Good morning, it’s Thursday.
Recently a close relative of mine was sick for what seemed to me to be a prolonged period of time. In the interest of protecting their privacy, I don’t want to disclose too much here, but suffice it to say that they are what one would consider a senior citizen.
Generally speaking, they are very healthy (thankfully) for their age, getting regular exercise, sleeping well, and watching what they eat. But after taking a trip that exposed them to a lot more people – and germs – than they’re used to, they came down with what they thought was a nasty cold.
The cold didn’t go away. In fact, it got worse over time, and one day while speaking to this relative on the phone I heard them cough – a wet cough that sounded like it generated from very deep in their chest.
I demanded that they go to the doctor, terrified of the possibility of pneumonia, which is one of the leading causes of hospitalization and/or death from infection among people who are older or very young (according to the WHO, it is the single largest infectious cause of death in children worldwide).
I am not a doctor, and I am known for being overly cautious – some might say hyper vigilant – about my health and the health of the people I love. Turns out, however, that I was right to be concerned in this case. My relative was diagnosed with pneumonia – thankfully, not a serve case – and prescribed a course of antibiotics.
My relative is on the mend, but this illness took a lot out of them. It took days after finishing the medication for them to start to get their energy back, and they are still not 100 percent. I am grateful that they had access to speedy, quality medical care, as well as a safe home, healthy food, and a stable financial status that allows them to take the time they need to rest and recover.
Not everyone is so lucky.
Today is World Pneumonia Day, which is observed annually to raise awareness around the world about the dangers of this potentially deadly lung infection, advocate for action to combat it, and highlight how best to prevent and treat it.
Pneumonia kills approximately 2.1 to 2.5 million people around the world each year, according to the Global Burden of Disease estimates, and is a leading cause of child mortality. Between 610,000 to 726,000 children under five die annually from pneumonia (malnutrition as a result of poverty that leads to a weakened immune system is largely to blame).
The number of deaths among those seniors age 70 and older grew from roughly 600,000 in 1990 to more than 1 million in 2019, again, according to the GBD, but that increase is largely due to the fact that there are simply more old people around (hello, Boomers).
Pneumonia is an infection that causes inflammation and fluid or pus to build up in the small air sacs in your lungs called alveoli. The cause can be viral (usually less severe) or bacterial or caused by something you aspirate that you shouldn’t (food, vomit, etc), and it is often defined based on where you contacted it – in a hospital/healthcare/or nursing home setting, for example, or simply while out and about in the community.
Pneumonia itself is not contagious, but the germs that cause it are.
You can get inoculated to protect yourself against bacterial pneumonia AND you can get inoculated to guard against viruses that get develop into pneumonia (RSV, flu, COVID, whopping cough etc.) The best things you can do to protect yourself? Wash your hands, stay away from sick people, and take care of your lungs (exercise, don’t smoke and don’t vape).
Bad news in the weather department: It’s definitely going to rain today, and rain, and rain some more. A nor’easter – the second to hit the East Coast since late September – is headed our way, and potentially could bring some light snow with it, though that’s not likely to occur until tomorrow, unless you’re in the higher elevations.
In the Capital Region, there’s a 100 percent chance of rain, which could become heavy at times. Temperatures will be in the chilly lower 40s.
In the headlines…
Nvidia’s board of directors is weighing the future of Jensen Huang, the company’s chief executive, after revelations that he had an affair with an executive who reports to him as well as with a woman whom U.S. intelligence has identified as a Chinese spy.
Nvidia’s share price plummeted in after-hours trading on Wednesday, as the company’s board considered the future of the chief executive – a decision that could reverberate across global markets.
SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said it would be “an honor” to hire Huang, after reports emerged that Nvidia’s board could be preparing to oust Huang from the company.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly confronted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over a failure to place Nvidia customer Megaspeed on a list of companies that pose national security concerns.
Recent reports that the Commerce Department failed to take action on Megaspeed have intensified scrutiny of the agency’s decisions to allow more foreign chip sales, particularly of Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence chips.
The Democratic candidate Scott Colom narrowly defeated Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Republican incumbent, to become the first Black senator elected from Mississippi since Reconstruction, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
Colom, a district attorney, will take the seat once held by Hiram Revels, the nation’s first Black senator, who was elected in 1870. No Democrat has won a Senate seat in the state since 1982.
The White House’s top lawyer has warned the Democrat in line to lead the House’s chief investigative committee that aggressive oversight of the Trump administration “may cross the line into blatant criminality,” a threat that experts called legally dubious.
In a three-page letter to Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the incoming chairman of the Oversight Committee, the White House counsel, Will Scharf, said Democrats had “evinced a clear intent to transgress” constitutional limits on congressional investigations.
