Iowa news
How a rural hospital broke language barriers to provide COVID vaccines to immigrants
Many rural U.S. towns, like Seymour, Iowa, have seen an influx of immigrants over the past decade. Now, communities and medical systems that lack experience supporting people who speak languages other than English are adjusting. And, increasingly, the support needed goes beyond Spanish and includes little-spoken languages, like the Indigenous Mayan language, Chuj, spoken by some Seymour residents who immigrated from Guatemala. So it required some creativity — and the help of a handful of trilingual high school students from Seymour — to make sure those residents would have access to information in their language at the vaccine clinic. (Iowa Public Radio)
New reported COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations in Iowa drop to lowest point since July 2021
New reported COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continued to decline in Iowa over the past week, according to data from the Iowa Department of Public Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday. Both metrics reached levels not seen since late July 2021, prior to the surges fueled by the delta and omicron variants. The health and human services department reported 154 people hospitalized in Iowa with COVID-19, a drop of more than 25% since last week. Of those, 25 were in intensive care units, also down from one week ago. (Des Moines Register)
Report ranks Iowa in top tier for emergency preparedness
A new report has ranked Iowa in the top tier when it comes to emergency preparedness, an improvement from its ranking last year. The annual report from the non-profit Trust for America’s Health ranked states’ emergency preparedness based on 10 factors, such as their ability to expand health care in an emergency, ability to handle increase in demand at laboratories and workers’ access to paid time off. The report ranks states into low, middle and high tiers. Iowa, along with 16 other states, was ranked in the high tier. (Iowa Public Radio)
National news
Nurses are waiting months for licenses as hospital staffing shortages spread
An NPR examination of license applications found that nurses fresh out of school and those moving to new states often get tangled in bureaucratic red tape for months, waiting for state approval to treat patients. Almost 1 in 10 nurses who were issued new licenses last year waited six months or longer, according to an analysis of licensing records from 32 states. More than a third of these 226,000 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses waited at least three months. (National Public Radio)
Phishing attacks impersonating LinkedIn are up 232% in the last month alone
During the period the world has dubbed “the great resignation,” phishing scammers are shifting tactics to take advantage of those looking for a new career or place of employment. When phishing scammers are coming up with a new campaign idea, they want a brand they can impersonate that has a significant reach to improve their chances of a successful attack. With an estimated 67 million monthly active users, LinkedIn is a pretty great choice. According to new data from security vendor Egress, a significant rise in the number of attacks impersonating LinkedIn is being seen. (KnowBe4)
A 2nd booster may come this fall. It might not be the same shot you got last time.
If another COVID-19 booster shot is needed this fall, it might not be the same shot you got the last time. U.S. health officials say that coronavirus cases could pick up again in the colder months, and scientists are continuing to evaluate whether another dose will be needed. If Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna get their way, the next round of vaccines will contain a new formulation that targets the super-contagious omicron variant, or perhaps two strains of the coronavirus, instead of just one. (NBC News)