Public Health

The pandemic's dramatic reducuction of ordinary flu could decrease effectivess of future flu vaccines

Fri, 2021-03-26 12:10 — mike kraft

The pandemic dramatically reduced flu cases. That could backfire. The low levels of flu during the Covid-19 pandemic have left experts with a much smaller pool of data used for predicting which flu strains will predominate next winter. Jasmine Hilton POLITICO

Precautions aimed at tamping down the coronavirus helped nearly eradicate last year’s flu season — but that could backfire by making it harder to develop effective vaccines for next winter’s flu.

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Michigan governor says she is unlikely to tighten restrictions although virus surges in state

Fri, 2021-03-26 11:54 — mike kraft

Michigan not likely to tighten restrictions as virus surges in state Michigan is unlikely to tighten coronavirus restrictions as virus infections increase in the state. Cameron Jenkins TheHill

Michigan is unlikely to tighten coronavirus restrictions as virus infections increase in the state.

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New York remains committed to contact tracing despite dropoffs elsewhere

Fri, 2021-03-26 10:08 — mike kraft

As contact tracing ebbs in parts of US, NYC stays committed NEW YORK (AP) — Coronavirus contact tracing programs across the U.S. scaled back their ambitions as cases surged in winter, but New York City has leaned into its $600 million tracing... AP NEWS

NEW YORK (AP) — Coronavirus contact tracing programs across the U.S. scaled back their ambitions as cases surged in winter, but New York City has leaned into its $600 million tracing initiative.

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New studies: Hundreds of thousands of American coronvirus deaths could have been avoided by more widespread precautions

Thu, 2021-03-25 19:20 — mike kraft

U.S. COVID response could have avoided hundreds of thousands of deaths: research The United States squandered both money and lives in its response to the coronavirus pandemic, and it could have avoided nearly 400,000 deaths with a more effective health strategy and trimmed federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars while still supporting those... Howard Schneider U.S.

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U.S. COVID cases are climbing again as they did in Israel before vaccinations

Thu, 2021-03-25 17:05 — mike kraft

U.S. COVID cases are climbing again. The same thing happened in Israel — before vaccination crushed the variants. It’s official: After falling for more than two straight months, the average number of daily COVID-19 cases across the U.S. has begun — just barely — to rise again. YahooNews

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White House to spend $10 billion to help vaccinate low income areas, including funds for community health centers

Thu, 2021-03-25 13:44 — mike kraft

White House to spend $10 billion to bolster vaccine effort WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House announced Thursday that it is dedicating another $10 billion to try to drive up vaccination rates in low-income, minority and rural enclaves throughout the... AP NEWS

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House announced Thursday that it is dedicating another $10 billion to try to drive up vaccination rates in low-income, minority and rural enclaves throughout the country.

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Department of HHS report on how the coronavirus pandemic battered U.S. hospitals >

Wed, 2021-03-24 13:25 — mike kraft

A year fighting a global pandemic leaves US hospitals in shambles, new report finds Burned out medical staff suffering from trauma and in some cases PTSD, the erosion of public trust in hospitals, and frustration over the "unpredictable and insufficient" supply of vaccines are just some of the problems outlined in a new report on US hospitals released by the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general Wednesday. Kristen Holmes, CNN CNN

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America's COVID-19 future depends on the vaccine-hesitant

Tue, 2021-03-23 21:12 — mike kraft

America Is Now in the Hands of the Vaccine-Hesitant A subset of Americans haven’t yet made up their mind about getting a COVID-19 shot. Whether they turn out in the coming weeks will determine the future of the pandemic. Daniel Engber The Atlantic

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How Detroit chefs are working with organizations to help feed those in need

Tue, 2021-03-23 18:49 — mike kraft

It's been just over a year since Michigan's restaurants were forced to close indoor dining for the first time.

In that time many chefs pivoted from their restaurants to working with nonprofit groups on a new task: feeding their increasingly hungry communities.

The pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity across the country. In Detroit, it was already 39% before the pandemic.

"Once the pandemic hit, of course, that number heightened dramatically," chef Ederique Goudia tells All Things Considered. "Now we have our next door neighbors, our parents, our sisters, our friends who are now food insecure as well."

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Some poorer nations could wait years to get vaccinations--Kenya example

Tue, 2021-03-23 11:21 — mike kraft

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It was three months after rich countries began vaccinating health workers, but Kenyans like the nurse, Stella Githaiga, had been left behind: Employed in the country’s largest public hospital, she caught the coronavirus on an outreach trip to remote communities in February, she believes, sidelining her even as Kenya struggles with a vicious third surge of infections.

Ms. Githaiga and her colleagues are victims of one of the most galling inequities in a pandemic that has exposed so many: Across the global south, health workers are being sickened and killed by a virus from which doctors and nurses in many rich countries are now largely protected.

That is just the most visible cost of a rich-poor divide that has deepened in the second year of the pandemic. Of the vaccine doses given globally, roughly three-quarters have gone to only 10 countries. At least 30 countries have not yet injected a single person.

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