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To mask, or not to mask? That is the question facing many doctors, public health officials and concerned citizens worldwide, as cases of COVID-19 once again tick upward. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Thursday that there’s a new, “highly mutated variant” of the coronavirus named BA.2.86 that’s spreading worldwide. Recent data from the New York state Department of Health, released Aug. 2, showed that COVID cases spiked by 55% over the prior week, with an average of 824 reported cases per day across the state. The rise in COVID-19 cases isn’t limited to New York:...

It's time to stop throwing money at an obsolete form of travel and focus on the transportation system that is already moving more than 80 percent of passenger travel in the U.S. When most of the nation’s governors shut down nonessential businesses and directed people to stay at home, they made the mistake of keeping urban transit systems running despite a 2018 study showing that mass public transportation systems expedite the spread of infectious diseases in communities. Further, a 2011 study found that people who ride urban transit are nearly six times more likely to suffer from upper respiratory infections...

Thought it may be a good idea to have a place to follow all the fast moving events in one place updates coming in fast

Link above to he latest situation report from WHO. Note, “confirmed cases” is a subset of those who get infected. Not everyone runs to the doc for a case of the sniffles. Based on populations and transmission rates the infected population is estimated around 4000. Confirmed cases near 600 with about 4% of those being fatal.

The mysterious new virus that is starting to spread very rapidly in China has global health officials extremely concerned. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization will convene an emergency meeting to discuss whether this outbreak should be “declared a global health crisis”, and screeners are being put in place at airports all over the world. But to a certain extent it may already be too late, because we know that this virus has already spread via airplane to at least three other countries. And since the early symptoms of this disease are so similar to what one would expect after...

There are now more than 200 cases, mostly in Wuhan, though the respiratory illness has also been detected in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Three people have died. Japan, Thailand and South Korea have reported cases. The sharp rise comes as millions of Chinese prepare to travel for the Lunar New Year holidays. Health officials have identified the infection, which first appeared in Wuhan in December, as a strain of coronavirus. They say it has led to an outbreak of viral pneumonia, but much about it remains unknown. Although the outbreak is believed to have originated from a market, officials and...

The number of tuberculosis cases in New York City suddenly jumped by 10 percent last year — the largest increase since 1992, according to the Health Department. TB is a highly infectious bacterial disease that largely attacks the lungs, but can also infect and spread to other organs, including the kidneys, spine or brain.

At least 56 cases of mumps have been reported in Florida in 2017, a significant rise over prior years but well below outbreaks in other states, which have reported hundreds of infections this year. The 2017 count includes confirmed and probable cases, said Brad Dalton, a health department spokesman. Dalton said the health department publishes a monthly surveillance report for mumps and other diseases, though the most current report is for November and counts 54 cases. “The Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best way to prevent all three conditions,” he said. Yet, in at least half of the...

More than half a million people in Yemen have been infected with cholera since the epidemic began four months ago and 1,975 people have died, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. Each day there are more than 5,000 new cases of the waterborne disease, which causes acute diarrhoea and dehydration, in the country where the health system has collapsed after more than two years of war, it said. "The total number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen this year hit the half a million mark on Sunday, and nearly 2,000 people have died since the outbreak began to...

In his first year in office, President Obama lifted an entry ban on foreigners with HIV. In his final year in office he will lift the entry ban on three more sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The president's own Health and Human Services department says this guarantees more infections in the United States, proving once again that immigration is the defining issue for politicians like Obama. Increased immigration trumps all other concerns. First, some background. In 1993, a clause specifically designed to reduce the spread HIV/AIDS into the United States was added to the Immigration and Nationality Act. It passed the...

Can the Playboy Mansion make you ill? Hugh Hefner's iconic bachelor pad is under investigation after more than 80 guests at a conference and party there became sick with a suspected strain of Legionnaires' disease. Scores of attendees at the Domainfest conference in Santa Monica, held Feb. 1 to 3, came down with symptoms including fever, respiratory infections and violent headaches. Four Swedish guests were diagnosed with Legionellosis or pontiac fever -- a milder form of Legionnaires' caused by bacteria that thrives in warm air-conditioning systems.