Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO chief medical officer, provides updates on measles and the avian flu; Dr. Ralph Alvarado, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health and an ASTHO member...
Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO chief medical officer, provides updates on measles and the avian flu; Dr. Ralph Alvarado, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health and an ASTHO member, explains how Tennessee is building a better health care system for older Americans; on May 22, ASTHO’s next INSPIRE: Readiness webinar focused on data-ready ecosystems will take place; and Dr. Puthiery Va, ASTHO member and the Maine CDC director, recently spoke about youth mental health at an event.
Older Americans Month Web Page
Tennessee Web Page: Department of Disability and Aging
Tennessee Department of Health Web Page: Office of Healthy Aging
ASTHO Webinar: INSPIRE – Readiness – Building a Data-Ready Ecosystem for Public Health Response
JANSON SILVERS:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, May 19, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
SUSAN KANSAGRA:
Unfortunately, as of last week, we hit a new milestone, and that is, we have over 1,000 cases in the U.S.
SILVERS:
Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO's chief medical officer, provides an update on the measles situation across the country, and says states are doing what they can to keep everyone healthy.
KANSAGRA:
And so, they're doing things like, for example, increasing testing, and availability of testing, training providers on when to test for measles, helping perform contact tracing of individuals who have known to have measles to help prevent further spread, and helping share recommendations around MMR vaccine.
SILVERS:
Kansagra also tells us where we stand with avian influenza.
KANSAGRA:
Over the last year, we've seen 70 cases of avian influenza among people in the United States. So, about 41 of those cases came from exposure to sick dairy cows, and then another 26 came from exposure to poultry farms.
SILVERS:
Kansagra adds that the hard work of public health is keeping us all informed.
KANSAGRA:
And thus far, over 16,000 people have been monitored after exposure to infected animals, and over 800 of those individuals have been tested for H5N1, you know, they've displayed symptoms that were of concern. So, the majority of cases that we've detected has been through this surveillance.
SILVERS:
May is Older Americans Month, and Tennessee is hard at work to make sure older citizens are healthy. Here's commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health and ASTHO member, Dr. Ralph Alvarado.
RALPH ALVARADO:
For our department, our mission is to, you know, protect, promote, and prove that health and well-being of all people in Tennessee and older citizens are part of that cohort. And so for us, it's kind of our charge as a department to take care of people.
SILVERS:
Tennessee actually has two departments focused on older adults. The state has the Office of Healthy Aging, and it has the Department of Disability and Aging. Alvarado says taking care of older adults helps everyone.
ALVARADO:
So, a lot of these folks, if they age and they're sicker, they wind up also consuming a lot of health care resources. So, it behooves all of us, society in general, just from a philosophical standpoint, to make sure that as people are getting older, that they're as healthy as possible, as independent as possible.
SILVERS:
Alvarado says he wants Tennessee to be the premier place for older adults to get great health care.
ALVARADO:
And I think it benefits everybody if we take care of those who have taken care of us over the years and provided us wisdom and care and love. And just to show that back to those folks as they get older. So, we want to be that state where people are looking to retire. We want them to come here, but we have to create the environment for them to prepare for it.
SILVERS:
Learn more about Tennessee's efforts toward healthy aging and about Older Americans Month. There are links in the show notes.
Also, on Thursday of this week, May 22, ASTHO's next INSPIRE: Readiness webinar. This one focuses on building a data-ready ecosystem for public health response. Learn more and sign up when you click the link in the show notes.
Finally, as part of Mental Health Awareness Month, Dr. Puthiery Va, ASTHO member and the Maine CDC director, spoke about mental health at the Maine Prevention Network of York County's event. Dr. Va addressed the importance of partnerships in strengthening youth mental health, specifically.
That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers, you're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
