Month: December 2020
Video: The Healthy Nurse Who Died at 40 on the Covid Front Lines: ‘She Was the Best Mom I Ever Had’
[embedded content] Yolanda Coar was 40 when she died of Covid-19 in August 2020 in Augusta, Georgia. She was also a nurse manager, and one of nearly 3,000 front-line workers who have died in the U.S. fighting this virus, according to an exclusive investigation by The Guardian and KHN. Read…
Video: The Healthy Nurse Who Died at 40 on the COVID Frontline: ‘She Was the Best Mom I Ever Had’
[embedded content] Yolanda Coar was 40 when she died of COVID-19 in August 2020 in Augusta, Georgia. She was also a nurse manager, and one of nearly 3,000 frontline workers who have died in the U.S. fighting this virus, according to an exclusive investigation by The Guardian and KHN. Read…
Live Free or Die if You Must, Say Colorado Urbanites — But Not in My Hospital
ERIE, Colo. — Whenever Larry Kelderman looks up from the car he’s fixing and peers across the street, he’s looking across a border. His town of 28,000 straddles two counties, separated by County Line Road. Kelderman’s auto repair business is in Boulder County, whose officials are sticklers for public health…
In Fast-Moving Pandemic, Health Officials Try to Change Minds at Warp Speed
Nine months into the pandemic that has killed more than 320,000 people in the U.S., Kim Larson is still trying to convince others in her northern Montana county that COVID-19 is dangerous. As Hill County Health Department director and county health officer, Larson continues to hear people say the coronavirus…
Analysis: Some Said the Vaccine Rollout Would Be a ‘Nightmare.’ They Were Right.
WASHINGTON — Even before there was a vaccine, some seasoned doctors and public health experts warned, Cassandra-like, that its distribution would be “a logistical nightmare.” After Week 1 of the rollout, “nightmare” sounds like an apt description. Dozens of states say they didn’t receive nearly the number of promised doses….
More Than 2,900 Health Care Workers Died This Year — And the Government Barely Kept Track
More than 2,900 U.S. health care workers have died in the COVID-19 pandemic since March, a far higher number than that reported by the government, according to a new analysis by KHN and The Guardian. Fatalities from the coronavirus have skewed young, with the majority of victims under age 60…
As the Terror of COVID Struck, Health Care Workers Struggled to Survive. Thousands Lost the Fight.
Workers at Garfield Medical Center in suburban Los Angeles were on edge as the pandemic ramped up in March and April. Staffers in a 30-patient unit were rationing a single tub of sanitizing wipes all day. A May memo from the CEO said N95 masks could be cleaned up to…
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: 2020 in Review — It Wasn’t All COVID
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on SoundCloud. COVID-19 was the dominant — but not the only — health policy story of 2020. In this special year-in-review episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” podcast, panelists look back at some of the biggest non-coronavirus stories. Those included Supreme Court…
At Risk of Extinction, Black-Footed Ferrets Get Experimental COVID Vaccine
This story also ran on CNN. This story can be republished for free (details). In late summer, as researchers accelerated the first clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines for humans, a group of scientists in Colorado worked to inoculate a far more fragile species. About 120 black-footed ferrets, among the most…
Retiree Living the RV Dream Fights $12,387 Nightmare Lab Fee
Lorraine Rogge and her husband, Michael Rogge, travel the country in a recreational vehicle, a well-earned adventure in retirement. This spring found them parked in Artesia, New Mexico, for several months. In May, Rogge, 60, began to feel pelvic pain and cramping. But she had had a total hysterectomy in…
COVID Vaccines Appear Safe and Effective, but Key Questions Remain
The recent rollout of two newly authorized COVID-19 vaccines is a bright ray of hope at the pandemic’s darkest hour. We now have a path that can lead us to happier times — even as we watch and suffer from the horrible onslaught of new infections, hospitalizations and deaths that…
Las vacunas de COVID parecen ser seguras y efectivas, pero todavía hay preguntas
SOBRE NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL Noticias en español es una sección de Kaiser Health News que contiene traducciones de artículos de gran interés para la comunidad hispanohablante, y contenido original enfocado en la población hispana que vive en los Estados Unidos. Use Nuestro Contenido Este contenido puede usarse de manera gratuita…
Health Officials Fear Pandemic-Related Suicide Spike Among Native Youth
This story also ran on Time. This story can be republished for free (details). WOLF POINT, Mont. — Fallen pine cones covered 16-year-old Leslie Keiser’s fresh grave at the edge of Wolf Point, a small community on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation on the eastern Montana plains. Leslie, whose father…
Surprise! Congress Takes Steps to Curb Unexpected Medical Bills
Most Americans tell pollsters they’re worried about being able to afford an unexpected medical bill. Late Monday, Congress passed a bill to allay some of those fears. The measure is included in a nearly 5,600-page package providing coronavirus economic relief and government funding for the rest of the fiscal year….
