Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Beware A Dual Whammy From COVID, Flu; Pros, Cons Of Recent Executive Orders
The Wall Street Journal: Don’t Let Covid And The Flu Team Up To Pound America
Covid is likely to persist once its pandemic phase has passed and circulate each winter alongside the flu. Even after more of us contract coronavirus infection and develop immunity to it or even after an effective vaccine arrives, some people will still get very sick. America tolerates a heavy toll from the flu on health and productivity. But if Covid becomes a twin risk, the heath-care system will struggle to fight both at once. Limiting Covid’s impact requires us to think differently about confronting respiratory pathogens in the winter. (Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, 8/9)
Bloomberg: Covid-19: Trump's Executive Actions Are Just An Economic Band-Aid
Financial markets will resume trading on Monday in the midst of a raging debate about President Donald Trump’s executive actions, which he said would extend relief to households and companies struggling from the Covid-19 shock. The measures are likely to do little beyond some possible immediate respite for the most vulnerable. As important as that is, the debate’s content and consequences range well beyond economics and encompass legal and political aspects. They may also risk the U.S.’s standing as the world looks to recover from both health and economic emergencies. (Mohamed A. El-Erian, 8/10)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: On Pandemic Management, Even Republicans Are Abandoning Trump
President Donald Trump appears to have badly underestimated the extent to which the pandemic has elevated Americans’ fears and frustrations across the political spectrum. His leadership, or more accurately the lack of it, is topmost on the minds of Republicans, Democrats and independents heading into the Nov. 3 election, according to a new national survey. Voters are upset. They want a plan to address the dangers to Americans’ health and economic security. And they don’t feel that current policies are working, according to the results of a new NPR/Ipsos poll. (8/8)
CNN: Trump Declares War On Social Security, Medicare
Is Donald Trump trying to lose this election? Seriously, is he self-destructing because somewhere, deep inside his tortured soul he knows he is an unworthy, incompetent, poseur? Naaah. But his executive action suspending collection of payroll taxes hands the Democrats the kind of issue that can sink a candidacy. It is nothing less than a declaration of war on Social Security and Medicare. (Paul Begala, 8/9)
Fox News: Another Coronavirus Lockdown Would Hurt These Patients And Providers
Last week, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci urged states with rising COVID-19 rates to consider a new round of lockdown restrictions. "You may need to pause, you may need to drop back a little bit," Fauci said. "I don't think you necessarily have to revert to go all the way back to reclosing." As they try to get the coronavirus' spread under control, states must resist the urge to impose blanket stay-at-home orders. Such draconian measures can cause people to postpone important medical care unrelated to COVID-19. The health costs of this foregone care are substantial – and could end up outweighing the benefits of another shutdown. (8/9)
CNN: Covid's Next Casualty -- American Restaurants
Restaurants help establish the unique character of our communities. But "restaurants are dying," says legendary chef Marcus Samuelsson. "Four out of five of our favorite independent restaurants may not survive this shutdown." "That's no joke. That's the real deal," attests Donnie Madia, co-owner of Chicago's beloved Blackbird, which was forced to shut its doors forever. "It was heartbreaking to make this decision." (John Avlon, 8/7)
Boston Globe: Yes, Racism Is A Public Health Crisis
When Mayor Marty Walsh announced recently that racism is a public health crisis, I thought, no kidding. Racism’s toll on my physical and mental health is real. Each day, every day, it’s a fight to make my way in the world. There are two stories I can tell about myself, and both of them are true. In the first, I am a well-educated Black woman who grew up in material comfort in Europe, became a mother to amazing children, and made my way in the professional world at a high level. In the second story, I am a survivor of domestic violence who gave up my children, my job, my home, and dreams of pursuing a doctorate in my field. In order to save my life, I had to lose it all. The line running through all of it, the scar across my internal landscape, is racism. (Yvonne X., as told to Kelly Horan, 8/10)
The New York Times: The Trauma Of Caring For Coronavirus Patients
Once a global epicenter of the pandemic, New York City has — for now — brought things under control. But where does this reprieve leave front-line medical workers? In the video above, we get a rare and intimate look at three — a hospitalist, a physician assistant and a palliative care physician — who worked at one of the hardest-hit hospitals in the Bronx. They’re confronting an unanswerable question: Did they do enough? The deaths may have subsided, but medical workers are still dealing with the devastation. (Sahan Hapangama, Louis Gelabert and Sarah Norris, 8/10)
Los Angeles Times: Older People Spread More Fake News, A Deadly COVID-19 Habit
On Wednesday, Facebook took down a video posted on President Trump’s official page in which he falsely claimed that children were “almost immune” to the coronavirus. The video, which violated Facebook’s policies specifically on health misinformation around the coronavirus, had been viewed nearly half a million times before it was removed. Twitter, likewise, blocked a tweet with the same video that was posted by the Trump campaign’s account.Well before the coronavirus outbreak, fake news spread rapidly on social media platforms. The consequences of misinformation are even more deadly in a pandemic. Some false information comes from legitimate sources, making it harder to separate fact from fiction. And it’s particularly dangerous for older users of social media, who are also at the greatest risk of dying from the virus. (Nadia Brashier and Daniel Schacter, 8/7)
The Hill: Congress: Pass The MAT Act To Save Lives
I recently sent a letter to the physicians of Congress urging support of the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act (MAT), which supports expansion and removing barriers for medications that treat opioid addiction. As a practicing emergency physician, I have intubated and placed more people on life support who had an opioid overdose than those who had COVID-19. Tragically, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased drug and alcohol use and exacerbated the crisis of addiction in our country. (Roneet Lev, 8/9)
Dallas Morning News: With COVID-19 Spreading And Unemployment Up, Texas Must Expand Medicaid
On July 1, Oklahoma voters approved a ballot measure to expand Medicaid to an estimated 200,000 uninsured residents. That makes Oklahoma the 37th state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, building on successful ballot initiatives in Nebraska, Idaho and Utah in 2018, with coverage set to begin July 1, 2021. Texas, it’s our turn to expand Medicaid.Texas ranks 51st among U.S. states and Washington D.C., with the highest percentage and number of uninsured residents — 5 million — according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau. (Hussain Lalani and Arthur Hong, 8/9)
