Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
At Least 69 Killed: July Heat Wave Was One Of The Deadliest Weather Events In Recent US History
Martha Irene Van Egmond was working in her garden in Bolton, Mississippi, when she stumbled and couldn’t get up. The 83-year-old spent hours lying on the ground amid temperatures over 90 degrees, the county coroner said, eventually succumbing to the oppressive heat. (Kaplan, 7/26)
On gun violence and mental health —
Three people were killed and four others wounded on Sunday in a shooting at a food festival in Seattle, the authorities said. The shooting occurred at Seattle Center, which was hosting the Bite of Seattle food festival and is also home to the Space Needle, the Seattle Police Department said. (Zhuang and Desai, 7/26)
More health news from across the U.S. —
Thirteen children were sickened on Thursday at a Y.M.C.A. summer camp in East Orange, N.J., after eating edibles that looked like candy, according to the Y.M.C.A. and two parents of the children. (MacDonald, 7/25)
Nineteen people were taken to hospitals after experiencing similar but minor symptoms at Capital Guardian Youth Challenge Academy, prompting a mass-casualty response. Fire crews ruled out carbon monoxide and now suspect food. (Curtis, 7/26)
Annelise Camp was found unconscious in a swimming pool in Texas on Memorial Day. She was only 2 years old, and it wasn’t clear how long she had been underwater. Paramedics performed CPR to try to revive her. And finally, a faint heartbeat returned, but not enough to stimulate a pulse in her wrist. She was put on a ventilator at a Houston-area hospital, and doctors overseeing her care thought she was brain-dead. (Salhotra, 7/26)
Vicky Pan’s greatest fear came true last summer when she found a lump in her right breast that turned out to be an aggressive and advanced form of breast cancer. Pan, then 45, was healthy, had no family history of breast cancer, and had just gotten an all-clear on her annual mammogram earlier that year. “I was devastated,” said Pan, who lives in Moraga with her husband and two sons, ages 9 and 11. “It was a combination of fear and, ‘Oh gosh, what are my kids going to do? They’re so young.’” (Ho, 7/26)
ϳԹ News: Journalists Assess Risks Of Tick Bites, Wildfire Smoke, Rising Health Costs
ϳԹ News senior correspondent Julie Appleby discussed the affordability of Affordable Care Act health insurance plans on Connecticut Public’s The Wheelhouse on July 22. Céline Gounder, ϳԹ News’ editor-at-large for public health, discussed tick bites on CBS’ CBS Mornings on July 20. She also discussed wildfire smoke and severe heat on CBS’ The Daily Report on July 16. ϳԹ News senior correspondent Renuka Rayasam discussed the effects of soaring health costs in Georgia on WUGA’s The Georgia Health Report on July 17. (7/25)
