Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Student Nurses Who Refuse Vaccination Struggle to Complete Degrees
The Biden administration is requiring workers at health care facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid payments to be vaccinated. For the minority of nursing students who have refused a shot, the new policy could mean they can’t get the training they need in a hospital or other health care venue.
Listen: California Banks on a Bold Treatment: Pay Drug Users to Stop Using
As the pandemic has raged so has the country’s drug epidemic. California is looking to a controversial solution for certain drug users, but despite its effectiveness, critics have scoffed at the idea calling it unethical or a bribe.
Racism a Strong Factor in Black Women’s High Rate of Premature Births, Study Finds
Dr. Paula Braveman, director of UCSF’s Center on Social Disparities in Health, shares her insights on a provocative new study that identifies racism as a decisive factor in the gap in preterm birth rates between Black and white women.
Santa Cruz Health Officials Honored for Persevering in Covid Battle Against Tide of ‘Denialism’
Mimi Hall and Dr. Gail Newel, health director and health officer for Santa Cruz County, California, will receive PEN America’s 2021 PEN/Benenson Courage Award for soldiering forward in their work amid death threats and personal attacks.
A Colorado Town Is About as Vaccinated as It Can Get. Covid Still Isn’t Over There.
San Juan County, Colorado, is one of the most vaccinated counties in the U.S. Leaders across the country continue to expound on the vaccine as the path forward in the pandemic. But San Juan’s experience the past few weeks with its first covid hospitalizations shows that, even with an extremely vaccinated population, masks are still necessary.
Readers and Tweeters Feel Americans’ Pain
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Covid Is Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of Urbanites
The pandemic is devastating rural America, where lower vaccination rates are compounding the already limited medical care.
Hospitals Confront Climate Change as Patients Sick From Floods and Fires Crowd ERs
Patients sickened in heat waves, flooding and wildfire have raised awareness of climate change’s impact on health. Now, some hospitals are building solar panels and cutting waste to reduce their own carbon footprints, with support from a new office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But the industry is moving slowly.
The ‘Burn Scars’ of Wildfires Threaten the West’s Drinking Water
Sediment from massive blazes chokes rivers and reservoirs, contaminating water supplies. The problem is only getting worse as climate change intensifies wildfires and lengthens the fire season.
Firefighters on Front Lines, No Strangers to Risk, Push Back Against Covid Vaccine Mandates
Among the people still reluctant to get vaccinated — and pushing against mandates — are firefighters, many of whom also respond to medical calls as paramedics and EMTs and have witnessed the ravages of the pandemic firsthand.