Sunday, January 31, 2021

Honoring The Elderly

 From News Nation:

“Pope institutes Catholic day to honor the elderly”

Pope Francis on Sunday instituted a “World day for Grandparents and the Elderly” in the Roman Catholic Church to be marked once a year to honor them and to underscore their importance to society. Francis, making the surprise announcement at his Sunday noon address, said it would be marked on the fourth Sunday of July each year in Catholic communities around the world. The Catholic Church already has a World Day of Peace, which Pope Paul instituted in 1967, a World Day of Youth, which Pope John Paul II established in 1984, and a World Day of the Poor, which Francis started in 2017. The worldwide Church holds special events and religious services on those days to draw attention to the needs and attributes of the groups. Francis, 84, has often called on society to cherish the elderly as a source of wisdom and experience and he has lamented a “throwaway culture” that puts them aside because they are no longer productive.

^ It would be great if people helped the elderly without needing a reason to, but they don’t so hopefully this will make some help. ^

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/pope-institutes-catholic-day-to-honor-the-elderly/

New Russian Protests

From the BBC:

“Navalny: Thousands join fresh protests across Russia”



Thousands of Russians have been taking part in unauthorised protests to demand the release of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. More than 4,000 people have been detained, a monitoring group says. In Moscow police closed metro stations and blocked off the city centre. Mr Navalny was jailed on his return to Russia after recovering from an attempt to kill him with a nerve agent. He blames the security services for the attack but the Kremlin denies this. The opposition figure had only just arrived from Berlin, where he spent months recovering from the near-fatal incident. Russian authorities say Mr Navalny was supposed to report to police regularly because of a suspended sentence for embezzlement. Mr Navalny has denounced his detention as "blatantly illegal", saying the authorities had allowed him to travel to Berlin for treatment for the Novichok poisoning, which happened in Russia last August. Mr Navalny has blamed state security agents under Mr Putin's orders for the attempt on his life and investigative journalists have named Russian FSB agents suspected of the poisoning. But the Kremlin denies involvement and disputes the conclusion, by Western weapons experts, that Novichok was used. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied reports he is the owner of a vast palace on the Black Sea, as alleged by Mr Navalny in a video that has gone viral in Russia and has been watched more than 100m times.

Where were the protests? In Moscow the BBC's Sarah Rainsford says protesters played cat-and-mouse with police, getting up close to officers before retreating to safety. Police snatch squads pulled some protesters through the lines of riot shields. Footage showed a stream of people being escorted on to buses by riot police. Protesters then attempted to reach the Matrosskaya Tishina prison where Mr Navalny is being held. Mr Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, was among those detained at Sunday's protest. She was later released. Ahead of the protests she posted on Instagram: "If we stay quiet, then they could come for any of us tomorrow." Police said the protests were illegal and Russian authorities warned that the gatherings could spread the coronavirus. A 40-year-old protester in Moscow told Reuters: "I understand that I live in a totally lawless state. In a police state, with no independent courts. In a country ruled by corruption. I would like to live differently," she said. In St Petersburg, Mr Putin's home city, a crowd gathered in a central square and chanted: "Down with the Tsar." Rallies in support of Mr Navalny also took place in eastern Russia. In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, at least 2,000 people marched through the city chanting "Freedom" and "Putin is a thief". In Yakutsk, where temperatures fell to -40C, a protester named Ivan said it was the first rally he had attended. "I am tired of the despotism and lawlessness of the authorities. No questions have been answered. I want clarity, openness, and change. This is what made me come here," he said. Further rallies saw about 1,000 people demonstrate in Omsk, also in Siberia, and about 7,000 people protest in Yekaterinburg in the Ural region, according to local media reports.

The OVD-Info monitoring group said police had detained more than 4,000 people at protests in 85 cities across the country. They included 1,167 held in Moscow and 862 in St Petersburg. Later on Sunday, Mr Navalny's Moscow campaign headquarters announced the end of the day's protests and called on supporters to attend a rally on Tuesday at a Moscow court where a ruling will be made on Mr Navalny's detention. A number of close associates of Mr Navalny have been detained since last week and others, including his brother and Pussy Riot activist Maria Alyokhina, have been put under house arrest. The chief editor of a Russian website specialising in human rights, Sergei Smirnov, was also arrested outside his home on Saturday. News of his detention, apparently over allegations he participated in last week's protests, has been condemned by other journalists. In Moscow, police have reportedly been struggling to find space in jail for supporters of the opposition leader.

What reaction has there been? In a tweet, the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said he deplored the "widespread detentions and disproportionate use of force". I deplore widespread detentions and disproportionate use of force against protesters and journalists in #Russia again today. People must be able to exercise their right to demonstrate without fear of repression. Russia needs to comply with its international commitments. The new US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, condemned "the persistent use of harsh tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists". He called for Mr Navalny and other opposition supporters to be released. In response, the Russian foreign ministry accused the US of "gross interference" in its internal affairs and of using "online platforms" to promote the protests.

^ I continue to be impressed and proud to see Russians peacefully protest against Putin and his minions. Russians just want to live in peace, freedom and in a Democratic country. ^

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55876033

60: Flight

 Ham (Chimpanzee)

Ham (July 1957 – January 19, 1983), also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, was a chimpanzee and the first hominid launched into space. On January 31, 1961, Ham flew a suborbital flight on the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission, part of the U.S. space program's Project Mercury. Ham's name is an acronym for the laboratory that prepared him for his historic mission—the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, located at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, southwest of Alamogordo. His name was also in honor of the commander of Holloman Aeromedical Laboratory, Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton "Ham" Blackshear.

Early life Ham was born in July 1957 in French Cameroon (now Cameroon), captured by animal trappers and sent to Rare Bird Farm in Miami, Florida, US. He was purchased by the United States Air Force and brought to Holloman Air Force Base in July 1959. There were originally 40 chimpanzee flight candidates at Holloman. After evaluation, the number of candidates was reduced to 18, then to six, including Ham:245–246 Officially, Ham was known as No. 65 before his flight, and only renamed "Ham" upon his successful return to Earth. This was reportedly because officials did not want the bad press that would come from the death of a "named" chimpanzee if the mission were a failure. Among his handlers, No. 65 had been known as "Chop Chop Chang".

Training and mission Beginning in July 1959, the two-year-old chimpanzee was trained under the direction of neuroscientist Joseph V. Brady at Holloman Air Force Base Aero Medical Field Laboratory to do simple, timed tasks in response to electric lights and sounds. During his pre-flight training, Ham was taught to push a lever within five seconds of seeing a flashing blue light; failure to do so resulted in an application of a light electric shock to the soles of his feet, while a correct response earned him a banana pellet. What differentiates Ham's mission from all the other primate flights to this point is that he was not merely a passenger, and the results from his test flight led directly to the mission Alan Shepard made on May 5, 1961, aboard Freedom 7.

On January 31, 1961, Ham was secured in a Project Mercury mission designated MR-2 and launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a suborbital flight.  Ham's vital signs and tasks were monitored by sensors and computers on Earth. The capsule suffered a partial loss of pressure during the flight, but Ham's space suit prevented him from suffering any harm.  Ham's lever-pushing performance in space was only a fraction of a second slower than on Earth, demonstrating that tasks could be performed in space. Ham's capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered by a rescue ship later that day. His only physical injury was a bruised nose. His flight was 16 minutes and 39 seconds long.

