26251 replies to this topic

[todd]

Alien intelligence: the extraordinary minds of octopuses and other cephalopods: https://www.theguard...her-cephalopods

[UDeMan]

Sidney aquarium names new octopus after Dr. Bonnie Henry: https://www.vicnews....r-bonnie-henry/

Just imagine the outrage if they named this octopus or any animal after a non-white person. I heard one person name their dog after Bonnie Henry, this would not fly if they named the dog Jagmeet or Barrack.

[Victoria Watcher]

what if they named it aunt jemima?

[amor de cosmos]

i guess she'll probably get an OBC eventually, if we ever get back to normal

[todd]

what if they named it aunt jemima?

Then it would be named aunt jemima.

[todd]

I’m just putting this out there I want an octopus named after todd that dork seth rogen has one and I don’t.

[exc911ence]

Change your name to Bonnie Henry and voila! You have an octopus named after you. 

[tanker]

I still find it offensive given her white privilege. She should check it. 

[todd]

I still find it offensive given her white privilege. She should check it. 

 

She's from PEI.

[Victoria Watcher]

Ontario lowest new numbers today in over 3 months.

read this article here:


Of all the problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Joseph Mireault now faces one he never thought possible.

He is making too much money.

With his wife, Mireault owns Tru-Valu optical, selling glasses and contact lenses in downtown Vancouver. Due to the virus, the doors were closed in April and May, with only a few sales for people in desperate need.

https://www.theobser...c6-534a4c4c624a




if that’s the state of things all over the country small business is in real grave trouble.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 June 2020 - 07:16 AM.

[spanky123]

^ Want to bet he still claims the rent relief? Same thing with businesses that are claiming the wage subsidy but have had sales return to near normal.

 

What about the CERB, what % of people who have claimed it are holding back funds to pay the income tax on the amounts next spring? 

[amor de cosmos]

soooo much stuff everywhere
 

New research suggests targeting the spike proteins could provide an effective treatment for SARS-CoV-2(Covid-19) and provide valuable structural data for teams working to develop vaccines against it.

Key findings:
CR3022 neutralises SARS-CoV-2 by destroying the prefusion SPIKE conformation
This antibody may have therapeutic potential alone or in combination with other antibodies

As part of the massive global scientific effort underway to find treatments or vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, the UK’s synchrotron, Diamond Light Source is providing priority rapid access for groups investigating SARS-CoV-2 proteins. One of these teams has just published results that show that the SARS antibody CR3022 also neutralises SARS-CoV-2, by destroying the prominent spike proteins. Their work suggests that this antibody may have therapeutic potential alone or in combination with other antibodies. Their high-resolution data will also provide valuable structural data for teams working to develop vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

https://www.alphagal...y/ItemId/194425
 

COVID-19 has significantly increased the suicide risk for Canadians with preexisting mental health challenges and experiences of marginalization, reveals a new survey by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) in partnership with researchers at the University of British Columbia.

While six percent of those surveyed said they experienced suicidal thoughts and feelings during the outbreak, this proportion rises to 18 percent of those with preexisting mental health challenges, 16 percent of Indigenous people and 15 percent of those with a disability.

https://medicalxpres...ide-mental.html
 

Half of ethnic Chinese people in Canada have been harassed and threatened over the coronavirus outbreak, says a new poll. 506 respondents took part in the survey conducted by the non-profit Angus Reid Institute and the University of Alberta. The poll showed that 43 percent of respondents had been threatened or intimidated in some way, while half of those polled said they had been insulted as a "direct result" of the pandemic.

"Data is indicating that 29 percent of those surveyed have experienced at least some kind of physical altercation during the COVID-19 crisis", said Dr Kimberly Knowles, a University of Alberta researcher who worked on the survey. 60 percent of respondents said that the abuse was so bad that they had to reorganise their daily routine to avoid it.

The poll also included personal accounts from several people who had been harassed. One woman in her 60s said that a Caucasian man in Vancouver told her and her daughter: "Every day I pray that you people die".

https://sputniknews....new-poll-shows/
 

A new survey reveals a wide range of serious psychiatric and neurological complications tied to Covid-19 — including stroke, psychosis, and a dementia-like syndrome. The study underscores how aggressively the coronavirus can attack beyond the lungs, and the risk the disease can pose to younger adults.

