News for the Week 2023-07-17

The Prepared Support - July 17, 2023

News

Make a top-level comment for a new story/topic. Discussions about the topic should be in the replies to the top-level comment. That way things stay organized and every main comment as you scroll down is a different piece of news.

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Prepper Chat Night is this Friday evening, July 21, on Discord at 6PM Pacific / 9PM Eastern. Join our Discord now at this link so you’ll be ready when the event starts:

https://discord.gg/ZYhF3P7D?event=1119468385466589285

Prepper Chat Nights are on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month. It’s a video call where we mostly talk about our recent prepping experiences and lessons. The video part is optional, and some choose to skip that part for privacy reasons.

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Note: The Friday chats aren’t the only reason to join Discord. While the website remains the better place for guides, articles, and experience reports, Discord really shines for conversation or helping someone through an immediate situation. The two work well together, and I use both every day.

 

“RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization in U.S. infants, with roughly 1% to 3% winding up in the hospital each year for these infections.”

And finally there’s a way to protect infants from RSV! A new preventative treatment was just approved by the FDA. All infants should take nirsevimab (Beyfortus) at the beginning of their first RSV season (fall/winter). (Higher risk infants should also take it at the beginning of their second RSV season.)

https://www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/generalpediatrics/105507

 

Global warming: what to expect and what can be done about it

I recommend watching the whole video, but here are a few of my takeaways:

1) The damage is very non-linear. One more inch of flooding is no big deal… until that’s the inch that floods your living room or destroys an ecosystem. That’s why it’s easy to underestimate global warming until it hits a threshold to affect you personally.

2) Infrastructure was designed for historical ranges of temperatures and water levels. As both of these change, such infrastructure tends to get destroyed.

3) Adapting to global warming is expensive. Communities that can’t afford those costs will be destroyed. Expect lots of climate refugees… and hope that you won’t be one of them.

4) Switching to 90% wind and solar is not very expensive, but will not happen fast enough without government influence in that direction. Getting to 100% is much harder with current battery technology.

https://www.theclimatebrink.com/p/why-are-climate-impacts-escalating

 

Medical supply shortage will get worse.

This Wednesday an EF3 tornado with wind speed of 150 mph damaged a major manufacturing plant for medications that produced 25% of all injectable medications used in US hospitals. 50,000 pallets of medications inside the plant were destroyed, and the plant will need to be repaired before it can resume production. Expect long-term shortages of anesthetics and various injectable medications.

https://apnews.com/article/heat-wave-arizona-flooding-climate-change-b7377765a8a0c2b1fd46107261e79e9d

Note: This medication shortage is a climate change impact. North Carolina was fairly safe from tornadoes like this one until tornado alley expanded eastward over the last decade. We need to be prepared for such disruptions to happen more frequently as global warming intensifies.

 

More details on drug shortages due to a tornado damaging a Pfizer plant this week. Overall drug shortages are now the worst they’ve been in the last ten years.

https://apnews.com/article/pfizer-factory-tornado-drugs-north-carolina-3ce4b4ee0be984f751e0173091a3cdd7

 

Simultaneous heatwaves and flooding in swaths of the US, Europe & Asia are being fuelled by a specific jet stream pattern that creates a series of “heat domes” which in turn drive up temperatures.

https://www.ft.com/content/25974611-f2b4-4a32-9e21-02a102895b6c

Found via CarbonBubble on Mastodon

 

Does it seem like people mumble more these days? That’s a common symptom of hearing loss. Getting help with your hearing can improve your health in a surprising variety of ways: 48% less cognitive decline, reduced social isolation, lower risk of falls and depression, and lower risk of hospitalization.

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/hearing-aids-may-slow-dementia-onset

 

Thousands of homes evacuated due to wildfire in Rhodes, a Greek island.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66279520

 

West Nile virus and mosquito bite prevention. Aside from talking about the threat of West Nile and other mosquito-borne illnesses, they mention an effective option for reducing local mosquito populations.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/parasites-and-plagues/105563