Good morning and welcome to Monday’s New York Health Care newsletter, where we keep you updated on what’s happening this week in health care news and offer a look back at important news from the past week.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Shannon is out this week, but never fear. POLITICO’s Georgia Rosenberg and Julian Shen-Berro are taking the reins to ensure New York health news continues to be delivered to your inbox. Be sure to reach out to them ([email protected] AND [email protected]) with each scoop or notice. Shannon will be back in your inbox next Monday.
New York is in the midst of three public health crises: New York City has become the US epicenter of the monkeypox outbreak; Rockland County is being monitored for possible new polio cases; and the state is still reporting thousands of new Covid-19 cases every day.
“Things come in threes, I guess,” Deputy Public Health Commissioner Ursula Bauer told a state public health advisory board last week.
But while monkeypox and poliomyelitis have garnered most of the headlines coming out of New York in recent weeks, state health officials like Bauer are urging New Yorkers not to ignore the threat the coronavirus still poses.
New York is reporting about 5,000 new daily cases of Covid — three times higher than at the same point in 2021 and “almost an order of magnitude higher” than at the same time in 2020, Bauer said. (Although variations in the reporting of Covid cases make it difficult to give a complete apples-to-apples comparison, the best current metric is the seven-day average of cases per 100,000 population.) And the true number of New Yorkers currently infected with Covid it is likely higher due to “gross under-reporting” as more people rely on home tests, the results of which are often not shared with public health departments.
Also higher are newly reported Covid-related hospitalizations than in previous summers — roughly 2.5 per 100,000 residents, compared with less than 0.5 per 100,000, Bauer told the Public Health and Health Planning Council. (More than half of those hospitalizations involved patients admitted for other reasons, according to state data.) Covid-related deaths, meanwhile, are “modestly higher” than in previous summers, he said. she.
However, with the availability of vaccines for all age groups and new antiviral treatments, most New Yorkers seem ready to embrace a post-Covid future — even as public health officials are preparing for cases to climb even higher as summer temperatures cool.
“With the BA.5 now the dominant Omicron variant in New York and across the US – with its high transmissibility and its ability to evade previous immunity – and with the lack of public interest and protective measures, such as masking, we are very concerned about the decline, “said Bauer. . . “Those low points that we had reached in previous summers foreshadowed an increase in the fall, and we are trying to be prepared.”
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EMERGENCY STATEMENT — POLITICO’s Shannon Young: Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday declared the monkeypox outbreak in New York a state emergency, issuing an executive order allowing state health officials to respond more quickly to the growing number of cases.
Hochul, who announced the action just after 22:00, said it is expanding the list of providers who can administer monkeypox vaccines to include emergency medical services personnel, pharmacists and midwives. The order also allows physicians and registered nurses to issue non-specific patient standing orders for vaccines and requires providers to send vaccine records to the state Department of Health.
“More than one in four cases of monkeypox in this country are in New York State, and we must use every tool in our arsenal as we respond,” she said in a statement. The state reported a total of 1,383 confirmed cases of orthopoxvirus/monkeypox as of Friday, 1,289 of which were in New York City. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a total of 5,189 cases nationwide as of Friday.
The statement will remain in effect for at least 30 days. It came hours after city, state and federal lawmakers representing parts of New York City called for a state of emergency response to the monkeypox outbreak.
… Health Commissioner Mary Bassett last week declared monkeypox an immediate public health threat in New York. This statement will remain in effect until the end of the year.
– Hochul on Friday also in silence extended the state’s disaster emergency due to a shortage of health care personnel until August 28.
DOH REORG – Shannon reports: The state Department of Health is being reorganized as part of an effort to optimize workflow, increase diversity and “build a healthier and fairer New York,” Commissioner Mary Bassett announced Friday.
“Our new organizational focus and leadership team structure will better position the Department to shape our priorities and delivery systems to improve health access and outcomes for all New Yorkers,” she said in a statement. “The scope of this Department extends beyond traditional public health and includes a regulatory function for health care delivery facilities and health insurance programs that provide coverage to over one-third of New Yorkers. In my term as commissioner, I intend to do my best to fulfill our mandate.”
As part of that reorganization, The DOH has established an office of aging and long-term care, an office of health equity and human rights, a chief medical officer and a leadership cabinet. Bassett said she is also prioritizing data sharing across the agency, as well as a new emphasis on regional office engagement with local health departments.
WEISS SPEAKS — POLITICO’s Julian Shen-Berro: A city infection expert says he is stepping down from his role after publicly criticizing the city’s response to the ongoing monkeypox outbreak. Don Weiss, director of surveillance for the New York Department of Health’s Bureau of Communicable Disease Control, has been reassigned to the Division of Family and Children’s Health, effective Monday, according to a letter posted on Weiss’ personal website.
IN OTHER NEWS:
— Bassett joined other health officials Friday calling on the World Health Organization to rename monkeypox. “As we work aggressively to respond to this outbreak in New York and beyond, we must ensure that people feel they can receive treatment and care without judgment — without stigma.” she posted on Twitter.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: This review is for you! Submit news tips, health tips, ideas, critiques and corrections [email protected].
NOW WE KNOW – Halloween candy may be in short supply this fall “due to raw ingredient shortages and capacity challenges,” the Washington Post reports.
TODAY’S TIP – SELF offers tips on how to “make your hot workout feel less horrible.”
BE SURE TO FOLLOW Shannon @ShannonYoung413 on Twitter. For New Jersey health news, see Daniel Han, @danieljhan_.
STUDY THIS – Via Vice: “Scientists have sequenced the genome of facial herpes, a virus that has infected most people alive today, for the first time using ancient DNA preserved in people who lived many centuries ago, reports a new study.”
“A staffing crisis in residential facilities operated by the state Office of Developmental Disabilities continues to prompt facility closures,” reports The Times Union.
Associated Press looks at how abortion access is affecting down-ballot campaigns.
New York Times reports how “Representative Nicole Malliotakis, the city’s lone Republican member of the House of Representatives, has tried to distance herself from the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion.”
Kaiser Health News reports that “more than two-thirds of the inns nationwide [are] now operating as profitable entities.”
STAT reviews why drug companies are not creating new drugs to protect vulnerable individuals from Covid.
POLITICO’s Katherine Ellen Foley reports that the Department of Health and Human Services has purchased 66 million doses of a bivalent booster from Moderna for the fall and winter, pending regulatory authorization and recommendations, the agency said Friday.
President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 Late Saturday morning, the White House physician said, and he is not experiencing any symptoms at this time, POLITICO’s Katherine and David Lim report.
Routine childhood vaccinations fell again in 2021 in 57 countries served by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, according to a new report from the group, POLITICO’s Daniel Payne reports.
HAS A SUMMARY POSSIBLE? Catch up on the New York Health Care Bulletin.
