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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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Wanted in France: Thousands of Workers as Hotels and Restaurants Reopen PARIS — For six months, Christophe Thieret has been waiting for France’s grinding national lockdowns to be lifted so he can reopen his company’s restaurants and hotels in a picturesque corner of eastern France and recall the 150 employees who were furloughed months ago. But when he asked them to return for a reopening in mid-May, he faced an unexpected headache: At least 30 said they wouldn’t be coming back, leaving him scrambling to hire new workers just as he needed to swing into action. “When you close things for so long, people think twice about whether they want to stay,” said Mr. Thieret, a co-manager of the Heintz Group, which owns 11 hotels and three restaurants around the riverside city of Metz, near the border with Luxembourg. Restaurants and hotels across the country are facing the same problem. After months on furlough, workers in droves are deciding not to return to jobs in the hospitality industry. It’s a particular concern in France, which typically tops the list of the world’s most visited countries. A shortfall of perhaps as many as 100,000 restaurant and hotel workers, according to the industry’s biggest trade groups, is especially troubling because hundreds of thousands of people are looking for work after France’s worst recession in decades. Employers say it is becoming harder to lure job seekers to an industry whose future is more or less tethered to the vagaries of the coronavirus and the uncertainty of vaccine campaigns. Help-wanted signs hang in restaurant and hotel windows around the country. The missing manpower conundrum has emerged as thousands of hotels and restaurants that survived the crisis pivot toward trying to make up for an 80 percent plunge in business since last spring. The Covid-19 lockdowns have cost France’s tourism industry, a cornerstone of the economy, over 60 billion euros in lost revenue since last year. “We know we’re going to have customers again this summer — that’s not the problem,” said Yann France, the owner of La Flambée, a restaurant in the popular northern seaside city of Deauville. “The concern is that we won’t have an adequate work force at a time when we need to make up for a huge loss in sales.” Some say the problem may not be so stark, since international visitors aren’t yet flocking back to France, and job seekers, including students who need work to help make ends meet, could eventually fill any shortfall. But others say the precariousness of the businesses is the broader question. “The bigger issue is the uncertainty over the industry’s future,” said Thierry Gregoire, the owner of NT Hotel Gallery group, which owns five hotels and three restaurants around Toulouse. “Will things stay open, or could there be another shutdown because of a new virus?” For those already facing signs of a labor squeeze, it’s now clear that a generous state-subsidized furlough scheme intended to help French employers keep staff on standby has also created unexpected downsides. In the half year in which hospitality employees received 85 percent of their salaries to stay home, many have had ample time to re-evaluate their futures. “Many people are deciding they have other things to do than continue in a profession where nothing has been happening,” said Mr. Thieret, who is also a representative of France’s biggest hospitality trade organization, UMIH, the Union of Hospitality Trades and Industries. He added that thousands of other employers in the organization have reported the same recruiting difficulties. Catherine Praturlon is among those who decided to shift gears completely during the pandemic. A manager of a hotel in the Moselle region of eastern France for nearly 30 years, she had thought of doing something different but never made the leap. When the government shuttered hotels on and off for months, and travelers slowed to a trickle, the job became boring, she said. “You had no perspective on the future,” Mrs. Praturlon said. Updated May 2, 2021, 11:15 p.m. ET Instead of returning from furlough, she recently quit her job and took one in a different industry. (She said a confidentiality agreement prevented her from naming the field.) “The pandemic lit a fire under me to make that change,” she said. Restaurant and cafe owners are especially wary of losing skilled and seasonal staff as they gear up to handle an expected surge of patrons when those with open-air terraces are allowed to reopen on May 19, the first date in a graduated reopening announced this past week by President Emmanuel Macron. The government will evaluate every 15 days whether gradual reopenings in hospitality, culture, sports and related activities can continue or must be halted, depending on the trajectory of the virus. As in New York, London and other major cities where government restrictions were lifted, fed up consumers in France are ready to splurge pent-up savings on gastronomic delights and the joie de vivre denied to them for many months. France’s tourism professionals are also hoping that the imminent lifting of a yearlong ban on all but the most essential travel from the United States to the European Union, just in time for summer vacation, will draw back free-spending Americans after a long absence. The job fairs that employers typically use to fill vacancies have been put off because of a nationwide curfew and restrictions on large gatherings, making it harder to attract candidates in a sector that was already facing a labor squeeze before the pandemic. Mr. France, the owner of La Flambée, is trying to recruit a butler, a kitchen assistant and a chef de partie after some employees said they weren’t returning to work — so far to no avail. “The lack of manpower is stunning,” he said. Restaurants in the Calvados region, where La Flambée is, need to fill 3,000 to 4,000 full-time and seasonal jobs to be ready for an expected surge in customers, he added. Government subsidies have been vital to keeping businesses afloat. But they don’t necessarily guarantee that employers can protect the most skilled workers. Craig Carlson, the owner of Breakfast in America, a popular pancake restaurant in Paris, said the furlough schemes, while essential to the restaurant’s survival, had paradoxically put some of his higher-paid workers at a disadvantage. While waitstaff earning France’s monthly minimum wage of €1,539 get their full pretax salary under the furlough program, cooks and managers, who earn more, took about a 15 percent pay cut to stay home until the pancake house reopens. For one manager, a single father with two children, the reduced pay means “he’s really struggling,” Mr. Carlson said. At Mr. Thieret’s restaurants and hotels in Metz, the 30 unexpected job vacancies are not yet debilitating, since restaurant reopenings will come in stages and tourism and bookings at hotels are not likely to return to prepandemic levels quickly. Still, he said, it’s a challenge to replace employees with years and even decades of experience who decided during the pandemic that the work was no longer what they wanted. “At first people said this is nice, one or two months relaxing at home,” Mr. Thieret said. “Now, there’s a lack of long-term visibility about this industry, and some people are not so sure they want to be in it.” He is working with other hotel and restaurant owners in the area to create retraining programs, in hopes of luring new candidates. Mr. France said he and local restaurant and hotel owners were also working with unemployment offices in hopes of securing applicants in need of seasonal work to be ready for the anticipated crowds. “We’ll try to limit the damage that’s been done to our business,” Mr. France added. “But if we don’t have workers, it will be really hard.” Gaëlle Fournier contributed reporting. Source link Orbem News #France #hotels #REOPEN #Restaurants #thousands #wanted #Workers

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dipulb3 · 4 years ago

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Kerry takes to the world stage before Blinken

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/kerry-takes-to-the-world-stage-before-blinken/

Kerry takes to the world stage before Blinken

Blinken blessed and supported the trip, a State Department official told Appradab. Still, Kerry’s charge overseas to launch himself into diplomacy before Blinken makes his first trip next week led to concerns that he could overshadow the current secretary of state right out of the gate, according to department four officials.

Kerry posted photos showing him chatting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking at a European Union climate meeting, walking with EU President Ursula von der Leyen, conferring with foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and bumping elbows with senior European climate official Frans Timmermans, all in advance of a final stop in Paris where he met with President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday.

The montage underscored the unusual nature of the trip and the unusual break with protocol. While Blinken has spoken to many of these leaders by phone, Kerry met with some of the secretary of state’s counterparts face-to-face before Blinken has had a chance to — and even leaders with whom Blinken might not get formal meetings.

It also highlights what might be the Biden administration’s most unusual partnership: a former secretary of state working alongside a current secretary. The situation has the potential to boost diplomatic productivity, State Department sources say, but could also lead to confusion and awkwardness.

Differences and overlaps

Blinken, Kerry’s one-time deputy, now holds his old job as the country’s top diplomat, but Kerry’s role will involve intense interactions with foreign governments and is of similar Cabinet-level rank. Although the former secretary of state will work alongside Blinken on international outreach on climate issues, Kerry reports not to the secretary, but to President Joe Biden.

In London, Kerry also met with British government officials hosting COP26, the next annual UN meeting focused on climate issues. In Paris, he met with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and was expected to meet with Ecology Minister Barbara Pompili, Foreign Minister Yves LeDrian and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, officials told Appradab.

While Kerry and Blinken are very close, some officials fret that their personality differences and portfolio overlaps might also create a dynamic that blurs the lines between the two. Kerry has enjoyed the spotlight since his 20s and is known for his relentless pace on the global stage, while Blinken is seen as more reserved and methodical and has worked to support other officials for most of his life.

State Department officials said there was some nervousness about Kerry’s debut trip as climate envoy precisely because of his love for hitting the road and engaging in face-to-face diplomacy and his eagerness to do so. These officials cited worry in the ranks about how to manage Kerry’s drive to get out there, meet people and make appearances, and the concern he might overshadow or be seen to overshadow Blinken. And while the secretary supported Kerry’s trip, some officials close to him were irritated by it, a second State Department official said.

Asked what signal it sent to European allies to have Kerry visit before the secretary, a State Department spokesperson said that Kerry, “with the support of President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and his hosts in London, Brussels, and Paris, believes it is vital that we make substantial progress this year to confront the climate crisis. He traveled to Europe at this time because he and our partners were confident that a handful of in-person meetings could advance that progress meaningfully, including ahead of the President’s Leaders Summit on Climate next month.”

