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Health | Covering health care and health policy in Southern California

A 'potentially powerful model' for treating sickle cell

A sickle cell clinic in South L.A. is believed to be the first of its kind: It brings primary and specialty care providers under one roof to treat the disease. Rebecca Plevin
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Recent Health coverage

Coronavirus FAQs: Is It Safer To Fly Or Drive? Is Air Conditioning A Threat?

Isabella Gomez Sarmiento and Laurel Wamsley | NPR |

They're not exactly easy questions to answer. In the first case, you must consider motel cleaning regimens and the hazards of driving vs. the risk of sitting next to a sneezy air traveler.

CDC Director Says New Analysis Exonerates Agency On Testing Delay

Rob Stein | NPR |

CDC chief Robert Redfield says that earlier testing for the coronavirus would have been like "looking for a needle in a haystack." But other health experts dispute his assertion.

IRS Rule Shift Lets Workers Make Benefits Changes Midyear — If Their Employer Agrees

Michelle Andrews | NPR |

The new guidance amounts to a midyear open-enrollment period and applies to firms that buy health insurance to cover their workers as well as to those that self-insure — paying claims on their own.

Illinois Is Reopening But Chicago Isn't Because Of Coronavirus Cases

David Schaper | NPR |

Illinois is joining many other Midwest states in reopening some retail shops, restaurants, salons and other businesses Friday. The mayor is delaying until the middle of next week.

COVID-19 Has Killed Close To 300 U.S. Health Care Workers, New Data From CDC Shows

Will Stone and Carrie Feibel | NPR |

More than 60,000 health care workers have contracted the coronavirus, up from 9,000 in April. Workers say they face unnecessary risks because of ongoing shortages of protective gear like masks.

Coronavirus Testing Machines Are Latest Bottleneck In Troubled Supply Chain

Joel Rose | NPR |

Civilian labs and the Army say they've had trouble getting big machines that run hundreds of coronavirus tests at once. Public health experts say that's holding the U.S. back from ramping up testing.

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Poll Shows Only A Quarter Of African Americans Plan To Get Coronavirus Vaccine

Brakkton Booker | NPR |

A survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 25% of black respondents plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine when one becomes available, compared to 56% of whites.

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WHO Warns Of A 'Second Peak' In Countries That Reopen Too Quickly

Rachel Martin | NPR |

So far, there is no seasonal pattern to coronavirus outbreaks, the WHO's Dr. Margaret Harris says. Lockdowns may not be necessary, she says, but infections rise when restrictions are relaxed rapidly.

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Nearing 100,000 COVID-19 Deaths, U.S. Is Still 'Early In This Outbreak'

Laurel Wamsley | NPR |

"The speed with which this has happened is really devastating," says Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. He warns the outbreak will leave no part of the U.S. untouched.

Too Little Or Too Much Time With The Kids? Grandparenting Is Tough In A Pandemic

JoNel Aleccia | NPR |

Even as social restrictions ease in some spots, older adults remain extra-vulnerable to COVID-19. That means many families are facing hard choices — whether to hunker down together or apart.

Harvard Researchers Find 'Inequality On Top Of Inequality' In COVID-19 Deaths

James Doubek | NPR |

By studying the number of all current deaths compared to those in previous years, researchers have found that high-poverty, crowded areas where people of color live have been hard hit by the pandemic.

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Grocery Workers Union Estimates 3,257 Members Infected With Coronavirus

Austin Horn | NPR |

Union President Marc Perrone said the number of those members infected or known to have been exposed to the virus has increased by 200% in five weeks.

'He's Incredibly Confused': Parenting A Child With Autism During The Pandemic

Courtney Dorning and Mary Louise Kelly | NPR |

Feda Almaliti is the mother of a 15-year-old son with severe autism and an advocate. She describes how the challenges of the coronavirus crisis are exponentially more difficult for families like hers.

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The Race For A Polio Vaccine Differed From The Quest To Prevent Coronavirus

Joe Palca | NPR |

In the 1950s, as Dr. Jonas Salk and virologist Albert Sabin worked to create a vaccine to prevent infantile paralysis, the threat from polio was already long familiar to Americans.

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Fauci Voices Cautious Optimism About Moderna Vaccine, Calling Trial 'Quite Promising'

Jason Breslow | NPR |

Dr. Anthony Fauci says it's "conceivable" a coronavirus vaccine could be ready within months but cautions "when you're dealing with vaccines, there could be so many things that get in the way."

Food Banks Get The Love, But SNAP Does More To Fight Hunger

Dan Charles | NPR |

The charitable organizations called food banks are getting a lot of attention and donations right now. But they aren't nearly as important or effective as SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.