Illinois health leaders again urged caution Friday ahead of the holidays as the state’s COVID-19 metrics continue to rise. [Health News Illinois]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing a mask in 43 Illinois counties, up 14 from a week ago, and that those at high risk of severe illness from the virus take precautions in 43 counties, down two from a week ago.

“As we prepare for holiday gatherings with our loved ones, I want to remind Illinoisians that these elevated COVID-19 community levels, along with rising flu levels, are leading to a surge of respiratory infections, increased hospitalizations and limited hospital beds,” Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a statement.

As of Thursday, 1,712 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, up eight from Wednesday and up 130 from the prior week.

The seven-day average for new cases on Friday was 3,333, up 275 from the prior week. The seven-day average for daily deaths was 12, up four from the prior week. So far, there have been a total of 3,930,135 cases, including 35,632 deaths.

The seven-day rolling average case rate per 100,000 people is 26.2, up 2.2 from the prior week.

Of Illinois’ total population, more than 78 percent have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 71 percent have completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccines. Of eligible Illinoisans, more than 17 percent have received the bivalent booster dose.

The Chicago Department of Public Health said more than 473,000 booster doses were administered to Chicagoans as of Dec. 14. About 17.6 percent of eligible Chicagoans have received the updated booster.

CDPH Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady reiterated Friday she expects the city to follow the trend of New York and Los Angeles and reach “high” COVID-19 activity in the coming weeks.

“With people gathering for the holidays, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a further surge in cases, which is why we need people masking up, thinking about testing ahead of gathering and getting the new, updated booster vaccine," she said.

BQ.1.1 remains the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the region that includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to estimates from the CDC.

Variant proportions were at the end of last week were: 

·    BQ.1.1: 39.5 percent, up 4.6 percentage points from the prior week.

·    BQ.1: 28.8 percent, up 1.5 percentage points.

·    BA.5: 11.7 percent, down 4.5 percentage points.

·    BF.7: 6.6 percent, down 1.1 percentage point.

·    XBB: 3.9 percent, up 0.8 percentage points.

·    BN.1: 3.8 percent, up 0.1 percentage points.

 Other COVID-19 lineages were circulating at less than 3 percent each.

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People also choose dark chocolate in particular for its potential health benefits, thanks to studies that suggest its rich supply of antioxidants may improve heart health and other conditions, and for its relatively low levels of sugar. In fact, more than half of people in a recent survey from the National Confectioners Association described dark chocolate as a “better for you” candy. [Consumer Reports] 

But there’s a dark side to this “healthier” chocolate. Research has found that some dark chocolate bars contain cadmium and lead—two heavy metals linked to a host of health problems in children and adults. 

The chocolate industry has been grappling with ways to lower those levels. To see how much of a risk these favorite treats pose, Consumer Reports scientists recently measured the amount of heavy metals in 28 dark chocolate bars. They detected cadmium and lead in all of them.

Full article here> 

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The percentage of adolescents reporting substance use in 2022 largely held steady after significantly declining in 2021, according to the latest results(link is external) from the Monitoring the Future survey(link is external) of substance use behaviors and related attitudes among eighth, 10th, and 12th graders in the United States. [NIH Dept. of Health and Human Services] 

Reported use for almost all substances decreased dramatically from 2020 to 2021 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related changes like school closures and social distancing. In 2022, reported use of any illicit drug within the past year remained at or significantly below pre-pandemic levels for all grades, with 11% of eighth graders, 21.5% of 10th graders, and 32.6% of 12th graders reporting any illicit drug use in the past year.

Full paper here>

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Chicago needs to get the lead out a lot faster than it has done so far.

The city has the nation’s most serious problem with lead in drinking water. No level of lead in water is safe. Even at low levels, lead can harm kidneys and developing brains, leading to lower IQs, hearing loss and learning and behavior issues.

Lead in the water can come from old lead water service lines that connect buildings to city water mains, which are often made of iron. It can also come from lead-containing fixtures. It’s a widespread hazard because Chicago required lead pipes until 1986.

Yet, as Brett Chase reported in the Dec. 4 Sun-Times, the city has replaced only 280 of an estimated 390,000 lead service lines over the past two years. Tests can detect the presence of lead, but because the amount of lead getting into the water goes up and down, tests must be done more than once.

Editorials

”The current pace of replacement is disappointing,” Howard Learner, president and executive director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, told us. “Even doubling that would not be a sufficient response.”

Full article here>

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Health equity has been a problem for years, but COVID shined a spotlight on this critical issue. Achieving true health equity will require sustained effort at massive scale. To better understand the current state of health equity, its strategic priority, and what healthcare organizations are doing to achieve it, Becker’s Healthcare partnered with TruLite Health on the first-ever survey to benchmark health equity among more than 100 organizations. [Beckers Hospital Review]

What did this survey find? A newly published ebook summarizes insights and analysis on the First Annual Health Equity Benchmarking Survey. This ebook focuses on:

Actionable steps that healthcare organizations are taking to address health equity

• The main elements of health equity programs, budget commitments and status of the implementations
• Tools and technologies required to support organizations in achieving health equity
• Achieving health equity will take significant time, effort and investment. Discover what steps industry leaders are taking– and what your organization can do right now – to address this issue

Download a copy here> 

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Illinois has taken notable steps in recent years to help address the rising mental health crisis, experts said during a panel last week.

