North Carolina lawmakers push bill to ban most public mask wearing, citing crime Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are pushing forward with their plan to repeal a pandemic-era law that allowed the wearing of masks in public for health reasons, a move spurred in part by demonstrations against the war in Gaza that have included masked protesters camped out on college campuses AP News

...

US government suspends funding for virus research group at center of Covid-19 origin controversy | CNN The US Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday suspended funding to EcoHealth Alliance, a virus research organization tied to controversy about the origins of the virus that causes Covid-19. The agency also proposed the group be blocked from receiving federal funds in the future, possibly for years. Jamie Gumbrecht CNN

...

Hospital COVID patients 35% more likely to die than flu patients last winter, study suggests During the 2023-24 respiratory virus season, hospitalized US COVID-19 patients were at a 35% higher risk for death from any cause than those admitted for influenza, compared with a 61% higher risk the winter before, estimates a research letter published today in JAMA. CIDRAP

...

Warning over deadly mpox variant amid fears disease will cross borders An outbreak of mpox in Africa has health officials sounding the alarm for the public to get vaccinated before the disease spreads to North America.

US health authorities warned Thursday that a deadlier version of mpox (formerly monkeypox) spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could soon cross international borders, urging those at risk to get vaccinated.

New virus variants threaten a summer Covid-19 wave, but experts say the risk remains uncertain | CNN Covid-19 levels are about the lowest they’ve ever been in the United States, but another new crop of virus variants once again threatens to disrupt the downward trend as the country heads into summer. Deidre McPhillips CNN

...

The mutations of the FLiRT variants make increased transmissibility — and a possible summer wave — a real threat. Covid-19 is settling into some seasonal patterns, which have included a summer bump in years past, but the exact level of risk for this year is unclear.

The New U.S. Strategy on Global Health Security | Think Global Health

The New U.S. Strategy on Global Health Security | Think Global Health The strategy seeks to make U.S. foreign policy on global health more effective Council on Foreign Relations

...

How Europe reduced its greenhouse gas emissions last year The European Union's greenhouse gas emissions fell by 5% last year, official data published this week showed, continuing a trend of declining emissions in Europe. Kate Abnett Reuters

...

Extreme heat will put millions more older adults at risk in the future By 2050, as many as an additional 246 million adults 69 and older could experience temperature extremes that exceed 37.5° Celsius. Aimee Cunningham Science News

The new projection suggests that more than 23 percent of the global population of these older adults — largely concentrated in Africa and Asia — will encounter this intense heat, compared with 14 percent today.

...

UN agency authorizes second vaccine against dengue amid outbreaks in the Americas The World Health Organization on Wednesday authorized a second dengue vaccine, a move that could provide protection for millions worldwide against the mosquito-borne disease that has already sparked numerous ... Science X Medical Xpress

...

Study: Before vaccines, 44% of COVID-19 patients in ICU died A new analysis of pre-vaccine data from scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 18% of hospitalized patients and 44% of those admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) for COVID-19 died, with wide variations among different groups.  CIDRAP

...

Before the mid-December 2020 introduction of COVID-19 vaccines, the pandemic caused approximately 480,000 hospitalizations, and 350,000 deaths in the United States.

...