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Tag Archives: Doubled
Head injury associated with doubled mortality rate, 30-year study reveals
New research shows head injury is directly related to increased mortality rates.
The 30-year study revealed that adults who suffered a head injury had two (2.21) times the rate of mortality than those who did not, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
The study, published by JAMA Neurology on Jan. 23, also found that mortality rates among those with moderate to severe head injuries were almost three (2.87) times higher.
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Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel considered this an “important study,” in a statement he sent to Fox News Digital, as it followed 13,000 subjects over three decades.
“The implications are that once you have a head injury (or if you are prone to one), your ability to function is compromised — putting you more at [risk] of life-threatening events,” said Siegel, a professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.
A health care professional examines an X-ray of a patient’s head; the man had suffered a head injury.
(iStock)
These events can include an increased likelihood of taking falls or experiencing other co-morbidities that are likely to go unnoticed or untreated.
Siegel added that patients are also more likely not to take medication or advocate for themselves.
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More than 23 million adults in the U.S. over the age of 40 have reported experiencing a head injury with a loss of consciousness, according to medicalxpress.com.
The study’s implications “are that once you have a head injury (or if you are prone to one), your ability to function is compromised,” Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox News medical contributor, told Fox News Digital.
(iStock)
Head injury can occur in multiple ways, including from unintentional falls, vehicle crashes and sports injuries.
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It’s also been linked to long-term health conditions such as late-onset epilepsy, dementia and stroke, the website wrote in a report.
The study specifically investigated head injury patients — from 1987 to 2019 — who are community-dwelling, meaning not hospitalized or in nursing homes.
A female motorist with a head injury exits her car after a crash.
(iStock)
During the study period, 18.4% of patients reported experiencing one or more head injuries, while 12.4% of injuries were considered moderate or severe.
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The median period between injury and death was 4.7 years, medicalxpress.com reported.
Researchers also looked into the specific causes of death among participants, which most commonly were cancers, cardiovascular disease and neurologic disorders.
A new study has found that mortality rates among those with moderate to severe head injuries were almost three (2.87) times higher than for those who had not experienced head injuries.
(iStock)
Two-thirds of these neurologic disorder deaths were caused by neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
The findings emphasize the ongoing need for head injury prevention strategies, according to the study.
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Dr. Siegel said this includes effective protection such as seatbelts, as well as “comfortable” helmets that are not projectiles.
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“Too many cyclists forget to wear their helmets,” he added.
Head Injury Is Associated With Doubled Mortality Rate Long-Term
Summary: People who suffered from head injuries had a two times higher mortality rate than those who did not suffer a TBI. For those who suffered a moderate to severe head injury, the mortality rate was three times higher.
Source: University of Pennsylvania
Adults who suffered any head injury during a 30-year study period had two times the rate of mortality than those who did not have any head injury, and mortality rates among those with moderate or severe head injuries were nearly three times higher, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published today in JAMA Neurology.
In the United States, over 23 million adults age 40 or older report a history of head injury with loss of consciousness. Head injury can be attributed to a number of causes, from motor vehicle crashes, unintentional falls, or sports injuries. What’s more, head injury has been linked with a number of long-term health conditions, including disability, late-onset epilepsy, dementia, and stroke.
Studies have previously shown increased short-term mortality associated with head injuries primarily among hospitalized patients. This longitudinal study evaluated 30 years of data from over 13,000 community-dwelling participants (those not hospitalized or living in nursing home facilities) to determine if head injury has an impact on mortality rates in adults over the long term.
Investigators found that 18.4 percent of the participants reported one or more head injuries during the study period, and of those who suffered a head injury, 12.4 percent were recorded as moderate or severe. The median period of time between a head injury and death was 4.7 years.
Death from all causes was recorded in 64.6 percent of those individuals who suffered a head injury, and in 54.6 percent of those without any head injury. Accounting for participant characteristics, investigators found that the mortality rate from all-causes among participants with a head injury was 2.21 times the mortality rate among those with no head injury.
Further, the mortality rate among those with more severe head injuries was 2.87 times the mortality rate among those with no head injury.
