#COVID-19's toll on vulnerable communities

[greenthestral]

From Triumph to Tragedy: COVID-19's Devastating Blow on Poverty Eradication

The year 2020 will forever be remembered as a time of unparalleled upheaval, as the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm, leaving behind a trail of destruction in its wake. Beyond the tragic loss of lives, the pandemic also unleashed a devastating blow on the global economy and disrupted social systems, derailing the remarkable progress made against poverty over the past four years. The journey towards eradicating poverty that had shown promising strides now stands overshadowed by a daunting reality. This article delves into the impact of COVID-19 on poverty eradication efforts, examining the setbacks, challenges, and potential pathways to recovery.

The Pre-COVID Progress

Before the pandemic struck, significant strides had been made in the battle against poverty. Numerous developing countries had reported declining poverty rates, improvements in education, and better access to healthcare. Global organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations were optimistic that we were moving closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030.

Governments, NGOs, and philanthropic organizations were working together, implementing targeted interventions to lift millions out of poverty. Investments were being made in education and vocational training, empowering individuals with skills to secure better-paying jobs. Microfinance initiatives provided small loans to entrepreneurs, fostering local economic growth and self-sustainability. Moreover, access to healthcare has improved through the expansion of health facilities and immunization programs.

The Unforeseen Blow of COVID-19

Enter COVID-19, and the world witnessed an unprecedented human and economic crisis. Lockdowns, travel restrictions, and social distancing measures were put in place to curb the spread of the virus, leading to the shutdown of businesses, the loss of jobs, and disruptions in supply chains. The most vulnerable segments of society were hit hardest, plunging many back into poverty.

Informal workers, day laborers, and those in the gig economy were left without job security or access to social safety nets. Women, who had made significant strides in the workforce, faced a disproportionate burden as they juggled work, childcare, and household responsibilities during the lockdowns.

The Toll on Global Poverty

According to the World Bank, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed an estimated 100 million people into extreme poverty in 2020, erasing more than four years of progress against poverty eradication. The setback was particularly severe in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where poverty rates surged due to the combined impact of health and economic crises.

School closures further exacerbated the situation, with millions of children unable to access education. This could have far-reaching consequences, as education is a crucial pathway to breaking the cycle of poverty. The disruption in education has the potential to create a lost generation of children who are deprived of the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in the future.

The Hidden Toll on Women

COVID-19 also exposed and amplified existing gender inequalities. Women, who often bear the brunt of poverty, found themselves at the frontline of the pandemic response, comprising the majority of healthcare workers and caregivers. Simultaneously, job losses and economic hardships disproportionately affected women, pushing them deeper into poverty.

Moreover, there was a surge in gender-based violence during lockdowns, as victims were confined with their abusers and faced barriers to seeking help. The pandemic further underscored the urgency of addressing gender disparities and promoting women's empowerment as critical components of poverty eradication efforts.

The Struggle for Access to Healthcare

The pandemic highlighted the glaring gaps in healthcare access and infrastructure in many developing countries. Overwhelmed healthcare systems struggled to provide adequate care to COVID-19 patients while maintaining essential health services for other diseases. This left millions without access to basic healthcare and life-saving treatments.

The economic fallout from the pandemic also affected funding for healthcare, diverting resources away from vital health initiatives. Immunization programs suffered, leading to potential outbreaks of preventable diseases that could disproportionately impact vulnerable communities already reeling from the pandemic's effects.

Climate Change and Poverty: A Two-Front Battle

As if battling a global pandemic was not challenging enough, countries also faced the looming threat of climate change. Climate-related disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires increased in frequency and intensity, exacerbating poverty and displacing communities.

Vulnerable populations living in low-lying coastal regions or arid areas faced the brunt of climate change impacts, losing their homes and livelihoods. The dual challenges of climate change and poverty necessitate urgent and integrated efforts to build resilience and reduce vulnerability.

A Call for a Resilient Recovery

While the road to recovery may seem daunting, there are glimmers of hope on the horizon. Governments, international organizations, and civil society have an opportunity to build back better, ensuring that the recovery from the pandemic is sustainable, inclusive, and resilient.

Investments in healthcare and social safety nets are crucial to ensure that vulnerable communities are better prepared to weather future crises. Rebuilding livelihoods through job creation, vocational training, and microfinance initiatives can empower individuals to lift themselves out of poverty.

Harnessing Technology and Innovation

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technologies, showcasing their potential to bridge gaps in education, healthcare, and financial services. Leveraging technology and innovation can play a pivotal role in reaching marginalized populations and addressing systemic inequalities.

Mobile banking, telemedicine, and e-learning platforms can enhance access to essential services, particularly in remote areas. Moreover, investments in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure can create jobs while combating climate change, fostering a greener and more inclusive economy.

Global Solidarity for Lasting Change

COVID-19 has underscored the interdependence of nations and the need for global solidarity in addressing poverty and other global challenges. It is essential for developed nations to support developing countries through financial aid, debt relief, and technology transfer to ensure an equitable recovery.

By collaborating on research, sharing best practices, and working towards common goals, the world can emerge from this crisis stronger and more prepared to confront future challenges. International cooperation is key to ensuring that the progress against poverty does not suffer further setbacks in the face of unforeseen adversities.

Conclusion

The impact of COVID-19 on poverty eradication has been nothing short of devastating. More than four years of hard-won progress has been erased, leaving millions trapped in the cycle of poverty once again. However, the pandemic has also shown the resilience of individuals, communities, and nations in the face of adversity.

As we navigate the uncertain terrain ahead, it is crucial for us to learn from the lessons of the pandemic and forge a path towards a more inclusive and sustainable future. By addressing the underlying issues of poverty, inequality, and climate change, we can build a world that is better equipped to withstand and overcome future challenges, ensuring that the progress against poverty is not only restored but accelerated. Together, we can rise from the ashes of this crisis and create a world where no one is left behind.

What's In It For Me? (WIIFM)

In this eye-opening blog article, you'll discover the harsh reality of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on poverty eradication efforts. Learn about the setbacks, challenges, and potential pathways to recovery, while gaining insights into the global response and initiatives being taken to build a resilient future. Understand how this crisis affects you, your community, and the world at large, and find inspiration in the call for solidarity and global cooperation. Join us on this journey as we delve into the importance of collective action in ensuring progress against poverty is not only restored but accelerated, creating a world where no one is left behind.

Call to Action (CTA)

Let's stand together and take action against the devastating impact of COVID-19 on poverty eradication. Share this article with your friends, family, and social networks to spread awareness about the challenges faced by vulnerable communities. Engage in discussions, explore ways to support local and global initiatives, and volunteer your time or resources to help those in need. Together, we can make a difference and work towards creating a more equitable and sustainable world for everyone.

Blog Excerpt

The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the progress made against poverty in recent years. The article sheds light on the unprecedented challenges faced by marginalized communities, the toll on global economies, and the alarming rise in extreme poverty. However, amidst the grim reality, glimmers of hope emerge as we explore potential pathways to recovery. From harnessing technology and innovation to fostering global solidarity, there are ways we can build back better and ensure a more inclusive and resilient future for all.

Meta description in 320 characters to appear in the Google Search Engine

Discover the devastating impact of COVID-19 on poverty eradication efforts. Uncover challenges, pathways to recovery, and calls for global solidarity in this enlightening blog article.

#COVID-19's impact on poverty eradication #Progress against poverty during COVID-19 #Global poverty setbacks due to pandemic #Resilience in the face of poverty challenges #Building back better after COVID-19 #Poverty eradication and the pandemic #COVID-19's toll on vulnerable communities #Challenges in poverty eradication post-COVID #Pathways to recover from COVID-19's impact #Addressing poverty in a pandemic-hit world #Rebuilding livelihoods after COVID-19 #Role of technology in poverty eradication #COVID-19's lasting impact on the poor #Global cooperation for poverty alleviation #Women and poverty during the pandemic #Education setbacks amidst COVID-19 #Climate change and poverty during COVID-19 #Inequality and COVID-19's toll on poverty #Health crisis worsens poverty #Support for developing nations post-COVID #Opportunities for poverty eradication post-pandemic #Lessons from COVID-19 for poverty efforts #Social safety nets and poverty recovery #Microfinance impact during the pandemic #Sustainable development goals post-COVID #COVID-19's impact on vulnerable children #Gender disparities in pandemic poverty #Addressing the poverty pandemic nexus #A resilient future against poverty and COVID-19 #Taking action against poverty post-COVID

[alex-bartlett-viscom]

research for ISTD and ideas

Brief 2 joy bringer :

What is it asking me to do : 

Create a typographic tour de force (thing) that explains why you think everyone should be doing a particular thing. 

Examples - non 

My own examples - JOE ROGAN 2045 jimmy carr , he believes that stand up should be taught in schools to help with confidence building friendships and how to deal with awkward social situations. 

Brief 3 Brieflinguidtic hybridity :

What it wants me to do : 

Analyse the combination of languages

Examples - montreal rap and hip hop 

Canada 

My own examples : 

Beatles song michelle rubber soul 

The english language is a mixture of languages from palace that have concerned england in the past 

Sign language and the mixture of communication through the physical 

Braille    

Brief 4 death of the centre :

What it wants me to do : 

create awareness of the death of the highstreet and bring people back using type. 

Examples - non 

My examples - art festival in bournemouth 

The air show 

Bobbie co gallery

Upside down house in bournemouth town centre 

Bournemouth eye  

Brief 5 big data : 

What it wants me to do : 

Explore how data can be uses in good and bad conditions and its impacts on society. 

Examples - non 

My own examples - everyone was worried about pepsi being carcinogenic but when the data was released you would have to drink 14 cans a day to be in any danger of contracting cancer.

The coronavirus death toll took into account people that died from coronavirus but also people that had the disease and died. https://www.aamc.org/news/how-are-covid-19-deaths-counted-it-s-complicated   

3 and 5  look in too designers I like or find interesting 

5. Look into projects or works that have exposed how vulnerable the public are to data. 

I want to show how easily things can get missed with this brief and if  we don't look for the correct answer or look for more information to inform our decisions and our beliefs then we will fall victim to someone's message that may be damaging or good. For example the pepsi idea brought up before or the fact that there's more green on the planet than ever before because of CO2 but it's also polluting our planet and raising the temperature.  

Research : I saw a video on the internet about a game called doom and a specific mod called house. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wAo54DHDY0 . Its a  ARG mod (augmented reality game) for doom and its based on a book called house of leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. It's a book about 2 different stories. A family called the Navidson lives in a house that changes on the inside but not on the outside. Corridors that are jet black and never end and new doors appearing. Another story is about an eccentric recluse that passes away and records that Mr Navidson are found in his possession by a man called Johnny Truant that tries to string the records together but loses his grip on reality while doing so. 

The book gets harder and harder to read as it goes on and needs more care and attention to read to get the full picture. Pieces of text are obscured by other pieces of text and sometimes random blocks of text will be crossed out or blacked out by blue squares and every time the word house is used its in blue instead of black like the rest of the text .

3. Look into music ,slang and projects that include people with disabilities ,Look into projects blending multiple ways of communicating.

