The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) most current occupational data put medical assistant (MA) employment in the U.S. at over 710,000 as of May 2020. Per BLS data, nearly 25,500 medical assistants were employed in the five-state Rocky Mountain region at that time. In general, the region is a marginally good one for medical assistant pay based on BLS data. Colorado, the 11th best state in the nation for medical assistant annual mean wage levels, was home to about 47% of the region's MAs. In all, about 53% of the region's medical assistants lived in a state where the annual mean wage level for MAs exceeded the national average. A closer examination of BLS data reveals the following state-level details about medical assistant pay in the Rocky Mountain region:
Medical Assistant Pay in the Rocky Mountain Region
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
CO
12,010
$39,040
11th
ID
3,200
$36,760
23rd
MT
1,410
$36,980
22nd
UT
7,990
$35,170
29th
WY
870
$35,660
28th
U.S.
710,200
$36,930
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(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
The most current occupational employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) put the number of family medicine physicians employed in the United States at more than 98,000 as of May 2020. More than 23,500 family medicine physicians were employed at that time in the twelve-state Southeast region of the country. BLS data reveals the region to have much disparity in family physician pay. Three states in the region ranked among the top third of all states for family medicine physician annual mean wages, while at the same time six other Southeastern states ranked among the bottom third of states on the same metric. Overall, however, the region was a subpar one for family physician pay as the data showed about 69% of the region's practitioners lived in a state where the annual mean wage for family medicine physicians was below the national average. A closer examination of May 2020 data from the BLS details the following about family medicine physician pay in the Southeast:
Family Medicine Physician Pay in the Southeast
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
AL
780
$227,770
13th
AR
1,360
$209,370
34th
FL
8,510
$204,390
40th
GA
1,780
$232,190
10th
KY
1,010
$180,700
48th
LA
360
$204,500
39th
MS
870
$208,610
35th
NC
1,360
$223,190
17th
SC
2,420
$216,590
25th
TN
1,010
$216,170
26th
VA
3,700
$207,450
36th
WV
390
$173,790
50th
U.S.
98,590
$214,370
-------
(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
There were almost 96,000 general dentists at work in the U.S. as of May 2020 according to the latest occupational statistical information published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Just over 12,500 general dentists were employed in the four-state Southwestern U.S. For general dentists, on the whole the region was a good one in terms of pay, as about 95% of the region's practitioners lived in a state where the general dentist annual mean wage level topped the national average. Further examination of May 2020 BLS data reveals the following details about general dentist pay in the Southwestern U.S.:
After Miscarriages, Workers Have Few Guarantees for Time Off or Job-Based Help
Bryce Covert
For three years, Rachel Makkar said, she thrived in her job as a broker and asset manager at J&B Building Co. in Colorado. She excelled at her work — she said her performance reviews noted that — and she thought it was “the best place I’ve ever worked.”
That changed in August. After trying for “a really long time” to conceive a second child, she suffered an early miscarriage at home one weekend. She couldn’t go to work that Monday. “I was really traumatized,” she said. “That entire first week was like a heightened level of emotion that I hadn’t really been through before.” She also had a doctor’s appointment to ensure she wasn’t experiencing an ectopic pregnancy, which would have required immediate surgery.
She had emailed her bosses, informing them of the miscarriage and her need to take Monday off, which she had enough paid leave to cover. Because of the pandemic, she had been working from home several days a week and opted to do that again Tuesday because she was still bleeding and her face was “so puffy from crying,” she said. She returned to the office, as scheduled, on Wednesday, she said, and then, given that her managers were out of the office, worked from home the rest of the week.
The following week, 10 days after her miscarriage, one of the company owners called her and fired her, allegedly for working from home repeatedly, even though others at the firm had similar hybrid schedules, according to Makkar. She was “shocked.”
When Makkar reminded him that she had worked from home because of her miscarriage, she said he responded, “When my wife had a miscarriage in the beginning of our marriage, she only took a half a day off work.”
Getting fired right after her miscarriage “was really, really awful,” she said through tears. “You’re already so devastated, and it’s just another blow.”
