Health & Safety

Rep. Mike Johnson On The RNC, The Coronavirus And The Storms Facing Louisiana

4:08pm August 25, 2020

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., about the first night of the GOP convention and the storms facing Louisiana this week, 15 years after Katrina tore through the state.

When FDA Might Approve A Coronavirus Vaccine

4:08pm August 25, 2020

by Joe Palca

New vaccines usually take years to get the approval of the Food and Drug Administration. But the Trump administration suggests the FDA may greenlight a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.

UNC Student Journalists Share What It's Like To Cover Campus Reopening

4:08pm August 25, 2020

by Elissa Nadworny

Student journalists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were thrust into the spotlight after a headline with an expletive describing the coronavirus outbreaks on campus went viral.

Queue Listen Now

Researcher Criticizes FDA's Exaggeration Of Plasma's Efficacy In COVID-19 Treatment

4:08pm August 25, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Dr. Eric Topol of the Scripps Research Translational Institute about his concerns about the use of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 treatment.

Africa Is Declared Officially Free Of The Wild Poliovirus

4:08pm August 25, 2020

by Eyder Peralta

Health authorities have declared the African continent free of the wild poliovirus — no cases have been reported there in four years.

Ammon Bundy (center), who led the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation, joins protesters outside the Idaho Statehouse steps in Boise on Monday.

Unmasked Protesters Push Past Police Into Idaho Lawmakers' Session

3:52pm August 25, 2020

by James Dawson

Anger at the state response to the pandemic spurred dozens of people, some of whom were armed, to barge into and pack the House of Representatives' gallery on Monday.

Some of the revenue from recreational marijuana sales would go toward historically disadvantaged businesses, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf says. Wolf is calling for legal pot sales as part of a plan to help Pennsylvania's economy recover from the COVID-19 pa

Pennsylvania Governor Calls For State To Legalize Marijuana, Citing Pandemic

3:34pm August 25, 2020

by Bill Chappell

Gov. Tom Wolf calls for some of the revenue from marijuana sales to go toward "repairing the harm done to crime victims and communities as a result of marijuana criminalization."

Postal service delays mean some patients don't get much needed medications on time.

Postal Service Slowdowns Cause Dangerous Delays In Medication Delivery

1:10pm August 25, 2020

by Paige Pfleger

Mail-order prescriptions are another victim of recent changes to post office operations around the country. For some people, getting your mail on time could be a matter of life or death.

"Before the appendectomy, I was looking for property and homes to purchase, and that is pretty much completely off the table right now," says Shannon Harness, a veteran who was uninsured when he had two appendicitis-related surgeries in 2019. The bills am

Health & Safety

Veteran's Appendectomy Launches Excruciating, Months-Long Battle Over Bill

12:29pm August 25, 2020

by Elizabeth Lawrence

An uninsured Colorado man who had appendicitis owed $80,232 after two surgeries. After months of negotiating with the hospital, he still owes far more than most insurers would pay for the procedures.

Queue Listen Now

After shuttering bar districts early in the pandemic, Hong Kong reopened them in May. Some have been linked to new clusters of cases.

Health & Safety

Why The Coronavirus Is So 'Superspready'

11:43am August 25, 2020

by Pien Huang

That's the word that one disease researcher uses to describe COVID-19. And now scientists are discovering the reasons that this virus is readily transmitted at "superspreader events."