Health News: 

• Vaccine hesitancy is concerning doctors amid the Minnesota measles outbreak. (MPR)
• A Portland State football game was canceled last week because a player had whooping cough. (AP)
• As mpox vaccinations begin in Rwanda, studies show that the Jynneos vaccine may wane over time, and boosters may be needed. (CIDRAP)
• LA County announced 2 more cases in a locally acquired dengue cluster, bringing the total to three. (CIDRAP)
• Imported Oropouche virus cases are continuing to rise steadily, up by 22 more cases to a total of 74 in five states. (CIDRAP)
• NYC restaurants are slow to get health inspections and, more importantly,  re-inspections due to city staffing shortages. (Eater)
• New research points to raccoon dogs at the Wuhan wet market as the pandemic’s trigger; it’s controversial because much of the data comes from the Chinese government. (NPR)
• Just living through the pandemic seems to have affected our brains, even for those who didn’t get long COVID. (Time)
• Over half of U.S. kids are infected with RSV during infancy. (CIDRAP)
• GLP-1 drugs could help prevent 34,000 heart attacks and strokes in the U.S. each year, research suggests. (CNN)

Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• Oklahoma is abruptly ending its Narcan vending machine program due to costs and not seeing enough results. (Oklahoman)
• A widow is raising awareness about mental health in the wake of climate disasters after losing her husband to suicide in the aftermath of a massive flood. (NPR)
• Some good news: opioid deaths dropped 10% across the U.S. (CDC)

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

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Best Questions:

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Do the latest COVID shots work against the new XEC variant? 

Short answer: yes, the updated fall vaccines will work against the latest variant. The XEC variant is poised to surpass the most recent dominant strain, KP.3.1.1, in the next few weeks. But it doesn’t cause more severe illness or have any particularly drastic mutations - it’s just out-competing the other variants, as so many have since the original SARS-CoV-2 virus was first identified. The updated fall vaccines are expected to work well against XEC, especially in terms of preventing hospitalizations and deaths. The window of protection has gotten shorter over time, but that doesn’t mean that the updated vaccines don’t work. They provide a few months of protection against getting COVID and work particularly well to prevent serious illness. 

Source: SF Chronicle

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An employee says they’ve tested positive for COVID for weeks - is that possible? Can we ask them to return to work? 

Yes, people can test positive on rapid at-home tests for weeks, though it’s not very common. Most people test negative after 6 or 10 days at most, so this is relatively rare (especially when you consider how few people are testing overall). Our best guess in these cases is that someone is actually still contagious when they’re testing positive on rapid tests for a long period of time. As long as their symptoms have improved and they’re fever-free for at least 24 hours without fever-reducing medication, they can return to work - though it’s recommended that they wear a mask for 5 more days from their most recent positive test or until they test negative. 

Sources: YLE, Today

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Best Read:

This is a fascinating read, especially for our clients that require physical exams for work. Fixing pulmonary function tests that falsely assume genetic differences based on race will have a lot of knock-on effects, including an adjustment period where some people may be excluded from work that weren’t before. 

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Researchers tried to fix a racist lung test. It got complicated. - Harvard Public Health

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