Latest news with #ConnecticutDepartmentofPublicHealth
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mysterious package received at North Canaan facility tests negative for Plague, Anthrax
NORTH CANAAN, Conn. (WTNH) — The town of North Canaan has released an update about the hazmat incident that occurred Thursday at Becton-Dickinson. Over 300 people 'decontaminated' due to suspicious package incident in North Canaan Over 300 people had to be decontaminated after a mysterious package arrived at the facility. The Connecticut Department of Public Health confirmed that the mysterious package received negative test results for Anthrax, Burkholderia Species, Plague, Tularemia and Smallpox. Additionally, a negative Ricin test was confirmed. Officials continue to ensure that there is no risk to the public and no symptoms or illnesses reported by employees who had to be decontaminated. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
CT public health officials fear federal cuts could affect vaccination clinics and education
Last month, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced massive federal cuts coming to the state with the bulk of it coming at the expense of the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Among the hardest hit was $118,897,449 in estimated funding loss for the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity Program, as well as $26,267,097 in grant funding for immunization activities. Other areas that could be affected include essential public health services such as disease outbreak surveillance, newborn screenings, childhood immunizations and testing for viruses and other pathogens. Connecticut Department of Public Health commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said impacts have already been felt with the 43 contracts with local health departments that the Connecticut Department of Public Health had to issue stop-work orders. Local health departments help enhance vaccination rates, access, equity and vaccine confidence. The lost funding could result in a loss of vaccination clinics, and the distribution of vaccine education materials would be stopped, according to Lamont. 'The immunization grant was to help keep up with immunization rates across communities and help with childhood vaccinations required for school admission,' Juthani said. 'This grant helped find pockets of undervaccinated and meeting communities where they were by opening vaccination clinics or doing vaccine outreach to at-risk communities whether they be homebound or disabled. Those were what these grants were helping to fund.' Juthani said the first tangible place where people would be able to notice the cuts would be vaccinations in at-risk communities. 'It may not be as easy in certain circumstances (to get vaccinations) but we do know you still have your child provider, you still have a pharmacy, and you still have doctors' offices,' Juthani said. 'It may require a little bit extra work, but there are still other ways in the state to be vaccinated. But what we were trying to do was to make it as convenient and easy as possible so there were less hurdles to overcome to get what they need to achieve their best health.' Juthani said there have been some updates since the governor's March 27 press conference, and the cuts remain in a 'holding pattern' because of court proceedings. Juthani said there is a lawsuit regarding the cuts from 23 different states. 'Then we heard at (recently) that the judge has offered more time and needs more information for the federal government to come back to see if these grants are officially terminated or not on April 29,' Juthani said. 'We communicated with the local health department to say they have another week of expenses that they could submit to us. You can't plan large-scale projects or initiatives just one week at a time. … We are in a little bit of a holding pattern because things are so uncertain.' Juthani said another change in recent weeks is that syndromic surveillance was initially feared to be one of the programs cut, but the commissioner said there has been a one-year reprieve to continue the program. 'Syndromic surveillance is where anyone that comes into the emergency department and complains about any sort of symptom, it would get put into a database,' Juthani said. 'That information would come to the state of public health. That is how we find out if something expected is happening. 'During flu season, we would see the normal uptick that we see every season. Sometimes we can learn if something new is going on. We thought that system was going to be completely offline,' Juthani added. 'That was an immediate program cut we weren't prepared for.' Juthani said the week-to-week funding with each judge ruling has forced some of the state's health departments to let people go because the departments do not have the capacity to keep people if funding is not continued. 'It's varied by each department by their budgetary needs,' Juthani said. Juthani said the state has one of the top vaccination rates in the country due to a 'cohesive, concerted effort across the board.' She included healthcare professionals and school nurses and others. 'We do have an advantage in our state which is you can have great efforts, but you need a population open and interested in hearing the message,' Juthani said. 'There is always a desire to meet people where they are at and explain things the way they would understand. Funding can always enhance that. 'I hope we don't slide back because of funding cuts because the open-mindedness of the population has not changed,' she added. 