JUNE 16—THE DOSE: JOY IS CONTAGIOUS AND NATIONAL DISEASE REPORT FROM YOUR LOCAL EPIDEMIOLOGIST

Posted on June 16, 2026 by John Bailey

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Joy is contagious. Also: mosquitos, infant botulism, H5N1, peak tick season, and more.

The Dose (June 16)

Katelyn Jetelina

Jun 16

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I’m not a big basketball fan, but boy, the sound of Manhattan at the final buzzer of the NBA Finals was electric in every video I came across: cheering, weeping, horns honking, singing, hugging, cigars being lit, an utter unselfconsciousness, pure and absolute jubilation. It gave me goosebumps. It’s a reminder that joy is contagious. Congratulations, New Yorkers, and thank you for the reminder of the value of community and shared joy. More of that, please.

Speaking of shared joy, the World Cup has officially kicked off, and we are here with what the health data show. We’re also at peak tick season, and mosquitoes and infant botulism have entered the chat. Other low-risk but high-consequence things are happening, including bird flu heating up among cows again.

And pediatricians are getting bombarded with vaccine questions. We answer the latest and update a resource for you.

Here’s what’s going on and, most importantly, what it means for you.

Disease “weather” report

We are at peak tick season

Across much of the U.S., we’re in the heart of tick season. After starting earlier than usual, it’s now tracking close to previous years. I’m hopeful we’ll see activity taper off over the coming weeks.

Source: CDC; Annotated by YLE

What this means for you: It’s still important to enjoy the outdoors, so prevention is the name of the game. Use an EPA-approved repellent, wear long pants when possible, and do a quick tick check afterward. The vast majority of ticks don’t carry diseases, but regardless, the sooner a tick is removed, the lower the risk of transmission.

Mosquito season is here

Mosquito season is ramping up across much of the country. We can expect mosquito-borne diseases to peak in August or September.

Why? Mosquitos are cold-blooded, so transmission is a bit like a chemistry experiment. If it’s too cold (below ~16°C or ~60°F), the mosquito life cycle slows down too much to spread disease. Closer to the “magic temperature” of ~25°C / ~77°F, mosquitoes are happier and diseases spread a little more easily from mosquito to human.

West Nile is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the U.S. It is a fairly new disease—25 years ago, we didn’t have it around. But it is very rare. So far this year, we’ve seen only 13 cases of West Nile. (In June 2025, we had 62 total and August had the most cases at 958)

What this means for you: Your risk depends on geography and other factors, including older age. As mosquito populations grow, it’s worth dusting off the bug spray and clearing standing water around your home.

Low risk to you, but disease of high (and potentially) consequence

Several outbreaks are on my radar, but all remain very low risk to the general U.S. public:

Another infant botulism outbreak tied to baby formula. Nara Organics has recalled its organic formula, sold nationwide at Target, after three babies between 2 and 5 months became critically ill in CA, PA, and WA. Like the ByHeart recall last fall, it’s a niche product (under 1% of supply). What makes this one sting a little more: ByHeart had actually pointed parents to Nara as the safe alternative after their own recall. Regardless, it’s a reminder of how much we depend on the systems around us working.
Ebola cases in Africa have climbed to 808, including one of the largest single-day jumps over the weekend. The cumulative total has already surpassed what the two biggest prior outbreaks reached at the same point in their first 100 days. This is a sign this one is likely to grow very large. If you’re traveling to Africa (or have patients traveling), check out the YLE decision tree here.

Cumulative Ebola cases in first 100 days of outbreak declaration. Markers are values from WHO/CDC/ECDC situation reports. Figure by Your Local Epidemiologist

Bird flu (H5N1). After months of relative quiet, the USDA reports a sharp jump in infected dairy herds: in the past 30 days, 45 tested positive in Idaho, 2 in Utah, and 1 in Texas. We’re not at 2024 levels, but this is more than we’ve seen in a while.

H5N1 dairy herds. Purple: updated figure with USDA numbers since CDC figure has only been updated since June 3. Source: CDC and USDA.

Healthy Cup

The World Cup has officially begun, and the good news is that there have been no significant health events so far. Overall health risks remain low, but we’re watching three signals:

Heat. On opening day, Fan Fests in the Texas area saw nearly 100 fans fall ill from the heat, some requiring hospitalization. This is concerning because for every reported heat illness, many more sit just short of emergency, like dehydration and falls, cardiac problems, kidney stress, and mental status changes in elders. The “count” (22 out of ~30,000 attendees) underestimates the harm. Keep cool; drink water; know that alcohol and drugs mask heat injury symptoms, and common medications increase heat vulnerability. Go here to see your heat risk this week.
Measles. A few outbreaks are happening in the background, but two “sparks” sit particularly close to World Cup events, and we need to ensure they don’t turn into wildfires:
1. Wastewater monitoring has detected a signal in Chester City, Delaware County (15 miles from Philadelphia Stadium).
2. One case among an unvaccinated resident in Santa Clara County, California, with recent international travel and community exposure, including at the airport.
What other things are people worried about? The YLE weekly survey of World Cup goers started last week. No major health rumors are surfacing yet (only 13% have heard any), but there’s concern about traffic and transportation accidents, as well as ICE.

