Today's News: April 03, 2020

World News

‘Robocop’ enforces coronavirus lockdown

AFP – Tunisia’s interior ministry has deployed a police robot to patrol the streets of the capital and enforce a lockdown imposed last month as the country battles the spread of coronavirus.
Known as PGuard, the ‘robocop’ is remotely operated and equipped with infrared and thermal imaging cameras, in addition to a sound and light alarm system.
In images and a soundtrack posted on the interior ministry’s website last month, PGuard calls out to suspected violators of the lockdown: “What are you doing? Show me your ID. You don’t know there’s a lockdown?”
Tunisia has been under night-time curfew since March 17 and authorities imposed stricter lockdown orders from March 22.
Since March 2, 14 people have died from coronavirus in Tunisia where 455 confirmed cases have tested positive for the disease.
The robot’s Tunisian creator Anis Sahbani told AFP the machine was first produced in 2015 essentially to carry out security patrols and it also operates autonomously through artificial intelligence.
The robot, built by Sahbani’s Enova Robotics firm, costs between 100,000-130,000 euros ($100,000-$140,000) and has been selling mostly overseas to companies for security uses.
A number of the robots have been donated to the interior ministry.
Based in the eastern city of Sousse, the company is now planning to deploy another robot in a Tunis hospital to help coronavirus patients communicate with relatives.
And a third one is being produced and should be operational by the end of April in hospitals as part of a process to determine which patients are likely infected with COVID-19.

Bodies left in streets as outbreak overwhelms Ecuador

UPI – The climbing death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, has left morgues overwhelmed, causing some bodies to be wrapped in plastic and left lying in the streets.
Other bodies lie unclaimed in the city’s hospitals and clinics as deaths outpace the city’s ability to bury COVID-19 victims.

German scientist claims doesn’t spread as easily as thought

Daily Star – A leading German scientist is casting doubt on our current understanding of coronavirus, suggesting it may not be spread as easily as we think.
Professor Hendrik Streeck, head virologist at the University of Bonn, has conducted research in the small village of Heinsberg, the site of the country’s worst Covid-19 outbreak.
Germany has a total of 79,696 cases and 1,017 deaths, while the Heinsberg area has approximately 1,302 cases and 37 deaths – huge for a population of 250,000.
But when Prof Streeck examined the home of one infected family, he found the house did not have “any live virus on any surface”, contradicting the belief that coronavirus can live on various surfaces for days.
The virus was not found on door knobs or animal fur either.

Social unrest rising in Italy; Shops forced to hand over food

Arab News – As Italy enters its fourth week under lockdown, tensions are building across the poorest southern regions of Campania, Calabria, Sicily and Puglia as people run out of food and money.
The number of checkpoints has increased nationwide to discourage people from going out. But instead of staying home as required by the government, there have been reports of shop owners being pressured to give food for free, and police are patrolling supermarkets in some areas to stop thefts.
Small but vocal crowds of unemployed have gathered in front of city halls in the south, calling for financial help to buy food.
“Give us something, it’s tough,” read a sign protesters held up in the city of Messina. Police dispersed the crowd and identified some of the demonstrators.
“They haven’t been working for weeks as everything has stopped because of coronavirus. Now they have no money left to buy food, and they don’t qualify for state aid,” said a policeman, adding that some of his colleagues gave demonstrators sandwiches and cigarettes to calm them down.
Similar scenes were witnessed in the Naples and Bari hinterland. Investigators are concerned that this could be a visible sign that the situation is heating up, and are afraid that the mafia might take advantage.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Harvard Doctor Tells White House ‘Talking And Breathing Is Spreading Coronavirus’

Infowars – The chairman of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has reported to the White House that simply talking and breathing could be spreading the coronavirus, according to new research.
Dr Harvey Fineberg, who is also a former Harvard School of Public Health dean, discussed his advice to the Trump administration with CNN, noting that aerosolized coronavirus droplets are capable of lingering in the air and infecting anyone who walks by, even hours later.
“While the current [coronavirus] specific research is limited, the results of available studies are consistent with aerosolization of virus from normal breathing,” Dr. Fineberg wrote in the letter to the White House.
“This letter responds to your question concerning the possibility that [coronavirus] could be spread by conversation, in addition to sneeze/cough – induced droplets. Currently, available research supports the possibility that [coronavirus] could be spread via bioaerosols generated directly by patient exhalation.” the letter also states.
Dr Fineberg’s comments dovetail with recent research conducted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The letter also notes that research carried out by the University of Nebraska has shown that the virus was present in rooms more than six feet away from coronavirus patients.
Dr Fineberg said that the potency of the virus in the air depends on “how much virus an infected individual puts out when breathing or talking, and also … the amount of circulation in the air.” He also noted that research suggests the virus “can remain viable and infectious” in the air for at least three hours.
“If you generate an aerosol of the virus with no circulation in a room, it’s conceivable that if you walk through later, you could inhale the virus,” Fineberg explained. “But if you’re outside, the breeze will likely disperse it.”

