We Need a Centralized Medical System Too
Ted Rall | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-13
The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare two fundamental flaws in the American healthcare system. Number one: There's a reason that other rich countries treat healthcare as a taxpayer-financed social program. Employer-based health insurance was stupid pre-COVID-19 because our economy was already steadily transitioning from traditional full-time W-2 jobs to self-employment, freelance and gig work. The virus has…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/13/we-need-a-ce…
Naomi Klein: Healthcare Industry Sees "Potential Bonanza" of Profits in COVID-19 Crisis
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-13
As the top infectious disease expert testifies to the Senate that needless death and suffering could result from reopening too quickly, author and journalist Naomi Klein says a "pandemic shock doctrine" is beginning to emerge. "The fact that a large sector of the economy, the healthcare industry, sees a potential bonanza here … that's a win for them."
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/13/naomi_kle…
Trump Administration Won't Guarantee Universal Access to COVID-19 Vaccine
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-13
Despite hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars flowing to private drug companies for vaccine development, top health officials coordinating the Trump administration's COVID-19 response indicated to Congress on Wednesday that they cannot guarantee universal access to vaccines for the highly contagious disease once they are developed. | Speaking remotely over videoconference during a widely anticipated Senate health committee hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) pressed the officials to guara…
truthout.org/articles/trump-administrati…
American Weapons Manufacturers Are Thriving Even as the US Economy Suffers
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-13
The economy has crashed. A nationwide pandemic that has (officially) claimed some 84,000 Americans has also resulted in an estimated 36 million filing for unemployment insurance and millions frequenting food banks for the first time. Yet business is booming for one unlikely industry; weapons manufacturers are busier than ever and are even advertising for tens of thousan…
mintpressnews.com/american-weapons-manuf…
Holding Healthcare Hostage: The Making of a Ventilator Crisis
Tony Cartalucci | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-13
When coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) began dominating headlines, it was accompanied by fears of potential shortages of critical medical equipment including personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators. | Nations like Russia had large stockpiles of affordable ventilators on hand
Essential For Survival: The Need Of Global Solidarity
The People's Collective | indybay.org | 2020-05-13
People are dying, every day. Many people are dying too early. People are dying through war, poverty, disease, lack of healthcare or lack of food. People are dying of starvation. Now, in the year 2020, a new disease is spreading around the globe, killing hundreds of thousands and affecting everybody's life.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/1883297…
Colombia's health workers unprotected, patients without treatment: watchdogs
Adriaan Alsema | colombiareports.com | 2020-05-13
Colombia's inspector general and ombudsman on Tuesday urged government action to protect health workers and continue providing healthcare to patients not suffering Covid-19. The watchdogs confirmed healthcare organizations' complaints that…
colombiareports.com/colombias-health-wor…
IndustriALL questions violations of worker rights by Shell in Nigeria
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-13
82% of oil giant Shell's workforce in Nigeria is sourced through labor contractors. As per IndustriALL, the workers "live in poverty with no job security, poor healthcare and little regard for health and safety."
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/13/industria…
If we must die, don't let it be from COVID-19
Tanuke Smith | peoplesworld.org | 2020-05-13
Not much has changed in the Black community. The strategy of controlling wealth, access to healthcare, and the demise of African Americans is still as calculated as ever. The mainstream media reports daily on the death rate in Black communities, stemming from crime, police brutality, or COVID-19. As April arrived, the cruel face of reality …
peoplesworld.org/article/if-we-must-die-…
UK's Health Ministry says confirmed Covid-19 death toll has risen by 494 to 33,186
rt.com | 2020-05-13
A total of 33,186 people who tested positive for the new coronavirus have died in the United Kingdom, a rise of 494 in a 24-hour period, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. | Those figures reflect the situation as of 5pm (1600 GMT) on May 12. Including deaths due to suspected cases, Britain's fatality count is over 40,000, according to Reuters. | Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that increasing rates of infection in other countries which have relaxed some rules to tackle the coronavirus outbreak were a warning to Britain not to move too fast. | "It is very notable that in some other countries…
rt.com/newsline/488546-uk-confirmed-rise…
Row erupts between BoJo and Labour, as Covid-19 guidance saying care homes 'unlikely' to become infected re-emerges
rt.com | 2020-05-13
Downing Street and the Labour Party have become embroiled in a spat over official UK government guidance issued in February over the risk Covid-19 poses to care homes, with each side accusing the other of misleading the public. | During PMQs in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Labour leader Keir Starmer quoted from the Public Health England (PHE) document
'Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach' e-tool to help children with mental health concerns
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-13
ROCHESTER, Minn.