“Our data reveals that head injury is associated with increased mortality rates even long-term. This is particularly the case for individuals with multiple or severe head injuries,” explained the study’s lead author, Holly Elser, MD, Ph.D., MPH a Neurology resident at Penn. “This highlights the importance of safety measures, like wearing helmets and seatbelts, to prevent head injuries.”
Investigators also evaluated the data for specific causes of death among all participants. Overall, the most common causes of death were cancers, cardiovascular disease, and neurologic disorders (which include dementia, epilepsy, and stroke). Among individuals with head injuries, deaths caused by neurologic disorders and unintentional injury or trauma (like falls) occurred more frequently.
When investigators evaluated specific neurologic causes of death among participants with head injury, they found that nearly two-thirds of neurologic causes of death were attributed to neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. These diseases composed a greater proportion of overall deaths among individuals with head injury (14.2 percent) versus those without (6.6 percent).
“Study data doesn’t explain why the cause of death in individuals with head injuries is more likely to be from neurodegenerative diseases, which underscores the need for further research into the relationship between these disorders, head injury, and death,” said Andrea L.C. Schneider, MD, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Neurology at Penn.
Study data was from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, an ongoing community-based study of 15,792 participants aged 45–65 years, who were recruited from the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Washington County, Maryland, Forsyth County, North Carolina, and Jackson, Mississippi in 1987–1989.
About this TBI research news
Author: Press Office
Source: University of Pennsylvania
Contact: Press Office – University of Pennsylvania
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Closed access.
“Head Injury and Long-term Mortality Risk in Community-Dwelling Adults” by Holly Elser et al. JAMA Neurology
Abstract
Head Injury and Long-term Mortality Risk in Community-Dwelling Adults
Importance
Head injury is associated with significant short-term morbidity and mortality. Research regarding the implications of head injury for long-term survival in community-dwelling adults remains limited.
Objective
To evaluate the association of head injury with long-term all-cause mortality risk among community-dwelling adults, with consideration of head injury frequency and severity.
See also
Design, Setting, and Participants
This cohort study included participants with and without head injury in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, an ongoing prospective cohort study with follow-up from 1987 through 2019 in 4 US communities in Minnesota, Maryland, North Carolina, and Mississippi. Of 15 792 ARIC participants initially enrolled, 1957 were ineligible due to self-reported head injury at baseline; 103 participants not of Black or White race and Black participants at the Minnesota and Maryland field centers were excluded due to race-site aliasing; and an additional 695 participants with missing head injury date or covariate data were excluded, resulting in 13 037 eligible participants.
Exposures
Head injury frequency and severity, as defined via self-report in response to interview questions and via hospital-based International Classification of Diseases diagnostic codes (with head injury severity defined in the subset of head injury cases identified using these codes). Head injury was analyzed as a time-varying exposure.
Main Outcomes and Measures
All-cause mortality was ascertained via linkage to the National Death Index. Data were analyzed between August 5, 2021, and October 23, 2022.
Results
More than one-half of participants were female (57.7%; 42.3% men), 27.9% were Black (72.1% White), and the median age at baseline was 54 years (IQR, 49-59 years). Median follow-up time was 27.0 years (IQR, 17.6-30.5 years). Head injuries occurred among 2402 participants (18.4%), most of which were classified as mild. The hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality among individuals with head injury was 1.99 (95% CI, 1.88-2.11) compared with those with no head injury, with evidence of a dose-dependent association with head injury frequency (1 head injury: HR, 1.66 [95% CI, 1.56-1.77]; 2 or more head injuries: HR, 2.11 [95% CI, 1.89-2.37]) and severity (mild: HR, 2.16 [95% CI, 2.01-2.31]; moderate, severe, or penetrating: HR, 2.87 [95% CI, 2.55-3.22]). Estimates were similar by sex and race, with attenuated associations among individuals aged 54 years or older at baseline.
Conclusions and Relevance
In this community-based cohort with more than 3 decades of longitudinal follow-up, head injury was associated with decreased long-term survival time in a dose-dependent manner, underscoring the importance of measures aimed at prevention and clinical interventions to reduce morbidity and mortality due to head injury.
Millennials’ average net worth doubled during pandemic, report finds
andresr | E+ | Getty Images
Covid-19 relief and record-low interest rates boosted many Americans’ finances during the pandemic. That has been especially true for millennials, who have on average built significant wealth.
Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, have more than doubled their total net worth, reaching $9.38 trillion in the first quarter of 2022, up from $4.55 trillion two years prior, according to a MagnifyMoney report.
And millennials’ average net worth — defined as total assets minus total liabilities — also increased twofold during the same period, jumping to $127,793 from $62,758, the report found.
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However, the report finds the average millennial net worth still lags behind older generations, with Gen Xers and baby boomers reaching an average of $647,619 and $1,021,264, respectively.
Real estate more than a third of millennial wealth
With soaring home values over the past couple of years, it’s not surprising that real estate, including primary homes and other property, is more than one-third of millennials’ total assets.
The median U.S. home sales price was $329,000 during the first quarter of 2020, and the number jumped to nearly $429,000 two years later, according to Federal Reserve data.
However, millennials who recently bought homes may have significant debt, the report found. Nearly 63% of millennial debt is home mortgages, followed by almost 36% in consumer credit.
I would encourage millennials to focus more on their cash flow than net worth in this stage of their careers.
DJ Hunt
Senior financial advisor with Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo
“I would encourage millennials to focus more on their cash flow than net worth in this stage of their careers,” said certified financial planner DJ Hunt, senior financial advisor with Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo in Melbourne, Florida.
He said millennials may be “losing financial ground in the long run” if monthly mortgage payments prevent them from fully funding their retirement accounts.
Of course, the definition of a fully funded retirement account varies by individual, Hunt said.
While older millennials in their early 40s should aim to max out 401(k) contributions at $20,500 in 2022, younger workers should deposit enough to receive their company match, striving for up to 15% of gross income, he said.
Diversification is ‘name of the game’
Although owning and living in your home serves an important purpose, diversification is “the name of the game,” especially for younger investors with more time to build assets, said Eric Roberge, a CFP and CEO of Beyond Your Hammock in Boston.
If most of your wealth is home equity, it may be wise to focus on building retirement plans or a brokerage account, he said, suggesting 20% to 25% of gross income annually for long-term investments.
“For many people, a diversified portfolio will likely provide higher returns in the long-term,” he said.
Applying for a home equity line of credit
Momo Productions | Digitalvision | Getty Images
If you’re sitting on wealth in your home, it may be worthwhile to apply for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, allowing you to borrow from a pool of money over time, if needed.
“It is always a good idea to have a HELOC in place if you have substantial equity in your home,” said Ted Haley, a CFP, president and CEO of Advanced Wealth Management in Portland, Oregon.
HELOCs are typically inexpensive to set up, with lower interest rates than credit cards, and there’s no added cost until you use it. While higher interest rates may impact how much and when to borrow, it’s still a “good idea” to have one, he said.
Giant Sunspot AR3038 has Doubled in Size and is Pointed Right at Earth. Could be Auroras Coming
Sunspots are typically no real reason to worry, even if they double in size overnight and grow to twice the size of the Earth itself. That’s just what happened with Active Region 3038 (AR3038), a sunspot that happens to be facing Earth and could produce some minor solar flares. While there’s no cause for concern, that does mean a potentially exciting event could happen – spectacular auroras.
Although scientists consistently point out that people are in no danger from sunspots like AR3038, that doesn’t stop the popular media from worrying about them, especially ones that seem to grow quickly. But this is all par for the course, according to Rob Steenburgh, the head of the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Forecast Office.
He points out that this type of rapid growth is exactly what we expect to see at this point in the solar cycle, the 11-year repeating pattern that started again in 2019. He also points out that sunspots of this kind don’t typically produce the types of dangerous solar flares that could knock out satellites or disrupt power grids. It simply lacks the complexity.
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Solar flares occur when the magnetic fields surrounding a sunspot break and rejoin in complex patterns, some of which cause flairs to be ejected out into the solar system. If these hit the Earth, they could potentially cause damage to some infrastructure, especially those reliant on electricity. However, they are much more likely to create spectacular auroras when their ions hit Earth’s own magnetic field.
They are rated in severity, scaling from B (the weakest) to C, M, and X (the strongest). X flares have their own grading system, and the most powerful solar flares, X20, happen less than once per 11-year solar cycle and typically do not face Earth.
