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Since our last issue that hit your inbox two weeks ago, the U.S. has continued to experience decreases in new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. As we prepare to send this the The New York Times offered in its Interactive Data Reporting the following summary: 
  • "March began with some of the lowest case numbers the country had seen since last fall, though the pace of progress has slowed.
  • While many states have continued to see significant declines in new cases, others, especially on the East Coast, have seen infections plateau at relatively high levels.
  • Daily death reports have fallen steadily from their peak earlier this year. But thousands of people continue to die from the virus each week.
  • The pace of vaccination has increased steadily in recent weeks, to more than 2 million doses on average each day. With three vaccines now in circulation, many states are expanding eligibility for the shots.
  • The source of our hospitalizations and testing data was changed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after the Covid Tracking Project stopped collecting data on March 7."
As illustrated above, new cases have increased in Italy, Germany, and France significantly (in Canada by 2 percent) with deaths decreasing in all of those countries but Italy. In comparison, the U.S. and UK have significant decreases in both new cases and deaths. A key factor is the fact that the the U.S. and the UK lead in dose administered per 100 people as illustrated in the chart for World in Data.
We start Revitalize with the mostly good news on vaccines and getting them in arms with an article in USA Today titled “America could soon be swimming in COVID-19 vaccines: The shift from scarcity to surplus could bring its own problems.” Here there is much more good news than bad, so please read on. 

We then go local from LA to the tiny islands off the Coast of Maine. The New Yorker brings us “L.A.’s disorganized vaccination rollout and the dream of universal health care,” which once again the title masks what is for the most part a story of what went wrong in our second largest city and our largest state and how it was fixed. "Vaccination efforts on remote Maine islands" is another success story on getting shots into arms; it takes you to places that both of your editors have been and is worth a read.  

Although not totally about vaccinations, "Outreach and access are keys to reversing health care inequities" from NEJM Catalyst summarizes how we not only get more shots in arm but implement equity in all aspects of health care and preventive medicine.

The Stimulus bill passed Wednesday morning and as we finished our work it was headed to President Biden’s desk for a Friday signing. We offer from CNET a look at key provisions of the bill. A macro policy assessment by The New York Times on the Bill’s impact on health insurance and health care delivery is linked and that is followed by the LA Times’ “Obamacare premiums go down under the COVID relief bill. Here's who will benefit” that focuses on the benefits the middle and working classes will receive.  

We then turn to JAMA and its answer to the question “Will COVID-19 become a recurrent seasonal disease like influenza?” Not feeling in a JAMA scholarly mood, then we offer The New Yorker’s “Will COVID-19 become a recurrent seasonal disease like influenza?”  

Lastly we turn to Skilled Nursing Facilities and the just-hit-our-desks great news from The Washington Post, “Federal officials relax guidance on nursing home visits, citing vaccines and slowing infections” and the always important reporting from Skilled Nursing News where Maggie Flynn offers “Infection prevention must take center stage for nursing homes — but operators face logistical, financial hurdles.”    

From Echo Park, Culver City, and all of the LA Basin but sadly only in our memories from Isle au Haut, Maine we bring you the March 11, 2021 Revitalize.
Revitalize: The week in health-care news you need
America could soon be swimming in COVID-19 vaccines: The shift from scarcity to surplus could bring its own problems. The abundance of vaccines will become a stagnating surplus that threatens to undermine the nation's ability to move beyond the pandemic, experts say.

L.A.’s disorganized vaccination rollout and the dream of universal health care.

Vaccination efforts a success on remote Maine Islands.   

Outreach and access are keys to reversing health care inequities.

Stimulus bill passed Wednesday morning and was signed by President Biden. The massive relief bill that includes $1,400 stimulus checks is back today for a final time with the House. Here's where the plan stands.

At last, Democrats get chance to engineer Obamacare 2.0: Premiums go down in the COVID relief bill. Who will benefit?

Roughly 29 million Americans stand to benefit from the first substantive federal expansion of Obamacare since 2010.
Will COVID-19 become a recurrent seasonal disease like influenza?

What the Coronavirus variants mean for the end of the pandemic.

Federal officials relax guidance on nursing home visits, citing vaccines and slowing infections. The recommendations call for outside visitation when possible.

Infection prevention must take center stage for nursing homes — but operators face logistical, financial hurdles.One of the scarcest resources in any workplace setting is time, and for nursing homes, one of the casualties of this scarce resource tends to be the position of infection preventionist. This usually takes the form of adding the duties of an IP to an already existing role in the nursing home workplace.
Jerry Seelig, CEO
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