Nina Feldman

The day after Philadelphia became the first U.S. city to reinstate an indoor mask mandate, its transit agency announced it would drop its mandate in accordance with TSA guidelines.

When COVID-19 symptoms linger for weeks, but not long enough to become long COVID, it's confusing and scary for patients. Doctors say this is common. Should we start talking about medium COVID?

Even if you don't have long COVID, it can still take weeks to recover — much longer than the isolation period implies. Millions of Americans are finding that this still majorly disrupts their lives.

At 16, Nicolas Montero is old enough to get vaccinated on his own in some parts of the country. But he had to try to get the jabs without his parents knowing, since they're opposed to the vaccine.

It's not a matter of vaccine hesitancy, say advocates. Instead, poorly located clinics, lack of flexible appointments and other barriers to access are hampering Philadelphia's hardest-hit communities.

Vaccination rates for Black and Latino people in Philadelphia are half those of their white and Asian counterparts. It appears lack of access is more to blame than hesitancy to get vaccinated.

City officials gave coronavirus vaccines to Philly Fighting Covid, whose brash CEO had no health care experience. After a WHYY investigation, the city cut ties with the group over alleged misconduct.

Philadelphia gave a vaccination contract to a startup founded by a 22-year-old with no health care experience. Chaos ensued; the contract was canceled. NPR looks at what happened.

A federal appeals court ruled the effort by nonprofit Safehouse to open a "supervised injection site" to prevent overdose deaths is laudable but illegal under the so-called federal crack house law.

Officials may be relying on people to do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19 at a time when the public is simply not afraid enough anymore to keep up the recommended behaviors.

To control the virus, some officials are forgoing rules or mandates and instead are relying on individuals to do the right thing. So what motivates behavior change, and what falls short?

Philadelphia officials say they're investigating the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace on Monday. Police say the Black man came at officers with a knife.

Dr. Ala Stanford was frustrated by systemic barriers preventing Black residents from getting tests. She created the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium and sends mobile test units into neighborhoods.

Frustrated by COVID-19's disproportionate impact on Black communities, Black doctors came together to launch their own outreach group, bringing testing and care into Philadelphia neighborhoods.

Public officials continue to send mixed messages about the pandemic: We're open for business, but also, stay home if you can. Without clear guidance, people feel confused or stop trying to be safe.

The messaging around what to do to protect yourself in the pandemic has been mixed, and many say it's making them feel unqualified to make important safety decisions.

Relaxed regulations in response to the pandemic means more access to addiction treatment medications. But recovery programs are accepting fewer people, and the danger of overdose remains high.

In Philadelphia, New Orleans and Los Angeles, former safety-net hospitals sit empty. But reopening a closed hospital, even when demand for health resources spikes, is not easy or cheap.

A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Philadelphia's plan to open a safe-injection site does not violate federal drug laws. The Justice Department is expected to appeal the decision.

Efforts to combat Philadelphia's opioid crisis with a supervised injection site could be stymied by a portion of federal law meant to protect neighborhoods during the crack epidemic of the 1980s.