Figure from Your Local Epidemiologist

Good news

We can always use it. Three today:

FDA clears a screwworm treatment for dogs and cats. The FDA authorized emergency use of generic nitenpyram tablets for infected pets, expected to kill most larvae within hours. New World screwworm numbers continue to climb, with 12 animal cases across 7 counties. This medication is not preventative but an important new tool if an infection occurs—and more will be happening given how quickly this thing spreads.

New World screwworm detections by county. Figure from a dashboard created by Genompic Epi.

A new sunscreen ingredient, the first in over two decades. The FDA has approved bemotrizinol, used for years in Europe, Asia, and Australia, where it’s prized for strong, stable protection against both UVA and UVB. The approval spotlights a U.S. quirk: because sunscreens are regulated as drugs here, new ingredients can take years or decades to reach consumers. Products could appear later this year, though wide availability will take time. Read more about sunscreen at the YLE deep dive here.
A lab-grown heart-muscle patch. Researchers implanted a stem cell-derived patch of heart muscle onto the failing hearts of 16 patients with advanced heart failure. The effect was real but modest, more of a signal of progress. Read more here.

Question grab bag

“This week I have encountered several patients saying “vaccines are only studied for 5 days.” Can you update your 12 questions about vaccines handout to address this succinctly? It would be very much appreciated. – A tired pediatrician.”

This is a common rumor. That figure comes from a line in the package insert describing the short window when vaccine trial participants fill out a daily diary card (see below for an example). But that card is only tracking the expected, short-lived reactions to a vaccine (sore arm, redness, fever, fussiness), which are caused by the immune response itself and reliably fade within a few days. Symptoms that persist longer usually point to a different cause, like an unrelated infection picked up around the same time, so that brief window is all the diary card needs to cover.

Chart from Appendix 3 here has an example showing what these look like.

But vaccine monitoring doesn’t stop there. The same trials track other health events for months to years, recorded as they happen rather than on a checklist. And for routine childhood vaccines, those original trials are now just the starting point: we have real-world safety data on hundreds of millions of children across decades, consistently showing that the benefits far outweigh the risks.

We’ve updated the FAQs for paid subscribers, with the latest is available below. Thank you for all your effort, and all clinical care teams on the front line.

YLE Top Routine Vaccination Questions

1020KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Bottom line

Summer brings its share of bugs and outbreaks to watch, but the risks to you are low with a few simple precautions. Don’t let the worry crowd out the shared joy.

Love, YLE

Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “Translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below

JUNE 15- WESTCHESTER COUNTY INTRODUCES $25 MILLION TO EXPAND AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES—HOW TO APPLY

Posted on June 15, 2026 by John Bailey

WESTCHESTER COUNTY LAUNCHES $25 MILLION HOUSING FLEX FUND II TO EXPAND AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES AIMED AT DEVELOPERS READY TO GO

Application Period Opens June 17 for New Affordable Housing Financing Program

(White Plains, NY) – Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins announced the launch of the County’s Housing Flex Fund II, a new $25 million affordable housing initiative designed to accelerate the development and creation of affordable homes across Westchester County.

The application period opens on June 17 and will remain open through Aug. 21, inviting eligible developers to compete for funding to help advance affordable housing projects in communities throughout the County.

Housing Flex Fund II builds on the success of the County’s existing housing programs by providing flexible financing for developments in need of the last bit of funding to begin construction of new rental and homeownership units, those with supportive housing units and developments that preserve affordability. The program is expected to significantly increase the County’s annual affordable housing production while prioritizing developments in transit-oriented locations and areas with limited affordable housing options.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said:

“Every family deserves access to a safe and affordable place to live. Housing Flex Fund II is another example of Westchester County’s commitment to investing in solutions that create housing opportunities and support long-term economic growth. This program will help move important projects from the drawing board to construction, creating more affordable homes for current and future residents.”

Westchester County Department of Planning Commissioner Blanca Lopez said: “Housing Flex Fund II provides developers with an important financing tool that will help close funding gaps and bring more affordable housing projects to completion. With our support of projects that are ready to move forward and located in communities with access to transportation, jobs and amenities, this program will have a lasting impact on housing availability throughout Westchester County.”

1.Applicants must submit a complete funding package that includes a development proposal, project narrative, financial pro forma and project budget.

