US flu, COVID, RSV activity continues to recede With the drop in flu activity gaining momentum, several parts of the US are now below their regional baselines. CIDRAP

Respiratory virus activity in the United States is still elevated but continues to decline, with only 6 jurisdiction reporting high levels, down from 10 the previous week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its data updates.

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Covid cut life expectancy by 1.6 years globally, but the leading causes of death haven’t changed since 1990 The top causes of death globally — heart disease, stroke, COPD, and lower respiratory infections — were unchanged since 1990 except for two years of Covid pandemic. Annalisa Merelli STAT

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Testing environmental water to monitor COVID-19 spread in unsheltered encampments

To better understand COVID-19's spread during the pandemic, public health officials have expanded wastewater surveillance. These efforts track SARS-CoV-2 levels and health risks among most people, but they miss people who live without shelter, a population particularly vulnerable to severe infection.

To fill this information gap, researchers reporting in Environmental Science & Technology Letters tested flood-control waterways near unsheltered encampments, finding similar transmission patterns as in the broader community and identifying previously unseen viral mutations.

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