New York Times: The Fullest Look Yet at the Racial Inequity of Coronavirus. “Early numbers had shown that Black and Latino people were being harmed by the virus at higher rates. But the new federal data — made available after The New York Times sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — reveals a clearer and more complete picture: Black and Latino people have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in a widespread manner that spans the country, throughout hundreds of counties in urban, suburban and rural areas, and across all age groups.”
health care
Newsweek: Family of Man Who Died of Coronavirus Hit With $1 Million Hospital Bill
Newsweek: Family of Man Who Died of Coronavirus Hit With $1 Million Hospital Bill. “Florida family received a claims summary from a hospital totaling more than $1 million over a relative who died from the novel coronavirus. A picture of the claims summary was posted to an Instagram account June 28. The account holder, workshoppgh, wrote a lengthy post about the $1,123,600 bill and said: ‘No one should have to face this virus alone and make it out to get bills like this.'”
AP: Hollowed out public health system faces more cuts amid virus
AP: Hollowed out public health system faces more cuts amid virus. “The U.S. public health system has been starved for decades and lacks the resources to confront the worst health crisis in a century. Marshaled against a virus that has sickened at least 2.6 million in the U.S., killed more than 126,000 people and cost tens of millions of jobs and $3 trillion in federal rescue money, state and local government health workers on the ground are sometimes paid so little, they qualify for public aid. They track the coronavirus on paper records shared via fax. Working seven-day weeks for months on end, they fear pay freezes, public backlash and even losing their jobs.”
Reuters: U.S. group raises pricing recommendation for Gilead’s remdesivir in COVID-19
Reuters: U.S. group raises pricing recommendation for Gilead’s remdesivir in COVID-19. “Gilead Sciences Inc’s (GILD.O) antiviral remdesivir could be priced up to $5,080 per course based on benefits shown in COVID-19 patients, a U.S. drug pricing research group suggested on Wednesday, above its prior recommendation of around $4,500.”
CNBC: Black doctors push for anti-bias training in medicine to combat health inequality
CNBC: Black doctors push for anti-bias training in medicine to combat health inequality. “George Floyd’s last words, ‘I can’t breathe,’ have become a rallying cry during the weeks of protests against police violence. Doctors writing in the New England Journal of Medicine use those words as a refrain to lay out how systemic racism has negatively impacted the health of African Americans and how this is the moment to change it.”
ProPublica: How America’s Hospitals Survived the First Wave of the Coronavirus
ProPublica: How America’s Hospitals Survived the First Wave of the Coronavirus. “ProPublica deputy managing editor Charles Ornstein wanted to know why experts were wrong when they said U.S. hospitals would be overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients. Here’s what he learned, including what hospitals can do before the next wave.”
New York Times: After the Virus Came, 22 Parents Moved Into Their Children’s Hospital
New York Times: After the Virus Came, 22 Parents Moved Into Their Children’s Hospital. “Ultimately, 20 mothers and two fathers moved into St. Mary’s, in the Bayside neighborhood, bringing pajamas, sweatpants, toiletries, vitamins and laptops. Most now have been there for nearly three months, sleeping on recliners in their children’s rooms and becoming immersed in their care — and sharing just one shower.”
Berkeley News: Google search data reveal Americans’ concerns about abortion
Berkeley News: Google search data reveal Americans’ concerns about abortion. “Residents of states with limited access to contraceptives and high rates of unplanned pregnancies are more likely to turn to the internet for information about abortion. These are the findings of a new study of Google search data across all 50 states by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.”
Asian Age: US man receives $1.1 million hospital bill after surviving COVID-19
Asian Age: US man receives $1.1 million hospital bill after surviving COVID-19. “Michael Flor was admitted to a hospital in the northwestern city on March 4, and stayed for 62 days — at one point coming so close to death that nurses held up the phone so his wife and children could say goodbye. But he recovered and was discharged on May 5 to the cheers of nursing staff — only to receive a 181-page bill totalling $1,122,501.04.”
ProPublica: A Hospital’s Secret Coronavirus Policy Separated Native American Mothers From Their Newborns
ProPublica: A Hospital’s Secret Coronavirus Policy Separated Native American Mothers From Their Newborns. “Pregnant Native American women were singled out for COVID-19 testing based on their race and ZIP code, clinicians say. While awaiting results, some mothers were separated from their newborns, depriving them of the immediate contact doctors recommend.”
Courthouse News: Government Claims Native American Lawsuit Over Covid-19 Funds Too Late
Courthouse News: Government Claims Native American Lawsuit Over Covid-19 Funds Too Late. “The Trump administration blamed a Native American tribe for waiting until the eleventh hour to challenge the distribution metrics for Covid-19 relief funds in federal court on Thursday, as the government gears up to send billions of dollars out the door over the next week.”
‘This is what happens to us.’: How U.S. cities lost precious time to protect black residents from the coronavirus (Washington Post)
Washington Post: ‘This is what happens to us.’: How U.S. cities lost precious time to protect black residents from the coronavirus. “Interviews with nearly 60 public health experts, lawmakers and community leaders show that many of the first coronavirus testing sites went up in areas that happened to be whiter and more affluent, despite the requests of black leaders. Local governments — sometimes ignoring the pleas of community activists — targeted few of their education campaigns about prevention and social distancing specifically to African Americans, even as conspiracy theories spread that black people were immune to the disease.”
New York Times: Hospitals Got Bailouts and Furloughed Thousands While Paying C.E.O.s Millions
New York Times: Hospitals Got Bailouts and Furloughed Thousands While Paying C.E.O.s Millions. “HCA is among a long list of deep-pocketed health care companies that have received billions of dollars in taxpayer funds but are laying off or cutting the pay of tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and lower-paid workers. Many have continued to pay their top executives millions, although some executives have taken modest pay cuts. The New York Times analyzed tax and securities filings by 60 of the country’s largest hospital chains, which have received a total of more than $15 billion in emergency funds through the economic stimulus package in the federal CARES Act.”
STAT News: Covid-19 is battering independent physician practices. They need help now
STAT News: Covid-19 is battering independent physician practices. They need help now. “Autumn Road Family Practice is a small, six-doctor primary care practice that’s been caring for people in Little Rock, Ark., for more than half a century. On a Thursday in mid-March, the entire staff met to update the practice’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, since the first case had just been identified in Little Rock. The floor dropped out quickly. ”
Politico: Rising ICU bed use ‘a big red flag’
Politico: Rising ICU bed use ‘a big red flag’. “ICU beds are also starting to fill up in places like Minnesota’s Twin Cities; Omaha, Neb.; and the entire state of Rhode Island, according to local health officials and epidemiologists tracking such data, a warning sign of possible health care problems down the road. The availability of ICU beds is one measure of a hospital’s ability to care for its most vulnerable patients — people with severe illness who require more staff to treat them and may need life-support equipment such as a ventilator to breathe. And it’s served as a metric for whether the local health care system is able to handle a coronavirus outbreak, albeit a constantly shifting one.”
