Coronavirus

Your Student Loans Are Paused– But Not Yet Pardoned

“Too many Americans are struggling to pay for basic necessities and to provide for their families. They should not be forced to choose between paying their student loans and putting food on the table,” said the Dept. of Education in a short statement.

Published

5 years ago

January 28, 2021

Kiki

On January 20, at the request of Pres. Joe Biden, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it would extend the federal student loan payment moratorium, suspending payments on student loans through Sept. 30, 2021. The interest rates on these loans will also stay at 0% until then.

Federal student loan payments have been suspended since March 2020 as part of the federal government’s economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The moratorium extension came on the day of Biden’s inauguration, and less than two weeks before the previous pause on payments was set to expire on January 31. The request to extend the moratorium was one of 17 executive actions Biden signed on his first day in office. An estimated 41 million Americans will benefit from the extended pause on payments.

In addition to the pause on payments, collections on defaulted, federally held loans will continue to be halted, and all borrowers with defaulted federal loans whose wages are being garnished will receive a refund. Also, each month until September 30 will still count toward public service loan forgiveness for borrowers in public-service jobs, as well as the federal student loan rehabilitation program, which erases a default from a person’s credit report after nine consecutive payments.

As for the question of cancelling student debt, which has been a topic throughout Biden’s campaign, the Biden administration had yet to take any official action as of January 24. On a January 19 call with reporters, incoming Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese said that the Biden administration supports forgiving up to $10,000 in student loan debt per person through congressional action.

Federal student loan debt has been a looming concern for families for a while now — even before the pandemic began. The total amount some 40 million American student loan borrowers owe has reached nearly $1.6 trillion. According to the Federal Reserve, the average borrower owes over $32,700 in student debt and the average monthly student loan payment is $393.

Some liberal lawmakers and debt cancellation advocates have called for Biden to cancel student debt through executive action. In a letter first sent last November that was updated January 15, more than 325 nonprofit and community organizations called on Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to cancel all federal student debt on the first day of their administration.

The letter argued that “cancelling student debt would stimulate the economy, help reduce racial wealth gaps, and could have a positive impact on health outcomes.” The organizations who signed the letter included the NAACP, National Action Network, Hispanic Federation and the Faith in Action National Network.

“Before COVID-19 … student debt was already a drag on the national economy, weighing heaviest on Black and Latinx communities, as well as women,” the organizations wrote.

“That weight is likely to be exponentially magnified given the disproportionate toll that COVID-19 is taking on both the health and economic security of people of color and women. To minimize the harm to the next generation and help narrow the racial and gender wealth gaps, bold and immediate action is needed.”

Research has shown that student loan debt is a large contributor to the racial wealth gap, and it hinders economic progress for Black communities. According to a 2019 report by the Century Foundation, the Roosevelt Institute and Demos, Black families, who typically have less generational wealth than white families, rely more heavily on student debt and use riskier forms of student debt than white families.

The report also found that Black students are far more likely to experience negative financial events including loan default, higher interest rate payments and higher graduate school debt balances after graduating. According to a 2016 Brookings Institution report, Black college graduates owe $7,400 more on average than their white peers immediately after graduation, and over the four years after graduation, the Black-white debt trap grows to $25,000.

Student loan debt cancellation is a divisive issue, with conservatives historically opposing cancellation. It is expected that any congressional action taken toward debt cancellation will be met with opposition from Republicans.

With the election of Georgia senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Democrats now have slim majorities in the House and Senate, and the cancellation of at least a small amount of student loan debt looks possible.

Kiki

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ESSAY: Technology and Medicine, a Primary Care Point of View 

The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, restricted millions of people to their homes, which required reliance on the internet for communication and information.  Personal internet searches became essential to understanding information about COVID, human physiology, symptoms, and keeping up with vaccine updates.  However, this increase in independent online research resulted in people accessing more misinformation circulating on the internet. This posed a challenge for medical providers trying to treat patients according to research-based guidelines.  With so much information within reach, it was difficult for providers to help their patients distinguish between legitimate evidence-based sources and opinion, speculation, and fabrication.   

Published

1 year ago

April 27, 2025

Oakland Post

Dr. Adia Scrubb Photo provided by California Black Media..

Dr. Adia Scrubb
Special to California Black Media Partners

Technology has enhanced communication between medical professionals and patients; improved patient care management; and eased access to care and information, benefiting both patients and medical clinicians.

However, despite the ease and many conveniences these patient care improvements have ushered in, adequate patient care still includes physician supervision, examinations, and interaction, which present challenges for keeping up with demands on the healthcare system and accurate patient education.

Technology has made more educational resources available at our fingertips, and it has created independence for those who want to know more about their bodies.

Nowadays, patients continuously arm themselves with medical information and challenge clinicians with the research they gather from internet sources to advocate for themselves and their care.  This often leaves medical professionals with the complex task of navigating challenging discussions, pointing patients to validated and verified medical information, and following evidence-based medical guidelines for treatment.

Reviewing information before an appointment can certainly make an office visit much more productive, but it is essential to acknowledge the possible bias and limitations of internet searches.  Consideration of the author, source, and date of the information may help determine its validity.

Furthermore, simply asking medical professionals for their preferred patient information resources will direct patients to safe and validated information that is in line with standards of care practices.  This can help patients better understand the recommendations from their doctors and streamline their internet searches.

