Hello! It seems we have made it to May, but it feels like I somehow missed April completely. Anyone else think March lasted 386 years and April about three seconds? In case you blinked and missed this last week, I鈥檒l fill you in on the important stories below.
But first鈥揹ogs! In a rare bright spot, doggos are being trained to sniff out coronavirus cases, even asymptomatic ones. If it鈥檚 successful, it .
If you can believe it, there actually was non-coronavirus health news this week. The Supreme Court , which could open a floodgate of legal suits against the government. Essentially, the government promised to shield insurers from the financial risk of entering into the health exchanges. But then when Republicans took power, they barred HHS from using taxpayer dollars to bankroll the program. The insurers cried foul, and SCOTUS agreed. As Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote, 鈥淭hese holdings reflect a principle as old as the Nation itself: The Government should honor its obligations.鈥�
And now back to our regularly scheduled coronavirus programming.
The U.S. death toll from the outbreak surpassed that of the Vietnam War, climbing past 63,000 as of this morning. Projecting just is a tricky science that involves so many complicated factors, modelers are just trying to do their best. The predictive model that鈥檚 often cited by the White House just to more than 74,000 by August. That model is considered conservative, though. And the government has placed an order , so officials are likely braced for more deaths than that.
In related news:
Dr. Anthony Fauci announced that the NIH study of in a gold-standard, placebo-controlled clinical trial. While some were optimistic about the results鈥搃ncluding both Fauci and President Donald Trump鈥揊auci acknowledged it wasn鈥檛 a 鈥渒nockout鈥� punch. The drug didn鈥檛 have a statistically significant impact on death rates.
If you need a remdesivir reality check, Politico that any celebrations should be tempered, such as the fact that the data isn鈥檛 publicly available and manufacturing the drug can be tricky.
Meanwhile, another top contender for treatments . The trial for an arthritis drug that had the potential to quiet the immune system and thus ease the cytokine storms that have proven so fatal in younger patients was halted when it was shown it didn鈥檛 help seriously ill patients who weren鈥檛 on ventilators. The study will continue for patients who are critically ill.
It鈥檚 funny how 鈥溾�� in vaccine development land is still a months-to-years long process. But with the equivalent of Willy Wonka鈥檚 Golden Ticket waiting at the end, everyone is buckling in and going full throttle. Fauci, who has previously been cautious about over-promising on a vaccine timeline, ready by January.
How are countries and companies shaving years off the process? Picture an open accordion鈥搕hat鈥檚 what the normal timeline looks like. Now squish it together, so that all the steps are squeezed into a tighter space. Whereas companies usually didn鈥檛 put money into building factories for an untested vaccine, to be ready to ship as soon as the trials are over (even if that means a potential waste of billions of dollars). Meanwhile, some places like a , having worked on similar coronavirus inoculations that proved harmless to humans.
But if you want another reality check (or just to look at some really cool graphics that allow you toggle around on the timeline to see how each stage in the process affects the whole), . All that optimism from this week? It hinges on successful trials, which are, quite frankly, rare.
Apart from all that, even if a vaccine is found to be safe, 鈥揻rom vials to stoppers to syringes鈥搃t鈥檚 hard not to imagine a shortage scenario just like we鈥檝e experienced during this outbreak.
In related news:
President Donald Trump has well and truly shifted his message from the science of the virus鈥攚here he鈥檚 had some serious missteps that may haunt him this election year鈥攂ack to his messaging . The White House鈥檚 social distancing guidelines quietly expired this week to be replaced by a plan to help states reopen. Trump even announced that he鈥檒l be traveling to Arizona soon after sticking mostly to the White House for the past weeks.
And even as the death toll hit that grim Vietnam War milestone, . Instead, he focuses on the 鈥渋ncredible鈥� days ahead, touching on the death count in terms of how good a job his administration is doing. Despite the fact that Trump isn鈥檛 known for empathizing during times of struggle, some have still been surprised by the sharp contrast to his predecessors in both parties.
Meanwhile, a new report that finds Trump corroborates other stories that Trump knew about the severity of coronavirus early in the year.