California’s COVID Enforcement Strategy: Education Over Citations
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nearly six months since Gov. Gavin Newsom promised to target businesses that are flagrantly violating public health orders to control the spread of COVID-19, California regulators have issued just 424 citations and suspended two business licenses as of Monday, according to data from 10 state regulatory and…
Democrats Are Running Hard on Health Care in Georgia’s Senate Runoffs. Republicans? Not So Much.
Vice President Mike Pence was the clear celebrity draw at a Nov. 20 campaign event for Georgia’s two incumbent U.S. senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. Both Republicans are fighting to keep their seats against two Democratic challengers in the runoff election set for Jan. 5. People were so eager…
Inside the First Chaotic Days of the Effort to Vaccinate America
One tray of COVID-19 vaccine from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer contains 975 doses — way too many for a rural hospital in Arkansas. But with the logistical gymnastics required to safely get the Pfizer vaccine to rural health care workers, splitting the trays into smaller shipments has its own dangers. Once…
Análisis: expertos desestimaron al coronavirus, hasta que fue demasiado tarde
SOBRE NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL Noticias en español es una sección de Kaiser Health News que contiene traducciones de artículos de gran interés para la comunidad hispanohablante, y contenido original enfocado en la población hispana que vive en los Estados Unidos. Use Nuestro Contenido Este contenido puede usarse de manera gratuita…
As Biden Gets Sworn In, White House Will Get Scrubbed Down
It was a down-in-the-mud presidential campaign, but the dirtiest part comes on Inauguration Day. As Joe Biden lifts his right hand to take the oath of office at noon on Jan. 20 at the Capitol, a team of specially trained cleaners will be lifting their hands to disinfect the White…
‘Nine Months Into It, the Adrenaline Is Gone and It’s Just Exhausting’
In March, during the first week of the San Francisco Bay Area’s first-in-the-nation stay-at-home order, KHN spoke with emergency department physicians working on the front lines of the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, these doctors reported dire shortages of personal protective equipment and testing supplies. Health officials had no…
Montana’s Mask Mandate in Doubt With Incoming Governor
HELENA, Mont. — Incoming Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signaled he won’t continue a statewide mask mandate in place since July, though he said he plans to wear a mask himself and get vaccinated against COVID-19. If Gianforte, a Republican, reverses outgoing Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock’s mask order, Montana will be…
Many US Health Experts Underestimated the Coronavirus … Until It Was Too Late
A year ago, while many Americans were finishing their holiday shopping and finalizing travel plans, doctors in Wuhan, China, were battling a mysterious outbreak of pneumonia with no known cause. Chinese doctors began to fear they were witnessing the return of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, a coronavirus that…
With Few Takers for COVID Vaccine, DC Hospital CEO Takes ‘One for the Team’
Administrators at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., were thrilled to be among the city’s first hospitals to get a COVID-19 vaccine, but they knew it could be a tough sell to get staffers to take the shot. They were right. The hospital, located on the campus of one the…
No More ICU Beds at the Main Public Hospital in the Nation’s Largest County
She lay behind a glass barrier, heavily sedated, kept alive by a machine that blew oxygen into her lungs through a tube taped to her mouth and lodged at the back of her throat. She had deteriorated rapidly since arriving a short time earlier. “Her respiratory system is failing, and…
Ski Resorts Work to Stay Open as COVID Cases Snowball
TELLURIDE, Colo. — The day after Thanksgiving, Dr. Jana Eller and Dr. Shiraz Naqvi were seated beside an outdoor fire pit at the base of Telluride Ski Resort, taking a short break from skiing. The two physicians from Houston had driven more than 18 hours to get here for the…
Pandemic-Related Paid Sick Days and Leave to Expire Dec. 31 — With No Extension in Sight
Like tens of millions of other parents nationwide, Jonathan and Sara Sadowski struggle to assist their four children, ages 5 to 11, with their online schooling at home. In addition, their eldest child, who has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, needs special care. So to help the kids…
More Americans — Of All Political Persuasions — Are Donning Masks
As apprehension about the pandemic intensifies, more Americans — nearly three-quarters — say they wear masks every time they leave the house, according to a poll released Friday. The poll from KFF also found that 68% of American adults were worried someone in their family will get sick from the…
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: All I Want for Christmas Is a COVID Relief Bill
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on SoundCloud. Congress appears to be inching ever closer to agreement on a long-delayed COVID-19 relief bill, which would extend unemployment insurance and other emergency programs set to expire in the next several days. That bill, however, apparently will not include the…
Voces confiables ayudan a inmigrantes a superar el temor a la vacuna contra COVID
SOBRE NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL Noticias en español es una sección de Kaiser Health News que contiene traducciones de artículos de gran interés para la comunidad hispanohablante, y contenido original enfocado en la población hispana que vive en los Estados Unidos. Use Nuestro Contenido Este contenido puede usarse de manera gratuita…
Trusted Messengers May Help Disenfranchised Communities Overcome Vaccine Hesitancy
MINNEAPOLIS — Gloria Torres-Herbeck gets the flu vaccine every year, but the 53-year-old teacher in Rochester, Minnesota, isn’t yet convinced she wants to be first in line for a potential COVID-19 vaccine. “I’m not super old, but I’m not as strong as other people,” she said. “So, I need to…
