Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Man Dies After Confronting Bar Patron For Not Wearing A Mask
When an 80-year-old man at a bar near Buffalo, N.Y., noticed a fellow customer not wearing a face mask, he confronted him. The customer responded by swiftly pushing him to the ground, the police said. Five days later, the man was dead. On Monday, the customer, Donald Lewinski, 65, of West Seneca, N.Y., was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of the 80-year-old, Rocco Sapienza. The case is believed to be one of the first of its kind in New York State. (Closson, 10/6)
Covid-19 patients who experience even the mildest illness risk suffering symptoms for months, researchers in France found. Two-thirds of patients who had a mild-to-moderate case of Covid-19 reported symptoms 60 days after falling ill, when more than a third still felt sick or in a worse condition than when their coronavirus infection began. Prolonged symptoms were more likely among patients aged 40 to 60 years and those who required hospitalization, according to staff at Tours University Hospital, who followed 150 non-critical patients from March to June. (Gale, 10/6)
President Trump is telling Americans not to be afraid of coronavirus, as the national death toll from the pandemic tops 210,000. Cases are again climbing in much of the country -- but attitudes about the threat posed by COVID-19 vary greatly. (Nawaz and Grumke, 10/6)
Think you鈥檝e never had a meltdown? Think again. Although we typically expect meltdowns to look like the adult version of a toddler鈥檚 tantrum鈥攚ailing, whining, whimpering鈥攑sychologists say they can manifest in different ways: Crying. Rage. Silence or an emotional shut down. 鈥淥ften, people don鈥檛 identify with the word 鈥榤eltdown鈥 because of the stigma of having a mental-health crisis,鈥 says Amanda Luterman, a licensed psychotherapist in Montreal. 鈥淭hey will just say they are having a really horrible day.鈥 (Bernstein, 10/6)
KHN: Lifetime Experiences Help Older Adults Build Resilience To Pandemic Trauma
Older adults are especially vulnerable physically during the coronavirus pandemic. But they鈥檙e also notably resilient psychologically, calling upon a lifetime of experience and perspective to help them through difficult times. New research calls attention to this little-remarked-upon resilience as well as significant challenges for older adults as the pandemic stretches on. It shows that many seniors have changed behaviors 鈥 reaching out to family and friends, pursuing hobbies, exercising, participating in faith communities 鈥 as they strive to stay safe from the coronavirus. (Graham, 10/7)
KHN: One School, Two Choices: A Study In Classroom Vs. Distance Learning
Cozbi Mazariegos stays in shape these days by running room to room inside her Marin City apartment to answer questions from her kids, ages 7, 10 and 12. They鈥檙e all working at home on laptops issued by their school, Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy. Meanwhile, Shannon Bynum鈥檚 son, Kamari, 10, and daughter, Keyari, 8, who live nearby, are back on the Bayside MLK campus. Bynum had warned them, however, that if he heard they weren鈥檛 wearing masks, they鈥檇 have to learn remotely, too. (Glionna, 10/7)