health care

Joe Cipollone of Ventec Life Systems explains the company's critical care ventilator to General Motors employees who will be helping to produce the ventilators at a GM plant in Kokomo, Ind., on Friday.

Health & Safety

FEMA Hadn't Ordered Ventilators. Manufacturers Forged Ahead Anyway

1:35pm April 01, 2020

by Camila Domonoske

Medical technology companies — sometimes working with carmakers — have been massively increasing production of ventilators. For two weeks, they've been working without government contracts in hand.

The Austin Public Health investigation centers around a group of students who traveled together to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

28 College Students Who Chartered A Spring Break Plane To Mexico Now Have Coronavirus

12:44pm April 01, 2020

by Bill Chappell

All of the people who have tested positive are students at the University of Texas at Austin. Some of the group returned on separate commercial flights — widening the potential spread of infection.

Hospital Workers: Tell Us Your Coronavirus Experience

11:58am April 01, 2020

by Meg Anderson

NPR is seeking health care providers working in hospitals to document their personal experiences working during the coronavirus pandemic.

Health & Safety

Questions For An Emergency Medicine Doctor And An Epidemiologist About COVID-19

10:56am April 01, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with emergency medicine physician Dr. Megan Ranney about treating COVID-19 patients, and UCLA epidemiologist Anne Rimoin answers questions about the spread of the virus.

FACT CHECK: Should People Cover Their Faces With Scarves Like Trump Said?

10:44pm March 31, 2020

by Barbara Sprunt

In a briefing with the coronavirus task force, President Trump answered a question about a supply shortage of masks by suggesting that the public wear scarves instead.

Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, discussed one of the models used to estimate potential deaths from coronavirus in U.S. during a briefing Tuesday.

Health & Safety

Models Of Epidemic Predict Huge U.S. Death Toll; Scientists Hope For Better Outcome

8:42pm March 31, 2020

by Dan Charles

Computer models predict that between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans will die from COVID-19 in the months ahead. Administration officials said public health interventions could still lower the toll.

Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, March 10th, 2020.

To Stop The Pandemic, Seema Verma Is 'Getting Rid Of A Lot Of Regulations'

7:41pm March 31, 2020

by Mary Louise Kelly

As head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Verma says she's working to ease safety rules and lighten licensing requirements, to expand the number of hospital beds and health workers.

Health & Safety

Medicare And Medicaid Administrator Addresses U.S. Health Care Response To COVID-19

4:22pm March 31, 2020

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, about the administration's ongoing response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Queue Listen Now

Spanish Health Care Workers Don't Need To Be 'Heroes' — They Want Medical Equipment

4:15pm March 31, 2020

by Lucía Benavides

In Spain, 9,000 health care workers have contracted the coronavirus. Doctors say instead of calling them "heroes," the government must provide basic protective gear to medical staff.

Rohingya refugees wait at a relief distribution point in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh on March 24.

Refugee Camps Face COVID-19: 'If We Do Nothing, The Harm Is Going To Be So Extreme'

1:26pm March 31, 2020

by Malaka Gharib

NPR spoke to humanitarian aid researcher Paul Spiegel about his analysis of conditions in the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh — and the outlook for refugees everywhere as the coronavirus looms.