Prison overcrowding has been quietly tolerated for decades. But the pandemic is forcing a reckoning. Jason Thompson lay awake in his dormitory bed in the Marion Correctional Institution in central Ohio, immobilized by pain, listening to the sounds of “hacking and gurgling” as the novel coronavirus passed from bunk to […]
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Rural America is More Vulnerable to COVID-19 Than Cities Are, and It’s Starting to Show
Rural areas seemed immune as the coronavirus spread through cities earlier this year. Few rural cases were reported, and attention focused on the surge of illnesses and deaths in the big metro areas. But that false sense of safety is now falling apart as infection rates explode in rural areas […]
Read MoreThese Three Factors Are Driving Many COVID-19 Outbreaks In Rural Communities
The piece was originally published by Ohio Valley ReSource. As the economies of the Ohio Valley gradually reopen from the pandemic closures, state officials are still reporting hundreds of coronavirus cases each day in the region. In Kentucky, coronavirus cases are again on the rise, with a week-long average of daily […]
Read MoreResearcher: Biggest Challenge to Reopening is COVID-19 Spreading Through Air
I am a scientist that studies infectious diseases and I specialize in severe respiratory infections, but I also serve as a member of my church’s safety team. Over the past few weeks as states began to loosen restrictions, we have been discussing if and how to safely start services again. […]
Read MoreEmails Reveal Chaos as Meatpacking Companies Fought Health Agencies Over COVID-19 Outbreaks in Their Plants
Thousands of pages of documents obtained by ProPublica show how quickly public health agencies were overwhelmed by meatpacking cases. One CEO described social distancing as “a nicety that makes sense only for people with laptops.” For weeks, Rachel Willard, the county health director in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, had watched with […]
Read MoreIf You’ve Lost Your Health Plan In the COVID-19 Crisis, You’ve Got Options
The coronavirus pandemic — and the economic fallout that has come with it — boosted health insurance enrollment counselor Mark Van Arnam’s workload. But he wants to be even busier. The loss of employment for 21 million Americans is a double blow for many because it also means the loss […]
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