Health News:

• Respiratory viruses are climbing especially in the South, and we expect them to really surge nationwide in the next month or so. (YLE)
• COVID is spreading exponentially in the Midwest and Northeast, according to wastewater testing. (CDC)
• 55% of Black adults say they have to be “very careful about their appearance” to be treated fairly by doctors or other healthcare providers. (KFF Health News)
• Mississippi has had high childhood vaccination rates, but a federal judge has ordered the state to allow parents to opt-out on religious grounds. (NY Times)
• The WHO issued an appeal to protect the Gaza health system from further attacks and degradation of its capacity to treat patients. (WHO)
• France raised its bird flu risk to “high” amid a rise in cases. (Reuters)
• Panera Bread’s highly caffeinated “Charged Lemonade” was blamed in a second death. (NBC)
• Vulnerable Americans are going into the holiday season without COVID protection; only 27% of nursing home residents and 6% of staff have the updated booster. (The Hill)
• COP28, the UN climate summit, is focusing on tropical disease and similar climate-related health issues. (Reuters)
• The Taliban has done an about-face and declared war on polio. It long banned vaccination efforts in Afghanistan, one of just two countries where polio is still endemic. (Washington Post)
• Flu mRNA vaccines will face challenges in terms of attitudes, temporary side effects, and costs. Big pharma is working on them anyway. (STAT)
• A cyber hacking campaign against US water and sewage systems is underway, with no known impact on safe drinking water. (Bloomberg)
  
  

Mental Health & Substance Use News: 

• Methadone and other medications are helping to lower CT’s opioid deaths. (CT Mirror)
• Muppets from Sesame Street are helping explain opioid addiction to kids in a series of free online videos. (NPR)
• Lacking counselors, US schools are turning to online therapy. (AP)

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. 

Best Questions:

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What’s coming out of the UN climate conference related to public health? 

Health is a huge focus of this year’s COP28, the UN climate conference taking place in Dubai. Mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, zika, and chikungunya are shifting to new parts of the world as warmer temperatures and more rain increase mosquito range. Waterborne diseases like cholera are on the rise due to cyclones, floods, and droughts limiting access to clean water. And that doesn’t even touch on the more obvious heat-related illness and wildfires or their indirect air pollution, which is already killing people here in the US. These are all happening right now, at a pace that means they should already be top of mind for employers. 

Sources: Reuters

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How bad is this winter’s surge going to be? 

It’s hard to predict the severity of surges, but we can say that COVID wastewater data from the CDC’s new dashboard surprised us this week with how quickly positive samples were rising in the Midwest and Northeast in particular. There’s been about a 40% jump in COVID cases this week over last week. RSV cases are even higher than COVID right now, though they may be close to peaking. We expect this winter to be similar to last, with higher-than normal numbers overall, but we don’t expect another Omicron-like surge. Predictions can be tricky since everything from new variants to new diseases - like pneumonia surging in China and Europe or a new swine flu in the UK - can change the landscape quickly. That said, we think you should plan for a similar year to last year - with a fair number of sick calls each week, especially just after holiday gatherings. 

Sources: Eric Topol, JP Weiland, YLE, Fortune

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What is the deal with the JN.1 variant? 

JN.1 is a descendent of BA.2.86, also known as the Pirola variant. You may remember Pirola because it caused concern with over 30 new mutations, and its offspring JN.1 is similarly mutated. JN.1 makes up nearly half of cases in some European countries already, and is poised to take over as the dominant variant globally. The good news is that the updated booster provides protection against it, though only about 16% of Americans have gotten the newest booster so far. None of the dominant variants since the original Omicron have caused the type of massive surge we saw a few years ago, so we’re watching with interest but not fear right now. 

Source: YLE

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Best Read:

Egypt Wiped Out Hepatitis C. Now It Is Trying to Help the Rest of Africa. - NY Times