The Richardson Independent School District in Texas is among the many districts across the state defying the governor’s mask mandate ban to require masks for students.
AP Photo/LM Otero
If it sounds like the law is all over the place on school mask mandates, that’s because it is. The nation’s schools are subject to a complex web of local, state and federal laws.
Feeling exhausted, unable to concentrate and wanting to withdraw and disconnect from the world and those around you? You could be heading towards burnout.
A$50 million could provide all NSW school classrooms with air purifiers with HEPA filters. This pales compared to the roughly $220 million-a-day cost of Sydney’s lockdown.
Cyclists ride along Lake Shore Boulevard East as road closures come into effect for the return of the ActiveTO program in Toronto in May, 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Yader Guzman
ActiveTO and programs like it across the country create more urban public space for exercising and can remove a major barrier to physical activity: lack of open and safe space.
Residents clean up the streets and local businesses after looting incidents in Alexandra, Johannesburg.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Much of the commentary on the July riots, which cost over 300 lives and billions of rands in damage to the economy, has neglected the long history of violent protests in the country.
Stringent restrictions trying to completely eliminate the virus in Australia are testing the public’s resilience.
James Ross/EPA-EFE
As New Zealand enters another lockdown after detecting a single COVID case, it’s time to consider whether stringent zero COVID strategies are feasible in the long term.
While prison may isolate people from the larger community, it does not isolate them from COVID-19.
Scott Olson/Staff/Getty Images News
COVID-19 cases in Mexico are approaching the highest levels seen during the second wave in late January 2021, with about 22,000 new infections a day. A slow vaccine rollout is stunting progress.
Laws restrict the ways insurers can use vaccination status to affect coverage or premiums.
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
The pandemic has battered the arts and culture sector in Indonesia. Many producers and organizers have been forced to cancel events, concerts and movie releases.
Public health measures like lockdowns, quarantine and mandatory masks are important for managing the pandemic. But they can take a unique toll on refugees’ mental health, as our new research shows.
People stand in a queue to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Bengaluru, India.
Jagadeesh NV/EPA-EFE
The emergence of variants of concern with increased potential for transmission and more severe disease in the younger population could make Africa more susceptible to a severe COVID-19 epidemic.
When the messenger is distrusted, adherence to public health advice fails. Anti-mask protesters hold signs during a demonstration against measures taken by public health authorities to curb the spread of COVID-19 in St. Thomas, Ont., in November 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Geoff Robins
When politicians disregard public health directives, new research shows it causes the public to distrust governments’ handling of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unmanaged needle fear is very distressing for those affected and can influence health-care choices. Science-backed methods can help people manage their phobia and get vaccinated.
(Shutterstock)
For the one in 10 people with a significant fear of needles, getting a vaccination is distressing. This can disrupt vaccination campaigns, but there are effective ways to manage pain and fear.
Trauma-informed care ensures that both patients and staff feel supported in their care decisions.
Owen Franken/Corbis Documentary via Getty Images
Nancy Kusmaul, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
COVID-19 hit long-term care facilities hard. Addressing the trauma that residents and staff endured is key to regaining trust in a space that may no longer feel safe.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand