Join us Thursday for a free webinar:

Join Roslyn Stone from ZHH, Traci Slowinski from McDonald’s, and Shelly Wallingford from First Watch discussing norovirus with NEHA. Hope to see you there on Thursday, March 7th at 12pm Eastern (9 am Pacific).

Register here

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Health News:

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• The CDC’s vaccine advisory committee recommended this week that adults 65 and older get a spring vaccine again. (STAT)
• BCG vaccine, used to prevent TB elsewhere in the world, may help to prevent Alzheimer’s disease by boosting the immune system. (The Guardian)
• A Florida congresswoman is blasting the state Surgeon General over his response to the measles outbreak there. (WLRN)
• Even fully recovered people who had mild COVID can lose IQ points. (CIDRAP)
• CDC is bracing for a shortage of tetanus shots this year after a major supplier is discontinuing it. The more broad T-dap vaccine is still available. (CBS)
• New York and New Jersey have over a dozen flu deaths so far this season. (CBS)
• Cholera vaccine supplies are dangerously low, and outbreaks are surging, with experts fearing they’ll only worsen. (STAT)
• A new study shows millennials are less likely to seek preventative or primary care than other generations. (HR Brew)
• This year’s flu shot is a relatively good match against the virus. (AP)
• PFAs, or “forever chemicals,” are no longer used in food packaging in the US, the FDA announced. (NBC)
• After a food service employee worked with Hep A in Eerie, PA, high demand led a public vaccination clinic to add dates after running out of vaccine. (Erie News)
• The Change Healthcare cyber attack could impact pharmacies and insurers for weeks. (STAT)
• The RSV vaccine is being monitored to see if there’s a slight increased risk for Guillain-Barré syndrome after vaccination, though the numbers are very small, and more information is needed. (NY Times)

Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• California seized enough fentanyl last year to kill everyone in the world ‘nearly twice over.’ (LA Times)
• After a friend overdosed, Colorado teen activists are working to make sure students can’t get in trouble for carrying naloxone at school. (KFF Health)
• Deaths from excessive alcohol use have increased by almost 30% since 2017, with the biggest leap during the first pandemic years. (MMWR)

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call 988 or message the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. 

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Best Questions:

If an employee is exposed to measles and unvaccinated, what is the likelihood that they’ll even accept a vaccine?

In Tuesday’s Briefing, we covered the topic of whether employers should offer free MMR vaccines to employees if they were exposed at work to measles. This brought up a great question: if we offer measles vaccines to our unvaccinated employees, won’t they just say no? It’s important to remember that the MMR vaccine is a routine childhood vaccination in the U.S., which means for most younger workers, the decision not to vaccinate wasn’t actually theirs but their parents’. Some of those folks may hold the same beliefs as their parents did when they were children, but others may not. And remember, after a measles exposure, the recommendation is for unvaccinated people to isolate for a full 21 days. Getting vaccinated in the first 72 hours after exposure allows someone to return to work immediately. Especially for workers who don’t feel particularly strongly about vaccinations, the impetus to get back to work rather than miss three full weeks might be strong enough to overcome any hesitancy. We certainly think it’s worth offering in those situations and see what happens. If you do, let us know! 

Sources: OSHA, NJ.gov

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My employee came to work one day after testing positive for flu.  Were they still infectious?

Short answer: probably, yes. An otherwise healthy person who gets sick with flu can spread it starting from the day before they develop symptoms all the way through up to seven days after their symptoms resolve. So, if they tested positive just yesterday, there’s a very good chance they’re still infectious today, even if their symptoms have improved. The CDC’s advice for flu is to stay home while sick and only return to work after fever-free for at least 24 hours and after symptoms have improved, generally 4-5 days after symptoms first start. If someone was sick enough to get tested for flu yesterday, the chances that they’re well enough to work today are slim. We’d recommend ensuring they’re actually symptom-free, and if so, ask them to mask for the rest of the week to keep those around them safe. 

Source: CDC

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How common are false positive rapid tests?

It’s rare to have a false positive rapid test, with less than a 2% chance overall. A recent study of false positives found that most people with a false positive also had a negative result if they tested multiple times. But they also found that a very, very small group of people (just 13 out of over 11,000) actually tested positive on a rapid test multiple times in a row, even though they tested negative on more accurate molecular tests. This group was almost all women, and nearly half had known autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis. Scientists think that the proteins that attack healthy tissue in autoimmune diseases may be interacting with the antibodies and causing a false positive test more often in those people. Still, if you get a positive result on a rapid test, you are 98-99% likely to actually have COVID, so this isn’t an excuse to ignore your test. 

Sources: MedPage Today, NEJM 

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Best Read:

Lead-Tainted Applesauce Highlights Failings in Food Safety System - The New York Times

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