Former President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Paris Climate agreement, a global pact to fight climate change shortly after being sworn into power in 2016. The United States officially re-joined on Biden’s first day in office.

The spokesperson made clear that Kerry would be sticking to the climate issue. “Special Presidential Envoy Kerry is focused squarely on the climate change, and he makes that clear in every conversation he has,” they said.

The first State Department official told Appradab that Kerry is able to do things Blinken cannot because he can travel without a big footprint of staff — an advantage in the ongoing Covid pandemic. Another official familiar with Kerry’s travel plans said he traveled commercially and with only one aide.

But the Europe trip highlighted the fact that there is sensitivity surrounding Kerry’s role, and some kinks still need to be worked out.

The administration official familiar with the planning for Kerry’s trip said it was weeks in the making and required the normal White House and State Department approval. But some State officials felt the trip came together at the “last minute” and others were not aware that Kerry’s travel was officially approved until von der Leyen put out a statement on Friday about a call she had with Biden and mentioned Kerry was coming, one department official said.

The White House readout of Biden’s call with von der Leyen made no mention of Kerry.

After weeks of video meetings, Kerry felt like he needed to see his counterparts in person, particularly because of the upcoming April 22 climate summit hosted by the Biden administration and then the “sprint to Glasgow” for the UN Climate Change Conference in November, the administration official said.

Trip caused some stress

Another official noted that faced with Kerry’s drive to travel, it is hard to say no to a former secretary of state. A third State Department official said that staff think that “as Blinken starts to travel more it will be fine,” but like others, acknowledged that this first trip caused some stress.

That’s partly because in diplomacy there are always the important considerations of protocol and rank as meetings are arranged, particularly at the beginning of a new administration.

One official said Kerry’s former standing, expertise and well-known love of chewing over policy questions could mean he gets called on to answer questions about issues that are no longer his purview, but Blinken’s.

“Who knows what he’ll say when he’s out there if someone asks him about non-climate issues: Iran, or the GOP, or insurrection or whatever,” this official speculated.

The State Department spokesperson, perhaps anticipating these concerns, made clear that Kerry would be sticking to the climate issue. “Special Presidential Envoy Kerry is focused squarely on the climate change, and he makes that clear in every conversation he has,” they said.

For State Department officials, Kerry’s enthusiasm to get things done dovetails with the challenge of managing European allies’ eagerness to engage in personal diplomacy with Biden administration officials after four strained years with Trump. “Kerry has all of these contacts who find out he’s coming and then want to meet with him,” said the second official.

Under Trump, diplomacy became less disciplined, as White House officials and the former President’s associates conducted outreach while sidestepping an often marginalized State Department. Some foreign officials, now familiar with that ad hoc approach, might see Kerry as another avenue to reach Biden and convey messages or requests through him instead of the more proper route of speaking through Blinken.

In Paris, French officials were lining up to see Kerry. “All I can guess is that the French suppose he is coming with Blinken’s blessing, so they will meet with him,” said a fourth State Department official. “I imagine the French are thrilled to have an interlocutor on the ground,” said this official. “While they might prefer for protocol reasons that it be (the Secretary), they will go forward on the assumption that everyone is playing nicely.”

‘Thrilled’

One specific protocol concern is that Kerry knows France’s Macron and the UK’s Johnson well, but ordinarily wouldn’t necessarily be granted a formal appointment with them, officials said.

Even Blinken would not normally get a formal meeting with the French President or British prime minister because protocol is that the secretary of state meets with his or her counterpart, the foreign minister. What traditionally happens on these visits is that officials in the State Department and Foreign Ministry arrange for the prime minister to make a seemingly impromptu “drop by” visit.

That is precisely what happened in the UK, where Kerry became the first Biden Cabinet official to pay a visit to London to mark the “special relationship.” Kerry tweeted that during his meeting with COP26 President Alok Sharma, he had a “surprise visit” from Johnson and signaled future diplomacy and travel ahead. “Only eight short months until Glasgow,” Kerry said, “thrilled to have both these leaders as strong partners in the work ahead.”

It wasn’t clear how France handled Kerry’s meeting with Macron, but the climate envoy emerged from their conversation and told reporters that the US was “back to being partners.”

On the 7th floor, where the secretary and his senior staff have offices, Kerry is seen as potentially powerful force multiplier for Blinken, who could help make the secretary and US diplomacy more effective.

“It certainly helps things that they are close friends,” a source told Appradab.

Blinken, Kerry and their teams talk regularly because climate issues are threaded throughout the Biden administration’s approach to foreign policy, this source said, and dealing with climate change is a central administration priority.

“Secretary Blinken recognizes the importance of the US being engaged on this and that is why he, from the start, has been a champion of this office and of Secretary Kerry in this role,” said the official. “He has confidence that Secretary Kerry can make progress.”

Appradab’s Zahid Mahmood in Coventry and Pierre Bairin in Paris contributed to this report

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architectnews · 4 years ago

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Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners sets up Paris office as "direct result" of Brexit

Architecture studio Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners has announced it is setting up a European office in Paris to win work in the EU following Brexit.

Stephen Barrett, the partner responsible for France at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP), describes establishing a Paris office as "essential" for continuing to work in France and the European Union following the "absolute catastrophe" of Brexit.

Although the studio has been working in France for 50 years with high-profile projects including the Centre Pompidou, European Courts of Human Rights in Strasbourg, a terminal at Lyon Airport and an archive for the Louvre, it has never had a permanent office in the country.

The studio, which was founded by Pritzker Prize-winning architect and high-tech architecture pioneer Richard Rogers, is now establishing one as "a direct result of the impact of Brexit and to form a gateway to working in Europe."

Working in EU from London "no longer possible"

"For years we've been working happily in France from London," Barrett told Dezeen. "Basically that's no longer possible."

"Suddenly there is a sense that clients are going to be very much more cautious about employing UK-based architects, that meant we needed to formalise a number of things that we didn't need to formalise before," he continued.

Top: RSHP is opening an office in Paris. Above: Stephen Barrett

Barrett doesn't expect Brexit to have an impact on its current workload, which includes a masterplan for the Montparnasse area of Paris, but expects its Paris office will be needed to win future work in the EU.

"We've still got lots of ongoing work in France that I don't think that will be affected because contracts are in place," he explained. "It's about looking forward. Paris for us is going to be a bridge. It can be our European base."

"It was seamless. But it's not anymore."

Previously the idea of a French office was dismissed by the studio as the city is close to London and doing business in the country was relatively simple.

However, potential issues with the recognition of qualifications and insurance mean that doing work in the EU has become more complex.

RSHP is working on several projects in France including a masterplan in Montparnasse

"There was a certain hesitation about creating a base elsewhere," said Barrett.

"We've done it in Shanghai, we've done it in Sydney because those are places far enough away, but, you know, Paris is two hours away. It was seamless. But it's not anymore."

More studios to establish EU offices

RSHP is one of several studios planning to establish offices within the EU. Last month Waugh Thistleton founder Andrew Waugh told Dezeen that his studio was planning to establish a studio in either Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Milan or Berlin.

Nina Tolstrup, founder of east London design firm Studiomama, also recently told Dezeen she was considering setting up a studio within the EU.

Centre Pompidou is one of the studio's high-profile French projects. Photo courtesy of RSHP

Barrett expects several other studios will follow suit and open European outposts.

"Anecdotally, we hear a massive push for people trying to register in France and seeking advice," he said.

"I think there will be a number of factors, but many people who may have worked in Europe before will be seeking to establish more formal connections and roots there."

Brexit – a portmanteau of the words Britain and exit – is the name given to the UK's departure from the EU following the June 2016 referendum.

The country officially withdrew from EU on the 31 January 2020 with a transition agreement keeping the UK in the European Single Market until 31 December 2020.

Read the full interview with Barrett below:

Tom Ravenscroft: How is Brexit impacting RSHP?

Stephen Barrett: I think a lot of architects by profession and by outlook probably weren't in favour of Brexit, and I'm one of those who, by birth and by marriage, is very much European and very much saw the border across the channel as being a transparent border. For me, Brexit is an absolute catastrophe, both kind of socially and philosophically, but actually professionally as well.

It's not neutral in its impact. It hasn't manifested itself yet, but I definitely think that there are going to be issues.

The sudden disappearance of mutual professional recognition is something that is going to have an impact on business going forward. It's very striking if you look at the French equivalent of ARB, the Ordre des Architectes, they have a list of countries they recognise qualifications from and obviously the UK is disappeared from that

I think the recognition of qualifications is going to become something that is going to be relevant. And getting things like professional indemnity insurance across Europe is going to become very much more complicated if you don't have an office, and you don't have architects who are registered in a European country.

Tom Ravenscroft: Given that, what are the main reasons you are establishing a French office?

Stephen Barrett: Essentially, in the past 12 years, we've built quite a lot of French business. Some of that's been by design, some of that just been by circumstance.