Later life



(Ham's grave at the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, New Mexico)

On April 5, 1963, Ham was transferred to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. where he lived for 17 years before joining a small group of captive chimps at North Carolina Zoo on September 25, 1980. After his death on January 19, 1983, Ham's body was given to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology for necropsy. Following the necropsy, the plan was to have him stuffed and placed on display at the Smithsonian Institution, following Soviet precedent with pioneering space dogs Belka and Strelka. However, this plan was abandoned after a negative public reaction. Ham's remains, minus the skeleton, were buried at the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Colonel John Stapp gave the eulogy at the memorial service. The skeleton is held in the collection of the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_(chimpanzee)

60: Ham

 


Saving Attica Zoo

From News Nation:

“No income, 2,000 mouths to feed: Lockdown squeezes Greek zoo”



(Zoo curator Adonis Balas feeds three giraffes at the Attica Zoological Park in Spata, near Athens, on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021.)

It’s feeding time at Greece’s only zoo, and a capuchin monkey grabs as many mandarins as it can — even tucking one into his long, supple tail. It might be wise to stock up. After being closed for almost three months due to COVID-19, the zoo on the fringes of Athens could be on the road to extinction: With no paying visitors or — unlike other European zoos — enough government aid to cover its very particular needs, the Attica Zoological Park faces huge bills to keep 2,000 animals well-fed and healthy. “As things are … we still can go on for at least one month,” zoo founder and CEO Jean Jacques Lesueur said. “After that, we don’t know.” Unlike some businesses forced to temporarily close due to virus-control restrictions, the zoo continues to have sizeable operating expenses. Between food, salaries, utilities, medical care and other expenses, the cost of caring for the animals currently exceeds $243,000 per month. “That’s the difference between us and other companies: When they close they close. We close, but we don’t close,” Lesueur told The Associated Press.

Founded in 2000 and located in the town of Spata, the zoo occupies 50 acres and is home to 290 species, from elephants to prairie dogs. It’s involved in education, conservation and breeding, and belongs to the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, which has about 400 members. Having to close again on Nov. 7 after Greece’s two-month spring lockdown came at a bad time for Attica Zoological Park. The zoo normally operates year-round but does a lot of its business during cooler weather “because in Greece people go to the beaches, to the islands, they don’t visit zoos” in the summer, the French-born Lesueur said. Visitors account for more than 99% of its revenue, from tickets, food and beverages and gift shop sales. So every month’s revenue counts, and the loss of December, usually busy due to the Christmas holidays, was particularly heavy. So far, suppliers have shown understanding and are accepting credit. Two-thirds of the zoo’s staff is on state-supported furlough, and an expected installment of state aid will take care of this month’s pay for the rest, the CEO said. The zoo also has sold 5,000 advance tickets at reduced prices for when the lockdown ends, and Lesueur says that helped pay December’s salaries. Lockdown also affects the zoo’s residents, accustomed as they are to crowds of humans. For nearly three months, they’ve only been seeing their keepers. So the tables were turned when an AP journalist visited last week: Several curious animals and birds came close for a good look. “Animals miss visitors, because it’s part of their life,” Lesueur said. “All the animals you see (here) are born in other zoos. So they are used to people.”

Greece has registered about 150,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections so far and some 5,800 deaths in the pandemic. After peaking above 3,300 in November, the number of new daily cases is holding in the triple digits. Nevertheless, the greater Athens region remains the country’s worst-hit area and authorities said Friday they will reimpose tougher lockdown restrictions there after a January decline in infection rates was reversed this week. Overall, Lesueur says he’s optimistic that the zoo will get clearance to reopen in coming weeks. “Except if the COVID (situation) gets worse. That’s another story,” he said. “Now if we are closed for another two months or three months, I really don’t know what is going to happen.”

^ I only hope the Greek Government, the EU Government and private people and companies will come to the rescue of this zoo and help save the animals. ^

https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/no-income-2000-mouths-to-feed-lockdown-squeezes-greek-zoo/

No Eggs Nor'Easter

 Contrary to popular belief a Nor'Easter has nothing to do with Easter so you can stop looking for eggs outside in the snow (although leaving the eggs white and hiding them in the snow would make things more interesting.)

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Comparing Vaccines

From the BBC:

“Covid vaccines: Those that work - and the others to come”



Mass vaccination campaigns are under way in the fight back against the coronavirus. A range of vaccines, designed in completely different ways, are being used to reduce people's chances of getting sick, needing hospital treatment or dying. And two new vaccines have just been shown to work in large scale clinical trials.

Why do we need a vaccine? It is more than a year since the virus first emerged, yet the vast majority of people are still vulnerable to the virus. The restrictions on our lives are the only thing holding the virus in check as they reduce opportunities for the virus to spread. Vaccines teach our bodies to fight the infection and are "the" exit strategy from the pandemic.

The big three The three vaccine frontrunners are those developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford/AstraZeneca.Pfizer and Moderna have both developed RNA vaccines - a new approach that is incredibly quick to design. They inject a tiny fragment of the virus's genetic code into the body, this starts producing part of the coronavirus and the body to mounts a defence. These have been approved for use in the UK, Europe and the US. The Oxford vaccine is subtly different as it uses a harmless virus to carry the same genetic material into the body. This has been approved in the UK and Europe. It is the easiest of the of the three to use as it can be stored in a fridge rather than needing very cold temperatures. All are supposed to be given as two doses, but the UK is prioritising giving as many people as possible the first dose and delaying the second.

How the vaccines compare? Data from large-scale trials on two new vaccines have also been presented recently. The work by Janssen and Novavax will now be reviewed by drugs regulators before they can be join the vaccination effort. Janssen's vaccine uses the same technique as Oxford, but crucially is given as a single injection, rather than the usual two. This combined with it needing only a fridge to store and a billion doses planned this year means it could make a significant impact around the world. Novavax are using a different, old-school, approach to vaccines - proteins from the virus and a chemical to prime the immune system are injected into the body.

What is the rest of the world doing? There are other noteworthy vaccines even if they are not being used in Europe and the US. The Sinovac, CanSino and Sinopharm vaccines have been developed by scientists in China and deals have signed with other countries in Asia and South America. Around one million people in China are reported to have been given the Sinopharm injection.

What do we know about China's coronavirus vaccines? The Sputnik V vaccine, developed by Russia's Gamaleya Research Centre, has published early trial data saying it is effective and some people have been immunised.

Are they all equally effective? It is hard to compare one company's results with another as their trials will have been conducted in slightly different ways and at points in the pandemic. However, all the main vaccines seem to have a large impact on your chances of needing hospital treatment or dying from Covid. However, one of the most important questions - do they stop you spreading the virus - remains unknown. Understanding which method produces the best results will be explored in challenge trials where people are deliberately infected with the virus.

What about variants? New versions of the coronavirus are emerging in countries around the world. However, there is a warning sign in the data from Janssen and Novavax which have the first "real-world" data on the new variants. Both showed a dip in their overall effectiveness in South Africa, where a new and worrying variant has been spreading. The results were still good and clearly better than no vaccine at all, but they emphasise how coronavirus is a moving target. We may need to change the vaccines we use in the future.

Who gets the vaccine first? Countries have been developing priority lists for who gets the vaccine first. In the UK, NHS frontline staff, care home residents and workers, and the over-80s were first in line to receive a vaccine. The plan is to target the oldest and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable before moving on to the rest of the population.

^ Any country or company that hides their vaccine information (what’s in it, how effective it is, etc.) should not be trusted or used by anyone. Then there are the vaccines that are less effective (like Johnson and Johnson’s which is 66% effective over the others which are 90%+ effective.) People should be told which vaccine they will get since I don’t want the one that is only 66% effective when there are others that are 90%+ more effective. ^

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51665497

USPS Failing People

I have seen people (including myself) complain about the USPS and how Birthday, Chanukah and Christmas presents are now arriving 1-2 months late. Just yesterday I received a Christmas package in the mail. Another present was held at a USPS Facility for 2 months even though it is only 3 hours from my house.

I have seen people complain about the USPS and how bills, paychecks, checks used to pay those bills and medicines are coming 1-2 months late.