The study looked at 125 hospitalized patients with Covid-19 who also had some sort of neuropsychiatric complication. Fifty-seven had had an ischemic stroke, caused by a blood clot in the brain. The second most common issue, affecting 39 patients, was an altered mental state, researchers reported. That included encephalitis (an inflammation of the brain that can cause a number of symptoms, from confusion to mobility problems) and encephalopathy (a general term for a disease that alters brain function). Ten patients were newly diagnosed with psychosis, and six had cognitive issues akin to dementia, according to the study, published in the Lancet Psychiatry.

“What was particularly interesting was that this spanned the neurological spectrum,” said senior author Benedict Michael of the University of Liverpool, a neurologist specializing in infectious diseases.

https://www.statnews...-complications/

Over $30 bn needed to develop COVID-19 tests, treatments, vaccines: WHO
https://medicalxpres...s-vaccines.html

WHO, partners unveil ambitious plan to deliver 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine to high-risk populations
https://www.statnews...sk-populations/

Tesla factory workers who stayed home due to COVID fears face termination
https://arstechnica....ce-termination/

Coronavirus may have infected 10 times more Americans than reported, CDC says
https://www.reuters....s-idUSKBN23W2PU
 

In Illinois, a Cook County judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering multiple McDonald’s locations in Chicago — including a franchisee, as well as a wholly-owned subsidiary operating corporate stores — to improve safety protocols for mask wearing, social distancing, and training, the Chicago Tribune reports. In response to workers’ and their live-in relatives’ public nuisance lawsuit, which alleged that McDonald’s failed to adequately protect them from the virus, judge Eve Reilly said that McDonald’s was not negligent and had taken measures to mitigate virus transmission, but that some locations were insufficiently enforcing mask policies and were training employees such that they believed they could stand within six feet of each other without masks, as long as they did so for less than 10 minutes.

*snip*

The prior day in California, an Alameda County judge granted a temporary court order requiring a McDonald’s franchisee in Oakland to adopt protective measures, such as employee temperature checks, social distancing policies, and providing sufficient masks and gloves, in order to reopen, Bloomberg Law reports. The restaurant in question made headlines last month for allegedly forcing sick employees to report to work, and for allegedly telling employees to make masks out of coffee filters and dog diapers (for your reference, this is a dog diaper). The workers, who started striking on May 26 and filed a lawsuit in mid-June, said that at least 23 people in the Bay Area became sick from this outbreak. The next hearing in this case falls on July 2, per Eater SF.

https://www.eater.co...19-ppe-training
 
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center has launched a new data visualization tool that gives an indication of the impact of state's policy decisions, a release that comes as COVID-19 cases are on the rise in many states across the U.S.
https://medicalxpres...icy-covid-.html
https://coronavirus..../state-timeline
 

False claims. Racist and violent memes. Threats. Physical attacks. Public health advocates across the country face these and more from anti-vaccine extremists when they try to enact policies to halt outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses such as measles and whooping cough.

These extremists have now turned their focus on efforts to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus — which has killed more than 125,000 Americans — and are using the same playbook of harassment and intimidation tactics against public health leaders charged with protecting our states and localities from Covid-19.

Since mid-April, 27 state and local health leaders across 13 states have resigned, retired, or been fired, some citing threats and pressure from outside groups.

*snip*

This behavior is sadly all too familiar to public health advocates. Anti-vaccine extremists, gun advocates, and white supremacists organized and were prominent participants at anti-lockdown rallies. Black and red anti-vaccine signs, open carry guns, nooses, Trump flags, and red MAGA hats were common sights. The extremists demanded “freedom” to spread disease and denounced government “tyranny” as law enforcement officers looked on without riot gear, tear gas, or weapons in their hands. The few protesters who were arrested for breaking the law were quickly released.

*snip*

California is not the only state where legislators and public health advocates have been threatened. Similar intimidation tactics were used in Oregon, Washington, New York, New Jersey, and Colorado. Physicians such as Paul Offit, Todd Wolynn, and Nicole Baldwin have endured personal attacks, including fake practice ratings and death threats, for supporting vaccination. Parents sharing stories of their children who died of vaccine-preventable diseases have faced heartbreaking hatred and bullying from the same extremists, as have individuals who speak out in support of vaccines.

