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"content": "\u003cp>As 2024 inches closer,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957790/the-new-covid-eris-variant-and-rising-cases-what-you-need-to-know\"> COVID-19 is unfortunately still very much with us\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever since the drug \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-first-oral-antiviral-treatment-covid-19\">Paxlovid was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in December 2021\u003c/a>, requesting this antiviral pill has been part of many people’s COVID plans for treatment and recovery for the last couple of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, starting this month, a few changes to how Paxlovid is funded are here — which could potentially have consequences for how you request and access the drug. And if you’ve asked for Paxlovid before or plan on seeking out the antiviral drug if you get COVID, there are some updates you might not necessarily expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paxlovid has been proven to be highly effective at reducing severe disease and hospitalization from COVID, and there’s now also evidence it can help reduce the risks of long COVID, too. The drug has also been free by prescription in California for \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Questions-and-Answers-Treatment-Information-for-Providers-and-Facilities.aspx#question3\">patients with mild to moderate illness “with risk of progression to severe disease,”\u003c/a> according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The agency notes that many common conditions might qualify you for this, including physical inactivity, obesity and depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for everything you need to know about requesting Paxlovid in or after November so you’re prepared for any bumps along the way. If you’re met with unexpected Paxlovid charges, this information might help you understand why that’s happening — and how to avoid or challenge those new costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#healthinsurance\">If you have health insurance: How to avoid new potential costs for Paxlovid\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#nohealthinsurance\">If you don’t have health insurance: How to find free Paxlovid\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Paxlovid is transitioning to the commercial market\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Like COVID vaccines (more on that below), Paxlovid supplies in the United States are moving away from being bought by the federal government and into the commercial market — like countless other drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The government paid Pfizer, the makers of Paxlovid, around $530 per course of the drug. Now, Pfizer said \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-shifting-covid-antivirals-commercial-market-nov-1-2023-10-27/\">the company has set the price of Paxlovid at around $1,400 per five-day course\u003c/a>, and commercial ordering of the drug began on Nov. 1. Regardless of this change, health insurers still have to cover your Paxlovid (more on \u003cem>that\u003c/em> below).\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>There’s also \u003ca href=\"https://aspr.hhs.gov/COVID-19/Therapeutics/Products/Lagevrio/Pages/default.aspx\">a Paxlovid alternative called Lagevrio (molnupiravir),\u003c/a> which is undergoing the same transition to the commercial market this month. While the FDA’s data has shown that \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/02/22/1081898013/doctors-find-limited-use-for-less-effective-covid-pill\">molnupiravir is a less effective drug than Paxlovid\u003c/a>, doctors may still prescribe it instead for several reasons, including the risk of Paxlovid’s interactions with other medications you’re taking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This move follows the trend of COVID care transitioning away from federal funding and into the traditional commercial health care market. This is also what’s happened with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960630/free-new-covid-vaccine-near-me-2023\">the new COVID vaccines now available in the U.S.\u003c/a>, which is why these kinds of vaccines were once offered at government-funded vaccination sites but are now being offered through providers and paid for by any health insurance you have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the earlier years of the pandemic, the federal government paying for COVID care was “a way to sort of just get a lot of people covered and then … figure out the financing after the fact,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of consumer advocate group Health Access California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But these resources are still available for folks, and people should take advantage of them, even though there’s no longer sort of a federal blanket policy,” Wright said. “It’s now more of a patchwork policy depending on your plan, depending on your location, etc.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: Paxlovid’s entry into the commercial market, with a much higher sticker price, means that any out-of-pocket costs could potentially be far greater. Hopefully, you won’t have to pay them.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>There’ll still be a federal stockpile of Paxlovid (for a while)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Because the federal government \u003cem>did\u003c/em> buy so much Paxlovid from Pfizer during the last couple of years, there’s still what a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) official described as “an ample supply of federally-owned therapeutics with millions of treatment courses still in the field.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The existence of this federal stockpile means that until Dec. 15, health care providers can still order Paxlovid from the government — rather than Pfizer — to distribute until supplies run out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federally purchased Paxlovid has been prescribed free so far during the pandemic, and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) said that these supplies “will remain free to all patients regardless of insurance status.” This free federal supply is “expected to last through the end of the year in most areas, although this will vary depending on demand,” CDPH said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once that supply runs out, “the price of commercial product will depend on the individual’s insurance.” But because you won’t necessarily know if you are indeed getting Paxlovid free from the government and not purchased from Pfizer, if you have health insurance, it’s important to make sure you’re getting your prescription “in-network.” \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#healthinsurance\">Jump straight to more information about getting Paxlovid through your health insurance. \u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: If you are prescribed Paxlovid in the next few months, you could be getting a course that came straight from the government’s own supply rather than one purchased from Pfizer. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Federal stockpile or not, your California health insurer still has to cover Paxlovid\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We’re now six months out from the end of the federal public health emergency for COVID, which ended on May 11 and had big effects on nationwide funding for COVID vaccines and testing. But thanks to laws passed in California during the pandemic, Californians kept a lot more COVID coverage than folks living in other states. Specifically, State Bill 1473 required insurers to keep covering the costs of COVID therapeutic treatments like Paxlovid, as well as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11902122/at-home-covid-test-reimbursement-from-blue-shield-to-kaiser-how-to-get-your-health-insurance-to-pay-you-back\">reimbursing their members for the costs of up to eight over-the-counter COVID tests a month\u003c/a> after the end of the public health emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) said that health plans regulated by their agency — which includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmhc.ca.gov/healthcareincalifornia/typesofplans.aspx\">HMO plans and “some other kinds of plans” \u003c/a>— “must cover COVID-19 tests, vaccines and treatment with no health plan prior authorization.” California law said the DMHC “also prohibits cost sharing and utilization management for therapeutics/Paxlovid, similar to testing and vaccines.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: Your health insurer can’t deny you coverage of Paxlovid. But that said …\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"healthinsurance\">\u003c/a>If you have health insurance, be sure to request Paxlovid “in-network” for it to be covered starting Nov. 12\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That California law also forced insurers to cover these costs regardless of whether a patient sought COVID services “in-network.” But it only kept the current situation in place until six months after the end of the federal emergency — a period that ended on Nov. 11.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previously, Paxlovid supplies were funded by the federal government and were free regardless of health insurance status — so the concept of getting your Paxlovid “in-network” just didn’t apply. But as California reaches that “six months after the end of the federal emergency” mark, it means that starting Nov. 12, insurers can require their members to obtain certain COVID care and treatment “in-network.” And, confirms DMHC, “after November 11, if [patients] access the services from an out-of-network provider, they may be charged cost-sharing, such as a co-pay or co-insurance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DMHC stresses that “if health plan members access these services from a provider in their health plan’s network, they will not need to pay anything for these services.” Going out of network after Nov. 12 could look like getting a telehealth visit with a provider who’s not in your health plan’s network or using an out-of-network pharmacy for the Paxlovid prescription, if your plan requires you to only use certain pharmacies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard to give blanket advice because it really depends plan by plan,” said Health Access’ Wright, but “in general,” he stresses that people should now seek their COVID treatment, or their COVID vaccine, “in the way that they have normally got other health care through their plan.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As long as you are getting the care in the way that you have typically got other care, including other prescriptions … then you should be OK,” Wright said. “You can double-check with your plan if you’re worried about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if you believe you’ve been wrongly charged for the cost of Paxlovid — or a COVID test or vaccine, for that matter? DMHC said that if you get a bill you don’t believe you should be paying for, such as a “qualifying” treatment, you “should first contact [your] health plan to file a grievance, sometimes called an appeal, and include a copy of the bill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you “do not agree” with your health plan’s response to your grievance, or “if the plan takes more than 30 days to fix the problem,” \u003ca href=\"http://www.HealthHelp.ca.gov\">DMHC advises contacting their \u003c/a>Help Center online or calling them at 1-888-466-2219.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Your health plan should also not claim you \u003cem>have\u003c/em> to go out-of-network to get COVID care, Wright said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If your plan is not providing you access to any of these therapeutics or tests or treatments, then they’re violating the consumer protections of what you’re entitled to as a plan member,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, it will need to be in network, but [plans] are required to provide that in-network care in a timely fashion,” he emphasized. “And if they don’t, that you have a right to complain [to DMHC] and get that care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t have to go out-of-network and deal with a big bill,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: If you have health insurance, be certain you’re going in-network to request and pick up Paxlovid after Nov. 12.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"nohealthinsurance\">\u003c/a>If you don’t have insurance, Paxlovid will still be free\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you don’t have health insurance and have wanted Paxlovid for the last few years, the California Department of Health (CDPH) advises using \u003ca href=\"https://sesamecare.com/covidca\">Sesame Care, California’s COVID telehealth service\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This program is intended “to support uninsured and underinsured individuals within the State of California who cannot connect with a healthcare provider within 24 hours of receiving a positive test result,” CDPH said. Uninsured folks should visit \u003ca href=\"https://sesamecare.com/covid\">sesamecare.com/covid\u003c/a> to make a free phone or video appointment through Sesame Care or call (833) 686-5051 (6 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT, seven days a week). When you speak to a provider through Sesame Care, they’ll prescribe you Paxlovid if you’re eligible, and it will either be mailed to you or made available at a nearby pharmacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This Sesame Care consultation and the Paxlovid prescription should be free. Sesame Care’s site said that if you are asked to pay for any of these services, you should call Sesame Care at (888) 897-1244 so they “can follow up with the pharmacy.” CDPH confirms that this service “will continue to provide free appointments through February 2024.” (Be careful only to use Sesame Care’s free COVID care webpage at \u003ca href=\"https://sesamecare.com/covid\">sesamecare.com/covid\u003c/a> and not click away to other parts of Sesame Care’s website. Sesame warns that if you enter Sesame Care’s regular website, you’ll be charged for its services.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the long term, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said that \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-shifting-covid-antivirals-commercial-market-nov-1-2023-10-27/\">the costs of Paxlovid for uninsured and underinsured will be covered\u003c/a> through a separate federal program through 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you \u003cem>have\u003c/em> health insurance, you can also use Sesame Care for a free telehealth appointment if you haven’t been able to connect with your regular health care provider within 24 hours of receiving a positive test result, according to CDPH. But bear in mind that CDPH also said that “the cost of the medication may vary on the patient’s insurance status after commercialization of Paxlovid/Lagevrio begins in November.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remember, the federal stockpiles of these drugs will still be around for a while, and CDPH confirms that “federally purchased COVID-19 medications that are still in supply will remain free to all patients regardless of insurance status.” But “once the federal supply runs out, the price of commercial product will depend on the individual’s insurance,” the agency said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have health insurance, be very clear about that detail with the telehealth provider you speak to through Sesame Care, and ask if it’s possible to know whether any Paxlovid prescription you get is coming from that free federal stockpile and whether you should anticipate any cost-sharing from your insurance for getting the prescription through Sesame Care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: Don’t panic about the new commercial sticker price of Paxlovid if you don’t have health insurance — there are still ways to get it for free. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The official eligibility criteria for a Paxlovid prescription hasn’t changed (yet)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Back in December 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-first-oral-antiviral-treatment-covid-19\">Paxlovid was the first oral antiviral treatment for COVID authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)\u003c/a>. Due to limited supply, Paxlovid was initially only used to treat the patients deemed most at risk from severe illness from COVID — but later in 2022, it was expanded to more pharmacies across the United States as part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/04/26/1094735822/biden-will-make-paxlovid-a-highly-effective-covid-drug-available-to-more-pharmac\">a nationwide push to get Paxlovid to more COVID patients \u003c/a>who could benefit from it due to existing health factors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/CAHAN/Reminder-to-Prescribe-COVID-19-Therapeutics-to-Mitigate-Impact-of-Winter-Respiratory-Surge.aspx\">California even sent out an advisory to health care providers in December 2022, reminding them of “ample supply\u003c/a>” and urging them only to refuse to prescribe Paxlovid in “situations in which the risk of prescribing clearly outweighs the benefits of treatment in preventing hospitalization, death, and the potential for reduced risk of long COVID.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/antivirals-including-antibody-products/ritonavir-boosted-nirmatrelvir--paxlovid-/\">The state’s most up-to-date guidance for Paxlovid prescriptions\u003c/a> comes from the National Institute of Health (NIH), which notes that the drug is recommended for people with “mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of disease progression.” As for what constitutes that “high risk,” NIH follows \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html\">the CDC’s list of medical conditions that might potentially put a person at higher risk\u003c/a> of severe disease, hospitalization or death from COVID, which includes immunocompromise, disabilities, mental health conditions including depression, body mass, physical inactivity and being a current or former smoker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So will Paxlovid’s move to the commercial market (and differences in how you access a prescription in-network) change who’s eligible to be prescribed the antiviral? When KQED asked CDPH, the agency said they would continue “to review and update guidance” and pointed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/antivirals-including-antibody-products/ritonavir-boosted-nirmatrelvir--paxlovid-/\">the NIH’s Paxlovid guidance\u003c/a> as “the most up-to-date.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health Access’s Wright said that as the price of Paxlovid goes up, insurers might as well “be more watchful about those guidelines,” but that “it shouldn’t have an impact on people’s out-of-pocket [expenses], even if it does provide a cost that we all will bear with the premiums.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: If you test positive for COVID, it’s still worth asking your provider whether you’re a good candidate for Paxlovid — even if you don’t consider yourself “high risk.” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, practical explainers and guides about COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger and help us decide what to cover here on our site and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[hearken id=\"10483\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/10483.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "As 2024 nears, COVID-19 persists. Since the FDA approved Paxlovid, changes in funding have impacted access to the antiviral. For those considering or previously requesting it, there may be unexpected updates.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As 2024 inches closer,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957790/the-new-covid-eris-variant-and-rising-cases-what-you-need-to-know\"> COVID-19 is unfortunately still very much with us\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever since the drug \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-first-oral-antiviral-treatment-covid-19\">Paxlovid was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in December 2021\u003c/a>, requesting this antiviral pill has been part of many people’s COVID plans for treatment and recovery for the last couple of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, starting this month, a few changes to how Paxlovid is funded are here — which could potentially have consequences for how you request and access the drug. And if you’ve asked for Paxlovid before or plan on seeking out the antiviral drug if you get COVID, there are some updates you might not necessarily expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paxlovid has been proven to be highly effective at reducing severe disease and hospitalization from COVID, and there’s now also evidence it can help reduce the risks of long COVID, too. The drug has also been free by prescription in California for \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Questions-and-Answers-Treatment-Information-for-Providers-and-Facilities.aspx#question3\">patients with mild to moderate illness “with risk of progression to severe disease,”\u003c/a> according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The agency notes that many common conditions might qualify you for this, including physical inactivity, obesity and depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for everything you need to know about requesting Paxlovid in or after November so you’re prepared for any bumps along the way. If you’re met with unexpected Paxlovid charges, this information might help you understand why that’s happening — and how to avoid or challenge those new costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#healthinsurance\">If you have health insurance: How to avoid new potential costs for Paxlovid\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#nohealthinsurance\">If you don’t have health insurance: How to find free Paxlovid\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Paxlovid is transitioning to the commercial market\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Like COVID vaccines (more on that below), Paxlovid supplies in the United States are moving away from being bought by the federal government and into the commercial market — like countless other drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The government paid Pfizer, the makers of Paxlovid, around $530 per course of the drug. Now, Pfizer said \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-shifting-covid-antivirals-commercial-market-nov-1-2023-10-27/\">the company has set the price of Paxlovid at around $1,400 per five-day course\u003c/a>, and commercial ordering of the drug began on Nov. 1. Regardless of this change, health insurers still have to cover your Paxlovid (more on \u003cem>that\u003c/em> below).\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>There’s also \u003ca href=\"https://aspr.hhs.gov/COVID-19/Therapeutics/Products/Lagevrio/Pages/default.aspx\">a Paxlovid alternative called Lagevrio (molnupiravir),\u003c/a> which is undergoing the same transition to the commercial market this month. While the FDA’s data has shown that \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/02/22/1081898013/doctors-find-limited-use-for-less-effective-covid-pill\">molnupiravir is a less effective drug than Paxlovid\u003c/a>, doctors may still prescribe it instead for several reasons, including the risk of Paxlovid’s interactions with other medications you’re taking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This move follows the trend of COVID care transitioning away from federal funding and into the traditional commercial health care market. This is also what’s happened with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960630/free-new-covid-vaccine-near-me-2023\">the new COVID vaccines now available in the U.S.\u003c/a>, which is why these kinds of vaccines were once offered at government-funded vaccination sites but are now being offered through providers and paid for by any health insurance you have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the earlier years of the pandemic, the federal government paying for COVID care was “a way to sort of just get a lot of people covered and then … figure out the financing after the fact,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of consumer advocate group Health Access California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But these resources are still available for folks, and people should take advantage of them, even though there’s no longer sort of a federal blanket policy,” Wright said. “It’s now more of a patchwork policy depending on your plan, depending on your location, etc.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: Paxlovid’s entry into the commercial market, with a much higher sticker price, means that any out-of-pocket costs could potentially be far greater. Hopefully, you won’t have to pay them.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>There’ll still be a federal stockpile of Paxlovid (for a while)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Because the federal government \u003cem>did\u003c/em> buy so much Paxlovid from Pfizer during the last couple of years, there’s still what a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) official described as “an ample supply of federally-owned therapeutics with millions of treatment courses still in the field.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The existence of this federal stockpile means that until Dec. 15, health care providers can still order Paxlovid from the government — rather than Pfizer — to distribute until supplies run out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federally purchased Paxlovid has been prescribed free so far during the pandemic, and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) said that these supplies “will remain free to all patients regardless of insurance status.” This free federal supply is “expected to last through the end of the year in most areas, although this will vary depending on demand,” CDPH said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once that supply runs out, “the price of commercial product will depend on the individual’s insurance.” But because you won’t necessarily know if you are indeed getting Paxlovid free from the government and not purchased from Pfizer, if you have health insurance, it’s important to make sure you’re getting your prescription “in-network.” \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#healthinsurance\">Jump straight to more information about getting Paxlovid through your health insurance. \u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: If you are prescribed Paxlovid in the next few months, you could be getting a course that came straight from the government’s own supply rather than one purchased from Pfizer. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Federal stockpile or not, your California health insurer still has to cover Paxlovid\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We’re now six months out from the end of the federal public health emergency for COVID, which ended on May 11 and had big effects on nationwide funding for COVID vaccines and testing. But thanks to laws passed in California during the pandemic, Californians kept a lot more COVID coverage than folks living in other states. Specifically, State Bill 1473 required insurers to keep covering the costs of COVID therapeutic treatments like Paxlovid, as well as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11902122/at-home-covid-test-reimbursement-from-blue-shield-to-kaiser-how-to-get-your-health-insurance-to-pay-you-back\">reimbursing their members for the costs of up to eight over-the-counter COVID tests a month\u003c/a> after the end of the public health emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) said that health plans regulated by their agency — which includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmhc.ca.gov/healthcareincalifornia/typesofplans.aspx\">HMO plans and “some other kinds of plans” \u003c/a>— “must cover COVID-19 tests, vaccines and treatment with no health plan prior authorization.” California law said the DMHC “also prohibits cost sharing and utilization management for therapeutics/Paxlovid, similar to testing and vaccines.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: Your health insurer can’t deny you coverage of Paxlovid. But that said …\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"healthinsurance\">\u003c/a>If you have health insurance, be sure to request Paxlovid “in-network” for it to be covered starting Nov. 12\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That California law also forced insurers to cover these costs regardless of whether a patient sought COVID services “in-network.” But it only kept the current situation in place until six months after the end of the federal emergency — a period that ended on Nov. 11.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previously, Paxlovid supplies were funded by the federal government and were free regardless of health insurance status — so the concept of getting your Paxlovid “in-network” just didn’t apply. But as California reaches that “six months after the end of the federal emergency” mark, it means that starting Nov. 12, insurers can require their members to obtain certain COVID care and treatment “in-network.” And, confirms DMHC, “after November 11, if [patients] access the services from an out-of-network provider, they may be charged cost-sharing, such as a co-pay or co-insurance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DMHC stresses that “if health plan members access these services from a provider in their health plan’s network, they will not need to pay anything for these services.” Going out of network after Nov. 12 could look like getting a telehealth visit with a provider who’s not in your health plan’s network or using an out-of-network pharmacy for the Paxlovid prescription, if your plan requires you to only use certain pharmacies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard to give blanket advice because it really depends plan by plan,” said Health Access’ Wright, but “in general,” he stresses that people should now seek their COVID treatment, or their COVID vaccine, “in the way that they have normally got other health care through their plan.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As long as you are getting the care in the way that you have typically got other care, including other prescriptions … then you should be OK,” Wright said. “You can double-check with your plan if you’re worried about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if you believe you’ve been wrongly charged for the cost of Paxlovid — or a COVID test or vaccine, for that matter? DMHC said that if you get a bill you don’t believe you should be paying for, such as a “qualifying” treatment, you “should first contact [your] health plan to file a grievance, sometimes called an appeal, and include a copy of the bill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you “do not agree” with your health plan’s response to your grievance, or “if the plan takes more than 30 days to fix the problem,” \u003ca href=\"http://www.HealthHelp.ca.gov\">DMHC advises contacting their \u003c/a>Help Center online or calling them at 1-888-466-2219.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Your health plan should also not claim you \u003cem>have\u003c/em> to go out-of-network to get COVID care, Wright said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If your plan is not providing you access to any of these therapeutics or tests or treatments, then they’re violating the consumer protections of what you’re entitled to as a plan member,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, it will need to be in network, but [plans] are required to provide that in-network care in a timely fashion,” he emphasized. “And if they don’t, that you have a right to complain [to DMHC] and get that care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t have to go out-of-network and deal with a big bill,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: If you have health insurance, be certain you’re going in-network to request and pick up Paxlovid after Nov. 12.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"nohealthinsurance\">\u003c/a>If you don’t have insurance, Paxlovid will still be free\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you don’t have health insurance and have wanted Paxlovid for the last few years, the California Department of Health (CDPH) advises using \u003ca href=\"https://sesamecare.com/covidca\">Sesame Care, California’s COVID telehealth service\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This program is intended “to support uninsured and underinsured individuals within the State of California who cannot connect with a healthcare provider within 24 hours of receiving a positive test result,” CDPH said. Uninsured folks should visit \u003ca href=\"https://sesamecare.com/covid\">sesamecare.com/covid\u003c/a> to make a free phone or video appointment through Sesame Care or call (833) 686-5051 (6 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT, seven days a week). When you speak to a provider through Sesame Care, they’ll prescribe you Paxlovid if you’re eligible, and it will either be mailed to you or made available at a nearby pharmacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This Sesame Care consultation and the Paxlovid prescription should be free. Sesame Care’s site said that if you are asked to pay for any of these services, you should call Sesame Care at (888) 897-1244 so they “can follow up with the pharmacy.” CDPH confirms that this service “will continue to provide free appointments through February 2024.” (Be careful only to use Sesame Care’s free COVID care webpage at \u003ca href=\"https://sesamecare.com/covid\">sesamecare.com/covid\u003c/a> and not click away to other parts of Sesame Care’s website. Sesame warns that if you enter Sesame Care’s regular website, you’ll be charged for its services.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the long term, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said that \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-shifting-covid-antivirals-commercial-market-nov-1-2023-10-27/\">the costs of Paxlovid for uninsured and underinsured will be covered\u003c/a> through a separate federal program through 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you \u003cem>have\u003c/em> health insurance, you can also use Sesame Care for a free telehealth appointment if you haven’t been able to connect with your regular health care provider within 24 hours of receiving a positive test result, according to CDPH. But bear in mind that CDPH also said that “the cost of the medication may vary on the patient’s insurance status after commercialization of Paxlovid/Lagevrio begins in November.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remember, the federal stockpiles of these drugs will still be around for a while, and CDPH confirms that “federally purchased COVID-19 medications that are still in supply will remain free to all patients regardless of insurance status.” But “once the federal supply runs out, the price of commercial product will depend on the individual’s insurance,” the agency said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have health insurance, be very clear about that detail with the telehealth provider you speak to through Sesame Care, and ask if it’s possible to know whether any Paxlovid prescription you get is coming from that free federal stockpile and whether you should anticipate any cost-sharing from your insurance for getting the prescription through Sesame Care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: Don’t panic about the new commercial sticker price of Paxlovid if you don’t have health insurance — there are still ways to get it for free. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The official eligibility criteria for a Paxlovid prescription hasn’t changed (yet)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Back in December 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-first-oral-antiviral-treatment-covid-19\">Paxlovid was the first oral antiviral treatment for COVID authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)\u003c/a>. Due to limited supply, Paxlovid was initially only used to treat the patients deemed most at risk from severe illness from COVID — but later in 2022, it was expanded to more pharmacies across the United States as part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/04/26/1094735822/biden-will-make-paxlovid-a-highly-effective-covid-drug-available-to-more-pharmac\">a nationwide push to get Paxlovid to more COVID patients \u003c/a>who could benefit from it due to existing health factors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/CAHAN/Reminder-to-Prescribe-COVID-19-Therapeutics-to-Mitigate-Impact-of-Winter-Respiratory-Surge.aspx\">California even sent out an advisory to health care providers in December 2022, reminding them of “ample supply\u003c/a>” and urging them only to refuse to prescribe Paxlovid in “situations in which the risk of prescribing clearly outweighs the benefits of treatment in preventing hospitalization, death, and the potential for reduced risk of long COVID.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/antivirals-including-antibody-products/ritonavir-boosted-nirmatrelvir--paxlovid-/\">The state’s most up-to-date guidance for Paxlovid prescriptions\u003c/a> comes from the National Institute of Health (NIH), which notes that the drug is recommended for people with “mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of disease progression.” As for what constitutes that “high risk,” NIH follows \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html\">the CDC’s list of medical conditions that might potentially put a person at higher risk\u003c/a> of severe disease, hospitalization or death from COVID, which includes immunocompromise, disabilities, mental health conditions including depression, body mass, physical inactivity and being a current or former smoker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So will Paxlovid’s move to the commercial market (and differences in how you access a prescription in-network) change who’s eligible to be prescribed the antiviral? When KQED asked CDPH, the agency said they would continue “to review and update guidance” and pointed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/antivirals-including-antibody-products/ritonavir-boosted-nirmatrelvir--paxlovid-/\">the NIH’s Paxlovid guidance\u003c/a> as “the most up-to-date.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health Access’s Wright said that as the price of Paxlovid goes up, insurers might as well “be more watchful about those guidelines,” but that “it shouldn’t have an impact on people’s out-of-pocket [expenses], even if it does provide a cost that we all will bear with the premiums.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The takeaway: If you test positive for COVID, it’s still worth asking your provider whether you’re a good candidate for Paxlovid — even if you don’t consider yourself “high risk.” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, practical explainers and guides about COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger and help us decide what to cover here on our site and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "when-should-i-get-2023-flu-shot-safe-with-new-covid-vaccine-rsv",
