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Measles Scare in Pima County Turns out to Be Vaccine Reaction
A suspected measles case in Pima County was confirmed to be a rare vaccine reaction, the Arizona Department of Health Services announced on April 1. The 1-year-old child, initially feared to have measles, is recovering and now has 93% protection from the disease due to their first vaccine dose.
The Pima County Health Department, along with state health officials and the local hospital, treated the case with caution, assuming it was infectious. Adults born after 1957 are encouraged to review their vaccination records due to current outbreaks in several states. Measles can be prevented through vaccination, with two doses of the MMR vaccine being 97% effective.
The Pima County Health Department says side effects from the vaccine can resemble measles symptoms, such reactions are rare and not contagious. As of now, there are 483 measles cases across various states, but none in Arizona.
Measles is highly contagious, spreading through direct contact and air, with a 90% infection rate for unvaccinated individuals exposed to the virus.
Dr. Phil Says Involvement in RFK Jr.’S MAHA ‘Not a Political Issue’
Dr. Phil McGraw says he is concerned about the state of children’s health in the U.S., citing alarming statistics while defending the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative.
“We have one of the sickest generations of young people of any developed countries,” Dr. Phil said Monday on NewsNation’s “CUOMO.” “We’re 33 out of 38 among developed countries right now in terms of the presence of chronic disease in young people.” The television personality highlighted a dramatic increase in chronic diseases among American children, saying rates have risen from around 2% to 3% in the 1960s to approximately 40% today.
He said this is “a serious problem that can be eliminated in one generation, if we’ll just do a few different things that are totally doable.”
Dr. Phil outlined several key changes needed to address these health concerns, including:
- Reducing children’s screen time
- Increasing outdoor activities
- Cutting processed foods
- Removing unnecessary chemicals from the food supply
Some “70% of our young people right now can’t qualify for military service,” Dr. Phil said, attributing this to preventable conditions including obesity, Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
Is Whole Milk Healthier? Why RFK Jr. Wants to Ditch the Obama-Era Requirement for Lower Calorie Milk in School Lunches
More than a dozen years after higher-fat milk was stripped from school meals to slow obesity in American kids and boost their health, momentum is growing to put it back.
Federal lawmakers have revived bills that would allow whole and 2% milk to be served again in schools, in addition to the skim and low-fat milk mandated since 2012. A U.S. Senate committee hosted a hearing Tuesday on a bill that has bipartisan support.
“Kids need wholesome, nourishing food to grow strong and stay healthy, and whole milk is packed with the nutrients they need,” said Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who is co-sponsoring the legislation.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called the federal dietary guidelines requiring low-fat milk “antiquated” and last month encouraged “full fat/whole milk” to be used in Head Start programs for the nation’s youngest children.
Mexico Bans Junk Food Sales in Schools in Its Latest Salvo Against Child Obesity
A government-sponsored junk food ban in schools across Mexico took effect on Saturday, officials said, as the country tries to tackle one of the world’s worst obesity and diabetes epidemics.
The health guidelines, first published last fall, take a direct shot at salty and sweet processed products that have become a staple for generations of Mexican schoolchildren, such as sugary fruit drinks, packaged chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, chili-flavored peanuts.
Announcing that the ban had become law, Mexico’s Education Ministry posted on X: “Farewell, junk food!” It encouraged parents to support the government’s crusade by cooking healthy meals for their kids.
“One of the core principles of the new Mexican school system is healthy living,” said Mario Delgado, the public health secretary. “There’s a high level of acceptance of this policy among parents.”
Miami-Dade Commissioners Vote to Remove Fluoride From Drinking Water
The future of fluoride in Miami-Dade’s drinking water was decided by county leaders Tuesday afternoon as they voted to remove it. County commissioners voted to stop adding it from tap water after Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez sponsored legislation to remove small amounts of fluoride in drinking water.
“Because Governor DeSantis, because [Florida Commissioner of Agriculture] Wilton Simpson, because Donald Trump are behind the removal of fluoride, and because [U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services] Robert F. Kennedy, a longtime Democrat, is for the removal, you have folks that are just attacking it,” Gonzalez said Tuesday. “I think it’s disgusting to politicize it.” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has 10 days to veto the item. If not, fluoride will stop being added to the county’s water supply in 30 days.
Adding fluoride to the water is a decades-old practice aimed at supporting dental health.
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo was in the front seat for the debate and is one of the loudest voices in the state who feels fluoride in public drinking water is bad.
Back in March, Ladapo said fluoride could lead to developmental issues in children and could be harmful to babies in the womb.
‘It Was so Freeing’: How a Cellphone Ban Is Changing Life at a Virginia High School
Greg Cabana, a veteran government teacher, remembers a time where his job as an educator felt secondary to being the phone police. “It was absolutely every class period,” Cabana told CNN. “It wasn’t the question of if students would have their cell phones out, it was just a question of how much would they?”
This year, however, he’s no longer fighting that battle.
Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia is part of a pilot program for the district that launched in September 2024, requiring students to put their phones inside magnetic locking pouches every morning. At the end of the day, they use a specialized box to unlock them.
It comes after the state’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order last July requiring districts to move towards “phone-free education” in 2025. In that order, Youngkin wrote the move was meant to “promote a healthier and more focused educational environment.”
On the first days under the new policy, students were hesitant to part with their devices.
“When I walked into the cafeteria right after we got them, all you could hear is the banging. Everyone was banging their pouch,” Lucas Lopez, a junior at Wakefield, said.