The extremists are crowing about their success in forcing the resignations of Quick and Acton, and are planning to target more public health officers.

https://www.statnews...s-endangers-us/

U.S. Texas halts economic reopening as COVID-19 cases increase
http://www.ecns.cn/n...xc0872439.shtml

Texas to shut bars to stop virus
https://thehill.com/...s-to-stop-virus

Trump campaign boss Brad Parscale is in isolation after Secret Service agents tested positive for COVID-19 at Tulsa rally
https://www.business...fections-2020-6

Trump Plays Down Devastation Caused By COVID-19 As An ‘Artificial Problem’
https://talkingpoint...ificial-problem
 

Late-night hosts Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Fallon are all shocked that wearing a mask amid the coronavirus pandemic has become a “culture war” — leading Colbert to say, “So now you’re a liberal snowflake if you don’t want to die.”

After noting that there are 35,000 new coronavirus cases in states across the U.S., Noah played a viral clip of Floridians erupting during a county meeting in Palm Beach after a unanimous vote required residents to wear masks.

Residents claimed that masks “literally” kill people, questioned the medical degrees of the doctors present and told them they would be “arrested for crimes against humanity,” and were horrified at the idea of getting “temperatured.”

“Yes, it appears America isn’t just dealing with a deadly strain of coronavirus, it’s also dealing with a deadly strain of stupidity,” he said. “If wearing masks killed people, there would be no doctors, no dentists, and no hockey goalies. Every hockey game would end with a score of 1,000 to 980. Why are we even arguing with these idiots?”

https://www.mediaite...n-of-stupidity/
 

WASHINGTON: Americans will soon get a first full look at which businesses received US$515 billion of taxpayer funds when the government, after initial resistance by President Donald Trump's administration, releases borrower data for one of its highest- profile pandemic aid efforts.

The colossal data set for the Paycheck Protection Program, to be released by the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration in the coming days, will provide transparency for a first-come-first-served program that from the outset was plagued by technology, paperwork and fairness issues.

That could make life uncomfortable for borrowers that broke the spirit or letter of the rules, and for banks that shoveled the money out the door. The aim of the US$660 billion program was to help cash-strapped companies keep workers employed and make rent.

"There's a level of anxiety," said Suzie Saxman, a partner at Chicago-based law firm Seyfarth Shaw. "I've said to everybody: Prepare to be disclosed, prepare to be audited."

The Treasury and SBA said they will release a swath of information, including the names, addresses, loan amount ranges and jobs supported for businesses that received US$150,000 or more. That should account for roughly 75per cent of the dollars granted, but only 15per cent of the 4.7 million loans.

https://www.channeln...ic-aid-12874182

Voter Registrations Are Way, Way Down During The Pandemic
https://fivethirtyei...g-the-pandemic/

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to axe Obamacare amid pandemic
https://uk.reuters.c...c-idUKKBN23X1OL

Florida Authorities Register Increased Number of West Nile Virus Cases in Miami, Reports Suggest
https://sputniknews....eports-suggest/

Covid-19: US Navy expands testing to decrease virus transmission
https://www.janes.co...us-transmission

The US Government Accountability Office (USGAO) has stated that about $1.4 billion in COVID-19 stimulus payments were mistakenly sent to dead Americans.
https://sputniknews....dead-americans/

Netizens Confused as Joe Biden Says Over 120 Mln Americans Have Died from COVID-19
https://sputniknews....-from-covid-19/

Apple temporarily re-closes 14 more Florida stores as COVID-19 numbers surge
https://techcrunch.c...-numbers-surge/

Millions of children could be pushed to the brink of starvation as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across war-torn Yemen amid a "huge" drop in humanitarian aid funding, the UN children’s agency UNICEF warned on Friday
https://english.alar...avirus-pandemic

5,491 Coronavirus Victims Buried in One Tehran Cemetery
https://iranwire.com...l-features/7220

Volunteers provide assistance to over 3 mln Russians during pandemic, says Putin
https://tass.com/society/1172017

Prince Charles Facing Tremendous Cut in Income Next Year Due to COVID Lockdown, Records Show
https://sputniknews....n-records-show/
 

SAVAR, Bangladesh: Facing ruin as orders from Western brands collapsed in the coronavirus pandemic, many Bangladeshi garment factories have been given a lifeline with orders to make protective masks, gloves and gowns for export.

Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of workers who used to work in export-oriented apparel factories in the South Asian country remain jobless despite the new orders and some recovery in Western markets.

At factories in the industrial town of Savar just north of Dhaka, thousands of workers are now working eight-hour shifts, six days a week, making personal protective equipment (PPE).

On the factory floor, sewing machines operated by hundreds of workers whirled loudly beside huge stacks of white and light-blue gowns.

"We saw the opportunity in February and immediately we switched to PPE manufacturing," said Syed Naved Husain, chief executive of Beximco, a major supplier to the owners of brands like Zara, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.

long
https://www.channeln...uction-12873354

Australia starts COVID-19 testing blitz to stop second wave in Melbourne
https://www.channeln...bourne-12872832

Brazilian President Bolsonaro Reportedly Says He Might Have Contracted COVID-19
https://sputniknews....acted-covid-19/

Japan's COVID-19 contact-tracing app has been downloaded more than 4 million times since its launch a week ago
https://www.channeln...ng-app-12873314

SINGAPORE: Fourteen men were charged on Friday (Jun 26) for breaching safe distancing measures (SDM) under the COVID-19 regulations.
https://www.channeln...asures-12873146

Coronavirus infection rate is 40 percent in two Iran provinces
https://english.alar...-iran-provinces
 

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — On March 11, 14-year-old May sent a voice note to a group chat with her classmates in Kampot Province.

“I want to ask all the people of Kampot to please wear your masks properly. Three people have died here already. So everyone needs to protect themselves.”

One of her friends shared the voice note publicly, and it made the rounds on Cambodian social media. The next day, officers turned up at May's school and took her to the local police station.

Cambodia’s government says it has COVID-19 under control. According to official figures, just 129 people in the country of 16 million have come down with the coronavirus — and none have died.

And as May found out, you’d better not question those numbers.

*snip*

Later that day, the police made May stand up in front of her classmates and teachers to make a public apology for her voice note. The police filmed the apology and uploaded it to Facebook to serve as a warning to others.

https://www.vice.com...out-coronavirus

[Victoria Watcher]

what's frustrating here is that this article gives us absolutely no information on how the virus might have spread and/or what measures were in place or not in place to reduce transmission here.  even though there are over 680 potential witnesses to the practices.  the article does not even tell us what services are/were performed at the salon.

 

 

 

 

 

There are now 18 confirmed COVID-19 cases in people who work at or visited a Kingston, Ont., salon, almost a quarter of the area's total known cases.

 

Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health declared an outbreak of COVID-19 at Binh's Nails and Spa in the west of the eastern Ontario city on Thursday and closed it until further notice.

 

On Friday, Medical Officer of Health Kieran Moore said in a YouTube video that eight more people who had been there had a confirmed case of COVID-19, for a total of 18 people, including six staff and one of their partners.

 

_________

 

The public health agency said Thursday anyone who visited the salon after June 12, when it was allowed to reopen under Ontario's Stage 2 of lifting restrictions, must get tested and self-isolate until 14 days after their visit.

 

Those people and their close contacts cover 680 people as of Friday morning, Moore said. Among them are health-care and corrections workers, with no indication the coronavirus has infected anyone in those settings.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...break-1.5628313

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 June 2020 - 08:23 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

this is a pretty heartwarming story even for a cynical SOB like me.

 

 

Sisters cross Canada-U.S. border, camp in parents' backyard to be with dying father

https://www.cbc.ca/n...osure-1.5627537

[amor de cosmos]

CARROLLTON, Texas (AP) — A surprise birthday party that resulted in 18 people testing positive for the coronavirus has left a North Texas man horrified as his father continues to fight for his life in a hospital intensive care unit
https://ca.news.yaho...-010917767.html
 

In the south of Mexico City, about 100 miles of murky canals wind their way through the Xochimilco neighborhood. Here, the urban sprawl of one of the world’s densest cities yields to a lake region where indigenous farmers have been cultivating a unique system of floating gardens since pre-colonial times. Called chinampas, these floating gardens were built by the Aztecs to feed a growing population.

