FEATURES (COVID-19 broadcast)
COVID-19: Dating Apps are Offering Vaccine Badges
MSNBC (May 21) interviewed Dr. Anne Rimoin, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology, about moves by dating apps to provide “vaccine badges” for their customers. “This is a really interesting new way of thinking about how we’re going to get to this number of people vaccinated that we’re looking for,” Rimoin said. “There all these benefits to being vaccinated.”
COVID-19: “It’s not a Free Pass Being Young”
KPCC-FM (May 20) interviewed Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology and community health sciences, about vaccination windows opening for 12-15-year-olds in California. “We’re already at 35% in Los Angeles County of 16 to 17 year-olds have received one dose, so that bodes well,” Kim-Farley said. “There are many students who are eager to have the vaccine (although) some are still who may be vaccine hesitant, (but) 24% of the cases that are coming up new these days are in children.”
COVID-19: UCLA Study Found a 22% Increase in Food Insecurity in California During the Pandemic
KNX-AM (May 20) referenced research by Dr. May Wang, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of community health sciences, about how hunger increased in California during the first months of the pandemic.
COVID-19: Food Insufficiency rates Increased in Southland During Pandemic
Spectrum News 1 (May 19) quoted Dr. May Wang, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of community health sciences, about her research into how hunger increased in California during the first months of the pandemic. “Our findings show regional differences, across California, in food insufficiency risk,” Wang said. A similar item ran on Texas News Today.
COVID-19: California to Hold Off on CDC Mask Guidelines
KPCC-FM (May 18) interviewed Dr. Timothy Brewer, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology, about how California state officials’ decision to delay implementing the latest CDC guidelines on masks until June 15. “You need to separate the recommendation into two parts: one is the science behind it, and I think there the evidence is accumulating that the vaccines are preventing infection,” Brewer said. “The second is what’s the motivation behind it, and I think in part, what the CDC was trying to do was encourage people to get vaccinated … I think California is being a little smarter about it by allowing us a transition time.”
COVID-19: Life Beyond the Pandemic
PBS (May 16) interviewed Dr. Anne Rimoin, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology, for the flagship “Common Ground” program. “An infection anywhere is a potential infection everywhere ... this pandemic has driven this home,” Rimoin said. “Everything is interconnected. Just one issue will directly impact others and we really need to think about mental health holistically as we move forward.” Rimoin appeared with Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden; Dr. Kavita Patel, managing director, Center for Health Policy at the Brookings Institution; and Dr. Michael Thomas Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota. The program is running widely on APTV and PBS affiliates across the United States, including Connecticut Public Television, WGBY-TV (MA) and Prime Publishers (CT).
FEATURES (COVID-19 text and online)
COVID-19: Kevin McCarthy Might Have had Coronavirus Infection When he Attended Son’s Wedding
The Los Angeles Times (May 22) interviewed Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology and community health sciences, about the likelihood the House Republican leader was infectious, but asymptomatic, as he mingled with family members and others at a December wedding. “It highlights the fact that COVID is highly transmissible — that if you are in settings where people are not masking and not practicing physical distancing, and if there’s high community transmission rates going on, it is very possible to be mixing with someone who is asymptomatic themselves but capable of transmitting disease,” Kim-Farley said. “It’s always helpful and supportive of public health guidance when those in elected positions try to emulate and follow the guidance that the constituents are being asked to abide by.” It also ran in the Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee, Bakersfield Californian, Modesto Bee, SFGate, Wichita (KS) Eagle, Lexington (KY) Herald Leader, the Myrtle Beach (SC) Sun, Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, Gulfport (MS) Sun Herald, the Kankakee Valley (IN) Post News, Janesville (WI) Gazette, AroundWorld Journal, ArcaMax, Today News Post, Latest News Post, and W3News (Australia).
