FAST TRACK AHEAD OF PRINT

Community Use Of Face Masks And COVID-19: Evidence From A Natural Experiment Of State Mandates In The US
By Wei Lyu and George L. Wehby

Wei Lyu and George Wehby estimate the effect of face cover mandates on the county-level COVID-19 growth rate by evaluating public data sets and reviewing all state orders issued between April 1 and May 21, 2020. According to the authors, mandating public use of face masks is associated with a reduction in the COVID-19 daily growth rate, with the effect increasing over time and reaching 2.0 percentage points twenty-one days after the issuance of an order. The authors also estimate that the face mask mandates had prevented as many as 230,000–450,000 US COVID-19 cases by May 22. Read More >>

TODAY ON THE BLOG

FOLLOWING THE ACA

Supreme Court Finds LGBT People Are Protected From Employment Discrimination: Implications For The ACA
By Katie Keith

While the Supreme Court’s ruling has many important consequences, this post focuses on implications for a recent rule on Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act that was issued only three days prior. Overall, the decision calls major parts of the Office for Civil Rights’ final rule into question. Read More >>

COVID-19

Public Health Cannot Go It Alone On COVID-19
By Amy Killelea

The COVID-19 pandemic requires an unprecedented response that leverages all of the tools at our disposal. Public health and private insurance must work in tandem to best target resources across health care and public health settings. Read More >>

COSTS & SPENDING

Make Transparent Health Care Prices A Price Of Any Future Aid To The Health Care Industry
By Brian Blase

It’s time for Congress to stop focusing its efforts on supporting the wealthy health care and health insurance industries, and it’s time for these industries to help American families and businesses and drop their fight against health care price transparency. This starts by equipping Americans—both families and employers—with tools to be better purchasers of health care. Read More >>

A CLOSER LOOK—Pediatric Mortality

Although pediatric mortality rates in the US have declined since 1999, rates among non-Hispanic black and American Indian/Alaska Native children are still higher than those among non-Hispanic white children. In a November 2019 Health Affairs article, Janice Probst and coauthors recommend combating this problem by engaging in "ongoing surveillance of rural children’s health accompanied by policies targeting the leading causes of death in this population: unintentional injury and suicide."

About Health Affairs

Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.

Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.

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