ER doctor shares how to prepare for flu season with a ‘flu box’
Courtesy of Dr. Meghan Martin
(NEW YORK) — With autumn in full swing, flu season is ramping up as well.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu season in the U.S. typically picks up in the fall and winter months and children, especially, are the most likely to get sick from influenza, a type of respiratory virus.
Here’s how to prepare for the season ahead:
What causes influenza (flu)?
The flu is caused by various influenza viruses that impact the respiratory system. For the 2024-2025 flu season, the CDC expects the dominant influenza viruses in the U.S. to be an A(H1N1) virus, an A(H3N2) virus, and a B/Victoria virus.
What are common flu symptoms?
Symptoms of the flu can vary but per the CDC, they may include fever or chills, a cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue, vomiting or diarrhea. The latter two symptoms are more common among children with the flu.
What is the flu incubation period and when are you most contagious?
Individuals with the flu can spread the virus to others, and according to the CDC, the incubation period can last between one and four days. The first three days of an infection tend to be the most contagious period.
The CDC recommends a flu vaccine for nearly everyone six months and older in the U.S. every flu season, except for anyone younger than six months or anyone with a severe, life-threatening allergy to any ingredient in a vaccine or the flu vaccine specifically.
What months are considered flu season?
The flu is most active between the fall and winter months. During the 2023 to 2024 flu season, CDC reports showed that national flu activity started to increase in October 2023 and didn’t start to decline until mid-April 2024.
How can you prepare for flu season?
Dr. Meghan Martin, a pediatric emergency medicine physician and a mom, shared in a TikTok post what she keeps on hand at home to stay prepared for flu season.
Her top items include:
Disposable vomit bags
Acetaminophen/Ibuprofen in multiple forms, including chewable tablets, liquid form or suppositories
Digital Thermometer
Zyrtec or a similar second-generation histamine for allergic reactions or hives
A portable pulse oximeter to measure heart rate and oxygenation
Packs of electrolyte powder
Cough suppresants and oral anesthetics including those in lollipop forms
Saline nasal mist
A squeeze bottle kit for over-the-counter saline solutions
(NEW YORK) — Americans can once again order free at-home COVID-19 tests from the federal government starting Thursday ahead of the upcoming respiratory virus season.
This is the third year in a row the Biden-Harris administration has allowed Americans to order over-the-counter tests at no charge.
Anyone wanting to order tests can do so at COVID.gov/tests. Four tests will be shipped free by USPS, starting Sep. 30.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) first made the announcement last month that the free COVID tests program was restarting.
“As families start to move indoors this fall and begin spending time with their loved ones, both very old and very young, they will once again have the opportunity to order up to four new COVID-19 tests free of charge and have them sent directly to their homes,” Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, said during a media briefing at the time. “These tests will help keep families and their loved ones safe this fall and winter season.”
She added that the tests will be able to detect infection from currently circulating variants.
Currently, KP.3.1.1, an offshoot of the omicron variant, is the dominant variant in the U.S., accounting for an estimated 52.7% of cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
During the same media briefing, CDC director Dr. Mandy Cohen said immunity from vaccination and previous COVID infection have helped limit the burden of COVID on the health care system.
“I do want to acknowledge that we continue to see a lot of COVID-19 activity across the country right now in tests coming back from labs,” Cohen said, adding, “Circulating COVID disease is not translating into similar increases in emergency room visits and hospitalizations or deaths.”
(NEW YORK) — Women are stocking up on birth control and asking for long-term contraception methods following President Donald Trump being elected to a second term last week, doctors say.
Searches for “birth control” and “Plan B” doubled between Nov. 2 and the two days after the election, with a notable spike the day after the election, Google Search data shows.
Doctors told ABC News that patients are worried that access to birth control and contraception might be limited after Trump takes office due to efforts made during his first term and comments made on the campaign trail.
Dr. Brittany Cline, an OB-GYN at Northwestern Medicine, in Chicago, said she has seen an increase in the number of appointments being made for contraceptive or birth control counseling as well as appointments for long-acting contraceptives being either inserted or replaced or exchanged.
“We have, in clinic, seen many patients coming in for their [intrauterine device] replacements, even this week,” she told ABC News. “On Monday, I used all of our intrauterine devices that the clinic had, and I think that this is going to continue over the next few months and even years down the line, as people try to take some control over their bodies.”
Cline said she also received a message from a patient this week requesting four years of her birth control prescription be sent to a pharmacy.
‘That’s something that I have not, you know, seen before. Usually, we supply, you know, 12 months, one year at a time,” she said. “We do know that as many medications, there is a shelf life, and so it would not be safe for me to prescribe four years’ worth of contraception to a patient because of the shelf life.”
Dr. Leslie Kantor, professor and chair of the Department of Urban Global Public Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health, in New Jersey, told ABC News that she has heard anecdotal reports of more traffic to websites that have information about birth control.
She said patients may be worried because of the federal contraceptive coverage guarantee. Under a provision of the Affordable Care Act, most private insurance plans must cover the full cost of most contraceptives, such as birth control, without making patients pay out-of-pocket costs.
If the incoming Trump administration allows employers and schools to use religious and moral exemptions to prevent coverage of contraceptives, as the White House did during Trump’s first term, this may lead to out-of-pocket costs that make contraceptives unaffordable to some, experts previously told ABC News.
The experts say patients may be concerned due to comments Trump made on the campaign trail suggesting he’s open to restricting contraceptives.
During an interview with Pittsburgh TV station KDKA-TV, Trump was asked if he supports any restrictions on a person’s right to contraceptives.
“Well, we’re looking at that and we’re going to have a policy on that very shortly,” Trump responded. “And I think it’s something you’ll find interesting and it’s another issue that’s very interesting.”
