The 2025 government shutdown is over, but its impact on public health will not disappear overnight. Even though funding has resumed, the interruption disrupted critical functions, and rebuilding will require some work.

Loneliness isn’t just a feeling, it is also a major public health crisis within the walls of many long-term care facilities around the world. For many older adults of color, it is a reflection of lifelong inequities that don’t disappear with age. Isolation lives behind the sterile walls of assisted living centers and nursing homes, quietly shaping who gets heard, and who gets forgotten.