Despite the nation's high rates of coronavirus infections, transitions, and deaths, many U.S. schools reopened for the fall semester. Some school districts have chosen to adhere to stricter guidelines through remote learning, while others are implementing in-person teaching with specific safety protocols, and others a hybrid of virtual and in-person. Whatever type of learning, the bottom line is that COVID-19 has not gone away. Outbreaks are happening, and teaching in school only adds to the risk of spreading coronavirus infection, according to Margie Kochsmier, an infection preventionist with FHN Healthcare System in Freeport, Ill. "Anyone—including children—can get COVID-19. Generally, children tend to have more mild symptoms, but it's important to remember that anyone ...
We already know that smoking cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products result in worse coronavirus outcomes. What could be worse? Teenagers and young adults who vape face a much higher risk of COVID-19 than their peers who do not, according to new research from Stanford University. In fact, that data—collected from a May 2020 national survey of 13 to 24-year-olds—showed that vapers are five times more likely to get COVID-19. The risk is seven times higher for dual—smoking and vaping—users. "Young people may believe their age protects them from contracting the virus or that they will not experience symptoms of COVID-19, but the data show this isn't true among those who vape," Dr. Shivani Mathur Gaiha, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral scholar, said in a ...
As of June 2020, 14 U.S. states continued to reject Medicaid expansion, leaving many without an affordable healthcare coverage option. Then COVID-19 hit—hardest among low-income, uninsured families, particularly Latinos. In response to surging coronavirus cases, Oklahoma (11.1% Latino), the state with the second-highest uninsured rates, voted to expand Medicaid on July 1, 2020. A month later on Aug. 4, Missouri (4.4% Latino) also voted to expand Medicaid. In these two states alone, roughly 430,000 low-income adults will be eligible for Medicaid. “The American Heart Association supports expanding Medicaid because people living with low incomes are disproportionately affected by heart disease, hypertension, and stroke. Medicaid serves as the coverage backbone for the ...
American cities are failing at traffic safety—largely due to unsafe speeds. Urban arterials—roads that link major activity centers and highways—accounted for 29% of all U.S. fatal crashes between 2014 and 2018, despite making up only 6% of roadways. That’s why the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) developed City Limits, a framework for setting safe speed limits for city streets and providing strategies to manage speed. “Most speeds limits are set using an oversimplified and outdated method: measure 100 drivers traveling without any traffic and set the speed limit based on the 15th-fastest driver,” said Jenny O’Connell, NACTO Program Manager, according to a NACTO press release. “If this sounds like a system that would create ...
1 in 9 young people are at risk for youth disconnection—someone ages 16-24 years who is neither working or in school. The coronavirus is expected to widen this gap, especially for Latinos and communities of color. Without immediate action, the number of disconnected youth could grow to 1 in 4 young people, or 6 million youth. A recent report, A Decade Undone: Youth Disconnection in the Age of Coronavirus, highlights progress made over the last 10 years in connecting youth to opportunity. It also provides new details on findings at the state, county and local PUMAs (public use and microdata areas) level on youth disconnection. On Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020, let’s use #SaludTues to chat about ways to help Latino youth and their families stay connected amid the coronavirus ...
Recent data goes to proves alarming facts health experts and racial justice advocates warned of since the spread of COVID-19: Minority groups are experiencing the pandemic’s worst outcomes. Latinos, Blacks, and other communities of color are three times more likely to contract coronavirus than white Americans, according to a new report from the New York Times—obtained through a lawsuit against the centers of disease control. Worse, members of those groups are twice as likely to die. “Systemic racism doesn’t just evidence itself in the criminal justice system,” Quinton Lucas, the third Black mayor of Kansas City, told the Times. “It’s something that we’re seeing taking lives in not just urban America, but rural America, and all types of parts where, frankly, people ...
Walking and biking are critical transportation options for physical and mental health. More importantly, they are essential to get to destinations, particularly Latinos during the coronavirus pandemic — including those who are simultaneously less likely to work from home than their white peers and more likely to be impacted by job loss. When the pandemic began, the portion of auto loan accounts in financial hardship jumped from 0.64% in March to 3.54% in April, according to TransUnion. Financial hardship status is defined by factors incliuding: A deferred payment or frozen past-due payment because a person is unable to keep up with payments due to a change in financial circumstances, such as loss of a job
Significant cut in hours or pay
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The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is surging across the U.S., and the American death toll has eclipsed 130,000. Worse, this crisis is widening the gap experienced by households without internet access — a long-festering problem that has made unequal educational opportunities even more unbalanced, said Jordana Barton, a senior advisor in community development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. "The COVID-19 pandemic has brought national attention to the digital divide—the gap experienced by households without internet access," Barton wrote. "Directives for social distancing and stay-at-home orders have made access to broadband an urgent necessity for families as they struggle to stay connected with schooling, jobs, health care, government assistance, and more."
The Digital ...
Researchers are finding that population density is not associated with higher death rates from COVID-19. Unfortunately, some people still blame compact housing and transit for pandemic spikes, and use that misinformation to promote sprawling residential development and disinvestment in transit in the name of health. These are the same poor practices that have segregated neighborhoods and contributed to drastic disparities in health and wealth for a century. As city leaders respond to concerns about COVID transmission and develop economic recovery plans, they must challenge the discriminatory status quo, consider transportation expenses, and shift toward equitable, compact (not overcrowded) housing development. “Restoring urban transit networks to full force, expanding their ...