We Really Can't Screw Up Disaster Season This Year. Global Health Depends on It
Vanessa A. Bee | thenation.com | 2020-05-13
We Really Can't Screw Up Disaster Season This Year. Global Health Depends on It.
thenation.com/article/society/hud-fema-r…
Failure to halt COVID-19 spread leads to mass deaths in Swedish elder care homes
wsws.org | 2020-05-13
Sweden's high fatality rate is due to official opposition to a lockdown and mass testing, and to decades-long austerity policies that devastated health care and other key services.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/13/swed…
Results of tens of thousands of Covid-19 tests disappear into 'black hole'
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-05-13
The results of tens of thousands of Covid-19 tests carried out by the government's network of testing centres are not being shared locally, stalling efforts to control the outbreak, it has emerged. | A leaked email, seen by the Health Service Journal (HSJ), said data from a new testing programme of non-NHS labs
Night of Decree observed in Yazd amid pandemic
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-05-13
YAZD, May 13 (MNA)
Australia: Greasing the Revolving Door: Palantir Recruits Down Under
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-13
When he announced at the end of April that he would be retiring, thereby vacating the federal seat of Eden-Monaro, the Australian Labor Party's Mike Kelly (image below) welled up. He noted persistent "health issues" from his time in the …
globalresearch.ca/palantir-recruits-down-under/5712749
Iran, Russia stress coop. in fight against coronavirus
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-05-13
TEHRAN, May 13 (MNA)
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump's Increased Water Exports Plan
Dan Bacher | indybay.org | 2020-05-13
In a statement, Mike Conroy, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA), said, "This is a big victory for west coast salmon fishing families and the communities which are dependent upon healthy salmon stocks throughout the State."
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/12/1883299…
Night of Destiny rituals observed in Tehran's Modarres hospital
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-05-13
TEHRAN, May 13 (MNA)
Beijing denounces 'immoral' US Senate bill threatening China with sanctions over Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-05-13
Beijing has lashed out at US legislation which seeks to impose sanctions on China if it fails to cooperate with Washington's investigation into the coronavirus pandemic. | The bill would require the president to notify Congress within 60 days that China had "provided a full and complete accounting" to any US-led probe into the coronavirus outbreak. The rule would also apply to investigations carried out by American allies and UN agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO). | The legislation also demands that China shutter all "wet markets" which can pose a risk to human health. It also calls for the i…
rt.com/news/488528-china-us-sanctions-co…
Ethical Human Rights: China criticizes New Zealand for supporting Taiwan
Anthony Ravlich | indybay.org | 2020-05-13
If my book was less suppressed the UN may well take a more positive view of Taiwan's wish to gain formal recognition in the World Health Organization. The UN seems to be following China's 'One-China policy' by excluding Taiwan.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/13/1883300…
'Major concern': Nearly 100 New York children treated for mysterious inflammatory illness thought to be linked to Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-05-13
At least 93 children in New York state have been diagnosed with a rare and poorly understood inflammatory disease thought to be tied to Covid-19, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, suggesting an uptick in the mysterious ailment. | Calling the situation "truly disturbing," on Tuesday Cuomo said state health officials are investigating the spate of new patients who've come down with "pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome," which has already killed three children in New York. | "New York State is now investigating about 100 cases of an inflammatory illness in children that may be related to Covid-19," the governor…
rt.com/usa/488492-new-york-children-myst…
Science Saturday: Regenerative approaches could foster healing from COVID-19
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-13
Regenerative Medicine aims not only to repair or restore the function of cells, tissues or organs, but also the whole person. The latter is particularly important amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Regenerative approaches draw on the body's natural abilities to heal, focus on establishing the healing environments and building new, healthy ways of functioning. These aspects of regenerative …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/sc…
Mayo hospitals again receive 'A' grades for patient safety
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-13
ROCHESTER, Minn.
