Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC To Award Over $3B To Reinforce Public Health System
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday it is awarding more than $3 billion to help strengthen public health workforce and infrastructure across the United States after the COVID-19 pandemic put severe stress on them. The public health agency's funding includes $3 billion from the American Rescue Plan announced by President Joe Biden's administration last year, and would cover all state, local and territorial health departments across the country. (11/29)
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it is awarding $3.2 billion to help local and state jurisdictions across the country strengthen their public health workforce and infrastructure. Georgia’s Department of Public Health is set to receive $105.2 million over five years, according to the federal agency. The Fulton County Board of Health is getting $10.5 million over 5 years. (Oliviero, 11/29)
As the US government distributes some of the most significant investments ever to improve public health, grass-roots organizations that work in underserved communities say they’re being overlooked. These organizations say they’re especially disappointed because the federal government relied on them during the Covid-19 pandemic to encourage vaccination and other mitigation measures. ... Venus Ginés, president of DÃa de la Mujer Latina, a health advocacy group in Texas, said that too often, community groups are asked to do health promotion work without receiving government funding. Many say they do the unpaid work because they care about their communities and don’t want to damage relationships with potential funders. (Cohen and Mascarenhas, 11/28)
More on the public health threat from covid —
Screening nearly 1 million patients, visitors, and healthcare workers at the entrance of a large hospital for COVID-19 symptoms, exposures, or travel was of limited benefit at considerable cost, finds a Yale study published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine. Of 951,033 screenings performed, 0.07% were failures. (Van Beusekom, 11/29)
A study today in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that medical masks may offer similar effectiveness as N95 respirators in protecting healthcare workers (HCWs) exposed to COVID-19 patients in certain settings, but experts caution against that interpretation of the results. (Van Beusekom, 11/29)
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relaxed masking guidelines for healthcare workers in October, some experts voiced concern. The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), for instance, argued that “numerous indicators, including wastewater surveillance and rising case counts overseas, point to a potential wave of new COVID-19 cases in the coming months. When that happens, we will have to shift back to universal masking. Having a policy that changes back and forth is confusing to healthcare personnel and erodes trust," the organization said. (Diamond, 11/29)
