June 19, 2025

Future Meetings

See all GHA meetings.

Resources

CDC COVID Data Tracker

COVID-19 updates for the United States.

Ebola

The Department of Public Health (DPH) offers answers to your Ebola questions.

State Epidemiologist

24-hour access to a State Epidemiologist: 1-866-PUB-HLTH.

CDC Information

Visit www.cdc.gov to stay up to date on current information.

SAMHSA: Preventing Suicide

Visit the suicide prevention resource page.

New COVID Variant May Cause 'Razor Blade Throat' 

A new COVID-19 variant called NB.1.8.1 could account for up to one-third of cases, according to health officials. One hallmark of this latest strain is a symptom some people are calling "razor blade throat." The variant — informally referred to as "Nimbus" — made up an estimated 37% of cases in the U.S. during a two-week period ending June 7, as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Health Care Cybersecurity Bill

House and Senate lawmakers introduced the bipartisan Healthcare Cybersecurity Act in an effort to safeguard medical data and increase coordination between federal agencies. If the legislation passes, it will require the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to collaborate on improving healthcare cybersecurity.

CDC Investigates Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Imported Pistachio Cream

Federal health officials are investigating a multistate outbreak of salmonella infections tied to an imported pistachio cream product. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that three people in Minnesota and one in New Jersey fell ill between March 10 and May 19. One person has been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

Vita-Warehouse Corp. Issues Allergy Alert on Undeclared Peanut Allergen in ALDI Vitamin B12 Gummy Products

Vita Warehouse Corp. is voluntarily recalling one lot of Welby® brand Vitamin B12 Energy Support gummy product 1000 mcg 140 gummies, Berkely Jensen® Vitamin B12 1000 mcg 250 Gummies, and VitaGlobe™ Vitamin B12 Extra Strength 60 Gummies due to the potential presence of undeclared peanuts. People with an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts run the potential risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reactions if they consume these products.

Medtronic Announces Voluntary Recall of Select Newport HT70 and Newport HT70 Plus Ventilators

In May 2025, Medtronic issued a voluntary recall notification to global customers related to specific Newport™ HT70 and HT70 Plus ventilators and certain related Newport™ service parts. The FDA recently designated this voluntary action by Medtronic as a Class I recall. Customers are being asked to remove the affected devices from use and replace them with an alternate means of ventilation.

NEWSLETTERS

ASPR Health Care Readiness Bulletin - June 16

ASPR HPH Sector Engagement Opportunities - June 16

ASPR HPH Sector Highlights (Cybersecurity) - June 13

Georgia Weekly Influenza Report - Week 23

MESH Weekly Situational Awareness Brief - June 13

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report - June 19

News and Notes - June 13

EDUCATION

Emergency Preparedness Systems Training:

Everbridge Training

GHC911 Training

National Healthcare Coalition Preparedness Conference

Dec. 1-3

Region IV Public Health Training Center Learning Opportunities

RESOURCES AND REMINDERS

Reminder: Identify, Isolate and Inform!

Identify, Isolate and Inform: It is important to continue to ask travel questions. The purpose of this notice is to remind healthcare providers about actions to take in Georgia when evaluating patients for possible serious communicable diseases!

Travel Clinical Assistant (TCA) 

The Travel Clinical Assistant provides post-travel clinical information on travel-related diseases for 231 countries. Diseases with recent outbreaks occurring in the last two years are listed first.

Violent Actors and Cyber Criminals Threaten Emergency Services Sector

The Office of Intelligence and Analysis sent an assessment of threats to the Emergency Services Sector— police, firefighters, and other first responders— from violent extremists, other physical threat actors, or malicious cyber actors. 

ONLINE PREPAREDNESS TOOLS

GHC911

Go to the GHC911 homepage

WebEOC

Add your facility to WebEOC.

Everbridge

Sign up for an Everbridge account

Accessing Tech Support

Selelia Jiles is GHA's Emergency Preparedness Communications Manager. Contact her at sjiles@gha.org, 770-249-4506 (office) or 404-200-5829 (cell).

If you need to reach GHA for a Disaster/Emergency Preparedness-related issue after hours, please contact Mallory Garrett, 706-934-0711.

The Disaster Readiness Line Newsletter is circulated by Georgia's Healthcare Coalitions to our emergency preparedness partners.