Editorials, Opinion Pieces Discuss Various Aspects Of COVID-19 Pandemic, Including U.S. Response

Washington Post: Trump rightly extended pandemic guidance. Here’s what he should do next.
Editorial Board

“…[T]he month ahead must be well spent — with action. … Mr. Trump … ought to immediately and forcefully insist that governors and other elected officials follow his guidance, order people to engage in social distancing, and close nonessential businesses and workplaces. There is no room for a patchwork response. … Next, Mr. Trump must put in charge the commanders who can oversee this life-and-death war, both for the immediate crisis and for planning the eventual easing of restrictions. … Down the road, the reopening will require a delicate state-by-state choreography in which jurisdictions could begin to relax after 14 days of steady reduction in daily case numbers … All of this is going to require an immense amount of investment, planning, personnel, and logistics, as well as skilled leadership, on the order of nothing ever seen in public health in the past century. It will be a tragic failure if complacency turns the United States into a playground for the coronavirus, allowing it to leap for months from one infected population to ignite outbreaks in another. The coming weeks may well be the last chance to shape a better outcome” (3/30).

Washington Post: Thousands of health care workers are at risk of being deported. Trump could save them.
Editorial Board

“…Some 27,000 dreamers are health care workers; some … are on the front lines, grappling with a deadly pandemic. They are doctors, nurses, intensive care unit staff, and EMTs trained to respond quickly to accidents, traumas, and an array of other urgent medical needs. Until now, because of [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)], they have been shielded from deportation and allowed to work legally. Their time may be running out. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the fall on the Trump administration’s attempt to rescind the program; it is expected to rule in the coming months. If, as appears likely, the court’s conservative majority sides with the administration, … thousands of … health care workers would lose their work permits and jobs, and face the threat of deportation. So would another 700,000 DACA recipients — food prep workers, teachers and tutors, government employees, and students, including those enrolled in medical programs. That would be catastrophic, and not just for the dreamers themselves, young people in their 20s and 30s who have grown up here. It would also be catastrophic for the United States. … The country needs them as never before. Will Mr. Trump step up to provide them with safety and security?” (3/30).

Bloomberg: Time for the U.S. and China to Collaborate, Not Complain
Stephen Roach, faculty member at Yale University and author (3/30).

The Conversation: Coronavirus vaccine: here are the steps it will need to go through during development
Samantha Vanderslott, postdoctoral researcher in social sciences at the University of Oxford; Andrew Pollard, professor of pediatric infection and immunity at the University of Oxford; and Tonia Thomas, Vaccine Knowledge project manager (3/30).

Financial Times: Scientists seek reason why coronavirus has less impact on children
Anjana Ahuja, science commentator at Financial Times and visiting lecturer in science journalism at City University in London (3/30).

Foreign Policy: Authoritarianism in the Time of the Coronavirus
Florian Bieber, professor of Southeast European history and politics, and Jean Monnet, chair for the Europeanization of Southeastern Europe at the University of Graz, Austria (3/30).

Foreign Policy: The U.S. Government Must Prepare Now for the Next Pandemic
Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), U.S. senator from Connecticut and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (3/30).

The Hill: Conservatives privilege ideology over expertise in this global health crisis
Sara Hutchinson Ratcliffe, acting president of Catholics for Choice (3/30).

NEJM: Developing Covid-19 Vaccines at Pandemic Speed
Nicole Lurie, distinguished health policy fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and colleagues (3/30).

STAT: It’s past time to fully deploy the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps to fight Covid-19
Andrew B. Meshnick, medical student at the Georgetown University School of Medicine; Brian J. Miller, physician and adjunct associate professor at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School; and Boris D. Lushniak, dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Health (3/30).

Washington Post: The National Security Council sounded early alarms about the coronavirus
Josh Rogin, columnist for the Washington Post (3/30).

Washington Post: ‘No national response’: One senator’s alarming account of the first days
Greg Sargent, writer for the Plum Line blog at the Washington Post (3/30).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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