Latest KFF Health News Stories
‘Normalize Face Masks And Fast’: Make Them As Common As Condoms, Virus Researcher Urges
Face coverings might be the barrier needed to prevent transmission of the disease even for kids as they head back to school. Some groups are already capitalizing on the concept, including the NBA and WNBA who will be selling team-branded ones. News on face masks is also on facial clues that are lost and people who say they will never wear them.
CMS To Require Nursing Homes To Report COVID-19 Cases To CDC Amid Reports Of Bodies Piling Up
“It’s important that patients and their families have the information that they need, and they need to understand what’s going on in the nursing home,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. Nursing homes have been especially hard hit by the pandemic, with residents and staff members reporting that they feel like they’re “under siege.”
Battlefield-Like Innovations Helping Hospitals To Weather The Ventilator-Shortages Storm
Some hospitals are transforming hooded hair salon dryers into personal negative pressure chambers while others are repurposing sleep apnea machines. Meanwhile, it’s not just ventilators that are on the brink of devastating shortages.
The Path Forward Will Likely Be Difficult But Some Experts See Rays Of Hope Along The Way
The New York Times talks with more than 20 experts in public health, medicine, epidemiology and history who shared their thoughts on the future of the country during in-depth interviews. In other news on lessons learned from the pandemic: how denial is a tricky force to overcome, how doctors’ iron-clad medical beliefs may need to shift, how the AIDS pandemic can inform treatment, and more.
When a community can actually be fully tested, officials are finding extremely high numbers of asymptomatic cases. The results suggest that far more people have had the virus than the official numbers show. But does that mean they have immunity? The science is still dicey on that question.
The study will be a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study, unlike the research being done on the fly treating severely ill patients. The decision was announced as emerging data show people who are taking hydroxychloroquine are still becoming infected with the virus. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s tendency to tout possible cures in the early stages of testing is upending pharma’s traditional PR machine. And Reuters offers an overview of where we stand on drug and vaccines.
Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin helped President Donald Trumps secure the presidency in 2016. How will outbreaks in those states change political dynamics as November creeps closer? In other election news: voting rights, third parties and fundraising totals.
While some protesters grabbed national attention, polls show that the majority of Americans are in favor of stay-at-home orders until they can be lifted safely. Meanwhile, experts say that even if state-ordered restrictions are loosened, Americans’ fear may keep them at home anyway. And a look at lessons learned from past pandemics.
President Donald Trump has found success with his rage-against-the-government messaging and as Americans lose faith in his ability to handle the crisis, he’s falling back into that mode. Meanwhile, the governors who he’s going to rhetorical war with have far higher poll numbers than then president.
The antibody tests are crucial to reopening the country, but they come with many of the same flaws as the early virus tests. Complicating matters, the FDA approved a wide range of tests to get them to the marketplace faster. But that means there’s a whole lot of inaccurate tests out there. Meanwhile, viral testing hiccups and shortages continue.
How The Trump Presidency’s Most Ingrained Characteristics Caused Early Missteps Exacerbating Crisis
A distrust of the federal bureaucracy, internal White House personality conflicts, lack of a formal policymaking process and President Donald Trump’s own insistence on controlling the public message hampered the country’s response to the growing crisis. In other administration news: the flawed tests continue to haunt the CDC; fact-checks of the president’s claims; warnings from Americans working with WHO; and more.
Trump To Invoke War Powers To Boost Nasal Swab Production Levels By 20 Million A Month
President Donald Trump’s delayed action after weeks of reported shortages drew questions about why he didn’t act sooner. But Trump defended the decision, saying states have enough resources already. Meanwhile, state and lab officials say testing disarray and shortages are prolonging the national crisis.
Governors across the country pushed back against President Donald Trump’s claims that the country had the capacity to complete more testing but that the states weren’t utilizing their resources properly. “We are fighting a biological war,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said. “We have been asked as governors to fight that war without the supplies we need.”
Democrats and Republicans have been at an impasse at how to supplement the fund to help small businesses, which was depleted last week. The new bill proposes an additional $300 billion for that fund.
Delays in guidance from the Trump administration about how to pay for COVID-19 care have patients and hospitals worried about being on the hook for potentially massive costs. Meanwhile, workers who lost jobs because of the pandemic struggle to find affordable coverage.
U.S. Death Toll Tops 40,000 As Officials Struggle To Pinpoint Fatality Rates
In the United States, the COVID-19 fatality rate has steadily ticked upward, from about 1.35 percent in late March to nearly 5 percent after New York City added in “probable” deaths. However, those rates aren’t necessarily representative of reality as testing failures undermine efforts to count mild and asymptomatic cases.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these pandemic topics and others.
Although Congress has focused much attention on air ambulance bills, the cost of normal ground emergency transportation is a more wide-spread issue. In other health industry news: ambulatory surgery centers, Medicare payments for inpatient rehab, and fees for a cancer center.
Each week, KHN finds interesting reads from around the Web.
