More and more, new research shows that smoking and vaping is associated with a substantially higher risk of COVID-19 progression. Worse, this comes at a time of worry over the impacts of these habits, including a series of vape-related lung illnesses as well as fatalities. Earlier this week, the California State Assembly passed a ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and vapes. While this is significant progress, the fight to ban these kinds of items in the Golden State isn't over, yet. The bill will go to the State Senate for a final vote.
The Bill and Its Potential Impacts
Senate Bill 793, authored by Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), specifically makes any sale punishable by a fine of $250. This also includes flavored e-cigarettes, cigars, and ...
Nearly 1 in 4 Latinos reported that the Coronavirus pandemic was affecting their mental health, according to an April 2020 poll. Of those surveyed many reported high levels of psychological distress. Job loss, immigration status, returning to school or work, a lack of childcare, and even the health status of loved ones are all concerns for Latinos across the U.S. On Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020, let’s use #SaludTues to chat about ways to help promote healthy minds for Latino youth and their families. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: Healthy Minds for Latinos Amid COVID-19
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, Sept 1, 2020
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: Association for Behavior Health and Wellness (@ABHWorg); Stamp Out ...
Thank you to the 38,367 people—including over 800 Salud America! members—who submitted public comments for better nutrition and limited added sugars for the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans! These comments are the latest step in shaping the guidelines. USDA and HHS update the guidelines every five years. They are the leading set of nutrition standards for people, health professionals, and federal food programs. Submitted between mid-July and mid-August 2020, the new comments arrive after an initial 55,000 public comments between winter 2019 and spring 2020. A federal committee then released a scientific report to inform the guidelines. Recommendations include no sugary drinks for children up to age 2 and less alcohol intake for men. Now we await the release the ...
Helping families recover from the economic impact of COVID-19 requires far more than a paycheck, particularly when already underfunded social services and transit agencies face budget cuts. To build resilience after COVID-19, cities need to invest in people and in places. More specifically, cities need to build a community-based workforce to ramp up social services, and cities need to invest in affordable transportation options.
Cities Face More Than COVID-19 Economic Devastation
The economic fallout from COVID-19 is real for cities and families, particularly for Latinos, who were already drastically underpaid compared to white workers. Beyond unequal pay, Latino and low-income families face a legacy of discriminatory policies and practices that have resulted in unaffordable ...
New York City is combating more than just the immediate impacts of the COVID-19's pandemic. Last week, numerous city officials—including Mayor Bill de Blasio—announced new government programs to assist residents with food insecurity. With the help of his Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity, the program will be aimed at those who are suffering some of the worst impacts: People of color. "Every New Yorker should have equitable access to healthy food," said Mayor Bill de Blasio to press release. "These programs will help families get nutritious foods without having to sacrifice spending on other critical needs." Previously the New York City agencies surveyed with community members, and this feedback helped to inform the issue areas of the Taskforce's work. During the ...
When COVID-19 struck, it impacted Latinos more than others. That is why Salud America!, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded national program at UT Health San Antonio, immediately applied its digital content curation model to create equitable, culturally relevant information and action opportunities to address pandemic effects on Latinos. The result? Record spikes in program website traffic and confirmation of the curation model's capacity to increase people's exposure to culturally relevant and action-oriented information for a novel topic like COVID-19, according to a new study published in the journal Health Promotion Practice. "We have shown that digital content curation is an effective, measurable public health promotion tool to disseminate awareness-raising and ...
Too many social support tasks fall to armed police officers. As local leaders discuss COVID-19 recovery plans, they need to consider how to address these social support issues in tandem with economic issues. Many cities are exploring how to reform or reimagine police. This often includes partnering with community-based social, behavioral, and mental health services. However, community partners may lack capacity for city-wide change. That’s why cities need to build a community-based workforce to coordinate community development, help families recover from the pandemic’s economic fallout, and reform police, simultaneously.
Expensive Spending on Traditional Policing
Public safety is a major city expense. Of the 50 largest cities, spending on police accounts for the ...
We already know that smoking cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products result in worse coronavirus outcomes. What could be worse? Teenagers and young adults who vape face a much higher risk of COVID-19 than their peers who do not, according to new research from Stanford University. In fact, that data—collected from a May 2020 national survey of 13 to 24-year-olds—showed that vapers are five times more likely to get COVID-19. The risk is seven times higher for dual—smoking and vaping—users. "Young people may believe their age protects them from contracting the virus or that they will not experience symptoms of COVID-19, but the data show this isn't true among those who vape," Dr. Shivani Mathur Gaiha, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral scholar, said in a ...
The coronavirus pandemic has been spreading in America like wildfire for almost half a year. It has impacted or influenced every facet of life — from work to relationships to society-at-large. Everyone has adapted and coped to this reality in different ways, but one truth of living during a crisis is that everyone must adjust. Salud Talks' co-hosts and producers, Tenoch Aztecatl and Josh McCormack discuss this new normal, the struggles we are facing, how we have adapted, and what the experts are saying about the current state of the world. Check out this discussion on the Salud Talks Podcast, Episode 35: "The New Normal"! WHAT: A #SaludTalks discussion about the changes to the world and everyday life since the start of the coronavirus pandemic
HOSTS: Tenoch Aztecatl, ...