"title": "When Should You Get Your 2023 Flu Shot?",
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"content": "\u003cp>We’re over three years into the COVID pandemic. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957790/the-new-covid-eris-variant-and-rising-cases-what-you-need-to-know\">as we’ve seen this summer, with the new Eris variant\u003c/a>, COVID continues to infect folks of all ages and still results in severe disease and hospitalization for some.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But please don’t forget: The flu remains a potentially serious threat to your health too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jump straight to:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#whenflushot\">When should I get my flu shot?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#boosterflushot\">Can I get my new COVID vaccine and my flu shot at the same time? What about the RSV vaccine?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#flushotnearme\">Where can I get a flu shot, with or without insurance?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Why is the flu so serious?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Back in \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2020-2021.htm\">2020, the U.S. saw a record-low number of flu cases\u003c/a> — most likely due to widespread mask-wearing, increased hygiene, social distancing and remote work and school. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm\">the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that flu activity has overall “been lower\u003c/a> than observed before the pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nonetheless, the CDC estimates that\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm\"> last year’s flu season resulted in 19,000–58,000 deaths from flu\u003c/a> and 300,000–650,000 flu hospitalizations. The agency says that the 2022–2023 flu season caused up to 54 million illnesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the organization says that \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/coverage-2022estimates.htm\">in the 2021–2022 flu season, just under half of adults got a flu shot\u003c/a> — a slight decrease from the previous season.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why should I get a flu shot?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Getting a flu vaccine can prevent you from getting sick with the flu, which is a draining, unpleasant experience even if your symptoms are not severe. And if you \u003cem>do\u003c/em> get the flu, having a flu shot can also stop you from getting sick enough to have to visit the hospital (and be exposed to all the COVID risks hospital settings can still bring).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CDC says the flu vaccine also offers other potential health impacts, such as being associated with \u003ca class=\"tp-link-policy\" href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24150467/\" data-domain-ext=\"gov\">lower rates of certain cardiac events\u003c/a> for people who have heart disease. It’s also the best, safest way not only to protect \u003cem>yourself\u003c/em> against the influenza virus, but also to minimize the chance you will spread it to others — folks who could be at far higher risk for serious complications or even death if they were to become infected. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm\">Read more from the CDC about what the flu shot can do for you.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading to find out whether you should be getting your flu shot right now, and where to find free or low-cost flu shot options near you.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"whenflushot\">\u003c/a>Should I get a flu shot now, or wait?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The recommendations medical professionals make about when to get a flu shot are based on the fact that it takes about two weeks after you get vaccinated for antibodies to develop and provide protection against the flu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This 2023–2024 season, as with previous seasons, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/spotlights/2022-2023/flu-vaccination-recommendations-adopted.htm\">the CDC says that September and October are “the best times for most people to get vaccinated.”\u003c/a> These recommendations are based on traditional predictions of flu season starting in November and peaking around January or February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11838737\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1900px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11838737\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1900\" height=\"1267\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2.png 1900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2-800x533.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2-1020x680.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2-1536x1024.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1900px) 100vw, 1900px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">It takes 2 weeks after your flu shot for your body to develop the antibodies it needs to protect you from the flu virus. \u003ccite>(Queen's University/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF says that yes, there’s evidence that \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28039340/\">your risk of getting the flu increases every month after your flu shot, due to the antibodies waning over time\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when medical professionals talk about strategically “waiting” to get a flu shot, they’re aiming that advice at those who are at particularly high risk for more serious complications related to the flu. That includes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>People over 65.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Folks with chronic medical conditions.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Pregnant people (or those who are planning to become pregnant).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Kids under 5.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Delaying inoculations for these populations is based on the idea of getting the shot at a time Chin-Hong calls “the sweet spot,” around mid-to-late October. Two weeks later, right around early November, the antibodies should have developed, just as flu season is (usually) getting serious. Think of it as getting the “biggest bang for your buck,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, if you’re in one of those vulnerable categories, yes, you can think about waiting, says Chin-Hong. People over 65 might also consider requesting special flu vaccines for this age group — read more about this below. As with all health matters, if you’re looking for advice, it’s best to consult your health care provider or someone you see regularly for your medical needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And what if you’re under 65, not pregnant and don’t have other risk factors for severe flu? If you can truly trust yourself to plan ahead and not forget to make the appointment, getting it by Halloween (i.e., before October is up) is best, Chin-Hong said. But remember: Not only are you human, and it might slip your mind, but predictions about how the flu season might behave are just that — predictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flu cases might start to rise earlier than anticipated, throwing previous notions of a “best time” to get the vaccine into disarray. So, take that “October rule” with “a grain of salt,” Chin-Hong advised, and “get [your flu shot] when you get it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if you plan to get your flu shot in October with the best of intentions, but you still forget? If Nov. 1 comes and goes, and you realize you haven’t been vaccinated, all is not lost — since the CDC says that “vaccination after October can still provide protection during the peak of flu season,” which is usually February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, just go get the shot already — whenever that may be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11838740\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1900\" height=\"1267\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3.png 1900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3-800x533.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3-1020x680.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3-1536x1024.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1900px) 100vw, 1900px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"boosterflushot\">\u003c/a>Can I get my new COVID vaccine and my flu shot at the same time?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960630/free-new-covid-vaccine-near-me-2023#shouldigetfluandcovidvaccine\">It’s totally fine, and safe, to get your flu shot at the same time\u003c/a> as your new COVID vaccine, and you’ll find that COVID vaccine appointments will often prompt you to “add on” a flu shot at the same session — especially at pharmacies. Although, if you’re trying to schedule your kid’s vaccinations, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/13/1198803134/covid-boosters-updated-vaccines-fda-cdc\">the CDC advises that you first talk to your pediatrician\u003c/a> about the best schedule for the COVID and flu vaccines (and now the RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — preventive treatment too).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if that optimal time to get your flu shot is “sometime before Halloween” according to Chin-Hong — as long as flu season behaves as expected and doesn’t start in earnest before November — should you get your new COVID shot \u003cem>first\u003c/em>, and follow up with a flu shot later?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you can trust yourself to remember to seek out your flu shot by the end of October (or schedule an appointment for October in advance), yes: You might consider getting your new COVID vaccine earlier, separately from your flu shot. And if not — or if life is getting hectic, and a two-for-one vaccination appointment ensures that you actually \u003ci>will \u003c/i>get your shots rather than forgetting — just go ahead and get your COVID and flu shots at the same time, when you can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also the fact that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960630/free-new-covid-vaccine-near-me-2023\">you might \u003cem>have\u003c/em> to wait a little longer for your COVID shot anyway\u003c/a>. Public health officials are urging people to first seek out the new vaccine via their health care provider, but supplies haven’t yet reached many providers. Kaiser Permanente, for example, is telling patients that \u003ca href=\"https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine\">shots of the new COVID vaccine won’t become available through Kaiser until early October\u003c/a>. All this to say: You might not have a choice about waiting to get your new COVID shot — by which time, you might be approaching that optimal October flu shot time anyway, and can choose a double vaccination appointment at that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin-Hong reiterated that “if you really wanted to optimize” the timing of your flu shot, yes, “sometime in October \u003cem>is\u003c/em> probably the best.” But ultimately, he says that just \u003cem>getting\u003c/em> the shots is better than not getting them at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960630/free-new-covid-vaccine-near-me-2023\">Read more about where to find the new COVID vaccine near you.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What about the RSV vaccine?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The CDC says that the respiratory syncytial virus — RSV — is “a common cause of respiratory illness in infants and young children, as well as older adults.” The disease results in up to 160,000 hospitalizations and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/rsv/hcp/older-adults-faqs.html\">up to 10,000 deaths annually among adults ages 65 years and older\u003c/a>, says the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/rsv/index.html\">The vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus — RSV — is accordingly recommended by the CDC\u003c/a> for infants, young children and adults ages 60 and older.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/13/1198803134/covid-boosters-updated-vaccines-fda-cdc\">experts NPR talked to for their fall booster guide\u003c/a> recommended getting the RSV vaccine separately from the COVID and flu vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the recommendation would be if you’re going in, get your flu and COVID shot. If you’re eligible for RSV, maybe space that out by a week or two,” Dr. \u003ca href=\"https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/peter-hotez-23229\">Peter Hotez\u003c/a>, who leads the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Again, if you’re trying to schedule your kid’s vaccinations, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/13/1198803134/covid-boosters-updated-vaccines-fda-cdc\">the CDC advises that you first talk to your pediatrician\u003c/a> about the best schedule for the COVID, flu and RSV vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"highrisk\">\u003c/a>If I have risk factors for severe flu, what kind of flu shot should I get?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re age 65 or older, there are now three types of flu vaccines it’s recommended you get — because they’ll be even more effective for you than a regular flu shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin-Hong said folks in this age group should seek out these three types of vaccines because you’ll be getting “essentially a high-dose shot” or a vaccine that contains an “adjuvant” — which, in simple terms, “makes the flu shot more powerful in terms of waking up the immune system,” he said. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/keyfacts.htm\">Read more about the three kinds of flu shots available to people ages 65 and older.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pregnant people can get a regular flu shot, although some types of flu vaccines are off-limits to pregnant people. The CDC says that getting vaccinated when you’re pregnant will not only help protect you from the flu, but also — if your baby is born during the immunity period — protect your infant in the first few months of their life when they’re too young to get vaccinated themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This benefit to the baby is also the reason that pregnant people are one of the few groups who might want to consider getting a flu shot \u003cem>early\u003c/em>, instead of waiting — to ensure their baby isn’t left completely unprotected for those first six months after birth when they can’t get a vaccine. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/keyfacts.htm\">Read more about the benefits of getting a flu shot if you’re pregnant.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children ages 6 months and older can get a regular dose of the flu shot. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/highrisk/children-high-risk.htm\">Flu can be particularly dangerous for kids\u003c/a>, and the CDC says that a 2022 study showed that flu vaccination reduced children’s risk of severe, life-threatening influenza by 75%.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"flushotnearme\">\u003c/a>Where can I get a flu shot if I have insurance?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you have health insurance, a flu shot is available without extra cost as a preventive service from your usual health care provider, or at most pharmacies (see below).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a good idea to wear a mask, maintain social distancing wherever possible while waiting for your shot, and dress in a top with sleeves you can easily pull up to your shoulder, to make receiving the injection even easier (and quicker).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Common places to find a flu shot appointment, walk-in site or drive-thru flu shot:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vaccines.gov/find-vaccines/\">CDC’s Find Flu Vaccines tool.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/cold-and-flu/prevention#/prevention\">Kaiser Permanente flu shots (Northern California)\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cvs.com/immunizations/flu\">CVS flu shots.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.walgreens.com/topic/pharmacy/seasonal-flu.jsp?ban=flu_fy21_influenzapage\">Walgreens flu shots.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/scheduler\">Rite Aid flu shots.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.costco.com/Pharmacy/adult-immunization-program.html\">Costco Pharmacy flu shots.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.albertsons.com/pharmacy/pharmacy-services/immunizations.html\">Albertsons (Safeway) flu shots.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Where can I get a flu shot if I \u003cem>don’t\u003c/em> have health insurance?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you want a flu shot but don’t have health insurance, you can get the vaccine free of charge from several providers and community clinics around the Bay Area. (You can also technically use these free services even if you do have insurance, but you may consider choosing to free up these particular resources for those who are not covered.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Your county’s public health department may also be offering flu shots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Places to get a free or low-cost flu shot in the Bay Area include:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcdcp.org/aitc/aitc-regular-prices-low-cost-or-free-vaccines/\">San Francisco Department of Public Health’s AITC clinic\u003c/a> (offers a pay-what-you-can option).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/immunization/clinics.php#Uninsured\">Contra Costa Public Health Immunization Clinic\u003c/a> (flu shots are $15 for adults over 19, but fees may be waived if you’re unable to pay).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://acphd.org/clinics/\">Alameda County Immunization Clinics.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[ad fullwidth]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>And a reminder … the flu vaccine can’t give you the flu\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The virus that the flu shot contains has been inactivated or severely weakened, so \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/misconceptions.htm#:~:text=Can%20a%20flu%20vaccine%20give,protein%20from%20the%20flu%20virus.\">you just aren’t physically able to get the flu from your flu shot\u003c/a>, confirms the CDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/general.htm#side-effects\">The flu vaccine can cause side effects\u003c/a> like any medical product, but they’re “\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/general.htm\">generally mild and go away on their own within a few days\u003c/a>,” the agency says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Common flu shot side effects can include soreness or swelling at the injection site, headache, fever, nausea and muscle aches. (But not the flu.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story contains reporting by KQED’s Alexander Gonzalez.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>We’re over three years into the COVID pandemic. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957790/the-new-covid-eris-variant-and-rising-cases-what-you-need-to-know\">as we’ve seen this summer, with the new Eris variant\u003c/a>, COVID continues to infect folks of all ages and still results in severe disease and hospitalization for some.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But please don’t forget: The flu remains a potentially serious threat to your health too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jump straight to:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#whenflushot\">When should I get my flu shot?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#boosterflushot\">Can I get my new COVID vaccine and my flu shot at the same time? What about the RSV vaccine?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#flushotnearme\">Where can I get a flu shot, with or without insurance?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Why is the flu so serious?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Back in \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2020-2021.htm\">2020, the U.S. saw a record-low number of flu cases\u003c/a> — most likely due to widespread mask-wearing, increased hygiene, social distancing and remote work and school. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm\">the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that flu activity has overall “been lower\u003c/a> than observed before the pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nonetheless, the CDC estimates that\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm\"> last year’s flu season resulted in 19,000–58,000 deaths from flu\u003c/a> and 300,000–650,000 flu hospitalizations. The agency says that the 2022–2023 flu season caused up to 54 million illnesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the organization says that \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/coverage-2022estimates.htm\">in the 2021–2022 flu season, just under half of adults got a flu shot\u003c/a> — a slight decrease from the previous season.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why should I get a flu shot?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Getting a flu vaccine can prevent you from getting sick with the flu, which is a draining, unpleasant experience even if your symptoms are not severe. And if you \u003cem>do\u003c/em> get the flu, having a flu shot can also stop you from getting sick enough to have to visit the hospital (and be exposed to all the COVID risks hospital settings can still bring).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CDC says the flu vaccine also offers other potential health impacts, such as being associated with \u003ca class=\"tp-link-policy\" href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24150467/\" data-domain-ext=\"gov\">lower rates of certain cardiac events\u003c/a> for people who have heart disease. It’s also the best, safest way not only to protect \u003cem>yourself\u003c/em> against the influenza virus, but also to minimize the chance you will spread it to others — folks who could be at far higher risk for serious complications or even death if they were to become infected. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm\">Read more from the CDC about what the flu shot can do for you.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading to find out whether you should be getting your flu shot right now, and where to find free or low-cost flu shot options near you.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"whenflushot\">\u003c/a>Should I get a flu shot now, or wait?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The recommendations medical professionals make about when to get a flu shot are based on the fact that it takes about two weeks after you get vaccinated for antibodies to develop and provide protection against the flu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This 2023–2024 season, as with previous seasons, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/spotlights/2022-2023/flu-vaccination-recommendations-adopted.htm\">the CDC says that September and October are “the best times for most people to get vaccinated.”\u003c/a> These recommendations are based on traditional predictions of flu season starting in November and peaking around January or February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11838737\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1900px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11838737\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1900\" height=\"1267\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2.png 1900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2-800x533.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2-1020x680.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots2-1536x1024.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1900px) 100vw, 1900px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">It takes 2 weeks after your flu shot for your body to develop the antibodies it needs to protect you from the flu virus. \u003ccite>(Queen's University/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF says that yes, there’s evidence that \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28039340/\">your risk of getting the flu increases every month after your flu shot, due to the antibodies waning over time\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when medical professionals talk about strategically “waiting” to get a flu shot, they’re aiming that advice at those who are at particularly high risk for more serious complications related to the flu. That includes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>People over 65.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Folks with chronic medical conditions.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Pregnant people (or those who are planning to become pregnant).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Kids under 5.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Delaying inoculations for these populations is based on the idea of getting the shot at a time Chin-Hong calls “the sweet spot,” around mid-to-late October. Two weeks later, right around early November, the antibodies should have developed, just as flu season is (usually) getting serious. Think of it as getting the “biggest bang for your buck,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, if you’re in one of those vulnerable categories, yes, you can think about waiting, says Chin-Hong. People over 65 might also consider requesting special flu vaccines for this age group — read more about this below. As with all health matters, if you’re looking for advice, it’s best to consult your health care provider or someone you see regularly for your medical needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And what if you’re under 65, not pregnant and don’t have other risk factors for severe flu? If you can truly trust yourself to plan ahead and not forget to make the appointment, getting it by Halloween (i.e., before October is up) is best, Chin-Hong said. But remember: Not only are you human, and it might slip your mind, but predictions about how the flu season might behave are just that — predictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flu cases might start to rise earlier than anticipated, throwing previous notions of a “best time” to get the vaccine into disarray. So, take that “October rule” with “a grain of salt,” Chin-Hong advised, and “get [your flu shot] when you get it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if you plan to get your flu shot in October with the best of intentions, but you still forget? If Nov. 1 comes and goes, and you realize you haven’t been vaccinated, all is not lost — since the CDC says that “vaccination after October can still provide protection during the peak of flu season,” which is usually February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, just go get the shot already — whenever that may be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11838740\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1900\" height=\"1267\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3.png 1900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3-800x533.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3-1020x680.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/shots3-1536x1024.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1900px) 100vw, 1900px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"boosterflushot\">\u003c/a>Can I get my new COVID vaccine and my flu shot at the same time?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960630/free-new-covid-vaccine-near-me-2023#shouldigetfluandcovidvaccine\">It’s totally fine, and safe, to get your flu shot at the same time\u003c/a> as your new COVID vaccine, and you’ll find that COVID vaccine appointments will often prompt you to “add on” a flu shot at the same session — especially at pharmacies. Although, if you’re trying to schedule your kid’s vaccinations, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/13/1198803134/covid-boosters-updated-vaccines-fda-cdc\">the CDC advises that you first talk to your pediatrician\u003c/a> about the best schedule for the COVID and flu vaccines (and now the RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — preventive treatment too).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if that optimal time to get your flu shot is “sometime before Halloween” according to Chin-Hong — as long as flu season behaves as expected and doesn’t start in earnest before November — should you get your new COVID shot \u003cem>first\u003c/em>, and follow up with a flu shot later?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you can trust yourself to remember to seek out your flu shot by the end of October (or schedule an appointment for October in advance), yes: You might consider getting your new COVID vaccine earlier, separately from your flu shot. And if not — or if life is getting hectic, and a two-for-one vaccination appointment ensures that you actually \u003ci>will \u003c/i>get your shots rather than forgetting — just go ahead and get your COVID and flu shots at the same time, when you can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also the fact that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960630/free-new-covid-vaccine-near-me-2023\">you might \u003cem>have\u003c/em> to wait a little longer for your COVID shot anyway\u003c/a>. Public health officials are urging people to first seek out the new vaccine via their health care provider, but supplies haven’t yet reached many providers. Kaiser Permanente, for example, is telling patients that \u003ca href=\"https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine\">shots of the new COVID vaccine won’t become available through Kaiser until early October\u003c/a>. All this to say: You might not have a choice about waiting to get your new COVID shot — by which time, you might be approaching that optimal October flu shot time anyway, and can choose a double vaccination appointment at that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin-Hong reiterated that “if you really wanted to optimize” the timing of your flu shot, yes, “sometime in October \u003cem>is\u003c/em> probably the best.” But ultimately, he says that just \u003cem>getting\u003c/em> the shots is better than not getting them at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960630/free-new-covid-vaccine-near-me-2023\">Read more about where to find the new COVID vaccine near you.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What about the RSV vaccine?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The CDC says that the respiratory syncytial virus — RSV — is “a common cause of respiratory illness in infants and young children, as well as older adults.” The disease results in up to 160,000 hospitalizations and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/rsv/hcp/older-adults-faqs.html\">up to 10,000 deaths annually among adults ages 65 years and older\u003c/a>, says the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/rsv/index.html\">The vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus — RSV — is accordingly recommended by the CDC\u003c/a> for infants, young children and adults ages 60 and older.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/13/1198803134/covid-boosters-updated-vaccines-fda-cdc\">experts NPR talked to for their fall booster guide\u003c/a> recommended getting the RSV vaccine separately from the COVID and flu vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the recommendation would be if you’re going in, get your flu and COVID shot. If you’re eligible for RSV, maybe space that out by a week or two,” Dr. \u003ca href=\"https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/peter-hotez-23229\">Peter Hotez\u003c/a>, who leads the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Again, if you’re trying to schedule your kid’s vaccinations, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/13/1198803134/covid-boosters-updated-vaccines-fda-cdc\">the CDC advises that you first talk to your pediatrician\u003c/a> about the best schedule for the COVID, flu and RSV vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"highrisk\">\u003c/a>If I have risk factors for severe flu, what kind of flu shot should I get?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re age 65 or older, there are now three types of flu vaccines it’s recommended you get — because they’ll be even more effective for you than a regular flu shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin-Hong said folks in this age group should seek out these three types of vaccines because you’ll be getting “essentially a high-dose shot” or a vaccine that contains an “adjuvant” — which, in simple terms, “makes the flu shot more powerful in terms of waking up the immune system,” he said. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/keyfacts.htm\">Read more about the three kinds of flu shots available to people ages 65 and older.