Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Lessons About Burnout Among Health Care Workers; Reminders About Justified Medical Fears Among Blacks
Stat: Beyond Burnout: This Surge Of Covid-19 Is Bringing Burnover
Covid-19 is roaring back for a third wave. The first two substantially increased feelings of moral injury and burnout among health care workers. This one is bringing burnover. Health care systems are scrambling anew. The crises of ICU beds at capacity, shortages of personal protective equipment, emergency rooms turning away ambulances, and staff shortages are happening this time not in isolated hot spots but in almost every state. Clinicians again face work that is risky, heart-rending, physically exhausting, and demoralizing, all the elements of burnout. They have seen this before and are intensely frustrated it is happening again. (Wendy Dean and Simon G. Talbot, 11/25)
The Washington Post: Why Black Americans Are Hesitant About A Vaccine
If you thought that the mask wars were bad, brace yourself for the coming clash over the coronavirus vaccine. And in America — should anyone be surprised? — part of that battle is going to be fought along racial lines. As hospitalizations and deaths surge from the novel coronavirus that has claimed more than 258,000 lives, we are told that help is on the way. Pfizer and Moderna hope to have functional coronavirus vaccines ready to begin distribution within weeks; on Monday, AstraZeneca announced that its vaccine, too, had proved highly effective in late-stage trials. Pfizer and Moderna are hoping to get emergency-use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. All great news, except as others have noted, vaccines in vials are no good unless people take them. (Karen Attiah, 11/24)
Stat: Biopharma Industry Works To Build Confidence In Covid-19 Vaccines
Over the last few weeks, the United States has surpassed 100,000 Covid-19 cases a day and reached the staggering milestone of 10 million cases. This is both sobering and humbling. While there has been encouraging news about progress in the development of Covid-19 vaccines, making sure that Americans have confidence in these vaccines is crucial to helping bend the curve of infections and getting us back to some semblance of normalcy. (Stephen J. Ubl, 11/25)
The Wall Street Journal: Too Much Caution Is Killing Covid Patients
Fear and panic are central impediments to competent decision-making during a crisis. As Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations rise around the country, creating an atmosphere of crisis, political leaders are reaching for last spring’s lockdown playbooks. Their grave tone conveys an air of inevitability, as if politicians have no choice but again to restrict civil liberties, limit social gatherings, and cripple businesses that survived the initial lockdowns. But there’s a better way: following the evidence for early treatment of Covid-19. (Joseph A. Ladapo, 11/24)
The Washington Post: Most Schools Should Close And Stay Closed Through Winter
In recent weeks, prominent economists, public health experts and commentators have argued that schools shouldn’t be closing because they aren’t major contributors to the surge in covid-19 cases. I disagree. With much of the United States engulfed in exponential virus spread and many hospitals already overwhelmed, most schools should close and stay closed through the winter. (Leana S. Wen, 11/24)
Fox News: Despite Coronavirus, Science Is NOT Telling Us To Close Schools
Sound science, like the coronavirus itself, is apolitical. Most everything else this year — including decisions on whether to close schools — is not. As the pandemic enters its deadliest phase to date, government leaders and school districts are having to make extraordinarily difficult decisions about whether to continue in-person learning amid record communitywide surges in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. New York City’s decision to close schools indefinitely, and the decision in my home state of New Jersey to allow school districts to keep them open, offers a stark contrast in how the two states with the highest death rates for COVID-19 are managing this crisis. (Richard Besser, 11/24)
The Wall Street Journal: The Political Class’s Hypocrisy Long Predates Covid-19
People in reliably blue states (California, New York, Oregon) as well as in the states that made Donald Trump a one-term president (Wisconsin, Michigan)—have been standing in line for three and four hours to get a Covid-19 test before traveling this week. These people are perfectly aware that infection rates are rising and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly cautions against celebrating the holiday with people outside your household. Alas, many of them don’t seem to care anymore. According to the American Automobile Association, there could be as many as 50 million Thanksgiving travelers this year, only 10% less than in 2019. This is a form of mass civil disobedience like nothing the country has seen since the 1960s. (Jason L. Riley, 11/24)
CNN: Testing Alone Can't Keep You Safe For Thanksgiving
Recently, a friend called me to ask for my advice. She has done her best to follow public health guidance -- like masking in public, avoiding big social gatherings and trying to see friends outdoors instead of indoors -- in the lead up to Thanksgiving. She recognizes that she has had some potential exposure to Covid-19, as her kids have been at college, and she has been going to work. Still, she was really hoping to see her extended family for the holiday. (Megan Ranney, 11/23)
The Hill: Don't Let 'Experts' Ruin Your Thanksgiving
Politicians and bureaucrats are trying to control — and even eliminate — holiday gatherings this year. As a physician and public policy expert, I would like to present another perspective. Rather than unthinkingly accepting every recommendation or instruction, make your own choices. Not long ago, people would never have considered the possibility the government could enter people’s homes to cancel their Thanksgiving celebrations. Then came COVID-19. (Dr. Roger Klein, 11/24)
