Well, Title 42 ends today because the
public health emergency status for COVID
also ends today in the here in the US.
To help us understand the
healthcare side of that,
I'm joined by our medical expert
Doctor David Winter from Baylor
Scott and Way Health.
Now Doctor Winter,
does this mean that COVID is no longer
a health threat in this country?
No, no, no.
There's still plenty of COVID out there,
thankfully and fortunately,
most of those cases are mild right now.
So the termination of the Public
Health Emergency Act means that
the federal government will no
longer subsidize COVID testing,
COVID medications and COVID vaccines.
They also don't will not require laboratories
to send the results of COVID te.
So we're going to have less trag
and more expensive vaccines,
testing and medications for COVID to share.
OK, what about those COVID vacc?
Are those still being recommend?
Yeah, the federal, the FDA is sg
right now that if you are old and frail
or if you have some medical condition
that might weaken your immune system,
you ought to consider getting
another booster after four mont.
And the rest of it looks like is
probably gonna be about once a ,
but that still remains to be se.
More to come on that later. OK.
We talked about this last week
just a bit the World Health
Organization declaring an end
to the global covet emergency.
Well, since folks are about
to travel for summer,
what will that mean for them?
Yeah, I think we need to undersd
that the World Health Organizatn
is now removing funding for somf
the poorer countries that they use to
help monitor and some treat the COVID.
Also they're going to have
less collaboration,
so less information we're going to know.
So be cautious when you travel,
you might check with your travel
agents track with the CDC,
they can they track these cases
at least they they were right n.
But it's going to decrease our
awareness and our ability to trk
where COVID is out there in the world.
I will say Doctor Winter you knw
without revealing any names or anything,
I've I've I know several people
that are dealing with COVID rigt
now and they actually managed
to avoid it during the pandemic.
So what are some other tips for folks
who do find themselves wanting to travel
or get out and about a little bit more.
Yeah, I would first check with e
CDC look CDC travel you can look it up
on the web and they'll tell your
country what's going on out the,
not only with COVID but other infections.
Other vaccines that you might nd
right now it's it's we're getting back
to traveling and just need to be aware
there's a lot of diseases out t.
Masking can have some effect.
You don't have to wear a mask everywhere,
but be careful in crowded areas,
particularly in some of the poorer countries.
the US Preventative Task Force s
we switch gears gears here chang
their recommendation on breast cancer
screening for with mammograms.
They now recommend those screens
start at age 40. Why that chang?
The reason is because we're seeing more
breast cancer in young women. N.
We're not sure why that's happe,
but it's very clear that if
we find breast cancer early,
it has a high chance of a cure.
We find it late.
Late stage breast cancer is often deadly,
so getting mammograms early is important.
How frequent should get those
is still under debates.
the US Preventive services says every
other year, starting at age 40.
American Cancer Society says no,
no, get one every year.
Some debate about that and some
reason you might want to discuss
that with your physician.
Parkinson's disease is somethinu
and I've talked about before as well.
It has a new treatment strategy,
boxing. How does that work?
Yeah, Well, first, you're not bg
boxing with somebody else, Okay.
You're not going to get punched in the face.
This is boxing with a punching .
And we know that Parkinson's
has stiff muscles, a tremor,
last loss of balance,
and that kind of boxing
activity tends to decrease that.
Several studies have shown that.
Know people who don't have park,
they still think that that's a d
idea to get that kind of exerci.
I don't like getting punched in the face,
so I might try a punching bag.
But I don't know about boxing as an exercise.
I don't want to get punched in the face.
Neither do I. Dr. Winter,
thank you so much for joining u.
Always appreciate your insight.
Thank you to Charlotte.
Have a good weekend. You too. Let me.