Florida deaths higher than numbers in official reports

Sun Sentinel – Florida’s death count from COVID-19 likely stands significantly higher than the official number, indicating the disease is taking a more severe toll than thought, according to interviews with experts and information from local officials.
The number of dead in Florida stood at 144 Thursday, according to the Florida Department of Health.

GOP senator calls for investigation into ‘mismanagement’ of strategic ventilators

The Hill- Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) is requesting an investigation into reports of “mismanagement” of ventilators in the Strategic National Stockpile amid growing demand for the equipment as the coronavirus spreads across the country.
Gardner sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, noting that the stockpile is, under federal law, supposed to allow the federal government to support states in a public health emergency.
“Troubling reports indicate that potential contracting delays and maintenance failures are contributing to a low supply of operational ventilators during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic at a time when our country desperately needs them,” Gardner wrote.
Gardner is asking for the HHS watchdog to investigate if there was a “lapse in contracts that led to a lapse in maintaining” the ventilators in the national stockpile. If so, he wants to know how long the equipment went without maintenance and if regulatory or changes from Congress are needed.
Gardner, who faces a difficult reelection race this fall, also wants to know if there was “mismanagement that led to a shortage of working ventilators or other critical medical supplies or equipment.”
Gardner’s letter comes as officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) told the House Oversight and Reform Committee that the federal government has fewer than 10,000 ventilators in its emergency stockpile and demand will soon exceed capacity.
FEMA said that there are only 9,500 ventilators in the national stockpile, and only an additional 3,200 will arrive by April 13.
President Trump recently promised that the U.S. would manufacture or procure an additional 100,000 ventilators, but most of those will not be available until late June at the earliest, according to the House report.
The New York Times reported that thousands of ventilators in the country’s stockpile are inoperable because a contract with a company tasked with maintaining the equipment lapsed last year. The contract was not given to another company until January.

New York, Kentucky Police Investigate Fake Coronavirus Testing Sites

Breitbart – Kentucky law enforcement is investigating alleged fake coronavirus testing sites in the Louisville area where customers are being charged up to $250 to get tested.
City officials are asking residents to stay away from the so-called testing sites, and Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack reiterated Wednesday that all sites must work with the state to ensure guidelines are being followed.
The Louisville Courier-Journal reports:
The sites have been in various locations around the city, including Sojourn Church in Shelby Park, as well as Wayside Christian Mission and a Marathon gas station on Broadway downtown.
…
City officials said they didn’t know about the test sites before they began operating this week, but an email indicates the city provided guidance about health reporting requirements to Edward Beighley, president of BCK Marketing, who coordinated a testing location at Sojourn Church Midtown.
…
A spokeswoman for [Louisville] Mayor Greg Fischer’s office said that the city has received calls about multiple pop-up testing sites and that police are investigating for “further review and possible action.”
“At this time, we are advising residents experiencing symptoms to seek COVID-19 testing from hospitals, health care providers or government resources,” said Jessica Wethington, a press representative for the city.
In addition to Kentucky, law enforcement in New York state is also investigating possible fake coronavirus testing sites.

Economy & Business

Payrolls drop 701,000 in March; First jobs decline since 2010

NBC – Nonfarm payrolls dropped by 701,000 in March, according to Labor Department numbers released Friday that only begin to show the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus crisis.
It was the first decline in payrolls since September 2010 and came close to the May 2009 financial crisis peak of 800,000. Some two-thirds of the drop came in the hospitality industry, particularly bars and restaurants forced to close during the economic shutdown.
That headline number reflects the count from establishments the government surveyed for its report. The household survey, which asks individual residences about their employment situation, showed a plunge of nearly 3 million.

Chaotic launch of small business lending program

Politico – Banks are warning that a $350 billion lending program for struggling small businesses won’t be ready when it launches Friday because the Trump administration has failed to provide them with the necessary guidelines and has set requirements for the loans that are unworkable.
The lenders complain that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin boxed them in with an unrealistic deadline and that the ground rules they’ve been given for the program, which is intended to deliver rapid aid to a huge number of ailing businesses, could delay the assistance for weeks or longer.