When asked to clarify if he was suggesting he was open to supporting some restrictions on contraceptives, “like the morning-after pill,” Trump dodged, saying. “Things really do have a lot to do with the states — and some states are going to have different policy than others.”
Some states have also taken it upon themselves to provide contraception access. In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer launched Take Control of Your Birth Control, a program to provide Michigan families access to free contraception including over-the-counter oral birth control pills, emergency contraception, condoms and family planning.
Both Cline and Kantor recommended that patients speak to their health care providers about the best birth control method for them as well as what options are available for them down the road.
“The advice that I would give to people right now is this is a great time to figure out the best birth control method for you, and you can do that in a variety of ways,” Kantor said. “It’s a terrific time to find an ongoing method of birth control that will work. …There’s no reason, however, to panic. Access to birth control is not going away tomorrow, and in fact, it’s not going away on the day that Trump becomes president.”
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A recall on apple juice due to potentially harmful levels of arsenic has expanded to include more brands sold at several additional retailers across the country.
The initial voluntary recall by Refresco Beverages was first announced in a class 2 enforcement report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month and included 9,535 cases of Great Value 100% Apple Juice sold at Walmart. On Monday, the recall was updated to a total of 133,500 cases of juice, which were sold at several stores in addition to Walmart, under varying brand names.
According to the FDA’s report, the recalled product “contains inorganic arsenic above action level set in guidance to industry.”
“The safety of consumers is always our top priority,” the Tampa, Florida-based Refresco Beverages said in a new statement on its website. “On August 23, 2024, out of an abundance of caution, we voluntarily initiated a recall of some select lots of 100% apple juice products produced using supplier provided concentrate when we became aware that previously manufactured product contained inorganic arsenic slightly above the FDA’s 10 ppb (parts per billion) action level as set by the FDA in June 2023 in the FDA Final Guidance to Industry on Action Level for Inorganic Arsenic in Apple Juice.”
“At this time there are no reported incidents caused by these products,” the statement continued. “We are working diligently to address the situation and encourage consumers to check the FDAs recall list … and use the information on their site to determine if they are in possession of products that fall within this proactive, voluntary recall.”
Apple juice recall expands to more brands, retailers
The newly expanded recall now includes juice that was sold at Aldi, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Market Basket, Walgreens and Weis Markets, under brands such as Nice! 100% Apple Juice and Clover Valley 100% Apple Juice, among others.
Click here for the full list of affected products from the FDA.
Originally, the Great Value brand apple juice sold at Walmart in 25 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia was the only brand recalled by Refresco Beverages.
Product details of recalled apple juice by store
The first wave of contaminated Great Value beverages in question were sold in six-packs of 8-ounce plastic bottles with the UPC code 0-78742-29655-5. The product had a “best if used by” date code of DEC2824 CT89-6.
All of the products were produced by Tampa, Florida-based Refresco Beverages US Inc.
Below, see details for the items included in the newly expanded recall.
Walmart
Recalled products sold at Walmart include Great Value 8-ounce Apple Juice in six-pack plastic bottles with “best if used by” dates of Dec. 26 and Dec. 27, 2024, and Great Value 96-ounce Apple Juice with “best by” dates of Dec. 26, Dec. 27 and Dec. 28, 2024.
The six-pack juice bottles were sold in stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. The 96-ounce containers were sold in Walmart stores in Indiana, Ohio, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and Virginia.
Aldi
Aldi is recalling Nature’s Nectar 64-ounce plastic bottles of 100% Apple Juice with “best by” dates of March 26 and 27, 2025. This product bears the UPC code 4099100036381 and was sold at Aldi stores in 16 states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin, according to a press release from Aldi U.S.
Walgreens
Walgreens is recalling Nice! 100% Apple Juice 64-ounce bottles with a March 25, 2025, “best by” date. The products were sold in Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Key Food
Key Food is recalling Urban Meadow 100% Apple Juice sold in 64-ounce bottles with a March 26, 2025, “best by” date. The products were sold in Pennsylvania stores.
BJ’s Wholesale Club
BJ’s Wholesale Club is recalling Wellsley Farms 100% Apple Juice 96-ounce bottles with a “best by” date of March 26, 2025. These products were sold in Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
Dollar General
Dollar General is recalling Clover Valley 100% Apple Juice with a “best by” date of March 27, 2025. The product was sold at the discount retailer locations in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio and South Carolina.
Weis
Weis 100% Apple Juice 64-ounce bottles with a “sell by”‘ date of March 25, 2025, are also impacted by the expanded recall. The products were sold at stores in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Market Basket
The supermarket chain is recalling Market Basket 100% Apple Juice from concentrate in 64-ounce plastic bottles with the “best by” date March 25, 2025. The impacted product was sold in Maine.
Lidl
Lidl is recalling Solevita 100% Apple Juice 64-ounce plastic bottles with the “best by” date March 27, 2025. This product was sold in Virginia.
Company responds to apple juice recalled over arsenic levels
In an earlier statement to ABC News when the recall was first initiated, a representative for Refresco said, “We are aware that certain lots of the 100% apple juice we previously manufactured contains inorganic arsenic slightly above the FDA’s 10 ppb (parts per billion) action level in the FDA Final Guidance to Industry on Action Level for Inorganic Arsenic in Apple Juice, which aims at reducing the dietary exposure of contaminants to as low as possible. As a result, impacted products are being voluntarily recalled.”
The statement continued, “At this time there are no reported complaints or incidents of illness caused by the product. Per the FDA, it is not possible to completely prevent arsenic from entering the food supply, yet exposure to high levels of inorganic arsenic can have adverse health effects.”
The representative added that “the safety of consumers and the satisfaction of our customers are our top priorities” and that the company is “working diligently to address the situation.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story was published on Aug. 26, 2024.
