Coronavirus Morning News Brief – Sept. 13: Telehealth Fraud Cost Medicare $128 Million, Some Workers Resist a Return to the Office
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 887th day of the pandemic.
On Monday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that she will not renew the state’s Covid-19 state of emergency when it expires on Monday. The move comes amid falling case numbers as well as rising criticism of keeping the order in place.
Ten states, however, still have similar orders in effect. States began issuing such orders in March 2020 as the coronavirus spun out of control, businesses and schools went remote, and masking and social distancing became the order of the day.
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia continue to operate under such orders, which largely help the overburdened healthcare systems in those regions. The last of the orders is slated to expire in early 2023 unless it is renewed.
In other news we cover today, some workers are actively resisting a return to the office, the WHO says that Ukraine’s Covid cases will peak next month, and investigators have found $128 million in suspect Medicare claims for telehealth.
Here’s a look at what has taken place over the past 24 hours.
UNITED STATES
Covid telehealth fraud may have cost Medicare nearly $128 million, government investigators said in a report last week. The report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General found that telehealth – the provision of healthcare via telephone or video link – opened the door to “high risk” claims and said that 1,714 doctors and other healthcare providers billed $128 million in “high risk” claims.
Meanwhile, amid a more pronounced return-to-office move by companies, some members of the New York Times and NBC News digital unions said they would continue to work from home all week. This week is the first time that the two organizations expect their employees to work in a hybrid arrangement, with several days per week in the office.
The number of New York Times employees signing a petition stating they planned to continue to work only from home was over 1,200, while 215 members of the NBC News digital newsroom vowed to stay home and work remotely.
Finally, New York City Mayor Eric Adams called on municipal workers to return to the office as well, saying that their absences hurt the local economy. Over the course of the pandemic, many shops and restaurants that depend on commuters during the day went out of business and some of the ones that remain are hanging on by a thread.
GLOBAL
The World Health Organisation said that it expects the current rise in coronavirus in Ukraine to peak in October. The peak could bring hospitals close to their capacity threshold, the WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Monday.
LONG COVID
The Idaho Statesman reported that 7.8% to 10.5% of all adults in the Gem State were suffering either from the aftereffects of Covid infections and Long Covid. The findings are based on self-reported data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Tuesday, September 13.
As of Tuesday morning, the world has recorded 614.5 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.6 million cases, and over 6.5 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 593.5 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.7 million.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Tuesday is 14,494,550, a decrease of 172,000. Out of that figure, 99.7%, or 14,453,072, are considered mild, and 0.3%, or 41,478, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 24 hours.
The United States reported 87,002 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday for the previous day, compared to 11,464 on Monday, 3,227 on Sunday, 73,885 on Saturday, and 88,425 on Friday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate is now 76,293. Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 68,312, a 24% decrease, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources. The average daily death toll over the same period is 382, a decrease of 20% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 34,404, a 10% decrease.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Tuesday, recorded almost 97.2 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.08 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.5 million, and a reported death toll of 528,185.
The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July, down from 5,023 in June, 7,008 in May and 11,583 in April.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, over 34.7 million, although Brazil has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 684,951, and has recorded 34.58 million cases, placing it in the number four slot.
Germany is in the number five slot with 32.5 million cases.
The other four countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with 24.1 million cases, the United Kingdom, with over 23.5 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with almost 22.1 million, as number eight, as well as Japan, with over 20.2 million, and Russia, with over 20.1 million.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of the past Thursday, over 263.1 million people in the United States – or 79.2% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 67.6%, or 224.4 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 610 million. Breaking this down further, 90.2% of the population over the age of 18 – or 232.9 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 77.4% of the same group – or 199.7 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 51.7% of that population, or 103.2 million people, has already received a third, or booster, dose of vaccine.
Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish the updated information on Thursdays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.
Some 67.8% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Tuesday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 12.64 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 3.78 million doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 21% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain in the single digits, if not lower.
In addition, North Korea and Eritrea are now the only two countries in the world that have not administered vaccines.
Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
