health care

What Happened Today: Drug Maker Reports Early Success In Vaccine Trial

3:07pm May 19, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Dr. Celine Gounder, an epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist, about what the data tells about the state of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.

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Public health officials worry that the mostly low-income and immigrant populations served by community health centers aren't getting proper health care and testing.

Community Health Centers Struggling As Fewer People Seek Care During Pandemic

1:18pm May 19, 2020

by Marisa Peñaloza

Many immigrants and people with low incomes already saw preventive care as a luxury. Now, the coronavirus pandemic has created another barrier to their seeking and receiving health care.

Dr. Max Lazarus, a medical resident at a hospital on Long Island, N.Y., is one of some 130,000 medical residents in the U.S., many of whom have found themselves on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health & Safety

Doctors In Training Learn Hard Lessons During The Pandemic

9:13pm May 18, 2020

by Will Stone

There are some 130,000 medical residents in the U.S., and many are pulling long shifts in emergency departments and ICUs treating patients infected with the coronavirus.

Coronavirus Update: Vaccine Developer Reports Early Results

5:30pm May 18, 2020

by Richard Harris

The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the U.S. is still on the rise, but there are glimmers of hope. A vaccine developer has reported some encouraging, though early results.

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Health & Safety

How The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic Is Similar To The 1918 Flu Pandemic

4:16pm May 18, 2020

by Tim Mak

Close examinations of the 1918 flu pandemic may give some clues as to what could happen in 2020. The U.S. is already seeing impatience with restrictions similar to ones experienced in 1918.

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A patient arrives to pick up medication for opioid addiction and is given hand sanitizer at a clinic in Olympia, Wash. The pandemic is changing the distribution networks and supplies of street drugs across the United States, authorities say.

Health & Safety

Changes In Opioid Supply Create New Risks As Stay-At-Home Rules Ease

2:23pm May 18, 2020

by Yuki Noguchi

The disruption in the illegal opioid trade had varying impacts around the country. As stay-at-home orders lift, that creates different risks of overdose that public health is trying to manage.

Casa de Salud clinicians, staff and health apprentices socially distance outside their New Mexico clinic. The facility is one of many social safety net clinics that haven't yet received pandemic-related funding and are now on the brink financially.

Health & Safety

Medicaid Clinics And Doctors Have Been Last In Line For COVID-19 Relief Funding

5:00am May 18, 2020

by Julie Rovner

Congress authorized $100 billion to reimburse health care providers for losses linked to the pandemic, but much of that money has gone for Medicare patients, with low-income families left behind.

Hundreds Of Prisoners Have Died In U.S. From Coronavirus

7:41am May 17, 2020

by Jake Harper

At least 25,000 inmates in American prisons have tested positive for the virus. Inmates in Indiana say their complaints are being ignored.

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Health & Safety

The Difference Between Terms Like 'Airborne Spread' And 'Droplet Spread'

7:41am May 17, 2020

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro asks Joshua Santarpia of the University of Nebraska Medical Center about the new research into how the coronavirus is transmitted through the air.

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Federal Government Asked To Tell Hospitals Modify Visit Bans

7:41am May 17, 2020

To stop COVID-19 infections, hospitals banned visitors. But that's hard for patients who can't speak.

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