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Latinos Are Especially Reluctant to Get Flu Shots โ How a Small Clinic in Indiana Found Ways to Overcome That
Read More: Latinos Are Especially Reluctant to Get Flu Shots โ How a Small Clinic in Indiana Found Ways to Overcome ThatBy Pamela M. Aaltonen, Purdue University and Jennifer Coddington, Purdue University Every year, tens of millions of Americans avoid the flu vaccine. During the 2019-2020 flu season, fewer than half of U.S. adults got the shot. The Latino population is more reluctant than most other groups to get the flu vaccine and often pays a…
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When Can Children Get the Covid-19 Vaccine? 5 Questions Parents Are Asking
Read More: When Can Children Get the Covid-19 Vaccine? 5 Questions Parents Are AskingBy Wesley Kufel, Binghamton University, State University of New York The first U.S. COVID-19 vaccines are expected in clinics in mid-December, and states are drawing up plans for who should get vaccinated first. But one important group is absent: children. While two vaccines are expected to be cleared soon for adult use in the U.S.,…
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Adults Need Vaccines, But Not Everyone Gets Them
Read More: Adults Need Vaccines, But Not Everyone Gets ThemWhen I entered the pharmacy last month for my flu vaccine, it was the first time I’d stepped into a store since the pandemic began. Walking down the bright aisles felt surreal, and as I stood at the counter waiting my turn, I listened as strangers spoke of rising COVID-19 cases in our New York…
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Opinion: Communications Vital to Success of Vaccine Rollout
Read More: Opinion: Communications Vital to Success of Vaccine RolloutThis article was originally published in Morning Consult. Most of America has just breathed a huge sigh of relief that vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are on track for approval, with both companies having filed for an emergency authorization with the Food and Drug Administration. The good news from these companies is that data shows…
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A Childโs Death in the Heartland Changes Community Views About COVID
Read More: A Childโs Death in the Heartland Changes Community Views About COVIDBy Sara Shipley Hiles, Kaiser Health News WASHINGTON, Mo. — In August, local officials in this small city an hour west of St. Louis voted against requiring residents to wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. On Nov. 23, with COVID cases surging and the local hospital overflowing, the City Council brought a…
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Go Wash Your Hands
Read More: Go Wash Your HandsWhen I needed to up my handwashing skills due to COVID-19, I turned to the Backstreet Boys. The chorus of their 1999 hit “I Want It That Way” takes 20 seconds to sing, which is the time recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for proper handwashing. Since the pandemic started last…
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The Dark Days Before Vaccines
Read More: The Dark Days Before VaccinesMedically Reviewed by Barbara Dehn, RN, MS, NP, FAANP, NCMP Emmi Herman was only five when her big sister was hospitalized with measles encephalitis, a rare condition that causes the brain to swell. It was 1960, and the vaccine that could have prevented her 9-year-old sister’s illness was still three years away. After five weeks…
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Amid COVID and Racial Unrest, Black Churches Put Faith in Mental Health Care
Read More: Amid COVID and Racial Unrest, Black Churches Put Faith in Mental Health CareBy Aneri Pattani, Kaiser Health News Wilma Mayfield used to visit a senior center in Durham, North Carolina, four days a week and attend Lincoln Memorial Baptist Church on Sundays, a ritual she’s maintained for nearly half a century. But over the past 10 months, she’s seen only the inside of her home, the grocery…
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Your Brainโs Built-in Biases Insulate Your Beliefs From Contradictory Facts
Read More: Your Brainโs Built-in Biases Insulate Your Beliefs From Contradictory FactsBy Jay Maddock, Texas A&M University A rumor started circulating back in 2008 that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. At the time, I was serving as chair of the Hawaii Board of Health. The director and deputy director of health, both appointed by a Republican governor, inspected Obama’s birth certificate in…
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Nonprofits Are Struggling to Do More With Less Money, but Donors And Volunteers Can Help
Read More: Nonprofits Are Struggling to Do More With Less Money, but Donors And Volunteers Can HelpBy Erica Mills Barnhart, University of Washington Historically, nonprofits have gotten nearly a third of their charitable donations just during the month of December. In recent years, this flurry of giving has begun on #GivingTuesday, an online campaign that takes place on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving. We asked Erica Mills Barnhart, a University of…
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โAn Arm and a Legโ: How to Avoid a Big Bill for Your COVID Test
Read More: โAn Arm and a Legโ: How to Avoid a Big Bill for Your COVID TestBy Dan Weissmann, Kaiser Health News Click here to listen. Tests for the coronavirus are supposed to be free. And, usually, they are. But sometimes … things happen. Here’s how to keep those things from happening to you. New York Times reporter Sarah Kliff has been asking readers to send in their COVID-testing bills. She’s…
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Why the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine Is Now a Global Game Changer
