Category: COVID-19

Pandemic Poses Short- and Long-Term Risks to Babies, Especially Boys

A mother’s immune response to covid can be a greater danger to the fetus than the virus itself.

The Vaccine Rollout Was a Success. But Events Within and Beyond Biden’s Control Stymied Progress.

There were variants, vaccine hesitancy and messaging mix-ups. And, despite campaign promises, Biden and his administration sometimes took actions or made statements without waiting for full scientific evidence to back them up.

Vaccine Promoters Struggle to Get People Boosted in California’s Fields

Stressed vaccine communicators battle anti-vaccine propaganda while seeking to persuade Latino farmworkers to get covid boosters.

As Hospitals Fill Up, Paramedics Spend More Time Moving Patients, Less on Emergencies

Gunnison paramedics cover the largest response zone in Colorado. Because of covid and the lack of nearby hospital beds, patients increasingly are transported long distances, leaving few ambulances to respond to emergencies.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Oh, Oh, Omicron

Even before the omicron variant of covid starts to spread widely in the U.S., hospitals are filling up with post-holiday delta cases. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court signals — loudly — that 2022 will be the year it rolls back abortion rights in a big way. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.

Covid Shots for Kids Are Scarce — And Demand Is Mixed — In Rural Montana

Although covid vaccines have been available to children as young as 5 for more than a month, they’re not being offered in some rural Montana counties, and parents don’t know where to find them in others.

After ‘Truly Appalling’ Death Toll in Nursing Homes, California Rethinks Their Funding

California wants to hold nursing homes accountable for the quality of care they provide by tying Medicaid funding more directly to performance. But the nursing home industry, an influential player in the Capitol, is gearing up for a fight.

Nurses in Crisis Over Covid Dig In for Better Work Conditions

In tough labor negotiations across the nation, here’s what nurses don’t want: “appreciation that is lip service,” “marketing campaigns” and “shiny new buildings.” And this year might well prove to be a turning point in efforts to organize health care’s essential workers.

Colorado Hospitals in ‘Critical Condition’ as State Weathers Another Surge

Patients with other ailments are frustrated, and nurses and doctors are stressed and burned out, as unvaccinated covid-19 patients fill ICU and acute care beds.

How LA, Calling the Shots on School Vaccine Mandates, Can Lead the Way on Covid Rules

In the middle of a measles outbreak in 1977, the Los Angeles school system required students to be inoculated or stay out of class. Other school systems followed the practice. Will it work again now that the county is insisting that teens have their shots against covid?