Can’t see the audio participant? Click here to listen on SoundCloud.
Congress is approving nonetheless more cash to deal with the well being and financial fallout of the continued novel coronavirus pandemic. But the pandemic rages on ― claiming a disproportionate variety of lives amongst employees and residents of nursing houses and different long-term care amenities, and jeopardizing the lives and livelihoods of well being care suppliers and sufferers alike with issues not associated to COVID-19, the illness attributable to the virus. And the messaging from the White House is getting much more complicated as President Donald Trump and his science advisers appear to have totally different playbooks.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:
The newest COVID reduction invoice — anticipated to go the House by Thursday afternoon ― supplies further funding for hospitals within the hope of easing liquidity issues at these amenities which were slammed by a scarcity of income as a result of they’ll’t carry out elective or nonemergency procedures. Public well being officers have been compelled right into a “verbal minuet” on the every day White House press briefings as they search to offer correct and useful info on the COVID pandemic but additionally not embarrass or anger the president. But the hole between their views and the president’s and the evolving understanding of the virus is resulting in confusion among the many public, which seeks clear recommendation. Nursing houses are among the many most regulated well being care amenities within the nation, but a couple of quarter of the COVID-related deaths throughout the nation have been in nursing houses or different long-term care amenities. That is partially defined as a result of they home essentially the most susceptible folks — those that are older or disabled. Yet many of those amenities will not be nicely staffed and don’t deal with an infection successfully. Many of those long-term care residences will not be nicely outfitted to battle infectious ailments. In an effort to make them really feel much less institutional, many have been redesigned to create a extra home-like setting, with large open areas and communal eating, which may work towards efforts to cease an outbreak. Public well being consultants say blood checks to indicate whether or not a person has developed antibodies to the coronavirus are crucial earlier than the U.S. financial system can reopen. Although there are a lot of checks available on the market, some are proving unreliable. That is partly as a result of the Food and Drug Administration informed take a look at producers they may promote their checks first and show they work later. Even if the checks precisely pinpoint the presence of antibodies, which signify that the person had a coronavirus an infection, it’s not but clear if which means the particular person will probably be immune from the illness or how lengthy the immunity may final. The battle over whether or not abortion must be banned together with different elective procedures in the course of the COVID disaster continues in lots of states. The Texas battle ― wherein court docket rulings have toggled between making abortion both accessible or unavailable nearly on a day-by-day foundation — has evaporated for the second as a result of the governor relaxed the ban on nonessential procedures, abortion included. But as of now abortion is prohibited in Arkansas.
Plus, for additional credit score, the panelists suggest their favourite well being coverage tales of the week that they suppose it is best to learn too:
Julie Rovner: The Atlantic’s “Why Some People Get Sicker Than Others,” by James Hamblin
Joanne Kenen: The Center for Public Integrity’s “When Nursing Home Workers Feel Like Lambs Led to Slaughter,” by Susan Ferriss
Jen Haberkorn: The Los Angeles Times’ “How Trump Let the U.S. Fall Behind the Curve on Coronavirus Threat,” by David S. Cloud, Paul Pringle and Eli Stokols
Alice Miranda Ollstein: Politico’s “Trump Coronavirus Response Feeds Distrust in Black and Latino Communities,” by Laura Barrón-López
To hear all our podcasts, click here.
And subscribe to What the Health? on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or Pocket Casts.
Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nationwide well being coverage information service. It is an editorially unbiased program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which isn’t affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
We encourage organizations to republish our content material, freed from cost. Here’s what we ask:
You should credit score us as the unique writer, with a hyperlink to our khn.org web site. If doable, please embody the unique creator(s) and “Kaiser Health News” within the byline. Please protect the hyperlinks within the story.
It’s essential to notice, not all the things on khn.org is accessible for republishing. If a narrative is labeled “All Rights Reserved,” we can not grant permission to republish that merchandise.
Have questions? Let us know at [email protected]”>[email protected]
