WARNING: COVID-19 IS NOT OVER!

Rip off your mask! Run, don't walk to your favorite bar, restaurant or neighbor's raucous indoor party! Hug the persons you love, even the complete strangers you meet on the street! Go shopping again, in person, in a real store with crowds pushing and shoving you in a scene reminiscent of my childhood days during a sale at Filene's Basement, Boston's notoriously cheap haven in the days of yore before Amazon conquered all things good. Go back to the offices we used to hate going back to! We can finally return to normal, whatever that means and not have to grab a calculator to determine the risk/benefit ratio of every activity we engage in during our waking hours from greeting our mailman to picking up a pizza or even eating it, heaven forbid, inside the pizzeria.

Hold it! Not so fast, my friends. Despite the lifting of most mandates by Governors and local politicians (and reinterpreting their recommendations, as only the CDC, master of "government speak" can do best), it is not a time to completely let down our guard. Let's look at the numbers. As of this writing, approximately 100,000 Americans are newly diagnosed with Covid-19 EVERY DAY while almost 2,000 of us are still dying from this dreadful disease every single day. Unless that statistic changes, we would lose almost 3/4 million Americans a year from Covid-19. To put that in perspective, according to the CDC, between 12-52,000 Americans die every year from the flu. And, while we have made tremendous gains in our vaccination rates, still about 1/3 of our eligible population remains to be vaccinated at all...think about it...that's over 100 million Americans who are still not, and likely to never get vaccinated. And, if you want to think about this from a global citizen's point of view, only 63% of the world's population has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. And that statistic drops to a shocking 12.9% of people in low-income countries having received at least one dose.

And, before we celebrate too wildly about the supposed retreat of Covid-19 from a frightening pandemic to a manageable endemic, let's not forget that only three months ago, Omicron was only known to American mathematicians as a Greek letter. Since December 1, when it came to us from South Africa, it spread throughout the U.S. faster than a California wildfire gone awry, infecting both the vaccinated (even many with booster shots) and the unvaccinated, although with more serious effects in the latter group. Any respectable epidemiologist or infectious disease expert will tell us that, given that about 40% of the world's population is still unvaccinated, representing over 3 billion people, there is a lot of room for the next variant...and make no mistake, there will be a next varant...to spread and grow, possibly with even more capability than Omicron, to dodge our current vaccination protocols. 

In short, until the world achieves immunity from vaccination (or sadly, infection), we still need to keep our guard up, at least somewhat, depending upon the infection rates and vaccination rates in our neighborhood, village, county, state and country (since many of us can't wait to start traveling again, hoping we don't expire before our miles). I can't and won't tell you what to do with your life and the risk calculations you may still be calculating. I can only tell you what I am doing, which is keeping my mask on in most indoor settings, especially when crowds are likely present (e.g., supermarkets, museums, movies, theatres, clubs, synagogues, etc.). I am also, as we move into Spring and Summer, going to do most of my restaurant dining outdoors. For me, these simple precautions will make me feel safer and, hopefully, keep me and those around me safer not just from Covid-19, but from the common cold and flu, neither of which have struck me in the 2 years that I have been masking up. 

TEXAS HILL COUNTRY FLOODS: DID WARNINGS FAIL VICTIMS?

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • August 7, 2025
From July 3–4, 2025, Central Texas—especially Kerr County and the Guadalupe River basin—experienced catastrophic flash flooding that claimed over 130 lives, including children and staff at Camp Mystic. As grief and outrage settle, survivors and officials alike are questioning whether enough was done to warn those most at risk.

TEXAS LEADS THE NATION: WARNING LABELS ON ADDITIVES

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • July 9, 2025
On June 22, 2025, Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 25 (SB25), known as the Make Texas Healthy Again Act. Beginning January 1, 2027, Texas will require prominent on-pack warning labels whenever food sold in the state contains any of 44 specific additives—including synthetic colorants like Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, titanium dioxide, bleached flour, and partially hydrogenated oils. The mandated label must declare the following:

WARNING: FDA DELAYS IMPLEMENTATION OF RULE THAT WOULD REQUIRE NEW NUTRITION LABELING

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • May 27, 2025
The FDA is delaying implementation of a rule that would require food companies to print nutritional information on the front labels of their products. The proposed rule was developed by President Biden’s Administration, with a comment period scheduled to close on May 16. The rule is designed to help consumers make better choices to avoid chronic health problems. Such problems—and consumer choices about nutrition—are things President Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has repeatedly touted. Even though hundreds of comments have been filed about the proposed rule, Kennedy’s Food and Drug Administration is delaying the close of the comment period by 60 days. Most of the comments filed so far have come from food companies and food industry trade organizations. “ A 60-day comment period extension allows adequate time for interested parties to submit comments while also not significantly delaying rulemaking on the important issues in the proposed rule ,” according to the FDA’s announcement about the delay. 

