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Instruction
WASHINGTON (CBS News)
Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development (HUD), has tested positive for the coronavirus, a HUD spokesperson said Monday, making him the second senior official who attended an election night event at the White House to contract the virus.
Secretary Carson is in good spirits and feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery, said Carsons Deputy Chief of Staff Coalter Baker.
Carsons age 69 places him in a higher-risk category for serious complications of the virus than some of the others in the Trump administration who have contracted the virus. Carson was a successful neurosurgeon for years.
Officials confirmed over the weekend that chief of staff Mark Meadows had also contracted the virus, along with four other unnamed White House staffers. Its unclear when Meadows or the staffers were first diagnosed, but he was among the hundreds of people who attended the White Houses election night party in the East Room, where few masks were worn and social distancing was seldom observed.
The growing outbreak comes weeks after more than two dozen people in Trumps orbit tested positive following a Rose Garden event in September for now-Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, including Trump.
Multiple officials within Vice President Mike Pences inner circle also contracted COVID-19 recently.
Trump continued to deride the use of masks even after his bout with COVID-19, which hospitalized him for several days.
POCOMOKE CITY, Md. Worcester County health officials say a Pocomoke nursing home has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases as well as two coronavirus deaths in the last week.
The total number of COVID cases at Hartley Hall Nursing and Rehabilitation has more than doubled since Wednesday. The facility also goes by the name Peak Healthcare at Hartley Hall. As of Sunday, they had 33 resident cases and 22 staff cases. Unfortunately, one resident and one staff member have also died from coronavirus. These numbers compare to last Wednesday when the facility reported 16 staff cases, 10 resident cases and zero COVID-19 deaths.
Worcester County health officials say ever since the pandemic began the facility has been proactive in asking for resources. Theyve reached out to us for mental health support for staff. The facility has been incredibly proactive, even more so than is required. They have opted for twice weekly testing for surveillance of asymptomatic cases in staff and residents. Weekly testing is what is required. So they are doing double what is required, says Travis Brown with the Worcester County Health Department.
Brown says Hartly was one of the first to request and receive a visit from the states strike team back in April. They also signed up for staffing support via the Chesapeake Registry.
The Worcester County Health Department says Hartly does not have in-person visitations at this time but theyre having virtual visits between residents and families.
Hartley Hall Nursing And Rehabilitation is located at: 1006 Market Street, Pocomoke City, MD, 21851.
The numbers on the states coronavirus website are updated every Wednesday.
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Nearly 300 more DeKalb County residents were reported as positive COVID-19 cases over the weekend, according to the DeKalb County Health Department on Monday.
Representing three days' worth of cases, the health department reported 279 new cases of the novel coronavirus Monday. Nearly a fourth of all known COVID-19 cases in DeKalb County were identified in the past 8 days alone, with 899 cases identified added to the growing total as the county trends with the rest of the state and country for a fall viral surge.
There have now been 3,507 cases reported in the county while the death toll remained at 43, and cases were reported Monday in all age groups.
DeKalb County's rolling seven-day positivity rate rose slightly again to 12.6%, according to the most recent available data from the Illinois Department of Public Health which reports on a three-day lag. The regional rate shot up to 17.6% after a single-day total of 21% on Friday.
Of the new cases in the county Monday, 42 were in residents younger than 20, 43 in their 20s, 40 in their 30s, 48 in their 40s, 46 in their 50s, 31 in their 60s, 21 in their 70s and eight in their 80s or older.
There were no new cases reported at any of the long-term care facilities in the county.
Prairie Crossing Living and Rehabilitation Center in Shabbona reports four cases (three in staff, one in a resident). Pine Acres Rehabilitation and Living Center remained at two cases (one each in a resident and employee), while Bethany Rehabilitation and Health Care Center reports two cases, both in employees. DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center reports 16 cases (15 in employees, one resident), Oak Crest-DeKalb Area Retirement Center reports 20 (12 in staff, eight residents), and Heritage Woods at three cases (two in staff, one resident).
