ReportWire

Tag: iab-diseases and conditions

  • Japan considers downgrading Covid-19 to same level as seasonal flu | CNN

    Japan considers downgrading Covid-19 to same level as seasonal flu | CNN

    [ad_1]


    Tokyo
    CNN
     — 

    Japan will consider downgrading Covid-19 to the same category as seasonal influenza this spring, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Friday.

    Kishida said he had instructed Health Ministry officials to discuss the move and his administration would also review rules on face masks and other pandemic measures.

    “In order to further advance the efforts of ‘living with Corona’ and restore Japan to a state of normalcy, we will transition the various policies and measures to date in phases,” Kishida said.

    While daily Covid-19 cases in Japan have declined in recent weeks, the country still faces around 100,000 new infections a day.

    Covid-19 is categorized as a Class 2 disease, the same status as tuberculosis and avian influenza, according to Japan’s Health Ministry. Officials will now discuss reclassifying it to Class 5 – the lowest rank, which includes seasonal flu.

    Japan fully reopened its borders to overseas visitors last October after more than two years of pandemic restrictions, ending one of the world’s strictest border controls.

    Influenza – or the common flu – and Covid-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses with simlar symptoms, but they are caused by different viruses and require testing to confirm a diagnosis, the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says on its website.

    According to the CDC, the risk of death or hospitalization from Covid-19 is greatly reduced for most people due to high levels of vaccination and population immunity from previous infections.

    However, the World Health Organization still lists the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, and reiterated in its latest update a recommendation for people to wear masks following recent exposure or close contact with Covid-19, and for “anyone in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated space” to do the same.

    WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on governments last week to continue sharing the sequencing data of the coronavirus, as it remained vital to detect and track the emergence and spread of new variants.

    “It’s understandable that countries cannot maintain the same levels of testing and sequencing they had during the Omicron peak. At the same time, the world cannot close its eyes and hope this virus will go away. It won’t,” he said.

    The news came as South Korea announced it will lift its mask mandate for most indoor areas, with exceptions for public transport and health facilities. The changes will take effect on January 30, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Friday.

    The measure will be lifted after the Lunar New Year holiday, when a large number of people are expected to travel, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

    New Covid-19 cases, severe cases and related deaths are all declining and the country’s medical response capacity remains stable, KDCA added.

    The agency has strongly recommended people wear masks if they have Covid-19 related symptoms, belong to a high-risk group, have been in contact recently with a positive case, or are in a crowded space.

    Masks will still be required on public transport and in health facilities after South Korea eases its indoor mask mandate on January 30, 2023.

    The prime minister said the easing of the mandate could result in a temporary surge of new cases and urged health authorities to stay vigilant.

    South Korea has scrapped most of its pandemic restrictions and eased its outdoor mask mandate in May 2022. It still requires people who test positive to undergo seven days of home isolation.

    The country has also restricted travel from mainland China and implemented testing requirements for people arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macau following Beijing’s easing of Covid restrictions.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • New 988 mental health crisis line sees ‘eye-opening’ rise in calls, texts, chats in first 6 months, data shows | CNN

    New 988 mental health crisis line sees ‘eye-opening’ rise in calls, texts, chats in first 6 months, data shows | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Since the summer launch of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the new three-digit number has seen a significant rise in call volume – routing more than 2 million calls, texts and chat messages to call centers, with the majority being answered in under a minute.

    “The average speed to answer year-over-year was about three minutes in 2021. It’s now 44 seconds in December of 2022,” said Dr. John Palmieri, a senior medical advisor at the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, who serves as 988’s deputy director.

    The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, launched last July, transitioning the former 1-800-273-TALK phone number to the three digits of 988. The new number is intended to be easy to remember, similar to how people can dial 911 for medical emergencies.

    Since that transition, in the past six months, about 2.1 million calls, texts and chats to the new 988 number have been routed to a response center and, of those, around 89% were answered by a counselor, according to a CNN analysis of data from SAMHSA, which oversees 988. Many of the calls that went unanswered were due to callers hanging up before reaching a counselor.

    “We know that there are many individuals in this country who are struggling with suicidal concerns, with mental health or substance use concerns, who aren’t able to access the care that they need. And in many respects, historically, because of funding limitations or other limitations, the system has let them down,” Palmieri said. “So, this is truly an opportunity with 988 – as a catalytic moment – to be able to transform the crisis care system to better meet those needs in a less restrictive, more person-centered, more treatment- and recovery-oriented way.”

    Since the summer launch of 988, more than 300,000 calls, texts and chats have come in each month. SAMHSA data on the new lifeline show that in December 2022 versus December 2021, calls answered increased by 48%, chats answered increased by 263% and texts answered increased by 1,445%.

    “We see the uptick in volume as an indicator that more people are aware of the service and able to access it,” Kimberly Williams, CEO and president of Vibrant Emotional Health, the nonprofit administrator and operator of the 988 lifeline, said in an email Thursday.

    She added that Vibrant was “not surprised” by the increase in volume and has been “working strategically” with the more than 200 call centers in the 988 network to respond.

    “In December of 2022 compared to December of 2021, over 172,000 more contacts were answered as part of the lifeline system,” Palmieri said.

    The average amount of time counselors spent talking, chatting or texting with contacts was about 21 minutes and 55 seconds.

    “It’s really eye-opening to see the increase in the texts, chats and calls that are coming in. But to see that more states have a more than 90% answer rate for contacts coming from their state – and that average speed of answering is down, so people are getting help more quickly,” said Hannah Wesolowski, the chief advocacy officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

    She added that before the launch of 988, there were likely many people seeking mental health support but didn’t feel like there was a call service available for them.

    “With the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, even though they did answer a range of crises, it was billed as the ‘National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.’ So a lot of people who are not feeling suicidal but were in distress didn’t feel like that was a resource for them,” Wesolowski said.

    “I think awareness of 988 continues to grow each month,” she said. “This country is in a mental health crisis at large. I believe that many more people are feeling that they’re approaching a crisis situation or are in crisis.”

    The 988 lifeline also has been testing a pilot program specifically for the LGBTQ+ community, in partnership with the Trevor Project, in which calls, texts or chats from LGBTQ+ youth have the option of being connected with counselors specially trained in LGBTQ-inclusive crisis care services.

    The pilot program began around the end of September, and “there has been a lot of demand and a lot of utilization of that service,” Palmieri said. He added that LGBTQ+ youth are at a higher risk of suicide.

    “With that pilot program, it is so important that particularly a young person who’s feeling alone, who’s feeling isolated, is able to connect to somebody that they feel can share their experience and that comes from a similar place of understanding,” Wesolowski said. “I’m very anxious to see what the data shows when the pilot ends in March, but I feel very encouraged by my conversations with the Trevor Project and others involved in this.”

    Since its launch, the 988 lifeline also has increased the number of call centers taking Spanish calls from a total of three to seven. Spanish language options will increase for text and chat messaging as well, Palmieri said.

    “We are also implementing video phone capabilities for people who are deaf and hard of hearing,” he said.”In addition to that, in Washington state, there’s a pilot currently providing specialized care access for individuals who are American Indian/Alaskan Natives to be able to be connected to an organization that’s focused more specifically on their needs.”

    HHS announced in December that through SAMHSA, more than $130 million has been awarded in grants to support the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The funding comes from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The federal spending omnibus bill includes about $500 million for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, according to SAMHSA.

    In total, the Biden administration has invested nearly $1 billion in the 988 lifeline.

    “Our country is facing unprecedented mental health and substance use crises among people of all ages and backgrounds,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the announcement last month.

    “Although rates of depression and anxiety were rising before the pandemic, the grief, trauma, and physical and social isolation that many people experienced during the pandemic exacerbated these issues. Drug overdose deaths have also reached a historic high, devastating individuals, families, and communities,” he said. “The significant additional funding provided by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act will have a direct positive impact on strengthening the behavioral health of individuals and communities across the country.”

    The 988 lifeline is just one tool in the ongoing effort to improve our nation’s mental health, which Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, calls “a key concern of public health” right now.

    “It is also one of the root causes of substance abuse and misuse, which is fueling the national epidemic that we have. We’re also concerned about, of course, rates of suicide and what we can do to alleviate and lower those rates,” Freeman said.

    “This is very much also a primary public health crisis of concern and leads to many other public health issues that need to be addressed: homelessness, food insecurity, substance misuse, and poor health outcomes,” she said. “We need to get people healthy and well, and connected to the right resources and professionals that can help them overcome their mental health crises.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Lesion on Jill Biden’s left eyelid determined to be ‘non-cancerous growth’ | CNN Politics

    Lesion on Jill Biden’s left eyelid determined to be ‘non-cancerous growth’ | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor on Thursday provided an update on first lady Dr. Jill Biden’s recent Mohs surgery, saying a lesion found on her left eyelid was determined to be “a very common, totally harmless, non-cancerous growth.”

    Biden spent several hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last week, undergoing an outpatient procedure to remove two cancerous lesions – one on her chest and another her right eye. During that procedure, a third lesion was found on her left eyelid.

    “This (lesion) was sent out for traditional biopsy. Results are consistent with seborrheic keratosis,” O’Connor wrote in a letter dated Wednesday. “Seborrheic keratosis is a very common, totally harmless, non-cancerous growth. No further treatment is required.”

