5 August 2020 Archives

Makasi Motema (2020-08-05). Brazil: From pandemic to genocide. workers.org Since the pandemic began, Brazilians have suffered 93,000 deaths and 2.7 million infections — the second highest number of infections in the world after the United States. Far from marshaling his country's resources to battle the disease, Bolsonaro has intentionally sabotaged Brazil's COVID-19 response. Like his U.S. analog, the right-wing . . . |

Vijay Prashad (2020-08-05). How Trump managed to lead the World with the worst response to COVID-19 pandemic. mronline.org Six months ago, on January 30, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Ten days before this, the Chinese government had said—to great alarm—that the coronavirus could be transmitted from human to human.

Dean Baker (2020-08-05). An Economic Survival Package, not a Stimulus Package. zcomm.org This is really a question of life and death. Tens of millions of workers have serious health conditions that mean they would be at considerable danger if they became infected…

Mehr News Agency (2020-08-05). 2,697 new COVID-19 cases registered in Iran. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Aug. 05 (MNA) — The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has infected 2,697 people and claimed 185 lives in Iran in the past 24 hours, a senior health official said.

Mehr News Agency (2020-08-05). Survey suggests 10m infected with COVID-19 in Afghanistan. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Aug. 05 (MNA) — A survey conducted by Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health suggests that some 10 million people may have contracted the novel coronavirus disease in the country.

Andrea Mazzarino (2020-08-05). Our Government Is Prioritizing Empire Over Health. thenation.com Our Government Is Prioritizing Empire Over Health…

_____ (2020-08-04). Assange Wins Award, Appears In Court Facing New Charges. popularresistance.org WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's case management hearing yesterday continued the travesty of legal due process to which he has been subjected for more than a decade. | The journalist and publisher is fighting extradition to the United States, where he faces politically motivated frame-up charges of espionage with a combined potential sentence of 175 years. He has not attended hearings via videolink for the last three months on the advice of doctors, due to his fragile state of health and the threat of exposure to coronavirus. | At the previous hearing on June 29, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser had scolded Ass…

Staff (2020-08-04). Public Health vs. Politics: White House Scrapped Nationwide COVID-19 Testing Plan to Hurt Blue States. democracynow.org As the U.S. coronavirus death toll passes 155,000, there is still no national testing program, with widespread shortages and delays hampering efforts to contain the pandemic. This continues months after President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner launched a White House task force with the goal of establishing a national testing plan. We speak to investigative reporter Katherine Eban, whose explosive Vanity Fair report chronicles Kushner's fumbling efforts and the sudden decision to abandon the project on political grounds. "The participants expected that at any moment in early April, the plan would be announced,"

Staff (2020-08-04). Headlines for August 4, 2020. democracynow.org Concerns Mount over Politicization of COVID-19 Vaccine, as Trump Lashes Out at "Pathetic" Dr. Birx, WHO Warns There May Never Be a Coronavirus "Silver Bullet", Trump Threatens to Sue Nevada After It Expands Voter Access, Leaked Video Shows George Floyd Pleaded for His Life, Cooperated with Police, Before He Was Killed, Video Shows LAPD Shot Peaceful Protester in the Head as He Held His Arms in the Air, Prosecutor Clears Arkansas Officers Who Pushed Black Man into the Ground for 6.5 Minutes Before He Died, Census Bureau Cuts Short Collection Efforts by One Month, Mexican Man Dies After Falling from Border Wall, Me…

teleSUR (2020-08-04). US: Navajo Nation Prolongs Emergency State Due To COVID Spikes. telesurenglish.net U.S. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez Monday urged his community to maintain precautionary measures against COVID-19 as health experts register over 462 Indigenous deaths due to the virus. | RELATED: | "Our health care experts urge everyone to continue to stay home and isolate as much as possible, wear masks in public, avoid large crowds, wash hands and practice social distancing," Nez briefed in a communiqu…

Staff (2020-08-04). As Prison COVID-19 Cases Rise, A Mental Health Crisis Intensifies. therealnews.com Family visits, job programs, and recreational activities have all been put on hold because of the virus.

