Biden Administration to End Public Health Emergency in May

  • The Biden administration plans to end the COVID-19 state of emergency on May 11
  • Two republican politicians have put forward bills to end these provisions earlier
  • Experts say that now is the time for caution

The Biden administration has announced that it will end the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency on May 11.

The state of emergency was started under the Trump administration in March 2020. The declaration of an emergency opens up a host of expansive options to combat the outbreak, including expanding access to healthcare, COVID-19 tests and vaccines.

Public healthcare experts who spoke to Healthlinefor this story have concerns about the pace of this change and how ending the state of emergency could affect the US healthcare system moving forward.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine thinks that any stoppage of the state of emergency at this stage is

Simple Questions To Ask Kids When They Share ‘News’ They Saw Online

Kids learn about what’s happening in the world from their peers, teachers, relatives and, of course, social media. But word-of-mouth and the internet both have their flaws when it comes to accuracy. That’s where parents come in.

“Communicating with your kids about news and current events is important because it has become incredibly challenging to navigate the fire hose of information, including the relentless news cycle, each and every day,” Michelle Lipkin, executive director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education, told HuffPost. “The lines between entertainment and news are blurred. It’s also hard to distinguish credible information from inaccurate information.”

She noted that news is often sensationalized and individual articles or clips don’t always express the true complexity of a given issue. Additionally, certain things don’t get much coverage, while other topics flood the social media sphere.

“Media literacy skills aren’t something kids will necessarily pick up on

Listen to the Latest ‘KHN Health Minute’

February 7, 2023

Feb. 2

The KHN Health Minute this week previews abortion debates in statehouses now that federal protections are gone and looks at what’s driving the closure of nursing homes around the country.

Jan. 26

This week’s “KHN Health Minute” nudges listeners to have an antiviral care plan before covid hits, and looks at how medical emergencies like Damar Hamlin’s heart attack can affect NFL players’ mental health.

Jan. 19

Tune in to the “KHN Health Minute” this week to learn how your smartphone could become your doctor’s newest diagnostic tool and the importance of taking morning sickness symptoms seriously.

Jan. 12

Tune in to the “KHN Health Minute” this week to hear how noise pollution affects our health and why an optimistic outlook can help you live longer.

The KHN Health Minute is available every Thursday on CBS News Radio.


Nursing home owners drained cash from understaffed facilities, analysis suggests : Shots

New York state records show nearly half the state’s 600-plus nursing homes hired real estate, management and staffing companies run or controlled by their owners, frequently paying them well above the cost of services. Meanwhile, in the pandemic’s height, the federal government was giving the facilities hundreds of millions in fiscal relief.

Maskot/Getty Images


hide caption

toggle caption

Maskot/Getty Images


New York state records show nearly half the state’s 600-plus nursing homes hired real estate, management and staffing companies run or controlled by their owners, frequently paying them well above the cost of services. Meanwhile, in the pandemic’s height, the federal government was giving the facilities hundreds of millions in fiscal relief.

Maskot/Getty Images

After the nursing home where Leann Sample worked was bought by private investors, it started falling apart. Literally.

Part of a ceiling collapsed on a nurse, the air conditioning conked out regularly, and a toilet once

Where Do Healthcare Breaches Come From?

While we have seen an increase in healthcare data breaches stemming from vendor vulnerabilities, there can be a variety of sources.

We can help you stay on top of the latest news that affects your everyday life. Subscribe to stay up to date. (To subscribe to our blog ).

Recent breaches have demonstrated various sources of data breaches.

One source is from vendors and vendor tools.

We have seen a large uptick in vendor cyber attacks, as cybercriminals have found it easier to hack vendors than the healthcare entities directly. Many vendors have less security measures in place than healthcare entities.

A second source of breaches is employees.

Employees wrongly accessing patient charts is a large source of healthcare breaches. Employees can also be a source of vulnerability if they click on phishing links or ransomware.

A third source is analytical tools.

Analytical tools may be used to

Apple Women’s Health Study: menstrual cycles, health | News

February 1, 2023 – Over the past three years, researchers with the Apple Women’s Health Study have been able to shed light on topics such as pregnancy attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on menstrual cycles.

Thanks to three years of renewed support from Apple, the work will continue.

Shruthi Mahalingaiah
Shruthi Mahalingaiah

“We’ve made incredible progress in our team’s cohesion and collaboration, and we’ve been able to dedicate ourselves towards discovery for women’s health,” said Shruthi Mahalingaiah, assistant professor of environmental, reproductive, and women’s health at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and a member of the study team.

The study is a collaboration of Harvard Chan School, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and Apple. The longitudinal study is focused on advancing understanding of menstrual cycles and using that information to improve screening and risk assessment for a range of gynecological conditions—and,

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, ousted from Alberta, moves to work with BC public health leaders

The former chief medical officer removed from her post in Alberta has taken a new job with BC’s public health leadership team, the westernmost province announced Wednesday.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, who became the face of Alberta’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will work as BC’s deputy provincial health officer on a six-month contract.

“To help strengthen BC’s preparedness and response to present and future public health emergencies, I am pleased to share new additions to our public health leadership team at the Office of the PHO,” BC Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry wrote in a statement.

As well as Hinshaw, BC has also hired Dr. Andrew Larder on “temporary assignment” for several months. Larder previously worked as a medical health officer for both Fraser and Interior Health.

“I feel very fortunate to work alongside such talented and dedicated public health experts and I know their expertise will

Scale of Ukraine War ‘Out of Proportion’ With NATO Planning: Cavoli

  • NATO leaders have been worried by the heavy casualties and massive ammunition usage in Ukraine.
  • “The scale of this war is out of proportion with all of our recent thinking,” NATO’s top general said in January.

The heavy casualties and massive consumption of ammunition seen during the war in Ukraine worried top NATO commanders.

NATO was created in 1949 to stop a massive Soviet invasion of Western Europe, and it has added new members since the end of the Cold War, but many of its militaries shrank in the decades after the Soviet threat disappeared. Now the scale and intensity of the fighting in Ukraine has raised questions about the alliance’s ability to fight a big-unit war against Russia.

“Scale, scale, scale,” US Army Gen. Christopher

Depression, Poor Mental Health in Young Adults Linked to Higher Cardiovascular Risks

By American Heart Association News

(HealthDay)

TUESDAY, Jan. 31, 2023 (American Heart Association News) — Young adults with depression or overall poor mental health report more heart attacks, strokes and risk factors for cardiovascular disease than their peers without mental health issues, new research shows.

The findings, published recently in the Journal of the American Heart Association, add to a large body of evidence linking cardiovascular disease risk and death with depression, but leave unanswered questions about how one may lead to the other.

“While the relationship between heart disease and depression is likely to be bidirectional, it’s important to prioritize mental health among younger adults as this may be beneficial in reducing heart disease and improving overall heart health,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Yaa Adoma Kwapong, a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Baltimore.

Kwapong and her colleagues

5 Things to Discuss with Your Spouse Before Estate Planning

If you are married and considering doing your estate plan, there are some discussions you should have with your spouse.

We can help you stay on top of the latest news that affects your everyday life. Subscribe to stay up to date. (To subscribe to our blog ).

If you and your spouse are considering doing your estate plan, we recommend that you discuss the following items:

  1. How do you want your money and assets handled if one of you dies? Do you want any restrictions? Are you worried about your spouse remarrying and being influenced by the spouse? It is important to know how you want your money to be managed when one spouse dies, especially if you have minor children.
  2. If you have minor children, who will be their guardian? This is a very difficult discussion to have, but it’s better to make this decision than