Dr. Peter Hotez is part of a team working to develop a low-cost COVID vaccine that could be distributed globally. “Vaccines are coming,” he says. “We have to get everybody through to the other side.”
As more hospitals across the U.S. reach the level of rationing care, NPR explains what that move, called “crisis standards of care,” means in practical terms.
When the state of Kansas issued a mask mandate, 81 counties opted out. Researchers found coronavirus infection rates rose sharply in the opt-out counties, while falling in those that required masks.
In Kansas City, hospitals are treating local COVID-19 patients as well as patients transferred from rural counties in Missouri and Kansas, where there’s no mandate or culture for wearing masks.
The federal government released data showing that the number of hospitals with staffing shortages is rapidly increasing. NPR digs into what these data illuminate and what data might be kept hidden.
In 2015, the mosquito-borne virus Zika exploded in South America. Health experts predicted it would erupt in Africa. But a major outbreak never happened. Now scientists think they understand why.
As the U.S. prepares for what will likely be the largest vaccination program in its history, the Trump administration plans to loan $590 million to a Connecticut company with a novel technology.