Chew On This: Teeth Grinding Hit New Highs Because Of All This Stress
An uptick in grinding is associated more with injuries to fillings, teeth and pain in the jaws and ears, according to the American Dental Association. Other public health news is on diets, vaccines, cruises and more.
North Carolina Health News:
Dentists Deal With Jaw-Clenching Year
To say 2020 has been a stressful year is one of those “well duh” statements that won’t send you running for your most trusted fact-checker for confirmation. This campaign season, which began long before the start of this most unusual year, has brought much jaw clenching with the seemingly endless political rhetoric. (Blythe, 11/3)
AP:
More Americans On Diets From A Decade Ago, Report Finds
A higher percentage of Americans said they’re on a special diet to lose weight or for other health reasons compared with a decade ago, according to a report Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The increase comes as obesity rates have continued to climb. The CDC report found that 17% of Americans said they were on diets during the 2017-2018 survey period, up from 14% a decade earlier. Over the same period obesity rates rose in the U.S. to 42% of Americans, up from 34%. (Choi, 11/3)
Houston Chronicle:
Patients Are Flocking For Flu Shots Amid COVID-19 Vaccine Talk
Doctors across Houston say the number of patients asking for and getting flu shots are running well ahead of last year. The national pharmacy chain Walgreens said it so far has administered 60 percent more flu shots than during the same period last year. Dr. Gary Sheppard, president of the Harris County Medical Society and a primary care doctor in southwest Houston, said he usually gets about 75 percent of his patients to agree to a flu shot during their check-ups; this year, he estimates that 90 percent of the patients he’s seen since the beginning of September have opted for the vaccine. (Wu, 11/3)
In other public health news —
The Washington Post:
Cruises Wont Sail With Passengers In U.S. Waters Until 2021
Cruise ships will not return to U.S. waters with passengers onboard until 2021, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), announced Tuesday. The group has extended through Dec. 31 a voluntary suspension of U.S. operations that expired Saturday. CLIA includes Carnival Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean, and makes up 95 percent of the global cruising industry. (McMahon, 11/3)
The Washington Post:
Utah Officials Say Halloween Rave Partygoers ‘Absolutely Will Become Ill’ With Coronavirus
Thousands of people gathered in the desert to party in costumes, many without masks, in Utah on Saturday at a rave that broke the state’s pandemic restrictions. They may have gotten away with it, too, if a crowd-surfing woman hadn’t fallen on her head, prompting other partygoers to call 911 after she was knocked unconscious for several minutes, KSTU reported. (Shepherd, 11/3)
KHN:
Lions And Tigers And Anteaters? US Scientists Scan The Menagerie For COVID
As COVID-19 cases surge in the U.S., one Texas veterinarian has been quietly tracking the spread of the disease — not in people, but in their pets. Since June, Dr. Sarah Hamer and her team at Texas A&M University have tested hundreds of animals from area households where humans contracted COVID-19. They’ve swabbed dogs and cats, sure, but also pet hamsters and guinea pigs, looking for signs of infection. “We’re open to all of it,” said Hamer, a professor of epidemiology, who has found at least 19 cases of infection. (Aleccia, 11/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
Remote Learning? In Person? Families Second-Guess Their School Choices As Covid Cases Rise
Over the summer, Jennifer Parnell told her kids’ school that she would send her second- and fourth-graders back as soon as their Denver elementary school reopened for in-person learning in late October. But as coronavirus cases mounted in the fall, she second-guessed her decision. “Cases were going up and we were entering colder season,” she recalls. “Things are still very uncertain.” She worried not only about catching the virus, but also about disrupting her kids’ routines once more if the school had to go all-remote again. By October, she had changed her mind: “I called them up and said, ‘I think we want to stay virtual.’” (Dizik, 11/3)
The New York Times:
Betty Dodson, Women’s Guru Of Self-Pleasure, Dies At 91
Betty Dodson, a feminist sexologist and evangelist of self-pleasure who taught generations of women how to masturbate in workshops, books and videos, seeing the do-it-yourself climax as a liberating social force, died on Saturday at a nursing home in New York City. She was 91. The cause was cirrhosis of the liver, said Carlin Ross, her business partner. (Green, 11/3)
In sports news —
The New York Times:
Wisconsin Football Cancels Over Virus Cases. Again.
For the second consecutive week, the University of Wisconsin canceled a football game because of a coronavirus outbreak in the program. Wisconsin, ranked No. 10 in The Associated Press poll, said on Tuesday that it would not host Purdue on Saturday. Wisconsin reported on Tuesday that at least 15 players and 12 staff members, including Coach Paul Chryst, had tested positive since Oct. 24. (Blinder and Brassil, 11/3)
The Washington Post:
John Elway Tests Positive For The Coronavirus; Cowboys’ Andy Dalton On Covid-19 List
The NFL continued to grapple with coronavirus-related issues Tuesday: John Elway and another top Denver Broncos executive tested positive, and the Dallas Cowboys placed quarterback Andy Dalton on their covid-19 reserve list. (Maske and Jhabvala, 11/3)
