US sets record for billion-dollar weather disasters in a year — and there's still 4 months to go The deadly firestorm in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia’s watery storm surge helped push the United States to an annual record for the number of weather disasters that cost at least $1 billion. AP News

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EU's disaster response fund at limit as climate crises mount The European Commission warned on Tuesday that the EU urgently needs more funding to respond to climate change-fuelled crises after its emergency aid reserve was exhausted in both 2021 and 2022 and natural disasters have increased this year. Kate Abnett Reuters

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CDC reveals top Covid hotspots in the US as hospitalisations surge Here is the list of the counties with the most recent highest rates of new Covid-19 hospital admissions per county Amelia Neath AOL

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Why Florida is seeing the highest proportion of counties with 'moderate' COVID hospitalization rates Florida has the highest proportion counties recording "moderate" COVID hospitalization levels in the U.S.. Experts explain why the state is seeing so many cases. ABC News ABC News

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CDC's New Chief Plans to Rebuild Trust in the Agency 'Trust is absolutely foundational to our ability to help Americans,' says Mandy Cohen Michael DePeau-Wilson medpagetoday

New CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH, wants to rebuild trust in the agency -- both internally and with the general public -- through improving communication, focusing on data collection, and translating that data into rapid responses to public health crises.

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Cases of COVID-19 are on the rise – here’s how you can still get free tests COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are on the rise heading into the fall, and although free testing isn’t as widely accessible as it once was, low- or no-cost tests may still be available. sthomas The Hill

• The COVIDtests.gov program is no longer mailing free tests to Americans
• Free tests might still be available through local clinics and insurance
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‘We would’ve done everything differently’: Newsom reflects on Covid approach California’s Democratic governor says “we're all geniuses now” in hindsight on the pandemic. POLITICO

...Newsom did, however, point to differences in how the virus spread indoors versus outdoors, and alluded to policies around masking and vaccine distribution that would have been handled differently in hindsight. “You want to talk about prioritizations early on in terms of those vaccines. You go through a series of things, and there’s so many things we could’ve done differently,” he said.

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Exclusive: CDC hopes new ‘Wild to Mild’ ad campaign will tame skepticism about flu vaccines | CNN Some Americans have given up on flu shots because almost everyone remembers a season they got one and then got sick anyway. Brenda Goodman CNN

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