All posts by nedhamson

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

PolitiFact: Ron DeSantis falsely claims he was never asked about COVID-19 – Untrue!

“Well, I think now this is back in the news. I think people understand. Look, it was natural. It wasn’t much, I mean, I would do press events in May, I would never be asked about coronavirus,” DeSantis said June 26. “It was about all these other things. Now it’s something that they are (asking about).”

May 3: Reporters asked about applicants for unemployment, antibody testing and efforts to protect people in nursing homes as well as a prison outbreak.

May 8: A reporter asked a question about the phases of reopening in South Florida.

May 11: DeSantis faced questions about people awaiting unemployment checks and the state’s unemployment website. A reporter started to ask a question about one of the covid case models that the state was looking at and DeSantis interjected: “Has that been accurate so far? Have any of the models been accurate so far?”

May 13: DeSantis faced a couple of questions about cases in long-term facilities including if he had considered testing for all residents and staff and why Florida was not pursuing the White House recommendation to test everyone in nursing homes.

May 15: Reporters asked questions about unemployment as well as when bars would be allowed to reopen and vacation rentals could resume. A reporter also asked if parents should send their children to summer camp.

May 22: Reporters asked questions about lifting restrictions, the number of pending unemployment claims and if the state had a plan if COVID-19 spiked in the future.

 

Source: PolitiFact: Ron DeSantis falsely claims he was never asked about COVID-19

India Sets Record For Its Daily Coronavirus Count : Coronavirus Live Updates : NPR

India’s total caseload is nearing 1 million. The Health Ministry reported 606 additional deaths Thursday for a total of 24,915 fatalities since the pandemic began.

The real numbers, however, could be far higher. Testing has been limited nationwide. In hot spots such as Mumbai, a doctor’s prescription was required to get a test, until last week.

 

Source: India Sets Record For Its Daily Coronavirus Count : Coronavirus Live Updates : NPR

Coronavirus cases, deaths rise ‹ ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE ‹ Reader — WordPress.com

After a pause, the numbers of new COVID-19 cases and deaths in Orange County are back on the rise.

According to the county health care agency, Wednesday’s report of new cases is at 911, up from 865 on Tuesday and 540 on Monday. Today’s count of deaths reported is at 22, up from nine on Tuesday and one on Monday.

The new cumulative total of COVID-19 cases in the OC is at 27,031, of which 11,611 are considered to be recovered. The total number of deaths is at 455.

Cases currently hospitalized are up to 722, with 238 people with the virus are now in intensive care units. The percentage of ICU units now available is at 38.6. The acceptable threshold is greater than 20 percent.

 

Source: Coronavirus cases, deaths rise ‹ ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE ‹ Reader — WordPress.com

Photoessay: Old normal — Ming Thein | Photographer

It’s hard to imagine this set was shot just a month before COVID threw a wrench into everything – I wonder if we’ll ever see the same kind of energy and vibrancy again, or if we do, how long it’ll take to overcome the collective paranoia that the person coughing next to you might be […]

Photoessay: Old normal — Ming Thein | Photographer

Georgia Governor’s Order Rescinds Local Mask Mandates : Coronavirus Live Updates : NPR (Georgia two-step- one back to cancel the step forward- sad)

Kemp on Wednesday extended the state’s COVID-19 restrictions, which strongly encourage the wearing of masks, but stopped short of requiring them in public, calling such a measure “a bridge too far.”

His order explicitly rescinds mask orders in such key cities as Atlanta, Savannah, Athens and Augusta, along with more than a dozen other local jurisdictions where similar directives have been issued.

Kemp, a Republican, has been at odds with mayors and city administrators over the issue in recent days. Last week, for instance, Atlanta’s Democratic Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced a return to tough measures to control an ongoing spike in coronavirus infections in the capital, but Kemp’s office insisted that her order was “non-binding and legally unenforceable.”

 

Source: Georgia Governor’s Order Rescinds Local Mask Mandates : Coronavirus Live Updates : NPR

Coronavirus: NCID says no cases of reinfection among recovered patients in Singapore, Health News & Top Stories – The Straits Times

Professor Ooi Eng Eong, deputy director of the emerging infectious diseases programme at Duke-NUS Medical School, said that antibodies are but one part of the immune response that would protect patients from reinfection.

“Measuring only antibodies thus misses the other half of the immune response – those mediated by killer T-cells,” said Prof Ooi.

“Using antibody levels alone to infer immunity could thus be misleading.”

Both antibodies and T-cells are important elements of the human immune response against viral infections due to their ability to directly target and kill infected cells.

Separately, Singapore scientists found in another study the presence of virus-specific T-cell immunity in people who have recovered from Covid-19 and severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), as well as in some healthy study subjects who have never been infected by either virus.

 

Source: Coronavirus: NCID says no cases of reinfection among recovered patients in Singapore, Health News & Top Stories – The Straits Times

N.J. can ‘go after’ travelers who violate coronavirus quarantine, Murphy says – nj.com

“Something will happen to you,” Murphy said during the appearance on 1010 WINS in New York City. “If you’re a real knucklehead and you come in and you flagrantly violate this, the commissioner of health in New Jersey has the teeth to go after you. And she won’t hesitate to do that.” “We’re just asking folks to do the right thing here,” he added.

 

Source: N.J. can ‘go after’ travelers who violate coronavirus quarantine, Murphy says – nj.com

Is Reopening Schools As Easy As Trump Seems to Think? — Rcooley123’s Blog

The following was recently shared on Facebook by Gary Mack. It illustrates quite well the contrast of Donald Trump’s call for the reopening of schools with the reality of what would be involved in actually doing so in a responsible manner. In terms of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and this country’s response to it, the […]

Is Reopening Schools As Easy As Trump Seems to Think? — Rcooley123’s Blog