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CDC launches new way to measure trends of COVID, flu and more for 2024

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a new way for Americans to look up how high or low levels of viruses like COVID-19 and flu are in their local area for 2024.

This year’s new “community snapshot” is the CDC’s latest attempt to repackage its data in one place for Americans deciding when to take extra precautions recommended in its guidelines, like masking or testing, going into the fall and winter.

It centers around a sweeping new weekly metric called “acute respiratory illness.” The metric’s debut fulfills a goal laid out by agency officials months ago, aiming to measure the risk of COVID-19 alongside other germs that spread through the air on a single scale from “minimal” to “very high.”

“The biggest thing we’re trying to do here is not just to have a dashboard. It’s not just putting a bunch of information in front of people and kind of expecting them to navigate all of that,” the CDC’s Captain Matthew Ritchey told CBS News.

Ritchey, who co-leads the team that coordinates data fed into the snapshots, said the CDC gathers experts from across the agency every Thursday to walk through the week’s data coming from hospitals and emergency rooms, wastewater sampling and testing laboratories.

“All those groups come together, talking through their different data systems and their expertise to say, ‘this is what’s catching my eye.’ And then that’s what we want to tee up for the public,” he said.

Ritchey cited early signs of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, starting to increase this season as expected in Florida, which is called out at the top of this week’s report.

Behind the CDC’s new “respiratory illness” metric

Based on emergency room data, the “acute respiratory illness” metric, grades overall infections in each state or county from “minimal” to “very high.”

That is defined broadly to capture infections from COVID-19 and influenza, as well as a range of other diseases that spread through the air like whooping cough or pneumonia.

A previous definition the agency had relied on called “influenza-like illness” had been too narrow, Ritchey said, with requirements like fever which excluded many patients.

A separate set of standalone levels is still being calculated each week for COVID-19, influenza and RSV. 

The formula behind those levels is based on historical peaks and valleys in emergency room trends, which were analyzed from each state.

“We’ve looked over the last couple of years and understand the low points of the year, based on our lab testing, and at that point we say, that’s the baseline or ‘minimal’ category,” said Ritchey.

How to see what COVID variants are dominant

Not all of the CDC’s data made the cutoff to be included on the first layer of the agency’s new snapshot. 

For example, while the front page for the general public does mention current SARS-CoV-2 variants like XEC, details about its prevalence remain on a separate webpage deeper into the CDC’s website.

“That whole jumble of lots of acronyms or letters and things like that just don’t overly resonate with them,” he said. 

For flu, the CDC is still publishing more detailed weekly updates designed for experts, through the agency’s “FluView” reports

Those include a weekly breakdown of the “type” – influenza A or B – and “subtype” – like H3N2 or H1N1 – that is being reported to the agency from testing laboratories.

Health authorities closely watch trends in flu subtyping as well, since they can help explain changes in the severity of the virus as well as vaccine effectiveness

Future changes to come 

The snapshot remains a work in progress as the CDC gathers feedback from the public as well as local health departments.

“We have a continuum of users, from the public health practitioner to my parents, providing feedback on how they’re using it. More often, the feedback we get is, ‘hey, I use this to help inform how I work, or talk with my elderly parents,'” he said.

One big change coming later this season is the resumption of nationwide hospitalization data, after a pandemic-era requirement for hospitals to report the figures to the federal government lapsed. 

A new rule by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to start collecting the data again for COVID-19, influenza and RSV is due to take effect in November.

“As that data starts to come in again and gets to a robust enough level, the plan is that it would be incorporated on the site as well,” he said.

Another long term goal is to add information specific to other respiratory illness culprits beyond COVID-19, influenza and RSV.

“We want to be able to talk about maybe some of the other things that are not the big three as well, like mycoplasma and some of those other things too, that we know peak during certain parts of the season,” he said. 



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Former anti-drugs chief known as “Macho” extradited from Bolivia nearly 3 years after U.S. offered $5 million reward

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Bolivia’s former anti-narcotics chief was extradited to the United States on Thursday to face federal drug trafficking charges in a New York court.

Authorities said that Maximiliano Dávila, who served as anti-narcotics chief in the final months of Evo Morales ‘ 2006-2019 administration, helped facilitate planeload shipments of cocaine to the United States. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Dávila exploited his position “to secure access to Bolivian airfields for cocaine transport and to arrange for members of Bolivian law enforcement under his command—including individuals armed with machineguns—to provide protection for those drug loads.”

Dávila  — who authorities say is also known as “Macho” — boarded a private jet sent from the U.S. specifically for his extradition.

On Feb. 2, 2022, the U.S. State Department announced a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Dávila’s conviction. He is charged with conspiring to provide top level protection for cocaine shipments to the U.S. as well as related weapons charges involving the possession of machine guns. According to the State Department, Dávila “allegedly used his position to safeguard aircraft used to transport cocaine to third countries, for subsequent distribution in the United States.”

Bolivia US Extradition
Police escort former police colonel Maximiliano Davila, center, as he was presented to the media at a Bolivian Police Command office in La Paz, Bolivia, Jan. 23, 2022.

Juan Karita / AP


In late November, Bolivia’s Supreme Court approved Dávila’s immediate extradition to the U.S. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Morales expelled the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from Bolivia in 2008, accusing it of plotting to overthrow his government at a time rising commodity prices and a wave of leftist politics throughout South America were challenging longstanding U.S. influence in the region. Meanwhile, the two countries haven’t exchanged ambassadors in more than 15 years.