COVID-19: California Boldly Envisions a Post-Pandemic Workplace Without Masks
The Los Angeles Times (May 20) quoted Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology and community health sciences, about California’s proposal to relax current rules about masking and physical distancing in the workplace. “I feel that they are trying to be conservative,” Kim-Farley said. “I think it’s very likely that the board, as we go out further and have more and more people vaccinated and go to extremely low levels of disease circulating in the population, I would anticipate that they would revisit these recommendations.” It also ran in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
COVID-19: More California Households Went Hungry Early in Pandemic
USA Today (May 19) quoted Dr. May Wang, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of community health sciences, about her research into how hunger increased in California during the first months of the pandemic. “In particular, disadvantaged households in the San Francisco Bay Area – where income and educational levels are higher, but income inequality and cost of living are also higher – seem to be at higher risk for food insufficiency,” Wang said. Similar items ran in MSN, KFI-AM, City News Service, MyNewsLa, Spectrum News 1, HealthNews Digest, Sciencenews, World News, Juice, HeySoCal, and the Long Beach Signal Tribune. Also quoted were Dr. Evelyn Blumenberg, director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and doctoral students Nhan and Miriam Pinski. “Notably, the Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the largest in the nation, responded by providing free food at 'Grab and Go' food centers not only to students but to community members, as well," Nhan said. “In addition, the presence of an active local food policy council may have supported efforts of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to widely distribute food through community-based organizations including faith-based entities.”
COVID-19: Dr. Anne Rimoin to Keynote at LABest 2021 on ‘The Next Pandemic’
Sciencenews (May 19) quoted Dr. Anne Rimoin, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology, in an advance about her keynote address - “COVID-19 and Beyond: Preventing the Next Pandemic Before it Starts” – at the this month’s LABest 2021 conference, a yearly life sciences conference hosted by the university. “The truth is it could have been a lot worse … we really need to learn from this experience,” said Rimoin, who will speak on the event’s third day, Thursday, May 27, from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. “What we need here in the United States is better prevention; we have to rethink what pandemic preparedness means.” Also quoted was Dr. Judith Gasson, the event’s senior advisor from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and director of UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Dr. Rimoin has achieved national stature due to her two decades of work with Ebola virus in the Congo,” Gasson said. “More recently she has demonstrated a superb ability to explain both the scientific and the public health messages regarding COVID-19 in a way that is understandable to the general public.”
COVID-19: Worried About Returning to Work?
The Los Angeles Times (May 19) interviewed Dr. Pouran D. Faghri, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of environmental health sciences, about how employers should involve their workers in return-to-work decisions. “Let’s rethink work design,” Faghri said. “Let’s think about how we can provide better mental health for employees to have better physical health to perform their jobs and use this as an opportunity, a starting point in the United States, and allow our workplaces to be a better place to work.” Also quoted was Dr. Yifang Zhu, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of environmental health sciences and senior associate dean for academic program, on improvements to HVAC systems in the workplace to protect against infectious disease. “There’s plenty of evidence already showing that the COVID-19 virus could be airborne, could be transmitted by aerosols,” Zhu said. “You don’t want those transmissions to go from one room to the other room.”
COVID-19: Will COVID-19 Change Work for the Better?
The Los Angeles Times (May 19) interviewed Dr. Pouran D. Faghri, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of environmental health sciences, about how employers should involve their workers in return-to-work decisions. “Let’s rethink work design,” Faghri said. “Let’s think about how we can provide better mental health for employees to have better physical health to perform their jobs and use this as an opportunity, a starting point in the United States, and allow our workplaces to be a better place to work.” It also ran on BreathingLabs.
COVID-19: California Considers Dropping Mask, Distancing Rules at Workplaces if Everyone Vaccinated
The Los Angeles Times (May 19) interviewed Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology and community health sciences, about the possibility California may drop mask and physical distancing rules for employees at work sites if everyone there is fully vaccinated. “I feel that they are trying to be conservative,” Kim-Farley said. “I think it’s very likely that the board, as we go out further and have more and more people vaccinated and go to extremely low levels of disease circulating in the population, I would anticipate that they would revisit these recommendations.” It also ran in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Sacramento Bee, Bakersfield Californian, Santa Rosa (CA) Press-Democrat, MSN, Petaluma (CA) Argus Courier, California News Times, and the North Bay Business Journal. Kim-Farley was also quoted in Good Word News.