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said at a luncheon hosted by the City Club of Chicago that they pinpointed behavioral health as an issue to address several years ago. The city is on track to serve 60,000 residents at its clinics this year, compared to roughly 3,600 in 2019.

She noted the city launched a program in 2019 that provides free nurse visits to all Chicago families with newborns, with the goal of addressing the health needs of all individuals. That service has also acted as an access point for residents to mental health services.

“I am incredibly proud that while all this has been going on, we're making real measurable progress,” Arwady said.

Colleen Cicchetti, executive director for the Center of Childhood Resilience at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, said efforts must also focus on helping youth with mental health challenges.

She said that about 70 percent of children who ever talk to a mental health professional only do so at their school. While the education system plays an important role in addressing the issue, she said partnering with leaders in the community is also crucial.

“Who are the adults that are going to help them to thrive, to build on their strengths to hold them up and give them what they need to be successful — but also to know when they need more help to break down stigma through relationships and to connect kids to services?” Cicchetti said.

The hospital has partnered with local and state leaders for the expansion throughout Illinois of a program to promote mental health services in schools.

More details can be found at Health News Illinois>

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A randomized trial indicating that surgical masks are not inferior to N95 masks in protecting healthcare workers against COVID-19 has sparked international criticism. [Medscape Medical News]

The study’s senior author is John Conly, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and Alberta Health Services. The findings are not consistent with those of many other studies on this topic.

Commenting about Conly's study on Twitter, Eric Topol, MD, editor-in-chief of Medscape, wrote, “It’s woefully underpowered but ruled out a doubling of hazard for use of medical masks.”

The study, which was partially funded by the World Health Organization (WHO), was published online November 29 in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Full article here>

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Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are now authorized for use in children as young as 6 months old, the FDA announced on Thursday.[MedPage Today]

— Bivalent vaccines will offer better protection in the coming months, says FDA

Under an updated emergency use authorization (EUA), Pfizer's updated vaccine is now authorized as the third dose of the primary series for kids ages 6 months to 4 years, following two doses of the monovalent vaccine. Under the terms of the EUA, Pfizer's monovalent vaccine is no longer authorized as a third dose for this age group.

More>

The leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that flu hospitalizations remain the highest they’ve been at this time of year in a decade, as the nation continues to grapple with a spike in respiratory illnesses. [Health News Illinois] CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky also said there was an "unfortunate and expected” uptick in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations last week, following Thanksgiving.  She told reporters Monday that the rise is “especially worrisome as we move into the winter months when more people are assembling indoors with less ventilation and as we approach the holiday season where many are gathering with loved ones across multiple generations.”  Meanwhile, activity for respiratory syncytial virus remains high nationally, with some signs that it may be leveling off in areas like the Midwest. Hospital systems are “stretched” with high numbers of patients with respiratory illnesses, Walensky said.  Influenza cases continue to rise in Chicago, but RSV cases decreased in the past week, according to Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. She said she was surprised by the early start to flu season this year during a Facebook Live event Tuesday.  There were 28 influenza-associated intensive care unit hospitalizations in Chicago during Nov. 20 and Nov. 26, the most recent surveillance week, according to a report released last Friday. Sixty influenza-associated ICU hospitalizations have been reported since Oct. 2. Chicago's flu positivity rate was 28.5 percent. The positivity rate for RSV decreased from 9.1 percent to 5.8 percent in Chicago. The percent of emergency department visits for children under 5 also decreased from 5.9 percent to 4.7 percent.  Illinois is at a very high level of flu activity, according to the CDC. Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the rise in Illinois, which has a dozen counties at the level where the CDC recommends public indoor masking. Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, board chair of the American Medical Association and a professor at Emory University School of Medicine, encouraged people to get vaccinated and stay home when sick.  "Flu is here — it started early," she said. "And with COVID and RSV also circulating, it's a perfect storm for a terrible holiday season." ###

Angela McGhee never trusted the tap water flowing from the faucets of her more than century-old home. [SunTimes 12.4.2022]

Now, beginning in January, the city will be required under state law to replace lead service pipes every time there is a break or leak in a water line. That will force the city to replace what’s estimated will be at least 4,000 lead lines a year, perhaps 5,000.

“The problem is this city has the largest lead service line problem in the country, stated Erik Olson, senior strategic director of public health for the private Natural Resources Defense Council. 

The 50-year-old Chatham resident gets her drinking water from store-bought bottles because she suspected her tap water might contain high levels of brain-damaging lead. 

Last year, McGhee decided to look into a city of Chicago program that fully paid for replacement of lead service lines for low-income residents. A number of her friends and neighbors are suspicious of the program, McGhee said, but she went ahead. By August, her lead line was replaced with a copper pipe.

“If we don’t have our health, we have nothing else,” she said.

McGhee, who lives with her husband, is one of only 280 Chicago homeowners who have had a lead service line — the connecting pipe between a home and water main — replaced under city-sponsored programs the past two years. 

Full article here>

Related article> City asked to provide lead filters to address crisis. More>

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