Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Worries New Variants Could Beat Evusheld Preventive Drug
Stat: Biden Officials Scramble As Covid Variants Test Evusheld's Effectiveness
Biden health officials are bracing for the prospect that the country’s sole preventive Covid-19 treatment for immunocompromised people could be ineffective this winter. (Owermohle, 10/18)
CNBC: White House Covid Czar Calls On Seniors To Get Omicron Booster Now
A top White House health official on Monday issued a stark warning to older people about the health risk they face this fall and winter from Covid-19. (Kimball, 10/17)
The Hill: US Warned To Get Ready As Europe Deals With New COVID-19 Rise
The most recent data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control shows that cases began going up around the beginning of September in Europe. The seven-day average is roughly 230,000 cases per day, reflecting rates that were seen in late July when Europe was still dealing with the omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariant wave. (Choi, 10/17)
CNBC: Dr. Fauci: Covid Omicron Subvariants BQ.1, BQ.1.1 Are 'Troublesome'
As winter inches closer, Dr. Fauci is sounding the alarm about a pair of “pretty troublesome” Covid variants. The two descendants of omicron’s BA.5 subvariant, called BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, both have dangerous “qualities or characteristics that could evade some of the interventions we have,” Fauci told CBS News on Friday. (Constantino, 10/17)
The Atlantic: How To Make Sense Of This Fall's Messy COVID Data
Official case numbers now represent “the tip of the iceberg” of actual infections, Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York, told me. Although case rates may seem low now, true infections may be up to 20 times higher. And even those case numbers are no longer available on a daily basis in many places, as the CDC and most state agencies have switched to updating their data once a week instead of every day. (Ladyzhets, 10/17)
AP: Governor To End California Coronavirus Emergency In February
California’s coronavirus emergency will officially end in February, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday, nearly three years after the state’s first confirmed death from the disease prompted a raft of restrictions that upended public life. (Beam, 10/17)
And scientists are under fire for their work on a lab-made version of covid —
Stat: Boston University Researchers’ Testing Of Lab-Made Version Of Covid Virus Draws Government Scrutiny
Research at Boston University that involved testing a lab-made hybrid version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is garnering heated headlines alleging the scientists involved could have unleashed a new pathogen. (Branswell, 10/17)
