In a Washington Post op-ed, pediatrician Dorothy Novick writes about the uptick in gun injuries and deaths among children and what pediatricians, parents, and policymakers can do to prevent injuries and deaths. “Covid-19 the virus has largely spared my pediatric patients, and for that I am eternally grateful. But covid-19 the pandemic has not. We are seeing more children with mental health concerns, eating disorders and school failure. And, we are seeing more children injured and killed by firearms. Over 5,000 youths suffered gunshot wounds in 2020. A quarter of them did not survive. More youths under 17 years old died by gunfire last year than ever recorded, and the data for 2021 looks much the same… The factors putting so many children at risk for gun deaths and injuries during covid-19 are wide and interrelated. Children suffer gunshots in three different ways: They harm themselves or others unintentionally, they become suicidal or they fall victim to violent crime. All three have risen throughout the pandemic. School closures have left young children home with minimal supervision; social isolation has fueled adolescent depression; and economic instability has led to historic levels of violent crime. Each scenario becomes more lethal when guns are involved. And there are more guns where my patients live and play than ever before.” 

The Biden administration extended the eviction moratorium to July 31, announcing that this would be the last extension. The moratorium had been set to expire at the end of June. “As of June 7, roughly 3.2 million people in the U.S. said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. The news brought a sense of relief to tenants on the verge of being evicted and whose only lifeline was the CDC moratorium. Among them was Cristina Livingston, a 55-year-old mother of two from Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, who lost her job as an administrative assistant during the pandemic. She couldn’t get federal rental assistance to pay upwards of $14,000 in back rent because her landlord refused to take it. “Ah, great. I’m just asking for a little bit more time. I just need the time to move out of here in a dignified way,” said Livingston, who said her biggest fear was that she would be evicted without notice before finding a new job. “It’s been a devastating experience,” she said. “I have never been in this situation. It’s killing me because I’m afraid anytime somebody is going to come and get me out of here. I don’t have a place to go.” Ronald Leonard, a 68-year-old retired heavy equipment operator from Daytona Beach, was facing eviction from his one-bedroom apartment. His landlord also is refusing to take federal assistance to cover $5,000 in back rent. “I don’t have to worry about July no more. I feel a lot better,” said Leonard, who still fears being forced to live on the streets once the moratorium expires. ”It’s heartbreaking. It’s not going to be good all. I’m not healthy anymore. There is no way I’m going to live on the street.” The extension announcement Thursday was accompanied by a flurry of administration activity. The Treasury Department issued new guidance encouraging states and local governments to streamline distribution of the nearly $47 billion in available emergency rental assistance funding. And Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta released an open letter to state courts around the country encouraging them to pursue a number of alternatives that would protect both tenants and landlords. Gupta’s letter states that “eviction filings are expected to overwhelm courts across the country,” unless additional steps are taken.” 

Michael Dimock of Roots of Change wrote an op-ed in support of the proposed Health Equity and Racial Justice Fund’s potential to improve healthy food access and food system equity: “The Senate and Assembly Budget Committee has recommended an unprecedented $100 million annual investment that would support community-based organizations, clinics and tribal organizations to address the root causes of health inequities. Our vision is that organizations awarded these funds will use state and local data to identify the most pressing needs in their community and develop strategies to address them. The proposal builds on Assemblymembers Gipson and Carillo’s bill, AB 1038, calling for the establishment of a California Health Equity Fund which has passed in the Assembly with strong bipartisan support. The Governor must now agree to support the bill and budget proposal. Current programs the Fund may be used to support include the California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP) which provides CalFresh families with matching dollars to “make fresh affordable,” and the Healthy Corner Stores Refrigeration Grant Program that provides bodegas and corners stores in low-income communities with refrigeration units and technical assistance so they can sell fresh produce. The Fund could also be used to support the Medi-Cal Food Prescription Pilot Program, another proposal pending in the Legislature. Through this program, Medi-Cal beneficiaries would receive healthy food “prescriptions” if their health providers determined their underlying health conditions could be helped by a healthier diet. Prescriptions could include produce, healthy food vouchers, food boxes, groceries or prepared meals. Another use of the California Health Equity Fund could be supporting the School Food Hub Pilot program, a proposal to create “food hubs” throughout the state that help identify, market, and distribute locally-sourced, healthy foods to California school districts, not only helping to ensure better nutrition for students, but also supporting local farmers and rural communities who have been hard hit by COVID-19. Healthy food access on a daily basis can prevent disease and better defend our communities against viruses like COVID-19. Through the California Health Equity Fund, we can address this current health crisis, help avoid billions in future health care costs, and strengthen our communities so they are better prepared to face challenges brought on by pandemics, climate change, and natural disasters. California is the greatest source of healthy food the planet has ever seen. There is no excuse for so many communities to go without.” 

The Washington Post reports on how rising heat and humidity push up against human limits. “Extremely humid heat that is more intense than most Americans have experienced — approaching a crucial, immovable human survivability limit — has more than doubled in frequency in some coastal subtropical regions of the world since 1979, according to a study published Friday… With computer-model projections showing the world will continue to warm rapidly in response to increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, warns that highly populated regions of the world will be rendered uninhabitable sooner than previously thought for parts of each year. This will come to pass unless people take wide-ranging and costly steps to adapt to the heat during the next few decades, while nations undertake measures to slash emissions of greenhouse gases. The study depicts a world steadily marching toward a future in which many other locations approach or reach that survivability threshold, a trend that could throw a spotlight on the divide between rich nations that are able to adapt to this new reality and poor countries that suffer productivity losses and deaths.” 

A new study estimates that COVID-19 contributed to a nearly two-year decrease in life expectancy in the United States, with the sharpest declines in life expectancy among Hispanic Americans (3.9-year decline) and African-Americans (3.3-year decline). "These are massive numbers," Woolf said, that reflect the systemic inequalities that long predate the pandemic. "It is impossible to look at these findings and not see a reflection of the systemic racism in the U.S.," Lesley Curtis, chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, told NPR.”