Nicole Leonard
Health ReporterNicole Leonard joined Connecticut Public Radio to cover health care after several years of reporting for newspapers. In her native state of New Jersey, she covered medical and behavioral health care, as well as arts and culture, for The Press of Atlantic City. Her work on stories about domestic violence and childhood food insecurity won awards from the New Jersey Press Association.
While an undergraduate journalism student at Boston University, Nicole was a reporter for The Daily Free Press and a radio host at WTBU. As an intern, her work has also appeared in The Boston Globe and Boston.com. In her downtime, she watches way too many movies and television shows, which complicates her goal to become a better runner.
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Connecticut’s daily test positivity rate has dropped to 13.29%, according to new data from the Department of Public Health. -
The academic partnership will involve Hartford HealthCare’s investment of $5 million over the next five years into Quinnipiac University's medicine, nursing and health sciences programs. -
As Connecticut residents begin to diagnose themselves more frequently, public health experts predict that the at-home tests may one day be incorporated into how the state monitors future outbreaks and transmission. But for now, most at-home or self-test positive results go undocumented. -
Health experts say coronavirus variants like omicron and delta continue to drive the latest surge of cases and hospitalizations, although they remain optimistic that the peak of this wave of the pandemic is near. -
For those who have been able to get their hands on at-home COVID-19 tests, experts provide some guidance on how they can be used in a smart and effective way. -
In order to receive settlement funds, towns and cities need to officially sign on to the $26 billion deal by Jan. 2. Local officials have been working to persuade 12 Connecticut municipalities that have yet to do so. -
Health care advocates in New Haven have joined activists in other cities and countries in calling on highly developed nations, including the United States, and pharmaceutical companies to make COVID-19 vaccines more accessible to underserved nations. -
Windham Hospital and its owner, Hartford HealthCare, petitioned the state Office of Health Strategy during a regulatory hearing Wednesday to permanently close the hospital's labor and delivery services. -
Connecticut has some of the highest overall COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country, but children of color and those in lower-income families have a higher risk of becoming ill from the virus due to lagging immunizations. -
Connecticut begins vaccinating children 5 to 11 years old for COVID-19 after final CDC authorizationAn advisory panel of independent experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for younger children Tuesday afternoon after reviewing safety and efficacy data.