Good Wednesday morning.
As if you didn’t have enough to worry about…it’s National Hepatitis Testing Day (and also, for the record, National Hepatitis Awareness Month).
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. The condition can be self-limiting or can progress to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer. Hepatitis viruses are the most common cause of hepatitis in the world, but other infections, toxic substances (e.g. alcohol, certain drugs), and autoimmune diseases can also cause hepatitis.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E. Hepatitis A and E are typically caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water. Hepatitis B, C and D usually occur as a result of parenteral contact with infected body fluids.
According to HHS, millions of Americans have chronic viral hepatitis and are unaware of that fact until they are in the late stages of the disease, which can be too late as they are at risk of significant complications and event death at that point. Also, they might be unwittingly passing this infectious illness along to others.
Hence, the importance of testing.
An estimated 862,000 people are living with hepatitis B and 2.4 million are people living with hepatitis C. Untreated chronic viral hepatitis represents a leading cause of liver cancer and the most common reason for liver transplantation in the U.S. Treatment is available – but you have to know you’re positive in order to go that route.
Hepatitis C kills more Americans than any other reportable infectious disease, even though safe and effective oral treatments are available that cure it in one 8 to 12 week course.
In short, testing individuals at risk for hepatitis B and hepatitis C and linking those chronically infected to medical care and treatment can reduce related illness and death.
Apparently, and I have to confess this is the first I’ve heard of it, a national hepatitis A outbreak has been occurring in the U.S. for several years now.
The White House, in a proclamation issued on this day, declared viral hepatitis a “silent epidemic” that is also linked with other public health threats, including HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and opioid use, and noted that the country has set a goal of eradicating the disease by 2030.
If reading all that made you feel a little depressed, and perhaps in need of a pick-me-up, perhaps consider eating cake for breakfast…Devil’s Food Cake, specifically. Another little piece of trivia of which I was not aware, Devil’s Food cake recipes use hot or boiling water as the primary liquid, and cocoa, not chocolate, in the batter.
Huh. Live and learn…maybe I need to bake more.
We’re in for a stretch of 80-degree days (remember, upstate summer, it comes on fast and hot). The weekend is looking a little iffy, but that’s a few days out yet. Today, we’ll have plentiful sunshine.
In the headlines…
President Biden has maintained his public support toward Israel even as he adopted a somewhat sharper private tone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning that he could fend off criticism of the Gaza strikes for only so long.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, confronted Biden over his support for Israel amid its bombing campaign against Hamas in Gaza, urging him to stop enabling a government that she said was committing crimes against Palestinians.
Israel said yesterday it was focusing on targeted killings of Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip as it tries to quell the militant group’s operations there, defying growing calls for a cease-fire amid a rising civilian toll.
Biden made an unscheduled visit to a Ford driving course at which safety tests are normally conducted, and had the opportunity to test drive the new Ford F-150 Lightning – the electric vehicle Ford is manufacturing at a plant in Dearborn, Michigan.
Biden presented an American auto industry at a crossroads, forced to choose between two options: Spend around $174 billion and speed ahead to dominate the burgeoning electric vehicle market, or cede the race to China.
The transition to an electric-car future will be an uphill battle, with the president and Republicans in Congress at odds over his $4 trillion economic agenda.
In a victory for same-sex couples, the State Department said it would grant U.S. citizenship to babies born abroad to married couples with at least one American parent — no matter which parent was biologically related to the child.
Covid-19 is reopening a rift between economies in the world’s richest and poorest nations, driven by growth rates that are moving firmly in opposite directions.
India recorded 4,529 Covid-19 deaths yesterday, the pandemic’s highest single daily death toll in any country so far, the authorities said, as the virus spread into the country’s vast hinterlands.
Over 400 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have now been administered in China, according to the National Health Commission — more than in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany combined.
A concerning strain of the coronavirus first detected in India will likely be thwarted by the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in the US, health officials said.
Opposition among the Japanese public to the Tokyo Olympics is reaching new heights with the Games just over two months away, as a soaring coronavirus caseload has led growing areas of the country to be placed under a state of emergency.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) reassured an anxious Japan that the Tokyo Olympics will be safe for athletes as well as the host community amid mounting opposition to the Games and fears it will fuel a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Organizers have released a playbook, the final version of which is expected next month, outlining a series of countermeasures that they say will ensure the Games can take place in a safe and secure way.
At least 600,000 children, ages 12 to 15, have received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccination, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a media briefing.
New York City could set up vaccination sites at public schools.
In a private phone call with the White House yesterday, several governors, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, pressed the Biden administration on its sudden switch on mask guidelines.
Most government authorities in Texas will soon be prohibited from requiring people to wear masks, Gov. Greg Abbott announced days after federal health officials announced new mask guidance.
New York state will end mask mandates and adopt CDC guidelines for the fully vaccinated beginning today, but New York City’s health commissioner is still recommending masks indoors.
Most businesses will be able to operate at 100 percent capacity, but it’s not a full return to normal.
While New York and Connecticut are also lifting their indoor mask mandate for those who are fully vaccinated, New Jersey’s indoor mask mandate remains, meaning you will still be required to wear one regardless of your vaccination status.
The loosening of the rules is the biggest step yet for a state that was the epicenter of the early days of the pandemic that has killed nearly 53,000 New Yorkers, second most behind California.
New cases of Covid-19 in New York reached their lowest single-day total since October on Monday.
The New York attorney general’s office has pivoted from a civil to a criminal investigation of the Trump Organization, working alongside the Manhattan district attorney.
The new development was disclosed after the attorney general’s office wrote to the Trump Organization in recent days notifying it that information collected as part of the civil inquiry could now be used as part of a criminal investigation.
