Category: California

Employers Require COVID Liability Waivers as Conflict Mounts Over Workplace Safety

While Congress negotiates liability protection for reopening businesses as part of its latest pandemic bailout package, some employers are already requiring workers to sign waivers agreeing not to sue if they get COVID-19 on the job.

Must-Reads of the Week From Lauren Olsen

Newsletter editor Lauren Olsen wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.

Sex In The Time Of COVID: Gay Men Begin To Embrace A ‘New Normal’

Like other people, many men who have sex with men have done all they could to avoid the coronavirus. Now some are braving renewed contact while balancing risk.

States Search for Ways to Deal With COVID-19 Testing Backlogs

With COVID-19 tests bogged down in backlogs, some states that relied on private laboratories, such as Quest Diagnostics, are trying to adapt as caseloads rise.

Medicaid Mystery: Millions of Enrollees Haven’t Materialized in California

State officials had projected that 2 million Californians would join Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for low-income people, by July because of the economic devastation wrought by COVID-19. Yet enrollment has barely budged, and why is unclear.

NIH Project Homes In on COVID Racial Disparities

The pandemic has given the National Institutes of Health an opportunity to show the value of its $1.5 billion “All of Us” research program. A major effort to make the platform’s database representative of America resulted in minorities making up more than half of its more than 270,000 volunteers.

As Coronavirus Patients Skew Younger, Tracing Task Seems All But Impossible

Although younger people are hospitalized and die less frequently than their elders when infected with COVID-19, their cases are harder to trace. As a result, the virus is spreading uncontrollably throughout much of Southern California. Even hospital staffs are affected by community spread.

California School Districts Grope for Sensible Reopening Plans

Some districts want to bring everyone back to the classroom and some are planning distance-only learning, while most others are settling on one of a variety of options in the middle. Whatever their leanings, they all face vast, troubling uncertainty.

You Can See Friends and Relatives During the Pandemic Surge — But Do It Carefully

Even as most U.S. states and authorities reimpose many of the restrictions they had prematurely lifted, public health experts say you can still have a safe social life — just not the one you were used to before the pandemic hit.