The Washington Post (7/10, Kornfield, Wan) reports the success of a safe injection site in the US “has prompted calls for policymakers to start considering solutions that focus on reducing harm and deaths rather than traditional law enforcement and punishment.” Experts are saying “they fear that if the country doesn’t intervene, this year will bring a wave of fatalities driven by pandemic-related isolation, unemployment and changes to the drug supply.” The piece mentions that “Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse…said it is also important to understand the effect the pandemic is having on those who use drugs.”

Related Links:

— “America needs to reduce soaring overdoses. A secret supervised injection site may show us how., “Meryl Kornfield and William Wan, The Washington Post, July 10, 2020

Newsweek (7/9, Gander) reports that research suggests “the stress of living through the COVID-19 pandemic may be associated with a rise in” stress cardiomyopathy.
NBC News (7/9, Sandoval) reports that investigators “looked at the medical records of 1,914 patients at two hospitals in the Cleveland Clinic health system from five eight-week periods, four of which occurred before the pandemic and the other since then.” Prior to “the pandemic, there were, on average, five to 12 cases in an eight-week period, but in the cohort observed during the pandemic, the number rose to 20.” The researchwas published in JAMA Open Network.

Related Links:

— “Stress Caused by COVID-19 May Have Triggered Rise in Broken Heart Syndrome, “Kashmira Gander, Newsweek, July 9, 2020

Modern Healthcare (7/8, Livingston, Subscription Publication) reports some states that have expanded access to telehealth during the pandemic have taken steps “to make those changes permanent.” For example, “Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill on Monday that expands telehealth access by barring insurers from requiring that patients have a pre-established relationship with a virtual care [professional] or imposing additional location, certification or licensure requirements on [professionals] as a condition for telehealth reimbursement.”

Related Links:

— “Some states cement COVID-19 telehealth expansions, “Shelby Livingston, Modern Healthcare, July 8, 2020

Psychiatric News (7/9) reports, “COVID-19–associated discrimination disproportionately impacted members of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States in March and April, and those individuals experienced increased mental distress,” investigators concluded in a 3,665-participant survey that revealed that “the overall percentage who said they had experienced COVID-19–associated discrimination doubled from 4% in March to 10% in April.” Researchers also found that “Asian Americans were at higher risk of COVID-19–associated discrimination in March, and the risk of COVID-19 discrimination among Black individuals increased from March to April.” The findings were published online July 6 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Racial, Ethnic Minorities in United States More Likely to Experience COVID-19 Discrimination, Psychiatric News, July 9, 2020

Healio (7/7, Laday) reports, “Patients with fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis [OA] or rheumatoid arthritis [RA] are at an increased risk for self-harm, compared with those without these diseases,” investigators concluded after identifying “10,484 adults with ankylosing spondylitis, 17,546 with fibromyalgia, 410,384 with OA and 23,205 with RA,” then matching these cases “to an unexposed cohort of the same size for each condition.” The findings were published online in Arthritis Care & Research.

Related Links:

— “Patients with fibromyalgia, OA, RA at increased risk for self-harm, “Jason Laday, Healio, July 7, 2020