Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on SoundCloud. Nearly a year into the pandemic, many public schools are still closed to in-person instruction. But while there is increasing evidence that schools are not a major source of infection, teachers and staffers remain concerned about going back to class […]
Read Time : 8 Minutes
Head-Scratching Over Newsom’s Choice of Blue Shield to Lead Vaccination Push
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, struggling to salvage a once-bright political future dimmed by his mishandling of the covid crisis, tapped nonprofit health insurer Blue Shield of California last week to allocate the state’s covid vaccine. The company has thus far said little about how it plans to reorganize a gargantuan […]
Read Time : 12 Minutes
Vaccination Chaos in California Fuels Push to Recall Gov. Newsom
Joyce Hanson was thrilled when she heard Gov. Gavin Newsom announce Jan. 13 that Californians age 65 and older would be eligible to get vaccinated against covid-19. Infections and hospitalizations had been surging in California, and Hanson knew a simple trip to the grocery store put her at greater risk […]
Read Time : 13 Minutes
Kids Already Coping With Mental Disorders Spiral as Pandemic Topples Vital Support Systems
A bag of Doritos, that’s all Princess wanted. Her mom calls her Princess, but her real name is Lindsey. She’s 17 and lives with her mom, Sandra, a nurse, outside Atlanta. On May 17, 2020, a Sunday, Lindsey decided she didn’t want breakfast; she wanted Doritos. So she left home […]
Read Time : 4 Minutes
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Long Road to Unwinding Trump Health Policies
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on SoundCloud. Thursday was “health day” in President Joe Biden’s sprint to launch his presidency, and he signed two executive orders addressing health coverage and women’s reproductive rights. The orders will reopen enrollment under the Affordable Care Act from February to May […]
Read Time : 5 Minutes
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Biden Health Agenda
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on SoundCloud. President Joe Biden wasted no time getting down to work. Among the raft of executive orders he signed on Inauguration Day were several aimed at curtailing the covid crisis, including one requiring mask-wearing by federal employees and anyone on federal […]
Read Time : 4 Minutes
Biden Takes the Reins, Calls for a United Front Against Covid and Other Threats
Joe Biden on Wednesday took the oath to become the 46th president of the United States, vowing to bring the nation together in the midst of an ongoing pandemic that has claimed more than 400,000 lives, enormous economic dislocation and civil unrest so serious that the U.S. Capitol steps where […]
Read Time : 9 Minutes
On Trump’s Last Full Day, Nation Records 400,000 Covid Deaths
This story also ran on NPR. This story can be republished for free (details). While millions wait for a lifesaving shot, the U.S. death count from covid-19 continues to soar upward with horrifying speed. On Tuesday, the last full day of Donald Trump’s presidency, the death toll reached 400,000 — […]
Read Time : 11 Minutes
Black Americans Are Getting Vaccinated at Lower Rates Than White Americans
Black Americans are receiving covid vaccinations at dramatically lower rates than white Americans in the first weeks of the chaotic rollout, according to a new KHN analysis. About 3% of Americans have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine so far. But in 16 states that have released […]
Read Time : 10 Minutes
CVS and Walgreens Under Fire for Slow Pace of Vaccination in Nursing Homes
The effort to vaccinate some of the country’s most vulnerable residents against covid-19 has been slowed by a federal program that sends retail pharmacists into nursing homes — accompanied by layers of bureaucracy and logistical snafus. As of Thursday, more than 4.7 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna covid […]