Intelligence agencies took the rare step of confirming that they were investigating Chinese laboratories, but issued a statement that they agree with the broad scientific consensus that the novel coronavirus was not man-made or genetically modified. In recent days, Trump has grown more vocal about the . Trump has continued to focus on China as a scapegoat as he seeks to shift criticism for his own early missteps.
In other news from the administration:
Is wearing a mask going to be the new of the coming months? It鈥檚 hard to believe public health guidance intended to allow people to interact without infecting each other has been politicized鈥攂ut also not hard to believe at all considering where we鈥檙e at in this country. Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence caused an uproar when he flouted the Mayo Clinic鈥檚 mask guidelines on a recent visit. (The pictures of the vice president surrounded by mask-wearers ) Although Pence defended the decision, on .
Whether you want to make a statement or not, though, if you鈥檙e flying on some of the bigger airlines, . A group of companies announced this week that they鈥檒l be requiring passengers to don protective face covering if they want to travel. After watching the simulation of just exactly how a (only watch if you want to be forever scarred), I would say it鈥檚 about time.
Insurers have gone and sad puppy dog eyes about how they鈥檙e being squeezed on both sides during this pandemic. Costs are increasing, but they鈥檙e losing premium dollars with the unprecedented wave of job losses, they say. But then they鈥檝e turned around and told their investors that they鈥檙e actually good. Cost savings from elective procedures are balancing out coronavirus care.
Some states are chomping at the bit to reopen, with about half relaxing some guidelines heading into May. But the neighboring states who are keeping to public health guidelines are worried they鈥檙e going to have to deal with the consequences of what they see as a bad decision. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 like having a peeing section in the swimming pool,鈥� , earning himself my favorite-quote-of-the-week award.
Officials are eager to reopen the economy, but many say that it鈥檚 not as easy as just lifting stay-at-home orders. Just because people are allowed to go to the movie theaters, . Polls have consistently shown Americans support the restrictions, despite the quarantine fatigue setting in for some.
And conservatives have been growing 鈥榮 鈥渉ands-off鈥� approach. Sweden has created controversy throughout the world by avoiding sweeping shut-downs in favor of creating herd immunity. But the strategy relies on a concept antithetical to American conservative philosophy: extreme trust in government. (FWIW: Sweden says its strategy has been misrepresented, and it is taking action against people who are not practicing social distancing. In possibly the most brilliant strategy I鈥檝e seen yet, they鈥檝e also been spreading to keep people from congregating.)
over his decision to call Senators back to Capitol Hill after the House abruptly decided to cancel plans to do the same, in a pitch-perfect representation of the political divide over the issue. One wrench in McConnell鈥檚 plan, that also seems quite telling: the Capitol physician , 48 of whom are .
While lawmakers fight over that, is emerging as the next battleground in the debate over the next (hypothetical) relief package. to help support states in their pandemic efforts, but only if the next legislation included protections for businesses against possible lawsuits from workers. Democrats .
The swine flu pandemic that didn鈥檛 quite materialize coulda, shoulda, woulda . Hospitals didn鈥檛 have enough protective gear, inventory shortages were exposed, the health system was strained at every point in the chain鈥揻rom hospitals to device makers to the government. And yet instead of learning from those lessons, miscalculations from all the players鈥揳nd a desire to put profit over preparedness鈥搇ed to history repeating itself on a far more devastating scale.
Another week of staggering unemployment numbers pushed the total from the pandemic up to 30 million. While that figure seems daunting enough, experts say there are up to another 50% that because states鈥� systems are overwhelmed by claims. Meanwhile, the harsh economic toll the the outbreak is taking on newly desperate Americans. 鈥淚鈥檝e worked since I was 14 years old,鈥� said 55-year-old Jean Wickham, of New Jersey. 鈥淲e鈥檝e never had to rely on anyone else. 鈥� I feel like a failure right now.鈥�
Times like these鈥攚hen everyone is desperate for information鈥�. () With a pandemic, though, it鈥檚 medical data that is in the spotlight. Politico looks at how opinions are changing and what that could mean for the future of safeguarding information about Americans鈥� health.
And here are just some good stories for you to dive into for the weekend:
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That鈥檚 it from me! Have a restful weekend.