Makker filed a complaint based on her allegations against J&B with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, accusing the company of gender and pregnancy discrimination for her firing, in violation of Colorado state laws. “This shouldn’t have to happen to other women,” she said.
Makkar’s lawyer, David E. Gottlieb, said they “intend to file a lawsuit in the coming months in Colorado state court.”
A lawyer for J&B said its policy is not to comment on ongoing litigation and declined to provide any responses the company may have filed with the state. “We’re just confident that once the facts are reviewed the company will be vindicated,” he said.
Miscarriage, which occurs in about a quarter of all pregnancies, is the most common form of loss of a pregnancy. And yet there are no national laws that protect people when they need time off from work to deal with the loss.
The physical needs of someone who experiences a miscarriage vary greatly. Within the first week or two, symptoms may resemble a heavy menstrual period with cramping and some pain. The later in the pregnancy that a miscarriage occurs, the more likely there will be significant bleeding, “to the point where it leads to anemia in some cases,” said Dr. Wael Salem, a reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist with CCRM San Francisco. Some people have such heavy contractions that they need pain management, he added. Miscarriages in the second trimester or later may require procedures needing hospital admission. The aftereffects are often unpredictable and can last for weeks or months.
“Miscarriage is not a one-and-done thing at all,” Salem said. “It drags on physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
The emotional aspect “can be a very traumatic experience,” noted Maria Brann, a professor of communications studies at Indiana University who has studied miscarriage for a decade. Some people blame themselves even though the vast majority of early miscarriages are due to chromosomal abnormalities beyond people’s control. Compounding the grief is the lack of established rituals that accompany other losses, as well as a stigma some people attach to miscarriage.
In the wake of such trauma, “it’s very difficult to focus,” Brann said. “An individual is probably not going to be as productive.”
“It is really important that we encourage women to take care of themselves,” Brann said. Otherwise, the grief won’t be processed and it can “cause even greater mental anguish later on.”
But many workers find it difficult to get time off from work. The federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act prohibits employers from treating workers who are pregnant, give birth, or have related medical conditions — including miscarriage — worse than comparable co-workers. Courts, however, have interpreted that law differently, even after a 2015 Supreme Court decision decided in favor of a plaintiff who claimed pregnancy discrimination. Judges have dismissed two-thirds of cases in the aftermath, according to a review by A Better Balance, a national legal nonprofit promoting workplace rights.
Thirty states and five localities — including Colorado — have enacted laws that require employers to offer workers accommodations related to pregnancy, which can include time off to recover from a miscarriage. But outside those states, workers are protected only by the pregnancy act or the Americans with Disabilities Act, if a miscarriage is severe enough to substantially limit a “life activity.”
Currently, 13 states, 20 cities, and four counties, also including Colorado, have enacted laws requiring some employers to provide paid sick leave to workers for medical needs, such as for the physical and mental health impacts of miscarriage. They don’t require employees to say why they need the time off, other than perhaps producing a doctor’s note.
“It’s not putting the onus on the worker to have to reveal something that might be very personal and very sensitive,” said Sarah Brafman, a senior policy counsel at A Better Balance.
Nine states and the District of Columbia have paid family leave programs, which can be used for more serious complications resulting from miscarriage. Elsewhere workers can take unpaid leave through the Family and Medical Leave Act if they qualify.
To fill the gaps, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) introduced legislation that would ensure three days of paid leave for miscarriage and other fertility challenges. Democrats have also put forward federal legislation to guarantee paid sick leave, and they’ve included paid family leave in President Joe Biden’s social spending plan, although that provision is meeting stiff opposition from some lawmakers and the bill is languishing in Congress.
Makkar is living with the repercussions of her miscarriage. “It’s all so traumatizing still,” she said. She’s trying to find a new job, but the search is complicated. She’s “terrified of getting myself in this situation again,” she said, because she wants to have more children. “I don’t want to be somewhere that that’s not going to be supported.”
