All posts by nedhamson

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

Anti-mask movement ‘not based in reality’, health expert says after Winnipeg protest | Globalnews.ca

“It’s a message coordinated on memes and kind of flashy discussion points that are not based in reality,” Dr. Jason Kindrachuk said of the pushback against masks.

Source: Anti-mask movement ‘not based in reality’, health expert says after Winnipeg protest | Globalnews.ca

Texas coronavirus hot spots get help from U.S. Navy teams | The Texas Tribune

Medical professionals from the U.S. Navy were deployed Sunday to aid hospitals in four cities across southern Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, according to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office, as nearly half the state’s counties have recently been designated “red zones” by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Early on in the pandemic, hot spots were mainly tied to outbreaks in enclosed spaces, like meatpacking plants and nursing homes. Health experts are increasingly seeing small outbreaks in the community from families and friends gathering to people congregating at summer tourist destinations. Five U.S. Navy teams were sent to four locations across Texas’s southern region: Harlingen, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Rio Grande City.

Source: Texas coronavirus hot spots get help from U.S. Navy teams | The Texas Tribune

Shalala on Florida outbreaks: ‘We need to close down again’ | TheHill

The Florida congresswoman cited the toll the virus is taking not only on senior citizens but “in my district its low-income minorities, Hispanics and African Americans, who are forced to go back to work for economic reasons and because their employers demanded they go back to work,” noting that such constituents often live in multi-generational households.

She went on to castigate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for declining to impose a statewide mask mandate.

“Luckily our mayors in South Florida have done that, but that’s just a small piece because this disease doesn’t know what county or what city it’s in,” she said.

 

Source: Shalala on Florida outbreaks: ‘We need to close down again’ | TheHill

Cubans celebrate no local transmission of COVID-19 for first time in four months – Reuters

Francisco Duran, head of epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health, and who has updated the country daily on the pandemic, took off his mask during the national broadcast for only the second time deliver the good news.

Duran, on Saturday did the same, reporting just a single domestic case in Havana.

Only a handful of COVID-19 cases were reported in Cuba over the last week, all in Havana. Most of the Caribbean island, home to 11.2 million inhabitants, has been free of the disease for more than a month.

 

Source: Cubans celebrate no local transmission of COVID-19 for first time in four months – Reuters

Breakthrough blood test detects positive COVID-19 result in 20 minutes – Monash University

Positive COVID-19 cases caused an agglutination or a clustering of red blood cells, which was easily identifiable to the naked eye. Researchers were able to retrieve positive or negative readings in about 20 minutes. While the current swab / PCR tests are used to identify people who are currently positive with COVID-19, the agglutination assay can determine whether someone had been recently infected once the infection is resolved – and could potentially be used to detect antibodies raised in response to vaccination to aid clinical trials. Using a simple lab setup, this discovery could see medical practitioners across the world testing up to 200 blood samples an hour. At some hospitals with high-grade diagnostic machines, more than 700 blood samples could be tested hourly – about 16,800 each day. Study findings could help high-risk countries with population screening, case identification, contact tracing, confirming vaccine efficacy during clinical trials, and vaccine distribution.

Source: Breakthrough blood test detects positive COVID-19 result in 20 minutes – Monash University

Coronavirus Florida: Editorial: In the worst public health crisis in generations, DeSantis is a massive fail – Opinion – The Palm Beach Post – West Palm Beach, FL

It is past time for Gov. Ron DeSantis to ground himself in some hard realities and admit that the economy will not revive until we greatly slow the zooming spread of this too-often-deadly disease.

On Sunday, Florida recorded a chilling national record: more than 15,300 new COVID-19 cases in a single day. If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world in this appalling category. Our new peers: the United States, Brazil and India.

This is a leadership failure of mammoth proportions, a failure that will contribute to long-term illness and death for many of the citizens that a governor is supposed to protect. No wonder that a hashtag is trending: #DeSantisResign. We’d prefer “DeSantisStepUp.

In some other states where the virus is raging at unprecedented rates — California, Arizona, even the GOP stronghold of Texas — governors are starting to roll back the reopenings that, it is clear now, placed too much faith in people’s common sense to wear the masks and keep the six-foot distances needed to contain the virus’ spread.

But DeSantis? As of this writing, on Thursday, not a hint of how he intends to curb the contagion.

Source: Coronavirus Florida: Editorial: In the worst public health crisis in generations, DeSantis is a massive fail – Opinion – The Palm Beach Post – West Palm Beach, FL

Armed Nazis March In Pennsylvania Park, Chant “Fuck The Gays,” Call Local Black Mayor The N-Word [VIDEO] – Joe.My.God.

Penn Live reports: Despite assurances they would not appear, approximately 15 members of National Socialist Movement (NSM), many of them armed, rallied in Williamsport’s Brandon Park Saturday afternoon. The NSM members following a short march through the park stopped on the Elizabeth Street side where with the aid of a battery-powered megaphone they spewed their …

Source: Armed Nazis March In Pennsylvania Park, Chant “Fuck The Gays,” Call Local Black Mayor The N-Word [VIDEO] – Joe.My.God.

Palestinian Authority announces alarming coronavirus infection rates in the West Bank – The Jerusalem Post

465 people were infected with coronavirus in the Palestinian Authority (PA) territory in the past 24 hours, totaling 6,566 active patients and 63 deceased in the West Bank since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, according to data released by the PA health organizations and reported by Walla.

Source: Palestinian Authority announces alarming coronavirus infection rates in the West Bank – The Jerusalem Post

Pacific Islanders hit hard by the coronavirus – Los Angeles Times

In L.A. County, Pacific Islanders suffer the highest infection rate of any racial or ethnic group, more than 2,500 per 100,000 residents. That’s six times higher than for white people, five times higher than for Black people and three times higher than for Latinos, according to county health demographic data that exclude Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own health departments.

Source: Pacific Islanders hit hard by the coronavirus – Los Angeles Times

Florida teen met friends against family’s wishes. Now dad has COVID-19, fighting for his life – National | Globalnews.ca

The man’s father, John Place, 42, is now fighting the virus at a hospital’s intensive care unit. The illness’s spread among members of the Plantation, Fla., family highlights the outcome dreaded by authorities who feared the recent surge of cases hitting younger Floridians would spread to older, more vulnerable people.

Source: Florida teen met friends against family’s wishes. Now dad has COVID-19, fighting for his life – National | Globalnews.ca