The Columbian

Health Wire

The skyline of Beijing is reflecting in the sunglasses of a woman wearing a face mask as she walks at a public park in Beijing, Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Anti-virus shutdowns in China spread as infections rise

April 14, 2022, 7:50am Health

Anti-virus controls that have shut down some of China’s biggest cities and fueled public irritation are spreading as infections rise, hurting a weak economy and prompting warnings of possible global shockwaves. Read story

Pfizer to seek COVID booster for healthy 5- to 11-year-olds

April 14, 2022, 7:40am Business

Pfizer said Thursday it wants to expand its COVID-19 booster shots to healthy elementary-age kids. Read story

Florist Kia Lor, of C&K's Flower Garden, arranges fresh spring bouquets Saturday at the Vancouver Farmers Market.

COVID cases are up slightly in Washington. Will mask mandates come back?

April 14, 2022, 7:15am Health

It’s been about a month since Washington state lifted most indoor mask mandates. But a recent slight rise in infections raises a pressing question: At what point could those restrictions return? Read story

FILE - Second-grade teacher Melissa Shugg teaches a lesson at Paw Paw Elementary School about thoughts, feelings and actions on Dec. 2, 2021, in Paw Paw, Michigan. Shugg is one of many teachers at the school who've been trained to teach a social-emotional curriculum created at the University of Michigan called TRAILS. Research suggests TRAILS lessons for at-risk kids can reduce depression and improve coping skills -- something district officials say has been particularly important during the pandemic.

Mental health crisis gets bipartisan attention

April 13, 2022, 7:06pm Health

A major effort to overhaul care for people in the United States with mental health and drug problems is gaining traction as Congress and the Biden administration work on overlapping plans to address concerns across dividing lines of politics, geography and race. Read story

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines administered by the Delano Union School District Student Support Services in partnership with the California Farmworkers Foundation in the Central Valley on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021 in Delano, CA.

Washington Board of Health opts against COVID-19 school vaccine requirement

April 13, 2022, 3:20pm Editor's Choice Free

The Washington state Board of Health has decided that COVID-19 vaccines will not be required for students to attend K-12 schools this fall. Read story

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson says the state has reached a settlement with e-cigarette giant Juul Labs, which will pay the state $22.5 million.

Juul to pay $22.5 million to settle Washington vaping suit

April 13, 2022, 1:40pm Health

E-cigarette giant Juul Labs will pay Washington $22.5 million and has agreed to a variety of reforms to prevent underage use and sales under a settlement announced Wednesday by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson. Read story

David Lawyer visits the grave of his father, Neil Lawyer, for the first time since the inscription went up on his tombstone in Seattle, Sunday, March 20, 2022. In February 2020, an unfamiliar respiratory illness started spreading through an area nursing home, the Life Care Center of Kirkland. Lawyer, 84, was a short-term patient there and had joined other residents for a belated Mardi Gras party. Days later Lawyer and others fell ill. "By the time he got to the hospital they allowed us to put on these space suits and go in and see him," son David Lawyer says.

A million empty spaces: Chronicling COVID’s ruthless U.S. toll

April 13, 2022, 8:42am Health

On the deadliest day of a horrific week in April 2020, COVID took the lives of 816 people in New York City alone. Lost in the blizzard of pandemic data that’s been swirling ever since is the fact that 43-year-old Fernando Morales was one of them. Read story

AP source: CDC to extend travel mask requirement for 2 weeks

April 13, 2022, 8:23am Health

The Biden administration will extend for two weeks the nationwide mask requirement for public transit as it monitors an uptick in COVID-19 cases, according to a person familiar with the matter. Read story

FILE - Signs are displayed at a tent during a health event on June 26, 2021, in Charleston, W.Va. Volunteers at the tent passed free doses of naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose by helping the person breathe again. The U.S. needs a more nimble strategy and Cabinet-level leadership to counter its festering opioid epidemic, a bipartisan congressional commission said Tuesday.

Health officials urge public to carry naloxone as Washington overdose deaths climb at ‘alarming’ rate

April 13, 2022, 7:39am Editor's Choice Free

Washington health officials are now urging the public to carry naloxone as drug-related overdose deaths are climbing statewide at an “alarming” rate. Read story

Providence Health to pay $22.6M in fraud case

April 12, 2022, 7:45pm Health

Providence Health & Services Washington has agreed to pay $22.6 million to resolve allegations that its Walla Walla hospital fraudulently billed Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs for medically unnecessary neurosurgery procedures, prosecutors said Tuesday. Read story