In its most recent release of occupational statistical data, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that more than 257,000 Americans were working as EMTs (emergency medical technicians) and paramedics as of May 2020. The six-state Far Western U.S. accounted for a bit less than 31,500 of those EMT and paramedic jobs. BLS data revealed the Far West to be the best region in the nation for EMT and paramedic pay, as every state in the region had an annual mean wage level for EMTs and paramedics that exceeded the national average. Moreover, four states in the region ranked among the top five states in the nation for EMT and paramedic annual mean wages. A closer examination of May 2020 BLS data shows the following about EMT and paramedic pay in the Far Western U.S.:
EMT and Paramedic Pay in the U.S. Far West
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
AK
600
$50,030
4th
CA
22,690
$48,280
5th
HI
500
$58,580
1st
NV
1,960
$42,040
17th
OR
1,990
$43,580
14th
WA
3,730
$56,910
2nd
U.S.
257,700
$40,370
-------
(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
Vaccine Wars Ignite in California as Lawmakers Seek Stronger Laws
Angela Hart
SACRAMENTO — California is poised to become the front line of America’s vaccination wars.
State lawmakers are drafting the toughest covid-19 vaccine legislation in the country, backed by a new pro-vaccine lobbying force promising to counter anti-vaccine activists who have threatened government officials and shut down public meetings across the state. Legislators want to require most Californians to get the shots — not just schoolchildren and health care workers — and eliminate the exemptions that would allow many people to get out of them.
But vaccine opponents say Democratic-led efforts to adopt stricter vaccine requirements are only helping propel their movement, handing them unparalleled momentum to build their ranks both in California and nationally.
Vaccine opponents are focusing their ire on Democratic state Sen. Richard Pan of Sacramento, a pediatrician and the driving force behind three state vaccination laws passed since 2012. Prompted by outbreaks of pertussis and measles, the laws make it harder for schoolchildren to get out of childhood vaccinations.
“We have to be willing to take a stand,” said Pan, who is developing legislation to crack down on covid vaccine exemptions. “We need to be able to respond to this pandemic and future pandemics, but there is this asymmetrical warfare going on right now, and we’re seeing the anti-vaccine movement trafficking in misinformation, threats, and violence.”
The coming fight in California foreshadows looming vaccine battles across the country. President Joe Biden and Democratic governors are pressing vaccination as the most crucial public health measure for combating the coronavirus pandemic — while some prominent Republican governors cast doubt on the safety and value of vaccines, inciting anti-vaccination activists.
In California, the ultimate decision on toughening state vaccination laws will fall to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is facing reelection in November after defeating a recall attempt last year.
Newsom has played to both sides recently. He has pushed tough vaccine mandates for groups such as health care workers, children, and teachers. But in nearly every pandemic-related press conference since October and on national TV, he has also reassured the public that they can receive medical, religious, and personal belief exemptions from his mandates.
“He’s trying to be comforting and non-confrontational, but it sends a message that if you don’t want to get the vaccine, don’t get it,” said Catherine Flores Martin, executive director of the California Immunization Coalition. “Gov. Newsom struggles with this — he’s trying to have it both ways.”
Pushing Mandates ‘Aggressively’
Anti-vaccine demonstrations dominated Sacramento during California’s last big vaccination fight, in 2019. In weekly rallies outside the Capitol, hundreds of activists railed against lawmakers, toting a portrait of Pan’s face splattered in red. They shouted down lawmakers in legislative hearings and at one point hurled menstrual blood at state senators.
The fight that year was over Pan’s bill to crack down on bogus medical exemptions for common childhood vaccinations against measles, polio, and other infectious diseases, which are required to attend in-person public and private school in California. Four years earlier, he spearheaded a law to ban personal belief exemptions for childhood vaccines.
But under state law, personal belief exemptions must be allowed for any newly required childhood vaccine unless the legislature passes a new law banning them.
Newsom issued a directive in October 2021 adding covid vaccines to the list of required childhood immunizations — once federal officials fully authorize them for children. But because the legislature has not yet acted, Californians will be able to opt out by claiming the vaccines violate personal beliefs.
