Measles News:

• South Carolina’s measles outbreak has now surpassed 700 cases and continues to grow rapidly. (CIDRAP)
  
  
• New trackers may be helpful in assessing your own measles risk by entering your ZIP code. (ABC)
  
  

Health News:

• Moderna, whose breakthrough technology brought us mRNA COVID vaccines, will no longer be funding late-stage trials for infectious disease vaccines. (Fierce Biotech)
  
  
• Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, is dealing with a major norovirus outbreak and rapidly cleaning dorm and communal spaces. (Evanston Now)
  
  
• The new head of the ACIP vaccine panel has questioned long-standing vaccine recommendations, suggesting polio and other vaccines should be optional. (NYT)
  
  
• Without the vitamin K shot, newborns are over 80 times more likely to develop severe bleeding, yet the number of babies not receiving the injection has nearly doubled in recent years as more parents refuse it. (ABC)
  
  
• Ignoring recent CDC vaccine recommendation changes, the American Academy of Pediatrics, with support from the American Medical Association, has fully endorsed 18 childhood vaccines. (WSJ)
  
  
• India is reporting two nurses are infected with the deadly Nipah virus, likely infected by an undiagnosed patient they cared for. (People)
  
  
• The US is experiencing a boom in nicotine use with pouches like Zyn exploding in popularity, but little is known about their risks.  (Men's Health)
  
  
• A new treatment for sepsis that uses carbohydrates may actually reverse organ damage caused by sepsis, rather than just limit it. (SciTech Daily)
  
  
• The FDA is warning consumers not to use a wound and burn gel branded as CVS or MediHoney, which has a risk of infection. (MedPage Today)
  
  
• More than half of the CDC websites tracking mostly vaccine-preventable diseases in the US haven’t been updated in nearly six months. (NBC)

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Best Question: 

What are the most common mistakes restaurants make during norovirus outbreaks?

We got this question recently, and we LOVE it, because there are two crystal-clear answers:

1. Allowing employees to work sick (usually because too many others are out already), and
2. Letting employees return to work too soon. 

Here’s a common scenario:

A manager hears from a few employees that they’re really sick with a stomach bug, and doesn’t think much of it. She tells them to feel better and covers their shifts. But when the fourth and fifth employees call out with the same symptoms, she’s not quite as understanding. She asks more questions about the severity of symptoms, when they started, and she knows her stuff - so she begrudgingly tells them to stay home and really starts to scramble for staffing. When employee number six starts to feel sick in the middle of his shift, she asks if he can finish up before he heads home, because otherwise they’ll never be able to stay open with this skeleton crew. She cleans the restroom, but continues to work in order to stay on track. Employee seven doesn’t even bother telling their manager; they just put their head down and run to the bathroom when they need to. 

A day later, the first few employees who called out sick are feeling better. They haven’t thrown up all day, and they want to get back to work. They call the manager, who is overjoyed to get some relief. She asks if they can get started tonight. 

Now, it’s too late. In this scenario, the manager was well-intentioned, but the staffing pressure got to her. 

She has employees who worked sick (or didn’t get sent home quick enough when they got sick at work), AND employees who are returning to work too soon, when they are still shedding very high levels of virus. Her quick bathroom cleaning wasn’t the full noro prevention sanitizing that is needed to really nip this insanely-infectious virus in the bud. The chances that other employees and guests get sick from this cycle of transmission is very high. 

And this isn’t a terrible manager. This is a well-meaning but overwhelmed manager who may not be fully grasping how bad this situation can get until it’s too late. It’s a story we hear all the time. 

Do your managers understand when they’re toeing the line between a staffing issue and a noro outbreak? If you’re not sure, consider presenting this scenario at your next team meeting and letting your GMs and regional managers discuss it. ZHH can help facilitate a conversation like this, as well, if you’d like our support!

Source: ZHH

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Best Listen:

At Zero Hour Health, we think a lot about trust, especially when health guidance meets real workplace decisions. This Why Should I Trust You? podcast episode brings together public health experts and MAHA supporters to unpack where mistrust comes from and why it’s growing. Even without agreement, it’s a useful listen for employers navigating employee skepticism, vaccines, and health communication when facts alone aren’t enough.

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Inside A Rare Conversation Between MAHA Grassroots and Public Health Leaders