Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Pandemic roundup: ACA enrollment booming; what we don't know about 'long Covid'; National Guard opening vax clinics

Here's a roundup of recent news about the pandemic and vaccination efforts.

As more people get vaccinated, more Americans are relaxing social-distancing precautions and returning to normal life, according to a new poll. Read more here.

More than 200,000 people have signed up for health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act's online marketplace during a special enrollment window that President Biden opened, which one health policy reporter says is "a sign that those who lost insurance during the pandemic remain in desperate need of coverage." Read more here.

The National Guard is opening coronavirus vaccination clinics in rural counties to increase access to underserved areas. Read more here.

Vaccination sign-ups prove daunting for speakers of other languages. Read more here.

Visually impaired people face extra difficulties in getting vaccinated. Read more here.

Communities and organizations are working to get the vaccine to homebound people. Read more here and here.

A 70 percent vaccination rate doesn't ensure herd immunity, some experts caution. Specifically, if residents in some areas can't or don't get vaccinated and social distance, they can harbor the coronavirus and allow it to mutate and spread to other areas. Read more here.

American adults gained an average of half a pound for every 10 days spent under stay-at-home orders, according to a new study. Read more here.

What we know and don't know about "long Covid," or symptoms—sometimes debilitating—that persist for months after catching the virus. Read more here.

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