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pregnant people can get a regular flu shot, although some types of flu vaccines are off-limits to pregnant people. The CDC says that getting vaccinated when you’re pregnant will not only help protect you from the flu, but also — if your baby is born during the immunity period — protect your infant in the first few months of their life when they’re too young to get vaccinated themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This benefit to the baby is also the reason that pregnant people are one of the few groups who might want to consider getting a flu shot \u003cem>early\u003c/em>, instead of waiting — to ensure their baby isn’t left completely unprotected for those first six months after birth when they can’t get a vaccine. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/keyfacts.htm\">Read more about the benefits of getting a flu shot if you’re pregnant.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children ages 6 months and older can get a regular dose of the flu shot. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/highrisk/children-high-risk.htm\">Flu can be particularly dangerous for kids\u003c/a>, and the CDC says that a 2022 study showed that flu vaccination reduced children’s risk of severe, life-threatening influenza by 75%.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"flushotnearme\">\u003c/a>Where can I get a flu shot if I have insurance?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you have health insurance, a flu shot is available without extra cost as a preventive service from your usual health care provider, or at most pharmacies (see below).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a good idea to wear a mask, maintain social distancing wherever possible while waiting for your shot, and dress in a top with sleeves you can easily pull up to your shoulder, to make receiving the injection even easier (and quicker).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Common places to find a flu shot appointment, walk-in site or drive-thru flu shot:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vaccines.gov/find-vaccines/\">CDC’s Find Flu Vaccines tool.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/cold-and-flu/prevention#/prevention\">Kaiser Permanente flu shots (Northern California)\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cvs.com/immunizations/flu\">CVS flu shots.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.walgreens.com/topic/pharmacy/seasonal-flu.jsp?ban=flu_fy21_influenzapage\">Walgreens flu shots.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.riteaid.com/pharmacy/scheduler\">Rite Aid flu shots.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.costco.com/Pharmacy/adult-immunization-program.html\">Costco Pharmacy flu shots.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.albertsons.com/pharmacy/pharmacy-services/immunizations.html\">Albertsons (Safeway) flu shots.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Where can I get a flu shot if I \u003cem>don’t\u003c/em> have health insurance?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you want a flu shot but don’t have health insurance, you can get the vaccine free of charge from several providers and community clinics around the Bay Area. (You can also technically use these free services even if you do have insurance, but you may consider choosing to free up these particular resources for those who are not covered.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Your county’s public health department may also be offering flu shots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Places to get a free or low-cost flu shot in the Bay Area include:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcdcp.org/aitc/aitc-regular-prices-low-cost-or-free-vaccines/\">San Francisco Department of Public Health’s AITC clinic\u003c/a> (offers a pay-what-you-can option).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/immunization/clinics.php#Uninsured\">Contra Costa Public Health Immunization Clinic\u003c/a> (flu shots are $15 for adults over 19, but fees may be waived if you’re unable to pay).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://acphd.org/clinics/\">Alameda County Immunization Clinics.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>And a reminder … the flu vaccine can’t give you the flu\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The virus that the flu shot contains has been inactivated or severely weakened, so \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/misconceptions.htm#:~:text=Can%20a%20flu%20vaccine%20give,protein%20from%20the%20flu%20virus.\">you just aren’t physically able to get the flu from your flu shot\u003c/a>, confirms the CDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/general.htm#side-effects\">The flu vaccine can cause side effects\u003c/a> like any medical product, but they’re “\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/general.htm\">generally mild and go away on their own within a few days\u003c/a>,” the agency says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Common flu shot side effects can include soreness or swelling at the injection site, headache, fever, nausea and muscle aches. (But not the flu.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story contains reporting by KQED’s Alexander Gonzalez.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957790/the-new-covid-eris-variant-and-rising-cases-what-you-need-to-know\">COVID-19 cases\u003c/a> are again rising in Contra Costa County as it and other Bay Area counties are issuing a new masking order that applies to workers at “high-risk” health care facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa Health Services CEO Anna Roth told the county Board of Supervisors Tuesday that countywide hospital admissions for COVID-19 have increased since July, from 8.1 per day to 12.1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it’s going up,” Roth said. “It’s not huge. We are able to handle the increased demand for some hospital beds, but it is going up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the increased cases in the Bay Area — which health officials attribute to the latest mutated strain of COVID-19 — Roth said Contra Costa Health and other Bay Area health agencies are implementing new mask requirements for health care workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are issuing the health order today around masking for high-risk facilities, health care facilities specifically,” Roth said. “So again, masking in hospitals, masking in skilled nursing facilities, masking in high-risk facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new masking order will not affect patients or visitors to affected health care facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roth said the new order will not include other residential congregate settings, such as detention facilities and homeless shelters. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Anna Roth, CEO, Contra Costa Health Services\"]‘So it’s going up. It’s not huge. We are able to handle the increased demand for some hospital beds, but it is going up.’[/pullquote] Roth also said the latest vaccine — which isn’t considered a booster, but an entirely new vaccine that replaces the former vaccine and handles the newest variants — will be available in Contra Costa County either at the end of this week or the beginning of next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For those of you who have not been vaccinated in the last 60 days, you will be eligible,” Roth said. “This is a vaccine for everybody 6 months and over.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roth said the county is no longer running any mass vaccination sites and people should go to their regular providers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do expect that there will be high demand the first couple of weeks,” Roth said. “What we have historically seen is that demand settles down and your regular providers will have the vaccine available.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roth said Contra Costa Health providers will turn no one away, but it’s important to go to a regular provider, who can record the vaccination for people to keep track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Sefanit Mekuria, the county’s deputy health officer, told the board that the county — and county libraries — are still offering free test kits through the mail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma County’s health officer issued a similar order Tuesday for health care workers who work directly with patients to wear face masks during an anticipated surge in the transmission of respiratory viruses this fall and winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order lasts from Nov. 1 to April 30 and covers workers in facilities such as hospitals, clinics and other facilities where patient care is provided indoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Each year we see that higher rates of influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses that can cause severe respiratory infections occur annually between late fall and spring,” said Dr. Karen Smith, Sonoma County’s health officer. [aside postID=news_11960630 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/005_SanFrancisco_UnitedinHealthKidsCOVIDVaccination_11092021-qut.jpg'] “Patients and residents in our health care and congregate facilities, especially young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with chronic health conditions, are at greater risk for respiratory virus-related hospitalizations and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Workers in direct care, health care, and congregate facilities are at risk for respiratory illness and can transmit the viruses to their clients, patients and coworkers,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith also strongly recommended that everyone who is at least 6 months old get an updated COVID-19 vaccine and a flu shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find out more about COVID-19 in Contra Costa County, go to \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/covid19\">https://cchealth.org/covid19\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Sonoma and Contra Costa counties issued health orders Tuesday that urged masking for high-risk facilities, specifically hospitals and skilled nursing centers.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957790/the-new-covid-eris-variant-and-rising-cases-what-you-need-to-know\">COVID-19 cases\u003c/a> are again rising in Contra Costa County as it and other Bay Area counties are issuing a new masking order that applies to workers at “high-risk” health care facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa Health Services CEO Anna Roth told the county Board of Supervisors Tuesday that countywide hospital admissions for COVID-19 have increased since July, from 8.1 per day to 12.1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it’s going up,” Roth said. “It’s not huge. We are able to handle the increased demand for some hospital beds, but it is going up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the increased cases in the Bay Area — which health officials attribute to the latest mutated strain of COVID-19 — Roth said Contra Costa Health and other Bay Area health agencies are implementing new mask requirements for health care workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are issuing the health order today around masking for high-risk facilities, health care facilities specifically,” Roth said. “So again, masking in hospitals, masking in skilled nursing facilities, masking in high-risk facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new masking order will not affect patients or visitors to affected health care facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roth said the new order will not include other residential congregate settings, such as detention facilities and homeless shelters. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘So it’s going up. It’s not huge. We are able to handle the increased demand for some hospital beds, but it is going up.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Roth also said the latest vaccine — which isn’t considered a booster, but an entirely new vaccine that replaces the former vaccine and handles the newest variants — will be available in Contra Costa County either at the end of this week or the beginning of next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For those of you who have not been vaccinated in the last 60 days, you will be eligible,” Roth said. “This is a vaccine for everybody 6 months and over.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roth said the county is no longer running any mass vaccination sites and people should go to their regular providers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do expect that there will be high demand the first couple of weeks,” Roth said. “What we have historically seen is that demand settles down and your regular providers will have the vaccine available.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roth said Contra Costa Health providers will turn no one away, but it’s important to go to a regular provider, who can record the vaccination for people to keep track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Sefanit Mekuria, the county’s deputy health officer, told the board that the county — and county libraries — are still offering free test kits through the mail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma County’s health officer issued a similar order Tuesday for health care workers who work directly with patients to wear face masks during an anticipated surge in the transmission of respiratory viruses this fall and winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order lasts from Nov. 1 to April 30 and covers workers in facilities such as hospitals, clinics and other facilities where patient care is provided indoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Each year we see that higher rates of influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses that can cause severe respiratory infections occur annually between late fall and spring,” said Dr. Karen Smith, Sonoma County’s health officer. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> “Patients and residents in our health care and congregate facilities, especially young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with chronic health conditions, are at greater risk for respiratory virus-related hospitalizations and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Workers in direct care, health care, and congregate facilities are at risk for respiratory illness and can transmit the viruses to their clients, patients and coworkers,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith also strongly recommended that everyone who is at least 6 months old get an updated COVID-19 vaccine and a flu shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find out more about COVID-19 in Contra Costa County, go to \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/covid19\">https://cchealth.org/covid19\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Pandemic-era policies like eviction moratoriums, the expanded child tax credit, increased food stamp benefits and free school meals helped decrease hardship for families with young children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet when many of those programs were discontinued, these same families saw an increase in hardship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are the latest findings from the RAPID survey, a national survey of parents and guardians with children from birth to 5 years old, conducted by researchers at the Stanford Center for Early Childhood. The group has collected answers to survey questions from 14,357 parents of young children nationwide every month between April 2020 and April 2023. Questions asked included whether parents could pay for food, child care and housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Philip Fisher, director, Stanford Center on Early Childhood\"]‘If we’re concerned about the well-being of kids, we should be concerned about the well-being of adults in the lives of children.’[/pullquote]“The combination, where you have higher prices to pay for basic things like food and gas and you have these tax credits and other payments that went away, that’s where you see people really falling over the edge,” said Philip Fisher, director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-17-at-1.14.52-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11955877\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-17-at-1.14.52-PM-800x478.png\" alt=\"A graph from the RAPID survey showing families reporting hardship over time.\" width=\"800\" height=\"478\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-17-at-1.14.52-PM-800x478.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-17-at-1.14.52-PM-1020x609.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-17-at-1.14.52-PM-160x96.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-17-at-1.14.52-PM.png 1196w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fisher said researchers found what he calls a “chain reaction to hardship” — when parents can’t afford to pay for child care or food in a given week, that causes them higher levels of distress, and then their children begin struggling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11947683,news_11952349,news_11949679\" label=\"Related Posts\"]“If we’re concerned about the well-being of kids, we should be concerned about the well-being of adults in the lives of children,” Fisher said. “Policies that support families’ economic stability and sufficiency are critical for supporting children’s early learning, and when we see those policies go away, we’re placing additional burden on the education system to make up for the ground that’s lost for families having this kind of hardship.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates for families with young children in California said that though the survey is nationwide, California policymakers can learn from it and put in place more policies to help children from an early age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families with infants and toddlers have largely been told, ‘You’re on your own,’” said Stacy Lee, chief learning officer and senior managing director for early childhood at the advocacy organization Children Now. “The more we can do earlier on to support families, we know that that results in good outcomes for our children.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee said she applauds California legislators and the governor for funding or expanding several programs in this year’s budget that will help low-income families, such as increasing subsidies for child care and capping the amount families have to pay for subsidized child care to 1% of their income. In addition, she mentioned that a budgeted increase for CalWORKs, a public assistance program that provides cash aid to low-income families with children, and CalFresh, the state’s food stamp program, and expanding free school meals to summertime will all help the lowest-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But there are still a large number of families out there who may not fit that criteria and will see continuing challenges to navigate life in the coming year,” Lee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee said programs that help alleviate poverty for families have a clear effect on children’s education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all know that it makes it harder for children to concentrate at school if they’re hungry,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe that this data makes clear that poverty is a policy choice,” said Mayra Alvarez, president of The Children’s Partnership, a nonprofit children’s advocacy organization based in Los Angeles. “During the pandemic, rules were put in place to make accessing services and programs easier for families. We have to ask ourselves, why can’t it always be this way?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarez said it is urgent for California to do something to help young children keep health insurance now that pandemic-era requirements to keep continuous Medi-Cal coverage have ended. She said an estimated 2 million to 3 million Californians could lose coverage, including between 800,000 and 1 million children. A law passed last year will allow children to keep Medi-Cal coverage from birth to age 5, but it won’t be implemented until 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This delay in implementation places thousands of children at risk of losing coverage unnecessarily, and it’s why we, alongside many partners, are asking the administration to move forward with implementation as quickly as possible,” Alvarez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/families-with-young-children-face-increased-hardship-after-pandemic-relief-policies-end/693962\">This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“If we’re concerned about the well-being of kids, we should be concerned about the well-being of adults in the lives of children,” Fisher said. “Policies that support families’ economic stability and sufficiency are critical for supporting children’s early learning, and when we see those policies go away, we’re placing additional burden on the education system to make up for the ground that’s lost for families having this kind of hardship.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates for families with young children in California said that though the survey is nationwide, California policymakers can learn from it and put in place more policies to help children from an early age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families with infants and toddlers have largely been told, ‘You’re on your own,’” said Stacy Lee, chief learning officer and senior managing director for early childhood at the advocacy organization Children Now. “The more we can do earlier on to support families, we know that that results in good outcomes for our children.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee said she applauds California legislators and the governor for funding or expanding several programs in this year’s budget that will help low-income families, such as increasing subsidies for child care and capping the amount families have to pay for subsidized child care to 1% of their income. In addition, she mentioned that a budgeted increase for CalWORKs, a public assistance program that provides cash aid to low-income families with children, and CalFresh, the state’s food stamp program, and expanding free school meals to summertime will all help the lowest-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But there are still a large number of families out there who may not fit that criteria and will see continuing challenges to navigate life in the coming year,” Lee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee said programs that help alleviate poverty for families have a clear effect on children’s education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all know that it makes it harder for children to concentrate at school if they’re hungry,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe that this data makes clear that poverty is a policy choice,” said Mayra Alvarez, president of The Children’s Partnership, a nonprofit children’s advocacy organization based in Los Angeles. “During the pandemic, rules were put in place to make accessing services and programs easier for families. We have to ask ourselves, why can’t it always be this way?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarez said it is urgent for California to do something to help young children keep health insurance now that pandemic-era requirements to keep continuous Medi-Cal coverage have ended. She said an estimated 2 million to 3 million Californians could lose coverage, including between 800,000 and 1 million children. A law passed last year will allow children to keep Medi-Cal coverage from birth to age 5, but it won’t be implemented until 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This delay in implementation places thousands of children at risk of losing coverage unnecessarily, and it’s why we, alongside many partners, are asking the administration to move forward with implementation as quickly as possible,” Alvarez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/families-with-young-children-face-increased-hardship-after-pandemic-relief-policies-end/693962\">This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "For Many Long COVID Patients, Qualifying for Disability Is Half the Battle",
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"content": "\u003cp>Chris Pham contracted COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic, in March 2020, and just couldn’t kick it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was two weeks in, and the first time that I realized something was really wrong was when I decided to take a run,” said the now-35-year-old, who had been living in the Bay Area in good health and was training for a triathlon. “I was feeling a little bit better. … But after mile 1, I can remember really thinking, ‘Wow, there’s something that’s totally wrong with my body.’ And I broke into a cold sweat and I just couldn’t run anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pham said his doctors, who at that point still knew very little about the virus, struggled to explain and diagnose his condition, which is now clearly understood to be what’s known as long COVID. “My doctors didn’t have any data really to base a diagnosis off of,” he said. “So, yeah, I was given the runaround or not really believed. And that was a scary, scary thing in and of itself.”[aside postID=news_11950643 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65622_005_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-1020x680.jpg']Pham said he generally learned how to manage his symptoms, but was often overwhelmed with paralyzing fatigue. He eventually tried to return to work full-time, as the head of sales of a Bay Area start-up, but found it nearly impossible to get through the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was passing out in the middle of the day after one or two meetings and it would cause and trigger my long COVID symptoms,” he said. “On calls, there was extreme fatigue and then this pain, like heavy sinking pain. Just like someone attached a 50-pound anchor to your face and let it drop to the bottom of the ocean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pham had to take medical leave, and was ultimately laid off. But after his initial disability payments petered out, he struggled to secure the long-term disability benefits he needed to pay for basic living expenses and medical care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fast-forward more than three years: Pham still suffers from debilitating symptoms stemming from his initial infection — among the estimated millions of long COVID patients in the U.S. — and says applying for and receiving the payments has been a constant struggle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The process was extremely difficult to receive the funds, even though it was approved. The disability company would often come back and say, ‘It needs a review.’ And this happened every single month,” Pham said of his initial efforts to apply for long-term disability, noting that his insurance company often required him to do additional testing to prove his eligibility. “So I had no certainty on how to plan. I was basically chasing down my benefits the whole time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952470\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11952470 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A young Asian man in a gray T-shirt rests on a brown leather couch with his eyes closed.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Pham rests on the couch at his parents’ house in Arizona, where he now lives. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Chris Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pham’s insurance company eventually terminated his long-term benefits, and with no source of income, he was forced to move back in with his parents in Arizona.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I didn’t have the support of my family, I’d be out on the streets,” he said. “[Insurers] are willing to let all the folks with long COVID who are currently suffering go without the benefits that are rightly owed to them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His insurance company, Guardian, did not return KQED’s request for comment about his case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A big part of the problem for patients: There’s no single definition of long COVID and no singular test to determine whether someone has it, making it easier for insurance companies to deny claims.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Chris Pham, long COVID patient\"]‘If I didn’t have the support of my family, I’d be out on the streets.’[/pullquote]“I would urge the CDC and the World Health Organization [to] encourage a clinical diagnosis of long COVID,” said David Putrino, a physical therapist at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, who has worked with thousands of long COVID patients over the last three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[T]he payers and the people denying benefits to people with long COVID always say the same thing: ‘Oh, you don’t have enough evidence. We don’t have an objective test to prove that you’re sick,’” he said. “Please let us stop asking sick people to prove to us that they’re sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pham spent months fighting with Guardian to reinstate his long-term disability payments, and finally won his appeal in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassie Springer Ayeni, Pham’s attorney who helped wage his protracted legal challenge, says securing such benefits can be a lifesaver for people with long COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952494\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11952494 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged white woman with glasses, wearing a business jacket, holds a large stack of papers. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassie Springer Ayeni, a disability attorney in San Leandro who works with many long COVID patients, shows a thick stack of her client’s disability claims, on June 5, 2023.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These benefits typically do last through age 67 for people who are affected by long COVID or any other disabling condition,” she said, noting that half of her new clients suffer from long COVID. “That’s why they’re so valuable — because this is potentially income for somebody who might not be able to ever return to the workforce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Springer Ayeni says such uncertainty leaves many people with long COVID in both a physical and financial bind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People take loans and people take loans from family. And because of the cost of living in the Bay Area, a lot of my clients wind up selling their house, moving somewhere else,” she said. “I’ve had two clients just in the last year have to give up living in the Bay Area because of their disabilities, because they can’t live off of an unreliable source of income.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The true economic cost of long COVID in the United States likely won’t be fully realized for years, if ever, particularly because the U.S. has done a poor overall job of tracking the condition, said Katie Bach, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Katie Bach, senior fellow, Brookings Institution\"]‘My best estimate is that we have millions of full-time-equivalent workers not working and out of the labor force due to long COVID.’[/pullquote]“My best estimate is that we have millions of full-time-equivalent workers not working and out of the labor force due to long COVID. So that’s somewhere between $100 billion and $230 billion a year in lost wages,” she said. “This is not the first post-viral illness that we have seen in the U.S. We’ve just never seen an outbreak of this scale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But from an insurer’s perspective, long COVID poses a number of major issues, says Linda Bergthold, a health policy consultant and researcher. She says one of the biggest issues is that there have been no diagnostic codes for long COVID. Those codes, which doctors have to denote when requesting coverage for their patients, are a key part of the claims process. And because there are so many symptoms associated with the condition — from fatigue to heart issues — some of the codes don’t necessarily cover the health problems that a long COVID patient might be experiencing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, she said, insurance companies have a notorious history — one far predating COVID — of denying treatment claims they do not deem a “medical necessity.” That vague benchmark has proved particularly detrimental to long COVID patients seeking new treatments that have not yet been scientifically proven — and that insurance companies often consider unnecessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Chris Pham won his appeal for disability benefits, he says he still struggles on a day-to-day basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t have the ability to provide for myself,” he said. “I don’t [even] have the ability to do the dishes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Chris Pham contracted COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic, in March 2020, and just couldn’t kick it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was two weeks in, and the first time that I realized something was really wrong was when I decided to take a run,” said the now-35-year-old, who had been living in the Bay Area in good health and was training for a triathlon. “I was feeling a little bit better. … But after mile 1, I can remember really thinking, ‘Wow, there’s something that’s totally wrong with my body.’ And I broke into a cold sweat and I just couldn’t run anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pham said his doctors, who at that point still knew very little about the virus, struggled to explain and diagnose his condition, which is now clearly understood to be what’s known as long COVID. “My doctors didn’t have any data really to base a diagnosis off of,” he said. “So, yeah, I was given the runaround or not really believed. And that was a scary, scary thing in and of itself.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Pham said he generally learned how to manage his symptoms, but was often overwhelmed with paralyzing fatigue. He eventually tried to return to work full-time, as the head of sales of a Bay Area start-up, but found it nearly impossible to get through the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was passing out in the middle of the day after one or two meetings and it would cause and trigger my long COVID symptoms,” he said. “On calls, there was extreme fatigue and then this pain, like heavy sinking pain. Just like someone attached a 50-pound anchor to your face and let it drop to the bottom of the ocean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pham had to take medical leave, and was ultimately laid off. But after his initial disability payments petered out, he struggled to secure the long-term disability benefits he needed to pay for basic living expenses and medical care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fast-forward more than three years: Pham still suffers from debilitating symptoms stemming from his initial infection — among the estimated millions of long COVID patients in the U.S. — and says applying for and receiving the payments has been a constant struggle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The process was extremely difficult to receive the funds, even though it was approved. The disability company would often come back and say, ‘It needs a review.’ And this happened every single month,” Pham said of his initial efforts to apply for long-term disability, noting that his insurance company often required him to do additional testing to prove his eligibility. “So I had no certainty on how to plan. I was basically chasing down my benefits the whole time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952470\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11952470 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A young Asian man in a gray T-shirt rests on a brown leather couch with his eyes closed.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-Chris-Pham-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Pham rests on the couch at his parents’ house in Arizona, where he now lives. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Chris Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pham’s insurance company eventually terminated his long-term benefits, and with no source of income, he was forced to move back in with his parents in Arizona.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I didn’t have the support of my family, I’d be out on the streets,” he said. “[Insurers] are willing to let all the folks with long COVID who are currently suffering go without the benefits that are rightly owed to them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His insurance company, Guardian, did not return KQED’s request for comment about his case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A big part of the problem for patients: There’s no single definition of long COVID and no singular test to determine whether someone has it, making it easier for insurance companies to deny claims.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I would urge the CDC and the World Health Organization [to] encourage a clinical diagnosis of long COVID,” said David Putrino, a physical therapist at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, who has worked with thousands of long COVID patients over the last three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[T]he payers and the people denying benefits to people with long COVID always say the same thing: ‘Oh, you don’t have enough evidence. We don’t have an objective test to prove that you’re sick,’” he said. “Please let us stop asking sick people to prove to us that they’re sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pham spent months fighting with Guardian to reinstate his long-term disability payments, and finally won his appeal in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassie Springer Ayeni, Pham’s attorney who helped wage his protracted legal challenge, says securing such benefits can be a lifesaver for people with long COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952494\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11952494 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged white woman with glasses, wearing a business jacket, holds a large stack of papers. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66047_005_KQED_CassieSpringerAyeniLongCovid_06052023-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassie Springer Ayeni, a disability attorney in San Leandro who works with many long COVID patients, shows a thick stack of her client’s disability claims, on June 5, 2023.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These benefits typically do last through age 67 for people who are affected by long COVID or any other disabling condition,” she said, noting that half of her new clients suffer from long COVID. “That’s why they’re so valuable — because this is potentially income for somebody who might not be able to ever return to the workforce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Springer Ayeni says such uncertainty leaves many people with long COVID in both a physical and financial bind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People take loans and people take loans from family. And because of the cost of living in the Bay Area, a lot of my clients wind up selling their house, moving somewhere else,” she said. “I’ve had two clients just in the last year have to give up living in the Bay Area because of their disabilities, because they can’t live off of an unreliable source of income.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The true economic cost of long COVID in the United States likely won’t be fully realized for years, if ever, particularly because the U.S. has done a poor overall job of tracking the condition, said Katie Bach, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“My best estimate is that we have millions of full-time-equivalent workers not working and out of the labor force due to long COVID. So that’s somewhere between $100 billion and $230 billion a year in lost wages,” she said. “This is not the first post-viral illness that we have seen in the U.S. We’ve just never seen an outbreak of this scale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But from an insurer’s perspective, long COVID poses a number of major issues, says Linda Bergthold, a health policy consultant and researcher. She says one of the biggest issues is that there have been no diagnostic codes for long COVID. Those codes, which doctors have to denote when requesting coverage for their patients, are a key part of the claims process. And because there are so many symptoms associated with the condition — from fatigue to heart issues — some of the codes don’t necessarily cover the health problems that a long COVID patient might be experiencing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, she said, insurance companies have a notorious history — one far predating COVID — of denying treatment claims they do not deem a “medical necessity.” That vague benchmark has proved particularly detrimental to long COVID patients seeking new treatments that have not yet been scientifically proven — and that insurance companies often consider unnecessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Chris Pham won his appeal for disability benefits, he says he still struggles on a day-to-day basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t have the ability to provide for myself,” he said. “I don’t [even] have the ability to do the dishes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "san-francisco-to-pay-hotel-whitcomb-19-5-million-in-property-damage",