3M CEO defends company after Trump tweet: ‘We are doing everything we can’

The Hill – 3M CEO Mike Roman on Friday said the manufacturing company is doing all it can to produce masks for health workers after President Trump ripped the company’s performance on Twitter Thursday night.
“The idea that 3M is not doing all it can to fight price-gouging and unauthorized reselling is absurd. The narrative we are not doing everything we can to maximize delivery of respirators in our home country, nothing could be further from the truth,” Roman told CNN.
“We are doing everything we can to maximize our efforts to fight COVID-19 and to support health workers in the U.S.”
Roman added that the company was anxious to work with the administration and would comply with the Defense Production Act, noting that 3M planned on doubling its production in the U.S.
Roman said that 3M had increased its production by millions and that it was currently net importing into the country.
In his tweet Thursday, Trump blasted 3M, warning that the company “will have a big price to pay,” seeming to suggest that 3M was lagging in production.

Food Supply Will Be Fine During Coronavirus, FDA Says

Newsmax – The United States remains a land of plenty even in the era of coronavirus, U.S. federal health officials said Thursday.
State-by-state lockdowns may have created a rush on certain items in grocery stores — toilet paper, dry yeast, flour, rice, dried beans — but the food supply chains remain strong and shelves should soon be restocked, according to Frank Yiannas, deputy commissioner for food policy and response with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“What we’ve just experienced is an artificial rush in sudden demand. I call it the equivalent of having seven Thanksgiving holidays all in one weekend,” Yiannas said during a Thursday media briefing.
The U.S. food supply system relies on “just-in-time inventory, and they weren’t prepared for this unexpected rush in demand,” he continued.
Yiannas urged people to stick to their regular buying patterns when visiting the grocery store.
“There’s no need to hoard,” Yiannas said. “They should buy what they normally buy, a week or two of groceries, and leave some for others.”

Energy & Environment

Locust swarms gather as coronavirus curbs delay pesticides

Reuters – Delayed deliveries due to the coronavirus means East Africa will run out of pesticides soon as locusts continue to ravage crops
Coronavirus-linked flight restrictions are hampering efforts to wipe out locust swarms on the verge of devastating crops in eastern Africa, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.
The curbs have delayed deliveries of pesticides and, at the current rate of spraying, stocks in Kenya will run out within four days, Cyril Ferrand, FAO’s head of resilience for Eastern Africa, told Reuters on Thursday.
“If we fail in the current (regional) control operations, because of lack of pesticides, then we could see 4 million more people struggle to feed their families,” Ferrand said.

Science & Technology

Pandemic making Earth shake less

CNN – Once-crowded city streets are now empty. Highway traffic has slowed to a minimum. And fewer and fewer people can be found milling about outside.
Global containment measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus have seemingly made the world much quieter. Scientists are noticing it, too.
Around the world, seismologists are observing a lot less ambient seismic noise — meaning, the vibrations generated by cars, trains, buses and people going about their daily lives. And in the absence of that noise, Earth’s upper crust is moving just a little less.
Thomas Lecocq, a geologist and seismologist at the Royal Observatory in Belgium, first pointed out this phenomenon in Brussels.
Brussels is seeing about a 30% to 50% reduction in ambient seismic noise since mid-March, around the time the country started implementing school and business closures and other social distancing measures, according to Lecocq. That noise level is on par with what seismologists would see on Christmas Day, he said.

GOOGLE Releases Location Data To Help Authorities Check Lockdowns

Silicon – Location data is being released by Google in 131 countries so officials can see if people are obeying self-isolating rules
Alphabet’s Google division has on Thursday published data for 131 countries that shows whether people are obeying self-isolating and quarantine rules.
The ‘Community Mobility Reports’ from the search engine giant showed whether visits to shops, parks and workplaces dropped in March, Reuters reported.
March is when many countries around the world brought in their lock-down rules, and readers can click here to see the Google reports on their particular country.

Two U.S. state attorneys general seek info on Zoom’s privacy practices

Reuters – At least two U.S. state attorneys have sought information from Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM.O) following multiple reports that questioned the privacy and security of the videoconferencing app.
Zoom’s popularity has surged as employees at businesses, schools and millions of other organizations across the world work from home due to lockdowns imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“We are alarmed by the Zoom-bombing incidents and are seeking more information from the company about its privacy and security measures in coordination with other state attorneys general,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Boston office on Monday warned Zoom users not to make meetings on the site public or share links widely after it received two reports of unidentified individuals invading school sessions, a phenomenon known as “zoombombing”.

