Dr. Jane Goodall on the environment and COVID-19

Having had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Jane Goodall on several occasions, I was curious about what her response would be in a July 2, 2020, story on CBS News when asked "how destruction of the environment leads to emergent diseases like Covid-19?" Dr. Goodall said this:

“We brought this on ourselves because the scientists that have been studying these so-called zoonotic diseases that jump from an animal to a human have been predicting something like this for so long. As we chop down at stake tropical rainforests, with its rich biodiversity, we are eating away the habitats of millions of animals, and many of them are being pushed into greater contact with humans.

We're driving deeper and deeper, making roads throughout the habitat, which again brings people and animals in contact with each other. People are hunting the animals and selling the meat, or trafficking the infants, and all of this is creating environments which are perfect for a virus or bacteria to cross that species barrier and sometimes, like COVID-19, it becomes very contagious, and we're suffering from it … If we carry on with business as usual, we're going to destroy ourselves"

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What do we know about the decline in deaths?

Some confusion has been evident in social media about the decline in Covid-19 deaths, even in the face of a rapid increase in infections. There are several reasons for the decline according to the New York Times. First, treatment processes are getting better and decreasing deaths. Second, older, more vulnerable people are not getting infected as much, shifting the demographics of those infected to a younger group less likely to die. The article also provides a caveat: deaths lag infections and it would not be surprising to see deaths begin to rise again in the face of recent increases in infections.

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National Geo coronavirus series

National Geographic has developed a series of articles on the coronavirus that can be read online at the links below:

• Here’s how we’ll know when a COVID-19 vaccine is ready
• Coronavirus in the U.S.: Where cases are growing and declining
• We are living in a different world’: Scenes from a drive across America
• How scientists know COVID-19 is way deadlier than the flu

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Southern U.S. states crowd top of global list of infections/million

If U.S. states were counted as countries, where would they stand in the global list of those most affected by Covid-19 in terms of infections per million population? Because some states are larger than a number of countries, this New York Times story aimed to find out. The top ten on the list shown below might surprise you. See the story for a more complete list (paywall might apply).

• Arizona – 3,300/1M
• Florida – 2,700/1M
• South Carolina – 2,300/1M
• Bahrain – 2,200/1M
• Louisiana – 2,000/1M
• Qatar – 1,800/1M
• Oman – 1,700/1M
• Alabama – 1,700/1M
• Nevada – 1,700/1M
• Mississippi – 1,700/1M

What About Masks?

Tom Hanks on Covid-19 masks: “there is a part that we can all play”

In a July 7, 2020, NBC Evening News interview, Tom Hanks was asked “does it shock you or surprise you that we are debating things like whether you should wear masks?” Hanks, one of the first celebrities to contract Covid-19, said this:

“It disappoints me. I don’t get it. I come from the generation that was still living with the credo that there is a part that we can all play in any form of national efforts. I don’t understand how something as simple as, doing as little as, wearing a mask, social distancing, washing your hands, enters into any kind of fray of whether or not it is something we should all be doing in order to take care of our city, our community and each other.”

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Mask test: Which type works best?

Speaking of masks, if we have to wear them, we should probably wear the right ones. The Mercury News provided this mask test to provide guidance.

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The right and wrong way to wear a mask

Even with the right mask, how you use it, wear it, and wash it are important. CNN put together this guide for the right and wrong way to wear your mask.

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3 lies and a truth about face masks during the coronavirus pandemic

Fortune took a look some information circulating about masks that needed clarifications. For a full description see the article.

• False - Do face mask exemption cards exist?
• False - Does the Americans with disabilities Act prohibit businesses from requiring face masks?
• False - Will wearing a face mask increase carbon dioxide levels?
• True - Face masks have proved to be one of the most effective methods of containing the coronavirus.

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What if you don’t want to wear a mask?