What I haven't seen  - since November 2020 -  is anyone (especially Government Officials) speaking out or doing anything to fix the problems with the USPS - including why the Postmaster General, who helped cause the problems in the first place, is still in office.

It is one thing to have a present delivered 1-2 months late and another for a bill, a paycheck or medicines. That directly affects people's health and everyday lives.

If you don't get a paycheck you can't afford food or heat. If a company doesn't get your payment in time they may turn your heat, your electricity, etc. off.

If you don't get your medicines in time you could die (and many Insurance Companies now require you to use Home Pharmacy Delivery because it is cheaper for them.)

Canada's Strict Quarantine

From News Nation:

“Canada to quarantine travelers, suspend flights to Mexico, Caribbean”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced stricter restrictions on travelers in response to new, likely more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus — including making it mandatory for travelers to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense when they arrive in Canada and suspending airline service to Mexico and all Caribbean destinations until April 30. Trudeau said in addition to the pre-boarding test Canada already requires, the government will be introducing mandatory PCR testing at the airport for people returning to Canada. “Travelers will then have to wait for up to three days at an approved hotel for their test results, at their own expense, which is expected to be more than $2000,” Trudeau said. “Those with negative test results will then be able to quarantine at home under significantly increased surveillance and enforcement.” The steep cost for the hotel stay includes the cost for a private PCR test, security, food and the cost of measures the designated hotels will have to take to keep their workers safe.

The prime minister said those with positive tests will be immediately required to quarantine in designated government facilities to make sure they’re not carrying variants of particular concern. Trudeau also said the government and Canada’s main airlines have agreed to suspend service to sun destinations right away. He said Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing, and Air Transat are cancelling air service to all Caribbean destinations and Mexico starting Sunday until April 30. “They will be making arrangements with their customers who are currently on a trip in these regions to organize their return flights,” Trudeau said.  He said starting next week, all international passenger flights must land at the following four airports: Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal. “We will also, in the coming weeks, be requiring nonessential travelers to show a negative test before entry at the land border with the US, and we are working to stand up additional testing requirements for land travel,” Trudeau said.

Canada already requires those entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days and to present a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days before arrival. The move to require a hotel stay upon return would discourage vacations as people would not want to have to quarantine at a hotel at their own expense upon return. “It’s excellent. It’s a shame it’s this late. This is something they could have done ages ago,” said Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network. “This is definitely a step in the right direction.” More and more governments are thinking about ways to be more aggressive because of the new variants, delays in vaccines, the challenges with getting the population vaccinated and the strains on health care systems. Trudeau also announced there will be a delay in part of the next shipment of the Moderna vaccine, which arrives next week. He said Canada will receive 78% of the expected amount, translating to 180,000 doses.

^ I can understand requiring negative Covid Tests to enter a country at all land, sea and air borders but if those tests come back negative then people should be allowed to continue on with their lives without any further quarantine. If the tests are so badly made that they can not detect Covid the first or second time then we have an even bigger problem going on. Canada hasn't done a very good job dealing with Covid from the very beginning. They self-isolated themselves from the rest of the world. They self-isolated themselves from each other/ They didn't do much to aid the elderly and disabled in Group and Nursing Homes. They gave assistance to help ordinary Canadians with the Pandemic and then started asking for the money back. They have become violent at foreigners inside Canada. They didn't order enough vaccines for their population or set-up a way to distribute them in a timely manner. They have lagged behind the rest of the industrialized and Western World. The only excuse is of their own making through their own mistakes. They have the money to change things for the better. They have a lot less of the population than many countries yet they have deep flaws in their system that are now being exposed. ^

https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/canada-to-quarantine-travelers-suspend-flights-to-mexico-caribbean/

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon

From the BBC:

“Austrian man leaves 'large amount' to village that saved family from Nazis”



An Austrian man has left a bequest to a French village as a gesture of gratitude decades after residents took in his family during World War Two. Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, in south-east France, protected thousands of Jews and has a long-standing reputation for shielding people from persecution. Eric Schwam, who died last month at 90, arrived there with his family in 1943. The town's mayor says he left the village a "large amount" in his will, without confirming a figure. But his mayoral predecessor told local media Mr Schwam had enquired with officials years ago and the total is thought to be about €2m (£1.7m; $2.4m). Denise Vallat, culture and communication assistant at Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, said the town was contacted by a notary about three weeks ago to discuss the donation. "He was a very discreet gentleman and he didn't want a lot of publicity about his gesture," she was quoted by France 3 as saying. "Little is known about the donor but we did some research." According to that research, Mr Schwam's family were originally from Vienna, where his father was a doctor. He arrived in the town in 1943 with his parents and a grandmother. It is not known how the refugee family got there, but they had previously been held at Rivesaltes camp, a military facility in southern France used to intern civilians, before its closure in 1942. Records suggest Mr Schwam's parents returned to Austria after the war but he moved to Lyon in 1950 to study pharmacy. It was there he met, married and lived with his future wife. According to local reports, the couple did not have children and he was a widower before his death on 25 December. Mayor Jean-Michel Eyraud told AFP that Mr Schwam's fortune would be used to fund education and youth initiatives.

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon has a population of only about 2,500 people but has a reputation as a place of refuge dating back to the French Protestant Huguenots who fled religious persecution during the 17th Century. During WW2, a local pastor and his wife led calls to protect Jewish refugees from the occupying Nazis and Vichy French collaborators. Word spread through human rights groups and word of mouth and the village became a hub of the resistance movement, with ordinary residents taking in and hiding those who fled. Le Chambon-sur-Lignon was later recognised by Israel for its extraordinary effort.

^ The world needs to remember both the people and the communities that worked hard to help the men, women and children that needed the help to survive  - even at the risk of their own lives. France openly and officially collaborated with the Germans during World War 2 and so it’s nice to see that not all Frenchmen/women believed in what horrible crimes the Nazis and their helpers were committing. ^

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55863061

Friday, January 29, 2021

Therapist Dogs

From the DW:

“Animals as therapists?”



(A dog and child during an animal therapy session for children with Down syndrome)

Animals have a lot to offer. Not only can they be great companions — some can also support therapy and help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. Human-animal interaction influences the release of hormones that calm us, reducing stress and making us happier Therapeutic riding as occupational therapy, dogs visiting children with learning disabilities in school or hens spending time with seniors in elderly homes — so called animal-assisted interventions are all around. But professionally administering treatments with trained therapists and maintaining animal welfare are key, says Dr. Andrea Beetz. She is a psychologist, researcher and teacher who has worked in the field of human-animal interaction for more than 20 years.

DW: In what contexts have animal-assisted interventions been particularly successful?

Andrea Beetz: Animals have been integrated into all kinds of education and therapy programs for children. Children are very open, they have a natural affinity towards animals. They're curious about them. So you can find a lot of school dogs or animal-assisted education approaches, for instance, with things like therapeutic riding for the disabled. We have a lot of success with children who are tired of being in therapy or special support training. The animal programs motivate them to participate.

Animal therapy in a nursing home Older people can benefit from interaction with animals just as much as children Seniors make up another group that is highly visible in the field of animal-assisted interventions. One of our earliest interventions was a visiting program with dogs in homes for the elderly. The visits were aimed at improving well-being — lightening the mood, occupying seniors, getting their mind off their age and illnesses. So dogs are a great distraction and they are also social catalysts, enabling and facilitating conversations between humans.

What do we know about the effectiveness of animal-assisted interventions? During the past 10-to-15 years there have been numerous studies that document the positive effects of animal-assisted interventions. For instance, several studies have shown that animal-assisted interventions can reduce depression and anxiety, as well as improving mood, trust and even empathy. They also reduce all kinds of stress indicators — like blood pressure and heart rate, or levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Conversely, levels of another hormone — oxytocin – are increased, which has a positive effect as its release influences calm and bonding.

