According to the latest CDC update, at least 14 public health jurisdictions are showing moderate to high flu activity, mostly concentrated in the Northeast. These include New York City, where activity is very high; New York and New Jersey, where it’s high; and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which are in the moderate category.
The majority of flu viruses collected and analyzed by American laboratories during this respiratory virus season have been subclade K, a variant of a flu strain called H3N2, which itself is a variety of influenza A.
This new variant wasn’t included in this year’s flu shots which are designed each year because it was identified after scientists had chosen the four strains to include this year.
The flu shots contain related strains, though, and they seem to be working pretty well against this variant.
A recent look at the efficacy of flu vaccines in the United Kingdom by scientists with the UK’s Health Security Agency found that even though antibodies generated by this year’s shots didn’t neutralize subclade K viruses as effectively as other strains, the vaccines still cut the odds of an emergency department visit or hospitalization for the H3N2 strains, which were dominated by subclade K, by almost 75% in children.
This would be the potential benefit of a generic mRNA flu vaccine that would be effective against all varieties.
RFKjr has pulled funding for such new mRNA vaccines due to his irrational bias against them
In 2001 Richard Reid tried to murder everyone on board a Paris-to-Miami flight by detonating explosives fashioned into his footwear. Happily, he failed. Since then, X-raying shoes has become part of the security procedure at airports worldwide.
As a result the range of nasty substances deposited on the trays used at airport security now embraces whatever has been picked up on the traveller’s shoes – of which discarded chewing gum is merely the least unpleasant.
Airports are the most likely place travellers will pick up something. Queues, particularly those with some sort of barrier between lanes, which are tempting to touch, escalators and moving sidewalks, seating that gets a daily clean, at best. And lots and lots of people some of which are still travelling despite not feeling 100% which no airline or insurance company will cover.
Try and avoid touching anything with your hands, in particular your face. Once you are comfortably seated and a loo is free, use it and wash your hands and face well,
Wear a mask throughout, it helps avoiding face touching if nothing else. Once seated on the plane and the aisles are clear you can take it off and carefully dispose of it. You really don’t need it once the doors are closed. But remember on a plane the air flows from the centre to the windows, so get an aisle seat when you can.
Happened to me recently. It seems that airports vary much more than they used to which makes it a bit confusing regarding belts, drink bottles, mobile phones etc etc. Best is not to be in a hurry and always smile
Happens aa lot more in the US than elsewhere. Some bright wits actually figured out that the amount of explosives in a shoe was unlikely to do anything more than sever the leg of the perpetrator. It would have to be a military grade shaped charge affixed to the sidewall to do any damage.
At the UN Agenda refers to a list of items or topics scheduled for discussion or action, in meetings. It originates from Latin, meaning “things to be done.”
United Nations decisions are divided into substantive resolutions, which address policy or actions, and procedural resolutions, which handle internal processes.
Only Security Council Resolutions are mandatory, all others are advisory.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reducing the number of vaccines it recommends for children, officials said Monday, a major shift that officials say will bring the U.S. recommendations more similar to those of other developed countries.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reducing the number of vaccines it recommends for children, officials said Monday, a major shift that officials say will bring the U.S. recommendations more similar to those of other developed countries.
Activity during the current flu season is growing to severe levels, with the percentage of doctors’ visits for flu-like illnesses reaching the highest level on record, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the CDC’s FluView dashboard, which tracks data on influence like illness (ILI) going as far as back as 1997, the percentage of visits for ILI reached 8.2 percent in the last week of 2025, the highest this percentage has been since recording began.
Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist recently appointed as chair of a highly influential federal vaccine committee, questioned the need for immunizing against illnesses like polio in a podcast interview released Thursday.
