The Zero (Half) Hour:
Drug Use, Naloxone, and Your Employees

Roslyn is joined by Dr. Kelly Ramsey, Chief of Medical Services for the NY State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. They discuss employers using naloxone - everything from storage and expiration concerns to stigma and liability - and how to support employees with substance use disorder.

Listen here on Spotify, Apple, Soundcloud, or Stitcher!

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Health News:

• The FDA approved updated vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna for fall vaccinations, preferring to frame them as a new annual vaccine like the flu shot instead of calling them boosters. (NPR)
• More good COVID news - early research shows that existing antibodies work to protect against the new Pirola variant. (Reuters)
• An oral vaccine for norovirus passed a critical next step in testing. (Precision Vaccination News)
• As COVID cases rise, so do conspiracy theories, falsely linking COVID cases to lockdowns, election tampering, and even Russia. (NY Times)
• A common ingredient in over-the-counter decongestants, phenylephrine, may not actually work. (ABC)
• Generic drugs should be cheap, but insurers are charging patients thousands of dollars. (WSJ)
• Florida has the highest proportion of counties with “moderate” levels of community COVID transmission compared to other states. (ABC)
• The number of primary care doctors is shrinking, which may mean that workers delay getting the healthcare they need. (KFF Health)

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Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• The 988 mental health crisis line will add American Sign Language (ASL) services. (The Hill)
• The Friendship Project chips away at the loneliness epidemic one friendship at a time. (NPR)
• The nonprofit CHOW helps run mental health training and connect restaurant workers with mental health and substance use support in Colorado. (CBS)

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call 988 or message the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

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Best Questions:

Are you seeing an uptick of COVID cases across your client base, or is ours worse?

Yes.  Since the beginning of August, we’ve seen COVID cases rise anywhere from 125% to 400% by client (driven by regional upticks in cases). Since September 1st, they’ve doubled again for nearly everyone. We expect this will continue for several weeks - fueled by end of summer travel and kids going back to school. Some experts are predicting it will stay at this level or drop down again, only to return to higher levels in December and January.

Source: ZHH

Does the current rise in cases mean I should go get a new COVID booster as soon as possible?

Not necessarily.  We advise consulting your doctor about the best timing to get the updated vaccine. For some who are at higher risk, it makes sense to get the updated dose as soon as possible. For others who are fully vaccinated and may also have some immunity from getting infected with COVID relatively recently, waiting until mid-October or even a bit later for your COVID and flu vaccines to get maximal coverage for the holidays might make sense. That’s doubly true when we consider that the largest surges have been in December and January. Again, we highly recommend talking to your doctor about your specific situation.

Source: NPR

A lot of people are sick right now with a respiratory illness, and they’re testing negative for COVID.  Is it the flu? Is it really COVID?

If they’ve tested negative for COVID twice on consecutive days, then it’s probably neither. During the week ending September 2nd, the CDC tested more than 30,000 lab samples, and less than 1% tested positive for flu, so flu cases are very low right now. As for COVID, a single negative rapid test doesn’t mean much, but if someone has tested negative repeatedly after their symptoms started, it’s likely that they have something other than COVID. There are plenty of other respiratory viruses that are getting passed around, especially as kids go back to school. When in doubt, keep sick employees home until they’re feeling better, even if they test negative!

Source: CDC

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Best Read:

Climate-linked Diseases Threaten Humanity - Washington Post

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