We are living life in phases these days. Nothing happens all at once anymore. We are learning to wait our turn, just as we learned in grade school, whether it’s for getting vaccinated, going back to the classroom or returning to work after an extended hiatus.

We’ve had all kinds of partial experiences, from phases 1a, 1b and 1c of vaccination priority nationwide to color-coded tiers of county risk in California. Hybrid school schedules, hybrid work schedules, open-and-shut policies for restaurants and stores and gyms at 50% or 25% or 0% of capacity. It’s almost enough to make us yearn for the golden, olden simpler times of gasoline rationing on odd and even days. Raise your hand if you remember. The Number One song that year was My Sharona.

Phased mitigation, delayed gratification, phooey. We want the whole pie and we want it now. Which is a recipe for trouble, because every time we think we have learned the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the pandemic throws a new curve at us. Which variant will rear its ugly head this week? Will spring break travel bring on another dreaded surge of disease activity?

We need to prove that we can be as versatile as the variants in adjusting to a new reality and finding different ways to thrive even as we make sacrifices for the greater good of the community. “Please wear a mask” remains one small ask. “Get vaccinated” is another.

This week’s Haymarket Media Coronavirus Briefing is 2,899 words and will take you 10 minutes to read.

A cautionary tale

Just as it did before Thanksgiving and again before the December holidays, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging us to cease and desist from nonessential travel as we enter spring break, already in full swing in warmer climes. People will do what people will do. The number of TSA screenings at airports in recent days is the highest in a year, at more than one million per day. The 1.3 million last Friday was the most since the pandemic began, although notably lower than the turnstile activity on that same day in 2020 and 2019.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said, “We’re just starting to turn the corner. The data are moving in the right direction, but where this goes is dependent on whether we all do what must be done to protect ourselves and others.”

What we don’t want to see as we turn a corner is a Mack truck advancing head-on in our lane. 

Back to business (and school) as usual?

The details of returning to work could be the next COVID hot spot. What we already know is that work itself, wherever it is performed, has been reshaped by the cataclysm of the past 12 months.

  • A year of lockdown has transformed the healthcare advertising and marketing industry, in some cases for the better, Alison Weissbrot comments in her blog for Campaign. She suggests applying the lessons we’ve learned from working remotely as we return to a freshly reimagined workspace and in so doing “embrace a more balanced, flexible and healthy way of working. After all, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”
  • PR Week’s Chris Daniels interviews agency CEOs and CCOs to find out “when the reality of the pandemic hit them, what they learned from it and what they wished they had done differently.” Ketchum president and CEO Mike Doyle said that one silver lining was the permission it gave us to talk about mental health. “One of the most profound things for me has been our ability to show up human and be vulnerable inside the agency, which I believe translates directly to the way we are showing up for clients,” he said. “I believe that has changed us and I never want to go back.” 
  • The impact of the pandemic is clearly reflected in the 2021 MM+M/Healthcare Dimensions Healthcare Marketers Survey. Marketing budgets remained stable, but the pivot to digital was dramatic, of necessity, at a time when in-person encounters evaporated. There’s good news in this, as reported by MM+M’s Sarah Mahoney. Resourceful reps created opportunities to spend more face time (albeit screen time) with physicians than the five-minute office drop-in would allow. Physicians clearly wanted to talk with a real person and not a chatbot at a virtual booth. Another positive: a “recalibration of brand’s tone of voice” to show more compassion for physicians whose emotional and, frequently, economic health has taken a beating over the past year.
  • Sabrina Sanchez, a reporter for Campaign and PRWeek, reveals what it’s like to start your first job, fresh out of school, during a pandemic. She says, “Despite turmoil in the world around me, I have a sense of direction. I am grateful that since starting my job, I have been asked ‘How do you feel about everything?’ ‘Are you doing okay?’ and ‘How are you keeping up with the work?’” 
  • Operating rooms are opening up again for elective surgery after a year of mass postponement. Will access for sales reps open up as well? Marc Iskowitz navigates the altered hospital landscape in MM+M. 
  • Evolving CDC and OSHA guidance to protect safety and health in the reconfigured and reconstituted workplace may not mesh with the intentions and desires of states and business communities to open things up as quickly as possible. Pollster Civic Science reports that a majority of people surveyed are ready, either right now or within a month, to go back to work (72%), shop in stores other than a grocery (66%), or go out to a restaurant (55%). A minority are ready to travel (41%) or attend large public events (31%) within that time frame. Notably, 38% would wait six months or more before going to a big public gathering.
  • Wherever you go, there they are. A majority of Americans want other people around them to be vaccinated when they are out and about in the world, a Reuters/Ipsos poll reveals. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed (62%) say unvaccinated people should not be allowed to travel on planes and 55% do not want to encounter the jabless at public gyms, movie theaters or concerts. More than half (56%) think employees who are not vaccinated should not come into the workplace, and 60% say they want to work for an employer that requires vaccination.
  • A poll among visitors to the Campaign website in the U.K. showed slightly greater willingness to mingle, if not rub elbows, Simon Gwynn reports: 14% would be comfortable working in an office with others who have not been vaccinated, 51% would be comfortable doing so only in a COVID-secure environment, 19% would be uncomfortable but would agree to come into the office if needed, and 17% would refuse.
  • The long-term care industry is seeking $15 billion in federal funding to address systemic issues that have been “laid bare” by the pandemic, including deficiencies in infection control procedures and inconsistencies in the quality of clinical care. Funding would support round-the-clock staffing by RNs and maintaining a minimum 30-day supply of personal protective equipment, Alicia Lasek reports in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
  • The proposal comes at a time when the U.S. Senate Finance Committee is holding hearings on how deficiencies in nursing home safety and emergency preparedness and delays in federal response made long-term care the crucible of the pandemic, Danielle Brown notes in McKnight’s LTC News. A certified nurse assistant, a COVID survivor herself, told the Committee that over the past year my days have been filled with fear and sadness.”
  • Is three feet rather than six feet an acceptable yardstick for social distancing in schools? The CDC is reviewing data and a recent study in Clinical Infectious Diseases suggests that the answer is yes, as long as masks remain in place. The researchers looked at Massachusetts school districts using either three feet or six feet as the measure (the state allows such flexibility) and found no differences in COVID-19 case rates among students and staff. The CDC has favored six feet, while the World Health Organization recommends one meter (3.3 feet) and the American Academy of Pediatrics is okay with three to six feet. The study did find a strong correlation between case rates in schools and case rates in the surrounding community, particularly among staff.
  • On a different front, the federal government’s communications mega-push around the vaccination effort is up and running, Lecia Bushak notes in MM+M.