WARNING: THE GENDER BIAS IN CAR SAFETY TESTING PRESENTS AN ONGOING DANGER

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • April 30, 2025
Car accidents are a leading cause of injury and death worldwide, yet the safety measures designed to protect occupants in these life-or-death situations have long ignored a critical reality: women are more likely to be severely injured or killed in crashes than men. This disparity isn't rooted in biology alone—it’s also a result of a troubling oversight in the automotive industry’s safety testing protocols. For decades, crash-test dummies, which serve as proxies for human passengers in simulated collisions, have been modeled after the average male physique, leaving women out of the equation entirely. The Alarming Data Gap The implications of this gender gap in safety testing are both staggering and infuriating. Women, on average, have different body compositions than men—they tend to be shorter, lighter, and have different muscle distributions and bone densities. These physiological differences mean that women’s bodies interact with car safety features—such as seat belts, airbags, and headrests—in distinct ways. When vehicles aren’t tested with dummies that accurately represent female anatomy, crucial data about how to better protect women in crashes is simply ignored. Studies have revealed the dire consequences of this exclusion. Research from the University of Virginia found that women are 47% more likely to sustain serious injuries in car accidents compared to men, even when accounting for variables like seatbelt usage and crash severity. Women are also significantly more likely to suffer whiplash injuries due to the positioning of headrests, which are often designed with men’s neck dimensions in mind. These statistics aren’t just numbers—they represent lives cut short, families broken, and untold suffering that could have been mitigated with equitable safety testing.

WARNING: ARE MUSK, KENNEDY, AND TRUMP IGNORING THE GRAVE CONSEQUENCES OF SLASHING PUBLIC HEALTH FUNDING?

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • April 14, 2025
Recent budget cuts at the Health and Safety Science Services (HSSS) have sent shockwaves through the scientific and public health communities, threatening the very infrastructure designed to protect us from disease outbreaks, food contamination, and medical crises. These cuts have affected food inspectors, vaccine scientists, Alzheimer’s researchers, and experts studying bird flu, among others—positions that are essential to ensuring public safety and advancing critical medical research. The consequences of these decisions will be dire, potentially reversing years of progress and exposing society to increased health risks.

WARNING: IS ELON MUSK'S DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY JEOPARDIZING AIR SAFETY?

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • March 12, 2025
As Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DGE) pushes for sweeping reforms and cost-cutting across federal agencies, concerns are mounting over the impact on critical public safety roles. Among the most alarming areas affected is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), where staff reductions may threaten the lives of millions of air travelers. The DGE, established with a mandate to streamline government operations and reduce bureaucratic waste, has come under fire for its aggressive downsizing tactics. Critics warn that essential safety personnel, including air traffic controllers, are being cut under the guise of efficiency, leaving the nation's airspace dangerously understaffed.

WARNING: WILL TRUMP'S SURGEON GENERAL SUPPORT IMPROVED ALCOHOL WARNING LABELS?

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • February 11, 2025
Biden Administration former Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, on his way out of office, issued a Surgeon General's Advisory calling for new warnings on alcoholic beverages related to the cancer risk from consuming alcoholic beverages. Given that most individuals are unaware of the connection that consumption of alcoholic beverages can increase the risk for at least seven types of cancer, Murthy said in his advisory: "Given the conclusive evidence on the cancer risk from alcohol consumption and the Office of the Surgeon General's responsibility to inform the American public of the best available scientific evidence, the Surgeon General recommends an update to the Surgeon General's warning label for alcohol-containing beverages to include a cancer risk warning."

WARNING: TRUMP'S RE-ELECTION MEANS A DEREGULATORY NIGHTMARE FOR CONSUMERS

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • December 2, 2024
In my best-selling book, Murder, Inc.: How Unregulated Industry Kills or Injures Thousands of Americans Every Year...And What You Can Do About It , I propose a safety triad consisting of three components: manufacturers, regulators and consumers. All three must function properly in order to keep us safe. Manufacturers must produce and market safe (or safe as possible) products and warn us about any potential hazards so that we can make informed choices about whether or not to purchase their product and/or how to use it safely. Regulators , by imposing and implementing necessary rules and regulations, should hold manufacturers accountable for the above stated actions and to endure that they engage in "principled disclosure" by warning us about any potential hazards and dangers associated with their products. And, finally, Consumers , especially in the absence of well-meaning manufacturers or competent, well-intentioned regulators, must be highly diligent by researching products and learning about potential hazards prior to buying and/or using them. All three, manufacturers, regulators and consumers, must perform their jobs or the safety triad may fail to protect us and our loved ones. Think of a three-legged stool that distributes the weight of a person sitting on the stool, equally among the three legs. But what would happen if we leaned heavily to one side of the stool, essentially spreading the weight that was once borne by three legs to the two legs remaining braced to the floor. Unfortunately the third leg is no longer contributing to the stability of the stool, which may actually collapse because the two remaining legs may not be able to handle the amount of weight that was intended to be equally distributed among all three legs. 

WARNING: FDA RECOMMENDS REMOVING POPULAR DECONGESTANT FROM MARKET

By Dr. Gerald Goldhaber • November 15, 2024
If you or anyone in your family has used, uses or plans to use such over the counter (OTC) remedies for the flu or common cold as Theraflu, Robitussin, NyQuil, DayQuil, Mucinex, Sudafed or even some versions of Tylenol or Advil, you may want to read this newsletter very carefully.

WARNING: SOCIAL MEDIA IS ASSOCIATED WITH SIGNIFICANT MENTAL HEALTH HARMS FOR ADOLESCENTS

By Gerald Goldhaber • October 2, 2024
In an unprecedented, but, according to many social scientists and parents, a long overdue action, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, in a June editorial in the New York Times, called for a warning label to be placed on all social media platforms. In the words of the Surgeon General:
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