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Oysters recalled after norovirus outbreak sickens at least 211 people
Over 200 people have been sickened by a norovirus outbreak linked to raw oysters from Texas, causing the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to issue a recall and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to open an investigation into the mollusks.
The CDC on Thursday announced that it is working in partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the DSHS and other public health partners to find the cause of the outbreak. The DSHS issued a recall for the affected oysters, and the FDA shared an advisory warning.
The contaminated oysters were harvested in the southeastern portion of Galveston Bay from Nov. 17 to Dec. 7, the DSHS said. The recall includes both shucked and shelled oysters. The area from which the oysters originated was closed to harvesting on Dec. 8, after reports of illnesses started coming in from parts of Texas and Florida.
Edwin Remsberg/VW PICS/UIG via Getty Images
As of Thursday, 211 people in states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas had reported an illness caused by the oysters.
No hospitalizations or deaths related to the outbreak have been reported.
Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States, according to the CDC, and the condition can cause symptoms including diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain, typically within 12 to 48 hours of exposure. Symptoms can last between one and three days, but young children, older people and those with compromised immune systems may have more severe illnesses.
Anyone consuming raw shellfish, such as oysters, is at risk of contracting norovirus: To avoid food poisoning from oysters, the CDC recommends cooking them to an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
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There’s still time to become a mega-millionaire for Christmas, but lady luck will have to be on your side.
No one matched Mega Millions‘ all six winning numbers last Tuesday, and the jackpot now stands at $862 million ahead of Friday night’s drawing.
The jackpot has been rolling since it was last won at $810 million in Texas on Sept. 10.
If there is a sole winner, they have a choice between an annuity, with an initial payment and then 29 annual payments, or a one-time lump sum payment. Most winners choose a cash payout.
For Friday night’s drawing, that would be an estimated $392.1 million before taxes.
If won at that level, it would be the largest prize ever won in December and the seventh largest in Mega Millions history.
According to Mega Millions, 13 jackpots have been won during December since the game began in 2002. Three were won in the days after Christmas, while the other 10 were won before Christmas. There has never been a jackpot win on Christmas Day, although over the years drawings have been conducted on Christmas six times – in 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2020.
Mega Millions drawings are held on Tuesday and Friday, tickets cost $2. The odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 303 million.
The IRS said Friday it is sending a total of $2.4 billion in “special payments” to 1 million people, part of an effort to ensure that Americans who didn’t receive all of their federal stimulus checks during the pandemic will get the money in their bank accounts.
The payments will vary by person, with a maximum amount of $1,400 per recipient, the agency said in a statement.
“To minimize headaches and get this money to eligible taxpayers, we’re making these payments automatic, meaning these people will not be required to go through the extensive process of filing an amended return to receive it,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement.
Who will get a payment from the IRS?
The tax agency said it’s disbursing the funds after reviewing internal data that showed many people had filed tax returns but yet didn’t claim what is known as the “recovery rebate credit” in 2021.
That credit was designed for people who didn’t get all or some of the stimulus checks when they were issued during the pandemic. Lawmakers authorized three stimulus payments, with two sent in 2020 and a third in 2021.
Most taxpayers who were eligible for the stimulus payments have already received them directly, or later through the recovery rebate credit.
Do you need to apply for the IRS payment?
No. The IRS said it’s sending the payments automatically to about 1 million people who filed tax returns and who qualified for the recovery rebate credit yet didn’t claim it. The agency will send a letter to recipients to let them know they will receive the payment.
When will the IRS send the payments?
The tax agency said the checks will be sent in December, with most of the payments arriving by late January 2025.
The money will either be automatically direct deposited to the recipient’s bank account or will arrive in the mail via a paper check.
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