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Both the CDC and the FDA took heat from the scientific community this week. The FDA was criticized for comments made by its commissioner on a coronavirus plasma treatment, while the CDC came under fire for its controversial new guidance on Covid-19 testing. The team has more on both below. We also have updates on Amazon, reopening schools and more in today's newsletter.
| | Backlash grows after CDC quietly revised coronavirus testing guidance | Epidemiologists, politicians, medical associations and a former director of the CDC are pushing back on the federal health agency's new guidance that was quietly revised on the CDC site Monday. The CDC dropped its previous recommendation to test everyone who's come into close contact with a person infected with Covid-19, including those who don't have symptoms. The agency previously advised testing everyone with a "recent known or suspected exposure" to the virus, saying the virus can be transmitted a few days before symptoms show as well as by asymptomatic people who never develop them. The Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association called for the "immediate reversal" of the update in a joint statement. Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden called the new guidance "probably indefensible." And New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged private businesses not to follow the new guidance, calling it "political propaganda." Read more
– Will Feuer | | | | FDA chief walks back comments on convalescent plasma | FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn this week walked back comments on convalescent plasma as a coronavirus treatment after he came under intense criticism from scientists that he overstated the benefits. The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the treatment, allowing health providers in the U.S. to use it to treat hospitalized patients with Covid-19. Hahn said a Mayo Clinic study found the treatment resulted in a 35% improvement in survival. While the data suggested a higher dose of the plasma may be more beneficial than a lower dose, the study did not have a control group, making it difficult to determine whether it was any better than a placebo. "I have been criticized for remarks I made Sunday night about the benefits of convalescent plasma. The criticism is entirely justified," Hahn said in a tweet. Read more
– Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | | | | Amazon enters wearables market to compete with Apple Watch and Fitbit | Amazon this week unveiled a new wearable called Halo to compete with Fitbit and Apple Watch. There are some features you might expect, like basic sleep, activity and heart rate tracking. But there are also a few that you haven't seen before. The hardware, which is subscription-only and couples with an app, offers a service called "Body" that gives users a three-dimensional rendering of their body with information about their weight and body fat percentage. Tone, another new optional feature, takes snippets of a users' voice throughout the day and analyzes their moods. After launching the product, some users expressed privacy concerns about both Body and Tone. Amazon, in response, has stressed that it won't store this information in the cloud and it won't use it for targeted advertising. Read more
– Chrissy Farr | | | | College students prepare to head back home as cases mount | Olivia Amos, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was eating dinner on Polk Place Quad last week when Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz told students in an email that the coronavirus was tearing through campus and creating an "untenable situation." Now, Amos and her friends are preparing to move out of their on-campus housing after classes were moved online only. Universities reopening across the country have struggled to contain climbing Covid-19 infections, spoiling carefully designed plans to safely bring students back to the classroom. School officials have urged students to maintain social distancing practices as health officials trace clusters of cases to off-campus gatherings. Infectious disease experts say the situation isn't surprising. Read more
– Noah Higgins-Dunn | | | | Google searches for anxiety soared amid the pandemic, study finds | If you turned to Google for help diagnosing an anxiety attack as the coronavirus pandemic swept through the U.S. earlier this year, a new study suggests you weren't alone. People searched for severe anxiety-related information at record highs beginning in March when the coronavirus pandemic was first declared a national emergency, according to a new study conducted by the Qualcomm Institute at the University of California San Diego and published in JAMA Internal Medicine that analyzed Google Trends dating back 16 years. Anxiety-related searches were roughly 11% higher than usual over the 58 days after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on March 13, according to the researchers. Read more
– Noah Higgins-Dunn | | @Work Spotlight | September 23, 2020
Balancing Current Challenges with Future Opportunities
In today's uncertain business climate, there is a focus on cost containment to weather the storm, but also a need for executives position their organizations for future growth. The CNBC @Work CFO Spotlight will examine how top finance leaders are successfully striking this balance. We'll discuss: lessons learned during the current crisis that can be applied permanently; the strategies, data and automation tools that can be leveraged to help manage uncertainty and lead to a stronger post-crisis posture; how to effectively engage employees, customers, and investors; and much more.
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