Category: Science
COVID Continues Decline in Alabama, but It Is Still Out There
COVID-19 cases have declined across Alabama and hospitalizations are down from months past, Dr. Wes Stubblefield, district medical officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health’s northern third of the state.
But don’t be tempted to think it’s gone. Stubblefield said it is important to remember that COVID is still circulating in Alabama, it still is infecting people and it still is killing people.
Since early March, Alabama’s COVID-19 hospitalization numbers have hovered around 200. As of Friday, statewide there were 136 adults and seven children hospitalized with it, far below the highs of 3,000 patients seen periodically in previous years.
Stubblefield said most of the current COVID infections are due to the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant. Read more.
Health Advocates Hope Narcan’s Over-the-Counter Status Will Bypass Alabama’s Strict Laws
Public health officials say the federal rule change should expand access to the overdose-reversing medication, after years of navigating tough state restrictions on who can dispense Narcan. Read more.
U.S. Judge Rules Insurers Don’t Have to Cover Many Free Preventive Health Services
WASHINGTON — Health insurance companies may no longer need to cover a wide swath of preventive health care services that were required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, under a federal judge’s ruling issued Thursday in Texas.
The decision could affect millions of Americans’ access to no-cost preventive health care — including pregnancy-related care, cancer screenings, HIV prevention pharmaceuticals and more — that a federal agency given new powers under Obamacare required health insurance companies to cover. Read more.
Lead keeps poisoning children. It doesn’t have to.
SANTA ANA, California — The news came as a shock: Lead, lurking somewhere in Nalleli Garrido’s home, was poisoning her 1-year-old son.
His pediatrician instructed her to clean all the toys of her toddler, Ruben, keep the home dust-free and prevent him from playing in the bare soil outside her rented bungalow in Santa Ana’s Logan neighborhood. She did all she could. But the dust kept sneaking in.
No one offered an alternative. The only solution she and her husband could find was to get out. In 2019, after two years of constant worry, they moved north to the city of Buena Park, buying a home with a grassy yard — not an exposed patch of soil like her Santa Ana front yard, where the toxic metal could be found in concentrations as high as 148 parts of lead per million parts of soil. California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment considers 80 parts per million and above dangerous for children.
“I was terrified to take my son out,” said Garrido, a psychiatric nurse. “Even walking through the yard, I would tell my kids to hold their breath. ‘Don’t breathe that in, don’t breathe in the dust.’” Read more.
In the Quest for New Cancer Treatments, Researchers Look to Outer Space
The Southern Research team is studying how bacteria reacts in the microgravity environment, and whether it prompts the development of novel cancer therapies. Read more.
Legal Complaint Claims Alabama Discriminates When Distributing Sewage Infrastructure Funds
Alabama only allows state funds for sewage infrastructure to go to public bodies. A civil rights complaint argues the policy hurts communities of color. Read more.
Working Group Appointed to Learn What Went Wrong With Response to the Moody Landfill Fire
The Alabama Department of Environment Management on Friday announced the formation of a working group to assess whether changes in laws, regulations and resources are needed following the fire at the vegetative waste disposal site near Moody.
In a press conference, ADEM officials said the fire revealed shortcomings in the ability and authority of state and local governments to respond to situations that are outside the scope of their regulated activities but pose risks to the public. The working group will examine the response to the fire and make recommendations for improving the ability of state and local agencies to respond to similar emergencies in the future. Read more.
Working Group to Be Announced to Consider Changes After Lessons Learned at the Moody Landfill Fire
Public leaders are set to announce today the formation of a working group to assess whether changes in laws, regulations and resources are needed in light of the underground environmental fire at a landfill in Moody. Read more.
Red Mountain Cut Features Time Capsule of Alabama’s Robust Geologic History
A national natural landmark, the road cut along Birmingham’s Red Mountain Expressway documents more than a hundred million years of geologic history and was once an educational centerpiece. Read more.
Alabama Has 5th Highest U.S. Gun Death Rate; Study Blames Weak Laws, High Ownership
The Violence Policy Center, a non-profit educational organization, used the most recent CDC data on gun death rates in the U.S. for its analysis. Read more.
