Community News

 

ASHEVILLE, NC – June 21, 2023 – The COVID-19 metrics are on the CDC’s COVID Dashboard. Weekly data from the week ending on June 10^th indicate:

• Hospital admissions are at a low level in every county in North Carolina and almost 100% of the counties in the U.S.
• There were fewer than 10 deaths due to COVID last week in North Carolina, the lowest level of 6 groups.
• Emergency room visits for COVID-19 are minimal in North Carolina

Wastewater monitoring can be used to provide early warning for COVID outbreaks. The Buncombe & Henderson counties wastewater data for the week ending on June 7^th is on the North Carolina COVID Dashboard.

• The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is at a light blue level representing the 2^nd lowest level of 5 groups.
• The 15-day rate of change of the number of viral gene copies in each water sample is at the most negative rate of measurement.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wants everyone to know that:

• COVID-19 can affect people differently. Some people have mild symptoms like a cold and others have more severe symptoms like a bad case of the flu. Some effects can be long-lasting.
• Older adults and immunocompromised people are at a higher risk of developing severe illness and being hospitalized. The CDC recommends that people in these groups get an updated COVID-19 bivalent booster because it gives added protection.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends:

• Stay up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccines
• For extra protection, wear an effective medical grade mask
• People who are positive for COVID-19 or do not feel well should stay home
• People with any COVID symptoms should get tested
• If you test positive, your doctor may recommend medical treatment

More and more Americans have developed some immunity to COVID-19 from immunizations and previous infection. New variants continue to infect people with the most at-risk groups more susceptible to severe illness.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

ASHEVILLE, NC  – June 7, 2023 – Our health can be affected by the quality of the air that we breathe. Clean air is something that most of us take for granted. However, last month, wildfire smoke from western Canada travelled all the way to western North Carolina resulting in hazy mountains and air quality warnings about harmful pollutants. Two weeks ago, I reported that the smoke can lead to health problems. Now there are over 100 newer forest fires in eastern Canada that have added to the problems particularly in the Northeast U.S. The air pollution has worsened here in western North Carolina and in the middle of our state. Good news, the air is improving this week.

Global warming from fossil fuel combustion has led to more extreme weather events like drought and thunderstorms leading to more wildfires and smoke. Wildfires produce greenhouse gases (which contribute to warming of the earth and climate change) and other air pollutants. The greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide and methane. The other air pollutants include nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and large amounts of fine particulate matter (PM). PM2.5 consists of microscopic pieces of solid or liquid droplets, 2.5 microns or less in diameter. If the smoke sinks to ground-level then a build-up of ozone can develop from the chemical reaction of some of the pollutants in the presence of sunlight.

Studies have shown that breathing air pollutants can lead to health problems. PM2.5 particles can cause premature death and heart and lung disease. The particles are small enough to travel in the smallest passageways in the lungs. Their presence can activate the immune system resulting in inflammation in the lungs, with long-lasting effects. Some of them enter the bloodstream and can affect the heart, by constricting blood vessels leading to a higher risk of heart attacks. Ground-level ozone can aggravate lung disease and cause breathing problems.

There are 6 levels of air quality that make up the air quality index from a scale of 0 to 500. Above 101 is ‘unhealthy.’ Above 300 is considered ‘hazardous.’ Last month, western North Carolina was at a yellow level (numerical value 51 to 100) . A yellow air quality level is acceptable, but some at-risk people might be extremely sensitive to the pollutants. Last week, eastern and western North Carolina was at an orange level. An orange air quality level (101-150) means that the air quality is ‘unhealthy’ for at-risk groups, like children, seniors, pregnant women, and those with heart and lung issues. Last week, central North Carolina was at a red air quality level. A red air quality level (151-200) means that everyone may be affected by the ‘unhealthy’ air with at-risk groups at a greater risk of developing a serious health problem. Healthy people can experience coughing, scratchy throat, irritated sinuses, runny nose, headaches, trouble breathing, and shortness of breath if they breath in wildfire smoke. On June 7^th, the air quality in New York City was between 348 and 405. Their daylight skies had an eerie orange-red glow with poor visibility. PM2.5 was the primary pollutant.

The fire season in western Canada has been more intense than usual because of climate change. More periods of drought, a greater frequency of lightning strikes, and a recent heat wave caused more than 400 active wildfires. Last month, the western Canadian wildfires sent polluted air over eastern Canada and the United States, from Maine to North Carolina. Last week, the smoke shifted to the Rocky Mountains and the Midwest. The Northeast was most affected and there was impaired air quality in the Midwest and Southern Atlantic states including North Carolina. Over 100 million people have recently been affected by ‘unhealthy’ air quality. Last week, air quality alerts have been issued in 16 states from Vermont to South Carolina. The air quality was so poor in New York City and Philadelphia that commercial airplane flights, major league baseball games, and Broadway shows were cancelled. New York City had more than the usual number of asthma-related visits to their hospitals’ emergency room, according to city Health Department spokesperson Pedro Frisneda.

The sooner the wildfires are extinguished, the sooner this public health crisis will end. While Canada is trying to put out the wildfires, other countries have sent their firefighters to help. The U.S. has sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment. The effects of the wildfires are affected by the weather patterns like low-pressure systems, wind patterns, and by the presence of clouds.

Vulnerable persons should consider checking the air quality index report every day at AirNow.gov . In the event of impaired air quality levels, susceptible individuals  should consider wearing a face mask (an N-95 respirator mask is recommended), limiting outdoor activities and time spent outdoors, or staying inside. Keeping the windows closed at home and having air purifiers and efficient air filters will help reduce indoor particle pollution. Don’t forget to limit your pets’ time being outside because they can be affected too.

