Health Links
By Nearly a 2-1 Margin, Parents Prefer to Wait to Open Schools to Minimize COVID Risk, with Parents of Color Especially Worried Either Way
For the first time, most Americans (53%) now say that stress and worry related to the pandemic has had a negative impact on their mental health – an increase of 14 percentage points since May.... This includes about one in four who say it has had a “major” negative impact.As state and local officials prepare for the new school year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, parents with children who normally attend school overwhelmingly prefer that schools wait to restart in-person classes to reduce infection risk (60%) rather than open sooner so parents can work and students can return to the classroom (34%), the latest KFF tracking poll finds. more »
GAO: COVID-19 Complicates Already Challenged FDA Foreign Inspection Program; It Could Be 2 to 3 Years Before New Staff Are Experienced Enough To Conduct Foreign Inspection
In March 2020, FDA announced that, due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), it was postponing almost all inspections of foreign manufacturing establishments. While FDA has indicated it has other tools to ensure the safety of the US drug supply, the lack of foreign inspections removes a critical source of information about the quality of drugs manufactured for the US market. more »
Pew Trust's Stateline: Staffing Nursing Homes Was Hard Before the Pandemic. Now It’s Even Tougher.
There’s no standard federal ratio of staff to residents. A 1987 law requires nursing homes to have a registered nurse on duty eight hours a day, seven days a week; a licensed nurse on duty in the evenings and overnight; and staff “sufficient to meet nursing needs of its residents.” There’s no national data on nursing home staffing during the pandemic, because the federal government has suspended staff reporting requirements to give businesses a break from paperwork. Before the pandemic, the average nursing home could provide 3.9 hours a day of nursing care per patient, according to the most recent federal data. more »
Kaiser Family Foundation: Eligibility for ACA Health Coverage Following Job Loss; What Is ESI?
What are coverage options for people losing ESI? Eligibility for health coverage for people who lose ESI (employee Sponsored insurance) depends on many factors, including income while working and family income while unemployed, state of residence, and family status. Some people may be ineligible for coverage options, and others may be eligible but opt not to enroll. Some employers may temporarily continue coverage after job loss (for example, through the end of the month), but such extensions of coverage are typically limited to short periods. People who lose employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) may become eligible for Medicaid or subsidized coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces. more »