By the numbers
In total, there are 602 cases in residents younger than 20, 927 in their 20s, 491 in their 30s, 507 in their 40s, 448 in their 50s, 257 in their 60s, 159 in their 70s and 125 in their 80s or older.
To date, there have been 26 deaths reported in DeKalb County residents in their 80s, six in their 70s, five in their 60s, three in their 50s, and one each in their 40s and 30s and an infant.
According to county data, the city of DeKalb reports between 1,586 and 1,590 cases. There are between 561 and 565 cases in Sycamore, 286 and 290 in Sandwich and Plano (listed as one region on the site), 241 and 245 cases in Genoa, 151 and 155 cases in Cortland, 81 and 85 cases in Kirkland, 71 and 75 cases in Kingston, 61 and 65 cases in Hinckley, 41 and 45 in Malta, 36 and 40 in Somonauk, 31 and 35 in Waterman and Shabbona, 26 and 30 in Maple Park, and six to 10 in Esmond and Clare. Lee, Leland and Earlville each report between one and five cases.
Cases on the DeKalb County website list residents that only live within the county lines for a municipality, while the state website lists everyone within a certain ZIP code. Numbers also may vary because of data lags.
The 60115 ZIP code, including DeKalb, had 1,646 cases reported and 25,975 tests administered (a positivity rate of 6.3%); the 60178 ZIP code, including Sycamore, had 639 cases and 9,569 tests (6.7%); the 60548 ZIP code, including Sandwich, had 6,034 tests and 452 cases (7.5%); the 60111 ZIP code, including Clare, reported eight cases and 113 tests (7.1%); the 60112 ZIP code, including Cortland, had 163 cases and 2,124 tests (7.7%); the 60135 ZIP code, including Genoa, had 260 cases and 3,120 tests (8.3%); the 60145 ZIP code, including Kingston, had 78 cases and 860 tests (9.1%); the 60146 ZIP code, including Kirkland, had 104 cases and 1,193 tests (8.7%); the 60520 ZIP code, including Hinckley, had 65 cases and 1,109 tests (5.9%); the 60550 ZIP code, including Shabbona, had 28 cases and 770 tests (3.6%); the 60150 ZIP code, including Malta, had 35 cases and 694 tests (5.0%) the 60151 ZIP code, including parts of Maple Park in both DeKalb and Kane counties, had 105 cases and 1,534 tests (6.8%); the 60556 ZIP code, including Waterman, had 27 cases and 634 tests (4.3%)
The IDPH reported 498,560 people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Friday, while 10,210 people have died statewide. There have been 8,469,064 tests performed.
Recovery data was also updated Friday and over 300 residents have recovered in that time. To date, 1,805 DeKalb County residents fully recovered from the virus, up from 1,494 which was last reported.
The county's health region, Region 1, began enhanced restrictions earlier this month, with restaurants and bars prohibited from allowing indoor dining. The region needs three days in a row of a rolling average of less than 6.5% to have the restrictions lifted. The region's rate has not dropped below 8% since mitigations went into effect a month ago, so restrictions will remain until otherwise stated by the IDPH.
Though the country is conducting far more tests now than it was in the spring, the soaring case numbers now reflect accelerating spread of the virus, not simply wider testing.
Hospitalizations, which give a clear picture of how many people are seriously ill with the virus at any given time, grew by 63 percent over the past month, according to data collected by the Covid Tracking Project. More than 55,000 people are now hospitalized with the virus, approaching earlier peaks of more than 59,000 in April and July.
Treatment has vastly improved since the height of the spring outbreak, when more than 2,200 people were dying per day. Even so, deaths, which tend to lag a few weeks behind new infections, are now trending upward. The country has averaged about 900 deaths a day over the last week, compared with about 700 a month ago.
Mr. Biden is in line to inherit one of the most serious and complicated national crises that any incoming president in more than half a century has faced.
