Latest KFF Health News Stories
As Cases Spike, California Pauses Multimillion-Dollar Testing Expansion
California is cutting off funding for COVID-19 testing just when counties say they need more resources in rural and disadvantaged areas.
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.
Officials Seek To Shift Resources Away From Policing To Address Black ‘Public Health Crisis’
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.
For A Black Social Media Manager In The George Floyd Age, Each Click Holds Trauma
In communities of color, the decision to participate in this moment of collective trauma — whether by watching and sharing the video of George Floyd’s death, discussing racial injustice on social media, or protesting and speaking out in the 3D world — can be one rife with anxiety and profound mental distress.
Readers And Tweeters Ponder Racism, Public Health Threats And COVID’s Cost
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Listen: Navigating The Pandemic And Protests As The U.S. Reopens
KHN Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony spoke with “The 21st” host Brian Mackey about the implications of reopening the U.S. and recent protests.
‘Just Make It Home’: The Unwritten Rules Blacks Learn To Navigate Racism In America
Darnell Hill, a mental health caseworker, is teaching black teens in St. Louis how to safely walk through the park, run to the store or handle an encounter with the police. Beyond tangible skills, he offers comfort and a semblance of control to those for whom birding, running or walking down the street hold the risk of racial violence.
COVID-19 Batters A Beloved Bay Area Community Health Care Center
Health clinics in isolated African American communities in the San Francisco Bay Area provide crucial services to neglected populations. But like thousands of other community clinics around the nation, their finances have been wrecked by the pandemic shutdown.
Baltimore’s ‘Squeegee Boys’: ‘If We Don’t Go Out, We Don’t Eat’
The federal government’s relief package left behind many of America’s poorest workers struggling to make ends meet as the coronavirus ravaged and unemployment rose. Baltimore’s “squeegee boys” are among them.
Hiring A Diverse Army To Track COVID-19 Amid Reopening
Experts estimate local and state health departments will have to hire 100,000 to 300,000 people as contact tracers to get the economy back on track. Many states are trying hard to hire from the racial and ethnic minority communities hit hardest by the virus.
As a journalist, she wrote during the winter about the hostility shown toward Asian Americans for wearing masks. In May, she got cursed at for not wearing a mask herself.
Searching For Safety: Where Children Hide When Gunfire Is All Too Common
The overall crime rate has dropped during the pandemic, but unfortunately gun violence has not. In St. Louis, at least 11 children have been killed by gunfire so far this year. Living in neighborhoods with frequent violence has forced some families to improvise ways to keep their children safe, even in the place they are supposed to be most secure: their home. The stress of growing up in these conditions could lead to chronic health problems into adulthood.
Racial Status And The Pandemic: A Combustible Mixture
The novel coronavirus is affecting black Americans disproportionately, which some community leaders and public health experts say is not surprising. So why didn’t anyone sound an alarm?
The Other COVID Risks: How Race, Income, ZIP Code Influence Who Lives Or Dies
Federal officials have known for nearly a decade which counties are most likely to suffer devastation ― both in loss of lives and jobs ― in a pandemic.
‘I Wasn’t Eating’: Senior Twin Sisters Battle Pandemic Anxiety Together
Twins Edna Mayes and Ethel Sylvester, 92, are relying on each other through the pandemic, in which one of the hidden dangers is to their mental health.
Postcard From The Edge: L.A. Street Vendors Who Can’t Stop Working
Foot traffic in L.A. has fallen off a cliff amid the COVID-19 crisis, driving many street vendors away. But some are still on the streets, peddling their wares out of economic necessity. Many are undocumented immigrants who won’t get any help from the recently approved $2 trillion federal assistance package.
Long-Standing Racial And Income Disparities Seen Creeping Into COVID-19 Care
Many health officials around the nation have not released data on the ethnic and racial demographics of people tested for the new coronavirus. But public health experts said the anecdotes are adding up, and they fear the response to the pandemic will result in predictable health care disparities.
Baltimore barber Antoine Dow helps bring dignity to young black men whose lives were cut short by gun violence.
School Districts Grapple With Quarantines, Face Masks And Fear
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, school districts, especially those with large Chinese student populations, are in uncharted territory as they apply new federal travel rules to their students. Some also are weighing requests from parents that are more about fear than science, such as whether to allow students with no travel history to stay home from school.
Masks Reveal Cultural Disconnect As L.A.’s Chinese Community Braces For Coronavirus
Since two cases of the mysterious new coronavirus were reported in Southern California, Chinese immigrants have begun donning face masks. The practice is common in China but goes against official guidance in the U.S., and that’s causing conflict in local schools.