COVID-19: A Giant Wave of Disabling Grief
Scientific American (May 19) interviewed Dr. Vickie Mays, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of health policy and management, about the impact of the pandemic on mental health in the United States after some 586,000 COVID-19-deaths. “If we don't find ways to bring attention to the emotional suffering that people are coping with right now, it will turn into more serious problems,” Mays said. “Grief is complicated by (the pandemic) taking away so many of the traditional ways you would grieve.” Mays was also referenced in
COVID-19: Two Factors not Included in the CDC Guidelines
The Insider (May 19) quoted Dr. Anne Rimoin, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology, about the CDC’s newly-announced guideline on vaccinated people wearing masks in public. “It doesn’t mean that you have to take your mask off,” Rimoin said. “It means that you can take your mask off.” It also ran on Yahoo.
COVID-19: Vaccinating Teenagers Vital to Vanquishing Pandemic in California
The Los Angeles Times (May 20) interviewed Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology and community health sciences, about the importance of extending the state’s vaccination campaign to teens and adolescents. “There are still significant numbers of people who have not yet been vaccinated or who are vaccine hesitant,” Kim-Farley said. “It will be important for children, as they become eligible for vaccination, to receive the vaccines if we’re going to achieve even more reductions in disease.” It also ran in the Venice (FL) Sun.
COVID-19: Six Things to Know About California's new Face Mask Rules
The Los Angeles Patch (May 20) interviewed Dr. Timothy Brewer, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology, about comparing the federal CDC’s guidance on face masks and those of the state of California. “So I think, actually, California's guidelines are clear, and it's the CDC's recommendations that are confusing,” Brewer said. "And it's important to remember the CDC makes recommendations. Enforcement actually occurs at the state level.” It also ran on MSN, the California Patch, Moorpark Patch, Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch, and the Hollywood Patch.
COVID-19: Can Sports win the day?
WebMD (May 19) interviewed Dr. Timothy Brewer, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology, about whether the Tokyo Olympics, postponed last year due to the pandemic, should again be canceled or postponed. “This is really all about money,” Brewer said. “Japan is still doing really well compared to the U.S. and Europe in their peaks, (but) they haven't vaccinated a lot of people, so why run the risk of causing more spread? I think the risk is not necessarily to the athletes, but more to the Japanese general population.” It also ran on Medscape.
COVID-19: It’s Okay to Keep Wearing Your Mask
Well+Good (May 19) interviewed Dr. Timothy Brewer, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology, about the benefits of continuing to wear a mask, even with changes in the CDC’s guidelines. “There’s really no downside to wearing a mask right now,” Brewer said. “It’s likely that we may become more of a mask-wearing society similar to a number of western Pacific countries where mask wearing, particularly in respiratory viral season, is considered a reasonable thing to do and probably does reduce the risk of transmission of influenza, coronaviruses, and other respiratory viruses.”
COVID-19: Worried About Returning to Work?
The Los Angeles Times (May 19) interviewed Dr. Pouran D. Faghri, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of environmental health sciences, about how employers should involve their workers in return-to-work decisions. “Let’s rethink work design,” Faghri said. “Let’s think about how we can provide better mental health for employees to have better physical health to perform their jobs and use this as an opportunity, a starting point in the United States, and allow our workplaces to be a better place to work.” Also quoted was Dr. Yifang Zhu, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of environmental health sciences and senior associate dean for academic program, on improvements to HVAC systems in the workplace to protect against infectious disease. “There’s plenty of evidence already showing that the COVID-19 virus could be airborne, could be transmitted by aerosols,” Zhu said. “You don’t want those transmissions to go from one room to the other room.”