"title": "San Francisco to Pay Hotel Whitcomb $19.5 Million in Property Damage",
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"headTitle": "San Francisco to Pay Hotel Whitcomb $19.5 Million in Property Damage | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco could pay up to $19.5 million to settle a lawsuit over property damages at one of the hotels that provided \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894247/sf-extends-program-to-keep-hotels-open-for-unhoused-residents\">emergency housing\u003c/a> during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The owners of Hotel Whitcomb on Market Street filed the complaint against San Francisco on April 13 of this year. They allege the historic hotel endured millions in property damage resulting in loss of use by the city’s shelter-in-place hotel program, part of a statewide effort called \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825653/california-found-hotels-for-10000-homeless-residents-what-next\">Project Roomkey\u003c/a> that opened up empty hotels during the pandemic to create emergency shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement is the latest agreement between the city and owners of the hotels that stepped up during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/coronavirus\">COVID-19 pandemic\u003c/a> to provide emergency housing for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11887851/lives-are-on-the-line-advocates-call-on-sf-to-keep-hotels-open-for-homeless-residents\">people experiencing homelessness\u003c/a> during the first two years of the pandemic. That has included $2.9 million to the Tilden Hotel and $5.3 million to Hotel Union Square.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[ad fullwidth]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city expects to pay out around $26 million in total for property damage payouts from the shelter-in-place hotel program, according to a city budget report released in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jen Kwart, spokesperson for the city attorney’s office, told KQED in an email the department believes the proposed settlement is an “appropriate resolution” and “is the last SIP Hotel claim for damages that the City is aware of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is expecting reimbursements for costs of implementing the emergency housing program, and has already filed for $386 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/public-health/homelessness/san-francisco-dishes-out-millions-more-to-damaged-shelter-in-place-hotels/\">It’s not yet clear how much FEMA will cover in the property damages\u003c/a>, according to a report from The San Francisco Standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city contracted with the hotels during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when tourism was decimated and hotels had lost their customer base. Using emergency relief funding, the city paid the hotels to open up the otherwise empty rooms for temporary emergency shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program came together remarkably quickly, but challenges presented themselves as the pandemic raged on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID=news_11950199 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS43046_018_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At its peak, \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/covid-19/shelter-in-place-hotel-program-overview/\">the hotel shelter program opened 2,288 rooms across 25 hotel sites\u003c/a>, according to data from the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. More than 3,300 adults were housed in hotel rooms and the city claims that about two-thirds of eligible guests were transferred to longer-term housing by the time the program ended in December 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents in the hotels and housing advocates applauded the non-congregate housing approach to the global health crisis that was rapidly unfolding. Studies on the program have shown that residents who lived in the hotels and were connected to health and substance-use services directly at the hotel were also \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/shelter-in-place-hotels-reduce-er-visits-among-frequent-visitors/article_8ab5b620-136e-11ed-b489-d39e4d0950b5.html\">less likely to require emergency services\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But life was not always easy inside the hotels. Staff and residents at Hotel Whitcomb were often on the front lines of the overdose crisis that the city continues to endure. About 400 people were housed there during the pandemic, many of whom struggled with substance use disorders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On-site services helped prevent overdoses and encourage safer drug use, such as clean needle exchanges and training on how to administer the overdose-reversal drug naloxone. At least \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11910405/staff-at-a-san-francisco-hotel-battle-an-overdose-crisis\">18 people overdosed at Hotel Whitcomb\u003c/a> from the time it first opened its rooms for the program in April 2020 to April 2022, KQED reported while the program was still in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement passed the Government Audit and Oversight Committee on Thursday. It will next go before the full Board of Supervisors and the mayor for final approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco could pay up to $19.5 million to settle a lawsuit over property damages at one of the hotels that provided \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894247/sf-extends-program-to-keep-hotels-open-for-unhoused-residents\">emergency housing\u003c/a> during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The owners of Hotel Whitcomb on Market Street filed the complaint against San Francisco on April 13 of this year. They allege the historic hotel endured millions in property damage resulting in loss of use by the city’s shelter-in-place hotel program, part of a statewide effort called \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825653/california-found-hotels-for-10000-homeless-residents-what-next\">Project Roomkey\u003c/a> that opened up empty hotels during the pandemic to create emergency shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement is the latest agreement between the city and owners of the hotels that stepped up during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/coronavirus\">COVID-19 pandemic\u003c/a> to provide emergency housing for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11887851/lives-are-on-the-line-advocates-call-on-sf-to-keep-hotels-open-for-homeless-residents\">people experiencing homelessness\u003c/a> during the first two years of the pandemic. That has included $2.9 million to the Tilden Hotel and $5.3 million to Hotel Union Square.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city expects to pay out around $26 million in total for property damage payouts from the shelter-in-place hotel program, according to a city budget report released in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jen Kwart, spokesperson for the city attorney’s office, told KQED in an email the department believes the proposed settlement is an “appropriate resolution” and “is the last SIP Hotel claim for damages that the City is aware of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is expecting reimbursements for costs of implementing the emergency housing program, and has already filed for $386 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/public-health/homelessness/san-francisco-dishes-out-millions-more-to-damaged-shelter-in-place-hotels/\">It’s not yet clear how much FEMA will cover in the property damages\u003c/a>, according to a report from The San Francisco Standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city contracted with the hotels during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when tourism was decimated and hotels had lost their customer base. Using emergency relief funding, the city paid the hotels to open up the otherwise empty rooms for temporary emergency shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program came together remarkably quickly, but challenges presented themselves as the pandemic raged on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At its peak, \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/covid-19/shelter-in-place-hotel-program-overview/\">the hotel shelter program opened 2,288 rooms across 25 hotel sites\u003c/a>, according to data from the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. More than 3,300 adults were housed in hotel rooms and the city claims that about two-thirds of eligible guests were transferred to longer-term housing by the time the program ended in December 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents in the hotels and housing advocates applauded the non-congregate housing approach to the global health crisis that was rapidly unfolding. Studies on the program have shown that residents who lived in the hotels and were connected to health and substance-use services directly at the hotel were also \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/shelter-in-place-hotels-reduce-er-visits-among-frequent-visitors/article_8ab5b620-136e-11ed-b489-d39e4d0950b5.html\">less likely to require emergency services\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But life was not always easy inside the hotels. Staff and residents at Hotel Whitcomb were often on the front lines of the overdose crisis that the city continues to endure. About 400 people were housed there during the pandemic, many of whom struggled with substance use disorders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On-site services helped prevent overdoses and encourage safer drug use, such as clean needle exchanges and training on how to administer the overdose-reversal drug naloxone. At least \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11910405/staff-at-a-san-francisco-hotel-battle-an-overdose-crisis\">18 people overdosed at Hotel Whitcomb\u003c/a> from the time it first opened its rooms for the program in April 2020 to April 2022, KQED reported while the program was still in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement passed the Government Audit and Oversight Committee on Thursday. It will next go before the full Board of Supervisors and the mayor for final approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Screaming Into a Void': Long COVID Patients Have Waited in Vain for Years for Treatments",
"headTitle": "‘Screaming Into a Void’: Long COVID Patients Have Waited in Vain for Years for Treatments | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>After contracting COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic more than three years ago, Charlie McCone is still very much hostage to the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can shower myself and I can do that stuff, but that’s kind of about it,” said McCone, a previously healthy Bay Area man in his 30s. “If I have to make lunch, I’m laid out for a couple of hours. If I have to make dinner, it’s doomsday. I can’t stand up for longer than five minutes without all of my symptoms going haywire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCone is among the millions of Americans with long COVID, a condition broadly defined as a collection of often-debilitating symptoms — everything from brain fog and fatigue to respiratory and heart problems — that can develop or intensify after an initial COVID infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This isn’t a mild condition. This is completely life-altering,” said McCone, who notes that many other long COVID patients are in even worse shape than he is. “We have patients who are taking their lives. This is the fastest-growing health crisis in America.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid the end of the federal health emergency earlier this month, as the vast majority of people in this country have ditched their masks and resumed their pre-pandemic lives, McCone and other long COVID patients say they feel largely left behind, and see no end to their suffering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11950655\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11950655 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A white man with curly light brown hair and eye glasses sits on a couch with feet up and looks at the camera with head turned to the side.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Long COVID patient Charlie McCone at his home in San Francisco on May 18, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My biggest frustration right now isn’t in my symptoms,” McCone said. “It’s in the lack of action around doing things we know could help patients right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCone and other long COVID patients and advocates have for years pushed state and federal health agencies to begin trials for long COVID treatments, underscoring the urgency of the situation, but say their efforts have gained little traction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of times it feels like the patient community is screaming into a void,” said Lisa McCorkell, an Oakland resident who has experienced long COVID symptoms for more than three years, and who now runs a group that advocates for patient-involved research on the condition. “It really feels like [we’re] not being heard a lot of the time.”[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11948032,news_11946927\"]But the National Institutes of Health, which in 2020 received more than $1 billion to research long COVID, says it’s taking a cautious, big-picture approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are being a little more deliberate. Particularly to try and get something to have a high-effect size in patients and really make a big difference,” said Dr. Walter Koroshetz, co-chair of the NIH’s \u003ca href=\"https://recovercovid.org/\">RECOVER Initiative\u003c/a> (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery). “[We want to] test therapies which we think might help reduce the symptom burden in people who are suffering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Koroshetz said he understands the frustration long COVID patients feel, but noted that even though it’s not a new condition, “how it happens in people is not well understood.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, Koroshetz says he’s confident treatments to reduce debilitating symptoms will be available fairly soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re also hoping to test drugs that go after the main culprit for the biological cause of long COVID,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But so far, the NIH has not started a clinical trial for possible treatments. One of the only official long COVID clinical trials is underway at Stanford University, to determine whether Paxlovid can be an effective treatment. But it isn’t even being led by the NIH, and results aren’t expected until late this year.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Charlie McCone, long COVID patient\"]‘My biggest frustration right now isn’t in my symptoms. It’s in the lack of action around doing things we know could help patients right now.’[/pullquote]Dr. Steven Deeks, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF who has extensively researched long COVID, argues that clinical trials for possible treatments should have started months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Based on the fact there’s anecdotes of people getting better with antiviral therapy, yes, it’s an absolute urgency right now to study, in a controlled manner, all of the antiviral therapies that we have available,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the problem, Deeks argues, is the lack of buy-in from pharmaceutical companies, in stark contrast to their involvement in developing an initial COVID vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The drug companies realize there’s this great unmet need. They realize there’s this market for a drug and there’s money to be made,” he said. “But right now I think they’re waiting on the sidelines for academic groups to get better clarity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC3817112873&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of symptoms have been linked to long COVID, and there is little data tracking how many people actually have it, all of which has made it difficult to clearly define the condition and expedite efforts to treat it, notes David Putrino, a physical therapist at Mount Sinai Health System in New York who has worked with scores of long COVID patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Long COVID really is anyone who has contracted an acute COVID infection and at the three-month point is still feeling unwell and worse than they did before their acute COVID infection,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, the apparent lack of urgency from government health agencies is troublesome, says Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, chair of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who runs a long COVID clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11950658\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11950658\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A white man with light brown curly hair and eyeglasses has a steam inhaler in his mouth as he laws reclines against a sofa in his living room.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Long COVID patient Charlie McCone uses a steam inhaler at his home in San Francisco on May 18, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Part of me is like, ‘OK, they put a lot of effort in vaccines and treatments at the front lines and, yes, that’s wonderful. People aren’t dying,’” she said. “But there are now millions of people with long COVID who are suffering tremendously. I’m seeing these patients and they want some treatments now to help them. And so it’s frustrating to not be able to say, ‘OK, let’s try this right away,’ or, ‘Oh, this has been proven.’ We don’t have that, and the patients need it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa McCorkell, of Oakland, couldn’t agree more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s definitely enough that we know about long COVID for us to be ready for clinical trials,” she said. “And given the scale of the issue, we’re at the point to see if any of those work in resolving long COVID completely or at least managing symptoms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After contracting COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic more than three years ago, Charlie McCone is still very much hostage to the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can shower myself and I can do that stuff, but that’s kind of about it,” said McCone, a previously healthy Bay Area man in his 30s. “If I have to make lunch, I’m laid out for a couple of hours. If I have to make dinner, it’s doomsday. I can’t stand up for longer than five minutes without all of my symptoms going haywire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCone is among the millions of Americans with long COVID, a condition broadly defined as a collection of often-debilitating symptoms — everything from brain fog and fatigue to respiratory and heart problems — that can develop or intensify after an initial COVID infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This isn’t a mild condition. This is completely life-altering,” said McCone, who notes that many other long COVID patients are in even worse shape than he is. “We have patients who are taking their lives. This is the fastest-growing health crisis in America.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid the end of the federal health emergency earlier this month, as the vast majority of people in this country have ditched their masks and resumed their pre-pandemic lives, McCone and other long COVID patients say they feel largely left behind, and see no end to their suffering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11950655\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11950655 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A white man with curly light brown hair and eye glasses sits on a couch with feet up and looks at the camera with head turned to the side.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65641_023_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Long COVID patient Charlie McCone at his home in San Francisco on May 18, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My biggest frustration right now isn’t in my symptoms,” McCone said. “It’s in the lack of action around doing things we know could help patients right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCone and other long COVID patients and advocates have for years pushed state and federal health agencies to begin trials for long COVID treatments, underscoring the urgency of the situation, but say their efforts have gained little traction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of times it feels like the patient community is screaming into a void,” said Lisa McCorkell, an Oakland resident who has experienced long COVID symptoms for more than three years, and who now runs a group that advocates for patient-involved research on the condition. “It really feels like [we’re] not being heard a lot of the time.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But the National Institutes of Health, which in 2020 received more than $1 billion to research long COVID, says it’s taking a cautious, big-picture approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are being a little more deliberate. Particularly to try and get something to have a high-effect size in patients and really make a big difference,” said Dr. Walter Koroshetz, co-chair of the NIH’s \u003ca href=\"https://recovercovid.org/\">RECOVER Initiative\u003c/a> (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery). “[We want to] test therapies which we think might help reduce the symptom burden in people who are suffering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Koroshetz said he understands the frustration long COVID patients feel, but noted that even though it’s not a new condition, “how it happens in people is not well understood.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, Koroshetz says he’s confident treatments to reduce debilitating symptoms will be available fairly soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re also hoping to test drugs that go after the main culprit for the biological cause of long COVID,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But so far, the NIH has not started a clinical trial for possible treatments. One of the only official long COVID clinical trials is underway at Stanford University, to determine whether Paxlovid can be an effective treatment. But it isn’t even being led by the NIH, and results aren’t expected until late this year.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Dr. Steven Deeks, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF who has extensively researched long COVID, argues that clinical trials for possible treatments should have started months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Based on the fact there’s anecdotes of people getting better with antiviral therapy, yes, it’s an absolute urgency right now to study, in a controlled manner, all of the antiviral therapies that we have available,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the problem, Deeks argues, is the lack of buy-in from pharmaceutical companies, in stark contrast to their involvement in developing an initial COVID vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The drug companies realize there’s this great unmet need. They realize there’s this market for a drug and there’s money to be made,” he said. “But right now I think they’re waiting on the sidelines for academic groups to get better clarity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC3817112873&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of symptoms have been linked to long COVID, and there is little data tracking how many people actually have it, all of which has made it difficult to clearly define the condition and expedite efforts to treat it, notes David Putrino, a physical therapist at Mount Sinai Health System in New York who has worked with scores of long COVID patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Long COVID really is anyone who has contracted an acute COVID infection and at the three-month point is still feeling unwell and worse than they did before their acute COVID infection,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, the apparent lack of urgency from government health agencies is troublesome, says Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, chair of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who runs a long COVID clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11950658\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11950658\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A white man with light brown curly hair and eyeglasses has a steam inhaler in his mouth as he laws reclines against a sofa in his living room.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65628_011_KQED_LongCOVIDCharlieMcCone_05182023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Long COVID patient Charlie McCone uses a steam inhaler at his home in San Francisco on May 18, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Part of me is like, ‘OK, they put a lot of effort in vaccines and treatments at the front lines and, yes, that’s wonderful. People aren’t dying,’” she said. “But there are now millions of people with long COVID who are suffering tremendously. I’m seeing these patients and they want some treatments now to help them. And so it’s frustrating to not be able to say, ‘OK, let’s try this right away,’ or, ‘Oh, this has been proven.’ We don’t have that, and the patients need it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa McCorkell, of Oakland, couldn’t agree more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s definitely enough that we know about long COVID for us to be ready for clinical trials,” she said. “And given the scale of the issue, we’re at the point to see if any of those work in resolving long COVID completely or at least managing symptoms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, June 20: As of June 1, you can no longer \u003ca href=\"https://covidtests.gov/\">order free COVID-19 tests from the federal government and USPS\u003c/a>. A message on the \u003ca href=\"https://covidtests.gov/\">covidtests.gov site\u003c/a> says that ordering has “been suspended to preserve remaining supply.” \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a new COVID-19 variant rapidly emerges, many are wondering how tools such as at-home testing will fare against the latest virus evolutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is that testing, along with vaccines and post-infection treatments, are still readily available, and infectious disease experts say these remain some of our best defenses against the spread of COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Do at-home antigen tests work with the latest COVID-19 variant?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Yes! There is little evidence showing that at-home COVID-19 antigen tests work any differently with the newer strains of the virus, including XBB.1.16, also known as arcturus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The FDA data suggests the antigen tests currently in use are as effective in detecting arcturus as they are with other subvariants of omicron,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of the Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology division at UC Berkeley.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus, UC Berkeley\"]‘The FDA data suggests the antigen tests currently in use are as effective in detecting arcturus as they are with other subvariants of omicron.’[/pullquote]In general, rapid antigen tests are less sensitive and therefore less likely to detect an infection compared with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. PCR tests look for viral genetic material, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whereas antigen tests detect proteins on the surface of the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When (and how) should I use an antigen rapid test to get the most accurate result?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you were exposed to someone with COVID-19, but are not experiencing symptoms, or your symptoms are mild, one rule of thumb is to test five days after the exposure, according to Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert and professor at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re looking to test before a large event or before visiting someone who may be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, test right before the visit to get the most accurate read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Test just before the visit if you’re going to check before seeing Grandma,” Chin-Hong said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, if you have COVID symptoms and test negative, “take precautions as if you have COVID and repeat the test every one to two days,” Swartzberg said.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What about false positives or negatives?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Overall, hospitalizations and deaths stemming from COVID-19 are near their lowest since the start of the pandemic. During lulls like this, there is a higher likelihood that an antigen test could yield a false positive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The lower it is in the community, the higher the chance you might get a false positive. If you get a positive out of the blue, try to track down a PCR,” said Chin-Hong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, false positives are still quite rare. “If the antigen test is positive, it is very likely you have COVID,” said Swartzberg. “If it is negative, you cannot feel confident you do not have COVID,” he added, saying that many tests will show up negative in the early stages of infection.[aside label='More Guides from KQED' tag='layoffs']Improving your sample collection for at-home tests will also improve your chances of getting an accurate result. For example, when swabbing the nostril, scrape the inner lining of the nose rather than just the snot and boogers hanging about. That’s why antigen tests generally recommend you blow your nose before swabbing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Make sure you’re not just swabbing snot but you’re swabbing the cells in your nose. You have to swab relatively hard,” Chin-Hong said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some but not all doctors recommend swabbing the inside of the throat also, especially if a sore throat is presenting as a symptom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also important when buying at-home tests is to make sure the tests have not expired (more on that below) and that they are not counterfeit. Most major pharmacies carry only FDA-approved antigen tests. If you’re not sure, check for a few indicators like misspellings or lack of an expiration date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests\">A full list of FDA-approved tests can be found here.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Can I still get free antigen tests anywhere?