Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Rebound Fears Shouldn't Prevent Patients Taking Paxlovid; Covid Has Changed Hospitals
The Star Tribune: It's Now Easier To Find No-Cost COVID Pills
The window of time in which to use Paxlovid, a new and highly effective COVID-19 treatment, remains relatively narrow: The pills must be started within five days of symptom onset. Fortunately, it just got easier in Minnesota to get tested and get a prescription at no cost for this potentially lifesaving medication. Three of the state's well-known community COVID testing sites in Brooklyn Park, Moorhead and Duluth will now additionally offer on-the-spot Paxlovid prescriptions to those who test positive and meet eligibility for its use. (6/13)
The New York Times: America’s Hospitals Are In Transition
The intensive care unit is full. A patient coded early in the morning and my pager alerts me that an older man is intubated in the emergency department and a woman with cystic fibrosis is coughing up blood. There is so much sickness that I am almost too busy to notice what once would have been a remarkable fact: I am not taking care of a single patient with the coronavirus. (Lamas, 6/14)
Los Angeles Times: Will We Get Around COVID Complacency Even As The Threat Returns?
A few months ago, it seemed as though the country was finally poised to tame the pandemic, after two years of restrictions and tens of billions in government spending. The Biden administration in March released the first national COVID-19 preparedness plan to help Americans safely “return to normal,” a strategy to live with the continued presence of the virus and the emergence of new variants. Unfortunately, in response, our elected representatives and much of the country essentially sighed, preferring to move on and give up the fight. Congress is refusing to approve spending more to provide free testing, treatments and vaccines. Local governments lifted mandates and many people just stopped wearing masks, even in crowded indoor spaces. Two-thirds of those who waited in line for hours to receive their initial vaccinations couldn’t be bothered to walk into a pharmacy to get a free booster, leaving themselves more susceptible to the Omicron variants. (Elisabeth Rosenthal, 6/13)
Also —
The Atlantic: How To Save Women’s Lives After Roe
In February, NPR reported a story of a woman, Anna, who went into labor at 19 weeks, far too early for her child to survive outside the womb. This is a condition known as “preterm premature rupture of membranes” (PPROM), and in many cases the medically recommended treatment is abortion. Attempting to delay labor long enough to reach a point where the baby could survive can mean risking infection, sepsis, and death. (Greer Donley and Kimberly Chernoby, 6/13)
Los Angeles Daily News: Government Should Not Interfere With The Right To An Abortion
On May 2 of this year, a friend texted me about Justice Alito’s leaked draft that could overturn Roe v. Wade. My first reaction was utter disbelief: I never thought I’d see the day when America might stop protecting the right to abortion at the federal level—leaving it to the states to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of women who seek abortions every year. It felt dystopian to me. Over the next few days, I kept recalling the stories I experienced in my home country of Argentina, where elective abortion was illegal until very recently. While I never had to face the decision to have an abortion, a few women close to me did, and I remember their plight vividly. One faced the prospect of being tied to an abusive partner for life. Another would’ve been a teenage mom. Another would’ve been a single mom giving birth to the child of her abuser. ( Agustina Vergara Cid, 6/12)