2.Eligible rental developments must provide housing for households earning 65% of the Area Median Income or below, while affordable homeownership developments may serve households earning up to 80% of the Area Median Income for a minimum of 50 years.

3.Applications serving those at the lowest incomes possible, including supportive housing units will receive additional priority. Applications will be reviewed after the application period closes, with funding awards expected to be approved later this year and disbursements beginning in 2027.

Starting June 17, developers interested in applying or learning more about Housing Flex Fund II can review program guidelines by visiting the Department of Planning website at: planning.westchestercountyny.gov

Applications can be requested by sending an email to: HousingFlexFund2026@westchestercountyny.gov

JUNE 15- COUNTY DEPT OF PLANNING ISSUES ANNUAL REPORT HIGHLIGHTS EFFORTS AT INCREASING HOUSING

Posted on June 15, 2026 by John Bailey

WESTCHESTER COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING SHOWCASES COUNTYWIDE IMPACT THROUGH NEW ANNUAL REPORT

New Annual Report Highlights Department’s Impact on Housing, Infrastructure and Quality of Life

(White Plains, NY) – The Westchester County Department of Planning has released its inaugural annual report, providing a comprehensive look at the department’s role in shaping stronger communities across Westchester County.

The report highlights the department’s impact through initiatives including the creation of approximately 1,250 affordable housing units through the Housing Flex Fund, the release of interactive data dashboards to assist a wide variety of audiences with information about demographic shifts, housing, and transportation. And the launch of the enhanced HomeSeeker platform, which to date has over 15,000 registrants in the system who are finding affordable housing opportunities and applying for these units online.

Through the work of its multiple divisions, the Department of Planning continues to protect the environment and guide responsible development, demonstrating how strategic planning improves quality of life for residents throughout the County. The report showcases the partnerships and investments that are helping build resilient communities while fostering economic development and environmental sustainability for generations to come.

County Executive Ken Jenkins said: “The work of the Department of Planning touches nearly every aspect of life in Westchester County. Whether it’s helping create affordable housing, protecting our environment, supporting infrastructure improvements or partnering with local municipalities, their work strengthens our communities and improves the quality of life for residents every day. This report demonstrates the lasting impact thoughtful planning has on building a stronger Westchester.”

Deputy County Executive Joan McDonald said: “This report offers a transparent look at the collaborative work happening across Westchester County to address housing, infrastructure, sustainability and economic development. In documenting our accomplishments and sharing measurable results, we are strengthening accountability and providing a roadmap for continued progress.”

Westchester County Department of Planning Commissioner Blanca Lopez said: “Our first annual report reflects the dedication and expertise of our staff and the many partnerships that make our work possible. It showcases how planning touches every aspect of daily life. We are proud to share our accomplishments and look forward to building on this foundation in the years ahead.”

The report also highlights the department’s continued efforts to support municipalities through planning assistance and grant programs, advance environmental review and sustainability initiatives and coordinate investments that preserve Westchester’s unique character while preparing for future growth.

As the first publication of its kind for the Department of Planning, the annual report establishes a new benchmark for transparency and public engagement. County residents, municipal leaders and community partners are encouraged to explore the report to learn more about the department’s role in shaping Westchester’s future and the impact of its work across the county.

To view the annual report, visit: https://planning.westchestercountyny.gov/

JUNE 15–GREENBURGH SUPERVISOR FEINER TO EXPLORE 5 YEAR REASSESSMENTS.

Posted on June 15, 2026 by John Bailey

WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER- JUNE 15,2026:

During the past few months, residents have suggested that the Town of Greenburgh change the way we address assessment changes.

I have been in touch with the Assessor, Edye McCarthy, after speaking to residents and have asked her to put together a report to determine the feasibility of reassessing our properties similar to what Connecticut does. They reassess every five years.

The only change in assessments would be if a homeowner does construction on their home. Otherwise no changes during the five year period.

Several states in the nation do reassessments this way. Would ease some anxiety because there would not be changes annually to the assessments. It is easier for families to budget.

This would require state legislation.

I have asked Edye McCarthy to discuss with colleagues around the state. There are some who like the concept. Others disagree and think it is better to have smaller incremental changes.

What do you think?

I will be reaching out to civic association leaders, village and school boards and State Legislators in the coming months. My e mail is pfeiner@greenburghny.com.

PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor

THEAAAAAAAAAAAAA KNICKS WIN! THE KNICKS WIN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP 94-90 BEHIND JALEN BRUNSON’S 45 NEW YORK NEW YORK WINS! TOP OF THE HEAP!

Posted on June 14, 2026 by John Bailey

THEY ARE THE CHAMPIONS MY FRIEND.

