Bird Flu News:

• California is investigating five presumptive human cases of bird flu in dairy farm workers, in addition to the six already confirmed in the state. (Reuters)
• CA has a total of 90 infected herds, all in the last 30 days, with Idaho being the only other state to report any new cases in the past month. (USDA)
• An annual report from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board highlights mpox and bird flu as two pandemic threats. (CIDRAP)

‍

Health News: 

• The ready-to-eat meat recall is now over 10 million pounds, with hundreds of products affected at Walmart, Target, Publix, Trader Joe’s, HEB, and others.  (USA Today)
• Norovirus is spiking across the U.S., with a massive hotspot in the South, where test positivity rates are above 17% - higher than any point last year. (Caitlin Rivers)
• Britain is studying the use of Lilly’s weight loss drug to get people back to work. (Reuters)
• 1 in 4 U.S. adults suspect they have undiagnosed ADHD. (U.S. News)
• A second wave of medical issues may slam the NC region in Helene’s wake, driven by infections and diseases exacerbated by a lack of running water. (NC Health News)
• Fewer than 1 in 5 large companies’ health plans cover weight loss drugs. (NBC)
• About 130,000 cancer cases went undiagnosed during the first year of the pandemic. (STAT)
• Zimbabwe reported its first two mpox cases in unrelated recent travelers. (CIDRAP)
• Travelers arriving from Rwanda at JFK, O’Hare and Dulles airports will be screened for Marburg virus starting next week. (CBS)

‍

Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• More bystanders are using naloxone to save people from overdoses, up by 43% from 2020 to 2022. (U.S. News)
• Some schools are using software that monitors student searches for indications of suicide or self-harm and alerts counselors. (NY Times) 

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

‍

Best Questions:

We know that noro is surging in the South right now. What can we do when there’s noro in our community?

Norovirus is unbelievably contagious. People shed billions of particles in their vomit and stool when they’re sick, but it only takes 18 particles to infect someone else. Managers should speak to their teams, acknowledge that noro is going around, and emphasize the importance of staying home if you have GI symptoms -including if any household members have noro-like symptoms. Many employees don’t know that they should stay home for 3 days if their roommate or child is sick with norovirus, so that’s a great way to move the needle on breaking the cycle of illness when noro is spreading in your community. Explain that people are actually still contagious even after they feel better, so if you have noro-like symptoms, you need to stay home for a full two days after symptoms stop to make sure you’re not getting coworkers and guests sick. Noro can spread through food, so food handlers should be extra cautious. Even if employees feel fine and no one at home is sick, your team should step up their hand-washing while it’s going around the community. 

Source: CDC

Should we pull outdoor employees inside when there’s thunder, or just if there’s lightning?

Any thunder you hear means there is lightning nearby that’s close enough to strike you, too. About 300 people per year are struck by lightning in the U.S. Most survive, but 10%, or about 30 people per year, die and many more have permanent disabilities, so the consequences are serious. Florida in particular is considered the “lighting capital” of the U.S., with more than 2,000 lightning injuries over the past 50 years. It’s best practice to pull any employees indoors when you hear thunder or see lightning, and to wait 30 minutes after the last thunder is heard before returning outdoors. This is key - most lightning strikes happen either when people are caught unexpectedly in a storm or when they return outside too soon, so be sure to wait the full half hour before sending employees back outside. 

Sources: CDC, OSHA

Best Read: 

We’ve been really loving YLE’s series on what went wrong with public health communication about vaccines during the pandemic. This final installment is great and hard reading, and it’s so important, especially because we (both the ZHH team and you, an employer) are trusted messengers whose role in public health communication can’t be understated:

‍

Your Local Epidemiologist - Health (Mis) Communication: Science, Policy, and Values

‍