Meanwhile. . .

Health departments reported 1,052 deaths nationally for the week ended April 26, according to the CDC’s most recent data. A prior low of about 1,700 came during the summer nearly two years ago. Less complete recent data from states make it harder to compare numbers over time. The virus remains risky for the elderly and immunocompromised, doctors said, but built-up immunity from vaccines and prior infections helps most people avoid severe illness, public-health experts say. The U.S. plans to lift the pandemic public-health emergency on May 11.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 100 people are killed at work every week, each one a tragic story of its own. Worse, this number is likely an undercount: It doesn’t include deaths caused by workplace transmission of COVID, for example, or gig workers killed on the job.... An average of 27 workers per day suffer amputation or hospitalization. And according to the AFL-CIO’s 2023 “Death on the Job” report, an estimated 120,000 workers died from occupational diseases. These problems disproportionately affect low-wage workers, immigrants, and people of color.

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California has passed stringent new rules to limit emissions from diesel-fueled locomotive engines, putting the state on track to implement the most ambitious regulations on high-polluting railways in the country. The landmark step taken by the California Air Resources, which regulates California’s air quality, requires the phase-out of inefficient locomotive engines more than 23 years old by 2030, increase the use of zero-emissions technology to transport freight from ports and throughout rail yards, and bans diesel-spewing engines from idling for longer than 30 minutes