August 18, 2020

Thousands pack water park in Wuhan, China, the once-epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic

Source: thehill

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New images show thousands of people crammed shoulder-to-shoulder at a massive pool party over the weekend in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus is thought to have first emerged late last year. Large crowds packed the Wuhan Playa Maya Water Park for an electronic music festival on Saturday, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Party goers can be seen standing and swimming in close quarters to one another without the usual mask and social-distancing measures meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus as they watched the performance. The images stand in stark contrast to the strict lockdown that was once imposed on the central Hubei province city in January when the coronavirus outbreak first began spiraling out of control, which locked down Wuhan’s 11 million residents.

All public transport was suspended and movement outside homes was restricted. The lockdown was lifted in April, around the time the virus began tearing through western Europe and the U.S. There have been no new domestically transmitted cases officially reported in Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital, since May according to AFP. More than 68,000 cases have been confirmed in Hubei province with more than 4,500 deaths.

But some have cast doubt on the actual number of coronavirus cases and deaths in China due to the authoritarian nature of the country. China has tallied more than 84,000 cases with a total of 4,634 deaths.



Read more: https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/longevity/512426-thousands-pack-water-park-in-wuhan-china-the-once

August 16, 2020

Coronavirus hasn't devastated the homeless as many feared

SAN FRANCISCO -- When the coronavirus emerged in the U.S. this year, public health officials and advocates for the homeless feared the virus would rip through shelters and tent encampments, ravaging vulnerable people who often have chronic health issues.

They scrambled to move people into hotel rooms, thinned out crowded shelters and moved tents into designated spots at sanctioned outdoor camps.

While shelters saw some large COVID-19 outbreaks, the virus so far doesn't appear to have brought devastation to the homeless population as many feared. However, researchers and advocates say much is unknown about how the pandemic is affecting the estimated half-million people without housing in the U.S.

In a country that's surpassed 5 million identified cases and 169,000 deaths, researchers don't know why there appear to be so few outbreaks among the homeless.

“I am shocked, I guess I can say, because it’s a very vulnerable population. I don’t know what we're going to see in an aftermath,” said Dr. Deborah Borne, who oversees health policy for COVID-19 homeless response at San Francisco's public health department. “That’s why it’s called a novel virus, because we don’t know."

More than 200 of an estimated 8,000 homeless people in San Francisco have tested positive for the virus, and half came from an outbreak at a homeless shelter in April. One homeless person is among the city's 69 deaths.

In other places with large homeless populations, the numbers are similarly low. In King County, which includes Seattle, more than 400 of an estimated 12,000 homeless residents have been diagnosed. In Los Angeles County, more than 1,200 of an estimated 66,000 homeless people have been diagnosed.

It's slightly higher in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, where nearly 500 of an estimated 7,400 homeless people have tested positive, including nine who died.

Health experts say the numbers don't indicate how widespread the disease is or how it might play out long term. It's unknown how many people have died of conditions indirectly related to the virus. While the coronavirus may dissipate more easily outdoors than indoors, living outside has its own risks.

With public libraries and other places closed, homeless people say they’re short on food and water, restrooms and cash. In San Francisco, 50 homeless people died over an eight-week period in April and May — twice the usual rate, said Dr. Barry Zevin, medical director of the public health department's street medicine program.

The official causes are pending, but Zevin notes that fentanyl overdoses are rising and stay-at-home orders may prevent people from getting help quickly. He knew isolation could result in more overdoses.

“I think that’s happened, and whether it’s more or less than I would have expected, I don’t know," he said. “It’s frustrating to be able to forecast something as a problem, do everything you can to prevent it as a problem, but it's absolutely a case of competing priorities."

Good data is difficult to get on the homeless population because hospitals and death certificates don't track housing status, says Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the Center for Vulnerable Populations at the University of California, San Francisco.

She was hesitant to draw conclusions about how the pandemic has affected homeless people overall but said “this may be an example where being outside and unsheltered, just in terms of COVID, maybe let people be at lower risk. But again, part of that is that we just don’t really know.”

New York City has reported more than 1,400 infections and 104 deaths among homeless residents out of more than 226,000 positive cases and 19,000 deaths. Roughly 60,000 people live in shelters, unlike in West Coast cities where many more are unsheltered.

