Public Health

‘We’re Not Controlling It in Our Schools’: Covid Safety Lapses Abound Across U.S.

An analysis found more than 780 covid-related complaints covering more than 2,000 public and private K-12 schools. The pleas likely represent only a small portion of the problems.

  • By Laura Ungar, Kaiser Health News

Public Health Systems Still Aren’t Ready for the Next Pandemic

The coronavirus outbreak has highlighted longstanding problems with neglect and underfunding of the nation’s public health system by all levels of government.

  • By Christine Vestal and Michael Ollove, Stateline

Biden Announces Covid Vaccine Surge to States

States will see more doses of the vaccine beginning next week and greater transparency about future shipments under the administration’s plan.

  • By Andrea Noble

Anti-Vaccine Activists Peddle Theories That Covid Shots Are Deadly, Undermining Vaccination

"If an anti-vaccine group uses a single case, where no link has been proven, to discourage people from vaccination, that’s terrible."

  • By Liz Szabo, Kaiser Health News

The U.S. Must Do More to Care for Its Caregivers

COMMENTARY | Older Americans receive generous benefits, but the immigrants who support them receive little from the government.

  • By Catherine S. Ramírez and Glenn Kramon, The Atlantic

Rural Health Care is in Crisis—Here are Five Innovative Ways Biden Can Help it Transform

COMMENTARY | Twenty percent of the nation's population lives in rural areas, which in recent years have seen hospital closures and other health care challenges. The solutions will require more than just focusing on expanding broadband or insurance coverage.

  • By Lauren Hughes and Sameer Vohra, The Conversation

Surgeon General Nominee: Time to Rebuild Local Health Departments

"We cannot afford to be caught in the same position we are in now, with an infrastructure that is fragmented, with data systems that don't talk to each other, with personnel that are overtaxed."

  • By Bill Lucia

Ski Patrol Before Teachers? States Criticized Over Vaccine Timelines

State officials chose which groups are next in line for coronavirus vaccines. Now some are facing criticism over who they prioritized.

  • By Andrea Noble

Liaisons to Each State, Full National Guard Reimbursement Are Part of Biden's Virus Response Plan

On his second day in office, President Joe Biden outlined a wide-ranging coronavirus response strategy, shifting toward a more national approach than the Trump administration's.

  • By Bill Lucia

Dallas County Axes Plan to Prioritize Vaccinating Communities of Color After State Threatens to Slash Allocation

State officials told Dallas leadership the plan was "not acceptable," and threatened to cut the county's vaccine supply.

  • By Juan Pablo Garnham and Emma Platoff, The Texas Tribune

Some Health Care Workers Refuse Covid Vaccine

One survey found 15% of health care workers who were offered a coronavirus vaccine didn't want it.

  • By Andrea Noble

With Fewer Resources, Rural America Tackles Vaccine Distribution

Rural clinics face unique challenges in connecting perishable vaccines with residents who often live miles away.

  • By Elizabeth Miller, Undark
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The Pandemic is Hurting Child Care. Parents are Paying the Price.

About 700,000 parents left their jobs to care for their kids after child care centers closed, according to a recent analysis.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

America’s Most Reliable Pandemic Data Are Now at Risk

The Biden administration has to make a choice: Should it undo a vital system that Trump’s health department created?

  • By Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic

'The Internet Has Made Us Dumber,' and Other Lessons Government Officials Learned in 2020

State and local officials weigh in on what they're taking from—and leaving behind in—the dumpster fire that was last year.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

The Simple Reason West Virginia Leads the Nation in Vaccinating Nursing Home Residents

COMMENTARY | Other states were still far behind when West Virginia became the first state to finish round one of the two-dose vaccine series in nursing homes. What did the state do differently?

  • By Tinglong Dai, The Conversation

Biden Plan Would Direct $400 Billion to Vaccine, Public Health Initiatives

The president-elect’s $1.9 trillion plan includes funding for a national Covid-19 vaccination program, expanded testing capacity, and safety measures to help reopen schools.

  • By Andrea Noble

Customers Won't Wear a Mask? One State Says to Call the Police.

Updated guidance from the New Hampshire Attorney General's office instructs businesses to call local law enforcement for assistance if customers simply refuse to comply with a statewide mask mandate.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Jordan’s Story: Isolated, Anxious and Failing Online Classes, an 11-Year-Old Texas Boy Considered Suicide

Months of remote learning were hard on the Frisco ISD student. Like other schoolchildren across the state, he experienced mental health issues, in large part due to social isolation during the pandemic.

  • By Aliyya Swaby, The Texas Tribune

Interest Groups Lobby to Get Ahead in Vaccine Line

The lobbying to be in the "1B category" has been intense in many states. Advocates for older adults, teachers, restaurant workers, agricultural workers and others are pleading their cases.

  • By Elaine S. Povich, Stateline

Random People Are Lining Up to Get Vaccinated in D.C. Grocery Stores

Pharmacies have started quietly offering leftover Covid-19 shots to anyone around. You can guess where this goes.

  • By Jacob Stern, The Atlantic