Disaster Response

Helene and Milton are both likely to be $50 billion disasters, joining ranks of most costly storms Monstrous hurricanes Helene and Milton caused so much complex havoc that damages are still being added up, but experts in economics, insurance and risk say they are likely to be in the pantheon of super-costly $50 billion disasters. AP News

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Health dangers of flooding: Disease, injuries and mental health concerns | CNN Even after a hurricane’s immediate flooding threat goes away, residents could face a host of potential health problems from the water — and what it leaves behind. Jen Christensen CNN

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Study: Pandemic widened global economic disparities The COVID-19 pandemic hit low-income countries harder than wealthier nations, according to a new study in PLOS One, further slowing progress toward health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  CIDRAP

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On average, the pandemic caused low-income countries to experience an average progress loss of 16.5% across all health indicators, whereas high-income countries have seen losses as low as 3%, the authors said.

Researchers draw insights from COVID-19 to inform improved health care in times of crisis (medicalxpress.com)

In research recently published in Nature Medicine, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Jianxi Gao, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science, and his team measured the resilience and adaptability of our health care system to disruptions caused by COVID-19. Resilience is a system's ability to absorb and recover from disruptions. Adaptability is a system's ability to learn from previous disturbances where there are recurrent disruptions. ...

"We found that our health care systems in the United States exhibit substantial adaptability, but only a moderate level of resilience," said Gao. "Our findings can inform the design of resilient and sustainable health care systems to prepare for future disruptions, whether they are caused by pandemics, climate change, conflicts, or anything else."

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