Weekly News Quiz

While most people can count on their immune system to do its job and protect them against reinfection, that protection lasts for only about three to four months after your most recent vaccine or infection. Then the immune response begins to wane. “As we learned more about COVID, we discovered it could mutate even faster than influenza, and one could be reinfected,” says William Schaffner, M.D., professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

In March 2024, AARP wrote to a group of U.S. lawmakers to support the bipartisan Casualty Loss Deduction Restoration Act. The legislation would not only reinstate the casualty loss deduction, but it would allow people who paid taxes on theft losses between 2018 and 2025 to retroactively claim the deduction, with a cap of $50,000. 

The agency warned consumers about El Servidor brand ground cinnamon and urged its distributor to recall the product. It is distributed by El Servidor Corp. of Elmhurst, New York, and sold through Mannan Supermarket Inc., the agency said. The FDA initially sent letters to cinnamon manufacturers March 6 stressing the need to prevent contamination from chemical hazards. Makers of seven brands now have been urged to recall their products because the cinnamon may be tainted.

A housekeeper now typically cleans 13 to 16 rooms a day, which averages about 30 to 40 minutes per room, says David J. Sangree, president of consulting firm Hotel & Leisure Advisors. “Sometimes the housekeepers don’t have enough time to clean it properly.”

When you enter the room, look for stains and whether the carpet has been vacuumed. But the bathroom is the key in cleanliness. “Check the shower curtain or the glass shower panel, which should be spotless,” he adds. If it’s not, “you can either request a new room or request a housekeeper come to the room and correct the problem.”