The Takeaway: The re-entry process could resemble the return of a space capsule to earth – which, in many ways, is the riskiest part of the mission.


Source: Getty

The upside

We’re trending now in the right direction.

  • During the week of February 21, 93% of skilled nursing facilities in the U.S. reported no new cases of COVID-19 among residents, Danielle Brown notes in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. Compare that to the week of December 20, when just 65% of facilities could say the same.
  • Meanwhile, this is nothing to sneeze at: Nurses who wore surgical or N95 masks had fewer and milder symptoms of allergic rhinitis over a two-week study period in the springtime, McKnight’s Alicia Lasek reports.
  • Good news on the treatment front: The combination of two monoclonal antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab (Lilly) reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 87% in a Phase 3 trial, Brian Park reports in MPR. The combo received emergency use authorization from the FDA in February on the strength of earlier Phase 3 data. The backstories are often lost in the fine print: The bamlanivimab antibody, for example, was identified in a blood sample from one of the first patients in the U.S. to recover from COVID-19, an unsung hero.
  • The Lilly combination is one of two combos to receive emergency use authorization to treat patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at risk for progression to severe disease or hospitalization. Last November, the FDA greenlighted the combination of casirivimab and imdevimab (Regeneron), branded as the REGEN-COV antibody cocktail. The FDA wants both companies to track the drugs’ activity against variants.
  • More than two-thirds (69.7%) of women in an international survey said they would have their children vaccinated against COVID-19. As for being vaccinated themselves, 52% of pregnant women and 73% of nonpregnant women said they would. The survey covered 16 countries including the U.S. The study was published this month in the European Journal of Epidemiology.
  • The pandemic has had many side effects of its own, among them a troubling drop in routine childhood immunizations. Resourceful pediatricians have responded by providing vaccines on the go, STAT reports, with mobile vaccination vans in Wisconsin and Massachusetts and a curbside drive-by in Minnesota.
  • As Seinfeld might ask: Is this anything? A small study in France (24 subjects) found that using povidone-iodine in a mouthwash, gargle or nasal spray may reduce the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 and thus curb the possibility of transmission. A larger clinical trial would be the next step. Cassandra Pardini has details in MPR.

The Takeaway: While we want vaccination and common-sense public health measures to stifle this disease in its tracks, we also want the highest standard of care for those who fall ill, and we applaud anyone pursuing that grail. 


Source: Getty

The downside

Inequity and iniquity are pretty much the same thing.

