State officials have nearly $1 million in new funds at their disposal to fight the Zika virus after receiving a pair of federal grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
As America’s leading source of information for public health, the decisions laid out by the CDC tend to have quite an impact on Connecticut residents. Read more about the topic below.
Posted inPolitics
Congress fighting over Zika funding that could aid CT pharmaceuticals
WASHINGTON — Congress is tied in a partisan knot over funding U.S. response to the outbreak of the Zika virus, money that could help several Connecticut pharmaceutical companies continue their work toward a vaccine.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Feds release opioid prescription guidelines
WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday released long-awaited guidelines for prescribing opioid-based pain medicine, but it’s not clear how closely doctors will follow them.
Posted inHealth
Key task force: Evidence ‘insufficient’ to recommend universal autism screening
Sparking strong reaction from doctors and child development experts, an influential task force says there’s “insufficient evidence” to argue definitely that the benefits of screening all young children for autism outweigh the harms.
Posted inHealth, Politics
CT not immune to big food poisoning cases
WASHINGTON – While the most recent big incident of food poisoning involves Chipotle Mexican Grill in Oregon and Washington state, Connecticut has not been spared from multi-state cases of food contamination, and federal officials say the threat of big food outbreaks is on the rise.
Posted inEducation, Health
Most middle and high schools start too early, CDC study says
In Connecticut, fewer than 5 percent of middle and high schools started at 8:30 or later, one of the lowest rates in the country.
Posted inMoney, Politics
House leaders: Workers’ comp expansion unlikely
Expanded workers’ compensation coverage for police and firefighters, one of the most heavily lobbied issues of the 2015 session, is likely to die from inaction in the House of Representatives, legislative leaders said Wednesday.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Senate votes to expand workers’ comp for cops, firefighters
The Senate voted 25 to 11 early Friday for legislation expanding workers’ compensation for police and firefighters, overcoming complaints that the new unfunded mandates would be financially ruinous to cities and towns in Connecticut.
Posted inHealth, Politics
GOP controls fate of labor bill sought by firefighters
The House Republican minority controls the fate of a heavily lobbied labor bill that would expand workers’ compensation coverage in Connecticut by declaring some forms of cancer to be an occupational hazard of firefighting. The GOP is expected to offer a compromise to a bill strenuously opposed by cities and towns.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Lawmakers urge feds to buy CT-made flu vaccine
WASHINGTON – Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, and Elizabeth Esty, D-5th District, released a letter Monday that urges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to consider a local company when the agency awards contracts for next year’s flu shots
Posted inPolitics
Sandy Hook remembered with prayer, politics and litigation
The second anniversary of the Dec. 14, 2012 massacre of 26 women and children at Sandy Hook Elementary School was marked in Connecticut by litigation, prayer and politics.
Posted inHealth
Connecticut quarantines nine who are symptom-free under Ebola protocols
The Connecticut Department of Public Health said late Wednesday that it has placed under quarantine nine individuals who have traveled to West Africa but are symptom-free — the first use of the state’s tough Ebola protocols.
Posted inHealth, Politics
In Connecticut, Ebola debate splits along party lines
WASHINGTON – Ebola has made a grim, unexpected appearance in the political arena and helped broaden the gulf between Democrats and Republicans running for Congress in Connecticut.
Posted inHealth
Confirmed enterovirus cases increase in Connecticut
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday there are now 13 confirmed cases in Connecticut of Enterovirus-D68, a flu-like illness.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: Connecticut fails to meet deadline on Sandy Hook mental health gun bill
The problem with instituting sweeping, costly and invasive mental health legislation is that there always are unintended consequences.