Xochimilco became one of the city’s main sources of food, but rapid urbanization in the 1900s meant less land available for farming. In 1985, when an earthquake struck Mexico City, many chinampas were abandoned as people who had lost their homes built shanty towns. Today, only an estimated 20 percent of the approximately 5,000 acres of chinampas are in use, and only 3 percent are used for farming.

But since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Mexico, interrupting the industrial food supply in important ways, small farmers have increased production and rehabilitated abandoned chinampas to fill the demand for fresh, local food.

https://www.atlasobs...pas-coronavirus
 

The Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, published a special report, a summary of worldwide anti-Semitic phenomena associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The report relies on hundreds of accounts from different locations around the globe from March-June.

• The new wave of anti-Semitism includes a range of libels that have one common element: The Jews, the Zionists and/or the State of Israel are to blame for the pandemic and/or stand to gain from it.
• The anti-Semitism generated by the coronavirus is intensive and fierce, has continued unremittingly for several months and reflects a high level of anxiety and fear in many populations.
• Coronavirus-related anti-Semitism is manifested throughout Europe, in the Americas and in the Muslim world. This new type of anti-Semitism, which partly reiterates classic anti-Semitic themes, includes conspiracy theories alongside medieval blood libels, now renewed in a 21st century format.
• Coronavirus-related anti-Semitism is propagated mostly by right-wing extremists, ultra-conservative Christians and Islamists, through their own media in various languages.
• Islamists describe Israel as the COVID-1948 virus -- after the year in which the Jewish state was established, declaring that this is the most dangerous virus of all.
• Activists in movements for delegitimizing Israel use the same argument. In addition, they accuse Israel of using the coronavirus as ammunition against the Palestinians.
• An Oxford University study revealed that 19.1% of the British public believes that the Jews caused the pandemic.

https://www.eurekale...t-cph062520.php

[Matt R.]

^ Want to bet he still claims the rent relief? Same thing with businesses that are claiming the wage subsidy but have had sales return to near normal.
 
What about the CERB, what % of people who have claimed it are holding back funds to pay the income tax on the amounts next spring?

The feds have said that the 70% cut off for the rental subsidy isn’t a hard number. If you are at 31% of sales you are probably good, but of course they won’t say what the leeway is, but there is some, in order to cover the place that goes $10 over. So yeah, if you are claiming the subsidy in good faith and are close, you are probably good. If you need to close on Monday then do it. If you are unsure, take the rebate and bank it for when the dust settles.

With CEWS you automatically qualify for the subsequent month, so if you qualified in May, you qualify in June.

Can’t speak to cerb, as I didn’t take it, but I know our crew has received good tax advice.

Matt.

[todd]

for a cynical SOB like me.
 

We see right through that.

[amor de cosmos]

VICTORIA — First Nations in British Columbia have been largely successful in keeping COVID-19 out of their communities by strictly following health guidelines and relying on the advice of elders about smallpox and tuberculosis that decimated Indigenous populations, say health officials.

Since Jan. 1, there have been 87 cases of COVID-19 among Indigenous people in B.C. and four deaths, a rate below the provincial average, Dr. Shannon McDonald of the First Nations Health Authority, said Friday.

She said there are currently three active cases among Indigenous Peoples in B.C.

The province reported 10 new COVID-19 cases Friday, bringing the provincial total to 2,878. There have been 174 deaths.

"I'm also pleased to tell you that thanks to an extraordinary response from our First Nations communities, the people the First Nations Health Authority serves have fared even better than the rest of the population in the face of this unprecedented challenge," McDonald said at a news conference on Friday.

*snip*

Judith Sayers, president of the 14 Nation Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, said Friday Indigenous communities are concerned that increased travel could mean the arrival of the virus in their territories.

There are more than 10,000 Nuu-chah-nulth members in 14 communities on the west coast of Vancouver Island, including Port Alberni, Bamfield and Tofino.

Sayers said the Nuu-chah-nulth were not properly consulted by the provincial government prior to the announcement that health restrictions would be eased.

The Nuu-chah-nulth and other Indigenous groups on B.C.'s central coast and the Interior said the failure to consult about the reopening puts Indigenous lives at risk.

https://www.timescol...ials-1.24160717

march 2019!

