Public Health

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked life expectancy losses not seen since World War II, with the life expectancy for U.S. men falling 2.2 years since 2019, researchers from Oxford University found. 

The nation's seven-day COVID-19 case average fell by more than 15 percent last week, while the death rate rose slightly, according to the CDC's COVID data tracker weekly review published Sept. 24.

Two states — Nevada and Ohio — reported moderate flu activity for the week ending Sept. 18, according to the CDC's FluView report published Sept. 24.

Hospitals in the Memphis, Tenn., area treated 12 victims of a Sept. 23 shooting at a Kroger grocery store in Collierville, Tenn., which left two dead, The New York Times reported.

Overdose deaths involving methamphetamine nearly tripled between 2015 and 2019 in people ages 18 to 64, according to a study published Sept. 22 in JAMA Psychiatry. 

The White House has selected 30 science and technology experts to serve on a council that will advise the president on policy regarding future pandemics, climate change and other national challenges. 

As hospitalizations and new cases start to level off or decline, the U.S. is still recording an average of more than 2,000 newly reported COVID-19 deaths a day, the most since February. 

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services activated crisis standards of care Sept. 22 for hospitals in the state.

Uncertain how COVID-19, the flu and vaccines relate? You're not alone.

The CDC released Sept. 20 new resources to help clinicians recognize multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children — a rare but serious immune response linked to COVID-19 infection — and communicate with parents about an MIS-C diagnosis.