'The access to healthcare has yet to change. I hope it doesn't happen. But is there a risk? Of course. One of the other things the immunizations grant helped with was optimizing our CT WiZ platform which helps us track what those rates actually are.' Juthani said school vaccination records are on CT WiZ and during the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccinations were logged. The cuts will stop enhancements to that program that provides a real-time public-facing dashboard on vaccination rates in the state. 'All you have to do on CT WiZ is put your name in and you can get your own vaccination records,' Juthani said. 'We've been using this funding to expand our capacity to work on other platforms with CT WiZ so if you get a vaccination in one of our sister states on our platform you can see that on your record in Connecticut. It would include vaccinations from out of state if it was in one of our sister states. 'That's the kind of upgrade we have been doing and that funding is in question whether we are going to be able to expand on that type of capacity,' she added. Juthani said she is concerned about what she has seen in the cuts but is focused on everything the Department of Public Health can do to prepare for the cuts. 'Our goal here in Connecticut is to make sure we don't lose ground on protecting public health despite cuts we receive. That's what we are focused on,' Juthani said. Dr. Ulysses Wu, the chief epidemiologist and system director for infectious diseases at Hartford HealthCare, said he has concerns about cuts to immunization education. 'The impact is not just the immunizations themselves, but it's the education that is associated with it,' Wu said. 'As you know, immunization is very divisive,' Wu said. 'The science is solid. I think people should be concerned at many different levels. On a broad level, public health is not being prioritized. Cuts are going to be made for that. On a micro level, the access and education and cost that may be associated with this. Yes, people should be concerned on a micro and macro level.' Wu said given the current measles outbreak in the country, immunizations are even more important. According to the CDC, as of April 24, there were 884 cases in the country. There were no cases in Connecticut, but surrounding states had some reported including Vermont, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. In total, 30 states According to the CDC, the 884 cases are a large jump from the 285 in all of 2024, and 96% of the cases are individuals who are unvaccinated or are of unknown vaccination. 'Measles is a highly contagious, highly dangerous disease that is also entirely preventable with the MMR vaccine,' Juthani said. 'Before 1963, there were over 500,000 cases of measles in the U.S. every year. In 2000, that number plummeted to just 85, proving the MMR vaccine works. 'Now is the time to act to prevent an outbreak here and to ensure you are vaccinated while there are no cases in Connecticut,' she added. 'Staying up to date on vaccinations not only protects you and your family but also helps protect people who cannot be vaccinated due to medical conditions or are too young to get vaccinated, like infants below 6 months of age.' The Connecticut Department of Public Health is urging residents to 'ensure they are adequately protected if they are traveling to areas with active outbreaks.' It is also recommended that the MMR vaccine be given to infants 6-11 months of age who are traveling internationally or in areas of the country with active measles transmission. 'Most of the measles transmissions in the United States prior to this year were due to international travel,' Wu said. 'Now we have to worry about domestic travel with every exposure that is possible and brought back to Connecticut. Remember they can be contagious before the rash or after the rash has subsided. There can be people that are infectious that don't even know it. 'What happens is, when more people are immunized, it creates that safety net and that herd immunity,' he added. 'When you start losing that herd immunity, let's just say it's the state of Connecticut. Your chances of getting measles are going to be increased. For those who are immunized for the most part should be protected. What can take hold of is those who are not immunized. The immunization rate in Connecticut is very good but it is also not 100%. This is all going to be impacted for Connecticut mostly indirectly. But there may be some direct effects as well.' Wu said the worst-case scenario of more cuts would be 'any transmissible disease that results in an epidemic or a pandemic that was preventable.' 'That is what this is all about,' Wu said. 'It's about preventable disease. All of these measles cases were preventable. We understand the greater picture of people's rights in terms of what they can and can't do. The only problem is that it changes a little bit in the sense that what you do may impact someone else. 'With these transmissible diseases, it's not only about the individual but it's also about the community at large,' he said. 'We run into these issues where it's not just an individual decision at this point and sometimes you have to look at the greater good.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Rise in measles cases across U.S. cause for concern
