There’s a picture that went viral early in the pandemic that became a symbol of how hard emergency remote schooling was for the youngest students. The image showed a 5-year-old student sitting at a small desk in his family’s kitchen, facing a laptop computer. He’s holding a pencil in one hand, pulling up the neck of his T-shirt with his other hand to wipe tears away from his eyes. Read more ›
Wearing any kind of mask indoors is associated with significantly better protection from the coronavirus, with high-quality N95 and KN95 masks providing the best chance of avoiding infection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Read more ›
This past fall, students and staff at close to 200 public schools in Wake County, N.C., which includes Raleigh, received an unexpected break. Schools were closed on November 12 for a day of reflection and preparation.” That same day, schools in Cumberland County, N.C., about 60 miles south, had the day off for “Wellness Friday.” Read more ›
The U.S. government will make 400 million non-surgical “N95” masks from its strategic national stockpile available for free to the public starting next week, a White House official said, as the Biden administration tries to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more ›
While PCR tests for COVID-19 have become the “gold standard” in detecting the virus, a new study says rapid tests are highly accurate when it comes to children and teens. Read more ›
We Can Do This is a Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 public education campaign to increase public confidence in and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines while reinforcing basic prevention measures such as mask wearing and social distancing. Read more ›
The federal government announced Friday, January 14, that Americans can begin ordering free at-home COVID-19 rapid tests starting January 19.
Orders for up to four tests per household can be placed using the website COVIDtests.gov. Read more ›
Health insurers must cover the cost of home Covid-19 tests starting January 15, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday.
The new requirement means that most consumers with private health insurance can buy at-home tests online or in stores and have them paid for at the time of purchase or get reimbursed by submitting a claim to their insurer. Read more ›
With the omicron variant spreading rapidly, the United States is all but certain to see a sharp rise in breakthrough coronavirus infections among vaccinated people. These cases were relatively rare in the pre-omicron days, but the new variant has shown an ability to slip past the body’s first line of immune defenses. That means many Americans who have gotten the shots will at some point test positive. Read more ›
Schools across the country are overwhelmed with K-12 students struggling with mental health problems, according to school staff, pediatricians and mental health care workers. Not only has this surge made the return to classrooms more challenging to educators, it’s also taxing an already strained health-care system. Read more ›