While other presidents have entered office during an economic slowdown, including President Obama and Mr. Biden as vice president in 2009, not since Harry Truman in the final months of World War II has a new president faced a situation as complex and multiheaded as the pandemic, said Bruce J. Schulman, a political historian at Boston University.
Mr. Biden has said controlling the pandemic is the necessary first step to bringing back jobs, and has said that on his first day in office, he would move rapidly to appoint a national supply chain commander and establish a pandemic testing board, similar to Franklin D. Roosevelts wartime production panel.
On Sunday, Mr. Bidens campaign released a first glimpse of his plan for the pandemic, including a commitment to listen to science. Public health experts offered initial praise for his coronavirus task force, which is expected to include Dr. Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon general; Dr. David Kessler, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Yale University professor.
Pandemic-weary residents everywhere are holding their breath for the first coronavirus vaccines to be approved by federal regulators. The shots, currently being mass produced for international distribution, carry with them the hope of putting an end to the COVID-19 pandemic and resuscitating the global economy.
But Dr. Marc Hellerstein, a vaccine researcher and toxicologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who studied at MIT, says he isnt actually sure if he'll take one of these early vaccines.
Thats a really good question. I might, he muses. Id be worried though. Id be worried about do I have to get another vaccine in two years?
Hellerstein is one of a small but vocal contingent of scientists that are warily watching the development of the coronavirus vaccine frontrunners. In general, they have two theoretical concerns about the first candidates, which could receiveapproval from the Food and Drug Administration sometime within the next year.
First, these vaccines focus primarily on creating antibodies immune defense compounds that can neutralize the virus. Hellerstein says that might mean the vaccines protection is short-lived.
This is what scares me say you give some people a vaccine, and it just gets antibodies. A year later, theyre dying away because thats how long these antibodies live. Six months, even less, Hellerstein says.
Once those antibodies fade, Hellerstein says its unclear if the immune system will still recognize the coronavirus and mount a strong defense. Antibody levels often wane after the body recovers from an illness, but the immune system can typically create those antibodies again quickly if the same pathogen returns. Even so, Hellerstein argues a vaccine that focuses on T cells, a type of white blood cell that helps fight infections, might be more lasting.
In Hellersteins own research, he found that T cells created by the yellow fever vaccine were still effective decades after the vaccine was injected. And, Hellerstein adds, when researchers looked at people who had recovered from COVID-19, they found those who had only mild illness had fewer antibodies but more T cells. Hellerstein thinks that might mean T cells are more important for fighting off COVID than antibodies.
The people with mild infection often dont have antibodies at all. Those are the people we want to emulate. They won. They succeeded, Hellerstein says.
Those people also created many different T cells that targeted different parts of the coronavirus, but the leading vaccine candidates provide the body with only one of those targets the spike protein. This is the tool the coronavirus uses to infect and enter cells.
I would say its five different flavors of vanilla, says Dr. Anne De Groot, the co-founder of a vaccine design firm called EpiVax. The problem being that if the spike doesnt work [in a vaccine], then what do you have?
Like Hellerstein, she has doubts about the leading vaccine candidates especially what she considers an overcommitment to the spike protein. If vaccines based on this protein fail to provide adequate protection against the coronavirus, then the millions of doses that companies have already manufactured will end up in the incinerator. De Groot says that result would be disastrous for public health and couldhinder subsequent efforts fora better vaccine.
I think thats going to have a hugely damaging effect on public trust in vaccines. So, we really need to have a plan B, she says.
De Groot says that plan B should include the development of vaccines that focus on different targets and use a variety of strategies in case one fails, or the coronavirus mutates in a way that makes the leading vaccines obsolete. Recently, a mutation was found on the spike protein in coronavirus cases in Denmark, although its unclear if that mutation will affect the vaccines effectiveness.
Creating more vaccines that focus on other parts of the virus or increasing the complexity of the existing vaccines would also stretch out development time. Thats time we dont have, points out Dr. Daniel Barouch, a vaccine researcher at Harvard University. He also led the team that designed the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine now undergoing clinical trials.
