Publications by authors named "Maura Kennelly"

In November of 2021, multiple factors converged to create a window of opportunity to open overdose prevention centers (OPCs) at two existing syringe service programs (SSPs) in New York City (NYC). Political will exists in NYC, particularly toward the end of the de Blasio administration's term, and the NYC Health Department worked to garner additional support from local and state elected officials given the dire need to address the overdose crisis. This coincided with readiness on the part of one of the NYC SSP providers, OnPoint NYC, to open and operate OPC services.

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Making public health data easier to access, understand, and use makes it more likely that the data will be influential. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Web-based data communication became a cornerstone of NYC's response and allowed the public, journalists, and researchers to access and understand the data in a way that supported the pandemic response and brought attention to the deeply unequal patterns of COVID-19's morbidity and mortality in NYC. (.

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Article Synopsis
  • Measles was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but an outbreak in 2018, linked to an unvaccinated child returning from Israel, resulted in 649 confirmed cases primarily within the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn.
  • The investigation included interviews, medical record reviews, and diagnostic testing, revealing that 85.8% of patients with known vaccination status were unvaccinated, with serious complications occurring in a small percentage of cases.
  • Vaccination efforts increased MMR vaccine uptake in Williamsburg from 79.5% to 91.1% among children aged 12 to 59 months, while the total response cost to public health efforts was $8.4 million.
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Studies have linked the consumption of sugary drinks to weight gain, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Since 2006, New York City has taken several actions to reduce consumption. Nutrition standards limited sugary drinks served by city agencies.

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