Public Health
Covid Politics and Fatigue Work Against Contact-Tracing Foot Soldiers
Health departments nationwide scaled back their contact tracing in late spring or early summer when covid-19 cases started to decrease as vaccination efforts took center stage. Then delta hit. Now state and local health departments are trying to build back operations with depleted resources, as covid fatigue among their workers and the public alike complicate […]
If the Unvaccinated Want to Work, They Face a Series of Hurdles
With the delta variant surging, a growing number of employers are tiring of merely cajoling workers to get vaccinated against covid-19 and are following President Joe Biden’s protocol for federal workers: Either show proof of vaccination, or mask up and get regular testing if you want to work on-site. The federal government — the nation’s […]
Lo que debes saber sobre el refuerzo de la vacuna contra covid
La administración Biden anunció el miércoles 18 de agosto planes para ofrecer refuerzos de la vacuna contra covid-19 a todos los adultos estadounidenses a partir del próximo mes, y dijo que los datos recientes, incluidos algunos disponibles solo en los últimos días, jugaron un papel en esa decisión. “Si esperan a que suceda algo malo […]
Science Shows Mask-Wearing Is Largely Safe for Children
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is one of a handful of Republican governors trying to block school districts from requiring masks in the classroom. Under DeSantis’ direction, the state health department adopted a rule that lets families opt out of locally ordered school mask mandates. The State Board of Education approved another rule that allows parents to secure vouchers for their […]
Federal Vaccine Program Hasn’t Helped Those Whose Lives Were Altered by Covid Shot
Angela Marie Wulbrecht jumped at the first chance to get a covid-19 vaccine, driving three hours from her Santa Rosa, California, home to a mass-vaccination site on Jan. 19. Twelve minutes after her Moderna shot, she stumbled into the paramedic tent with soaring blood pressure and a racing heartbeat. And so began a calvary of […]
Have Vaccines, Will Travel: On the Road With a Covid Entrepreneur
VIRGINIA CITY, Mont. — While many businesses in this southwestern Montana “ghost town” reel in tourists with its mining and Wild West vigilante past, one businessman arrived offering a modern product: covid-19 vaccines. Kyle Austin, a traveling pharmacist, set up his mobile clinic in Virginia City on a recent Saturday, the latest stop on his […]
‘Tainted’ Blood: Covid Skeptics Request Blood Transfusions From Unvaccinated Donors
The nation’s roiling tensions over vaccination against covid-19 have spilled into an unexpected arena: lifesaving blood transfusions. With nearly 60% of the eligible U.S. population fully vaccinated, most of the nation’s blood supply is now coming from donors who have been inoculated, experts said. That’s led some patients who are skeptical of the shots to […]
Heces: la nueva herramienta de detección de covid y otras enfermedades
Desde la reapertura del campus de la Universidad de California-San Diego, el pasado verano, la institución ha recurrido a estrategias de salud pública de probada eficacia, como las pruebas y el rastreo de contactos. Pero también ha añadido una herramienta a su arsenal: excrementos. Esta herramienta alertó a los investigadores de un 85% de los […]
In Rural America, Twisting Arms to Take a Covid Vaccine First Takes Trust
CAIRO, Ill. — Lee Wright was hard at work, constructing a nail salon near the city’s abandoned hospital, when Jody Johnson stopped by to introduce himself on a recent afternoon. Johnson, who works for the University of Illinois Extension program, chatted with Wright casually in the summertime heat. For Johnson, it was the first step […]
The Newest Disease Detection Tool for Covid and Beyond: Poop
Since reopening campus at the University of California-San Diego last summer, university officials have relied on the tried-and-true public health strategies of testing and contact tracing. But they have also added a new tool to their arsenal: excrement. That tool alerted researchers to about 85% of cases in dorms before they were diagnosed, according to […]