The Morning Dispatch: Hospitals in the Danger Zone

Plus: Joe Biden rolls out his economic policy team.

By
377

Happy Tuesday! Yesterday, we were sad to say goodbye to James, our intern since August. But today, we are thrilled to welcome Haley Byrd to The Dispatch as an associate editor covering Congress. Haley joins us from CNN and, before that, The Weekly Standard. Everyone give her a big TMD greeting in the comments!

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • Pharmaceutical company Moderna applied for emergency use authorization (EUA) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday for its COVID-19 vaccine. The EUA for the vaccine, which Moderna says is 94.1 percent effective, could be granted as soon as late December.

  • President-elect Biden on Monday received his first President’s Daily Brief—a top-secret document compiling U.S. intelligence secrets and natural security concerns—since winning the election.

  • Biden on Monday also announced his intent to nominate several figures to top economic posts in his administration, including Janet Yellen, Cecilia Rouse, Jared Bernstein, and Neera Tanden.

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
377
By
Comments (377)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Amanda Brinkmann

    I'm an 10+ year ER nurse at a level 1 trauma center in St. Louis and responded to New York City in late April/early May. My ER feels 10% busier than a typical December, but most of our volume is non-covid. I'd estimate on any given day maybe 15% of our patients have respiratory complaints and we're seeing record-breaking numbers of psychiatric complaints (especially adolescents). I wrote a masters thesis 4 years ago on ER overcrowding and how dangerous it is that hospitals don't have any surge capacity in a normal flu season, never mind a pandemic. Covid is absolutely influencing our numbers, and we've seen some tragic deaths. But mostly this feels like the same old problem we face year round of not having enough staff to take admissions or psychiatric patients so they sit and wait in the ER until hell freezes over.

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    DougAz

    This Georgia Republican election official is more heroic than any Republican Senator.

    This man, will tell you why, the Republican Party is beyond horrid, and needs ground into the dust. Perhaps the Democrats will win one or two of the Georgia Senate seats. McConnell needs put in a closet.

    https://youtu.be/jLi-Yo6IucQ
    Official Georgia Election officer

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    erasmus

    Good to hear Haley joined, the Dispatch keeps collecting the best and brightest from the right. Maybe someday Kevin Williamson will even switch over...

    Collapse
  4. Avatar photo
    Lala

    Congratulations Haley on your new gig!

    Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    2sequoia

    I just got off the phone with a very old friend in the UK. She says from where they sit it appears Americans have become unhinged. They are under a strict lockdown there but most people deal with it. It’s wrecked havoc with their economy but the majority of people are following the rules. They don’t understand why Americans are willing to endanger public health in favor of their personal “freedom”.

    Collapse
  6. Kevin Heller

    Welcome Haley! Happy to see you on Steve's team again and looking forward to reading your stuff!

    Collapse
  7. Avatar photo
    Lindy

    My 83 year old dad was hospitalized with Covid-19. He was one of the fortunate ones. He was only in the hospital for a couple of days/nights. They were able to get him started on a recovery path rather than the downward spiral he had started. The worst part for us was the lack of connection. My sister in law who took him to the hospital was unable to do more than drop him off at the emergency room. They got her phone number and we had to wait to find out anything, even whether he would be admitted. I am not blaming the hospital, they were doing their best to be safe, but it is very different and unsettling to feel so out of the loop. Normally in a situation like that, we'd be waiting there at the hospital, not sitting at the end of a phone hoping they remembered to call. The hospital did their best to keep us informed. We got a call the next day with an update, and the day after that he came home. This kind of isolation from a family member was new to us. I'm sure there are situations where that was already the practice, but now it's almost a widespread phenomena. Unsettling.

    Collapse
  8. Avatar photo
    Bill Dyer

    The editors at National Review are spectacularly inconsistent, and it hurts their credibility (such as remains). Yes, the linked essay about Trump's legal challenges is fine (although not particularly brave or groundbreaking; fish, barrel, bang). It comes, though, barely a day or so after a Trumpkin lickspittle endorsement of Gen. Flynn's pardon and, necessarily, his pardoner — one so unhinged from reality that it asserts, with a straight face, that the straightforward language in Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48 requiring leave of court as a check on abusive prosecutorial dismissals is some sort of irrational "loophole." Painting Flynn as a martyr is simply ridiculous, but put National Review down as coming out strongly in favor of undeserved mercy for a twice self-confessed felon (now pardoned), and then ask yourself why National Review bothered to get all worked up over the pardons Clinton handed out as he left the White House, or the ones Trump is certain to hand out.

    I had hopes that post-Trump, National Review might regain its collective wits and sanity; it certainly still has a nucleus of writers and contributors around whom that could be done. But Lowry has shown himself unequal to that task. Accordingly, National Review gets no more of my subscription dollars.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      TimNYC

      "[The National Review] coming out strongly in favor of undeserved mercy for a twice self-confessed felon (now pardoned), and then ask yourself why National Review bothered to get all worked up over the pardons Clinton handed out as he left the White House..."

      Pssst — I think the answer might be partisanship! ;)

      Collapse
  9. Avatar photo
    Bill Dyer

    Farewell and best wishes to James; welcome to Haley Byrd.

    Collapse
  10. Avatar photo
    Jesse R.

    Welcome to the Dispatch, Haley! Don’t forget to look at the moon!

    Collapse
Load More