As health care professionals beg for supplies to protect themselves from COVID-19 infection, a Texas company found a seller with at least 2 million masks and quietly offered them for sale at $6 each. Before the pandemic, they cost around $1.
Shannon Najmabadi
Shannon Najmabadi was a reporter at the Tribune from 2017 to 2021, most recently covering women's health. Her stories — on higher education and other topics — have prompted lawmakers to change three state laws, including one involving a very narrow definition of the word “pickle.” She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Coronavirus test results in Texas are taking up to 10 days
Though Texas has dramatically increased its testing capacity, many who have gotten one are waiting days on end, and sometimes a week or more, for the results, according to interviews with patients and health care professionals.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas hospitals plan to add beds, eye vacated buildings as they prepare for a possible influx in coronavirus cases
The efforts to quickly add capacity come after Gov. Greg Abbott waived hospitals’ occupancy restrictions Sunday and ordered health care providers to postpone surgeries that are not “immediately, medically necessary.”
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Coronavirus in Texas
“Unsupported and ignored”: Texans stuck in Peru say their government abandoned them
Texans marooned there after the country closed its borders described a harrowing ordeal trying to find a plane ticket out. The U.S. government is trying to repatriate them.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas universities ramp up online teaching amid coronavirus pandemic
Professors and instructors are polishing their technical skills — with a little trepidation among technological Luddites — as Texas colleges move courses online. The transition is marked by uncertainty, including over how courses like labs and art can be taught virtually.
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Coronavirus in Texas
UT, A&M among Texas colleges postponing graduation ceremonies and moving classes online for the semester
The announcements are among the latest responses to the novel coronavirus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended canceling gatherings with 50 or more people for the next eight weeks.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texans still clamoring for coronavirus tests as state promises availability will skyrocket
Texas appears to be lagging behind other populous states in testing for COVID-19, but trying to determine how many tests have been given is as confusing as figuring out how to get one.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Degrees of anxiety: As college classrooms empty, students fear for educations, jobs
Texas universities are moving online, but how do you learn circuit welding or vocal ensemble by videoconference? What happens when campus jobs dry up? And will anyone get to walk the stage come graduation day?
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Coronavirus in Texas
In 2015, Texas lawmakers rejected effort to upgrade state’s disease response
After the Ebola outbreak, a task force recommended stockpiling protective gear and expanding state powers to deal with infectious diseases. “Tinfoil hats” opposed to big government killed a bill that would have done it, its sponsor says.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas colleges and universities are going online because of coronavirus. Here’s what they’re doing.
More than a dozen Texas schools are extending spring break and moving to online classes, at least temporarily. Some universities said they will cancel in-person instruction for the rest of the semester.