    “Dr. Biden is recovering nicely from her procedures,” O’Connor writes. “She experienced some anticipated mild bruising and swelling, but feels very well.”

    In his letter last week, O’Connor wrote that “all cancerous tissue was successfully removed, and the margins were clear of any residual skin cancer cells.” That letter also noted that basal cell carcinoma lesions “do not tend to ‘spread’ or metastasize, as some more serious skin cancers such as melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma are known to do.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Grizzly bears test positive for bird flu in Montana, officials say | CNN

    Grizzly bears test positive for bird flu in Montana, officials say | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Three grizzly bears were euthanized in Montana after they became ill and tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, according to the state’s Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

    These were the first documented cases of bird flu in a grizzly in Montana and the first nationwide for this outbreak of HPAI, according to Dr. Jennifer Ramsey, the department’s wildlife veterinarian.

    The juvenile bears were in three separate locations in the western part of the state during the fall, the Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks said in a statement.

    The bears “were observed to be in poor condition and exhibited disorientation and partial blindness, among other neurological issues,” the statement said. “They were euthanized due to their sickness and poor condition.”

    Avian influenza – commonly called bird flu – is a naturally occurring virus that spreads quickly in birds. There were documented cases of HPAI in a skunk and a fox in Montana last year, and the virus has been seen in raccoons, black bears and a coyote in other states and countries, according to the Montana agency.

    “The virus is spread from one bird to another,” Dr. Ramsey told CNN via email. “These mammals likely got infected from consuming carcasses of HPAI infected birds.”

    “Fortunately, unlike avian cases, generally small numbers of mammal cases have been reported in North America,” Ramsey said. “For now, we are continuing to test any bears that demonstrate neurologic symptoms or for which a cause of death is unknown.”

    While finding three grizzlies with bird flu in a short period of time may raise concerns, Ramsey said it may well be that there have been more cases that haven’t been detected.

    “When wildlife mortalities occur in such small numbers or individuals, and in species like skunks, foxes and bears that don’t spend a lot of time in situations where they are highly visible to the public, they can be hard to detect,” the wildlife veterinarian said.

    “When you get that first detection you tend to start looking harder, and you’re more likely to find new cases,” she said. “When a large number of birds are found dead on a body of water, it gets noticed and reported… when someone sees a dead skunk, they may think nothing of it and not report it.”

    While it’s unknown just how prevalent the virus is in wild birds, “we know that the virus is active basically across the entire state due to the wide distribution of cases of HPAI mortality in some species of wild birds,” Ramsey said.

    The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in November the country was approaching “a record number of birds affected compared to previous bird flu outbreaks,” with more than 49 million birds in 46 states dying or being killed due to exposure to infected birds.

    Human infections with bird flu are rare but are possible, “usually after close contact with infected birds. The current risk to the general public from bird flu viruses is low,” the CDC says on its website.

    The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks is asking people to report any birds or animals acting “unusual or unexplained cases of sickness and/or death.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Jay Inslee Fast Facts | CNN Politics

    Jay Inslee Fast Facts | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Here is a look at the life of Jay Inslee, governor of Washington and former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.

    Birth date: February 9, 1951

    Birth place: Seattle, Washington

    Birth name: Jay Robert Inslee

    Father: Frank Inslee, biology teacher, coach and athletic director

    Mother: Adele (Brown) Inslee, store clerk

    Marriage: Trudi (Tindall) Inslee (August 27, 1972-present)

    Children: Jack, Connor and Joe

    Education: Stanford University, 1969-1970; University of Washington, B.A., 1973, economics; Willamette University College of Law, J.D., 1976, graduated magna cum laude

    Religion: Protestant

    Inslee is dedicated to addressing climate change and other environmental issues.

    While in the US House of Representatives, he served on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and on the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

    He was the first governor to enter the 2020 presidential race.

    At Seattle’s Ingraham High School, Inslee was the starting quarterback.

    Worked his way through college doing odd jobs.

    Has praised the “Green New Deal,” saying it is “raising people’s ambitions” and “making what might seem impossible within the realm of the possible,” but has not outright said he would support the entire package. Nor has he endorsed Medicare-for-all.

    Established Washington’s Marijuana Justice Initiative. It allows for gubernatorial pardons for those previously convicted of a single misdemeanor marijuana crime “between January 1, 1998, and December 5, 2012, when I-502 legalized marijuana possession.”

    After law school, works as an attorney with Peters, Schmalz, Leadon & Fowler (later Peters, Fowler and Inslee), and serves as a city prosecutor for over a decade.

    November 1988 – Wins an open seat in the Washington House of Representatives for the 14th District against Lynn Carmichael (R) with 51.64% of the vote. Is reelected in 1990 with 61.82% of the vote.

    1989-1993 – Washington House of Representatives.

    November 1992 – Wins US House of Representatives seat for Washington’s 4th District against Richard “Doc” Hastings (R) with 50.84% of the vote.

    January 3, 1993-January 3, 1995 – US House of Representatives.

    November 1994 – Loses his reelection bid to the US House of Representatives to Hastings with 46.6% of the vote.

    1995-1996 – Attorney at Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson & Daheim L.L.P.

    September 1996 – Unsuccessful gubernatorial bid, only coming in third with 10% of the vote in the primary.

    1997-1998 – Region 10 Director for the US Department of Health and Human Services under US President Bill Clinton, serving Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

    November 1998 – Wins US House of Representatives seat for Washington’s 1st District, after four years out of office, against incumbent Rick White (R) with 49.77% of the vote.

    January 3, 1999-March 20, 2012 – US House of Representatives. Reelected six times.

    2007 – His book, “Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean Energy Economy,” written with Bracken Hendricks, is published.

    March 10, 2012 – Announces he will resign from the US House of Representatives in order to focus on his run for governor of the state.

    November 2012 – Wins the election for governor of Washington, defeating Rob McKenna (R) with 51.54% of the vote. Is reelected in 2016 with 54.39% of the vote.

    January 16, 2013-present – Governor of Washington.

    February 11, 2014 – Announces that he is suspending executions while he is in office, meaning he will issue reprieves when any capital cases come to his desk for action.

    2015-2016, 2017-2018 – Education and Workforce Committee Chair, National Governors Association (NGA).

    2016-2017, 2018-2019 – Education and Workforce Committee Vice Chair, NGA.

    2016 – Endorses Hillary Clinton for president of the United States.

    2017-present – Co-chair of the US Climate Alliance, a group he co-founded with California Governor Jerry Brown and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The Alliance pledges to uphold the Paris Climate Accord following the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement.

    2017-2018 – Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

    July 5, 2017 – Inslee signs Washington’s paid family and medical leave act into law. It is considered one of the most generous such laws in the nation.

    November 6, 2018 – Loses a bid to enact a statewide carbon emissions tax, for the second time in two years.

    March 1, 2019 – Releases a video announcing his presidential candidacy.

    March 14, 2019 – Signs a bump stock buy-back program into law a week before a nationwide ban takes effect. The devices, which replace the standard stock and grip of a semi-automatic firearm, make it easier to fire rounds from such a weapon by harnessing the gun’s recoil to “bump” the trigger faster.

    August 21, 2019 – Suspends his 2020 presidential campaign.

    August 22, 2019 – Announces that he is running for a third term as governor.

    November 3, 2020 – Wins reelection to a third term as governor.

    June 30, 2022 – Inslee issues a directive that bars state police from cooperating with out-of-state investigatory requests related to abortion in his efforts to make the state a “sanctuary” for those seeking abortion services. The decision comes after the US Supreme Court ruled to strike down Roe v Wade, the 1973 legal precedent which guaranteed people’s federal constitutional right to abortion. The historic ruling essentially leaves abortion laws in states’ hands.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • A lot of people hide their cancer diagnosis from their bosses. These companies aim to change that | CNN Business

    A lot of people hide their cancer diagnosis from their bosses. These companies aim to change that | CNN Business

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    After having surgery to remove a small cancerous tumor from his neck last year, Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun decided to tell his employees, clients and shareholders of his condition. He still needed to undergo radiation and chemotherapy, and explained to them what that would mean for his work schedule.

    While deciding to go public was difficult for Sadoun because it meant showing vulnerability both as a person and as a leader of one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, he said he received thousands of compassionate responses from both inside and outside Publicis after doing so.

    What shocked him most, he said, was how many people told him they hid their own cancer diagnosis from their employers for fear of losing their job or being perceived as weak. Instead, they took vacation days for treatments or scheduled very early morning procedures so they could work the same day, Sadoun told CNN. Some even hid their children’s cancer treatments from their boss, he added.

    “That is crazy,” Sadoun said. “I started 2022 with cancer and left it with a mission.”

    That mission is to create a worldwide campaign to encourage employers to eradicate the stigma and anxiety of having cancer at work.

    The initiative — called the #WorkingWithCancer Pledge — launched Tuesday at the 2023 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

    Many of the world’s best-known companies have agreed to the pledge already. They include Bank of America, Citi, Disney, Google, L’Oréal, Marriott, McDonald’s, Meta, Microsoft, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Toyota, Unilever and Walmart.

    Employers who take the pledge promise “to abolish job fear and insecurity that exist for cancer sufferers in the workplace.”

