Public Health
Mississippi’s Black Communities Turned Around Their Covid Rates. Next Up: Make Strides on Vaccines.
At its first pop-up vaccination event on April 10, the Northeast Mississippi Coalition Against Covid 19 gave shots to nearly 40 people in Shannon, a town where roughly 60% of some 1,800 residents are African American. Though a fraction of the doses typically given out at large mass vaccination sites, the event was a success, […]
KHN Journalist Combs for Clues on Covid’s Origins
California Healthline editor Arthur Allen discussed the investigation into the origins of the coronavirus on KPBS’ “Midday Edition” on Wednesday. Click here to hear Allen on KPBS Read Allen’s “To the Bat Cave: In Search of Covid’s Origins, Scientists Reignite Polarizing Debate on Wuhan ‘Lab Leak’” Senior Colorado correspondent Markian Hawryluk discussed Colorado’s efforts to […]
Opioids Like ‘Lean’ Permeate Hip-Hop Culture, but Dangers Are Downplayed
Nykerrius Williams knows about the close relationship between hip-hop and opioid use. Williams, 27, an independent rapper from Gibsland, Louisiana, who goes by the name Young Nyke, took oxycodone pills for the first time when he was 16 and has continued patterns of misuse of those pills, as well as Lortabs, Xanax and codeine cough […]
In California, Nursing Home Owners Can Operate After They’re Denied a License
The pandemic has highlighted poor care in America’s nursing homes, where nearly 175,000 people have died of covid-19 — a third of all deaths from the disease nationwide. Even before the pandemic, patient advocates pointed to dangerous conditions in U.S. nursing homes, including staffing shortages and infection control failures. Many nursing homes didn’t provide quality […]
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Return of the Public Option
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on PRX. You can also listen on on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. The “public option” is back — both in Washington, D.C., and the states. President Joe Biden as a candidate supported the idea of a government-run or heavily regulated insurance […]
Confronting Our ‘Frailties’: California’s Assembly Leader Reflects on a Year of Covid
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When his 20-month-old daughter developed a rash earlier this month, Anthony Rendon did what many other parents do when their child is sick: The speaker of the California Assembly took Vienna to her pediatrician — but he did so via video from the comfort and safety of his home. Many Californians have […]
‘Better Than the Hospital’: Pandemic Boosts Care for Serious Illnesses at Home
Late last year, Janet Yetenekian was one of the thousands of people in Southern California whose case of covid-19 was serious enough to send her to the hospital. But Yetenekian’s recovery was not typical: She received hospital-level care in her own home in Glendale. “It was even better than the hospital,” Yetenekian said, laughing. “They […]
Lady Gaga and J.Lo Sell ‘Well’ Building Seal, But It’s a Payday, Not a PSA
Viewers could be excused for thinking Robert De Niro was just being a good fella in an ad promoting safe buildings amid the covid pandemic, along with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Michael B. Jordan. They would be wrong. De Niro and the other A-list celebs are backing something called the Well […]
Minneapolis Police Injured Protesters With Rubber Bullets. The City Has Taken Little Action.
(Editor’s note: This is a follow-up to last year’s joint investigation by KHN and USA Today finding that police in several cities violated their own crowd-control policies during protests over racial injustice and police brutality.) As police in riot gear approached the demonstrators, Soren Stevenson raised his hands like scores of others and called out, […]
Corporations Encourage Employee Vaccination but Stop Short of Mandates
Many of the companies with the largest number of employees say they’ll do almost anything to encourage their employees to get vaccinated. But a survey of some of them found that none would be inclined to mandate shots as a condition for holding a job. Almost all 15 companies surveyed — among the largest and […]