Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: ICE Needs To Stop Shameful Spread Of Virus In Detention Centers; It's Time To Find Medicaid Funds, End Food Insecurity
The Washington Post: Migrants At ICE Detention Centers Are Sitting Ducks Because Of An Inhumane Policy
COVID-19 HAS exploded at migrant detention centers nationwide, infecting detainees and employees alike and seeding the disease aboard deportation flights to countries ill-equipped to respond, especially in Latin America. The facilities, run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are petri dishes of contagion, and the residents — many of whom have no serious criminal record — are sitting ducks in the crosshairs of an inhumane policy. A federal judge has ordered the release of migrant children at two ICE family detention centers in Texas and one in Pennsylvania, having found them at risk to the virus and to spotty enforcement of safety measures. But across the country, scores more facilities have been hit hard by the pandemic, and ICE has been unable to contain it. (8/4)
Louisville Courier Journal: McConnell Must Find Funds For Medicaid Amid COVID-19
With COVID-19 cases on the rise and key provisions of the CARES Act recently expiring, the prospect of losing unemployment benefits, facing eviction, being unable to put food on the table and having to return to school or work in an unsafe environment is looming for many Kentuckians. Any progress Kentucky has made in keeping our residents safe and healthy could be undone without the sustained federal aid we need to ensure our safety net is truly up to the task of ushering our commonwealth through this crisis. (Emily Beauregard, 8/5)
Detroit Free Press: COVID-19 Has Led To Surge In Child Hunger. Here's How We Can Help.
As a nation, we have a moral and economic obligation to address child hunger, food insecurity and avoid economic collapse in the wake of COVID-19. While we have different political viewpoints, we strongly agree that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is one of the most effective tools we have to fight the looming health and economic crises facing our great country. The Senate is at a critical decision point as to how we use this tool. That’s why together, we are calling for a temporary 15 percent increase in SNAP benefits, bound to economic indicators, in the next federal coronavirus relief package. (Bill Frist and Mark K. Shriver, 8/5)
Miami Herald: There’s A Clear Line Connecting Crime, Poverty, Injustice — And COVID-19
33034. As a recent Miami Herald story showed, residents of this Zip code not only experience the most extreme forms of poverty in Miami-Dade, they also are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic — and that is only among the people who get tested, much less treated. Yet, as is often the case in most economically disadvantaged communities in the United States, health ills —and the injustices they promulgate — co-exist with a great many other problems, including criminal activity. For residents of this Zip code, they must deal with high amounts of crime and victimization — and not just property crime. The residents experience violent crime at a rate 10 times higher than residents of the state of Florida. And, if you were to look at data compiled by Neighborhood Scout, this Zip code is safer than zero percent of U.S. cities. Think about that. (Alex R. Piquero, 8/4)
Los Angeles Times: Even Red States Aren’t Happy With Republicans On COVID-19
With the COVID-19 outbreak spreading to virtually every corner of the nation, both Donald Trump and his supporters in state legislatures and governor’s mansions should be worried with election day looming around the corner.In response to the pandemic, the federal government has essentially delegated responsibility to states and municipalities because it’s easier to hand off the job, with the assumption that people would be happy with their states handling the crisis. The numbers show quite the opposite. (Samuel J. Abrams, 8/5)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: Much As They Claim Differently, Republicans Have No Replacement For Obamacare
On July 19, as the White House worked to yank health care from millions of Americans during a pandemic, President Donald Trump assured Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he would sign “a full and complete health care plan” within two weeks. Those two weeks have come and gone with no plan to provide coverage should the GOP’s malicious legal assault on the Affordable Care Act succeed. It’s the same tune Americans have heard from this president for four years, and from his party for years before that: let us kill Obamacare, and we promise we’ll replace it with … something. Of course, there is no something, and there isn’t going to be. This cannot be said enough: A vote in November for Trump and his Republican enablers is a vote to abandon hard-to-insure Americans to poverty, illness and, in many cases, death. (8/4)
The Wall Street Journal: Test Every American For Covid-19
When the history of the Covid-19 pandemic is written, the past week may be recorded as the moment the depth of the crisis became undeniable. “Unlike many countries in the world, the United States is not currently on course to get control of this epidemic,” said a July 29 Johns Hopkins University report. “It is time to reset.” Another report, from the Association of American Medical Colleges, declared that “If the nation does not change course—and soon—deaths in the United States could be well into the multiple hundreds of thousands.” Deborah Birx, the Trump administration’s coronavirus coordinator, has gotten the message. The nation has entered a “new phase,” Dr. Birx said on Sunday. “What we are seeing today is different from March and April—it is extraordinarily widespread.” (William A. Galston, 8/4)
Los Angeles Times: Time For School, Ready Or Not. Much Of California Is Not
Most California schools are a week or two away from the start of the school year, which will be conducted online for at least 80% of them. Yet many are still trying to hammer out agreements with their teachers unions about what the school day will look like. How many minutes of live instruction will students receive? How many minutes of recorded instruction? How much small-group work with a teacher, or one-to-one contact? The results have been all over the map. ...California Gov. Gavin Newsom should have stepped into this fray with a heavy foot from the start. (8/5)
