Covid-19 top stories - June 30, 2020
The pandemic accelerates; masks could reduce economic impact
I was part of a presentation earlier today on health communications as the COVID-19 pandemic expands. I’ll have a link to the full video another day, but here is a short excerpt that may be useful:
Today’s headlines on Covid-19:
The pandemic is accelerating worldwide, not slowing, according to the World Health Organization.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci says he “would not be surprised” to see the rate of new cases grow to 100,000 a day in the United States based on the rapid rise to 40,000 new cases a day, seen the past several days.
Arizona hospitals have been authorized to switch to “crisis standards of care,” meaning that services may be rationed because there are more patients than resources to treat them. The crisis standards establish a framework for deciding which patients get treated and which ones are unplugged from ventilators or sent home. The plan had been established in the event of a major disaster like an earthquake or flood, and former state health director Will Humble said no physician would have imagined enacting crisis standards during “peace time.”
Economic justification for mask mandate: A Goldman Sachs analysis says that a national mask mandate could effectively reduce COVID-19 spread enough to avoid mass lockdown and a 5% decline in the nation’s gross domestic product, according to Forbes.
UCSF’s Department of Medicine chair Robert Wachter says that the trends in California and Texas are similar and cautions against putting too much blame on state leaders for the newly urgent COVID-19 emergency. He urges people to accept that California no longer has the pandemic under control but also recognize that deaths from COVID-19 are declining because physicians are getting better at managing patients.
