Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Lessons On New Virus Strains, Leadership Failures, Health Going Global
The New York Times: The New Virus Strains Make The Next 6 Weeks Crucial
I hope, in the end, that this article reads as alarmism. I hope that a year from now it’s a piece people point to as an overreaction. I hope. Coronavirus cases are falling. Vaccination numbers are rising. We are already jabbing more than a million people a day, which means President Biden’s initial goal of 100 million vaccinations in 100 days was far too conservative. In California, where I live, Governor Gavin Newsom lifted the statewide stay-at-home order. It feels like dawn is breaking. And that is what makes this moment dangerous. The B.1.1.7 variant of coronavirus, first seen in Britain, and now spreading throughout Europe, appears to be 30 to 70 percent more contagious, and it may be more lethal, too. (Ezra Klein, 1/28)
Stat: New Coronavirus Variants Call For More Surveillance, Control
The Covid-19 virus is evolving rapidly. That should come as no surprise: RNA-based viruses generate mutations constantly as a result of their error-prone replication. Wherever there are more infections, there are more opportunities for the virus to mutate. For a virus new to a species, as this coronavirus is to humans, some mutations are likely to make it more transmissible. (Neil Ferguson, Katharina Hauck and Christl Donnelly, 1/28)
The New York Times: Inside The U.K.'s Second Covid Wave
Nearly a year into the pandemic, the situation in Britain is dire. A vicious first wave has given way to an even more deadly second one. On Tuesday, the country passed a milestone of 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus — which amounts to one of the worst fatality rates in the world. A national lockdown, in place since Jan. 4, has only recently begun to lower the eye-wateringly high number of cases, fueled in part by the emergence of a new, apparently more contagious strain of the virus. The toll on the National Health Service is close to unbearable: Nearly 40,000 Covid-19 patients are in hospitals, almost double the peak last year. (Lynsey Addario, 1/28)
The Guardian: The Guardian View On Britain's Pandemic Record: A Monument To Failure
When international reports urged fear of the new disease, Mr. Johnson was boasting about shaking hands with everyone in a hospital. People were discharged from wards into care homes, where the virus ran amok. Borders were unmonitored. It was clear that lockdowns were a first line of defence and the prime minister was late to accept the necessity, then impatient to lift restrictions. He and his chancellor treated partial success last summer as total victory. They urged people to repopulate high streets, subsidised dining out, and discouraged working from home. When the second wave came, all the mistakes of the first one were repeated. Mr Johnson rejected scientists’ calls for a “circuit-breaker” lockdown. Mixed messages confused the reintroduction of restrictions. Infrastructure for testing and contact tracing failed to match grandiose promises. The system has been patchy, slow and mired in allegations of cronyism – a profligate sideshow offering false hope. (1/27)
CNN: Covid-19 Will Change How The World Thinks About Health Forever
At this time last year, the world was just starting to understand how serious a novel coronavirus pandemic could get. Only a few weeks after we first heard the word "Covid-19," we were closing our foundation's offices and joining billions of people worldwide in adjusting to radically different ways of living. (Bill and Melinda Gates, 1/27)
New York Post: Hey, WHO! Do A Real Wuhan Probe
If the WHO team does not investigate the Wuhan Institute, it is party to a cover-up. We know the institute obtained samples of bat coronaviruses sourced in 2013 from the Mojiang Mine some 600 miles away, where three miners who had prolonged contact with bat feces became ill and died from a COVID-like illness. We also know the institute obtained blood and tissue samples from the ailing miners. We know Daszak was co-author with Shi of a November 2017 paper in the PLOS Pathogens journal about SARS-related viruses collected from that mineshaft. (Miranda Devine, 1/27)
Los Angeles Times: Biden Mercifully Takes Gag Off Healthcare Providers Overseas
It’s a relief to see the Biden administration swiftly begin to dismantle the crippling rules and regulations put in place by the Trump administration to prevent healthcare providers not just from offering abortions but from even offering information about the procedure to patients. On Thursday, Biden is expected to repeal the global gag rule that forces foreign nongovernmental healthcare providers who receive U.S. financial aid to agree not to offer abortions — even when they do so with funds from other sources. (1/27)
