Health News: 

• Norovirus is high and rising, especially in the South. 12% of U.S. tests are positive, compared to 13.6% at last year’s peak. (Outbreak Outlook)
• Cook Children’s Hospital in TX reports spiking Salmonella cases with nearly double the cases as this time last year. The state health department hasn’t reported an outbreak. (Cook Children’s)
• California and Washington have reported new human cases of bird flu in dairy and poultry workers. CA is up to 20 probably human cases, and WA is at 12. (CIDRAP)
• H5N1 was found in wastewater in LA County last week, with other positive results in Northern California. (LA Times)
• It’s respiratory season! Hospitals have to report info on COVID, flu, and RSV starting November 1st. (CDC)
• Whooping cough is still a major issue nationwide, with cases 5x higher than at this time last year. (Washington Post)
• Fewer than 1 in 6 U.S. healthcare workers got the COVID booster last year. (Axios)
• In a first for the U.S., an Idaho health department isn’t allowed to give out COVID vaccines anymore after a board vote. (AP)
• Four cases of sexually transmitted ringworm have been confirmed in New York since June. These are the first confirmed cases in the U.S. (MMWR)
• Two TB cases were reported in Elmhurst University students in IL. (Chicago Tribune)
• Nearly 94,000 children in Gaza received a second dose of polio vaccine this weekend. (NY Times)
• Mpox in Congo may be stabilizing, but experts say more vaccines are needed to stamp out the virus. (AP)

Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• The Crisis Text Line is prepared to support you and your employees with election anxiety. Text ELECTION to 741741 to reach a live volunteer crisis counselor in English. Para apoyo en español envía la palabra ELECCIONES al 741741. (Crisis Text Line)

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

Best Questions:

Any guidance on managing employees’ election stress?

Your teams are likely to feel increased stress and anxiety around Election Day and the days immediately after. 3 out of every 4 Americans report election stress. Studies have shown that cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and strokes, increase significantly after elections. One study showed a 17% increase in the 5 days after the 2020 election, and another found the rate nearly doubled in the 48 hours after the 2016 election. Regardless of what side of the aisle your employees are on, election stress affects them both mentally and physically. It can help when managers acknowledge election stress directly and then provide some tips for managing it. These might include:

• Exercise: Even gentle exercise that gets your body moving works. Hit the gym, play your favorite sport, or just go for a brisk walk. 
• Limit social media: Doomscrolling isn’t generally helpful for your mental health. Create guidelines around your media consumption, like checking the news once in the morning and once at night. 
• Reach out for support: List out any mental health resources your company offers, including your Employee Assistance Program, offerings through your health insurance, meditation apps, or counseling services. 
• Help others: If you have a volunteer time off program or charity work, this week might be a great time to encourage employees to take some time off of their regular roles (where productivity might take a hit anyway) to give back to their communities. Connecting and helping others is proven to support mental health. 

Sources: CBS, YLE, Forbes

Are your clients reporting an uptick in guest complaints and employee reports of illness since the McDonald’s outbreak and recent recalls?

We always see a small increase in guest illness complaints after a major national outbreak like the E. coli outbreak that appears to be linked to onions. We’ve heard from a number of our clients that they’re seeing an uptick in guest complaints, though none of those cases have been linked to contaminated Taylor Farms onions that likely caused the McDonald’s E. coli outbreak. Ultimately, most of these complaints are just concerned folks who want to be heard and are resolved relatively quickly. Perhaps even more interesting, we also tend to see an increase in self-reported employee illness, particularly for gastrointestinal issues, for a few weeks after this type of big, newsworthy outbreak. We suspect that that bump is related to increased awareness because of a real-world reminder about foodborne illness and the importance of food safety. 

Source: ZHH

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Best Read:

We appreciate the JED Foundation’s work on mental health and always look to them for great resources in stressful times. Here are their tips to manage anxiety about politics:

Election Stress: Tips to Manage Anxious Feelings About Politics | The Jed Foundation

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