But suddenly there is a sense that clients are going to be very much more cautious about employing UK-based architects, that meant we needed to formalise a number of things that we didn't need to formalise before.

So quite a lot of time and administration et cetera obviously, maybe not as much as exporting shellfish or whatever. But just as frustrating given that none of that was required just a few weeks ago.

Tom Ravenscroft: Why are you opening the office now?

Stephen Barrett: I was struck by reading your interviews on Brexit that architects said the impact of Brexit was limited? To us, it doesn't feel limited.

We've still got lots of ongoing work in France that I don't think that will be affected because contracts are in place. It's about looking forward. Paris for us is going to be a bridge. It can be our European base.

I think there was a certain hesitation about creating a base elsewhere. We've done it in Shanghai, we've done it in Sydney because those are places far enough away, but, you know, Paris is two hours away. It was seamless. But it's not anymore.

Tom Ravenscroft: You believe it will be important to winning European work in the future?

Stephen Barrett: It's almost essential. Now, interestingly enough, we also have a number of clients who are beginning to think of transferring some of their focus from London to Paris, and maybe also Frankfurt and Berlin or other cities. Paris has already benefited from an influx of investment from London and seeking opportunities.

We want to be in a place to benefit from that. And I think there are certain aspects of our approach, which historically have been very, you know, very much appreciated in France.

Tom Ravenscroft: So it's fair to say the office wouldn't be opening without Brexit?

Stephen Barrett: That's true. For years we've been working happily in France from London. And basically that's no longer possible. As I, as I say underlying this, we're taking that as a very positive opportunity. But there's a double edge to it.

I think it's going to be interesting to see what the attitude is towards the UK and to architects based in the UK bearing in mind that we had a great reputation and we were sought after. That's gonna be interesting going forward.

Tom Ravenscroft: Do you think that UK architects may have a reduced standing in Europe?

Stephen Barrett: It's interesting, at the same time as being distinctly British, London was also very international. There are historical trends, like the rise of the Scandinavians for instance, that will continue. But whereas people might have thought of setting up a base in London, like Bjarke Ingels did, will that be the same going forward? You know, will London be seen as quite the same kind of accommodating and inclusive hub?

Tom Ravenscroft: Does the opening of a Paris office inevitably mean the UK office shrinks?

Stephen Barrett: Fair question. But no. We have anecdotes of satellite offices opening in Paris and growing incredibly quickly. I don't think it's an either-or. I think it's complimentary. I mean, obviously, we seek growth and the success of the Paris office, but we never saw growth for growth's sake.

I think the dynamic between the London studio and Paris will be a very close one. In the past, we kind of thought, well, it's not necessary, because we're so close. Now it's kind of an affirmation of confidence but also, having people on the ground has become even more of a necessity.

Tom Ravenscroft: So the move is also symbolic, to make a statement to French clients or European clients that you're still in Europe?

Stephen Barrett: Absolutely we believe that, we believe in the work, we believe in the continent.

Tom Ravenscroft: Do you think that other studios will follow and open up European offices?

Stephen Barrett: I definitely think so, whether it's Paris or elsewhere. People have talked about links with Spain, we know people in Milan, obviously Chipperfield in Germany. There are a range of bases. The particularity of Paris is its proximity by train to London.

We definitely believe the UK will thrive going forward. There may be a difficult patch ahead, but again, it's not contradictory, it's more complimentary.

Tom Ravenscroft: So we will hear about other studios opening offices soon?

Stephen Barrett: Anecdotally, we hear a massive push for people trying to register in France and seeking advice. I think there will be a number of a number of factors, but people who may have worked in Europe before who will be seeking to establish more formal connections and roots there.

Main image is by Yann Caradec.

The post Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners sets up Paris office as "direct result" of Brexit appeared first on Dezeen.

#Architecture – Dezeen

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covid19updater · 4 years ago

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COVID19 Updates: 10/15/2020

Belgium: Belgium: 8,271 new cases.131% increase on last Thursday (3,577);

Czech Republic: Czech Republic reports nearly 10,000 new coronavirus cases, biggest increase on record - New cases: 9,544* - Positivity: 27% - In hospital: 2,678* (+175) - ICU: 518* (+51) - Deaths: +66* * = record

Wisconsin: Wisconsin reports coronavirus hospitalizations reach 1,000 for the first time - New cases: 3,107 - Positivity rate: 21.4% - In hospital: 1,017 (+58) - ICU: 246 (+3) - Deaths: +28

Germany: Germany has agreed to extend coronavirus measures amid a surge in new cases. "We are much closer to a second lockdown than we might want to believe," the leader of Bavaria state says

World: How your blood type can increase your risk of dying from coronavirus, studies warn LINK

UK: Hospitals in Liverpool have 90% of their intensive care capacity taken up by Covid patients and wards are almost at the level of occupancy at the peak of the epidemic, an expert in outbreak medicine has warned. Prof Calum Semple from the University of Liverpool told BBC Breakfast that he was predicting "quite a dire situation within a week or so" for the city "We’re not even into winter yet and the system is stressed by so many cases," he said. Many NHS staff are off work due to sickness and burnout and the region also faces pressure on other services such as education, fire services, food and fuel deliveries due to illness.

UK: Millions of people in London will face tougher Covid restrictions from Saturday onwards, moving from Tier 1 to Tier 2, local MPs have been told. LINK

Czech Republic: Czech Republic building field hospital in Prague amid surge in coronavirus cases. Hospitalizations have risen 160% in 2 weeks, or 778% from last month LINK

Europe: Central Europe, Spared in the Spring, Suffers as Virus Surges LINK

China: China fires 2 health officials following new virus outbreak LINK

Poland: Poland reports 8,099 new #COVID19 cases, setting a new daily record, along with 91 new deaths

UK: UK Test and Trace weekly update: In the past week 216,627 People Were Identified As Coming Into Close Contact With Someone Who Had Tested Positive. Only 62.6% Were Reached.

Switzerland: Switzerland: 2,613 new cases. 123% increase on last Thursday (1,172)

Austria: Austria quarantines the whole region around Salzburg.

US: Cancel Thanksgiving? Fauci warns Americans may need to ‘bite the bullet’ LINK

World: Infectious Diseases Society of America: Promoting the concept of 'herd immunity'... as an answer to the COVID-19 pandemic is inappropriate, irresponsible and ill-informed. LINK

Missouri: Shortage of staff leads Missouri to downsize women's prison in Vandalia LINK

US: Berks store dealing with national canning supply shortage LINK

US: US national positivity rate for COVID-19 tests jumps to 6% LINK

Missouri: #Missouri announces an all-time State high of new #Covid19 cases, of 3,357 (old record 3,023)

France: French PM, Castex: 46% Of Hospital Beds In Paris Now Occupied By Covid Patients

France: 15 Oct - 08:18:13 AM [RTRS] - FRANCE'S INTERIOR MINISTER DARMANIN SAYS 12,000 POLICEMEN WILL ENFORCE CURFEW FROM SATURDAY

Germany: Germany Health Minister, Jens SPAHN: GERMANY AT `TIPPING POINT,' COULD LOSE CONTROL OF VIRUS

Germany/Czech Republic: Germany receives the request for admission of Czech intensive care patients. The Czech Republic has contacted German health authorities as it experiences a very large increase in severe cases of # COVID19.

Ireland: Nationwide ban on home visits imposed while Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal moved to Level 4 LINK

Netherlands: NEW: Netherlands reports 7,833 new coronavirus cases, biggest one-day increase on record - In hospital: 1,526 (+51) - ICU: 313 (+12) - Deaths: +29

World: Overactive Immune Cells Linked to Severe COVID-19 LINK

France: NEW: France bans all private parties at public venues, including weddings, amid surge in coronavirus cases - AFP

Vietnam: All entrants must be placed under medical surveillance for at least 28 days to contain COVID-19 LINK

Europe: PRES. OF EU COMMISSION VON DER LEYEN TWEETS: I HAVE JUST BEEN INFORMED THAT A MEMBER OF MY FRONT OFFICE HAS TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 THIS MORNING. I MYSELF HAVE TESTED NEGATIVE. PRES. OF EU COMMISSION VON DER LEYEN IS IN SELF-ISOLATION.

US: Biden campaign says two staffers test positive for Covid. Neither was in contact with Biden or Harris.

Wisconsin: ‘This is slowly grinding us into dirt’: An ER nurse reflects on the relentless pandemic LINK

New York: ‘Diamond Sweet 16’ Party Leaves 37 Infected and 270 in Quarantine LINK

Alabama: University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, AD Greg Byrne test positive for COVID19. LINK

Florida: Florida coronavirus: 3,356 new infections, 141 more residents dead LINK

Italy: #BREAKING #Italy has registered 8,804 new #coronavirus infections over the past 24 hoursת the highest daily tally since the start of the country's outbreak and up from 7,332 yesterday

Europe: Record infection figures in Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland are adding to fears that Europe is running out of chances to get a grip on the coronavirus pandemic. Many cities in France have a curfew and Londoners face new travel restrictions.

