Latest Kaiser Health News Stories

To Vaccinate Veterans, Health Care Workers Must Cross Mountains, Plains and Tundra
Veterans Affairs officials are flying COVID-19 vaccines to remote locations in Montana and Alaska to quickly inoculate rural veterans before the drugs expire.

Prominent Scientists Call on CDC to Better Protect Workers From Covid
The academics insist that more workers should get top-rated N95 masks, the best defense against airborne coronavirus particles.

As Pandemic Surged, Contact Tracing Struggled; Biden Looks to Boost It
Reaching people who may have been in contact with covid patients has helped cut the number of infections, but these tracing efforts become less effective as the number of cases grows.

Community Health Workers, Often Overlooked, Bring Trust to the Pandemic Fight
As the pandemic brings long-standing health disparities into sharper view, community health workers are being asked to help the public health response. This fast-growing workforce helps fill the gaps between health care providers and low-income communities by offering education, advocacy and outreach.

Pandemic Sends a Couple Into Indefinite Long Distance Though Just Miles Apart
Everyone is trying to figure out how relationships work in the time of covid. That includes a Bozeman, Montana, couple who suddenly found themselves in a long-distance relationship when the pandemic sent their group homes for adults with disabilities into lockdown.

¿Puede Estados Unidos controlar las nuevas mutaciones de covid?
Cuando una mutación hace sonar las alarmas de salud pública, normalmente se debe a que se ha combinado con otras mutaciones y, en conjunto, ha cambiado la forma en que se comporta el virus.

Can the US Keep Covid Variants in Check? Here’s What It Takes
The U.S. has fumbled almost every step of its public health response in its battle against covid-19. Experts say that must change if we’re going to outflank the variants emerging as the virus continues to mutate.

Estados permiten contratar profesionales de salud extranjeros por la pandemia
Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, Nueva Jersey y Nueva York han adaptado sus normas para que profesionales de salud con formación internacional presten sus servicios durante la pandemia.

Amid Covid Health Worker Shortage, Foreign-Trained Professionals Sit on Sidelines
Hospitals dealing with staff shortages during the current covid surge are unable to tap into one valuable resource: foreign-trained doctors, nurses and other health workers, many with experience treating infectious diseases. Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Nevada are the only states to have eased credentialing requirements during the pandemic.

Health Workers Unions See Surge in Interest Amid Covid
Many front-line health workers who have faced a perpetual lack of PPE and inconsistent safety measures believe the government and their employers have failed to protect them from covid-19.

Illinois, primer estado en ofrecer cobertura médica a adultos mayores indocumentados
Se espera que la normativa cubra inicialmente de 4,200 a 4,600 inmigrantes mayores. Defensores esperan que Illinois inspire a otros estados.

Illinois Is First in the Nation to Extend Health Coverage to Undocumented Seniors
As the pandemic hits Latino communities especially hard, Illinois is expanding public health insurance to all low-income noncitizen seniors. Advocates hope other states follow its lead.

Eureka! Two Vaccines Work — But What About the Also-Rans in the Pharma Arms Race?
How two effective vaccines on the market make it so much harder to quickly test any competing vaccines.

La creciente invasión de entornos naturales a medida que aumenta la población mundial hace que la pregunta sea cuándo ocurrirá otra pandemia mortal, no si ocurrirá.

As long as humans encroach on nature, pandemics are inevitable — making it important to concentrate resources in areas where people and wildlife are linked.

In Fast-Moving Pandemic, Health Officials Try to Change Minds at Warp Speed
It typically takes years of persuasion to change habits in the name of health safety. Local officials who are stuck with the responsibility of enforcing statewide pandemic-related mandates are trying to transform behavior fast.

Analysis: Some Said the Vaccine Rollout Would Be a ‘Nightmare.’ They Were Right.
There are already signs that the distribution of the COVID vaccines will be messy, confusing and chaotic.

Health Officials Fear Pandemic-Related Suicide Spike Among Native Youth
Recent deaths on a small Native American reservation in Montana have underlined the heightened risks for Indigenous youths and how suicide prevention programs are struggling to operate during the pandemic.

Análisis: expertos desestimaron al coronavirus, hasta que fue demasiado tarde
Muchos de los principales especialistas en enfermedades infecciosas subestimaron el veloz brote en sus primeras semanas y meses, asumiendo que Estados Unidos, otra vez, saldría ileso.

Many US Health Experts Underestimated the Coronavirus … Until It Was Too Late
Scientists learned the wrong lesson from past outbreaks, but Dr. Anthony Fauci doesn’t cast blame.