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-08-04). Shape Yourself Into The Perfect Weapon Against The Empire. thealtworld.com Do you want to win this thing? Actually win it? | By that I mean, do you actually want to create a healthy world instead of a world where we are ruled by lying, murderous, warmongering, oppressive, ecocidal, omnicidal sociopaths? Is that something you truly, deeply want? | It's okay if you don't, but be real with yourself about it. | A large percentage of the people who get involved in revolutionary political movements and criticism of establishment power structures, if they were honest with themselves, would admit that they do so not out of a sincere desire to replace the sociopathic ruling empire with something…

RT (2020-08-04). 'We can't risk going backwards': Ireland to take very cautious approach to easing coronavirus restrictions, Varadkar says. rt.com Ireland plans to take "a very cautious approach" to easing Covid-19 restrictions in the coming weeks, Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said. | Tuesday's statement came ahead of a government meeting that will decide whether to reopen bars or ease travel restrictions, Reuters reported. | "I know that is going to come as a further blow to some of the sectors that are not being reopened, but we just can't risk going backwards," he told reporters in Dublin, following advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team.

RT (2020-08-04). 'Catastrophe': Lebanese PM pleads for help as 70+ confirmed dead & thousands injured in Beirut blasts. rt.com Lebanon's health minister has confirmed over 70 deaths following explosions in the country's capital, with thousands more injured. The blasts are under investigation with early reports linking it to stored fireworks and chemicals. | Two blasts struck the port area of Beirut, with the first hitting at around 6pm local time. The second appeared much stronger, sending a huge mushroom cloud-shaped plume of smoke and debris high overhead. | Also on rt.com | | Sp…

RT (2020-08-04). Both Israel AND Hezbollah deny devastating Lebanon blasts were a rocket attack. rt.com The Israeli Defense Force has denied responsibility for two massive explosions in Beirut that killed at least 10 people on Tuesday and injured hundreds more. Hezbollah has also denied the blasts were the result of a rocket attack. | The huge explosions took place shortly after 6pm local time in a port area of Beirut where highly explosive materials are stored, according to Lebanon's internal security chief. Local media have reported the explosion took place at a fireworks depot near the port, while Lebanese Health Minister Hamad Hassan initially said a ship carrying fireworks exploded in the port. | In a st…

RT (2020-08-04). All volunteers in Russian Covid-19 trials in good health as tests suggest new drug 'Avifavir' capable of suppressing virus. rt.com Some good news in the fight against coronavirus. A vaccine trial in Novosibirsk has reported that none of its participants have suffered side effects. Meanwhile, a new Russian medicine appears to be effective against Covid-19. | All volunteers inoculated by the Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology, in the Siberian capital, are in good health, it was announced on Tuesday. Shortly afterwards. Russian medics revealed the results of the pilot part of phases two and three of clinical trials of Avifavir, a domestic favipiravir-based drug capable of suppressing the coronavirus. | Avifavir accele…

RT (2020-08-04). Hundreds injured in Beirut explosions so powerful they turned streets into wasteland (VIDEOS). rt.com Huge explosions in the Lebanese capital Beirut have killed at least 10 people, local security and medical sources told Reuters. The blasts smashed buildings and turned the city's streets into a debris-strewn wasteland. | An explosion rang out at Beirut's port shortly after 6pm local time on Tuesday, followed immediately by another, deafening blast. The explosions obliterated buildings at the port and shattered windows several kilometers away, sending a mushroom cloud towering up into the sky. Health Minister Hamad Hassan has blamed the explosion on a fireworks accident. | As the dust settled, Hassan ordered al…