THE 2026 NEW YORK KNICKERBOCKERS

WPCNR VIEW FROM THE 8th AVENUE GARDEN. bY John F. Bailey. JUNE 15 2026:

The love has been returned!

It was a beautiful Sunday in New York City because The Knickerbockers’ defensive, offensive, do-everything-right, relentless drive to eternity forever in our hearts, lifted the spirits of millions New Yorkers sky high.

In the most impressive NBA playoff run to a championship of all time, the pall of perpetual falling short to glamour teams and one-man teams the Knicks turned the league upside down with their victory Saturday night. it was throwback basketball that overcame the odds.

From the days when they used to play in the 69^th Regimental Armory (when the Garden had the circus or a Dog Show or the Icecapades booked), the Knicks and the Rangers typified Madison Square Garden sports mediocrity.

This year the Knicks of 2026 emerged from their failures by outclassing the field with effort every minute, last minute miracles, defensive intensity not seen in years, team play that neutralized stars of the other teams, and showing up the entire league, winning even when the matchup was 5 against 8 when the officials were calling everything on the Knicks and allowing on court flagrant muggings of Knick players who never lost their poise under pressure.

Gone in 19 glorious games is the perpetual regular and playoff of losing to the glamour teams of the media: the legendary Celtics, the Bulls, the Indianas, The Baltimore Bullets, and earlier in the first years of the NBA, the Syracuse Nationals, Rochester Royals, Philadelphia Warriors.

Today those memories are phantoms. Those memories of hurt and loss are now just the pungent cigar clouds of the Old Madison Square Garden on 8th Avenue in 1950s, where I’m sitting smoking a White Owl and savoring this unforgettable achievement.

The Knicks steamrollered through the playoffs like no other Champion has.

The Knickerbockers of 2026 have made the Knicks of the past proud and honor the players I used to know when I watched them on WPIX when I was around 10.

The Knicks of the first Knick teams: Vince Boryla, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, Harry “The Horse” Galatin, and Dick Mcguire.

The Knicks I watched in the late 50s: Carl Braun, Ray Felix, Richie Guerin, Phil Jorden, Willie “The Whale” Naulls, Kenny Sears.

Then the build through the 60s with Coach Fuzzy Levene, followed by Red Holzman, with the ascendance of Dick Barnett, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Willis Reed, Cazzie Russell, Dave Stallworth, Henry Bibby, Phil Jackson, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, and Jerry Lucas, culminating in the 1970 and 1973 NBA Championships. (Remember when Willis Reed with a bad leg hobbled onto the court in the last game of the Lakers Finals 1970 at the Garden?)

In the 1980s and 90s the club declined but in the 1ate 80s they resurged with Patrick Ewing, Ernie Grunfeld, Trent Tucker, And in the 1990s, Coach Pat Reilly brought back confrontational defense and were it not for a last minute loss in game 7 in 1994 there would have been another Championship before Saturday night’s.

Then of course there were the crisp Voices of the Knicks on the radio and TV: Bob Wolff, Marty “Good like Nedicks” Glickman, Marv “YES” Albert, Mike Breen, Kenny Albert, John Andraise, and Jim “Bullseye!” Karvellis. They were the comforting, celebrating, and knowledgeable Mel Allen’s of basketball in New York.

The 2026 Knicks Championship recalls and honors the Knickerbockers of the past as much as their triumph honors themselves and makes everyone walking the sidewalks of New York in the sunshine of triumph Sunday and today and for many years to come feeling beyond good.

A memory of decisive triumph, victories for what always matters:

“Never give up!”

“Never lose your poise”

“Never attack your opponent.Respect them.”

“Never lose your nerve”

“Have confidence in your talent!”

“Lose with class.”

“Win with humility.”

“Defense wins.”

JUNE 13– BLOOD DONATIONS DESPERATELY IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Posted on June 13, 2026 by John Bailey

Westchester County Government

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Both the New York Blood Center and the American Red Cross are urgently calling for blood donations to prepare for summer, when demand typically spikes due to an increase in severe injuries from car accidents, sports-related injuries and other outdoor activities. Type O- and O+ blood are especially needed.

Supplies are extremely low and scheduled donations have dropped. A single donation can save up to three lives. Volunteer blood donors fulfill a continuous need for a safe supply of blood, platelets and plasma, not only during disasters and emergencies, but also for surgeries and medical procedures for patients who face life-threatening conditions.

Every blood donation saves lives, and repeat donation is the key to maintaining a safe and sustainable blood supply. Blood transfusion plays a critical role in healthcare, benefiting patients who face life-threatening conditions. Transfusions of blood and blood products help patients live longer and with a better quality of life. Blood transfusion also supports complex medical and surgical procedures. Voluntary plasma donations provide critical support to those with hemophilia and immune deficiencies.

