Essential
From outdoor visits to designated family caregivers, nursing homes cautiously reopen doors | Skilled Nursing News
When it became apparent that COVID-19 was sweeping the country, one of the earliest major preventative steps was a move by the federal government to instate a near-total lockdown on any unnecessary visits.
‘They just dumped him like trash’: Nursing homes evict vulnerable residents | The New York Times
Nursing homes across the country are kicking out old and disabled residents and sending them to homeless shelters and rundown motels.
Nursing homes are especially vulnerable to COVID-19–Here’s what it’s like to work in one | Vox
A third of US coronavirus deaths have happened in nursing homes. Here’s what workers are doing to keep residents safe.
At least 115,000 dead from Coronavirus in the U.S. | The Washington Post
At least 2,141,000 cases have been reported.
The color of Coronavirus | APM
COVID-19 deaths by race and ethnicity in the United states shown by state.
Pandemic within a pandemic | The New York Times
Coronavirus and police brutality roil Black communities. The current civil unrest is deeply connected to the racial disparities exposed by the coronavirus crisis.
What the Coronavirus Crisis Reveals About American Medicine | The New Yorker
Medicine is a system for delivering care and support; it’s also a system of information, quality control, and lab science. All need fixing.
U.S. still failing nursing home communities | The Philadelphia Inquirer
A failed regulatory system and a nursing home provider community ill-equipped to address a pandemic has led to well over 10,000 nursing home resident deaths, and serious physical and emotional harm to nursing home residents and their families.
Hard Look
‘The U.S. has hamstrung itself’: How America became the new Italy of the Coronavirus | Politico
While Trump touted America’s reopening and watched infections climb, European leaders maintained strict rules and drove cases down.
The ultimate COVID-19 mystery: Why does it spare some and kill others? | The Washington Post
The novel coronavirus can be a killer — or no big deal. It can put a person in the intensive care unit on a ventilator, isolated from family, facing a lonely death — or it can come and go without leaving a mark, a ghost pathogen, more rumor than reality.
Coronavirus Outbreak, COVID-19 by the numbers | Our World in Data
The data on the coronavirus pandemic is updated daily.
Black Americans face higher COVID-19 risks, are more hesitant to trust medical scientists, get vaccinated | Pew Research Center Fact Tank
Black Americans have been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, accounting for a disproportionate share of COVID-19 deaths. At the same time, they stand out from other racial and ethnic groups in their attitudes toward key health care questions associated with the outbreak.
Push for Profits Left Nursing Homes Struggling to Provide Care | The New York Times
When the pandemic struck, the majority of the nation’s nursing homes were losing money, some were falling into disrepair, and others were struggling to attract new occupants, leaving many of them ill equipped to protect workers and residents as the coronavirus raged through their properties.
As coronavirus deaths mount, L.A. County is far behind on promise to test everyone in nursing homes | Los Angeles Times
A month after vowing to test all nursing home residents and staff for the novel coronavirus, Los Angeles County health officials have completed the effort in only about a third of homes and have dramatically scaled back testing plans.
Sacramento ‘crushed the curve;’ what that meant for hospitals | The Sacramento Bee
Empty beds, pay cuts: What happened to local providers as Sacramento ‘crushed the curve’
California coronavirus spread began earlier than reported | Los Angeles Times
New information emerging in the last week in California paints a very different picture of the spread of the novel coronavirus than the one suggested by the first, official version.
Insite
The Word from Wuhan| The London Review of Books
When SARS broke out in 2003, I was in graduate school. Shanghai was not a hot zone, with only eight people infected out of a population of 17 million. The campus was not under quarantine, and there was no social media to spread alarm. Summer came, and the virus waned.
The Coronavirus was an emergency until Trump found out who was dying| The Atlantic
The pandemic has exposed the bitter terms of our racial contract, which deems certain lives of greater value than others.
What We Don’t Know About the Coronavirus | The New Yorker
We think of covid-19 as a disease of the respiratory tract. When future generations look back on this pandemic, its iconic symbol will probably be the ventilator.
Health Insurers Prosper As COVID-19 Deflates Demand For Elective Treatments | Kaiser Health News
As doctors and consumers are forced to put most nonemergency procedures on hold, many health insurers foresee strong profits.
When Things Fall Apart
Coronavirus patients could be cash cows for nursing homes | Los Angeles Times
The nursing home industry has been devastated by the coronavirus, with outbreaks killing thousands of elderly residents and likely setting the stage for both increased regulations and huge legal liabilities
The Uncounted Dead | 538
Why some people who likely died from COVID-19 aren’t included in the final numbers.
Testing Remains Scarce as Governors Weigh Reopening States | The New York Times
In both red and blue states, governors, health departments and hospitals are finding innovative ways to cope, but still lack what experts say they need to track and contain outbreaks.
Pandemic’s Costs Stagger the Nursing Home Industry | The New York Times
Even before the coronavirus swept through care facilities, many were struggling with thin profit margins. Now they could be wiped out.s.
Adults in the Room
Urgent care from the Army Corps of Engineers | The New Yorker
While Trump flails in the pandemic, the military’s builders are getting it done.
Fauci tells Congress more testing needed to combat disturbing surge in virus | PBS Newshour
COVID-19 keeps spreading across swathes of the United States, and national experts are telling Congress they are worried. They are also calling for more testing.
How Iceland beat the Coronavirus | The New Yorker
The country didn’t just manage to flatten the curve; it virtually eliminated it.
How Germany got Coronavirus right | FT
From extensive testing to early track and trace, Germany is a model for tackling the disease
Coronavirus doesn’t have to be so deadly | The Wall Street Journal
Hong Kong and Singapore reported their first cases of the novel coronavirus in January. Four months later, the densely packed Asian metropolises, with a combined population of about 13 million, have seen 27 fatalities between them.
National Guard helps L.A. nursing homes with coronavirus – Los Angeles Times
For weeks, public health officials have struggled to slow the deadly spread of coronavirus through nursing homes.
Vanquish the Virus? Australia and New Zealand Aim to Show the Way – The New York Times
The two countries, led by ideological opposites, are converging on an extraordinary goal: eliminating the virus. Their nonpolitical approach is restoring trust in democracy
State of the States
Coronaviruses spike across Sun Belt as economy lurches into motion| The New York Times Arizona, Texas and Florida are reporting their highest case numbers yet. As of Saturday, coronavirus cases were climbing in 22 states amid re-openings.
New York Sent Recovering Patients to Nursing Homes: ‘A Fatal Error’| The Wall Street Journal
The state reversed its policy after mounting criticism and deaths. The mandate is part of broader scrutiny of weaknesses at long-term care facilities that have made them hot spots for Covid-19.
Coronavirus in New Mexico: How One of the Poorest States Averted a Steep Death Toll | The New York Times
New Mexico showed how a state can fight the coronavirus with aggressive social distancing, free testing and scientific expertise. But contagion threats are building.
Covid-19 Arrived in Seattle. Where It Went From There Stunned the Scientists. | The New York Times
Scientists traced the virus brought to the Seattle area in January. They were astonished to learn that the same branch of the virus traveled on through at least a dozen states and to other parts of the world.