World: UNITED AIRLINES CEO SAYS EXPECTS BUSINESS DEMAND TO RETURN TO "NORMAL" AROUND 2024 - CONF CALL

World: US and European stocks drop as Covid cases accelerate LINK

Massachusetts: Massachusetts restaurants heading into hibernation until spring LINK

Poland: #BREAKING Polish PM announces nationwide partial lockdown amid record virus spike

France: 30,621 cases of #coronavirus in 24 hours in #France, which becomes the first country in # Europe to exceed the threshold of 30,000 infected in one day. It's a new all-time record.

Op/Ed (World): October 15th, 2020. The update that I have planned, but didn't wanted to make. Some excerpts from previous update, on October 10th.: "Compiling all the numbers, from testing capacity, number of cases, asymptomatic ratio, Europe today is on comparable levels to Europe at the peak of the Spring wave." "What is going to happen in the next 6 months, is influenced, in no particular order, by the following factors : -political decision to avoid full lock-downs -the start of the cold season (especially less sunlight, temperature drop not as much important) in Northern Hemisphere. -disbelief in the virus -strong belief in conspiracy theories -inability of westerners to face bad times, and inability for behavioral changes." "There will be no full lock-downs by the end of this month." "Most hospitals ICUs, across Europe, will be full by November. By the end of October, about 5% of the general population will contract the virus, the rest of 20% will contract the virus after October. While most cases will benefit from ICU treatment this month, virtually everyone else in November in December, will not." "Again, this is just numbers. Math. It cannot predict human reaction to such a catastrophe. And what it cannot predict is if we will only get to 20-25% infected people, or more...because it can easily be more. The longer full lock-downs are avoided, the more people will get infected, the faster hospitals will get full, and the more sick and dead we will have. The U.S. is 3 weeks behind Europe. What is in Europe now, it will be in the U.S. at the end of October. And this is where I think we are heading." Looking at U.K.'s Tier 3 scenario, Macron's address to the nation, Netherlands so called "hard measures" and whole bunch of leaders arguing in the favor of avoid full lock-downs at all price, facing a catastrophe on par or even worse then Spanish Flu is now reality. October 15th is the date for "make or break", as I called it. The date when I expected to clearly see what was the path chosen by our leaders. Many times before I said that my model and my predictions are based on human stupidity, and on politicians choosing the worst possible option.They did it again. They chose the worst possible option : betting on saving the economy and let the virus spread, in the hope that "it won't be that bad". So, let's see HOW BAD can it get, and let's see if it will actually get THAT BAD. We cannot rely on the official numbers of cases and deaths. We can only rely on the official number of hospitalizations and ICU usage. But I am not going to talk about any of the above. What I am going to talk about is the official data on EXCESS deaths, from January until mid-September 2020. The number of excess deaths can overwhelmingly be attributed to the current crisis : both deaths caused BY the virus and BECAUSE of the virus, due to hospitals being overwhelmed. The data I used is from several European countries and the U.S. The selected European countries for analyzing the excess deaths data are : Spain, Italy, France with England & Wales., as the worst hit countries in Europe, Germany (due to their having the best medical system in Europe for a pandemic), Sweden (as the love child of WHO) and Switzerland (as the country who had a negative factor of excess deaths) Why haven't I selected other countries in Europe? Simply because we are facing the scenario of no full lock-downs, which means that most important hospitals (by bed and ICU capacity) will be overwhelmed, and the data from Italy, Spain, France and most of the U.K. for excess deaths is the most reliable. However, not all hospitals will be overwhelmed, and there is still a lot of population living outside major urban areas, so I chose to add Germany to the pool as well. Adding Switzerland was because even if it is a tourist and business destination, they managed a negative growth in excess deaths, as well as adding to the total general population to get to a number, for Europe, of almost 50% of the entire population. The U.S. was selected because it is a mixture of social, political, faith, etc., it is the biggest western country in the world, and faced a whole bunch of various measures all over their nation, from full lock-downs to no measures at all but some mask recommendations. I did not chose to add any other country, for the obvious reason that their data is highly unreliable or doesn't even exists, like the entire African continent, the whole of India and China, Latin and South America. I did not put South Korea in the pool, because of a very simple reason : they excess deaths are a negative 60%, which I am sorry, but it is BS. Anyway, on to the actual numbers. Please bear in mind that the numbers you will read are, in the first part, the best case scenario, and in the last part, the worst case scenario. I will let each and everyone of you to chose to believe any of them, or none of them. After calculating the excess deaths, for every week, in the selected countries, the number of excess deaths, compared to the normal death rate, is 9.4%., for a population of 663 million people, 328 million in the U.S. and 335 million in the selected 7 countries in Europe. These 7 selected countries represent roughly half of the European continent (except Russia). Going further, the weekly number of deaths in the previous years, are 57,000 for the U.S. and 121,000 for Europe, with half of those for the selected 7 countries, so 60,500 weekly deaths, in previous years. The number are similar, because U.S. and Europe are virtually the same type of populations and political organizations. To make things easier to calculate, the weekly deaths, per 100,000 people, in previous years, was 17.2 in the U.S. and 18.05 in Europe (except Russia), resulting in a median number of 17.775 deaths per 100,000 people, in Europe (except Russia) and the U.S. The excess deaths, being 9.4%, when applied to 17.775 deaths, per week, per 100,000 people, in the previous years, results in the golden number (which will be the base for what we can expect to happen without full lock-downs) : 1.67 excess deaths per week, per 100,000 people, in the U.S. and Europe (except Russia), in the first 37 weeks of 2020. 1.67 excess deaths, per week, per 100,000 people in a population of 663 million (U.S.+ 7 selected European countries). Next, I made a split, in groups, of most world population, as it follows : U.S. + Canada + Europe + Russia, in Group A. India and the entire African continent in Group B. China, as a separate entity. Latin and South America in Group C. I did not consider Japan, SK, Taiwan and Singapore in my calculations, because these countries are not relevant in the equation. They are testing whether you like it or not, they lock-down anything and everything the second they find a case, they have a population that understand what is going on and abides to the rules. Very different approach to the pandemic, since the start. The countries in Group A experienced the 1.67 deaths / week / 100,000, in the first 37 weeks of 2020. China, even if being the most aggressive in lock-downs, they faced the same overwhelmed hospitals and the scarcity of medical care and resources. Still, they most likely fare better then Group A countries, but not much better. Most likely, China's golden number is 1.6 excess deaths / week / 100,000 people, in the first 37 weeks of 2020. Group B. India and Africa. I can only make an educated guess here, considering that, first, in terms of contagion, they are way worse them Group A countries and China, and secondly, in terms of medical care, generally speaking, they are MUCH worse the Group A countries and China. I will be on the optimistic side here, and consider that the golden number for Group B (India and Africa) is twice the number of Group A and China, somewhere around 3.25 excess deaths / week / 100,000 people, in the first week of 2020. Group C (Latin and S.America) are most likely about 50% worse then Group A countries. The golden number for Group C is probably 2.4 excess deaths / week / 100,000 people. Again, these are the optimistic numbers. We all know that India and Africa are much worse then just twice the U.S. and Europe, and Latin and South America are most likely higher then just 50% worse then U.S. and Europe. Regardless, we now have something that we can work with, even if it on the low end of the spectrum. After making all the calculation, for each Group, in the first 37 weeks of 2020, we registered 5,555,309 extra deaths, for a total population of 6,149,000 people, as it follows : 687,719 for Group A (1.113 billion people) 824,656 for China (1.393 billion people) 1,462,240 for Africa (1.216 billion people) 1,626,982 for India (1.353 billion people) 953,712 for Latin & S.America (1.074 billion people) Middle East and South East Asia are similar to Latin & S.America golden number, and their population represents almost the rest until 7.8 billion. However, Japan, SK, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia and NZ are having a positive effect on the golden number for the rest of the world population (1.651 billion people), lowering it to roughly 2 excess deaths / week / 100,000 people, which gives us the next number : 1,221,740 for Middle East, S.E. Asia, and the rest. In the first 37 weeks of 2020, the world registered, at best, around 6,777,049 excess deaths, deaths that are almost all caused by the virus, or because the medical crisis created by the virus. Ok, so, we have this 6.777 million excess deaths in the first 37 weeks of 2020. But how many people got the virus? According to various CDC entities and WHO, 10% of the world population contracted the virus. My estimate is that closer to 15% of the world population contracted the virus. My model is taking into consideration the start of the pandemic in November 2019. WHO and various CDCs, January 2019. Most likely, the reality is that around 12% of the world population contracted the virus in the first 37 weeks of 2020. And that is 936 million people. Now we have what we can say, with high degree of confidence, an educated guess of what the INITIAL part of the pandemic did to us : 6.777 million dead for 936 million people : 0.72% excess death rate (caused by the virus and the overwhelmed hospitals). Before I go any further, I want you all to understand that the above number is highly unlikely (India, Africa, Latin & S. America, S.E. Asia, former soviet republics, had it worse then what I assumed), and the reality is that we were at roughly 1% excess death rate for the first 37 weeks of 2020, which is over 9 million extra deaths. All of the above under a world-wide lock-down of 2 months, at the BEGINNING of the pandemic, and the END of winter season. This is highly important to understand what is coming for the world. This is the first part of the update. I know you all are now making scenarios, based on this 1% excess death rate, applied to 7.8 billion people, and the result is 78 million dead, which is, mathematically, economically and sociologically, not that bad. WW2 killed 3% of the world population. Spanish Flu also 3% of the world population...so, 1% is not that bad, right? WRONG. If by some miracle, we want to keep this 1%, we will need another 7 YEARS (until we get to 80% contagion), each year with 2 world-wide full lock-downs of 2 months each in Spring and Winter. Clearly, we won't do this. And even if we WANT to do this, we can't...because this is all based on the INITIAL part of the pandemic. We are past that, and we can't go back. Ok, onto the second part of the update. What is in the "store" next? And by next, I mean the next 12 months, until October 2021. We won't have a vaccine. We will have better treatments, but they won't make a dent in what is coming, because the governments CHOSE the path of no full lock-downs. To understand what we are facing, we have to go back to excess deaths, but this time we will look at the excess deaths in the worst hit countries, and among those, to the areas where the hospitals got overwhelmed, because this is what we will experience, if no full lock-downs. The excess deaths in the first 37 weeks of 2020 represented a median number. The golden number was also a median number. Those numbers only helped us to see what HAD HAPPEN. To see what WILL happen, is to see the excess death number in the span of 4 weeks of hardest hit areas in the Spring (Italy, Spain, U.K. and France). The above areas registered an excess death of 100% and OVER (Lombardy and Madrid up to 400% excess deaths). It is unwise to apply a 400% excess death rate, to the entire world, just because of Lombardy and Madrid. But a 100% excess death rate, registered across Spain, Italy, France, the U.K. and NYC, is more then realistic. If we do that, and I see no reason not to, since there is no plan for full lock-downs, we no longer talk about 9.4% excess death rate, or 1.67 excess deaths / week / 100,000 people. We are talking about roughly 9 times this number. I have always said that overwhelmed hospitals will cause 10 times more dead then the virus itself does. Still, this is the correct number only after the entire population gets sick, and we don't know when this will happen. To be more precise in the evaluation, we have to lower the excess deaths of 15.3 (for Europe and the U.S.) to a more realistic number, which is about half, considering that metro areas will actually face such excess deaths, and the metro areas count for roughly half the population of the world. So, the golden number for what is coming, is roughly 7.8 excess deaths / week / 100,000 people, for the next 22 weeks, up to April 2021. This is a median number, and the peak will see mush higher excess deaths, then the upward and downward slopes. But overall, this is what we are going to experience in the next 22 weeks : 7.8 excess deaths / week / 100,000 people, all cause by the virus and because of overwhelmed hospitals. If we consider the population of Europe, this will mean roughly 43,680 excess deaths per week, from November until April 2021, or a total of 873,600 dead in 20 weeks, or roughly 1.4% of the population killed by the virus or lack of medical care. Same will be for the U.S., 1.4% of the population killed by the virus or lack of medical care. But that is just for November to April 2021, to a second wave that is SIMILAR to the first wave...which clearly won't be the case. The second wave, in the absence of full lock-downs will be at least twice as big, if not 3 times as big as the first one. We're talking 20 weeks here, not 6 weeks, as it was in the Spring. We're talking a virus widespread much higher then the spring. We have no idea how many people will contract the virus by April, but with lock-downs we got to a 5% in the spring, in 6 weeks. How many will get it in the next 20 weeks? 15% is a MINIMUM. My own model shows 20% to 25% of the population in the northern hemisphere will get the virus by April, if no full lock-downs. The treatments won't matter, at all...if people cannot be treated, since most hospitals will get full by the end of this months, across Europe. When I said that we can potentially see more dead then WW2, I wasn't joking. The official death count from the virus is 1.1 million. The excess deaths in the first 37 weeks of 2020 are over 9 million. That is a 1% population loss, in reality, during the first wave, after a lock-down, with a virus spread much smaller then it is now. We will EASILY get to a 2% population loss, in the next 22 weeks, and another 1% by October 2021. And this is a scenario where only 20-25% of the population gets the virus by April 2021, and another 10% by October 2021. We would not even be HALF the way to curb this pandemic in October 2021. I can't even quantify what is going to be when the peak will hit, in mid-November. My mind cannot comprehend that the governments chose this path. The numbers are WORSE then Spanish Flu. I am unable to visualize what the impact will be. But we will see it. We will live it. The human loss of life will be insane. The number of people out of workforce in the next months will be tremendous. The economic impact of such a shortage of workforce will be much bigger then a 4 month full lock-down, and this is just people getting SICK...not those that will see their workplace shut down all of a sudden, because even if we won't full lock-down, every workplace with cases WILL BE shut down. I hope I am wrong, my math is stupid, and based on wrong assumptions. U.S. resurgence, U.S. number of epicenters, Brazil plateau, Europe second wave, schools impact, Eastern Europe being much harder hit now,...all of those things I have predicted to happen WEEKS and sometimes MONTHS before they did. Please choose to believe what you want to believe. Hope that I am wrong. Hope that even if I am right, the society will get past the next months in one piece, because I have no idea how people will react to what is coming. It can get very bad, very quick, in less then a month from now. It will probably happen. God help us.