    Signatories also pledge to do a better job publicizing to their workforces the benefits they already have in place for employees with cancer and for employees taking care of a family member with cancer. They will also consider ways to do more.

    Walmart, for instance, notes on the #WorkingWithCancer Pledge site that it currently offers access to high-quality care in the United States through its Centers for Excellence Program, and that the care is often free for employees, including travel and lodging if necessary for both the employee and their caregiver. The company also said it provides free counseling with a licensed therapist, educational resources and experts on cancer, as well as leave-of-absence programs.

    In terms of forward-looking pledges, Publicis is committing to its employees worldwide that it will:

    • Secure the job and salary of any employee suffering from cancer for at least 1 year so they can focus on their health treatment
    • Offer career support to any affected employee after they return to work to help them assess whether they wish to do the same job or try something different, depending on their capacities after treatment
    • Provide affected employees with an internal community of trained volunteers who can offer support “so that our employees don’t feel alone at a challenging time”
    • Offer custom support to employees serving as caregivers to a family member with cancer so they can get what they need in terms of flexibility and time to both “maintain their energy at work and as a caregiver.”

    Leading cancer institutions, including Memorial Sloan Kettering, are backing Sadoun’s initiative.

    His hope is that if the world’s biggest companies go public with what they are doing both to help employees with cancer and to make it easier to talk about it at work, smaller companies may follow their lead.

    Given how prevalent cancer diagnoses are — and how, thanks to improved treatments and early detection, it can be more of a chronic disease than a death sentence in many instances — “Not only will we have to live with [cancer],” Sadoun said, “we will have to work with it.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Lisa Marie Presley’s memorial to be held at Graceland | CNN

    Lisa Marie Presley’s memorial to be held at Graceland | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    A public memorial has been planned at Graceland for Lisa Marie Presley.

    The singer and songwriter died last week after being hospitalized following an apparent cardiac arrest.

    She was 54.

    According to a statement on Graceland’s website, the memorial is open to the general public and will be held at 9 a.m. on January 22 on the front lawn of Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.

    “In lieu of flowers, the family encourages all who wish to send something to do so in the form of a donation to The Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation,” a notice on the site reads.

    The Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation supports arts, education and efforts on behalf of children in the Memphis area.

    Elvis Presley purchased the estate in 1957 when he was just 22 years old.

    He died in the mansion from cardiac arrest in 1977 and is buried on the grounds of Graceland, which is now a museum and a popular tourist attraction. Lisa Marie Presley will be buried there as well, alongside her son Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in 2020 at the age of 27.

    The Graceland estate was held in trust for Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, until her 25th birthday.

    “Lisa Marie Presley became more closely involved with the management team of The Elvis Presley Trust and its business entity, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.(EPE), of which she was owner and Chairman of the Board until February 2005 when she sold a major interest in the company,” according to the Graceland website.

    Over the weekend, grief expert David Kessler shared a photo of himself and Presley on his verified Instagram account, writing that she had asked him to accompany her to Memphis for an 88th birthday celebration for her late father days before her death.

    “She had countless invites for the weekend, but for her, there were only three important ones: being at her father’s birthday celebration, spending time at her son and father’s grave after the tours left Graceland, and meeting with a recently bereaved mother,” Kessler wrote.

    Presley was active in helping others deal with their grief, he wrote, including co-hosting grief groups with him at her home for other bereaved parents.

    Kessler wrote that their time visiting Graceland was “so much fun and she was optimistic” and that “Graceland was her happy place and the employees who all knew her shared that she was looking so much better.”

    “She looked more at peace and was so proud of the Elvis movie. Saturday night we sat at the graves of her father and son,” he wrote. “We talked about the heartbreak she grew up with and the more recent devastation of her son’s death. She showed me where she would be buried someday. I said a long time from now …and she said yes, I have so much to do.”

    Presley is survived by her three daughters, actress Riley Keough and twins Finley and Harper Lockwood. A rep for Graceland confirmed to People that they will inherit the estate.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Covid broke supply chains. Now on the mend, can they withstand another shock? | CNN Business

    Covid broke supply chains. Now on the mend, can they withstand another shock? | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    Minneapolis
    CNN
     — 

    The pandemic dislodged the global supply chain, hurling once smoothly running businesses, industries and economies into a state of disarray.

    After almost three years of enduring wild swings and extremes, the system is slowly getting up to speed and into better sync: Ocean freight timelines are on a steady decline, ports are less congested, labor strikes have been narrowly averted, product and worker shortages have eased, prices have fallen, warehouses are full (maybe too full), friendshoring, nearshoring and reshoring efforts have accelerated and China has lifted its “zero Covid” policy.

    “We’ve had a fundamental shift that started about six months ago,” said Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management. “There are certain components, like integrated circuits [and] microcontrollers, that still are impacting manufacturers’ ability to flow material. But, by and large, the pressure has come off.”

    However, plenty of potential roadblocks still loom large.

    Globally, developments in China and Ukraine remain ongoing question marks, especially if the manufacturing megapower suffers another setback or lockdown, or if conditions worsen with Russia’s war in Europe.

    Domestically, exports have weakened and the state of consumer demand remains a wild card, said Phil Levy, chief economist with freight forwarder and consultancy firm Flexport.

    “I would not describe this as a machine that’s humming along at the moment,” he said. “It’s more getting its bearings and trying to figure out what’s next.”

    Among the potential bottlenecks: Warehousing capacity in certain locales, notably Southern California, is pretty near full, he said. Additionally, the inland distribution network — especially rail and areas where transfers are made from one mode to another — has experienced some challenges, he said.

    The system isn’t yet at a steady state where businesses have a good sense of how long it will take for production, shipping and, ultimately, selling.

    “I don’t think we have that,” Levy said. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty about how long it takes to move stuff. When we see the warehouses piled full, is this because demand is too low? Is it because people moved stuff too early? So there’s a lot of stuff that’s still sorting out.”

    Supply chain activity has yet to normalize, but it’s returning to pre-pandemic trajectories, said Zac Rogers, assistant professor of operations and supply chain management at Colorado State University.

    “There’s a sort of reaction-overreaction pattern that always tends to happen anytime there’s a major disruption,” Rogers said. “And Covid is the major-est disruption we’ve had.”

    Early in the pandemic, businesses canceled orders, believing consumer spending would be crushed. However, trillions of dollars were injected into the economy to try to keep consumers and businesses afloat. Americans, stuck at home with fewer outlets for discretionary spending, turned to e-commerce for their shopping.

    The surge in demand for finished goods at a time when supply was severely limited in part due to pandemic-related labor shortages and shutdowns —notably of cities, factories and manufacturing hubs in China — knocked the global logistics system out of whack.

    Ports grew congested, lead times got lengthy, and costs climbed considerably higher as shortages spiked throughout the supply chain.

    “Everyone way over-ordered, and around February and March of [last] year, everything got here — pretty much right in time for the invasion of Ukraine,” Rogers said.

    Gas prices and inflation soared, putting a huge dent in consumer spending.

    “The challenge for the last 10 months in supply chains has been to try to thread the needle between bringing inventories down to a reasonable level, while also not overreacting, yet again, and [landing] back into a shortage situation,” he said. “We’re getting back toward the trend line in a way that we haven’t in the last few years.”

    Helping that along is that supply chains are far more resilient now than they were at the end of 2019, Rogers said.

    “In 2019, we had basically all of our chips in on one hand, which was, things are built in East Asia, come on a boat through the ports in Southern California, they get on trains that go to Chicago and then on other trains or trucks to distribute to the East Coast,” he said.

    And while it’s nearly impossible to divorce from China, companies are embracing different paths for the supply chain, whether it be in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Central America or domestically, Rogers said.

    “Because of that, supply chains are not as brittle as they were three years ago,” he said. “And so if there is another shock — particularly if there’s a China-centric shock — I think we’ll be able to absorb it a little better than we had. … But you can’t price in something like the invasion of Ukraine or a viral outbreak that shuts down the world — no systems are built to handle that smoothly.”

    Rogers is also a researcher and co-author of the Logistics Managers’ Index, a monthly survey of supply chain executives conducted by a team of university researchers and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

    The index’s December reading — which measures inventory levels and costs; warehousing capacity; utilization and prices; and transportation capacity, utilization and prices — came in at 54.6, a 1-point increase following eight months of declines.

    The majority of the LMI metrics were in the range of 40s, 50s and 60s, Rogers said, noting it’s the first time since the onset of the pandemic that the indices haven’t been in the 70s or 80s.

    The container ship Ever Libra (TW) is moored at the Port of Los Angeles on Monday, Nov. 21, 2022. The supply backlogs of the past two years -- and the delays, shortages and outrageous prices they brought with them -- have improved dramatically since summer.

    “If you’re in 40, that’s contraction, but 50s are normal, healthy rates of growth,” he said. “There could be another huge black swan event in a month that throws everything upside down; but for right now, it seems like respondents are predicting steadiness in the supply chain.”

    If anything, the pandemic’s shock to the supply chain should be a wake-up call, said Jack Buffington, director of supply chain and sustainability at First Key Consulting and assistant professor of supply chain management at the University of Denver.