The likelihood of an X20 forming due to AR3038 is minuscule, though there was a 10% chance of it creating a less powerful X flare. More likely are M flares, which AR3038 has a 25% chance of developing before it dies down in size and scale, as sunspots typically do.
However, it doesn’t look like any of those flares will be directed at Earth, as AR3038 has rotated back out of view and is no longer facing us. There is another active region, AR3040, which had 6 C-class flares in the last 24 hours. So there might still be a chance of some spectacular auroras if the planet happens to be in the path of one of those C-class flares.
If not, the whole episode with the rapid growth of AR3038 will prove another example of the public being generally concerned about what appears to be a threatening turn of events, but which is quite common and even innocuous. With all the equipment currently set up to monitor the Sun, the general public can rest assured that we’ll have at least some warning before any potentially damaging flare affects our Earth-bound systems. But it might be a while before that happens, so don’t hold your breath.
Learn More:
USA Today – ‘No need to panic’ as sunspot with potential for solar flares doubles in size overnight, scientists say
Space.com – A giant sunspot the size of 3 Earths is facing us right now
Earthsky.org – Sun activity: Minor geomagnetic storm
UT – Astronomy Jargon 101: Sunspots
UT – A Colossal Flare Erupted From the Far Side of the Sun
Lead Image:
Composite image of the Sun’s surface on 6/21/22. AR3038 can be seen in the upper right.
Credit – NOAA’s Space Weather Forecast Office
A Giant Sunspot Doubled in Size in 24 Hours, And It’s Pointing Right at Earth
A gigantic sunspot has swelled to twice Earth’s size, doubling its diameter in 24 hours, and it’s pointed right at us.
The sunspot, called AR3038, grew to 2.5 times Earth’s size – making the sunspot roughly 19,800 miles, or 31,900 kilometers, in diameter – from Sunday (June 19) to Monday night (June 20), according to Spaceweather.com, a website that tracks news about solar flares, geomagnetic storms and other cosmic weather events.
Sunspots are dark patches on the Sun’s surface where powerful magnetic fields, created by the flow of electric charges from the Sun’s plasma, knot before suddenly snapping. The resulting release of energy launches bursts of radiation called solar flares and generates explosive jets of solar material called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
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“Yesterday, sunspot AR3038 was big. Today, it’s enormous. The fast-growing sunspot has doubled in size in only 24 hours,” Spaceweather.com reported. “AR3038 has an unstable ‘beta-gamma’ magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class [medium-sized] solar flares, and it is directly facing Earth.”
When a solar flare hits Earth’s upper atmosphere, the flare’s X-rays and ultraviolet radiation ionize atoms, making it impossible to bounce high-frequency radio waves off them and creating a so-called radio blackout. Radio blackouts occur over the areas on Earth that are lit by the Sun while a flare is underway; such blackouts are classified from R1 to R5 according to ascending severity.
In April and May, two solar flares caused R3 blackouts over the Atlantic Ocean, Australia and Asia, Live Science previously reported. As solar flares travel at the speed of light, they take only 8 minutes to reach us, from an average distance of about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).
If an Earth-facing sunspot forms near the Sun’s equator (where AR3038 is located), it typically takes just under two weeks for it to travel across the Sun so that it is no longer facing Earth, according to SpaceWeatherLive.
Currently, AR3038 lies slightly to the north of the Sun’s equator and is just over halfway across, so Earth will remain in its crosshairs for a few more days.
Despite its alarmingly speedy growth, the giant sunspot is less scary than it may seem. The flares it will most likely produce are M-class solar flares, which “generally cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions,” alongside minor radiation storms, the European Space Agency wrote in a blog post.
M-class flares are the most common type of solar flare. Although the Sun does occasionally release enormous X-class flares (the strongest category) with the potential to cause high-frequency blackouts on the side of Earth that’s exposed to the flare, these flares are observed much less often than smaller solar eruptions.
Sunspots can also belch solar material. On planets that have strong magnetic fields, like Earth, the barrage of solar debris from CMEs is absorbed by our magnetic field, triggering powerful geomagnetic storms.
During these storms, Earth’s magnetic field gets compressed slightly by the waves of highly energetic particles, which trickle down magnetic-field lines near the poles and agitate molecules in the atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light to create colorful auroras in the night sky.