  • The unequal toll of COVID-19 persists as communities of color and areas with socioeconomic disparities bear the brunt of the pandemic’s brute force. Although only half of jurisdictions report data by race and ethnicity, the available data reveal a disturbing pattern: Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans are two to three times as likely as whites to be hospitalized by COVID-19 and to die of the disease. In addition, COVID-19 vaccination coverage is lower in areas rated socially and economically vulnerable.
  • The only good thing about these trends is that we are now documenting them more thoroughly. The CDC’s COVID Data Tracker Weekly Review offers an interpretive summary along with regularly updated data and trends on cases, testing, new hospital admissions, deaths and activity of variants.
  • People living with a chronic condition have their own sets of worries and fears about coronavirus. For people with HIV, including a growing number of long-term survivors, the pandemic has presented a variety of challenges, from disruption of medication regimens to deepening social isolation. Tara Rodriguez interviews three researchers who have published papers and shares the insights in Psychiatry Advisor.  
  • One possible side effect of COVID-19 vaccination is swelling of lymph nodes in the armpit, which could be interpreted as a possible sign of cancer in mammograms and other breast imaging studies. To avoid confusion and consternation, the Society of Breast Imaging suggests that, “If possible, and when it does not unduly delay care, [individuals should] consider scheduling screening exams prior to the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination or 4-6 weeks following the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccination.”
  • Spring broken. Undergrads are under a “stay in place” order until 9 a.m. Sunday at Duke University, where 180 students have been in isolation for a positive viral test and 200 are in quarantine based on contact tracing. The recent surge in cases was driven primarily by “students attending recruitment parties for selective living groups,” which used to be known as fraternity/sorority rush. Adding to the students’ pain is the absence of five-time national champion Duke from the NCAA basketball tournament for the first time in 26 years.
  • You can’t be serious! The NCAA, doggedly defending its March Madness brand, is conducting a full court press against a Virginia urologist who registered “Vasectomy Mayhem” as a trademark. Believe it or not, a study of more than 500,000 vasectomies in 2015 found that most were performed at the end of the year and in the month of March, a time when guys can catch tens of games on the tube while resting up post-procedure. Honestly, considering the Ides of March, wouldn’t you think that the estate of Julius Caesar would have dibs on “March Madness”? He should be getting royalties on “et tu,” too.

The Takeaway: Getting back to the heart of the matter, New York City Health Commissioner David Chokshi noted during a CDC national forum that healthcare equity “cannot be a side show or an add-on. It must be the main event.”

The voices

One year into the pandemic, many of us are moved to wax reflective.

Remembering. Marie Curie, a leading hospice organization in the U.K., is calling for a National Day of Reflection on March 23, the first anniversary of the country’s first lockdown, Emmet McGonagle reports in Campaign. The initiative, developed by Saatchi & Saatchi, includes a 60-second TV spot with misty watercolor vocals by Ed Sheeran, honoring those we’ve lost to the pandemic by showing everyday items that were significant to them. People will be asked to observe a minute of silence at noon and to shine a light from their doorstep at 8 p.m.

Pleading.Dear Texas: Please change your mind” about dropping the mask mandate, writes Jean Wendland Porter in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. She is regional director of therapy operations at Diversified Health Partners in Ohio. “I have seen the devastation that this virus has caused first-hand and watched friends and family continue to conduct their lives and business as if the virus can’t touch them,” she says. “Because we’re done with COVID-19 doesn’t mean COVID-19 is done with us.”

Pondering. For the first time in decades, vaccines are having a moment. In STAT, Helen Branswell asks whether it will last. It’s possible, just possible, that people who have been pro-vaccine in a kind of lukewarm way will become true champions. Yay to that.

Warning. Adland should stop trying to save the world and start selling products again, argues author and creative director Steve Harrison in Campaign. “Our industry seems oblivious to this crisis [of lost jobs and closed businesses] and the unique role advertising can play in bringing jobs, wages, growth and social healing. No one seems interested in selling our clients’ products to our fellow citizens.”

Appealing. If we are to restore what we’ve been missing, the vaccination effort needs to reach out to all corners of the country, including the homebound and folks in rural areas, Liza Berger and Diane Eastabrook advise in McKnight’s Home Care Daily.

Preserving. The folks at White Horse Village, a continuing care retirement community in Pennsylvania, created a pandemic time capsule with the help of a resident who happens to be a retired professional archivist. A birch box crafted by woodshop volunteers has been filled with messages and artifacts, from hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes to newspapers, masks made by resident quilters and a flash drive with photos. Kimberly Bonvissuto has the story in McKnight’s Senior Living. The box will be opened in 2030 and again in 2045, by which time we can hope that the pandemic of 2020-2021 will be a distant and unrepeated memory.

Transcending. Yo-Yo Ma brought his cello to his second vaccination appointment and made elegant use of the 15-minute observation period afterward.

Parting shot

The words of the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, in “Easter 1916”, come echoing across a century:

Too long a sacrifice

Can make a stone of the heart.

O when may it suffice?

… and some songs

Where the Streets Have No Name, U2

Heart of Gold, Neil Young

Turn to Stone, ELO

You Gotta Be, Des’ree

I’m Still Standing, Elton John

Both Sides Now/The Circle Game, Joni Mitchell

My Shot, Vax’n 8 (doctors: is there anything they can’t do?)

Thanks, as always, for joining us. Have a safe, relaxing weekend and we’ll see you on the other side of the equinox. In springtime.