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s no getting around this fact: In 2023, finding free or low-cost antigen COVID tests is much harder than in previous years of the pandemic. And certainly, the days when packs of antigen COVID tests were given out for free are gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s how to keep getting free or low-cost antigen tests:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Order your (last) four free tests from the White House via USPS\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The White House website \u003ca href=\"https://www.covid.gov/tests\">covid.gov/tests\u003c/a> has been offering separate orders of free COVID antigen tests for each household during the pandemic. This program looks to be continuing after the federal public health emergency ended on May 11, but it’s unclear how much longer it’ll last. So if your household hasn’t ordered any free tests since Dec. 15, 2022, consider placing your order for another four free COVID tests ASAP — in case the program ends abruptly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>If you have health insurance, get eight antigen tests reimbursed per month\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other states, the recent end of the federal public health emergency for COVID means insurers no longer have to keep covering the costs of up to eight over-the-counter antigen tests a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California has enacted laws that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948759/how-to-access-covid-care-in-california-as-u-s-public-health-emergency-ends\">force insurers to keep reimbursing their members for the costs of eight tests each month (as well as Paxlovid)\u003c/a>. This also applies to people on Medi-Cal, but this is \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-07/with-covid-emergency-ending-will-i-have-to-pay-for-tests\">only in effect until Nov. 11\u003c/a>. Read about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11902122/at-home-covid-test-reimbursement-from-blue-shield-to-kaiser-how-to-get-your-health-insurance-to-pay-you-back\">how to get reimbursed for COVID tests by your insurer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re on Medicare Part B (medical insurance), \u003ca href=\"https://www.medicare.gov/medicare-coronavirus\">you can keep getting eight free over-the-counter COVID tests after May 11\u003c/a>. However, people on Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) have lost access to those free tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For free testing, consider getting a PCR test instead\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PCR testing is more accurate than an antigen test — because it’s more sensitive at picking up traces of the coronavirus in your body — but it may take longer to get your results than with an at-home test, which could affect your ability to source a prescription for Paxlovid quickly (see below).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, there are still some sites offering free COVID testing around the state; go to \u003ca href=\"https://myturn.ca.gov/testing.html\">myturn.ca.gov/testing\u003c/a> and apply the “Free Sites” filter from the drop-down menu. It’s not yet clear how many of these sites will continue operating in the coming months after the end of the federal public health emergency. If you have health insurance, you may be able to get a PCR test ordered by your health care provider with the costs covered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940562/how-to-find-a-free-covid-test-near-you-in-2023-because-its-getting-harder\">For more ideas on how to find a free or low-cost COVID test near you, see the KQED guide.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Another key use for antigen tests: Getting Paxlovid in time\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As of Feb. 2023, you no longer need proof of a positive COVID test \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942172/should-everyone-be-trying-to-get-paxlovid-for-covid-now-yes-basically\">to get a prescription for Paxlovid, the powerful antiviral COVID treatment\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for it to be effective, health officials recommend starting a course of Paxlovid within five days of a positive test. This means it is still very important to take a test as soon as you suspect you have COVID — and a big part of that is having swift access to a test. Now that there’s no shortage of Paxlovid, the drug is no longer reserved for people most at risk of severe illness from COVID, and everyone is encouraged to contact a health care provider to see whether they qualify.[aside postID=\"news_11942172\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63490_GettyImages-1407371840-qut-1038x576.jpg\"]Since results from PCR tests can take longer, and some testing sites may not be available at certain times you need the test — like evenings and weekends — consider using the methods listed above to make sure you have access to at least one antigen test available at home if you begin to feel the symptoms of COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How to check whether your antigen tests have expired — or had their shelf life extended\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>You may be lucky enough to have an existing supply of antigen tests from a while back — but it’s important to check that using those tests will still give you an accurate COVID test result.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check the expiration date on the box, but don’t panic if it’s passed. Before you toss the box, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests#list\">check the FDA’s list of antigen test types to see whether the one you’re holding has had its shelf life extended by the manufacturer\u003c/a>. The FDA says that if a test’s shelf life has been extended, it’s because the manufacturer has given the agency enough “data showing that the shelf-life is longer than was known when the test was first authorized.” In other words, it’s still OK to use that test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, June 20: As of June 1, you can no longer \u003ca href=\"https://covidtests.gov/\">order free COVID-19 tests from the federal government and USPS\u003c/a>. A message on the \u003ca href=\"https://covidtests.gov/\">covidtests.gov site\u003c/a> says that ordering has “been suspended to preserve remaining supply.” \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a new COVID-19 variant rapidly emerges, many are wondering how tools such as at-home testing will fare against the latest virus evolutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is that testing, along with vaccines and post-infection treatments, are still readily available, and infectious disease experts say these remain some of our best defenses against the spread of COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Do at-home antigen tests work with the latest COVID-19 variant?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Yes! There is little evidence showing that at-home COVID-19 antigen tests work any differently with the newer strains of the virus, including XBB.1.16, also known as arcturus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The FDA data suggests the antigen tests currently in use are as effective in detecting arcturus as they are with other subvariants of omicron,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of the Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology division at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The FDA data suggests the antigen tests currently in use are as effective in detecting arcturus as they are with other subvariants of omicron.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In general, rapid antigen tests are less sensitive and therefore less likely to detect an infection compared with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. PCR tests look for viral genetic material, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whereas antigen tests detect proteins on the surface of the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When (and how) should I use an antigen rapid test to get the most accurate result?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you were exposed to someone with COVID-19, but are not experiencing symptoms, or your symptoms are mild, one rule of thumb is to test five days after the exposure, according to Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert and professor at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re looking to test before a large event or before visiting someone who may be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, test right before the visit to get the most accurate read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Test just before the visit if you’re going to check before seeing Grandma,” Chin-Hong said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, if you have COVID symptoms and test negative, “take precautions as if you have COVID and repeat the test every one to two days,” Swartzberg said.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What about false positives or negatives?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Overall, hospitalizations and deaths stemming from COVID-19 are near their lowest since the start of the pandemic. During lulls like this, there is a higher likelihood that an antigen test could yield a false positive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The lower it is in the community, the higher the chance you might get a false positive. If you get a positive out of the blue, try to track down a PCR,” said Chin-Hong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, false positives are still quite rare. “If the antigen test is positive, it is very likely you have COVID,” said Swartzberg. “If it is negative, you cannot feel confident you do not have COVID,” he added, saying that many tests will show up negative in the early stages of infection.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Improving your sample collection for at-home tests will also improve your chances of getting an accurate result. For example, when swabbing the nostril, scrape the inner lining of the nose rather than just the snot and boogers hanging about. That’s why antigen tests generally recommend you blow your nose before swabbing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Make sure you’re not just swabbing snot but you’re swabbing the cells in your nose. You have to swab relatively hard,” Chin-Hong said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some but not all doctors recommend swabbing the inside of the throat also, especially if a sore throat is presenting as a symptom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also important when buying at-home tests is to make sure the tests have not expired (more on that below) and that they are not counterfeit. Most major pharmacies carry only FDA-approved antigen tests. If you’re not sure, check for a few indicators like misspellings or lack of an expiration date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests\">A full list of FDA-approved tests can be found here.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Can I still get free antigen tests anywhere?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s no getting around this fact: In 2023, finding free or low-cost antigen COVID tests is much harder than in previous years of the pandemic. And certainly, the days when packs of antigen COVID tests were given out for free are gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s how to keep getting free or low-cost antigen tests:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Order your (last) four free tests from the White House via USPS\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The White House website \u003ca href=\"https://www.covid.gov/tests\">covid.gov/tests\u003c/a> has been offering separate orders of free COVID antigen tests for each household during the pandemic. This program looks to be continuing after the federal public health emergency ended on May 11, but it’s unclear how much longer it’ll last. So if your household hasn’t ordered any free tests since Dec. 15, 2022, consider placing your order for another four free COVID tests ASAP — in case the program ends abruptly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>If you have health insurance, get eight antigen tests reimbursed per month\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other states, the recent end of the federal public health emergency for COVID means insurers no longer have to keep covering the costs of up to eight over-the-counter antigen tests a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California has enacted laws that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948759/how-to-access-covid-care-in-california-as-u-s-public-health-emergency-ends\">force insurers to keep reimbursing their members for the costs of eight tests each month (as well as Paxlovid)\u003c/a>. This also applies to people on Medi-Cal, but this is \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-07/with-covid-emergency-ending-will-i-have-to-pay-for-tests\">only in effect until Nov. 11\u003c/a>. Read about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11902122/at-home-covid-test-reimbursement-from-blue-shield-to-kaiser-how-to-get-your-health-insurance-to-pay-you-back\">how to get reimbursed for COVID tests by your insurer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re on Medicare Part B (medical insurance), \u003ca href=\"https://www.medicare.gov/medicare-coronavirus\">you can keep getting eight free over-the-counter COVID tests after May 11\u003c/a>. However, people on Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) have lost access to those free tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For free testing, consider getting a PCR test instead\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PCR testing is more accurate than an antigen test — because it’s more sensitive at picking up traces of the coronavirus in your body — but it may take longer to get your results than with an at-home test, which could affect your ability to source a prescription for Paxlovid quickly (see below).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, there are still some sites offering free COVID testing around the state; go to \u003ca href=\"https://myturn.ca.gov/testing.html\">myturn.ca.gov/testing\u003c/a> and apply the “Free Sites” filter from the drop-down menu. It’s not yet clear how many of these sites will continue operating in the coming months after the end of the federal public health emergency. If you have health insurance, you may be able to get a PCR test ordered by your health care provider with the costs covered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940562/how-to-find-a-free-covid-test-near-you-in-2023-because-its-getting-harder\">For more ideas on how to find a free or low-cost COVID test near you, see the KQED guide.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Another key use for antigen tests: Getting Paxlovid in time\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As of Feb. 2023, you no longer need proof of a positive COVID test \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942172/should-everyone-be-trying-to-get-paxlovid-for-covid-now-yes-basically\">to get a prescription for Paxlovid, the powerful antiviral COVID treatment\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for it to be effective, health officials recommend starting a course of Paxlovid within five days of a positive test. This means it is still very important to take a test as soon as you suspect you have COVID — and a big part of that is having swift access to a test. Now that there’s no shortage of Paxlovid, the drug is no longer reserved for people most at risk of severe illness from COVID, and everyone is encouraged to contact a health care provider to see whether they qualify.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Since results from PCR tests can take longer, and some testing sites may not be available at certain times you need the test — like evenings and weekends — consider using the methods listed above to make sure you have access to at least one antigen test available at home if you begin to feel the symptoms of COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How to check whether your antigen tests have expired — or had their shelf life extended\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>You may be lucky enough to have an existing supply of antigen tests from a while back — but it’s important to check that using those tests will still give you an accurate COVID test result.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check the expiration date on the box, but don’t panic if it’s passed. Before you toss the box, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests#list\">check the FDA’s list of antigen test types to see whether the one you’re holding has had its shelf life extended by the manufacturer\u003c/a>. The FDA says that if a test’s shelf life has been extended, it’s because the manufacturer has given the agency enough “data showing that the shelf-life is longer than was known when the test was first authorized.” In other words, it’s still OK to use that test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Thousands of Californians Are Still Waiting for COVID Unemployment Funds",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s been 22 months and three unemployment appeals since Nicolas Allen’s last job in Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the time it has taken the 44-year-old graphic designer to win a fraction of the benefits that he applied for, his wife has weathered a high-risk pregnancy, his youngest son was born and his family has been pushed to the financial brink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Allen is one of thousands of Californians who\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>say they lost jobs due to the pandemic, but are still fighting lengthy legal battles over unemployment money that state and federal relief programs were designed to provide. It’s a ripple effect of earlier \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">benefit backlogs\u003c/a> that ensnared some \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">5 million people\u003c/a> at the state Employment Development Department (EDD), which \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-128and628.1/introduction.html\">officials have said\u003c/a> was unprepared and overwhelmed by mass job losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those caught up in payment disputes say they have struggled with debt, housing and necessities like food or health care. Meanwhile, no one is publicly tracking how much appeals cases and lawsuits might end up costing workers or taxpayers in a state that still owes the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/docs/trustFundSolvReport2023.pdf\">nearly $19 billion (PDF)\u003c/a> in unemployment debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easier to not think the money’s there,” Allen said. “Because if I worry about it too much, it’s too painful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD has paid out \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/\">$188 billion\u003c/a> in unemployment benefits since the first pandemic shutdowns. State and federal officials waived many ordinary application requirements as millions of claims flooded in, and the agency \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/california-edd-unemployment-fraud-ca-scam-insurance/10011810/#:~:text=CA%20EDD%20admits%20that%20as,to%20scammers%2C%20California%20EDD%20admits.\">has acknowledged\u003c/a> that up to $31 billion was paid to scammers in the rush to distribute money quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the way, state watchdogs say \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">up to 1 million workers\u003c/a> were wrongly denied benefits — many mistakenly flagged for committing fraud themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Accusing people of fraud is a big deal,” said George Warner, director of the Wage Protection Program at San Francisco’s Legal Aid at Work. “And the EDD does it very casually, very frequently.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest logjam of contested unemployment cases lies in a \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/appeals/\">state appeals process\u003c/a>, where more than 1 million workers have asked for a review of EDD’s decisions in their cases since March 2020. About 880,000 of those cases have already \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">been transferred (PDF)\u003c/a> and heard by a lesser-known state labor agency, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, where the average case is still languishing for 139 days before a hearing with a judge, federal \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of workers who have exhausted this state process have elevated their claims even further, to \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2023/03/Historical-CourtCases-0223b.pdf\">appellate or superior courts (PDF)\u003c/a>. Finally, advocacy groups and hundreds more workers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/01/bank-of-america-sued-over-edd-unemployment-debit-card-fraud/\">have joined\u003c/a> proposed class-action lawsuits against the EDD or its \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2021/02/how-edd-and-bank-of-america-make-millions-on-california-unemployment/\">debit card contractor\u003c/a>, Bank of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the EDD and the Appeals Board refused requests for interviews to discuss workers’ concerns and state efforts to respond. The agencies also referred some inquiries to one another or offered conflicting answers, raising questions about how delays and associated costs are being tracked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Carole M., officer manager, Southern California\"]‘I had no money, and I kept saying: ‘How long is this going to take?”[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gregory Crettol, assistant director of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, told CalMatters in a statement that the Appeals Board has hired and trained 105 judges and 100 new support staffers since the onset of the pandemic. The board is also rolling out a new online system for workers to track their cases, and officials said at an April meeting that judges are now closing almost twice as many cases per month as pre-pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, “Given the historic backlog of appeals,” Crettol said in a statement, the Appeals Board “anticipates it will likely take several more years to completely resolve before workload returns to normal levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unemployment cases are complex and vary widely, but workers awaiting disputed funds have faced similarly dire challenges. A 33-year-old video editor in Burbank had to create a GoFundMe to restart her life during a gender transition. A security guard In L.A. County worried whether fellow workers still seeking unemployment would end up in the homeless camps he once patrolled. A 62-year-old temp worker in Sacramento spent months terrified she’d lose her car, and a legal office manager in Southern California filed for food stamps and Medi-Cal to survive an appeal with no end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really feel like I’m a hostage,” said the office manager, who asked to be identified only as Carole M. and has been awaiting an appeal hearing since November. “I had no money, and I kept saying: ‘How long is this going to take?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Fraud fury\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Like many of California’s COVID-era unemployment challenges, slow and unwieldy payment disputes aren’t new. But the pandemic did two things: unleash an unprecedented flood of \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/#TotalUnemploymentClaims\">29 million\u003c/a> jobless claims, and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/12/who-will-pay-for-all-of-californias-unemployment-fraud/\">supercharge anxiety\u003c/a> about a new generation of online fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rival politicians have seized on jobless claims filed in the name of \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-24/california-has-sent-jobless-benefits-to-death-row-inmates\">death row inmates\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/us/nuke-bizzle-fraud-youtube.html#:~:text=the%20main%20story-,Rapper%20Arrested%20After%20Bragging%20About%20Unemployment%20Fraud%20in%20Video,coronavirus%20pandemic%2C%20the%20authorities%20said.\">YouTube rappers\u003c/a> bragging about EDD-fueled spending sprees. \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/identity-theft-and-unemployment-benefits\">Investigators attribute\u003c/a> the bulk of pandemic unemployment fraud to organized identity theft. Unemployment attorneys, meanwhile, say they’re seeing regular workers who thought they were eligible for benefits disqualified — and sometimes charged with lying — in cases that can sometimes be explained by confusion about state forms, clerical errors, language barriers or disagreements between workers and employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so wrong,” said Assaf Lichtash, founding attorney of Los Angeles-based Pershing Square Law Firm. “The way I see it, the EDD is punishing regular civilians that are just filing for benefits who make honest mistakes — they’re punishing them for their failure to safeguard the money from fraudsters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State reports have also highlighted a disconnect between the EDD’s ham-fisted approach to large-scale fraud and what some say seems like a hair-trigger impulse to flag individual workers. Organized scammers evaded the agency’s automated application systems early in the pandemic, one \u003ca href=\"https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf\">September 2020 report (PDF)\u003c/a> by a governor-appointed EDD Strike Team found, while the vast majority of individual workers scrutinized in manual reviews appeared to be innocent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Processes intended to block fraud are slowing service delivery without catching fraud,” the Strike Team wrote, since just 0.02% of the 1.3 million cases flagged that summer appeared to be real fraud. “The cost of finding that small number of imposters is extremely high.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More Stories on Health' tag='health']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A separate \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">report last August\u003c/a> by the Legislative Analyst’s Office found that, during the pandemic, state appeals judges overturned EDD unemployment denials up to 80% of the time. That report highlighted another sample of 1.1 million unemployment claims stopped due to fraud concerns by an EDD consultant early in the pandemic, where at least 600,000 cases were later “confirmed as legitimate” and workers saw payments needlessly delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before COVID upended the job market, the Analyst’s Office estimated that improper unemployment denials cost workers $500 million to $1 billion a year in unpaid benefits. The agency also noted “concerning steps” at EDD in recent years that “suggest that ensuring eligible workers get benefits is not among its top priorities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD refused to discuss its approach to appeals during the pandemic. Over the past three years, the agency has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">invested heavily\u003c/a> in new anti-fraud technology and \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/pdf/news-22-06.pdf\">sought federal waivers (PDF)\u003c/a> for some workers who may have received extra federal pandemic unemployment funds “through no fault of their own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers who still want to fight an unemployment case, \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">the first step (PDF)\u003c/a> is to notify the EDD in writing. The EDD then transfers the case to a local office of the Appeals Board, which schedules a hearing with an administrative judge. If a worker or business still feels that their case is unresolved, they can file another appeal with the state-level office of the Appeals Board, or eventually escalate the case to a superior or appellate court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of March, the average first-level appeals case with a judge was taking 139 days — a lag not as extreme as some other states, U.S. Department of Labor \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>, but still roughly triple the federal government’s 30- and 45-day targets for state unemployment appeals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621589/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This kind of surge is predictable after a recession; the Appeals Board heard about 1.6 million cases in the years around the Great Recession, Crettol said. But workers like Allen, the Fresno graphic designer, have seen first-hand how pandemic cases can be complicated by heightened focus on fraud and differing interpretations of emergency health orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Allen’s case, he told state officials that he quit his job in July 2021, when the Delta variant of the coronavirus was raging and his wife was instructed not to be vaccinated against COVID-19 while navigating a high-risk pregnancy. Since health precautions like masking were not strictly enforced at his in-person job as a sign installer, Allen wrote in a state appeals filing, he quit “to eliminate the risk of bringing COVID-19 home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One unemployment payment arrived, but then the money stopped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949703\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949703\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a black shirt, gold chain and a black Bluetooth device in his ear poses inside his home next to a white door. On the white door is a homemade sign that reads, "William's and Joseph's Room" with two photos of the two boys.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nicolas Allen in his home in Fresno on April 10, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I was told that it had been reported that it was a fraudulent claim,” Allen said. “Because my former employer was claiming that I quit without cause.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So began an odyssey that involved months of arguing about pandemic protocols, clerical confusion over a brief freelance gig and paperwork ping-ponging between the EDD and the Appeals Board. After the second appeal, a state judge awarded Allen about six weeks out of the six months of benefits he applied for — securing around $3,000 of the $10,000 he sought, not counting potential federal unemployment supplements available during the pandemic — but denied the rest after questioning how actively he was seeking work while caring for two children under age 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, some 170,000 other appeals cases are still pending, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data reported\u003c/a> by the U.S. Department of Labor. Crettol said the Appeals Board is encouraged that new appeals have started to decline in recent months, and cited a lower state count of 154,000 backlogged cases through the end of March — a discrepancy that he said stems from differences in how state and federal numbers are reported due to funding sources and EDD processing times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621625/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys like Lichtash add that for those stuck waiting, one challenge is a lack of information about if and when a case has been transferred to the Appeals Board from the EDD, the latter of which he called a “black hole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD said in a statement to CalMatters that it sends cases to the Appeals Board in an average of three days. The Appeals Board offered a conflicting number: that it receives about two-thirds of appeals within a week after an appeal is filed, which Crettol said could differ due to how the two agencies track processing times. Neither agency regularly tracks the “monetary value” of appeals cases, or how much the state is being awarded or ordered to pay, spokespeople said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers like Allen caught in the fray, the price of being caught up in the confusion has been high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His family slashed expenses like cable TV and was able to refinance their house, which they credit with avoiding falling behind on the mortgage. But Allen said they were still forced to borrow money from family and take on credit card debt, putting everyday luxuries like a dinner at a restaurant with their kids out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s horrible. I mean, we’re living off my paycheck,” said Allen’s wife, Sharon, who works in human resources. “We’ve almost divorced a few times because of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A path for reform?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In many ways, unemployment advocates like Jenna Gerry say the pandemic has shone “a spotlight” on chronic problems with the state’s job safety net, from worker confusion over benefit denials to delays at EDD to inconsistent anti-fraud efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question she and others are asking now is whether state officials will act to change the system that has once again gone haywire, or whether workers caught up in pandemic disputes will be left to bear the brunt of the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a perfect storm,” said Gerry, a senior staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project. “Instead of being like, ‘Wow, that was really bad. How do we make reforms now?’ … all people want to lift up is fraud, and not actually look at the systemic issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest underlying issue, Gerry said, is that millions of California workers — such as gig workers, undocumented workers and others in tenuous hourly positions — aren’t eligible for normal unemployment benefits. That was why the federal government started \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">emergency jobless programs\u003c/a> like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. But subsequent high rates of fraud in the emergency program have complicated conversations at the federal and state levels about whether to make elements of the program permanent to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2022/04/california-undocumented-immigrants/\">cover more workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jenna Gerry, staff attorney, National Employment Law Project\"]‘All people want to lift up is fraud, and not actually look at the systemic issues.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One potential change that advocates are watching closely in California is a plan to finally upgrade the state’s unemployment technology. The Appeals Board says it is rolling out a new system now, and the EDD is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/12/unemployment-benefits-california-edd/\">preparing to launch\u003c/a> an effort called EDDNext. The challenge will be ensuring that such projects are more effective than other \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">costly upgrades\u003c/a> after the Great Recession, which audits said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">buckled at the EDD during the pandemic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the more targeted reforms that state agencies \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">have recommended\u003c/a>, but which legislators have yet to act on: removing the EDD from the appeals process, expanding the role of the Appeals Board or adding a new surcharge for businesses that frivolously appeal unemployment insurance (UI) claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To correct state practices that have the effect of limiting UI payments,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote last summer, “the state should give the appeals board the authority and responsibility to set UI policy and practices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As these debates drag on, some unemployment advocates and workers are taking matters into their own hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one Alameda County \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/notice-of-class-action-settlement.pdf\">lawsuit against the EDD (PDF)\u003c/a>, the Sacramento-based Center for Workers’ Rights negotiated a February settlement to head off more payment disputes. The EDD \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/edd-won-t-require-refunds-unemployment-17789516.php\">agreed to cancel\u003c/a> around 5,000 notices of overpayment sent to workers already past a year-long statute of limitations, and to refrain from sending other similar notices past the allowed timeframe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agreement applies only to workers not flagged for potential fraud, leaving attorneys to worry that others still caught up in disputes or unsure how to contest their cases will slip through the cracks. Workers marked for making false statements to EDD face severe penalties — they could be forced to repay the money at high interest, have their wages garnished or be disqualified from collecting benefits if they lose a future job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The burden is generally put on the claimant to appeal,” said Daniela Urban, executive director of the Center for Workers’ Rights. “But these notices never should have been issued.