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In health news, experts are watching for another COVID winter even as case rates plummet and restrictions become virtually non-existent.
Welcome to night health care, where we follow the latest developments in policies and news concerning your health. For The Hill, we are Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi.
Before the holidays, experts anticipate more COVID
Falling levels of coronavirus cases and the absence of major restrictions could lead many to speculate that this holiday season could be the first “normal” seen since the start of the pandemic, but experts and stakeholders are predicting another winter COVID-19 as the specter of the pandemic refuses to dissipate.
National COVID-19 cases have remained at low levels since a July peak fueled by the BA.5 omicron subvariant, with the weekly case count currently standing at around 261,000. Hospitalizations and deaths have also continued their downward trend.
Another potential push: Cases could rise again, however, as temperatures drop, vaccination rates stagnate and countries across the Atlantic experience their own surge, which has regularly predicted what will happen in the United States.
“In the United States, our cases have declined overall, but there are areas where virus detection in sewage is increasing,” said Lin Chen, director of the Mount Auburn Travel Medicine Center and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. . Hill.
People generally feel more comfortable going out in public thanks to the wide range of coronavirus treatments and vaccines that have been made available, Chen said, leading to greater travel confidence.
Although travel has resumed throughout 2022 as people overcome their distrust of COVID-19, travel and tourism stakeholders do not yet anticipate a return to the same levels as before the start. of the pandemic.
Learn more here.
Companies report amoxicillin shortages
Three of the biggest makers of the antibiotic amoxicillin, which is most widely used to treat bacterial infections in children, are reporting supply issues.
- Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Sandoz, the generics division of Novartis, have all reported shortages of various doses of the drug.
- Amoxicillin comes as a capsule, tablet, chewable tablet, and liquid to be taken by mouth, depending on the age of the patient.
Most shortages have been reported in the liquid form of the drug, which is used by young children, according to the University of Utah’s Drug Information Service, which tracks drug shortages, although the database shows that companies have reported a limited supply of all versions of the drug.
As of October 25, the university’s drug tracker listed 14 amoxicillin products from Hikma Pharmaceuticals and nine products from Teva. The tracker listed 16 Sandoz products as being in short supply.
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) spokesperson said the agency is aware of “some intermittent supply disruptions of amoxicillin products in the United States and is currently working with licensed manufacturers.”
But the FDA does not consider amoxicillin to be in short supply because at least one manufacturer is able to fully meet market demand.
Learn more here.
JUDGE ORDERS NYC TO REINSTATE WORKERS DISMISSED FOR VAX TERM
A judge has ordered New York to reinstate 16 sanitation workers fired earlier this year for refusing to comply with a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for city employees.
Judge Ralph Porzio, who sits on the New York Supreme Court in Staten Island, ruled on Tuesday that the city’s health commissioner cannot change workers’ terms of employment, also referencing President Biden saying that “the pandemic is over” and Governor Kathy Hochul (D) ending New York’s state of emergency.
- “The mandate to vaccinate City employees was not just a matter of safety and public health; it was a matter of compliance,” Porzio wrote, also ruling that the mandate violated the equal protection rights of employees.
- “If it were a matter of safety and public health, the unvaccinated workers would have been furloughed at the time the order was issued,” he continued. “If it was about safety and public health, the health commissioner would have issued citywide vaccination mandates for all residents.”
“We have already filed an appeal,” continued a spokesperson for the New York legal department. “In the meantime, the mandate remains in place because this decision only affects the individual applicants in this case. We continue to review the court’s decision, which conflicts with many other decisions already confirming the warrant.
Learn more here.
LESS COMMON TYPE OF INCREASED STROKE: STUDY
Each year, approximately 795,000 people suffer a stroke in the United States, according to the American Heart Association. About 87 percent are of one type of stroke: ischemic. A new analysis suggests another type may be on the rise, particularly in black populations.
- A study published Wednesday in the journal Neurology found that the incidence of strokes caused by subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), which accounts for 5-10% of strokes in the United States and can have a rate of high mortality, increased by an average of 0.7%. each year between 2007 and 2017 based on data from Florida and New York hospitals.
- SAH, in particular, occurs when blood pools in the space around the brain. It can be caused by the rupture of an aneurysm, where a weak part of a blood vessel bulges outward.
SAH has some overlap in symptoms with ischemic stroke, which is caused by blockage of blood vessels to the brain, and a third type, intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke, which results from bleeding into brain tissue.
Both of these types of stroke can usually manifest as weakness or numbness on one side of the body or loss of language or speaking ability.
The study also found that while strokes caused by SAH occurred more frequently in women, their incidence increased over time in men and was more common in blacks than in other racial groups. and also increased over time in them.
Learn more here.
Stroke sparks debate over what counts as a disability
Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman (D)’s struggles following his recent stroke and the media attention they garnered have sparked a debate about what counts as a disability and perceptions about who is capable of to serve.
Fetterman’s health was at the center of a debate on Tuesday night when he faced Republican candidate Mehmet Oz – the only such contest between the two contenders in perhaps the country’s pivotal race for control of the Senate this year. .
The Democrat used a captioning system throughout the debate to help him understand the questions, and he sometimes struggled to form clear sentences. The performance again raised questions about whether voters will support Fetterman in next month’s election.
- “I think most of us … conjure up an image of what it’s like to be disabled and often it’s some kind of physical mobility disability,” said Emily Blum, executive director of Disability Lead. “It’s an image that a lot of us are very comfortable with because it’s visible.”
- “But the vast majority of disabilities are, in fact, invisible,” she continued. “And so we need to change the quotes, facing disability to be more representative of that, mental, cognitive, chronic disease. Things that are not visible to the naked eye are the face of disability today.
Justified or biased: Critics have defended the scrutiny as part of broader questions about Fetterman’s fitness for office during what can be a difficult recovery process to predict.
Disability rights advocates, however, say Fetterman’s media coverage has raised questions about the perception of who is — and isn’t — allowed to lead with a disability in the halls of Congress.
Learn more here.
EVENT INVITATION
Hill’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion SummitThursday, October 27 at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT
Diversity, equity and inclusion are no longer just wellness initiatives. They are essential to the success of an organization. Many actors in the public and private sectors have tried to highlight the diversity of our country and support a culture of inclusion. What more can be done to remove barriers to equity and achieve true inclusion? Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), Charlotte Burrows, President of the EEOC, Maurice Jones, CEO of OneTen Health, Dan Perez, CEO of Hinge Health, Julia Pollak of ZipRecruiter and many more Join The Hill to discuss steps towards meaningful change and a more inclusive society. RSVP today.
WHAT WE READ
- When it comes to addiction, Americans’ word choices are part of the problem (Stat)
- Patients with weakened immune systems suffer severe effects, death from monkeypox: CDC (ABC News)
- Why pediatricians are worried about the end of the federal COVID emergency (NPR)
- Biden officials fear pandemic burnout could lead to bad Covid winter (Washington Post)
STATE BY STATE
- States withdraw from federal program that tracks teen behavior as young people’s mental health deteriorates (Kaiser Health News)
- Will question 2 improve dental insurance coverage or just increase costs? There are no easy answers. (Boston Globe)
- Texas Republicans in close races open to rape and incest, exceptions to abortion ban (Texas Tribune)
That’s all for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s healthcare page for the latest news and coverage. Until tomorrow!
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