Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the CDC, discusses what the U.S. needs to do to soften the impact of a second wave of COVID-19.Read More
It's not just a fever and dry cough. For milder cases of COVID-19, the array of symptoms can include headaches, fatigue, loss of smell and even lesions on the feet known as "COVID toes."Read More
The U.S. also has more than 57,000 deaths, just months after the coronavirus was identified.Read More
To safely reopen without risking new COVID-19 outbreaks, states need enough staffing to do the crucial work of contact tracing. We surveyed public health agencies to find out how much they have.Read More
The Centers for Disease Control now recognizes chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell as symptoms of the disease.Read More
Medical examiners are now screening for possible coronavirus connections in late January. Emerging evidence suggests it spread far earlier and more widely than initially believed.Read More
It is starting to take more time for cases, hospitalizations and deaths to double in several states, indicating social distancing is working. Here's how to make sense of those numbers. Read More
The Trump administration announced Friday that the CDC is now recommending people consider wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. Mayors in New York City and Los Angeles have already offered similar advice to citizens.Read More
As cases of the coronavirus have skyrocketed, there's new thinking about the benefits that masks could offer in slowing the spread. The CDC says it is now reviewing its policy and may be considering a recommendation to encourage broader use.Read More
What's behind the "14 days of self-quarantine" guidance after exposure to someone with COVID-19 or after travel from a place with a high number of cases? Think of yourself as a potential incubator.Read More
According to Dr. Deborah Birx, the best computer models predict that between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans will die from COVID-19 during the coming months, even if the country continues the strict social distancing measures that most states have adopted. Relaxing those restrictions would send the toll much higher.Read More
Trump had initially announced 15-day guidelines and said they would be reevaluated. The 15-day period was set to end Monday.Read More
Even for people who are able to get tested (and there's still a big lag in testing ability in hot spots across the U.S.), there can be a frustratingly long wait for results — not just hours, but often days.Read More
Public health professionals are urging “social distancing” – basically, staying away from crowds and other peoples’ personal space – to curb the spread of the virus. Though the disease seems to hit the elderly and immunocompromised the hardest, even young and healthy people are strongly encouraged to practice social distancing. Why?Read More
Sen. Richard Burr issued a warning at a private event weeks ago to prepare for dire effects from the coronavirus, going further than his more public comments, according to a recording obtained by NPR.Read More
In a largely unprecedented move for a public health crisis, President Trump is declaring a national emergency to free up as much as $50 billion in federal assistance to state and local governments overwhelmed by coronavirus, and to lower regulatory barriers to surge medical resources to areas that need them most.Read More
It's the first time the WHO has called an outbreak a pandemic since the H1N1 "swine flu" in 2009.Read More
"We are contemplating some next steps, particularly to protect our vulnerable populations and our nursing homes and [the] like and we are looking to determine whether mandatory measures are required," Inslee said in an interview Sunday morning with CBS's "Face the Nation."Read More
As the number of cases in the U.S. continues to rise, so too do questions about how the virus spreads and how the average person can protect themselves. Health officials are simultaneously trying to understand the virus while improving they way they identify cases and contain those that are known — and encouraging people to just practice good hygiene (and to be cautious, Read More
President Trump and Congress Friday authorized a package of emergency funding to help and treat and slow the spread of COVID-19. About $950 million is designated for state and local response.Read More
As the death toll from the novel coronavirus continues to rise, many people who feel sick are naturally concerned they might have the infection. Until now, a coronavirus test has been difficult to get locally because of limited capacity and strict rules for who qualifies. However, both of those restrictions may relax soon.Read More
A patient in King County who tested positive for coronavirus has died, according to state and local public health officials. It's believed to be the first coronavirus death in the U.S. The news prompted Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency. Read More
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced late Friday that it is "aware of four new presumptive cases of COVID-19" in Washington, Oregon and California.Read More
"Mike is going to be in charge," Trump said in an evening news conference, as officials said a case in the U.S. may have been transmitted within the community.Read More
Fewer than a third of the 220 counties deemed by the federal government as vulnerable to similar outbreaks have active syringe exchange programs which can stop the spread of the infection.Read More
Every year, viruses like influenza kill hundreds of thousands worldwide — yet countries don't respond with lockdowns or airport screenings. Here's why they're doing so over the coronavirus outbreak.Read More
