The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted low-income areas, escalating already-existing health disparities and economic difficulties. As a result, innovative strategies have been developed to aid in protecting these communities from the virus and its effects.
In this 10-minute webinar by Samantha Iovan, a senior analyst for health and human services at the Center for Health and Research Transformation (CHRT), viewers will learn about the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on low-income communities, including homeless populations residing in aggregate housing facilities.
Iovan shares innovative strategies to protect these populations that have emerged in communities across the country, as well as funding sources that can be used to implement these solutions in other low-income communities.
Listen to The impact of COVID-19 on homeless and impoverished populations, one in a series of COVID-19 webinars organized by the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The webinar emphasizes the need for collaborative efforts to address these problems and offer assistance to those who need it most in these historic times. Together, we can lessen the pandemic’s harmful effects on vulnerable people and make sure that everyone has access to the services, supplies, and assistance they need. Ongoing dissemination of information is critical to the health and well-being of our nation.
As the COVID-19 pandemic forces hospitals to focus on essential procedures, reducing revenues at healthcare facilities across Michigan, many rural hospitals are struggling to stay open. In this Michigan Health Watch series, Bridge Magazine’s Ted Roelofs examines some of the ways the coronavirus response is squeezing operating margins for rural healthcare providers, even if they may not be treating many COVID-19 patients.
Michigan has been especially hit hard by COVID-19. In an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus and to reduce the strain on hospitals and healthcare workers, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has issued aggressive stay-at-home orders. In “Something big is getting lost in the debate over stay-at-home orders,” Jonathan Cohn, a Huffington Post reporter, explores why these guidelines have sparked protests by those who believe their freedoms are unnecessarily inhibited. Some people are demanding an end to the lockdown procedures and a return to normal life.
WEMU’s Lisa Barry explores the idea of an immunity certification system that could exempt those who have COVID-19 antibodies from some social distancing restrictions and allow them to go back to work. Dr. Denise Anthony, 
As part of their continuing Health Watch series, Bridge Magazine continues their focus on hospital staffing and the economics behind the perplexing circumstance of healthcare workers losing their jobs during a health crisis. Writing for today’s Bridge, Brie Zeltner notes that the surge in coronavirus patients has increased staffing and equipment costs even as COVID-19 treatments bring in less revenue than the outpatient and elective procedures that have previously been the foundation of hospital business models.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on healthcare systems worldwide, and Detroit is no exception. 
As hospitals and health systems across Michigan scramble to address a surge in COVID-19 patients, there is competition over the short supply of highly sought-after critical care nurses – driving up labor costs and pulling some Michigan nurses away from their regular jobs to take higher-paying temporary positions. In “Michigan nurses getting fat pay raises or pink slips in coronavirus crisis,” Bridge Magazine takes an in-depth look at this trend and related hospital staffing issues that have a direct impact on the ability of hospitals and caregivers to manage the coronavirus caseload across Michigan.