Democrats, fresh off their sweeping victories in last week’s elections, faced bitter criticism and recriminations on Wednesday from within their own ranks after 11 of their members missed a vote on the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Top Democrat Hakeem Jeffries’ leadership has come under fresh scrutiny after efforts to advance impeachment articles agains Hegseth failed on Tuesday, with 11 Democrats absent for a key vote.
Sen. Chuck Schumer continues to face mounting pressure from both progressive and centrist figures within the Democratic Party over his leadership amid debate over who should lead the caucus into the next election cycle.
More than two years after his disastrous debate performance prompted a Democratic push to urge him to abandon his re-election campaign, former President Joe Biden declared the debate was “not very consequential.”
In an interview with People magazine, Biden described his cancer treatment and said that he was not aware that he had cancer while serving as president. He said that had he known, he would have left office and ended his campaign.
Outgoing Rep. Dan Goldman Wednesday handed over the reins of the so-called House Bagel Caucus to incoming Rep. Micah Lasher, keeping the hole-y post in Manhattan hands for another two years.
Goldman, who lost his seat in a primary landslide to incoming Rep. Brad Lander, passed the baton of the dough-little gig to Lasher despite their uptown/downtown feud over the best bagel shop.
The city chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America will consider formally pushing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for US president in 2028 — with plans for her campaign to grow their lefty ranks.
Governor Kathy Hochul signed six pieces of legislation that seek to help veterans, service members and military families.
The measures are designed to widen access to key programs, reduce financial and administrative barriers and improve quality of life for veterans and active-duty service members.
More than 100 New York educators outside the Big Apple raked in salaries over $300,000 this year — while nearly twice as many made more than the governor, a shocking new study found.
Benefits administrator Carelon Behavioral Health agreed to pay millions in penalties, overhaul its provider directories and use state-approved medical necessity criteria for claims reviews under a pair of new settlements with state AG Letitia James’ office.
Ten months before all of the state’s public schools switch to a new set of graduation requirements, the state education commissioner said her department doesn’t have enough money for the endeavor.
Susan Arbetter is stepping away from her role as anchor of Spectrum News 1’s “Capital Tonight,” ending a seven-year run at the station covering New York politics and state government.
The newly expanded Democratic supermajorities in the state Assembly and Senate include some 50 newcomers to the legislature, among them a slew of climate-minded progressives.
Plans to expand New York’s pre-K and health programs, and the billions in taxes needed to fund them, might put Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani on different pages in the coming new year.
The mayor’s plan for universal child care relies on tens of thousands of workers who are among New York City’s lowest paid. He pledged to raise their pay, but doing so requires more state funding.
Mamdani and FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore gave an update Wednesday night on a deadly building collapse in Brooklyn as rescuers continued to search for survivors underneath the rubble.
At least 17 others were critically injured when the three-story structure in New York City’s Flatbush neighborhood collapsed. Emergency workers were looking for other victims in the wreckage.
The city’s Housing Department said a landlord hailed by Mayor Mamdani was part of a group of building owners who had “turned deferring maintenance of rent-stabilized buildings into a profitable business model.”
Supporters of the progressive movement see this year’s midterms as a turning point for Democratic politics overall. They credit Mamdani with setting the landslide in motion.
Mamdani was recently asked if he’s worried that the recent defeat of California’s proposed billionaire tax would slow momentum in Albany to raise taxes on the very wealthy. “No,” he said simply, before exiting. He has reason to be optimistic.
Parents across Brooklyn’s Canarsie neighborhood are demanding answers from New York City officials and Mamdani over plans to build a 200-bed men’s homeless shelter just one block from a local middle school.
The City Council blasted Mamdani as he fights lawmakers who bypassed the collective bargaining process to give teaching assistants $10,000 pay bumps outside of their contracts.
Lawmakers and advocates are ramping up efforts to pass long-stalled legislation that would permit New York City to rebid its decades-old school bus contracts and fix a broken transportation system that is failing students with disabilities.
The City Council is expected to approve a bill today that would ban surveillance pricing in New York City, joining leaders in Albany and several other states and municipalities in pushing back against the practice.
The Big Apple showed up in droves to honor its military heroes on Veterans Day Wednesday across a series of events and a blockbuster parade through the heart of the city.
A federal judge in Brooklyn finalized a $162 million settlement for about 200,000 downstate Medicaid home care workers who accused Public Partnerships LLC of underpayment.
The Schenectady County Legislature announced that two local laws have been approved that will expand property tax exemptions for multiple groups in the community. The exemptions will be extended to eligible veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities.
Some localities have taken steps to restrict the use of public property in immigration enforcement, but in Albany, the county and city have taken different approaches.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