The New York Blood Center in Rye schedules donor appointments at www.nybc.org, accepts walk-ins and can help you organize a blood drive in your community. For more information, call 1-800-933-2566.

The American Red Cross in Greater New York works with local groups to schedule blood drives.

To find a drive near you, go to www.redcross.org/give-blood.html.

JUNE 12–WHITE PLAINS WEEK TONIGHT 7:30 PM THE JUNE 12 REPORT ON FIOS CH 45 AND OPTIMUM CH 76 AND ANY TIME ON www.wpcommunitmedia.org

Posted on June 12, 2026 by John Bailey

MICROBURST WREAKS WEATHER MAYHEM ,BLACKOUTS IN SOUTH END

WHITE PLAINS WEEK PREVIEWS WHITE PLAINS 250TH BIRTHDAY OF THE USA

WHITE PLAINS AND WESTCHESTER APPROACH SALES TAX RECORD RECEIPTS

READING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE JULY 12 AT THE ARMORY

DR.ELIZABETH MARNIK ON THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT BUDGET EFFORT

TO TAKE OVER ASSIGNMENT OF RESEARCH GRANTS

YOUR LOCAL EPIDEMIOLOGIST ON THE HEAT

AND HOW TO TELL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE

JOHN BAILEY ON THE SITUATION 6 MONTHS BEFORE MIDTERMS

JOHN BAILEY AND THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK EVERY WEEK

ON WHITE PLAINS WEEK FOR 25 YEARS

JUNE 11–WORLD CUP IN NEW YORK–RISK ASSESSMENT

Posted on June 11, 2026 by John Bailey

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The World Cup is here in NY

Here’s how NYC prepares for the “what ifs”

Marisa Donnelly, PhD and Critical Health Voices

Jun 11

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NYC is already a global city, and now it’s about to become a global party.

Starting this week, soccer fans from around the world will pour into New York and New Jersey for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. MetLife Stadium will host eight matches, including the final, and New York City will be the airport, hotel room, dinner table, subway transfer, fan zone, and late-night celebration setting for a whole lot of people.

I’ll admit, when I first started thinking about the World Cup and health risks, my mind immediately went to infectious diseases. A million people coming into NYC from around the world? Packed trains? Fan zones? Of course, my mind was on disease transmission.

But the more I learned from Dr. Syra Madad, Chief Biopreparedness Officer at NYC Health and + Hospitals and one of the people in New York whose job is to think about the “what ifs,” the more my frame of reference shifted. At NYC Health + Hospitals, she helps lead systemwide preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery efforts across the country’s largest municipal health care system.

She helped me see that the biggest World Cup health challenges may not be the Hollywood-style outbreak scenarios. That the ordinary city risks, like extreme heat, foodborne illnesses, crowded emergency departments, are dialed up a notch for the next six weeks and may be the bigger concern.

So today, I’m diving into what it takes to sustain a prepared health system during a global event like the World Cup. Here’s what I learned.

Probability X Consequence

Preparedness sits at the intersection of probability and consequence. For example, extreme heat is likely, while an emerging infectious disease outbreak is less likely but potentially more disruptive.

For World Cup planning, this means holding both truths. Preparing is about building a flexible system that can handle the expected, detect the unusual, and absorb the added health burden without falling apart.

Here’s what NYC is getting ready for

First: heat and routine health strain. Likelihood: High. Consequence: Moderate to high depending on severity and system strain.

Heat is the one that keeps coming up because the World Cup will happen in June and July, and heat is already one of New York City’s most serious weather-related health threats. NYC estimates that more than 500 New Yorkers die prematurely each year because of hot weather, and emergency department visits spike. When it’s 90 degrees out, you might get 20-ish heat related ED visits in NYC in a day—not very many. When it increases to 100, you could see ~150—a rapid jump that EDs may or may not be ready for.

Heat is not just uncomfortable. It can worsen heart and lung disease, cause dehydration and heat stroke, and put older adults, outdoor workers, people without reliable air conditioning, young children, pregnant people, and people with chronic illnesses at higher risk.

Add packed trains, outdoor watch parties, alcohol use, long lines, and crowded emergency departments, and the risk rises quickly.

Then there are other, less dramatic issues that become a problem at scale. Things like food safety, alcohol-related injuries, substance use, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), mental health crises, and crowded emergency departments.

None of these is unique to the World Cup. They are normal city health issues, but dialed up with one million extra visitors.

Second: infectious diseases. Likelihood: Low to moderate, depending on the pathogen. Consequence: Low to very high, depending on transmissibility, severity, and speed of detection.

Infectious diseases still matter. A global event means people arrive from many places, move through crowded spaces, eat together, cheer together, and then disperse again. That does increase the opportunity for transmission.