Russia: NEW - People will not be allowed into public transit in Moscow without wearing a mask and gloves, TASS reports

Texas: DALLAS COUNTY REVERTS BACK TO HIGHEST RISK LEVEL LINK

Texas: NORTH TEXAS COVID 19 MODEL PREDICTS MORE THAT 900 NEW CASES A DAY BY NEXT WEEK LINK

Florida: Palm Beach School District Withholds Morikami Park Elementary COVID Infection LINK

Spain: Spain:13,318 new cases, +140 dead New hospital admissions: +1,052

World: Breaking: WHO SPECIAL ENVOY FOR GLOBAL COVID-19 RESPONSE DR DAVID NABARRO: “THIS VIRUS ISNT GOING TO GO AWAY”

Georgia: Falcons shut down facility after 2nd player tests positive for COVID-19 LINK

World: Retinal involvement and ocular findings in COVID-19 pneumonia patients LINK

Connecticut: State’s First COVID Recovery Center Opens LINK

World: Building Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic LINK

US: NFL: 49ers pass rusher and Hall of Famer Fred Dean dies at 68, reportedly of COVID19 LINK

US: US SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MCCONNELL: IF A FRESH COVID-19 RELIEF PACKAGE IS NOT PASSED BEFORE THE ELECTION, IT WILL BE PASSED AFTERWARDS.

Idaho: In Idaho, children as young as 5 have become ill will COVID-19, and with the reopening of schools the numbers keep going up. LINK

World: REMDESIVIR HAS LITTLE EFFECT ON COVID-19 MORTALITY, WHO STUDY SAYS- FT

Washington: Seattle-area man is the third person in the U.S. confirmed to have been infected twice with coronavirus LINK

Texas: El Paso prepares for influx of virus deaths by adding mortuary refrigerators LINK

World: Canadian Study Shows Over 75% Of Ex-COVID-19 Patients Have Lasting Health Problems LINK

Europe: Covid-19 cases hit records in Europe, surpassing the United States LINK

Germany: Germany reports 7,058 new coronavirus cases, biggest one-day increase on record - @risklayer - In hospital: 3,167 est. (+153) - ICU: 659 (+55) - Deaths: +39

World: Risk of coronavirus exposure on commercial aircraft ‘virtually non-existent’ – even if they’re FULL – according to a Department of Defense study carried out on United planes LINK (That is, if you are wearing a mask)

New Mexico: NM’s virus spread ‘on fire’ LINK

Texas: LUBBOCK DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO SHUTTING DOWN LINK

Arizona: Rising Covid cases leave Arizona ‘headed toward exponential growth,’ expert warns LINK

Texas: Over 130 Members Of North Texas High School Band In Quarantine After Positive COVID-19 Tests LINK

World: Third of newborns with Covid infected before or during birth – study LINK

Canada: Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau says border won't reopen until US gains control of COVID-19 LINK

Florida: Clay County school bus driver who planned to retire dies after contracting COVID-19. LINK

Switzerland: Finger pointed at Swiss yodelling 'superspreader' concert LINK

New Jersey: Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says he spent 7 days in ICU before recovering, urges people to take coronavirus seriously - CNN

Canada: 37-year-old Quebecer catches COVID-19 for the second time LINK

Kansas: KC hospitals ‘bursting at the seams’ with record numbers of COVID-19 patients LINK

Wisconsin: She was a healthy teenager. 3 months after getting COVID-19, she still hasn’t recovered LINK

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techcrunchappcom · 4 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/lesson-not-learned-europe-unprepared-as-2nd-virus-wave-hits-national-news/

Lesson not learned: Europe unprepared as 2nd virus wave hits | National News

ROME (AP) — Europe’s second wave of coronavirus infections has struck well before flu season even started, with intensive care wards filling up again and bars shutting down. Making matters worse, authorities say, is a widespread case of “COVID-fatigue.”

