SEATTLE - Home caregivers in Washington are urging the state to extend - and raise - hazard pay for their essential workforce.

Caregivers have received an additional $2.50 per hour since last May because of increased federal funds that have gone to enhanced Medicaid provider rates.

Tynesha Wilson is a home health-care aide with spina bifida. Wilson doesn't have a car and was using public transportation to get to her clients before the pandemic.

She said she's using her hazard pay for Lyft rides to decrease the risk of transmitting the virus to her clients.

"Transporting myself back and forth every day with just one means of another person transporting me versus being on a bus with, like, hundreds of other people every single day," said Wilson.

Some of the increased federal funds were used to buy Personal Protective Equipment as well.

With more federal money coming from the American Rescue Plan Act passed last month, caregivers want Washington lawmakers to extend hazard pay and increase to at least $4, which is comparable to other essential workers.

Adam Glickman is secretary- treasurer for Service Employees International Union 775, which represents home caregivers in Washington. He said it's a low-wage workforce and hazard pay will help retain and recruit workers at a crucial time.

"These workers are continuing to make a choice to risk their own health and their families' health to go out and help seniors and people with disabilities be safe and healthy in their own homes," said Glickman.

Wilson said caregivers brought to people's attention how essential they've been during the pandemic.

"It wasn't just the crisis," said Wilson. "It was the crisis and us also pushing, saying we need to be able to get to our clients. We need to be able to feed our families. We need the money, and the money's there so why not help us?"

SEIU 775 wants lawmakers to extend hazard pay before the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn on April 25.

Excessive screen time can cause a host of negative side effects in kids, but as some Indiana schools go virtual because of the omicron variant, prolonged interaction with technology can be unavoidable.

Dr. Derek Sprunger, a professor of clinical ophthalmology in the Indiana University School of Medicine's Ophthalmology Department, said parents still can still use several methods to moderate their kids' screen time. He advised limiting kids' exposure to non-education-related technology.

"I don't say eliminate, but cut back," he said, "and there's no exact amount of time that you should or shouldn't be doing this, but if you're doing a lot through school, more than typical, cut back on your outside-of-school time, like gaming and things like that."

Sprunger said excessive screen time can cause several short-term health effects, including eye fatigue, blurred vision and headaches. According to the Mayo Clinic, it also can lead to irregular sleep and impaired academic performance.

In addition to those side effects, Sprunger added that overusing technology also can advance long-term nearsightedness.

"This is a more permanent thing," he said. "The things we talked about earlier, if you cut usage of your screen time, that will reverse. Once you induce nearsightedness, that can be a more permanent problem."

Dr. Scott Edmonds, chief eye-care officer at United Healthcare, recommended the "20-20-20" rule, breaking up screen time to limit eye strain: For every 20 minutes folks spend staring at a computer, he said, they should take 20 minutes to observe something at least 20 feet away.

"That break takes you away from the blue light, lets your pupil go to its normal size, lets your muscles in your eye relax, lets your focusing muscle relax," he said. "All that, every 20 minutes, will really help you be more comfortable with screen time."

In a September report from the Pew Research Center, about 70% of parents said their children are spending more time in front of screens than they did pre-pandemic.

More than 2.5 million Americans stutter at some point in their lives, and a Michigan researcher is among those learning more about the genetics of stuttering.

There is no known cure for it, but experts say newly identified genes associated with stuttering can help them find out if there are links to other conditions or possible treatments.

Shelly Jo Kraft, who directs the Behavior, Speech and Genetics lab at Wayne State University, said the new genes are helping researchers learn more about the factors that contribute to stuttering, or protect people from risk.

"We've known stuttering is inherited for a long time," she said, "but there's been a lot of community misinformation about stuttering, a lot of stigma, a lot of misconception about why someone stutters."

She said having more information about how the genes operate that lead people to stutter can help push back against those misconceptions - to show that stuttering isn't a personality trait, or caused by a traumatic event.

In addition to learning more about the genetics of stuttering, Kraft said, the research is showing that the condition is much more prevalent than once thought. At least 5% to 6% of children and 1% of adults experience stuttering, but she said that may be an undercount.

"A lot of children do stutter for a transient amount of time during childhood," she said, "and with the help of therapy, with the help of their parents and natural things that parents do in response to stuttering, the stuttering goes away."

Kraft, who has collected DNA samples from roughly 1,800 people who stutter from 250 families globally, has partnered with a research lab at Vanderbilt University to expand their reach to a worldwide repository of DNA information.

Statistics show thanks to the pandemic, Americans are now glued to their digital devices an average of 13 hours a day, up from 7 or 8 hours a day before COVID.

Exposure to blue light from screens is taking a toll on our eyes. Blue light is part of the UV spectrum and can damage your retina.

Helen Macias, an optician at Dynamic Eye Care in North Las Vegas, said they are seeing a lot more customers who complain of eye pain in the past year.

"Right now, we're experiencing a lot of children, teachers and others who are now conducting business online," Macias explained. "People are now experiencing the strain on the eyes, staring at the screen. It can lead to macular degeneration."

People with light-colored eyes or a family history of macular degeneration are at higher risk. Blue light is present in sunlight but the bulk of people's exposure comes through their cell phones, tablets, certain smart TVs and high-end video games.

Dr. Scott Edmonds, chief eye care officer for United HealthCare, recommended people follow the 20-20-20 rule: For every 20 minutes of screen time, take 20 seconds to stare at something in the distance at least 20 feet away.

"That break takes you away from the blue light, lets your pupil go to its normal size, lets your muscles in your eye relax, lets your focusing muscle relax," Edmonds emphasized. "All that every 20 minutes will really help you be more comfortable with screen time."

People can purchase lenses for their eyeglasses or certain laptops to filter out blue light, and they can use the "night mode" feature on their cell phones to cut down on exposure.