Conservative Blocs Unleash Litigation to Curb Public Health Powers
Spurred on by opposition to pandemic-related health mandates, a coalition of religious liberty groups, conservative think tanks, and Republican state attorneys general has filed a cascade of litigation seeking to rein in the powers of public health authorities.
Una generación de insectos de laboratorio podría ser una herramienta eficaz para eliminar al mosquito que causa enfermedades que pueden resultar mortales.
Rural California Hatches Plan for Engineered Mosquitoes to Battle Stealthy Predator
Tulare County officials hope the region will soon be a testing ground for a new generation of technology in a centuries-old war: Human vs. Mosquito.
Babies Die as Congenital Syphilis Continues a Decade-Long Surge Across the US
Congenital syphilis rates keep climbing, according to newly released federal data. But the primary funding source for most public health departments has been largely stagnant, its purchasing power dragged even lower by inflation.
El futuro en la vigilancia de enfermedades infecciosas puede estar… en el popó
El lodo que se recolecta de las aguas residuales, adonde se arrojan las heces de la comunidad, puede ser clave para detectar no solo covid, sino otras enfermedades infecciosas.
Health Officials See Bright Future in Poop Surveillance
Sewage surveillance is proving so useful in mapping covid trends that many public health officials say it should become standard practice in tracking infectious diseases. Whether that happens will depend on the nation’s ability to make it viable in communities rich and poor.
In May 2021, Lags Medical Centers, one of California’s largest chains of pain clinics, abruptly closed its doors amid a cloaked state investigation. Nine months later, patients are still in the dark about what happened with their care and to their bodies.
‘I Just Want to Stay in One Spot’: From Homeless to Housed in Rugged Del Norte
California’s homeless crisis is often understood through cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, where the sheer number of people living unsheltered can quickly capsize the programs designed to help them. But in remote counties like Del Norte, California’s Project Homekey is having a tangible impact.
Laboratorios sin técnicos: por qué los expertos en salud pública están renunciando
Enfermeras de salud pública, microbiólogos, epidemiólogos, funcionarios de salud y otros miembros del personal que defienden a la población contra enfermedades infecciosas como la tuberculosis y el VIH, inspeccionan los restaurantes y el trabajo para mantener la salud de las comunidades están abandonando el campo.
Labs With No One to Run Them: Why Public Health Workers Are Fleeing the Field
Across California, public health departments are losing experienced staffers to exhaustion, partisan politics and jobs that pay more for less work. The public health nurses, epidemiologists and microbiologists who work to keep our communities healthy are abandoning the field.
Racism a Strong Factor in Black Women’s High Rate of Premature Births, Study Finds
Dr. Paula Braveman, director of UCSF’s Center on Social Disparities in Health, shares her insights on a provocative new study that identifies racism as a decisive factor in the gap in preterm birth rates between Black and white women.
Santa Cruz Health Officials Honored for Persevering in Covid Battle Against Tide of ‘Denialism’
Mimi Hall and Dr. Gail Newel, health director and health officer for Santa Cruz County, California, will receive PEN America’s 2021 PEN/Benenson Courage Award for soldiering forward in their work amid death threats and personal attacks.
Más de la mitad de los estados han revertido poderes de salud pública durante la pandemia
Motivados por votantes enojados por los cierres y los mandatos sobre el uso de máscaras durante la pandemia, legisladores republicanos en más de la mitad de los estados de EE.UU. están quitando los poderes que los funcionarios estatales y locales usan para proteger al público contra las enfermedades infecciosas
Over Half of States Have Rolled Back Public Health Powers in Pandemic
At least 26 states have passed laws to permanently limit public health powers, a KHN investigation has found, weakening the country’s ability to fight not only the current resurgence of the pandemic but other health crises to come.
Heces: la nueva herramienta de detección de covid y otras enfermedades
Cuando se detecta la presencia de covid en las aguas residuales, se realizan pruebas a los estudiantes, al personal y a los profesores, lo que ha permitido a la universidad identificar y aislar a los individuos infectados que aún no muestran síntomas.
The Newest Disease Detection Tool for Covid and Beyond: Poop
Hundreds of college campuses, cities and counties around California and the U.S. are exploring sewers for the newest data stream to track covid and other infectious diseases.
Hard Lessons From a City That Tried to Privatize Public Health
Facing bankruptcy, Detroit largely dismantled its public health department in 2012, and the city essentially went two years without a government-run public health system. Five years later, this major American city offers a grim cautionary tale.
‘We’re Coming for You’: For Public Health Officials, a Year of Threats and Menace
Local health officials have become the face of government authority as they work to stem the pandemic. That has made them targets for chilling threats from some of the same militia groups that stormed the U.S. Capitol. Santa Cruz leaders are among those whose daily routines now incorporate security patrols, surveillance cameras and, in some cases, firearms.
¿Puede Estados Unidos controlar las nuevas mutaciones de covid?
Cuando una mutación hace sonar las alarmas de salud pública, normalmente se debe a que se ha combinado con otras mutaciones y, en conjunto, ha cambiado la forma en que se comporta el virus.
Can the US Keep Covid Variants in Check? Here’s What It Takes
The U.S. has fumbled almost every step of its public health response in its battle against covid-19. Experts say that must change if we’re going to outflank the variants emerging as the virus continues to mutate.
