As the November elections draw near, let’s not lose sight of the flurry of developments in response to the politicization of the pandemic and the assaults by the Trump administration on medical science. Among them: Vaccine makers disclosed secret details about their plans to test the safety and effectiveness of a coronavirus inoculation on tens….
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Nursing homes failing to fix well-known infection-control fundamentals
Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities now account for around 62,000 coronavirus deaths, 42% of the country’s total. So how is it possible that, months into the pandemic, owners and operators keep failing to fix well-known infection-control basics, like mixing healthy and infected residents and allowing poorly paid staffers to work at multiple facilities,….
Continue ReadingWith speeding vaccine clinical trials, a pause that may prove reassuring
The “warp speed” race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine has gotten hit with a yellow flag. It could be a good thing that the product’s makers — Oxford University and AstraZeneca — followed medical-scientific protocols and paused their Phase III clinical trial due to a participant’s unexplained illness. Officially, the company offered spare information about….
Continue ReadingA viral confession: ‘This is deadly stuff … I wanted to always play it down.’
Some fictional scenarios to contemplate: What would happen to a military leader who was briefed and admitted to knowing of severe threats but downplayed them, resulting over a few months to the United States seeing its Indo-Pacific and European Commands wiped out — combined losses of roughly 180,000 in U.S. forces? How would the governor….
Continue ReadingFederal pandemic response marked by yet more uproars and confusion
The Trump Administration — yet again — has sowed confusion, frustration, and anger over the federal response to the Covid-19 pandemic, creating potentially harmful credibility issues for a prospective coronavirus vaccine, the scientific concept of “herd immunity,” a possible blood-based treatment for the illness, as well as testing, contact tracing, and quarantines for the disease…..
Continue ReadingMany Maryland nursing homes fined in state’s pandemic-related check-up
It turns out there is more to be said about Maryland’s recently completed, pandemic-related checks on hundreds of nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Three facilities, indeed, got expensive rebukes from state inspectors, but dozens more were hit with milder fines that also suggest widespread issues in the institutions, notably with the crucial concern of….
Continue ReadingA gut check in an acclaimed actor’s sad death and a leader’s abrupt resignation
The world has received painful reminders about the adage about decision making that also applies to digestive health: “Always listen to your gut.” Movie fans are mourning the tragic and early death of the brilliant actor Chadwick Boseman. He was 43 and battled colon cancer with courage, including as he starred as the “trailblazing Marvel….
Continue ReadingAs White House gets its way, CDC and FDA chiefs shred their agencies’ credibility
What the White House wants, it apparently will get — even if that hangs out to dry the prized nonpartisan reputations of the Federal Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The political meddling and leadership errors at two of the nation’s premier health agencies, critics say, will have disconcerting….
Continue ReadingMaryland inspects 226 nursing homes and slaps three with six-figure fines
Maryland officials have wrapped up pandemic-prompted inspections of 226 nursing homes with a pricey rebuke to long-term care facilities that have failed still to safeguard the elderly, sick, and injured from Covid-19, putting them at “immediate jeopardy,” instead. Three facilities were slapped with six-figure fines after state inspectors faulted them in June and July for….
Continue ReadingNursing homes, still coping poorly with Covid-19, turn to lobbyists to shield them from legal accountability
Covid-19 infections and deaths are spiking anew in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, hitting worrisome levels not seen since months ago in the pandemic. The unchecked mess in centers nationwide, but especially in the South and West, is prompting more attention to them — from lobbyists boasting White House ties, health worker “strike….
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