But because New York's shelters have more children than the general population, when deaths are adjusted for age, the mortality rate for homeless people is 67% higher than for the overall population, said Giselle Routhier, policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless.

“That’s extraordinarily high, in our opinion,” she said.

While advocates push for private hotel rooms for homeless people, a massive 1,200-person shelter at San Diego’s convention center is showing it’s possible to keep the case count low by strictly adhering to 6-foot (2-meter) spacing, frequent cleaning and mask-wearing.

“We have a team of firefighters that walk the floors to put the cots back where they’re supposed to be,” said fire Deputy Chief Chris Heiser, who is incident commander for the shelter.

He estimates about 3,000 people have come through. And of more than 6,000 COVID-19 tests administered, 18 so far have been positive. San Diego County has reported more than 200 positive cases and no deaths among its nearly 8,000 homeless people.

Richard Scott, who is in his mid-50s, moved to the convention center about three months ago after his roommate, who is medically fragile, told him that he could either stay home and not work or leave. Since then, Scott has slept on a cot alongside about 500 men in a cavernous room with high ceilings and a big floor.

Sometimes there's a theft or disruptive person, but overall Scott calls it a safe place to stay.

“We wash our hands 20 times a day — well some of us — and we get our temperatures checked every day, and they’ve been real strict about that, too,” Scott said. “I’m so happy being here; it’s a blessing.”

Virginia McShane, 63, sleeps in a separate part of the center. She arrived in April after she could no longer afford a $25-a-night hostel.

“We’ve got a back entrance and a front entrance, and that keeps the air circulating pretty good, so I think that’s why all of us haven’t come down with the coronavirus," she said.

The rates at which homeless people have tested positive for COVID-19 are all over the place, says Barbara DiPietro, senior policy director for the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, which is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the issue.

Surveillance testing of more than 10,000 people at shelters and encampments nationwide has resulted in a rate just over 8%. But DiPietro says over 200 testing events of homeless residents in five cities showed rates ranging from 0 to 66%.

“So this is a wildly variant, moving target depending on who and how and when you test," she said.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/coronavirus-devastated-homeless-feared-72405779

August 15, 2020

9th Circuit ends California ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines

SACRAMENTO — A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday threw out California’s ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, saying the law violates the U.S. Constitution’s protection of the right to bear firearms.

“Even well-intentioned laws must pass constitutional muster,” appellate Judge Kenneth Lee wrote for the panel’s majority. California’s ban on magazines holding more than 10 bullets “strikes at the core of the Second Amendment — the right to armed self-defense.”

He noted that California passed the law “in the wake of heart-wrenching and highly publicized mass shootings,” but said that isn’t enough to justify a ban whose scope “is so sweeping that half of all magazines in America are now unlawful to own in California.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office said it is reviewing the decision and he “remains committed to using every tool possible to defend California’s gun safety laws and keep our communities safe.”

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/08/14/9th-circuit-ends-california-ban-on-high-capacity-ammunition-magazines/

August 6, 2020

Chants of 'revolution' in Beirut as France's Macron is mobbed by angry crowds

Source: cnn

(CNN)Large crowds mobbed French President Emmanuel Macron in Beirut as he toured a neighborhood of the Lebanese capital devastated by Tuesday's massive explosion. "Revolution, revolution!" people chanted, as shock at the devastation in the city gave way to anger on Thursday. New information reveals that Beirut officials had ignored repeated warnings about a stockpile of dangerous chemicals linked to the blast that has killed 137 people and injured 5,000.

Macron told a crowd of reporters and angry people that he would propose a "new political pact" to Lebanon's embattled political class during his visit to a predominantly Christian quarter of the city. "The people want the fall of the regime," the protesters shouted, echoing calls for the downfall of Lebanon's long-time political elite that were popularized during a nationwide uprising late last year. "Michel Aoun is a terrorist! Help us," one man pleaded, referring to the Lebanese president. One woman screamed inaudible words inches away from Macron's face. "They are terrorists," came the repeated cries.

Most people were masked, including the French president, who removed his face covering to speak to the press. There was no social distancing. An Elysée Palace spokesperson told CNN that Macron said to Lebanese protesters: "I am here and it's my duty to help you, as a whole population, to bring medication and food.


Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/middleeast/beirut-explosion-anger-intl-hnk/index.html

August 5, 2020

Gold price rockets past $2,000 per ounce and it could keep going

Source: cnn

Gold has rallied past $2,000 per ounce for the first time ever, with spot prices jumping as high as $2,041 per ounce on Wednesday. The metal's spectacular rally is the result of a weakening dollar, which makes it cheaper for foreign investors to buy gold, as well as rock-bottom yields on other safe-haven assets like US Treasuries. Some investors also fear that trillions in unprecedented stimulus from central banks could feed long-dormant inflationary pressures, and are turning to gold for protection.

The gold rush has notable consequences. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), an exchange-traded fund that holds physical gold in HSBC's London vaults, has had to stockpile huge amounts in recent days as investors piled in. The fund, which is managed by State Street and the World Gold Council, now has 1,258 tons of gold holdings — more than the Bank of England or the Bank of Japan. The news was first reported by the Financial Times.


Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html

July 31, 2020

17yo Florida Teen Charged As 'Mastermind' Of Massive Twitter Hack

Florida prosecutors have charged a teenager with being the "mastermind" of a hack that targeted some of Twitter's best-known accounts and, prosecutors say, scammed more than $100,000 in Bitcoin from duped users.

Two other people were also charged by federal prosecutors for their alleged involvement in the July 15 hack, which involved the accounts of the social media network's richest and most famous users, including former President Barack Obama, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and rapper Kanye West.

Federal agents arrested Graham Ivan Clark, a 17-year-old Tampa resident, on Friday morning after a nationwide investigation by the FBI and Department of Justice, according to the state attorney's office in Hillsborough County, Florida. He is facing 30 felony charges. (NPR is naming Clark because he is being charged under Florida state law as an adult.)

"Clark hacked into the Twitter accounts of famous people and celebrities, but they were not the primary victims. This 'Bit-Con' was designed to defraud money from regular Americans from across the country and here in Florida," Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren said at a press conference on Friday.

The Twitter profiles were used to post messages asking their millions of followers to send Bitcoin to accounts associated with Clark. The messages promised the senders that their payments would be doubled — which never happened. Clark also sold access to some of the accounts, Warren said.

Clark "reaped over $100,000 in Bitcoin in just one day," Warren said. "He's a 17-year-old kid who apparently just graduated high school, but make no mistake: this was not an ordinary 17-year-old. This was a highly sophisticated attack on a magnitude not seen before."

Clark faces 17 counts of communications fraud, one count of organized fraud, one count of fraudulent use of personal information with over $100,000 or 30 or more victims, 10 counts of fraudulent use of personal information, and one count of accusing a computer or electronic device without authority.

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/31/897815039/florida-teen-charged-as-mastermind-of-massive-twitter-hack

July 31, 2020

Chicago Deputy Police Chief Shoots Himself, Latest in Long History of Suicides at the Department

The Chicago Police Department’s new deputy chief of criminal networks was found dead on Tuesday from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, the latest in a history of suicides at the department.

Dion Boyd, 57, was sworn into his new post on July 15 after 30-years on the force. Superintendent David Brown urged officers to keep an eye out for colleagues who could be in distress.

“Let’s always remember to take care of ourselves and each other,” Brown said at a press conference.

The national suicide rate among police officers is about 18 per 100,000 as of 2017, however the rate in Chicago is 60 percent higher.

“One of the shocking statistics for me was that cops kill themselves at a higher rate than bad guys kill the police. And when you put it in those numbers, you realize that there’s a real problem,” Phil Cline, executive director of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, told WBBM radio. “And it’s not something the just sprung up in the last year or so. It’s been a problem for a while.”

Boyd’s body was found at the department’s Homan Square facility, a secretive site that houses the anti-gang and bomb and arson squads. Various abuses allegedly occurred at the site, including reports of excessive force used in interrogations uncovered by The Guardian in 2016.

Chicago police are currently attempting to clamp down on shootings that have plagued the city since Memorial Day weekend.

While shootings typically rise in the city throughout the summer months, this year has seen a particularly sharp uptick. Chicago has recorded about 2,000 shooting victims so far this year, compared to roughly 1,400 over the same period in 2019.

