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Inside the “ER of public health” where the CDC is running its COVID-19 response

Feb 27, 2020
During public health crises like the COVID-19 outbreak, the CDC brings together different parts of the agency at its Emergency Operations Center.
Dr. Jay Butler, deputy director for infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stands in the agency’s Emergency Operations Center in Atlanta. This has been the “nerve center” of the CDC’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak since January.
Sam Whitehead/WABE

Congress is funding gun violence research again for the first time in 20 years

Jan 22, 2020
Researchers at the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health will split $25 million dollars.
Brandon Wexler demonstrates for a customer at a store in Delray Beach, Florida, in 2016.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In time for National HIV Testing Day, progress made on prevention

Jun 28, 2019
A new recommendation makes PrEP, a drug that helps prevent the spread of HIV, free for many more Americans
Jeffery Beall / Wikimedia

U.S. suicides are on the rise but funding, research lags

Jun 18, 2018
As people mourn the recent deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade, researchers say the growing public health crisis deserves more attention.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Labor shortage = labor shortage

May 17, 2018
The latest birth rate numbers are out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Americans, you are not being fruitful and multiplying. Last year saw the lowest number of births in 30 years. That dearth of babies has a lot of repercussions for the future — a smaller active labor force would mean […]

Reinventing the rural health care system

Feb 2, 2018
A new report outlines the challenges the health care system in rural communities faces.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

CDC director resigns over investments

Jan 31, 2018
Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald resigned from her post as acting director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. This came after a report in Politico which detailed a series of stock purchases made by Fitzgerald, including shares of tobacco companies. Politico reporter Sarah Karlin-Smith spoke with Marketplace host Amy Scott, and she said the conflict between […]

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There’s a sharp spike in hospitalizations this flu season

Jan 5, 2018
Hospitals across the country are seeing a sharp spike in the number of hospitalizations this flu season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It seems the strain of the virus that’s circulating is particularly vicious. That means higher costs for patients – and headaches for hospitals. Click the audio player above to […]

Didn’t that happen a long time ago? CDC finds wireless phones outnumber landlines

May 9, 2017
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control finds, for the first time, most American households have mobile phones but no landline. That’s important information for collecting data, lest researchers leave out wireless users when they do surveys and wind up with inaccurate results. Wireless connections are getting better and cheaper, but most homes […]