Pan and other Democratic lawmakers want to close that loophole this year, and potentially eliminate religious exemptions that health care workers can claim. They’re also considering requiring a broad swath of Californians to get covid vaccines to participate in much of daily life.
Lawmakers are still hashing out details but are expected to propose legislation requiring covid vaccines for people to be in workplaces, schools, and public venues like malls, museums, and restaurants — without allowing them to avoid the shots through exemptions. Pan, who is leaving the legislature after this year because of term limits, may also push legislation to hold tech companies more accountable for spreading misinformation on social media platforms.
“Do you have the right to be safe at school? Do people deserve to be safe at work? Are businesses responsible for creating an environment that won’t injure or harm you? This has to be part of the conversation,” said Pan, who was shoved by a protester near the Capitol in 2019.
Last year, Buffy Wicks, a Democratic Assembly member from Oakland, and Evan Low, a Democratic Assembly member from Campbell, tried but failed to muscle through legislation establishing covid vaccine mandates for workers and businesses. But the ongoing challenges of the pandemic have “reenergized” Democratic lawmakers this year, said state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who is carrying legislation to lower the age at which someone can consent to a vaccine without parental permission from 18 to 12.
“It’s important that we continue to push for vaccine mandates the most aggressively we possibly can,” said Wicks, who faced death threats over her vaccine legislation last year. “We can’t let ourselves be held hostage by these right-wing conspiracy theorists who are perpetrating hate and violence.”
‘The Firestorm Is Here’
Anti-vaccine activists acknowledge they may not succeed at defeating new legislation but welcome state lawmakers’ attempts to impose stricter rules — they argue it helps them build a larger movement in California, on social media, and in other states.
“What they don’t realize is the point of these rallies and protests is to bring more people into the fold, from all around the country,” said Stefanie Fetzer, a chief organizer of the 2019 anti-vaccination demonstrations at the state Capitol. “Senator Pan galvanized a larger anti-vax movement that wouldn’t have happened without him.”
Scientists and health officials blame California’s stagnating covid vaccination rate largely on the anti-vaccine movement, which is peddling misinformation and lies. The share of Californians who are considered fully vaccinated is 69%, and booster shots are lagging — even though the state and local governments have plowed tens of millions of dollars into vaccination campaigns.
“What you see now is this movement being taken over by Republicans and this libertarian right-wing notion of individual rights and ‘get government off my back.’ They’re believing and spreading this misinformation even though it’s disproven,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “Trying to stop it is like trying to stop Niagara Falls.”
Vaccine opponents have also shut down government meetings and lobbed violent threats at officials backing mandates.
Joshua Coleman, who organized hundreds of protesters in 2019 under his group V Is for Vaccine, has held rallies in Sacramento this year, again targeting Pan with a 10-foot poster and his image smeared in red.
“There will be constant pressure,” Coleman said. “This is happening more and more all over the country, but we are building a movement out of California. Being forced to take a vaccine in order to participate in society is absolutely totalitarian.”
Vaccine supporters realize they must fight back and are launching a lobbying campaign, led by political heavyweights from Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to combat vaccine opponents with some of their own tactics.
“The firestorm is here. This is ground warfare that the anti-vax extremists are bringing, and I think we need to be able to match it,” said Crystal Strait, the former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California who is leading the campaign under the group ProtectUS.
Campaign leaders are organizing students, parents, and pro-vaccine activists to counter anti-vaccination demonstrators in cities and counties across California and to debunk misinformation while giving state lawmakers political cover to enact tougher laws.
“We need to draw a really bold, bright line and let these extremists know that we will not be silent,” Strait said.
The campaign emerged quietly last year, sponsoring a new law to limit protests outside vaccination clinics — which has since been blocked in court — and will launch ground-game political efforts this year.
“The science is on our side, and there’s a silent majority on our side, but we’re being drowned out in public forums where these decisions are being made,” said Rose Kapolczynski, a longtime political consultant to former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is working on the campaign. “We’re going to activate the pro-vaccine majority when policies are being considered at the state and local levels.”
Whither Newsom?
Newsom is also wading into the fray.