But it doesn’t mean we should expect some scary outbreak. It means public health teams will be watching the basics: respiratory viruses, measles, foodborne illnesses, norovirus, and anything unusual that shows up in emergency department data or lab reporting. Several groups, including Biobot (where I work during my day job), Verily, WastewaterScan, SecureBio, and other academic and public health groups are also using wastewater as an early warning system for pathogens.

For New York, measles is probably the one top of mind. The state has already seen 12 cases in 2026, with 6 of those in NYC. Most, if not all of these, are from someone either visiting from another country, or a resident who caught it while traveling abroad and brought it back. None of those cases resulted in additional transmission, meaning we haven’t seen any outbreaks in New York this year. But it only takes one case in a pocket with low vaccination rates for measles to spark an outbreak. And this could have big consequences. Not only is measles dangerous, but it creates a lot of follow-up work: exposure notifications, contact tracing, vaccination checks, infection control, and public messaging.

Many have also asked about Ebola or Andes virus outbreaks during the World Cup. While those could have high consequences, the probability of them occurring is very low.

Third: Violence or mass casualty. Likelihood: Low. Consequence: Very high.

This is the category everyone hopes never materializes, but no emergency planner can ignore.

Large-scale violence, terrorism, a crowd stampede, or another mass casualty incident is lower probability than heat-related illness or alcohol-related injuries. But the consequence could be catastrophic, especially in a dense city with crowded transit, fan zones, hotels, bars, and public viewing areas.

For the World Cup, this is also a coordination challenge. Hospitals, EMS, law enforcement, emergency management, transit agencies, venues, community organizations, and communications teams all need to know their roles before something happens. Recent reporting notes that the 2026 World Cup has been assigned a high federal security designation, requiring coordination across federal, state, and local agencies.

What preparedness actually looks like in NY

New York City knows how to host a crowd. Times Square alone draws an estimated 1 million people on New Year’s Eve and the city regularly manages parades, concerts, protests, marathons, and major holidays. But the World Cup is different because it is not one night or one event. It is a prolonged, citywide event unfolding over six weeks, alongside other seasonal events like Fourth of July, Sail4th 250, summer tourism, concerts, parades, and so much more.

That is the kind of planning the Office of Biopreparedness and Emergency Management has been doing for more than a year: not preparing for one scenario, but ensuring the health system can remain steady amid shifting conditions and compounding threats. That includes clinical and operational working groups, lessons from past World Cups and mass gatherings, local weather and disease trend monitoring, and exercises focused on patient surge, heat illness, alcohol intoxication, injuries, power disruptions, norovirus, measles exposure at a fan event and other low-probability but high-consequence scenarios.

For infectious diseases in particular, the team is looking across five practical categories: vaccine-preventable diseases, respiratory viruses, arboviruses, high-consequence pathogens, and gastrointestinal illnesses. For operations, the focus is just as much on the fundamentals: situational awareness, incident command, clear communication, fast information-sharing, worker safety, staffing, supplies, isolation pathways, and keeping emergency departments and hospitals functioning even when demand shifts.

The goal is not to make the World Cup feel scary. It is the opposite. Good preparedness is what empowers a city to enjoy a global moment with confidence. If the system works well, most people will never see it. They will just see New York doing what New York does: welcoming the world, absorbing the surge, and keeping the city moving.

Communication plays a huge role

Communication is a crucial part of the response. During a major event, people do not just need information. They need information they can understand and narration from sources they already trust, before rumors fill the gap.

That’s why YLE New York and NYC Health + Hospitals are participating in the Health System Operations Center, or HSOC, the first non-governmental health intelligence center weaving all data sources together across states to provide a bird’s-eye, national view of the health issues surrounding the World Cup. As part of this, we’re helping to coordinate and share timely, accurate information across partners and the public.

Hospitals, EMS, emergency management, public health departments, law enforcement, transportation agencies, community organizations, hotels, venues, and trusted messengers all have different jobs. But for an event like this, those jobs have to connect. A hospital cannot prepare in isolation. A public health alert is only useful if clinicians see it and know what to do. A heat warning only helps if people know where to cool down and how to recognize danger signs. A communication plan only works if it reaches people in the language and format they actually use.

And making sure the right people have the right messaging and communication chains is critical for preparing for major events.