COVID-19: California Considers Dropping Mask, Distancing Rules at Workplaces if Everyone Vaccinated
The Los Angeles Times (May 19) interviewed Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology and community health sciences, about the possibility California may drop mask and physical distancing rules for employees at work sites if everyone there is fully vaccinated. “I feel that they are trying to be conservative,” Kim-Farley said. “I think it’s very likely that the board, as we go out further and have more and more people vaccinated and go to extremely low levels of disease circulating in the population, I would anticipate that they would revisit these recommendations.”
COVID-19: A Giant Wave of Disabling Grief
Scientific American (May 19) interviewed Dr. Vickie Mays, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of health policy and management, about the impact of the pandemic on mental health in the United States after some 586,000 COVID-19-deaths. “If we don't find ways to bring attention to the emotional suffering that people are coping with right now, it will turn into more serious problems,” Mays said. “Grief is complicated by (the pandemic) taking away so many of the traditional ways you would grieve.”
COVID-19: Two Factors Not Included in the CDC Guidelines
The Insider (May 19) quoted Dr. Anne Rimoin, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology, about the CDC’s newly-announced guideline on vaccinated people wearing masks in public. “It doesn’t mean that you have to take your mask off,” Rimoin said. “It means that you can take your mask off.”
COVID-19: Herd Immunity? Only One Bay Area County is Even Close
The CalMatters (May 18) quoted Dr. Shira Shafir, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health associate professor of epidemiology and community health sciences, about the impact of California’s localized vaccination programs. “We can’t just look at one county and say ‘Hey, this county got to 80%. But (the county next door) is at 60%.’ That means neither county is where it needs to be,” Shafir said. “Really, what’s important is related to the probability that someone infected comes in contact with someone who is susceptible.” It also ran on KFMB-TV (CBS affiliate, San Diego) and in the East Bay Times, San Jose Mercury News, Eureka Times-Standard, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Monterey County Herald, Chico Enterprise-Record, Fort Bragg Advocate-News, Vallejo (CA) Times-Herald, Mendocino (CA) Beacon, Ukiah (CA) Daily Journal, Willits (CA) News, Paradise (CA) Post, Lake County (CA) Record Bee, Oroville (CA) Mercury-Register, Vacaville (CA) Daily Reporter, Red Bluff (CA) Daily News, Woodland (CA) Daily Democrat, and Hanford (CA) Sentinel, and Shafir was quoted by the Pasadena Outlook.
COVID-19: How Do You Persuade Someone to get Vaccinated?
The Los Angeles Times (May 17) interviewed Dr. Chandra Ford, founding director of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health and professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, about answering individuals’ questions about the vaccines. “A lot of information about the benefits of getting vaccinated are there, but some questions that might not be addressed in our general discussion about the vaccine, and the way we hear people talk about it in the media, when we’re really trying to promote vaccination is `you don’t really address some of the concerns’,” Ford said. “I think these are legitimate questions that a consumer has a right to ask.” It also ran on Yahoo, MSN, and Nouvelles-du-Monde.
COVID-19: Kids’ New Ticket to Freedom
The Los Angeles Times (May 17) quoted Dr. Chandra Ford, founding director of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health and professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, about how best to reach vaccine-hesitant people as immunization becomes available to younger children. “We have to meet people where they are, so we have to actually hear where they are first,” Ford said.
COVID Fears Keep Many Latino Kids out of Classrooms
MedicalXPress (May 17) cited research by Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of health policy and management, about the toll the pandemic has taken on Latino Californians. Similar items ran on Impacto Latino, RadioBilingue, and LaConexionUSA, and Hayes-Bautista was also referenced in the Laguna Beach Independent.