The issues I would like to focus on in this brief is trying to create art that blind people can also interact with. A poem perhaps that I can visually represent by present through type by having braille on it.

Designers I like 

Project proposal 1 : 

I would like to create a book that has to be studied to find the truth to show that you can't take things at face value in the modern era and that we have to look at the whole picture and piece things together. This will be a puzzle book of sorts with a key to help solve it and I will use typography to do this. I would like to take inspiration from a book called house of leaves. 

Research : I saw a video on the internet about a game called doom and a specific mod called house. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wAo54DHDY0 . Its a  ARG mod (augmented reality game) for doom and it's based on a book called house of leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. It's a book about 2 different stories. A family called the Navidson lives in a house that changes on the inside but not on the outside. Corridors that are jet black and never end and new doors appearing. Another story is about an eccentric recluse that passes away and records that Mr Navidson are found in his possession by a man called Johnny Truant that tries to string the records together but loses his grip on reality while doing so. 

The book gets harder and harder to read as it goes on and needs more care and attention to read to get the full picture. Pieces of text are obscured by other pieces of text and sometimes random blocks of text will be crossed out or blacked out by blue squares and every time the word house is used its in blue instead of black like the rest of the text .

Project proposal 2 : 

I would like to create an exhibition that uses goggles to create an experience that might change depending on what glasses you have on. This will be a typography exhibit that represents the idea of whose eyes are you looking through. Depending on what party or who's told you can change your opinion. The same data will be used for each part of the exhibit but phrased differently depending on what goggles you have on. I wish to achieve this by using a 3D effect that I found by an artist by the name of  Will Shrike. He creates illustrations of horror and superhero characters but draws with the red and blue 3D aesthetic so when looking through one colour it looks like one thing and through the other colour it looks like another thing.

Research : 

The artist  Will Shrike with his use of the 3D elements of his drawings. I also looked into the more immersive way to create an exhibition with the Dali exhibit in London using VR to show people his work in an immersive way https://immersive-dali.com/london/. 

Spirituality : 

 The stoned ape theory https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/evolution/stoned-ape-hypothesis.htm 

The doubling of the human brain size might be down to psychedelic mushrooms based off the experiences and data collected by a man called Terence McKenna. This is just his theory as many people believe this. The emergence of language, religion and other ideas that could have come out of these ideas. 

The idea that religion and health have a direct impact on human health making people less depressed and have more self esteem and the link to a less religious society and the rise of depression and loneliness. 

In an exploration to better understand the role that spirituality and religion play in health and care, a few key themes appeared across the various disciplines. Some of the most interesting include:

- 80% of research on spirituality/religiousness and health focuses on mental health. This is because most associations with faith are related to how one thinks about the world and their role in it. 

This is in the USA 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_and_health#:~:text=Religion%20may%20reduce%20likelihood%20of,investigating%20religious%20emotions%20and%20health. They say that religion helps stop high blood pressure and other diseases but this is all a direct link to depression. 

We can see a clear decrease in religious individuals and in the uk relating back to the increase of depression and the issue of self esteem 

The idea that drugs are how religion started using these experiences to speak to god and think up these complex ideas of god and morals. For example there's been recent discoveries of psychedelics found in greek cups in spain and hundreds of more to be tested. There's also depictions of the first eucharist from Roman times showing the mixing of wines with unknown substances. This is what was thought to be done in some of the Greek temples which made people have these experiences but they were never done at home or written about outside of the temples as this was sacrilege so they knew what was being put in there. Also depictions of a mushroom god in Africa have been found that data back to some of the first humans to travel up the country. 

The idea that data contained in stories is more helpful than cold hard facts and that people don't want to listen to the facts they want to listen to the story of Jesus and other religious figures. Like it or not we live off the fable and stories we hear. We're told not to do something but if it's not happened to anyone we know we kind of think oh right but when it happens to a friend or someone we know and we hear the story we tend to take the matter and the moral of the story a bit more seriously. 

The manipulation of the bible throughout the years.  

I want to blend the idea of data being easily passed on through story and the manipulation of the bible. 

The bible was full of many spelling mistakes as well as missing words. Along with massive parts of the bible being left out and then re-added in later versions but in dribs and drabs. Also many different countries.  

Different names for the bible. 

Good book 

polyglot

Holy writ 

Bible 

#Year 3 term 1 ISTD

[phroyd]

The Covid-19 death toll linked to U.S. nursing homes and other long-term care facilities has surpassed 100,000, according to a Wall Street Journal tally of data from around the U.S.

The coronavirus disease is particularly risky for elderly people with underlying health conditions, and nursing homes house such residents in close confines. Outbreaks have also hit other kinds of senior homes like assisted-living facilities, and the deaths stemming from long-term care outbreaks comprise nearly 40% of the more than 260,000 overall Covid-19 deaths recorded by Johns Hopkins University.

The pace of deaths in this vulnerable population is on the rise, according to federal data tracking nursing homes, the hardest-hit kind of senior facility. These outbreaks mirror the growth in cases and rising tide of deaths nationwide.

“Sadly, nothing has changed,” said Tamara Konetzka, a professor of health-services research at the University of Chicago.

The Journal’s tally of state, federal and local data also includes more than 670,000 probable and confirmed Covid-19 cases in long-term care, affecting both residents and staff members. The real death toll and case counts are likely higher due to delays in some states’ reporting and gaps in the numbers. For example, New York state doesn’t specify counts for nursing-home cases or Covid-19-linked deaths among nursing residents who died outside the facility, which often occurs when the sick are sent to hospitals.

Some state-level counts may reflect outbreaks in other kinds of adult group homes that are lumped in with nursing and assisted-living facilities. Data from some states also include probable or presumed Covid-19 deaths, which can mean ones not confirmed by a laboratory test, which was an issue during testing shortages early in the pandemic.

Despite efforts to protect senior facilities by limiting visitors and testing staff more frequently, experience from the early days of the pandemic and research have shown that community-level outbreaks pose a significant risk.

Federal data have recently shown rising cases hitting nursing homes in rural areas, tracking the path of the virus. Midwestern states battling broader outbreaks such as Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota and Wisconsin have all seen a trend of rising nursing-home death reports in recent weeks.

“It’s all about community spread,” Dr. Konetzka said.

The weekly tally of newly-reported nursing-home deaths has been on the rise since early October, according to the federal survey data, which is released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The increase of 2,197 deaths in the week ending Nov. 8, the most recent available, marked the biggest weekly total since June.

A CMS spokesman said the agency “is extremely concerned about increased community spread of Covid-19 going into this holiday season, which we believe has contributed to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in America’s nursing homes.”

The spokesman said CMS has taken steps to help nursing homes, but that homes haven’t accessed a national infection-control training program CMS helped set up. Inspections have shown some nursing homes still aren’t following proper infection-control procedures, he said.

Despite federal requirements that facilities in counties with high Covid-19 rates test staff as often as twice a week, many nursing homes have declined to use federally provided rapid-testing equipment, citing concerns including accuracy.

Nursing homes can use lab-based tests to fulfill the requirements, though some have continued to experience delays in getting results. Some facilities have continued to report limited supplies of protective gear such as N95 masks, a major problem earlier in the pandemic.

The federal nursing-home database doesn’t include comprehensive data from before May, or numbers from other kinds of long-term care facilities. Most states are tracking data through their public-health departments, filling in many gaps.

Nursing-home industry groups have said their members need more financial and other support as they battle the latest Covid-19 surge.

“For nine months, we’ve been shouting about four primary needs to protect the lives of older adults: testing, [personal protective equipment], staffing support and the money to pay for all of it,” said Katie Smith Sloan, chief executive of LeadingAge, which represents nonprofit providers of aging services.

Phroyd

#covid #nursing homes #deaths

[architectnews]

Architecture under Biden Presidency

Biden Presidency Architecture, US Building News, Social Housing Shortage, American Election

Architecture under the Biden Presidency

Historic US Election Review of Architectural Aspects: Architectural Column by Joel Solkoff, PA, USA

Nov 12, 2020

US Architecture under the Biden Presidency

The steeple of Independence Hall was the masterpiece of 18th Century architect William Strickland. Photograph in the public domain by Captain Albert E. Theberge, NOAA Corps (ret.).National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Independence Hall is the birthplace of the Constitution of the United States–ratified in 1788; in operation since 1789. If nothing else, the big victor in the US elections of 2020 is the Constitution of the United States.

Despite fears of violence and foreign interference, over 100 million US Americans cast their votes safely and without significant problems in the midst of our worst health crisis in over 100 years.

Joe Biden clearly won the Presidential election by over 4.4 million popular votes. Biden also won the electoral college vote—that aristocratic relic difficult to explain; likely to be reformed—. by a comfortable margin. It is with the considerable emotion that I recollect and write with pride that twelve times I have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States and “defend it against all enemies foreign and domestic.”

https://ift.tt/2iaNIlE

This is the complete text of the Constitution from the U.S, Senate website, I will be writing and talking about Independence Hall and the Constitution a lot–perhaps, not all today.

To contain Covid, architects must build cities

The first rule of writing is know your audience. You, my readers, are architects and members of the AEC community. If taming the deadly virus is to be achieved, the AEC community must build cities on an order of magnitude far greater than in the 1950s when Levitowns dotted the US countryside.

In the wake of World War II, soldiers returned to have children as the massive Baby Boom generation (my generation) converted the US from a nation of urban dwellers to one of suburbanites.

Aerial view of Levittown, Pennsylvania circa 1959 (when I was eight years old). Wikipedia: “Levittown is the name of seven large suburban housing developments created in the United States by William J. Levitt and his company Levitt & Sons. Built after World War II for returning veterans and their new families, the communities offered attractive alternatives to cramped central city locations and apartments. The Veterans Administration and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) guaranteed builders that qualified veterans could buy housing for a fraction of rental costs.”

Right now, architecture commissions in the private sector are drying up. Massive public spending will begin shortly as housing our most vulnerable children, women, and men is required to prevent death and contagion. Urgently, architects must learn a skill rarely taught in architecture school: Politics. Architects must become, as the expression goes, “political animals,” a subject on which my future columns will descend on you with passion and this is what you must do next information.

Before the pandemic, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had a waiting list of 3.5 million low income individuals who are in danger of contracting corona virus because of the unsafe housing where they live.

Breadcrumbs demonstrating what we can expect from Biden when adults return to govern

“Infection Control Deficiencies Were Widespread and Persistent in Nursing Homes Prior to COVID-19 Pandemic” is a report from Congress’ General Accountability Office (GAO) on the failure of US nursing homes, where most corona virus deaths are taking place, to protect its residents–people like me who are elderly and have considerable health issues.

One of the number of places in the US government (where I worked in Washington DC for nearly 20 years) is the General Accountability Office (GAO). Here is a report the GAO released on May 20th of this year: “GAO analysis of CMS data (content management system data from Medicare and Medicaid) shows that infection prevention and control deficiencies were the most common type of deficiency cited in surveyed nursing homes, with most nursing homes having an infection prevention and control deficiency cited in one or more years from 2013 through 2017 (13,299 nursing homes, or 82 percent of all surveyed homes).

https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/702638.pdf

Hail to the Chief

Even before the election results where confirmed by the widely-respected Associate Press, a serious-minded President-to-be Biden had already begun the process of preparing to fix the problems of nursing homes, inadequate housing, and Covid virus specifically. Within his first week as President elect, Biden had already appointed a panel of distinguished and credentialed scientists to make suggestions regarding the pandemic. “Covid, covid, covid, covid,” President Trump repeated sing song like in his re-election rallies which because of the absence of social distancing and laissez-faire mask use have been spreader events.

