Disease

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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As COVID cases rise, doctors worry about the consequences of misinformation Misinformation is still shaping how people perceive the virus and tools designed to protect individuals and communities against COVID’s worst outcomes, public health experts and doctors say. PBS NewsHour

Seeing COVID rates hit another high, and vaccine uptake remain low, doctors don’t have an antidote for something they see as an ongoing risk factor: the spread of misinformation, including on the presidential campaign trail.

How Long Does It Take to Get COVID-19? Here's what a new study says. TIME

The length of time you spend around a person with COVID-19 seems to heavily influence your likelihood of getting sick, according to a recent Nature study that has been peer-reviewed but not fully edited. Most exposures that result in transmission last at least an hour, if not much longer, the researchers say.

Record budget for Gates Foundation as wider global health funding stalls The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to spend more this year than ever before -- $8.6 billion -- as wider health funding for the lowest income countries stutters after the COVID-19 pandemic. Jennifer Rigby Reuters

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