James Doubek

Dr. Scott Kobner is the chief emergency room resident at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. His black-and-white photos show the suffering, anxiety and chaos unfolding in overrun COVID units.

Dr. Jeff Bahr with the Advocate Aurora Health system in Wisconsin says his hospitals are “ready to go” for vaccinations. Staff who treat COVID-19 patients will be first in line, he says.

Dr. Glenn Hurst says hospitalizations are growing in part because of a nursing home “bottleneck.” Many people rehabilitate at nursing homes after leaving the hospital.

Rural areas are of particular concern as COVID-19 cases rise in Wisconsin. One big worry: having enough staff in hospitals.

Vaccine maker Novavax is starting a large coronavirus vaccine trial in the U.K. Gregory Glenn, the company’s president of research and development, talks with NPR about how vaccines are tested.

Front-line workers in Houston, Seattle and New York City tell NPR about their experiences in hospitals over the last six months. “2020 can’t keep going like this,” one doctor says.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about the Food and Drug Administration allowing the use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19.

Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine responded to critics who say there are holes in the state’s plan to test all residents and staff at nursing homes: “The plan is an evolution.”

Bruce Meyer, the president of Jefferson Health, which runs 14 hospitals in the Philadelphia area, says chemicals needed to do coronavirus testing are regulated by the government and hard to get.

Prosecutors allege doctors got kickbacks for prescribing unneeded back, shoulder, wrist and knee braces to elderly and disabled patients and charging the government’s Medicare program.