Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Bill Would Stop Companies From Taking Biometric Data Without Asking
Two U.S. senators are proposing legislation to prohibit private companies from collecting biometric data without consumers and employees’ consent. Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon said this week he is introducing the reform measure along with independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The effort comes after growing concerns about biometric data collection among private companies, including the use of facial-recognition technology. (8/6)
It was late April, near the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in the big cities in the northeastern U.S., and anesthesiologist Joseph Savino was puzzled. In two months, an unexpectedly high number of coronavirus patients had died in his intensive care unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after a stroke caused by bleeding in the brain... So Savino described the dilemma on a virtual forum on Zoom, where dozens of critical-care experts from around the world meet each week to share their experiences with Covid-19 patients. (Winslow, 8/6)
A Harvard-trained psychiatrist is meeting gamers where they are — on Amazon's livestreaming platform Twitch — to shed light on mental health issues and lessen the stigma around talking about it. Alok Kanojia, 37, is known as "Dr. K" to his fans, 370,000 of whom tune into his monetized Twitch livestream "Healthy Gamer GG" where he discusses issues like online harassment, depression and self-criticism with popular gaming guest stars. He also runs a YouTube channel with the same name that's monetized through ads. (Liao, 8/5)
In a time of social distancing and contactless encounters, businesses are turning to technology to adapt. Kimbal Musk, CEO and co-founder of The Kitchen Restaurant Group, had closed his restaurants for months after the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States. Now, as they begin to reopen -- he said about half have done so already -- guests will be having a completely reinvented, contactless dining experience, via a new app called Next Door On Demand. (Dunn, Muldowney and Yamada, 8/4)
