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Stay Well
breaking health news & updates
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U.S. Surgeon General Declares Gun Violence A Public Health Emergency | |
The U.S. surgeon general on Tuesday declared gun violence a public health crisis, driven by the fast-growing number of injuries and deaths involving firearms in the country.
The advisory issued by Dr. Vivek Murthy, the nation's top doctor, came as the U.S. grappled with another summer weekend marked by mass shootings that left dozens of people dead or wounded.
“People want to be able to walk through their neighborhoods and be safe," Murthy told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “America should be a place where all of us can go to school, go to work, go to the supermarket, go to our house of worship, without having to worry that that's going to put our life at risk.”
To drive down gun deaths, Murthy calls on the U.S. to ban automatic rifles, introduce universal background checks for purchasing guns, regulate the industry, pass laws that would restrict their use in public spaces and penalize people who fail to safely store their weapons. SF Chronicle Read more
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“Family physicians have long understood, and have seen first hand, the devastating impact firearm violence has on our patients and the communities we serve.”
Steven Furr, President of The American Academy of Family Physicians
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Grand Jury: Contra Costa Emergency Warning System Endangers Residents
A new ominous civil grand jury report found Contra Costa County’s community warning system inadequate, asserting that the voluntary opt-in network could fail to quickly and accurately notify up to 70% of residents of imminent danger during a wildfire, earthquake or other major disasters.
Across the United States, warnings are sent through a slew of texts, phone alerts, calls, social media posts and other media broadcasts — vital tools to notify people about wildfires, earthquakes, floods and other life-threatening disasters.
But these alerts frequently fail to fully quell the ripple effects of devastation, illustrated most recently by the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century that ripped through Maui last August, following slow responses from emergency officials, internal communication breakdowns, limited internal communication, inoperative cell towers and a stretched-thin dispatch center.
One of the most glaring concerns identified by the civil grand jury is the reliance on a single, on-call officer within the Sheriff’s Office to respond to alerts and connect to the warning system’s network. Mercury News Read more
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Contra Costa Health Officials Open Psychiatric Emergency Unit For Youth
Children and teens in Contra Costa County will have a dedicated psychiatric emergency unit starting Monday, according to Contra Costa Health Services. The new unit will serve children ages 6 to 17 for the first 24 hours of a diagnosed psychiatric emergency. The unit is located at 25 Allen Street within the same building of Miller Wellness Center and near Martinez Health Center. The staff of Pacific Clinics has been contracted by Contra Costa Health Services to operate the new unit. Staff may help patients with crisis intervention, mental health assessment, medication assistance, and therapy. They will also offer alcohol and drug screening services, case management, and peer support. "The goal is to stabilize the unit's patients and connect them with mental health services without requiring inpatient hospitalization," Contra Costa Health Services said. CBS News Read more
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UCSF Upgrades Midwifery To Doctoral Program Just When More Nurses Are Needed
UCSF is ending its long-standing and esteemed master’s program for nurse midwives in favor of a doctorate program that many alumni and others in the field say will take longer and cost more to complete — making it harder for people to become midwives at a time maternal health workers are needed more than ever. Founded in 1988, the UCSF midwifery master’s program is one of the oldest in the country, and one of just two such midwifery education programs in the state. It has trained a significant portion of the nurse midwives in the Bay Area. Students on track to graduate next year will be the final cohort in the master’s program. The UCSF School of Nursing, which houses the nurse-midwifery program, says the change is in line with what nursing schools around the country have been doing the last two decades. Many schools are moving toward doctorate-level education as the standard for nursing education in many nursing specialties, not just nurse-midwifery, they said. SF Chronicle Read more
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Summer COVID Bump Intensifies In L.A. And California, Fueled By FLiRT Variants
The new COVID-19 subvariants collectively nicknamed FLiRT are continuing to increase their dominance nationwide, fueling a rise in cases in Los Angeles County and growth in the coronavirus levels seen in California wastewater. Taken together, the data point to a coronavirus resurgence in the Golden State — one that, while not wholly unexpected given the trends seen in previous pandemic-era summers, has arrived earlier and is being driven by even more transmissible strains than those previously seen. It remains unclear how bad the COVID situation may get this summer, however. Doctors have said that by the Fourth of July, we may have a better feel for how the rest of the season will play out. LA Times Read more
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"No Evidence" New COVID Variant LB.1 Causes More Severe Disease, CDC Says
There are no signs so far that the new LB.1 variant is causing more severe disease in COVID-19 patients, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, as infections have begun to accelerate in this summer's wave around the country. The LB.1 variant currently makes up 17.5% of new COVID cases, the CDC projected Friday, and could be on track to overtake its sibling, the KP.3 variant, which has also been growing in recent weeks. "There is currently no evidence that KP.3 or LB.1 cause more severe disease. CDC will continue to track SARS-CoV-2 variants and is working to better understand the potential impact on public health," CDC spokesperson David Daigle said in a statement. The reason behind any potential shifts to the symptoms or severity of disease caused by new variants is complex, affected by people's underlying immunity from a mix of past infections and vaccinations as well as changes to the virus itself. CBS News Read more
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Will California Remember The Lessons Of The COVID Health Emergency?