Spanish virologists have found traces of the novel coronavirus in a sample of Barcelona wastewater collected in March 2019, nine months before the COVID-19 disease was identified in China, the University of Barcelona said on Friday.

The discovery of virus genome presence so early in Spain, if confirmed, would imply the disease may have appeared much earlier than the scientific community thought.

The University of Barcelona team, who had been testing waste water since mid-April this year to identify potential new outbreaks, decided to also run tests on older samples.

They first found the virus was present in Barcelona on Jan. 15, 2020, 41 days before the first case was officially reported there.

Then they ran tests on samples taken between January 2018 and December 2019 and found the presence of the virus genome in one of them, collected on March 12, 2019.

“The levels of SARS-CoV-2 were low but were positive,” research leader Albert Bosch was quoted as saying by the university. The research has been submitted for a peer review.

https://en.mercopres...te-water-sample
 

Patients suffering from severe respiratory symptoms as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection can rapidly generate virus-attacking T cells, and can increase this production over time, suggests a new study of T cells from 10 COVID-19 patients under intensive care treatment. In addition, 2 out of 10 healthy individuals without prior exposure to the virus harbored SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cells, the researchers found, possibly indicating that these T cells can cross-react to the novel coronavirus due to past infection with related coronaviruses that cause common cold symptoms. Together, these new data address the poorly understood question of whether SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses vary in patients over time depending on disease severity, and helps to answer whether patients with more severe symptoms can generate protective virus-specific T cells at all. The study also provides new clues regarding the cells responsible for excessive immune responses, including life-threatening "cytokine storms," and may also help inform vaccine design.

https://www.eurekale...t-stc062620.php

1/3 of parents in 3 states may not send children to school because of COVID-19
https://phys.org/new...ool-covid-.html

Company linked to Trump adviser got millions in coronavirus aid as he urged GOP to cut relief
https://www.rawstory...-to-cut-relief/

A Judge Ordered ICE To Release Immigrant Children Over Coronavirus Concerns
https://www.buzzfeed...ver-covid-fears

White House economist who just announced resignation tests positive for COVID-19
https://thehill.com/...-tests-positive

Reporter tests positive for coronavirus — after covering Trump’s controversial Tulsa rally: report
https://www.rawstory...a-rally-report/
 

The US logged nearly 40,000 new cases of COVID-19 nationwide Thursday—the highest daily total yet in the course of the pandemic—and many states continue to see an alarming rise in the spread of disease.

Cases have been increasing in 30 states, according to the New York Times’ COVID-19 tracking effort. On Friday, 11 states set their own records for the average number of new cases reported in the past seven days, according to the Washington Post.

Though the rising case counts can sometimes reflect a rise in overall testing, many states are also seeing high and increasing percentages of positive tests—that is, the fraction of test results that come back positive, which is considered a more useful metric for assessing if disease spread is actually increasing. If states increase testing while the spread of COVID-19 stays the same or declines, the fraction of tests coming back positive would gradually decline.

https://arstechnica....rise-in-deaths/
 

A co-founder of the ReOpen Maryland movement said on social media that he tested positive for the coronavirus this week but won’t work with public health officials trying to track and limit the spread of the pandemic.

Tim Walters, a two-time Republican candidate for the General Assembly from Linthicum, said in a series of Facebook videos starting Tuesday that he has come down with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.

“I was diagnosed yesterday at the ER with COVID-19 and here I am months after not wearing a mask at rallies, churches and so on and so it’s funny how capricious this thing is,” he said.

*snip*

In a second video posted Wednesday, Walters said he had been contacted by the state contact tracing team and decided to have his wife and members of his family tested. In the third video Friday, Walters said he was feeling better and considered his illness a spiritual challenge as he starts his own church and provided non-believers a chance to criticize Christians.