    “I would categorize it as ‘efficiently broken,’” said Buffington, whose own book about supply chains, “Reinventing the Supply Chain: A 21st Century Covenant with America,” had its release delayed due to supply chain issues.

    “All supply chains really are is supply and demand, and there’s been so much disruption in materials and consumer demand related to labor and inflation and geopolitics,” he said. “Inherently, the foundation of the model is broken in comparison to what the demands are for today. The complexities related to a globalized supply chain, human systems aren’t capable of handling it.”

    He added: “Covid wasn’t the cause of the problems with the supply chain, it was a trigger to show how bad it was,” he said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • 1 person killed and 4 others injured in overnight shooting in Texas after more than 50 shots were fired | CNN

    1 person killed and 4 others injured in overnight shooting in Texas after more than 50 shots were fired | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    At least one person died and four others were injured in a shooting outside a Houston club early Sunday, authorities said.

    “Over 50 shots were fired” in the parking lot of “some type of club/bar,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said during a news conference.

    Police responded to the shooting around 2 a.m. and learned that five people had been shot, said Gonzalez. All of the victims were hospitalized.

    One person died and police were still trying to determine the extent of the injuries sustained by the four victims, he added. Two men and three women were believed to have been shot, according to Gonzalez.

    “It looks like over 50 shots were fired here, which is a very scary situation considering there’s a mobile food truck and … the number of patrons that were outside,” he said.

    The information officials had was “preliminary,” but the gunfire appears to have been a drive-by shooting, said Gonzalez.

    “We believe there may have been a vehicle that pulled up right around the 2 a.m. time frame,” he said. “There were multiple people inside the vehicle, exited the vehicle, and began opening fire upon the patrons that were outside of the club at the time.”

    Homicide investigators are looking into the shooting and trying to find witnesses, authorities said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Parents are not OK after three years of Covid and a brutal winter of children’s respiratory illness | CNN

    Parents are not OK after three years of Covid and a brutal winter of children’s respiratory illness | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    With children back in school and daycare after the holidays, weary parents fear what illness awaits them next during this brutal respiratory virus season.

    Since October, RSV, a respiratory virus which often is most severe in young children and older adults, hit early and cases started rising quickly. Cases of influenza started rising soon after, all while Covid-19 continued to spread, with new variants surfacing.

    The CDC estimates:

    • At least 24 million illnesses and 16,000 deaths have occurred due to the flu this season;
    • About 15% of the US population lives in a county with a “high” community level of Covid-19;
    • There were about 14 RSV hospitalizations for every 100,000 children under 5 in the latest week of complete data – about eight times higher than the overall hospitalization rate.

    CNN spoke to parents across the country about the challenges this flu season. They described canceling Christmas, missing trips home to see family and pulling their children out of daycare to keep them safe from illness.

    Here are some of their stories, as told in their own words. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.

    Michaela Riley from Issaquah, Washington

    I am a single mom living in the suburbs of Seattle. I work for one of the major corporations here. On the outside, I look successful. I have senior in my title, I consistently get promotions and recognition. On the inside, I am breaking from stress related to illness, never getting a real vacation and now the inability to pay for my basic needs.

    I had to work through the holidays, and I had my kids. My parents were going to watch them. Then they got norovirus, which also canceled Christmas. Then my daughter’s father got some horrible flu, so my backup plan for Christmas got canceled. We still hadn’t celebrated Christmas until January 7 because everyone was healing.

    I have 4-year-old and 11-year-old daughters. Basically, all November one of us was sick. My kids got RSV and were so sick for 14 days. After that, I got it. I had no vacation time, so I had to work from home with them. It was a very long, trying time.

    As a single parent, I’ve always been focused on keeping all the balls in the air. But now it is so much harder that what I’m actually doing is making decisions on which ball to drop, just to keep myself going.

    I have used every single vacation day on either my children being sick, me being sick or me having to take one mental health day because I was totally overwhelmed since the beginning of quarantine. I was supposed to go camping last year with the family. I got Covid for the fourth time and had to cancel. I’m going a little bonkers.

    The group I work with has been so supportive of me and understanding of my situation. They honestly helped me during the worst times.

    I have this hashtag for 2023: #BeFree23. Instead of focusing on the struggle, I focus on what’s working in my life. I feel better about 2023. I don’t think anything’s going to change, but changing my mindset is the one thing I have control over.

    Jason Hecht holds his baby, Leon, at a hospital just hours before he was intubated.

    Jason Hecht from Ann Arbor, Michigan

    I am a doctor who works in critical care with a wife who works in primary care. Not only are we struggling on the health care worker side with the massive demands of this season but also struggling far more at home.

    The last month or two have probably been the most mentally and emotionally taxing I’ve ever had in my life. We have a 2-year-old and a 3-month-old. It was our youngest who was sick about a month ago and ended up in the ICU on the ventilator with RSV.

    At the time, we had a healthy, thriving 2-month-old without an issue in the world. To see him so quickly knocked down and be to the point of almost dying in the intensive care unit was very sobering for my wife and I. Seeing your baby that sick – that part alone has been very emotionally draining.

    I was all too aware of how severe his illness was. It was difficult to play the role of father, husband and caretaker because the pull was so strong to go into health care provider mode.

    We had to completely upend our life, pull both kids out of daycare. We’re still struggling to find a reliable source of child care that’s going to be safe for both of them, including our now vulnerable son. We’re still paying for both kids’ daycare spots, even though they aren’t going, because daycare waitlists are so long. As parents and health care workers, we are not coping well.

    We’ve used six or seven weeks of PTO total so far since this happened in November. This was difficult, too, with my wife coming off maternity leave. Her maternity leave has been mostly unpaid, so that was already three months we were going without her paycheck. I don’t have any paternity leave.

    I am very passionate about what I do, and I love being able to help people when they’re at their worst in the ICU. It’s been difficult to have to put all that aside to prioritize only being a parent right now.

    Adriana from Warwick, Rhode Island (She asked that her last name not be used)

    The only reason I waited only two hours in the ER is because my son stopped breathing. Everyone rushed to take care of him. His oxygen levels were at 73. My youngest caught RSV at 7 weeks old.

    My soul left my body when I was in the hospital. I saw there was a respiratory therapist, a pediatrician and two nurses, that they lay down my baby and they started suctioning all the mucus because he was so stuffy, he couldn’t breathe. They put him on oxygen.

    I couldn’t believe how lucky we were that he responded to the treatment as fast as he did.

    Now, I always carry a little oximeter with me. If he gets stuffy or anything like that, I put that on his finger. That’s part of my diaper bag.

    Between my son being hospitalized for one night and the two kids’ deductibles and co-payments, we are $3,000 in debt, just from September until today. He was given just two doses of Tylenol at the hospital and that was almost $300.

    Every time I call the pediatrician’s office, they pretty much triage us over the phone to see if the child is sick enough to grant a visit because of how slammed they are. I have been constantly redialing for several minutes just to get through. When you go into the office, you can see they’re all very tired.

    I think that anything that has to do with kids lately in the country is being overlooked. There’s still the formula shortage. A lot of parents like me, we’re still struggling to find the right formula. I drive all around Rhode Island to find it, and I’m lucky if I can get two cans. My baby is allergic to cow milk protein, so it’s not like I can just get him any formula.

    We usually fly back home for the holidays – I’m from Puerto Rico. But this year we just stayed home. It was a bummer for my oldest because he’s used to spending the holidays with the grandparents.

    Rahman's wife, Tazima Nur, holds their son, Aarish, while he was sick in the ER.

    Mahbubur Rahman from Bonney Lake, Washington

    In the last three months, we got five colds, four ear infections, visited urgent care 10 times and the emergency room four times, once while my kid was sick with RSV. In the last two years, my child had a cold only once.

    This is our first child. He’s a Covid child – he’s not exposed to anywhere because we stayed at home for the last two years. When we started sending him to preschool then this started happening, all things are coming together: face the fear of Covid, viruses like the flu and then, RSV.

    My child had a febrile seizure. His temperature cannot go past 102 and we need to continuously use Tylenol and ibuprofen just to control it. This is happening like every other week. We prepared our car with emergency things for if we need to stay at the hospital. We always pack our bag and put it in our car – like it still is there.

    I am working from home and my wife is not working. Still, we feel like we are exhausted. In the last two months, I think I did like 50% of the work that I usually do. When my son and wife had RSV, my manager actually just told me to manage time whenever I can work, and it does not need to be 9 to 5.

    For the holidays, we had a plan to go back our country, Bangladesh, but we had to cancel the trip. We did not visit our home the last three years. I did in 2019 before Covid and never went back because my wife was pregnant and then my child was born.

    I hope that this will go away, and everything will be better this year. But the fear and the emotions, I think will not go away pretty soon.

    Stephanie Archinas-Murphin and her daughter, Margot, wait in the ER for the third time. This time, Margot was hospitalized.

    Stephanie Archinas-Murphin from Lakewood, California

    My 3-year-old daughter started preschool in September and sure enough she got three viruses – RSV, rhinovirus and pneumonia – all at the same time. She spent four days at the hospital, and it was hell watching her going through it.

    It’s very heartbreaking to just have her come out and experience the world. And now all these things are happening with her getting sick. We want to have a different experience for her.

    We pretty much got everything. My older daughter got the flu, so did my husband and myself. We’ve been on this never-ending journey since October.

