We know germs can cause illnesses. We also know that frontline healthcare workers can take action to protect themselves, their colleagues, and their patients from infectious disease threats. Cleaning and disinfecting are two of these important actions for infection control. A fundamental part of this process is “contact time.” This is the amount of time a disinfectant must sit on a surface, without being wiped away or disturbed. Contact time allows the disinfectant to do its job: Killing germs. “There are a lot of germs in healthcare. That's no surprise to any of us,” said Dr. Abigail Carlson, an infectious diseases physician with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of CDC Project Firstline’s Inside Infection Control video ...
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. This cancer can affect anyone, but older Latinos may be particularly at risk. Know the facts about colorectal cancer, tips for screening and preventions, and how we can help researchers studying cancer.
What Should I Know About Colorectal Cancer?
Colorectal cancer is the disease of the colon and/or rectum. “Most cases of colorectal cancer occur in people ages 45 and older, but the disease is increasingly affecting younger people. Each year, about 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with this disease and more than 50,000 die,” according to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. Many people in the early stages of colorectal cancer do not experience symptoms. However, symptoms might develop later on in the disease. Mayo Clinic lists ...
How can you stand up to the tobacco industry? On March 31, you can participate in Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action! Take Down Tobacco, a fresh take on Kick Butts Day, is the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids’ signature platform for empowering people to speak out against the tobacco industry. You can: Join the movement
Host an event
Play games in the Take Down Tobacco Arcade
Plan events or share on ocial media with #TakeDownTobacco The team behind Salud America! is working to help young adults quit smoking with Quitxt, our free English or Spanish text-message service that turns your phone into a personal “quit smoking” coach from UT Health San Antonio. To get help, text “iquit” (for English) or “lodejo” (for Spanish) to 844-332-2058. “On ...
Many Latinos and other people of color were not counted in the 2020 Census. Latinos have historically been undercounted, but the 2020 Census undercounted Latinos by more than three times the rate for that group in the 2010 census, CNN reports. Learn what led to the census undercount, why it matters for Latinos, and how we can fight inequities in our communities.
What Happened with the 2020 Census?
Overall, about 0.24% of the country’s population, or about 782,000 people, were not counted in the 2020 Census. The undercount rate for Latinos was 4.99%, according to NPR. Latinos are often undercounted because the Census has a harder time reaching marginalized communities. “The census has historically undercounted populations that are harder to reach through surveys, phone ...
COVID-19 continues to have a large impact on Latinos and other communities of color, particularly when it comes to cases and deaths. However, the toll extends beyond the physical impacts of the virus. Racial and ethnic minority populations are more likely to experience COVID-19–related discrimination than their white counterparts, according to a new study from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Learn what the study found on COVID-19–related discrimination, the impact of discrimination on health, and what we do to improve the situation for Latinos and others of color.
What Did the NIMHD Study Find on COVID-19-Related Racial/Ethnic Discrimination?
This is the largest study to date on discrimination related to COVID-19. Dr. Paula D. ...
Did you know that good hand hygiene can result in less gastrointestinal and respiratory illness and fewer missed school days? Good hygiene practices are an important strategy to keep everyone in schools and early care and education (ECE) facilities healthy. But good hygiene practices aren’t always easy to implement in busy educational settings. The good news is that new resources are available to help K-12 and ECE staff learn how to best encourage good hygiene practices in their educational settings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC Foundation have developed a free, interactive, online training on hand hygiene and cleaning. The Clean Hands and Spaces online training was created specifically for educators, administrators, and supporting ...
COVID-19 has changed a lot of practices for frontline healthcare workers, from screening employees and patients at entrances to wearing masks all the time. The pandemic has also taught us more about variants. As a virus like COVID-19 spreads, it can mutate and change — these changes are known as variants, such as the Delta and Omicron variants. New variants of viruses are common. Fortunately, the strategies healthcare workers use for infection control are designed to work regardless of the variant, said Dr. Abigail Carlson, an Infectious Diseases physician with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “The tools that we use for infection control work. And the way they work for COVID-19 hasn't changed,” Carlson said. “It's all the more important to ...
By Jim Morris
Public Health Watch While still jarringly high, U.S. suicide rates fell in 2019 and again in 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last month. The year-over-year rate declined by 3 percent overall, falling by 8 percent among women and 2 percent among men. But there were some stark outliers. Notably, suicides among Latino men increased by nearly 6 percent.
What’s Going On?
Plenty, it turns out. Problems that existed before COVID-19 got even worse during the pandemic, health advocates and providers say, including substance abuse, job loss, poor access to care and the stigma of mental illness in the Latino community. “[Latino men] weren’t getting much help to begin with,” said Fredrick Sandoval, executive director of the New ...
Latino students face many systemic barriers to quality education, including a lack of access to preschool and little diversity among teachers. Worse, recent research from the University of Chicago found that the number of low-income Latino children attending schools with middle-class students has fallen by 14% in 15 years. It’s a marker of an underlying issue – racial/ethnic segregation. In fact, researchers found another uptick in white families moving out of diverse, both racially and socioeconomically, areas to white-majority areas, or white flight. The COVID-19 pandemic adds another layer of complexity to white flight and segregation in education, according to Bruce Fuller, a Berkeley sociology professor and study leader. “Deeper forces have sustained ...