“No one ever got sick at any of our rallies, to include me! Start a church, and I get sick...” he said. “I got it because Satan deemed to get it. Because he wanted to quiet my work. To slow down the building of a church. That’s what this is about. But the world won’t see that. Why? Because they live behind a veil. They choose to live behind a veil. They choose to hate God.”

https://www.capitalg...zika-story.html

Former Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney started trending on Twitter after his daughter Liz Cheney uploaded a photo of him wearing a mask. Liz Cheney, who is a GOP representative from Wyoming, captioned the post with the sentence: "Dick Cheney says WEAR A MASK" along with the hashtag #realmenwearmasks
https://sputniknews....-wearing-masks/

According to a report from CNN, Donald Trump is deathly afraid of getting the COVID-19 virus and is pressing White House aides to come up with ways to protect him from being infected while at the same time downplaying the health crisis to the public
https://www.rawstory...andemic-report/

ExxonMobil Readies To Make Major Job Cuts
https://oilprice.com...r-Job-Cuts.html

Two U.S. Navy ships have set a new Naval record for consecutive days at sea as they avoid making port because of coronavirus
https://taskandpurpo...at-sea-covid-19

Over 150 College Athletes Contracted Coronavirus After Being Pressured to Practice
https://www.vice.com...y-workouts-ncaa

Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia reports 3,927 new Covid-19 cases
https://www.khaleejt...-covid-19-cases

UNICEF delivers life-saving supplies to over 100 countries in response to COVID-19
http://www.ecns.cn/n...xc0872513.shtml

Malaysia COVID-19 cases drop to 191
https://www.aa.com.t...-to-191/1891622
 

While the English language media gushes over how successful New Zealand has been in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, it has largely failed to report on another part of the world where both infection rates and fatalities remain low.

Significant success stories in Central Europe are being overlooked. Slovakia, home to 5 million people, has so far had only 28 COVID-19 deaths and only 1,607 infections. That's five deaths per million inhabitants—New Zealand has had four per million inhabitants. The UK has had 628 deaths per million inhabitants, Spain 606, Italy 573 and France 455.

The statistics in some of the other Central European countries have been just as stunning. Croatia has had 26 deaths per million inhabitants, the Czech Republic 32 and Poland 37.

New Zealand has been consistently praised for its "swift and stringent lockdown" approach. The English speaking media is concentrating almost exclusively on the highly successful "test and trace" policy of New Zealand, which made it possible for that country to declare, perhaps slightly prematurely, the end of the pandemic on June 8.

*snip*

But in the English-language media, Central European success has been notably under reported. When it has been the subject of coverage, some long-circulating cultural and geopolitical tropes are evident. Stereotypes about the history of Central Europe continue to shape how the region is viewed by the rest of the world. It is regularly depicted as suffering from continuous hardship and as being blighted by authoritarianism.

*snip*

Central Europe is written about as though it is a region in a permanent state of crisis. That has been particularly jarring at a time when the whole world is in a state of crisis, and these countries actually seem to be handling it better than many others. The stereotypes the New York Times article enlists, such as the region's experience of traumatic events, hardship, and passive suffering, are all too well known to scholars of the area.

https://medicalxpres...ral-europe.html

Coronavirus continues to rise in Eurasian countries
https://www.aa.com.t...untries/1891609

EU Will Ban Most US Travellers From Entering After Its Borders Reopen Next Week - Reports
https://sputniknews....week---reports/
 

Syria is set to experience an “unprecedented” hunger crisis amid a growing coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations said, warning humanitarian aid organisations that urgent action is needed to prevent a catastrophe.

The dire warning comes from a number of UN agencies ahead of a crucial conference next Tuesday that would bring together potential donors.

“We’ve only had 248 cases (of new coronavirus infection) in the country thus far, but we can take no comfort in that”, said Dr Richard Brennan, Regional Emergency Director for the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office.

“We have other countries in the region, the number of cases has got off to a slow start, and we’ve seen in more recent times a real acceleration, so we’ve seen this in Iraq, we’ve seen it in Turkey, we’ve seen it in Egypt and we can fully expect that we will have a similar development in Syria as well.”

To date, nine people have died from Covid-19 complications in Syria.

Most of the confirmed cases are concentrated in Damascus, under government control, however there are serious concerns that case numbers could rise in the climate of poverty most Syrians live in.

https://english.alar...rus-outbreak-un

[todd]

“...people who visited Brandi's Exotic Show Lounge earlier this week may have been exposed to COVID-19..”: https://www.cbc.ca/n...-club-1.5630256

[Matt R.]

What the actual **** is going on in the USA. It’s unbelievable.

Matt.