Flu activity ticked down last week, but respiratory virus season is far from over in the US

The United States started the new year awash in respiratory illness, with high levels of flu, Covid-19 and RSV across most of the country. The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that some measures of flu activity dipped in early January, but the single week of decrease is not a trend – and experts warn that more increases are likely to come.

In the latest update this week, and consistently through the season, the agency’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics has suggested that this respiratory disease season will probably result in a similar number of hospitalizations as last season. And while current hospital capacity is considered stable overall, the CDC says that hospitals in some parts of the country have reported strains on their resources due, in part, to increases in respiratory illness.

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https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/health-202-heat-standards-osha-biden-climate-change-warehouse-workers/

With climate change posing rising threats to human health, the Biden administration is drafting federal rules to protect construction crews, warehouse workers, delivery drivers and the rest of America’s workforce from extreme heat. The regulatory effort has been years in the making, and its fate is far from certain. ...

Though it’s a key milestone, it’s just a preliminary step on a long bureaucratic road — one vulnerable to politics because a new rule probably wouldn’t be issued until years after the presidential election in November. If a Republican wins the White House, advocates say, a heat standard that targets businesses will likely fizzle.

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US and UK announce biosecurity alliance to counter pandemics and bioterrorism The two nations have entered into a new strategic dialogue on biological security. Sophie Wingate The Independent

The UK and US have agreed to work together to counter growing biological threats such as pandemics, antimicrobial resistance and bioterrorism.

The two nations announced a new strategic dialogue on biosecurity on Tuesday.

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