As pharmaceutical companies race to produce a COVID-19 vaccine, one might not be available for kids until late next year, experts predict. Clinical trials for children have yet to begin in the United States, and likely won’t start until an adult vaccine is proven safe and effective.
Fear of losing jobs, distrust of the medical community and close-knit housing conditions have led to higher rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths among California's Latinos. Experts point to the economic realities faced by many Latino families as well as longstanding inequities to explain why the pandemic has hit this community so hard.
The top U.S. public health agency said Monday that the coronavirus can spread more than 6 feet through the air, especially in poorly ventilated and enclosed spaces. But agency officials maintained that such spread is uncommon and current social distancing guidelines still make sense.
In the Navajo Nation, called home by almost 200,000 Native Americans, the COVID-19 death rate is one of the highest in the United States. Residents and health workers there say that part of the reason has been inadequate healthcare resources and personnel stemming from years of U.S. government’s underfunding of the Indian Health Service, “the government program that provides health care to the 2.2 million members of the nation’s tribal communities,” writes Mark Walker for The New York Times.