The U.S. declared the novel coronavirus a public health emergency Friday, banning non-U.S. citizens who traveled to China from entering the country and imposing new screenings and quarantine on U.S. citizens flying back from China.Read More
Can a mask really keep you from catching the virus? To answer that, it helps to clarify which kinds of masks we're talking about.Read More
An expert panel convened by the FDA says the drug Makena should be withdrawn from the market because a review of its effectiveness shows it doesn't work. But OB-GYNS who prescribe the drug disagree.Read More
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday that a patient in Washington state is the first U.S. case of a new strain of coronavirus. The virus has already prompted concerns with health officials after an outbreak in Wuhan, China.Read More
The strain, discovered in China, has been reported in the city of Wuhan and in two other countries. On Friday, the CDC announced plans to screen passengers at N.Y., L.A. and San Francisco airports.Read More
This was meant to be the year we answered a big question about the deadly opioid epidemic: Will drug companies that make and sell prescription pain medications be held liable? That clarity never came.Read More
The spate of more than 2,500 acute vaping-related lung injuries tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the decline, epidemiologists say, and the number of deaths has slowed.Read More
In every lung fluid sample tested from patients afflicted with lung injury, the scientists found traces of a chemical called vitamin E acetate. The discovery is seen as a breakthrough.Read More
While suicide was the 10th most common cause of death among Americans of all ages in 2017, it was the second leading cause of death among young Americans age 15 to 24, according to new data released Thursday from the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read More
In a complex world surrounded by seemingly endless risks, why should one, like vaping e-cigarettes, become a problem that attracts so much national attention from health officials, politicians and the press?Read More
An outbreak of severe lung disease among users of electronic cigarettes continues to spread to new patients and states, and public health officials say it's too soon to point to a cause.Read More
The cluster was first detected by Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee where eight previously healthy teenagers were hospitalized with severe lung damage. The rapid onset of symptoms included coughing, weight loss and significant breathing difficulties.Read More
There may be a connection between tougher gun laws and fewer child fatalities from firearms, a new study suggested Monday. The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, says states with universal background checks report fewer children’s deaths due to gun incidents. However, more data is needed to understand the relationship between firearms and public health, and to Read More
Government officials are bickering over hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements paid by Big Pharma, stemming from the nation's deadly opioid epidemic. The pharmaceutical industry paid out more than half a billion dollars over the last year alone. All sides expect the scale of settlements to grow fast as more cases go to trial.Read More
Top HIV/AIDS researchers and public health advocates say the Trump administration’s new deal to provide uninsured Americans with free drugs to prevent HIV infection is a promising step in America’s fight against AIDS. But actually reaching the very people most in need of the medication — like men who have sex with men and people who use injection drugs — and convincing Read More
Americans could be forgiven for not knowing that much about measles. After all, it's been 51 years since an effective vaccine was introduced, quickly turning the disease from a common childhood experience to a rarity, and nearly two decades since the disease was declared eliminated from the U.S.Read More
PFAS are a family of chemicals accumulating in the soil, rivers, drinking water and the human body. How much exposure to these substances in clothes, firefighting foam and food wrap is too much?Read More
The Department of Justice said defendants allegedly pushed more than 32 million unneeded pills, contributing to a drug crisis and potentially defrauding the health care system.Read More
Ethan Lindenberger is 18 years old, but had never received vaccines for diseases like hepatitis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, or the chickenpox. Lindenberger's mother, Jill Wheeler, is anti-vaccine. He said she has been influenced by online misinformation, such as a debunked study that claimed certain vaccines were linked with autism, or a theory that vaccines cause Read More
Amid a measles outbreak that has sickened more than 50 people in the Pacific Northwest, Washington lawmakers heard testimony Friday on a bill that would remove parents’ ability to claim a personal or philosophical exemption to opt their school-age children out of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.Read More
The maker of controversial e-cigarettes spent $750,000 on lobbying during the last three months of 2018, a dramatic increase over $210,000 it spent in the second quarter of the year.Read More
For the first time in U.S. history, a leading cause of deaths — vehicle crashes — has been surpassed in likelihood by opioid overdoses, according to a new report on preventable deaths from the National Safety Council.Read More
It's that time of year again. You wake up with a scratchy throat, stuffy nose, a little achy — maybe a fever. Is it a classic head cold, or do you need to be more concerned? Could it be the flu?Read More
