Category: Public Health

Biden’s Promise of Better Nursing Home Care Will Require Many More Workers

The president wants to set minimum staffing levels for the beleaguered industry, but the industry’s opaque finances make it a mystery how homes will shoulder the added costs.

Dangerous Levels of Lead Were Found in the Water of About Half the Schools Tested in Montana

Officials testing water found high lead levels in more than 100 of the state’s nearly 600 school buildings. But as of mid-February, half the state’s schools had yet to provide samples.

Covid Expert Joins Exodus Into Business, Where Science Parlays Into Profits

Like others in academia or government who’ve served as public health advisers during the pandemic, Dr. Michael Mina traded his university role for a commercial venture. He recently took a top job at eMed, a startup that charges a premium price for monitoring at-home covid tests. Can experts do well by trying to do good?

Maine has highest COVID-19 case rate per 100,000 people; West Virginia has highest hospitalizations

Maine is seeing a higher average rate of daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people than any other state, while West Virginia is reporting the highest rate of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to federal data cited by The New York Times.

Researchers present 1st potential evidence of deer-to-human COVID-19 transmission

Researchers believe they have documented the first instance of a human contracting COVID-19 from white-tailed deer in Ontario, Canada, according to findings published Feb. 25 in the preprint server BioRxiv. 

43% of Americans have had COVID-19, CDC estimates

More than 140 million Americans — about 43 percent of the nation’s population — have had COVID-19, according to CDC estimates cited by The Washington Post. 

J&J-Vaxxed, mRNA-Boosted, and Pondering a Third Shot

Many of the nearly 17 million U.S. members of J&J Nation, myself included, are wondering whether to set aside the current official guidance and get a second booster. Some experts say: Chill out.

‘American Diagnosis’: From Church Rock to Congress, Uranium Workers Are Still Fighting for Compensation

This episode is the second half of a two-part series about uranium mining on the Navajo Nation. A coalition of Indigenous leaders and non-Native locals are lobbying Congress and fielding research to force the cleanup of abandoned uranium mining sites and expand federal compensation for workers harmed by the uranium industry.

Pfizer vaccine less effective in kids 5-11, research suggests

New data from the height of New York state’s omicron surge suggests Pfizer’s vaccine offers significantly less protection against infection in children ages 5 to 11 compared to older kids and adults. 

Live animal markets likely source of pandemic, new research indicates

A large market in Wuhan, China, where food and live animals were sold in late 2019, is likely the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, a pair of new studies suggest.