    When my youngest was ill, she had to be out for three weeks. My husband was out for two weeks just to be able to take care of her. But when we got hit by the flu after Thanksgiving, my husband didn’t have any time off left. I have a private practice and don’t get PTO, but I had to take the brunt and cancel my clients. That was a dent in our income because I didn’t have any pay. Thankfully, I have some savings, so that helped a lot.

    When I was low on Motrin and my daughter Morgan had the flu, I happened to post it on Instagram. My relative asked if I want some and even dropped off Motrin for me and drove from almost 40 miles away. It was so heartwarming to know that there are people out there who are looking out for me.

    I’m all about taking it one day at a time. I don’t want to overwhelm myself. I’m not going to stop planning or going out, but I’m being mindful that things may change.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • China says 60,000 people have died of Covid since early December | CNN

    China says 60,000 people have died of Covid since early December | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Close to 60,000 people have died of Covid in China since the country abruptly abandoned its tight “zero-Covid” policy in early December, a medical official from the National Health Commission (NHC) told a press conference in Beijing on Saturday.

    Jiao Yahui, head of the NHC’s medical affairs department, said China recorded 59,938 Covid-related death between December 8 and January 12. Of those deaths 5,503 came from respiratory failure caused by Covid infections, and 54,435 were people infected with Covid as well as underlying diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

    China has previously listed only those Covid patients who succumbed with respiratory failure as having died of Covid. In the month after December 8, China reported only 37 deaths from local Covid cases, according to figures released on the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website – even as the outbreak has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums amid apparent Covid surges in multiple cities.

    The World Health Organization and the United States have accused China of “under-representing” the severity of its current outbreak, while top global health officials have also urged Beijing to share more data about the explosive spread of Covid in China, where reports have emerged of overwhelmed hospitals and funeral homes.

    On Saturday, WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke to Chinese Health Minister Ma Xiaowei about the surge.

    Chinese officials shared information including the latest numbers on outpatient clinics, hospitalizations, patients requiring emergency treatment and critical care, and hospital deaths, the WHO said in a statement.

    “WHO is analyzing this information, which covers early December 2022 to January 12, 2023, and allows for a better understanding of the epidemiological situation and the impact of this wave in China,” it said.

    The health organization also requested a more detailed breakdown of data by province over time and asked the Chinese government to continue to share further sequences of the coronavirus with open access databases.

    Jiao, the medical official, said fever clinical visits and Covid hospitalizations in China have already peaked.

    According to the NHC, fever clinic visits – both in cities and rural areas – have been declining since the peak when more than 2.86 million people visited them on December 23, 2022.

    On January 12, 477,000 people visited fever clinics across China, Jiao said Saturday.

    The NHC said hospitalizations of Covid-19 patients also peaked on January 5, 2023, when 1.63 million people was hospitalized, and 1.27 million Covid patients were still in hospital as of January 12, Jiao added.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • White House Covid-19 Response Team’s chief science officer to retire | CNN Politics

    White House Covid-19 Response Team’s chief science officer to retire | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Dr. David Kessler, chief science officer for the White House Covid-19 Response Team, is retiring, according to a statement from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

    “For decades, Dr. Kessler has worked tirelessly to address our nation’s most challenging public health issues, and his work during the COVID-19 pandemic has been no different,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the statement Friday.

    “Whether he was leading our effort to develop and distribute safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, or sharing his perspective during daily strategy sessions and data deliberations, Dr. Kessler’s contributions to our COVID-19 response have helped save lives. I am grateful for the wisdom he has shared with us and wish him the best in his future endeavors,” Becerra continued.

    Kessler’s government career began when President George H.W. Bush appointed him to lead the US Food and Drug Administration in 1990; he oversaw the rollout of the agency’s iconic Nutrition Facts label on packaged foods and helped streamline its drug approval process. After stepping down from the FDA in 1997, he became dean of the Yale School of Medicine and then joined the University of California, San Francisco.

    President Joe Biden chose Kessler for the Covid-19 response team in 2021. He was also co-chair of the Biden transition’s coronavirus task force and that administration’s head of Operation Warp Speed, the group formed under President Donald Trump to speed vaccine development and distribution.

    “Every day for two years, David has been laser focused on ensuring we had enough vaccines and treatments for the American people,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the response team coordinator, said Friday on Twitter. “An extraordinary public servant. We will miss him.”

    Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, tweeted, “There has been no more valued and trusted wise advisor to the @POTUS on scientific and medical matters than Dr. Kessler. He will be GREATLY missed.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • ‘This is the last thing we need:’ Millions of businesses hammered by the pandemic need to start paying back Covid loans | CNN Business

    ‘This is the last thing we need:’ Millions of businesses hammered by the pandemic need to start paying back Covid loans | CNN Business

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    At Teddy & The Bully Bar restaurant near downtown Washington, DC, business has never been the same since the pandemic hit.

    “It’s very challenging,” owner Alan Popovsky said. “I’m still going to be climbing the hill for quite some time. Probably for the rest of my life.”

    The pandemic closed two of Popovsky’s four restaurants in the area. He said government loans saved the other two. But with city centers struggling to bring back commuters and foot traffic, he said revenue is still down more than 45%, and they’re fighting to stay open.

    To make matters worse, it’s time to start paying back those loans.

    “We just got over paying back the landlord,” Popovsky said. “It’s really a feeling that you’re just a hamster spinning on a wheel.”

    At the start of the pandemic, as business stalled, nearly 3.8 million small business owners took out Economic Injury Disaster Loans (known as EIDL loans) from the federal government, averaging roughly $100,000 per loan, according to the Small Business Administration. Unlike some other pandemic programs, these 30-year loans, carrying an interest rate of 3.75% for businesses, were intended to be paid back.

    After more than two years of deferrals, the first EIDL loan monthly payments have started to come due. Around 2.6 million businesses across the country will owe money by the end of January.

    Popovsky said he owes the federal government roughly $780,000, and started receiving monthly bills for more than $3,700 in October.

    “We can’t afford anything, but what we’re doing is paying the interest only right now,” he said. “We have not made a dent on the principal.”

    A new survey from the National Federation of Independent Business found only 36% of their small business members have reached their pre-pandemic sales levels, while 31% of businesses are still below 75% of their pre-crisis sales.

    Coming out of the pandemic, small businesses have faced difficult hurdles, like staffing shortages, supply chain issues and inflation.

    Now add a possible looming recession, just as these EIDL loans come due.

    “The challenges are immense for many of them and they’re having to navigate a lot of those headwinds,” said Holly Wade, executive director of the NFIB Research Center. “It is one more cost that they’re going to have to deal with, and some small business owners, unfortunately, are going to struggle with meeting those obligations.”

    Lisa Klein, who owns a physical therapy practice in the Washington, DC, area, said Covid-19 is still keeping some patients away.

    Lisa Klein, who owns and operates an outpatient physical therapy practice with offices in Virginia and in Washington, DC, said her practice is still trying to claw its way back after Covid-19, which is keeping some patients away or forcing costly last-minute cancellations.

    “The costs of everything have gone up,” Klein said. “The whole business is still suffering, and this is just kind of adding insult to injury.”

    Klein took out a $200,000 EIDL loan at the start of the pandemic but returned half of it after a year as the interest began piling up. The SBA estimates that businesses have accrued between $32 billion and $34 billion in interest over the 30-month deferment period.

    She’s now paying nearly $1,000 a month, with a total balance of just under $80,000.

    “It’s like you’re swimming and trying to catch up and get your head above water, and you just keep getting hit by something else,” Klein said. “But we have no choice, because if we don’t keep paying it, it’s going to accrue more interest.”

    Struggling businesses can declare hardship and make partial payments of 10% of the regular monthly payment with a minimum of $25 for six months, according to the SBA. But interest will keep accruing, forcing owners like Klein to weigh short-term protection against a big bill further down the line.

    Borrowers are still responsible for repaying loans even if their business closes, unless the debt has been discharged in bankruptcy, according to the SBA. For EIDL loans over $200,000, a personal guaranty was required for individuals with 20% or more ownership in the business.

    Popovsky said he has considered shutting down Teddy & The Bully Bear but has felt inspired to keep fighting by the memory of his father as well as his co-founder, Melvyn, who passed away in 2014, just one year after the restaurant opened.

    “I feel them saying keep pushing on, Alan, keep pushing on,” he said. “I feel like they’re the wind beneath my wings.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Alabama attorney general says people who take abortion pills could be prosecuted | CNN Politics

    Alabama attorney general says people who take abortion pills could be prosecuted | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Alabama’s Republican attorney general said this week that women in the state who use prescription medication to terminate their pregnancies could be prosecuted under a chemical-endangerment law, even though Alabama’s anti-abortion law does not intend to punish women who receive abortions.

    Steve Marshall made the comments in the wake of a decision earlier this month by the US Food and Drug Administration to allow certified pharmacies to dispense the abortion medication mifepristone to people who have a prescription.

    “The Human Life Protection Act targets abortion providers, exempting women ‘upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed’ from liability under the law,” Marshall said in a statement to AL.com on Tuesday. “It does not provide an across-the-board exemption from all criminal laws, including the chemical-endangerment law—which the Alabama Supreme Court has affirmed and reaffirmed protects unborn children.”

