Health

Independent - Smoking in cars with children is banned in 11 states, and lawmakers are pushing to join them in West Virginia, where more adults use cigarettes than anywhere else in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Washington Post - The CDC plans to drop its five-day covid isolation guidelines. To be more practical for workplaces, schools and society. The new guidance, to be shared in the coming months, will be to stop isolation 24 hours after fever and symptoms improve. This would be the first update to CDC guidance since 2021. Infections remain high, but hospitalizations are falling and most people have a level of immunity.

NBC - Even for people who don’t have hypertension, using a salt substitute may significantly decrease the risk of developing high blood pressure, according to a study published this week. Those substitutes can include salty-tasting potassium chloride, along with other flavorings such as mushroom, seaweed and lemon. According to the analysis, researchers found that cutting back salt by more than a third was protective against high blood pressure over a two-year period.  A senior author of the study added that anyone could benefit from replacing salt with a substitute, which goes a step further than earlier studies that observed the effect of salt substitutes among people with hypertension.