Regional editions begin next month

New on Force of Infection

I am excited to announce that I am launching regional versions of Force of Infection beginning Oct 2, 2023¹. In last week’s poll, some 75%-80% of respondents expressed interest in receiving a regional version of This week in outbreaks. Your responses gave me confidence to commit, so thank you for participating! Here is what you need to know about opting in:

The plan: I will still publish a national weekly update, which will remain free to read. The new change is that paid subscribers will have the option to receive additional updates tailored to the Northeast, Midwest, South, and Western regions. Subscriptions are $5 per month.

Format: The regional newsletters will be structured similarly to my This week in outbreaks series. They will provide information on respiratory diseases such as Covid-19, influenza-like illnesses, and RSV; stomach bugs; and food recalls. However, data will be specific to the states within that region².

Dates: I plan to publish each week beginning October 2, 2023. My goal is to publish on Mondays, but I may need a little flexibility. I will re-evaluate whether to continue the regional editions at the end of flu season in March/April.

Picking a region: The options are Northeast, Midwest, South, and West, as defined by the Census Bureau. I recommend picking just one to minimize inbox traffic, but you can sign up for as many as you want. The state groupings are shown in the map below, and there is a text list at the bottom of this post.

Source: KFF

Signing up: To sign up to receive regional updates:

1. Become a paid subscriber ⬇️. If you are already a paid subscriber, go to step 2. (And thank you!)

2. While logged in to your Substack account, visit https://caitlinrivers.substack.com/account and select notifications for the regions you want to receive. Select as many as you want. Once you've done this, you'll receive an email with my updates each week as they are published.

Please bear with me as I roll this out. I’m working to make it a smooth experience, but I’m sure there will be bumps.

I appreciate your support and I can’t wait to get started!

-Caitlin

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Regions description

• The Northeast region includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania

• The Midwest region includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota

• The South region includes Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas

• The West region includes Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington

1. The email version of this post read 3023 instead of 2023. While I can make no promises about proofreading (despite best efforts), I can confirm that I am planning to launch regional editions this millennium.

2. Paid subscribers will also automatically have access to any other paywalled writing, like my recent post on caring for sick kids at home. I only publish a few paywalled articles like this a year, though.