Health

The Guardian -   The hantavirus outbreak, while unlikely to spark the next big pandemic, is shining a spotlight on the ways public health has deteriorated in the US: its ability to test for rare diseases, its expertise on outbreak prevention and response, its ability to battle misinformation and restore trust.

“Assuming everything goes well in containing this outbreak, which I hope it does, the takeaway from that should not be ‘we’re fine,’” said Stephanie Psaki, former White House global health security coordinator. “We’re not ready for this type of threat.”

Many of the people at health agencies who plan for a quick response to outbreaks, and the systems supporting them, are gone now, Psaki noted. Yet “this is just one of many, many pathogens. These types of things will continue happening.” And, she pointed out, there’s a 50/50 chance of another pandemic at least as bad as Covid in the next 25 years, according to scientific models.

Consumer Affairs -   We started with a list of 23 medical alert companies. To narrow it down, we eliminated ones without any verified customer reviews on our site and those with an overall satisfaction rating below 4.5 stars, leaving 12. To make the final selections, the ConsumerAffairs research team then compared available products from each remaining company. Below, compare our favorite medical alert watches from top-rated companies.

Our top pick overall: Freedom Guardian

Our pick for smart medical alert watch: SOS Smartwatch

Our pick for value: Lively Wearable

Our pick for design: BellPal Safety Watch