It gets exponentially more complicated to add additional components, Barouch says. If you had 10 years, could you make a better vaccine? Probably. In terms of what could be done within the space of a year? Then I think this suite of vaccines represents the best science the world has to offer.
For the short term, Barouch says the spike protein is the obvious choice for a vaccine. Its on the surface of the coronavirus, and antibodies that can neutralize the protein also cripple the virus ability to attack cells. At the moment, Barouch says the research suggests a vaccine targeting the spike protein will likely work. The presence of antibodies is often used to help estimate the effectiveness of a vaccine and measure an immune response. Still, he adds, nothing is certain until the clinical trials are complete.
We wont know until we see the results. If the phase 3 studies are wonderfully protective, then that was clearly a pretty good decision, he says. If they fail, then therell be serious questions.
Once the first vaccines get federal approval, it willstill take months, at the very least, before scientists know whether they provide long-lasting protection. If they prove to be ineffective or onlypartially effective, Barouch says the world will have to wait for the next generation of vaccines, which will hopefully be better. Several companies, including De Groots EpiVax in Providence, are working on those vaccines now.
However, the federal government hasnt made those vaccines a priority, says John Lewis, the CEO of Entos Pharmaceuticals in Canada and San Diego-based Aegis Life, Inc, which is working on a coronavirus vaccine. He asked Moncef Slaoui, the head of the federal governments main vaccine development initiative, if he planned to allocate funding towards diversifying coronavirus vaccine candidates.
I said, do you have a plan if spike protein doesnt turn out to be ideal, a backup plan to produce other vaccines? And he basically responded saying, I dont think well need to do that, Lewis says. I was disappointed when I heard that answer.
Critics argue the government's strategy might slow down the development of the next generation of vaccines. But Berkeleys Hellerstein says if it turns out the leading vaccines are justmediocre, they might still be able to slow down the pandemic enough for new vaccines to come to the rescue.
I wouldnt be surprised if the first vaccines are OK. Then we buy a little time," he says. "During that time, we should pick a great vaccine.
CHICAGO Fourteen more deaths from coronavirus were reported in Illinois during the past day.
The states and citys outlook look grim, with positivity rates, new cases, hospitalizations and deaths quickly rising. Much of the suburbs will soon face tighter restrictions, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Monday. Chicago and the rest of Cook County are struggling to control their outbreaks, as well.
The virus is winning the war right now, Pritzker said at a Monday coronavirus update.
The states new daily cases are up nearly 380 percent since Oct. 1, Pritzker said, and Illinois positivity rate has risen 180 percent in the past five weeks. Coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths per day are up more than 150 percent in the same time period, he said.
Regions 7 and 8 covering Will, Kankakee, Kane and DuPage counties have been placed under Tier 2 mitigations, meaning theyll face tighter restrictions on bars, restaurants and sporting and recreational events, Pritzker said. People should no longer gather in groups of 10 or more in those areas, as well.
But those mitigations can only slow the viruss spread if people follow them, Pritzker said. He and Dr. Ngozi Ezike, head of the Illinois Department of Public Health, urged people to follow the restrictions and to take other safety measures like wash their hands, wear masks and practice social distancing to slow the viruss spread, bend the curve and save lives.
If people follow the mitigations, it will take only several weeks for the curve to start bending, the officials said.
We all want an end to this pandemic. We are all on the same team, Ezike said. We want to be able to hang out with our friends. We want to enjoy our favorite restaurants. We want to have our large weddings and all the things that have been sacrificed since March.
But theres only a few paths to get us there, and one is by reducing the amount of virus circulating so that we no longer see sustainable spread. We do this by limiting our group sizes as well as wearing our mask and keeping our distance. By not doing these things, the virus continues to get ahead of us.
Among the states latest victims were six people from Cook County. At least 10,210 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 353 deaths are considered to be probably related to coronavirus.
The state also reported 10,573 confirmed cases, bringing the total in Illinois up to 498,560.
