Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Florence's Lingering Public Health Threat: Flood Waters Contaminated As Pig Poop Lagoons Overflow
Bloomberg: Swine Waste Swirls Into Carolina Floods, Threatening Humans
Hurricane-wracked North Carolina faced a health and environmental crisis after at least 17 hog-waste lagoons were compromised and sewage plants across the state flooded, releasing millions of gallons of partially treated human discharge. On an aerial tour Monday of a swath of swine country -- the dozen top hog-producing counties cover an area the size of New Jersey -- many lagoons appeared intact. Roughly the size of a soccer field, they are blue-green or red, thanks to bacteria that break down the feces and urine. Several, though, were swamped with water from the torrential rains and creeks that had burst from their banks. (Niquette, Natter and Vasquez, 9/18)
The New York Times: Lagoons Of Pig Waste Are Overflowing After Florence. Yes, That’s As Nasty As It Sounds.
When a pig in a large-scale farm urinates or defecates, the waste falls through slatted floors into holding troughs below. Those troughs are periodically flushed into an earthen hole in the ground called a lagoon in a mixture of water, pig excrement and anaerobic bacteria. The bacteria digest the slurry and also give lagoons their bubble gum-pink coloration. North Carolina has 9.7 million pigs that produce 10 billion gallons of manure, mostly on large-scale farms, primarily in low-lying Sampson and Dupin counties. Both counties were affected by Florence. (Pierre-Louis, 9/19)
Los Angeles Times: Environmentalists Worry That Florence Will Leave Behind A Toxic Mess In North Carolina
These fears have existed for years in a low-lying state with a network of rivers that can disperse pollutants for miles. Now climate change is increasing concerns that storms like Florence will strike more often, altering the calculus for where industries will be safe from flooding. "This is a time to recognize that there's a new normal in environmental protection right now,” said Thomas A. Burke, an associate dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. (Megerian, 9/18)
The Associated Press: Florence's Water, Not Winds, Will Be The Long-Term Problem
Like Hurricanes Harvey and Katrina before it, most of Hurricane Florence's damage will not be from the wind but the water. Yes, some people died when they were crushed by trees felled by Florence's winds as it swept across the Carolinas and some homes were destroyed. But most of Florence's victims died in the massive floods that will cause wide and long-term damage to houses, businesses, roads and other infrastructure and produce a spike in water-borne illness. (9/18)
North Carolina Health News: Mobile Hospital Headed To Florence-Affected Areas To Provide Support
As evacuees make their way out of harm’s way to shelters across eastern and southern North Carolina, health care providers from Charlotte-based Atrium Health headed toward the floods on Sunday afternoon. State officials summoned Carolinas MED-1, a 14-bed mobile hospital, to Pender County, just north of Wilmington. (Duong, 9/17)
North Carolina Health News: State Stands Up Specialized Medical Shelters For Sicker Evacuees
As Hurricane Florence bore down on eastern North Carolina, Louise Bledson and her neighbors from Trenton, the tiny county seat in Jones County upstream from New Bern, got the word that buses would come to Jones Senior High School to take people out of the path of the rising Trent River. (Hoban, 9/18)
North Carolina Health News: Flooded In And Sick? Talk To A Doc On The Phone Or Online.
Hurricane Florence has left thousands of North Carolinians displaced from their homes, or unable to leave because of flooding. Medical issues are bound to arise in the coming days. So for all of those non-emergency issues, there are a number of companies providing free virtual doctor visits. (Knopf, 9/18)
Los Angeles Times: Analysis: Most Of Florence's Victims Have Died In Vehicles, On The Road During The Storm
Hurricanes can bring all sorts of trouble — winds, rains, floods. And early fatality data from Florence’s assault on the Carolinas suggest that being in your car, on the road, after the storm hits land has been especially deadly. An analysis by the Los Angeles Times of 35 deaths officials have linked to the storm so far showed that more than half — 20 victims — died when they were apparently trapped in their cars by flooding or were involved in auto crashes during inclement weather. (Pearce and Etehad, 9/18)
The Associated Press: Hurricane Rating System Fails To Account For Deadly Rain
When meteorologists downgraded Hurricane Florence from a powerful Category 4 storm to a Category 2 and then a Category 1, Wayne Mills figured he could stick it out. He regrets it. The Neuse River, normally 150 feet away, lapped near his door in New Bern, North Carolina, on Sunday even as the storm had "weakened" further. (Borenstein and Breed, 9/18)
