Trump’s Wrong. 15% ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Not on Par With Strength of a Vaccine
By Victoria Knight
December 15, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Experts agree that more than 70% of a population needs to be inoculated to reach “herd immunity.”
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': To End School Shootings, Activists Consider a New Culprit: Parents
February 8, 2024
Podcast
For the first time, a jury has convicted a parent of a school shooter of charges related to the child’s crime, finding a mother in Michigan guilty of involuntary manslaughter and possibly opening a new legal avenue for gun control advocates. Meanwhile, as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a case challenging the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, a medical publisher has retracted some of the journal studies that lower-court judges relied on in their decisions. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachana Pradhan of KFF Health News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too.
Last Call for COVID: To Avoid Bar Shutdowns, States Serve Up Curfews
By Jordan Rau
December 4, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Authorities are ordering early closures — generally around 10 p.m. — to curb the spread of COVID-19. But will the coronavirus observe this curfew?
Easier-to-Use Coronavirus Saliva Tests Start to Catch On
By David Tuller
October 6, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Regulators and scientists have been leery of introducing the tests, preferring to rely on tried-and-true methods, but evidence is mounting that the spit and swab tests may be more convenient and just as accurate.
Firefighters — ‘Health Care Providers on a Truck’ — Signal Pandemic Burnout
By Sandy West
March 5, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Grappling with stagnant pay and a lack of personal protective equipment, firefighters are even more frustrated to find they are lower down the vaccine priority list than health care workers despite serving on the front lines of the medical system.
Censorship or Misinformation? DeSantis and YouTube Spar Over Covid Roundtable Takedown.
By Victoria Knight
April 21, 2021
KFF Health News Original
The Florida governor considers the pushback he received from the online video platform to be “Orwellian.” But the scientists featured at the event made specific statements YouTube deemed as “misinformation,” at odds with current public health recommendations for controlling the spread of the covid virus.
Over Half of States Have Rolled Back Public Health Powers in Pandemic
By Lauren Weber and Anna Maria Barry-Jester
September 15, 2021
KFF Health News Original
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.
Noctámbulos mejoran su salud por la flexibilidad laboral durante la pandemia
By Krishna Sharma
April 5, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Suelen sufrir a causa del mito de que “al que madruga, Dios lo ayuda”. Por la pandemia, lograron un mayor equilibrio físico y emocional.
Do-It-Yourself Contact Tracing Is a ‘Last Resort’ in Communities Besieged by Covid
By Brett Dahlberg, WCMU
January 8, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Covid-19 cases are spreading so fast that they’re outpacing the contact-tracing capacities of some local health departments. Faced with mounting caseloads, those departments are asking people who test positive for the coronavirus to do their own contact tracing.
Nosing In on Kids Who Had Covid and Lost Their Sense of Smell
By Carmen Heredia Rodriguez
March 25, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Clinicians at pediatric hospitals are experimenting with “smell training” among children who had covid-19 and have now lost this sense.
What We Know About the Airborne Spread of the Coronavirus
By Jon Greenberg, PolitiFact
September 30, 2020
KFF Health News Original
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has gone back-and-forth on this issue. One thing remains clear: Though science is evolving, indications do point toward the potential for airborne transmission.
Covid: 5 razones para seguir usando máscara después de vacunarse
By Liz Szabo
January 15, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Las vacunas se probaron en ensayos clínicos, en los mejores centros médicos, en condiciones óptimas. Pero en el mundo real, suelen ser un poco menos efectivas.
Is A Second Wave Of Coronavirus Coming?
By Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact
June 23, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Some experts say the United States is arguably still in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic and history tells us that the 1918 influenza pandemic came in at least three waves. But that’s not necessarily a template for how the coronavirus pandemic will play out, because the coronavirus doesn’t have the same degree of seasonality that influenza does.
Democratic Convention, Night 1: Hitting Trump Team on Pandemic Preparedness
August 18, 2020
KFF Health News Original
The coronavirus was a critical theme throughout the evening.
Bounties and Bonuses Leave Small Hospitals Behind in Staffing Wars
By Bram Sable-Smith
February 7, 2022
KFF Health News Original
A hospital in Wisconsin sued to keep seven employees from taking jobs with a competitor. A health system in South Dakota is offering nurses $40,000 signing bonuses. Facilities with fewer resources are finding it difficult or impossible to compete for health care workers.
S.D. Governor Gives State High Marks in Handling the Pandemic. Are They Deserved?
By Carmen Heredia Rodriguez
February 12, 2021
KFF Health News Original
While South Dakota is excelling in vaccine distribution and in keeping its economy intact, some health measures show the state is also dealing with one of the highest per capita covid death rates in the country.
A Coronavirus Vaccine: Where Does It Stand?
By Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact
July 16, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Under ordinary circumstances, these phases of vaccine development can take years to complete. But now, during the age of coronavirus, the timeline is being shortened. Here’s an inventory of where things stand.
Being Vaccinated Doesn’t Mean You Must Go Maskless. Here’s Why.
By Bernard J. Wolfson
June 15, 2021
KFF Health News Original
It won’t hurt to remain cautious, even as California reopens for business in response to mass vaccinations and diminishing cases of covid.
It’s Time to Get Back to Normal? Not According to Science.
By Victoria Knight
February 23, 2021
KFF Health News Original
With covid, and its newly emerging variants, still circulating throughout the nation and the world, experts say it is definitely not the time to abandon efforts to control the virus’s spread.
Live Free or Die if You Must, Say Colorado Urbanites — But Not in My Hospital
By Rae Ellen Bichell
December 29, 2020
KFF Health News Original
In a fracas between a largely rural county and neighboring cities, class and politics are just as relevant as the coronavirus. People are getting “stupid and mean,” as one mayor put it.