health care

A staffer checks on a ventilator in an intensive care unit in Chennai, India, Friday. States in the U.S. are coming up with plans for what to do if they run out of ventilators and other supplies.

HHS Warns States Not To Put People With Disabilities At The Back Of The Line For Care

7:23pm March 28, 2020

by Joseph Shapiro

States are preparing guidelines for when there's not enough care to go around. Disability groups are worried that those standards will allow rationing that excludes people with disabilities.

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After an initial verbal screening, one driver at a time gets a COVID-19 nasal swab test from a garbed health worker at a drive-up station in Daly City, Calif.

Health & Safety

Why It Takes So Long To Get Most COVID-19 Test Results

4:32pm March 28, 2020

by Julie Appleby

Even many symptomatic patients and exposed health workers who are able to get a COVID-19 test must wait nearly a week to get results. Others get results in hours. Here's why it varies so much.

Health & Safety

Questions For An ER Doctor Who Contracted COVID-19

9:40pm March 27, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Dr. Brent Russell, an emergency room doctor in Ketchum, Idaho, about how he became ill with COVID-19 and his subsequent recovery from the disease.

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U.S. Tops 100,000 Coronavirus Cases, Testing Kits, Equipment Still In Short Supply

7:51pm March 27, 2020

by Vanessa Romo

Data from Johns Hopkins University, which tracks the global spread of the disease, shows more than 1,500 people have died of the disease in the U.S. as of Friday evening.

President Trump signs the CARES act, a $2 trillion rescue package to provide economic relief amid the coronavirus outbreak, at the Oval Office of the White House on Friday.

President Trump Signs $2 Trillion Coronavirus Rescue Package Into Law

5:58pm March 27, 2020

The CARES Act offers relief to state and local governments, individuals, small and large businesses, and hospitals affected by the coronavirus crisis.

New York City Hospital Director Says Equipment Supply Will Only Last Through March

4:26pm March 27, 2020

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals, about how the coronavirus is already challenging hospitals in New York City.

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Doctors test hospital staff with flu-like symptoms for the coronavirus outside the Emergency Department at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. Not all New York City hospitals are able to do coronavirus tests on-site.

'It's Like Something's Right In Your Grasp': Hospitals Struggle To Test For Virus

2:57pm March 27, 2020

by Rebecca Hersher

Despite a statewide effort to procure and distribute coronavirus testing supplies to hospitals in New York, some facilities still don't have what they need to test patients quickly on-site.

The mouthpiece of a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device delivers enough pressurized air to keep the breathing passage of someone who has obstructive sleep apnea open throughout the night.

CPAP Machines Were Seen As Ventilator Alternatives, But Could Spread COVID-19

1:12pm March 27, 2020

by Markian Hawryluk

Doctors say the machine that helps some people with sleep apnea keep their airway open at night won't be enough to help an ill COVID-19 patient breathe and could spread the coronavirus to bystanders.

Coffins of deceased people stored in a warehouse near Bergamo — a city at the heart of Italy's coronavirus crisis — before being transported to another region for cremation.

Why 'Death Rates' From Coronavirus Can Be Deceiving

11:35am March 27, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

"Case fatality rates have been very confusing," says Dr. Steven Lawrence, an infectious disease expert. Here's why.

Suboxone, a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone, helps many people addicted to opioids wean themselves from an escalating drug habit. But counseling and social support are key to successful treatment, too, experts say.

Health & Safety

Opioid Addiction Is 'A Disease Of Isolation,' So Pandemic Puts Recovery At Risk

10:05am March 27, 2020

by Martha Bebinger

People in recovery from opioid or alcohol addiction are weathering a new storm of depression, anxiety and isolation these days, as 12-step programs move online and detox centers close their doors.