California’s three-year-long COVID-19 state of emergency is officially over, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced this week, but Rep. Mike Levin is planning ahead to prevent the next pandemic.
Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, is behind bipartisan legislation tasking the Department of Health and Human Services and State Department to partner with foreign countries, nonprofits, public health organizations and other groups, including those in the private sector, “to increase the availability of new drugs, treatments and diagnostics for drug-resistant pathogens,” dubbed “superbugs.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic made it clear that we need international cooperation to effectively fight against diseases that could lead to the next global pandemic,” Levin said. “My legislation would direct a global strategy to develop and commercialize drugs and other products to fight superbugs and prevent another global pandemic.”
While the bill aims for the U.S. to coordinate with the international community to stave off future pandemics, Levin said it could also help fight against Valley Fever, an illness caused by a fungus endemic to the dry southwest soil that disproportionately affects Californians.
About 20,000 cases are reported nationwide each year, and in 2022, nearly 8,000 cases were reported in California, according to the Department of Public Health. While most cases in 2022 were reported in Kern and Los Angeles counties, according to the CDPH, Orange County ranked No. 7 with 297 cases last year.
Nearly half of those who are infected develop symptoms, which include fatigue, cough, fever, shortness of breath and joint pain, according to the CDC, which noted most people usually get better on their own within weeks or months but some need antifungal medication and others may get severely ill.
Unlike COVID, Valley Fever isn’t contagious, but the CDC warns that “outbreaks linked to a common source do occasionally occur.” Currently, no preventative vaccine…
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