Does owning a pet offer any kind of benefit on its own? I would say yes. If you have regular contact with animals, even just visiting a horse on a pasture every few days while out walking, you get a kind of interaction that can have positive effects. It's not the same as a structured therapy or an educational approach. But yes, if you manage to pet the horse and both of you enjoy it, it can reduce stress and be calming. Studies have actually shown that pet owners are, on average, a bit healthier than non-pet owners: They sleep better, have better cardiovascular parameters and even have higher survival rates after heart attacks.

Does that mean any animal can be used in animal-assisted interventions? No. We, at the International Society for Animal-Assisted Therapy, say that only certain species should be used. These are usually domesticated species like dogs, cats, horses, cows, goats or sheep. But llamas and alpacas, which have a long history of being domesticated by humans, are also very popular. That is important because such animals are more used to interactions with humans. In addition to being a domesticated, they also need to be around humans from a young age so that they are not stressed by the interaction and actually enjoy it. We do not recommend working with snakes or other kinds of reptiles because there is a risk of salmonella infections. So there's a lot of thought behind it. Even though you will find different examples where wild species like dolphins are used, we advise keeping it limited to domesticated animals.

A therapist to cheer you up Dogs can often help when a psychiatrist has failed. They can make elderly people laugh and earn their trust. Animals and their owners help with therapy in retirement homes - and elderly people enjoy it! This weekend, a symposium is taking place in Hanover, looking at the benefits of animal-assisted therapy.

Are there certain limitations to animal-assisted interventions? One exclusion criteria could be a strong allergy to the species involved. People who are immunosuppressed or on immunosuppressants due to some kind of sickness are also at higher risk. Another limiting factor could be that people are just afraid of certain kinds of animals. That means you really need to figure out whether you're going to take the time to first work through that fear before taking advantage of the positive effects of animal-assisted interventions, or if another kind of animal-free therapy might be better.

^ Dogs help everyone: the disabled, the sick and everyone else. ^

https://www.dw.com/en/animals-as-therapists/a-56368730

UK Helps BNOs

From the BBC:

“Special UK visa for Hong Kong residents from Sunday”

About 300,000 people are expected to leave Hong Kong for Britain using a new visa route which opens on Sunday. Hong Kong's British National (Overseas) passport holders and their immediate dependants will be able to apply for the visa using a smartphone app. But the Chinese foreign ministry said it will no longer recognise the BNO passport as a travel document. It will not be accepted as proof of identity, China said, and they "reserve the right to take further measures". The visa was announced in July after China imposed a new security law in Hong Kong. Beijing has previously warned the UK not to meddle in domestic issues.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the move honoured the UK's "profound ties of history and friendship" with the ex-British colony. About 7,000 people from Hong Kong have already been allowed to settle in the UK since July, the Home Office said. Those who apply and secure the visa will be able to apply for settlement after five years and then British citizenship after a further 12 months. Although there are 2.9 million citizens eligible to move to the UK, with a further estimated 2.3 million dependants, the government expects about 300,000 people to take up the offer in the first five years. The 7,000 who have already arrived were allowed to settle before the scheme began by being granted Leave Outside the Rules, which gives the government discretion over immigration rules on compassionate grounds. Mr Johnson said: "I am immensely proud that we have brought in this new route for Hong Kong BNOs to live, work and make their home in our country. "In doing so we have honoured our profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong, and we have stood up for freedom and autonomy - values both the UK and Hong Kong hold dear." Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian called the scheme a violation of China's sovereignty and gross interference in Hong Kong and China's internal affairs, the country's state-affiliated news website The Paper reported. "The British side disregarded the fact that Hong Kong returned to China 24 years ago," he said. China will no longer recognise the BNO passport from Sunday. It is not yet clear what this move will mean. Hong Kongers use their own Hong Kong passport or ID card to leave the city. To enter mainland China, they need to use their Home Return Permit, issued by Chinese immigration, unless they use a full foreign passport and apply for a visa to enter as a foreigner. The only time they might use a BNO is upon arrival into the UK, or another country that recognises the document.

Analysis box by James Landale, Diplomaitc correspondent The new visa system helping British nationals escape Hong Kong is perhaps the clearest example yet of the government's promise to be a force for good in the world. It is one thing to condemn oppression. It is another to do something about it. And here the UK is delivering on a promise made more than two decades ago to those it has a duty to protect. But there are questions.

What support are these migrants going to have? In the long term they may well enrich Britain's economy and culture, but in the short term, they will need help.

Where are they going to live? Where are they going to find jobs? What if more than the predicted 300,000 or so come in the first five years? How will people in Britain respond to seeing their borders opened up?

And above all, how will China retaliate, as they have promised? Will Beijing ban BNOs from public office, from voting or even from leaving? What will the UK do then?

Those eligible for the new visa can apply online and will need to book an appointment to attend a visa application centre. And from 23 February, BNO status holders who hold an eligible biometric passport will be able to use an app to complete their application from home. The visa fee to stay for five years will be £250 per person - or £180 for a 30-month stay - and there is an immigration health surcharge of up to £624-a-year. Nathan Law, a pro-democracy campaigner who fled Hong Kong and now lives in exile in the UK, welcomed the announcement. "It's a commitment to the historical agreement to Hong Kong and I think it's important that we offer safe exit for the people who are facing political suppression in Hong Kong," he told the BBC. Home Secretary Priti Patel said this was to give applicants greater security amid fears they could be identified and targeted by the authorities. "Safeguarding individuals' freedoms, liberty and security is absolutely vital for those individuals that go through this process," she said. The BNO status was created before the UK handed responsibility for Hong Kong back to China in 1997.

Before Hong Kong was returned, the UK and China made an agreement to introduce "one country, two systems", which meant, among other things, rights such as freedom of assembly, free speech and freedom of the press would be protected. The agreement signed in 1984 was set to last until 2047. But the UK has said this agreement - known as the Joint Declaration - is under threat because the territory passed a new law in June that gives China sweeping new controls over the people of Hong Kong. China has said the law is necessary to prevent the type of protests seen in Hong Kong during much of 2019. However, the law has caused alarm both in Hong Kong and abroad, with opponents saying it erodes the territory's freedoms as a semi-autonomous region of China.

^ China broke the Sino-British Handover Law and so the United Kingdom is right to help protect the Hong Kongers that have BNO Passports. China has been on a world-wide war path with Covid-19, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. and it’s high time the rest of the world stands-up to the Communist Dictatorship. ^

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55847572

Canada's #20

From the CBC:

“Canada falls to 20th in the world for vaccine doses administered”

Canada has fallen behind other developed nations in the number of shots administered per capita as supply disruptions derail planned vaccinations. According to data collated by the University of Oxford-based Our World in Data, Canada now ranks 20th globally, well behind allies like the United States and the United Kingdom but also middle-income countries like Poland and Serbia. Canada's vaccination effort has also been outpaced so far by those in Bahrain, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and the United Arab Emirates, among others. While a laggard compared to many other wealthy nations, Canada has administered more shots per capita than G7 partners like France and Japan. Japan, with a population of 126 million people and just 5,400 COVID-19-related deaths, hasn't yet started its vaccination campaign. Unlike Canada, Japan is planning to produce 90 million shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine domestically. Some observers have blamed France's "technocratic" system with its maze of red tape — a patient needs to consult with a doctor before they get a shot — for the slow rollout there. While the U.S. is grappling with distribution issues of its own — the press there has said President Joe Biden is "inheriting a complete disaster," and an "absolute mess" from the last administration — the Americans have so far vaccinated 24.5 million people with at least one dose.