If you are one of those who doesn’t want to wear a mask, be aware that Qualcomm has launched OneScreen GoSafe, a COVID-19 solution that “allows users to securely scan and prevent people with elevated temperatures, or who aren't wearing masks, from entering offices, hospitals, and public spaces.” The Qualcomm-based technology is the only scanner with live video assistance for real-time entry approval, and allows secure scans in less than one second using artificial intelligence.

Our Lives

 

Do Dr. Fauci and other health specialists deal with Covid-19 like us?

Dr. Fauci and five other health specialists share how they are dealing with Covid-19 in their personal lives in this Washington Post story. Are their lives like yours?

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Your life if you work in the hamburger supply chain

On the other hand, is your life like any of the people in this Post story that work in the supply chain for high end D.C. hamburgers? From the slaughterhouse to the delivery driver, they are different lives than the one Dr. Fauci lives.

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Black and white people live in two different Americas

The disparities between white Americans and black Americans are clearly described in this Post story. Infant mortality, maternal mortality, home ownership and unemployment are some of the categories graphed for the reader. Covid-19 has underlined these discrepancies.

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Historian Ken Burns on Confederate statues

Speaking of disparities between black and white Americans, the past continues to plague us. Those who oppose bringing down the Confederate statues around the country say that they are historical, but historian Ken Burns points out in this CNN interview that most of those statues were developed in three key periods after the Civil War to keep alive pre-civil war ideals about slavery.

Solutions

Experts have concerns there might be a shortage of a promising drug

According to Science Magazine, dexamethasone, a commonly used corticosteroid, reduces death rates of COVID-19 by up to one-third. “Hoarding and speculative procurement” appear to have already started. However, the article says ”it’s probably too early to say if there will be a global shortage.” Science also explored why the dexamethasone trial is transforming Covid-19 treatment, but other trials have not.

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Chinese military approves use of Covid-19 vaccine candidate

Reuters reports that a Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by the Chinese Military Commission’s research unit and CanSino Biologics has been approved for use “after clinical trials proved it was safe and showed some efficacy.” The Ad5-nCoV is one of eight vaccine candidates approved for human trials at home and abroad and also won approval for human testing in Canada.

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What groups should be first to get a Covid-19 vaccine?

It’s clear that vaccine development is at the forefront of possible solutions to the Covid-19 pandemic. But if a viable vaccine is developed, who should be the first to get it? Science Magazine explored the issues in a June 29, 2020, story. First responders top the list, but after that, the decision gets tricky.

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What does FitBit tell us about the pandemic?

Amy McDonough of FitBit talked with Fortune about the intersection of Covid and wearable devices. "We are getting less steps. We are moving less throughout the day, but our amount of purposeful activity [exercise] is actually going up. And what that is resulting in is statistically significant decreases in things like resting heart rate."

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COVID-19 and the U.S. healthcare system: a slow-moving mass casualty event

On June 26, 2020, Science Magazine published an opinion by emergency physician Maria Dorsett, sharing her view of how Covid-19 has underscored long-standing deficiencies in the health care system. She calls Covid a “slow-moving, mass casualty incident” and that it is really a disease of intensive care units. “Emergency management is a cycle,” Dorsett says, “and we must now use the recovery phase to analyze the strengths and deficiencies of our response to begin the mitigation and planning phases for the next, unplanned hazard. We can hope that our collective memory is long, not short.”

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Fertilizer giant commits $25 million to Africa food crisis

Yara, the global fertilizer giant based in Norway is responding to a potential Covid-19-caused food crisis in Africa by has committing $25 million to provide food to a million people in the region.  According to the June 29, 2020, issue of CEO Daily, Africa is a small part of Yara’s business—less than 5%. “From an economic and reputation standpoint, it is probably better not to be in Africa at all,” CEO Svein Tore Holsether said. “But our mission is to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet.” By providing both premium fertilizer and a digital knowledge platform to as many as 250,000 smallholder farms, Holsether thinks Yara can help triple their yields and find markets for their products.