US sets record for billion-dollar weather disasters in a year — and there's still 4 months to go The deadly firestorm in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia’s watery storm surge helped push the United States to an annual record for the number of weather disasters that cost at least $1 billion. AP News

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EU's disaster response fund at limit as climate crises mount The European Commission warned on Tuesday that the EU urgently needs more funding to respond to climate change-fuelled crises after its emergency aid reserve was exhausted in both 2021 and 2022 and natural disasters have increased this year. Kate Abnett Reuters

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CDC's New Chief Plans to Rebuild Trust in the Agency 'Trust is absolutely foundational to our ability to help Americans,' says Mandy Cohen Michael DePeau-Wilson medpagetoday

New CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH, wants to rebuild trust in the agency -- both internally and with the general public -- through improving communication, focusing on data collection, and translating that data into rapid responses to public health crises.

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Exclusive: CDC hopes new ‘Wild to Mild’ ad campaign will tame skepticism about flu vaccines | CNN Some Americans have given up on flu shots because almost everyone remembers a season they got one and then got sick anyway. Brenda Goodman CNN

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Group of 20 countries agree to increase clean energy but reach no deal on phasing out fossil fuels Group of 20 leaders have agreed to triple renewable energy and try to increase the funds for climate change-related disasters but maintained the status quo with regards to phasing out carbon spewing coal. AP News

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UK reports nursing home COVID outbreak involving BA.2.86 variant Toa55 / iStock CIDRAP

In a technical briefing on SARS-CoV-2 variants today, the UK Health Security Agency (HSA) revealed that, of 34 confirmed involving the highly mutated BA.2.86 variant, 28 were from a single outbreak at a nursing home, an early sign that it can spread in close-contact settings.

In hopeful sign for the US, flu vaccine shows strong protection against hospitalization in South America, CDC report shows | CNN Early data from South America shows that the flu vaccine has cut the risk of hospitalization in half this year, a hopeful sign that the vaccine will provide a similar level of protection in the United States as the country heads into its own respiratory virus season. Deidre McPhillips CNN

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US CDC says existing antibodies can work against new COVID variant Early research data has shown that antibodies produced by prior infection or existing vaccines against the coronavirus were sufficient to protect against the new BA.2.86 variant, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday. Reuters Reuters

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Trump surgeon general admits Trump White House made mistakes during Covid The Trump administration made some serious missteps during the coronavirus pandemic, Trump’s top doctor Jerome Adams admits. Sarah Owermohle STAT

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Demand for at-home Covid-19 tests is high, but don’t expect a shortage anytime soon | CNN The US is in the midst of a surge of Covid-19, with weekly hospital admissions and test positivity rates increasing, according to federal data. It should come as no surprise that some Americans say they’re having a hard time finding at-home Covid-19 tests – often the first step when someone feels ill or finds out they have been exposed to the coronavirus. Amanda Musa CNN

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Manufacturers say that a sudden increase in demand, not a slump in production, is to blame for any problems finding tests on store shelves.

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