Vulnerable populations

COVID-19 Vaccination Mandates NOTE: Because this is now a once-a-month post, I’m including lots of links to other pieces of interest in the text. I strongly encourage you to explore the issues raised in these articles. The largely unchecked spread Read More

Impacts on Health Care Workers This report by Weine et al. provides an analysis of impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health care workforce and recommendations for minimizing adverse impacts now and over time. The authors are an interdisciplinary Read More

Ongoing analysis of COVID-19 era data is uncovering important patterns to improve our understanding of pandemic effects on children and to inform post-pandemic schooling and education policy. New evidence characterizes (1) youth unemployment changes throughout the pandemic, (2) schooling modes Read More

Policymakers and researchers are both investigating how different student subgroups were affected by the pandemic and looking ahead to what we will be able to learn and study about education and schools during COVID-19 and how parents feel about in-person Read More

Obamacare Upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court On Wednesday, the Supreme Court, in its  7-2 decision in the Texas v. California case, refused to find that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional, determining that the plaintiffs (which included the state Read More

Evidence suggests that there are several challenges facing school districts planning for summer 2021 and the 2021–22 school year—and that these challenges disproportionately affect disadvantaged students and schools—but research can also inform those planning efforts as well. A new RAND Read More

Health Systems and Strategies This article by Panda et al. reports a qualitative study of health care worker (HCW) redeployment strategies based on interviews with hospital leaders from 9 hospitals in 8 health systems across 5 countries (USA, United Kingdom, Read More

Legal Epidemiology and Pandemic Control Law is a structural determinant of health. Variations in how states and local jurisdictions have written, interpreted, and enforced laws can affect the health of the associated communities. The implementation of thousands of new laws Read More

Racial and Ethnic Disparities This article by Reitsma et al. adds to the literature on racial and ethnic disparities related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The article analyzes exposure risk, testing, and cases, providing a detailed assessment at the subcounty level Read More

Can an Indiana employer require Covid-19 vaccination as a condition of employment? As a general rule: Yes, a private employer can require an employee to get a vaccination, but most employers shouldn’t need to do this to ensure a safe Read More