contentious global debate over vaccine mandates. Last month, the 20-time Grand Slam winner was deported from Australia after a protracted dispute over his vaccine status. (Schultz, 2/15)
USA Today: Russian Kamila Valieva Says Her Positive Drug Test Was Due To Grandfather's Medication
Attorneys for Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva argued that the banned substance trimetazidine entered her system through a medication that her grandfather takes, a member of the International Olympic Committee confirmed Tuesday. In a scrum with reporters after the IOC's daily press briefing, a reporter asked IOC member Denis Oswald if the IOC was aware of the explanation that Valieva, 15, offered to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency in an appeal hearing earlier this month. "I was not in this hearing," Oswald said. "Her argument was this contamination which happened with a product her grandfather was taking." (Schad, 2/15)
