Tuesday, November 22, 2022 | California Healthline

The Desert Sun:
Eastern Riverside County Child Dies From RSV-Associated Illness

Riverside County Public Health announced Monday that an eastern Riverside County child under the age of 4 died after contracting a respiratory illness that is possibly linked to respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. (Sasic, 11/21)

Los Angeles Times:
How To Stay Safe At Thanksgiving As COVID-19, Flu And RSV Rise

“Our winter virus season is here early, especially for our kids. We are seeing stress on our clinics and hospitals that care for kids, especially infants and kids under 12,” Dr. Tomás Aragón, California’s public health director and health officer, said recently. “It’s important to remember that kids get infected from other kids and adults, so everyone needs to do their part.” (Money and Lin II, 11/21)

The Wall Street Journal:
Kids Sick With RSV And Flu Are Straining Schools And Parents 

Tensions are rising between parents and school nurses over children showing up to school with coughs, colds and symptoms of viral infections. … Some parents are sending children to school sick or returning them too quickly after illness, school nurses say, with parents citing an inability to take more time off work and a broader weariness from dealing with so much illness during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Janin, 11/21)

Insider:
Why Kids Are Getting Sick With RSV, Flu, And Flooding ERs

Doctors, nurses, and epidemiologists say there are several things at play contributing to the big viral soup — and they are wary of dismissing it with any one simple explanation, like “immunity debt.” … But in conversations with eight leading infectious disease experts, Insider found five complex and interwoven factors that may be driving the viral trends — and none can be easily summed up as an immune deficit. (Brueck, 11/21)

Stat:
Why Don’t Americans Have At-Home Flu Tests?

Flu season is underway. RSV is putting record numbers of children in hospitals. And health professionals are gearing up for another Covid winter. With so many potential viruses in play, it would be helpful if Americans had a way to distinguish between different ailments at home. (Trang, 11/22)

San Diego Union-Tribune:
That COVID-19 Winter Surge? It Appears To Be Arriving, Though Booster Rates Remain Low 

As a projected winter surge arrives, fewer than one in five San Diego County residents who qualify for a bivalent coronavirus booster shot have had one, according to local vaccination reports. (Sisson, 11/21)

Orange County Register:
Coronavirus: L.A. County Reported 4,862 More Cases And 20 More Deaths Over The Weekend 

Los Angeles County public health officials reported 4,862 more cases of the coronavirus since Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 3,515,225 as of Monday, Nov. 21. (Goertzen, 11/21)

The Mercury News:
Paxlovid Antiviral Pills Tested To Treat Long COVID

Could Paxlovid solve one of the pandemic’s biggest puzzles? A new study at Stanford University aims to find out. In the nation’s first medical trial of an antiviral strategy to treat long COVID, scientists are testing the drug to see if it helps ease the misery of fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, body aches, digestive symptoms and heart problems. (Krieger, 11/21)

CIDRAP:
Imaging Spotlights Brain Changes 6 Months After COVID-19 

A study using a special type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has revealed brain changes in COVID-19 patients up to 6 months after recovery from their infections, according to findings to be presented at next week’s Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago. … The MRI results showed significant changes in the brain linked with fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, depression, headaches, and cognitive problems in the COVID-19 patients compared with controls. (11/21)

CIDRAP:
US Pandemic Death Toll Higher Than In 20 Peer Countries

COVID-19 exacted a higher infection-related and excess all-cause death toll from the United States than from 20 peer countries throughout the pandemic but had less of an impact in the most-vaccinated states in the Delta and Omicron surges, suggests a study published late last week in JAMA. (Van Beusekom, 11/21)

CIDRAP:
Scientists Start Work On WHO Priority Pathogen List Revisions 

The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced the launch of a global scientific effort to update the list of priority pathogens, a list used to guide investments and research, especially for vaccines and treatments. It said the process began on Nov 18 with a meeting of more than 300 scientists, who are examining evidence on 25 virus families and bacteria, as well as “Disease X,” an unknown pathogen that could cause a serious international epidemic. The group will consider scientific criteria, as well as the potential socioeconomic, access, and equity impact. (11/21)

ABC News:
Fauci To Brief Reporters For Last Time Before Leaving Government After 50 Years

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, is scheduled to brief reporters from the White House on Tuesday in what is likely to be his final briefing before leaving the government at the end of the year. Fauci was expected to press the idea that Americans should get up-to-date on their COVID and flu shots ahead of winter. (Flaherty, 11/22)

Los Angeles Times:
CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Walmart: Which Locks Up The Most Items? 

