Washington’s COVID hospitalizations could be plateauing, but hospital leaders say it’s too early to say for sure
While the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Washington may be showing early signs of a plateau, infection numbers are still high and scenes inside health care facilities remain “really bad,” some state hospital leaders said Monday. Hospital officials counted 1,673 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the state as of Monday, compared with last week’s count of 1,674, Taya Briley, executive vice president of the Washington State Hospital Association, said at a news conference. Continue reading at The Seattle Times. (Amanda Snyder)
Poverty in U.S. declined last year as government aid made up for lost jobs
The coronavirus pandemic last year left millions of people out of work and set off the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression. Yet the share of people living in poverty in the United States fell to a record low because of the government’s enormous relief effort. About 9.1 percent of Americans were poor last year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, down from 11.8 percent in 2019. Continue reading at The New York Times. (Spencer Platt)
Underinvestment leaves child care providers struggling
Long before the global pandemic, the United States had woefully underinvested in the child care industry. The government directs only a small percent of funding toward child care compared with the whole U.S. education system, according to Ryan Pricco, the director of Policy & Advocacy at Tacoma-based nonprofit Child Care Aware Washington. Continue reading at The South Seattle Emerald. (Samira George)
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