In the News

Four fatalities from the escalating global monkeypox outbreak have been confirmed since last week: two in Spain, one in India, and one in Brazil, according to public health authorities in those countries. Should U.S. clinicians start worrying? Not yet, according to public health experts.
 

The new booster shot could be a game changer in the fight against COVID-19. The booster, designed to target the omicron variants, is expected to be approved as soon as September.
 

As the third winter of the coronavirus pandemic looms in the northern hemisphere, scientists are warning weary governments and populations alike to brace for more waves of COVID-19.
 

Testing has since expanded to around 80,000 tests per week, after five large commercial laboratories partnered with the federal government to boost the nation’s testing efforts. But while the ability to run more tests has improved, there are still barriers that prevent people from accessing them.
 

More than 2½ years into the pandemic, and with a highly contagious version of the virus circulating, the CDC guidelines for what to do when falling ill — and when to return to public life — continue to stoke as much confusion as clarity.
 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has found that that while fatal overdoses rose dramatically during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic across all racial demographics, overdose fatalities surged especially among Black and Native American individuals.
 

As the first wave of the COVID pandemic devastated the U.S., hospitals looked to the nation's stockpile for desperately needed supplies. They weren't there. 
 

Mask mandates are making a comeback at public schools in Louisville. They could return to Los Angeles, after a possible decision this week. And outside Atlanta, where classes start in a matter of days, they are required for school employees.
 

By designating the outbreak an emergency, HHS could then take a slew of actions, including accessing new money and appointing new personnel, according to the law that dictates how and when the federal government can declare such an emergency.
 

Over the weekend, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the monkeypox outbreak spreading globally is a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ (PHEIC). Researchers hope that the declaration — the agency’s highest alarm — might serve as a wake-up call for countries as they struggle to contain the spread of the virus that causes monkeypox.
 

The BA.5 surge is a reminder that we need to take precautions to avoid illness, slow the relentless cycle of new variants and minimize the disruption to our daily lives.
 

To get more money to treatment centers like Lily's Place, Cabell County and its main city of Huntington decided to take the problem to the source: pharmaceutical companies that pushed millions of opioids into the county over the last decade. Now, a federal judge ruled on July 4 that the three major pharmaceutical companies were not liable, leaving one county at the center of the opioid epidemic in the dark without the critical resources it needs to save lives.