Latest KFF Health News Stories
Health Workers and Hospitals Grapple With Millions of Counterfeit N95 Masks
Masks imitating the real thing are flooding U.S. ports, and authorities can hardly keep pace.
Tech Companies Mobilize to Schedule Vaccine Appointments, But Often Fall Short
Techies and startups have thrown together vaccine appointment websites to address the chaotic rollout of covid shots. But software can’t replace vaccines, and for many people the sites are just another piece of the vaccination “Hunger Games.”
Flurry of Bills Aim to Set Limits on Transgender Kids – And Their Doctors
Lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing bills to restrict transgender kids from participating in sports and ban doctors from treating them.
Pandemic-Fueled Alcohol Abuse Creates Wave of Hospitalizations for Liver Disease
Hospitals across the country are seeing rising admissions for alcoholic liver disease, which encompasses hepatitis, cirrhosis and other conditions.
Farmworker Camps to Urban Tent Cities: Tailoring Vaccine Info to Where It’s Most Needed
Concerns arising in western North Carolina provide a window into the challenges facing health workers across the country as they seek to persuade vulnerable populations to be inoculated against covid.
As Pandemic Surged, Contact Tracing Struggled; Biden Looks to Boost It
Reaching people who may have been in contact with covid patients has helped cut the number of infections, but these tracing efforts become less effective as the number of cases grows.
Scalise’s Claim That Unauthorized Immigrants Are Getting Priority for Vaccination Misses the Point
Congressman Steve Scalise claimed during a Fox News interview that President Joe Biden was allowing immigrants to “jump the line” ahead of Americans for vaccination. But the administration merely has said everyone should have access to the vaccine, regardless of immigration status, and get vaccinated when eligible.
Native Americans Use Technology to Keep Traditions, Language Alive During Pandemic
Tribes across the U.S. have turned to social media and the internet as leaders worry about covid-19’s threat to their culture and elders.
Vaccine Hesitancy vs. Vaccine Refusal: Nursing Home Staffers Say There’s a Difference
It’s becoming increasingly clear that decision-making about the covid vaccine is complicated and multifaceted, which means persuading people to say yes will be, too.
Gene Screenings Hold Disease Clues, but Unexplained Anomalies Often Raise Fears
Multiple-gene panel tests are frequently offered to patients at risk for diseases such as cancer that can assess more than 80 genes. But in screening a wide variety of genes, doctors might see a variant that hasn’t yet been deciphered and be unable to explain its significance, leaving patients with concerns and no answers.
Schools Walk the Tightrope Between Ideal Safety and the Reality of Covid
Across the country, politics have muddied the question of when and how to reopen schools. Even though teachers continue to fear for their safety, lawmakers and parents are demanding that schools take advantage of declining infection rates to open safely and quickly.
Why the U.S. Is Underestimating Covid Reinfection
Hundreds of Americans suspect they contracted covid early in the pandemic and recovered, only to get infected again months later. But because the U.S. does so little genetic sequencing of covid samples, we don’t know much about reinfection rates.
California’s Smallest County Makes Big Vaccination Gains
In rural Alpine County, where snowbound mountain passes isolate small towns, distributing the covid vaccine is a community effort. Unlike in many urban areas where residents jockey for limited appointments, the pace of vaccinations here is strong and steady.
After Nearly 60 Years of Marriage, This Missouri Couple Stayed Together to the End
Arthur and Maggie Kelley of St. Louis died 30 days apart. Maggie died of complications of dementia in November. Arthur, who had moved into her nursing home to be with her, died a month later of covid. Their family held a double funeral.
Community Health Workers, Often Overlooked, Bring Trust to the Pandemic Fight
As the pandemic brings long-standing health disparities into sharper view, community health workers are being asked to help the public health response. This fast-growing workforce helps fill the gaps between health care providers and low-income communities by offering education, advocacy and outreach.
The State of Vaccine Supply: ‘Opaque.’ Unpredictable. ‘Hard to Pin Down.’
Americans’ frustrations surrounding the amount of available covid vaccine hinges on several factors — not the least of which is that demand far exceeds supply.
Comparing Death Tolls From Covid to Past Wars Is Fraught
Covid-19 has now killed more Americans than World War II did. That fact helps some people put the viral death toll in perspective, while others find it offensive.
California’s Rural Counties Endure a Deadly Covid Winter
In the past two months, covid-related infection and death rates have jumped exponentially in California’s least populated counties. The winter surge has scarred corners of the state that went largely unscathed for much of 2020.
As Demand for Mental Health Care Spikes, Budget Ax Set to Strike
Legislators in statehouses across the U.S. face the dual challenge of budgeting in a covid-crippled economy while planning for the pandemic’s long-term effects on mental health and substance abuse services.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Covid and Kids
Can schools safely reopen before all teachers and staffers are vaccinated against covid? And what’s the best way to communicate that science — and scientific recommendations — change and evolve? Also, get ready for a redo of open enrollment for Affordable Care Act coverage, this time with help and outreach to find those eligible. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
