Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
New Forecasting Tool Aims to Reduce Heat-Related Deaths
Two federal agencies launched a new, easy-to-use, color-coded heat warning system that combines meteorological and medical risk factors.
Transportation Access Is a Public Health Issue
An expert discusses the public health implications of the CDC’s new finding that 5.7 percent of Americans face unreliable transportation.
The Messy Politics of Saving Lives from Drug Overdoses
Philadelphia was on the verge of approving a key harm reduction strategy to prevent fatal drug overdoses until the city council all but banned supervised injection sites, overriding a mayoral veto. A New York Times report explores the controversy.
Let’s End Traffic Stops
The technology to make traffic enforcement obsolete is becoming available. But in the U.S. willing to use it?
After Waiting Two Days, Justice Department Appeals Transit Mask Ruling
Mystery surrounds the decision by the Biden administration to not ask for an immediate stay of an unanticipated district court ruling to vacate the CDC's masks-on-transit rule. Two days later they appealed as coronavirus cases increase nationwide.
U.S. District Judge Ends Federal Mask Mandate on Transit
A Trump-appointed U.S. district judge in Florida voided the Biden administration's mask mandate that applied to plane, train and bus travel. It had just been renewed by the CDC on April 13 and was due to expire on May 3.
CDC Relaxes Guidance to Allow Most Americans to Ditch Masking
In a major reversal, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised the metrics and thresholds that determine when masking is recommended. Only 5% of counties met the old metric on Feb. 25; now 70% of Americans need not don a mask indoors.
Let the Endemic Planning Begin
The first state in the nation to issue a stay-at-home order to slow the spread of a novel coronavirus that humans had no immunity from became the first to release an actual endemic plan, complete with a fancy acronym, SMARTER.
Danish Paradox: High COVID Transmission Leads to Endemicity
The nation with the world's highest COVID infections per capita was the first in Europe to end almost all coronavirus restrictions. The decision comes with the declaration that as of Feb. 1, COVID is no longer a "socially critical disease" in Denmark
CDC Not Yet On Board with Ending Masking Requirements
Blue states have joined red ones in ending masking orders as COVID cases plummet, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sticking to its guidance: where transmission is 'high' or 'substantial,' universal indoor masking is recommended.
The Pandemic Era
"We are living in the Covid-19 era, not the Covid-19 crisis," Allan Brandt, a historian of science and medicine at Harvard University, told Gina Kolata of the New York Times last October in a review of past pandemics and what we can learn from them.
Omicron Helps to Shatter Infection Records
The rapidly spreading Omicron variant and its viral competitor, the Delta variant, are setting new case records globally and in the U.S.
Your Date With Omicron
“All of us have a date with omicron,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told The Associated Press on Dec. 20, adding "...and the best way you can encounter this is to be fully vaccinated.”
CDC: Time to Rethink Herd Immunity
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be changing its thinking about how herd immunity fits in with the goal of controlling the coronavirus. At the same time, the waning immunity of vaccinated Americans has taken on more urgency.
COVID Vaccination Strategy: What the U.K. and U.S. Could Learn from Israel
Cases are surging in the U.K. despite 68% of its population being fully vaccinated. Experts say that U.K. officials should observe how Israel, with 63% of its population fully vaccinated, managed to reduce transmission after a similar surge.
Pandemic Debate: Civil Liberties vs. Individual Liberties
The American Civil Liberties Union stepped into the nation's masking debate in K-12 schools on the side of parents of students with disabilities. They won the first round in the U.S. Southern District Court of Iowa. Mask mandates are permitted again.
Biden Administration Targets Five States that Ban School Mask Mandates
President Biden asked his education secretary to see what could be done about states that prohibit school districts from enacting CDC public health recommendations. Miguel Cardona responded by empowering his Office of Civil Rights to investigate.
Florida Judge Rules That Governor Overstepped Authority in Banning School Mask Mandates
A group of parents won the first round on Aug. 27 in a state circuit court in a dispute with the governor and state education agencies over the ability of school boards to require all students to wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The Vaccinated Account for 20 Percent of Covid Infections in a Few Hot Spots
All Americans, vaccinated and unvaccinated, are still in this pandemic together.
Delta Variant's High Transmissibility Prompts CDC to Issue Masking Correction
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acting on new data that it had yet to publish, changed its masking guidance on July 27 to reflect the prevalence of the virus in specific counties rather than basing it on a person's vaccination status.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Roaring Fork Transportation Authority
Placer County
Skagit Transit
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
M-NCPPC Prince George's County Planning Department
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