The field of Republicans vying to challenge Cuomo in next year’s race for governor grew as Andrew Giuliani, the son of the former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and a former Trump aide, formally unveiled his candidacy.
“Giuliani vs. Cuomo. Holy smokes. Its Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier. We can sell tickets at Madison Square Garden,” the newly minted candidate said, referring to the famous 1971 heavyweight title prizefight.
Giuliani took aim at Cuomo over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. But Giuliani, who contracted the disease late last year, also said he had not been vaccinated and wouldn’t consider getting the shot until “I don’t have the antibodies anymore.”
“I’m a politician out of the womb. It’s in my DNA,” Giuliani said. “New York is in my blood. I’ve been raised from New York. I know who we are, what we can be and where we need to go.”
Giuliani declared crime-fighting his “most important” political priority as he announced a long-shot campaign just weeks after the FBI raided his father’s home and office on the hunt for evidence of alleged foreign agent crimes.
Rep. Lee Zeldin and Rob Astorino, who was the GOP’s nominee for the office in 2014, are the other Republicans in the race to replace Cuomo, although Cuomo hasn’t officially announced his intent to seek a fourth term.
De Blasio couldn’t – or wouldn’t – say whether he would vote for a Republican over his longtime rival, Cuomo, in 2022.
New York state taxpayers will be picking up the tab for the high-powered defense lawyer representing Cuomo and his aides in the cover-up of nursing home deaths from COVID-19, the attorney acknowledged.
Federal investigators interviewed the chairman of the state Senate Health Committee, Sen. Gustavo Rivera, as part of its probe into Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes amid the coronavirus pandemic — including his $5.1 million book deal.
Manhattan borough president candidate state Sen. Brad Hoylman is pitching a piece of legislation that would force Cuomo’s controversial redevelopment plan around Penn Station to go through the standard city land-use review process.
Maya Wiley has unveiled an array of policies to fight inequality as she seeks to become the first woman elected mayor of New York. Can she break out of the pack?
Just days after city Comptroller Scott Stringer came under an allegation of sexual misconduct, Rep. Jamaal Bowman took back his endorsement of the mayoral candidate. Now he’s feeling some remorse.
Stringer raised 20% more for his mayoral campaign in the filing period ended May 17 compared with the previous two-month filing window, despite a sexual-harassment claim that roiled his run and cost him a number of major endorsements.
Deploying an extra 250 NYPD cops to the city’s subways won’t be enough to tamp down on the violence, New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams said.
“Too many officers are performing clerical duties, and they are in units that do not directly impact public safety,” Adams, a former transit cop himself, said during an appearance outside West 4th Street Station with members of TWU.
New York mayoral hopeful Dianne Morales says adding more police officers on the streets or in the subways isn’t the answer to reducing violent crime and boosting the economy in the most populous U.S. city.
The Democratic primary campaign for mayor erupted into open warfare as leading candidates Andrew Yang and Adams filed ethics complaints against each other alleging fund-raising and other abuses.
City comptroller candidate and state Assemblyman David Weprin took seven years to fully pay off a six-figure debt to the city’s CFB — and when he finally did, he used money raised through his state political fund. That could be a legal and ethical problem.
City officials and transit leaders have clashed over whether subway crime has actually gotten worse or whether it is mostly a perception fed by a relentless beat of headlines and news alerts about subway violence that have scared many riders.
De Blasio said the MTA’s focus on subway crime was designed to distract from Cuomo’s book deal, nursing home and sex misconduct scandals — prompting a rebuke from interim NYC Transit president Sarah Feinberg, a Cuomo appointee.
De Blasio is forging ahead with a controversial rezoning plan for Soho as part of his “racial justice” legacy — despite an ongoing lawsuit by local opponents.
A group of young Brooklyn men ripped off $2 million in COVID-19 relief funds by submitting fraudulent unemployment claims — and then stupidly posted pictures of themselves with their ill-gotten cash, prosecutors said.
More than 14,000 New Yorkers have signed up to take the police exam, with nearly a third of them Black applicants, the NYPD said, crediting a push to bolster the number of minorities on the nation’s largest police force.
The officials said 14,502 people, including at least 7,553 minorities, signed up to take next month’s exam, which is the first step in being admitted to the police academy to become an NYPD cadet.
A flight from Kennedy Airport to San Francisco made an emergency landing after an unruly, foul-smelling passenger refused to wear a mask, snorted a white powder, groped a woman and uttered racial slurs.
French-born chef Daniel Boulud is tackling what might be his greatest challenge: opening a high-profile dining spot opposite Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal at a time when the city is still recovering from the pandemic.
New legislation creating collective bargaining rights for gig-economy workers is poised to be introduced in New York State in the coming weeks.
The state’s highest court signaled it would not hear an appeal by former Sen. Hiram Monserrate to gain a spot on the Democratic primary ballot for a Queens New York City Council seat in June.
The New York City construction industry lost 74,000 jobs and $9.8 billion in activity last year during shutdowns triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study by an industry group — which is urging lawmakers to get hard hats back to work.
The brother of Daniel Prude — a 41-year-old Black man who died after Rochester police restrained him in the midst of a psychotic episode last year — spoke with lawmakers at a joint legislative hearing examining New York’s overwhelmed mental health system.
New York crop farmers are pushing back against a bill that would ban a widely used form of pesticide-treated seeds they say are indispensable but which advocates say are harmful to bees and other beneficial insects.
Crossgates shoppers who are fully vaccinated will no longer be required to wear a mask beginning today, according to the mall’s operator.
After more than a year, a few Schenectady City Council members are expressing a desire to resume in-person meetings to discuss city business with all the recommended safety protocols in place. But it remains to be seen if and when that will happen.
The last remaining Grimaldi’s Ristorante, in Syracuse, is being sold by the third-generation owners and the name will be changed.
