Medical Treatments

Health & Safety

The Latest Developments In Global Coronavirus Vaccine Competition

4:16pm June 03, 2020

NPR's Sarah McCammon talks with Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health and a White House coronavirus task force member, about the latest in the coronavirus research.

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Routine physical exams once involved fewer gloves, masks and other safety measures. Today, doctors' offices and hospitals are taking many more precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Is It Safe Yet To Get Your Physical Or A Dental Checkup?

12:36pm June 03, 2020

by Alan Yu

Most preventive medical care that can't be handled via telehealth has taken a back seat in recent months, but that's starting to change. Here's what to ask when you schedule an in-person appointment.

At the Salt Lake County Health Department, a woman teaches new contact tracers on May 19 how to identify potential new exposures after a person tests positive for the coronavirus.

Health & Safety

Local Public Health Workers Report Hostile Threats And Fears About Contact Tracing

12:32pm June 03, 2020

by Will Stone

Online misinformation is fueling a backlash in some places against coronavirus containment strategies such as contact tracing and isolation. Some health officials have even received violent threats.

Health & Safety

How The Rush To Develop A New Vaccine May Give A Rise To Public Distrust

5:25pm June 01, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Dr. Brit Trogen about her opinion piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which discusses how historical races for vaccines have fueled public distrust.

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Doctor Answers Listener Questions About The Latest Information On The Pandemic

9:37pm May 29, 2020

Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, answers listener questions about immunity, the probability for another pandemic and the latest information on the coronavirus.

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What Happened Today: Ex-Police Officer In Minneapolis Arrested, Pandemic Questions

9:23pm May 29, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

NPR's Ari Shapiro and Michel Martin are joined by NPR's science correspondent Jon Hamilton to talk about the information about the coronavirus learned since the beginning of the pandemic.

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Health & Safety

For Opioid Users, Pandemic Means New Dangers, But Also New Treatment Options

1:42pm May 29, 2020

by Nina Feldman

Relaxed regulations in response to the pandemic means more access to addiction treatment medications. But recovery programs are accepting fewer people, and the danger of overdose remains high.

People line up in mid-April in Chelsea, Mass., to get antibody tests for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Health & Safety

Antibody Tests Point To Lower Death Rate For The Coronavirus Than First Thought

4:27pm May 28, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

Tests for the immune response to the coronavirus are revealing thousands of people who were infected but never got severely ill. The findings suggest the virus is less deadly than it first appeared.

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What Happened Today: Coronavirus Death Toll Crosses 100,000, Insurance Questions

7:21am May 28, 2020

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

NPR's health policy reporter answers listener questions about what to do and how to get health care after losing health insurance.

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Writer and activist Larry Kramer, here in 1989, was an unapologetically loud and irrepressible voice in the fight against AIDS.

Larry Kramer, Pioneering AIDS Activist And Writer, Dies At 84

5:44pm May 27, 2020

by Neda Ulaby

Kramer was a writer with an Oscar-nominated screenplay when his friends started dying mysteriously — galvanizing him to found the Gay Men's Health Crisis, and later ACT UP, to combat AIDS.

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