    The chemical endangerment law was passed in 2006 amid high drug usage in Alabama with aims of protecting children from chemicals in the home, but district attorneys have successfully applied the law to protect fetuses of women who used drugs during pregnancy.

    It’s unclear if there are any pending cases against women in Alabama in the wake of the FDA’s announcement. CNN has reached out to Marshall’s office for comment.

    At least one Democrat, Alabama state Rep. Chris England, argued on Twitter that the chemical endangerment law is “extremely clear” and under it, a woman could not be prosecuted for taking a lawfully prescribed medication.

    “Any prosecutor that tries this, or threatens it, is intentionally ignoring the law,” England wrote on Thursday morning.

    Emma Roth, an attorney with Pregnancy Justice, a nonprofit that provides legal representation for women charged with crimes related to pregnancy, said on Twitter that the effect of Marshall’s comments will be to create “a culture of fear among pregnant women.”

    The comments are “extremely concerning and clearly unlawful,” Roth elaborated in a statement to CNN. “The Alabama legislature made clear its opposition to any such prosecution when it explicitly exempted patients from criminal liability under its abortion ban.”

    The chemical endangerment law says it does not require reporting controlled substances that are prescription medications “if the responsible person was the mother of the unborn child, and she was, or there is a good faith belief that she was, taking that medication pursuant to a lawful prescription.”

    Mifepristone can be used along with another medication, misoprostol, to end a pregnancy. Previously, these pills could be ordered, prescribed and dispensed only by a certified health care provider. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the FDA allowed the pills to be sent through the mail and said it would no longer enforce a rule requiring people to get the first of the two drugs in person at a clinic or hospital.

    Marshall’s comments underscore the legal uncertainty wrought by the Supreme Court’s decision last year to end the federal right to an abortion. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, several Republican-led states passed strict anti-abortion laws, while several others, including Alabama, that had passed so-called trigger laws anticipating an eventual overturn of Roe v. Wade, saw their new restrictions go into effect.

    While the anti-abortion movement seeks to prevent abortions from taking place, it has often opposed criminalizing the women who undergo the procedure.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • How much should people worry about Covid’s newly-dominant XBB.1.5 variant? Our medical analyst explains | CNN

    How much should people worry about Covid’s newly-dominant XBB.1.5 variant? Our medical analyst explains | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    A new Covid-19 variant, XBB.1.5, is spreading rapidly throughout the United States. In December 2022, the proportion of new Covid-19 infections due to this Omicron offshoot have increased from 4% to 18%, according to a January 6 release from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is projected to rise further still. In some parts of the country, it constitutes more than half of all new infections. According to the World Health Organization, XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible form of Omicron yet.

    What should people know about XBB.1.5? Do vaccines and treatments work against it? Can tests pick it up? Will hospitals become overwhelmed again? Should kids wear masks to school again? And could there be even more worrisome variants that emerge in the future?

    To guide us through these questions, I spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician, public health expert and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is also author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”

    CNN: What should people know about the latest Covid-19 variant, XBB.1.5?

    Dr. Leana Wen: People should not be surprised that there is a new variant. The more viruses replicate, the more they mutate. Most mutations do not confer evolutionary advantage and won’t spread further, but some do.

    There are three key questions to ask about new variants. First, is it more contagious? Second, does it cause more serious disease? And third, is it more immune-evasive, meaning it undercuts the protection of existing vaccines and treatments?

    The mutations XBB.1.5 has acquired have made it more contagious. A more transmissible strain has the evolutionary advantage that it will spread faster than others, and therefore could displace other strains. This is a trend seen throughout the coronavirus pandemic — new, even more transmissible strains replacing their predecessors and becoming dominant.

    The good news is that, thus far, this strain does not appear to cause more severe disease. Like other Omicron descendants, it probably causes milder illness compared with the Delta variants that predated Omicron.

    There are some studies that suggest XBB.1.5 is more immune-evasive compared with previously dominant Omicron strains. Further research is underway to identify the degree of immune protection afforded by existing vaccines; the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said that “data suggests that if you’ve been vaccinated, if you’ve gotten that updated bivalent booster, you’re still going to have a good amount of protection,” during an interview Friday with CNN’s Kate Bolduan.

    But even if it turns out these vaccines don’t hold up as well against infection with XBB.1.5, they will probably protect well against severe illness — which underscores the need for people to receive the updated booster if they are eligible.

    CNN: Can tests pick up this new variant?

    Wen: PCR tests definitely can, and there’s no reason to think that this variant won’t be picked up by rapid home antigen tests. If you have symptoms or are exposed to someone with the coronavirus, you should certainly get tested. The tests won’t show you which strain you picked up, but they should detect circulating variants.

    CNN: Do existing treatments work against XBB.1.5?

    Wen: Antiviral treatments like Paxlovid should work against XBB.1.5. Unfortunately, monoclonal antibody treatments probably don’t. In November, the US. Food and Drug Administration withdrew their authorization of the last remaining monoclonal antibody because of its lack of efficacy against new variants. And on January 6, the agency issued a statement that the preventive antibody Evusheld may be ineffective against XBB.1.5.

    On a policy level, it’s critical there are urgent investments into better treatments. There are many people vulnerable to severe outcomes due to Covid-19, and we need to have a wider range of effective treatments available for them.

    CNN: Could hospitals become overwhelmed again?

    Wen: Covid-19 infections could rise in the coming weeks due to a combination of this new variant and the fact that many people will have traveled and gathered over the holidays. I don’t think the surge will be nearly as bad as the initial Omicron wave in early 2022, though, because of the large proportion of Americans who have by this point already contracted Covid-19 and have some baseline immunity to it.

    If you have symptoms or are exposed to someone with the coronavirus, you should certainly get tested, says Dr. Leana Wen.

    Increasing booster rates, particularly among the elderly, will help blunt the rise in hospitalizations. It’s a major problem that only about a third of Americans ages 65 and older have received the updated bivalent booster, which has been shown in a recent study to reduce hospitalization by 73% in this age group.

    CNN: How much should people worry about XBB.1.5?

    Wen: It depends on the individual. There are many people who are not concerned about contracting Covid-19. They may be young and healthy and unlikely to become severely ill due to the coronavirus. Maybe they have just recovered from a previous infection and are protected against serious illness for several months. Or maybe the downside of continuing precautions is significant to them. I don’t think it’s wrong for people to proceed with their pre-pandemic routines, considering that XBB.1.5 is not likely to be the last variant of concern we see — and that it doesn’t appear to cause more severe disease.

    On the other hand, there are many people who are worried about becoming severely ill from Covid-19. People who are elderly or who have underlying health conditions should speak with their physician about their risk of severe illness due to Covid-19. If they are at high risk even after getting the bivalent booster, they should consider additional precautions to avoid infection while this highly transmissible variant is circulating. That includes asking others to take a rapid test prior to socializing and wearing a high-quality N95 or equivalent mask while in crowded indoor places.

    CNN: Some school districts are bringing back mask mandates. Should kids wear masks to schools again?

    Wen: This will depend on the family. If everyone is generally healthy, the parents or caregivers are going to work without a mask and all members are socializing freely with others outside of school, then it wouldn’t add much more protection to mask in the classroom.

    On the other hand, families that are still taking many precautions because of, for example, a severely immunocompromised household member might decide to all mask while in in crowded indoor spaces.

    My children have not been masking in school since the beginning of this school year, and I don’t currently plan for this to change. We would reconsider if a new variant emerges that causes much more severe disease, but that does not appear to be the case with XBB.1.5.

    CNN: Could there be even more worrisome variants that emerge in the future?

    Wen: Yes. This is the reason why genomic surveillance is so important. We need to identify and study new variants as they emerge. This is part of our “new normal”— there will be new variants that, from time to time, lead to surges of infections. The key is to make sure people are still protected against severe disease and to keep hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. And we must make sure everyone makes use of the tools we have available, including vaccines.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Why experts worry TikTok could add to mental health crisis among US teens | CNN Business

    Why experts worry TikTok could add to mental health crisis among US teens | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Jermone Yankey said he used to pull all-nighters when he was in college – not studying or partying, but scrolling on TikTok until the sun came up.

    “I saw me not putting the effort into my own life, rather just trying to live vicariously through what I’m seeing,” said 23-year old Yankey. He said he lost sleep, his grades suffered, and he fell out of touch with friends and himself.

    In 2021, he deleted the app. The positive impact, he said, was obvious. “It’s so great to be able to be sleeping again starting at midnight,” he said. “It’s great to be able to be up early and be more productive with the sun.”

    In recent months, TikTok has faced growing pressure from state and federal lawmakers over concerns about its ties to China through its parent company, ByteDance. But some lawmakers and researchers have also been scrutinizing the impact that the short-form video app may have on its youngest users.

    GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher, the incoming chairman of a new House select committee on China, recently called TikTok “digital fentanyl” for allegedly having a “corrosive impact of constant social media use, particularly on young men and women here in America.” Indiana’s attorney general filed two suits against TikTok last month, including one alleging that the platform lures children onto the platform by falsely claiming it is friendly for users between 13 to 17 years old. And one study from a non-profit group claimed TikTok may surface potentially harmful content related to suicide and eating disorders to teenagers within minutes of them creating an account.