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949702\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949702\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with reddish, shoulder-length hair, cateye glasses and a yellow and black floral blouse poses with a serious face in front of her apartment complex.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Madeline Maye, a video editor based in Burbank on Feb. 12, 2023. Maye lost $5000 to the Bank of America EDD debit card fraud of 2020. She had been laid off from her job just months earlier and was struggling to find freelance video editing work in the pandemic. The situation was compounded for Maye by the fact that she had just come out as transgender, was navigating hormone therapy, and trying to pay for essentials like rent and feminine-presenting clothes and products. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Farther south, in Burbank, Madeline Maye is still seeking some form of closure two years into another proposed class action lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing couldn’t have been worse in mid-2020, when, in the midst of hormone therapy and a gender transition, the video editor became \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/11/how-bank-of-america-helped-fuel-californias-unemployment-meltdown/\">one of thousands of California workers\u003c/a> who noticed money draining from their unemployment debit cards in alleged fraudulent charges. The next year, she joined a class action claim against the state’s debit card contractor, Bank of America, which is now awaiting a hearing date before a federal judge in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bank of America has filed to dismiss the suit and declined to comment on ongoing litigation. It was separately \u003ca href=\"https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/federal-regulators-fine-bank-of-america-225-million-over-botched-disbursement-of-state-unemployment-benefits-at-height-of-pandemic/\">fined $225 million\u003c/a> last year by federal regulators for what they deemed “botched disbursement of state unemployment benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Maye’s case, it took about six months to get her unemployment money back from the bank, forcing her to start a GoFundMe account to pay rent and buy essentials like new clothes to restart her life. Her lawsuit is one of several that will test what justice might look like after the state’s job safety net failed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got my money back, but it was one of the worst times in my life,” Maye said. “It felt like I was alone — that no one gave a shit about me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Californians who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, are still fighting lengthy legal battles over unemployment money that state and federal relief programs were designed to provide.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s been 22 months and three unemployment appeals since Nicolas Allen’s last job in Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the time it has taken the 44-year-old graphic designer to win a fraction of the benefits that he applied for, his wife has weathered a high-risk pregnancy, his youngest son was born and his family has been pushed to the financial brink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Allen is one of thousands of Californians who\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>say they lost jobs due to the pandemic, but are still fighting lengthy legal battles over unemployment money that state and federal relief programs were designed to provide. It’s a ripple effect of earlier \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">benefit backlogs\u003c/a> that ensnared some \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">5 million people\u003c/a> at the state Employment Development Department (EDD), which \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-128and628.1/introduction.html\">officials have said\u003c/a> was unprepared and overwhelmed by mass job losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those caught up in payment disputes say they have struggled with debt, housing and necessities like food or health care. Meanwhile, no one is publicly tracking how much appeals cases and lawsuits might end up costing workers or taxpayers in a state that still owes the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/docs/trustFundSolvReport2023.pdf\">nearly $19 billion (PDF)\u003c/a> in unemployment debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easier to not think the money’s there,” Allen said. “Because if I worry about it too much, it’s too painful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD has paid out \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/\">$188 billion\u003c/a> in unemployment benefits since the first pandemic shutdowns. State and federal officials waived many ordinary application requirements as millions of claims flooded in, and the agency \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/california-edd-unemployment-fraud-ca-scam-insurance/10011810/#:~:text=CA%20EDD%20admits%20that%20as,to%20scammers%2C%20California%20EDD%20admits.\">has acknowledged\u003c/a> that up to $31 billion was paid to scammers in the rush to distribute money quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the way, state watchdogs say \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">up to 1 million workers\u003c/a> were wrongly denied benefits — many mistakenly flagged for committing fraud themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Accusing people of fraud is a big deal,” said George Warner, director of the Wage Protection Program at San Francisco’s Legal Aid at Work. “And the EDD does it very casually, very frequently.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest logjam of contested unemployment cases lies in a \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/appeals/\">state appeals process\u003c/a>, where more than 1 million workers have asked for a review of EDD’s decisions in their cases since March 2020. About 880,000 of those cases have already \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">been transferred (PDF)\u003c/a> and heard by a lesser-known state labor agency, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, where the average case is still languishing for 139 days before a hearing with a judge, federal \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of workers who have exhausted this state process have elevated their claims even further, to \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2023/03/Historical-CourtCases-0223b.pdf\">appellate or superior courts (PDF)\u003c/a>. Finally, advocacy groups and hundreds more workers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/01/bank-of-america-sued-over-edd-unemployment-debit-card-fraud/\">have joined\u003c/a> proposed class-action lawsuits against the EDD or its \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2021/02/how-edd-and-bank-of-america-make-millions-on-california-unemployment/\">debit card contractor\u003c/a>, Bank of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the EDD and the Appeals Board refused requests for interviews to discuss workers’ concerns and state efforts to respond. The agencies also referred some inquiries to one another or offered conflicting answers, raising questions about how delays and associated costs are being tracked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gregory Crettol, assistant director of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, told CalMatters in a statement that the Appeals Board has hired and trained 105 judges and 100 new support staffers since the onset of the pandemic. The board is also rolling out a new online system for workers to track their cases, and officials said at an April meeting that judges are now closing almost twice as many cases per month as pre-pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, “Given the historic backlog of appeals,” Crettol said in a statement, the Appeals Board “anticipates it will likely take several more years to completely resolve before workload returns to normal levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unemployment cases are complex and vary widely, but workers awaiting disputed funds have faced similarly dire challenges. A 33-year-old video editor in Burbank had to create a GoFundMe to restart her life during a gender transition. A security guard In L.A. County worried whether fellow workers still seeking unemployment would end up in the homeless camps he once patrolled. A 62-year-old temp worker in Sacramento spent months terrified she’d lose her car, and a legal office manager in Southern California filed for food stamps and Medi-Cal to survive an appeal with no end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really feel like I’m a hostage,” said the office manager, who asked to be identified only as Carole M. and has been awaiting an appeal hearing since November. “I had no money, and I kept saying: ‘How long is this going to take?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Fraud fury\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Like many of California’s COVID-era unemployment challenges, slow and unwieldy payment disputes aren’t new. But the pandemic did two things: unleash an unprecedented flood of \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/#TotalUnemploymentClaims\">29 million\u003c/a> jobless claims, and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/12/who-will-pay-for-all-of-californias-unemployment-fraud/\">supercharge anxiety\u003c/a> about a new generation of online fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rival politicians have seized on jobless claims filed in the name of \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-24/california-has-sent-jobless-benefits-to-death-row-inmates\">death row inmates\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/us/nuke-bizzle-fraud-youtube.html#:~:text=the%20main%20story-,Rapper%20Arrested%20After%20Bragging%20About%20Unemployment%20Fraud%20in%20Video,coronavirus%20pandemic%2C%20the%20authorities%20said.\">YouTube rappers\u003c/a> bragging about EDD-fueled spending sprees. \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/identity-theft-and-unemployment-benefits\">Investigators attribute\u003c/a> the bulk of pandemic unemployment fraud to organized identity theft. Unemployment attorneys, meanwhile, say they’re seeing regular workers who thought they were eligible for benefits disqualified — and sometimes charged with lying — in cases that can sometimes be explained by confusion about state forms, clerical errors, language barriers or disagreements between workers and employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so wrong,” said Assaf Lichtash, founding attorney of Los Angeles-based Pershing Square Law Firm. “The way I see it, the EDD is punishing regular civilians that are just filing for benefits who make honest mistakes — they’re punishing them for their failure to safeguard the money from fraudsters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State reports have also highlighted a disconnect between the EDD’s ham-fisted approach to large-scale fraud and what some say seems like a hair-trigger impulse to flag individual workers. Organized scammers evaded the agency’s automated application systems early in the pandemic, one \u003ca href=\"https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf\">September 2020 report (PDF)\u003c/a> by a governor-appointed EDD Strike Team found, while the vast majority of individual workers scrutinized in manual reviews appeared to be innocent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Processes intended to block fraud are slowing service delivery without catching fraud,” the Strike Team wrote, since just 0.02% of the 1.3 million cases flagged that summer appeared to be real fraud. “The cost of finding that small number of imposters is extremely high.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A separate \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">report last August\u003c/a> by the Legislative Analyst’s Office found that, during the pandemic, state appeals judges overturned EDD unemployment denials up to 80% of the time. That report highlighted another sample of 1.1 million unemployment claims stopped due to fraud concerns by an EDD consultant early in the pandemic, where at least 600,000 cases were later “confirmed as legitimate” and workers saw payments needlessly delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before COVID upended the job market, the Analyst’s Office estimated that improper unemployment denials cost workers $500 million to $1 billion a year in unpaid benefits. The agency also noted “concerning steps” at EDD in recent years that “suggest that ensuring eligible workers get benefits is not among its top priorities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD refused to discuss its approach to appeals during the pandemic. Over the past three years, the agency has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">invested heavily\u003c/a> in new anti-fraud technology and \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/pdf/news-22-06.pdf\">sought federal waivers (PDF)\u003c/a> for some workers who may have received extra federal pandemic unemployment funds “through no fault of their own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers who still want to fight an unemployment case, \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">the first step (PDF)\u003c/a> is to notify the EDD in writing. The EDD then transfers the case to a local office of the Appeals Board, which schedules a hearing with an administrative judge. If a worker or business still feels that their case is unresolved, they can file another appeal with the state-level office of the Appeals Board, or eventually escalate the case to a superior or appellate court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of March, the average first-level appeals case with a judge was taking 139 days — a lag not as extreme as some other states, U.S. Department of Labor \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>, but still roughly triple the federal government’s 30- and 45-day targets for state unemployment appeals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621589/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This kind of surge is predictable after a recession; the Appeals Board heard about 1.6 million cases in the years around the Great Recession, Crettol said. But workers like Allen, the Fresno graphic designer, have seen first-hand how pandemic cases can be complicated by heightened focus on fraud and differing interpretations of emergency health orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Allen’s case, he told state officials that he quit his job in July 2021, when the Delta variant of the coronavirus was raging and his wife was instructed not to be vaccinated against COVID-19 while navigating a high-risk pregnancy. Since health precautions like masking were not strictly enforced at his in-person job as a sign installer, Allen wrote in a state appeals filing, he quit “to eliminate the risk of bringing COVID-19 home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One unemployment payment arrived, but then the money stopped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949703\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949703\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a black shirt, gold chain and a black Bluetooth device in his ear poses inside his home next to a white door. On the white door is a homemade sign that reads, "William's and Joseph's Room" with two photos of the two boys.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nicolas Allen in his home in Fresno on April 10, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I was told that it had been reported that it was a fraudulent claim,” Allen said. “Because my former employer was claiming that I quit without cause.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So began an odyssey that involved months of arguing about pandemic protocols, clerical confusion over a brief freelance gig and paperwork ping-ponging between the EDD and the Appeals Board. After the second appeal, a state judge awarded Allen about six weeks out of the six months of benefits he applied for — securing around $3,000 of the $10,000 he sought, not counting potential federal unemployment supplements available during the pandemic — but denied the rest after questioning how actively he was seeking work while caring for two children under age 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, some 170,000 other appeals cases are still pending, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data reported\u003c/a> by the U.S. Department of Labor. Crettol said the Appeals Board is encouraged that new appeals have started to decline in recent months, and cited a lower state count of 154,000 backlogged cases through the end of March — a discrepancy that he said stems from differences in how state and federal numbers are reported due to funding sources and EDD processing times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621625/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys like Lichtash add that for those stuck waiting, one challenge is a lack of information about if and when a case has been transferred to the Appeals Board from the EDD, the latter of which he called a “black hole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD said in a statement to CalMatters that it sends cases to the Appeals Board in an average of three days. The Appeals Board offered a conflicting number: that it receives about two-thirds of appeals within a week after an appeal is filed, which Crettol said could differ due to how the two agencies track processing times. Neither agency regularly tracks the “monetary value” of appeals cases, or how much the state is being awarded or ordered to pay, spokespeople said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers like Allen caught in the fray, the price of being caught up in the confusion has been high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His family slashed expenses like cable TV and was able to refinance their house, which they credit with avoiding falling behind on the mortgage. But Allen said they were still forced to borrow money from family and take on credit card debt, putting everyday luxuries like a dinner at a restaurant with their kids out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s horrible. I mean, we’re living off my paycheck,” said Allen’s wife, Sharon, who works in human resources. “We’ve almost divorced a few times because of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A path for reform?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In many ways, unemployment advocates like Jenna Gerry say the pandemic has shone “a spotlight” on chronic problems with the state’s job safety net, from worker confusion over benefit denials to delays at EDD to inconsistent anti-fraud efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question she and others are asking now is whether state officials will act to change the system that has once again gone haywire, or whether workers caught up in pandemic disputes will be left to bear the brunt of the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a perfect storm,” said Gerry, a senior staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project. “Instead of being like, ‘Wow, that was really bad. How do we make reforms now?’ … all people want to lift up is fraud, and not actually look at the systemic issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest underlying issue, Gerry said, is that millions of California workers — such as gig workers, undocumented workers and others in tenuous hourly positions — aren’t eligible for normal unemployment benefits. That was why the federal government started \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">emergency jobless programs\u003c/a> like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. But subsequent high rates of fraud in the emergency program have complicated conversations at the federal and state levels about whether to make elements of the program permanent to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2022/04/california-undocumented-immigrants/\">cover more workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One potential change that advocates are watching closely in California is a plan to finally upgrade the state’s unemployment technology. The Appeals Board says it is rolling out a new system now, and the EDD is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/12/unemployment-benefits-california-edd/\">preparing to launch\u003c/a> an effort called EDDNext. The challenge will be ensuring that such projects are more effective than other \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">costly upgrades\u003c/a> after the Great Recession, which audits said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">buckled at the EDD during the pandemic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the more targeted reforms that state agencies \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">have recommended\u003c/a>, but which legislators have yet to act on: removing the EDD from the appeals process, expanding the role of the Appeals Board or adding a new surcharge for businesses that frivolously appeal unemployment insurance (UI) claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To correct state practices that have the effect of limiting UI payments,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote last summer, “the state should give the appeals board the authority and responsibility to set UI policy and practices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As these debates drag on, some unemployment advocates and workers are taking matters into their own hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one Alameda County \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/notice-of-class-action-settlement.pdf\">lawsuit against the EDD (PDF)\u003c/a>, the Sacramento-based Center for Workers’ Rights negotiated a February settlement to head off more payment disputes. The EDD \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/edd-won-t-require-refunds-unemployment-17789516.php\">agreed to cancel\u003c/a> around 5,000 notices of overpayment sent to workers already past a year-long statute of limitations, and to refrain from sending other similar notices past the allowed timeframe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agreement applies only to workers not flagged for potential fraud, leaving attorneys to worry that others still caught up in disputes or unsure how to contest their cases will slip through the cracks. Workers marked for making false statements to EDD face severe penalties — they could be forced to repay the money at high interest, have their wages garnished or be disqualified from collecting benefits if they lose a future job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The burden is generally put on the claimant to appeal,” said Daniela Urban, executive director of the Center for Workers’ Rights. “But these notices never should have been issued.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949702\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949702\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with reddish, shoulder-length hair, cateye glasses and a yellow and black floral blouse poses with a serious face in front of her apartment complex.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Madeline Maye, a video editor based in Burbank on Feb. 12, 2023. Maye lost $5000 to the Bank of America EDD debit card fraud of 2020. She had been laid off from her job just months earlier and was struggling to find freelance video editing work in the pandemic. The situation was compounded for Maye by the fact that she had just come out as transgender, was navigating hormone therapy, and trying to pay for essentials like rent and feminine-presenting clothes and products. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Farther south, in Burbank, Madeline Maye is still seeking some form of closure two years into another proposed class action lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing couldn’t have been worse in mid-2020, when, in the midst of hormone therapy and a gender transition, the video editor became \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/11/how-bank-of-america-helped-fuel-californias-unemployment-meltdown/\">one of thousands of California workers\u003c/a> who noticed money draining from their unemployment debit cards in alleged fraudulent charges. The next year, she joined a class action claim against the state’s debit card contractor, Bank of America, which is now awaiting a hearing date before a federal judge in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bank of America has filed to dismiss the suit and declined to comment on ongoing litigation. It was separately \u003ca href=\"https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/federal-regulators-fine-bank-of-america-225-million-over-botched-disbursement-of-state-unemployment-benefits-at-height-of-pandemic/\">fined $225 million\u003c/a> last year by federal regulators for what they deemed “botched disbursement of state unemployment benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Maye’s case, it took about six months to get her unemployment money back from the bank, forcing her to start a GoFundMe account to pay rent and buy essentials like new clothes to restart her life. Her lawsuit is one of several that will test what justice might look like after the state’s job safety net failed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got my money back, but it was one of the worst times in my life,” Maye said. “It felt like I was alone — that no one gave a shit about me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Amid other challenges, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in San Francisco has been grappling with a COVID-19 outbreak that has outpaced those in some previous years of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest uptick in cases arrived at a particularly tough time. The hospital is facing a major regulatory crisis that threatens to close the 153-year-old public skilled nursing facility, home to more than 500 residents, many of whom require high levels of nursing care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>COVID “cases were generally mild, and many were asymptomatic and identified due to Laguna Honda’s proactive testing of entire units until no new cases are identified for 14 days,” a spokesperson for Laguna Honda said in an email on May 12. “Laguna Honda Hospital was a model for pandemic response, and we continue to respond effectively to COVID by slowing the spread of the virus on campus and caring for residents if they test positive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The largest resident outbreak in 2023 peaked in April at 79 cases, and as of May 15 there were \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/data/laguna-honda-hospital-covid-19-cases-and-deaths\">10 residents with active cases\u003c/a>, signaling a significant downward trend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11939987,news_11920121,news_11921717,news_11757925 label=\"More on Laguna Honda\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The outbreak in 2023 surpassed the total number of COVID cases that occurred at Laguna Honda in 2020 (46) and 2021 (32), when \u003ca href=\"https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-104291\">nursing homes across the country saw devastating impacts of the virus\u003c/a>, which disproportionately affects older adults. The highest number of overall cases at Laguna Honda occurred in 2022, which had a total of 246 cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Throughout the pandemic, Laguna Honda has responded to many surges, and we will continue to respond as needed due to the contagious nature of the virus and continually emerging variants and the importance of residents hosting visitors and leaving campus for outings and appointments,” the spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Path to recertification\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2022, the hospital was found out of compliance on a number of safety issues across multiple regulatory surveys that were triggered after Laguna Honda self-reported two nonfatal overdoses that occurred on-site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, federal regulators stripped Laguna Honda from Medicare and Medi-Cal, subsidized health care plans that cover the vast majority of residents at the facility, most of whom have extremely low incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to sustain health care funding while Laguna Honda worked to address its deficiencies, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services required that the hospital craft and implement a plan to prepare for closure. That plan involved assessing and relocating as many patients as possible in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of 57 residents who were transferred or discharged during that process, 12 died shortly after their relocations. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11921717/san-francisco-sues-feds-over-forced-closure-of-laguna-honda-hospital\">The city sued the federal government\u003c/a> in response, and the transfer process was paused temporarily as part of a settlement agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11939987/feds-grant-reprieve-on-laguna-honda-patient-transfers-until-may\">regulators agreed to extend the pause on transfers to May 19\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simultaneously, Laguna Honda had until May 13 to implement an “Action Plan” that aims to address some of the areas where the hospital was found out of compliance, ranging from basic hygiene to medication storage and illicit substances on-site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of its agreement, Laguna Honda must complete hundreds of items in the action plan to address deficiencies. So far, the hospital has cleared all of those: 126 in January, 133 in February, 77 in March and 122 in April. Officials said they are on track to complete all May milestones, also.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are confident that Laguna Honda has delivered on our end of the settlement to date,” the hospital spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once the action plan is completed, the hospital can apply for recertification, according to San Francisco Health Commission documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Unacceptable’ options\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the hospital has resumed voluntary discharges of residents who are found to no longer require the level of skilled nursing care that Laguna Honda provides.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Tony Chicotel, staff attorney, California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform\"]‘I’m concerned that residents will be dumped inappropriately and this will green-light discharges of residents that Laguna Honda has wanted to rid themselves of.’[/pullquote]But the entire Bay Area is facing a drastic scarcity of affordable care and living accommodations for older adults, making it difficult to find new homes for discharged residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A total of 41 people have so far been identified as appropriate for discharge. However, only eight alternative placements have been identified for those residents, CEO Roland Pickens said during a recent Board of Supervisors hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In terms of clients who are allegedly no longer eligible for skilled nursing care, I am deeply concerned about transfers for them,” Laura Chiera, executive director of Legal Assistance to the Elderly, said at the supervisors hearing. “In the past some have been transferred to homeless shelters. That is completely unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/LHH%20Wkly%20Closure%20Patient%20Transfer%20DATA%20DASHBOARD%2007.18.22.pdf\">Three people were sent from Laguna Honda to homeless shelters during the 2022 transfers (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Older care and disability advocates warn that many residents who are being discharged may still need some degree of assistance, and with a dearth of affordable assisted-living options in the Bay Area, some residents, they warn, are being discharged to inappropriate facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m concerned that residents will be dumped inappropriately and this will green-light discharges of residents that Laguna Honda has wanted to rid themselves of and their discharge plans will not be adequate,” said Tony Chicotel, staff attorney with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940807/older-adults-are-now-the-fastest-growing-unhoused-population-in-california\">older adults are the fastest-growing segment of the unhoused population\u003c/a>. While California’s overall older adult population grew by 7% from 2017 to 2021, the number of people 55 and over seeking homelessness services increased 84%, according to the state’s Homeless Data Integration System.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want residents who don’t need to be (at Laguna Honda) to find appropriate housing,” said Chicotel. “But you don’t want to dump them to the first place that takes them or shows up available.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Amid other challenges, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in San Francisco has been grappling with a COVID-19 outbreak that has outpaced those in some previous years of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest uptick in cases arrived at a particularly tough time. The hospital is facing a major regulatory crisis that threatens to close the 153-year-old public skilled nursing facility, home to more than 500 residents, many of whom require high levels of nursing care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>COVID “cases were generally mild, and many were asymptomatic and identified due to Laguna Honda’s proactive testing of entire units until no new cases are identified for 14 days,” a spokesperson for Laguna Honda said in an email on May 12. “Laguna Honda Hospital was a model for pandemic response, and we continue to respond effectively to COVID by slowing the spread of the virus on campus and caring for residents if they test positive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The largest resident outbreak in 2023 peaked in April at 79 cases, and as of May 15 there were \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/data/laguna-honda-hospital-covid-19-cases-and-deaths\">10 residents with active cases\u003c/a>, signaling a significant downward trend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The outbreak in 2023 surpassed the total number of COVID cases that occurred at Laguna Honda in 2020 (46) and 2021 (32), when \u003ca href=\"https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-104291\">nursing homes across the country saw devastating impacts of the virus\u003c/a>, which disproportionately affects older adults. The highest number of overall cases at Laguna Honda occurred in 2022, which had a total of 246 cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Throughout the pandemic, Laguna Honda has responded to many surges, and we will continue to respond as needed due to the contagious nature of the virus and continually emerging variants and the importance of residents hosting visitors and leaving campus for outings and appointments,” the spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Path to recertification\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2022, the hospital was found out of compliance on a number of safety issues across multiple regulatory surveys that were triggered after Laguna Honda self-reported two nonfatal overdoses that occurred on-site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, federal regulators stripped Laguna Honda from Medicare and Medi-Cal, subsidized health care plans that cover the vast majority of residents at the facility, most of whom have extremely low incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to sustain health care funding while Laguna Honda worked to address its deficiencies, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services required that the hospital craft and implement a plan to prepare for closure. That plan involved assessing and relocating as many patients as possible in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of 57 residents who were transferred or discharged during that process, 12 died shortly after their relocations. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11921717/san-francisco-sues-feds-over-forced-closure-of-laguna-honda-hospital\">The city sued the federal government\u003c/a> in response, and the transfer process was paused temporarily as part of a settlement agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11939987/feds-grant-reprieve-on-laguna-honda-patient-transfers-until-may\">regulators agreed to extend the pause on transfers to May 19\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simultaneously, Laguna Honda had until May 13 to implement an “Action Plan” that aims to address some of the areas where the hospital was found out of compliance, ranging from basic hygiene to medication storage and illicit substances on-site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of its agreement, Laguna Honda must complete hundreds of items in the action plan to address deficiencies. So far, the hospital has cleared all of those: 126 in January, 133 in February, 77 in March and 122 in April. Officials said they are on track to complete all May milestones, also.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are confident that Laguna Honda has delivered on our end of the settlement to date,” the hospital spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once the action plan is completed, the hospital can apply for recertification, according to San Francisco Health Commission documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Unacceptable’ options\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the hospital has resumed voluntary discharges of residents who are found to no longer require the level of skilled nursing care that Laguna Honda provides.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I’m concerned that residents will be dumped inappropriately and this will green-light discharges of residents that Laguna Honda has wanted to rid themselves of.’",