Record high daily infections in several eastern European countries and sharp rebounds in the hard-hit west have made clear that Europe never really crushed the COVID-19 curve as hoped, after springtime lockdowns.

Spain this week declared a state of emergency for Madrid amid increasing tensions between local and national authorities over virus containment measures. Germany offered up soldiers to help with contact tracing in newly flaring hotspots. Italy mandated masks outdoors and warned that for the first time since the country became the European epicenter of the pandemic, the health system was facing “significant critical issues” as hospitals fill up.

The Czech Republic’s “Farewell Covid” party in June, when thousands of Prague residents dined outdoors at a 500-meter (yard) long table across the Charles Bridge to celebrate their victory over the virus, seems painfully naive now that the country has the highest per-capita infection rate on the continent, at 398 per 100,000 residents.

“I have to say clearly that the situation is not good,” the Czech interior minister, Jan Hamacek, acknowledged this week.

Epidemiologists and residents alike are pointing the finger at governments for having failed to seize on the summertime lull in cases to prepare adequately for the expected autumn onslaught, with testing and ICU staffing still critically short. In Rome this week, people waited in line for 8-10 hours to get tested, while front-line medics from Kiev to Paris found themselves once again pulling long, short-staffed shifts in overcrowded wards.

“When the state of alarm was abandoned, it was time to invest in prevention, but that hasn’t been done,” lamented Margarita del Val, viral immunology expert with the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center, part of Spain’s top research body, CSIC.

“We are in the fall wave without having resolved the summer wave,” she told an online forum this week.

Tensions are rising in cities where new restrictions have been re-imposed, with hundreds of Romanian hospitality workers protesting this week after Bucharest once again shut down the capital’s indoor restaurants, theaters and dance venues.

“We were closed for six months, the restaurants didn’t work and yet the number of cases still rose,” said Moaghin Marius Ciprian, owner of the popular Grivita Pub n Grill who took part in the protest. “I’m not a specialist but I’m not stupid either. But from my point of view it’s not us that have the responsibility for this pandemic.”

As infections rise in many European countries, some — including Belgium, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain and France — are diagnosing more new cases every day per capita than the United States, according to the seven-day rolling averages of data kept by Johns Hopkins University. On Friday, France, with a population of about 70 million, reported a record 20,300 new infections.

Experts say Europe’s high infection rate is due in large part to expanded testing that is turning up far more asymptomatic positives than during the first wave, when only the sick could get a test.

But the trend is nevertheless alarming, given the flu season hasn’t even begun, schools are open for in-person learning and the cold weather hasn’t yet driven Europeans indoors, where infection can spread more easily.

“We’re seeing 98,000 cases reported in the last 24 hours. That’s a new regional record. That’s very alarming,” said Robb Butler, executive director of the WHO’s Europe regional office. While part of that is due to increased testing, “It’s also worrisome in terms of virus resurgence.”

It’s also worrisome given many countries still lack the testing, tracing and treating capacity to deal with a second wave of pandemic when the first wave never really ended, said Dr. Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“They should have been using the time to put in place really robust ‘find, test, trace, isolate’ support systems. Not everybody did,” McKee said. “Had they done that, then they could have identified outbreaks as they were emerging and really gone for the sources.”

Even Italy is struggling, after it won international praise for having tamed the virus with a strict 10-week lockdown and instituted a careful, conservative reopening and aggressive screening and contact-tracing effort when summer vacation travelers created new clusters. Anesthesiologists have warned that without new restrictions, ICUs in Lazio around Rome and Campania around Naples could be saturated within a month.

As it is, Campania has only 671 hospital beds destined for COVID-19, and 530 are already occupied, said Campania Gov. Vincenzo De Luca. Half of Campania’s 100 ICU virus beds are now in use.

For now, the situation is manageable. “But if we get to 1,000 infections a day and only 200 people cured, it’s lockdown. Clear?” he warned this week.

The ICU alarm has already sounded in France, where Paris public hospital workers staged a protest this week to demand more government investment in staffing ICUs, which they said haven’t significantly increased capacity even after France got slammed during the initial outbreak.

“We did not learn the lessons of the first wave,” Dr. Gilles Pialoux, head of infectious diseases at the Tenon Hospital in Paris, told BFM television. “We are running after (the epidemic) instead of getting ahead of it.”

There is some good news, however. Dr. Luis Izquierdo, assistant director of emergencies at the Severo Ochoa Hospital in Madrid said at least now, doctors know what therapies work. During the peak of the epidemic in March and April, doctors in hardest-hit Spain and Italy threw every drug they could think of at patients — hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, ritonavir — with limited success.

“Now we hardly use those drugs as they hardly have any effect,” he said. “So in this sense we have had a victory because we know so much more now.”

But treating the virus medically is only half the battle. Public health officials are now dealing with a surge in anti-mask protests, virus negationists and residents who are simply sick and tired of being told to keep their distance and refrain from hugging their loved ones.

The WHO this week shifted gears from giving medical advice to combat infections to giving psychological advice on how to nudge virus-weary Europeans to keep up their guard amid “COVID-fatigue” that is sweeping the continent.

“Fatigue is absolutely natural. It’s to be expected where we have these prolonged crises or emergencies,” said the WHO’s Butler.

The WHO this week put out new advice for governments to consider more social, psychological and emotional factors when deciding on lockdowns, closures or other restrictions — a nod to some in the field who say the mental health toll of lockdowns is worse than the virus itself.

That data, Butler said, “is going to become more important because we have to understand what restrictions we can put in place that will be sustained and adhered to, and acceptable to our populations.”

———

AP reporters across Europe contributed.

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#europe #learned #lesson #unprepared #virus #National

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appletable80-blog · 5 years ago

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Checking in on the LA Food Scene

This post originally appeared on April 27, 2019, in Amanda Kludt’s newsletter “From the Editor,” a roundup of the most vital news and stories in the food world each week. Read the archives and subscribe now.

Last week I went out to LA and managed to fit in some good eating. Some notes from the road:

I would like to pretend I’m more sophisticated than this, but chef Mei Lin’s tom yum onion (a play on the Bloomin’ Onion) has haunted me ever since I saw it on Instagram. I had to try it. I did try it. And it was so much better than the original that inspired it.

That said, my biggest takeaway from Lin’s restaurant, Nightshade, is that Max Boonthanakit, just named an Eater Young Gun, is putting out the most innovative and delicious desserts I’ve had in a while. If you find yourself nearby, I highly recommend stopping by for his guava, cream cheese, and white chocolate trompe l’oeil (innovative!) and coconut mousse with lime coconut granita (most delicious).

I would eat this Sonoratown chimichanga every day of my life if I could.

The Row development is pretty nuts. It’s a giant collection of warehouses close to Skid Row (one of the largest encampments of homeless individuals in the U.S.) and the Arts District downtown that developers are trying to turn into a destination with restaurants, retail, gyms, spas, and office space. I visited the 45,000-square-foot (!) Tartine/Chris Bianco compound called the Manufactory, which includes a roastery, commissary, market, casual cafe, and dinner-only Italian restaurant. On the Tuesday night we went, the whole place felt like an eerie ghost town. That’s allegedly the vibe on most days and nights, with the exception of Sundays, when hundreds of people flood the complex to visit Smorgasburg there.

The Chris Bianco-Tartine partnership unfortunately doesn’t feature his famous pizza — it has some flatbreads in the cafe — but the food at its Alameda Supper Club is pretty solid. Get the bread and butter and his crab spaghetti if you go.

Spoon By H is everything that everyone hyped it up to be.

I got to be one of the first paying customers at the Firehouse Hotel, a stylish, new nine-room spot in the Arts District. I didn’t get the chance to try the food, but I would be down to throw an event by the backyard fire pit.

Get to Fiona and get a fruit pie.

Porridge and Puffs has this miso caramel mochi thing that just blew my mind. The porridge is also wonderful.

Porridge from Porridge + Puffs

Amanda Kludt

Not a food thing, but one stray thought: does LA make you into a worse Lyft rider? Anywhere else I would never take a meeting, listen to a podcast, or eat a scone in a ride share, and I did all of those things — constantly and sometimes all at once — in LA because I had to spend so much time in a car on this trip. Who knew LA could turn a New Yorker into an even worse person?

Opening of the Week: Dear John’s

Wonho Frank Lee

This is one of my favorite restaurant stories of the year, and I keep seeing it pop up at the top of Eater LA’s traffic reports, so I feel like Angelenos must be into it too.

Basically, two major LA players — Josiah Citrin and Hans Rockenwagner — are reviving a classic Culver City martini bar and steakhouse called Dear John’s. The twist here is a developer is going to knock down the building in April 2021, so there’s a built-in expiration date. I love that they are giving the old gal the swan song she deserves. And also, I figure it must be compelling to enter a project knowing you don’t have to sustain a long-term business.