Even when accounting for population size, the U.S. has vaccinated 3 times more people per capita than Canada. The CBC's vaccine tracker estimates just over 900,000 doses have been administered in Canada to this point. The U.S., with a population roughly nine times bigger than Canada, has fully vaccinated 3.8 million Americans with the two-dose regime of either the Pfizer or Moderna products, compared to about 150,000 people in Canada. The U.K., a world leader so far, has administered at least one dose to 11.3 per cent of its people, nearly five times more per capita than Canada. That country's vaccination efforts have been helped by an early approval of the product from Swedish-British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. Health Canada regulators are still reviewing the company's promising vaccine for safety and efficacy.

Canada was among one of the first countries in the world to authorize the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for use but other nations have since caught up, as Canada contends with shortages because of a plant shutdown in Belgium. Pfizer is making upgrades to its Belgian plant so it can manufacture up to two billion doses this year to meet the insatiable demand. In order to complete those upgrades, some production lines were idled and Pfizer didn't have enough vials to go around in the short term to meet its previously promised delivery schedule. A Belgian newspaper reported Thursday those upgrades are now complete, but a spokesperson for Pfizer confirmed Canada's deliveries won't return to a more normal level until next month. "We expect the supply constraints of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to last in Canada until mid-February when we will be able to increase allocations to catch up," the spokesperson said. "While the precise percentage allocation may fluctuate, Pfizer Canada remains on track to meet our quarterly delivery objectives to Canada by the end of the first quarter of 2021."

Confusion over first quarter deliveries While the delivery schedules may fluctuate, the government insists its medium-term targets are more certain. However, a government planning document released to the provinces Wednesday caused confusion as the delivery charts indicate Canada would only receive 3.5 million Pfizer doses by the end of March, 500,000 less than anticipated. The confusion stems from just how many doses are included in each vial shipped. Amid manufacturing delays, Pfizer is pushing the government to recognize that six doses can be extracted from each vial, but the current Health Canada standard is only five. Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada's deputy chief public health officer, said Health Canada is still reviewing the request to formally change the label and is examining whether that sixth dose can be extracted consistently. Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the military commander leading vaccine logistics at the Public Health Agency of Canada, insisted Thursday that, regardless of how many are in each vial, Pfizer is still contractually obligated to send 4 million doses to Canada in the first quarter of this year. He said the 3.5 million figure floated to the provinces was just for "planning purposes" in the interim, and the country will still hold Pfizer to its previous commitments. Fortin said the pharmaceutical giant has assured Canada that it will reach 4 million doses delivered, no matter which vial standard is recognized. If Health Canada accepts that six doses can be extracted from each vial, Pfizer will send more product to cover any gaps, Fortin said. Fortin said that Canada is expecting 79,000 Pfizer doses next week, 70,000 doses for the week of Feb. 8, 335,000 the week of Feb. 15 and 395,000 doses the week of Feb. 22. Moderna will deliver 230,400 doses next week with 249,600 doses to follow three weeks later. Thus, Canada is expected to receive 1,359,000 doses in the month of February, enough to vaccinate 679,500 people.

The opposition Conservatives have been pressing the government on why Canada has been bested by small countries like the Seychelles on vaccinations so far. "That is not normal for a country that claims to have the best vaccine portfolio in the world," Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus said in the Commons. The government has said it still expects hundreds of thousands of doses to flow in the months ahead. "This is a completely temporary situation, as we are working hard to ensure that every Canadian who wants a vaccine gets one," Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand said. Under questioning from the opposition, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said "there is no more urgent issue for this government than getting Canadians vaccinated." She reminded MPs that Canada has vaccinated more people than our Five Eyes partners of Australia and New Zealand. Those two countries haven't yet begun their vaccination programs but COVID-19 is almost non-existent there.

^ Canada has not done enough to vaccinate Canadians regardless of all the excuses Trudeau and his Government tries to make. ^

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-20-world-vaccine-doses-administered-1.5891465

NYS Lied

From USA Today:

“New York COVID-19 nursing home deaths undercounted by as much as 50%, state AG investigation finds”

A probe by the New York Attorney General's Office found COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents in the state may have been undercounted by as much as 50% as poor infection-control practices and understaffing fueled the coronavirus crisis inside the long-term care facilities. The bombshell investigation reported the state Department of Health's controversial policy to only publicly report COVID-19 deaths of residents inside nursing homes and withhold deaths of residents transferred to hospitals hindered attempts to improve conditions inside the facilities.

The true COVID-19 death toll of New York nursing home residents is closer to 13,000, as opposed to the 8,677 reported to date by the state Department of Health, according to the investigation's findings. Nursing homes might have also undercounted their deaths to the state, the report said. “As the pandemic and our investigations continue, it is imperative that we understand why the residents of nursing homes in New York unnecessarily suffered at such an alarming rate,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “While we cannot bring back the individuals we lost to this crisis, this report seeks to offer transparency that the public deserves and to spur increased action to protect our most vulnerable residents," she added.

What the investigation found The investigation also revealed that nursing homes’ lack of compliance with infection-control protocols put residents at increased risk of harm, and facilities that had lower pre-pandemic staffing ratings had higher COVID-19 fatality rates. Based on the findings and subsequent investigation, James is conducting ongoing probes into more than 20 nursing homes whose reported conduct during the first wave of the pandemic presented particular concern. State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker has refused to release the number of nursing home residents who died due to COVID-19 after being transferred to a hospital, which experts suggested could add thousands of deaths. Zucker pledged in August to release the information once it could be confirmed as accurate, but that has not happened. Due to recent changes in state law, it remains unclear to what extent facilities or individuals can be held accountable if found to have failed to appropriately protect the residents in their care, James said.

On March 23, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers created limited immunity provisions for health care providers relating to COVID-19, James said. The Emergency Disaster Treatment Protection Act provides immunity to health care professionals from potential liability arising from certain decisions, actions and omissions related to the care of individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. New York State Attorney General Letitia James is seeking transparency when it comes to the number of COVID-19 deaths reported in her state's nursing homes. While it is reasonable to provide some protections for health care workers making impossible health care decisions in good faith during an unprecedented public health crisis, it would not be appropriate or just for nursing home owners to interpret the action as providing blanket immunity for causing harm to residents, James said. James recommended eliminating the newly enacted immunity provisions to ensure no one can evade potential accountability. The state Legislature in July passed a bill signed by Cuomo to limit the scope of immunity for health care providers, but advocates said more revisions are needed. Milly Silva, executive vice president for the 1199SEIU union representing many nursing home workers, praised the investigation for confirming workers' complaints about poor conditions in nursing homes. “Now is the time for Albany to enact bold reform, as neighboring states have done, to ensure that taxpayer dollars are directed to resident care, not excessive profit, and that there is sufficient staff to meet resident needs," Silva said in a statement. "Our state’s vulnerable nursing home residents and those that care for them deserve no less,” he added. There was no immediate comment from Cuomo's administration on the report's findings.

Investigators with the Office of the New York Attorney General analyzed COVID-19 deaths for 62 nursing homes, or roughly 10% of facilities statewide, to estimate the severity of the state's undercount at the fatalities, the report shows. Using the data from the 62 nursing homes, the probe compared in-facility deaths reported to investigators to in-facility deaths publicized by the state, as well as total deaths reported to investigators to total deaths publicized by the state. That formula concluded the publicly reported death toll was undercounted by as much as 50%, but an investigation is continuing into the reasons for the discrepancies, the report added. The findings were seized on by a bipartisan group of state and federal lawmakers, many of who had for months railed against how Cuomo handled the virus' spread in nursing homes. Republican state Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt called on Zucker to resign. "By underreporting COVID deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%, the Department of Health has betrayed the public trust," Ortt said in a statement. Democrats also knocked the Cuomo administration, calling for independent investigations and greater accountability by his office. State Assemblyman Ron Kim, D-Queens, said New York "has committed a human rights violation by choosing to protect nursing home profits over the safety of older adults and vulnerable members." He called for the state to form a nonpartisan commission with subpoena power to investigate what happened at the nursing homes. "The Governor handed out blanket immunity to corporate executives which cost lives and brought undue pain and suffering," Kim said in a statement. "It is a business model soaked in blood."

