Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Yurts, Igloos and Pop-Up Domes: How Safe Is ‘Outside’ Restaurant Dining This Winter?
All kinds of new structures are popping up to extend the outdoor dining season. Some are safer than others.
Door to Door in Miami’s Little Havana to Build Trust in Testing, Vaccination
It’s time-consuming but worthwhile: Residents respond to messages about Covid testing and vaccines when outreach teams speak their language and make a personal connection.
Biden Takes the Reins, Calls for a United Front Against Covid and Other Threats
On health care, President Joe Biden made it clear that combating the covid-19 pandemic will be his top priority. “We must set aside politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation,” he said. “We will get through this together.”
Biden prometió 100 millones de vacunas de covid en 100 días. No será fácil de cumplir
Está en la naturaleza de los presidentes hacer promesas. Kennedy prometió enviar un hombre a la luna y lo cumplió. Distribuir 100 millones de vacunas parece más difícil.
Advocates View Health Care as Key to Driving LGBTQ Rights Conversation
A state ban preventing local governments from enacting nondiscrimination ordinances expired Dec. 1, opening the door for a new wave of local nondiscrimination laws.
Biden’s Covid Challenge: 100 Million Vaccinations in the First 100 Days. It Won’t Be Easy.
But keeping campaign promises regarding the nation’s covid response will go beyond stepping up the rollout of the vaccines.
Patients Fend for Themselves to Access Highly Touted Covid Antibody Treatments
Months after President Donald Trump credited monoclonal antibody therapy for his quick recovery from covid-19, only a trickle of the product has found its way into regular people. While hundreds of thousands of vials sit unused, sick patients who might benefit from early treatment have been left on their own to vie for access.
On Trump’s Last Full Day, Nation Records 400,000 Covid Deaths
On the day before the inauguration of a new president, the country marks a once unthinkable milestone of 400,000 deaths. The winter surge of the pandemic claimed 100,000 Americans in just five weeks.
Are Public Health Ads Worth the Price? Not if They’re All About Fear
Public service announcements about drug use or other public health problems often fall short, public health marketing experts say, because they incite people’s worst fears rather than giving people solutions.
Black Americans Are Getting Vaccinated at Lower Rates Than White Americans
Black Americans are receiving covid vaccines at a much lower rate than their white peers due to a combination of mistrust and access issues, leaving them behind in the mission to vaccinate the nation’s population.
CVS and Walgreens Under Fire for Slow Pace of Vaccination in Nursing Homes
A federal program that sends retail pharmacists into nursing homes to vaccinate residents and workers has been hindered by bureaucratic hurdles and scheduling woes.
Geography Is Destiny: Dentists’ Access to Covid Shots Depends on Where They Live
A handful of states are making dentists a lower priority than other health professionals for inoculations, even though they have their hands in people’s mouths and are exposed to aerosols that spray germs in their faces.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: On Capitol Hill, Actions Have Consequences
Several large business groups, including health industry organizations, are cutting off contributions to Republicans who voted against the certification of Joe Biden’s election even after riots shut down the Capitol on Jan. 6. Meanwhile, the outgoing Trump administration not only approved a Medicaid block grant for Tennessee, but also made it difficult for the incoming Biden administration to undo. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, Rovner interviews KHN’s Victoria Knight about the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode.
Delicate Covid Vaccines Slow Rollout — Leading to Shots Given Out of Turn or, Worse, Wasted
“Thaw. Rest 15 minutes. Do not shake. Do not refreeze.”Do not shake. Do not refreeze.” Moderna’s vaccine comes with complicated instructions. And both available vaccines are good for only six hours once the vial is open. So at day’s end, health workers are left to either throw out precious doses or get shots into any arm that’s available.
California Counties ‘Flying the Plane as We Build It’ in a Plodding Vaccine Rollout
In California, the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history is run largely by the same overworked and underfunded local health departments tasked with covid-19 testing and contact tracing. It’s a daunting undertaking as the pandemic continues to surge.
Hospitals’ Rocky Rollout of Covid Vaccine Sparks Questions of Fairness
The lack of a federal strategy on how distribution should work at the local level means that states, hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies are making decisions on their own about who gets vaccinated and when.
Are You Old Enough to Get Vaccinated? In Tennessee, They’re Using the Honor System
In most Tennessean counties, residents currently eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine are health care workers, long-term care residents and people 75 and older. But don’t expect strict enforcement.
An Urban Hospital on the Brink Vs. the Officials Sworn to Save It
The wealthy corporation that owns Chicago’s Mercy Hospital says it must close the hospital because it’s losing money. A government board says no. The corporation still has the upper hand.
Only a Smokescreen? Big Tobacco Stands Down as Colorado and Oregon Hike Cigarette Taxes
After spending tens of millions of dollars to oppose past efforts, Altria didn’t oppose Colorado’s tobacco tax initiative and could benefit from the law’s minimum-price provision.
One Ambulance Ride Leads to Another When Packed Hospitals Cannot Handle Non-Covid Patients
A Kansas woman thought she’d find help at her local emergency room. What she found instead was a packed hospital and an ambulance ride to someplace else.
