Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Partisan Fault Lines Deeply Divide Americans' Pandemic Views: Survey
Nearly twice as many Democrats as Republicans describe the coronavirus as 鈥渆xtremely serious,鈥 according to polling released Monday聽from the de Beaumont Foundation. Sixty-two percent of Democrats called the current state of the pandemic 鈥渆xtremely serious,鈥 while 33 percent of Republicans said the same. Eighty-six percent of African Americans said the pandemic was "very serious" or "extremely serious," compared to 74 percent of adults overall. (Budryk, 11/30)
Lawmakers grapple with their own COVID cases 鈥
Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to his office. Scott is the third Georgia GOP lawmaker to contract COVID-19 and the 26th House member to test positive for the coronavirus. Two other House members have tested positive for having antibodies, suggesting they had COVID-19 at one point. (Brufke, 11/30)
The Maine Legislature will be missing at least one member because of COVID-19 when lawmakers convene this week. Republican Sen.-elect Rick Bennett, of Oxford, announced Sunday on social media that he tested positive for the virus, and will be quarantining at least through Dec. 12. He said he鈥檚 experiencing mild symptoms including a sore throat, aches and fatigue. (Sharp and Whittle, 11/30)
As Colorado鈥檚 Democrat-led Legislature convened Monday for a special session, a GOP staff member who tested positive for COVID-19 attended a morning House session and was sent home. In response to the incident, Colorado House Speaker KC Becker, a Democrat from Boulder, called it a 鈥渞eckless breach鈥 of the Capitol鈥檚 safety protocols. (Nieberg, 12/1)
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) returned to the Capitol on Monday after testing positive聽for the coronavirus earlier聽this month.聽Grassley, 87, did not experience symptoms聽and was cleared by his doctor to return to the Capitol, according to a statement from his office.聽鈥淲hile I continued working from home during my quarantine, I鈥檓 glad to be back in the office working for Iowans," Grassley said. (Carney, 11/30)
In other legislative news 鈥
On Election Day, two staunchly conservative states legalized recreational marijuana. A third of Americans now live in a state where weed is legal for adult use. Fresh Gallup polling says 68 percent of the country favors having legal access to marijuana. But the Senate operates under a different reality. Many of the Senate鈥檚 older, conservative members are still resistant to any path to legalization for marijuana. (Fertig, 11/29)
