Category: Public Health

US COVID-19 cases to jump 10% in next 2 weeks, Mayo forecasts

While COVID-19 cases have been falling for more than 10 consecutive weeks, modeling from Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic suggests this trend will reverse over the next few weeks.

Hospital leaders meet at White House to talk ‘twindemic’ strategies

Federal health officials held a meeting with leaders from 10 health systems and groups on Sept. 29 to discuss mitigation strategies ahead of a likely COVID-19 surge and severe flu season this fall. 

Severe Sleep Apnea Diagnosis Panics Reporter Until He Finds a Simple, No-Cost Solution

An industry has grown up around sleep apnea, stirring concerns about overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

Pregnant women who get COVID, then vaccine more likely to pass antibodies to babies: study

University of California Los Angeles researchers found pregnant women who receive the COVID-19 vaccine after recovering from the virus are more likely than other mothers to pass antibodies to their newborns, HealthDay reported Sept. 29.

‘Fully vaccinated’ term may get a rebrand with omicron boosters

The CDC revised its “up to date” COVID-19 vaccination term Sept. 30 to include the primary series and the recently authorized omicron-targeting booster. 

US suicide rates increased 4% in 2021

According to newly released data from the CDC, suicide deaths in the U.S. increased by 4 percent from 2020 to 2021.

Michigan State U, Henry Ford Health, Brown U launch suicide prevention research center

East Lansing-based Michigan State University, Detroit-based Henry Ford Health, and Providence, R.I.-based Brown University established the National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention Sept. 29, the universities shared in an…

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: On Government Spending, Congress Decides Not to Decide

Congress has once again decided not to decide how to fund the federal government in time for the start of the fiscal year, racing toward a midnight Sept. 30 deadline to pass a stopgap bill that would keep the lights on for two more months. However, it does appear the FDA’s program that gets drugmakers to help fund some of the agency’s review staff will be renewed in time to stop pink slips from being sent. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews filmmaker Cynthia Lowen, whose new documentary, “Battleground,” explores how anti-abortion forces played the long game to overturn Roe v. Wade.

New York launches more efforts to combat polio: 3 things to know

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mary Bassett, MD, health commissioner at the state’s health department, announced Sept. 28 additional steps to help local and state health departments combat the polio outbreak.

1,000+ hospitals, health groups join Northwell gun safety coalition

More than 1,000 hospitals and health associations have joined a campaign led by New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health that encourages parents to ask about gun safety.