Covid The Worst Public Health Threat? No: Climate Change, Med Journals Say

NPR: Medical Journals Say Climate, Not COVID-19, Is Top Public Health Threat
The rapidly warming climate is the "greatest threat" to global public health, more than 200 medical journals are warning in an unprecedented joint statement that urges world leaders to cut heat-trapping emissions to avoid "catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse." The editorial, which was published in leading journals such as The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine and the British Medical Journal, says the world can't wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to pass before addressing climate change. (Sommer, 9/7)

NPR: Research Finds Wildfire Smoke Makes Indoor Air Unhealthy Too
When wildfire smoke descends over a city or town, as it does increasingly often for tens of millions of people in the American West, public health officials have a simple message: Go inside, shut doors and windows. Limit outdoor activities. New research shows that may not be enough to protect a person's health. A series of studies looking at crowdsourced indoor air quality during wildfire smoke events has found that the most insidious part of wildfire smoke — microscopic particles so small they can infiltrate a person's bloodstream, exacerbating respiratory and cardiac problems — can seep through closed doors and shuttered windows, making air hazardous in homes and businesses. (Rott, 9/7)

The New York Times: Utah's Air Quality Is Worsening During Drought 
Kevin Perry had just begun his morning routine, stepping outside to get the newspaper, when he noticed something was wrong with the sky. “Within 30 seconds, I was coughing and my throat hurt,” Dr. Perry, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Utah, said of that morning in August. “It was the absolute worst air quality I’ve ever experienced in my life.” Shrouded in smoke drifting from California’s colossal wildfires 500 miles away, Salt Lake City had on that morning edged past smog-choked megacities like New Delhi and Jakarta to register the most polluted air of any major city in the world. (Romero, 9/7)

North Carolina Health News: Wells Polluted With PFAS 18 Miles From Chemours Plant 
Marianne Ashworth fights to hold back tears. She has just learned that the well water at her Cumberland County home contains a high level of a forever chemical called PMPA. Ashworth bought the little ranch-style house in the Bayfield subdivision seven years ago and has since paid it off. Her 17-year-old daughter grew up here, in this house near the outskirts of Fayetteville, which is now the cause of Ashworth’s tears. She wonders whether her daughter’s persistent skin rashes could have been caused by the PMPA, one of thousands of synthetic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances collectively known as PFAS. (Barnes, 9/8)

In other public health news —

Axios: Biden Administration Announces Aid For Farm And Food Workers 
The Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that it will invest $700 million in grant funding to help farmworkers, meatpacking workers and front-line grocery workers cover health and safety costs incurred due to COVID-19. The program expands pandemic agriculture aid, which has until now largely benefited farm owners, to include the primarily immigrant, low-income workforce, Bloomberg reports. (Saric, 9/7)

Fox News: Children 6 Months And Up Should Get Flu Shot, Delay During Severe COVID-19 Illness: Pediatrics Group
Children aged 6 months and older should receive a flu vaccine this fall, the American Academy of Pediatrics advised Tuesday, however kids with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 should delay flu shots until they have recovered. Experts are concerned about an uptick in flu activity this winter amid the return to in-person learning, the group noted. "During the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to remember that influenza is also a highly contagious respiratory virus that can cause severe illness and even death in children," Dr. Flor Munoz, lead author of the policy statement and technical report, developed by the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases, said in a statement issued Tuesday. "The flu vaccine is safe, effective, and can be given alongside other routine immunizations and the COVID-19 vaccine." (Rivas, 9/7)

Axios: Black Youth More Likely To Visit Hospital For Police-Related Injuries 
Nearly 16,000 children and adolescents went to the emergency room or hospital due to police encounters between 2005 and 2017, with rates four to seven times higher for Black kids compared to white kids, according to a statewide analysis in California. While youth are less likely to be injured by policing compared to adults, the analysis published in JAMA Pediatrics shows kids aren't spared the racial disparities seen in law enforcement of adults. (Fernandez, 9/8)

Bloomberg: Americans Say They’re Now Less Likely To Work Far Into Their 60s
Americans say it’s increasingly unlikely that they’ll work deep into their 60s, according to new data from the New York Federal Reserve. The share of respondents expecting to work past the age of 62 dropped to 50.1% in the New York Fed’s July labor-market survey, from 51.9% a year earlier -- the lowest on record in a study that’s been conducted since 2014. The numbers saying they’re likely to be employed when they’re older than 67 also dropped, to 32.4% from 34.1%. (Tanzi, 9/7)

The Washington Post: Amtrak Faces Delays In Making Stations ADA-Compliant 
As Amtrak embarks on a six-year push to ensure more than 300 stations meet requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act, it must have adequate staffing and a system in place that ensures projects aren’t delayed by disputes, according to a report Tuesday by the rail service’s inspector general. Amtrak is well beyond a July 2010 deadline for ensuring that intercity rail stations meet requirements under the ADA — a timetable that also has proved costly. In December, Amtrak agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle civil claims that it discriminated against disabled passengers by failing to accommodate people in wheelchairs or those with limited mobility at its stations. (Aratani, 9/7)

KHN: Minister For Seniors At Famed Church Confronts Ageism And The Shame It Brings
Later life is a time of reassessment and reflection. What sense do we make of the lives we have lived? How do we come to terms with illness and death? What do we want to give to others as we grow older? Lynn Casteel Harper, 41, has thought deeply about these and other spiritual questions. She’s the author of an acclaimed book on dementia and serves as the minister of older adults at Riverside Church in New York City, an interdenominational faith community known for its commitment to social justice. Most of the church’s 1,600 members are 65 and older. (Graham, 9/2)

In sports news —

AP: NFLPA Calls For Daily COVID-19 Testing For All Players
The NFL Players Association wants daily COVID-19 testing for fully vaccinated players. The league and the union agreed last week to update protocols so vaccinated players would be tested weekly instead of every 14 days as they were during training camp. That’s not enough, according to NFLPA president and Cleveland Browns center JC Tretter. “Since the beginning of training camp, we have been testing our vaccinated players once every 14 days. It has been ineffective as we’ve had significantly more incidents of transmission inside the building this year than last year,” Tretter wrote in a column on the union’s website. (Maaddi, 9/8)

CNN: Clinton Portis And Two Other Former NFL Players Plead Guilty In Multimillion-Dollar Health Care Fraud Scheme 
Two-time Pro Bowl running back Clinton Portis and two other former NFL players have pleaded guilty for their roles in a nationwide health care benefit fraud scheme to submit false claims for payouts totaling about $3 million, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Portis, Tamarick Vanover and Robert McCune admitted to participating in a scheme to scam the league's retiree health care benefits plan, which provides tax-free reimbursement to former players and their families for out-of-pocket medical expenses that are not covered by insurance, the department said. (Almasy and Carrega, 9/8)