Inside secret warehouses strategically placed around the state, California is storing a massive cache of vital medical supplies, including masks, gloves and life-saving medicines, seeking to be better-equipped than it was during the COVID crisis. Four years after our lives were upended by the coronavirus, with a new viral threat looming, public health experts are asking: What else have we learned from the pandemic? While California is much better prepared, health experts say a closer review indicates more testing, more sustained funding and stronger national leadership are needed if they hope to execute their well-made plans.“We have learned a lot. We’re in a better position to deal with the next threat,” said Dr. Sarah Rudman, deputy health officer for Santa Clara County, which recorded the first COVID-19 death in the nation. But potential new threats are emerging — even as counties face budget cuts that could sacrifice future preparedness. As a public health emergency wanes, attention fades also, Rudman said. Mercury News Read more
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Study Suggests Cancer Patients Should Stay Current On COVID-19 Boosters
A study shows cancer patients who are up to date on vaccines and have received COVID-19 boosters are more protected against death and serious complications than unvaccinated patients. Cancer patients were not included in key randomized clinical trials on vaccine efficacy (VE), the authors of the study write, but they are at increased risk of death and serious illness from COVID-19 infections. Those especially at risk include lung cancer patients, those with hematologic cancer, and those undergoing chemotherapy. The authors said prospective data on immunogenicity following initial vaccination have shown that cancer patients develop protective antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 but in lower rates than the general population. CIDRAP
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State/National/International News | | |
AT&T Must Keep Providing Landline Service In California, Regulator Rules
State utility regulators Thursday unanimously shot down a massively unpopular proposal by AT&T to scrap landline service for most of the Bay Area and much of California that critics charged would have stripped many older people and rural residents of a communications lifeline in power outages and disasters such as fires and floods. The Utility Reform Network estimated that hundreds of thousands of households in the Bay Area and millions around California would have lost landline service if the California Public Utilities Commission had approved AT&T’s proposal. “It’s a great victory for Californians,” said Regina Costa, telecommunications policy director for The Utility Reform Network. East Bay Times Read more
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Antibiotics Wreak Havoc On The Gut. Can We Kill The Bad Bugs And Spare The Good Ones?
Inside every human is a thriving zoo of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microscopic organisms collectively known as the microbiome. Trillions of microbes live in the digestive tract alone, a menagerie estimated to contain more than 1,000 species. This ecosystem of tiny stuff affects our health in ways science is only beginning to understand, facilitating digestion, metabolism, the immune response and more. But when serious infection sets in, the most powerful antibiotics take a merciless approach, wiping out colonies of beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract and often prompting secondary health problems. “Increasingly, researchers are recognizing the benefits of protecting the human gut microbiome, particularly because its integrity and diversity is linked to metabolic influences on mental health and physical health conditions,” said Dr. Oladele A. Ogunseitan, a professor of population health and disease prevention at UC Irvine.
