Schools across the United States are closing due to spikes in influenza and other seasonal illnesses. As the 2024–2025 flu season rages on with no peak yet in sight, some school systems are overwhelmed with sick students and staff.
Schools and even entire school districts are temporarily closing down in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee and other states.
A large study of Veterans Affairs (VA) patients in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that, during the 2022 to 2023 season, having COVID-19 was associated with more severe disease outcomes than flu or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. Differences became less pronounced, however, during the 2023 to 2024 season.
...In terms of its effectiveness in preventing deaths, our analysis of the data shows that influenza vaccination is able to reduce infection-associated mortality by half overall, including H3N2 infections.
In Southern California, most hospitals never ended their mask mandates after the COVID-19 pandemic. But now, more mandates are returning. ...
Hospitalizations are up sharply in major cities, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
Health officials are advising the immunocompromised to mask in public to prevent illness, and in Wisconsin, a major health care group is reinstating a mask mandate beginning next week.
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