COVID-19
COVID-19 continues to pose a challenge for our country. Together we can do more to protect our health and ensure we're better prepared for any future pandemics.
The Latest on COVID-19
Statement: 1 million Americans dead from COVID-19
STATEMENT: President Biden’s new COVID-19 plan should help curb rampant spread of delta variant
Featured Resources
PIRG urges Congress to approve COVID-19 funding
Another winter during COVID-19: How to stay safe and sound
Nursing home safety during COVID: Cases and Vaccines
Price gouging: What to watch for to protect your wallet
The Latest
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Report shows students are falling behind on buying textbooks during COVID-19
Students have been struggling with the high cost of textbooks for years. For vulnerable students, the pandemic has made the problem much worse. U.S. PIRG released a survey on Wednesday of more than 5,000 students at 82 colleges and universities, revealing the devastating effects that the pandemic has had on students’ ability to fully participate in class.
Statement: Governor Abbott lifting restrictions risks lives
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that he plans to lift Texas’s statewide mask mandate and other precautions designed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) The governor’s statements came just days after the number of U.S. deaths attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic surpassed half a million people, including more than 44,000 Texans. According to a Bloomberg tracker, only 5.4 percent of Texas’s population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with 11.6 percent having received one of the two recommended doses. That’s far short of the 75-85 percent of the population health experts say need to be vaccinated to activate herd immunity and effectively neutralize the virus. In response Bay Scoggin, TexPIRG director, released the following statement: “COVID-19 is now responsible for killing more than one out of every 700 Texans. While it’s good news that cases and hospitalizations have declined in recent weeks, and vaccinations are on the rise, we might see a case surge soon caused by circumstances beyond our control --. crowds of Texans had to gather at warming stations after losing power during the recent deep freeze.
Texas power outages and winter storms in the midst of a pandemic
State and national emergencies this year show the necessity of anti-price gouging efforts.
Hospital technicians renew urgent call for Right to Repair medical equipment
The COVID-19 pandemic still rages, but issues facing medical device repair go unresolved.
Nursing homes still don’t have enough masks, gowns, other PPE
A new analysis by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group found that 8 percent of nursing homes nationwide had a critical shortage of surgical-grade N95 masks, as of Dec. 27. And 4 to 6 percent of homes reported shortages in at least one other category of PPE.
