HxC

NOAA

New England Hurricane 1938
The “Long Island Express” was first detected over the tropical Atlantic on September 13, although it may have formed a few days earlier. Moving generally west-northwestward, it passed to the north of Puerto Rico on the 18th and 19th, likely as a category 5 hurricane. It turned northward on September 20 and by the morning of the 21st it was 100 to 150 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. At that point, the hurricane accelerated to a forward motion of 60 to 70 mph, making landfall over Long Island and Connecticut that afternoon as a Category 3 hurricane. The storm became extratropical after landfall and dissipated over southeastern Canada on September 22.

Blue Hill Observatory, Massachusetts measured sustained winds of 121 mph with gusts to 183 mph (likely influenced by terrain). A U.S. Coast Guard station on Long Island measured a minimum pressure of 27.94 in. Storm surges of 10 to 12 ft inundated portions of the coast from Long Island and Connecticut eastward to southeastern Massachusetts, with the most notable surges in Narragansett Bay and Buzzards Bay. Heavy rains before and during the hurricane produced river flooding, most notably along the Connecticut River.

This hurricane struck with little warning and was responsible for 600 deaths and $308 million in damage in the United States.

White House

MODERNIZING INFLUENZA VACCINES: President Donald J. Trump is safeguarding public health by helping ensure Americans have access to effective influenza vaccines. 

• Today, President Trump signed an executive order to modernize influenza vaccines and help protect more Americans through vaccination.
• At President Trump’s direction, the Administration will work to promote new technologies to improve vaccine manufacturing and effectiveness.
  • This will reduce reliance on more time-consuming, egg-based vaccine production.
  • Improving the speed of production will enable experts to better match vaccines to actively circulating viruses, an important piece of making the vaccines more effective.
  • The Administration will advance the development of new, more effective vaccines.
• The Trump Administration will also work to increase Americans’ access to vaccines by reducing barriers to seasonal flu vaccine services.
• To help put these objectives into action, President Trump is establishing a task force to identify policy priorities and monitor progress.

PROTECTING LIVES THROUGH PREVENTION: Influenza vaccines are vitally important to disease prevention, yet current production methods need to be improved.

• Influenza vaccines are the best way to save lives, reduce the illness severity, and prevent influenza infections in the first place.
  • During the 2017–2018 flu season, influenza vaccinations prevented up to 7.1 million illnesses, 3.7 million medical visits, and 109,000 hospitalizations.
  • A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that vaccines prevented more than 40,000 flu-associated deaths over a nine-year period.
• It is especially important to be able to rapidly produce well-matched influenza vaccines using scalable technologies in the event of a future influenza pandemic.
• Despite their important role in safeguarding the health of the American people, influenza vaccines are currently produced using more time-consuming, egg-based technology.
  • More rapid non-egg-based production methods would give experts more time to select the most relevant strains.

PROMOTING PUBLIC HEALTH: Improving the influenza vaccine is part of President Trump’s longstanding effort to combat public health threats and promote quality care for all Americans.

• President Trump has released a National Biodefense Strategy and a Global Health Security Strategy to help combat biological threats and pandemics.
• President Trump has made it a priority to increase the quality and accessibility of care for American patients.
  • This year, the President launched a kidney health initiative to help prevent kidney failure, improve treatment options, and expand access to life-saving transplants.
  • The Trump Administration is working to encourage new, innovative approaches to treating childhood cancer.
  • President Trump launched an initiative to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America over the next decade.
  • The Administration is supporting research on new treatments for opioid addiction.

Eastern Equine Encephalitis

Eastern equine encephalitis virus neuroinvasive disease cases reported by year, 2009–2018

Eastern equine encephalitis virus neuroinvasive disease cases reported by state of residence, 2009–2018

MERS

2464 Laboratory-confirmed cases reported since April 2012
12 countries reported cases since April 2012
27 countries reported cases globally
850 deaths reported since April 2012 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

ASM

“……the researchers from the Kyoto Profectural University of Medicine found that ethanol-based disinfectants, or hand sanitizers, would have be in contact for at least 4 minutes with the influenza A virus before killing it, a much longer duration than typical use. After 2 minutes of use, the virus was still active...….”

BBC

NYT

“…..Hundreds of wildfires burned across Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra on Tuesday, producing thick clouds of smoke that disrupted air travel, forced schools to close and sickened many thousands of people. Poorly equipped firefighters were unable to bring them under control.

Officials said that about 80 percent of the fires were set intentionally to make room for palm plantations, a lucrative cash crop that has led to deforestation on much of Sumatra…..”