As rough holidays rumble into Americans’ lives, federal lawmakers and regulators seem to be going out of their way to be of disservice to constituents — by quietly skipping crucial inspections of imported toys and other consumer goods or noisily promoting corporate legal immunity while blocking pandemic relief for tens of millions of jobless workers….
Continue ReadingArchives for December 2020
Exposure to the bug, not genetics, explains why the coronavirus has hit black and brown communities so hard
A growing body of research is better explaining why the novel coronavirus has taken such a terrible toll on communities of color and especially black Americans. The evidence underscores the urgency for the nation to address racial injustice and inequities, particularly in health care. As the New York Times reported, experts analyzing mountains of data….
Continue ReadingU.S. collars owners’ outlandish claims for flying ’emotional support’ animals
Um, no, federal regulators have decided: The nation’s skies no longer will be a sort of bad airborne set for a pop psychology version of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Instead, owners of so-called emotional support animals must keep their menagerie off commercial flights. The federal Transportation Department has issued new rules halting….
Continue ReadingU.S. long hoped to reduce health spending. Now it’s happened, but it may not be good.
The nation has gotten some long-desired, important health care economic news: The country has “bent the cost curve,” seeing 2020 as the first year in at least six decades in which America’s health care spending went down. But this may not be a good thing. As Drew Altman, president and chief executive officer of the….
Continue ReadingU.S. drug policy and treatment is shifting, even as opioid crisis surges
Drug policy and treatment in this country is shifting in notable ways, even as the nation wrangles with a resurgent crisis in opioid abuse and overdose deaths and awaits a political transition that will determine a new response to drug harms. As an indicator of the changing views on illicit substances, consider that the U.S…..
Continue ReadingHome cooks get new warnings on burn dangers, as crockpot also is recalled
Americans may need to redouble the care they take as they cook their meals, with safety experts reporting a spike in burn cases, including for kids, and a major manufacturer recalling hundreds of thousands of Crock-Pot multi-cooking devices. Burns can be painful, disfiguring, and not the easiest of wounds to care for, experts say, emphasizing….
Continue ReadingCovid-19 pandemic hits a grim U.S. milestone: 100,000+ nursing home deaths
While untold Americans tried to do right by older and more vulnerable friends and family members by taking extra precautions and even canceling Thanksgiving gatherings, the nation crossed a ghastly threshold for the aged, sick, and injured in late November: The coronavirus has killed at least 100,000 residents and staff in nursing homes and other….
Continue ReadingCoronavirus metrics grim as winter sets in and U.S. awaits political transition
As the winter of 2020-21 descends, the coronavirus pandemic is raging, unchecked, from coast-to-coast while the folks in control of the federal government sulk and seem to have checked out from their governing roles. The numbers likely are understated. But roughly 265,000 Americans have been killed by the Covid-19 virus and more than 13 million….
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