The state Legislature is suspending its session due to concerns about coronavirus, but before wrapping up for now, lawmakers advanced bills, including a handful that would increase environmental protection in Georgia. Read the full article: WABE

Across the country, tens of thousands of young children are treated in emergency departments each year after ingesting dangerous prescription medications. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University’s School of Medicine and the Georgia Poison Center places the blame largely on parents and grandparents. Read the full article: WABE 

Researchers at Emory think that genetic “bait and switch” could make their drug an effective treatment for the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and COVID-19, the recently-minted name for the disease the viruses causes. “It’s a very simple principle: no virus, no disease,” George Painter, president of the Emory Institute for Drug Development, says. “Or [EIDD 2801] limits the amount…

The Georgia Innovates Task Force met for the first time Monday. Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan brought the group together with a clearly defined mission. “The tech capital of the East Coast is a notion that is achievable, but I don’t want it to just be a marketing slogan. I want it to be something that we…

Public health officials will start screening for cases of the new coronavirus at two more airports this week: O’Hare International in Chicago and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International. It’s part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s escalated response to the respiratory illness, which has sickened hundreds and killed at least six people in China. The agency confirmed…

State lawmakers, it seems, have set their sights on making the operations of nonprofit hospitals more transparent. And that’s making some waves. Read the full article: WABE 

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has long been known for her work to remove the stigma associated with mental health treatment and care. Much of that work happens through the Atlanta-based Carter Center. The Carter Center, with the Georgia Global Health Alliance and the Center for Victims of Torture, presented a panel discussion Tuesday: “Atlanta’s…

Georgia’s largest safety-net hospital with one of the busiest emergency rooms in the country will operate at a reduced capacity for much of the year. A water pipe break in early December flooded three floors at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Hospital officials originally expected repair work to take just a few months. Now they say it won’t be…

A water pipe break wreaked havoc at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta in early December, flooding multiple floors and damaging hundreds of beds. For a time, Grady was forced to divert all its ambulance traffic to other facilities. Even now, the emergency room, which normally handles more than 400 visits a day, has not returned to normal…