Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Ignoring Long Covid Is Dangerous; Omicron Infection Does Not Protect Against Variants
Stat: Omitting Long Covid From Pandemic Messaging Is Harmful For Public Health
Public health messaging about Covid-19 has focused almost exclusively on hospitalizations and deaths. The omission of long Covid, which may affect between 8 million and 23 million Americans, deprives the public of the knowledge necessary to understand the risks of various activities, make informed decisions about risk-taking, and understand what is happening to them if they feel sick for an extended period. (Danielle Wenner and Gabriela Arguedas Ramirez, 5/17)
Bloomberg: Omicron Is Turning Out To Be A Weak Vaccine
A silver lining to the inconvenience of a mild Covid-19 infection is that for most people it is followed by a honeymoon period — an idyllic time when the immune system is firing on all cylinders and preventing reinfection. But all good things must come to an end. At some point, the surge of protective antibodies wanes. (Lisa Jarvis, 5/16)
Bloomberg: Omicron No Vaccine Substitute, But Breakthroughs May Beat Boosters
Back when we all agreed the Covid pandemic was over, somebody made a big mistake and forgot to let Covid know. So it’s surging for the fifth time in the greater New York City metropolitan area, meaning it will probably be hitting the rest of the country soon. Countless person-hours of productivity are once again being lit on fire by the process of procuring and taking Covid tests, sweating out the results, and then canceling or postponing plans based on them. (Mark Gongloff, 5/16)
USA Today: After 1 Million COVID Deaths In America, Here's What We Must Learn
The United States has reached the grimmest of milestones – 1 million dead from COVID-19. Even if you believe half of those deaths are “from” versus “with” COVID, it would still represent more Americans dead than if a Sept. 11 attack had occurred every week since the pandemic began. And for the record, I and many other experts believe we’ve greatly underestimated versus overestimated deaths from the coronavirus. (Dr. Jerome Adams, 5/16)
Stat: One Million Reasons To Reimagine End-Of-Life Care
The magnitude of loss from Covid-19 — 1 million-plus deaths, many millions more grieving loved ones who have died, the country’s social fabric in tatters — is incomprehensible. Life expectancy in the U.S. has fallen by two years since the beginning of the pandemic. This is the largest decline in almost a century, driven mainly by deaths among people under age 60. Many of these can be classified as “bad deaths.” As a physician who advocates for better end-of-life experiences, I wonder how the pandemic has changed our relationship with death. (Shoshana Ungerleider, 5/16)
