-
Real estate predictions for 2021: Eviction crisis on the horizon while suburban shift and ‘Zoom rooms’ trend for homebuyers
CHICAGO – The year that is 2020 can’t be in our collective rearview mirror soon enough. Despite the pandemic’s tumultuous curveballs, there was still some happy news in the world of Chicago-area real estate: This new decade brought with it new technology to help renters with landlord issues; it brought us a glimpse of the architecture world and the female creatives within; and it allowed us to see that the more things change, the more traditional elements of what people want in a home persist. This year also revealed just how prevalent disinvestment and discrimination remain in the housing sec...
Chicago Tribune
-
California is short on Spanish-speaking physicians. Why that's a big problem in a pandemic
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The high number of coronavirus infections and deaths among California's Latino communities is underscoring the state's shortage of culturally competent, Spanish-speaking doctors. Medical experts fear the scarcity of Latino or Spanish-speaking doctors could lead to worse health outcomes for the state's Hispanic communities, who, so far, represent more than 700,000 COVID-19 cases and 10,000 virus-related deaths in California. "You can't plant strawberries in your front room. You can't stay at home and be a farmworker. Hence, because they're more exposed, they're more likely ...
The Sacramento Bee
-
A byproduct of the pandemic? Colleges see soaring interest in health fields
PHILADELPHIA — Vanessa Oppong thought about delaying her pursuit of a master’s degree in public health at Temple University, given that classes were moved online this fall as a result of the pandemic. Then, as the devastating effects of the coronavirus raged around her, she reconsidered. “I felt in a way called to continue my education,” Oppong, 23, of Woodbridge, Virginia, said. “There’s no better time than right now.” And apparently she’s far from alone in her thinking. Temple saw a 120% increase in first-year students enrolled in its master’s of public health program this year, from 69 to 1...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
-
Philadelphia may be on the way to a record for fatal drug overdoses in 2020, another COVID-19 consequence
PHILADELPHIA – Fatal overdoses in Philadelphia rose through the first six months of 2020, and health officials now fear that the city is on track to surpass the death toll from 2017, the worst year for fatal overdoses on record. In addition, the city’s overdose crisis is undergoing an alarming demographic shift. In the first quarter of the year, white residents — as they have been for some time — were most likely to die of overdoses in Philadelphia. But between April and June, Black Philadelphians’ share of the city’s fatal overdoses nearly doubled, surpassing that of white Philadelphians. The...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
-
Prompted by pandemic, some states buy hotels for the homeless
PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s a bold goal in a place with a major housing crisis: Get as many as 2,000 unsheltered Oregonians into homes this winter by spending $65 million in state money to buy up to 20 underused hotels. Oregon’s Project Turnkey, modeled after a similar program in California, was born out of the need to provide shelter and practice social distancing during the pandemic. The economic effects of the pandemic and wildfires have compounded a preexisting homelessness and affordable housing crisis on the West Coast. Temporarily housing homeless people in hotels is nothing new. Housing and ...
Stateline.org
-
Mental health related visits to the ER increased for children during the pandemic, CDC study finds
As lockdown restrictions return due to the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published new research that shows the negative impact of the pandemic on the mental health of children and adolescents.Researchers found that the proportion of emergency department visits related to mental-health were up 24% for children aged 5 to 11 and 31% for children aged 12 to 17 from April through October, compared with the same time period last year. The findings, published last week, add to existing research suggesting that COVID-19 has had a negati...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
-
Mark Strong, star of new show 'Temple,' can't decide if his character is a hero or villain
He’s used to playing villains, but even when Mark Strong plays a good guy he ends up making bad choices.The British actor’s new show “Temple,” based on a Norwegian drama and with a Monday premiere on Spectrum, deals with how people react when standing at an ethical crossroads.Strong stars as Daniel Milton, a British surgeon whose life is turned upside down when his wife (Catherine McCormack) is diagnosed with an incurable, fatal disease. With few other options research a cure, Daniel opens an illegal medical clinic alongside new friend and doomsday prepper Lee Simmons (Daniel Mays).After a car...
New York Daily News
-
Gates-funded study shows hydroxychloroquine doesn't prevent COVID-19
SEATTLE — A large clinical trial coordinated by the University of Washington found that people who took hydroxychloroquine were just as likely to get COVID-19 as those who took a placebo, adding to growing evidence that the drug frequently promoted by President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to work against the novel coronavirus.Nearly 800 people from 38 states participated in the trial, which was funded with $9.5 million from the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, a research fund created by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the British philanthropy Wellcome and others.The volunteers who partici...
The Seattle Times