Late on Tuesday, April 28, President Trump issued an executive order forcing meat processing plants to stay open despite the severe public health risk involved in operating as usual under the coronavirus outbreak. In states across the country, meat plants have become hot spots for the virus, with at least 20 known deaths and more […]
Supreme Court Cases May Leave Many Without Insurance Coverage for Birth Control
Next week, the Supreme Court will hear two cases, Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania and Trump v. Pennsylvania, that could significantly limit birth control access in the United States. The Court’s conservative majority may use these cases to allow most employers to claim religious or moral exemptions to providing contraception coverage in their […]
Domestic Violence on the Rise Globally Due to COVID-19 Lockdowns
This week, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), along with their partners Avenir Health, Johns Hopkins University, and Victoria University, published a report predicting a 20 percent rise in the rate of domestic and gender-based violence around the world due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. According to the report, “For every 3 months the lockdown continues, […]
Navajo Nation Has Third Highest Rate of Coronavirus Cases in U.S.
As of Tuesday, the Navajo Nation had the third-highest rate of COVID-19 infections in the country, with 1,873 confirmed cases and 60 confirmed deaths, third only to New York and New Jersey. Tribal officials cite “broken promises” for the disproportionately high rate of cases. “We are United States citizens but we’re not treated like that,” […]
The Hill Op-Ed Piece Calls for FDA to Lift Medication Abortion Regulations
On April 27, The Hill published an opinion piece entitled “The UK Allows Home Use of the Abortion Pill– the US Should Do the Same” by Susan F. Wood, former FDA assistant commissioner for Women’s Health and a professor of health and policy management at George Washington University, and Cynthia A. Pearson, executive director of […]
Women in Academia Struggle in the Wake of COVID-19
Women seem to be submitting comparatively fewer papers for review to academic journals as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Elizabeth Hannon, deputy editor of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, noted a “negligible number of submissions to the journal from women in the last month.” Anna Watts remarked upon the makeup of […]
Pandemic Will Be First of Many If Climate Change is Not Addressed Immediately
Recent reports by the World Health Organization state that human activity leading to climate change greatly affects the prevalence and spread of infectious diseases like the novel coronavirus that has thrown the world into a state of crisis. As humans continue to degrade the planet’s natural processes and systems life as we know it at […]
Heartburn Drug Being Studied as Treatment for COVID-19
Hospitals in New York have begun testing famotidine, the active drug in the over-the-counter heartburn medication Pepcid, as a possible treatment for COVID-19 with early results anticipated in the next few weeks. “There are many examples in the history of medicine where a drug that was designed for one purpose turns out to have an […]
Kentucky Governor Vetoes Anti-Abortion Bill
On Friday, April 24, Kentucky Governor Andrew Beshear vetoed Senate Bill 9, which aimed to grant the state’s attorney general the power to restrict abortion access during the coronavirus pandemic, and require physicians to attempt to “preserve the life of any infant born after an attempted abortion”. The governor stated in his veto message that […]
Anti-Vaccine Groups Join Anti-Lockdown Protesters in Government Criticism
Across the United States, anti-vaccine protesters are leveraging anti-government sentiment sparked by the COVID-19 response to advance their cause. The right wing of the anti-vaccine movement is a natural ally for anti-lockdown protesters due to their shared distrust of government authority. These anti-vaccine activists applaud President Trump’s suggestion that COVID-19 is not dangerous enough to […]
Health Department Official Fired For Speaking Out Against Hydroxychloroquine
Rick Bright, the official who previously led the federal agency involved in working to develop a coronavirus vaccine was removed from his position after urging caution and research before advocating for hydroxychloroquine. As the Trump administration pushed for the anti-malaria drug to be used in treating patients with coronavirus, Dr. Bright denounced these actions as putting “politics […]
Mass Incarceration, Mandatory Prison Labor Could Lead to Huge Coronavirus Death Toll
United States prisons and jails could become major sites of coronavirus outbreaks, warn public health experts, correctional staff, and prison reform advocates. According to a study conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), unless prison and jail populations are “dramatically and immediately reduced,” 100,000 more people than currently projected could die of COVID-19. The […]
Texas Governor’s Executive Order Banning Abortion Expires
Tuesday night, Texas’ Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s March 21 executive order expired. The order had been the object of weeks of legal debate over the classification of medication and procedural abortion as a ‘non-essential’ medical procedure during the COVID-19 crisis. On Wednesday, Gov. Abbott announced a new executive order, allowing certain medical procedures to resume, […]
Acute Hunger on the Rise Due to COVID-19, Reports United Nations
According to the United Nations, over a quarter of a billion people could starve due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unless providing food and humanitarian aid becomes a priority fast, these millions of people in the most at-risk regions could die. Approximately 130 million people were estimated to have suffered from lack of food last year. […]
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Urges People to Stay Home Despite Governor’s Mandate
Earlier this week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued a statement that the state would reopen certain nonessential businesses beginning this Friday, April 24, including hair salons, gyms, bowling alleys, and tattoo parlors. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has been vocal in urging those in Atlanta– and the state at large– to continue staying home despite […]
Federal Judge Allows Abortions in Oklahoma to Resume Despite COVID-19 Ban
U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin has just issued a preliminary injunction against Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s attempted abortion ban, and is allowing all abortion services to resume on Friday, April 24. According to a release by the Associated Press, “the injunction ensures that abortions can be performed in Oklahoma while the case continues in federal […]
Nurses Protest Unsafe Working Conditions and Demand More PPE
Nurses across the country are protesting dangerous working conditions, a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), and limited access to testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses have reported being sent home for refusing to treat COVID-19 patients without sufficient PPE, being denied tests despite having COVID-19 symptoms, and being fired for publicly criticizing PPE shortages. […]
COVID-19 Affecting Decisions About Having Children
The current COVID-19 pandemic has provoked a shift in the decision making processes of those considering having children. Originally when the pandemic began, many suggested that there would be a “baby boom” in nine months, especially as research suggests a spike in births after certain forms of disasters, especially in cases in which individuals are […]
Trump Says He’s Halting All Immigration to the US Amid Pandemic
As the United States continues to suffer from the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, President Donald Trump announced yesterday that he was going to issue an executive order suspending all immigration into the United States for an indefinite amount of time. In yet another tweet sent out by the president yesterday, he said, “In light of […]
COVID-19 Job Losses Wipe out Insurance Access for Millions of Americans
As millions file for unemployment, many are now dealing with a pandemic-related ripple effect: a massive loss of employment-dependent health and dental insurance across America. It’s difficult to count just how many Americans have lost insurance. Since Mid-March, about 22 million workers have filed unemployment claims. As the pandemic continues and state workforce offices slowly […]
