Firearm homicides are a leading cause of death in the US among individuals younger than 44 years,¹ with over 21 000 deaths from mass shootings between 2014 and 2022.² In response to the 2018 Parkland high school shooting that killed 17 people, Florida’s legislature enacted a red flag law permitting the temporary removal of firearms by law enforcement officers from individuals posing a danger to themselves or others. Florida is one of the few politically conservative and largely profirearm states to pass a law restricting gun ownership.^3 [JAMA]

Research into how red flag laws affect firearm-related homicide mortality is scant, with inconclusive findings.⁴ However, red flag laws may reduce firearm-related suicide mortality.^4,5 We estimated the association between Florida’s red flag law enactment and firearm and nonfirearm homicide and suicide rates.

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A growing number of U.S. adults are hesitant to get recommended vaccines this fall, a new survey found. [Fox News]

The poll, which included 1,006 people, found that only 43% of respondents have gotten or plan to get the COVID vaccine.

Only a slight majority (56%) of adults said they have gotten or plan to get the flu shot this fall.

COVID VACCINE DISTRUST GROWING AMONG AMERICANS, SURVEY FINDS: ‘SHOULD BE A PERSONAL CHOICE’

The poll also found that 37% of those who have gotten vaccines in past years plan to skip the shots this season. 

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COVID-19 isn’t slowing down. In at least 42 states, COVID cases, emergency room visits and hospitalizations all spiked this summer. In June, more than 1 in ­50 Americans 65 and older went to an ER and were diagnosed with COVID, more than double last summer’s rate, a rise ­attributable to the highly contagious ­omicron strains known as FLiRT. [AARP.ORG/Bulletin] 

FLiRT strains account for the majority of new cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Summer spikes happen when people huddle inside in air-conditioning for Father’s Day, graduations and similar events. But older Americans should be concerned about what lies ahead. For the past two years, COVID infections among people 65 and older were highest between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day, peaking around Christmas each year. “It is likely we will see more cases as we move into fall/winter,” says Pragna Patel, M.D., senior adviser for long COVID at the CDC. For the past two winters, more than 1 in every 20 Americans 65 and older wound up in an ER with COVID symptoms.

FLiRT variants spread easily, having mutated to evade some antibodies. They don’t appear to cause more serious symptoms—doctors see everything from mild colds to severe respiratory infections. It’s not that they’re any less deadly, but most of us have acquired a certain degree of immunity to COVID-19.

Still, older adults remain at risk. Early this summer, hospitalization rates for those 65 and older were roughly 14 times higher than for adults under 50, according to the CDC. For older Americans, then, protecting ourselves is critical. Here’s how.

▶︎ Get your vaccinations up to date—pronto. Vaccination is still paramount for preventing COVID and decreasing the risk of severe illness and death, says Sara F. Martin, M.D., medical director of the Adult Post-Acute COVID Clinic at Vanderbilt University. If you’re due for your next shot, there’s no reason to wait: Updated 2024–2025 COVID vaccinations from Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer are expected to roll out this month. Medicare Part B continues to cover the vaccine, as do most insurers, but it’s best to check in advance. Some insurers only cover the vaccine when it’s administered in network. And yes, it’s safe to get your flu shot at the same time.

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Information about homicides is released daily by the city of Chicago. The release of homicide victims’ names is delayed by two weeks to allow time for the victims’ families to be notified of a death by Chicago police. [Chicago Tribune]

The homicide figures do not include killings that occurred in self-defense or in other circumstances not measured in Chicago police statistics. Homicide data from the Illinois State Police, which patrols the city’s expressways, also is not included here.

After a two-year spike during the pandemic and national outrage over police accountability, Chicago began to see a decline in homicides in 2022. Homicide and nonfatal shooting totals fell again in 2023, but the city was roiled by robbery and carjacking crews responsible for an overall uptick in violence.

Data, which is updated on this page weekly, is through Sept. 14, 2024.

The number of people slain so far in 2024: 412.

That’s 41 fewer people killed when compared with 2023.

Austin leads all community areas with the most homicides so far in 2024 — 37.

Where each homicide has occurred so far in 2024 (through Sept. 14)

Sources: City of Chicago, Tribune reporting

Chicago’s homicide victims in 2024 are often young, Black and male.

Most homicide victims in Chicago died as the result of gunshot wounds.

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After over two years on the job, Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra last week laid out steps public health needs to take to address the challenges it faces. [Health News Illinois]

Vohra told members of the State Board of Health that IDPH is working during this relatively “calm” period post-pandemic to build the future foundation of the agency.

