Latest Morning Briefing Stories
One California University Has Unified Town and Gown to Fight Covid. Why Haven’t Others?
The University of California-Davis has spent close to $50 million preventing the spread of covid on campus — and among residents and workers in the adjacent city of Davis. By most accounts, this town-gown experiment has paid off nicely.
The NFL Has Been Using an Unproven Measure to Get Players With Covid Back on the Field Fast
Doctors and scientists are debating whether a little-known measure in covid testing should be used to distinguish who is infectious from who isn’t. The NFL adopted the practice, but laboratory professionals caution against its use.
Charts Paint a Grim Picture 2 Years Into the Coronavirus Pandemic
The on-off nature of the pandemic “has led to a lot of the confusion and grumpiness,” says one expert. Another compares it to the exhaustion of the American public when hearing body counts during the Vietnam War.
Watch: California’s Top Health Adviser on Learning to Live With Covid
KHN Senior Correspondent Samantha Young joined California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly for an engaging conversation about how California moves forward in an environment in which covid persists, but at more manageable levels.
When Teens Blow Off Parents’ Pleas to Get Vaccinated, the Consequences Can Be Deadly
Kennedy Stonum, a 17-year-old high school junior, resisted getting vaccinated against covid-19, as did 20-year-old Tyler Gilreath, whose mother had nagged him for months to get the shots. Both died.
Poco más del 57% de los adolescentes de 12 a 17 años y el 62% de los jóvenes de 18 a 24 años están completamente vacunados. Para estas franjas de edad covid también puede ser mortal.
HIV Preventive Care Is Supposed to Be Free in the US. So, Why Are Some Patients Still Paying?
The Department of Labor issued rules in July clarifying that health plans need to cover the costs of prescription drugs proven to prevent HIV infection, along with related lab tests and medical appointments, at no cost to patients. More than half a year later, the erroneous billing continues.
To Be One in a Million: ‘Who Thinks It’s Going to Be You?’
Stan Thomas’ wife, Monica Melkonian, was one of only nine people in the U.S. confirmed to have died from vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia, a rare side effect associated with the Johnson & Johnson covid vaccine. For the first time, Thomas shares her story of how excited she was to get the shot, how she died, and why he remains firmly pro-vaccine.
Covid Expert Joins Exodus Into Business, Where Science Parlays Into Profits
Like others in academia or government who’ve served as public health advisers during the pandemic, Dr. Michael Mina traded his university role for a commercial venture. He recently took a top job at eMed, a startup that charges a premium price for monitoring at-home covid tests. Can experts do well by trying to do good?
This episode is the second half of a two-part series about uranium mining on the Navajo Nation. A coalition of Indigenous leaders and non-Native locals are lobbying Congress and fielding research to force the cleanup of abandoned uranium mining sites and expand federal compensation for workers harmed by the uranium industry.