Category: Public Health

Nursing Homes Are Suing the Friends and Family of Residents to Collect Debts

Debt lawsuits — long a byproduct of America’s medical debt crisis — can ensnare not only patients but also those who help sick and older people be admitted to nursing homes, a KHN-NPR investigation finds.

Everything You Need to Know About Paxlovid — Especially, Should You Take It?

Paxlovid has eclipsed other available therapies for preventing life-threatening covid symptoms in high-risk patients. But even as doctors praise its effectiveness, many say they have unanswered questions about prescribing the drug and want more and better data about it.

Fall booster campaign could prevent 160,000 deaths, report finds

Ramping up COVID-19 booster administration this fall could save up to 160,000 lives and prevent more than 1 million hospitalizations, according to a July 26 analysis from the Commonwealth Fund.

A simple COVID-19 question with a complex answer

More than two years into the pandemic, researchers are still struggling to answer a crucial  question about the virus: How long is someone with COVID-19 infectious? Though the question seems simple, the answer is anything but, scientists and infec…

$7B needed for US to contain monkeypox, White House advisers estimate

The U.S. may need nearly $7 billion to adequately address the monkeypox outbreak, Biden administration officials told Congress this month, The Washington Post reported July 26. 

To Stem the Spread of Monkeypox, Health Departments Tap Into Networks of Those Most at Risk

Although the disease is currently spreading almost exclusively among men who have sex with men, some cases are turning up in other populations — and that number is likely to grow if public health officials don’t effectively nip the outbreak in the bud.

2 questions a Harvard infectious disease expert still has about the coronavirus’ evolution

The world has experienced a slew of surges caused by an alphabet of variants since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Thankfully, none of the variants has led to a significant increase in disease severity. 

White House to name monkeypox coordinator: 4 updates

The White House is planning to name a coordinator to oversee the nation’s response to monkeypox and is considering people with expertise in epidemic response and government operations, The Washington Post reported July 25. 

BA.5 now accounts for 82% of US COVID-19 cases

The highly transmissible omicron subvariant BA.5 continues to gain dominance in the U.S., now accounting for nearly 82 percent of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S., according to the CDC’s latest variant proportion estimates.

US saw low-severity flu season: 6 CDC report notes

The overall severity of the 2021-22 flu season was low, though elevated flu activity lasted longer than usual, according to the CDC’s summary report of this year’s flu season published July 22.