Category: Public Health

Gun violence in hospitals: 3 preventive measures

Hospitals and health systems have seen several incidents of gun violence in recent months.

COVID-19 admissions jump for 5th week: 9 CDC findings

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise nationwide, though deaths are still falling on the heels of this winter’s omicron surge, according to the CDC’s COVID-19 data tracker weekly review published May 13.

After the Pandemic Hit Nursing Homes Hard, California Lawmakers Push to Tighten Licensing Rules

Legislators are proposing an overhaul of California’s licensing system for nursing homes that would make it the most stringent in the country. They argue that disreputable and unlicensed owners and operators have harmed residents. The industry describes the proposed requirements as excessive.

US flu activity holds steady into May: CDC

As summer approaches, flu positivity levels in the U.S. remain unseasonably high, the CDC’s latest FluView report shows. 

Dr. Ashish Jha calls $10B ‘bare minimum’ needed to curb COVID-19 surges

While the COVID-19 virus continues to evolve and American’s immune protection wanes, $10 billion in federal aid to support the purchase of more tests, therapeutics and vaccines remains tied up in a congressional stalemate. 

Dr. Ashish Jha calls $10B ‘bare minimum’ needed to curb COVID-19 surges

While the COVID-19 virus continues to evolve and American’s immune protection wanes, $10 billion in federal aid to support the purchase of more tests, therapeutics and vaccines remains tied up in a congressional stalemate. 

Should You Worry About Data From Your Period-Tracking App Being Used Against You?

After a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion was published May 2 suggesting that Roe v. Wade would soon be overturned, social media users started worrying that their use of period-tracking apps could lead to trouble if they sought an abortion and lived in a state with strict limits or bans on the procedure.

Few Eligible Families Have Applied for Government Help to Pay for Covid Funerals

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse many families up to $9,000 in funeral expenses for loved ones who died of covid-19. But fewer than half of eligible families have applied, while others have run into application problems.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Invisible Pandemic

Covid cases are again climbing, but you wouldn’t know it from the behavior of public health and elected officials, much less the general public, all of whom seem to want to put the pandemic in the rearview mirror. Meanwhile, the fallout over the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on abortion continues even as the Senate fails — again — to muster the votes to write abortion rights into law. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.

Why Won’t More Older Americans Get Their Covid Booster?

Approximately 1 in 3 Americans 65 and older who completed their initial vaccination round still have not received a first booster shot. The numbers dismay researchers, who say the lag has cost tens of thousands of lives.