Viewpoints: Give Public Health Officials Decision-Making Power About Americans’ Health; Schools Deserve Extra Resources For Important Reopenings This Fall

Stat: To Save Lives, Get Partisanship Out Of Public Health Science 
Despite troubling reports of harassment and threats targeted at public health officials over the past few months, public confidence in the science community has remained strong for several decades. In a recent Pew Research Center survey, 79% of Americans said they had a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the best interests of the public, while only 25% said the same about elected officials. If we respect and trust scientists, why do we give politicians more power for decision-making about issues that directly affect our health? (Brian C. Castrucci, 7/4)

The Washington Post: Schools Need To Reopen. The Question Is How. 
A recent nationwide survey of school superintendents showed that 94 percent of them aren’t ready to announce when they’ll reopen classrooms for the 2020-2021 school year. That uncertainty is extremely concerning. Too much learning has already been lost because of the abrupt school shutdown in mid-March caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Students have lost ground, and racial and economic gaps in achievement have widened. Schools need to reopen. How to do that safely, though, is a confounding question. The threat from the deadly virus — for which there is currently no effective therapy or vaccine — has by no means diminished, evident in the spike in infections in states that rushed to reopen without adequate safeguards. (7/5)

Stat: Blame Our Late Response To Covid-19 On Our Culture And Brain Wiring 
From the recent rise in Covid-19 cases linked to reopening in states across the country to the models showing that shutting down the country even two weeks earlier would have saved almost 55,000 lives, this pandemic is shining a spotlight on our inability to act early and preventively. It reminds me of the fable about the ant and the grasshopper. In it, the ant works prudently all summer and is prepared when winter hits, while the grasshopper lives it up during times of warmth and abundance only to suffer when things freeze up. Why are humans like the grasshopper, frequently not seeing the need to act until it’s too late? (Nat Kendall-Taylor, 7/6)

The Washington Post: No Wonder The Trump Administration Doesn’t Want Anthony Fauci On TV
On CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning, host Margaret Brennan gave viewers an unusual peek behind the booking curtain. “We think it’s important for our viewers to hear from Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control,” she said to the camera. “But we have not been able to get our requests for Dr. Fauci approved by the Trump administration in the last three months, and the CDC not at all. We will continue our efforts.” CBS isn’t the only media outlet with this issue: Fauci and other key health-policy figures on the administration’s coronavirus task force have been largely pulled from the airwaves in recent weeks while cases surge nationwide. Their absence makes sense, though, when you realize that even in the midst of this deadly pandemic, the administration’s top priority is the president’s image. (James Downie, 7/5)

Detroit Free Press: COVID-19: American Hospitals Should Serve The Public, Not Private Owners
In just a few months, the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted deeply troubling failures of American democracy. Among the most revealing is the pandemic’s demonstration that debates about the future of the U.S. health care system have been tragically narrow in their focus on health insurance coverage alone. The public debate over health policy must go much farther, to include the ways that we organize and finance our hospitals — and even how we think of their larger role in our economy and society. (Guian A. McKee, 7/5)

The New York Times: Borders Won’t Protect Your Country From Coronavirus 
The coronavirus has hit the poorest the hardest, but until recently, they have mostly been in wealthy countries. Now, even as the pandemic continues to claim lives in high-income countries — and especially the United States — it’s spreading with ferocity in lower- and middle-income countries. The virus has infected at least 1.5 million people in Brazil and claimed more than 60,000 lives there. India ended June with around 600,000 cases; it started the month with just under 200,000. With limited health resources, widespread poverty, large debt burdens and, in some cases, political instability and conflict, developing countries are the new front line in the pandemic. For countries like the United States and Britain, helping the developing world fight the virus and avoid a humanitarian catastrophe is a moral imperative. (Robert E. Rubin and David Miliband, 7/6)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento And CA Pay Price For Rushed COVID-19 Reopening
After an unwise and unscientific rush to reopen the state, COVID-19 infections are spiking in California, including here in Sacramento. The California miracle has become the California nightmare. We bent the curve and avoided the worst-case scenario in March, April and May with an unprecedented statewide stay-at-home order. (7/3)

Sacramento Bee: Newsom Now Owns The COVID-19 Pandemic 
Just a few weeks ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom was boasting about California’s apparent success in suppressing COVID-19 infections in implicit contrast to other states, such as New York, that were being clobbered by the pandemic. He called it “bending the curve” of the infection rate and decided to reopen vast sections of the economy that he had shuttered in March. (Dan Walters, 7/5)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Action Steps For Businesses As COVID-19 Continues
Political pundits and healthcare researchers can argue if it’s a second wave or simply a continuation of the original COVID-19 pandemic. However, the fact remains that the virus which hit us so hard in the spring continues to be a potent force as we head into the summer months. (Chris Clark. 7/3)

The Houston Chronicle: Mask Up, Texas. That’s An Order From Your Governor — Finally. 
With COVID-19 infections soaring and hospital ICU capacity reaching critical levels, Gov. Greg Abbott finally did the right thing Thursday and ordered everyone in most Texas counties to wear a mask in public. The order requires those in counties with 20 or more positive COVID-19 cases to wear a covering over the nose and mouth whenever social distancing is not possible. That includes inside businesses or other buildings open to the public as well as outdoor public spaces. The order takes effect at noon Friday. It is expected to impact almost 200 of Texas’ 254 counties. (7/2)