Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from New York’s newspapers:
The F.D.A. Commissioner’s Fuzzy Math
New York Times
Aug. 25
On Monday night, Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, addressed inaccurate and misleading remarks he made in a news conference the previous evening. Dr. Hahn had initially claimed that plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients - what’s known as convalescent plasma - could save 35 out of every 100 people who contract the disease.
As he has since explained on television and Twitter, his initial assessment conflated two different things: relative risk reduction (that is, how much a treatment reduces the risk of death in one group of patients compared to a different group) and absolute risk reduction (that is, how much a treatment reduces the risk of death in a group of patients compared to the rest of the population who didn’t get the treatment).
To proponents of convalescent plasma therapy, this might seem like an inconsequential flub: Why split hairs if lives were saved? But the survival benefit Dr. Hahn initially mentioned applies only to a narrow subset of patients: Those younger than 80 years old who were hospitalized but not on ventilators and who received plasma with high levels of antibodies within three days of diagnosis were 35 percent less likely to die than those who received plasma with low levels of antibodies.
If the former group of patients were compared instead to the wider population, the benefit would shrink considerably. (The data in question also has several other serious limitations, which the commissioner did not acknowledge or address.)
Dr. Hahn knows this - or at least he ought to. As an oncologist by training and a former hospital executive, he should be familiar with basic statistics. The trouble is, Dr. Hahn is serving a president who routinely demonstrates an overt hostility to science and who is facing a tough re-election. And he’s being pressed by that president to clear drugs and vaccines for use as quickly as possible - even if they may not have been proven safe and may not be effective.
Convalescent plasma is not an unreasonable thing for doctors and scientists to pin their hopes on - it has proved effective for other diseases, and so far it does appear to be safe for Covid-19 patients. But it has not yet shown any real benefit for them, and it’s the job of officials like Dr. Hahn to be as clear as possible about that. There is a playbook for communicating information during a public health crisis - it calls for honesty about what isn’t known and transparency about how decisions are being made in light of that uncertainty.
Dr. Hahn could have stood by leaders from the National Institutes of Health who advised hitting pause on the use of convalescent plasma until more data was available. Or he could have defended F.D.A. scientists who advised moving forward even though data was limited. Instead, he followed his boss’s lead, propping up victorious statements with fuzzy numbers. That’s perhaps unsurprising: In a world where disinfectant therapy is discussed with a straight face, the difference between relative and absolute may indeed seem small.
But even small compromises with the truth can have big consequences for public trust, and for the course of global pandemics. It’s worrisome that a doctor in charge of one of the nation’s top regulatory agencies - who will play a leading role in the coming decisions about which vaccines are safe and effective enough to be injected into Americans’ bodies - doesn’t seem to realize that.
Online: https://nyti.ms/34IqoHw
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Biden’s next speech: Offer full-throated support for racial healing alongside a call for public safety
New York Daily News
Aug, 26
It took two nights of the Republican National Convention to amplify to the point of absurdity a charge Donald Trump has been making for weeks: that blame for continued social unrest growing out of the George Floyd killing, which has been mixed with violence in several cities, should be placed at the feet of Democrats in general and Joe Biden in particular.
On Monday, Don Trump Jr. bluntly said Biden was to blame for “rioting, looting and vandalism.” This is lunacy, but to say it’s lunacy doesn’t end the conversation in 2020 America.
Democrats, who repeatedly saluted the spirit of Black Lives Matter protests in their convention, chose not to use the opportunity to decry the fact that demonstrations had devolved into violence in Portland, Chicago and elsewhere. Understandable: Why engage in a disingenuous argument over something you don’t support?
Sunday’s shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc., changes things. The image of Blake apparently being shot seven times in the back was jarring enough for Biden to call for an “immediate, full and transparent investigation.” Now that he’s spoken out, he must go further, given the subsequent turn of events in Kenosha.
Three nights of social unrest have tipped into violence and vandalism, including cars and businesses set aflame Monday and Tuesday night. Having inserted himself into volatile, unfolding events, Biden, with his running mate Kamala Harris, now has an added challenge to meet.
Wisconsin voters and voters across America should hear the Democratic candidate demanding police accountability and recognizing the corrosive impact of centuries of systemic racism on Black Americans - while urging peace, and strongly decrying those who use protests as cover for rioting, attacking cops and more.
In certain respects, such an address could be as important as Barack Obama’s much-praised address on race in 2008, which gave Americans of the healing leader the moment required.
Today’s moment requires such a leader even more. Trump the Great Divider is not it.
Online: https://bit.ly/3gry0R6
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Will COVID vaccine be rationed
Adirondack Daily Enterprise
Aug. 22
Rationing of medical treatment is viewed by many Americans as unacceptable. Making health care decisions based on anything but need is seen as immoral. That is as it should be.
But as researchers race to develop vaccines against COVID-19, the specter of rationing is being raised by some.
Among the most intelligent strategies adopted by the federal government to battle the coronavirus is that involving vaccines. Developing them safely, yet quickly is a very expensive proposition.
Private-sector researchers whose work shows promise are receiving subsidies to speed development of vaccines. In return, some companies have pledged that once they have products on the market, they will be supplied to the public on a no-profit basis.
Several potential vaccines are showing promise. Normally, decisions on production are not made until after the best candidates are identified.
That could delay getting a COVID-19 vaccine out to the public, perhaps by months. Fortunately, federal policymakers have committed enormous sums, in the billions of dollars, to begin production of the most promising vaccines in advance.
That means millions of doses of vaccine compounds that do not prove safe and effective will be thrown away, at taxpayer expense. But it also means that when good vaccines are found, millions of doses will be ready to go immediately.