His administration has plowed $145 million into a campaign to increase covid vaccinations and fight misinformation, in part by monitoring social media posts and flagging vaccine myths to social media companies. The administration is also developing a pro-vaccine counternarrative based on the misinformation.
“We want to be proactive about what the truth is and put it out there while debunking misinformation,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state’s Health and Human Services Agency.
More than half a dozen public health experts interviewed for this story said that vaccine mandates work and that Newsom can boost the state’s faltering vaccination rates by eliminating exemptions.
But since Newsom announced the covid vaccine mandate for schoolchildren, he has publicly promoted exemptions.
“The mandate we put in place for the state of California includes personal exemptions,” Newsom said during an appearance on “Good Morning America” in December. “There’s plenty of latitude for families to make decisions.”
Newsom has declined to say whether he would support legislation banning exemptions but said he’d work with lawmakers. “We can discuss the merits and demerits” of allowing exemptions, Newsom said this month. “We did what we felt was appropriate.”
Barbara Ferrer, the public health director for Los Angeles County, which has recorded nearly 28,000 covid deaths, more than a third of the state’s total, called on Newsom and state lawmakers to adopt mandates without exemptions.
“If you allow that, you may as well not have a vaccine mandate,” she said. “If you don’t want your child to get vaccinated, then your child doesn’t have to go to school. And you don’t have to go to a restaurant. I’m not trying to be mean to people. I’m just saying there are some things you shouldn’t be able to do if you’re not vaccinated.”
The most current occupational statistical data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that, as of May 2020, nearly 221,000 physical therapists (PTs) were working in the United States. Just over 16,000 physical therapists were employed in the seven-state Great Plains region at that time. The Great Plains region was one of the weakest in the nation for PT pay, as the annual mean wage for physical therapists was below the national average in six of the seven states in the region. Moreover, four Great Plains states ranked among the ten states with the lowest annual mean wage levels in the nation for PTs. A closer examination of BLS data from May 2020 reveals the following state-level details about physical therapist pay in the Great Plains region:
Physical Therapist Pay in the Great Plains Region
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
IA
2,150
$83,640
47th
KS
2,200
$91,850
17th
MN
4,360
$86,020
38th
MO
4,220
$84,660
43rd
NE
1,620
$86,850
34th
ND
640
$84,880
42nd
SD
860
$78,850
51st
U.S.
220,870
$91,680
-------
(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
According to the most current occupational employment data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as of May 2020 there were over 315,000 pharmacists working in the United States. More than 51,000 of those employed as pharmacists in the U.S. worked in the Mid-Eastern region, which includes the District of Columbia and five states. The Mid-Eastern U.S. is a relatively weak region in terms of pharmacist pay. While Delaware ranked among the top ten states in the nation for pharmacist annual mean wages, BLS data indicated that 98% of pharmacists employed in the Mid-East region lived in a state where pharmacist annual mean wages ran below the national average. A state-level look at BLS data from May 2020 reveals the following details about pharmacist pay in the Mid-Eastern U.S.:
Pharmacist Pay in the Mid-Eastern U.S.
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
DC
1,070
$123,450
25th
DE
840
$131,550
6th
MD
5,180
$120,920
41st
NJ
9,830
$124,690
20th
NY
19,460
$121,150
35th
PA
14,900
$121,230
34th
U.S.
315,470
$125,460
-------
(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
Patient, Beware: Some States Still Pushing Ineffective Covid Antibody Treatments
JoNel Aleccia, Kaiser Health News
As the omicron variant completes its sweep across the U.S., states with scarce supplies of monoclonal antibody therapies continue to use two treatments that federal health officials warn no longer work against the highly contagious version of the virus that causes covid-19. The antibody treatment now most recommended is sotrovimab from GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology, and it’s in short supply.
Use of the newly ineffective treatments produced by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly and Co. is highest in a dozen states. They include several Southern states with some of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, but also California, which ranks in the nation’s top 20 for fully vaccinated residents, a KHN analysis of federal data shows. Many hospitals and clinics are still infusing the costly treatments — often charging hundreds of dollars a session — that public health officials now say are almost certainly useless.
