this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2023
169 points (98.8% liked)

News

23284 readers
3522 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

The U.S. flu season is underway, with at least seven states reporting high levels of illnesses and cases rising in other parts of the country, health officials say.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted new flu data on Friday, showing very high activity last week in Louisiana, and high activity in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico and South Carolina. It was also high in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory where health officials declared an influenza epidemic earlier this month.

“We’re off to the races,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert

Traditionally, the winter flu season ramps up in December or January. But it took off in October last year, and is making a November entrance this year.

top 20 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] SuiXi3D@kbin.social 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] darthskull@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How effective is it this year, anyone know? I got mine and the new COVID shot around the same time early October

[–] ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Depends on the strain. But on average it’s about 50% this year it seems. Lowering my odds of losing a week by 50% seems worthwhile for me though. I hate being sick. And I hate getting behind.

[–] Melkath@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is why I still mask and social distance.

That, and covid is still the number 1 killer of youth under the age of 18.

[–] squirmy_wormy@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is that true? I've never heard that claim

[–] Melkath@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2023-01-31-covid-19-leading-cause-death-children-and-young-people-us

That is the most recent straight-from-source study I can find on the topic. Also published coincidentally right around the time governments started to refuse to collect data on Covid and declared Covid "over".

So, I'd say if we were still collecting the data, we may be able to see if the trajectory has changed, but we aren't, so we cant.

Also cant imagine that eliminating all Covid restrictions improved the figures.

So, is it true? 100% a year ago. I am inclined to believe it is still true, but I cannot say "100% that is true today."

[–] grilledcheesecowboy@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

From the article:

Among children and young people aged 0 – 19 years in the US, COVID-19 ranked eighth among all causes of death; fifth among all disease-related causes of death; and first in deaths caused by infectious or respiratory diseases.

Unless I'm reading that wrong covid was never the leading cause of death for people under 18.

[–] Seventhlevin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Seems to be a thing that is ubiquitous here on lemmy. Someone posts a source that does not support their position, gets dozens of upvotes.

[–] DrMango@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Among children and young people aged 0 – 19 years in the US, COVID-19 ranked eighth among all causes of death; fifth among all disease-related causes of death; and first in deaths caused by infectious or respiratory diseases.

It was not even true a year ago, actually, unless you slice the data down to only look at deaths caused by infectious or respiratory diseases which, frankly, feels like a pretty obvious outcome for 2020-2022.

[–] squirmy_wormy@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

That's fuckin wild, dude

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is this news when it's flu season and normal?

[–] Drusas@kbin.social 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Traditionally, the winter flu season ramps up in December or January. But it took off in October last year, and is making a November entrance this year.

It's not normal.

[–] girlfreddy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not much is "normal" anymore. Early/more vicious/more often is the new normal in just about everything.

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

That's a good point. Climate change is effecting much more than just the weather.

[–] Ranvier@sopuli.xyz 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's a good reminder to get your shot at least. Flu is no joke and kills usually about 30 thousand to 50 thousand people a year in the US.

Also a new vaccine this year not a lot of people know about is available for respiratory syncitial virus (RSV) which any parent can tell you is a nightmare for young children. Also deadly to older adults. Information on who should get that vaccine Here . Basically pregnant individuals, young children and infants, and adults over 60.

[–] lobut@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I used to be pretty blasé about the flu shot. I was always thinking that I was young and that the shots should go to the elderly and vulnerable. Didn't realize I was a vector of passing it on.

COVID changed me quite a bit. Got my doses as soon as I could. I mask up crowds too. Not sure it matters but I don't think it hurts much either.

[–] Ranvier@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's all great stuff to do! You never know, getting a vaccine could save another's life or your own. And flu is a nasty virus for anyone. Besides upper respiratory symptoms it can do things like pneumonia, septic shock, guillan barre syndrome, myocarditis, rhabdomyolysis, encephalitis, the list goes on.

[–] girlfreddy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I never used to get the flu shot and rarely got the flu (like twice in 20 yrs or so). That changed in '08-'09 when I got hit with the Norwalk and it kicked my ass for weeks.

Now I get whatever shots are available.

[–] Copythis@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Well, this is perfect timing for my hangover on Monday!

[–] FunkyMonk@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

Biodiversity? Nah I have everything in bluechips cuz smart. /s