Covid-19

With Federal Covid Sick Leave Gone, Workers Feel Pressure to Show Up at Work

National paid sick leave provisions for covid expired, and an uncertain covid winter is around the corner. Los Angeles and Oakland are among the places trying to fill the gap, but many employees still face financial pressure to go to work while sick.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Big Biden Budget Bill Passes the House

President Joe Biden’s social spending budget is on its way to the U.S. Senate, where Democratic leaders are (optimistically) hoping to complete work by the end of the year. Meanwhile, covid is surging again in parts of the country, along with the political divides it continues to cause. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner previews next week’s Supreme Court abortion oral arguments with Florida State University law professor Mary Ziegler.

Success of Covid Antiviral Pills Hinges on Access to Speedy and Accurate Tests

The promising antiviral drugs to treat covid can halt hospitalizations and deaths, but only if they’re given to patients within three to five days of their first symptoms, a narrow window many people won’t meet. Here’s why.