Public health

Public health

As we enter the cold and flu season, drivers may find themselves feeling under the weather. While many motorists may feel healthy enough to drive, they could find themselves coughing up a lot of cash, should they be deemed as driving without due care and attention. Claire Wills-McKissick, temporary car insurance expert at Tempcover reveals how much money motorists could be blowing (alongside their nose) if this happens, and advises on how to drive safely when feeling ill.

Nearly 15,000 nurses are walking off their job Monday at five privately-run hospitals: Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, Montifiore Einstein and NewYork-Presbyterian. The New York State Nurses Association said nurses at Mount Sinai started striking at 6 a.m., while strikes at the remaining hospitals were slated to begin at 7 a.m. NYSNA said it will provide an update during a 10 a.m. news conference.

I had my first child when I was 18 years old. I was told to get an induction, so I did. When it was time to push, I started to tear. Without warning or explanation, I was cut- what's called an episiotomy. My husband and I were shocked. No one explained to me what was happening. It took a very long time to heal physically and emotionally. I didn't have words for it then, but I was broken.

"Today I'm forced to stand here and beg because an insurance company decided that profits matter more than the life of a man who spent his career protecting this city," said Jones's daughter Rachel Jones at the hearing. He ran into burning buildings, inhaled toxic smoke, and put his life on the line again and again, so that others could survive, Rachel Jones continued. Now, when he needs the help the most, the insurance company provided by this city through Blue Shield is denying him the medication his doctors say is necessary to keep him alive.

It was heartbreaking, and it was awful," she said. "I lived in fear every day.

On a cold morning in December 2024, florist Madeline King was on a buying trip to her local wholesaler when a wave of dizziness nearly knocked her over. As rows of roses seemed to rush past her, she tried to focus. She quickly picked the blooms she needed and left. I'm not doing this any more, she thought. That month, after eight years, she closed her Minneapolis-based florist.

Last month, Australia banned social media for kids under 16, becoming the first country in the world to enforce a nationwide social media ban for children. Lawmakers framed the policy as a reset, citing fewer risks, fewer pressures, and fewer kids online before they were ready. Notably, the ban places responsibility on social media platforms rather than parents. Companies are required to verify users' ages and limit access to major services, including YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, and Discord.

The drug is growing in popularity, sold online in custom baggies and is referenced regularly on social media by enthusiasts and musicians. Catch up quick: Authorities from Los Angeles to Miami in recent months have reported busts or issued strong warnings involving pink cocaine, also known as tuci or tusi. In 2025, New York investigators seized pink cocaine along with dozens of guns in a Tren de Aragua-linked trafficking case.

One type of flu virus, called A H3N2, historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. So far this season, that's the type most frequently reported. Even more concerning, more than 91% of the H3N2 infections analyzed were a new version known as the subclade K variant that differs from the strain in this year's flu shots.

When generic drug manufacturers have issues like contamination, it is difficult for those who take the medications to know if they are affected. There is no standardized way to look up the data for where the pills in your bottle came from. ProPublica made an app that makes the lookup more straightforward. Even though generic drugs make up 90% of prescriptions dispensed in the U.S., the FDA only provides piecemeal information about them.

Aoibheann has brought together scientific areas of medicine with computer science to improve the chances of early intervention for people with brain cancer.

Hamilton makes it very clear that she and her fellow nurses are endlessly grateful for the gifts they have received from patients (like energy drinks, mints, donuts and hair ties). But at the same time, they don't expect them. And most importantly, the service they provide to their patients remains the same regardless of whether or not you give them a gift.

From her student years at Radcliffe College where she volunteered with the Black Panthers to provide sickle cell disease screening in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, to her work on HIV prevention when she was on the faculty of the University of Zimbabwe, to her pioneering role on AIDS care in Africa as the Rockefeller Foundation's point person on health equity, to her tenure as the commissioner of health for both New York City and New York State,

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what the so-called "Donroe Doctrine" means for international order after the US military extracted Maduro from Venezuela amid rumblings over Greenland and Cuba, the background and evolving situation in Minnesota after an ICE agent killed a woman during a raid, and how changes to the federal recommended childhood vaccine schedule dangerously denormalize routine vaccines with guest Dr. Josh Sharfstein, Professor of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

Well, there are also new alcohol guidelines to go along with it. The new guidelines remove the previous recommendation that men limit their alcohol intake to two drinks or less per day and women to one or less. Now, the guideline simply advises, "Limit alcohol consumption for better overall health."