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Today in healthcare news: The inside story of Dr. Ala Stanford’s work to solve coronavirus testing problems for Black communities in Philadelphia, why herd immunity isn’t a great strategy, and the reasons you shouldn’t stress about getting COVID-19 from an Airbnb.
A doctor who caters to celebrities changed her plans to focus on helping the poorest parts of Philadelphia battle the coronavirus
- Dr. Ala Stanford was running a concierge medicine business whose patients included Hollywood actor Will Smith.
- When the coronavirus started spreading across America, Stanford saw that Black Americans were being hit hardest.
- She created a program that offered free testing right in people's neighborhoods.
- Now, she wants to focus the future of her career on helping low-income people.
Read the full story from Kimberly Leonard here>>
Pursuing herd immunity is a non-strategy that could cause mass death without boosting the economy. A Trump adviser may be pushing for it.
- Scott Atlas, who's serving as a pandemic adviser to President Trump, has pushed for the US to take the Swedish approach, The Washington Post reported.
- Sweden allowed the coronavirus to spread in a bid for herd immunity - a point at which enough people become immune to a virus to stop its further spread.
- Sweden now has far higher death rates than neighboring countries, along with more significant economic losses.
- Reaching herd immunity without a vaccine would require a huge portion of the US population to get sick, possibly killing millions.
Read the full story from Morgan McFall-Johnsen here>>
Why you shouldn't stress about getting the coronavirus from a stay in an Airbnb
- Experts say the risk of catching COVID-19 during an Airbnb stay is low if the space properly cleaned.
- Viral particles can survive for a time on high-touch surfaces like doorknobs, remote controls, and cloth fabric, but the coronavirus does not spread easily from surfaces.
- Some Airbnb rentals may be safer than a hotel, since guests don't share areas like lobbies or concierge counters.
Read the full story from Aylin Woodward here>>
More stories we're reading:
- A US advisory group laid out its recommendations for who should get a coronavirus vaccine first (Stat News)
- New York City plans to reopen schools for in-person learning in September, becoming the biggest city to do so (Business Insider)
- Florida cut ties with Quest Diagnostics after the lab withheld 75,000 coronavirus tests (Tampa Bay Times)
- 23 bus passengers contracted coronavirus from 1 infected person. No one was wearing a mask.(Business Insider)
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- Lydia
