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Public health officials are asking for more money in Californiaâs state budget. But unlike some rich and powerful health care interests, they donât have an army of lobbyists to curry favor with lawmakers.
Public health officials are confronting growing pressure â and threats â across the country as the backlash to the coronavirus response continues. At least 27 state and local health leaders have resigned, retired or been fired since April across 13 states.
Health clinics in isolated African American communities in the San Francisco Bay Area provide crucial services to neglected populations. But like thousands of other community clinics around the nation, their finances have been wrecked by the pandemic shutdown.
The practice of narrative medicine helps health care professionals hear the life stories behind a patientâs immediate complaints. Some doctors are finding that these skills also provide an alcove of needed reflection amid the pandemonium of COVID-19.
Nationwide, coronavirus infection numbers are trending down, but several states are seeing upticks, with the heaviest impact falling on communities of color and nursing home residents.
Some California hospitals near the Mexican border have received so many COVID-19 patients the past few weeks that they have had to divert some to other facilities. Hospital officials say most of the infected patients are U.S. citizens or legal residents who live in, or recently traveled to, Mexico and came to the U.S. for care.
Courtrooms arenât built for social distancing, and pandemics donât offer ideal conditions for fulfilling the right to a speedy trial. But, eventually, every court in the nation will have to reckon with a return that may risk safety to some degree.
The COVID-19 pandemic is showcasing California Gov. Gavin Newsomâs leadership style to a national audience. The first-term Democrat doesnât shy away from making splashy announcements and lofty promises, but his plans often lack detail and, in some cases, follow-through.
Experts estimate local and state health departments will have to hire 100,000 to 300,000 people as contact tracers to get the economy back on track. Many states are trying hard to hire from the racial and ethnic minority communities hit hardest by the virus.
Xavier Becerra has made battling health care consolidation a priority since he became attorney general. Now that COVID-19 threatens vulnerable health care practices, heâs pushing to expand his authority to slow health care mergers.
Safety-net health care programs that keep low-income Californians out of nursing homes are on the chopping block as Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers attempt to plug a massive budget deficit caused by the COVID-19 emergency.
As a journalist, she wrote during the winter about the hostility shown toward Asian Americans for wearing masks. In May, she got cursed at for not wearing a mask herself.
As reopening decisions approach for the fall semester, colleges and universities are casting about for strategies to keep students safe without bankrupting their institutions. A few have natural advantages.
Transit ridership has plummeted because of COVID-19, but millions of Americans still rely on buses and trains to get around, often because they have no other choice.
The pandemic has forced millions of families to weigh the risks of vulnerable grandparents getting too close to their beloved grandchildren â against the heartache of staying away.
The pandemic offers an opportunity to use artificial intelligence programs to help doctors in COVID-19 diagnosis. But some leading hospital systems have shelved their AI technology because it wasnât ready to roll.
Accident deaths are typically the biggest source of donor organs nationwide. But when the coronavirus forced Californians indoors, accidents declined.
Childrenâs hospitals were generally in good shape before COVID-19, but now their revenues are plunging as beds they reserved to assist in the pandemic effort remain empty.
Poverty is real in the Coachella Valley, a region known for its glitzy resorts and music festival. During the COVID crisis, the California National Guard and California Conservation Corps are helping an area food bank distribute food to older residents and those with disabilities.
The novel coronavirus is affecting black Americans disproportionately, which some community leaders and public health experts say is not surprising. So why didnât anyone sound an alarm?
Š 2026 KFF