Friday, January 21, 2022

Pandemic roundup: Free N95 masks and at-home tests coming soon; rural hospitals overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients; rural kids have a harder time accessing vaccines

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

Rural hospitals are struggling under influx of Covid-19 patients, and say they're having a hard time transferring critical patients to larger hospitals since those are also full. Read more here and here.

Labor and delivery services are already difficult to access for many rural Texans, but many hospitals are considering cutting those services because of staff shortages and exploding Covid-19 case counts. Read more here.

The White House will begin distributing 400 million free N95 masks starting next week. Read more here.

The U.S. Postal Service is taking orders for at-home coronavirus test kits. Each household can order up to four free rapid tests, which will be shipped for free in late January. Delivery will be prioritized to zip codes with high Covid infection and death rates. Read more here.

Rural kids can have a hard time accessing coronavirus vaccinations. Read more here.

Officials are struggling to regulate pop-up coronavirus testing sites, and warn patients to beware of fraudsters. Read more here.

A new podcast from the News Literacy Project discusses the politicization of the pandemic. Listen to it here.

Don't just rely on rapid tests to gather safely. Read more here.

Though the Omicron variant is milder, it's still a huge threat to immunocompromised people. Read more here.

A rural Alabama pharmacy became a frontline in the fight against Covid-19. Read more here.

No comments: