Flu & Whooping Cough:

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Flu reached a 25-year high in the U.S. this week. (CNN)

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New York reported a record-breaking number of flu hospitalizations (4,546) in a single week last week, a whopping 24% increase from the week before. (ABC)

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For the second year in a row, the U.S. has seen over 25,000 pertussis (whooping cough) cases... 

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…Florida, in particular, had double the cases of whooping cough in 2025 compared to 2024, due to waning immunity and lower vaccination rates. (WUSF)

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Health News:

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The U.S. overhauled its childhood vaccine schedule to recommend fewer shots, removing Hep A and B, flu, and others from the list. (CNN)

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Hundreds of name-brand grocery and drugstore items were recalled from small stores in the Midwest (mostly Minnesota) after the FDA found rodent and avian contamination at a Gold Star Distribution Center. (NBC, FDA)

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There were 22 outbreaks of GI illness on cruises that stopped in the U.S. last year, including one the last week of December with over 100 guests and staff ill. (CDC)

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ACA subsidies have expired, meaning 24 million+ Americans may be paying a lot more for health insurance or go uninsured. (CNN)

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States will no longer need to report childhood vaccination levels to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. About 40% of U.S. kids are on Medicaid. (CIDRAP)

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Rocket Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers, will start keeping epinephrine autoinjectors (EpiPens) alongside their defibrillators in case of allergic reactions. (Spectrum News)

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In an exciting breakthrough, Drs. Lee-Ann Jaykus and Ben Chapman are developing Hep A testing for food that reduces false positives. (Food Safety)

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A daily pill version of Wegovy is now available in the U.S. (ABC)

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Best Question:

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We have so many sick employees. What can our locations do to prevent further spread of the flu?

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Flu is breaking records this year. Last week, the CDC estimated that over 11 million people have been sick with the flu so far this season. It’s already the highest number of cases we’ve seen in decades, and we’re not out of the woods yet.

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If you feel like practically every one of your employees is sick right now, you’re not alone. Here are the top actions you can take if you have lots of team members down for the count right now:

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1. Don’t let people work sick, no matter how crunched you are for staffing. 

We see this all the time. Managers act one way when there are only one or two employees out sick, then they change their tune when lots of people start to call out. And we get it - it’s really hard to stay open when a third of your staff just called out sick. But if you force employees to work sick, you’ll end up paying for it by extending the cycle of illness for weeks. Better to buck up, plan some extra staffing for the next two weeks, and ride this out with a smaller crew until those first folks feel better to come back to work. 

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2. Keep sick people out until they’re actually better. This may be a few days longer than their initial work exclusion, but if they’re still quite symptomatic when they return, they may as well not have stayed out at all. Employees should be at least 24-hours fever-free (without taking fever-reducing meds like Tylenol or Advil), at least 48 hours symptom-free from severe vomiting and diarrhea, and other symptoms improving before they return. 
   
   
3. Follow COVID and norovirus guidelines for cleaning and sanitizing. The good news is that flu is much easier to kill than noro, because it’s an enveloped virus. Your standard cleaning products that you use for COVID and noro should probably work, but be sure to double-check the label. Hit your high-traffic touch points (faucets, door handles, bathrooms) often!
   
   
4. Focus on handwashing. Some ideas our clients have implemented in the past include: assigning a handwashing captain, ringing a bell every 30 minutes to have the team wash their hands, and adding hand sanitizer stations. Unlike norovirus, hand sanitizer works pretty well against flu, so while there’s still nothing like good ol’ soap and water, adding hand sanitizer can add an extra line of defense that’s easy to implement. 

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Sources: ZHH, Reuters, NPR, CNN

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Best Read:

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2025 was a tough year for public health, with “political, financial, and rhetorical pressures.” But there are still so many amazing public health workers out there that have worked tirelessly to keep people safe in the U.S. and around the world. Check out YLE’s article - and the attached infographic - that highlights some of these wins. 

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20 public health wins in 2025 - Your Local Epidemiologist