Top news stories from AMA Morning Rounds®: Week of Aug. 26, 2024

Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of Aug. 26, 2024–Aug. 30, 2024.

U.S. to offer free COVID-19 tests, treatments to mitigate seasonal spread

CNN (8/23, Goodman) reported U.S. “government officials announced on Friday the return of programs to offer free [COVID-19] tests, vaccines and treatments to see the nation through the winter respiratory virus season.” The free tests will come back “in time for fall and winter gatherings,” and “government-purchased supplies of the antiviral drug Paxlovid will also be available at no charge to people who are uninsured or who are on Medicare or Medicaid.” While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “forecasters are predicting that the U.S. will see about the same number or fewer hospitalizations for respiratory diseases as it did at the same time last year,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen “said that forecast could change if lower-than-expected numbers of people get vaccinated or if there’s a variant of COVID-19 or the flu that causes more severe disease than anticipated.”

The Hill (8/23, Weixel) reported the officials “said they are recommending annual COVID-19 shots to align with flu shots because they want to make sure people are getting vaccinated.”

WHO, IDB, PAHO release updated AI assessment toolkit for public health

MobiHealthNews (8/26, Hagen) reports, “The World Health Organization (WHO), IDB and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) released version 2.0 of its ‘Artificial Intelligence in Public Health Readiness Assessment Toolkit,’ highlighting how countries can gauge their preparedness to implement AI projects into their public health strategies.” The report also contains “a link to a policy document that provides key concepts, indicators for monitoring AI implementation and recommended actions to advance interoperability.” Overall, this toolkit “aims to help countries understand how to integrate AI into their health systems by providing a framework for analyzing various aspects of their infrastructure, data management, public engagement, evaluation, implementation, workforce and funding.”

You may also be interested in: These 10 health systems see digital health investments pay off. Read how.

Amid mental health concerns, more states implementing restrictions on cellphone use in schools

The Washington Post (8/27, Meckler, Natanson, Elwood) reports, “Students returning to school in a growing number of states and districts are facing tight restrictions and outright bans on cellphone use as evidence mounts of the damaging impact persistent connection to the internet has on teenagers.” Of the 20 largest school districts in the U.S., “at least seven forbid use of cellphones during the school day or plan to do so, while at least another seven impose significant restrictions, such as barring use during class time but permitting phones during lunch or when students are between classes, according to a Washington Post review.” Pressure on school officials “has come from teachers and parents who see cellphones as a distraction, an impediment to learning and a constant toll on students’ mental health.”

Surgeon general issues public health advisory about effects of stress on parents’ mental health

Reuters (8/28, Mason) reports, “The U.S. surgeon general on Wednesday issued a public health advisory about the impact of modern stresses on parents’ mental health, calling on government, businesses and community organizations to increase resources to provide them more support.” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s advisory “highlighted a long list of issues that stress out parents and called for policy changes and better community support for them, other caregivers and families as a whole.” Among the advisory’s “policy recommendations, Murthy pressed for federal, state, tribal and local governments to expand funding that supports parents, establish a national paid family and medical leave program, see to it that workers have paid sick time, and provide caregivers with access to affordable mental health care options.”

CNN (8/28, Gumbrecht) reports, “The advisory describes how mothers and fathers now work many more hours than in 1985 but also spend many more hours every week on primary child care—and that doesn’t count their total time spent with children.” The advisory says, “Demands from both work and child caregiving have come at the cost of quality time with one’s partner, sleep, and parental leisure time.”

The Hill (8/28, Irwin) reports, “In the advisory, Murthy said 41% of parents say they are so stressed most days they can’t function, and 48% say their stress is completely overwhelming compared to other adults.”

FDA raises age verification requirement for tobacco product purchases by three years

Reuters (8/29) reports the FDA “has mandated more people show photo identification when buying tobacco products, as the health regulator raised the age verification requirement by three years.” Under “a rule finalized by the agency on Thursday, the FDA now requires retailers to verify the age of anyone under 30 when they buy tobacco products, from under 27 previously.” Additionally, the FDA “said retailers cannot sell tobacco products via vending machine in places where individuals under 21 are present or permitted to enter, from 18 years previously.”

MedPage Today (8/29, Frieden) reports that “once implemented, the requirements are expected to help decrease underage tobacco sales, the agency said Thursday.”

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