All Architects Today Must Be Covid-19 Architects

Joel Solkoff’s Column Vol. VI, Number 4

West front of the Capitol of the United States where Joseph Biden will take the oath of office to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic” on January 20,2021 at noon. Photo in the public domain.

The annual budget of the U/S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is $44.1. billion.

Secretary of HUD Ben Carson tested positive for Covid-19 after results of the Presidential election were announced by the authoritative Associate Press. One reporter suggested Secretary Carson may have contracted the disease at a Michigan rally for President Trump where Secretary Carson did not consistently where a mask.

Yesterday, the US death toll from the corona virus was 2.7 million children, women, and men.

DATELINE Thursday, November 12, 2020. Williamsport Pennsylvania, a town of 28,000 people (a treasure trove of architecture) 178 miles southeast over rotten roads to Philadelphia’s Independence Hall where my fathers (mothers did not apply) ratified the Constitution of the United States.

The biggest of the big news from this month’s election is that President Donald John Trump will no longer be President of the United States even if it means the Marines have to drag him out of the White House kicking and screaming. An ongoing question is whether the United States will ever recover from the Trump Presidency. On this issue, I take the long view. Maybe. It is the forthcoming Presidency of Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. on January 20, 2021 that gives me some hope. Biden has run an excellent campaign. His choice of Kamala Harris, Senator from California, former attorney general of the state of California was sheer genius–a word I seldom use.

Senator Harris was my first choice for President during the crowded Democratic nomination process. Senator Harris mopped the floor with candidate Biden during one debate. This debate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6-UC8yr0Aw

Embedded in accordance with the terms of YouTube’s licensing agreement

When I heard that Biden had selected Harris, this bumper sticker came to mind. “It takes brass balls to play rugby.” This is a time for US and global architects to understand that politics is about power. In your case, it is about exerting your power to design housing for the most vulnerable to Covid 19. Here is Kamala Harris questioning Bill Bahr who in 69 days will no longer be the Attorney General of the United States:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHd_UlebyoM

The press’ failure in covering the election results

“Counting inches forward in Pennsylvania, and both sides predict victory.” asserted the New York Times inaccurately on November 4th.

Before Hillary, Pennsylvania consistently cast its electoral votes for Democratic Presidential candidates even ones who lost the election. If it were for Pennsylvania, John Kerry would have been President of the United States. Pennsylvania has voted for Democratic candidates consistently because there are a lot of voters in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia at each end of the state and few voters in the center, in the burned out Rust Belt where the existence of a Donald Trump was the inevitable result of the failure of Democratic and Republican Presidential Administrations from preserving and protecting this rich beautiful land between the two oceans.

My condemnation is considerable of the New York Times, the US’s newspaper of record, for dangerously pretending that the king-making electoral vote in Pennsylvania was a close vote. The only reason former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election, was because she ran an incompetent campaign. That is putting it mildly.

Following election day when I voted for Joe Biden in a Trump county in Pennsylvania e-architect Art Critic Sarah Schmerler drew the following rough approximation of reality. The New York Times, leading the world, kept us all on the edge of ours seats unnecessarily. New York Times reporters were incapable of telling the difference between big and little.

If you have a large number of votes in one place and few votes in another place and if all votes are equal, then you do not have a close race.

Joel votes. Photo reproduced with his permission by my health aide Frank Rasole, Jr.

As you can see, the parking lot was not crowded. There were no lines. Few voters. A mile away at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Friday evening, Air Force 1 arrived and Trump conducted a large super-spreader event where his fervent followers promised the President they would vote for him. My polling place: Loyalsock Twp Building, 2501 East Third Street Wi lliamsport PA17701.

I have not yet had the chance to examine the vote count there/here four years ago, but I would be surprised if in 2016 the Loyalsack polling place had fewer voters than poll workers as I experienced. Meanwhile, while the entire process of my voting took fewer than 15 minutes, in Philadelphia potential Biden voters were spending hours in line. I do not understand why the alarmist press was unable to see that Biden would obtain my Commonwealths’ 20 electoral votes handily.

++++

Off to New York City to save my life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YEs2rVINpU

I have been hopeful of moving to the Peter Herdic Park Hotel completed 1865. Williamsport’s best architect, Anthony Visco, Jr took my amanuensis Frankie Resole, Jr. and me on tour of the hotel which was an alluring rural attraction.

Sadly, while I am hoping to maintain a legal residence here in the Appalachian Mountains, now is the time to head Noah’s call and move to New York City. As an elderly man with significant health conditions, Remaining in Lycoming Country–with its failure to test physicians and nurses in the emergency room of its largest hospital, its failure to test at all my primary care physician, and its failure to socially distance or wear masks consistently–may very well be a sentence of death.

The most dangerous spot on the planet from this deadly disease is South Dakota–beautiful South Dakota. Lycoming Country, Pa has all the characteristics of South Dakota’s danger. Within the next two weeks, the infection that has closed down London and Paris will be coming to the US with a wallop. Now is the time to get out.

New York City, once the epicenter of the pandemic, is now the safest place to be in the US.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krm2VwxdOjM

Embedded in accordance with YouTube’s licensing agreement

My editors beckon: “All right, stop writing, Joel.”

Isabelle Lomholt and Adrian Welch, Editors at e-architect

“Good night and good luck,” as Greensboro, North Carolina born Edward R. Morrow, my hero, used to say. My hero Edward R.Murrow broadcast this 1960 example of classic investigative reporting.This documentary was broadcast on Thanksgiving Day where I watched it at my maternal grandmother’s apartment in Brooklyn. I was 12 years old at the time.Murrow’s documentary shaped my future career in measurable ways. Note the hideous conditions of farm worker housing. Little effort would find in Florida and Canada- where inadequate housing for migrant workers in danger of spreading the Corona virus have been reported. Think Black Lives Matter when you hear the words of a grower Murrow quoted: “We used to own our slaves. Now we just rent them.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJTVF_dya7E&t=9s

Embedded in accordance with YouTube licensing

Joel

Selfie, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, USA

[email protected] 2019: East Third Street Williamsport, PA, US 17701 Please feel free to phone me at US 570-772-4909 Copyright © 2020 by Joel Solkoff. All rights reserved.

Door by Kathy Forer sculptor. From her Architecture collection. Copyright 2020 by Kathy Forer, published by permission

Architecture Columns

Architecture Columns – chronological list

Special Wooden Floors for Renzo Piano’s Whitney in New York

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Queens Library

Renzo Piano’s Whitney Neighborhood

Detroit Dying Special Report

Disability-Access Architecture

US Architecture

American Architecture

American Architects

Joel Solkoff’s Column Vol. IV, Number 2

Joel Solkoff’s Column Vol. IV, Number 1

Special Wooden Floors for the Whitney

Detroit will be a Trendy City

Belt and Suspenders Routine – Joel Solkoff’s Column

Joel Solkoff’s Column Volume II No. 6

Joel Solkoff’s Column, Vol.II, Number 7

Comments / photos for the Architecture under Biden Presidency – page welcome

The post Architecture under Biden Presidency appeared first on e-architect.

#e-architect

[worklabournewsresearch]

Homelessness

A homeless person crossing Fifth Avenue, New York City, April 12, 2020 by Phil Penman

”Raising the Roof provides national leadership on long-term solutions to homelessness through partnership and collaboration with diverse stakeholders, investment in local communities, and public education.We work towards a day when all Canadians have access to a safe and stable home, with the support to achieve their potential.”

“Fred Victor is a social service charitable organization that fosters long-lasting and positive change in the lives of homeless and low-income people living across Toronto. There are over 9,200 people in Toronto who are homeless on any given night. There are many reasons why people become homeless – loss of employment, family break-up, family violence, mental illness, poor physical health, substance use, physical, sexual or emotional abuse just to name a few.”

The Homeless Hub is a web-based research library and information centre representing an innovative step forward in the use of technology to enhance knowledge mobilization and networking

The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness is the largest national research institute devoted to homelessness in Canada. The COH is the steward of the Homeless Hub

City of Toronto: Housing & Homelessness Research & Reports

Canada’s and Toronto’s Homeless in the News

Urban Toronto, May 26, 2020: “Phase 2 of Housing Now Initiative to Create New Affordable Homes,  by Jack Landau

CTV News, May 22, 2020: “The toll COVID-19 is taking on Canada's homeless,” by Jennifer Ferreira  

CBC News, May 21, 2020: “Homeless, pregnant, COVID-positive — and bearing the brunt of a pandemic: Research shows marginalized communities may be the most impacted,” by Lauren Pelley

CTV News, May 19, 2020: “Toronto settles with homeless advocates, will ensure physical distancing in shelters”

Global News, May 16, 2020: “Coronavirus: Toronto asks Ontario government for more testing, funding in homeless shelters” 

CBC News, May 12, 2020: “Lower income people, new immigrants at higher COVID-19 risk in Toronto, data suggests”  

NOW, May 2, 2020: “Condo residents question city plan to house homeless people in midtown: Residents near Yonge and Eglinton to meet with Toronto officials on May 4 to discuss the plan to temporarily house vulnerable people during the COVID-19 crisis,” by Radheyan Simonpillai

CTV News, April 30, 2020: City of Toronto to spend $47.5M to build 250 supportive modular housing units By Nick Westoll

Global News, April 30, 2020: Crowded shelter or $880 fine? Homeless face ‘impossible’ coronavirus choice By Jane Gerster and Andrew Russell 

Photographing the street homeless of New York

“The streets of Midtown Manhattan, especially around 42nd Street and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, have been unusually empty of the usual hordes of commuters and tourists. But their absence only makes the number of homeless people more starkly apparent. Nothing like this has been seen in the city, perhaps, since its years of being broke and broken-down in the Seventies and early Eighties.”

“Over my years of photographing New Yorkers, one thing that always caught my eye is the way many homeless people would get creative with placards bearing captions like “Family Killed by Aliens. Need Money for Ray Gun” or “Trump Smoked My Weed.” At some point, a street person I was talking to explained that they needed to be creative to attract donations: a witty sign was a meal ticket, of sorts.”

The New York Review of Books, NYR Daily, May 22, 2020: “How the Street Homeless of New York ‘Shelter in Place’,” by Phil Penman

#homeless #homelessness #COVID-19 #poverty #Toronto #Canada #homeless shelters #inequality #New York City #photographs

[sciencespies]

How—and When—Will the COVID-19 Pandemic End?

https://sciencespies.com/news/how-and-when-will-the-covid-19-pandemic-end/

How—and When—Will the COVID-19 Pandemic End?

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a moving target. Faced with stopping a pandemic scientists have yet to fully understand, researchers simply can’t guarantee what lies ahead—or when life will return to a version of normalcy.

