Lowering Expectations: CDC Director Says Face Masks May Provide More Protection Than Coronavirus Vaccinehttps://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/09/16/cdc-director-says-face-masks-may-provide-more-protection-than-coronavirus-vaccine-.htmlA potential coronavirus vaccine will likely be available in limited quantities by the end of this year, but it may only be about 70% effective, CDC Director Robert Redfield said.
A 50% effective vaccine would be roughly on par with those for influenza but below the effectiveness of one dose of a measles vaccination, which is about 93% effective, according to the CDC.
The CDC and the WHO now suggest people wear face coverings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which is spread through respiratory droplets when a person coughs, sneezes or talks.
Face coverings are "the most powerful public health tool" the nation has against the coronavirus and might even provide better protection against it than a vaccine, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told lawmakers Wednesday.
"We have clear scientific evidence they work, and they are our best defense," CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said.
"I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against Covid than when I take a Covid vaccine." Other top health experts, including White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said the likelihood of producing a highly effective Covid-19 vaccine — one that provides 98% or more guaranteed protection — is slim.
"If I don't get an immune response, the vaccine's not going to protect me. This face mask will," Redfield told lawmakers while holding up a blue surgical face mask. He urged Americans, particularly those between 18 and 25 years old, to continue wearing face coverings, reiterating they could help bring the pandemic under control in a matter of weeks if people wore them universally.
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U.S. Plans to Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine Immediately After Regulators Authorize Ithttps://in.mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2672CU(Reuters) - The U.S. government on Wednesday said it will start distributing a COVID-19 vaccine within one day of regulatory authorization as it plans for the possibility that a limited number of vaccine doses may be available at the end of the year.
Officials from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense on Wednesday held a call with reporters and then released documents on the distribution plans that it is sending to the states and local public health officials.
The federal government will allocate vaccines for each state based on the critical populations recommended first for vaccination by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [
... or how you voted]
The document, called the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook, said limited COVID-19 vaccine doses may be available by early November 2020 if one is authorized by then, but that supply may increase substantially in 2021.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/downloads/COVID-19-Vaccination-Program-Interim_Playbook.pdf-------------------------------------
Coronavirus Test Prices Charged by Some Hospitals and Labs Stun Consumers, Spur Questionshttps://amp.usatoday.com/amp/3472304001When Lisa Robertson sought coronavirus testing for her college athlete daughter, a pediatrician recommended a small, independent pharmacy in Arlington, Virginia.
Preston’s Pharmacy charged $35 to take a nasal swab specimen and sent it off to a lab, Principle Diagnostics, for quick results. The lab billed her insurance company $864 – more than eight times what the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reimburses for COVID-19 tests.
... Robertson was surprised her insurer, a Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan with robust benefits for federal employees and retirees, paid the full amount, via a check that she forwarded to the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based lab.
“Why would it cost the lab $864, and then our insurance paid” the full amount, Robertson asked. “Is the lab taking advantage of a situation and not being regulated?”It’s a question more are raising. There have been 85 million tests administered, and
congressional mandates require insurers to pay the full cost of testing, no matter how much hospitals or labs bill. As routine testing expands to workplaces, universities and professional sports leagues, labs may have found a lucrative niche amid the pandemic.In July, the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent inquiries to 10 laboratories and hospitals about COVID-19 test prices that ranged from $300 to $6,000. The committee's letters described the charges as "
unconscionable and clearly excessive" and questioned whether the labs complied with the Families First and Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Acts, both intended to ensure widespread testing at little to no cost for patients.
A doctor who worked for a chain of free-standing emergency rooms in Texas went to an Austin location to get a COVID-19 antibody test.
His insurance plan was billed $10,984 for the test and paid the entire amount, prompting the doctor to quit the chain,
ProPublica reported.
https://www.propublica.org/article/a-doctor-went-to-his-own-employer-for-a-covid-19-antibody-test-it-cost-10-984A separate analysis by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found nearly one in four hospital websites did not publicly post prices. Of the hospitals that did, Kaiser found some prices as high as $850 for a single test – not including extra fees a consumer might be assessed, such as the cost of a doctor’s visit, facility fee or specimen collection. The median price was $127, but about one in five hospitals charge more than $200 per diagnostic test.
A survey conducted by the industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans found hospitals or labs that did not contract with insurance plans tended to charge the most. About 1 in 10 of these out-of-network providers charged an average $390 for a COVID-19 test.
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