    TikTok is far from the only social platform to be scrutinized by lawmakers and mental health experts for its impact on teens. Top execs from several companies, including TikTok, have been grilled in Congress on the matter. And this week, Seattle Public Schools sued social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube alleging the platforms have been “causing a youth mental health crisis,” making it hard for the school system “to fulfill its educational mission.”

    But psychologist Dr. Jean Twenge said TikTok’s algorithm in particular is “very sophisticated” and “very sticky,” which keeps teens engaged on the platform longer. TikTok has amassed more than one billion global users. Those users spent an average of an hour and a half per day on the app in last year, more than any other social media platform, according to the digital analytics platform SensorTower.

    “A lot of teens describe the experience of going on TikTok and intending to spend 15 minutes and then they spend two hours and or more. That’s problematic because the more time a teen spends on social media, the more likely he or she is to be depressed. And that’s particularly true for at the extremes of use,” said Twenge.

    That may only compound a longer-term rise in mental health issues, partly fueled by technology. Psychologists say as smartphones and social media grew around 2012, so did the rate of depression among teens. Between 2004 and 2019 the rate of teen depression nearly doubled, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. And for teen girls its worse. By 2019, one in four US girls have experienced clinical depression, according to Twenge.

    TikTok said it has tools to help users set limits for how long they spend on the app each day. TikTok also continues to roll out other safeguards for its users, including ways to filter out mature or “potentially problematic” videos and more parental controls.

    “One of our most important commitments is supporting the safety and well-being of teens, and we recognize this work is never finished. We continue to focus on robust safety protections for our community while also empowering parents with additional controls for their teen’s account through TikTok Family Pairing,” TikTok said in a statement to CNN.

    The company said between April and June of 2022 it removed 93.4% of videos on self-harm and suicide from the app before they were ever viewed. But teens say it’s not the most egregious videos that keep them engaged. It’s the content programmed to them in the “For You” section of the app.

    “It’s so curated to you,” said Angelica Faustino, an 18-year-old sophomore at the University at Buffalo, who says she spends 3 to 4 hours a day on TikTok.

    “There is a lot of body checking on TikTok – a lot of people showing off things about themselves that are maybe unachievable. You see if enough times you are like maybe I should be that way,” said Faustino.

    For all the concerns, however, there are signs that TikTok and other social networks can have a positive impact on younger users, too.

    The majority of teens say social media can be a space for connection and creativity, according to Pew Research. Eight in 10 teens ages 13-17 say social media makes them feel more connected to what’s going on in their friends lives and 71% say social media is a place they can be creative, according to Pew.

    And some in Gen Z, the generation that has been raised on TikTok, have found unique opportunities on the platform.

    Hannah Williams spends her time on TikTok running her business, Salary Transparent Street. She interviews everyday Americans about the salary they make at their jobs, providing pay transparency to her nearly 1 million followers.

    “I quit my job in May of 2022 to work on my social media page on Tik Tok full time because I saw a great opportunity to do something with my career,” said 26 year-old Williams.

    “I think it’s interesting that we can try to use social media to really impact the world for good,” she said, “and I’m hoping that’s what happens.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Damar Hamlin discharged after spending more than a week hospitalized due to a cardiac arrest | CNN

    Damar Hamlin discharged after spending more than a week hospitalized due to a cardiac arrest | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin has been discharged from a Buffalo medical center, his club said Wednesday, after more than a week of hospitalization due to a cardiac arrest he suffered during a “Monday Night Football” game this month.

    The 24-year-old Bills safety had been showing signs of accelerated improvement in the days leading up to his release from Buffalo General Medical Center in New York, hospital officials had said.

    “We have completed a series of tests and evaluations, and in consultation with the team physicians, we are confident that Damar can be safely discharged to continue his rehabilitation at home and with the Bills,” a physician leading Hamlin’s care in Buffalo, Dr. Jamie Nadler, said in a statement the Bills released Wednesday on Twitter.

    Hamlin initially was hospitalized in Cincinnati when his heart suddenly stopped after a tackle during a game against the host Cincinnati Bengals on January 2, but was transferred to the Buffalo facility Monday after doctors determined his critical condition had improved enough for the move.

    Doctors at the Buffalo hospital were trying to determine why Hamlin suffered the cardiac arrest, Kaleida Health, the group of hospitals that includes the Buffalo medical center, said before his discharge. That included whether pre-existing conditions played a role in the event, which shocked many around the country and prompted a huge outpouring of support for the second-year NFL player.

    On Tuesday, Hamlin went through “a comprehensive medical evaluation as well as a series of cardiac, neurological and vascular testing,” the Bills said on Twitter.

    No cause of Hamlin’s cardiac arrest has been publicly announced.

    “Special thank-you to Buffalo General it’s been nothing but love since arrival! Keep me in y’all prayers please!” Hamlin tweeted Tuesday.

    It will be up to Hamlin to decide when he will be around the team again while recovering, Bills coach Sean McDermott said Wednesday.

    “Grateful first and foremost that he is home with his parents and his brother, which is great,” McDermott told reporters Wednesday, as the Bills prepared to host the Miami Dolphins for a playoff game Sunday. No timetable for Hamlin’s return to professional football has been announced.

    “We’ll leave (when he’ll be around the team) up to him. His health is first and foremost in our mind as far as his situation goes and when he feels ready, we will welcome him back,” McDermott said.

    While in critical condition in Cincinnati, Hamlin was sedated and on a ventilator for days. On Friday morning the breathing tube was removed, and Hamlin began walking with some help by that afternoon, his doctors said Monday.

    The health care team focused on stabilizing Hamlin and upgraded his condition Monday because his organ systems were stable and he no longer needed intensive nursing or respiratory therapy, doctors said.

    “He’s certainly on what we consider a very normal to even accelerated trajectory from the life-threatening event that he underwent,” Dr. Timothy Pritts, chief of surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, said earlier this week. “He’s making great progress.”

    Normal recovery from a cardiac arrest can be measured in weeks to months, Pritts said Monday. Hamlin had been beating that timeline at each stage and is neurologically intact.

    When Hamlin collapsed seconds after an open-field tackle against a Bengals wide receiver, medical personnel rushed onto the field and administered CPR quickly – which helped save his life.

    Hamlin’s heart had stopped, and medical responders revived it twice before putting him into an ambulance and taking him to the hospital. The immediate actions of medical personnel were vital to “not just saving his life, but his neurological function,” said Pritts.

    The horrifying scene of Hamlin suddenly falling on his back after standing up following the tackle unsettled his teammates, the other players and millions of watching fans.

    The game was initially postponed and later cancelled by the NFL – a decision several former football players said was a sign of a shift in prioritizing players’ mental and physical health.

    Now, the Bills organization is encouraging people to learn the critical, life-saving skill of administering CPR.

    The team has pledged support for resources including CPR certifications, automated external defibrillator units and guidance for developing cardiac emergency response plans within the Buffalo community, according to the statement. “We encourage all our fans to continue showing your support and take the next step by obtaining CPR certification,” the Bills said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Meet the group protecting patients from protesters outside abortion clinics | CNN Politics

    Meet the group protecting patients from protesters outside abortion clinics | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]

    A version of this story appears in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, Planned Parenthood made a vow.

    “It is a dark day for our country, but this is far from over. We will not compromise on our bodies, our dignity or our freedom,” the organization said in a statement.

    But with more than a dozen states enacting complete or partial bans on abortion following the Supreme Court decision, abortion clinics, like those operated by Planned Parenthood, and the protests they attract have become an even more potent symbol of the country’s deep divisions over reproductive health.

    To minimize the effect these protests have on patients visiting Planned Parenthood clinics, the organization deploys volunteer clinic escorts to “help get patients to the door of our clinic with as little harassment from protesters and picketers as possible,” according to its website.

    The result is a defensive role on the front lines of America’s abortion debate.

    To understand the role and what it entails, we turned to Marian Starkey, a volunteer Planned Parenthood clinic escort in Maine who has been guiding patients past protesters at different locations since 2007.

    Our conversation, conducted over the phone in late December and lightly edited for flow and brevity, is below.

    LEBLANC: When you sign on for your clinic escort shift, what can the average day bring? I imagine every day is a little bit different.

    STARKEY: To a degree. I mean, the difference really revolves around the public’s reaction to the protesters. Honestly, the protesters are pretty consistent. It’s generally the same people who show up every Friday.

    Friday is the procedure day at Planned Parenthood. And so that’s the day that the protesters are there. They usually arrive around 8:30 in the morning and, depending on the weather, they’ll stay until 11 o’clock or sometimes later if it’s nice out.

    They show up with massive signs that barely fit in their cars. They have to kind of squish them into the back seats of their cars when they leave at the end of the shift. The signs show fetuses in very advanced stages of development and pretty, pretty gruesome images, and they’re meant to shock and disturb patients and passersby, which they do.

    They show up and they do a little prayer to start off their day. And then the men – it’s always men – will take turns preaching throughout the morning. I’ve never, in the 15 or 16 years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never seen a woman preach, always the dudes. Young ones, too.

    I mean, men as young as probably 19 or 20 sort of get on their soapbox and preach at passing traffic, at the patients entering the clinic. But mostly at us.