Health

Fauci warns there’s no ‘strong’ evidence anti-malaria drug works on coronavirus

The Hill – Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned Friday that there isn’t any “strong” evidence that an anti-malaria drug has proven effective in the coronavirus fight.
“We’ve got to be careful that we don’t make that majestic leap to assume that this is a knockout drug. We still need to do the kinds of studies that definitely prove whether any intervention is truly safe and effective,” Fauci, who is also a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said during an interview on “Fox & Friends.”
Fauci’s comments came in response to a question about a recent poll of more than 6,700 doctors in 30 countries, with 37 percent of physicians saying they “felt” that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was the most effective for treating COVID-19 as cases.
“We don’t operate on how you feel, we operate on what evidence and data is,” Fauci said, adding that it was “not a very robust study” or “overwhelmingly strong.”
Hydroxychloroquine is primarily used to treat lupus and arthritis.
“Obviously this is a good drug for the many diseases you mentioned. What we don’t want to happen is individuals who truly need the drug with a proven indication don’t have it available,” he said.
President Trump previously touted hydroxychloroquine, combined with azithromycin, as a potential game changer.

Vitamin D Helps Seniors Recover From Hip Fractures

Newsmax – After a broken hip, seniors who have sufficient vitamin D have better odds of walking, a new study finds.
The study suggests that low levels of vitamin D could limit walking, according to researcher Sue Shapses, a professor of nutritional sciences at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Nearly 300 patients undergoing hip fracture repair were assessed after surgery in terms of mobility and vitamin D levels. Those with higher vitamin D levels had higher rates of walking 30 days after surgery, according to the study.
Poorer nutritional status was associated with lower levels of mobility. But there was no connection between vitamin D levels and death rates. The study only found associations between vitamin D and mobility, and could not prove cause and effect.
Vitamin D is important for bone health. Vitamin D is in such foods as dairy products, fortified cereals and juices, dark, leafy greens and fatty fish. It’s also in vitamin pills. The body also makes vitamin D when you are exposed to sunlight.

Pet News

This Diligent Dog Has Been Delivering Groceries, Meals, and Mail to Senior Neighbor in Quarantine

Good News Network – This sweet golden retriever is showing that dogs aren’t just man’s best friend—they’re also man’s best neighbor, too.
71-year-old Renee Hellman is just one of many Colorado residents who have isolated themselves in their homes for fear of risking exposure to the novel coronavirus. Since Hellman is also particularly vulnerable to the virus because of her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, she has been quarantined inside her home in Manitou Springs for more than three weeks.
Hellman’s neighbor of 10 years, Karen Eveleth, knew that she wanted to do something to help her senior neighbor in quarantine—but she didn’t know how to offer any assistance without potentially endangering Hellman.
Not only has Sundance been delivering food and meals to Hellman, he has also been retrieving her mail from the postal box.
“I make meals for her also and Sundance brings back the empty bowls,” Eveleth told CNN. “He is a humble hero. When he hears something drops, he knows I’ve got to get that for mom because I have a bad back. He also gets the mail. I have the carrier leave the box open. Sunny has two siblings, but delivery and pick up is not in their DNA.”
With Sundance’s daily visits to cheer her up in isolation, Hellman is calling the golden retriever her “humble hero”.

Good News

Mystery Mom Has Been Leaving Out Free Bagged Lunches ‘Made With Love’ for Anyone Who May Need Them

Good News Network – An anonymous Maryland mother is being hailed for leaving out hundreds of bagged lunches for her community during the novel coronavirus shutdowns.
The unidentified do-gooder has been leaving the healthy meals on a tent-sheltered table at a busy intersection in Severna Park. Hanging from the table is a sign that reads: “For anyone who needs it … I will be leaving some healthy sack lunches on this table for you if you are hungry and need to eat. Made with love by a neighborhood mom in a clean and sanitized kitchen.”
The table has reportedly been stocked with free lunches between 11AM and 1:30PM every day for a number of weeks.
For Kimberly Gussow, a mother-of-two who has been scrimping and saving to make ends meet as she works from home, the lunches have been a much-appreciated gesture of kindness for her kids during the quarantine.
“This makes me embrace my community even more. I’m proud to live here,” Gussow told ABC News. “It’s great to show our kids that there is good in our world. It’s not just about ourselves, it needs to be about others too.”
The table even caught the eye of state Delegate Nic Kipke, who praised the labor of love on his Facebook page, saying: “Things like this really lifts my spirits! It’s great to see so many in our community doing so much to care for others during this stressful time.”