Hurricane Response:

• Hurricane Milton may be up to a Category 5 and headed for FL’s Gulf Coast as crews race to pick up debris from Helene before they become projectiles. (AP)
• FEMA’s disaster programs are on the brink of running out of money, though it says it has enough to meet “life-saving” responsibilities in response to Helene and Milton. (Politico)
• Florida hospitals and health care centers are closing ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall. (ABC)
• Some of the Helene response was hampered by misinformation and conspiracy theories on social media platforms like X. (Washington Post)

Bird Flu News:

• California reported a third possible bird flu case in a human, also a dairy farm worker. (SF Chronicle)
• Despite initial estimates of less than 2% fatality rate, California dairy operators are seeing 10%-15% of their cattle herds dying after bird flu outbreaks. (LA Times)
• Antibody tests from the Missouri patient’s close contacts are still pending, with results expected later this month that will tell us if it’s circulating. (NBC)
• Three major vaccine manufacturers received $72 million from the U.S. government to ramp up bird flu vaccine production. (Reuters)

Health News: 

• CDC will start screening travelers from Rwanda to the U.S. for Marburg virus. (CNN)
• COVID is declining throughout the U.S., while RSV is starting to rise in the southeast. (CIDRAP)
• Researchers have discovered that arm position makes a significant difference in accuracy or blood pressure reading. (NBC)
• The largest water utility in the U.S., which provides water to over 14 million people was targeted by a cyberattack, though operations were unaffected. (AP)
• Panera Bread settled with the family of a student who died after drinking their highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade drink. (NBC)
• Chicago concertgoers may have been exposed to rabies-carrying bats; anyone who had direct contact with a bat is urged to seek immediate medical attention. (NBC)
• An at-home combo flu-and-COVID test was authorized by the FDA outside of emergency use. (CIDRAP)

Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• 250 companies and organizations, including Amazon, the NHL, and United Airlines, have pledged to have opioid-reversal drugs widely available in arenas, on planes, and at work and school. (NPR)
• A controversial but effective treatment for meth addiction is gaining ground: giving people gift cards in exchange for clean drug tests. (NPR)

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

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Best Questions:

Is there a good way to track boil water notices after a storm?

A constant struggle that our clients face after a major hurricane or other disaster is keeping track of the slew of boil water orders that come, county by county, after a major storm when the city’s water supply isn’t safe to use. Keeping track of these at a corporate level can be a challenge, in part because each local health department makes the decision at their own pace, and a major hurricane like Milton or Helene can affect locations in dozens of counties. Many of our clients keep the responsibility to track local health department requirements on the individual store level, asking managers to track their own city or county’s updates, then report them back to corporate if they’re required to close, have a boil water notice, or have any other actions required. This puts more work on the individual locations, but has a higher accuracy rate than the alternative. For those that do want to keep track of it more broadly, we recommend tracking your locations in the storm’s path in a spreadsheet, then identifying the local health department website at each one and assigning someone to check it a few times per day. It’s a heavier lift and can be hard to maintain accuracy given how quickly on-the-ground conditions can change, but given that there are 3,500 unique public health departments across the country, there are unfortunately limited options for tracking updates. If you have a great internal system for tracking things like boil water notices, we’d love to hear about it!
Sources: ZHH, CDC

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Is eating or serving sliced deli meats safe right now?

After nearly 200,000 pounds of Boar’s Head liverwurst and other sliced deli meats were recalled this summer due to Listeria contamination, some are questioning the safety of eating deli meats all together. Boar’s Head has since shut down the Virginia plant responsible for the Listeria outbreak after news reports that it had multiple critical health violations before the outbreak. All of the affected deli meat has since been removed from shelves, but there was some concern because Listeria spreads easily among deli equipment. Some of the recalled products also have sell-by dates that stretch into October, so there’s some slim possibility that they’re still out there. CDC says that illness reports have started to decrease, but it’s still monitoring because of the possibility of cross-contamination and because it can take a long time for symptoms to start after exposure. In general, we think the risk is only slightly higher than normal at this point. That said, if you’re pregnant, 65 and older or have a weakened immune system, it’s generally recommended to heat your deli meats before eating them (or avoid them entirely) because of your higher risk. 

Sources: CDC, CBS

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Best Read:

In our best question above, we dive in to the current risk posed by deli meats, but we're fascinated by the failures that led to the deadly outbreak in the first place: 

How ignored warnings at Boar’s Head plant led to a deadly listeria outbreak - Washington Post

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