This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe Trump administration has shifted a federal stockpile of emergency medical supplies — a repository of crucial coronavirus-fighting gear — back under the control of federal health officials. The move is part symbol and part substance, restoring the government closer to its normal configuration after the pandemic’s first traumatic months.The Strategic National Stockpile, holding respirator masks, gloves, ventilators and other equipment, from states and hospitals this spring after President Trump’s declaration of the...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe Trump administration has shifted a federal stockpile of emergency medical supplies — a repository of crucial coronavirus-fighting gear — back under the control of federal health officials. The move is part symbol and part substance, restoring the government closer to its normal configuration after the pandemic’s first traumatic months.The Strategic National Stockpile, holding respirator masks, gloves, ventilators and other equipment, from states and hospitals this spring after President Trump’s declaration of the...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareAnthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease specialist, warned Tuesday that the United States could soon have 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day “if this does not turn around” — a surge that would be more than twice as many as the record so far and three times as many as the original peak this spring.Fauci said that recent images of Americans gathering in bars or other crowds foreshadow a greater spike in infections that “is going to be very disturbing … We’re going to continue to be in a lot of trouble,...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareAnthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease specialist, warned Tuesday that the United States could soon have 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day “if this does not turn around” — a surge that would be more than twice as many as the record so far and three times as many as the original peak this spring.Fauci said that recent images of Americans gathering in bars or other crowds foreshadow a greater spike in infections that “is going to be very disturbing … We’re going to continue to be in a lot of trouble,...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareTop Trump administration health officials sought Wednesday to dampen a controversy over an end to federal management of 13 coronavirus testing sites, insisting the change does not diminish access to diagnostic tests, even as the number of infections soar in many states.Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services who is the government’s coronavirus testing coordinator, said seven sites in Texas and six elsewhere were part of an early phase of a federal community testing program for...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareTop Trump administration health officials sought Wednesday to dampen a controversy over an end to federal management of 13 coronavirus testing sites, insisting the change does not diminish access to diagnostic tests, even as the number of infections soar in many states.Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services who is the government’s coronavirus testing coordinator, said seven sites in Texas and six elsewhere were part of an early phase of a federal community testing program for...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareNearly 1 in 3 black Americans know someone personally who has died of covid-19, far exceeding their white counterparts, according to a that underscores the coronavirus pandemic’s profoundly disparate impact.The nationwide survey finds that 31 percent of black adults say they know someone firsthand who has been killed by the virus, compared with 17 percent of adults who are Hispanic and 9 percent who are white.Adding in those who know someone with symptoms consistent with covid-19, slightly more than half of...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareNearly 1 in 3 black Americans know someone personally who has died of covid-19, far exceeding their white counterparts, according to a that underscores the coronavirus pandemic’s profoundly disparate impact.The nationwide survey finds that 31 percent of black adults say they know someone firsthand who has been killed by the virus, compared with 17 percent of adults who are Hispanic and 9 percent who are white.Adding in those who know someone with symptoms consistent with covid-19, slightly more than half of...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThis article is free to access.Why?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by Federal health officials announced Thursday they will require laboratories to report racial, ethnic and other information about each person tested for the novel coronavirus, following months of criticism that the Trump administration has been insensitive to the pandemic’s profound demographic disparities.The new guidance compels all labs running tests to diagnose the...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThis article is free to access.Why?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by Federal health officials announced Thursday they will require laboratories to report racial, ethnic and other information about each person tested for the novel coronavirus, following months of criticism that the Trump administration has been insensitive to the pandemic’s profound demographic disparities.The new guidance compels all labs running tests to diagnose the...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIncome is a potent force along with race in determining who among the nation’s vulnerable, older population has been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to a federal analysis that lays bare stark disparities in the pandemic’s toll.The findings released Monday are based on billing records for people on Medicare who have contracted the virus. They echo the commonly understood pattern that black Americans are more likely to test positive for the virus and to be hospitalized for covid-19, the disease it causes,...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIncome is a potent force along with race in determining who among the nation’s vulnerable, older population has been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to a federal analysis that lays bare stark disparities in the pandemic’s toll.The findings released Monday are based on billing records for people on Medicare who have contracted the virus. They echo the commonly understood pattern that black Americans are more likely to test positive for the virus and to be hospitalized for covid-19, the disease it causes,...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIn a report to Congress, the Trump administration is pledging to buy 100 million swabs by the year’s end and distribute them to states to help expand the nation’s capacity to test for the novel coronavirus.The report, delivered on the Sunday deadline lawmakers had set for federal health officials to submit a national testing strategy, doubles down on the administration’s stance that individual states, not the federal government, should bear primary responsibility for carrying out diagnostic tests to help curb the...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIn a report to Congress, the Trump administration is pledging to buy 100 million swabs by the year’s end and distribute them to states to help expand the nation’s capacity to test for the novel coronavirus.The report, delivered on the Sunday deadline lawmakers had set for federal health officials to submit a national testing strategy, doubles down on the administration’s stance that individual states, not the federal government, should bear primary responsibility for carrying out diagnostic tests to help curb the...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe chief watchdog for the Department of Health and Human Services, being replaced as part of President Trump’s purge of inspectors general, told lawmakers on Tuesday that freedom from political intrusion is “a key safeguard for the programs we oversee.”Christi Grimm, HHS’s principal deputy inspector general, spoke out for the first time since she was excoriated by the president for a report from her office that found “severe shortages” earlier this spring of supplies to help hospitals cope with the novel coronavirus...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe chief watchdog for the Department of Health and Human Services, being replaced as part of President Trump’s purge of inspectors general, told lawmakers on Tuesday that freedom from political intrusion is “a key safeguard for the programs we oversee.”Christi Grimm, HHS’s principal deputy inspector general, spoke out for the first time since she was excoriated by the president for a report from her office that found “severe shortages” earlier this spring of supplies to help hospitals cope with the novel coronavirus...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareGary Easley was worried as he took a bus to the pharmacy at West Virginia Health Right, a free clinic that has stood for decades in Charleston, W.Va. Normally, he goes to Walgreens and Kroger to get the nine prescriptions he relies on for his high blood pressure and high cholesterol, diabetes and mood swings, leg pain and lung trouble.But three weeks before — on March 17, the day West Virginia would become the last state to confirm its first coronavirus case — Easley was summoned to the general manager’s office at the...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareGary Easley was worried as he took a bus to the pharmacy at West Virginia Health Right, a free clinic that has stood for decades in Charleston, W.Va. Normally, he goes to Walgreens and Kroger to get the nine prescriptions he relies on for his high blood pressure and high cholesterol, diabetes and mood swings, leg pain and lung trouble.But three weeks before — on March 17, the day West Virginia would become the last state to confirm its first coronavirus case — Easley was summoned to the general manager’s office at the...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe House Monday passed the first significant expansion of the Affordable Care Act since its birth a decade ago, providing Democrats a high-wattage platform to castigate President Trump for his efforts to overturn the landmark law during a pandemic and an election year.The 234-179 vote, almost entirely along party lines, was a hollow exercise in terms of any chance the bill would become law and reshape federal health policy. Moments after the debate began, the White House announced the president would veto the legislation...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe House Monday passed the first significant expansion of the Affordable Care Act since its birth a decade ago, providing Democrats a high-wattage platform to castigate President Trump for his efforts to overturn the landmark law during a pandemic and an election year.The 234-179 vote, almost entirely along party lines, was a hollow exercise in terms of any chance the bill would become law and reshape federal health policy. Moments after the debate began, the White House announced the president would veto the legislation...WW…