The Washington Post - Coronavirus Updates: America's ‘canary in the coal mine’

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Important developments in the pandemic.       By Avi Selk  Email The Post's coronavirus coverage linked in this newsletter is free to access from this email.   The latest The coronavirus is spreading inside American homes. New evidence suggests that covid-19 is following younger people home from work or social outings, then infecting older and more vulnerable members of the household. “Front-line caregivers, elected officials and experts in Houston, South Florida and elsewhere say they are seeing patterns of hospitalization and death that confirm fears this would happen,” our health desk wrote. Much of the country could soon see case surges like those already devastating the South, the White House's top infectious disease expert Anthony S. Fauci warned Wednesday. “Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana … are starting to show that very subtle increase in percent positives among the total tested, Fauci told ABC News. “Which is a surefire hint that you may be getting into the same sort of trouble with those states that the Southern states got into trouble with.” A coronavirus outbreak among Miami Marlins players and coaches just days after Major League Baseball resumed holding games has disturbed some health experts, who see baseball's struggle to return as a “canary in the coal mine” for the rest of the country. “When you have a covid-19 forest fire going on in your country, you would expect to see this kind of transmission occur,” the director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy told The Post. “This is going to continue until we get this under control." The dire situation in the United States is often blamed on premature attempts to reopen the economy, but many experts think it has as much to do with public aversion to masks. “Faulty guidance from health authorities, a cultural aversion to masks and a deeply polarized politics have all contributed. So has a president who resisted role modeling the benefits of face coverings, and who belittled those who did,” our health and politics desks wrote. “The result, experts say, is a country that squandered one of its best opportunities to beat back the coronavirus pandemic this spring and summer.” Two potential vaccines are in their final stage of tests, and if things go well, the first doses could be available by the end of the year. But who will get them? “Officials and experts must address a host of issues, including how much consideration should be given to race and ethnicity because of the disproportionate effect of covid-19 on communities of color,” The Post wrote. Policy makers will likely have to make uncomfortable decisions such as which people deserve to be inoculated first and which can afford to risk disease a little longer. Other important news Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican who frequently walked around the Capitol without wearing a face mask, tested positive for coronavirus as he was about to board Air Force One with the president. The burden the pandemic has placed on working parents is likely to set women back a generation, an associate professor of public policy and urban affairs at Northeastern University wrote in a piece for The Post. Efforts to negotiate a new relief package this week have deteriorated, as Democrats, the president and even some Republicans attacked the GOP's stimulus plan. Trump called for a short-term fix before emergency unemployment benefits expire Friday. Trump's brief experiment with taking responsibility for the pandemic appears to be over, our political desk wrote in an analysis: The president is back to hyping hydroxychloroquine, falsely claiming much of the country is “corona free,” and endorsing a doctor who believes medicine contains alien DNA. Our world team took a look at the resurgence of covid-19 across the globe, and which countries are in the worst shape.   Live updates and more Track deaths and confirmed cases in the U.S. and across the world.  See the restrictions in each reopened state and how many new cases have been reported. Post reporters are publishing live dispatches nearly 24 hours a day. Read the latest about what's happening in the D.C. area.  Submit a question and we may answer it in a future story or newsletter. (This page now categorizes questions so you can see what's most popular lately.)   Your questions, answered “What additional protection does a face shield provide if I’m also wearing a mask (e.g., on a plane)?" — Laura in D.C. There hasn't been much research on the benefits of face shields for the general public, but many experts believe they offer at least some protection against covid-19 when worn together with a face mask. Let's start with the skeptics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flat-out “does not recommend use of face shields for normal everyday activities” — though the agency stops short of saying they have no benefit, and notes that some people “may choose to use a face shield when sustained close contact with other people is expected.” Individual experts who have weighed in on the matter tend to be a bit more enthusiastic about face shields, noting that they can theoretically protect your eyes from droplets spewed by nearby people. “The only time a person would need to wear a face shield with a face mask is if you are in close proximity to people who are not wearing a mask at all, as the shield will help protect your eyes,” Hugh Cassiere, the director of critical care at Northwell Health’s North Shore University Hospital, told Fox News this week. Nahid Bhadelia, the medical director of the Special Pathogens Unit at the Boston University School of Medicine, was even more upbeat about the idea of using one on an airplane. “The face shield is great if someone is sitting next to you and expelling on you,” she told The Post this month. In fact, some airlines, such as Qatar Airways, require passengers and crew to wear face shields. And American Airlines recently allowed flight crew to wear them after a campaign by flight attendants, according to the Boston Globe. Advocates for face shields assume that a sheet of plastic wrapped around your head can physically block infectious droplets from landing in a facial orifice — which is believed to be the main way the virus spreads. But until proper studies are conducted, it's impossible to be sure they're really helping. “It likely has a benefit. The benefit is not very well quantified,” Emily Sickbert-Bennett, the director of infection prevention at the University of North Carolina Medical Center, told The Post. Face shields have been shown to offer some protection against other diseases, pre-pandemic, and they're commonly used by medical professionals conducting risky procedures on contagious patients. Three infectious disease experts from the University of Iowa co-wrote an opinion essay in the Journal of the American Medical Association in April, advocating that shields be widely adopted. They noted that in simulations conducted before the pandemic, shields were shown to reduce exposure to the flu virus. The Post interviewed one of those authors, Eli Perencevich, earlier this month. He cautioned that a shield won't guarantee you're protected from infection, but nevertheless recommended wearing one along with a mask the next time you fly. “If you keep the face shield down, wear it, and wash your hands before taking it off and after taking it off — anytime you touch something — then you should be pretty reasonably protected,” he said.   Today’s top reads Find more stories, analysis and op-eds about the outbreak on our coronavirus page, including: Analysis: The number of lives Trump claims he has saved from covid-19 has swelled as the death toll has grown ‘Revenge travel’ is the phenomenon that could bring back tourism with a bang Maryland governor expands mask order, requiring face coverings in commercial buildings and outdoors   Lancet editor has harsh words for Trump, but hope for science By William Booth ●  Read more »   We need a covid-19 reset. So we developed a comprehensive plan to do just that. Opinion ●  By David J. Skorton ●  Read more »   Trump retweeted a video with false covid-19 claims. One doctor in it has said demons cause illnesses. By Travis Andrews and Danielle Paquette ●  Read more »   The pandemic has closed the window for fixing the drug pricing system in 2020 Analysis ●  By Paige Winfield Cunningham ●  Read more »   ‘There is complete silence, and everything is painfully white’: What it’s like inside a Russian hospital dealing with the coronavirus Photo essay ●  By Kenneth Dickerman and Maxim Babenko ●  Read more »       We think you’ll like this newsletter Check out Fact Checker for a weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics, from The Post's famous fact-checking team. Count the pinocchios! Sign up »