But as businesses continue to shutter and people retreat into their homes, one thing has become clear: To stem the spread of disease, Joe Pinsker reports for the Atlantic, strict measures that keep people physically separated could be in place for several months—perhaps even more than a year.

These social disruptions are severe, alarming and difficult to fully comprehend. They also come at an immense psychological cost. Already, mere weeks of closures and separations have taken an immense toll on the world’s wellbeing, sparking major financial losses, widening socioeconomic inequalities and exacerbating the health burden on vulnerable groups.

Experts warn that this is the price that must be paid to stop the pandemic. Not because the costs we’re paying now are negligible, but because what stands to be lost is so immense. The United States now has the most confirmed infections of any nation in the world, surpassing 100,000 cases and 1,500 deaths in total on the evening of Friday, March 27—and it’s not yet known when the country will reach peak for new cases. So what happens next?

Immunity is key

When enough of the global population becomes immune, SARS-CoV-2 will lose its infectious toehold, failing to find enough new, susceptible individuals to infect before leaving its current hosts. Researchers estimate that about 2.5 to 5 billion people—roughly a third to two-thirds of the global population—will need to be immune to hit this critical threshold, Jonathan Lambert reports for Science News.

Two possible paths to immunity exist, neither of which is guaranteed. In one, individuals who recover from COVID-19 produce the immune molecules required to fight off the virus, should it try to infect them again. In the other, people become immune by getting vaccinated, teaching their bodies to recognize and destroy the invader without getting sick.

Both resolutions hinge on whether an exposure to SARS-CoV-2, or at least, pieces of it, can protect a person from future infection, which has yet to be shown definitively in the long term.

Flattening the curve

Though many COVID-19 vaccines are now in development, this process takes many months—often years. In the meantime, officials worldwide are scrambling to reduce the rate at which new infections arise to avoid overwhelming an already strained healthcare system.

That’s the idea behind “flattening the curve” of the pandemic’s trajectory: If the virus has fewer opportunities to hop from person to person, communities won’t see a big, rapid spike in new cases; instead, new cases would be spread out over a longer stretch of time, reducing the average number of people sickened with COVID-19 on a given date. Drawing out the pandemic’s timeline also allows researchers to develop much-needed treatments and tests.

The first step to achieving this slowdown is social distancing: drastically reducing contact with individuals, in this case by keeping at least six feet away from others—a distance that largely avoids the infectious droplets sprayed out of the airway of those infected with SARS-CoV-2. (Some psychologists have advocated for the use of the less isolating term “physical distancing” to encourage people to remain socially connected while physically apart.)

Given the infection’s weeks-long trajectory and the virus’ extreme ease of spreading, distancing is not something that will work instantaneously. The tactic effectively starves the pandemic of hosts—something that takes time, and could quickly be thrown off should some subsets of the population waver in their commitment.

If, for instance, distancing measures were relaxed too soon, SARS-CoV-2 could roar back in a still-susceptible population, extending the pandemic’s timeline even farther.

“If we all just went right back to how things were before, transmission would start again with the same intensity,” Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers tells Brian Resnick at Vox.

According to Science News, a minimum of one to three months of strict distancing will likely be required in the United States—and that’s just the beginning. Our battle with COVID-19 will likely extend far beyond that, especially if SARS-CoV-2 waxes and wanes with the seasons, or our immunity to the virus doesn’t hold up for more than a few months or years.

Until a vaccine becomes available, the world may be in limbo with distance policies tightening and relaxing when COVID-19 flares up or subsides, according to Gideon Lichfield at MIT Technology Review.

“We need to be prepared to do multiple periods of social distancing,” Stephen Kissler, an infectious disease researcher at Harvard’s School of Public Health, tells Ed Yong at the Atlantic.

The importance of testing

As Yong reports for the Atlantic, another crucial component is an expedient ramp-up in diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 infections. Without knowing the world’s actual burden of disease—the number of people infected, including those with mild or no symptoms—researchers can’t get a good handle on how the pandemic is evolving, or what populations are most at risk.

Other countries, like South Korea, deployed testing early, allowing them to identify and isolate infected individuals, then monitor their close contacts for signs of disease—a comprehensive strategy that largely curbed COVID-19’s spread, Rivers tells Science News. The United States is beyond the point at which it can mimic this trajectory.

But effective, accurate diagnostics remain crucial to preventing infections at the local scale, and can still slow SARS-CoV-2’s ongoing spread. By mapping out disease hotspots and pinpointing places where infections are more scarce, widespread testing could alleviate some of the most stringent social distancing measures, Sharon Begley reports for STAT.

More tests could also identify individuals who may have recovered from COVID-19, and—if they’re immune—those people could return to work, or help care for vulnerable populations. Critically, making and perfecting these tools now will equip us for any future outbreaks.

An end in sight?

After weeks of strict distancing, some parts of the world—including China’s Hubei province, where SARS-CoV-2 was discovered—are now initiating their “exiting strategies,” according to STAT. Here, the pace of the pandemic has dramatically slowed, following a complete lockdown that kept residents from traveling between cities or even strolling down the street.

With the exception of those in Wuhan, the city where the virus was first detected last year, Hubei residents can now leave the province, provided their health status is clear. Should the case count stay low, more restrictions are expected to be lifted in the coming weeks—though officials are readying themselves to reimpose measures if necessary.

The optimism in Hubei, however, is not universal. In the United States, COVID-19 cases are still skyrocketing by the day, and experts can’t yet forecast when this country’s outbreak will start to fizzle out. For now, many are highlighting success in other countries, and the glimmers of hope emerging in places like Washington state, where new infections are still occurring, but not as rapidly as before, thanks to widespread abidance to distancing.

The road to ending this pandemic is an obviously difficult one that relies, in large part, on the collective resilience of hundreds of millions. Strict distancing will not—and cannot—be sustained forever, and recovering from these measures will require careful attention to both physical and mental health.

But letting up too soon would only worsen the consequences, Lilian Alessa, director for the Center for Resilient Communities at the University of Idaho, tells Nicoletta Lanese at Live Science.

“We literally have to have absolute compliance,” Alessa says. “Without that, this is our new normal.”

#News

#News

[blog-thecoronacommunique]

(3/20)

While only few counties in the US are tracking the racial disparity of Corona Virus cases, Trump and his task force have recognised the disproportionate toll on people of colour. 

It is worth noting that not only is there limited testing available for the black community and other communities of colour, they are also not treated equally while admitting to hospitals and receiving treatment. 

If this doesn’t make the society realise the prevalent racial injustice, what will?

#racialinjustice disparity coronavirus social economic treatment COVIDtesting

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

COVID-19′s global death toll tops 5 million in under 2 years (AP) The global death toll from COVID-19 topped 5 million on Monday, less than two years into a crisis that has not only devastated poor countries but also humbled wealthy ones with first-rate health care systems. Together, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Brazil—all upper-middle- or high-income countries—account for one-eighth of the world’s population but nearly half of all reported deaths. The U.S. alone has recorded over 740,000 lives lost, more than any other nation. “This is a defining moment in our lifetime,” said Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist at the Yale School of Public Health. Globally, COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death, after heart disease and stroke.

Leaders dial up doomsday warning to kick-start climate talks (AP) World leaders turned up the heat and resorted to end-of-the-world rhetoric Monday in an attempt to bring new urgency to sputtering international climate negotiations. The metaphors were dramatic and mixed at the start of the talks, known as COP26. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described global warming as “a doomsday device” strapped to humanity. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told his colleagues that humans are “digging our own graves.” And Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, speaking for vulnerable island nations, added moral thunder, warning leaders not to “allow the path of greed and selfishness to sow the seeds of our common destruction.” Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel avoided soaring rhetoric and delved into policy. Outside the negotiations, youth climate activist Greta Thunberg accused world leaders of “pretending to take our future seriously.”

New York prepares for fallout from vaccine mandate resisted by many police, firefighters (Reuters) New York woke up on Monday to its first full workday under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s order that all city workers be vaccinated for COVID-19, with many police officers and firefighters still refusing the shot and one labor leader calling the mandate a recipe for disaster. De Blasio, a Democrat who announced the mandate less than two weeks ago, has assured the city of 8.8 million people that officials could handle any shortage of police, firefighters or sanitation workers through schedule changes and overtime. The percentage of inoculated police officers and firefighters is below that of other city employees, and union leaders say de Blasio will be to blame if emergency services are left in disarray in the largest U.S. city. Union leaders say their members were given only nine days to comply with the mayor’s vaccination deadline and that workers who have already been ill with COVID-19 should be granted an exemption. That includes some 70% of firefighters, union leaders said. The dispute is the latest nationwide over vaccine mandates that have been increasingly imposed by political leaders, including President Joe Biden.

The Demand for Money Behind Many Police Traffic Stops (NYT) Harold Brown’s contribution to the local treasury began as so many others have in Valley Brook, Oklahoma: A police officer saw that the light above his license plate was out. “You pulled me over for that? Come on, man,” said Brown, a security guard headed home from work at 1:30 a.m. Expressing his annoyance was all it took. The officer yelled at Brown, ordered him out of the car and threw him to the pavement. After a trip to jail that night in 2018, hands cuffed and blood running down his face, Brown eventually arrived at the crux of the matter: Valley Brook wanted $800 in fines and fees. It was a fraction of the roughly $1 million that the town of about 870 people collects each year from traffic cases. A hidden scaffolding of financial incentives underpins the policing of motorists in the United States, encouraging some communities to essentially repurpose armed officers as revenue agents searching for infractions largely unrelated to public safety. As a result, driving is one of the most common daily routines during which people have been shot, shocked with a stun gun, beaten or arrested after minor offenses. Fueling the culture of traffic stops is the federal government, which issues more than $600 million a year in highway safety grants that subsidize ticket writing. Although federal officials say they do not impose quotas, at least 20 states have evaluated police performance on the number of traffic stops per hour.

Mexico celebrates Day of the Dead after pandemic closures (AP) Mexico returned Sunday to mass commemorations of the Day of the Dead, after traditional visits to graveyards were prohibited last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. But the one-year hiatus showed how the tradition itself refuses to die: Most families still celebrated with home altars to deceased loved ones, and some snuck into cemeteries anyway. The holiday begins Oct. 31, remembering those who died in accidents; it continues Nov. 1 to mark those died in childhood, and then those who died as adults on Nov. 2. Observances include entire families cleaning and decorating graves, which are covered with orange marigolds. At both cemeteries and at home altars, relatives light candles, put out offerings of the favorite foods and beverages of their deceased relatives.

Britain tells France: back down in 48 hours or we get tough (Reuters) Britain gave France 48 hours on Monday to back down in a fishing row that threatens to spiral into a wider trade dispute between two of Europe’s biggest economies or face tortuous legal action under the Brexit trade deal. Post-Brexit bickering over fish culminated last Wednesday in the French seizure of a British scallop dredger, the Cornelis Gert Jan, in French waters near Le Havre. Paris has threatened sanctions from Nov. 2 that could snarl cross-Channel trade. “The French have made completely unreasonable threats, including to the Channel Islands and to our fishing industry, and they need to withdraw those threats or else we will use the mechanisms of our trade agreement with the EU to take action,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Sky News.