Access to individual online medical record information, such as blood tests, MRI reports, and office visit notes, has been a significant expansion of technology in medicine. This digitization of medical information enables and positions patients to take a leading role in managing their care.  What used to be multiple sheets of paper in a large file folder is now a click away at any time.  Despite these benefits, instant access can be overwhelming for both patients and medical providers, especially since patients, in many instances, can receive their test results online before the physician has had the opportunity to review them.

Patients may review the office visit notes or their lab results out of context or misinterpret information, which can lead to anxiety, confusion, and fear.  Clinicians are put in a difficult position when they are not able to suddenly break away from their scheduled office visits to reassure an unscheduled patient about their results and next steps.

Medical providers have tools to assist with identifying sensitive results that need urgent review, and efforts are made to notify anxious patients as soon as possible.  However, a patient can be proactive in scheduling a follow-up visit ahead of time to review results with their provider specifically.  This can help patients avoid the stress of suddenly trying to get a hold of their doctor when dealing with unclear or concerning results.  Normal test results often don’t require explanation, but allowing several days for your provider to work through hundreds of test results before sending messages requesting clarification will help medical professionals prioritize their responses to test results based on medical urgency.

Technological improvements such as online messaging and video/telephone appointments have made access to care much easier both for patients and clinicians.  Telephone and video visits have been especially beneficial for patients who are elderly, disabled, or do not have access to transportation.  However, the increase — and ease of — access has created much higher demand for physician time both during and outside of the office visit.  Test results, patient messages, insurance forms, emails, and medication requests are all pouring in while providers conduct their daily scheduled appointments.  Thus, very little time is left in the day for a clinician to respond to every email, fill out every form, and review every lab result when they are responsible for 1,800 or more patients.

This situation, unfortunately, creates a perceived delay in response in a culture where an instant response is expected from messaging and phone calls.  But the reality is that the medical provider is constantly playing catch up to thousands of inquiries due to the around-the-clock online access patients now have.

Patients can make the most of their experience and their physician’s time by taking the time to learn their physician’s communication preferences.  Despite the multiple modalities of access (telephone, email, video, in-person), a medical provider will have a preferred method of communication with their patients.  Some may ask their patients to make an appointment to explain a complex topic, instead of responding to multiple messages. Others may prefer to communicate via phone call if they have to deliver bad news.

There will likely be more medical providers who prefer to communicate only through email or video appointments as remote work becomes more common. If a patient’s communication preferences align with their physician’s preferences, it will create a stronger patient-doctor relationship and foster more effective and impactful communication.

The expansion of technology in medicine has fostered better collaboration, communication, and education between patients and their medical professionals.  Combining electronic resources with rapport, mutual respect, and trust for providers will help patients navigate this new landscape of healthcare.

About the Author  

Dr. Adia Scrubb, MD, MPP, is a Board-Certified Family Medicine Physician currently practicing in Solano County.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

After Years of Working Remotely, Oakland Requires All City Employees to Return to Office by April 7

City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week. These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

Published

1 year ago

February 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Oakland City Hall. File photo.

By Post Staff

The City Oakland is requiring all employees to return to the office, thereby ending the telecommuting policy established during the pandemic that has left some City Hall departments understaffed.

City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week.

These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

The administration may still grant the right to work remotely on a case-by-case basis.

In his memo to city unions, Johnson said former President Joe Biden had declared an end to the pandemic in September 2022, and that since then, “We have collectively moved into newer, safer health conditions.”

Johnson said “multiple departments” already have all their staff back in the office or workplace.

The City’s COVID-era policy, enacted in September 2021, was designed to reduce the spread of the debilitating and potentially fatal virus.

Many cities and companies across the country are now ending their pandemic-related remote work policies. Locally, mayoral candidate Loren Taylor in a press conference made the policy a central issue in his campaign for mayor.

City Hall reopened for in-person meetings two years ago, and the city’s decision to end remote work occurred before Taylor’s press conference.

At an endorsement meeting last Saturday of the John George Democratic Club, mayoral candidate Barbara Lee said she agreed that city workers should return to the job.

At the same time, she said, the city should allow employees time to readjust their lives, which were disrupted by the pandemic, and should recognize individual needs, taking care to maintain staff morale.

The John George club endorsed Lee for Mayor and Charlene Wang for City Council representative for District 2. The club also voted to take no position on the sales tax measure that will be on the April 15 ballot.

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Authorities Warn: There’s a COVID Surge in California

According to data estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the coronavirus in California’s wastewater has spiked for eight consecutive weeks. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits have also increased since the rise of the new subvariants. Over the last month, Los Angeles County experienced an average of 389 hospital patients per day that tested positive for the coronavirus. The FLiRT subvariants such as KP.3.1.1. Made up over 2% of coronavirus samples nationwide, an increase of more than 7% last month.

Published

2 years ago

August 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo provided by California Black Media.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

California is experiencing a COVID-19 surge this summer, experts warn, as numbers of infections increased for the third month this year.

State public health authorities attribute the summer COVID surge to more infectious subvariants that have emerged as the coronavirus evolves.

Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, stated that subvariants of COVID-19 called FLiRT increased in recent months, particularly one named KP.3.1.1 that has become the most common strain in the country.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at UC San Francisco, said that the subvariant KP.3.1.1 seems most adept at transmission.

“The subvariant is the one that people think will continue to take over, not only in the United States, but … around the world,” Chin-Hong said.

The majority of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 complained of a sore throat and a heavy cough. Risk factors that can increase the illness include age, underlying health issues, and vaccine dosage.

Health experts stated that the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has increased in Northern California. However, people are having a hard time getting the vaccine due to the increasing number of cases.