Why nursing home aides exposed to COVID-19 aren’t taking sick leave

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated America’s nursing homes, but the reasons aren’t as simple as people might think. To understand how nursing homes became the source of over one-third of U.S. COVID-19 deaths, you have to look beyond just the vulnerability of the residents and examine how nursing homes pay and manage their employees. The […]

The Pandemic May Be Causing a Rise in Stress-Induced Hair Loss

She first noticed it back in June — about three months after her earliest COVID-19 symptoms set in. "I started seeing a lot of hair coming off in my hairbrush," says Courtney Dunlop, a long-time beauty editor and cofounder of Good Clean Wine in Springfield, Missouri. "Then it was like a dam had broken: I […]

Physically demanding jobs linked to shorter working lives and more sick leave

Physically demanding jobs are linked to shorter working lives, more sick leave and unemployment than jobs that don’t rely on muscle and brawn, suggests a large long term study of Danish workers in hundreds of different types of jobs, and published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine. The findings have implications for plans by various […]

Should you wear mask in public if not sick with coronavirus?

If you’re not sick with the new coronavirus, should you wear a mask in public? Global health authorities say no. Amid a shortage of masks, the U.S. is sticking with that advice but Tuesday, President Donald Trump suggested people who are worried wear a scarf. That shortage is so severe that the Joint Commission, which […]

Sick woman campaigns for medically assisted suicide in Peru

Almost completely paralyzed by a terminal illness, 42-year-old Peruvian Ana Estrada says she is a “prisoner in her own body” and yearns to be legally allowed to end her own life. But Peru doesn’t permit medically assisted suicide, so Estrada is campaigning for a change in the law from the electric wheelchair in her Lima […]