Public Health

Millions of free covid-19 rapid tests arriving in Americans’ mailboxes are long-awaited vindication for Dr. Michael Mina, who, as a Harvard assistant professor, had been advocating for two years that the best way to limit covid is to identify it quickly, cheaply, and widely with rapid antigen tests so infected people know to isolate themselves. […]

About half of Montana schools that had tested their water by mid-February under a new state rule had high levels of lead, according to state data. But the full picture isn’t clear because fewer than half of the state’s school buildings had provided water samples six weeks after the deadline. For many schools with high […]

Sí, todos estamos agotados por la pandemia de covid. Desconcertados por los constantes cambios en la ciencia y en las directrices. Preocupados por la sucesión de nuevas y temibles variantes, cada una con su propio nombre, como los huracanes. Pero una minoría considerable —casi 17 millones de residentes en los Estados Unidos, entre los que […]

Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen. Click here for a transcript of the episode. Episode 4: Abandoned Mines, Abandoned Health – Part II People living on and near the Navajo Nation have been grappling with the legacy of 40-plus years of uranium mining. According to Environmental Protection Agency cleanup reports and congressional […]

Yes, we are all exhausted by the covid pandemic. Flummoxed by the constantly shifting science and guidelines. Worried about a succession of scary new variants, each with its own name, like hurricanes. But a sizable minority — nearly 17 million U.S. residents, including me — has its own special quandary. Our initial vaccine was Johnson […]

Medicaid enrollees continue to get vaccinated against covid at far lower rates than the general population despite vigorous outreach efforts by government officials and private organizations to get low-income people inoculated, according to data from several states. That leaves many Medicaid enrollees — who tend to be sicker than those with private insurance — at […]

Cuando su hijo vino al mundo, el pasado mes de mayo, Kia Slade estaba embarazada de siete meses, no vacunada, y luchaba por respirar mientras sus niveles de oxígeno caían en picada. Un caso grave de neumonía por covid había dejado a Slade delirando. Recordó que cuando el equipo de terapia intensiva trató de colocarle […]

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. Therapists Aren’t Psychic Your article on the No Surprises Act offered clarity into some difficulties faced by therapists and their patients in determining financial parameters of treatment (“Mental Health Therapists Seek […]

Kia Slade was seven months pregnant, unvaccinated, and fighting for breath, her oxygen levels plummeting, when her son came into the world last May. A severe case of covid pneumonia had left Slade delirious. When the intensive care team tried to place an oxygen mask on her face, she snatched it away, she recalled. Her […]