FEATURES (Other)
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health efforts spotlighted in ASPPH Friday Letter
The ASPPH Friday Letter (May 21) reported six items related to UCLA Fielding School of Public Health faculty and staff experts, FSPH efforts related to the pandemic, or other news. These included reports on research by Dr. Jian Li and a study by Dr. Elizabeth D’Amico; an interview of Aleta Sprague in The Guardian on gender equity; and work by Dr. Nadereh Pourat and Dr. Emmeline Chuang. The Letter also listed an upcoming conference on veteran’s health issues led by Dr. Kenneth Wells; and upcoming performances of the opera “Veteran Journeys,” also written by Wells.
Opinion: “Structural Racism - The Rules and Relations of Inequity”
Ethnicity & Disease (May 20) published a commentary co-authored by Dr. Gilbert Gee, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of community health sciences, about the differences of structural and institutional racism, especially in regards to health and health equity. “Developing effective policies and interventions to address racial inequities in health requires an empirical literature that characterizes the nature of structural racism,” the authors wrote. “We must carefully delineate institutional from structural racism and accelerate research on both.”
Why Scientists are Studying the Genetic Tricks of the Longest-Lived Animals
Smithsonian (May 18) quoted Dr. Steven Horvath, UCLA Fielding School professor of human genetics and biostatistics, about epigenetic analysis, which allows researchers to determine an individual’s age relative to the maximum lifespan of its species. “To me, this is a miracle,” Horvath said. “Let’s say you go into the jungle and find a new species — could be a new bat or any other mammal. I can tell you pretty accurately the maximum lifespan of the species.” It also ran in Genetic Literacy.
UCLA Researcher Helps Study How Long Working Hours Are Killing People
Our Weekly (May 18, Los Angeles) quoted Dr. Jian Li, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of environmental health sciences, co-author of a World Health Organization (WHO)-sponsored study that found long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016 globally, a 29% increase since 2000. “Our working group of 21 experts from 10 countries from around the globe found 37 studies on the effect of long working hours on ischemic heart disease,” Li said. “This huge body of evidence was by consensus rated as sufficient evidence for harmfulness & showed an increased risk of ischemic heart disease of 17%.”
How Dairy Affects Your Gut Health
HealthDigest (May 18) quoted Dr. Dana Hunnes, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health assistant professor of community health sciences, about how dairy products affect the digestive system. “[The] breakdown of milk (or any food) into its component building blocks allows it to be readily absorbed into our bloodstream,” Hunnes said. “Our bodies do not have to work harder to digest milk than other foods; however, if we lack the lactase enzyme, or have less of it, it becomes harder to break down lactose into more easily absorbable sugars (glucose and galactose).”
New Commission Tackles how National Health Data are Collected, Shared, and Used
Health Affairs (May 18) reported on the appointment of Dr. Ninez Ponce, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of health policy and management and director of the Fielding School’s UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, to a new, independent National Commission to Transform Public Health Data Systems, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
Study Finds Working Long Hours Kills 745,000 People a Year
KFI-AM (May 17) quoted Dr. Jian Li, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of environmental health sciences, co-author of a World Health Organization (WHO)-sponsored study that found long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016 globally, a 29% increase since 2000. “Our working group of 21 experts from 10 countries from around the globe found 37 studies on the effect of long working hours on ischemic heart disease,” Li said. “This huge body of evidence was by consensus rated as sufficient evidence for harmfulness & showed an increased risk of ischemic heart disease of 17%.” Similar stories ran on City News Service, KEIB-AM, and MyNewsLA, while Li’s work was quoted or referenced by MSN, EFE (Spain), and more than 50 other outlets in Europe and internationally, including Portal Politico and Que (Mexico), Noticiasxtra (Spanish), Diario del Alto Aragon (Spain) MetroNews (Ecuador), Basel Zeitung (Switzerland), Radio RSG, RadioEuskirchen, Frankische Nachricten, Forschung Wissen, and Vodafone (Germany), TVN (Poland), Diario (Mexico), El Dinero, Diario Centro, Notiultimas, and Noticias (Dominican Republic), World News, IDW, Bochumer Zeitung, Juraforum, Newschant, Positivity, Weil, and the Angola Press.
