Latest KFF Health News Stories
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these pandemic issues and others.
To ‘Keep The Lights On,’ Doctors And Hospitals Ask For Advance Medicare Payments
As part of the federal response to the coronavirus crisis, Medicare is offering to give hospitals and doctors accelerated payments.
Millennial Zeitgeist: Attitudes About COVID-19 Shift As Cases Among Young Adults Rise
Twenty- and 30-somethings were initially told the coronavirus was more likely to strike older people. But then people in younger age groups started getting seriously sick.
Comic Relief From COVID-19: Leaders Really Meme It When They Say Stay Home
State and city officials are using a dose of humor to urge residents to stay home in the serious mission of controlling COVID-19.
A Colorado Ski Community Planned To Test Everyone For COVID-19. Here’s What Happened.
A couple decided to donate a new test from their company to enable coronavirus testing for everyone in their ski resort community. It was an experiment that promised to show what widespread testing could do to fight the spread of COVID-19. But even the best-intended plans run into problems during this pandemic.
‘It’s Like Walking Into Chernobyl,’ One Doctor Says Of Her Emergency Room
Lack of protective gear and fears about all the unknown aspects of COVID-19 are parts of the mosaic of stress facing doctors and nurses on the front lines of the pandemic.
Longer Looks: A Sidelined Epidemiologist; Trump’s Reelection Chances; Broken Agencies
Each week, KHN finds interesting reads from around the Web.
‘Baby, I Can’t Breathe’: America’s First ER Doctor To Die In The Heat Of COVID-19 Battle
Frank Gabrin knew the stakes of his job. What he found unsettling was having to reuse personal protective gear while caring for coronavirus patients.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Who Will Pay For COVID-19 Care?
The spread of COVID-19 is prompting changes in pricing, coverage and other health care issues that have been subjects of political debate for years. But the politics remain polarized. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week that they think you should read, too.
Primer médico de ER en EE.UU. que muere en el frente de batalla contra COVID-19
The Guardian y Kaiser Health News están lanzando un nuevo proyecto, “Lost on the Frontline” (Perdidos en el Frente), para monitorear estos casos, y contar sus historias.
Americans Shouldn’t Expect Contagion To Abate Just Because Of Warmer Weather, Science Adviser Warns
A new report points to cases in Australia and Iran as warnings that high temperatures and increased humidity may do little to curb outbreak. “There have been 10 influenza pandemics in the past 250-plus years — two started in the Northern Hemisphere winter, three in the spring, two in the summer and three in the fall,” the report said. “All had a peak second wave approximately six months after emergence of the virus in the human population, regardless of when the initial introduction occurred.”
Health professionals say even young patients can look healthy one minute and then be at death’s door. In other public health news: assisted living facilities, baby booms, origin of New York’s virus, tracking down cases, recovery, mask tips, domestic violence, and more.
As outbreaks spread in facilities across the country that care for older Americans, developments are reported out of California, New Jersey, Missouri, Virginia, Texas, Maryland and Louisiana.
Media outlets report on news from Texas, Delaware, Florida, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Massachusetts, California, the District of Columbia, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana. Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada.
“Stressors caused by the pandemic may contribute to an individual’s decision to commit an attack or influence their target of choice,” DHS warned religious leaders. Meanwhile, churches and religious Americans approach holy week with trepidation, stress and faith.
Pinprick Blood Test Touted At A ‘Game-Changer’ Falls Flat On News Of Inaccurate Results
The British findings came days after the Spanish government said it had sent back another shipment of inaccurate antibody tests. Experts remain hopeful that they will be able to design an accurate blood test soon. Meanwhile, the SEC suspends trading shares of a company that sold at-home testing kits.
A provision in one U.S. law grants emergency powers to the CDC to prohibit the entry of people or things that might “introduce” infectious disease. But lawmakers say “DHS is blatantly misinterpreting its limited authorities” to preempt the government’s obligation under another section of federal law protecting migrants fearing persecution in their home countries. In other news, advocates and officials continue to be concerned about the state of detention facilities amid the crisis.
Opinion writers weigh in on public health issues stemming from the pandemic.
News on health conditions in Illinois, Washington state, Louisiana, New York, California and Texas prisons is in the news.