COVID-19

WASHINGTON Due to the nation’s deep recession, states experienced rapid growth in their Medicaid enrollment and spending last year and expect additional growth, though at a slower pace, in fiscal year 2011, according to a survey of state Medicaid officials in all 50 states released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.

WASHINGTON A coalition of lobbying groups urged the Senate on Monday to review and pass pending food safety legislation before November elections.

The Food Marketing Institute, which backed the bipartisan bill, issued a statement Monday that the organization was "disappointed" that the Senate elected not to review the Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act before the midterm elections. The bill passed in the House of Representatives last year.

MILWAUKEE Concerns about last year's H1N1 virus have had an impact on Americans' hand-washing habits, according to a national survey conducted by Bradley Corp.

In Bradley's second Healthy Hand Washing survey, 50% of the 1,053 respondents said they "wash their hands more thoroughly or longer or more frequently" in public restrooms as a result of the H1N1 virus — that's up from 45% in 2009 when the same question was asked.

SANTA MARIA, Calif. A new hand sanitizer from Hardy Diagnostics has made its market debut.

AloeSafe contains aloe vera, vitamin E and lavender oil and is free of glycerin, artificial colors, propylene glycol and parabens, Hardy Diagnostics said. It does not cause drying, and leaves the hands feeling soft and silky, while showing a 99.9% kill rate of potentially infectious bacteria.