Mercury News Read more
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Young Gay Latinos See Rising Share Of New HIV Cases, Leading To Call For Targeted Funding
Four months after seeking asylum in the U.S., Fernando Hermida began coughing and feeling tired. He thought it was a cold. Then sores appeared in his groin and he would soak his bed with sweat. He took a test. On New Year’s Day 2022, at age 31, Hermida learned he had HIV. “I thought I was going to die,” he said, recalling how a chill washed over him as he reviewed his results. He struggled to navigate a new, convoluted health care system. Through an HIV organization he found online, he received a list of medical providers to call in Washington, D.C., where he was at the time, but they didn’t return his calls for weeks. Hermida, who speaks only Spanish, didn’t know where to turn. Overall, estimated new HIV infection rates declined 23% from 2012 to 2022. But a KFF Health News-Associated Press analysis found the rate has not fallen for Latinos as much as it has for other racial and ethnic groups. California Healthline Read more
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As They Enter Their 60s, Gen Xers Projected To See Higher Cancer Rates Than Boomers
As they head into their golden years, Gen-Xers are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than the generation born before them, the Baby Boomers, a new National Cancer Institute study finds. If current cancer trends continue, the paper published this month in JAMA Network Open concludes, “cancer incidence in the U.S. could remain unacceptably high for decades to come.” What’s driving the projected rise in rates of invasive cancer remains an open question. Researchers believe early detection, obesity and sedentary lifestyles might explain some of the rise in cancer rates. Some research also points to pollutants, including a class of manmade chemicals known as PFAS, as possible culprits. NPR Read more
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New Fathers Should Be Screened For Postpartum Depression Too, Study Says
Joel Gratcyk remembers the moment he finally broke. He pulled his car off to the side of the road, tears streaming down his face. His newfound fatherhood was supposed to be one of the happiest times of his life. Instead, he was sinking deep into a heavy sadness while his infant son sat in the back seat. It was all too much. The stress, the lack of sleep, the lingering fear that he wouldn’t be a good parent.
“I just knew, at that moment, I needed help,” Gratcyk, 42, recalled. “There was too much going on, and I just couldn’t do it myself.” He’s not alone. An expanding volume of recent research has indicated that fathers, along with their female partners, can develop postpartum depression. Most experts estimate that around 10% of dads will experience the condition, while about 14% of moms will.
Mercury News Read more
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High Blood Pressure During Pregnancy Has Doubled, But Only 60% Are Treated, Study Finds
Rates of high blood pressure during pregnancy doubled between 2008-2021, but only 60% were treated for it, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Hypertension.
"One of the main drivers of adverse outcomes during pregnancy is due to high blood pressure," Stephanie Leonard, an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology- Maternal Fetal Medicine at Stanford and lead author on the study, told ABC News. Chronic hypertension in pregnancy is defined as high blood pressure diagnosed before pregnancy or before 20 weeks of pregnancy. While it's not clear why rates have increased so dramatically, prior research suggests it may be because more people are choosing to wait until they are older to have children. Good Morning America Read more
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Marin Nonprofit To Launch New "Help Desk" For Homeless Clients
Matt Smith recalled the dramatic change in a 24-year-old man who once slept in the streets of San Rafael. Smith, a program manager for St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin, saw him seeking help at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The staff at St. Vincent later placed him into a sober living program. “He now looks like a totally different person,” Smith said. He added that the client reconnected with his family and is undergoing mental health treatment. “When we met him he was literally sleeping outside and he was asked to leave our kitchen because he was yelling at everyone at that moment,” Smith said. “Now, he’s over there socializing.” The client is among 60 people whom Smith helped get into sober living environments since December, said Kathleen Woodcock, St. Vincent’s chief philanthropy officer. Marin Independent Journal
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Slashing Bay Area Homelessness Would Cost $9.5 Billion, Report Says
What would it cost to dramatically reduce homelessness in the Bay Area? About $9.5 billion on top of current spending, according to a report released Tuesday from the research and policy nonprofit All Home. That could cut unsheltered homelessness across the Bay Area by 75% over the next five years and reduce the number of new people falling into homelessness by 15%, the nonprofit projects. The projections are part of the nonprofit’s new Regional Action Plan, a roadmap for achieving “functional zero,” a state in which homelessness is “rare, brief and one-time.” The organization’s first such plan, released in 2021, laid out a roadmap for shrinking the homeless population by three-quarters in three years. Three years later, there are still around 25,000 unsheltered unhoused people in the region — a 30% drop from All Home’s approximation of 35,000 in 2021 — and the nonprofit estimates at least three people fall into homelessness for every one person that gets housing. KQED Read more
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Science Of Social Media’s Effect On Mental Health Isn’t As Clear Cut As A Warning Label Might Suggest
When U.S Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy pushed last week for a tobacco-style warning on social media, he called the mental health crisis in young people an emergency that demanded action without waiting for “perfect information." Even among experts, questions remain about the exact role that social media plays in the mental health of children and teens. Authors of a sweeping new review of research into social media and mental health say there’s still key information missing to know whether prevention programs and interventions will work. In the study, published Monday in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics, researchers reviewed nearly 150 studies on the relationship between social media and the mental health of adolescents. They found an overall link between anxiety and depression in adolescents and the time spent on social media platforms, as well as a link between the types of activities and content they were interacting with. However, the level of impact varied enough to suggest that the findings shouldn’t be generalized to the population as a whole. CNN Read more
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A Study Identified 6 Types Of Depression. Here’s Why That Matters
For some people with depression, finding the right medication can be a process of trial and error lasting for months or even years, which can worsen symptoms. But what if doctors, when diagnosing someone with depression, could assess exactly how depression is affecting a patient’s brain and prescribe a treatment that gets it right the first time? Scientists may be a step closer to that reality, thanks to new research that has identified six subtypes — or “biotypes” — of major depression via brain imaging combined with machine learning. The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, also tested how three of those biotypes responded to different antidepressants and therapies. CNN Read more
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Long-Term Loneliness Associated With Higher Risk Of Stroke
Middle-age and older adults with long-term loneliness are at higher risk of stroke than
those who do not report being lonely, according to a new study published in the journal eClinicalMedicine on Monday. Researchers found the risk of stroke among lonely adults was higher regardless of co-existing depressive symptoms or feelings of social isolation. "Loneliness is increasingly considered a major public health issue. Our findings further highlight why that is," lead author Yenee Soh, a research associate in the department of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a press release. ABC News
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Fentanyl Crisis/Drug Trends | | |
Bay Area Schools Look To Tackle Fentanyl Crisis Head On
Facing a fentanyl overdose crisis among teens, Bay Area high schools and nonprofits are finding ways to both save them from overdosing and prevent substance abuse by giving out medicine and changing their approach to drug education. The crisis is ravaging the Bay Area, with San Francisco alone predicting 774 drug overdose deaths by the end of 2024 — roughly three times more than in 2017, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of San Francisco.
One group fighting this crisis is the California School-Based Health Alliance, a statewide non-profit organization that has partnered with eight high schools in the Bay Area to promote the use of Narcan, a medicine that can temporarily reverse the effects of an overdose and potentially save a life. But Narcan is still not available at every school. Sierra Lau, school health project director of CSHA, said some parents may worsen the problem by not facing the reality of the issue. Mercury News Read more
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A New Threat To Cannabis Users: Smuggled Chinese Pesticides
In coordinated raids in September, multiple California agencies stormed a network of illegal cannabis-growing warehouses across Oakland while state cannabis regulators singled out a salmon-colored warehouse complex surrounded by 7,000-volt security fencing. The warehouse building — home to two licensed cannabis operations — was “highly-likely” the conduit that illegal growers used to ship their product into the legal market, a state agent told a judge. Inside the rooms, inspectors found 43,000 plants growing beneath high-intensity lights. None had the tracking tags required to be placed on legal plants. But the surprise was what was found in the men’s room. Beside Hot Shot insect foggers and jugs of familiar chemicals were bags labeled in Chinese. Inside each were cellophane packets of wood shavings soaked in unknown pesticides. The same kinds of packets had been found earlier last year on illegal farms in Siskiyou County, where lab tests had revealed a cocktail of dangerous insecticides and fungicides that when burned would emit a cloud of pest- and mold-killing smoke. Among the unusual substances was isoprocarb, which is not permitted in the United States; profenofos, an organophosphate so harmful its use here was discontinued in 2016; and fenpropathrin, an acutely toxic insecticide that is fatal if inhaled. LA Times Read more
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How Music Education Sharpens The Brain, Tunes Us Up For Life
When Amy Richter was a little girl, her father often traveled for work. He often came home bearing gifts of music and record albums. They bonded while poring over all that vinyl, she recalls, exploring the world of music from classical and rock to bluegrass. Richter’s love of music only grew as she got older, and she studied voice and piano. Diagnosed with dyslexia, she also found that music helped her cope with her learning disability. It helped her gain focus and confidence. That’s why she studied music therapy in college. She knows the power of music to supercharge our brains. “Music really became the guiding force in my education and helped me to connect with other people, helping build confidence through performance, also helping with my mental health,” said Richter, who founded Music Workshop, a free music curriculum designed to cultivate a love of music from a young age, that can help schools beef up their arts offerings on the cheap. Schools across the country, including hundreds in California, from Yuba City to San Diego, now use her program. “It really became a tool in my life to better myself.” EdSource Read more
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About Eden Health District | | |
The Eden Health District Board of Directors are Chair Pam Russo, Vice Chair Ed Hernandez, Secretary/Treasurer Roxann Lewis, Mariellen Faria and Surlene Grant. The Chief Executive Officer is Mark Friedman.
The Eden Health District is committed to ensuring that policy makers and community members receive accurate and timely information to help make the best policy and personal choices to meet and overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other health issues.
We welcome your feedback on our bulletin. Please contact editor Lisa Mahoney.
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