Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Covid Is Still Killing Americans, Though Racial Trends Are Shifting
The U.S. has dodged a major wintertime Covid-19 surge as the pandemic continues to recede into the background. But the death toll is still growing. The U.S., which recently topped 1.1 million Covid-19 deaths since the pandemic began, continues to record several hundred more each day, death-certificate data show. The people who are dying remain old, often with underlying health issues such as heart and lung ailments, the data indicate. (Kamp, 2/20)
A year ago, young families of color in Massachusetts were suffering a heavy toll from COVID-19, with Black and Latino people in the prime of their lives dying at rates up to three times higher than white people. Now, the pendulum appears to be swinging the other way. (Lazar, 2/20)
In other news connected to covid —
At Truman Lake Manor in rural Missouri, every day begins the same way for every employee entering the nursing home’s doors — with a swab up the nose, a swirl of testing solution and a brief wait to see whether a thin red line appears indicating a positive COVID-19 case. Only the healthy are allowed in to care for virus-free residents. (Lieb and Harjai, 2/19)
Deaths in state and federal prisons across America rose nearly 50 percent during the first year of the pandemic, and in six states they more than doubled, according to the first comprehensive data on prison fatalities in the era of Covid-19. (Valentino-DeVries and Pitchon, 2/19)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a few updates last week to its child and adolescent immunization schedule. One update was the addition of COVID-19 vaccines to the child and adolescent immunization schedule. (Rudy, 2/20)
