June 3, Kim Bellard
Ironically, the very protests about police violence and the underlying inequalities may serve as fertile ground for further spread of COVID-19, and hit minority communities hardest of all. President Trump and other conservatives are happy to continue to allow the wide disparities that resulted in, among other things, George Floyd’s death and COVID-19’s impact on minority populations. Even those of us who are offended, even outraged, by these inequalities have, for the most part, been too complicit in them. Will we take the opportunity to address the problems underlying the protests and the pandemic?
June 1, Michael Millenson
If you think the grim coronavirus death toll is causing health care workers everywhere to always wash their hands, think again. Even before COVID-19, there have been literally hundreds of studies on how to get health care workers to consistently wash their hands, with interventions running the gamut from reminder signs to electronic monitoring. While hospitals are aiming for complete compliance, we have unfortunately continued to fall short of that goal. While it can be difficult to believe that hospital hand hygiene is still a concern post-Covid-19, what’s needed now is changing processes, for the sake of patients and providers alike.
May 29, Paul Grundy and Ken Terry
The primary care landscape will be very different after the pandemic, and many fear that it may not be for the better. Losing a significant chunk of our primary care capacity would hurt both patients and the healthcare system. A greater investment in primary care would result in lower costs, higher patient satisfaction, fewer hospitalizations and ED visits, and lower mortality. Congress must make health policy decisions with an eye to the kind of healthcare system we want to have when it’s really safe to go out again.
