Tag: COVID-19

Local public health departments are key to Minnesota’s coronavirus fight — many are already stretched thin

Minnesota’s local public health departments are the first line of defense against COVID-19 and many are understaffed and lacking funding to deal with widespread coronavirus infections.

“We certainly could use some more help,” Gina Adasiewicz, deputy public health director for Dakota County, said Friday after a group of local health officials met to discuss virus preparations with U.S. Rep. Angie Craig.

After the state’s first case of coronavirus was discovered Friday in Ramsey County, Minnesota will be reliant on local public health departments in its COVID-19 fight. During a pandemic, local public health workers are responsible for monitoring infected patients, making sure people under quarantine have supplies and helping medical providers slow the spread of the virus. Continue reading.

Health agencies’ funding cuts challenge coronavirus response

Washington Post logoKaren Koenemann wakes up at dawn, rubs the sleep out of her eyes and immediately starts tapping away on her iPhone from her bed. The anxious emails that began to sprinkle in a few weeks ago are now a daily deluge for the public health director for Pitkin County, Colo.

Since the coronavirus reached U.S. soil, thousands of local health officials across the country have been working nonstop and scrambling to prepare. Pitkin County has not had a case, at least not yet, but Koenemann has helped businesses decide whether to cancel conferences, walked leaders through potential school closures, pored over response plans with the hospital in the county seat of Aspen. And it is exhausting.

When an outbreak hits, public health departments are America’s front line of defense. They investigate the infected and trace their contacts with other people, take passengers’ temperatures at the airport, harangue the public to wash their hands. They advise local leaders on whether to cancel school, and they find facilities to isolate the sick from the healthy. Continue reading.

Anxiety in an aging Congress as coronavirus marches across U.S.

“There’s a lot of concern that members could bring it home,” a senior Democratic leadership aide says as offices discuss recessing Congress.

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress are becoming increasingly anxious about coronavirus, and there is growing pressure on leadership to take steps to protect lawmakers — even potentially recessing for a period of weeks — two Democratic congressional sources said Sunday.

Multiple sources said anxiety was on the rise among lawmakers as more cases are reported and the virus spreads.

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., said he will close his office in Washington and will self-quarantine at home in Arizona for 14 days after he came into “extended” contact with a person who is hospitalized with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. They came into contact at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Gosar said. Continue reading.

Minnesota House quickly approves funding for coronavirus response

House DFL logoSAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — The Minnesota House of Representatives today voted to approve funding for the state’s public health response to COVID-19, commonly referred to as the coronavirus. The first presumed positive case of the condition was identified on Friday in Ramsey County, with the second following Sunday in Carver County.

“We all recognize the urgency of acting quickly to ensure our public health professionals have the resources they need to respond if COVID-19 spreads,” said Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL – Rochester), the House Health and Human Service Finance Division chair and the legislation’s chief House author. “The Department of Health is well prepared to test for the condition, and officials are working closely with hospitals, clinics and other care providers. The investments lawmakers approved today will help ensure the coordinated response process can be as seamless as possible.”

The legislation transfers nearly $21 million to the state’s public health response contingency account to address COVID-19 from the state’s general fund. The bill also includes flexibility to ensure the state is effectively able to address any future strain of the virus. Continue reading “Minnesota House quickly approves funding for coronavirus response”

‘I don’t want to’: Ben Carson sparks panic by refusing to reveal ‘plan’ for cruise ship

AlterNet logoA Sunday interview with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson may have done more harm than good when it comes to assuring Americans that the Trump administration has the coronavirus under control.

In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Carson — who is a former neurosurgeon but not an infectious disease expert — compared COVID-19 to the common flu.

Stephanopoulos noted that the Grand Princess is scheduled to dock in Oakland this week with infected passengers. Continue reading.

Why public health officials sound more worried about the coronavirus than the seasonal flu

The spread of the new coronavirus, which has infected over 80,000 people worldwide and resulted in the death of more than 3,000, has raised alarms around the world.

At the same time, the seasonal influenza, known as the flu, causes severe illness in between 3 million and 5 million people, with hundreds of thousands of deaths every year worldwide.

With so many fewer cases than the flu, what explains the dramatic response to COVID-19 and worry around the globe? And how would a person know whether seasonal influenza-like symptoms are COVID-19? Continue reading.

Official: White House didn’t want to tell seniors not to fly

NEW YORK — The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus, a federal official told The Associated Press.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted the plan as a way of trying to control the virus, but White House officials ordered the air travel recommendation be removed, said the official who had direct knowledge of the plan. Trump administration officials have since suggested certain people should consider not traveling, but have stopped short of the stronger guidance sought by the CDC.  Con

The person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity did not have authorization to talk about the matter. The person did not have direct knowledge about why the decision to kill the language was made or who made the call. Continue reading.

Squandered time: How the Trump administration lost control of the coronavirus crisis

Washington Post logoThe coronavirus had already begun to spiral out of control around the world when Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, during routine Senate testimony, made a surprising claim.

“As of today, I can announce that the CDC has begun working with health departments in five cities to use its flu surveillance network to begin testing individuals with flu-like symptoms for the Chinese coronavirus,” Azar said. “This effort will help see whether there is broader spread than we have been able to detect so far.”

But there were two major problems: The cities weren’t ready, and the tests didn’t work. Continue reading.

Trump officials unsure how many people tested for coronavirus

They also defended Trump’s claim that anyone can get tested.

Top federal health officials on Saturday said they don’t know how many people in the U.S. have been tested for coronavirus — or how many will need to be in the coming weeks.

The health officials, in an untelevised briefing at the White House, also defended President Donald Trump’s claim on Friday that anyone seeking a test can get one, even as state officials voice frustration with the availability of tests.

Federal government labs have tested specimens for 1,583 people, but the Trump administration does not have figures for the numbers of people tested at state and local labs, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn told reporters. They said said that 5,861 specimens have been tested across the country, but it’s not clear how many people that translates to because each test requires multiple specimens and people get multiple tests. Continue reading.

Italy to lock down Milan, Venice and more to contain coronavirus; U.S. cases pass 400

Washington Post logoTo contain coronavirus, Italy will limit movement across much of its northern region, including the cities of Milan and Venice. The measures, the most drastic outside of China, place significant restrictions on 16 million people in a broad area that is Italy’s economic engine.

The virus also continued to spread in the United States, with cases surpassing 400 and reaching more than 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C.

An attendee at the Conservative Political Action Conference — a major annual right-wing gathering held in Maryland in February and attended by President Trump and Vice President Pence — tested positive Saturday for the virus, the host organization said, as the U.S. death toll rose to 19.  Continue reading.