The toy drive is part of several holiday events at NYU Langone family health centers and community school-based programs, aimed at brightening the season for about 5,500 children who might otherwise go without gifts. In total, NYU Langone plans to distribute more than 5,400 educational gifts to children up to age 14 across its family health center locations, as well as its hospital campuses in Brooklyn and on Long Island. The health system is also distributing coats and food to adults at one of its centers.
Toronto is seeing rapidly increasing flu activity particularly among children, with flu season coming early this year, Dr. Michelle Murti said in a statement Tuesday. It's being driven by influenza A, she said, which has affected children more severely. This early surge is leading to more pediatric cases requiring hospital care, underscoring the seriousness of the current season, she said, saying influenza A has also been spreading to adults and people in long-term care.
This fall, multiple states including Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee and Wisconsin have reported outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease, a contagious virus that commonly infects children under 5 but can also cause symptoms in older kids and adults, too. "This year, [cases seem] to be out of control," said Dr. Allison Agwu, a professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Peanut allergies are very common in the modern world. According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, between one and two percent of the U.S. population is allergic to peanuts. If you aren't allergic yourself, it's very likely that you know someone who is. Given that peanut allergies can be life-threatening, this also poses a substantial health risk around the world.
Since then, school policies have softened significantly. At L.A. Unified, for example, parents are directed to send their children to school if they have a mild cold or cough. The main symptoms that require keeping a child home are fever of 100.4 and above, vomiting or diarrhea, according to district instructions on "How to Safely Send Your Student to School."