That’s because of the near-total dominance of omicron, which accounted for 99.5% of new covid infections in the U.S. during the week that ended Jan. 15, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That point was underscored this week by updated guidelines from the National Institutes of Health that now recommend sotrovimab as the primary monoclonal treatment for the disease.
Unless providers are certain they are still treating patients infected with the delta variant, they shouldn’t use the others, said Dr. Mark McClellan, director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, who is also a former commissioner of the FDA and former administrator of CMS. And the delta variant is increasingly rare, accounting for 3% of cases in Louisiana, 7% in California, and 10% in Ohio, as examples.
“There’s not a medical justification based on the evidence on the Regeneron and Lilly products,” McClellan said.
Determining which patients are infected with the delta vs. omicron variant is complicated, said Dr. Christian Ramers, chief of population health and an infectious disease specialist at Family Health Centers of San Diego.
His clinic is one of the few sites in the nation using laboratory screening of positive PCR covid tests that can tell whether patients are infected with delta vs. omicron — and then treating them accordingly. “Otherwise, you’re giving this false sense of security to a patient that they’re getting treatment,” Ramers said. “I don’t think it is ethical, and it goes against the principle of doing no harm.”
Overall, U.S. hospitals used about 72,000 doses of the Regeneron and Lilly monoclonal antibody therapies from Jan. 5 through Jan. 18, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health and Human Services. Data regarding hospital-level use of sotrovimab, which became available more recently than the other products, is not yet available on the HHS site.
By comparison, hospitals used about 153,000 courses of the Regeneron and Lilly treatments from Dec. 22 through Jan. 4. They used about 169,000 courses from Aug. 26 through Sept. 8, near the height of the delta surge.
On Jan. 19, hospitals still had about 295,000 doses of the Regeneron and Lilly treatments on hand.
Nationwide, the federal government is distributing more than 50,000 courses of sotrovimab per week, though it remains in short supply. The Biden administration has agreed to buy about 1 million doses, including about 600,000 promised by March, GSK officials said.
Respectively, Michigan, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Louisiana, California, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Ohio, New York, and Mississippi used the most courses of the Regeneron and Lilly treatments from Jan. 5 through Jan. 18, KHN’s analysis showed.
In Florida, which used more than 5,200 courses of the outdated treatments during that two-week period, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he is not convinced that the Regeneron and Lilly products don’t work against omicron. In Florida, omicron accounted for 97% of cases as of Jan. 20; delta accounted for 3%.
“We have had practitioners give both of those to people with omicron who said the symptoms got resolved,” he said in a Jan. 5 speech provided by his spokesperson, Christina Pushaw.
Federal health officials managing allocation of the monoclonal antibody therapies paused shipments of the Regeneron and Lilly treatments on Dec. 23, after laboratory tests showed they were less effective against the surging omicron variant than the delta variant. But the Biden administration resumed shipments on Dec. 31, after complaints from DeSantis and some doctors that those therapies could still help people in places where the delta variant persisted.
Regeneron itself has said its antibody treatments are ineffective against the omicron variant. It contains more than 30 mutations in the virus’s spike protein, which makes the variant better at dodging the monoclonal antibody treatments.
“It’s really not justified at this point unless there’s some other underlying secondary gain, political pressure, or perhaps the providers are truly not in touch with the reality of the variant proportions,” Ramers said.
Earlier this month, HHS officials indicated that shipments of the three monoclonal antibody treatments would continue through Jan. 31, despite the growing proportion of omicron cases. A department spokesperson on background said the agency would continue to assess “any impacts to covid-19’s therapeutic allocations.”
Monoclonal antibody treatments are lab-based molecules that mimic the body’s immune response to infection. They are most often given through IV infusion, though some can be delivered with an injection. The federal government has agreed to purchase millions of doses of the Regeneron and Lilly products at a cost of about $2,100 per dose. The medicines are free to consumers, though hospitals and clinics do charge fees for administering the drugs and monitoring patients during the process.
