Category: COVID-19

Technology Divide Between Senior ‘Haves’ and ‘Have-Nots’ Roils Pandemic Response

Older adults with the ability to use technology have more access to virtual social interactions and telehealth services, and more opportunities to secure essential supplies online. Those who don’t know how to use it or can’t afford it are at greater risk of social isolation, forgoing medical care and being without food or other necessary items.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Trump Twists on Virus Response

President Donald Trump has, for now at least, become a realist on the extent of the COVID-19 crisis around the country, and he is urging Americans to socially distance and wear masks. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Republicans facing a July 31 deadline are scrambling to come together on their version of the next COVID relief bill. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Tami Luhby of CNN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews NPR’s Pam Fessler, author of the new book “Carville’s Cure,” which traces the history of the United States’ only federal leprosarium.

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.

Adjunct Professors: Jobs Are Low on Pay and Health Benefits With High COVID Risk

As colleges and universities develop plans for the fall semester amid the coronavirus pandemic, these non-tenured, often part-time instructors find themselves in an especially precarious position.

Bingeing on Doom: Expert on the ‘Black Death’ Attracts Cult Following

A 2016 series on the 14th-century plague became must-see TV during spring’s COVID-19 outbreak — and flooded Purdue medievalist Dorsey Armstrong with questions about parallels between that pandemic and the current crisis.

Essential and in Danger: Coronavirus Sickens, Even Kills Public Health Workers

As the coronavirus threatens the nation’s public health army, an outbreak in Maryland reflects the tension between serving the community and protecting workers from a deadly disease.

Scientists Want to Know More About Using UV Light to Fight COVID-19 Spread

‘Germicidal’ ultraviolet light technology has a proven track record against indoor transmission of tuberculosis and other airborne microbes. It’s now being used in some restaurants and on subways.

Another Problem on the Health Horizon: Medicare Is Running Out of Money

With millions out of work because of the coronavirus pandemic, fewer payroll taxes are coming in to help keep Medicare’s trust fund intact.

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.