Despite being locked down during the pandemic, child care responsibilities often fell on women’s shoulders, a new study shows. “Most people have never undergone anything like this before, where all of a sudden they can’t rely on their normal child care, and most people’s work situation has changed, too,” said researcher Kristen Shockley, an associate…  read on >  read on >

President-elect Joe Biden described an ambitious national vaccination plan on Friday that will deliver coronavirus vaccines to far more people and invoke a wartime law to boost vaccine production. In a speech in Delaware, Biden told Americans that, “The honest truth is this: Things will get worse before they get better.” He pledged to ramp…  read on >  read on >

If you’re trying to decide whether to have your child tested for COVID-19, talk with your pediatrician, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggests. Children and teens with COVID-19 symptoms should be tested immediately. This is especially important if they’re going to school, playing sports or have in-person jobs, according to the academy. Testing is…  read on >  read on >

President-elect Joe Biden proposed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus “rescue” plan on Thursday that would pump $400 billion directly into efforts to fight the pandemic, with the rest focused on economic relief and state and local aid. “”I know what I just described will not come cheaply,” Biden said during a speech Thursday night. “But failure…  read on >  read on >

Now that federal guidelines have expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to include people over 65 and those of all ages with underlying health conditions, drug stores say they are ready, willing and able to start giving the shots. There’s just one slight glitch: supply. But with two vaccines already available and others moving toward emergency use…  read on >  read on >

A combination of mask use, social distancing and routine testing would eliminate nearly all COVID-19 infections on U.S. college campuses, a new study claims. Using a computer model that simulated a semester of a mid-sized college (5,000 students and 1,000 faculty), researchers assessed the effectiveness and cost of 24 combinations of four common preventive strategies:…  read on >  read on >

The United States has far fewer flu cases than normal, and experts say it’s probably due to measures people are taking to protect themselves from COVID-19. Flu season usually peaks between December and February. Influenza typically causes about 45 million illnesses, 810,000 hospitalizations and 61,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the…  read on >  read on >

Folks who’ve gotten through a COVID-19 infection might naturally question whether they need to get a coronavirus vaccination when their turn comes. Experts say they really need the shot anyway, because even after having COVID they might be vulnerable to reinfection. “We’re encouraging people if they meet the other criteria to get immunized because we…  read on >  read on >