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"citation": "Tony Chicotel, staff attorney, California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But the entire Bay Area is facing a drastic scarcity of affordable care and living accommodations for older adults, making it difficult to find new homes for discharged residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A total of 41 people have so far been identified as appropriate for discharge. However, only eight alternative placements have been identified for those residents, CEO Roland Pickens said during a recent Board of Supervisors hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In terms of clients who are allegedly no longer eligible for skilled nursing care, I am deeply concerned about transfers for them,” Laura Chiera, executive director of Legal Assistance to the Elderly, said at the supervisors hearing. “In the past some have been transferred to homeless shelters. That is completely unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/LHH%20Wkly%20Closure%20Patient%20Transfer%20DATA%20DASHBOARD%2007.18.22.pdf\">Three people were sent from Laguna Honda to homeless shelters during the 2022 transfers (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Older care and disability advocates warn that many residents who are being discharged may still need some degree of assistance, and with a dearth of affordable assisted-living options in the Bay Area, some residents, they warn, are being discharged to inappropriate facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m concerned that residents will be dumped inappropriately and this will green-light discharges of residents that Laguna Honda has wanted to rid themselves of and their discharge plans will not be adequate,” said Tony Chicotel, staff attorney with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940807/older-adults-are-now-the-fastest-growing-unhoused-population-in-california\">older adults are the fastest-growing segment of the unhoused population\u003c/a>. While California’s overall older adult population grew by 7% from 2017 to 2021, the number of people 55 and over seeking homelessness services increased 84%, according to the state’s Homeless Data Integration System.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want residents who don’t need to be (at Laguna Honda) to find appropriate housing,” said Chicotel. “But you don’t want to dump them to the first place that takes them or shows up available.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "long-covid-in-california-a-pandemic-of-loneliness-and-social-isolation-and-rejection",
"title": "Long COVID in California: 'A Pandemic of Loneliness and Social Isolation and Rejection'",
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"headTitle": "Long COVID in California: ‘A Pandemic of Loneliness and Social Isolation and Rejection’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A bout with COVID-19 two years ago left Mindy Lym with such severe sensitivities to light and sound that she and her partner left their San Francisco home and moved to rural Washington, where there were fewer triggers. In the past two months, she has paid more than $7,500 out-of-pocket for medical care. Although she can afford it, she knows few people can do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stephen Mintz gets just $60 per week from state disability insurance, which he began receiving after the chronic fatigue from COVID-19 prevented him from holding a steady job. He spent all of his savings and borrowed money from family. Without more relief payments from the state, he doesn’t know how he’ll pay his bills.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Lisa McCorkell, co-founder, Patient-Led Research Collective\"]‘One of the big issues with long COVID … is that the people who are the most motivated to do something about it have the least amount of energy and ability to cause a scene.’[/pullquote]COVID-19 sent Janine Loftis to the hospital in 2020. She relies on a caretaker after lingering symptoms like brain fog, pain and fatigue have kept her from cooking or cleaning. But when Loftis’ caretaker took a monthlong leave of absence, shortages ravaging the health care workforce made it impossible to find a replacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are three out of countless stories of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/coronavirus/2022/03/long-covid-inequities-california/\">Californians afflicted by long COVID\u003c/a>. Recent CDC surveys suggest \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm\">5.5% of California adults — roughly 1.5 million people — currently experience the ill-defined, mysterious and often debilitating collection of symptoms that make up long COVID\u003c/a>. More than 80% of them have some limits on their activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While most of society rushes eagerly back to pre-pandemic life, these patients, known as “long haulers,” have been largely overlooked, particularly by policymakers and the medical establishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a pandemic of loneliness and social isolation and rejection,” said Ibrahim Rashid, a long hauler and founder of \u003ca href=\"https://www.thestronghaulers.com/\">Strong Haulers\u003c/a>, a start-up app designed to make chronic symptom management easier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California long haulers can face years-long wait times to get into specialized clinics. Oftentimes they have to fight for disability payments or to be taken seriously by doctors. And state lawmakers, despite holding hearings on the issue last year, have not introduced any proposals this session to assist them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.meaction.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Budget-Request_Long-COVID-ASM-Quirk.pdf\">budget proposal to increase long COVID clinic capacity at University of California health centers failed (PDF)\u003c/a> last year, and it’s unlikely anything new will make it off the ground now, given the state’s likely budget deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former state Sen. Dr. Richard Pan, the Sacramento Democrat who co-chaired a special hearing on long COVID last year, told CalMatters in February, ahead of the deadline to introduce new bills, that he hoped “people are paying attention to this” because long COVID will put new stressors on the state’s health care, mental health and disability systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Senate Special Committee on Pandemic Emergency Response was not reinstated this year. A spokesperson for Sen. Josh Newman, a Democrat from Fullerton who chaired the committee last session, said there hasn’t been any conversation about long COVID this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Patients at the forefront\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Instead, the policy legwork has fallen on two people: Lisa McCorkell, co-founder of the Patient-Led Research Collective who has had long COVID since March 2020, and Art Mirin, whose daughter has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/57/5/418/htm?s=09\">similar post-viral condition\u003c/a> called \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/about/index.html\">myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome\u003c/a>. Together, McCorkell and Mirin have drafted budget proposals, solicited letters of support from disability advocacy groups, and met with legislators and staffers. They’re doing the work that political power players pay lobbyists millions of dollars to organize — so far to no avail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the big issues with long COVID … is that the people who are the most motivated to do something about it have the least amount of energy and ability to cause a scene,” McCorkell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite struggling with \u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16560-postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots\">postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome\u003c/a>, a blood circulation disorder that can cause fatigue and brain fog, as well as other disabling symptoms, McCorkell has \u003ca href=\"https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF14/20210428/112514/HHRG-117-IF14-Wstate-McCorkellL-20210428.pdf\">testified before Congress on long COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://patientresearchcovid19.com/publication/\">conducted research\u003c/a> and pushed for California to do more for the population.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"long-covid\"]She and Mirin wrote last year’s budget proposal for the state to fund research, training and treatment centers at UC medical campuses and other academic centers. Mirin said it has been challenging to find a champion for this issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People will say they support one thing or another, but when it comes down to an official public request, other things have a way of coming into play,” Mirin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although five UC medical campuses have long COVID clinics, demand far exceeds capacity, said Dr. Anne Foster, chief clinical strategy officer for UC Health Systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are just a lot of patients out there,” she said, noting that UC Health supports McCorkell and Mirin’s proposal, but new state funding isn’t available for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with the California Department of Public Health plan to create a new COVID-19 Control Branch to monitor variants and outbreaks and support long COVID research, said State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan. The department is using some money from last year as well as seed money from \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/coronavirus/2022/02/california-covid-plans/\">the state’s $1.8 billion long-term COVID-19 preparedness plan\u003c/a> to open the branch. However, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-budget/2023/01/california-budget-newsom-deficit/\">proposed budget cuts\u003c/a> make ongoing funding uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are looking at that and trying to advocate for ongoing resources,” Pan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without additional money from the state, Foster said UC Health has pivoted to developing a \u003ca href=\"https://health.universityofcalifornia.edu/long-covid-education\">free continuing education training program for doctors on best practices to treat long COVID patients\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCorkell and Mirin say the training modules aren’t perfect, but they’re an important resource for primary care doctors, especially considering most people in the state live too far from a specialized clinic to get help.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Many doctors haven’t heard of long COVID\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Stephen Mintz of Fresno is one such patient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mintz avoided COVID-19 for more than two years, but in August he went to a bar to celebrate his 59th birthday, and tested positive for the virus shortly thereafter. By September, Mintz found he didn’t have the physical or mental stamina to do much of anything. After two-and-a-half hours of activity, his limbs would get heavy and his thoughts would muddle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You could almost set a clock to it,” Mintz said. “Suddenly it would be very difficult to put one foot in front of the other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948034\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948034\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01.jpeg\" alt=\"A middle-aged white man with glasses sits on a couch in a dark, shade-drawn room.\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01.jpeg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephen Mintz sits at the side of his bed in his apartment in Fresno on March 3, 2023. Mintz was diagnosed with COVID-19 in September and has had chronic fatigue since then. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In January, Mintz was stacking chairs at a local bar where he works as a security guard. Within 10 minutes he got dizzy and couldn’t lift his arms anymore. It’s a common condition associated with long COVID called \u003ca href=\"https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2021.0106\">post-exertional malaise\u003c/a> — pushing through the fatigue can worsen symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I actually cried then. I’ve been depressed over this and frustrated,” Mintz said. “I couldn’t believe I’m so weak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mintz went to his primary care doctor in Fresno for help. He said he thought he had long COVID and was met with skepticism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His first reaction was that he hadn’t really heard of it,” Mintz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On his disability paperwork, Mintz said the doctor wrote “general malaise and short-term amnesia” because he didn’t know how to diagnose Mintz and told him to call UCSF, nearly 200 miles away, for advice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The doctor there said, ‘Um, well, if you lived here you could be part of a research study,’” Mintz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a common experience among people with long COVID-19. Though the pandemic has thrust \u003ca href=\"https://time.com/6240058/post-viral-illnesses-common-long-covid/\">post-viral illnesses\u003c/a> into the spotlight, most doctors still don’t have the experience to treat the collection of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2\">more than 200 symptoms\u003c/a> that make up long COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each new variant of COVID-19 also changes \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871402121001193\">which symptoms are most common\u003c/a>, making it doubly difficult for the average primary care doctor to diagnose, said Dr. Nisha Viswanathan, a primary care physician at UCLA Health’s long COVID clinic. The “vague nature” of many symptoms like fatigue and insomnia also lead to misdiagnosis and frustration among patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really challenging,” Viswanathan said. “If you’re not seeing a certain volume of long COVID patients, it can be difficult to recognize when a patient may be having it versus not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘I knew it had gotten into my brain’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>COVID-19 first hit Mindy Lym, a 37-year-old from San Francisco, like a mild flu, causing fever and congestion. But on Day 5 of her illness, she looked at a text from her girlfriend who was isolating in a separate room and couldn’t make sense of the words. It looked like gibberish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That really scared the shit out of me,” Lym said. “I knew it had gotten into my brain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has spent every day since then chasing after an elusive recovery. Like McCorkell, Lym developed \u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16560-postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots\">postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome\u003c/a> and wears compression garments like stockings and a corset to improve blood circulation. She also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-treatments/related-conditions/mcas\">mast cell activation syndrome\u003c/a>, which causes an immune response similar to a severe allergic reaction as well as chronic inflammation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For three months, Lym, who formerly worked as a music teacher and theater performer in San Francisco, could barely walk and needed a full-time caretaker to dress and bathe. Even soft noises and dim lights caused her to feel “unbearable pain.” When construction outside her house led to weeks of jackhammering, Lym developed PTSD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We moved because of my long COVID,” Lym said. “Being in a city with city noises … was completely untenable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948036\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11948036 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman with long dark hair and glasses sits on a couch, looking out the window. \" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18.jpeg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mindy Lym has been living with long COVID since the summer of 2022. \u003ccite>(Celeste Noche/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In September 2022, before moving out of state to rural Washington, Lym called the Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome clinic at Stanford Health Care. The clinic scheduled an appointment for her for October 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The demand has been extremely high,” said Dr. Linda Geng, co-director of Stanford’s long COVID clinic. The clinic sees about 12 to 15 new patients each week and has an eight-month average wait time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet even as patients like Mintz and Lym struggle to get into a specialized clinic, UCLA physician Viswanathan said she has heard from multiple colleagues at other facilities that are considering closing their long COVID care clinics or reducing hours. Health systems are strapped for cash and facing a dire workforce shortage, said Dr. Anil Keswani, chief medical officer at Scripps Health in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have increased supply costs. We have increased pharmacy costs. We have increased labor costs,” Keswani said. “How do health care systems invest in programs like long COVID clinics, like hiring more clinicians? Health care organizations have been battered over the last few years, but I don’t see any government relief.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948037\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948037\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25.jpeg\" alt=\"Lots of medications in bottles on a table.\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25.jpeg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some of the many medications and supplements Mindy Lym takes for her long COVID symptoms. \u003ccite>(Celeste Noche/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Janine’s story\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A patient navigator could help someone like Janine Loftis, who has fought for nearly 2 1/2 years to be seen by a long COVID specialist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Elk Grove resident turned 73 in January, but physically, she feels much older. In November 2020, after laying in “the house for two weeks not knowing what to do,” Loftis called an ambulance. It was the middle of the night, she had COVID, and her oxygen level dropped. Family and caretakers couldn’t check on her for fear of infection. By the time Loftis was admitted to the hospital, she had viral and bacterial pneumonia and blood clots forming deep in her veins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loftis was already disabled from previous spinal injuries, but the persistent aftereffects of COVID-19 have floored her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s embarrassing how little I can do on my own,” Loftis said. “My body gives out on me. Things are just lost to my mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948038\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11948038 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01.jpeg\" alt=\"An older white woman with neat, white, shoulder-length hair wearing a purple floral long-sleeved blouse poses outside her house.\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01.jpeg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janine Loftis, 73, at her home in Elk Grove on April 26, 2023. Loftis has long COVID, including lingering symptoms from the original infection such as brain fog and chronic fatigue. \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The chronic fatigue and brain fog prevent her from going to in-person church services, and she recently gave her dog of nine years to an adoption agency after caring for her got too hard. When Loftis’ home caregiver took a leave of absence for four weeks, she couldn’t find a replacement, due to \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/health/millions-of-californians-need-home-care-industry-in-crisis-ucla-labor-center-report\">long-standing workforce shortages that intensified during the pandemic\u003c/a>. Without anyone to help her, Loftis “struggled really horribly” to manage daily tasks, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juggling doctors’ appointments and navigating the byzantine health insurance system is an added obstacle for Loftis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My head is spinning just trying to talk about it again,” she said. “I don’t know how lay people, especially disabled ones with a lot of distractions like pain or like me, with brain fog … understand it.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Mindy Lym\"]‘I feel like I have my personality back. My fatigue is no longer limiting how I express myself … which is amazing.’[/pullquote]Two months ago, Loftis finally convinced her primary care doctor to refer her to the UC Davis long COVID clinic, but she said her paperwork is now “lost in a pile of things that need authorization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes everything just to keep up with anything,” Loftis said. “When things get ignored or I don’t know the process, I just have to wait for it to play out. I’m the middle man. I can’t do anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one from UC Davis Health’s long COVID clinic responded to a request for an interview. When asked about clinic capacity, the media relations division said that its post-COVID clinic has the ability to treat “an infinite number of patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hope … with some caveats\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There is a decent chance of at least a partial recovery from long COVID within a year. Anecdotally, long COVID specialists interviewed by CalMatters said even if patients don’t make a full recovery, most see significant improvement over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You look a year or 18 months out and the majority of people have had improvement if not complete resolution,” said Dr. Caitlin McAuley, a primary care physician at the USC Keck COVID Recovery Clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A large study out of Israel found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj-2022-072529\">among patients with mild COVID-19 infections, most symptoms resolved within one year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other studies, however, paint \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33415-5\">a less rosy picture\u003c/a>, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(22)00127-8/fulltext\">few patients reporting full recovery\u003c/a>. One study on French patients found \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29513-z\">85% still reported long COVID symptoms\u003c/a> a year after onset.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the plus side, Mintz, who has had long COVID for eight months, has slowly regained his energy over time. He can go five or six hours without crashing, compared to two hours in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Lym, who has had long COVID for nine months, has also seen a marked improvement. In February, she enrolled in a private long COVID research and treatment clinic. Together with her doctor, Lym discovered certain foods exacerbated her most severe symptoms. Now, she has an 18-page list of foods she can’t eat and takes a medley of antihistamines, blood thinners and supplements daily. Though Lym is still disabled, her sensory issues are 95% better and her energy has steadily improved, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I have my personality back. My fatigue is no longer limiting how I express myself … which is amazing,” Lym said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Lym’s clinic isn’t covered by insurance, and costs $1,000 per month, plus the cost of any tests the doctor orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not accessible,” Lym said. “I know there are so many people going through what I’m going through but don’t have the resources.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "There are currently no legislative proposals in California to help residents suffering from the debilitating effects of long COVID, despite long wait times for care and often unaffordable treatment options.",
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"title": "Long COVID in California: 'A Pandemic of Loneliness and Social Isolation and Rejection' | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A bout with COVID-19 two years ago left Mindy Lym with such severe sensitivities to light and sound that she and her partner left their San Francisco home and moved to rural Washington, where there were fewer triggers. In the past two months, she has paid more than $7,500 out-of-pocket for medical care. Although she can afford it, she knows few people can do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stephen Mintz gets just $60 per week from state disability insurance, which he began receiving after the chronic fatigue from COVID-19 prevented him from holding a steady job. He spent all of his savings and borrowed money from family. Without more relief payments from the state, he doesn’t know how he’ll pay his bills.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>COVID-19 sent Janine Loftis to the hospital in 2020. She relies on a caretaker after lingering symptoms like brain fog, pain and fatigue have kept her from cooking or cleaning. But when Loftis’ caretaker took a monthlong leave of absence, shortages ravaging the health care workforce made it impossible to find a replacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are three out of countless stories of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/coronavirus/2022/03/long-covid-inequities-california/\">Californians afflicted by long COVID\u003c/a>. Recent CDC surveys suggest \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm\">5.5% of California adults — roughly 1.5 million people — currently experience the ill-defined, mysterious and often debilitating collection of symptoms that make up long COVID\u003c/a>. More than 80% of them have some limits on their activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While most of society rushes eagerly back to pre-pandemic life, these patients, known as “long haulers,” have been largely overlooked, particularly by policymakers and the medical establishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a pandemic of loneliness and social isolation and rejection,” said Ibrahim Rashid, a long hauler and founder of \u003ca href=\"https://www.thestronghaulers.com/\">Strong Haulers\u003c/a>, a start-up app designed to make chronic symptom management easier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California long haulers can face years-long wait times to get into specialized clinics. Oftentimes they have to fight for disability payments or to be taken seriously by doctors. And state lawmakers, despite holding hearings on the issue last year, have not introduced any proposals this session to assist them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.meaction.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Budget-Request_Long-COVID-ASM-Quirk.pdf\">budget proposal to increase long COVID clinic capacity at University of California health centers failed (PDF)\u003c/a> last year, and it’s unlikely anything new will make it off the ground now, given the state’s likely budget deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former state Sen. Dr. Richard Pan, the Sacramento Democrat who co-chaired a special hearing on long COVID last year, told CalMatters in February, ahead of the deadline to introduce new bills, that he hoped “people are paying attention to this” because long COVID will put new stressors on the state’s health care, mental health and disability systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Senate Special Committee on Pandemic Emergency Response was not reinstated this year. A spokesperson for Sen. Josh Newman, a Democrat from Fullerton who chaired the committee last session, said there hasn’t been any conversation about long COVID this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Patients at the forefront\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Instead, the policy legwork has fallen on two people: Lisa McCorkell, co-founder of the Patient-Led Research Collective who has had long COVID since March 2020, and Art Mirin, whose daughter has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/57/5/418/htm?s=09\">similar post-viral condition\u003c/a> called \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/about/index.html\">myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome\u003c/a>. Together, McCorkell and Mirin have drafted budget proposals, solicited letters of support from disability advocacy groups, and met with legislators and staffers. They’re doing the work that political power players pay lobbyists millions of dollars to organize — so far to no avail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the big issues with long COVID … is that the people who are the most motivated to do something about it have the least amount of energy and ability to cause a scene,” McCorkell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite struggling with \u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16560-postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots\">postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome\u003c/a>, a blood circulation disorder that can cause fatigue and brain fog, as well as other disabling symptoms, McCorkell has \u003ca href=\"https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF14/20210428/112514/HHRG-117-IF14-Wstate-McCorkellL-20210428.pdf\">testified before Congress on long COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://patientresearchcovid19.com/publication/\">conducted research\u003c/a> and pushed for California to do more for the population.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>She and Mirin wrote last year’s budget proposal for the state to fund research, training and treatment centers at UC medical campuses and other academic centers. Mirin said it has been challenging to find a champion for this issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People will say they support one thing or another, but when it comes down to an official public request, other things have a way of coming into play,” Mirin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although five UC medical campuses have long COVID clinics, demand far exceeds capacity, said Dr. Anne Foster, chief clinical strategy officer for UC Health Systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are just a lot of patients out there,” she said, noting that UC Health supports McCorkell and Mirin’s proposal, but new state funding isn’t available for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with the California Department of Public Health plan to create a new COVID-19 Control Branch to monitor variants and outbreaks and support long COVID research, said State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan. The department is using some money from last year as well as seed money from \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/coronavirus/2022/02/california-covid-plans/\">the state’s $1.8 billion long-term COVID-19 preparedness plan\u003c/a> to open the branch. However, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-budget/2023/01/california-budget-newsom-deficit/\">proposed budget cuts\u003c/a> make ongoing funding uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are looking at that and trying to advocate for ongoing resources,” Pan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without additional money from the state, Foster said UC Health has pivoted to developing a \u003ca href=\"https://health.universityofcalifornia.edu/long-covid-education\">free continuing education training program for doctors on best practices to treat long COVID patients\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCorkell and Mirin say the training modules aren’t perfect, but they’re an important resource for primary care doctors, especially considering most people in the state live too far from a specialized clinic to get help.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Many doctors haven’t heard of long COVID\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Stephen Mintz of Fresno is one such patient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mintz avoided COVID-19 for more than two years, but in August he went to a bar to celebrate his 59th birthday, and tested positive for the virus shortly thereafter. By September, Mintz found he didn’t have the physical or mental stamina to do much of anything. After two-and-a-half hours of activity, his limbs would get heavy and his thoughts would muddle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You could almost set a clock to it,” Mintz said. “Suddenly it would be very difficult to put one foot in front of the other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948034\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948034\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01.jpeg\" alt=\"A middle-aged white man with glasses sits on a couch in a dark, shade-drawn room.\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01.jpeg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/040323-Long-Covid-LV_CM-01-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephen Mintz sits at the side of his bed in his apartment in Fresno on March 3, 2023. Mintz was diagnosed with COVID-19 in September and has had chronic fatigue since then. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In January, Mintz was stacking chairs at a local bar where he works as a security guard. Within 10 minutes he got dizzy and couldn’t lift his arms anymore. It’s a common condition associated with long COVID called \u003ca href=\"https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2021.0106\">post-exertional malaise\u003c/a> — pushing through the fatigue can worsen symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I actually cried then. I’ve been depressed over this and frustrated,” Mintz said. “I couldn’t believe I’m so weak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mintz went to his primary care doctor in Fresno for help. He said he thought he had long COVID and was met with skepticism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His first reaction was that he hadn’t really heard of it,” Mintz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On his disability paperwork, Mintz said the doctor wrote “general malaise and short-term amnesia” because he didn’t know how to diagnose Mintz and told him to call UCSF, nearly 200 miles away, for advice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The doctor there said, ‘Um, well, if you lived here you could be part of a research study,’” Mintz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a common experience among people with long COVID-19. Though the pandemic has thrust \u003ca href=\"https://time.com/6240058/post-viral-illnesses-common-long-covid/\">post-viral illnesses\u003c/a> into the spotlight, most doctors still don’t have the experience to treat the collection of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2\">more than 200 symptoms\u003c/a> that make up long COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each new variant of COVID-19 also changes \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871402121001193\">which symptoms are most common\u003c/a>, making it doubly difficult for the average primary care doctor to diagnose, said Dr. Nisha Viswanathan, a primary care physician at UCLA Health’s long COVID clinic. The “vague nature” of many symptoms like fatigue and insomnia also lead to misdiagnosis and frustration among patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really challenging,” Viswanathan said. “If you’re not seeing a certain volume of long COVID patients, it can be difficult to recognize when a patient may be having it versus not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘I knew it had gotten into my brain’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>COVID-19 first hit Mindy Lym, a 37-year-old from San Francisco, like a mild flu, causing fever and congestion. But on Day 5 of her illness, she looked at a text from her girlfriend who was isolating in a separate room and couldn’t make sense of the words. It looked like gibberish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That really scared the shit out of me,” Lym said. “I knew it had gotten into my brain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has spent every day since then chasing after an elusive recovery. Like McCorkell, Lym developed \u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16560-postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots\">postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome\u003c/a> and wears compression garments like stockings and a corset to improve blood circulation. She also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-treatments/related-conditions/mcas\">mast cell activation syndrome\u003c/a>, which causes an immune response similar to a severe allergic reaction as well as chronic inflammation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For three months, Lym, who formerly worked as a music teacher and theater performer in San Francisco, could barely walk and needed a full-time caretaker to dress and bathe. Even soft noises and dim lights caused her to feel “unbearable pain.” When construction outside her house led to weeks of jackhammering, Lym developed PTSD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We moved because of my long COVID,” Lym said. “Being in a city with city noises … was completely untenable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948036\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11948036 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman with long dark hair and glasses sits on a couch, looking out the window. \" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18.jpeg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-18-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mindy Lym has been living with long COVID since the summer of 2022. \u003ccite>(Celeste Noche/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In September 2022, before moving out of state to rural Washington, Lym called the Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome clinic at Stanford Health Care. The clinic scheduled an appointment for her for October 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The demand has been extremely high,” said Dr. Linda Geng, co-director of Stanford’s long COVID clinic. The clinic sees about 12 to 15 new patients each week and has an eight-month average wait time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet even as patients like Mintz and Lym struggle to get into a specialized clinic, UCLA physician Viswanathan said she has heard from multiple colleagues at other facilities that are considering closing their long COVID care clinics or reducing hours. Health systems are strapped for cash and facing a dire workforce shortage, said Dr. Anil Keswani, chief medical officer at Scripps Health in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have increased supply costs. We have increased pharmacy costs. We have increased labor costs,” Keswani said. “How do health care systems invest in programs like long COVID clinics, like hiring more clinicians? Health care organizations have been battered over the last few years, but I don’t see any government relief.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948037\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948037\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25.jpeg\" alt=\"Lots of medications in bottles on a table.\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25.jpeg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/041423-Long-COVID-Mindy-Lym-CN-CM-25-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some of the many medications and supplements Mindy Lym takes for her long COVID symptoms. \u003ccite>(Celeste Noche/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Janine’s story\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A patient navigator could help someone like Janine Loftis, who has fought for nearly 2 1/2 years to be seen by a long COVID specialist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Elk Grove resident turned 73 in January, but physically, she feels much older. In November 2020, after laying in “the house for two weeks not knowing what to do,” Loftis called an ambulance. It was the middle of the night, she had COVID, and her oxygen level dropped. Family and caretakers couldn’t check on her for fear of infection. By the time Loftis was admitted to the hospital, she had viral and bacterial pneumonia and blood clots forming deep in her veins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loftis was already disabled from previous spinal injuries, but the persistent aftereffects of COVID-19 have floored her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s embarrassing how little I can do on my own,” Loftis said. “My body gives out on me. Things are just lost to my mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948038\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11948038 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01.jpeg\" alt=\"An older white woman with neat, white, shoulder-length hair wearing a purple floral long-sleeved blouse poses outside her house.\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01.jpeg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/042623-Long-Covid-Portraits-Janine-Loftis-RL-CM-01-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janine Loftis, 73, at her home in Elk Grove on April 26, 2023. Loftis has long COVID, including lingering symptoms from the original infection such as brain fog and chronic fatigue. \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The chronic fatigue and brain fog prevent her from going to in-person church services, and she recently gave her dog of nine years to an adoption agency after caring for her got too hard. When Loftis’ home caregiver took a leave of absence for four weeks, she couldn’t find a replacement, due to \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/health/millions-of-californians-need-home-care-industry-in-crisis-ucla-labor-center-report\">long-standing workforce shortages that intensified during the pandemic\u003c/a>. Without anyone to help her, Loftis “struggled really horribly” to manage daily tasks, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juggling doctors’ appointments and navigating the byzantine health insurance system is an added obstacle for Loftis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My head is spinning just trying to talk about it again,” she said. “I don’t know how lay people, especially disabled ones with a lot of distractions like pain or like me, with brain fog … understand it.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I feel like I have my personality back. My fatigue is no longer limiting how I express myself … which is amazing.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Two months ago, Loftis finally convinced her primary care doctor to refer her to the UC Davis long COVID clinic, but she said her paperwork is now “lost in a pile of things that need authorization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes everything just to keep up with anything,” Loftis said. “When things get ignored or I don’t know the process, I just have to wait for it to play out. I’m the middle man. I can’t do anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one from UC Davis Health’s long COVID clinic responded to a request for an interview. When asked about clinic capacity, the media relations division said that its post-COVID clinic has the ability to treat “an infinite number of patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hope … with some caveats\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There is a decent chance of at least a partial recovery from long COVID within a year. Anecdotally, long COVID specialists interviewed by CalMatters said even if patients don’t make a full recovery, most see significant improvement over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You look a year or 18 months out and the majority of people have had improvement if not complete resolution,” said Dr. Caitlin McAuley, a primary care physician at the USC Keck COVID Recovery Clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A large study out of Israel found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj-2022-072529\">among patients with mild COVID-19 infections, most symptoms resolved within one year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other studies, however, paint \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33415-5\">a less rosy picture\u003c/a>, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(22)00127-8/fulltext\">few patients reporting full recovery\u003c/a>. One study on French patients found \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29513-z\">85% still reported long COVID symptoms\u003c/a> a year after onset.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the plus side, Mintz, who has had long COVID for eight months, has slowly regained his energy over time. He can go five or six hours without crashing, compared to two hours in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Lym, who has had long COVID for nine months, has also seen a marked improvement. In February, she enrolled in a private long COVID research and treatment clinic. Together with her doctor, Lym discovered certain foods exacerbated her most severe symptoms. Now, she has an 18-page list of foods she can’t eat and takes a medley of antihistamines, blood thinners and supplements daily. Though Lym is still disabled, her sensory issues are 95% better and her energy has steadily improved, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I have my personality back. My fatigue is no longer limiting how I express myself … which is amazing,” Lym said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Lym’s clinic isn’t covered by insurance, and costs $1,000 per month, plus the cost of any tests the doctor orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not accessible,” Lym said. “I know there are so many people going through what I’m going through but don’t have the resources.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Lost careers. Broken marriages. Family and friends who dismiss and don’t believe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are some of the emotional and financial struggles long COVID patients face years after their infections. Physically, they are debilitated and in pain: unable to walk up stairs, focus on a project or hold down a job. Facing the end of the federal public health emergency in May, many people experiencing lingering effects of the virus say they feel angry and abandoned by policymakers eager to move on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Patients are losing hope,” said Shelby Hedgecock, a self-described long COVID survivor from Knoxville, Tennessee, who now advocates for patients like herself. “We feel swept under the rug.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated in March that \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm\">6% of U.S. adults\u003c/a>, or about 16 million people, were experiencing long COVID, or ongoing health problems that continue or emerge after a bout of COVID-19. Researchers estimate that 1.6% of U.S. adults, or about 4 million people, have symptoms that have significantly reduced their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While patients are no longer contagious, their health issues can stretch on and affect almost every system in the body. More than 200 symptoms and conditions, including fatigue and depression, are linked to long COVID, said Linda Geng, a physician who treats patients at Stanford Medicine’s \u003ca href=\"https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-clinics/post-covid-clinic.html\">Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome Clinic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Shelby Hedgecock, long COVID survivor\"]‘Patients are losing hope. We feel swept under the rug.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The severity and duration of long COVID vary. Some people recover in a few weeks, while a smaller number have debilitating and lingering health issues. There is currently no test, treatment or cure. There’s not even an accepted medical definition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you don’t have any tests that show that anything’s abnormal, it can be quite invalidating and anxiety-provoking,” Geng said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The physical and emotional toll have left some feeling hopeless. A 2022 study of adults in Japan and Sweden found that those with post-COVID conditions were \u003ca href=\"https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-022-03874-7\">more than twice as likely to develop mental health issues\u003c/a>, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress, as people without them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 744px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11946940\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_4.jpg\" alt='A woman stands in front of a billboard pictured in the distance. It reads, \"I was a healthy person before this. Shelby, age 29, covid-19 survivor.\"' width=\"744\" height=\"726\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_4.jpg 744w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_4-160x156.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 744px) 100vw, 744px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shelby Hedgecock stands in front of a billboard from a Los Angeles County public health campaign that features her as a long COVID patient. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Gustavo Sosa)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“One of my friends committed suicide in May of 2021,” Hedgecock said. “She had a mild COVID infection, and she progressively had medical complications continuously pop up, and it just got so bad that she decided to end her life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Los Angeles County, 46% of adults who contracted COVID had fully recovered a month later, but the rest — a majority — reported one or more continuing symptoms, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/03/Long-Covid-Study-Graphic.jpg\">675-patient study\u003c/a> by the University of Southern California’s COVID-19 Pandemic Research Center. The researchers found that chronic fatigue topped the list of health issues, followed by brain fog and a persistent cough, all of which affect people’s daily lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the respondents who identified as living with long COVID, 77% said their condition limited daily activities such as going to school or work or socializing. One-quarter reported experiencing severe limitations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taking antivirals cuts the risk of developing long COVID in people who are newly infected. But for people already suffering, medical science is trying to catch up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a look at Hedgecock and two other patients who have had long COVID for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A debilitating brain injury\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Before contracting COVID during spring 2020, Hedgecock’s life revolved around fitness. She worked as a personal trainer in Los Angeles and competed in endurance competitions on the weekends. At 29, she was about to launch an online wellness business. Then she started having trouble breathing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the scariest things that happened to me was I couldn’t breathe at night,” Hedgecock said. “I did go to the emergency room on three different occasions, and each time I was told, ‘You’re up and you’re moving. You’re young, you’re healthy. It’s going to be fine.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 744px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946939 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_3.jpg\" alt=\"A white woman in a blue mask lies in a hospital bed with monitors stuck to her chest alongside a floral shoulder tattoo and a small gold chain with a white gemstone pendant.\" width=\"744\" height=\"906\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_3.jpg 744w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_3-160x195.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 744px) 100vw, 744px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shelby Hedgecock, a personal trainer, was about to launch an online wellness business before contracting COVID in spring 2020. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Shelby Hedgecock)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her primary care physician at the time told her she didn’t need supplemental oxygen even though her oxygen saturation dipped below normal at night, leaving her gasping for breath and crying in frustration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her condition kept her from one of her favorite hobbies, reading, for 19 months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I couldn’t look at a page and tell you what it said. It was like there was a disconnect between the words and my brain,” she said. “It was the strangest, most discouraging thing ever.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Shelby Hedgecock, long COVID survivor\"]‘I couldn’t look at a page and tell you what it said. It was like there was a disconnect between the words and my brain. It was the strangest, most discouraging thing ever.’[/pullquote]Months later, under the direction of a specialist, Hedgecock underwent a test measuring electrical activity in the brain. It revealed that her brain had been starved of oxygen for months, damaging the section controlling memory and language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, she has moved back to Tennessee to be close to family. She doesn’t leave her apartment without a medical alert button that can instantly call an ambulance. She works with a team of specialists, and she feels lucky — she knows people in online long COVID groups who are losing health coverage as \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/news/article/medicaid-unwinding-coverage-loss-california-post-pandemic/\">Medicaid pandemic protections expire\u003c/a>, while others remain unable to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of them have lost their life savings. Some are experiencing homelessness,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>In bed for a year\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Julia Landis led a fulfilling life as a therapist before contracting COVID in spring 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was really able to help people, and it was great work and I loved my life, and I’ve lost it,” said the 56-year-old, who lives with her husband and dog in Ukiah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, Landis was living in an apartment in Phoenix and received treatment via telehealth for her COVID-related bronchitis. What started out as a mild case of COVID spiraled into severe depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just stayed in bed for about a year,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her depression has continued, along with debilitating pain and anxiety. To make up for her lost income, Landis’ husband works longer hours, which in turn exacerbates her loneliness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946941\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946941 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid.jpg\" alt=\"A photo spread of three images of women's faces: one smiles with long, gray hair and a pink and purple floral top; one has short, brown hair and cat eye glasses and a blue blouse; the last woman has a shoulder of floral tattoos exposed as she wears a black workout tank top as she smiles at the camera with earbuds in and her hair pulled back.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Linda Rosenthal, Julia Landis and Shelby Hedgecock share their stories of long COVID. \u003ccite>(California Healthline)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It would be nice to be living somewhere where there were people around seven days a week so I wouldn’t have to go through days of being just terrified to be alone all day,” Landis said. “If this were cancer, I’d be living with family. I’m sure of it.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Julia Landis, long COVID survivor\"]‘It’s terrifying because there’s just no way of knowing if this is going to be for the rest of my existence.’[/pullquote]Landis refers to herself as a professional patient, filling her days with physical therapy and medical appointments. She’s gradually improving and can socialize on occasion, though it leaves her exhausted, and it can take days to recover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s terrifying because there’s just no way of knowing if this is going to be for the rest of my existence,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘I felt betrayed’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Linda Rosenthal, a 65-year-old retired high school paraprofessional, has long COVID symptoms, including inflammation in her chest that makes breathing difficult. She has found it hard to get medical care.[aside label='More on Health' tag='health']She called and set up a treatment plan with a local cardiologist near her home in Laguna Woods, Orange County, but received a letter five days later telling her he would no longer be able to provide her medical services. The letter gave no reason for the cancellation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so surprised,” she said. “And then I felt betrayed because it is terrible to get a letter where a doctor, although within their rights, says that they don’t want you for a patient anymore, because it causes self-doubt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosenthal found another cardiologist willing to do telehealth visits and who has staff wear masks in the office even though the state rule has expired. The practice, however, is more than an hour’s drive from where she lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California Healthline is a service of the California Health Care Foundation produced by Kaiser Health News.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Lost careers. Broken marriages. Family and friends who dismiss and don’t believe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are some of the emotional and financial struggles long COVID patients face years after their infections. Physically, they are debilitated and in pain: unable to walk up stairs, focus on a project or hold down a job. Facing the end of the federal public health emergency in May, many people experiencing lingering effects of the virus say they feel angry and abandoned by policymakers eager to move on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Patients are losing hope,” said Shelby Hedgecock, a self-described long COVID survivor from Knoxville, Tennessee, who now advocates for patients like herself. “We feel swept under the rug.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated in March that \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm\">6% of U.S. adults\u003c/a>, or about 16 million people, were experiencing long COVID, or ongoing health problems that continue or emerge after a bout of COVID-19. Researchers estimate that 1.6% of U.S. adults, or about 4 million people, have symptoms that have significantly reduced their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While patients are no longer contagious, their health issues can stretch on and affect almost every system in the body. More than 200 symptoms and conditions, including fatigue and depression, are linked to long COVID, said Linda Geng, a physician who treats patients at Stanford Medicine’s \u003ca href=\"https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-clinics/post-covid-clinic.html\">Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome Clinic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The severity and duration of long COVID vary. Some people recover in a few weeks, while a smaller number have debilitating and lingering health issues. There is currently no test, treatment or cure. There’s not even an accepted medical definition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you don’t have any tests that show that anything’s abnormal, it can be quite invalidating and anxiety-provoking,” Geng said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The physical and emotional toll have left some feeling hopeless. A 2022 study of adults in Japan and Sweden found that those with post-COVID conditions were \u003ca href=\"https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-022-03874-7\">more than twice as likely to develop mental health issues\u003c/a>, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress, as people without them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 744px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11946940\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_4.jpg\" alt='A woman stands in front of a billboard pictured in the distance. It reads, \"I was a healthy person before this. Shelby, age 29, covid-19 survivor.\"' width=\"744\" height=\"726\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_4.jpg 744w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_4-160x156.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 744px) 100vw, 744px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shelby Hedgecock stands in front of a billboard from a Los Angeles County public health campaign that features her as a long COVID patient. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Gustavo Sosa)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“One of my friends committed suicide in May of 2021,” Hedgecock said. “She had a mild COVID infection, and she progressively had medical complications continuously pop up, and it just got so bad that she decided to end her life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Los Angeles County, 46% of adults who contracted COVID had fully recovered a month later, but the rest — a majority — reported one or more continuing symptoms, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/03/Long-Covid-Study-Graphic.jpg\">675-patient study\u003c/a> by the University of Southern California’s COVID-19 Pandemic Research Center. The researchers found that chronic fatigue topped the list of health issues, followed by brain fog and a persistent cough, all of which affect people’s daily lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the respondents who identified as living with long COVID, 77% said their condition limited daily activities such as going to school or work or socializing. One-quarter reported experiencing severe limitations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taking antivirals cuts the risk of developing long COVID in people who are newly infected. But for people already suffering, medical science is trying to catch up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a look at Hedgecock and two other patients who have had long COVID for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A debilitating brain injury\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Before contracting COVID during spring 2020, Hedgecock’s life revolved around fitness. She worked as a personal trainer in Los Angeles and competed in endurance competitions on the weekends. At 29, she was about to launch an online wellness business. Then she started having trouble breathing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the scariest things that happened to me was I couldn’t breathe at night,” Hedgecock said. “I did go to the emergency room on three different occasions, and each time I was told, ‘You’re up and you’re moving. You’re young, you’re healthy. It’s going to be fine.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 744px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946939 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_3.jpg\" alt=\"A white woman in a blue mask lies in a hospital bed with monitors stuck to her chest alongside a floral shoulder tattoo and a small gold chain with a white gemstone pendant.\" width=\"744\" height=\"906\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_3.jpg 744w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Long_covid_Shelby_Hedgecock_3-160x195.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 744px) 100vw, 744px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shelby Hedgecock, a personal trainer, was about to launch an online wellness business before contracting COVID in spring 2020. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Shelby Hedgecock)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her primary care physician at the time told her she didn’t need supplemental oxygen even though her oxygen saturation dipped below normal at night, leaving her gasping for breath and crying in frustration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her condition kept her from one of her favorite hobbies, reading, for 19 months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I couldn’t look at a page and tell you what it said. It was like there was a disconnect between the words and my brain,” she said. “It was the strangest, most discouraging thing ever.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Months later, under the direction of a specialist, Hedgecock underwent a test measuring electrical activity in the brain. It revealed that her brain had been starved of oxygen for months, damaging the section controlling memory and language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, she has moved back to Tennessee to be close to family. She doesn’t leave her apartment without a medical alert button that can instantly call an ambulance. She works with a team of specialists, and she feels lucky — she knows people in online long COVID groups who are losing health coverage as \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/news/article/medicaid-unwinding-coverage-loss-california-post-pandemic/\">Medicaid pandemic protections expire\u003c/a>, while others remain unable to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of them have lost their life savings. Some are experiencing homelessness,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>In bed for a year\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Julia Landis led a fulfilling life as a therapist before contracting COVID in spring 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was really able to help people, and it was great work and I loved my life, and I’ve lost it,” said the 56-year-old, who lives with her husband and dog in Ukiah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, Landis was living in an apartment in Phoenix and received treatment via telehealth for her COVID-related bronchitis. What started out as a mild case of COVID spiraled into severe depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just stayed in bed for about a year,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her depression has continued, along with debilitating pain and anxiety. To make up for her lost income, Landis’ husband works longer hours, which in turn exacerbates her loneliness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946941\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946941 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid.jpg\" alt=\"A photo spread of three images of women's faces: one smiles with long, gray hair and a pink and purple floral top; one has short, brown hair and cat eye glasses and a blue blouse; the last woman has a shoulder of floral tattoos exposed as she wears a black workout tank top as she smiles at the camera with earbuds in and her hair pulled back.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/LongCovid-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Linda Rosenthal, Julia Landis and Shelby Hedgecock share their stories of long COVID. \u003ccite>(California Healthline)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It would be nice to be living somewhere where there were people around seven days a week so I wouldn’t have to go through days of being just terrified to be alone all day,” Landis said. “If this were cancer, I’d be living with family. I’m sure of it.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>She called and set up a treatment plan with a local cardiologist near her home in Laguna Woods, Orange County, but received a letter five days later telling her he would no longer be able to provide her medical services. The letter gave no reason for the cancellation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so surprised,” she said. “And then I felt betrayed because it is terrible to get a letter where a doctor, although within their rights, says that they don’t want you for a patient anymore, because it causes self-doubt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosenthal found another cardiologist willing to do telehealth visits and who has staff wear masks in the office even though the state rule has expired. The practice, however, is more than an hour’s drive from where she lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California Healthline is a service of the California Health Care Foundation produced by Kaiser Health News.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"info": "One of public radio's most dynamic voices, Sam Sanders helped launch The NPR Politics Podcast and hosted NPR's hit show It's Been A Minute. Now, the award-winning host returns with something brand new, The Sam Sanders Show. Every week, Sam Sanders and friends dig into the culture that shapes our lives: what's driving the biggest trends, how artists really think, and even the memes you can't stop scrolling past. Sam is beloved for his way of unpacking the world and bringing you up close to fresh currents and engaging conversations. The Sam Sanders Show is smart, funny and always a good time.",
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