The movements of these electrically charged particles can disrupt our planet’s magnetic field powerfully enough to send satellites tumbling to Earth, Live Science previously reported, and scientists have warned that extreme geomagnetic storms could even cripple the internet.
Erupting debris from CMEs usually takes around 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center.
Astronomers have known since 1775 that solar activity rises and falls according to a roughly 11-year cycle, but recently, the Sun has been more active than expected, with nearly double the sunspot appearances predicted by NOAA. The Sun’s activity is projected to steadily climb for the next few years, reaching an overall maximum in 2025 before decreasing again.
Scientists think the largest solar storm ever witnessed during contemporary history was the 1859 Carrington Event, which released roughly the same energy as 10 billion 1-megaton atomic bombs. After slamming into Earth, the powerful stream of solar particles fried telegraph systems all over the world and caused auroras brighter than the light of the full Moon to appear as far south as the Caribbean.
If a similar event were to happen today, scientists warn, it would cause trillions of dollars in damage and trigger widespread blackouts, much like the 1989 solar storm that released a billion-ton plume of gas and caused a blackout across the entire Canadian province of Quebec, NASA reported.
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This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.
Giant sunspot doubled in size in 24 hours, and it’s pointing right at Earth
A gigantic sunspot has swelled to twice Earth’s size, doubling its diameter in 24 hours, and it’s pointed right at us.
The sunspot, called AR3038, grew to 2.5 times Earth‘s size — making the sunspot roughly 19,800 miles, or 31,900 kilometers, in diameter — from Sunday (June 19) to Monday night (June 20), according to Spaceweather.com, a website that tracks news about solar flares, geomagnetic storms and other cosmic weather events.
Sunspots are dark patches on the sun‘s surface where powerful magnetic fields, created by the flow of electric charges from the sun’s plasma, knot before suddenly snapping. The resulting release of energy launches bursts of radiation called solar flares and generates explosive jets of solar material called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
Related: Strange new type of solar wave defies physics
“Yesterday, sunspot AR3038 was big. Today, it’s enormous. The fast-growing sunspot has doubled in size in only 24 hours,” Spaceweather.com reported. “AR3038 has an unstable ‘beta-gamma’ magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class [medium-sized] solar flares, and it is directly facing Earth.”
When a solar flare hits Earth’s upper atmosphere, the flare’s X-rays and ultraviolet radiation ionize atoms, making it impossible to bounce high-frequency radio waves off them and creating a so-called radio blackout. Radio blackouts occur over the areas on Earth that are lit by the sun while a flare is underway; such blackouts are classified from R1 to R5 according to ascending severity.
In April and May, two solar flares caused R3 blackouts over the Atlantic Ocean, Australia and Asia, Live Science previously reported. As solar flares travel at the speed of light, they take only 8 minutes to reach us, from an average distance of about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).
If an Earth-facing sunspot forms near the sun’s equator (where AR3038 is located), it typically takes just under two weeks for it to travel across the sun so that it is no longer facing Earth, according to SpaceWeatherLive. Currently, AR3038 lies slightly to the north of the sun’s equator and is just over halfway across, so Earth will remain in its crosshairs for a few more days.
Despite its alarmingly speedy growth, the giant sunspot is less scary than it may seem. The flares it will most likely produce are M-class solar flares, which “generally cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions,” alongside minor radiation storms, the European Space Agency wrote in a blog post. M-class flares are the most common type of solar flare. Although the sun does occasionally release enormous X-class flares (the strongest category) with the potential to cause high-frequency blackouts on the side of Earth that’s exposed to the flare, these flares are observed much less often than smaller solar eruptions.
Sunspots can also belch solar material. On planets that have strong magnetic fields, like Earth, the barrage of solar debris from CMEs is absorbed by our magnetic field, triggering powerful geomagnetic storms. During these storms, Earth’s magnetic field gets compressed slightly by the waves of highly energetic particles, which trickle down magnetic-field lines near the poles and agitate molecules in the atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light to create colorful auroras in the night sky.