Illinois seven-day positivity rate rose to 11.4 percent with 64,760 tests reported. It was at 10.6 percent Sunday. The figure represents total confirmed cases divided by total tests.
Illinois seven-day positivity, which measures how many tests were positive out of total tests, hit 12.4 percent. It was at 12 percent Sunday.
As of Sunday night, 4,409 people were hospitalized with coronavirus in Illinois, including 857 people in the ICU and 376 people using ventilators.
Over the weekend, the state also saw 118 deaths and more than 22,000 cases.
In Chicago, one death and 2,435 confirmed cases were reported since Sunday but 16 deaths and 4,190 cases were reported over the weekend.
There have been at least 3,138 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago and 119,960 confirmed cases, according to state data.
The city is seeing an average of 1,599 cases being reported per day, a 41 percent uptick from the prior week. The citys seven-day positivity rate has risen to 12.4 percent, up from 9.5 percent the week before.
The city is also now seeing an average of six deaths per day; for months, that number hadnt risen above two or three per day. But officials have said deaths are beginning to rise in Chicago, and theyll go higher as new cases and hospitalizations spike.
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President-elect Joe Biden during a victory speech on Saturday said he'd take action to fight America's coronavirus epidemic on his first day in office, and his advisers in recent days have detailed some of the steps Biden's taking now to prepareas well as some of the actions Biden intends to take once he's inaugurated as the nation's next president.
How Covid-19 will impact U.S. health care policy
The comments from Biden and his advisors come amid a continuing surge in new coronavirus cases and related deaths and hospitalizations in the United States. On Friday, the United States for the third consecutive day set a new global record for the highest number of new coronavirus cases reported in a single day, at more than 132,700 cases, the New York Times reports. As of Monday morning, U.S. officials had reported a total of about 10,060,700 cases of the novel coronavirus since America's epidemic began, up from about 9,698,100 cases reported as of Friday morning.
According to the Times, the United States' average daily number of newly reported coronavirus cases over the past week was 111,175which is up by 59% when compared with the average from two weeks ago. At least 17 states reported record-high single-day increases in their numbers of newly reported coronavirus cases on Friday, and 27 states in total reported record-high single-day increases in their numbers of new coronavirus cases over the past week the Times reports.
As of Monday morning, data from the Times showed that the rates of newly reported coronavirus cases were "staying high" in Puerto Rico and 44 states that have had a daily average of at least 15 newly reported cases per 100,000 people over the past week. Those states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Meanwhile, the Times' data shows that, as of Monday morning, the daily average of newly reported cases over the past seven days was "going down" in Guam, which had been seeing comparatively higher rates of coronavirus transmission.
The U.S. Virgin Islands; Washington, D.C.; and six states that have had comparatively low case rates were seeing those rates "going up" as of Monday morning, according to theTimes. Those states are California, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont.
The number of reported deaths tied to the novel coronavirus also is rising at a quicker pace, with the United States last week reporting more than 1,000 new deaths tied to the virus for four consecutive days for the first time since August. As of Monday morning, U.S. officials had reported a total of about 238,031 U.S. deaths linked to the virus since the country's epidemic began, up from about 235,331 deaths reported as of Friday morning.
Hospitalizations for Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, also are rising. According to data from The Atlantic's Covid Tracking Project, 56,768 Americans were hospitalized for Covid-19 on Thursday. That number had climbed by 14% over the previous seven days and is nearing the United Sates' record number of nearly 60,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations, which the country reported during the summer, NPR's "Shots" reports.
Throughout his campaign, Biden said addressing America's coronavirus epidemic would be one his top priorities if elected president. Biden reiterated that message during his victory speech on Saturday, saying, "Our work begins with getting Covid under control. I will spare no effort, none, or any commitment to turn around this pandemic."
Both Biden and his advisers in recent days have detailed how Biden is preparing to address the epidemic, as well as some actions Biden plans to take on his first day in office.
