Weekly Edition: April 10, 2020
‘Baby, I Can’t Breathe’: America’s First ER Doctor To Die In The Heat Of COVID-19 Battle
Alastair Gee, The Guardian
Frank Gabrin knew the stakes of his job. What he found unsettling was having to reuse personal protective gear while caring for coronavirus patients.
‘It’s Like Walking Into Chernobyl,’ One Doctor Says Of Her Emergency Room
Will Stone and Leila Fadel, NPR News
Lack of protective gear and fears about all the unknown aspects of COVID-19 are parts of the mosaic of stress facing doctors and nurses on the front lines of the pandemic.
‘When It Starts Getting Into Your Local Hospital, It Becomes Real’
Lauren Weber
Located about 45 minutes from New Orleans in one of the hardest-hit counties nationally, the 25-bed rural St. James Parish Hospital has hunkered down as staffers became infected, patient intake numbers have doubled, and intubations have skyrocketed. This is what it looks like inside a rural hospital when COVID-19 hits.
Dispatch From A Country Doctor: Seeing Patients Differently In The Time Of Coronavirus
Julie Appleby
Emergency rule changes by the federal government and some insurers have made telemedicine a useful tool.
Nursing Homes Have Thousands Of Ventilators That Hospitals Desperately Need
Joanne Faryon
The prospect raises a grim dilemma: Should doctors take people off life support in order to save COVID-19 patients who might recover?
‘An Arm And A Leg’: Superheroes Of ‘Stuff’ Help Health Workers In NYC
Dan Weissmann
“An Arm and a Leg” is back — sooner than we expected — with stories about how COVID-19 intersects with the cost of health care, and how we can all respond. So we’re calling it SEASON-19.
To ‘Keep The Lights On,’ Doctors And Hospitals Ask For Advance Medicare Payments
Phil Galewitz
As part of the federal response to the coronavirus crisis, Medicare is offering to give hospitals and doctors accelerated payments.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Who Will Pay For COVID-19 Care?
The spread of COVID-19 is prompting changes in pricing, coverage and other health care issues that have been subjects of political debate for years. But the politics remain polarized. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week that they think you should read, too.
Pandemic Delays Federal Probe Into Medicare Advantage Health Plans
Fred Schulte
Government officials want to focus on fighting COVID-19 instead of recouping overcharges that run into the millions.
Trump Administration Uses Wartime Powers To Be First In Line On Medical Supplies
Christina Jewett and Lauren Weber
As states scour the world for masks and other protective medical equipment, the federal government has repeatedly invoked a little-known clause in the Defense Production Act to step to the front of the line for sought-after health supplies.
A Colorado Ski Community Planned To Test Everyone For COVID-19. Here’s What Happened.
Christie Aschwanden
A couple decided to donate a new test from their company to enable coronavirus testing for everyone in their ski resort community. It was an experiment that promised to show what widespread testing could do to fight the spread of COVID-19. But even the best-intended plans run into problems during this pandemic.
After COVID-19: Doctors Ponder Best Advice As Patients Recover From Coronavirus
Carmen Heredia Rodriguez
Doctors are making decisions about a patient’s recovery with an incomplete understanding of the disease caused by the coronavirus. Although federal officials have issued general guidelines, physicians said they can’t offer recovered patients who aren’t retested any guarantees about whether they could transmit the virus.
Cancer Patients Face Treatment Delays And Uncertainty As Coronavirus Cripples Hospitals
Will Stone
As hospitals across the country are forced to delay or cancel certain medical procedures in response to the surge in patients with COVID-19, those hard choices are disrupting care for some people with serious illnesses.
Long-Standing Racial And Income Disparities Seen Creeping Into COVID-19 Care
Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio
Many health officials around the nation have not released data on the ethnic and racial demographics of people tested for the new coronavirus. But public health experts said the anecdotes are adding up, and they fear the response to the pandemic will result in predictable health care disparities.
‘You Pray That You Got The Drug.’ Ailing Couple Gambles On Trial For COVID-19 Cure
JoNel Aleccia
Josie and George Taylor of Everett, Washington, are two of the first people in the U.S. to recover from novel coronavirus infections after joining a clinical trial for the antiviral drug remdesivir.
Mysterious Heart Damage, Not Just Lung Troubles, Befalling COVID-19 Patients
Markian Hawryluk
Most of the attention in the COVID-19 pandemic has been on how the virus affects the lungs. But evidence shows that up to 1 in 5 hospitalized patients have signs of heart damage and many are dying due to heart problems.
What Does Recovery From COVID-19 Look Like? It Depends. A Pulmonologist Explains.
Judith Graham
Reports offer a glimmer of hope, especially for older adults.
COVID-19 Crisis Threatens Beleaguered Assisted Living Industry
Laura Ungar and Jay Hancock
The Capital Senior Living chain of assisted living communities and others like it were struggling financially before coronavirus suddenly appeared. Now their situation is really getting tough.
Retiree-Rich Palm Beach County Leads Florida In COVID-19 Deaths
Phil Galewitz
The coronavirus death toll in Palm Beach County — home to President Donald Trump’s palatial home and club, Mar-a-Lago ― is the highest in Florida, where the large senior population is at risk.
Inside Meals On Wheels’ Struggle To Keep Older Americans Fed During A Pandemic
Bruce Horovitz
Its older volunteers are staying home and its clients, mostly age 75 and up, are more vulnerable than ever.
‘Staying Away From Grandma’ Isn’t An Option In Multigenerational Homes
Cara Anthony
About 1 in 5 U.S. residents live in multigenerational households. Many of those have three or more generations all under one roof. While the living arrangement has financial and emotional benefits, those families face a unique set of challenges as COVID-19 continues to spread.
‘You’ve Been Served’: Wisconsin Hospitals Sued Patients Even During Pandemic
Bram Sable-Smith, Wisconsin Public Radio
Wisconsin hospitals had filed at least 104 lawsuits in small claims court since the state declared a public health emergency March 12. Most now say they are suspending the cases; one hospital has dismissed them after a reporter’s calls.
Millennial Zeitgeist: Attitudes About COVID-19 Shift As Cases Among Young Adults Rise
Victoria Knight
Twenty- and 30-somethings were initially told the coronavirus was more likely to strike older people. But then people in younger age groups started getting seriously sick.
Young People Weigh Pain Of Job Loss Against Risks Of Virus
Anna Almendrala
Young adults are being hit hard in the COVID-19 economy, but many have mixed feelings about losing jobs that might otherwise put them in harm’s way in the midst of the pandemic.
Comic Relief From COVID-19: Leaders Really Meme It When They Say Stay Home
Mary Chris Jaklevic
State and city officials are using a dose of humor to urge residents to stay home in the serious mission of controlling COVID-19.
What’s Missing In The Coronavirus Response
Shefali Luthra
Public health researchers offered a range of ideas — from high-tech to tried-and-true public health interventions ― that could aid the U.S. response to COVID-19.
To Curb Coronavirus, What’s Behind The Wearing Of A Mask?
Julie Appleby
The CDC recommends that Americans wear facial masks when they go to public places, such as the grocery store. But this is only one part of a multipronged effort to stop the virus’s spread.
Newsom’s Ambitious Health Care Agenda Crumbles In A ‘Radically Changed’ World
Angela Hart
California Gov. Gavin Newsom charged into 2020 with ambitious — and expensive — proposals to increase health insurance coverage, reduce homelessness and tackle drug prices. Then came COVID-19.
Postcard From The Edge: L.A. Street Vendors Who Can’t Stop Working
Anna Almendrala
Foot traffic in L.A. has fallen off a cliff amid the COVID-19 crisis, driving many street vendors away. But some are still on the streets, peddling their wares out of economic necessity. Many are undocumented immigrants who won’t get any help from the recently approved $2 trillion federal assistance package.
Second Time Around? Health Care Issues Trump Might Tackle If Reelected
KHN’s Julie Rovner examines what health care issues the administration might encounter if President Donald Trump wins in November.