As tens of millions of travelers hit the road to enjoy the Labor Day weekend, public health officials warned the unvaccinated anew against moving around freely during the holiday marking the unofficial end of summer. Authorities cautioned the vaccinated, too, against letting their guard down as the Delta variant fuels a fourth, deadly surge in….
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Warnings rise that nation’s younger people are far sicker than they should be
Lights are flashing and alarms are blaring. A health care nightmare is growing before us and threatens the future of the nation: Younger people — those under age 40 or even age 50 — are sicker than they should be, and their conditions are worsening, not improving, especially with the destructive coronavirus pandemic. An independent….
Continue ReadingDelta surge gets grimmer as both public health steps and resistance stiffen
The coronavirus has killed almost 630,000 Americans, with the pandemic adding in its fourth surge now under way 1,000 deaths a day or 42 fatalities per hour. The disease has infected almost 38 million of us, with more than 145,000 new cases occurring each day in recent weeks. More than 90,000 coronavirus patients were in hospitals nationwide….
Continue ReadingDelta variant-surge embroils kids and parents in politicized pandemic disputes
Kids are flocking back to school for in-person, fall classes — and they are getting eye-opening views of how grownups continue to react to the gravest public health crisis in a century. What kinds of lessons are the next generations taking away from us? Public health officials are moving with urgency not only to get….
Continue ReadingDozens of tuberculosis infections, including northern Virginia, tied to putty used in orthopedic surgeries
A rare outbreak of tuberculosis among dozens of surgical patients — some of them at hospitals in northern Virginia — is under investigation by federal health authorities, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC suspects the infections may be tied to a malleable bone putty used in spinal and other orthopedic procedures…..
Continue ReadingTop medical journals, ob-gyns, and NFL all face tough reckoning with racism
Racial inequities roiled an array of health-related situations in recent days, showing how far the nation still must go to deal with pervasive injustices in medical systems nationwide. The reported matters include: The editor-in-chief departed a leading medical journal after one of his chief deputies, in a purported “education” session for which practitioners could earn….
Continue ReadingU.S. targets July 4 for independence from grip of coronavirus pandemic
The campaign to quell the coronavirus pandemic is a lot like a Herculean tug of war now, with the prospect tantalizingly near of pulling a big measure of success over the line. The Biden Administration, to its credit, is not easing a bit in conveying the urgency of its task in dealing with a disease….
Continue ReadingWill the reluctant and resistant trip up the campaign to quell the pandemic?
Even as the latest coronavirus surge appeared to ease, including in hard-hit areas of the Midwest and Northeast, and as the federal government reported the nation has achieved key milestones in vaccinations, the battle to quell the pandemic also has entered the gnarly phase of grappling with the hesitant, the reluctant, and the resistant. The….
Continue ReadingPandemic numbers do add up — to a complex and persistent health menace
An Ohio congressman got testy with one of the nation’s leading infectious disease experts, insisting that Dr. Anthony Fauci instantly cough up a metric to tell politicians and the public exactly when the coronavirus pandemic will end. Fauci declined to offer a simple 1-2-3 answer, trying to supply a nuanced and thoughtful response, instead. The….
Continue ReadingBattle stays bumpy against an uneven pandemic, fueling further uncertainty
The campaign to conquer the coronavirus pandemic is having its cautious optimism tested by a stubborn and concerning surge of cases in the Midwest and Northeast, as well as frustrating vaccine supply problems — worsened by manufacturing bungles in a Baltimore plant. Expert forecasters now see options for how the crucial next several months could….
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