health care

Health & Safety

How First Responders Are Dealing With Coronavirus

11:04am March 07, 2020

Local ambulance and emergency medical service agencies were already on tight budgets before coronavirus. A local ambulance crew and the head of a national EMS organization tell us their concerns.

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As The World Struggles To Contain Coronavirus, Scientists Race To Develop Vaccine

10:22am March 07, 2020

Scientists are racing to create a vaccine to protect people against the new strain of the coronavirus. But while researchers are making fast progress, a vaccine is probably more than a year away.

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U.S. Hospitals Fear Coronavirus Crunch

7:12pm March 06, 2020

by Martin Kaste

Most people with the coronavirus get only mild symptoms, but some need intensive care. If the wave of infections is big enough, the very sick patients could swamp hospital intensive care units.

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Nursing Homes Brace For Coronavirus Threats

4:45pm March 06, 2020

by Ina Jaffe

Many of the deaths from coronavirus have been at a nursing home in Kirkland, Wash. Nursing homes face numerous problems controlling infection.

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What's In The $8.3B Coronavirus Aid Package

4:13pm March 06, 2020

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

The coronavirus funding bill just signed into law by the president puts over $8 billion dollars into the epidemic response. We break down what that money is actually for, and what might be missing.

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"Access to testing is really the major tool we have right now to fight this new coronavirus," says Dr. Keith Jerome, who runs a University of Washington lab in Seattle that can now test for the virus.

Health & Safety

When Coronavirus Struck Seattle, This Lab Was Ready To Start Testing

6:00pm March 05, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

Scientists at the University of Washington's medical school began working on a test for coronavirus back in January. Now they're using it to fight an outbreak in their own backyard.

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At least 100 people aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship will be tested for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 after a former passenger died from the disease this week. The ship is seen here in a photo from 2001.

Coronavirus: Cruise Ship In Limbo Off California After A Former Passenger Died

3:56pm March 05, 2020

by Bill Chappell

At least 21 people are showing symptoms of COVID-19 after traveling on the same ship as a passenger who died from the respiratory disease this week. The ship is now returning from Hawaii.

The Trump administration said Wednesday that inspectors will be dispatched to determine whether staff at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., followed infection-control rules in the weeks leading up to deaths of residents there from COVID-19.

Health & Safety

Trump Administration Announces New Scrutiny Of Nursing Homes

11:39am March 05, 2020

by Jordan Rau

Health inspectors are to be "hyperfocused on infection control right now," officials say, as they suss out what allowed COVID-19 to spread in a Kirkland, Wash., nursing home.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom displays a bottle of hand sanitizer while saying the state would take action against price gouging because of the coronavirus, at a Capitol news conference in Sacramento, Calif., on Wednesday.

Coronavirus Deaths In Washington State And California, Where Gov. Declares Emergency

9:27pm March 04, 2020

by Bill Chappell

Two more people have died from COVID-19, raising the U.S. death toll to 11. The most recent fatality is connected to a cruise ship that traveled from the U.S. to Mexico.

Health care workers bring a patient into an ambulance at Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash. Two deceased residents of the eldercare facility had posthumous diagnoses of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

Who Faces The Greatest Risk Of Severe Illness From Coronavirus?

4:43pm March 04, 2020

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The data from China offer insights into the way different age groups are affected after being infected.