France’s Macron accuses Australia’s prime minister of lying about submarine deal (Washington Post) French President Emmanuel Macron accused Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, of lying to him about a sunken $66 billion dollar submarine deal that triggered an angry charge of betrayal from Paris. “I don’t think, I know,” Macron responded to a question about whether he thought Morrison had lied by not disclosing negotiations with the United States and Britain that nixed Australia’s deal with France. The surprise announcement in September of the new three-way security pact AUKUS that will share nuclear submarine technology overrode an earlier deal for Australia to buy 12 French diesel-powered submarines. Paris saw it as “a stab in the back.” Australia rebutted the French president’s remarks. “We didn’t deface the Eiffel Tower. It was a contract,” said Australia’s deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce. “We got out of that contract.” Morrison, the Australian prime minister, denied being dishonest and said he had warned Macron the conventional submarines would no longer meet his country’s needs.

Australia, Thailand reopen borders after lengthy lockdowns (AP) Sydney’s international airport came alive with tears, embraces and laughter on Monday as Australia opened its border for the first time in 20 months, with some arriving travelers removing mandatory masks to see the faces of loved ones they’ve been separated from for so long. “Just being able to come home without having to go to quarantine is huge,” Carly Boyd, a passenger who traveled from New York, told reporters at Sydney’s Kingsford-Smith Airport. “There’s a lot of people on that flight who have loved ones who are about to die or have people who died this week. So for them to be able to get off the plane and go see them straight away is pretty amazing,” Boyd added. Some Asian countries, like China and Japan, remain essentially sealed-off to foreign visitors but Thailand also started to substantially reopen Monday.

Ethiopia’s PM defiant as rival Tigray forces make advances (AP) Ethiopia’s prime minister has called on citizens to redouble their efforts to combat the rival Tigray forces who claim to have seized key cities on a major highway leading to the capital. A move on Addis Ababa is a new phase in the war that has killed thousands of people since fighting broke out a year ago between Ethiopian and allied forces and Tigray ones who long dominated the national government before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. The Tigray forces over the weekend claimed to control the key cities of Dessie and Kombolcha, though the federal government disputed it. The United States has said it is “alarmed” by those reports.

At least 3 dead after high rise in Nigeria collapses (AP) A 21-story apartment building under construction collapsed in an upscale area of Nigeria’s largest city, killing at least three people and leaving dozens more missing, officials and witnesses said on Monday. Construction worker Eric Tetteh said that he and his brother had managed to escape. But he estimated that more than 100 people were inside the building at the time it crumbled into a pile of debris. Workers said the high rise apartment building had been under construction for about two years, and it was not immediately known what had caused the collapse. However, such incidents are relatively common in Lagos because enforcement of building code regulations is weak. Other observers blame shoddy work by private developers eager to meet demand for housing in the megacity.

Ugandan kids lose hope in long school closure amid pandemic (AP) Dressed in his school uniform, Mathias Okwako jumped into the mud and started his daily search for gold, a commodity that may be closer to his grasp than another precious asset: an education. His rural school in Uganda sits idle just across the road from the swamp where he and scores of children now work as informal miners. Weeds grow in some classrooms, where window frames have been looted for firewood. Another school nearby is renting out rooms to tenants. Uganda’s schools have been fully or partially shut for more than 77 weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic, the longest disruption anywhere in the world, according to figures from the U.N. cultural agency. And unlike many parts of the globe, where lessons moved online, most public schools, which serve the vast majority of children in this East African country, were unable to offer virtual schooling. The pandemic has manufactured “outcasts,” a lost generation of learners now “in a battle of how to fit in,” said Moses Mangeni, an official with the local government in Busia, where Okwako lives.

Vax declared Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year (BBC) Vax has been chosen as the word of the year by lexicographers at the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Words related to vaccines have spiked in frequency in 2021 due to Covid, with double-vaxxed, unvaxxed and anti-vaxxer all seeing a surge in use. OED senior editor Fiona McPherson says vax was an obvious choice as it has made "the most striking impact". "It goes back at least to the 1980s, but according to our corpus it was rarely used until this year," she said. "When you add to that its versatility in forming other words—vaxxie, vax-a-thon, vaxinista—it became clear that vax was the standout in the crowd."

#headlines #news

[phgq]

PH Covid-19 response 'excellent': Palace

#PHnews: PH Covid-19 response 'excellent': Palace

MANILA – A week before the country marks its first year of being under community quarantine, Malacañang on Monday described the government's response against Covid-19 as “excellent”.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Philippines is successfully controlling the spread of Covid-19 better than wealthier nations with more developed healthcare sectors.

“We were excellent. Na-control po natin ang pagkalat ng sakit lalung-lalo na kung ikukumpara tayo sa mas mayayaman at mga bansa na mas mararami at mas moderno ang mga ospital (We were able to control the spread of the virus especially compared to richer countries with more and more modern hospitals),” he said in a Palace press briefing.

Compared to the United States that has recorded over 500,000 Covid-19 deaths, Roque said the Philippines has more than 12,500 deaths.

“We were excellent in managing it. Unfortunately, habang wala ang bakuna, talagang maraming mahahawa at mayroon pa ring mamamatay (while there is no vaccine, there would really be many infections and deaths). But we have limited deaths to around 12,000 – ikumpara mo naman iyan sa Estados Unidos ‘no (compare that to the US),” he said.

The government, he said, also prohibited those most vulnerable to Covid-19 from leaving their homes.

“We regret that people died but this is a pandemic and we all know now how to prevent these deaths because we know who are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 - the seniors, kaya nga ginawa natin sila ang mga homeliners kasama na iyong mga with comorbidities ‘no (that’s why we turned them into homeliners along with those with comorbidities),” he said.

He pointed out that the government was also quick to impose community quarantines nationwide to curb the spread of the virus.

“We declared ECQ just in time na dahilan na hindi tayo napagaya ngayon sa rest of the world na ngayon lang sila nagla-lockdown (which is the reason why we didn’t end up like the rest of the world that just imposed their lockdowns),” he added.

He also said the government prioritized upgrades in the country’s healthcare system capacity.

“Napalaki natin iyong kapasidad na magbigay ng medical attention doon sa magkakasakit, reason why we have 60 percent [intensive care unit] availability (We were able to enhance our capacity to give medical attention to those getting sick, the reason why we have a 60 percent ICU availability),” he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte placed Metro Manila under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) on March 15 last year. The following day, the ECQ was expanded over the entire Luzon.

On Monday, health authorities recorded 3,356 additional Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 597,763.

Recoveries reached 545,912 after six more people recuperated while five recently died to bring the death toll to 12,521. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "PH Covid-19 response 'excellent': Palace." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132976 (accessed March 09, 2021 at 03:25AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "PH Covid-19 response 'excellent': Palace." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132976 (archived).

#Philippines #News #Filipino #Pinoy #Tourism #Politics #Culture #Editorial #Environment #Society #History

[newstfionline]

Friday, May 14, 2021

Climate Change Is Making Big Problems Bigger (NYT) Wildfires are bigger, and starting earlier in the year. Heat waves are more frequent. Seas are warmer, and flooding is more common. The air is getting hotter. Even ragweed pollen season is beginning sooner. Climate change is already happening around the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday. And in many cases, that change is speeding up. The freshly compiled data, the federal government’s most comprehensive and up-to-date information yet, shows that a warming world is making life harder for Americans, in ways that threaten their health and safety, homes and communities. And it comes as the Biden administration is trying to propel aggressive action at home and abroad to cut the pollution that is raising global temperatures. “There is no small town, big city or rural community that is unaffected by the climate crisis,” Michael S. Regan, the E.P.A. administrator, said on Wednesday. “Americans are seeing and feeling the impacts up close, with increasing regularity.”

Forests May Not Be Up A Tree (BBC) According to a recent study, forests around the world have regrown naturally over the last twenty years—with a total area adding up to the size of France. This natural forest regeneration has the potential to soak up 5.9 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide—more than the United States’ total annual emissions.

Ransomware attacks could reach ‘pandemic’ proportions (Washington Post) A cybersecurity expert warned U.S. lawmakers last week that the world was on the cusp of a “pandemic of a different variety.” Christopher Krebs, who formerly headed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security, testified last Wednesday before the House Committee on Homeland Security that a form of malware called ransomware has become more prevalent than ever. Given an ever-widening criminal enterprise and vulnerable digital landscape, he said, critical infrastructure is at risk of debilitating attacks. Two days later, Colonial Pipeline, a major fuel pipeline connecting the East Coast, was hit in the largest-known hack on U.S. energy infrastructure. The incident, which instigated a shutdown of the pipeline, panic buying of gas and a price jump at the pump over the weekend, is one of the latest in crippling ransomware attacks orchestrated by extortionary criminal organizations that mostly operate in foreign safe havens. Ransomware attacks have reached a record high recently, with nearly 400 assaults on critical infrastructure in 2020, according to data compiled by Temple University. In the past week, hackers published personnel files of D.C. police officers, caused city services in Tulsa to shut down, and paralyzed a California hospital system.

US cities see surge in deadly street racing amid pandemic (AP) Jaye Sanford, a 52-year-old mother of two, was driving home in suburban Atlanta on Nov. 21 when a man in a Dodge Challenger muscle car who was allegedly street racing crashed into her head-on, killing her. Across America, illegal drag racing has exploded in popularity since the coronavirus pandemic began, with dangerous upticks reported from Georgia and New York to New Mexico and Oregon. Street racers block roads and even interstates to keep police away while they tear around and perform stunts, often captured on videos that go viral. Packs of vehicles, from souped-up jalopies to high-end sports cars, roar down city streets, through industrial neighborhoods and down rural roads. Experts say TV shows and movies glorifying street racing had already fueled interest in recent years. Then shutdowns associated with the pandemic cleared normally clogged highways as commuters worked from home. Those with a passion for fast cars often had time to modify them, and to show them off, said Tami Eggleston, a sports psychologist.

Partisan discord instead of Jan. 6 answers (AP) A House hearing about what went wrong in the Jan. 6 Capitol siege frequently spiraled into partisan shouting matches on Wednesday, with lawmakers more often blaming each other than thoroughly questioning witnesses about the events of the day. Democrats and Republicans have so far been unable to agree on a bipartisan commission to investigate the insurrection, and officials involved in responding to the attack have pointed fingers at one another. Amid the rancor, the hearing yielded few new answers about the confusion that day. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer who collapsed afterward and a woman who was shot by an officer as she broke through a broken window adjacent to the House chamber with lawmakers still inside. Two other police officers took their own lives in the wake of the riot.

Vaccinated can largely ditch masks (AP) In a major step toward returning to pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people on Thursday, allowing them to stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings. The guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but it will help clear the way for reopening workplaces, schools and other venues—even removing the need for social distancing for those who are fully vaccinated. The new guidance is likely to open the door to confusion, since there is no surefire way for businesses or others to distinguish between those who are fully vaccinated and those who are not.

