Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Poll Finds Vast Divide Among Parties' Acceptance Of COVID Death Toll
Americans view聽the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and the effectiveness of the government's response through a very partisan lens,聽a CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday found.聽More than 176,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19.聽According to the poll, a聽57% majority of registered Republican voters consider that聽number "acceptable" when "evaluating the U.S. efforts against the coronavirus pandemic,"聽compared with 31% of voters overall. Ninety percent of Democrats and 67% of independents said the death toll was "unacceptable."聽Republicans were also more likely to believe the official death toll is inflated. (Cummings, 8/23)
The U.S. could save nearly 70,000 lives by December if the country implements universal mask mandates, according to a projection by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Researchers from the institute also found that an estimated聽134,000 people could die in the U.S. from COVID-19 by December if the country takes no further safety measures. That number, they said, could聽worsen if mandates are relaxed. (Moreno, 8/22)
More than 800,000 people globally have died from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, a grim milestone underscoring the physical toll the pandemic has taken on nations around the world. The U.S. has reported the most deaths tied to COVID-19 of any聽country at more than 175,000, with more than 32,000 of those in New York, nearly 16,000 in New Jersey and almost 12,000 in California.聽Other states with high death tolls include Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Illinois and Pennsylvania. (Byrnes, 8/22)