Category Archives: Health care

What do Drs. Fauci and Smith, not Facebook, have to say?

Health care

March 17, 2020

By Steve Brawner
© 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

I’m no expert in infectious disease epidemiology, so take with a grain of salt any opinions I offer on that subject. But some people are experts, so I’m listening to them rather than relying on my own hunches or caring about what someone writes on Facebook.

I only have time and patience for useful information at the moment – for example, that the symptoms of having the coronavirus include fever, cough and shortness of breath – so it’s been days since I’ve scrolled through my Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Instead, I’m more interested in what people like Dr. Anthony Fauci are saying. The 79-year-old has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under six presidents going back to President Reagan.

On Sunday, he said on CNN in response to a question that “it is possible” that the coronavirus could kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Preventing that from happening will require Americans to accept changes to their daily lives even if critics call it overreacting. He said the United States could be as bad as Italy, where 368 people died in one 24-hour period over the weekend. However, he added, “I don’t think we’re going there if we do the kinds of things that we are publicly saying we need to do. … For a while, life is not going to be the way it used to be in the United States.” Continue reading What do Drs. Fauci and Smith, not Facebook, have to say? →

Cotton right about virus’ importance

Health care, U.S. Congress

Feb. 27, 2020

By Steve Brawner
© 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Looks like Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton was on track Jan. 30 when he called the COVID-19 coronavirus “the biggest and most important story in the world.”

Time will tell if it’s actually the biggest and most important story, but it’s definitely big and important.

As of Thursday, the virus has killed nearly 3,000 people, mostly in China where it originated, and led to widespread quarantines in that country. More than 80,000 people have been infected globally. Outbreaks are happening in South Korea, Italy, and elsewhere. The leader of Iran’s virus task force tested positive one day after telling his country not to overreact to the disease. The International Olympic Committee’s longest serving member this week suggested the Tokyo Summer Olympics could be cancelled. Probably not coincidentally, Japan is closing all its schools for a month.

President Trump on Wednesday announced he was appointing Vice President Mike Pence to head the nation’s anti-coronavirus efforts. Only 60 Americans have been infected so far, most coming from a single cruise ship. But the latest person hasn’t traveled or come in close contact with anyone known to be infected. That’s concerning. On Tuesday, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the virus will spread here, though the CDC can’t know how much. Regardless, she said Americans should “prepare for the expectation that this might be bad.” Life here could be disrupted and marked by “social distancing measures” such as closing schools. There’s no vaccine, yet. Continue reading Cotton right about virus’ importance →

Cotton goes to war against a virus

Health care, U.S. Congress

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Feb. 4, 2020

Sen. Tom Cotton, the ex-combat infantryman, tends to see the world – and describe it – in terms of threats and adversaries: Iran, terrorists, illegal immigrants, legal immigrants who take Americans’ jobs, the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, President Obama and other Democrats, etc. He often uses strong, uncompromising language.

Lately, he’s focused on a new, developing threat, the coronavirus that China says has killed more than 400 of its people, and which has started spreading to other countries. As of Monday, there were 11 confirmed cases in the United States.

On Jan. 30, Cotton said in a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting that the coronavirus is “the biggest and most important story in the world” and something that “could result in a global pandemic.” He called for banning all commercial air travel between China and the United States and for a “Manhattan Project-level effort” to develop a vaccine. The Manhattan Project created the atomic bomb in World War II.

Cotton’s remarks are notable because this time the threat he’s talking about isn’t a person or group of people, but a virus.

Viruses are microorganisms that invade the body and reproduce by attaching to cells and reprogramming them to create more viruses. They can mutate, frustrating our efforts to stop them. Continue reading Cotton goes to war against a virus →

As flu season nears, officials say shots help

Health care

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

You think your job is hard? Dr. Nathaniel Smith is trying to convince 3 million Arkansans to let someone stick a needle in their arm – or use a mist – to fight the flu.

Smith, Arkansas’ secretary of health, and Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the Department of Health’s medical director for immunizations, held a moderately attended press conference last Monday. He got better coverage this week when he and Gov. Asa Hutchinson publicly received their flu shots.

Last year, 48.8% of Arkansans ages six months and older and 49.2% of Americans were vaccinated.

There were 113 reported influenza deaths in Arkansas last flu season and 228 the season before, which was a really bad one that saw 79,400 die nationwide. Most Arkansans who died last flu season were age 65 and older. Two were children. Five children died the previous season.

Continue reading As flu season nears, officials say shots help →