Navy SEALs Are Russian To Training Exercises (CNN) Since April, the US has sanctioned Russia for its interference in the 2020 election, the SolarWinds hack, and the poisoning of activist Alexey Navalny, which led to a rise in escalation between the two countries—including the expulsion of a number of diplomats from both sides. Due to the rising escalations, American Navy SEALs deployed to Romania to take part in a set of training exercises alongside 600 NATO and non-NATO forces known as the “Trojan Footprint.” The training is taking place alongside this month’s much larger Defender-Europe 21 NATO joint exercises, which have some 28,000 forces participating from 26 different countries, and is meant to prepare forces against the increased aggression shown by Russian forces in Europe. A big part of the aim of the NATO exercises now is simply at a tactical level: if the allies and partners need to join a fight together, they will know how to work alongside each other.

Colombia’s Police Force, Built for War, Finds a New One (NYT) In Colombia’s decades-long conflict with violent rebel groups, the country’s national police often fought on the front lines, wielding tanks and helicopters as they battled guerrilla fighters and destroyed drug labs. It was a force built for war, and now it has found a new one—on the streets of Colombia’s cities, where the police stand accused of treating civilian protesters as battlefield enemies. Demonstrations that began two weeks ago as anger over pandemic-related tax reforms have intensified and spread, turning into a collective howl of outrage over abuses by the national police force. Officers have beaten, detained and killed protesters in recent days, sometimes opening fire on peaceful demonstrations and shooting tear gas canisters from armored vehicles, according to more than a dozen interviews by The New York Times with witnesses and family members of the dead and injured. At least 42 people have died, including one police officer, the government said Tuesday. In addition to those killed, almost 170 people remain missing. Human Rights Watch and other organizations say the total is likely higher.

Uruguay, once a coronavirus model, struggles against a deadly wave (Washington Post) In the early days of the pandemic, Uruguay was a global model. Leaders in the progressive, stable, high-income nation united behind science-based measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Low case counts enabled it to reopen schools and businesses before many of its more virulent neighbors. But now the nation of 3.5 million is trending in the wrong direction. For several days in April, Uruguay had the world’s highest daily case count per capita. More than 92,000 people were diagnosed with covid-19 during the month, 42 percent of the country’s total since the start of the pandemic. Authorities reported 1,642 deaths, more than four times the toll in March. The country, wedged between Brazil and Argentina on South America’s Atlantic Coast, has been unable to avoid the deadly wave now engulfing the continent. South America leads the world in new cases and deaths per capita, and Uruguay leads South America in both. “The situation is dramatic,” said epidemiologist Jacqueline Ponzo, who serves on an interdisciplinary panel that studies coronavirus data. “I don’t usually like to use adjectives to explain these things, but it really is fitting.”

German government makes hate-motivated insults a crime (AP) The German government passed a new law on Wednesday making hate-motivated insults a criminal offence that can be punished with a monetary fine or prison of up to two years. Germany’s justice minister said the new law is meant to protect Jews, Muslims, gays, people with disabilities and others. “It is our responsibility to protect every single person in our society from hostility and exclusion,” Christine Lambrecht said, the German news agency dpa reported. The new measure, which still needs parliamentary approval, includes insulting hate messages sent as texts, emails or letters.

Holy River Full Of Bodies (NBC) Dozens of bodies have washed up on the shores of the Ganges as India faces a rampant second wave of Covid-19. Officials said in a statement Tuesday that over 70 corpses have washed up in the city of Buxar, and that they were likely coming from India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. Hospitals across the country are overwhelmed and though the country opened up vaccinations to all adults, there is a shortage of vaccine stocks.

Taiwan, hit by power outage, works to restore supply (Reuters) Tech powerhouse Taiwan started phased blackouts islandwide on Thursday after an outage at a coal- and gas-fired power plant hit 6 million homes, as the government worked to resume normal supply by evening. In a text message, the government said its grid did not have sufficient electricity capacity after the outage at the power plant in the southern port city of Kaohsiung. Several cities reported blackouts, the official Central News Agency said, as a top official appealed for calm. The main international airport near Taipei, the capital, and the high speed rail line were operating normally, the transport ministry said. Fire officials said they were responding to more than 200 reports of people trapped in elevators.

Activism in Iraq can be deadly (Washington Post) Recorded yet unpunished, a spate of killings in Iraq is having a chilling effect on activism. Prominent figures in Iraq’s protest movement are being picked off as they walk the streets or drive home at the end of the day, underscoring the reach of Iraq’s militia network over citizens who dare to criticize them and over a political system meant to hold them accountable.

Driven by despair, Lebanese pharmacist looks to life abroad (AP) The shelves are bare at the Panacea pharmacy north of Beirut. Its owner, Rita El Khoury, has spent the past few weeks packing up her career, apartment and belongings before leaving Lebanon for a new life abroad. For the 35-year-old pharmacist and her husband, and countless others feeling trapped in a country hammered by multiple crises, Lebanon has become unlivable. Driven by financial ruin, collapsing institutions, hyperinflation and rapidly rising poverty, thousands have left since Lebanon’s economic and financial crisis began in late 2019—an exodus that accelerated after the massive explosion at Beirut’s port last August, when a stockpile of improperly stored ammonium nitrates detonated, killing 211 people and destroying residential areas nearby. Lebanon has been without a functioning government since, with political leaders deadlocked or complacent as the country hurtles toward total collapse. Fuel supplies are running out, leaving the country at risk of plunging into total darkness as power stations and generators run dry. Now young to middle-aged professionals are leaving—doctors, engineers, pharmacists and bankers, part of the latest wave of emigration in the small country’s modern history.

Israeli tanks pound Gaza ahead of possible ground incursion (AP) Israeli artillery pounded northern Gaza early Friday in an attempt to destroy a vast network of militant tunnels inside the territory, the military said, bringing the front lines closer to dense civilian areas and paving the way for a potential ground invasion. Israel has massed troops along the border and called up 9,000 reservists following days of fighting with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza. Palestinians militants have fired some 1,800 rockets and the military has launched more than 600 airstrikes, toppling at least three apartment blocks.

As Gaza War Escalates, New Front Opens in Israeli Cities (NYT) A new front opened in the military showdown between the Israeli Army and Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday as a wave of mob violence between Jews and Arabs spread across several Israeli cities, leading to riots and attacks in the streets as rockets and missiles streaked across the sky. On the streets of Israeli cities and towns, rival Jewish and Arab mobs attacked people, cars, shops, offices and hotels. One of the most chilling incidents was in Bat Yam, a seaside suburb south of Tel Aviv, where dozens of Jewish extremists took turns beating and kicking a man presumed to be an Arab, even as his body lay motionless on the ground. A video of the attack was broadcast on Israeli television. In Acre, a northern coastal town, an Arab mob beat a man presumed to be Jewish with sticks and rocks, leaving him in a critical condition in another attack captured on video. The sudden turn of events, which in less than two full days has escalated from a localized dispute in Jerusalem to full-scale aerial war over Gaza to widespread civil unrest, shocked Israelis and Palestinians alike, and left some of the country’s most experienced leaders fearing that the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict was heading into new territory. For years, leaders warned that a failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict might eventually lead to fighting within the state of Israel itself.

Corruption in South Africa (Foreign Policy) South African President Cyril Ramaphosa gives evidence today before the country’s inquiry into public sector corruption and fraud. His testimony comes as Ramaphosa’s party, the African National Congress (ANC), is attempting clean up its image ahead of local elections later this year. Last week, the ANC suspended Elias Sekgobelo “Ace” Magashule, the party’s secretary-general, over multiple corruption allegations. As Lynsey Chutel writes in Foreign Policy’s weekly Africa Brief, while the ruling party fights factional battles, South Africa is “slipping deeper and deeper into economic and social malaise.”

#headlines #news

[lscgroup6]

Scholarly Research Review

Summary Article #1: The article “COVID-19 and Racial/Ethnic Disparities'' explains how COVID-19, a deadly and infectious disease from SARS-CoV-2, has brought to light the many healthcare disparities and inequalities our healthcare systems have. According to the authors, “The most pervasive disparities are observed among African American and Latino individuals, and where data exist, American Indian, Alaska Native, and Pacific Islander populations' ' (M. Hooper, AM. Nápoles, EJ. Pérez-Stable, 2020). While the disease itself is disproportionately affecting these minority populations due to poor/no health insurance, little availability/access, as well as general living conditions, the hospital’s rollout of vaccines is also disproportionate and has many disparities when it comes to the minority population. The article concludes with the hope that “The pandemic presents a window of opportunity for achieving greater equity in the health care of all vulnerable populations'' (M. Hooper, AM. Nápoles, EJ. Pérez-Stable, 2020).

Questions Article #1: Healthcare professionals have looked into the various underlying causes of racial disparity among minority groups and individuals. They have intensively researched the socio-economic status and even biological or genetic factors that might have contributed to the overwhelming rate of African American and Latino COVID-19 cases in areas such as Chicago and New York. In the article titled, “COVID-19 and Racial/Ethnic Disparities”, the authors state that “As more data emerge, there will likely be evidence of racial/ethnic health disparities due to differential loss of health insurance, poorer quality of care, inequitable distribution of scarce testing and hospital resources, the digital divide, food insecurity, housing insecurity, and work-related exposures.” These are all common factors that are brought up by professionals over and over again that describe the racial inequity in our healthcare system during the pandemic. We need to not only address these concerns, but we also need to confront the systematic racism within minority communities in order to see substantial progress.

Summary Article #2: The Article "Historical Insights on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, and Racial Disparities: Illuminating a Path Forward" highlights the toll pandemics have had on communities of color throughout history. According to health equity researchers and historians of medicine and public health, "The United States has a long history of racial and socioeconomic disparities, with the current pandemic further revealing the rifts created by historical injustice, structural racism, and interpersonal bias." Past racial disparities that affect communities of color continue to be disregarded to this day with the limitation of statistics and race-stratified data, that once interpreted carefully, would help in "addressing the cause of inequity rather than perpetuating stigma and discrimination."

Question Article #2: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has wreaked havoc on ethnic minority groups and exacerbating longstanding gaps in access to and treatment of health care. Physicians and public health experts have looked back in history for information on how to cope with this epidemic, especially from a massive outbreak that happened around a century ago - 1918 influenza. Only a few reports of the 1918 influenza pandemic and COVID-19, on the other hand, mention race. However, there is a significant body of literature on race and infectious disease as a sampling method for social research. The historical arc of the 1918 influenza pandemic is discussed in their commentary. Focusing on Black African Americans and explaining the nuanced and often unexpected ways in which it worked, eliciting unique responses both within a minority group and through ethnic, sociopolitical, and public health systems. Shifting from this historical perspective to the current, this report takes a resilience-based approach to racial health inequalities rather than a deficit-based approach, which presents a roadmap for tackling the COVID-19 epidemic and its implications through the prism of health equity.