Still, it will take most of 2021 to produce enough vaccine to give it to every American who wants it.
In the early stages of distribution, that will mean rationing. Decisions will have to be made about who will receive the vaccine and who will be told they have to wait.
Clearly, older people and younger ones with potentially dangerous pre-existing medical conditions should go to the front of the line.
There, unfortunately, it is likely any agreement will end. What about race? Gender? Location? Any number of other factors?
For example, will New York City residents get preference over Americans in rural areas?
If the health care community has not begun devising guidelines for vaccine distribution, it should, right away. The sooner Americans learn what those guidelines are and have an opportunity to debate them, the better.
Vaccine for COVID-19 could be one of the great public health success stories - or it could drive one more spear of divisiveness into the American public. We cannot allow the latter, as dangerous in the long run as the virus itself, to occur.
Online: https://bit.ly/2YCga7U
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Reed’s Unemployment Benefit Criticism Belongs In Washington Too
Post-Journal
Aug. 26
U.S. Rep. Tom Reed’s criticism of Gov. Andrew Cuomo over unemployment benefits would make a lot more sense if it came with criticism of Congress as well.
On Friday, the congressman slammed Cuomo for refusing to opt into a $400 enhanced unemployment benefit outlined by recent executive orders from President Donald Trump. The orders outline a process by which the federal government will cover $300 of the $400 benefit, with states covering the remaining $100. Reed said states have the option to count their existing unemployment benefit payouts towards the $100 they owe, which means partnering with the federal government often adds no extra cost to the state.
“The governor should immediately reconsider this short-sided refusal because real people are suffering. Why should New Yorkers’ wallets be held hostage by the Governor’s partisan politics and the state’s long-term financial mismanagement when other states are happily distributing much-need aid to their communities?” Reed said. “We will continue to fight for a bipartisan stimulus deal at the federal level that delivers comprehensive relief. In the meantime, however, Governor Cuomo should put his personal pride aside and work with the administration on a proven solution that ensures New Yorkers gain access to the critical financial relief they deserve.”
We don’t disagree with Reed’s characterization of state finances. The state might be in better shape had it not spent money foolishly over the past decade or so. But that’s revisionist history right now and, frankly, not terribly productive.
Cuomo has reasons for not jumping at President Trump’s offer, and they’re frankly pretty good ones. New York borrowed $1.1 billion from the federal government as recently as June to pay for the surge of COVID-19 unemployment claims with authorization to borrow up to $4 billion. Frankly, the state doesn’t have the money to pay a quarter of the cost for the president’s program. In the end, the president set aside the $100 payment requirement and New York opted into the program.
Rather than play the political blame game, our federal representatives should have done more to come to an agreement before taking a recess. It’s ironic Reed says Cuomo is letting pride get the better of the governor, because this whole pandemic unemployment benefit mess started because Congressional Republicans and Democrats let their political pride get the best of them in an election year. We agree with Reed that real people are suffering and that a solution is needed. While Reed prefers to throw arrows at Cuomo, we wonder why the same arrows aren’t being slung at the occupants of Republican and Democrat offices in Washington, D.C. After all, it was federal officials’ inability to come to agreement on a pandemic unemployment insurance extension that prompted President Trump to act on his own in the first place.
For every finger Reed points at Albany, two are pointed squarely at Washington, D.C. - which is where the blame for the pandemic unemployment program’s lapse belongs.
Online: https://bit.ly/2EsuFUQ
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Trump’s election rhetoric must be condemned
The Auburn Citizen
Aug. 23
Some good news emerged last week regarding service cuts at the U.S. Postal Service. Those are the cuts that President Donald Trump at one point cited to suggest that the election be delayed.
But with widespread and bipartisan outcry over what was happening, the postmaster general suspended the cuts and told a Senate committee that the USPS will be able to handle the expected increase in mail-in ballots this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
While that’s encouraging, it has not stopped Trump from his attempts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the upcoming election results with false or blatantly misleading claims. Here are a few of his Twitter posts and comments from the past week:
In an Aug. 20 tweet: “They are sending out 51,000,000 Ballots to people who haven’t even requested a Ballot. Many of those people don’t even exist. They are trying to STEAL this election. This should not be allowed!”
Later that day he said in an interview that “this will be the most fraudulent election in history.” And despite his attacks on mail-in voting, in the same interview he also said that in-person voting fraud is a huge threat that would require law enforcement to monitor polling places: “We’re going to have sheriffs, and we’re going to have law enforcement, and we’re going to have hopefully, U.S. attorneys, and we’re going to have everybody, and attorney generals.”
The day before, at a public event, Trump said “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.”
You may recall that Trump used similar rhetoric in 2016 for much of the campaign. Like this year, he was also trailing in the polls. Unlike this year, he was not speaking with the weight of the presidency of the United States.
Let it sink in: The leader of our nation is actively working to sow distrust among citizens in the most fundamental institution of our government: free and fair elections.
On this disturbing reality, though, way too many Republican members have been silent. That needs to change soon, or we could be heading toward yet another national crisis in November.
A few in the GOP conferences stood up against Trump when he suggested delaying the election and when it became too obvious what he was doing with the postal service. That included central New York U.S. Rep. John Katko.
And you know what? It had an impact. The election delay trial balloon was popped; he didn’t bring that up again. And the postal service, while far from a fixed situation, appears to be heading in the right direction.
With the understanding that they can have an impact when they set Trump straight, we ask Katko and his colleagues to stop ignoring the president’s rhetoric regarding the election’s legitimacy. They must publicly demand that he stop with the baseless fraud and rigging claims, and start acting like a steward of our democracy instead of someone trying to tear it apart.
Online: https://bit.ly/3hz8CtV
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