Medical Treatments

Only 28% of the factories that make active ingredients for pharmaceuticals for the domestic market are located in the U.S., according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Health & Safety

What Would It Take To Bring More Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Back To The U.S.?

1:13pm April 24, 2020

by Sydney Lupkin

Experts say it could be dangerous to rely on overseas production of medicine in a crisis, but the U.S. largely does. Rebuilding domestic capacity would take years and substantial investments.

A pathologist holds a vial from a COVID-19 test kit. Various bottlenecks in the U.S. that have constrained widespread testing for the coronavirus were problems in February and persist today.

Why The Warning That Coronavirus Was On The Move In U.S. Cities Came So Late

10:38am April 24, 2020

by Lauren Sommer

U.S. health officials said equipping six cities with extra testing would pick up under-the-radar viral spread. But an NPR investigation finds conflicts and shortages caused painful delays.

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A fatigued health care worker takes a moment outside the Brooklyn Hospital Center in April. Many hospital workers these days have to cope with horrific tragedies playing out multiple times on a single, 12-hour shift.

Health & Safety

Trauma On The Pandemic's Front Line Leaves Health Workers Reeling

7:49pm April 23, 2020

by Yuki Noguchi

Hospital workers face stresses right now that can compare to fighting a war, and recent research suggests medical staff could be among the hardest hit by the mental health effects of the pandemic.

Health & Safety

Critical Care Doctor Explains Directives Followed In Near-Death Cases

9:35pm April 22, 2020

Dr. Jessica Zitter, a critical and palliative care specialist takes listener questions about advanced directives that doctors follow in critical situations.

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Nurses reposition an intubated COVID-19 patient in a prone position in the intensive care unit at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, Chula Vista, Calif., on April 10.

Health & Safety

After The ICU, Many COVID-19 Survivors Face A Long Recovery

4:42pm April 21, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

David Williams, 54, spent eight days on a ventilator after he got COVID-19. Weeks after being discharged from the hospital, he still needs an oxygen tube and a walker.

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Health & Safety

Nurse Of Non-COVID-19 Patients On Her Life As An Essential Worker Now

4:10pm April 21, 2020

Nurse Maria Lim works in a rehabilitation facility in Orange County, Calif. She is an essential worker who gives us her aural journal this week.

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People stand in line as they wait to get tested for COVID-19 at a just-opened testing center in the Harlem section of New York on Monday.

Study Raises Questions About False Negatives From Quick COVID-19 Test

11:33am April 21, 2020

by Rob Stein

New research suggests the Abbott ID NOW test, which produces results in less than 15 minutes, is the most likely among common tests to reassure people they are not infected when they really are.

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Health & Safety

Global Health Expert Answers The Most Common Coronavirus Questions

9:51am April 21, 2020

by Pien Huang

Global health expert Dr. Abraar Karan and NPR's Pien Huang answer the most common listener questions on the spread of the coronavirus, its symptoms, testing and treatment.

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A hospital patient in Stamford, Conn., who has COVID-19 symptoms gets his temperature checked. Severe infections with the novel coronavirus have been unusually high among African Americans and Latinos in many hospitals.

Health & Safety

Opinion: U.S. Must Avoid Building Racial Bias Into COVID-19 Emergency Guidance

7:00am April 21, 2020

States are releasing "Crisis Standards of Care" guidelines, aimed at helping desperate hospitals discern how to allocate scarce resources. But the guidance doesn't factor in health care inequalities.

Health & Safety

Global Health Expert Answers More Common Coronavirus Questions

10:52pm April 20, 2020

by Pien Huang

Global health expert Dr. Abraar Karan and NPR's Pien Huang answer the most common listener questions on the spread of the coronavirus, its symptoms, testing and treatment.