Bird Flu News:

• 5 human cases of bird flu were reported in Colorado poultry workers who were culling sick birds, doubling the U.S. total for this year. (KFF Health News)
• CDC sent a nine-person team of experts to help Colorado manage their H5N1 outbreak in poultry and humans. (Reuters)
• Oklahoma is the 13th state to confirm bird flu in dairy cows, in a sample from back in April. (Reuters)
• State and county fairs are ramping up biosecurity to help prevent a repeat of the 2009 swine flu, which spread to humans at the state fair. (STAT)
• Avian flu has been found in the dead body of an Antarctic elephant seal. (CIDRAP)

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Health News:

• Physician burnout has dropped below 50% for the first time since 2020, an AMA poll found. (Fierce Healthcare)
• New measles cases are popping up across the country, including in D.C., an NYC migrant shelter, New Hampshire, Washington State, Oregon, Ohio, and Michigan. (CIDRAP)
• Burns from scorching-hot sidewalks and roads are rising and can be fatal. (NY Times)
• Extreme heat can be risky for certain medications, from amplified side effects to exploding inhalers or damaged medications. (AP)
• After a ‘historic backslide’ during the pandemic, global childhood vaccine rates have stalled. (CNN)
• Around 200 people are allegedly sick with vomiting and diarrhea after a spring barn dance in upstate NY, and the local health department suspects Cyclospora. (Page Six)
• Arizona’s Coconino County reported three cases of hantavirus in the past 15 months, including two deaths. (AZ.gov)

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Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• Teens feel less emotional support than their parents think they do, a new report shows. (CNN)
• In the two years since 988 launched, 10 million calls and texts have been answered. (ABC)

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call or text 988.‍

Best Questions:

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Is everyone else seeing a major increase in COVID cases among employees? What are the current recommendations? 

Yes! Many of Zero Hour Health’s clients are seeing an uptick in sick employees with COVID-like symptoms or positive tests in the past few weeks. While overall respiratory illnesses are still low in the U.S., COVID has been trending up since May. Hospitalizations, ER visits, the percentage of tests that are positive, and wastewater tests have all increased steadily over the past month and a half and aren’t showing signs of slowing down right now. And anecdotally, we certainly all know a few people that have tested positive over the last month, including a few office and event-related mini outbreaks. Current CDC guidance for those with COVID includes staying home and away from others until symptoms are improving and you’re fever-free without meds for at least 24 hours, then taking added precautions for the next five days. For ZHH clients, we recommend keeping employees out for at least 3 days from symptom onset for more concrete staffing estimates. If someone has tested COVID+ but they’re completely asymptomatic, they can generally return to work if they wear a mask for the next 5 days to help prevent the spread.

Sources: CDC, CIDRAP, ZHH Exclusion Chart

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Should we be concerned about the five new human bird flu cases in Colorado?

Last week, five poultry farm workers in Colorado were confirmed to have H5N1 bird flu, reporting mild eye and respiratory symptoms. These workers were culling sick birds as part of the response to a major bird flu outbreak among chickens at a layer farm. That’s different from the previous four human cases this year, which were all linked to dairy farms. Overall, we feel that this is not a serious cause for concern for anyone who doesn’t work directly with animals, but it almost certainly means that there have been other undetected human cases of H5N1 over the past two years since this outbreak began affecting U.S. poultry farms. Any time the virus spreads to humans, there’s a slightly increased risk that it mutates to spread more easily between humans, but the overall risk to the average American remains low right now. Generally, this indicates to us that this is likely more widespread in humans than we previously realized and that we need to keep an eye on it with increased testing. 

Source: CIDRAP

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Best Read:

Experts choose target pathogens for Olympic wastewater monitoring - CIDRAP

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