For instance, Biden on Saturday announced that he plans to name a coronavirus task force on Monday. The task force will be comprised of "leading scientists and experts" and will be responsible for crafting recommendations "built on a bedrock of science, constructed out of compassion, empathy, and concern," Biden said.
According to the Times, David Kessler, who served as FDA commissioner under the administrations of former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton; , Vivek Murthy, who served as surgeon general under former President Barack Obama's administration; and Marcella Nunez-Smith, a physician, researcher, and professor at Yale University, will serve as co-chairs of the 12-member task force.
A person close to Biden's transition planning reportedly told the Times that Biden's announcement of the task force kicked off a week in which Biden plans to focus on health care and the epidemic as he prepares to start building his future administration.
People familiar with Biden's plans have told various media outlets that Biden intends to quickly establish a national strategy for combatting the coronavirus epidemic that will focus on bolstering U.S. medical supplies, coronavirus testing and contact tracing, and potentially targeted business closures. For example, the Times reports that sources have said Biden plans to appoint a "national supply chain commander" and establish a "pandemic testing board" on his first day in office.
According to Biden's aides, the president-elect once in office also plans to use the president's authority to invoke the Defense Production Act to order businesses to boost stocks of necessary supplies.
Further, Biden plans to press Congress to pass a new stimulus package by late January that's intended to help offset the economic effects of the country's coronavirus epidemic, Politico reports. According to Politico, Biden's aides said he would like Congress to pass a bill that guarantees sick leave for workers, covers the cost of coronavirus testing and treatments for uninsured and under-insured Americans, and allocates billions of dollars in funding to help businesses and schools reopen safely, among other things.
Although Biden has indicated he would like to implement a national mask mandate once he takes office, his advisers have determined that the president does not have the legal authority to do so, according to the Times. As such, Biden plans to try to increase mask wearing in other ways, including by requiring masks on all federal property and "all interstate transportation." Biden also plans to lean on state and local officials to implement mask mandates if they have not already done so, Politico reports.
On Saturday, major trade groups representing hospitals and health insurers vowed to work with Biden and his future administration to tackle the coronavirus epidemic and reform the U.S. health care system.
Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, in a statement said, "We both share the same top priority: fighting the battle against Covid-19. As we continue on the front lines in this fight, we will work as partners to protect our patients and communities, as well as support our brave health care workers."
Further, Pollack added, "Our other priorities remain the same: advancing the transformation of health care, ensuring access to coverage, enhancing the quality of care, and making health care more affordable."
Matt Eyles, president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, in a statement said, "There are many health care challenges that our nation must face togetherfrom continuing to battle the Covid-19 crisis, to making health care and prescription drugs more affordable, to protecting patients from surprise medical bills, to ensuring stable coverage markets for those who need it most."
And David Skorton, president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), in a statement said, "The AAMC looks forward to working with President-elect Biden, the new administration, and the new Congress to defeat the coronavirus pandemic, safely reopen businesses and schools, and stabilize the economy" (New York Times, 11/8; New York Times [1], 11/9; Stone, "Shots," NPR, 11/6; Owens, "Vitals," Axios, 11/9; Weinstock, Modern Healthcare, 11/7; Facher, STAT News, 11/7; Ollstein/Goldberg, Politico, 11/7; Nichols, Axios, 11/7; Goldmacher et al., New York Times, 11/6; New York Times [2], 11/9).
FORT MYERS
Pfizer announced today that they have a promising coronavirus vaccine candidate showing 90% effectiveness. They are now on track to apply for emergency authorization later in November. But who in Florida will have first access to this new vaccine?
Dr. Alejandro Perez-Trepichio is a doctor with Millennium Physician Group. That effective of 90% is certainly not heard in the majority of vaccines, said Dr. Perez-Trepichio.
Florida has charted its COVID vaccine plan. The vaccine will go to healthcare workers, residents and staff of long term care facilities, and some essential workers.
As more doses become available, mass vaccination clinics could pop up for people who are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 or those 65 years and older. All of this before vaccinating the general public.
