CDC Curtails Bird Flu Updates, Making It Harder To Spot State Outbreaks
The U.S. ended its emergency designation for bird flu last week, a person familiar with the situation told Bloomberg. Starting this week, bird flu stats will be updated monthly and won't include infection rates for animals. “We are letting our guard down,” said one infectious-disease expert.
Bloomberg:
US Bird Flu Emergency Response Ends As Infections Decline
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ended its emergency response for bird flu as the outbreak that sickened dozens of people, spread to cattle and drove up egg prices has abated. The emergency designation ended in the last week, according to a person familiar with the matter who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about it. (Nix, 7/7)
In other outbreaks and health threats —
The Washington Post:
U.S. Measles Cases Climb To 33-Year High
The United States has reached its highest annual measles case tally in 33 years, hitting at least 1,277 confirmed cases across 38 states and the District of Columbia. The milestone marks a public health reversal in defeating a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable disease as the anti-vaccine movement gains strength. (Sun, 7/7)
ABC News:
ER Visits For Tick Bites Near Record Levels This Summer Across US
Emergency rooms across the country are seeing a spike in tick bite cases, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. July has already seen the highest number of tick-related ER visits since 2017, with the Northeast region reporting the most cases, the CDC said. Young children and elderly adults appear particularly vulnerable, with those under 10 and over 70 years old having the highest rates of emergency room visits, according to the CDC. (Benadjaoud, 7/7)
More health news from across the U.S. —
News Service of Florida:
DeSantis Cites 'Bureaucratic Overreach' In Veto Of Florida Nursing Education Bill
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have increased state requirements for nursing-education programs. The House on May 2 unanimously passed the bill (HB 1427), while the Senate approved it in a 26-5 vote. (7/7)
North Carolina Health News:
Advanced Practice Nurses Call Supervision Matchmaking Services Exploitative
If they want to work in North Carolina, advanced practice registered nurses — in particular, nurse practitioners — are required to work with a supervising physician. Certified registered nurse anesthetists require an arrangement with an organization that employs an anesthesiologist. Nurses say these regulations create unnecessary red tape and costs to the APRNs and to patients. (Vitaglione, 7/7)
Chicago Tribune:
Illinois Nursing Homes Ranked Among The Worst In The Nation
Ebony Payne knows a thing or two about nursing homes. Paralyzed from the neck down after a violent crime, Payne has lived in at least eight nursing homes over the past 20 years. She knows that when residents ring the call button for help, they’re sometimes left waiting for hours, even if they’re waiting for assistance getting to the bathroom. Payne, 42, said she once waited 45 minutes for a nursing home worker to come and clean her tracheotomy tube so she could breathe freely. (McCoppin, 7/7)
Wyoming Public Radio:
States To Provide A Safe Place For LGBTQ+ Youth To Call During Crisis
States in the Mountain West are stepping up to provide a safe place for LGBTQ+ youth to call when they are in crises. That’s because they’ll no longer have specific services through the national 988 Suicide and Crisis hotline. (Merzbach, 7/7)
CBS News:
Study Finds 6% Of Florida Teens Have Handguns, A 65% Increase In Two Decades
Despite increased concerns about rising gun deaths among children, new research found that the number of teenagers who have handguns has gone up. The study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, found that Florida adolescent general handgun carrying increased by 65%, from 3.7% to 6.0%, from 2002 to 2022. Females, middle school-aged teens and white students were among the groups that most substantially contributed to the increase. (Moniuszko, 7/7)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Missouri Ballot Measure Doesn’t Say It’d Ban Most Abortions
When Missouri voters head to the ballot box next year, they will decide whether to reimpose an abortion ban and strike down last year’s historic vote that enshrined a right to the procedure in the state constitution. But the question that voters will see, called Amendment 3, makes no mention of banning abortion or the fact that it would strike down last November’s vote. (Bayless, 7/7)
KFF Health News:
In A Nation Growing Hostile Toward Drugs And Homelessness, Los Angeles Tries Leniency
Inside a bright new building in the heart of Skid Row, homeless people hung out in a canopy-covered courtyard — some waiting to take a shower, do laundry, or get medication for addiction treatment. Others relaxed on shaded grass and charged their phones as an intake line for housing grew more crowded. The Skid Row Care Campus officially opened this spring with ample offerings for people living on the streets of this historically downtrodden neighborhood. Pop-up fruit stands and tent encampments lined the sidewalks, as well as dealers peddling meth and fentanyl in open-air drug markets. Some people, sick or strung out, were passed out on sidewalks as pedestrians strolled by on a recent afternoon. (Hart, 7/8)