Read More: Why the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine Is Now a Global Game ChangerBy Michael Head, University of Southampton In the long dark tunnel that has been 2020, November stands out as the month that light appeared. Some might see it as a bright light, others as a faint light – but it is unmistakably a light. On November 9, Pfizer announced the interim results of its candidate…
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As CDC Warns Against Thanksgiving Travel, Here Are a Dozen More Things You Can Do to Help Stop Covid-19
Read More: As CDC Warns Against Thanksgiving Travel, Here Are a Dozen More Things You Can Do to Help Stop Covid-19By Pamela M. Aaltonen, Purdue University As Americans prepare for the first Thanksgiving in the time of the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a stark warning a week before the big day: Don’t travel. No over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s condo. No flying to a beach gathering…
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Put That Cigarette Out
Read More: Put That Cigarette OutJoanna had her first cigarette at 16. “My older sister smoked and so did her friends,” Joanna* wrote in an email. “I saw them smoking and thought it was cool and they taught me how.” That started a decade-long habit that Joanna quit 14 years ago, after watching her co-worker undergo chemotherapy treatment for cancer.…
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Virus Evolution Could Undermine a Covid-19 Vaccine โ but This Can Be Stopped
Read More: Virus Evolution Could Undermine a Covid-19 Vaccine โ but This Can Be StoppedBy Andrew Read, Penn State and David Kennedy, Penn State The first drug against HIV brought dying patients back from the brink. But as excited doctors raced to get the miracle drug to new patients, the miracle melted away. In each and every patient, the drug only worked only for a while. It turned out…
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No, Soaring Covid-19 Cases Are Not Due to More Testing โ They Show a Surging Pandemic
Read More: No, Soaring Covid-19 Cases Are Not Due to More Testing โ They Show a Surging PandemicBy Zoë McLaren, University of Maryland, Baltimore County COVID-19 cases are surging upward around the U.S., reaching 100,000 daily cases for the first time on Nov. 4 and 150,000 only eight days later. Some believe this increase in reported cases is a result of increases in testing, as more than 1.5 million tests are performed…
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Some Promising News About a COVID-19 Vaccine
Read More: Some Promising News About a COVID-19 VaccineWe’re excited to share some promising news about a COVID-19 vaccine this morning. Pfizer’s vaccine has been shown to be 95% effective against COVID-19 beginning 28 days after the first dose. The news puts us one step closer to defeating the pandemic that has affected us all so greatly. From the Pfizer press release: “The…
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Long-Term Care Workers, Grieving and Under Siege, Brace for COVIDโs Next Round
Read More: Long-Term Care Workers, Grieving and Under Siege, Brace for COVIDโs Next RoundBy Judith Graham, Kaiser Health News In the middle of the night, Stefania Silvestri lies in bed remembering her elderly patients’ cries. “Help me.” “Please don’t leave me.” “I need my family.” Months of caring for older adults in a Rhode Island nursing home ravaged by COVID-19 have taken a steep toll on Silvestri, 37,…
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A New Data-Driven Model Shows That Wearing Masks Saves Lives โ and the Earlier You Start, the Better
Read More: A New Data-Driven Model Shows That Wearing Masks Saves Lives โ and the Earlier You Start, the BetterBiplav Srivastava, University of South Carolina Dr. Biplav Srivastava, professor of computer science at the University of South Carolina, and his team have developed a data-driven tool that helps demonstrate the effect of wearing masks on COVID-19 cases and deaths. His model utilizes a variety of data sources to create alternate scenarios that can tell…
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How COVID-19 Safety Measures Are Impacting Various Disabled Communities
Read More: How COVID-19 Safety Measures Are Impacting Various Disabled CommunitiesAt this point in the pandemic, most Americans take the changes wrought by COVID-19 for granted. Responsible citizens dutifully don masks when they leave their homes and sanitize their hands after every encounter. People are practicing social distancing or staying home completely, while restaurants across the country have moved tables onto roads and sidewalks to…
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HealthyWomen Joins National Health Organizations in Letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar About Access to COVID-19 Treatment
Read More: HealthyWomen Joins National Health Organizations in Letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar About Access to COVID-19 TreatmentNovember 11, 2020 The Honorable Alex Azar U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 Dear Secretary Azar: The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed deep and systemic inequities in our health care system. Not only are members of minority and under-served communities more likely to suffer serious health consequences from…
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COVID-19 Reveals How Obesity Harms the Body in Real Time, Not Just Over a Lifetime
