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Amid questions about the accuracy of the COVID-19 antibody tests flooding the market 鈥 and the usefulness of the results they provide 鈥 the FDA has belatedly stepped in to try to rein in the chaos.
The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 targets more than just the lungs. New research shows it also penetrates the brain, complicating treatment and risking lifelong damage. And the pandemic limits hospitals from running MRIs or other tests on coronavirus patients.
A growing number of dental offices across the country are now charging patients an 鈥渋nfection control fee鈥 of $10 to $20 to pay for masks, face shields, gowns and air purifiers to help keep the offices free of the coronavirus.
Police in multiple cities are using supposedly 鈥渘onlethal鈥 crowd-control methods from rubber bullets to tear gas bombs to pepper-spray projectiles.
Experts estimate local and state health departments will have to hire 100,000 to 300,000 people as contact tracers to get the economy back on track. Many states are trying hard to hire from the racial and ethnic minority communities hit hardest by the virus.
Relaxed regulations in response to the pandemic means more access to addiction treatment medications. But recovery programs are accepting fewer people, and the danger of overdose remains high.
Xavier Becerra has made battling health care consolidation a priority since he became attorney general. Now that COVID-19 threatens vulnerable health care practices, he鈥檚 pushing to expand his authority to slow health care mergers.
鈥淎n Arm and a Leg鈥 wraps an all-COVID podcast season with three different perspectives on what the pandemic is costing us 鈥 and what might come next.
Safety-net health care programs that keep low-income Californians out of nursing homes are on the chopping block as Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers attempt to plug a massive budget deficit caused by the COVID-19 emergency.
This is a tactic that we鈥檝e seen before.
Last month, the Internal Revenue Service announced it would let employees add, drop or change some of their benefits for the remainder of 2020. The catch: Your employer has to allow the changes. KHN explains how it could work.
KHN executive editor Damon Darlin wades through mounds of health care policy stories 鈥 so you don鈥檛 have to.
Since the start of the pandemic, prisoners and their families have contradicted state officials about the conditions inside Indiana prisons. Many inmates report they’ve had no way to protect themselves from close contact with other inmates and staff members. They believe contracting the coronavirus is inevitable.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has received almost $100,000 from drug companies in the current election cycle, a KHN analysis shows, one of the largest cash hauls in Congress. And it鈥檚 only her first term.
As a journalist, she wrote during the winter about the hostility shown toward Asian Americans for wearing masks. In May, she got cursed at for not wearing a mask herself.
Democrats were not impressed with the Trump administration鈥檚 COVID-19 national testing strategy document submitted to Congress this week. They say the pandemic requires more direction from the federal government, while the administration wants to give nearly all the responsibility to the states. Meanwhile, in an effort to shore up his base of senior voters, President Donald Trump has unveiled a plan to limit what those on Medicare must pay out-of-pocket for insulin. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Erin Mershon of STAT News and Joanne Kenen of Politico join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews KHN鈥檚 Phil Galewitz, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 installment about a patient who thought he might have COVID-19, did everything right and got a big bill, anyway.
The overall crime rate has dropped during the pandemic, but unfortunately gun violence has not. In St. Louis, at least 11 children have been killed by gunfire so far this year. Living in neighborhoods with frequent violence has forced some families to improvise ways to keep their children safe, even in the place they are supposed to be most secure: their home. The stress of growing up in these conditions could lead to chronic health problems into adulthood.
As reopening decisions approach for the fall semester, colleges and universities are casting about for strategies to keep students safe without bankrupting their institutions. A few have natural advantages.
The guidance to stay sheltered as society slowly reopens wears on older Americans, who have a growing sense of isolation and depression.
Some communities considered community antibody testing as a way out of lockdown. But they’ve pulled back as they realized antibody testing is the Wild West in an oversight vacuum.
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