Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
With A Death Every Minute, US Death Toll Pushed Past 300,000
CNN: Covid-19 Now Kills More Than 1 American Every Minute. And The Rate Keeps Accelerating As The Death Toll Tops 300,000
Every day, the number of families mourning the death of a loved one to Covid-19 keeps growing at a devastating rate. More than 300,000 people in the US have died from coronavirus since the first known death on February 6. That's an average of more than 961 deaths a day. But this holiday season has been especially brutal, with more than 50,000 deaths in just the past month, according to Johns Hopkins University. (Yan, 12/14)
AP: Vaccine Comes Too Late For The 300,000 US Dead
It took four months for the virus to claim its first 100,000 American lives. But with cold weather driving people inside, where the virus spreads more easily, months of reluctance in many states to require masks, and an increase in gatherings over the holidays, some public health experts project 100,000 more could die before the end of January. (Geller and Hollingsworth, 12/14)
USA Today: Comprehending The 300,000 People Killed By Coronavirus In America
It's easy to become numb to the unrelenting deaths — the scale of our losses to the coronavirus is overwhelming. But let us please take a moment to remember. (Zarracina, Haseman, and Petras, 12/14)
KHN: Behind Each Of More Than 300,000 Lives Lost: A Name, A Caregiver, A Family, A Story
More than 300,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States. It is the latest sign of a generational tragedy — one still unfolding in every corner of the country — that leaves in its wake an expanse of grief that cannot be captured in a string of statistics. (Stone, 12/15)
In related news —
Houston Chronicle: White House Coronavirus Task Force Urges Texas To Tighten Limits On Gatherings
“This surge is the most rapid increase in cases; the widest spread of intense transmission, with more than 2,000 counties in COVID red zones; and the longest duration of rapid increase, now entering its 8th week, that we have experienced,” say the reports, sent to Texas and other states on Dec. 6. “Despite the severity of this surge and the threat to hospital systems, many state and local governments are not implementing the same mitigation policies that stemmed the tide of the summer surge; that must happen now. (Wermund, 12/14)
Houston Chronicle: Turner: Nearly 1 In 7 Houstonians Have Been Infected With Coronavirus
Nearly 1 in 7 Houstonians have been infected with the coronavirus, city officials announced Monday, the infection’s true prevalence according to a study of antibodies in blood samples taken from people at their homes. The study, conducted by Baylor College of Medicine and the city health department, found 13.5 percent of people tested had antibodies to the virus in their blood in mid-September, about four times the number revealed through diagnostic testing at the time. (12/14)
Los Angeles Times: California Again Shatters Single-Day Coronavirus Case Record: More Than 42,000 Cases
California has shattered another grim record — more than 42,000 coronavirus cases in a single day, breaking a record set just a week ago. A Los Angeles Times county-by-county tally tallied 42,129 coronavirus cases across the state Monday. That’s the first time more than 40,000 cases have been reported by the state’s local health agencies in a single day. And it breaks the single-day record set on Dec. 8, when 35,400 coronavirus cases were recorded. (Lin II and Murphy, 12/14)
Also —
CIDRAP: Politics—Not COVID Threat—Held More Heft In US Decisions To Stay Home
Two new studies show that political affiliation had much more influence on Americans' decisions to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic than did the relative numbers of infections in their communities. In the first study, led by Vanderbilt University researchers and published Dec 12 in Science Advances, researchers randomly surveyed 1,135,638 Americans from Apr 4 to Sep 10 about their political affiliation and if they had participated in social activities that could hasten the spread of COVID-19, such as eating at a restaurant, visiting family or friends, or shopping for groceries in person. (Van Beusekom, 12/14)
The Hill: COVID-19 Deaths Hit Hardest In Rural America
The fall surge of coronavirus infections and deaths related to COVID-19 has hit hardest in rural areas across the country that had largely been spared the worst of the initial waves in April and June as health care systems in smaller communities struggle to keep up with so much sickness. A new analysis conducted by the Pew Research Center finds that rural areas that are sparsely populated now account for about twice the number of coronavirus-related deaths as the most densely populated cities. (Wilson, 12/14)
KHN: High-Poverty Neighborhoods Bear The Brunt Of COVID’s Scourge
Over the course of the pandemic, COVID-19 infections have battered high-poverty neighborhoods in California on a staggeringly different scale than more affluent areas, a trend that underscores the heightened risks for low-wage workers as the state endures a deadly late-autumn surge. A California Healthline review of local data from the state’s 12 most populous counties found that communities with relatively high poverty rates are experiencing confirmed COVID-19 infection rates two to three times as high as rates in wealthier areas. By late November, the analysis found, about 49 of every 1,000 residents in the state’s poorest urban areas — defined as communities with poverty rates higher than 30% — had tested positive for COVID-19. By comparison, about 16 of every 1,000 residents in comparatively affluent urban areas —communities with poverty rates lower than 10% — had tested positive. (Reese, 12/15)