Read More: COVID-19 Reveals How Obesity Harms the Body in Real Time, Not Just Over a LifetimeBy Cate Varney, University of Virginia The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the obesity epidemic once again into the spotlight, revealing that obesity is no longer a disease that harms just in the long run but one that can have acutely devastating effects. New studies and information confirm doctors’ suspicion that this virus takes advantage of…
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How to Have a Safe and Chill Thanksgiving
Read More: How to Have a Safe and Chill ThanksgivingBefore COVID-19 cases started to rise over the summer, Leslie and her husband, David* were planning to visit his family on the West Coast for Thanksgiving. Now, with the United States experiencing a third wave of infections, they decided not to make the trip, even though it’s been over a year since they’ve seen his…
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The Connection Between Obesity and COVID-19
Read More: The Connection Between Obesity and COVID-19Fifteen years ago, Marissa Epstein, director of the University of Texas Nutrition Institute and member of HealthyWomen’s Women’s Health Advisory Council, was bordering on obese. Her weight loss journey, which launched her nutrition career path, was largely inspired by success stories shared by other women. “I used to cut pages from magazines of everyday women…
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Why Scientists and Public Health Officials Need to Address Vaccine Mistrust Instead of Dismissing It
Read More: Why Scientists and Public Health Officials Need to Address Vaccine Mistrust Instead of Dismissing ItBy Sterling M. McPherson, Washington State University; Erica Weintraub Austin, Washington State University, and Porismita Borah, Washington State University Recent polls indicate that more than a third of the country has concerns about a vaccine that in all likelihood will be the only reliable way to end to the COVID-19 pandemic. These results reflect a…
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If You Live with Domestic Violence, Home May Be the Last Place that Feels Safe During COVID-19
Read More: If You Live with Domestic Violence, Home May Be the Last Place that Feels Safe During COVID-19COVID-19 has forced millions of Americans to practice social distancing and work or learn remotely from home. Unfortunately, for many who live with domestic violence, home is the last place that feels safe, as abusers often isolate their victims from friends, family and coworkers as a control tactic. Stacey*, a stay-at-home mom, didn’t realize the…
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An Epidemiologist Explains the New CDC Guidance on 15 Minutes of Exposure and What it Means for You
Read More: An Epidemiologist Explains the New CDC Guidance on 15 Minutes of Exposure and What it Means for YouBy Ryan Malosh, University of Michigan The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has new guidance clarifying what exactly “close contact” means when it comes to transmission of SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The previous guidance suggested that a close contact occurred when a person was within six feet of an infectious individual for…
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How to Use Covid-19 Testing and Quarantining to Safely Travel For the Holidays
Read More: How to Use Covid-19 Testing and Quarantining to Safely Travel For the HolidaysBy Claudia Finkelstein, Michigan State University With the holidays approaching, many people are considering whether to visit relatives or friends in the coming weeks. At the same time, cases of COVID-19 are surging toward the highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic. As a physician, daughter of vulnerable seniors and mother of young adults,…
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โAll You Want Is to Be Believedโ: The Impacts of Unconscious Bias in Health Care
Read More: โAll You Want Is to Be Believedโ: The Impacts of Unconscious Bias in Health CareIn mid-March, Karla Monterroso flew home to Alameda, California, after a hiking trip in Utah’s Zion National Park. Four days later, she began to develop a bad, dry cough. Her lungs felt sticky. The fevers that persisted for the next nine weeks grew so high — 100.4, 101.2, 101.7, 102.3 — that, on the worst…
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Adolescent, caregiving, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Empty nester, Healthy home, Midlife parenting, Parenting, Parenting teens
Colleges and the Thanksgiving COVID-19 Risk: Fauciโs right โ Holiday Plans May Have to Change
Read More: Colleges and the Thanksgiving COVID-19 Risk: Fauciโs right โ Holiday Plans May Have to ChangeBy Walter Thomas Casey II, Texas A&M University-Texarkana; Marcia G. Ory, Texas A&M University, and Rebecca S.B. Fischer, Texas A&M University Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, warned this week that families may need to change their Thanksgiving plans to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus. The head of the Centers for…
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Access, Access to health care, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Health disparities, Health insurance, Policy, Prevention, Preventive health
Black Doctors Work to Make Coronavirus Testing More Equitable
Read More: Black Doctors Work to Make Coronavirus Testing More EquitableBy Nina Feldman, WHYY, Kaiser Health News When the coronavirus arrived in Philadelphia in March, Dr. Ala Stanford hunkered down at home with her husband and kids. A pediatric surgeon with a private practice, she has staff privileges at a few suburban Philadelphia hospitals. For weeks, most of her usual procedures and patient visits were…
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3 Ways to Get Your Point Across While Wearing a Mask โ Tips From An Award-winning Speech Coach
