Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Covid Attacks The Heart, Study Finds; Monkeypox Blamed In Ohio Death
Direct research on the hearts of COVID-19 patients who have died from the disease has revealed they sustained DNA damage in a way completely unlike how influenza affects the body. The finding gives researchers clues about exactly how severe COVID-19 is affecting the body, and also a potential way to detect who will be seriously affected by the disease in the future. (Layt, 9/29)
Black COVID-19 patients may have faced 4.5-hour treatment delays due to pulse oximeters' inability to accurately read their blood oxygen levels, according to researchers at Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health. For 30 years, medical literature has documented that pulse oximeters overestimate blood oxygenation in individuals with darker pigmented skin, according to a study shared with Becker's on Sept. 28. However, the clinical impacts of this discrepancy have not been heavily investigated, a Sutter Health spokesperson said Sept. 28 in a statement shared with Becker's. (Kayser, 9/29)
The vision is enticing: replacing the pain of a vaccine shot with a nasal spray that is powerful enough to prevent even mild infections and short-circuit the global spread of COVID-19. Even as Americans roll up their sleeves for updated fall boosters, new variants with the potential to evade immunity are spreading in parts of Europe and Asia, renewing calls among some experts for next-generation vaccines that can truly conquer the virus. (Cross, 9/30)
In updates on the spread of monkeypox —
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new warning to health care providers Thursday about severe illnesses in people with monkeypox. (Kounang and Dillinger, 9/29)
The number of people testing positive for monkeypox has plunged in California, with the seven-day average of new cases down about 95% since the peak of the outbreak in early August. Though health experts caution that the virus threat hasn’t disappeared, progress in fending it off so far constitutes a major public health success. (Vaziri, 9/29)
Clark County can expect to see more cases of the once-rare monkeypox virus in the weeks ahead, even as the rate of new cases appears to be declining, officials said this week. (Hynes, 9/29)
Even though 60% of the people who have gotten monkeypox in Michigan so far are Black, 70% of the doses of the vaccine that can prevent infection or limit symptoms after exposure have gone to white Michiganders. Black residents have gotten just 17% of the doses administered so far in Michigan, new state health department data shows. (Jordan Shamus, 9/29)