Other treatments expected to be effective against omicron in high-risk, non-hospitalized patients include AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, a long-acting injectable monoclonal antibody for immunocompromised people, and a three-day infusion of Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir, which is approved by the FDA. New oral antiviral pills also are expected to be effective, although they, too, remain in short supply.
Providers in several states that have continued to use the Regeneron and Lilly products have offered varied reasons. Some said they believed delta infections continued to circulate locally; others said they felt desperate to try something.
Officials in Michigan, which used more than 5,800 doses of the Regeneron and Lilly products during the most recent two weeks, and California, which used more than 3,400, have allowed health care providers to use their clinical judgment about which treatment to prescribe.
But in Mississippi, where omicron is rampant and fewer than half of residents have been fully vaccinated, state health officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs called for an end to the use of the treatments.
“We will be recommending that clinicians and physicians do not use these products right now based on the distribution of omicron vs. delta,” he said during a recent press conference.
At Ramers’ clinic in San Diego, care providers have been dispensing scarce doses of the monoclonal antibody treatments only when they’re confident they’ll help. That has meant sending batches of positive PCR tests to a laboratory in nearby Irvine, where they are screened to see whether one of three target genes is not detected, a known marker for an omicron infection.
Patients infected with the delta variant were able to be treated with REGEN-COV, the Regeneron product, preserving sotrovimab for the growing number of omicron cases, said Pauline Lucatero, the clinic’s director of nursing.
“Looking into my patients’ eyes and seeing fear, just fear, all I could tell them is we believe this treatment works and we’re going to do everything we can to save as many people as we can,” she said.
Phillip Reese, an assistant professor of journalism at California State University-Sacramento, contributed to this report.
The most recent occupational employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) put licensed practical nurse (LPN) employment at more than 676,000 as of May 2020. Also known as license vocational nurses (LVNs) in some parts of the country, the LPN profession is one of the biggest healthcare occupations in the United States. As of May 2020, nearly 28,000 LPNs were working in the six-state New England region. The region was home to three states that ranked among the ten best states in the nation for LPN annual mean wage levels, making the New England region one of the best for licensed practical nurse pay. A closer examination of May 2020 BLS statistical data reveals the following about licensed practical nurse pay in New England:
Licensed Practical Nurse Pay in New England
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
CT
7,950
$58,430
7th
MA
14,790
$60,400
3rd
ME
1,070
$48,390
26th
NH
2,070
$56,400
11th
RI
1,120
$59,090
6th
VT
990
$51,240
20th
U.S.
676,440
$50,090
-------
(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) most recent occupational statistical data, there were more than 126,600 occupational therapists (OTs) employed in the United States as of May 2020. About 5,300 occupational therapists were employed at that time in the five-state Rocky Mountain region of the country. BLS data revealed that nearly 2/3rds of occupational therapists in the Rocky Mountain region lived in Colorado, which ranked as a top ten state in the nation for OT annual mean wages. Elsewhere in the region, OTs did not fare as well financially as no other Rocky Mountain state recorded an OT annual mean wage level that topped the national average. Moreover, three states in the region ranked among the bottom third of states for occupational therapist annual mean wage levels. A closer look at the BLS data reveals the following about occupational therapist pay in the Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. as of May 2020:
Occupational Therapist Pay in the Rocky Mountain Region
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
CO
3,380
$91,650
10th
ID
620
$82,180
35th
MT
360
$76,200
47th
UT
730
$84,160
28th
WY
210
$81,560
38th
U.S.
126,610
$87,480
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(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
The latest occupational employment data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed that more than 107,000 people were employed as surgical technologists in the United States as of May 2020. With nearly 16,900 surgical technologists employed, the Great Lakes region accounted for 15.7% of U.S. surgical technologist employment. Per BLS data, the region was a modestly weak one for surgical technologist pay, as only one state, Wisconsin, had an annual mean wage level for surgical technologists that topped the national average. Moreover, more than 23% of the surgical technologists in the region lived in Michigan, where the annual mean wage level was nearly 11% below the national average. From May 2020 BLS data, here is a summary look at surgical technologist pay in the Great Lakes region:
Surgical Technologist Pay in the Great Lakes Region
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
IL
3,750
$50,770
22nd
IN
2,800
$49,380
26th
MI
3,970
$45,910
37th
OH
3,760
$49,280
27th
WI
2,580
$56,910
13th
U.S.