The drug investigation that led to the charges against Dávila was started by the DEA’s Special Operations Division in 2017, according to court records.

As part of the probe, criminal informants working under the DEA’s direction recorded conversations in which a co-defendant of Dávila bragged of having access to an MD-11 military cargo plane to transport 60 tons of cocaine into the U.S.

The co-defendant, Percy Vasquez-Drew, said that “he and other traffickers had been able to operate with impunity in Bolivia because the DEA and the CIA had been kicked out” and remaining anti-drug officials in the country were easily bribed, prosecutors said in court filings.

Vasquez-Drew was later arrested in Panama on a U.S. warrant. He pleaded guilty in 2020 to a single count of conspiring to smuggle more than 450 kilograms of narcotics into the U.S. Earlier this year, his sentence was reduced to 100 months in federal prison.

Bolivia is the world’s third-largest producer of cocaine.

It’s unclear how close Dávila is to Morales, a former coca grower. But the two appeared together in an October 2019 photograph celebrating Morales’ birthday standing next to several cakes decorated with coca leaves. Also in the picture was the former head of Bolivia’s national police.

While the DEA has arrested numerous Bolivian drug traffickers over the years, including one of Dávila’s predecessors, Morales himself has never been accused of drug trafficking. He has vociferously denounced the U.S.-led drug war in Latin America and defended traditional uses of coca – the raw ingredient of cocaine.



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December’s Cold Moon is the last full moon of 2024. Here’s when it peaks and how it got its name.

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Get ready for the final full moon of 2024: the Cold Moon. 

December’s full moon will reach peak illumination at 4:02 a.m. EST on Sunday Dec. 15, but it will appear full for several days. The Old Farmer’s Almanac details specific moonrise times for different ZIP codes across the U.S. 

Why is the December full moon called the Cold Moon?

December’s full moon is called the Cold Moon, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. The name was chosen because of how cold it usually is during December’s full moon.

The moon also has several other nicknames, including the Long Night Moon, a name with Mohican origins, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. The name is because December’s full moon happens on one of the longest nights of the year. 

Other names for December’s moon include the Drift Clearing Moon, the Frost Exploding Trees Moon, the Moon of the Popping Trees, Hoar Frost Moon, Snow Moon and Winter Maker Moon, according to the almanac.

How long will December’s moon be full?

While the moon reaches peak illumination early on Dec. 15, it will appear full for several days. Around 95% of the moon’s nearside will be illuminated by the sun on Friday, Dec. 13, according to NASA. On Dec. 14, 99% of the moon’s nearside will be illuminated, with 100% illuminated on Dec. 15. On Dec. 16, 98% of the moon will still be illuminated.

This month, NASA also suggests keeping an eye out for Jupiter, sitting between the nearly full moon and Aldebaran, the brightest star in the Taurus constellation, on Dec. 14.

NASA says you won’t need binoculars or a telescope to enjoy the view of the Cold Moon. Local forecasts have detailed information on how clear the night sky will be in different locations where people are keeping an eye out for the moon.

The first full moon of 2025 will be on Monday, Jan. 13. It’s known as the Wolf Moon.



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The Geminid meteor showers peak tonight. Here’s when and where they’ll be visible

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The Geminids, considered one of the best and most reliable meteor showers of the year, is underway and is set to peak Friday night into early Saturday. 

The shower will peak under a nearly full moon, which could make spotting the cosmic show a challenge. The light from the moon will wash out the fainter meteors during the peak, according to NASA.

“Still, the Geminids are known for bright meteors, and it’s common to spot their shooting stars up to a week before the peak,” according to NASA. “If you’re up before dawn that week, it’s worth looking up, just in case you spot a speck of dust from space streaking through the morning sky.”

When and where you can see the Geminids

Light from the nearly full moon will cut the visible rates for the Geminids by 50-75% during the peak this year, said Bill Cooke, lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. The brightest meteors will still be visible, according to NASA.

With the bright moon on peak night, an observer in the U.S. may see around 15 Geminids an hour, Cooke said.

“In short, 2024 is a bad year for Geminid watching — December 2025 will be much better,” Cooke said.

The Geminid meteor shower is visible around the world and throughout the night sky. For optimal viewing conditions, head somewhere far away from city and street lights, then lie down flat on your back with your feet pointed south. Give your eyes half an hour to adjust to the dark. 

NASA advises bringing a sleeping bag or blanket to help with the cold while waiting for the Geminids. 

The shower usually starts around 9 or 10 p.m., with the meteors best viewed at night or in the pre-dawn hours. 

What is a meteor shower?

Meteors are space rocks that enter Earth’s atmosphere and heat up as they fall toward Earth, according to NASA. As they streak through the sky, glowing, hot air around the meteors gives the meteors the appearance of shooting stars. During meteor showers, many meteors travel through Earth’s atmosphere over a short period. 

Most meteors burn up in space. The few that survive the trip and reach the ground and considered meteorites. 

What makes the Geminids different from other meteor showers?

The Geminids are one of the strongest meteor showers of the year, with a rate of 120 meteors an hour under perfect conditions, according to NASA. 

While most meteor showers originate from comets, the Geminids actually come from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon. NASA researchers say the asteroid acts like a “weird” comet.

And while NASA says most meteors appear to be colorless or white, the Geminids are usually yellow in color. 

The annual Geminids meteor shower first appeared in the mid-1800s.



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