Radio Free Montone: Ticks And Taxes
By John Montone, 1010 WINS
We are bombarded by bad news. For instance, ticks and taxes. One can kill us. The other? I dunno.
Don't go camping or walking or riding a bike in the woods without covering all of your exposed skin or dousing yourself with DEET-laden insect repellent. Why? Because ticks are now testing positive for a virus much more lethal than Lyme-disease. It is called, "Powassan," and it can cause inflammation of the human brain. There's no known treatment and it is often fatal. Oh, and enjoy that picnic you're going on this weekend.
Web Extra: 5 Facts About Powassan Virus
I take no joy in reporting that going out for some fresh air in a pair of Bermuda shorts may be putting your life at risk. I shed my jeans for shorts once the temperature sneaks north of 50-degrees. But it makes sense to me as a reporter to report to you that this rare but potentially deadly virus is out there and some degree of caution should be taken.
Then there is tax day. You survived it? Congratulations. Because like ticks, we are being told taxes can result in death. A recent e-mail from a PR firm quoted the Journal of the American Medical Association as saying people are more likely to die in auto accidents on April 15th due to a spike in driver stress levels. A Zogby Survey in the PR release stated that 56% of U.S. adults consider tax filing stressful. Duh. And the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index…..the what? Well, that Index has Tax Day as the 2nd most stressful day of the year. In 1st place according to Gallup-Healthways was, "a day with mass tornadoes."
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The second part of the press release offered some easy steps to help us cope with the "tax-time stress pandemic."
I chose not to report the tax-related stress story on 1010 WINS because there's enough "real" bad news to keep me busy and ruin your day.
Now, just watch out for those ticks.