If the incidence of wildfires continues to increase because of a changing climate, then more and more people are going to be exposed to polluted air. We need to be concerned about the short-term effects of breathing polluted air as well as the long-term health problems. Without our intervention, our children and our children’s children may be forced to deal with this dire situation.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

ASHEVILLE, NC – June 14, 2023 – The COVID-19 metrics are on the CDC’s COVID Dashboard. Weekly data from the week ending on June 3^rd indicate:

• Hospital admissions are at a low level in almost every county in North Carolina and almost 100% of the counties in the U.S. Buncombe County’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have decreased
• There were fewer than 10 deaths due to COVID last week in North Carolina, the lowest level of 6 groups.
• Emergency room visits for COVID-19 are minimal in North Carolina

Wastewater monitoring can be used to provide early warning for COVID outbreaks. The Buncombe & Henderson counties wastewater data for the week ending on May 31^st is on the North Carolina COVID Dashboard.

• The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is at a yellow level representing the middle level of 5 groups. Down 1 level from last week.
• The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is unchanged from last week. It is at the highest positive rate of change of 5 possible levels, over the past 15 days.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wants everyone to know that:

• COVID-19 can affect people differently. Some people have mild symptoms like a cold and others have more severe symptoms like a bad case of the flu. Some effects can be long-lasting.
• Older adults and immunocompromised people are at a higher risk of developing severe illness and being hospitalized. The CDC recommends that people in these groups get an updated COVID-19 bivalent booster because it gives added protection.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends:

• Stay up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccines
• For extra protection, wear an efficient medical grade mask
• People who are positive for COVID-19 or do not feel well should stay home
• People with any COVID symptoms should get tested
• If you test positive, your doctor may recommend medical treatment

More and more Americans have developed some immunity to COVID-19 from immunizations and previous infection. New variants continue to infect people with the most at-risk groups more susceptible to severe illness.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

ATLANTA, GA – May 26, 2023 –  On May 26^th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that at least 181 people who attended a CDC-run conference in April had come down with a COVID-19 infection. No one has been hospitalized at the time of the announcement.

The CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) had a 4-day conference from April 24-27 at a hotel in Atlanta. This was the first in-person meeting for this group in 4 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The group identifies and fights outbreaks of disease. About 1,800 people were in attendance. As reported in the Washington Post, attendees said that the conference was crowded. Many of the meetings were in small rooms. There was much socializing. Most everyone who got sick was younger than 65.

The CDC conducted a survey on May 5-12 of all in-person attendees with an 80% response rate. 70% of people who responded to the survey said that they did not wear a face mask. More than half of those who tested positive had no prior COVID infection. Almost all of the responders had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine. One in four of the people who tested positive were treated with antiviral medication. There was a higher risk of getting infected for people who were at the meeting for 3 days or longer compared with those who attended 2 days or less.

The national public health COVID-19 emergency may have ended on May 11^th, however, the virus is still with us and is not going away anytime soon. COVID precautions should be considered if people are going to be attending in-person conferences and plan travel this summer. COVID-19 transmission risk-reducing measures include: optimizing indoor air quality, staying outside as much as possible, reducing the size of crowds, and wearing high quality medical masks like N95 and KN95 styles when indoors and in crowds.

William Schaffner, an infectious disease physician at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said “this outbreak dramatically illustrates that if the circumstances are right, this virus can really spread to a lot of people.”

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

WASHINGTON, DC – January 25, 2023 –  Dr. Blake Fagan, the Director of Opioid Treatment Services at the Mountain Area Healthcare Education Center (MAHEC), joined members of Congress and other leaders from across the country for a White House event on January 25^th to celebrate the signing of the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act on December 29^th. This bill will make it easier for health care providers to treat patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). Dr. Fagan was invited to the White House for his work at MAHEC and educating lawmakers about the importance of removing barriers that keep many physicians from treating patients with this disorder. The bill will enable patients to get treatment without having to find another physician for care.

MAT has been proven to be the most effective treatment for OUD. As a result of the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act, the FDA-approved medicine for OUD, called buprenorphine, will become easier for physicians to prescribe to people who seek treatment. Buprenorphine has been shown to be effective in reducing overdose deaths, curb the use of illegal drugs, and help people from dropping out of treatment. It is combined with naloxone, used to reverse opioid overdoses, to form one of the most widely-prescribed medicines (called Suboxone) to treat OUD.

The MAT Act eliminates the following barriers to care:

• Health-care provider prescribing. Any DEA-registered prescriber of controlled substances will be able to treat OUD patients with buprenorphine. Providers will no longer require additional training and certification to obtain a special DEA waiver to prescribe this medicine. Therefore, more providers will be able to prescribe it. Patients won’t have to search for a physician who can prescribe buprenorphine and travel long distances to get treatment. Taking time off from work and spending money on gas are major factors in reducing patients access to care.
• Disparities by geography and race. Underserved communities of color and rural populations have difficulty with access to buprenorphine. Having more health care providers to prescribe the medicine should reduce these disparities.
• Stigma in treating OUD. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is encouraging providers to treat patients with OUD by eliminating barriers to prescribing the controlled medicine.

More than 100 thousand Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021 and 75% were due to opioids. Over the past 20 years, more than one million Americans died from drug overdoses. However, in 2020 only 11% of people with this condition received medicine-assisted treatment. Therefore, federal legislators from both political parties are optimistic that the newly signed MAT Act will be a great step towards reducing the treatment gap. Health-care providers will be able to take care of patients with OUD (a disease of the brain) just as they take care of heart disease, diabetes and lung disease.

In an interview with Mountain Xpress, Dr. Fagan remarked “I learned that it takes a lot to get bills passed, and you have to have to get a lot of coalitions together. There was a great sense of satisfaction with passing this bill. I felt honored to be able to be there for the celebration.”

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour