Welcome to Tuesday’s Overnight Health Care.
The U.S. is rapidly closing in on 2 million COVID-19 cases and almost 112,000 deaths. Cases are on the rise in new hot spots including Arizona and Texas.
The World Health Organization (WHO) sought to clarify its messaging on asymptomatic coronavirus transmission. At the same time, a new federal study showed the degree of asymptomatic transmission aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. In Congress, Senate Democrats want a deeper investigation into the administration’s “Project Airbridge.”
We’ll start with the WHO:
WHO seeks to clarify widely criticized statement on asymptomatic spread
Take two from the WHO on explaining asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus. The organization called a Facebook Live on Tuesday to try to clean up its widely criticized comments from the day before that asymptomatic spread is “very rare.”
New line: The WHO now says that much is unknown and some models find that such spread is not actually rare.
Maria Van Kerkhove, a top WHO coronavirus official, noted Tuesday that asymptomatic people can in fact spread the virus, though she said it is not known how common that is.
She said she was relying on “two or three studies” as well as unpublished reports from some countries for her statement and indicated that “very rare” is perhaps not the best phrase to use.
“In that I used the phrase ‘very rare,’ and I think that’s misunderstanding to state that asymptomatic transmission globally is very rare,” she said. “What I was referring to is a subset of studies.”
She said that some models show that as much as 40 percent of transmission of the virus could be from asymptomatic people, which would be far more than very rare, though those are just estimates from modeling.
New headache: Under fire from President Trump already, the WHO was widely criticized by experts on Twitter. “This is such a mistake that I’m not sure how or if WHO pronouncements can be covered now,” tweeted Andy Slavitt, a former top health official in the Obama administration.
New study shows 60 percent of Roosevelt carrier crew have coronavirus antibodies
The USS Theodore Roosevelt has proven to be a test of just how easily the coronavirus can spread among young, healthy asymptomatic individuals. A new study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found antibodies in 60 percent of the 382 sailors who volunteered to be tested. One in five of the infected sailors reported no symptoms.
Overall, the virus infected more than 1,100 members of a 4,800-member crew.
“The outbreak was characterized by widespread transmission with relatively mild symptoms and asymptomatic infection among this sample of mostly young, healthy adults with close, congregate exposures,” the study said.
In addition, the study found service members who reported taking preventive measures such as wearing face coverings and adhering to physical distancing had a lower infection rate than those who did not. Specifically, 55.8 percent of those who wore face masks and 54.7 percent who reported physical distancing became infected, versus 80.8 percent and 70 percent, respectively, of those who did not.
Flashback: The Roosevelt became the center of attention after an outbreak infected hundreds aboard, leading the ship’s captain Brett Crozier to pen a letter to Navy officials warning about the spread. When the letter was leaked to the media, Crozier was fired, an ouster that eventually led to the resignation of the Navy secretary, who was sharply critical of Crozier’s letter.
Trump administration to distribute $25 billion to Medicaid providers after delay
The Trump administration announced Tuesday it would distribute $25 billion to health providers caring for Medicaid patients following weeks of pressure from lawmakers and advocates.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had come under fire for its slow pace in sending out billions of dollars in coronavirus relief funds to providers in the safety net program, even as clinics and hospitals cut back services, lay off staff or shut down altogether.
HHS announced Tuesday $15 billion would go to providers in state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program; another $10 billion will go to safety-net hospitals that serve high volumes of Medicaid patients.
“Healthcare providers who focus on treating the most vulnerable Americans, including low-income and minority patients, are absolutely essential to our fight against COVID-19,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.
Senators seek probe into Trump administration’s ‘Project Airbridge’ medical supply deliveries
Three Democratic senators are calling for an investigation into “Project Airbridge,” the Trump administration’s public-private arrangement with six of the country’s largest medical supply companies to deliver personal protective equipment (PPE) from overseas to the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Project Airbridge was led by President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, and was touted by the administration as a historic and successful effort to ease critical shortages of PPE during the height of the pandemic.
Under the arrangement, the federal government paid to fly the supplies to the U.S., so long as the companies agreed to sell at least 50 percent of the supplies to hot spots designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The companies were allowed to sell the rest to anyone they wanted, at taxpayer expense.
Who is involved: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the initiative has lacked critical oversight and has misspent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Key quote: “Project Air Bridge — like the broader Trump Administration response to coronavirus — has been marked by delays, incompetence, confusion, and secrecy involving multiple Federal agencies and actors,” the senators wrote to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee in a letter released Tuesday requesting that the panel initiate an investigation.
COVID infections spreading in the South and West
New analysis of data conducted by The Hill’s Reid Wilson finds a clear trend — COVID-19 is becoming a major problem in the Sun Belt. Arizona in particular has seen an increase of 1,000+ cases in three of the last four days.
Their week-over-week case count nearly doubled from last week.
Week-over-week cases have also climbed across Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
What we’re reading
As nursing home residents died, new covid-19 protections shielded companies from lawsuits. Families say that hides the truth (Washington Post)
Satellite images and online searches indicate China had coronavirus in the fall, Harvard study finds (CNBC)
The elevator arises as the latest logjam in getting back to work (Kaiser Health News)
More than half of states may be undercounting coronavirus cases by not following CDC guidelines (CNN)
State by state
NYC subway ridership hits 800,000 for first time since coronavirus pandemic began (New York Daily News)
Spike in coronavirus cases in Napa County, Calif. linked to Memorial Day gatherings (Fox News)
Baker ‘enormously skeptical’ of claims about asymptomatic spread: ‘no one should take the foot off the pedal’ (Boston Globe)