Category: Public Health

New York declares polio a state emergency

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sept. 9 declared a state of emergency amid evidence that polio is spreading in communities around the state. The move unlocks federal resources to help the state respond and boost vaccination rates. 

COVID-19 cases fall for 7th week: 8 CDC findings

The CDC is reporting double-digit decreases in the rate of new COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations confirmed nationwide, according to the agency’s COVID-19 data tracker weekly review published Sept. 9.

13 COVID-19-related research findings

Here are 13 COVID-19-related studies Becker’s has covered since Aug. 16: 

Children in Northern California Learn to Cope With Wildfire Trauma

Doctors and health officials say more children in the state are growing up with wildfire, which can cause stress, depression, anxiety, and other lasting trauma. Experts say there are ways to help kids stay calm.

CDC awards Mount Sinai $2.4M to support aging 9/11 first responders

New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System has received $2.4 million from the CDC to study how to best care for aging 9/11 first responders. 

New findings reinforce lingering virus as long COVID-19 cause: 3 latest updates

A new study from researchers at Boston-based Harvard Medical School found the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus may linger in long COVID-19 patients’ blood for up to a year after infection. The findings reinforce a leading theory among scientists t…

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Judge Takes Aim at the Affordable Care Act’s Preventive Care Benefits

A federal judge in Texas — the same one who tried to strike down the Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional in 2018 — has ruled against some of the ACA’s preventive benefits, including the requirement that employers cover medication to prevent HIV. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs tries to make abortions slightly more available to veterans and their dependents. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Lauren Sausser, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment.

34 states reporting BA.2.75 cases

Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia have reported cases of the newest omicron subvariant, BA.2.75, as of Sept. 8, up from 20 states a month prior, disease surveillance data shows. 

The mystery of omicron’s stalled growth

The proportions of COVID-19 variants circulating nationwide have been relatively constant over the past five weeks, and health experts are uncertain as to why, ABC News reported Sept. 6.

55% of men don’t get routine health screenings: 4 Cleveland Clinic survey findings

More than half of men aren’t proactive when it comes to their health and knowing their family health history, according to a survey of more than 1,000 men led by Cleveland Clinic.