If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call or text 988.
Wildfire smoke can be particularly harmful to the development of a fetus, leading to an increased risk of low birthweight and preterm birth. It can also be dangerous (not to mention uncomfortable) for pregnant people themselves because major changes to breathing, heart, and even the mucus lining of the nose can exacerbate symptoms and become more irritated by smoke. Short-term exposure isn’t the issue, but as these fires stretch into their second week and air quality remains poor in parts of Los Angeles, it’s time to start thinking about staying indoors with filtered air as much as possible or temporarily relocating to somewhere with safer air if that’s not possible. If you’re pregnant, you should be wearing an N95 at all times when you’re outdoors, even if it’s uncomfortable. Indoors, use an HVAC system with air filters or a portable air purifier to clean the air and keep doors and windows closed. Call your OB/GYN for specific medical advice or if you are experiencing any new symptoms related to wildfire smoke. For employers in smoke-affected areas, make sure to provide N95 masks, and consider reassigning pregnant workers and others in sensitive groups to indoor work whenever possible.
In the ‘50s, polio paralyzed or killed half a million people per year around the world. Survivors often faced devastating lifelong health effects. When the vaccine was introduced in the U.S. in 1955, polio cases plummeted from 20,000 per year down to zero by the mid ‘90s. Globally, polio cases have dropped 99.9%, preventing 20 million people from being paralyzed.
But polio isn’t actually gone. 20 countries had polio cases last year, and wastewater testing shows it’s circulating in parts of Europe, Australia, and even New York. It’s been hard to eradicate entirely, in part because the cheapest and most widely used vaccine in low-income countries is an oral vaccine that includes a bit of weakened, live virus, which can keep it circulating if there are enough unvaccinated people in the community. Even the vaccine used in the U.S. (which doesn’t contain any live virus) doesn’t prevent transmission - but it does prevent severe illness and paralysis.
The reason we’re talking about revoking approval for a vaccine that has been proven safe and effective for over 50 years is that RFK Jr.’s lawyer has previously petitioned the FDA to do so. RFK Jr. himself has called polio’s near-eradication “mythologized” and has said that he’s encouraged people not to vaccinate their kids. If the polio vaccine’s approval was revoked, we’d almost certainly see a drop in childhood vaccination. We know that polio is circulating already in the U.S. and globally. If polio vaccination rates fell, a polio resurgence could follow, starting in undervaccinated areas - like the 2022 New York case in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community with a very low vaccination rate. We might also expect to see other countries follow our lead and drop their polio vaccine approval, compounding the problem globally. Polio’s comeback would be a devastating step backward for public health.
Deciding whether and when to close can be a challenge during any natural disaster, but wildfires can be particularly difficult to track and assess for employers: