Latest KFF Health News Stories
Indian Health Services found that 247,000 of the masks supplied by the company of Zach Fuentes — President Donald Trump’s former deputy chief of staff — are unusable while thousands more are not the correct type. The Navajo Nation has been extremely hard hit by the pandemic.
Reuters reports on a doctor navigating her pregnancy while working in a downtown Los Angeles hospital that mostly serves lower-income Hispanic and African-American populations. News on health care workers reports on New York’s decision to extend death benefits to families and on more people who have lost their lives, as well.
COVID Anxiety Is Leading People To Make Irrational Decisions When It Comes To Other Medical Care
Patients with cancer, heart disease and strokes, among other illnesses, are delaying or forgoing critical procedures that could keep them alive. In other public health news: are face shields the new masks?; cities start launching anti-discrimination campaigns; what parents should know about hiring babysitters; Americans talk about how the crisis affected their lives; and more.
For States Whose Economies Rely On Tourism And Commerce, There’s ‘No Playbook’ For Recovery
California’s economic strengths have now become the state’s weaknesses as it tries to game out a recovery plan. In other news on the economic toll: racial and gender disparities in business and job losses; hard-hit families that were stretched to near-breaking point before the crisis; and paid sick leave is moving to front of mind during pandemic.
For weeks, local officials received conflicting signals from state leaders and meatpacking companies about how much information to release Now as areas start to reopen, some worry that lack of transparency hides a worrying outbreak. Other industry news reports on worker shortages and soaring prices.
Nursing Homes’ Multi-Million Dollar Lobbying Machine Gets To Work On Liability Protections
The industry is vigorously seeking protection from lawsuits that will likely stem from the wave of deaths in nursing homes across the country. But advocates urge lawmakers not to protect nursing homes were neglect and understaffing were big problems even before the pandemic. In other news: how warnings about overrun hospitals put nursing home patients at risk; the White House fails to meet its goal on nursing home testing; a veterans’ home that had chronic issues to begin with; and a national reckoning.
Next Coronavirus Relief Package Could Be Defining Issue For Parties In Upcoming In Election
Negotiations are likely to ramp up when lawmakers come back from recess, but what will their offers look like?
Plasma From Recovered Patients May Help Modestly With Recovery, But Results Are Far From Certain
The death rates in the small study were 12.8% among those who got the antibodies, compared with 24.4% among the patients who did not get this treatment, but analyses like this are fraught with difficulties when it’s impossible to meet the gold-standard of clinical trials. In other scientific news: infection risk, obesity and what exactly R0 means.
Early-Stage Data Of Chinese Vaccine Looks Promising, But Experts Warn Method Has Failed In Past
The testing strategy in use involves using a modified virus to carry genetic instructions to a human cell. The method isn’t among the most successful in terms of vaccine development. Meanwhile, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb predicts the United States will have a better vaccine sooner than China.
WHO Temporarily Halts Anti-Malarial Drug Trial For Safety Review
Previous studies have found negative side effects of hydroxychloroquine while so far it has not been proven to be an effective coronavirus treatment. President Donald Trump pushed for doctors to prescribe the drug and said he was taking a regime himself as a preventive measure.
U.S. Bans Flights From Brazil After Country’s Case Total Climbs To Second-Highest In World
“Today’s action will help ensure foreign nationals who have been in Brazil do not become a source of additional infections in our country,” said the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany. The country with the highest total is the United States.
Some States Have Hand On Emergency Break As They Reopen, But Others Don’t Have Surge Plan
Some states have set guidelines to watch out for if reopening triggers another spike that could overwhelm the health system. But others are reopening without any plans to shut down again. The upcoming summer will likely hint at what’s coming in the fall. Meanwhile, a look back at past pandemics shows the dangers of reopening too soon.
Trump Administration Puts Testing Responsibility On States, Falsely Claims Supplies Can Meet Demand
“For months, it was a tennis game, it was going back and forth between the feds and the states, and it’s now landed with the states,” said Scott Becker, executive director of the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
Trump, Biden Strike Different Tones On Memorial Day Reflecting Partisan Divide On Pandemic
President Donald Trump played golf over the weekend and attended Memorial Day events unmasked, in line with his messaging the country should open. Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, donned black masks as they appeared outside for the first time in months. In other election news: Trump might be losing older voters’ support; voter registration could plummet amid the pandemic; mail-in-voting advocates are getting antsy; and more.
Americans Flock To Beaches, Pools On Memorial Day Despite Pandemic
Despite warnings from state leaders and public health experts, many Americans ventured out to beaches, boardwalks and other entertainment venues during the warm holiday weekend. In spots, the numbers often made physical distancing impossible. Meanwhile the pandemic also impacted the ways Memorial Day observances were conducted.
The New York Times offers a glimpse of the Americans behind the grim death toll as the country nears 100,000 deaths. The confirmed cases in the country stands at 1,637,456, as of Monday. Meanwhile, WHO warns of coming spikes and that the first wave has not yet passed.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these pandemic issues and others.
Opinion writers express views on these pandemic topics and others health topics.
Longer Looks: Roaring Twenties; Appalachian Trail And The Pandemic; And The Amputation Epidemic
Each week, KHN finds interesting reads from around the Web.