_____ (2020-08-04). Truman's 'Human Sacrifice' to Subdue Moscow. strategic-culture.org Peter KUZNICK | Sumiteru Taniguchi was one of the "lucky" ones. He lived a long and productive life. He married and fathered two healthy children who gave him four grandchildren and two great grandchildren. He had a long career in Japan's postal and telegraph services. As a leader in Japan's anti-nuclear movement, he addressed thousands of audiences and hundreds of thousands of people. He traveled to at least 23 countries. The organizations in which he played a prominent role were nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize. | Many of the more than 250,000 who lived in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 were not so…

Liu Z. (2020-08-04). Errors in Trial of Effect of Convalescent Plasma Therapy on Time to Clinical Improvement in Patients With Severe and Life-threatening COVID-19. jamanetwork.com To the Editor My coauthors and I recently undertook a review of the Original Investigation "Effect of Convalescent Plasma Therapy on Time to Clinical Improvement in Patients With Severe and Life-threatening COVID-19: A Randomized Clinical Trial," published online in JAMA on June 3, 2020. In this trial, we assessed the effect of convalescent plasma therapy in addition to standard treatment vs standard treatment alone among 103 patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), stratified by disease severity. The primary outcome was time to clinical improvement within 28 days. We found that among patients with seve…

Marlee Kokotovic (2020-08-04). House passes $740 billion defense bill amid the major struggles of the pandemic. nationofchange.org "In the midst of a pandemic—as people across the country struggle to make rent, to pay their bills, to survive a deadly disease—it should be unthinkable."

Klompas M, Baker MA, Rhee C. (2020-08-04). Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2—Theoretical Considerations and Available Evidence. jamanetwork.com This Viewpoint discusses physical and epidemiological evidence supporting droplet vs aerosol transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and concludes on balance that aerosol transmission seems unlikely to be the dominant mode of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread.

WSWS (2020-08-04). One month of the coronavirus pandemic: 7.2 million infected, 165,000 dead. wsws.org The month of July was the deadliest yet in the COVID-19 pandemic, as the disease continued to tear through the global population.

Levitt L. (2020-08-04). COVID-19 and Massive Job Losses Will Test the US Health Insurance Safety Net. jamanetwork.com With massive and rapid job losses during the current economic crisis related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the US is at risk of a historic decrease in job-based health insurance.

teleSUR (2020-08-04). Bolsonaro's Chief of Staff Tests Positive for COVID-19. telesurenglish.net In Brazil, the Chief of Staff of the Presidency Walter Braga Netto Monday tested positive for COVID-19 and became President Jair Bolsonaro's seventh minister to contract the disease. | RELATED: | "The minister is fine and asymptomatic," the Staff of the Presidency reported and explained that Braga Neto, 63, "will remain isolated until further medical tests and evaluations are performed. Until then, it will continue to fulfill…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-04). US teachers protest against reopening of schools, demand safe working conditions. peoplesdispatch.org Trade unions representing teachers and support staff from 35 school districts undertook the protest against the push to reopen in-person classes. Unions have argued that in-person classes could pose a risk to public health…

WSWS (2020-08-04). COVID-19 takes hold in Papua New Guinea. wsws.org A surge of new COVID-19 cases has been recorded in the past 14 days, threatening to overwhelm the impoverished country's ill-equipped healthcare system.

Voelker R. (2020-08-04). Breast Cancer Drug Can Be Given at Home or in the Clinic. jamanetwork.com A formulation of pertuzumab and trastuzumab that health care professionals can administer by subcutaneous injection in a patient's home instead of intravenously in an infusion center has received approval for adults with certain types of breast cancer.

teleSUR (2020-08-04). Lebanon Explosion: At Least 78 Dead and 4000 Injured in Beirut. telesurenglish.net A colossal explosion Tuesday ravaged Beirut's port area causing several casualties and widespread damage to surrounding buildings. | RELATED: | As of this hour, there have been at least 78 fatalities reported and 4000 people injured, according to the information given to Reuters by Lebanon's Health Minister Hamad Hasan. | The shock wave blew out windows and false ceilings, as a giant mushroom cloud lifted up above th…

news.un (2020-08-04). Breastfeeding link to COVID-19 is negligible, says World Health Organization. news.un.org The risk of COVID-19 infection from breastfeeding is negligible and has never been documented, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, in a call for greater support for the practice.

