COVID

Frontline health care workers hold a demonstration on Labor Day outside Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Los Angeles, Monday, Sep. 4, 2023.

Health & Safety

Overworked and understaffed: Kaiser workers are on the brink of a nationwide strike

6:58am September 29, 2023

by Danielle Kaye

More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers at hundreds of U.S. facilities could go on strike for three days starting Wednesday, in the largest health care strike in the county's history.

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The California company iHealth is one of 12 U.S. manufacturers getting an investment from the federal government to provide free tests by mail to people ahead of the winter COVID season.

Health & Safety

Free COVID tests by mail are back, starting Monday

11:34am September 21, 2023

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

People will be able to go to COVIDTests.gov and get four free tests per household, starting next week. The Biden administration says it is trying to prepare for the fall and winter COVID season.

Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have backed a broad rollout of new COVID-19 boosters.

The latest COVID boosters are in for the fall. Here's what that means for you

5:23am September 13, 2023

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Dr. Robert Wachter about the latest round of FDA-approved COVID-19 boosters and how people should think about the coronavirus and its risk.

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New COVID-19 vaccines received the backing of a panel of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday. The shots will be available across the country later this week.

Health & Safety

CDC advisers back broad rollout of new COVID boosters

8:31pm September 12, 2023

A panel of doctors and scientists advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to recommend that people 6 months of age and older get new COVID boosters this fall.

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President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden wave as they arrive at the White House, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023, in Washington after a vacation in Lake Tahoe.

First Lady Jill Biden has tested positive for COVID-19, again

10:24pm September 04, 2023

by Jennifer Ludden

The White House says President Biden tested negative, and will continue to be tested ahead of a planned trip to India this week. The First Lady will remain in Delaware.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is set to become the latest government official to travel to China amid rising tensions between the two countries. The worsening relations are leaving American companies facing an uncertain environment.

Economy

How high tensions between China and the U.S. are impacting American companies

11:56am August 26, 2023

by David Gura

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is set to travel to China at a time when U.S. executives and investors are facing increasing uncertainty and risk doing business there.

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Mandy Cohen speaks at a news conference in 2021.

The new CDC director outlines 3 steps to rebuild trust with the public

5:00am August 02, 2023

Mandy Cohen led North Carolina's department of Health & Human Services throughout the pandemic. Now, she's taking what she learned to the national level.

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Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are ticking up. But even if illnesses keep rising, it appears unlikely that they will hit previous summer peaks.

Health & Safety

The CDC sees signs of a late summer COVID wave

5:59pm July 28, 2023

by Rob Stein

In July, coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and emergency room visits have inched up. Recent summers have seen a bump in COVID-19. This year's rise looks modest so far.

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A new study finds a gap in excess deaths opened between Republicans and Democrats in 2021, after vaccine access was widened to all adults. Here, a Walgreens worker prepares vaccine shots for school staff in Dayton, Ohio, in February 2021.

A political gap in excess deaths widened after COVID-19 vaccines arrived, study says

2:17pm July 25, 2023

by Bill Chappell

After vaccines became widely available in 2021, "the excess death rate among Republican voters was 43% higher than the excess death rate among Democratic voters," Yale researchers say.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is shown leaving 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, in London, on May 25, 2022.

World News

Inquiry finds Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament over 'partygate'

11:44am June 15, 2023

A U.K. parliamentary committee says the former PM's lies over COVID rule breaches were "unprecedented," and recommends he be denied a pass to ever enter the parliament building again.