Anxiety, depression rates stay high as COVID emergencies end
The federal government’s twin COVID-19 emergencies ended officially on Thursday after more than three years in place. With the national and public health emergency declarations ended, here’s a look at some of what will be different going forward. Among the biggest changes, private insurers and Medicare will no longer be required to provide eight free […]
Minnesota poised for sweeping paid family and medical leave
Paid family and medical leave is poised to become law in Minnesota. Most working Americans have access to unpaid time off for the arrival of a child or to handle their own or a family member’s illness. But three in four American civilian workers have no access to paid family leave and one in five […]
As some families learn the hard way, dementia can take a toll on financial health
Jonnie Lewis-Thorpe, now 83, (right) lives with her daughter Angela Reynolds. She has Alzheimer’s and lost her home due to symptoms of the disease. Katie Blackley | WESA Angela Reynolds knew her mother’s memory was slipping, but didn’t realize how bad things had gotten until she started to untangle her mom’s finances: unpaid bills, unusual […]
One way to prevent gun violence? Treat it as a public health issue
Law enforcement officials in the Cleveland, Texas, neighborhood where a man allegedly shot five of his neighbors after they asked him to stop firing off rounds in his yard. David J. Phillip/AP Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith was working in an emergency room as a medical student more than four decades ago when she realized that victims […]
How mental health programs focused on cultural identity are helping Minnesota students
Abe Gebeyehu, a school-based mental health practitioner, started noticing things were not going well for his students in 2020. When Minnesota schools closed their doors to in-person learning, the time they spent on computers and other screens skyrrocketed. Their interactions with friends and teachers plummeted. They began, in the online meetings he had with them, […]
More gay men can now donate blood thanks to new rules
Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships can give blood in the U.S. without abstaining from sex under updated federal health guidelines that focus on donors’ behavior, not their sexual orientation. The Food and Drug Administration guidelines finalized Thursday ease decades-old restrictions designed to protect the blood supply from HIV. The agency announced plans for the change […]
Pandemic hits ‘stop button,’ but for some life is forever changed
Miguel Lerma, right, with his grandparents who raised him, Jose and Virginia Aldaco. Miguel Lerma The end of the U.S. COVID public health emergency on May 11 comes with a set of policy changes, and it also brings a sense of closure to an extraordinarily difficult time. But for many people, life before and after […]
A plastic sheet with a pouch could be a ‘game changer’ for maternal mortality
Pregnant women at Sierra Leone’s Gondama Referral Center. Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. A new study looks at an intervention to prevent death from postpartum hemorrhage. Lynsey Addario/Getty Images It’s a startling statistic. Every year, 70,000 women around the world basically bleed to death after childbirth. […]
Advisers to the FDA back first over-the-counter birth control pill
An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration supported drugmaker Perrigo’s application to sell the oral contraceptive Opill without a prescription. Perrigo In a unanimous vote, 17-0, a panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended that the agency approve the first over-the-counter birth control pill. If approved, the pill would be […]
Millions of people have long COVID brain fog — and there’s a shortage of answers
Getty Images As the Biden administration ends the COVID-19 public health emergency, millions of Americans who contracted the disease continue to suffer from symptoms associated with long COVID. Neuropsychologist James C. Jackson says people with long COVID can suffer from symptoms like exhaustion, shortness of breath and disturbed sleep. Some of the most troubling symptoms […]