health care

Mary Estime-Irvin, a councilwoman in North Miami, Fla., writes the name of a friend lost to COVID-19 on a symbolic tombstone that is part of a pandemic memorial at Griffing Park in North Miami in October.

Health & Safety

As Death Rate Accelerates, U.S. Records 400,000 Lives Lost To The Coronavirus

4:22pm January 19, 2021

by Will Stone

Although vaccination has begun, this winter has been the deadliest season of the pandemic. The U.S. death toll jumped from 300,000 to 400,000 in just five weeks.

Dr. Rachel Levine has previously won state Senate confirmation in Pennsylvania, including a unanimous vote in 2015 to endorse her as Pennsylvania's physician general.

Biden To Nominate Transgender Doctor Rachel Levine As Assistant Health Secretary

4:00pm January 19, 2021

by Bill Chappell

Dr. Rachel Levine is currently the secretary of health in Pennsylvania, where she leads the state's fight against COVID-19.

An illustration shows medical student Elizabeth Blackwell at Geneva Medical College (later Hobart College) in upstate New York, as she eyes a note dropped onto her arm by a male student, during a lecture in the college's operating room.

'Doctors Blackwell' Tells The Story Of 2 Pioneering Sisters Who Changed Medicine

2:40pm January 19, 2021

by Dave Davies

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman in America to earn her medical degree. Her sister Emily followed in her footsteps. Janice Nimura tells the story of the "complicated, prickly" trailblazers.

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Tents of homeless people line a street in Washington, D.C., in April.

Health & Safety

For Many Areas, Count Of Homeless Population Is Canceled, Or Delayed

1:04am January 19, 2021

by Pam Fessler

The annual street survey of homeless people is being delayed or put off completely in some parts of the U.S. during the pandemic, even as the country's unsheltered population appears to be growing.

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NIH Director On The State Of The Pandemic In The U.S.

4:19pm January 18, 2021

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins about the ongoing pandemic, delays in the mass vaccination campaign and the impending political transition.

Sandra's 17-year-old daughter, Lindsey, has autism. Lindsey thrives on routine, and got special help at school until the coronavirus pandemic cut her off from the trained teachers and therapists she'd come to rely on.

'I've Tried Everything': Pandemic Worsens Child Mental Health Crisis

11:47am January 18, 2021

When schools closed last spring, children with severe mental illnesses were cut off from the services they'd come to rely on. Many have since spiraled into emergency rooms and even police custody.

People lined up to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination site in Disneyland's parking lot in Anaheim, Calif. on Jan. 13. The state says all residents 65 or older are now eligible to receive the vaccine.

OPINION: Moral Tragedy Looms In Early Chaos Of U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

7:00am January 16, 2021

As states suddenly expand the categories of people eligible for the first scarce shipments of vaccine, who will be watching to make sure those hit hardest by the pandemic aren't left behind?

President-elect Joe Biden has released a $1.9 trillion proposal to help control the pandemic and bring economic relief to Americans.

'We're In A War With This Virus': Biden Lays Out COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan

7:03pm January 15, 2021

by Pien Huang

President-Elect Joe Biden shares details of how his administration hopes to tackle the country's public health crisis. It's an aggressive plan that he needs Congress to fund.

The Trump administration's decision to relax rules regarding the prescription of buprenorphine comes as record-level drug overdose deaths occurred in the U.S. in the 12 months ending in June 2020.

Trump Administration Will Let More Doctors Prescribe Drug To Fight Opioid Addiction

4:46pm January 15, 2021

The change means that doctors will no longer need a special federal waiver in order to prescribe buprenorphine, a medication to treat opioid use disorder.

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Lydia Mobley, an ICU nurse pictured on Dec. 18, 2020, when she received her first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, says her hospital in central Michigan is "seeing more COVID patients, which means more people dying."

Health & Safety

ICU Nurse Says Careless Attitudes Around COVID-19 Are 'A Slap In The Face'

11:20am January 15, 2021

by Ailsa Chang

Lydia Mobley has experienced the pandemic's deadliest days from the inside of a Michigan hospital. "You see people not wearing masks. And then you go to work and you watch people die," the nurse says.

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