In criminal pursuit of profits, Tesla CEO Elon Musk restarts production
WSWS Repost | indybay.org | 2020-05-13
In open defiance of local public health authorities, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unilaterally restarted production Monday at the company's sole US assembly facility in Fremont, California, which employs roughly 10,000 workers.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/12/1883299…
Sri Lankan president "reopens economy" despite pandemic
wsws.org | 2020-05-13
The Rajapakse regime is seeking to overcome the economic crisis at the expense of the health and lives of working people.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/13/slco…
Russia BANS usage of ventilators suspected of causing deadly fires killing six Covid-19 patients
rt.com | 2020-05-13
Russia has indefinitely suspended the usage of Aventa-M artificial lung ventilation machines. The recently produced ventilators are suspected of causing two deadly fires in the past week, killing six people. | The ventilators, made in Ural's Instrument Making Plant, have been manufactured since April 1, 2020, in response to Russia's ever-growing number of Covid-19 patients. | According to Russia's health watchdog Roszdravnadzor, the ventilators were used to provide medical care to patients at the S. I. Spasokukotsky City Clinical Hospital in Moscow and St. George's Hospital in St. Petersburg, where fires occur…
rt.com/russia/488552-russia-ban-ventilat…
'Summer cancelled': Los Angeles County to extend stay-at-home order another 3 MONTHS, stoking fears of civil unrest
rt.com | 2020-05-13
LA County will likely extend its Covid-19 containment measures until the end of July, a top public health official said, triggering a wave of outrage as residents declare "summer cancelled" and even predict riots in the streets. | The three-month extension to the county's "safer at home" order was announced by Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer on Tuesday. Though she stopped short of issuing an official order, Ferrer said the timetable would not shift until officials see a "dramatic change to the virus and tools at hand," stressing the need for increased testing capacity. | Our hope is that by using the dat…
rt.com/usa/488489-la-county-lockdown-ext…
The Health Care Industry Could Profit From the COVID-19 Crisis
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-13
As the top infectious disease expert testifies to the Senate that needless death and suffering could result from reopening too quickly, author and journalist Naomi Klein says a "pandemic shock doctrine" is beginning to emerge. "The fact that a large sector of the economy, the healthcare industry, sees a potential bonanza here … that's a win for them." | TRANSCRIPT | : | This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. | AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quaranti…
truthout.org/video/the-health-care-indus…
The HEROES Act Is a Vital Step Toward Ending COVID, So of Course It Is Doomed
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-13
There are two ways the COVID-19 story ends for the United States. | The nation can embrace scientific and medical facts as the way back home, make business secondary to life and health, and use our vast financial resources to support the populace even as we roll out a comprehensive testing program to speed a return to whatever passes for normal in this thundercloud of a country. | Or we can burn on the pyre of heedlessly rapacious capitalism. It really, truly is just that simple. As it stands…
truthout.org/articles/the-heroes-act-is-…
The Boston-Newark Megalopolis: Death Certification Agencies are Jacking-up their C-19 Body-counts
William Walter Kay | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-13
On January 9, 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) alerted authorities worldwide of a potential novel coronavirus outbreak. Three weeks of investigations and conferences later (January 30) WHO declared a global public health emergency. Regions which subsequently posted extraordinarily high …
globalresearch.ca/covid-19-democratic-boston-newark-megalopolis/5712576
Judith Butler on the Violence of Neglect Amid a Health Crisis
Francis Wade | thenation.com | 2020-05-13
Judith Butler on the Violence of Neglect Amid a Health Crisis…
thenation.com/article/culture/judith-but…
California county could greenlight Tesla factory reopening… even though Elon Musk has already launched production
rt.com | 2020-05-13
Tesla could be legally cleared to scale up operations at its car factory in Fremont, California as soon as next week. CEO Elon Musk has already defied local authorities by bringing the plant back online without their permission. | The Alameda County Public Health Department announced that the embattled factory can start making vehicles Monday if it adopts additional safety recommendations. The updates will be implemented together with the prevention measures the company submitted earlier this week. | According to the statement, local police will help "to verify Tesla is adhering to physical distancing" as well…
rt.com/business/488531-california-county…
Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: The "Quarantine 15"
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-13
It's being called the "Quarantine 15" online
Pennsylvania Health Sec under fire after moving own mum OUT of nursing home while sending sick Covid-19 patients INTO them
rt.com | 2020-05-13
As Pennsylvania's health secretary faces harsh criticism and calls to resign over her policy ordering Covid-19 patients to return to nursing homes after leaving hospital, she has admitted to moving her own mum out of a care home. | Dr Rachel Levine revealed when asked by reporters that her mother was moved out of her personal care home when the pandemic began
Mayo Clinic receives $26 million from BARDA for COVID-19 convalescent plasma expanded access program
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-13
Mayo Clinic was awarded a $26 million contract today from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The financial support is for the Expanded Access Program (EAP) for convalescent plasma to fight COVID-19. …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…
Poland to reopen hairdressers, restaurants on May 18 as 'epidemic contained to some extent'
rt.com | 2020-05-13
Poland will reopen restaurants and hairdressers on May 18 as it begins easing coronavirus-linked restrictions, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday. | "At least to some extent we have contained the epidemic, therefore we can gradually unfreeze the economy," Morawiecki told reporters. | The statement came a day after Poland saw its largest spike in coronavirus cases in a single day, Reuters reported. | Schools will partially reopen to provide day care for children in the first three years of primary school, the prime minister added.