Dr. Bindu Mayi from Nova Southeastern University says Floridas goal should be to vaccinate millions. 40 We need at least 75% of the community to be immune in order to stop the spread of the virus, to stop the chain of transmission. So thats a fair chunk of the population, said Dr. Mayi.
But how does mass vaccination work? This is not a vaccine that in order to be successful will solely be distributed at health systems, said Dr. Perez-Trepichio. . I think we need to bring the vaccines to where the people are.
Healthcare professionals agree that just because a vaccine is on the horizon, or even once it does become available, that we shouldnt forget about wearing masks and social distancing.
We have to do prevention while we still sort this out, said Dr. Mayi.
This vaccine represents new challenges that others often do not. The vaccine has to be preserved in a special conditions that are going to make the distribution a little bit of a challenge, Dr. Perez-Trepichio said.
A nurse checks vitals for a Navajo woman, who came to a coronavirus testing center in Arizona, complaining of virus symptoms. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A nurse checks vitals for a Navajo woman, who came to a coronavirus testing center in Arizona, complaining of virus symptoms.
Health insurers used to be able to deny coverage or charge more for an applicant who had a preexisting medical condition. That's the industry term for a condition that could range from allergies to cancer.
The Affordable Care Act changed all that as of 2014, guaranteeing coverage for those with preexisting conditions. But now the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments, starting Tuesday, on a case filed to overturn the Affordable Care Act.
And people are wondering: If preexisting conditions were again to become a cause to deny coverage, would a COVID-19 survivor be in jeopardy?
Before we discuss this question, it's important to note that you shouldn't worry ... yet. It's unlikely the court will rule on the case before next spring.
And even if the Supreme Court were to overturn the law, existing coverage contracts would likely stay in place for at least a couple of months, said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, in a briefing Monday with reporters.
Now on to the FAQ about COVID-19.
In pre-ACA days, a bout with a virus might not have been considered a preexisting condition. That's because many people tend to recover quickly from viruses.
But in a blog post last week, researchers at the Rand Corp. suggested that COVID-19 could be seen differently by insurers. "Given the chronic problems [which can include organ damage, fatigue and confusion] associated with some COVID-19 cases, it is possible that some insurers would place restrictions on anyone who had a confirmed case of COVID-19," wrote Carter C. Price, Rand's senior mathematician, and Raffaele Vardavas, a mathematician at Rand who specializes in infectious disease models.
The researchers said that exclusion might also extend to people who didn't have a positive coronavirus test but did test positive for antibodies to the virus, which indicates they had it or were previously exposed.
"While a mild case of COVID-19 might not be subject to a preexisting clause, that would be up to insurers to determine," said Karen Pollitz, senior fellow, health reform and private insurance at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Pollitz added that insurers could also impose a preexisting exclusion for COVID-19 for anyone at higher risk of getting the virus such as grocery store clerks or ride-share drivers who are exposed to the public and who test frequently to determine if they have COVID-19.
"Just a history of frequent testing could be something insurers could act on," Pollitz said.
And that's not all. Someone who developed anxiety and/or depression since the start of the pandemic might also be considered to have a preexisting condition. Twenty years ago, Kaiser surveyed health insurance underwriters and asked about a similar situation: a hypothetical applicant in perfect health except for "situational depression" following the death of a spouse. According to the survey, "in 60 applications for coverage, this applicant was denied a quarter of the time, and offered coverage with a surcharged premium and/or benefit exclusions 60% of the time."
So both experts and consumers are concerned that invalidating the Affordable Care Act could mean that once again, individuals with preexisting conditions might not be covered and such conditions could include COVID-19.
Then again, protection for those with preexisting conditions is a popular feature for consumers and, by extension, their elected officials. If the ACA is overturned, it's expected that President-elect Joe Biden would work on new ways to offer coverage for people with preexisting conditions.
Fran Kritz is a health policy reporter based in Washington, D.C., who has contributed to The Washington Post and Kaiser Health News. Find her on Twitter: @fkritz