The movements of these electrically charged particles can disrupt our planet’s magnetic field powerfully enough to send satellites tumbling to Earth, Live Science previously reported, and scientists have warned that extreme geomagnetic storms could even cripple the internet. Erupting debris from CMEs usually takes around 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center.
Astronomers have known since 1775 that solar activity rises and falls according to a roughly 11-year cycle, but recently, the sun has been more active than expected, with nearly double the sunspot appearances predicted by NOAA. The sun’s activity is projected to steadily climb for the next few years, reaching an overall maximum in 2025 before decreasing again.
Scientists think the largest solar storm ever witnessed during contemporary history was the 1859 Carrington Event, which released roughly the same energy as 10 billion 1-megaton atomic bombs. After slamming into Earth, the powerful stream of solar particles fried telegraph systems all over the world and caused auroras brighter than the light of the full moon to appear as far south as the Caribbean. If a similar event were to happen today, scientists warn, it would cause trillions of dollars in damage and trigger widespread blackouts, much like the 1989 solar storm that released a billion-ton plume of gas and caused a blackout across the entire Canadian province of Quebec, NASA reported.
Originally published on Live Science.
Giant Sunspot Has Doubled in Size in 24 Hours and It’s Pointed at Earth
An enormous sunspot that has doubled in size in only 24 hours is now facing Earth—meaning it could send a solar flare our way.
Sunspots are dark areas on the sun’s surface that are associated with intense bursts of radiation. They appear dark because they are cooler than other parts of the sun’s surface.
Sunspots are relatively cool because they form over areas where the sun’s magnetic fields are particularly strong—so strong that they prevent some heat within the sun from reaching its surface.
NASA SDO
These tangled magnetic fields can sometimes suddenly reorganize themselves. When that happens, a sudden explosion of light and radiation is propelled away from the sun in the form of a solar flare.
The sunspot that has been growing in size recently is known as AR3038. Footage from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on Sunday shows how the sunspot has evolved over the past day or so, twisting and contorting.
“Yesterday, sunspot AR3038 was big. Today, it’s enormous,” reads the SpaceWeather.com website. “The fast-growing sunspot has doubled in size in only 24 hours.”
The magnetic field associated with the sunspot means it could potentially send an M-class solar flare at Earth—the second-strongest type. However, it is not known whether this will be the case.
As of Monday morning the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) hadn’t issued any solar flare warnings.
If strong enough, solar flares can cause disruption on Earth, interfering with radio communication networks and navigation systems. This can cause problems for people who work in the marine or aviation industries, among others.
That said, it’s worth noting that an M-class flare would probably not be particularly disruptive in any case. Although M-class flares are the second-strongest type of solar flares, they only tend to cause moderate radio blackout events. An M9 flare, the strongest of the M-class, might cause loss of radio contact for tens of minutes in affected areas of Earth and degradation of low-frequency navigation signals. M-class flares are also common.
It’s the less common X-class flares that can cause more serious trouble. X-class flares are the strongest type of flare. An X20 flare, for instance, would cause complete high frequency radio blackout on the daylight side of Earth for several hours, and boats and planes would not be able to use navigation signals during this time.
Thankfully such flares are very rare, estimated to occur less than once every 11 years—the length of an average solar cycle.
ClaudioVentrella/Getty
National gas prices have doubled since Biden took office
Gas Buddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick De Haan joins ‘Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street’ to discuss the impact higher gas prices will have on summer travel.
Gas prices have more than doubled under President Biden’s administration.
Since Biden took office in January 2021, the price for a gallon of gas has doubled.
On Jan. 20, 2021, the average price for a gallon of gas nationwide was approximately $2.39. As of Saturday, the price for a gallon of gas has skyrocketed to $4.81, up five cents from Friday, according to AAA.
GAS PRICES ON THE ROAD TO $5 NATIONWIDE VERY SOON
The White House this week cheered an OPEC decision to boost supply and has tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve while criticizing U.S. energy companies for not increasing production.
A driver passes a sign with gas prices over $6.00 per gallon on May 20, 2022 in San Rafael, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Republicans have used the ongoing, unprecedented rise in gas prices and inflation as a cudgel against the Biden administration.
“Joe Biden’s war on American energy has forced families across the country to empty their wallets to fill their tanks,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told Fox News in a statement. “Unfortunately, Biden is doubling-down on his disastrous agenda because he’s not the one paying the price – the American people are.”