Conclusion: Both articles are extremely beneficial towards the continuous study of the effects COVID-19 has on minority communities and the healthcare services they receive. In the article titled COVID-19 and Racial/Ethnic Disparities by Monica Webb Hooper, Anna María Nápoles, and Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, we are fortunate to have access to the current socio-economic, biological/genetic factors and data that have contributed to the higher level of healthcare disparities. Examining the current systematic and social issues that have detrimental effects on marginalized communities is extremely valuable in the study and argument which fights for an equitable healthcare system. However, the other article titled Historical Insights on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, and Racial Disparities: Illuminating a Path Forward by Lakshmi Krishnan, Michelle Ogunwole, and Lisa A. Cooper creates a greater call for attention towards past pandemics, such as the 1918 influenza, which illuminates past racial disparities that may be overlooked, yet devastating, today. Fortunately, while both outlooks on the current issues of racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare may be different, the concluding support of these six medical professionals towards bringing change within the United States is astounding. Utilizing this information and vast data sets will help broaden the narrative of the struggling minorities in American society, ultimately creating more solutions for the United States’ healthcare system.

References

 Lakshmi Krishnan, S. Michelle Ogunwole, & Lisa A. Cooper. (2020). Historical Insights on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, and Racial Disparities: Illuminating a Path Forward. Annals of Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.7326/M20-2223

Monica Webb Hooper, P. (2020, June 23). COVID-19 and Racial/Ethnic Disparities. Retrieved from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2766098

[orbemnews]

Meet the key members of Biden’s Covid-19 response team. The coronavirus pandemic has crippled economies, shut down travel and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, transforming the world in ways that would have been unthinkable a year ago. The Biden administration’s first days were inevitably dominated by discussion of how his team would tackle the crisis, as the U.S. death toll continued its inexorable climb to a staggering milestone: 500,000 deaths. Here’s a look at the key figures on President Biden’s Covid-19 response team, and some of their plans to try to stop the spread of the virus and regain some semblance of normalcy. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, chief medical adviser. The longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Fauci said he accepted the president’s offer to be his chief medical adviser “right on the spot.” Considered the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, he has been an adviser to every president since Ronald Reagan, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush for his work fighting H.I.V./AIDS. But he became a household name only after the start of the pandemic, when he emerged as a trusted authority in countless news briefings, interviews and public appearances. Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Walensky, previously chief of the division of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School, replaced Dr. Robert R. Redfield. She has also focused on H.I.V./AIDS in her career, and has served as chair of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health, and as an adviser to the World Health Organization. Dr. Walensky has pledged to restore public trust in the agency and to provide accurate information “even when the news is bleak, or when the information may not be what those in the administration want to hear.” Xavier Becerra, nominee for secretary of health and human services. Mr. Becerra was appointed as attorney general of California in 2017, when his predecessor, Kamala Harris, joined the Senate, and he was elected to a full term in 2018. He became known as a lead attacker in the Trump resistance, filing roughly 100 lawsuits against the administration on issues including climate change, gun control and health care. Notably, he led 20 states and the District of Columbia in a campaign to protect the Affordable Care Act. Before serving as attorney general, he spent 24 years in Congress, representing a Los Angeles district. If confirmed, he would be the first Latino to run the mammoth department, which has a budget of more than $1 trillion. He pledged at a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday to find “common cause” with his critics, and is scheduled to appear on Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee. Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, nominee for surgeon general. Dr. Murthy served as surgeon general under President Barack Obama — he was one of the youngest ever — and is Mr. Biden’s nominee for the same position. He is a physician who has taught at Harvard Medical School and served as vice admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Dr. Murthy has been outspoken about linking public health and wellness. His book “Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World” was published last year. His confirmation hearing is scheduled to begin Thursday. Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, chair of the Covid-19 Health Equity Task Force. A physician and public health specialist at Yale University, Dr. Nunez-Smith is leading a team of 12 experts advising the president on how to address the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on vulnerable communities. Dr. Nunez-Smith grew up in the U.S. Virgin Islands and came from a family of health care providers. She has spoken in interviews about how seeing her father suffer a debilitating stroke in his 40s, caused by untreated high blood pressure, spurred her to work in public health. Jeffrey D. Zients, coordinator of the administration’s Covid-19 response. Mr. Zients, an entrepreneur and consultant, joined the Obama White House in 2009 and became known as a Mr. Fix-It with strong operational skills. He was tapped to untangle the messy rollout of the Affordable Care Act’s online insurance marketplace in 2013. After Mr. Obama left office, Mr. Zients joined the private equity fund Cranemere as chief executive and also served on Facebook’s board. Andy Slavitt, senior White House pandemic adviser. Mr. Slavitt, a former health care company executive, served as the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 to 2017. (His company was also involved in fixing the A.C.A. website before that.) Mr. Slavitt was outspoken in his defense of the Affordable Care Act during the Trump administration — and raised the alarm about the pandemic early in 2020. He’s active on Twitter, writes on Medium, and until recently, hosted a podcast about Covid. He has said that he accepted the White House job “on a short-term basis.” Dr. David Kessler, chief science officer for the Covid-19 response. Dr. Kessler, a pediatrician and lawyer who was head of the Food and Drug Administration during the presidencies of George Bush and Bill Clinton, will oversee the vaccine program. He will share responsibilities with Gen. Gustave F. Perna, who was the chief operating officer for Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s program to accelerate vaccines and treatments. (The Biden administration later dropped that name.) As F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Kessler was known for battling the tobacco industry and developing nutrition fact labels on food products. Dr. Kessler is close to Dr. Fauci; the two worked together to speed the development and approval of drugs that changed the course of the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s. Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner, Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Woodcock was the longtime head of the F.D.A.’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Review, and worked on Operation Warp Speed. The Biden administration has not yet nominated a permanent commissioner; Dr. Woodcock and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a former high-ranking F.D.A. official, are the apparent front-runners. Source link Orbem News #Bidens #Covid19 #Key #Meet #Members #response #team

[upinternet]

Statement on the Establishment of the UP Internet Freedom Network

(Originally published Aug. 8, 2020)

Under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines continues to suffer from the lack of basic social services, questionable economic policies, billions of debt, and countless attacks on activists and the poor. In his bloody war on drugs, he has blatantly trampled on human rights, with the death toll estimating up to 27,000. As the coronavirus outbreak flared the country, Duterte terrorized the Filipino people with his incompetence and neglect. According to IBON Foundation, the Philippines is not only the COVID sickest country but also the weakest economy, plunging into the worst economic collapse in the country’s recorded history. Instead of prioritizing healthcare, financial aid for vulnerable sectors, and laying down concrete plans for the pandemic, he exercised his power to consolidate control that led to widespread militarization and abuses.

It is also under the administration of Duterte that attacks against our freedom of expression have been repeatedly executed to silence dissent. The press has suffered greatly as countless journalists and media organizations have been threatened, arrested, killed, and shut down—the weaponization of the law by Duterte and his cohorts, especially with the recently signed Anti-Terrorism Act and the existing Anti-Cybercrime Law, allows government cybersurveillance that makes it easier for them to stomp on our basic freedoms. It was only two weeks ago that four women in Bulacan were arrested for joining an online protest. In his recent State of the Nation Address, the President even threatened a possible internet shutdown, despite our growing dependence on online channels. This administration has made it almost impossible for citizens to access quality information with the poor or lack of internet access across communities, and an epidemic of disinformation in the form of fake news and state-sponsored trolls tolerated by the Big Tech in social media that continue to disturb and divide us.

We Filipinos must assert for our basic human rights—and this includes our freedoms in virtual spaces. Now, more than ever, we should defend our right to a “free” Internet: an Internet that is accessible, safe, and secure; free from censorship, surveillance, and attacks. Thus, it is through the UP Internet Freedom Network, a newly-established alliance of students and volunteers, that we aim to achieve a democratized Internet that prioritizes the protection of our human rights, and help build a society where technology is used to empower people, not oppress them. We believe that the Internet is not just an extension of our lives, but a manifestation of our present political realities. Through educational discussions, information campaigns, and pro-people initiatives, we hope to fight the good fight—online and offline.

References:

Barreiro Jr., V. (2020). Press freedom takes a hit in PH during coronavirus pandemic. Retrieved from https://rappler.com/nation/state-media-freedom-philippines-report-2020    

Buan, L. (2020, July 31). Faced with 2nd cyber libel suit, Maria Ressa says she will never delete tweet. Rappler. Retrieved from https://rappler.com/nation/maria-ressa-says-will-never-delete-tweet-2nd-cyber-libel-suit 

Bueno, A., & Pacis, J. (2020, May 20). As COVID-19 forces life to move online, who is left behind?. CNN Philippines. Retrieved from https://cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/2020/5/20/internet-access-pandemic.html  

Cabato, R., & Mahtani, S. (2019, July 26). Why crafty Internet trolls in the Philippines may be coming to a website near you. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/why-crafty-internet-trolls-in-the-philippines-may-be-coming-to-a-website-near-you/2019/07/25/c5d42ee2-5c53-11e9-98d4-844088d135f2_story.html

Communications, I. B. O. N. M. &. (2020, August 6). Duterte gov't to blame for worst economic collapse in PH history. https://www.ibon.org/duterte-govt-to-blame-for-worst-economic-collapse-in-ph-history/.

Human Rights Watch. (2020, January 16). World Report 2020: Rights Trends in Philippines. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/philippines.

Magsambol, B. (2020, August 5). Philippines' COVID-19 cases now at 115,980. Retrieved from https://rappler.com/nation/coronavirus-cases-philippines-august-5-2020

Tomacruz, S. (2020, July 28). Quick point-by-point summary of Duterte's SONA 2020. Rappler. https://rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/summary-duterte-sona-2020

Torres-Tupas, T. (2020, July 30). Bloggers, social media influencers, internet celebs ask SC to junk anti-terror law. Inquirer News. Retrieved from https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1314082/bloggers-social-media-influencers-internet-celebs-ask-sc-to-junk-anti-terror-law#ixzz6UOngXpDB

Umali, J. (2020, July 29). Kadamay calls for release of 4 women arrested for joining online protest. Bulatlat. https://www.bulatlat.com/2020/07/29/kadamay-calls-for-release-of-4-women-arrested-for-joining-online-protest/

#uplb #internet freedom #free the internet #philippines

[khalilhumam]

Beyond the Money: How IFIs and MDBs Can Better Support Pandemic Recovery in African Low-Income Countries

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/beyond-the-money-how-ifis-and-mdbs-can-better-support-pandemic-recovery-in-african-low-income-countries/

Beyond the Money: How IFIs and MDBs Can Better Support Pandemic Recovery in African Low-Income Countries

The case for boosting the lending capacity of international financial and development institutions has already been persuasively made. Expectations of progress on this front are firming up, fueled by the multilateralist stance signaled by the incoming US administration. However, optimizing the support of multilateral institutions for resilient economic recovery in low-income countries (LICs) will require more than loosening the purse strings. More than ever, multilaterals must figure out how to use their scarce resources more effectively. While these institutions have been down this road before, they have not always fully delivered. Based on a few stylized facts, I propose some critical steps—many of which are long overdue—that international financial institutions (IFIs) and multilateral development banks (MDBs) must take if their money is to work more effectively to support African countries recover from the pandemic’s fallout.