^ My 94 year old Grandmother is in a Nursing Home in New York. I have been posting about NY's (especially that of Gov. Cuomo's) horrible treatment of Nursing Home residents since March 2020 and it seems I was right.  Gov. Cuomo had to be sued to even have an American Sign Language Interpreter in his daily Covid News Briefings (3 of my 4 local TV Channels are in New York/Vermont and so carried them every day) even though it has been the Federal Law - the ADA - since 1990.  A man like that doesn't care about the elderly, the sick or the disabled - only about grooming himself to would-be hipsters in New York City so they will vote for him. ^

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/01/28/covid-deaths-ny-nursing-homes-undercounted-ag-tish-james/4292424001/

Thursday, January 28, 2021

New Army Grooming

From Military.com:

“Let down your hair: New Army rules for hair, grooming, jewelry”

Female soldiers can let their hair down, and flash a little nail color under new rules being approved by the Army. But male soldiers will still have to shave. Army leaders announced Tuesday that they are loosening restrictions on various grooming and hairstyle rules, as service leaders try to address longstanding complaints, particularly from women. The changes, which also expand allowances for earrings and hair highlights and dyes, are particularly responsive to women of various ethnicities and will allow greater flexibility for braids, twists, cornrows and other styles more natural for their hair. The new regulations take effect in late February and come after months of study, in the wake of a directive by former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who ordered a new review of military hairstyle and grooming policies last July. The review was part of a broader order to expand diversity within the military and reduce prejudice, in the wake of widespread protests about racial inequality last summer. “These aren’t about male and female,” said Sgt. Maj. Michael Grinston, the Army’s top enlisted leader during a Facebook Live presentation on Tuesday about the latest changes. “This is about an Army standard and how we move forward with the Army, and being a more diverse, inclusive team.”

The Army announcement has been long-planned, but it came just days after the Pentagon’s first Black defense secretary — Lloyd Austin — took over. Austin has vowed to try to root out racism and extremism in the ranks and foster more inclusion. Esper and many of the service leaders have also been taking steps to make the military more diverse, particularly in the higher ranks. As an example, Esper last summer ordered that service members’ photos no longer be provided to promotion boards. Officials said studies showed that when photos are not included “the outcomes for minorities and women improved.”

On Tuesday, Army Sgt. Maj. Brian Sanders told reporters that the panel recommending the new grooming changes considered a variety of factors, including cultural, health and safety issues. He said the tight hair buns previously required by the Army can trigger hair loss and other scalp problems for some women. And larger buns needed to accommodate thick or longer hair, can make a combat helmet fit badly and potentially impair good vision. At the same time, he said that changes, like allowing women in combat uniforms to wear earrings such as small gold, silver and diamond studs, let them “feel like a woman inside and outside of uniform.” He added, “At the end of the day, our women are mothers, they’re spouses, they’re sisters, they definitely want to be able to maintain their identity and that’s what we want to get after.” In many cases — such as the earrings — the changes simply let female soldiers wear jewelry or hairstyles that are already allowed in more formal, dress uniforms, but were not allowed in their daily combat uniforms. Army leaders said women will now be able to wear their hair in a long ponytail or braid and tuck it under their shirt. Sanders said that allowing that gives female soldiers, particularly pilots or troops at a firing range, greater ability to turn their head quickly, without the restraints that the buns created. The new regulations also allow the exact opposite. Female soldiers going through Ranger or special operations training get their heads shaved, like male soldiers do. But when they leave training, their hair is too short, based on the Army’s previous minimum length requirements. Now there will be no minimum length rules. For men, however, the perennial request to allow beards is still a no-go. Grinston’s answer to the question from the online audience was short and direct: “No.” He noted that the Army already makes exceptions for medical and religious reasons. Also, male soldiers still can’t wear earrings.

The new lipstick and nail polish rules, however, allow men to wear clear polish, and allow colors for women, but prohibit “extreme” shades, such as purple, blue, black and “fire engine” red. Men will also be able to dye their hair, but the colors for both genders are limited to “natural” shades. Prohibited colors include blue, purple, pink, green, orange or neon. In another sign of the times, the new rules state that soldiers will now automatically receive black and coyote-colored face masks. They are also permitted to wear camouflage colored masks, but have to buy those themselves. The Army also is taking steps to change the wording in guidance regulations to remove racist or insensitive descriptions. References to “Fu Manchu” mustache and “Mohawk” hairstyle have been removed and replaced with more detailed descriptions of the still-banned styles.

^ I know the Army says it isn’t a “male-female” thing, but when you look at the restrictions that were lifted and those that are still there it is a male-female thing since males can still do things that females can’t and females can still do things that males can’t. I’m not saying I don’t agree with these, but they should be called what it actually are. ^

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/let-down-your-hair-new-army-rules-for-hair-grooming-jewelry/

Cold Pet Tips

 


Roller-Coaster Restrictions

From News Nation:

“States gradually lift restrictions on restaurants, businesses amid fears of new variant”

Several states are loosening their coronavirus restrictions because of improved infection and hospitalization numbers but they are moving gradually and cautiously, in part due to concern over confirmed variant cases. While the easing of restrictions could cause case rates to rise, health experts encourage a measured approach by states and that the public remains vigilant about masks and social distancing. “If the frequency goes up, you tighten it up. If the frequency goes down, you loosen up. Getting it just right is almost impossible,” said Dr. Arnold Monto, a public health professor at the University of Michigan. “There’s no perfect way to do this.” As Michigan’s coronavirus rate dropped to the nation’s fifth-lowest over the last two weeks, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said bars and restaurants can welcome indoor customers Feb. 1 NewsNation affiliate WOOD reported. Open for the first time in 2 1/2 months, restaurants will be under a 10 p.m. curfew and will be limited to 25% of capacity, or half of what was allowed the last time she loosened their restrictions, in June. The state previously authorized the resumption of in-person classes at high schools and the partial reopening of movie theaters. “We’re in a stronger position because we’ve taken this pause,” Whitmer said. “But we are also very mindful of the fact that this variant is now here in Michigan. It poses a real threat.” The COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. has climbed past 425,000, with the number of dead running at close to all-time highs at nearly 3,350 a day on average. But newly confirmed cases have dropped over the past two weeks from an average of about 248,000 per day to around 166,000. The number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 has fallen by tens of thousands to 109,000.