Here’s what New Yorkers can do:

Most of us do not need to do anything dramatic. But there are a few practical things that can help:

Know your heat plan. If your home gets too hot, know where you can cool down: a friend’s place, a library, a cooling center, or another air-conditioned space. Find NYC cooling centers here.
Stay home if you’re sick when you can, and consider masking in crowded indoor spaces if respiratory viruses start circulating or you’re around someone high-risk.
If you’re going to matches, watch parties, or crowded events, hydrate, wear sunscreen, pace alcohol, and have a plan for getting home.
Keep medications with you if you’re traveling around the city, especially if you rely on them daily (there could be transportation delays).
For healthcare practitioners, the NYC Health Department has put together an information page with recommended clinical guidelines and other resources on public health concerns that may impact New Yorkers and visitors during summer events like the World Cup.
Maybe most importantly: pay attention to official updates. Preparedness exists so the public does not have to wonder or carry anxiety alone.

And, if you live within 30 miles of a World Cup game (NYC and North New Jersey, that’s you!), you can participate in our weekly World Cup Pulse Survey. It’s a few questions each week about what health topics are on your mind, what rumors or concerns you’re hearing, and what questions aren’t getting answered. Sign up here. 🙂

Bottom line

The World Cup is going to bring noise, crowds, flags, chants, packed trains, impossible restaurant reservations, and the kind of energy New York is known for. Preparedness is not about draining the joy out of that, but protecting it.

When the infrastructure is strong, the city can do what it does best—welcome the world, take care of its people, and celebrate.

Love,

Your NY Epi

Dr. Marisa Donnelly, PhD, is an epidemiologist, science communicator, and public health expert. This newsletter exists to translate complex public health data into actionable insights, empowering New Yorkers to make informed and evidence-based health decisions.

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JUNE 10: WHITE PLAINS HOSPITAL HEALTH MATTERS–JUNE ISSUE

Posted on June 10, 2026 by John Bailey

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HEALTH IN THE HEADLINES

JUNE 10– OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET PLAN FOR RESEARCH GRANTS COULD CRIPPLE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH– YOUR LOCAL EPIDEMIOLGIST ANALYZES POTENTIAL FOR HARM

Posted on June 10, 2026 by John Bailey

New OMB rule could break science in the United States

What a new proposed rule from OMB could mean, and how you can help

Elisabeth Marnik, PhD

Jun 10, 2026

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION

The drug that saved your mother. The treatment your doctor recommended. The clinical trial that bought someone you love more time. None of it was inevitable. It required a system built to operate outside politics and sustained over decades, because science doesn’t operate on the timeline of a politician.

That system is now under direct threat.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed a new rule to regulate all federal grants, not just science, but housing, education, defense, NASA and everything in between, that would fundamentally change how research is conducted in the United States.

**The proposed rule posted on the Federal Register**

There have been a lot of fires in the past 16 months, and if everything is an emergency, nothing is an emergency. But this is a very big deal. These rules would strip away the independence that has kept science from becoming a political tool.

The good news is there’s still something we can all do.

How the grant system was designed to work

When I was a new faculty member, I was full of millions of ideas, so I sat down and wrote an NIH proposal. I worked on it for months and thought it was so good. Then I sent it to my mentor.

It came back covered in comments. Places where my reasoning wasn’t as airtight as I’d thought, methods that could be stronger, gaps in my thinking that I had been too close to the work to see. It stung, as honest feedback always does, but peer review almost always makes the work better.

In fact, it’s the backbone of how American science has functioned for generations.

At NIH, submitted proposals go to a panel of scientists who have experience in the field.

These are the people who can read research methods and spot their weaknesses, who understand when an experiment is designed well and when it isn’t. Applications are scored rigorously, and often only the top 3-20% of proposals receive funding. The people making funding decisions are required to justify them based on these reviews.

To be clear: this is not a perfect system, and good science still goes unfunded more often than any of us would like due to limited resources. There is also criticism that peer review may undervalue bold ideas that are risky but could have high payoffs.

But the peer review system is nonetheless a meaningful part of the grant selection process. While thoughtful and careful changes could improve the system, the changes being proposed by OMB will not make things better.

The rule that could change everything

Through this OMB proposal, the system that helps decide what gets funded is being dismantled.

There are many troubling elements buried in this proposal, but three provisions stand out in particular.

Each would be damaging alone.

Together, they would change what kind of science gets done in America, and who it serves.

1. Political appointees would decide which science gets funded, and peer review would be explicitly sidelined or ignored.

The guidelines your doctor follows, the standards that determine what’s in your air and water, the drugs that get approved for your family: all of it starts with a funding decision.

Right now, that decision is made by scientists who can evaluate whether the work is actually sound and whether it could move the needle forward. Under this proposal, funding decisions could be made by political appointees.

The careful, expertise-driven review process that shapes grant funding would be effectively sidelined.

That means that a poorly designed study could get funded simply because someone in a political office liked the sound of it, while rigorous, important work doesn’t get funded because it no longer aligns with the administration’s priorities.

In other words, critical work that benefits all of us could now be missed just because it has become politically inconvenient.