    STARKEY: Honestly, the patient traffic isn’t so heavy that there’s always somebody for them to be sort of focusing on. So they focus most of their attention on us greeters and try to learn personal information about us and then use that to sort of get under our skin.

    I mean, they all know my name. They know that my mom’s a midwife. I hear about that a lot – that, you know, she brings life into this world and I take it out.

    LEBLANC: Oh, wow.

    STARKEY: Yeah, so it can be pretty targeted. We have a non-engagement policy across the country, so we don’t speak with them; we try not to even acknowledge them with eye contact. And so we just kind of look right through them or look up and down the sidewalk to see what’s going on with patients and people passing by.

    And that doesn’t deter them from talking at us, but we don’t engage.

    LEBLANC: How is it that they’re learning personal information about the clinic escorts?

    STARKEY: The same way that we’re learning information about them, if I’m being honest. If they make the mistake of using each other’s names out on the sidewalk, then now we know their name.

    They coordinate with each other using a Facebook page, and so if you go to that page, you can see a lot of their activity, and it can actually be kind of useful to see what they’ve got cooking. They’ll sometimes reveal plans for future protest events that they wanna do.

    But it’s also a place to see their pictures, and so we can recognize who they are. And I imagine they do the same thing with us.

    LEBLANC: So your goal is to basically shield the people using Planned Parenthood’s facilities from as much protester activity as possible?

    STARKEY: Yeah, and to just keep the chaos to a minimum, if possible. Patients can’t tell when they turn the corner from the parking garage and start their walk down the sidewalk – they can’t tell who’s a protester and who isn’t and who’s on their side and who’s not.

    And so when they make their appointments over the phone, they’ve already been warned there are protesters. They’ve also been told that there are clinical volunteers who are wearing these bright pink vests.

    But I think sometimes that doesn’t even register for them because they’re just in such a state when they see what they have to walk through. So, you know, we’re just trying to keep things as calm as possible, and not engaging with them tends to be the best way to do that.

    People are in all sorts of different mental states when they arrive. A lot of times just the presence of the protesters will make them cry. They have to walk down almost an entire block to get from the corner where the parking garage is to the front door of the clinic. And so I’m sure that can feel like an eternity for patients when they’re already upset.

    And so a lot of times they’ll burst into tears or the partners that they’re with – their support person – will start screaming at the protesters.

    A lot of times the men are actually the targets of the abuse from the protesters. They have sort of standard lines that they shout at them, like “real men don’t kill their children” and “be a father” or “don’t kill your child,” that sort of thing.

    So yeah, it’s just chaos out there. It’s a circus.

    LEBLANC: Have you ever had someone come in that was so traumatized by the experience that they no longer want to go through with their procedure?

    STARKEY: I haven’t seen that happen. The protesters, we will hear them sometimes boast about all of the lives that they’ve saved through people changing their minds. I haven’t seen it happen. So I’m not sure what they’re referring to when they say that.

    I don’t know, maybe something’s happening behind the scenes that we’re not privy to. I’m not sure.

    We have had patients for sure who, if there weren’t greeters on the corner, would not have walked down the sidewalk by themselves, and they told us that.

    LEBLANC: You’ve been doing this a long time. I’m curious if you’ve noticed a change at all since the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade?

    STARKEY: Honestly I don’t think so. The protesters seemed happy about it, but not overjoyed. They have told us over the years in their preaching, but also just kind of the one-sided conversations they have with us, that they’re not political people. That for them, the person in charge is Jesus Christ and they’re not all that interested in the laws of man and the elected officials that we have.

    What I have noticed that’s different is that people passing by are a lot angrier.

    The morning of the decision, a man came by and just screamed in the faces of the protesters: “You finally got what you wanted, now you can get out of here.” And they just kind of calmly explained to him, “Well, no, because abortion is still legal in Maine, so we still have work to do, and we’ll be out here regardless.”

    I had never before the Dobbs decision – I had never seen people passing by grab their signs and make off with them. And now that’s happened. I mean, I’ve probably seen that five or six times now.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Uganda declares end of Ebola outbreak | CNN

    Uganda declares end of Ebola outbreak | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Ugandan authorities have officially declared the end of a recent Ebola outbreak after 42 consecutive days with no new cases.

    A formal declaration was made during a televised ceremony held in the central Mubende district, the epicenter of the outbreak, on Wednesday.

    According to the World Health Organisation, an Ebola outbreak is over if there are no new cases after 42 days, which is twice the incubation period.

    “Today, 11th January 2023 marks 113 days since the start of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda,​” said the health minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero.

    “I urge the population to remain vigilant, implement the standard operating procedures and to report any person in the community that presents with Ebola-like symptoms,” she stressed.

    The outbreak, the eighth in Ugana’s history, killed 55 people, said Aceng Ocero. There were a total 143 confirmed cases and 22 probable cases, she added.

    Ugandan Red Cross workers in Mubende, the epicenter of the outbreak.

    To combat the outbreak, officials launched aggressive contact-tracing to track down relatives and friends who handled the bodies of victims or attended funerals.

    Some escaped from quarantine facilities, others traveled as far as the capital Kampala, and a few visited traditional healers and witchdoctors for treatment instead.

    Cases were eventually confirmed in nine districts, including Kampala, according to the health ministry.

    Contact tracers pictured on October 12.

    The Ebola virus is transmissible – but not as transmissible as some other infectious diseases, like Covid-19. It can spread from person to person through direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids such as saliva, sweat, semen or feces, or through contaminated objects like bedding or needles.

    Ebola symptoms include fever, aches and pains, and fatigue, which then can progress to diarrhea, vomiting and unexplained bleeding.

    In 2012 an outbreak in the Kibaale district in the west of the country led to 17 deaths out of 24 confirmed cases, but was declared over in less than three months.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • NICU mom stays by her son’s side after his nurses leave to strike | CNN Business

    NICU mom stays by her son’s side after his nurses leave to strike | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Lora Ribas hasn’t left her son’s bedside in four days.

    Her one-year-old baby, Logan, has been in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) since he was born. For the past three and a half months, he’s been under the care of Mount Sinai Hospital where thousands of nurses are currently striking.

    Logan was born prematurely at 27 weeks and is on a ventilator because his lungs were underdeveloped.

    Mount Sinai’s NICU has been consistently understaffed even before the strike, Ribas said. But since Mount Sinai’s nurses began picketing Monday, new travel nurses have replaced Logan’s primary care nurses – nurses who don’t fully understand her son’s needs, she said.

    Ribas said she’s too scared to leave her son alone under the care of the new travel nurses. She took a leave from work to stay by his side.

    “It’s scary to think that I can’t even go to the bathroom without me being concerned,” Ribas told CNN.

    Although the travel nurses are trying to compensate, they “don’t really know my son” and are still learning where supplies are around the unit, Ribas said.

    They aren’t able to give him one-on-one care because of the staffing shortages, according to the mom, and she said the staffing levels are even lower at night.

    Two nurses currently working inside Mount Sinai Hospital told CNN Monday that additional traveling nurses have not shown up as expected on their floors to replace nurses that are striking, causing stress for patients and staff.

    Mount Sinai Health System did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

    In preparation for the strike, Mount Sinai announced Friday it would transport newborns in its intensive care unit to other area hospitals. But the most critical babies – like Logan – have stayed in the hospital’s NICU unit. One NICU nurse at Mount Sinai who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, said moving a NICU baby to another hospital can be a risky move.

    “It’s a big journey for a baby who’s never been outside the hospital,” she told CNN. “It’s not anything that we want to happen. We want our babies to stay.”

    The more critical the baby’s condition is, the more complicated a transfer to another hospital becomes, the nurse explained.

    “You would need at least a doctor or nurse practitioner, a respiratory therapist if the patient is on respiratory support and a transport nurse to work the pumps and administer medicine if needed,” she said.

    Ribas said her son’s primary nurses who are striking right now are heartbroken they had to leave him and have been calling her to check on his status.

    “He has really wonderful primary nurses,” she said. “They were in tears having to leave him because my baby suffered cardiac arrest two days before the strike happened, and so now I’m dealing with that plus the shortage of staff. Which is very scary.”

    The nurses strike at two private New York City hospitals – Montefiore and Mount Sinai – involving over 7,000 nurses entered its second day Tuesday. Montefiore said it was holding bargaining sessions Tuesday. Mount Sinai has no plans to do so, according to the nurses’ union.

    The sticking point continues to be enforcing safe staffing levels, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) union officials said.

    A pediatric oncology nurse at Mount Sinai who administers chemotherapy to children with cancer said it’s hard to leave her patients to strike, but she knows it’s in the best interest of their care.

    “We love these patients more than anything,” Melissa Perleoni said, “and it breaks our heart – at least it breaks my heart – to be out here but I have to do this for the future of their care.”

    Ribas said she hopes hospital management reaches a contract with the nurses soon.

    “The nurses are the heart of the NICU, and they do need to figure it out before it becomes a different situation – because every single minute, every hour, the babies are running a very, very high risk of even dying in here.”

    “There’s nothing that could bring your kid back. Nothing,” she said.

    – CNN’s Tami Luhby, Vanessa Yurkevich and Mark Morales contributed to this report

    [ad_2]

    Source link