The seasonal rise seems to have been exacerbated by the impact of coronavirus lockdowns on inner city neighborhoods, as well as anti-police sentiment stemming from the George Floyd protests roiling the U.S.

https://news.yahoo.com/chicago-deputy-police-chief-shoots-163152735.html

July 29, 2020

Norweigian flag removed from Saint Johns bed and breakfast over Confederate confusion

https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/efb9c2e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1200x675+0+0/resize/1280x720!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fda%2F65%2Fa92f7dbe4df795937e74875c64d1%2Fq53o5ez25ndchh3zggcspcku2m.jfif

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Bed and breakfast Nordic Pineapple in Saint Johns has removed their Norwegian flag after dozens of people confuse it for the Confederate flag.

Greg and Kjersten Offbecker moved into the historic mansion two years ago and turned it into a bed and breakfast. As decoration, they hung a Norwegian flag next to the American flag at the front entrance of the inn, but dozens of guests and people driving by have accused the couple of flying a Confederate flag.

“They are the same color, but there are no stars on the Norwegian flag, and the Confederate flag is a big ‘x’ and the Norwegian flag is part of the Nordic countries, they’re all crosses,” Offbecker said.

Last week, the couple decided to remove the flag as they were updating their marketing materials.

“We started to have this concern that it was deterring people away from coming to our bed and breakfast,” Offbecker said. “That they would see it and make this judgement.”

Offbecker said she was trying to represent her heritage, but it’s not worth the frustration. She said they have received cruel emails and phone calls over the confusion of the flag.

“What we’re getting is so much more negative now,” she said. “It’s not just, ‘hey you’re flying the Confederate flag.’ It’s, ‘you should be ashamed to fly the Confederate flag. You’re a bigot because you fly the Confederate flag.‘”

Some people are even convinced the home was built by Confederate leaders. In fact, it was built by union workers for the daughter of the Saint Johns founder.

The couple is trying to find a new way to hang their flag without getting complaints.

https://www.wilx.com/2020/07/28/norwegian-flag-removed-from-saint-johns-bed-and-breakfast-over-confederate-flag-confusion/

July 29, 2020

Belarus president who suggested vodka cured COVID-19 says he tested positive

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has resisted the coronavirus-related lockdowns imposed in most countries and suggested drinking vodka can treat the virus, said Tuesday that he has had and recovered from COVID-19.

"Today you are meeting a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on his feet. This is what doctors concluded yesterday. Asymptomatic," Lukashenko said, claiming without citing a source that “97 percent of our population carry this infection asymptomatically,” according to Reuters.

Lukashenko, whose handling of the virus has led to mass protests ahead of the country’s Aug. 9 presidential election, has previously said fears of the virus are a “psychosis.”

Asked in March whether the pandemic would stop him from playing ice hockey, he responded “To stop me? But why? It is possible, but why? I don't understand. There are no viruses here. Did you see any of them flying around? I don't see them."

In April, Lukashenko defended his decision to keep national borders open and allow soccer matches to continue with live audiences, claiming no Belarusians would die from the virus. Since then, 543 people have died and 67,366 people have tested positive for the virus.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/509399-belarus-president-who-suggested-vodka-cured-covid-19-says-he

July 29, 2020

Sweden Unveils 'Promising' Covid-19 Data as New Cases Plunge

As other countries face renewed outbreaks, Sweden’s latest Covid-19 figures suggest it’s rapidly bringing the virus under control.

“That Sweden has come down to these levels is very promising,” state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told reporters in Stockholm on Tuesday.

The Health Agency of Sweden says that since hitting a peak in late June, the infection rate has fallen sharply. That’s amid an increase in testing over the period. “The curves are going down and the curves for the seriously ill are beginning to approach zero,” Tegnell said.

The development follows months of controversy over Sweden’s decision to avoid a full lockdown. The unusual strategy coincided with a much higher Covid-19 mortality rate than elsewhere in the Nordic region. Per 100,000, Swedish deaths even exceeded those in the U.S. and Brazil.

On Tuesday, Sweden reported two new deaths, bringing the total to 5,702.

Tegnell also broached the subject of face masks, which the World Health Organization recommends people use when social distancing isn’t possible.

“With numbers diminishing very quickly in Sweden, we see no point in wearing a face mask in Sweden, not even on public transport,” he said.

Tegnell has consistently argued that Sweden’s approach is more sustainable than the sudden lockdowns imposed elsewhere. With the risk that Covid-19 might be around for years, he says completely shutting down society isn’t a long-term option.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-28/sweden-unveils-promising-covid-19-data-as-new-cases-plunge