2/1/25: U.S. COVID data amid federal health comunications pause; Affordable Care Act at risk

Access to COVID-19 data during the federal health communications pause. And a breakdown about why the Affordable Care Act might be at risk, from a freelancer with Long COVID. 

In this episode of Still Here: Co-host Betsy Ladyzhets speaks with co-host Miles Griffis and producer James Salanga about her reporting on the U.S. COVID-19 data landscape. And freelancer Bobbi Dempsey shares why the ACA is so important, along with how to prepare for its potential targeting under the Trump administration.

Also in this episode: another RECOVER survey with over 12,000 participants, a promising peptide development, and the latest COVID-19 trends. 

(Of note: Since the episode’s recording, the Household Pulse Survey — a key source of vital Long COVID data — was taken down following a Trump order on Jan. 31 about removing any references to “gender ideology” on the CDC website. You can read Betsy's reporting on The Sick Times' site.)

The transcript for this episode ⁠⁠is available on The Sick Times' website⁠⁠. You can jump to specific sections of the episode and transcript below:

Mentioned in this episode (in order of appearance):

• The Sick Times: National COVID-19 trends, January 28
• CDC wastewater dashboard
• Biobot wastewater risk reports
• WastewaterSCAN dashboard
• The Sick Times: Wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 keeps evolving. Here's what you need to know.
• The Sick Times: Some U.S. COVID-19 data are down amid “pause” to federal health communications
• The Sick Times: RECOVER hasn’t been impacted by Trump freezes so far, sources say. But the program’s future is still