News & Insights

As the earth’s climate warms and animals and humans relocate to more habitable locations, increased interactions with a variety of wildlife in new and different contexts places humans at risk of new viruses, making preventative measures to reduce pollution and address underlying health vulnerabilities such as asthma, chronic lung disease, or heart conditions even more important.

With schools closing across the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of children are attempting to continue their education from home. However, there is a serious barrier that threatens to widen educational inequities—the homework gap.

Overview Absent ongoing dialysis treatment or kidney transplantation, end-stage renal disease is a permanent and fatal loss of kidney function. Insured patients…

The Network is seeking a Public Health Attorney to work in its Northern Region Office, located in Edina, Minnesota. The Public Health Attorney will provide legal technical assistance, conduct trainings, develop tools and educational materials, and facilitate opportunities for networking and peer-assistance on a wide variety of public health law topics, including COVID-19 response and recovery.

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised numerous questions with regard to public health reporting requirements. This guidance addresses whether domestic violence agencies or shelters have an obligation to report cases of COVID-19 to a state or local public health department.

Overview Death and other negative impacts from drug overdose in general, and opioid overdose specifically,…

The $2 trillion-plus Coronavirus response law, along with two other pandemic-related funding bills earlier this month, provide for a vast array of new federally-funded programs and policies aimed at helping individuals and families battered by a global pandemic and harmed by the economic downturn precipitated by our broad-based public health response. An overarching public health framework can guide the shared work of federal, state and local agencies to implement these new policies and programs.

The COVID-19 outbreak occurring in the United States and in many other countries has profound implications for mental health. Just as public health is leading the way to protect physical health in the context of COVID-19, public health can take steps to promote mental health and community resilience. While public health has emergency isolation, quarantine, and social distancing powers, taking small steps where consistent with good public health practice can support mental well-being.

This real-time session centers on the legal and policy challenges faced by counties, cities, and other localities, as well as their departments of health and emergency management, across an array of public health powers and issues.

The medications methadone and buprenorphine are extremely effective in reducing the harms associated with opioid use disorder. In light of the ongoing public health emergency associated with COVID-19 the federal government has recently taken a number of steps to increase access to these lifesaving medications.

Workers who are sick and one paycheck away from not being able to pay rent are more likely to go to work, potentially exposing others in their workplace and on public transportation to COVID-19. In response, just in the past week, several jurisdictions have taken innovative steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by instituting policies designed to ensure that people can stay in their homes.

A lawsuit arguing for repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is making its way to the Supreme Court. One of the lesser-known provisions of the ACA enacted the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) which provides key health care provisions intended to benefit Native populations. The loss of the IHCIA would significantly set back efforts to address health disparities.