text: Then come people 65 to 74 years old, as well as ages 16 to 64 with unspecified “underlying medical conditions which increase the risk of serious” complications plus “essential workers.” The latter include those who “work in transportation and logistics, food service, housing construction and finance, information technology, communications, energy, law, media, public safety, and public health.”
  By that definition, who isn’t essential? The CDC says its guidelines are intended to “decrease death and serious disease as much as possible,” “preserve functioning of society” and “reduce the extra burden COVID-19 is having on people already facing disparities.” These are all laudable objectives, but the latter two involve political judgments.
  Many states have already extended eligibility to anyone over 65 before other groups since seniors are at highest risk for severe illness. This has simplified the bureaucracy. Yet as seniors are taken care of and more shots become available, prioritizing people with certain health conditions or politically favored jobs will create a political morass.
  
  Results bolster case for more widespread screening of heavy smokers who are at higher risk, researchers say
  Screening for lung cancer reduces deaths among current and former heavy smokers, according to a new study published Wednesday that adds to the evidence supporting wider testing.
  The study, conducted by researchers in the Netherlands and Belgium and published online by the New England Journal of Medicine, found that scanning the lungs of heavy smokers reduced lung-cancer deaths by 24% in men and 33% in women over the course of a decade.
  Both past and present heavy smokers are at high risk of developing lung cancer, and some researchers have argued for wide-scale screening to prevent deaths. In 2011, a large study in the U.S. found that putting the smokers through CT scans reduced lung-cancer deaths by 20% compared with chest X-rays.
  But the practice of giving preventive CT scans has yet to be widely adopted, partially because some doctors doubted whether that was enough evidence to support the screening, especially given the risks of false alarms and complications from follow-up procedures and the small dose of radiation.
  The latest findings bolster the case for wider use of CT scans for heavy smokers, cancer doctors say.