Kaiser Lawsuit, Expired Test Kits, Long-term COVID – NBC Bay Area
Kaiser Permanente faces lawsuit for allegedly charging patients for taking COVID tests
Kaiser Permanente is facing a lawsuit for allegedly charging patients for getting tested for COVID-19. The basis of the lawsuit is a charge of $310 for a flu test that apparently wasn’t requested by the patient.
“We have filed a class action lawsuit that was filed last week in Alameda County Superior Court,” said attorney Brian Devine.
In a statement, Kaiser wrote in part that it’s their policy not to charge for COVID testing, including a multiplex COVID test, adding they are reviewing their member’s allegations and will fix it if they identify a technical error.
See the full story from NBC Bay Area’s Stephanie Magallon.
San Mateo County’s COVID-19 level drops
San Mateo County has moved to the “low” or “green” COVID-19 community level this week, which means case rates and hospitalizations in the county are on the downswing.
The move to the lower tier, which was made Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, does not mean the end of the pandemic for the county.
Overall, according to county health officials, COVID-19 cases, fueled by the Omicron variant, remain high compared with previous periods and local health officials continue to recommend caution.
Learn more on how other Bay Area counties are doing here.
A closer look: Long-term COVID study
NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai spoke to Dr. Peter Chin-Hong about the new study suggesting that getting COVID increases our risk of developing certain brain disorders.
Watch their full conversation from NBC Bay Area News Tonight here.
Is your at-home COVID test expired? Here’s how to check
For those experiencing COVID symptoms or who have been exposed to the virus, at-home COVID test kits are an easy way to detect negative or positive COVID cases. However, all at-home COVID tests, including the free ones sent out from the federal government by the United States Postal Service, are only good to use through a certain date.
According to the FDA, all at-home COVID tests, including the free ones sent by the USPS, have a specific shelf-life and are only good to use through a certain date.
Here’s how to tell if your test could be expired.
Moderna asks FDA to authorize its updated COVID booster shot
Moderna said Tuesday it had asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize an updated version of its COVID booster shot that targets the highly contagious BA.5 omicron subvariant.
The drugmaker’s application to the FDA, which covers adults ages 18 and older, follows a similar request from Pfizer-BioNTech on Monday. Pfizer is seeking authorization for everyone 12 and older.
For more on this story, go to NBC News.
New COVID booster targeting Omicron strains in the works
A new COVID shot could be ready in just weeks as Pfizer has asked the FDA to approve a combo booster that targets omicron subvariants, and Moderna is not far behind.