Read More: 3 Ways to Get Your Point Across While Wearing a Mask โ Tips From An Award-winning Speech CoachBy Cheryl Chambers, Mississippi State University You wear your mask, keep six feet between yourself and others and are committed to safety. But the measures that help minimize your risk of COVID-19 can also have an impact on your interactions with others. As you stroll the aisle of a supermarket, you approach someone who looks…
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HealthyWomen Webinar Explores How the Pandemic Has Affected the Lives of Women
Read More: HealthyWomen Webinar Explores How the Pandemic Has Affected the Lives of WomenOn Thursday, October 8, HealthyWomen unveiled its COVID-19 survey results during a webinar with CEO Beth Battaglino. She was joined by Phyllis Arthur, vice president of infectious disease and diagnostics policy at Biotechnology Innovation; Alejandra Castillo, CEO of YWCA USA; and Kate Russell Woodworth from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for a…
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COVID-19: Hitting Women Hard
Read More: COVID-19: Hitting Women HardWho could have imagined just a year ago how our lives would change because of a virus? Thanks to COVID-19, millions of women have lost their jobs and their health insurance; millions more are trying to juggle work with homeschooling their children; and rates of depression, domestic abuse, homelessness and food insecurity are soaring. There…
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Why the COVID-19 Vaccine Approval Process Should Be Driven by Science, Not Politics
Read More: Why the COVID-19 Vaccine Approval Process Should Be Driven by Science, Not PoliticsBefore a vaccine for measles was developed, I nearly died as a youngster from the disease. That personal experience, along with over 30 years working in women’s health, leads me to believe that vaccines are generally overwhelmingly safe and effective, saving millions of lives around the world every year. Yet, according to a recent survey…
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Anxiety, Behealthiher, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Depression, Energy, Fatigue, mental health, Self-Care, sleep, Stress
How to Cope With 2020 Burnout
Read More: How to Cope With 2020 BurnoutOn a recent Houseparty call with my three best friends, I burst into tears. “I’m stressed about everything,” I sobbed, surprising myself. “I think I’m going COVID crazy.” Our calls are usually a hoot, but we were all feeling spent. Jessi’s husband had had heart surgery, and no one could visit him because of COVID-19…
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Shopping Online to Stay Safe During the Pandemic? Here Are 10 Tips For Avoiding Scams
Read More: Shopping Online to Stay Safe During the Pandemic? Here Are 10 Tips For Avoiding ScamsBy H. Colleen Sinclair, Mississippi State University The holiday season is already a booming time for online shopping. The COVID-19 pandemic only increases the likelihood that when people shop this holiday season, they will choose online shopping over brick-and-mortar stores. However, this also means there is likely to be a boom in online scams. Already,…
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Budget, Career, caregiving, Cleaning, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Financial health, Parenting, Retirement, Work
Women Risk Losing Decades of Workplace Progress Due to Covid-19 โ Hereโs How Companies Can Prevent That
Read More: Women Risk Losing Decades of Workplace Progress Due to Covid-19 โ Hereโs How Companies Can Prevent ThatBy Stephanie M.H. Moore, Indiana University American women have made strides in the workplace over the past half-century in terms of earnings, employment and careers – in no small part thanks to the efforts of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The COVID-19 pandemic risks undoing many of these gains in a matter of months.…
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Why โNamasteโ Has Become the Perfect Pandemic Greeting
Read More: Why โNamasteโ Has Become the Perfect Pandemic GreetingBy Jeremy David Engels, Pennsylvania State University Hands over the heart in prayer pose. A little bow of the head. A gesture of respect. An acknowledgment of our shared humanity. And no touching. As people the world over are choosing to ditch the handshakes and hugs for fear of contracting the coronavirus, namaste is becoming…
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Giving in the Pandemic: More Than Half of Americans Have Found Ways to Help Those Hit by Covid-19 Hardship
Read More: Giving in the Pandemic: More Than Half of Americans Have Found Ways to Help Those Hit by Covid-19 HardshipBy Tessa Skidmore, IUPUI The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Despite facing a global health crisis and economic recession, more than half of all U.S. households – 56% – expressed some form of generosity during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, my colleagues at the Women’s…
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Adolescent, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Parenting, Prevention, Preventive health, Teen, Vaccinations, Vaccines
Your Childโs Vaccines: What You Need to Know About Catching Up During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Read More: Your Childโs Vaccines: What You Need to Know About Catching Up During the COVID-19 PandemicBy Irène Mathieu, University of Virginia This spring, after stay-at-home orders were announced and schools shut down across the nation, many families stopped going to their pediatrician. As a result, kids have fallen behind on important childhood vaccinations. Vaccination rates declined starkly after mid-March, with up to 60% reductions in some areas of the country.…