teleSUR (2020-08-04). The Pandemic Enhances Unequal Access to Education, UN Warns. telesurenglish.net The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Tuesday asked countries to reopen schools when local transmission of COVID-19 is under control. | RELATED: | "Countries must address the health crisis with vigorous actions so that children can return to the classrooms as soon as possible," Guterres said. | The world is facing the biggest educational recession in history with schools closed in over 160 countries. | "We need education as never b…

Lurie N, Sharfstein JM, Goodman JL. (2020-08-04). Safeguards Needed for Development of COVID-19 Vaccines. jamanetwork.com This Viewpoint lists 4 safeguards policy makers should consider before release of a COVID-19 vaccine, including ensuring effectiveness through clinical trials, providing evidence of safety, requiring informed consent before vaccination, and establishing comprehensive adverse effects monitoring systems.

_____ (2020-08-04). Racial And Ethnic Economic Inequality And The COVID-19 Pandemic. popularresistance.org The Democracy Collaborative prepared a report, created for the Healthcare Anchor Network, that looked at how racial and ethnic disparities in the economy are showing up in the COVID-19 pandemic and in the public policy response to the pandemic. The report also covers how the economic effects of the pandemic will likely impact racial and ethnic inequality. | Every passing day brings new, painful evidence of how the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting people of color in the United States.

_____ (2020-08-04). There Can Be No Equality Without A Renewal Of Employment Opportunity For All. popularresistance.org The employment opportunity that privileged the white male was much more than a job. By the 1960s, growing numbers of white men had employment that gave them steadily rising real earnings, often with decades of tenure at one organization. The "career-with-one-company" (CWOC) that had become the employment norm by the beginning of the 1960s included health insurance and a defined-benefit pension, both funded by the employee's business corporation or government agency. This white-man's world constituted the foundation for the "vast ocean of material prosperity" to which Dr. King referred.

_____ (2020-08-04). There Can Be No Equality Without Employment Opportunity For All. popularresistance.org The employment opportunity that privileged the white male was much more than a job. By the 1960s, growing numbers of white men had employment that gave them steadily rising real earnings, often with decades of tenure at one organization. The "career-with-one-company" (CWOC) that had become the employment norm by the beginning of the 1960s included health insurance and a defined-benefit pension, both funded by the employee's business corporation or government agency. This white-man's world constituted the foundation for the "vast ocean of material prosperity" to which Dr. King referred.

sputniknews (2020-08-04). CDC Warns of New Outbreak of Polio-Like Illness in Children Later This Year in US. sputniknews.com WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States has issued an alert to parents and healthcare providers for an expected outbreak of the polio-like disease acute flaccid myelitis in the next four months, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a release on Tuesday.

teleSUR (2020-08-04). Bolivia: Health Workers Go on Hunger Strike Amid Pandemic. telesurenglish.net Bolivia's Palos Blancos Health Center on Monday declared a hunger strike due to insufficient salaries, and the lack of biosecurity and medicines to treat COVID-19 patients. | RELATED: | "We have maintained the service even though we haven't been paid in months. But, we can no longer treat COVID-19 patients because of the lack of supplies and medicines," doctor Aramayo said. | The health personnel's concern has reached its limit while Bolivia's a…

WSWS (2020-08-04). Amid COVID-19 "disaster," Australian state government announces limited workplace closures. wsws.org The measures were only announced after the Victorian surge of infections had spiralled out of control, sparking fears of a collapse of the healthcare system.

Eoin Higgins, staff writer (2020-08-04). Without Urgent Action, Study Warns, Climate Crisis Could Kill as Many People as All Infectious Diseases Combined by 2100. commondreams.org "We are studying the risk of death faced by our own children." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …

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Daily Archives: August 5, 2020

2020-08-05: News Headlines