On Eater

Intel: Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar is suing an operation in Chicago that seems to be ripping off both Tosi and Black Tap in one fell swoop; McDonald’s will roll out some of its international items to U.S. locations this summer; Seattle empire builder Renee Erickson opened her newest spot, Bistro Shirlee; a bar that looks like it was designed by Lisa Frank opened in Philly; following the backlash against credit card-only businesses, Sweetgreen accepts cash again; Brooklyn’s Five Leaves opened an outpost in Los Angeles, and it looks better than the original; Olmsted’s Greg Baxtrom opened a casual follow-up restaurant called Maison Yaki in Brooklyn; high-end Italian restaurant chain, and subject of many lawsuits, Scarpetta is expanding to London; Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s 7,300-square-foot seafood restaurant the Fulton AND his JFK restaurant in the old TWA terminal building both open in New York next month; Houston don Bobby Heugel and star chef Justin Yu opened their pretty new venture, Squable, this week; all three restaurants going into a new Chicago food hall are black-owned; the Standard hotel group announced the dining and drinking operations for their first London outpost; the Michelin Guide reached out to over 100 California restaurants on Instagram to get photo rights ahead of their big California guide announcement in June; Gotham Bar & Grill’s Alfred Portale will open his first restaurant in 34 years; lauded New Orleans sandwich shop Turkey and the Wolf has a new restaurant in the works; the people behind one of London’s best restaurants will open a follow-up ”inspired by the buvettes of Paris and the pintxos bars in San Sebastián”; Momofuku’s new CEO is 29 and from the Zabar family; and Stephen Starr will open a restaurant in a new photography museum in Manhattan this fall.

Why you’re seeing blowfish tails everywhere.

NYC’s 12 top restaurants serving the underrated food of Puebla.

A look inside Houston’s very pretty restaurant Vibrant. Have we hit peak terrazo or is this just the start?

We might not have to worry about the Game of Thrones dragons and their loss of appetite.

Review: Brooklyn’s coolest new bar that also happens to have a good chicken sandwich, the Fly.

Please welcome a whole new slew of writers and editors to Eater: Madeleine Davies, Jaya Saxena, Jenny G. Zhang, and Osayi Endolyn.

What does it say when people stan their local grocery stores?

Watch: Lucas Peterson explores the significance and history of rice in a new Eater mini-series, Rooted. Episode 1: Farming, cultivating, selling rice at Koda Farms in California. Episode 2: How Anson Mills saved ancient grains of rice from extinction. Episode 3: Gullah legend Mrs. Emily Meggertt explains the importance of her traditional rice dishes.

Finally, let’s all remember that the World’s Best Female Chef Award (brought to you by people behind the eurocentric and male-dominated World’s 50 Best List) is absurdly sexist.

Off Eater

From the Editor

Editor-in-chief Amanda Kludt’s favorite food news and stories from Eater and beyond each week

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Source: https://www.eater.com/2019/4/29/18522817/from-the-editor-notes-from-la

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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heliumrelish1-blog · 5 years ago

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Checking in on the LA Food Scene

Last week I went out to LA and managed to fit in some good eating. Some notes from the road:

I would eat this Sonoratown chimichanga every day of my life if I could.

Spoon By H is everything that everyone hyped it up to be.

Get to Fiona and get a fruit pie.

Porridge and Puffs has this miso caramel mochi thing that just blew my mind. The porridge is also wonderful.

Porridge from Porridge + Puffs

Amanda Kludt

Opening of the Week: Dear John’s

Wonho Frank Lee

This is one of my favorite restaurant stories of the year, and I keep seeing it pop up at the top of Eater LA’s traffic reports, so I feel like Angelenos must be into it too.

On Eater

Why you’re seeing blowfish tails everywhere.

NYC’s 12 top restaurants serving the underrated food of Puebla.

A look inside Houston’s very pretty restaurant Vibrant. Have we hit peak terrazo or is this just the start?

We might not have to worry about the Game of Thrones dragons and their loss of appetite.

Review: Brooklyn’s coolest new bar that also happens to have a good chicken sandwich, the Fly.

Please welcome a whole new slew of writers and editors to Eater: Madeleine Davies, Jaya Saxena, Jenny G. Zhang, and Osayi Endolyn.

What does it say when people stan their local grocery stores?

Finally, let’s all remember that the World’s Best Female Chef Award (brought to you by people behind the eurocentric and male-dominated World’s 50 Best List) is absurdly sexist.

Off Eater

From the Editor

Editor-in-chief Amanda Kludt’s favorite food news and stories from Eater and beyond each week

By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and European users agree to the data transfer policy.

Source: https://www.eater.com/2019/4/29/18522817/from-the-editor-notes-from-la

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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clarencenicholsonata · 5 years ago

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The Ultimate List of Top Places for Remote Workers: 2019 Edition

Remote work is taking off. Some of the most successful companies in the world, like GitHub and Atlassian, are now baking distributed teams into their very infrastructure.

It’s a lifestyle that comes with distinct benefits, one of the most popular being the ability to travel and work remotely. As a remote worker, your town or your city is your office. Your boardrooms are WeWorks, coffeeshops and your living room. Liberated from the constraints of being at a fixed address at a certain time, remote workers often take advantage of their arrangement to see the world and spread their network farther and wider.

Concurrently, every silver lining has a cloud, and remote workers worldwide struggle with similar things as they travel and work remotely. While at an office, you might worry if the Tupperware you take to work is safe in the communal fridge, or how much you’ll pay for parking close to the office.

As a remote worker, your challenges might be quite different. Among the daily tribulations of the remote worker are:

Working wifi: can you find it easily? Are places friendly to you sitting on a table for hours on end?

Friendly faces: loneliness is a plague even in bustling offices – it can be 10x worse when you don’t have a built-in community of colleagues.

Affordable living: if you’ve moved somewhere, you’re going to be hit by all sorts of moving fees, currency changes and the inevitable costly mistakes that come with being an exhausted expat: it helps to have somewhere that doesn’t charge and arm and a leg for them.

Additionally, just as not every office is a great fit for every employee, not all cities are great choices for all remote workers. It can be a challenge to decide where to go next, when there are 195 countries, each with fervent devotees and detractors.

We reviewed articles across the web, canvassed community groups and our own personal experience to compile this, a list of the top places for remote workers, based on the things that matter most.

What we looked at:

Currency, and equivalent to USD: Because money matters.

Wifi rating: Some cities are fully wired and you can find it in public parks. Some have local libraries which will offer it free of cost. Some are dotted with affordable coffee shops. We’ll let you know how easy it is to get online.

Great for: What travellers especially liked.

Look out for: No place is perfect, and what you may need to be aware of before booking your flights.

Overview: What our research says.

ASIA (MAINLAND & SOUTHEAST)

Asia has long held an allure for travelers worldwide. It’s no wonder: the breathtaking landscapes, mouth-watering cuisine, fascinating history and variation of culture from region to region make it irresistible.

CANGGU, BALI

Currency, and equivalent to USD: Indonesian Rupiah €; 1 USD = 14,144.47

Wifi Rating: 6/10 - Not great in houses, but easy to find coworking spaces.

Great for: Adventure seekers.

Look out for: The heat, the traffic.

Overview: A surfing / partying / coworking paradise, this isn’t a city or a town so much as a village that’s been turned into a haven for remote workers. Canggu village seems to be a hybrid of the extremes of work life balance. This is the ideal work escape for those who value the ability to escape to the waves and spend the nights dancing, as much as they need to spend their days sending emails and videoconferencing.

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

Currency, and equivalent to USD: Thai Baht ฿; 1 USD = 30.78 Baht

Wifi Rating: 7/10

Great for: Cultural experiences, meeting other expats, affordable living, stunning natural landscapes and outdoor escapes.

Look out for: Potential residents will need to have a certain tolerance for heat, and the city hasn’t escaped the plague of pollution that’s dogged many developing areas. Also, its distance from other cities, along with a high turnover of transient expats can make it a lonely and frustrating experience for some.

Overview: Chiang Mai is one of the first places remote workers name when surveyed about the best places to set up a home office-away-from-home office. While its relative fame is warranted, its popularity is a double-edged sword, and contributes to the congestion and influx that many now decry. Nonetheless, it remains one of the top destinations for adventurous remote workers looking for unforgettable workplaces. Close to numerous spots for adventurous weekends, with an infrastructure well set up for digital nomads and remote workers, and affordable, delicious food, there’s a reason upcoming remote working cities are sometimes called, ‘The next Chiang Mai’.

TAIPEI, TAIWAN

Currency, and equivalent to USD: New Taiwan Dollar $; 1 USD = 31.18 NT

Wifi Rating: 10/10 - if you can get it. Some report relying instead on their data plans, if they couldn’t find a living space with wifi.

Great for: Convenience and speed.

Look out for: Can be difficult to find affordable short-term housing. More expensive than other places nearby in Thailand or Indonesia.

