Category: COVID-19

Students’ Mass Migration Back to College Gets a Failing Grade

Epidemiologists and disease modelers tried to predict what would happen when students moved back to campus. Although some universities listened to their advice, that didn’t stop outbreaks from happening.

Black Women Turn to Midwives to Avoid COVID and ‘Feel Cared For’

Midwifery was a tradition among slaves from Africa, but in more recent decades, pregnant Black women have generally shunned the approach. Now, home births and midwives are making a comeback in the Black community.

Lack of Antigen Test Reporting Leaves Country ‘Blind to the Pandemic’

A KHN review found more than 20 states either don’t count or have incomplete data on the use of COVID-19 antigen tests, leaving the public in the dark about the true scope of the pandemic.

Tough to Tell COVID From Smoke Inhalation Symptoms — And Flu Season’s Coming

Respiratory symptoms stemming from coronavirus infection and smoke inhalation are too similar to distinguish without a full workup. This is complicating the jobs of health care workers as wildfires rage up and down the West Coast.

COVID Vaccine Trials Move at Warp Speed, But Recruiting Black Volunteers Takes Time

The National Institutes of Health has suggested minorities should be overrepresented in COVID-19 vaccine trials — perhaps at rates that are double their percentage of the U.S. population. But efforts to recruit patients from racial minority groups are just beginning, while some trials have already advanced to phase 3.

Lights, Camera, No Action: Insurance Woes Beset Entertainment Industry Workers

Many actors, directors, backstage workers and others in the entertainment industry are often eligible for health coverage through their unions, a model that some experts promote for other gig workers. But coverage is determined by past employment, and many of these professionals aren’t working because of the coronavirus.

COVID Exodus Fills Vacation Towns With New Medical Pressures

As people leave COVID-stricken cities to settle semi-permanently in vacation communities, locals assess how these new residents are changing demands on medical services.

NIH and FDA Examine Serious Side Effect That Surfaced in COVID Vaccine Trial

Regulators in the United Kingdom allowed the AstraZeneca vaccine trial to resume, but U.S. regulators continue to investigate.

Making Gyms Safer: Why the Virus Is Less Likely to Spread There Than in a Bar

Gyms are reopening with fewer people and more protocols, and they want to rehabilitate their pandemic-battered image. Although there’s not much evidence, they say science is on their side.

Kids Are Missing Critical Windows for Lead Testing Due to Pandemic

Inspections for lead hazards and blood testing for lead have dropped significantly just as kids are spending more time in the places where their exposure to the poisonous metal is highest: their homes.