US - West Coast

California declares first statewide emergency over bird flu The declaration comes the same day the first “severe” case was found in a human outside of the state. Emma Anderson Politico

California on Wednesday declared a statewide emergency over bird flu, with Gov. Gavin Newsom warning that “conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property” meant greater efforts were needed to defeat the spread. ...

A more severe strain of mpox has been detected in the U.S. for the first time The patient was traveling from East Africa, where the mpox disease is endemic. The CDC says the strain does not present a high risk to the general population. NPR

California's health department confirmed the case through lab testing. The patient contracted it after traveling from East Africa, where there has been an outbreak of the clade I strain. The person was treated in San Mateo County and then released. The person is at home recovering, the CDC said Saturday.

Oregon identifies 3 human cases of bird flu in farm workers from Washington state Bird flu has infected three more people from Washington state after they were exposed to poultry that tested positive for the virus, according to health authorities in Washington and in Oregon, where the human cases were identified. Tom Polansek Reuters

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Teen vaccination cut COVID-19 cases by 37% in California, new data show Researchers also estimated that 230,134 cases were averted in kids aged 5 to 11 years, a 24% reduction. CIDRAP

JAMA Network Open has published a new study showing that, from April 1, 2020, to February 27, 2023, in California, an estimated 146,210 COVID-19 cases were averted by vaccination in teens aged 12 to 15 years, representing a 37% reduction.

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