It’s becoming even more likely that the national average will reach $5 per gallon and that could hit as soon as June 17, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, projected.
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The White House Tuesday declined to say Biden’s policies are responsible for the high inflation that has materialized under his watch.
FILE PHOTO: Gas prices grow along with inflation as this sign at a gas station shows in San Diego, California, November, 9, 2021. (REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo / Reuters Photos)
“His policies has helped the economy get back on its feet. That’s what his policy has, his policies has done,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to a question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy about if Biden takes any responsibility for inflation. “When we talk about the gas prices right now, this is indeed Putin’s gas hike… We have seen about 60% increase in the past several months because of the amassing and his invasion of Ukraine.”
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In a press conference Friday, Biden admitted Americans don’t really care why gas prices are so high, they just want them to go down.
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Fox News’ Kristen Altus contributed to this report.
U.S. monkeypox cases have more than doubled over the last week to 20, CDC says
The U.S. has identified 20 confirmed or suspected monkeypox cases across 11 states as public health authorities increase testing in an effort isolate patients and prevent the virus from spreading in communities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, a CDC official, said the overall health risk to the public remains low right now. Most of the U.S. patients had a history of international travel and it’s likely that they caught the virus while abroad, but the virus could be spreading domestically, McQuiston said.
“There could be community level transmission that is happening, and that’s why we want to really increase our surveillance efforts,” McQuiston told reporters during a call on Friday. “We want to really encourage physicians that if they see a rash and they’re concerned it might be monkeypox to go ahead and test for that,” she said.
However, there appears to be a higher risk for gay and bisexual men at the moment. Of the 17 patients that have provided detailed information to the CDC, 16 self identified as men who have had sex with men, McQuiston said. Anyone can catch monkeypox through close physical contact and the CDC is closing monitoring for cases across all groups in the U.S. However, public health authorities are working to raise awareness in the LGBTQ community, McQuiston said.
“Our priority is to help everyone make informed decisions to protect their health and the health of their community guided by science,” she said.
There have been no reported deaths from monkeypox during the current outbreak in the U.S. or Europe, McQuiston said. All the patients are either in recovery or have already recovered, she said. The West African strain of monkeypox is behind the current outbreak, which is less severe than the other strain known as Congo Basin, according to the CDC.
Fourteen of the 17 patients that provided detailed information had a history of international travel to 11 different countries during the 21 days prior to symptom onset, according to the CDC. The other three patients either had contact with known cases or don’t know how they caught the virus, McQuiston said.
The current monkeypox outbreaks are unusual because they are occurring in countries in North America and Europe where the virus is not typically found. Monkeypox infections normally occur in remote areas of West and Central Africa, where the virus often spreads from rodents to people.
The World Health Organization has identified more than 550 monkeypox infections across 30 countries, with most of the cases reported in European nations. The sudden appearance of monkeypox cases in multiple countries indicates the virus has been spreading undetected for some time outside West and Central Africa, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday.
Some monkeypox cases in the U.S. may have gone undetected, McQuiston said, but the CDC doesn’t believe that the virus has been circulating widely domestically.
The CDC has told people with confirmed or suspected monkeypox infections to isolate at home until local or state health departments say otherwise. People with confirmed infections should remain in isolation until the skin lesions that characterize the disease have completely resolved, the scabs have fallen off and a new layer of skin has formed.
Monkeypox typically starts with symptoms similar to the flu including fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes. Lesions then form on the body, and the virus spreads primarily through skin-to-skin contact with these lesions. In eight cases in the U.S., the rash developed first on the genitals or the area round the anus. Monkeypox can spread through respiratory droplets if a person has lesions in their throat or mouth, but it does not transmit easily this way.
“The rash caused by monkeypox virus can spread widely across the body or present in sensitive areas like the genitalia. It can be really painful and some patients have reported needing prescription pain medicines to manage that pain,” McQuiston said.
People exposed to monkeypox should monitor for symptoms for 21 days, according to the CDC. They should check their temperature twice daily and monitor for chills, swollen lymph nodes and new skin rashes. If a fever or rash develops, the person should self isolate and contact the local health department immediately.
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