Hospitals
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.
Omicron Breaks Another Pandemic Record: Hospitalizations
The highly infectious Omicron variant is contributing to a record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. The record set in last winter's surge fell on Tuesday as hospitals suffer from massive labor shortages caused by the variant.
State Hospitalization Record Breaks as Omicron Surges
Infections from the Omicron variant, which early studies suggest cause less severe illness than the Delta variant, may be contributing to a record number of hospitalizations in Ohio, the highest since the start of the pandemic.
New York City Mayor Goes Out With a (Covid Policy) Splash
Mayor Bill de Blasio's second term ends on New Year's Eve. On Dec. 6, he announced the nation's strictest COVID mandate: All workers in New York City must be at least partially vaccinated by Dec. 27. Did he consult with his successor, Eric Adams?
COVID: Colorado Activates Partial Crisis Standards of Care
In a sign that the pandemic is far from over, Colorado reactivated its crisis standards of care for staffing of health care systems on Nov. 9 as infections increased modestly nationwide. Gov. Polis made all vaccinated adults eligible for a booster.
Alaska Activates Crisis Standards of Care
Daily new COVID cases per capita in Alaska are the nation's highest. The crisis standards enable overwhelmed hospitals to ration care. Gov. Mike Dunleavy recognized the crisis yet saw no need to take steps to reduce coronavirus transmission.
The Pandemic Crisis Is a Hospital Crisis
"Flatten the curve" was one of the first pandemic terms that Americans heard during the first surge. The idea was to reduce coronavirus transmission so as to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. But which curve? Case in point: Idaho.
Coronavirus Legislation: Vaccine Choice or Anti-Vax?
If vaccines provide the means out of the pandemic, vaccine hesitancy and opposition threaten to prolong it. Battles over public health are being fought in courtrooms and statehouses like in Ohio, where a 'vaccine choice' bill is being considered.
Health Care Institutions Must Acknowledge Their Role in Neighborhood Change
If those in health care seek to develop new ways to help patients stay in their homes, they must also find ways to temper how they affect communities in which they reside.
California Hospitals Now Operating Under Contingency Care Guidelines
The three levels of care provided by hospitals: conventional, contingency, and crisis, were outlined in a letter sent to all hospitals. They must notify the state by Wednesday that they have adopted some version of crisis standards to ration care.
Cars, Covid, and California
Pultizer-winning science journalist and global health expert Laurie Garrett, an Angeleno, points to the Golden State's auto culture during an interview on MSNBC as one reason why the state is now the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S.
California's Hospital Crisis: What Lies Ahead
As COVID infections and hospitalizations mount in California, ICU availability dropped to zero in Southern and Central California. Demand for hospital care is also outstripping supply in New Mexico.
The Pandemic's Most Critical Health Metric Just Shut Down Most of California
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who issued the nation's first stay-at-home order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, issued a new order to prevent hospitals in the nation's most populous state from being overwhelmed with COVID patients.
A Grim Coronavirus Milestone: 150,000 American Deaths
A grim warning was issued by the non-profit group that represents America's medical schools and teaching hospitals: if the nation doesn't change its response to the pandemic, "Multiples of hundreds of thousands" of additional deaths may occur.
Will the Coronavirus Spare Rural America?
Many counties throughout the nation have recorded no deaths from COVID-19. A perception exists that population density is responsible for the massive death toll in New York and New Jersey and that exurban and rural counties may be spared.
Louisiana Municipalities Go Beyond 'Shelter in Place' with Curfews and Checkpoints
Four parishes and one town in Louisiana, which has the nation's highest COVID-19 per capita death rate, are implementing strict containment strategies that go well beyond the statewide stay at home order to reduce community spread.
Predicting Hospital Capacity as the Coronavirus Spreads
An analysis of data about hospital capacity and possible infection trends shows that hospital facilities will be stretched thin even in the best-case scenario.
Delaware, Louisiana, and Ohio Prepare to Shut Down Non-Essential Businesses
As confirmed cases of COVID-19 increase rapidly throughout the nation, governors of Delaware, Louisiana, and Ohio on Sunday issued stay-at-home orders that take effect Monday night or Tuesday to protect residents and hospitals.
A Nation of 60 Million on Lockdown
Should the United States be watching Italy for lessons on how to contain and mitigate the coronavirus?
An Affordable Housing Investment Guide for Nonprofit Hospitals and Health Systems
Hospitals are uniquely suited to make an impact in the ongoing affordable housing crisis in the United States.
City of Greenville
City of Greenville
Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) AmeriCorps Program
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact: Mobility, Community, Possibility
City of Spearfish
City of Lomita
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.