2. Grants could be canceled at any point, without warning, in the middle of ongoing work.

Say your tax dollars have been paying for a cancer study for two years. The grant was awarded for five years, so the team is mid-experiment.

There are three additional years’ worth of answers that could change how the disease is treated for hundreds of thousands of people. With this new rule, the federal government could cancel the remaining funding tomorrow, walk away from the commitment it made with your money, and have no legal obligation to finish what it started.

This is a huge waste of money.

There are rarely other sources of funding for this work, which means the team, the graduate students, postdocs, and research staff who have dedicated years of their careers to this project could lose their jobs.

Patients who have contributed their time to studies may not see it turn into useful learnings for others. Every hour of work already completed could result in nothing useful.

Science can take decades to get to tangible outcomes. It needs a stable funding system to flourish.

3. Researchers would have a harder time communicating their findings without pre-approval from the federal government.

There is a saying from Sir Mark Walport: “Science isn’t finished until it’s communicated.” Science is no use to anyone if it is kept locked away in the labs that produced the data.

The proposed rule could make communicating research findings harder in a number of ways:

Make it harder for scientists to widely share their findings in scientific journals. Publication costs, including journal fees that allow for broad public access, could not be paid for by federal funds which is often how scientists pay these costs.
Restrict researchers from engaging publicly about how their findings should inform policy or public health guidelines. This would restrict scientists from doing the work that transforms years of lab work into decisions that actually affect people’s lives.
Make it harder for scientists to attend conferences. Conferences would now need to be approved by the federal agency at the time of grant award. This disadvantages conferences or publications that are not politically aligned. Conferences are a key way in which scientists learn about work happening in their field so they can collaborate and build on each other’s findings.

What good is science with a muzzle?

The long-term impact

These changes could (and hopefully would) be reversed under the next administration.

But by then, damage has been done. Once projects are halted or denied funding by political appointees, people leave their science careers for other paths or even leave the country to do their amazing science elsewhere.

You cannot pause a scientific study the way you pause a subscription you decided isn’t useful anymore. You cannot freeze a research team that depends on salaries to feed their families, causing a scramble for replacement funding that, in most cases, simply does not exist. When the money stops, everything stops, and all the work in progress and its potential are lost.

Despite all of the language about reducing waste, fraud, and abuse, this new proposed rule increases the administrative burden tremendously.

Every researcher watching this unfold will make a rational decision: don’t start anything that will take a decade to finish.

This includes not building a team around funding that could vanish, or asking the big questions that need patience and stability to answer. The most consequential science, the kind that produces the treatments and the breakthroughs that reach your doctor’s office twenty years from now, is exactly the science that would be abandoned first.

This is still a proposal, so we can all do something

Some worry this rule is already a done deal. But by law, OMB is required to open a public comment period. Those comments matter because they inform members of Congress, they can be used in litigation, and they create a public record.

So here’s what you can do:

Submit a public comment. The public comment period on this proposed change is open until July 13. Anyone can submit a comment, and OMB is required to respond to substantial ones. Each comment must be different to count as distinct; identical comments will be counted only once. Comment as an individual, not on behalf of your organization. Here’s a full resource to help you, with useful examples, but in general:
1. Share a story about how science or federal funding has benefitted you or is involved in your work. Are you or someone you loved a cancer survivor? Do you know someone with Alzheimer’s? Have you received NIH/NSF or other federal funding? All of these can be stories you use to highlight why you care.
2. Explain why you’re worried about these proposed changes. You can use the wording found here or in other resources to help you.
3. Ask them to withdraw this proposed rule.

Contact your elected representatives. Congress allocates money to federal agencies to spend, and it has oversight of how that process works. You can let your representatives know this proposed change concerns you and ask them to intervene. There are levers they can push that can help at this moment.

Let others know why federal funding matters. This isn’t just about science, but ALL federal grants, including for education systems, defense projects, and more. The process, including the importance of federal funding, is invisible to many. We can all make it more visible by sharing how science benefits us and why we value it. You can also share this article, or any of the resources linked here, to help spread awareness!

Bottom line

We are quickly losing ground in scientific research in the U.S. More changes, like the proposed rule by OMB, would decimate our ability to conduct research here, leaving us all worse off: fewer treatments for pancreatic cancer, less research on pollution impacts, fewer answers for patients with rare disease, and more unaddressed health needs. The impact will be very real for all of us, regardless of where we stand politically.

Using our voices for science is more important than ever.

Love, LM

Big thanks to Dr. Megan Ranney for reading this over and providing brilliant insights, as always.

Dr. Liz Marnik, PhD, is Executive Director of The Evidence Collective at YLE and a science communicator and immunologist working at the intersection of public trust, science, and public health. You can find her on Substack, LinkedIn, Instagram and Threads.

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