Get the financing numbers right and walk the talk

On April 17, 2020, the World Bank and the IMF convened a meeting with African leaders, bilateral partners, and heads of other regional and multilateral institutions to galvanize support for COVID-19 response in the continent. Key private sector representatives were either silent or absent. Still, the press release issued at the end of the meeting estimated private creditor support would be around $13 billion in 2020, narrowing the financing gap significantly to an estimated $44 billion. Ultimately, private sector participation in the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) was lacking, significantly limiting the range of financing options available to African countries. While exploring ways to support economic recovery in African LICs and beyond, IFIs and MDBs would be well-advised to draw lessons from the DSSI experience. They will need to make financing assumptions more realistic this time around. And a sensible way to minimize risks of estimation errors is to enable all stakeholders—both public and private—to speak for themselves and make their voice and concerns heard and their needs known. More generally, inclusive collaborative approaches remain critical for an international financial system that leaves no partner behind. In Africa, experience shows that estimates of financing needs for crisis resolution have often widely differed according to national, regional, and multilateral sources, adding confusion about the actual needs. The costing of pandemic recovery is not likely to be an exception. Efforts by multilaterals to help harmonize costing figures, in collaboration with national and regional authorities, will therefore be a useful endeavor with high potential payoff. While the IMF is expected to play an important role given its comparative advantage and recent mandatefrom the G20, African governments and regional institutions must also actively play their part. When capacity weaknesses threaten their ability to do so, multilaterals must stand ready to help with technical assistance. Recent patterns of ODA allocations among major donors have disproportionately favored middle-income countries over LICs. While overall commitments from IFIs and other multilateral institutions have substantially increased this year compared to 2019, the proportion of IFI commitments to LICs have actually declined during the same period, down to only 13 percent. In addition, actual disbursements by a number of multilaterals have failed to keep up with commitments made to LICs. At the same meeting, the World Bank reiterated its pledge to provide up to $160 billion in financial support, including $55 billion for Africa, over the next 15 months to “help countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery.” But recent research by my colleagues at CGD suggests that the institution has only disbursed $21 billion, and is on track to miss the actual target for IDA and IBRD lending by $25 billion.

Figure 1. IFIs commitments to LICs and other country income groupings (January–September during the years 2018–2020) 

Source: Development Initiatives.

More generally, multilaterals must rise to the challenge posed by the worst shock in generations, which LICs are currently coping with. By miscommunicating their commitments, multilaterals are poised to hurt LICs by misguiding national policymakers and development partners into underestimating actual financing needs. A good communication strategy on the part of multilateral lenders must be, therefore, a key element of their support package for pandemic recovery.

Think and act outside the box

For effective contribution to pandemic recovery in Africa, MDBs and IFIs will need to break free from the business-as-usual mentality. This requires a greater sense of innovation along with a nimble response to changing culture and needs in member countries. There are three areas where I believe innovative solutions and actions—as well as a clean break from past practices—are much needed:

1. Debt crisis prevention and resolution

The pandemic crisis is taking a heavy toll on debt-distressed countries in Africa. Not only have these countries registered zero growth heading to this pandemic year, but they have also been hit harder by the crisis and will recover more slowly than their peers assessed to be in low risk of debt distress.

Figure 2. Comparison of economic outlook for African LICs according to debt situation

Source: IMF and author’s calculations.

Note: Countries selected based on the IMF-World Bank Debt Sustainability Framework, which classifies six African countries as being in debt distress as of November 2020: the Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Zambia is added to the list in light of recent developments. Countries assessed to be in low risk of debt distress are Madagascar, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Against this background, there is ample scope for IFIs and MDBs to help avert a potential debt crisis in a growing number of LICs, notably by developing innovative ways to help facilitate debt restructuring and avoid new episodes of debt distress. Concrete actions expected from MDBs and IFIs include:

reassessing their crisis prevention and resolution toolkits to fill potential gaps;

improving the reliability and effectiveness of existing frameworks for gauging debt sustainability in LICs, particularly IMF-World Bank Debt Sustainability Analyses;

supporting the design of new legislation that enables orderly sovereign debt workouts;

addressing the current deficiencies of the broken system of sovereign debt restructuring applicable to LICs; and

promoting debt transparency from both debtors and creditors.

2. Country platforms

Multilateral support for LICs’ pandemic recovery plans must hinge on a thorough assessment of their sustainability. In turn, this implies due consideration of the soundness of the policy and reform packages that underpin these plans. In addition to the IMF’s work in this area, multilaterals still use a variety of other assessment tools, resulting in an unproductive proliferation of institution-specific conditions and targets set for LICs to meet. Multilateral institutions should agree on a collaborative approach to supporting and assessing recovery plans. To this end, the time is long overdue for concrete steps to materialize the recommendation of the G20 Eminent Persons Group to enhance the impact of development policies and financing by “governing the system as a system rather than as individual institutions.” The renewed interest in country platforms from the Italian chair of the G20 is a hopeful sign. My colleague Mark Plant suggests in previous work that satisfactory progress on this front will require answers to hard questions, including about their purpose, inclusiveness, appropriate M&E framework, and the respective role of involved stakeholders. In the current context, quick recovery is clearly a strong objective any platform could legitimately seek to achieve. And for more effective support to recovery efforts, MDBs and IFIs need to coalesce around select domestic and regional policy initiatives and programs with demonstrated growth potential. At the same time, helping make the recovery inclusive should rank high on the agenda, as this was a key shortcoming of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper initiative in sub-Saharan Africa. There is a need for country platforms to help find effective solutions to the free-rider problem that is typically associated with the execution of global development initiatives. The implementation of the G20’s Compact with Africa is illustrative, as the strength of the commitment to the initiative was perceived in its early stages to be uneven across the IMF, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank. While implementing investment promotion initiatives in which they team up with multilaterals and other development partners, many LIC officials have also expressed frustration about being among the few sides—if not the only—expected to make binding and actionable commitments. Under any new country partnership, it is, therefore, critical to ensure that each participating stakeholder commits to specific, concrete, and time-bound actions to help achieve set goals.

3. Private finance

In July 2015, as part of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, leaders from 193 UN member states encouraged MDBs to "further develop instruments to channel the resources of long-term investors towards sustainable development.” In response, various initiatives have since been taken. In 2017, MDBs and DFIs targeted a 25-35 percent increase in the mobilization and catalyzation of private capital over three years, in line with the Hamburg Principles adopted by the G20. More recently, several MDBs adopted the common “value for money” framework, which is an innovative solution aimed at optimizing the use of available concessional and nonconcessional resources. The thinking and rhetoric have evolved in recent years, but must be meet with actions if multilaterals’ strong potential to help boost private investment are to be fulfilled. While it is still early to predict the outcome of these initiatives, a number of missteps give little reasons to be optimistic about their capacity to support efficiently pandemic recovery plans by mobilizing sustainable private finance at decisive levels. A joint collaborative framework among key multilaterals to achieve this goal is still lacking. In addition, no meaningful consultative process on a broad scale has thus far been undertaken to bring onboard private sector stakeholders from aid-recipient countries. LICs and their multilateral partners must take more decisive steps, including overcoming regulatory impediments to deeper and more inclusive domestic financial sector and catalyzing private investment through innovative instruments such as diaspora and green bonds. Critically, they should join efforts to implement an ambitious reform agenda that addresses both the demand and supply sides of corruption which remains a serious impediment to private sector development and economic growth.

Moving forward with responses that match circumstances

Clearly, strong and resilient pandemic recovery in African LICs will need to build on the leading engagement of their own governments. But it also hinges on multilaterals’ effective support, with their financing and advisory solutions being tailored to country- and region-specific circumstances. Ultimately, success will require greater accountability, bold leadership, and a genuine reform drive from both African governments and their multilateral partners. African LICs may be caught in the same pandemic storm, but they are not all in the same boat.

[netmetic]

Amdocs Voices

How can the tech industry respond to COVID-19’s effect on women in the workforce?

Amalia Avramov, Group President, Amdocs

This blog originally was featured in HR Daily Advisor

  The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on people, organizations, and regions in different ways. But when it comes to the workforce, women have been disproportionately affected. According to a study by McKinsey, women’s jobs have been 180% more vulnerable than men’s due to the weight of unpaid care. Many women are even leaving their jobs altogether to balance their at-home responsibilities effectively.

  In the tech landscape, women already make up too small percentage of the workforce, especially in leadership positions. We can’t afford this pandemic to set us back any further, and we need to adjust our companies to champion women whose lifecycles have changed due to these unprecedented times.

  In 2021, companies will look at how women’s lifestyles have changed due to the pandemic and act accordingly. For example, while COVID-19 may have helped close the gender gap in some ways, it’s causing new stresses in others. On both a large and small scale across so many of our day-to-day tasks, we’ll continue to feel these side effects as we head into the new year and beyond, and we need to be prepared to handle this future accordingly.

  Let’s take a look at how companies and women in tech, like myself, can empower our fellow employees to combat the lasting implications of COVID-19.

Be the role model you wish you had

The past few decades have demonstrated the strength and determination women have to break the glass ceiling, while simultaneously performing the lion’s share of childcare responsibilities. However, now is not the time for anyone to try to make it on their own. As managers and executive leaders, we need to show other women they can do it and pay it forward based on their own experiences. We need to encourage women and enable empathy not just for themselves, but for each other, so they can progress in both their careers and lives, despite all they’re dealing with on nearly every front.

  Of course, the conversation about returning to the office is also on everyone’s minds, causing anxiety for many. It's up to executive teams to share long-term plans covering both the emotional and physical aspects of the new normal. Given all the uncertainties, employees aren't expecting their leaders to have all the answers. Still, they expect transparency and a concerted effort to establish a plan that reflects an understanding of the challenges they’re facing.

  Beyond this, it’s time to pause and rethink our daily interactions with our teams. Acknowledge that people are doing their best, respect boundaries and remember that global organizations are all experiencing varying degrees of lockdown. Flexibility, sensitivity and empathy are critical.

Build a healthy ecosystem for employees – both in the office and at home

One positive point that a remote work experience has brought us all is the same size square on video collaboration tools like Zoom. Now that we are in a mostly virtual environment with what feels like significantly reduced hierarchy in many organizations, we must embrace this new ecosystem and ensure its impact is here to stay. As tech companies struggle with attracting, retaining and progressing women, we must provide a culture of inclusion and innovation, including the realization that there are more responsibilities beyond work.

  Additionally, we need to ensure those who were forced to leave their roles receive the training and support they need after they return to the workforce. There are many ways to offer a supportive culture, and these changes will not happen overnight. We’ve now had time to prepare for future disruptions, but it's most important to take what we have learned over the past few months and communicate our progress and plans to employees.

The importance of digital inclusion

Remote work has shown us that roles, responsibilities, and requirements for jobs aren’t as uncompromising as we may have thought, leading to a more balanced ecosystem across the board. We need to evolve — flexible working is a must for all genders, as is ongoing training to keep confidence levels high at this disruptive time.

  As a woman in tech, I am confident and optimistic. Confident that the workplace's future will put a heightened focus on making women feel comfortable and heard, and optimistic that I will be one of the women at the forefront to make sure these changes come to fruition. Whatever your part may be in the workplace, be a good role model. One who is transparent, empathetic, and tech-driven will help women succeed as we enter 2021.

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next steps

blog post

2021 predictions: A new work culture born from COVID-19

  Amdocs' Yariv Hasar on how COVID-19 will impact the workforce culture in 2021

csr

Amdocs corporate social responsibility

  Enriching lives and progressing society

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