Health Blogging: Seasonal Flu, H1N1, and You
The U.S. government has a great deal of information across many agency websites about both seasonal flu and about H1N1, the virulent strain that used to be referred to as swine flu.
The government has created a single website — flu.gov — with extensive flu information, including an important Myths and Facts section designed to dispel rampant misinformation about flu vaccinations. (Take a self-evaluation here.)
Given that there are different vaccines for each strain and that it’s taking some time to get the H1N1 vaccine out to localities, it’s important to read up on how to go about getting immunized from both types of flu.
For instance, pregnant women and others with certain health conditions — including people with rheumatoid arthritis — are advised to get the H1N1 vaccine as soon as it’s available in their communities. A map tool on flu.gov can help you find out where the vaccine is available in your neck of the woods.
Also from CDC:
General Q’s and A’s about H1N1 vaccine
General information about seasonal flu (note: seasonal flu is different from H1N1)
According to the CDC, 46 states are reporting widespread flu activity. Here is another map with H1N1 case rates by region, courtesy of the CDC and USA Today.
Information is power. Send us your
Update: Watch it live here. Update 3:30: Well, that was fast. The Senate bill that will be sent to the Congressional Budget Office to be “scored” (to find out how much it will cost and/or reduce the deficit) will have a public option with a state opt-out. A “trigger” proposal, which some said would have set the public option in motion only at some point in the future if private health insurance costs did not come down, may actually now be completely dead. Reid said it won’t be in his bill nor would it be considered on the floor. He said something about 2014 as the year states would be allowed to opt out, but it was really hard to tell what he meant. Many say it will take years just to get the public option ramped up. Oddly enough, he also said the bill would have the Senate Finance Committee’s member-run health care cooperatives provision — once floated as an alternative to the public option — but it remains to be seen how that would work vis-a-vis the opt-out public option. Lots of details to be worked out, for sure, but it’s pretty amazing that the public option lives on. Maybe they do listen to the public after all! Science Friday passes through a prime pit stop for migrating birds: Braddock Bay on Lake Ontario. Wing it below or here. People with a high-reactive temperament — as long as it doesn’t show itself as a clinical disorder — are generally conscientious and almost obsessively well-prepared. Worriers are likely to be the most thorough workers and the most attentive friends. Someone who worries about being late will plan to get to places early. Someone anxious about giving a public lecture will work harder to prepare for it. Test-taking anxiety can lead to better studying; fear of traveling can lead to careful mapping of transit routes. Kagan told me that in the 40 years he worked at Harvard, he hired at least 200 research assistants, “and I always looked for high-reactives. They’re compulsive, they don’t make errors, they’re careful when they’re coding data.” This explains a lot! (Here are some letters to the magazine after the article was published.) (Picture credit: Mickey Duzyj) Via Boing Boing, Discovery Channel reveals the scientific secrets of fall foliage. (Maybe you noticed the picture switch on my home page?) This, in turn, reminds me of the fall foliage parade in North Adams, Mass., also home to Natalie Jerimijenko’s “Tree Logic,” an ongoing installation of upside down maple trees at Mass MoCA, a few streets from the other Church Street. Check out Mass MoCA’s exhibitions here. (Via The Porches Inn at Mass MoCA blog, here’s a local shot of the foliage coming into its own this year.) Three stories that “reframe our sense of normalcy,” by Radio Lab. First story below; more here. As part of the unprecedented transparency requirements of ARRA [the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act], the first quarterly public accounting of all expenditures to date will be posted by the Recovery, Accountability, and Transparency Board on October 30th. Initial reporting from states find that the October 30 release will show at least 250,000 education jobs created or saved across the nation that are supporting our students and fueling our economy. For some perspective, 250,000 is about the population of such cities as Jersey City, N.J., Greensboro, N.C., and Glendale, Ariz. The reforms he suggests seem reasonable: make purchasing health insurance more affordable, adjust employer penalties to ensure that they don’t adversely impact low- and middle-income workers, and reduce administrative red tape. These would seem to be relatively non-controversial fixes to a bill that Aaron thinks, if improved, would be a “huge step forward.” Who doesn’t love listening to Oliver Sacks? Not only is he a super smart neurologist who has dedicated his life to improving the every day lives of patients, he has a lyrical voice that is very pleasing to the ears. I could listen to him all day. Here, and below, he talks about music and the brain, the subject of his newest book Musicophilia. Support Science Friday.
Reid Press Conference Soon on Next Steps for Senate Bill
Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is set to announce something health care-related at around 3:15 p.m. today. We’re going to watch on C-SPAN and will update this page soon with information and reaction (if what he says is newsworthy).
Science Friday: Tracking Bird Migration
NYT Sunday Magazine: The Anxious Mind
I finally got around to reading this article from a few Sundays back, about a subject near and dear to my heart, anxiety. (I know, lots of people would say they only contemplate art and sculpture, but I’m being honest; I nervously contemplate art and sculpture, realizing that I know little about either.) Anyway, it’s pretty interesting: turns out, being an anxious (or, highly reactive) child isn’t necessarily all that bad, as long as you learn to adapt later. To wit:
Autumn: The Science
Radio Lab: What’s Normal?
ARRA Update: 250,000 Education Jobs Saved
Our colleagues over at SchoolGrants2009.com today report on a new study that finds the stimulus bill has saved 250,000 education jobs, mostly teaching positions. The preliminary White House Domestic Policy Council figures are from quarterly reports that must officially be filed at the end of this month. The White House report says:
Three Fixes to Senate Health Care Bill
Henry Aaron, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution and an expert on health care legislation, wrote an article in the New York Daily News last week about three fixes that would improve Sen. Max Baucus’s (D-Mont.) health care legislation, which is now being melded with another Senate measure before heading to the floor.
Science Friday: Musicophilia
Top 10 Items to Preserve in Health Care Reform
TNR’s The Treatment breaks down the top 10 items worth fighting for in health care reform. In other words, the things that should not be compromised away. We’ll see if, later on, this becomes the top five items worth fighting for, the top two, and so on.