Bingeing on Doom: Expert on the ‘Black Death’ Attracts Cult Following
A 2016 series on the 14th-century plague became must-see TV during spring’s COVID-19 outbreak — and flooded Purdue medievalist Dorsey Armstrong with questions about parallels between that pandemic and the current crisis.
Scientists Want to Know More About Using UV Light to Fight COVID-19 Spread
‘Germicidal’ ultraviolet light technology has a proven track record against indoor transmission of tuberculosis and other airborne microbes. It’s now being used in some restaurants and on subways.
Another Problem on the Health Horizon: Medicare Is Running Out of Money
With millions out of work because of the coronavirus pandemic, fewer payroll taxes are coming in to help keep Medicare’s trust fund intact.
Pandemic-Inspired Food Labeling Raises Alarms for Those With Food Allergies
The Food and Drug Administration released new “temporary guidance” for manufacturers facing supply chain shortages that allows them to make some ingredient substitutions without changing food labels. The pandemic had already made finding trusted foods difficult for some people with allergies. Now they’re worrying about what’s actually in their go-to products.
Alarma por nuevas etiquetas nutricionales y alergias, en medio de COVID
Ante la escasez de suministros por la pandemia de COVID-19, la FDA elaboró directrices que permiten a los fabricantes sustituir ingredientes sin cambiar las etiquetas de los alimentos.
Administration Eases Rules to Give Laid-Off Workers More Time to Sign Up for COBRA
Under the federal COBRA law, people who lose health coverage because of a layoff or a reduction in their hours generally have 60 days to decide whether to pay to maintain that coverage. But under new regulations, the clock won’t start ticking until the government says the coronavirus national emergency is over, and then consumers will have 120 days to act.
For COVID Tests, the Question of Who Pays Comes Down to Interpretation
Additional guidance issued late last month by the Trump administration added to the confusion. Some consumers may find themselves unexpectedly on the hook for the cost of a test.
NIH Project Homes In on COVID Racial Disparities
The pandemic has given the National Institutes of Health an opportunity to show the value of its $1.5 billion “All of Us” research program. A major effort to make the platform’s database representative of America resulted in minorities making up more than half of its more than 270,000 volunteers.
Estudio federal analiza COVID-19 y las disparidades raciales en Estados Unidos
Investigadores del NIH tratan de establecer la relación entre factores socioeconómicos como el ingreso, la estructura familiar, la dieta, el acceso a la atención médica y las infecciones por COVID y sus resultados.
KHN’s Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber drills through the vital health care policy stories of the week, so you don’t have to.