Public Health

with 

Essential Worker Shoulders $1,840 Pandemic Debt Due To COVID Cost Loophole

By Sarah Varney

Carmen Quintero had symptoms of COVID-19, couldn’t get tested and ended up with a huge bill. She also was told to self-isolate and assume she had the coronavirus — which is hard when you live with elders.

‘More Than Physical Health’: Gym Helps 91-Year-Old Battle Isolation

By Heidi de Marco

For Art Ballard, the local gym was like his second home. The 91-year-old former jeweler relied on his near-daily workouts to stay healthy and for social interaction. But when California instituted its stay-at-home order, Ballard’s physical health suffered. So did his mental health.

Workers Filed More Than 4,100 Complaints About Protective Gear. Some Still Died.

By Christina Jewett and Shefali Luthra and Melissa Bailey

As health workers were dying of COVID-19, federal work-safety officials filed just one citation against an employer and rapidly closed complaints about protective gear.

California Prisons Are COVID Hotbeds Despite Billions Spent On Inmate Health

By Dan Morain

At $3.6 billion a year, California spends more on prison health care than other states spend to run their entire prison systems. But despite the spending, and federal court oversight, prisons across California are struggling to contain deadly outbreaks of COVID-19.

Watch: Teaching Teens How To Navigate Racism In America

KHN Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony appeared on KSDK’s “Today in St. Louis” with host Rene Knott to discuss the unwritten rules that Black teens learn to try to safely navigate other people’s racist assumptions.

Listen: What Counts In Measuring The Full COVID Death Toll? It’s Complicated

KHN senior Colorado correspondent Markian Hawryluk joined KUNC’s Erin O’Toole on “Colorado Edition” and appeared on WNHN’s “The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen” to discuss his recent story on how difficult it is to measure the full death toll from the pandemic.

Sweeps Of Homeless Camps Run Counter To COVID Guidance And Pile On Health Risks

By Jakob Rodgers

Authorities continue to dismantle homeless encampments despite recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to hold off during the pandemic to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: The Pandemic Shifts; The Politics, Not So Much

While federal and state officials continue to wrangle over coronavirus testing, the population testing positive is skewing younger. Meanwhile, the Trump administration wins a round in court over its requirements for hospitals to publicly reveal their prices, and the fight over the fate of the Affordable Care Act heats up once again. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews former Obama administration health aide Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, who has written a new book comparing international health systems.

Packed Bars Serve Up New Rounds Of COVID Contagion

By Jordan Rau and Elizabeth Lawrence

State officials are pointing to reopened bars as a cause of local spikes in coronavirus cases. Bars are tailor-made for the spread of the virus, with a cacophony of conversations that require raised voices and alcohol, which can impede judgment.

Officials Seek To Shift Resources Away From Policing To Address Black ‘Public Health Crisis’

By Anna Almendrala

Local governments around the country are declaring racism a public health crisis. That could be lip service, or it might lead to shifting resources from policing to health care, housing and other services, experts say.

Cities Brace For ‘Collision Course’ Of Heat Waves And COVID-19

By Brett Dahlberg, WXXI

Rochester, New York, and other cities have already weathered the first blasts of excessive heat, and they have done it while cooling centers and spray parks have been closed due to the pandemic.