Smoking is bad for your health. Yet the COVID-19 pandemic has raised important questions as to just much how smoking can affect your risk for coronavirus and severe outcomes. Researchers are trying to find the truth. They're even examining the viral transmission of secondhand and thirdhand smoke. Let’s use #SaludTues on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, to tweet about the latest research about smoking and coronavirus outbreak and how we can use the latest technology to help people quit smoking! WHAT: #SaludTues: Smoking & Coronavirus—Know the Truth
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. EST (Noon-1 p.m. CST), Tuesday, June 9, 2020
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: Action Smoking & Health (@AshOrg) Public Health Maps (@PublicHealthMap)
SPECIAL ...
Housing and transportation are two key ingredients for health equity. In a good combination, people easily find affordable housing near schools, jobs, groceries, and healthcare. In a bad combination, people struggle to find affordable housing near essential destinations and transportation options. They have to rely on expensive vehicle ownership or infrequent transit with unsafe streets and no sidewalks or bike lanes. Which does your neighborhood have? City leaders probably don’t know. So they aren’t able to invest in a meaningful mix of affordable housing and transportation. Residents can’t find a good combination, either. LINK Houston is trying to change that. The advocates’ report, Where Affordable Housing and Transportation Meet in Houston, helps city and ...
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on housing Millions of Americans face are experiencing new levels of cost burdens. Worse, over half a million people will sleep on the streets any given night, according to a recent report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Still, this is not a new issue. Many U.S. cities were dealing with a homelessness crisis long before this outbreak. In 2018, 33 out of every 10,000 Californian residents were homeless. Now, the escalating pandemic has created a catastrophe threatening thousands of lives. During this pandemic, millions are homeless, and their lives are falling apart. They struggle to stay healthy, to hold jobs, to preserve personal relationships, to maintain a sense of hope.
California in ...
Cities are increasingly recognizing the value of streets as car-less public space. For example, due to a spike in demand for outdoor space early in the coronavirus pandemic, cities around the world began closing streets to vehicles to give people walking and biking more space. More recently, cities are closing streets to vehicles to give restaurants and shops space to serve customers outdoors—in parking spaces, on sidewalks, and on streets. However, street vendors, many of whom are Latinos and immigrants with no paid sick leave and a history of fighting to serve these very spaces, are being left out of reopening plans. “They’ve been so exposed through the nature of their work and the cruelty of our society that has forced them out of the formal economy,” Megan Macareg ...
What's the best way for kids to meet physical activity guidelines? Running? Jumping? Sports? Active video games? A new list, the Youth Compendium of Physical Activities, is now out in Spanish and English to shed light on 196 youth physical activities and the estimated energy expenditure for each. This exploration of youth activity—from running to soccer to cycling to Wii Sports—offers parents, teachers, coaches, healthcare workers, and researchers better insight into which physical activities contribute to a healthier lifestyle, thanks to the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR). "It can be used by a wide variety of people—from researchers and health care professionals to teachers, coaches, and fitness professionals—and in a variety of ...
Researchers are worried about COVID-19 transmission from asymptomatic smokers and vapers to others in their household via secondhand and thirdhand smoke and aerosol. Let’s explore what this means.
Why Are Researchers Concerned about COVID-19 and Smoking?
Smokers are already at risk of more severe cases of coronavirus. But even in the homes of asymptomatic but infected smokers and vapers, coronaviruses can attach to secondhand smoke and secondhand aerosol particles and droplets. These viral secondhand exhalations, coughs, and sneezes can travel up to 27 feet, land on surfaces, survive for hours, and may increase transmission of COVID-19 to older and younger non-smokers in the home, according to researchers in Environmental Science and Technology. The risk remains even up to ...
Medical and public health experts agree that being active outside is crucial to maintaining physical and mental health. However, overcrowding in parks, sidewalks, and on trails can become a serious issue during COVID-19. Pedestrian safety is also a serious issue because although vehicle travel is down, crashes and fatalities are up. Cities across the world are responding by temporarily reallocating street space for people walking, biking, rolling, and skating to practice physical distancing from others. Everyone deserves safe places to be physically active and safe routes to get to essential destinations. Let’s use #SaludTues on May 26, 2020, to tweet about the importance of equitably sharing streets during a crisis problem. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “How to ...
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on homelessness. People who experience homelessness are transient. That makes it harder to detect, track, and prevent disease transmission, and treat those who need care. Now some experts say rising unemployment could spark a 45% rise in homelessness by the end of 2020, leaving 800,000 people with no permanent shelter in the U.S., the L.A. Times reports. "If the projections of unemployment being made now turn out to be accurate, and the relationship between unemployment and homelessness follows the historical pattern, and no other major changes occur, that’s what we can expect to happen," said economist Dr. Brendan O’Flaherty of Columbia University.
Concerns for the Homeless amid Coronavirus
People experiencing ...
Eric Cooper knows what it's like to depend on public assistance programs. He grew up in a low-income family, relying on free school meals and food assistance to get enough food to eat. Today, as CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank, Cooper helps families like his. And with rising amounts of food insecurity amid the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, he led the Food Bank to orchestrate a whole new way of operating. An army of volunteers has stepped up to meet the needs of so many, by working in back-to-back shifts and implementing new strategies, such as drive-through pickup lines or COVID-19 preparation kits. Their efforts have garnered national acclaim and have turned a crisis into a rallying point for those who need it most. "I think all of us, as human beings find ourselves in ...
