from 2016.

The total number of postal workers testing positive has more than tripled from about 3,100 cases in June to 9,600 in September, and at least 83 postal workers have died from complications of COVID-19, according to USPS. Moreover, internal USPS data shows that about 52,700 of the agency’s 630,000 employees, or more than 8%, have taken time off at some point during the pandemic because they were sick, or had to quarantine or care for family members.

A U.S. Navy veteran is suing the Department of Veterans Affairs because he tested positive for HIV at a V.A. clinic in 1995 — but the V.A., which is part of the federal government, never told him.

The vet, identified only as John Doe in the suit, said he progressed to an AIDS diagnosis because he hadn’t been treated early for the virus, the Associated Press reports.

Black women who have experienced having a family member incarcerated have higher levels of stress and depression symptoms.

“Like poverty and racism, school shootings and police brutality, mass incarceration and sexual harassment, widespread extinctions and changing climate, COVID-19 might become yet another unacceptable thing that America comes to accept.”

Better late than never, doctors are slowly starting to realize that in order to truly give a fuck about public health, they’re gonna need to get political.

Family members, lawyers, and advocates have placed calls to prisons to grant early-release to the elderly, and the infirm to prevent more deaths as well as decrease the population. Frustratingly, research shows that out of 668 jails being tracked, 71% of them saw an increase in population from May 1 to June 22, while 84 jails had more people locked away on July 22, then they did in March (Prison Policy Initiative).

Thousands of pages of emails provided to The Associated Press under open-records laws show that governors across the U.S. were inundated with reopening advice from a wide range of industries — from campgrounds in New Hampshire to car washes in Washington. Some governors put economic interests ahead of public health guidance, and certain businesses were allowed to write the rules that would govern their own operations.

...meanwhile, every small town I've traveled to in the last year has had a shiny new Edward Jones investment office.

maybe lets build fewer EdJo's and more hospitals.

But yeah, okay, let’s reopen and go back to “normal.”

“Over the 4 days of infection before the typical time of symptom onset (day 5), the probability of a false-negative result in an infected person decreases from 100% (95% CI, 100% to 100%) on day 1 to 67% (CI, 27% to 94%) on day 4. On the day of symptom onset, the median false-negative rate was 38% (CI, 18% to 65%). This decreased to 20% (CI, 12% to 30%) on day 8 (3 days after symptom onset) then began to increase again, from 21% (CI, 13% to 31%) on day 9 to 66% (CI, 54% to 77%) on day 21.“

“Hispanic Texans make up about 40% of the state’s population but 48% of the state’s 5,952 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, according to Department of State Health Services data.

In the Houston region, where COVID-19 hospitalizations surged in June before beginning to decline in recent days, data released by the Harris County health department showed a disproportionate share of those requiring hospital care — as high as 65% of newly hospitalized patients during some weeks in June — were Hispanic, despite the fact they are 44% of the population.

At Memorial Hermann Health System, one of the Houston region’s largest hospital chains, an analysis of emergency room visits shows that far more Hispanics in their 20s, 30s and 40s have showed up at its hospitals with COVID-19 compared with other ethnicities, an indication that the virus is spreading widely among young Hispanic residents and that they may be waiting until they are sicker to seek care, officials said.

Meanwhile, as the Houston Fire Department reports record numbers of patients dying abruptly at home this summer before paramedics can even reach them, Harris County medical examiner data shows that more than two-thirds of those who’ve died at home from confirmed coronavirus infections have been Hispanic.

There are numerous reasons for these disparities, experts say. Hispanic residents are more likely to work in service jobs or live in multigenerational households that make social distancing difficult. They are less likely to have health insurance. And they are more likely to have health problems, including diabetes and high blood pressure, leaving them more vulnerable to serious illness.”

“Insurance companies in Texas typically pay between $100 and $300 for drive-thru COVID-19 tests, said Jamie Dudensing, CEO of the Texas Association of Health Plans. But the association’s members have seen hundreds of out-of-network COVID-19 test charges come in far higher, some in the thousands of dollars.“