107,400
$51,510
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(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
The most recently released U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) occupational employment dataset indicates that, as of May 2020, over 85,000 massage therapists were employed in the United States. Over 4,100 of those massage therapy jobs were in the seven-state Great Plains region of the country. An examination of BLS data reveals the Great Plains to be a region of much disparity for massage therapist (MT) pay. About 40% of the region's massage therapists were employed in Minnesota or Nebraska, two states that ranked among the top ten in the nation for MT annual mean wages. However, at the same time nearly 57% of massage therapists in the region were employed in one of four Great Plains states that ranked among states in the bottom third nationally for MT annual mean wages. A closer examination of May 2020 BLS data shows us the following about massage therapist pay in the Great Plains region:
Massage Therapist Pay in the Great Plains Region
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
IA
570
$40,720
39th
KS
340
$41,480
37th
MN
1,470
$53,060
10th
MO
1,270
$40,930
38th
NE
180
$55,160
8th
ND
140
$42,890
32nd
SD
150
$32,630
48th
U.S.
85,040
$47,350
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(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic's (BLS) most current occupational employment statistical data reported nearly 148,500 speech language pathologists (SLPs) working in the United States as of May 2020. More than 27,500 of those employed as speech language pathologists in the U.S. resided in the Mid-Eastern U.S., a region which includes five states and the District of Columbia. BLS data reveals the Mid-Eastern U.S. as one of the very best regions of the country for speech language pathologist pay, as the SLP annual mean wage level in the District of Columbia and four states topped the national average. Moreover, two Mid-Eastern states and the District of Columbia ranked among the five best states in the nation for SLP annual mean wages. A closer look at BLS data from May 2020 reveals the following about speech language pathologist pay in the Mid-Eastern U.S. region:
Speech Language Pathologist Pay in the Mid-Eastern U.S.
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
DC
450
$101,920
1st
DE
690
$84,840
12th
MD
2,580
$84,510
13th
NJ
5,020
$100,330
3rd
NY
12,950
$98,010
4th
PA
5,830
$82,270
16th
U.S.
148,450
$83,240
-------
(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
The most current occupational employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) put recreational therapist employment in the United States at more than 20,000 as of May 2020. The six-state New England region only accounted for a bit more than 1,200 of those recreational therapist jobs. BLS data shows the region to be a generally strong one for recreational therapist pay. Per BLS data, more than 90% of the region's recreational therapists lived in one of three New England states that ranked among the ten best states in the nation for recreational therapist annual mean wages. A closer review of May 2020 BLS data reveals the following details about recreational therapist pay in New England:
Recreational Therapist Pay in New England
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
CT
320
$61,570
3rd
MA
800
$52,390
10th
ME
30
$49,180
20th
NH
50
$54,020
8th
RI
N/A
N/A
N/A
VT
40
$43,870
41st
U.S.
20,080
$51,260
-------
(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
The latest occupational employment data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported there being nearly 93,000 physical therapy (PT) assistants at work in the United States as of May 2020. Only about 3,300 of those PT assistants worked in the five-state Rocky Mountain region. BLS data shows the region to be one of the weakest ones nationally for physical therapy assistant pay. No state in the region had an annual mean wage for PT assistants that beat the national average, and two Rocky Mountain states ranked among the ten states in the nation with the lowest annual mean wage level for physical therapy assistants. Diving deeper into BLS data from May 2020 produces the following details about physical therapy assistant pay in the Rocky Mountain region:
Physical Therapy Assistant Pay in the Rocky Mountain Region
State
# Employed
Annual Mean Wages
Wage Rank*
CO
1,360
$55,810
31st
ID
700
$50,080
46th
MT
320
$56,060
30th
UT
720
$52,080
43rd
WY
180
$55,440
32nd
U.S.
92,740
$59,440
-------
(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia
