Stay Well

July 24, 2024

Why COVID Is Surging This Summer — And What Health Experts Say Has Changed

President Biden’s positive test for COVID-19 on Wednesday is a sign of a broader trend: COVID cases are on the rise this summer, gauged by rising wastewater measures and an increase in hospitalizations. Many Americans have likely experienced the uptick firsthand over the past few weeks. They’ve either tested positive themselves or know someone else chagrined to see those two lines bloom on a home test. Even as SARS-CoV-2 has joined the ranks of the respiratory viruses that will continue circulating and causing infections, a spike in cases like this summer’s still causes disruptions in people’s lives — as well as some confusion over issues like tracking down tests, the best time to get vaccine boosters, and the latest advice on managing the infection. One key message from public health experts - Despite the increase in cases, the protection people have built up thanks to rounds of vaccination and prior infections is still sparing the vast majority of people from severe illness. STAT Read more

Vaccination Slashes Risk Of Long COVID, Says Large Study Tracing Cases Through Delta And Omicron Variants

Vaccination lowers the chance of developing long COVID, according to a large new study that also found that the risk of serious complications has diminished but not disappeared as new coronavirus variants emerged. The study, published last Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, compared the health records of more than 440,000 Veterans Affairs patients who were infected with COVID-19 with records of more than 4 million uninfected people. The analysis found that cases of long COVID — also called PASC (post-acute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) — fell among all participants during the Delta and Omicron eras of the pandemic, but dropped almost twice as much for vaccinated people when the Omicron variant dominated cases. STAT Read more

Long COVID Has Affected Millions. Here's What Scientists Now Know

Since 2020, the condition known as long COVID-19 has become a widespread disability affecting the health and quality of life of millions of people across the globe and costing economies billions of dollars in reduced productivity of employees and an overall drop in the work force. The intense scientific effort that long COVID sparked has resulted in more than 24,000 scientific publications, making it the most researched health condition in any four years of recorded human history. Long COVID is a term that describes the constellation of long-term health effects caused by infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These range from persistent respiratory symptoms, such as shortness of breath, to debilitating fatigue or brain fog that limits people's ability to work, and conditions such as heart failure and diabetes, which are known to last a lifetime. CBS News Read more



Oakland Sweeps Beach Encampment Where Unhoused Residents Sued To Stay Put

The city of Oakland on Tuesday began to sweep a small community of unhoused people who call a tiny beach near the Bay Bridge home, according to an attorney representing the residents in a federal lawsuit. Most of the 12 residents of the Interstate 80 toll plaza camp, many of whom have disabilities, plan to stick together as they move on to another roadside about three miles away. “A lot of them are very sad,” said Andrea Henson, an attorney for the encampment residents who visited Tuesday morning as homeless advocates arrived with UHauls and police stood by to oversee the city sweep. “They’re scared, of course. They’re concerned about their safety, especially the women who have children. They were very happy that the community decided to stay together because they do provide protection and assistance to one another that, had they been isolated, they wouldn’t have.” KQED Read more

Mayor Breed Says "Very Aggressive" Sweep Of S.F. Homeless Encampments Will Launch In August

Mayor London Breed said that San Francisco will launch a “very aggressive” crackdown on homeless encampments in the city next month. The mayor’s comments — made Thursday during an election debate hosted by the firefighters union — come about three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court granted cities broad power to evict unhoused people from encampments. “We are going to be very aggressive and assertive in moving encampments which may even include criminal penalties,” Breed said at Thursday’s debate. “The problem is not going to be solved by building more housing,” Breed added. “Thank goodness for the Supreme Court decision.” Breed said the city has had to move from a compassionate approach to one focused on accountability. Long-term issues will not be solved by “just building housing and shelter,” she added. She said the city would start the sweeps in August because it needs time to retrain workers to follow the new legal guidance. SF Chronicle Read more

California Passed A Law To Fix Unsafe Homeless Shelters. Cities And Counties Are Ignoring It

Now that the Supreme Court has granted cities more power to ban sleeping outside, homeless Californians face a crucial decision: Try to get into a shelter, or risk going to jail. Those able to find a shelter bed will step into a world rife with reports of violence, theft, health hazards — and a lack of accountability. Public records obtained by CalMatters show that most cities and counties have seemingly ignored a recent state law that aimed to reform dangerous conditions in shelters. In 2021, following earlier reports of maggots, flooding and sexual harassment in shelters, the state Legislature created a new system requiring local governments to inspect the facilities after complaints and file annual reports on shelter conditions, including plans to fix safety and building code violations. CalMatters Read more



California Forges Ahead With Social Media Rules Despite Legal Barriers

California lawmakers are pursuing legislation aimed at protecting children from the dangers of social media, one of many efforts around the country to confront what U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and other public health experts say is a mental health emergency among young people. But California’s efforts, like those in other states, will likely face the same legal challenges that have thwarted previous legislative attempts to regulate social media. The tech industry has argued successfully that imposing rules regulating how social media operate and how people can use the online services violates the free speech rights of the companies and their customers. California Healthline Read more

Stressed About Politics? Here Are 5 Ways To Take Care Of Your Mental Health

The presidential election is taking a toll on the mental health of Americans. And that's according to recent surveys conducted before the attempt on one candidate's life and widespread calls for another to drop out of the race. In a poll by the American Psychiatric Association, nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents said they're feeling anxious about the election. Another poll by Myriad Genetics found that nearly 40% said they are feeling anxious and/or depressed about the election season, and a similar share said they are "checked out" by the amount of news and social media attention on politics and the upcoming election. Psychologists say it's normal for people to feel heightened negative emotions during this time. "There's a range of emotions that people experience during this time leading up to elections that can go from fear to anger to feeling stressed out to feeling extremely sad and fearful of the future," says psychologist Krystal Lewis at the National Institute of Mental Health. "Those emotions are all valid, and it's OK to feel those emotions." NPR Read more

Moving In Childhood Contributes To Depression, Study Finds

In recent decades, mental health providers began screening for “adverse childhood experiences” — generally defined as abuse, neglect, violence, family dissolution and poverty — as risk factors for later disorders. But what if other things are just as damaging? Researchers who conducted a large study of adults in Denmark, published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, found something they had not expected: Adults who moved frequently in childhood have significantly more risk of suffering from depression than their counterparts who stayed put in a community. In fact, the risk of moving frequently in childhood was significantly greater than the risk of living in a poor neighborhood, said Clive Sabel, a professor at the University of Plymouth and the paper’s lead author. NY Times Read more



S.F. Nonprofits Give Foil And Pipes To Fentanyl Users. Critics Say It’s Making Drug Crisis Worse

Glide Foundation’s center in the Tenderloin helps keep Angelina Pacheco fed and warm, supplying her with hot meals and hand warmers. She appreciates the friendly staff and the fact that the location feels like it’s right in her backyard. Another reason the 41-year-old returns to the nonprofit on a regular basis is to get free pieces of aluminum foil that she uses to smoke fentanyl. “It’s better quality,” she said of the foil Glide hands out, as she ate a doughnut in front of her tent across the street from the center. “It’s heavy duty.” Handing out foil and other smoking equipment, such as straws and glass pipes, has been a part of harm reduction strategies for city-funded nonprofits in San Francisco for a few years — though officials say the city does not provide the equipment or explicitly fund the purchases. Health experts say that giving out equipment to users, whether it’s foil or clean needles for injection, is an important part of keeping users safe and getting them connected to long-term treatment. SF Chronicle Read more

Opioid Prevention Education Coming To Sonoma County Schools This Fall

Sonoma County teachers, staff and students this fall will learn more about the dangers of opioids and how to assist in overdose prevention following a state mandate passed last year. The Sonoma County Office of Education will develop updated guidelines about fentanyl awareness, overdose and prevention for middle and high schools to be added to existing safety for local school districts, said Eric Wittmershaus, Sonoma County Office of Education spokesperson. The Sonoma County Department of Health Services also is working to expand fentanyl prevention and opioid education in schools through the IMPACT program managed by their partner, Panaptic, according to county spokesperson Sheri Cardo. Panaptic, a Sonoma-based organization, produces evidence-based substance abuse prevention curriculum through engaging youth with compassion. Through its Sonoma County Prevention Partnership, the health department has collaborated with Panaptic since 2019 and currently serves seven campuses with plans to expand annually, Cardo said. Press Democrat Read more

Could This Van Help People Quit Fentanyl?

Before he started taking methadone, Vinny Parisi had overdosed 16 times from using street drugs, including fentanyl. Eating out of garbage cans and sleeping under a bridge in Harlem, he finally hit bottom, he said. Now, Mr. Parisi goes every weekday morning to an R.V.-size white van parked at a Days Inn in the South Bronx. Within a few minutes, he drinks a bright pink fluid — a dose of methadone — saving him the hours of commuting and waiting it often takes to visit a brick-and-mortar clinic to get the drug. “This definitely works, I’m living proof,” Mr. Parisi said on a recent Tuesday outside the van, where he was waiting with about a dozen other men from his residential drug treatment program. He is only 30 years old, but has been in and out of treatment programs since age 15, after starting to abuse pain pills on Staten Island. NY Times Read more

Serious Maternal Complications Linked With Use Of Marijuana Before And Early In Pregnancy, Study Says

More and more people are using marijuana before or during pregnancy to ease nausea, pain, stress and help with sleep. In fact, research found that use has more than doubled in the last two decades. Marijuana use in pregnancy has been linked to such adverse outcomes for the baby as lower birthweight, preterm birth and higher admission rates to neonatal intensive care units. What about the potential danger to the mother if she uses cannabis before or during early pregnancy? According to a new study, the news there is alarming as well. There’s an increased risk of serious, potentially life-threatening maternal complications such as gestational hypertension and preeclampsia, which are both disorders of high blood pressure. “Pregnant individuals who used versus did not use cannabis during early pregnancy had a 17% greater risk of gestational hypertension (and) an 8% greater risk of preeclampsia,” said lead study author Kelly Young-Wolff, a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Pleasanton, California. CNN Read more



Too Many Pills? How To Talk To Your Doctor About Reviewing What’s Needed

Swallowing a handful of pills is a daily ritual for many people, from young adults coping with anxiety to older adults managing chronic conditions. Overall, 13% of people in the U.S. take five or more prescription drugs. For those 65 and older, that number is 42%. If you’re taking multiple meds, it’s smart to be aware of potential problems. One pill can lead to a side effect, leading to another pill and another side effect in what experts call a “prescribing cascade.” Some drugs can cause harm if taken for years. Others stop working or interact badly with a new drug. A drug tolerated well at first can cause side effects later, leading to cognitive decline and injuries from falls. AP Read more