Becker's Hospital Review

33 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP States with paid sick leave, paid family leave policies By Kelly Gooch T en states and Washington, D.C., have policies on paid sick leave, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. e analysis, which uses data from the Na- tional Partnership for Women and Families, also shows that eight states and Washington, D.C., have policies on paid family leave. Four- teen states and Washington, D.C., offer paid time off policies, which may combine vaca- tion, sick time and personal time. States with policies on paid sick leave, accord- ing to the analysis: • Arizona • California • Connecticut • Maryland • Massachusetts • New Jersey • Oregon • Rhode Island • Vermont • Washington States with policies on paid family leave, ac- cording to the analysis: • California • Connecticut • Massachusetts • New Jersey • New York • Oregon • Rhode Island • Washington States with policies on paid time off, accord- ing to the analysis: • Arizona • California • Connecticut • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Nevada • New Jersey • New York • Oregon • Rhode Island • Vermont • Washington n The coronavirus pandemic has sex data blind spots: Why that's problematic By Molly Gamble T he CDC's March 27 update on COVID-19 cases and deaths in the U.S. made no mention of male and fe- male patients. A CDC spokesperson said the agency did "not have that information to share at this time" and "additional investigation [was] needed," according to The New York Times. The lack of sex-disaggregated data collection is a global challenge and not specific to the CDC. "We are not aware of any gender analysis of the outbreak by global health institu- tions or governments in affected countries or in prepared- ness phases," authors representing the international Gen- der and COVID-19 Working Group wrote for The Lancet. "We can confidently say from the data from many countries that being male is a risk factor," Sabra Klein, PhD, a scientist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the Times. "That, in and of itself should be evidence for why every country should be disaggregating their data." Understanding how men and women may react differently to the virus is important for many reasons, including vac- cine and treatment efficacy and understanding the primary and secondary effects of a health crisis on different com- munities. Sex data blind spots have real consequences, as past un- derrepresention in clinical and scientific studies illustrates. The Times points to 1998 to 2000, when women repre- sented 22 percent of initial small-scale safety trials for new drug applications submitted to the FDA. The GAO found that eight of the 10 FDA-approved drugs withdrawn from the market between 1997 and 2001 posed greater health risks for women than men. Sex-disaggregated data is also needed to inform emergen- cy preparedness plans and policies that do not perpetuate gender and health inequities. At an international level, gen- der norms have put women at greater health risks. In The Lancet, the Gender and COVID-19 Working Group recalls the Ebola outbreak from 2014 through 2016 in West Africa, noting women were more likely to be infected by the virus given their predominant roles as caregivers within families and front-line healthcare workers: "Women were less likely than men to have power in decision-making around the out- break, and their needs were largely unmet." n

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