All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Chicago’s Top Doctor on Chicago’s Rising COVID-19 Cases | Chicago News | WTTW – mask up, keep distance, get tested…

Chicago will continue to test anyone exposed to the virus, even if they are asymptomatic.

“The science suggests that we want to do everything we can to control COVID, and in our minds that means continuing to test asymptomatic cases,” Arwady said.

Arwady thinks that, while the rollout was confusing for some, the new guidance was meant to put more responsibility on state and local health departments.

Arwady noted that if someone has been in contact with a person who tests positive for COVID-19, they still need to be quarantined for 14 days, even if they test negative.

Source: Chicago’s Top Doctor on Chicago’s Rising COVID-19 Cases | Chicago News | WTTW

Kent County Health Department addresses latest CDC COVID-19 update

The Kent County Health Department is explaining what an update on COVID-19 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention means after misinformation on social media incorrectly claimed the agency had admitted only six percent of the country’s coronavirus deaths actually died from the virus.

Source: Kent County Health Department addresses latest CDC COVID-19 update

Columbia, SC pool party had no COVID-19 social distancing | The State

The Columbia Fire Department had to break up an overcrowded pool party where hundreds of revelers ignored the city’s mask ordinance and social distancing mandates.

At about 6 p.m. on Saturday, the fire department got tips from concerned citizens about a massive pool party at The Apartments at Palmetto Compress, Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins told The State.

“It was almost like Mardi Gras,” Jenkins said of the scene at the apartment complex that’s on Devine Street, near the intersection of Blossom and Huger streets. “I saw a large crowd in the pool, in the area on the side of the pool, and on top of the pool house.”

Source: Columbia, SC pool party had no COVID-19 social distancing | The State

Reversals in Colleges’ Fall 2020 Reopening Plans

Scores of colleges and universities have in recent weeks changed plans they originally made last spring for reopening their physical campuses this fall. This tracker and searchable database shows how those changes have unfolded over time. Institutions that have revised their plans more than once are listed as having a “reversal count” of 2 or more.

Source: Reversals in Colleges’ Fall 2020 Reopening Plans

FDA Approves First-of-its-Kind Automated Insulin Delivery and Monitoring System for Use in Young Pediatric Patients | FDA

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the MiniMed 770G System, a hybrid closed loop diabetes management device that is intended to automatically monitor glucose (sugar) and provide appropriate basal insulin doses with little or no input from the users or their caregivers for use by individuals aged 2 to 6 with type 1 diabetes. The 770G System is a first-of-a-kind device for patients aged 2 to 6 years. It is the first legally marketed device that can automatically adjust insulin delivery based on continuous glucose monitor values for this patient population.

Source: FDA Approves First-of-its-Kind Automated Insulin Delivery and Monitoring System for Use in Young Pediatric Patients | FDA

Health agency recommends testing kids for Covid-19 – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio – (Yo! Covidiots – Sweden has learned from errors – will you?)

The Public Health Agency this week recommended that Sweden’s regional health authorities test school-age children with symptoms of Covid-19 for the virus. But this is not because they have changed their view on the role of children in the pandemic, they say.

Source: Health agency recommends testing kids for Covid-19 – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

NYC Public School Reopening Delayed To September 21st – Gothamist

The exterior of Bronx Elementary School 75, seen through chain link fence, playground

The change from a planned September 10th in-person school reopening comes after weeks of mounting pressure from educators who insisted they need more time to prepare, and the escalating possibility of a strike mounted by the United Federation of Teachers, the powerful union representing tens of thousands of NYC public school teachers.

The delay in reopening buildings will allow for more instructional preparation and to allow more testing for the students, teachers and staff who will be inside school buildings

 

Source: NYC Public School Reopening Delayed To September 21st – Gothamist

Boris Johnson seeks to mollify Tory MPs dismayed by U-turns

Said to be planning Y-Me moves and no-turn expressways to know-where?

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PM admits government has backtracked on multiple issues but insists it is on right course

Boris Johnson has moved to mollify angry backbenchers disillusioned by the number of government U-turns, admitting the government has been forced to backtrack on multiple issues throughout the pandemic but insisting it is on the right course.

The prime minister has been facing a restive party as MPs return to Westminster, with several senior Conservatives expressing public dismay over the disaster of A-Level grading and chaotic communication over quarantine periods and the use of masks in schools and shops.

Continue reading…

Plants going extinct faster than we thought

Franklin Tree, (Franklinia alatamaha), NatureServe Global Conservation Status: Possibly Extinct (GX) in the Wild.

Plants: They seem more resilient than we are. And there are so many wild places in the world that they can take over. But a new study reveals that along with large mammals, amphibian and creatures of the sea, plants are going extinct faster than we thought possible.

Time to start saving seeds. And not just in war times as Syria has been doing at the Svalbard Global Seed Bank in Norway. Every plant is a medicinal plant. Losing one could mean losing a universe of opportunities.
 
A new study reveals that 65 plant species have gone extinct in the continental United States and Canada since European settlement, more extinctions than any previous scientific study has ever documented.  Led by Wesley Knapp of the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, a group of 16 experts from across the United States collaborated to document the extinct plants of the continental United States and Canada for the first time in history.

Their report has been published by the international journal Conservation Biology

The team found that most plant extinctions occurred in the western United States, where the vegetation was minimally explored before widespread European settlement. Because many extinctions likely occurred before scientists explored an area, it is extremely likely the 65 documented extinctions vastly underestimate the actual number of plant species that have been lost.
 
Previous studies documented far fewer plant extinctions on the North American continent.

“Preventing extinction is the lowest bar for conservation success we can set, yet we are not always successful,” Knapp said. “This study started as an academic question but later developed into an opportunity to learn from what we have lost. By studying the trends and patterns of plants that have already gone extinct, hopefully we can learn how to prevent plant extinction going forward.”

Of the 65 documented extinctions in the report, 64% were known only from a single location. While conservation often focuses on protecting entire landscapes, this finding points to the importance of small-scale site protection in order to prevent extinctions.

Because plants serve as the foundation for most terrestrial ecosystems, the urgency for documenting plant extinctions is especially great if extinction rates rise as predicted over the next century. Anne Frances, lead botanist at NatureServe, states, “In most cases, we can stop plants from going extinct, we just need the resources and commitment to do so.”

Action items? What you can do? 
Read Braiding Sweetgrass to understand more about plant and human life
Read this New Times article on a man who is saving heirloom apples
Start by growing these healing herbs at home