health news

Some Black physicians say they were pushed out of hospitals due to racial discrimination in medical

After the pandemic hit the U.S. in early 2020, Chris Pernell, MD was on TV screens across the country, emerging as a leading voice on COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on people of color.

Earlier this year, backed by more than 100 New Jersey state leaders, Pernell — University Hospital’s inaugural chief strategic integration and health equity officer — was ready to throw her hat in the ring for the Newark hospital’s CEO search.

Instead, last month, she left her job at the hospital entirely.

Tasked with advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at the hospital, Pernell said the conditions she fought to change — discrimination and racial bias in medicine — were ultimately why she chose to resign.

In interviews with ABC News, three Black physicians, ranging from a former resident to a hospital executive, shared allegations of being systematically pushed out of their workplaces. One claimed they were terminated without

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Experts aren’t sure what to expect this flu season. Here’s why

Flu season has officially begun. While there are warnings about COVID and influenza causing a “twindemic” (maybe even a “tripledemic” with the respiratory virus R.S.V.), or the occasional dual infection some have dubbed “flurona,”experts say nobody knows exactly what is in store.

In Massachusetts, health officials have started publishing the weekly flu report. So far, they declare the severity “low.” Visits to doctors’ offices for “flu-like illness” are higher now than at this point in the past three seasons, but they remain lower than what is typical for a non-flu season.

Across the country, most states have reported increases in flu activity, with the highest levels in southern states.

Despite the uncertainty about what lies ahead, here’s a look at the best guesses for this flu season, why it’s so hard to predict the flu, and why some researchers are optimistic about new flu vaccines.

What health experts expect this

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Should you still be wearing a mask? As COVID rates climb, health experts say the answer is yes

About four months have passed since Washington’s statewide indoor mask mandate ended, but some local infectious disease experts and state epidemiologists are hoping recent increasing case rates will remind residents not to relax measures too much.

Statewide COVID levels had been rising since mid-March and began to show signs of leveling off in mid- to late-May, according to the state Department of Health’s COVID data dashboard. As of early July, the state recorded a seven-day case rate of about 225 infections per 100,000 people, compared to about 42 per 100,000 in March.

Much of the state’s continued high level of infection is due to the rapid pace of omicron’s BA.5 subvariant, which accounted for three times as many COVID cases at the end of June compared to the start of the month.

While King County is “actively considering” if and when additional public health requirements might be necessary, there are

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Climate crisis poses ‘growing threat’ to health in UK, says expert | Climate crisis

The climate crisis poses a “significant and growing threat” to health in the UK, the country’s most senior public health expert has warned.

Speaking to the Guardian, Prof Dame Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said there was a common misconception that a warmer climate would bring net health benefits due to milder winters. But the climate emergency would bring far wider-reaching health impacts, she said, with food security, flooding and mosquito-borne diseases posing threats.

“The heatwave this summer really brought home to people the direct impact,” said Harries. “But it’s the breadth of the impact. It’s not just the heat.”

Referring to the recent floods in Pakistan, Harries said the UK needed to build resilience to protect the population from the health impacts of extreme weather events.

“Colleagues from Pakistan … are suffering from the impacts of flooding. They are dealing with stagnant water,

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Moral opposition to childhood vaccines increasing at local schools, data shows

“When this occurs, I like to make sure that I have established a safe space for families to share their worries while also making sure I am providing them with the most factual information,” Shaw said. “I have found that a lot of the concern is rooted in misinformation.”

The Dayton Daily News reached out to local schools, health departments, and other experts about the trend of vaccine hesitancy, potential consequences such as the resurgence of once-rare diseases, and how school districts can communicate with families about vaccines.

Schools where at least 10% of parents exempted their kindergarteners from vaccines on moral or religious grounds include three each in Montgomery and Clark counties; two each in Miami and Darke counties; and one each in Butler, Champaign, Greene and Preble counties.

There were only five schools over that threshold the year before.

Statewide, the percentage of students with moral or religious

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