Health

More people have entered voluntary quarantine for coronavirus monitoring in Monroe County.  None of them shows any symptoms of illness.

There are now nine people quarantining themselves in Monroe County after returning from China.

The public health department said the isolation is voluntary, but everyone under quarantine has been cooperating with government requests.

Under voluntary quarantine, people are taking their temperatures and checking in with the health department every day.

When the federal Food and Drug Administration announced it was stepping up enforcement of its rules against flavored vape products last month, the agency said the goal was to diminish the products’ appeal to young people.

The FDA specifically named fruit and mint flavors as drivers of youth use of e-cigarettes.

But many of those flavors are still available in local vape shops.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has introduced a bill to fund community support programs for people who have substance use disorders, as well as their families. 

The bill, called the Family Support Services for Addiction Act of 2020, would create a $25 million pool of grant money for non-profit organizations that work in the addiction field.

The coronavirus that emerged in China late last year is still without a permanent name.

The World Health Organization established guidelines in 2015 to help scientists name new infections.

Now, researchers at the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses are working on classifying and naming the 2019 novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 600 people (though no cases have been confirmed in New York).

One person in Monroe County is under “voluntary quarantine” for novel coronavirus surveillance after returning from China, public health commissioner Michael Mendoza said Tuesday.

The person has not shown any symptoms, but entered quarantine at home after arriving in Monroe County on Saturday.

Two people died of the flu in the latest week of statistics released by the Monroe County public health department.

Both deaths were people older than 75, according to the report, which runs through Jan. 25. They bring the total death toll of this flu season to four.

In a message to Monroe County school superintendents and nurses Thursday afternoon, public health commissioner Michael Mendoza said there are no suspected cases of novel coronavirus locally.