rt.com/newsline/488556-poland-reopen-hai…
Why Herd Immunity to COVID-19 Is Reached Much Earlier Than Thought
Nic Lewis | anti-empire.com | 2020-05-13
A study published in March by the COVID-19 Response Team from Imperial College (Ferguson20 [1]) appears to have been largely responsible for driving government actions in the UK and, to a fair extent, in the US and some other countries. Until that report came out, the strategy of the UK government, at least, seems to have been to rely on the build up of 'herd immunity' to slow the growth of the epidemic and eventually cause it to peter out. | The 'herd immunity threshold' (HIT) can be esti…
anti-empire.com/why-herd-immunity-to-cov…
Trump Pressures CDC to Lower COVID Death Count by Changing Calculation Method
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-13
President Donald Trump has privately expressed doubts about the coronavirus death toll in the United States, telling aides he believes the number is too high and overcounted. | Earlier this month, Axios reported that Trump had been mulling over the numbers, which he's suggested are inflated. A number of aides surrounding the president have expressed agreement with him. | "The numbers ha…
truthout.org/articles/trump-pressures-cd…
Masking your kids during COVID-19
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-13
Do you or don't you wear a mask? If you do, what material is best? And what about children? Questions around masks during the COVID-19 pandemic abound, especially in light of the recent recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that all Americans wear masks in public settings. "The direction around face masks has …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…
Spring cleaning takes on a new importance during COVID-19 pandemic
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-13
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released reopening guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting public spaces, workplaces, businesses, schools and homes. Dr. Gregory Poland, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases expert, suggests taking a practical approach to spring cleaning. If no one in your household has been infected, he says standard spring cleaning practices …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/sp…
The Mind-blowing History at Fort Detrick
Ceng Jing | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-13
Since the Trump administration declared national emergency in mid-march over the rapid spread of COVID-19, the task of developing a vaccine has fallen on the U.S. Army's top virus research lab in Fort Detrick, located in suburban Maryland some 50 …
globalresearch.ca/mind-blowing-history-fort-detrick/5712760
Why you need to keep your child's vaccine schedule during COVID-19
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-13
Millions of children may be at risk of missing or delaying their routine childhood vaccines due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Tina Ardon, a Mayo Clinic family medicine specialist, says she understands being thoughtful about taking your children outside the home for doctor's visits during this time. "The current situation with the novel coronavirus shows us how scary …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/wh…
US agencies drum up allegations of Chinese hacking of vaccine research
wsws.org | 2020-05-13
The claims of Chinese hacking of vaccine research are not only part of the Trump's anti-China propaganda war but will be used to justify US cyber warfare against Beijing.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/13/usch…
Virologist Luis Villarreal: "Leery" of COVID-19 Models, Vaccine Possible Year's End
Suzan Mazur | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-13
Somewhat exasperated by the Covid-19 models publicly showcased over the last two months, I decided to ring up virologist Luis Villarreal for his perspective. Luis Villarreal is founding director of University of California, Irvine's Center for Virus Research and UCI Professor Emeritus, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Villarreal told me he takes these models…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/13/virologist-l…
Patriotic Vaccines: The Divided Coronavirus Cause
Binoy Kampmark | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-13
When it comes to the politics of medicine and disease, the United States has always attempted to steal the limelight, while adding the now faded colouring of universal human welfare. In 1965, Washington pledged financial and technical support to the international effort to eradicate smallpox, though the initiative had initially been spurred by the Soviet…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/13/patriotic-va…
Lockdown Will Kill an Additional 18,000 Cancer Patients That Wouldn't Have Died Otherwise, Cancer Doctors Calculate
Denis Campbell | anti-empire.com | 2020-05-13
Almost 18,000 more people with cancer in England could die after the coronavirus pandemic led hospitals to suspend treatment and deterred patients from seeking NHS care, research has found. | Cancer experts claim that an extra 6,270 people in England who have been newly diagnosed with the disease could die from it over the next 12 months as a direct result of the disruption caused by [insane response to the] coronavirus, and the additional toll taking into account all those living with ca…
anti-empire.com/lockdown-will-kill-an-ad…
Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Possible neurological effects of COVID-19
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-13
Originally identified as a respiratory disease, some COVID-19 patients exhibit neurologic symptoms including stroke, loss of consciousness, headache, and even the loss of taste and smell. What's unknown is whether these are direct effects of the virus entering the nervous system, or consequences of the disease's effect on the body. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…
We are vulnerable and scared, say tragic railway worker's colleagues
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-05-13
Colleagues of railway worker Belly Mujinga have described feeling "scared" and "vulnerable" after the Victoria station staff member died with coronavirus a fortnight after being spat at while on duty.It came as the government was urged to extend its coronavirus compensation scheme, offering £60,000 to families of NHS frontline staff and social care workers who die from the disease during the pandemic, to the transport sector.A police investigation is under way, launched more than a month after Mujinga and a colleague were attacked by a man claiming to be infected with Covid-19 on the concourse at the London…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/2020/05/13/we-are-vulnerable-and-scared-say-tragic-railway-workers-colleagues/