NPR/OPINION (Rovner) - The U.S. is in the midst of both a public health crisis and a health care crisis. Yet most people aren't aware these are two distinct things. And the response for each is going to be crucial.
NY TIMES / OPINION - Why are we OK with old people dying? Despite the last century’s huge gains in longevity, in today's era of Covid-19 we are unable to address the needs of older Americans. It matters because when we accept the second-class citizenship of an entire category of human being, we set a precedent for treating others with the same disregard. We can choose to either diminish our elders or support them. When we care for them, we not o...
Public Health-Seattle & King County hosted four public engagement forums to discuss the rationing of scarce resources during a severe pandemic influenza. This report summarizes themes that emerged from the forums.
CHEST JOURNAL - Evaluating ethically permissible approaches to allocating scarce life-sustaining resources requires knowledge of public perspectives and moral points of reference. Maryland's critical care disaster resource allocation framework builds on a basic scoring system to assist hospitals and public health agencies in responding to a catastrophic health emergency in which demand for mechanical ventilators exceeds the capabilities of all ...
PUBLIC SOURCE - Across Allegheny County, several communities have a high prevalence of health factors associated with a greater risk for severe illness from COVID-19 — including advanced age, smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma. Allegheny County residents at risk for severe COVID-19 also tend to be clustered in communities with lower resources, based on factors like percentage of population below the federal poverty line or househ...
NY TIMES - You have an essential role to play in slowing the spread of the new coronavirus. The good news is that small changes in personal behavior can buy time — slowing the outbreak, preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed and reducing cases until scientists develop treatments and, eventually, a vaccine. Here’s some practical advice from doctors and public health experts to protect yourself and your community. Check out this comprehen...
THE NEW YORKER - Outlining the best social-distancing practices and how to follow them, this conversation discusses what to do when you go outside, how often to shower, the importance of walks, how to respond if someone you are sheltering with gets sick, the pros and cons of ordering food, and the unsung heroes at American medical facilities.
STAT NEWS - As the virus that causes Covid-19 spreads worldwide, this dashboard offers a snapshot of the crisis right now. Click on a country name to get a more detailed geographic breakdown at the state, province, or county level. Please note that because of limited testing capacity in some areas, the actual number of cases is believed to be higher.
NEW YORK TIMES (3/23/20) - As the coronavirus pandemic unfolds, people are dying around the world. But the trajectories of cases and deaths differ by country. (includes many clear and informative charts)
MEDRXIV (2/29/20) - Pitt Biostats' Lu Tang and collaborators from Michigan develop a health informatics toolbox that enables public health workers to timely analyze and evaluate the time-course dynamics of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection using the publicly available data from the China CDC. This toolbox is built upon a hierarchical epidemiological model in which two observed time series of daily proportions of infected and removed ca...
JAMA (2/28/20) - This Viewpoint provides an update on what’s known and not yet known about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, reviewing advances over the initial weeks of the outbreak in understanding the epidemiology and clinical spectrum of the illness and in approaches to diagnosis, management, and infection control.
CDC MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT(2/25/20) - An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread throughout China and to 31 other countries and territories. Fourteen U. S. cases have been diagnosed, in addition to 39 cases among repatriated persons from high-risk settings, for a current total of 53 cases. The U.S. government and public health partners are implementing aggressive measures to slow and contain transmission. Interi...