Latest California Healthline Stories
Ask KHN-PolitiFact: Is My Cloth Mask Good Enough to Face the Delta Variant?
Public health experts increasingly urge people to upgrade to surgical masks, but also maintain that cloth masks still offer protection.
La máscara de tela, ¿es suficiente para proteger contra la variante delta?
Las máscaras siguen siendo una pieza fundamental en la lucha contra la pandemia, porque las personas se infectan principalmente con el SARS-CoV-2, el virus que causa covid-19, al inhalar pequeñas partículas de aerosol que permanecen en el ambiente y las gotas respiratorias que se producen al toser y estornudar.
Scientists Examine Kids’ Unique Immune Systems as More Fall Victim to Covid
Doctors are trying to figure out why some kids become much sicker than others and, in rare cases, don’t survive.
Científicos analizan los sistemas inmunes únicos de los niños mientras más son víctimas de covid
Aunque no hay evidencia de que la variante delta cause una enfermedad más grave, el virus es tan infeccioso que los niños están siendo hospitalizados en gran número, principalmente en estados con bajas tasas de vacunación.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Much Ado About Drug Prices
Democrats have hit a snag in their effort to compile a $3.5 trillion social-spending bill this fall — moderates are resisting support for Medicare drug price negotiation provisions that would pay for many of the measure’s health benefit improvements. Meanwhile, the new abortion restrictions in Texas have moved the divisive issue back to the political front burner. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interview’s KHN’s Phil Galewitz about the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment, about two similar jaw surgeries with very different price tags.
When Covid Deaths Are Dismissed or Stigmatized, Grief Is Mixed With Shame and Anger
After their brother died, two sisters faced a barrage of misinformation, pandemic denialism and blaming questions. Grief experts say that makes covid-19 the newest kind of “disenfranchising death.”
How Fauci and the NIH Got Ahead of the FDA and CDC in Backing Boosters
With real-time data streaming in from highly specialized researchers in the U.S. and abroad, NIH scientists became convinced that boosting the covid-19 vaccine was needed to save lives, prompting the president to announce a plan with a Sept. 20 start date. Scientists at the regulatory agencies weren’t yet convinced. A meeting Friday will determine what happens next. Here’s the story from behind the scenes.
Biden Releases a New Plan to Combat Covid, but Experts Say There’s Still a Ways to Go
There’s agreement that the plan includes important action items but also elements that will trigger political opposition.
ICUs Are Filled With Covid — And Regret
Unvaccinated people are filling intensive care beds and dying of covid in record numbers in Tennessee and other Southern states. Many tell their nurses and doctors they regret the decision not to get the vaccine when they could.
Journalists Explain Ramifications of Theranos Trial and Texas’ New Abortion Law
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.