One step they're taking is to improve preparedness for any future outbreaks or novel pathogens. As an example, Vohra noted a new variant of mpox has started to spread in Africa and Europe. IDPH is evaluating its ability to respond if and when it comes to Illinois.

“Those efforts include making sure the state has the necessary resources to address the latest pathogens, as well as the community partnerships in place to aid in any response,” he said.

Another key is to “modernize” the public health system, including data management.

IDPH is also building up the public health workforce. And Vohra said they want to better invest in communities. 

He wants to improve community relations, a common refrain from the agency coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vohra said public health is “introducing ourselves again to the public.” 

Those efforts are not just to address mistrust of health officials and vaccines, but also to forge bonds with individuals and community organizations in areas that the health system has historically underserved.

And, while terms like “social determinants of health” have become more common, health officials need to better explain them to the general public, Vohra said. 

“We cannot do all of it by ourselves, but what we can do is be in a position where we are communicating that strategy of what public health is and what a public health approach is … so that we hit the root causes of many of the challenges that we face,” he said.

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Stress levels among modern-day parents appear to be growing at an alarming rate — so much so that U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently issued an advisory calling parental stress an urgent public health issue.   [ The Hill]

Parents in 2024 are handling the traditional challenges of child care while dealing with stressors “previous generations didn’t have to consider,” Murthy, who is a father himself, said in the advisory.  

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The national official poverty rate (11.1%) was lower than the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) (12.9%) in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's report, Poverty in the United States: 2023, released on Tuesday. [US Census Bureau]

However, an analysis of 3-year averages of poverty rates by states shows the SPM rate was lower than the official rate in 32 states.

The two poverty measures provide distinct indicators of U.S. economic well-being.

The SPM broadens the official poverty measure by accounting for government programs designed to assist low-income families that are not included in the official poverty measure while also including federal and state taxes and necessary expenses.

Continue reading to learn more about the national and statewide SPM rates.

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New research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that COVID-19 infection can be hard on mental health.  [MedScape].

A UK study of more than 18 million adults showed an elevated rate of mental illness, including depression and serious mental illness, for up to a year following a bout of COVID-19, particularly in those with severe COVID who had not been vaccinated. 

Importantly, vaccination appeared to mitigate the adverse effects of COVID-19 on mental health, the investigators found. 

"Our results highlight the importance COVID-19 vaccination in the general population and particularly among those with mental illnesses, who may be at higher risk of both SARS-CoV-2 infection and adverse outcomes following COVID-19," first author Venexia Walker, PhD, with University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom, said in a news release. 

The study was published online on August 21 in JAMA Psychiatry.

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The worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us. Age-adjusted COVID-19 mortality rates peaked in 2021 at 104.12 per 100 000 population (per 100 000 hereafter) and fell to 44.45 per 100 000 in 2022.^1,2 Provisional data suggest that COVID-19 mortality rates in 2023 were below 15.00 per 100 000.² This progress is welcome but deceptive. The US mortality picture is hardly ideal. Like the sand revealed as the tide goes out, the receding COVID-19 pandemic draws attention to rising mortality rates from non-COVID causes, a trend that predates the pandemic. [JAMA Network]

After 2010, life expectancy flatlined in the US while continuing to increase in other high-income countries.³ The primary cause was rising mortality rates in midlife (individuals aged 25-64 years). In 2015, Case and Deaton were among the first to call attention to this trend, which they first observed in the middle-aged White population.⁴ Subsequent studies documented the trend among young adults (aged 25-44 years) and middle-aged adults (aged 45-64 years) and other racial and ethnic groups.⁵

The many factors responsible for this trend—ranging from the opioid epidemic and increasing obesity rates to intensifying economic precarity—continued claiming lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, COVID-19 poured fuel on the fire, accelerating increases in non-COVID mortality. For example, drug overdose deaths in the US more than tripled between 2000 and 2019 (from 4.15 per 100 000 to 19.14 per 100 000, respectively)¹ and then soared during the pandemic, peaking in 2022 at 30.14 per 100 000.²

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The FDA granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for an updated Novavax COVID-19 vaccineopens in a new tab or window to protect against hospitalization and death from circulating variants. [MedPageToday]

The protein-based shot represents a non-mRNA option for the 2024-2025 season, and follows the agency's recent approvals and authorizations of the updated Moderna (Spikevax) and Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) vaccinesopens in a new tab or window.

"The COVID-19 vaccines have had a tremendous positive impact on public health and vaccination continues to be the most effective method for COVID-19 prevention," said Peter Marks, MD, PhD, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in the announcement.

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