Montana Newsletter 9/9

Colorado Clinic’s Prescription for Healthier Patients? Lawyers
By Jakob Rodgers Medical-legal partnerships in Montana, Colorado and elsewhere across the nation operate on the notion that fixing patients’ legal ills is a vital part of their health care.

Even in Red States, Colleges Gravitate to Requiring Vaccines and Masks
By Michelle Andrews As students return to campus, schools across the country are taking steps to enforce public health advice to keep people safe from covid. In deeply conservative South Carolina when elected officials tried to stop that, a professor took on the establishment and won.

‘Religious’ Exemptions Add Legal Thorns to Looming Vaccine Mandates
By Mark Kreidler No major religion’s teachings denounce vaccination, but that hasn’t kept individual churches and others from providing religious “cover” for people to avoid submitting to vaccination as a workplace requirement.

V-Safe: How Everyday People Help the CDC Track Covid Vaccine Safety With Their Phones
By Amanda Michelle Gomez V-safe is a new safety monitoring system that lets anyone who has been vaccinated against covid-19 report possible side effects directly to federal health officials. Experts believe the smartphone tool has so far helped demonstrate the vaccines are safe.

Listen: Many Schools Are Buying High-Tech Air Purifiers. What Should Parents Know?
Studies have shown that better ventilation and air circulation can greatly reduce covid-19 transmission. But rather than stocking up on HEPA filters, some school districts are turning to high-tech air purification strategies.

Your Covid Game Plan: Are Stadiums Safe?
By Phil Galewitz and Andy Miller Fall and football go hand in hand. But with covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths soaring from the delta variant, is it safe to go to the stadium? KHN asks the experts.

The Pandemic Almost Killed Allie. Her Community’s Vaccination Rate Is 45%.
By Sarah Varney As the delta variant overtakes Mississippi and other undervaccinated parts of the country, one 13-year-old girl’s experience with covid and MIS-C shows a community’s reluctance to embrace public health precautions and continued vulnerability to the pandemic.

Telemedicine Abortions Offer Cheaper Options but May Also Undermine Critical Clinics
By Amy Littlefield A change in FDA rules during the pandemic has let women receive the drugs needed for a medical abortion by mail after a telemedicine appointment. While some abortion rights advocates hail the move, others note that these services, which are often cheaper than going to a clinic, could siphon away patients needed to keep those brick-and-mortar facilities operating.

To Quarantine or Not: The Hard Choices Schools Are Leaving to Parents and Staff
By Amanda Michelle Gomez and Rachana Pradhan Back-to-school season has fueled immediate covid outbreaks. Instead of beefing up protections, some districts are letting students go without masks, physical distancing and quarantines. And parents are left to make impossibly tough decisions.

Telehealth’s Limits: Battle Over State Lines and Licensing Threatens Patients’ Options
By Julie Appleby Televisits took off during the worst days of the pandemic, but states are now rolling back the temporary rules that facilitated them. That’s adding fuel to debates about states’ authority over medical licensing.

Concert Venues Are Banking on Proof of Vaccines or Negative Tests to Woo Back Fans
By Eric Berger Two days before hosting an outdoor Wilco concert, the St. Louis Music Park announced it would require proof of vaccination or a negative covid test for all ticket holders, sending some attendees scrambling and upending plans. Concertgoers, promoters and venues nationwide are all having to pivot quickly to find safer ways of enjoying live music amid the pandemic’s delta surge.