Study: NJ best at taking care of mental health for young people

CDC says measles cases in US rising, now up to 62

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday the number of measles cases in the United States has increased to 62 as of Thursday, higher than the whole of last year.

The CDC issued a health advisory March 18 urging people, particularly children and international travelers, to get vaccinated against measles due to the increase in cases this year. Total cases were at 58 the previous week week.

Most cases reported this year have been among children aged 12 months and older who had not received the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

The World Health Organization issued a global warning on Tuesday pointing to “big gaps” in immunization programs putting more than half of the world’s countries at high or very high risk of measles outbreaks by the end of the year.

Measles is a highly contagious, airborne virus that mostly affects children under the age of five. It can be prevented by two doses of vaccine and more than 50 million deaths have been averted since 2000, according to the WHO.

According to a study of 2023 data by specialists at Onyx Behavioral Health, New Jersey is tops when it comes to mental health care for young people.

According to the news release, New Jersey earned a perfect 10 for youth with “at least one major depressive episode at just 12.6% – the lowest in the country. New Jersey also scored 8.44 for youth with a severe major depressive episode at 7.5%, this being the second lowest in the US.”

Other criteria on which states were judged were youth with at least one major depressive episode who did not receive mental health service, youth with a substance disorder, youth with private insurance that did not cover mental health problems, and students identified with emotional disturbance.

South Carolina, Delaware, Nevada and Oklahoma round out the top five, followed by North Carolina, California, Maryland, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. Oregon ranked last, behind Virginia, Nebraska, Vermont and Kansas. and 17 – are in custody and charged in connection to the homicide of Alexzia “Alex” Franco, Taylorsville police said in a Facebook post.

Detectives were initially investigating the case as an alleged abduction that occurred March 17 in a Taylorsville neighborhood, police said in the social media post. The case took a turn when Franco’s body was found with a single gunshot wound in a desert area in Utah County, according to Taylorsville police.

Before police found Franco, he was seen getting into a white Jeep Liberty on Sunday afternoon, the social media post said. With the public’s help, police found the Jeep in Salt Lake County, and further investigation led to the arrests of two of the teenage boys, according to the post.

Taylorsville police announced the arrest of the third suspect, one of the 17year-old boys, on Thursday, a second Facebook post said.