CONNECTICUT (WTNH) — A virus once considered primarily a childhood illness is returning with a vengeance. Measles cases are spiking in the U.S., but so far none have been reported in Connecticut. However, the number of cases across America are sounding an alarm from our state's Department of Health. Connecticut Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani, MD, noted it is an anomaly that there have been approximately 800 confirmed measles cases in the U.S. so far this year. Those cases are showing up in 24 states across America, including in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Ohio. Health experts said 96% of people with the virus were unvaccinated, and most were children. 'Over a third have been in school-age children, and then about a third have been in children under the age of five,' Juthani said. 'And what we really want to do is keep our children protected.' While Connecticut remains free of the virus for now, cases are showing up in nearby states like New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus, especially when there is close contact. Symptoms include fever, rash, cough, conjunctivitis, and common cold symptoms. Immunization is the best defense against the virus according to health experts. It is even more important when traveling to areas where cases have recently spiked, inside or outside the U.S. '44 of the 48 imported cases were among U.S. residents who traveled internationally,' Juthani said. 'We know that measles is primarily an infection of childhood, but it does not mean that older adults cannot get it as well.' People born between 1963 and 1967 are being advised to get a shot of the MMR vaccine. According to health department, the vaccine used at that time was slightly weaker than what's being administered right now. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
State officials warn health cuts will have drastic impact
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — State officials are reeling over $150 million worth of lost federal funding for the Connecticut Department of Public Health. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that it was pulling back over $11 billion worth of grants nationwide. Connecticut attorney general vows to fight $150M in canceled public health funding Gov. Ned Lamont and his Public Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said this pull back of federal grant money will have an immediate, negative impact on residents across Connecticut. 'These implications for public health are real, they affect every single person in this room and will every day,' Dr. Juthani said. 'Whether it be you, your children, your grandchildren, your parents, your grandparents.' State Republicans said that they're weary of federal pullbacks, but have consistently accused the Democrats of essentially fear mongering about the scope of those cuts. 'I understand that there may or may not be cuts coming from the federal government,' State Rep. Vincent Candelora (R-86) said. 'I did hear this morning, most of this isn't going to happen until September when congress reconvenes to vote on a resolution. So, the fact of the matter is that we are, again, focusing on things that we have no control over. And meanwhile, Rome is burning.' Candelora was referring to the state's own fiscal situation, separate and apart from what's happening in Washington. He made those remarks at a really fiery gathering of Republicans at the Capitol, where they leveled some of the harshest criticism against Gov. Lamont. That Republican press conference was happening at the same time as the Governor and his top health officials were railing against the Trump administration. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Flu cases spiking in Connecticut
CONNECTICUT (WTNH) — It is peak cold season and here in Connecticut flu cases continue to climb, but it's not the only viral infection spreading around. 'The scratchy throat and the ahem going on,' Zaida Molina, who recently had the flu, said. Flu map: These states are now at CDC's highest activity level It's the first warning sign for many colds, but what came next for Molina was a strong indicator it was more serious. 'The coughing and the achiness and you just feel very lethargic. You don't really want to get up from the couch,' Molina said. A positive influenza test at her doctor's office last month confirmed it and the Meriden resident is far from alone. The CDC currently categorizes flu activity in the state as very high. Last week, the Connecticut Department of Public Health recorded over 3,700 cases, the highest amount this season. It's resulted in nearly 1,400 hospitalizations and 31 deaths. Molina knows firsthand just how quickly the flu can spread. 'Very, very contagious, I mean it started off with my husband, then a couple days later I had it, then a couple days later my daughter had it, then a couple days later my mother-in-law had it,' Molina said. 'We are a relatively small practice, but we are seeing a couple flu cases a day which is not what we were seeing in the fall. The last couple weeks it's really picked up,' Dr. Frank Mongillo said. Internal Medicine Doctor Frank Mongillo says Covid, RSV and Norovirus cases are also rising. He said it's not too late to get vaccinated, especially for people at higher risk for respiratory failure like those with asthma, lung disease or COPD. 'We think even if it doesn't prevent the actual virus, it can prevent the complications. You want to avoid crowds. You want to avoid a lot of contact this time of year, especially if you have underlying health conditions,' Mongillo said. 'Plenty of fluids, rest, if you think you have it, stay home,' Molina said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