US virus numbers drop as race against new strains heats up  At the same time, health experts have warned that the more contagious and possibly more lethal variant sweeping Britain will probably become the dominant source of infection in the U.S. by March. It has been reported in over 20 states. Other mutant versions are circulating in South Africa and Brazil. The Brazil variant has been detected for the first time in the U.S., in Minnesota. Chicago and surrounding suburbs allowed indoor dining over the weekend for the first time since October. Major attractions including the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium reopened with crowd limits, NewsNation affiliate WGN reported. Steve Lombardo III, an owner of a Chicago-area restaurant group, called being able to seat customers indoors a “huge boost.” One of its most famous restaurants, Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, has been using hospital-grade air filtration systems in the hopes of staying afloat, he said. “Will we be making money? Probably not,” Lombardo said. “But we won’t be hemorrhaging money like we have the last three months.” New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, said Monday that the holiday COVID spike seems to have peaked and that the state will start to ease some restrictions this week. As coronavirus numbers continue to trend in the right direction in the state, Cuomo announced restrictions on the state’s “orange zone” micro clusters have been lifted and a plan for New York City restaurants will be announced at the end of the week, NewsNation affiliate WPIX reported. Washington, D.C. recently ended its monthlong ban on indoor dining, reopening to 25% capacity Jan. 21 according to NewsNation affiliate WDVM. This week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted stay-at-home orders he imposed last month when hospitals were so overwhelmed with virus patients that they were on the verge of rationing lifesaving care. Restaurants and places of worship will be able to operate outdoors, and many stores will be able to have more shoppers inside, NewsNation affiliate KTLA reported. In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown announced that some indoor operations such as gyms and movie theaters can reopen Friday with limited capacity. Indoor dining is still banned in the hardest-hit counties. Some groups not currently eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Oregon are crossing the border to get vaccinated in Washington, NewsNation affiliate KOIN reported. Data from several New Mexico counties showed many were on a path to ease restrictions reported NewsNation affiliate KRQE. On Jan. 27, the state will officially update its red to green map — with yellow counties allowing indoor dining at 25% capacity. After North Dakota dropped to the nation’s second-lowest case rate, Republican Gov. Doug Burgum this month not only relaxed limits on the number of people who can gather at restaurants and bars but also allowed a statewide mask mandate to expire on Jan. 18, reported NewsNation affiliate KXMA. “The fight is far from over, but we can certainly see the light of the end of the tunnel from here,” Burgum said. Many restaurants say they cannot survive offering only takeout as winter weather makes it difficult if not impossible to offer outdoor dining. Rick Bayless, an award-winning celebrity chef, said allowing indoor dining at his Mexican restaurants in Chicago may buy him some time. “With 25% indoor we might be able to make it to the spring, when people will want to go outdoors,” he said. Bayless said the business survived a previous shutdown only because his landlord allowed him to stay rent-free for three months. The uncertainty has taken a toll on his workers, he said. “It’s been touch-and-go. When they allowed us to open up on Saturday, we had staff in here that were literally in tears,” Bayless said. Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at Johns Hopkins University and Maryland’s former health department chief, recommends caution as lawmakers reopen. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable to start to reopen, but if people think that’s the green light to pretend the virus doesn’t exist, then we’re going to be right back to where we were,” Sharfstein said. “If you do restrictions, the virus goes down. You can open up and see how it goes. But if the variants really take hold, that may not be so easy.”

^ This is the constant roller-coaster that businesses and people across the US have to deal with on a regular basis. The lifting and then adding or restrictions at a moment’s notice. ^

https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/coronavirus/states-gradually-lift-restrictions-on-restaurants-businesses-amid-fears-of-new-variant/

Cold Tips

 


Vaccine Card Needed

From the DW:

“COVID-19: WHO races to develop vaccination card”

As countries start to develop their own vaccination passports, the WHO is racing to develop a framework for coronavirus vaccination certificates that can be used worldwide to ensure standards are met. When Integrity Mchechesi visited a bus terminal in Zimbabwe's capital city, Harare, people were calling out, asking if anyone needed a negative COVID-19 test certificate. Such falisified COVID-19 test certificates can be bought for as little as $10 (€8.20), roughly $50 less than an actual COVID test, in Harare, said Mchechesi, a doctor and co-founder of Vaxiglobal, a health-tech start-up focused on immunization verification in Zimbabwe.  When the vaccine is rolled out in Zimbabwe, Mchechesi worries counterfeit vaccination certificates will also appear on the market. Zimbabwe is one of a number of countries working on digital solutions to verify who has been vaccinated. Countries like Denmark, Spain and Greece have supported the idea of COVID-19 vaccination passports, and the WHO is working on an international digital vaccination card that will provide a framework with standards for countries to adhere to. At the bus terminals in Harare, Mchechesi was researching falsified vaccination certificates. In a survey of yellow fever vaccination certificates, Vaxiglobal found that more than 80% of those used at some bus terminals in Harare were falsified.  "We thought that [was] really concerning," said Mchechesi. "It's not like there is any policing that's done, it's actually sold freely."

Focus turns to COVID-19 Now Vaxiglobal has shifted its attention to verifying COVID-19 test certificates. The organization is working with the Zimbabwean health ministry to digitize COVID-19 test results to combat the sale of counterfeit certificates. Healthcare workers enter the results of people's COVID-19 PCR tests into a decentralized database on Vaxiglobal's platform. When they upload the results, a unique QR code is generated for each result and is attached to a certificate that can be printed or stored in Vaxiglobal's app. Border authorities can then instantly verify the certificate. "You can imagine, someone can actually be COVID-19 positive and they don't get their test, they just bought that COVID-19 certificate and the border officials assume that the person is COVID negative — that's how cases are being transmitted internationally," said Mchechesi. The number of fake COVID-19 test certificates hasn't been that high because there is some regulation and citizens are concerned for their health, but the fake certificates are still readily available, said Mchechesi. "You can imagine people are obviously tempted to go for that because it's cheaper." Mchechesi said a COVID-19 PCR test costs between $45 and $60 in Zimbabwe, a country where 34% of the population lived under the extreme poverty line of $1.90 a day in 2019, according to the World Bank. Zimbabwe has not started rolling out COVID-19 vaccines. When it does, Vaxiglobal plans to apply the same technology to verify vaccination certificates. Travelers have to present their yellow fever vaccination certificate upon entry into certain countries

Setting a standard for vaccination documentation Currently, yellow fever is the only disease specified in the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR), which require proof of vaccination for entry to some countries. The yellow fever vaccination certificate is also the only proof of vaccination certified under the IHR. But, "It is a paper card, easy to falsify, anybody can produce that card with a stamp [and] say 'I got a vaccine,'" Bernardo Mariano, WHO's director of digital health innovation, told DW. "We know that every time there is some sort of rule or regulation put in place, some people will try to break it, create false information — or a vaccination certificates." The IHR provide a legal framework that defines countries' rights and obligations when handling public health crises and emergencies that have the potential to cross borders. Vaccination against COVID-19 is not part of the IHR yet, but a country can make a unilateral decision. Some countries already require a negative COVID-19 test to enter, and the next evolution of that will be requiring proof of vaccination, said Mariano.

WHO open to cooperation with private innovators For a COVID-19 vaccination certificate to become compulsory for travel the world over, it would have to be part of the IHR, and that process would take a long time, Mariano said. But there are other avenues. One such initiative is the CommonPass, a digital framework for verifying COVID-19 tests and vaccination certificates. Some airlines have already been rolling out the app to passengers on select flights. A number of organizations approached the WHO with their own individual solutions, and the WHO's role is to set the standard for certificates, Mariano told DW. "We believe that the discussion is going on now, and there are a number of companies developing and innovating in this space," he said. "And we want to be in the discussion to set standards early on."

^ I believe there needs to be an internationally-recognized Covid-19 Vaccination Card. There should be an online version, but also a physical card that can be used around the world. I don’t know how the online and card versions can be made to stop them from being counterfeited. ^

https://www.dw.com/en/covid-19-who-races-to-develop-vaccination-card/a-56352930

Ruling Regime Anger

From the MT:

“As Anger at Ruling Regime Boils Over, Putin Strikes Hard Against Dissent”

Many now consider “Putin’s Palace” — that jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny exposed in a YouTube video that has garnered more than 80 million views in a matter of days — as a symbol of the ruling regime, and the black-garbed riot police attacking protesters as the method by which the president plans to deal with dissent. The unauthorized demonstrations that were held in cities across Russia on Saturday saw not only the largest protest crowds in years, but also the harshest and cruelest response by the authorities.

