The CDC’s Test for Bird Flu Works, but It Has Issues
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention promises better tests are being developed, but the episode points to vulnerabilities in the country’s defense against emerging outbreaks.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention promises better tests are being developed, but the episode points to vulnerabilities in the country’s defense against emerging outbreaks.
Indoor workers who toil in hot jobsites in California gain immediate protection from this summer’s extreme heat. The state’s worker safety chief announced finalized rules Wednesday, capping a years-long push by workers.
President Joe Biden tested positive for covid-19 last week, but his symptoms were reportedly mild. With covid still circulating and putting Americans at risk, KFF Health News reviews the latest safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Public safety and health care organizations are using drones to speed up lifesaving treatment during medical emergencies in which every second counts.
Republicans were once the party of Obamacare repeal and abortion opposition. They’ve said little about either issue in Milwaukee.
After an assassination attempt last weekend sent former President Donald Trump to the hospital with minor injuries, the Republican National Convention went off with little mention of health care issues. And Trump’s newly nominated vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, has barely staked out a record on health during his 18 months in office — aside from being strongly opposed to abortion. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Renuka Rayasam, who wrote June’s installment of KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month,” about a patient who walked into what he thought was an urgent care center and walked out with an emergency room bill.
Details about where the machines would go — and how they would help those most at risk — are sparse. The state has proposed using them to distribute naloxone and fentanyl testing strips.
Even after multiple massive power outages — including one from a 2021 winter storm in Texas that prompted a U.S. Senate investigation — little has changed for older Americans in senior living facilities when natural disasters strike.
So far, all 10 cases reported nationally this year at dairy and poultry farms have been mild, consisting of respiratory symptoms and eye irritation. Scientists have warned that the virus could mutate to spread from person to person, like the seasonal flu, and spark a pandemic.
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in recent weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Even with a stockpile of bird flu vaccinations, the federal government is not offering them to those at high risk. Along with testing and measures to prevent spread, vaccinations may protect people and stop the outbreak from becoming a pandemic.
With pop-up art shows in Philadelphia and beyond, Zarinah Lomax’s mission is to show what is routinely lost to gun violence in America: “This is somebody’s child. Somebody’s son, somebody’s daughter who was working toward something.”
Lead in drinking water is a known danger. But how many of the country’s estimated 9 million lead service lines need to be replaced — and how quickly — is subject to debate. The clock is ticking on two competing plans as the election looms.
In a momentous 6-3 decision that could affect communities across the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court gave local officials and law enforcement more authority to fine and penalize homeless people living outside. Advocates for homeless people predict the ruling will lead to more sickness and death.
In what will certainly be remembered as a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has overruled a 40-year-old precedent that gave federal agencies, rather than judges, the power to interpret ambiguous laws passed by Congress. Administrative experts say the decision will dramatically change the way key health agencies do business. Also, the court decided not to decide whether a federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care overrides Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Victoria Knight of Axios, and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
The United Way of Greater Kansas City gave $1.2 million to victims and $832,000 to 14 community groups Thursday, hoping to reach other victims from the violence at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade, as well as those working to prevent gun violence.
Cicadas are the song of the summer, but this year’s large broods may be especially irritating for people on the autism spectrum who have hearing sensitivity.
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