Cruel Summer?
Three Things Thursday
Three Things Thursday highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week. As I wrote yesterday, federal cuts, the reduction in force, and the reorganization (aka annihilation) of NIH have impacted me directly. While I am still upset, I have been encouraged by the comments, emails, and messages you have sent me; thank you. My work continues.
I will be here with you (at least) weekly throughout the next four years.
To create healthy communities for all, I am committing to —
Using data/science to create public health (aka preventative health) programs, policies, and interventions to save lives and decrease suffering.
Fighting misinformation.
Inspiring others to understand the science to make healthy decisions and create healthy communities.
And I am not alone in this work. There are so many people conducting research, communicating, advocating, litigating, and demanding that we use evidence-based approaches to improve health. Earlier this week, one of my former students (who is now a dear friend), who was part of the RIF (reduction in force), wrote this in a blog post on 100 Days of Democracy. May it encourage you as much as it has encouraged me.
“The fight for public health and health equity will be a lifelong one. But for the next few years, we can look to our families, our communities, and our cities to help us stay healthy. We should not waver in the demand for safe and healthy communities as well as for evidence-based health information. Love each other, protect each other, and get vaccinated!”
We need each other and encouragement because, as we move into the summer, new health risks arise. Plus, we are facing a new COVID variant and misinformation/lack of transparency from HHS.
Hoping this post helps to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy communities.
New COVID Variant
A new COVID variant, NB.1.8.1, has been confirmed here in the United States. Currently, levels of COVID are low. However, the WHO has added NB.1.8.1, which was first discovered in China in January, to its watch list. Countries in the WHO Western Pacific region have reported an increased number of cases and hospitalizations as a result of NB.1.8.1, but the severity of cases does NOT appear to be different from the other variants circulating.
Symptoms of NB.1.8.1 remain the same as other variants that have moved through our communities — sore throat, fever, cough, fatigue, and a runny nose, among others. NB.1.8.1 is contagious and spreads easily from person to person.
With a new variant, we expect an uptick in cases this summer. Speaking with Today.com, Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, noted —
“COVID may not have completely settled into a (predictable) yearly pattern yet, but it certainly has spiked the past four summers, and we anticipate that this will happen again this summer.”
To prevent getting sick or spreading your illness to others, be sure to —
Stay home if you get sick.
This is the hardest one for me. And it took a pandemic for me to realize that teaching with pneumonia (just as an example, not saying I did this in the fall of 2014) is a bad idea. We ALL need to agree that staying home when we are sick is best for us, as we need to rest and recover. And staying home is also best for others. We stop/slow the chain of disease transmission when we isolate ourselves from others.
So stay home.
Stay home (or keep your kids home) if they are running a fever (>100.4*F), have diarrhea, are vomiting, or have a sore throat, cough, pink eyes, or a nasty runny nose. And we should all stay home until our symptoms have been gone for 24 hours without symptoms.
Teach & practice good hygiene. Simple acts like washing your hands (after using the bathroom and before eating) and sneezing into an elbow really do reduce the risk of disease spread. Other things we can do to prevent disease spread include keeping our hands out of our eyes, noses, and mouths (this means NOT biting our fingernails) and refusing to share water bottles and utensils with others.
Masking will reduce your exposure to any airborne virus, including COVID. It’s always good to have a mask handy if you are traveling by plane or train (or a crowded bus).
Hopefully, by August, there will be clear guidance regarding COVID vaccines… because the vaccines are safe and effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, death, and the spread of disease.
It could be a Cruel Summer.
The MAHA Report — the good, the bad, and the ugly
On May 22, the Presidential Commission to Make America Healthy Again published the Make Our Children Healthy Again report/assessment. Honestly, it was released with little fanfare and media attention. The report states that U.S. children are “the sickest generation in American history.”
Here’s what’s good about the report —
It brings attention to critical issues facing our children. Improving children’s health should be a priority.
The report focuses on prevention, specifically improving nutrition, increasing the amount of physical activity and sleep children get, and reducing screen time.
But the report has its faults. Here’s what’s bad —
The social determinants of health, including poverty, improvements to our educational system, or access to healthcare, were NOT mentioned in the report.
NOTE: According to other reports published by HHS, the social determinants of health are responsible for upwards of 50% of health inequalities and poor health outcomes worldwide. Ignoring the social determinants of health feels like a gross oversight.Also left out of the discussion — gun violence, the opioid epidemic, car crashes, and drownings. NOTE: These are among the leading causes of death in kids and teenagers.
And here’s the ugly —
The report does not include a methods section. So it is unclear how the assessment was completed, what methods were used, and what the strengths and limitations of that process are. Without the methods, the report lacks transparency and reproducibility — hallmarks of good science.
Many of the 522 references in the report were made up. Seriously. The report started making headlines last week because the fact-checkers found fabricated references in the report. And while the White House is calling these egregious errors “formatting issues,” it is clear that the authors of the report (who were NOT disclosed) used AI (like ChatGPT) to write the report.
The report undermines the use of vaccines, the scientific process, medical education, and the integrity of public health and medical researchers.
Back in November, I wrote —
“Along with RJK Jr and his gang of health experts, who want to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), Trump wants to reduce the burden of chronic diseases in America.
I agree with this goal 100%.
The burden of preventable chronic diseases, such as Type II diabetes, heart disease, and lung cancer, is exceptionally high in the US. Where my thinking and that of Trump’s team diverge is what can be done to prevent these diseases.
Years (actually decades) of research, show that the burden of chronic diseases could be reduced by helping individuals stop (or never start) smoking cigarettes/vaping, reducing the amount of alcohol consumed, improving individual diets, allowing individuals the time to (and providing an affordable form of) exercise, and addressing the mental health/loneliness epidemics in our country. We need to take on the tobacco industry/lobby; and Coca-Cola/Pepsi (getting soda out of schools needs to be a priority). We need to turn the Farm Bill on its head and remove subsidies for corn syrup.
Trump’s team has not cited this research or discussed the solutions the public health community has been championing for years. Nor have they talked about providing healthcare for all, sick leave for all, affordable childcare for all, or an increased minimum wage. They have also failed to recognize that we have vaccines that prevent cancers of the cervix, mouth/throat, and liver, with a breast cancer vaccine on the horizon.”
The MAHA Report is a disgrace, although it draws attention to children’s health. And while we do need to work to reduce childhood diseases in the United States, we can only do so through cooperative research, by improving access to healthcare for all, and by building healthy communities.
Quoting (with some liberties) from the movie The American President —
We've got serious problems… This is a time for serious people, RFK Jr.
And your fifteen minutes are up.
How to Have a Healthy & Healthy Summer
As we head into summer (the last day of school for our kids is tomorrow), I want to talk about sun safety, water safety, food safety, and ticks.
☀️ When outside this summer, it is important to —
Seek out shade, especially during the hours of 10 am and 2 pm.
Wear sun-protective clothing. This includes sunglasses and a hat.
Wear sunscreen.
Sunscreen filters ultraviolet light A & B (UVA & UVB) rays. An SPF (sun protective factor) of 15 or higher is recommended. Individuals should reapply sunscreen every couple of hours, especially if they are swimming.
And parents/grandparents, please set an example for your kids. Wear a hat. Wear your sunglasses. Apply and reapply sunscreen. Seek out shade. Wear sun-protective clothing.
🌊 Drowning is fast and silent. An individual can die within 20-60 seconds.
According to CDC — drowning is a leading cause of death in children. Nonfatal drownings are often associated with brain damage and other long-term disabilities. To prevent drownings —
Do NOT swim alone.
Take lessons. Learn to swim (it is never too late to learn. NEVER).
Wear a life jacket.
Do NOT assume a float is safe or will serve as a lifesaving device.
Take safety breaks.
Learn CPR.
And watch your children.
🍽️ It is of the utmost importance that we all prepare and store our picnic foods properly to prevent foodborne illnesses.
Food can become contaminated with a handful of viruses and bacteria, including Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli, Listeria, and Hepatitis A when it is harvested, processed, prepared, or shared. Foodborne illnesses cause vomiting and diarrhea, and symptoms usually last for a day or two (a rough, feeling awful day or two).
To prevent foodborne illnesses during the summer, please —
Wash your hands before preparing food. Again, wash your hands before food is served. Again, wash your hands before you eat.
Wash your produce. This includes fruits like watermelon and cantaloupe.
Do not let food sit outside for more than 2 hours. And throw away your leftovers if they’ve sat outside for more than 2 hours.
Cook meat and seafood thoroughly. And to be clear, meat needs to be heated to a proper temperature to ensure it is safe to eat.
Be careful of cross-contamination. Do not place cooked hamburgers on the same plate where the raw hamburgers sit. Do not cut fruit on a cutting board that was used for cutting chicken.
Mind the mayonnaise. Mayonnaise-based foods must be kept COLD. There is no safe amount of time to leave a mayonnaise-based dish sitting outside if it is not on ice.
🪳 We all need to be aware of ticks and take steps to prevent tickborne diseases, especially Lyme Disease.
If you find a tick on your body, remove it. And then it is best to call your physician and ask about getting treated for Lyme disease.
If you are out in the woods or areas with high grass, it is best to wear protective clothing. Think — pants, knee-high socks. Regardless of what you are wearing, when you get home, take a shower to remove any ticks that have not latched on yet. And then conduct a tick check of your whole body.
What else can you do?
Click the “Like” button on the posts you enjoy. It’s a small thing, but it helps.
Share posts, either on social media or with your friends and family. People need to know the ripple effects these cuts are having in our communities.
Comment on the posts. Hearing from you is a form of encouragement & it helps move Epi(demiology) Matters up in the Substack algorithm.
Send me your ideas & questions
Epi(demiology) Matters is written by Dr. Becky Dawson, PhD MPH — an epidemiologist, teacher, mom, wife, and dedicated yogi. She is a tenured professor at Allegheny College, Research Director at a community hospital, and an exclusive contributor (all things health & medicine) at Erie News Now (NBC/CBS). Her goal is to create healthy communities for all. She writes Epi Matters — first & foremost because epidemiology does matter (to all of us), and she hopes that each post will help to educate and empower readers to be healthy and create healthy communities.
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They were doing a lyme disease vaccine trial recently. Any idea what the status is of that work?