While shopping for decongestant at Walmart in Burbank, Michelle Krider ran into a frustrating sign of the times: The nasal spray was on a shelf, locked beyond plexiglass. To get the decongestant, the Glendale resident had to press a red button on an electronic device mounted nearby that would summon a store worker to open the case. (martin and White, 11/21)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
Sonoma County Seeks Next Ambulance Provider, Opening Bids For Lucrative Contract

After a series of setbacks, Sonoma County has relaunched a search for its next ambulance provider, opening up bidding on what had been an exclusive and lucrative contract handling emergency medical care and transport for a large swath of the region. (Murphy, 11/21)

San Diego Union-Tribune:
Three San Diegans Named MolinaCares Community Champions 

Three San Diego County residents recently were recognized by Molina Healthcare of California with awards of $5,000 each for their work on social factors that determine health. (Groch, 11/21)

Los Angeles Times:
Federal Officials Warn Of ‘Unprecedented’ Fentanyl Crisis 

In the last two months, agents with Homeland Security Investigations have seized as much fentanyl as they did in all of 2019, federal officials said, warning that the amount of the drug hitting the streets is increasing every year with deadly consequences. (Hernandez, 11/21)

Voice Of San Diego:
Fentanyl Plagues San Diego’s Homeless Population 

The fentanyl epidemic is devastating San Diego’s homeless community. County data reveals 203 homeless San Diegans died of overdoses involving fentanyl last year, more than double the already surging total the County Medical Examiner’s Office tallied in 2020. And in the first quarter of 2022 – the most complete preliminary data available – fentanyl deaths among unhoused residents were up 23 percent from the same period last year. (Halverstadt, 11/21)

EdSource:
How Jennifer Siebel Newsom Became A Champion Of Youth Mental Health

First partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom has spent decades spotlighting, examining and uplifting the mental well-being of young people. But for her, the topic transcends professional duties. It’s personal. When Siebel Newsom was 6 years old, her older sister died in an accident, leaving her to navigate grief and emotional upheaval at a young age. She knows firsthand, she said, what it feels like to be a child who’s experienced loss and trauma, like so many California children have endured during the pandemic. (Jones, 11/21)

CapRadio:
Yolo County Considering Ban On Smoking In Apartments And Other Multiunit Housing 

Yolo County is considering a possible ban on smoking in multiunit residences in unincorporated areas. The county’s board of supervisors directed its staff to get feedback from residents who live in apartment buildings, condos and duplexes about the potential ordinance and the prevalence of indoor smoking earlier this month. (Milne, 11/21)

KQED:
‘Health And Safety Are At Risk’: Only 1 California Safety Inspector Is Bilingual In Chinese Or Vietnamese

In the nearly 30 years since Thomas Xiao arrived in San Francisco, he said he’s seen co-workers get injured at restaurants, factories and other jobs. Xiao himself suffered tendons that tore apart in his right shoulder in 2019, a stress injury he believes came from tossing a heavy frier with potatoes over and over for years. “It became really painful. I couldn’t even lift my hand,” Xiao said in Cantonese through an interpreter with the Chinese Progressive Association, a nonprofit in San Francisco. (Romero, 11/21)

CNN:
Study Suggests That HDL Or ‘Good’ Cholesterol Is Less Beneficial Than Previously Thought, Especially For Black Adults 

High-density lipoprotein, or HDL, cholesterol – often referred to as the “good” cholesterol – may not be as useful in predicting the risk of heart disease and protecting against it as previously thought, according to new researched funded by the National Institutes of Health. A study from the 1970s found that high levels of HDL cholesterol concentration were associated with low coronary heart disease risk, a link that has since been widely accepted and used in heart disease risk assessments. However, only White Americans were included in that study. (McPhillips, 11/21)

USA Today:
HIV Treatment, Prevention Efforts Must Target Black Women, Experts Say

Though men remain the largest group of people diagnosed with HIV, Black women make up the majority of new HIV cases among women. Seven thousand women diagnosed with the virus in 2018, and Black women made up more than 4,000 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reports transgender women in a separate category. (Hassanein, 11/21)