Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Lessons On Contact Tracing, Testing, Avoiding A Second Wave; Lockdowns Aren't Worse Than The Disease
The Washington Post: Contact Tracing Is The Key Weapon Against Covid-19
Years ago, while spending a summer in Los Angeles, I fell cripplingly ill. I could not get out of bed. My spine was racked with pain. Being an idiot, I did not call a doctor. But after a week or so, I got better. I started walking my dog again and went straight to our usual park. There, nailed to a tree, was a sign that read, “Be aware, people have been catching West Nile virus from mosquitoes in this park." I would have liked to have gotten notification while I was sick: I might have called a doctor. Even better, I wish the poster had been up earlier: I might have switched parks. The poster was a form of contact tracing — alerting unwitting people to the danger of infection so they can take appropriate action. (Danielle Allen, 6/16)
Bloomberg: Germany’s Corona App Is Much Worse Than Singapore's
Life isn’t about finding perfect solutions but making difficult trade-offs. So it is with the contact-tracing apps that are proliferating faster than I can keep up with. More out of curiosity than optimism, I’ll be downloading my first one on Tuesday: Germany’s newly launched “Corona App.” I hope time proves me wrong, but my hunch is that Germany got several trade-offs wrong, and should have learned from the experience of nimbler countries like Singapore. The goal, of course, is the same for all these apps: not to replace, but to augment and assist human contact tracers in pinging people who’ve been near an infected person. Human beings can only name contacts they know; software can point out strangers who’ve been within aerosol range. (Andreas Kluth, 6/16)
The Wall Street Journal: There Isn’t A Coronavirus ‘Second Wave’
In recent days, the media has taken to sounding the alarm bells over a “second wave” of coronavirus infections. Such panic is overblown. Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and the courage and compassion of the American people, our public health system is far stronger than it was four months ago, and we are winning the fight against the invisible enemy. While talk of an increase in cases dominates cable news coverage, more than half of states are actually seeing cases decline or remain stable. Every state, territory and major metropolitan area, with the exception of three, have positive test rates under 10%. And in the six states that have reached more than 1,000 new cases a day, increased testing has allowed public health officials to identify most of the outbreaks in particular settings—prisons, nursing homes and meatpacking facilities—and contain them. (Vice President Mike Pence, 6/16)
The Hill: Our Lockdowns Are Not Deadlier Than The Disease
Four scholars argued in a recent op-ed for The Hill that the deaths and “accumulated years of life lost” caused by the “near complete economic shutdown” in response to the COVID-19 outbreak are greater than the lives saved. The lead author, Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a retired neuroradiologist, has made similar arguments in other media outlets for two months... The authors said that the shutdown was costing more than $1 trillion a month, and would kill 7,200 of us each month from the economic effects alone. But as we examined their assumptions, the model collapsed like a house of cards. (Tracy Mayne and Jeremy Mayer, 6/16)
The New York Times: Is Trump Trying To Spread Covid-19?
When the full record of the coronavirus in America is written, historians may argue that President Trump’s biggest mistake was not what he failed to do in early 2020, when the right strategy for combating the virus was widely debated, unproven and hard. No, they will point to what Trump failed to do in June 2020, when the right strategy was clear, proven and relatively easy. No doubt, this virus is inscrutable. It pops up, it disappears, it reappears, some people are symptomatic, some asymptomatic, some seem to have natural immunities to it that we don’t understand, and once it infects people it hits in radically different ways: It comes in the equivalents of decaf, regular and double macchiato — and you never know if you’re going to get the mild or the extra-strength version. But there is so much that we do know now that could make this post-lockdown phase so much less dangerous and so much more economically viable than it is. (Thomas L. Friedman, 6/16)
CNN: What The Pandemic Means For Our Summers
Every day we are bombarded with new numbers -- 20,000 new infections and 800-1,000 new deaths every day; projections such as the total US death toll reaching 130,000 by July 4. Our responses to hearing these numbers seem to vary widely -- some of us lock ourselves away in our homes, while others tell ourselves the threat of infection is over. Rather than running to one of these extremes, it would be better for people to understand the risk and to make choices based on information. (Erin Bromage, 6/16)
Stat: Cough And Pneumonia In The Time Of Coronavirus
Standing in line outside a grocery store in Seattle, almost at the front, the requisite six feet away from the person in front of me, I am beginning to panic a bit. From behind my mask, I try to hold back a cough. Pollen is thick in the air and I am convinced I can actually see the tiny dodge balls of pollen coming toward me. (Amy Sarah Ginsburg, 6/17)
The Hill: COVID Has Changed Our Lives — Buildings Should Change, Too
COVID-19 has changed many aspects of our daily lives. If history is any guide, it will change our buildings, too. The challenge will be ensuring those necessary changes are beneficial not just to human health and safety, but also to our environment and energy system. If we’re smart, efficiency improvements will ensure the spaces where we work, play and live aid in the nation’s economic recovery as well. (Russ Carnahan, 6/16)
Houston Chronicle: Texas Legislature Should Put Mental Health Funding First During Pandemic
When the Texas Legislature convenes in January, there will be no shortage of coronavirus-related issues demanding action, from the many hours of lost instructional time for our students to a surge in Texans who have lost their businesses or their paychecks. Also at the top of the list for urgent legislative action should be meeting our increasingly dire behavioral health needs. (Joe Straus, 6/17)