The brutality of the riot police was not so much a response to any perceived threat from the peaceful protesters as it was an expression of the frantic fear of the Kremlin at Navalny’s decision to return to Russia and the release of his damning video exposé. And, unlike previous demonstrations, the police responded brutally not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also in Novosibirsk, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Kazan, Khabarovsk and, among others, Yakutsk, where protesters braved freezing temperatures of -50 degrees Celsius.   The authorities’ tactic of “beheading” the movement by detaining the local leaders of Navalny’s political headquarters in Moscow and other regions failed to stop the protests from materializing. As a result, leaders chose to detain nearly 3,000 protesters and write up official complaints against countless more — hoping to blackmail them into silence with the threat of prison time for a repeated offense. Whether Putin ordered these harsh measures remains unclear. The siloviki whose excessive and chaotic behavior in arresting Navalny upon his return and who tackled and battered protesters might simply have been following the maxim of “better safe than sorry” in carrying out the National Leader’s wishes.

Navalny, of course, is the key figure in all this. He remains the only opposition politician in Russia capable of mobilizing 100,000 protesters nationwide on short notice. But these protests did not arise out of nowhere: they were the venting of feelings that had been building all last year and for which the unsuccessful poisoning attempt on Navalny’s life, his illegal arrest upon his return and, of course, the video exposé served as the catalyst. Thus, Navalny became the object around which widespread dissatisfaction with the president and ruling elite could crystallize. Like a stone thrown into a stagnant swamp, Navalny’s return not only reactivated Russia’s political life, but also revealed a great deal about the country’s politics and condition as a whole. Two things are particularly noteworthy. The first is just how false the so-called “opposition” parties in the State Duma actually are. Not only did they fail to initiate an investigation into Navalny’s poisoning or respond to the subsequent and extremely serious accusations he leveled against President Putin, but its deputies hurled invective at Navalny from the Duma rostrum. It is more than a little depressing that of the 450 “people’s deputies” elected to that body, not even a handful of independent votes were heard, unlike the previous convocation. That, however, can be remedied.

The second is Russia’s lack of true law enforcement agencies. In their place, the country has only repressive bodies such as National Guard troops and policemen who seize innocent civilians, judges who hand down sentences dictated from above and investigators and prosecutors who incriminate citizens for exercising their constitutional rights. At the same time, they see no wrong in assassination attempts against opposition politicians or in a leader building a palace financed by kickbacks and using the Federal Guard Service to protect it. Both Navalny’s film and the harsh crackdown on protests across the country provoked a powerful international response.

The Kremlin itself fueled this reaction, first with the poisoning incident and then with Navalny’s arrest. The mass protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — to whom Putin is increasingly being compared — also played a role. And, however vociferously Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov try to deny it, international opinion is already a major factor and one that is certain to grow. What’s more, the protests themselves will continue, even weekly, according to Navalny’s organization. All this puts the Kremlin in an even more difficult position than Lukashenko because Russia’s elections are still ahead, and very soon. These developments seem to have come at a bad time for the political transformation that Putin launched one year ago — namely, enabling himself to remain in office indefinitely and without any significant accountability before the Russian people.

^ This shows the true state of things within Russia from Putin, to the Police to the Protesters to the Ordinary Russian. ^

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/01/27/as-anger-at-ruling-regime-boils-over-putin-strikes-hard-against-dissent-a72754

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Online Remembrance

From News Nation:

“Auschwitz survivors mark anniversary online amid pandemic”



(This photo provide by the World Jewish Congress, Tova Friedman, an 82-year-old Polish-born Holocaust survivor holding a photograph of herself as a child with her mother, who also survived the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, in New York, Friday, Dec.13, 2019.)

Tova Friedman hid among corpses at Auschwitz amid the chaos of the extermination camp’s final days. Just 6 years old at the time, the Poland-born Friedman was instructed by her mother to lie absolutely still in a bed at a camp hospital, next to the body of a young woman who had just died. As German forces preparing to flee the scene of their genocide went from bed to bed shooting anyone still alive, Friedman barely breathed under a blanket and went unnoticed. Days later, on Jan. 27, 1945, she was among the thousands of prisoners who survived to greet the Soviet troops who liberated the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Now 82, Friedman had hoped to mark Wednesday’s anniversary by taking her eight grandchildren to the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site, which is under the custodianship of the Polish state. The coronavirus pandemic prevented the trip. So instead, Friedman will be alone at home in Highland Park, New Jersey, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yet a message of warning from her about the rise of hatred will be part of a virtual observance organized by the World Jewish Congress.

Other institutions around the world, including the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial museum in Poland, Yad Vashem in Israel and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. also have online events planned. The presidents of Israel, Germany and Poland will be among those delivering remarks of remembrance and warning. The online nature of this year’s commemorations is a sharp contrast to how Friedman spent the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation last year, when she gathered under a huge tent with other survivors and dozens of European leaders at the site of the former camp. It was one of the last large international gatherings before the pandemic forced the cancellation of most large gatherings. Many Holocaust survivors in the United States, Israel and elsewhere find themselves in a state of previously unimaginable isolation due to the pandemic. Friedman lost her husband last March and said she feels acutely alone now. But survivors like her also have found new connections over Zoom: World Jewish Congress leader Ronald Lauder has organized video meetings for survivors and their children and grandchildren during the pandemic.

More than 1.1 million people were murdered by the German Nazis and their henchmen at Auschwitz, the most notorious site in a network of camps and ghettos aimed at the destruction of Europe’s Jews. The vast majority of those killed at Auschwitz were Jews, but others, including Poles, Roma and Soviet prisoners of war, were also killed in large numbers. In all, about 6 million European Jews and millions of other people were killed by the Germans and their collaborators. In 2005, the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an acknowledgement of Auschwitz’s iconic status. Israel, which today counts 197,000 Holocaust survivors, officially marks its Holocaust remembrance day in the spring. But events will also be held Wednesday by survivors’ organizations and remembrance groups across the country, many of them held virtually or without members of the public in attendance. While commemorations have moved online for the first time, one constant is the drive of survivors to tell their stories as words of caution.

 


(In this Monday, Jan. 26, 2015 file photo Rose Schindler, 85, right, a survivor of Auschwitz, and her husband Max, 85, visit the former death camp in Oswiecim, Poland.)

Rose Schindler, a 91-year-old survivor of Auschwitz who was originally from Czechoslovakia but now lives in San Diego, California, has been speaking to school groups about her experience for 50 years. Her story, and that of her late husband, Max, also a survivor, is also told in a book, “Two Who Survived: Keeping Hope Alive While Surviving the Holocaust.” After Schindler was transported to Auschwitz in 1944, she was selected more than once for immediate death in the gas chambers. She survived by escaping each time and joining work details. The horrors she experienced of Auschwitz — the mass murder of her parents and four of her seven siblings, the hunger, being shaven, lice infestations — are difficult to convey, but she keeps speaking to groups, over past months only by Zoom. “We have to tell our stories so it doesn’t happen again,” Schindler told The Associated Press on Monday in a Zoom call from her home. “It is unbelievable what we went through, and the whole world was silent as this was going on.” Friedman says she believes it is her role to “sound the alarm” about rising anti-Semitism and other hatred in the world, otherwise “another tragedy may happen.” That hatred, she said, was on clear view when a group of former President Donald Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Some insurrectionists wore clothes with anti-Semitic messages like “Camp Auschwitz” and ““6MWE,” which stands for “6 million wasn’t enough.” “It was utterly shocking and I couldn’t believe it. And I don’t know what part of America feels like that. I hope it’s a very small and isolated group and not a pervasive feeling,” Friedman said Monday. Still, the mob violence could not shake her belief in the essential goodness of America and most Americans. “It’s a country of freedom. It’s a country that took me in,” Friedman said. In her recorded message that will be broadcast Wednesday, Friedman said she compares the virus of hatred in the world to COVID-19. She said the world today is witnessing “a virus of anti-Semitism, of racism, and if you don’t stop the virus, it’s going to kill humanity.”

^ Whether it is an online or in-person remembrance event the main thing is to hold them and educate people about what happened. ^

https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/auschwitz-survivors-mark-anniversary-online-amid-pandemic/