As the coronavirus sweeps the nation, a new survey reveals widespread medical gear shortages while hospitals give up on a fractured supply chain and take matters into their own hands with planes sprinting past cargo ships.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave huge cities roughly the same number of test kits as some rural spots, which crippled efforts by health officials to contain the virus.
Almost half of the nation’s rural hospitals operate in the red on a good day. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, rural hospital CEOs warn that soon some may be unable to pay their workers. And their doors may close when the community most needs them.
The states are allowing new enrollments this month to help ease consumers’ concerns about the cost of health care so that the sick will not be deterred from seeking medical attention and inadvertently spread the virus.
As schools shutter to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, many districts are still offering free meals to their most vulnerable students. In two Southern California districts, families roll through school lunch drive-thrus to grab hot meals.
A law signed by Trump on Wednesday will provide financial help for self-employed workers, who generally don’t have paid leave. Some states also have family and medical leave programs that can be helpful.
Public health professionals dismissed the president’s claims that the spread of the coronavirus, in particular, and the threat of a pandemic, in general, snuck up on us as being “simply astonishing” and “simply untrue.”
Older adults are at serious risk during this pandemic and have been advised to avoid contact with others. Yet many still need essential services, and programs are scrambling to adapt.