Overview: Like cities? Need fast wifi? Want friendly residents around? Don’t mind a few weeks of being lost in translation, or comfortable enough in your Mandarin? You may be the next Taipei devotee. This city received praise for its public transportation, great wifi, expat community, delicious food, culture, proximity to weekend activities and convenience (7/11’s! 7/11’s everywhere!).

EUROPE

London and Paris aren’t the only cities worth visiting. While Paris is never a bad idea, and we’d never say no to a trip to London, remote workers worldwide are snapping up apartments in different parts of Europe.

LISBON, PORTUGAL

Currency, and equivalent to USD: Euro €; 1 USD = 0.89 EUR

Wifi Rating: 8/10

Great for: A city for those who are weary of too much hustle. Pastries.

Look out for: Accommodation prices are rising, and because of its increasing popularity, the city in general is not as cheap as it used to be. As a tourist destination, certain parts of the city can be particularly crowded.

Overview: Residents seem to see Lisbon as a good medium between the laid-back nature of beach remote working locations, and the frenetic bustle of big-city destinations. A smaller city rich in culture, coffee and baked goods, Lisbon is great for those want to be near other European cities and near coworking spaces and the comforts of urban living, but still would like something slower-paced than Berlin or London. Meetups are regular among expats, so networking shouldn’t be a problem for the social remote worker.

GRAN CANARIA, SPAIN

Currency, and equivalent to USD: Euro €; 1 USD = 0.89 EUR

Wifi Rating: 7/10

Great for: Climate, beaches, things to do.

Look out for: Not as affordable as some South Asian destinations offering the same lifestyle. If you’re looking for an island to work remotely from, not the most economical option (but one of the best in Europe). There are also mixed feelings about the tap water.

Overview: Again, an island haven for those who want to work hard and relax hard, the Canary Islands is the European answer to Canggu and Chiang Mai. With a fairytale climate, coworking spaces full of remote workers, a culture of other expats and highly affordable prices, Gran Canaria is quickly making itself known to be an excellent choice. Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria, comes particularly recommended.

KRAKOW, POLAND

Currency, and equivalent to USD: Polish zloty ‎zł; 1 USD = 3.79 PLN

Wifi Rating: 8/10

Great for: Walkability, culture, affordable food.

Look out for: Air pollution, less reliable public transportation than other places, cold winters.

Overview: Because of rising popularity and more tourism, Krakow isn’t the bargain it used to be, especially when it comes to finding affordable accommodation. Nonetheless, it remains one of the most popular cities, repeatedly praised for its bustling social life, fast wifi, friendly locals, delicious food, affordability, quality of life and aesthetics.

KIEV, UKRAINE

Currency, and equivalent to USD: Ukrainian Hryvnia ₴; 1 USD = 25.67 UAH

Wifi Rating: Variable; better in apartments than in public, but coworking spaces good.

Great for: Good travel connections to other places in Europe, highly affordable

Look out for: Hard winters. Both the languages in Kiev, Ukrainian and Russian, are a) difficult to learn and b) don’t use the Western alphabet, which can be a challenge for Western travellers. Additionally, English has not permeated the city the way it has some others, so it would be good to brush up on your Russian before you go.

Overview: Aside from political unrest, Kiev does not tend to dominate the news cycles or cultural conversation - unless you’re a travelling remote worker. Several people canvassed said it was one of the best places to work in Europe - affordable, fun, beautiful and convenient. Kiev was so good to a remote worker that one wrote that they no longer felt the need to travel, preferring instead to settle in Kiev. Overall, if you don’t mind winter, and you aren’t worried about the language aspect, Kiev seems a great fit for any nomad looking for a hidden gem of a city, packed with culture, good transport links, affordable living, things to do and good food. (Warning: we did hear that it was among the less tolerant of the cities on our lists, but these could be isolated incidents).

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA

There was stiff competition between the countries in these regions: the islands off the coast of Central America, the sunny beaches of coast and the incredible culture of South America is often what pulls people into travel as a lifestyle to begin with. We wouldn't limit any remote worker to the places on this list; nonetheless, here are places that are especially friendly to people looking to maintain a foot in their professional life while they're abroad.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MEXICO

Currency, and equivalent to USD: Mexican Peso $; 1 USD = 19.03 MXN

Wifi Rating: 5/10. On average, remote workers found wifi speeds in Cancun and nearby Playa del Carmen lower than other areas.

Great for: White sand beaches, Mayan ruins, other expats.

Look out for: Spring break!

Overview: “Beach” and “work” aren’t two nouns that we traditionally associate with one another. Nonetheless, Playa del Carmen was one destination that repeatedly popped up on our radar. The beachside Mexican town is Mayan Riviera, so it’s soaked in both sunlight and history. It will appeal mostly to remote workers who are fleeing freezing temperatures or unbearably fast-paced schedules, or those who don’t think a thriving business should inherently exclude a lifestyle of enjoying weekends burying your toes in the sand.

SANTIAGO, CHILE

Currency, and equivalent to USD: Chilean Peso $; 1 USD = 683.99 CLP

Wifi Rating: 10/10

Great for: Good wifi, public transportation, thriving business community.

Look out for: More expensive than other Latin American destinations. Chilean Spanish is distinct, and if you’re a second language speaker, can be difficult to pick up.

Overview: Santiago is one of the business capitals of the region. Situated as it is, its relatively close to both to the unforgettable snow-covered Andes mountains, but also not too far from the Chilean coast.

MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA

Currency, and equivalent to USD: Colombian Peso $; 1 USD = 3202.25 COP

Wifi Rating: 7/10

Great for: Affordable living and networking with other expats. Good public transportation.

Look out for: Traffic. The city has a reputation of being unsafe (not helped by a certain popular Netflix series). While it's made a lot of progress since its worst days, new residents should still be cautious and travel sensibly.

Overview: Medellin is said to be the largest growing hub for digital nomads and remote workers in Latin America, and it has the infrastructure in place to support them. With reviewers speaking of reliable wifi (although it may not be the fastest), coffeeshops aplenty, multiple coworking spaces and meetups, and affordable living spaces - on top of the pure adventure of living in a country so unbelievable, it was the birthplace of magical realism - it’s received rave reviews from everyone surveyed.

Want more resources and tips into remote employment, the future of work, digital innovation and marketing? Sign up to our email list! We'll bring our best tips and industry insights straight to your inbox to make your job in digital marketing easier, more fun, and more effective.

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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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Kerry takes to the world stage before Blinken Blinken blessed and supported the trip, a State Department official told CNN. Still, Kerry’s charge overseas to launch himself into diplomacy before Blinken makes his first trip next week led to concerns that he could overshadow the current secretary of state right out of the gate, according to department four officials. Kerry posted photos showing him chatting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking at a European Union climate meeting, walking with EU President Ursula von der Leyen, conferring with foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and bumping elbows with senior European climate official Frans Timmermans, all in advance of a final stop in Paris where he met with President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday. The montage underscored the unusual nature of the trip and the unusual break with protocol. While Blinken has spoken to many of these leaders by phone, Kerry met with some of the secretary of state’s counterparts face-to-face before Blinken has had a chance to — and even leaders with whom Blinken might not get formal meetings. It also highlights what might be the Biden administration’s most unusual partnership: a former secretary of state working alongside a current secretary. The situation has the potential to boost diplomatic productivity, State Department sources say, but could also lead to confusion and awkwardness. Differences and overlaps Blinken, Kerry’s one-time deputy, now holds his old job as the country’s top diplomat, but Kerry’s role will involve intense interactions with foreign governments and is of similar Cabinet-level rank. Although the former secretary of state will work alongside Blinken on international outreach on climate issues, Kerry reports not to the secretary, but to President Joe Biden. In London, Kerry also met with British government officials hosting COP26, the next annual UN meeting focused on climate issues. In Paris, he met with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and was expected to meet with Ecology Minister Barbara Pompili, Foreign Minister Yves LeDrian and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, officials told CNN. While Kerry and Blinken are very close, some officials fret that their personality differences and portfolio overlaps might also create a dynamic that blurs the lines between the two. Kerry has enjoyed the spotlight since his 20s and is known for his relentless pace on the global stage, while Blinken is seen as more reserved and methodical and has worked to support other officials for most of his life. State Department officials said there was some nervousness about Kerry’s debut trip as climate envoy precisely because of his love for hitting the road and engaging in face-to-face diplomacy and his eagerness to do so. These officials cited worry in the ranks about how to manage Kerry’s drive to get out there, meet people and make appearances, and the concern he might overshadow or be seen to overshadow Blinken. And while the secretary supported Kerry’s trip, some officials close to him were irritated by it, a second State Department official said. Asked what signal it sent to European allies to have Kerry visit before the secretary, a State Department spokesperson said that Kerry, “with the support of President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and his hosts in London, Brussels, and Paris, believes it is vital that we make substantial progress this year to confront the climate crisis. He traveled to Europe at this time because he and our partners were confident that a handful of in-person meetings could advance that progress meaningfully, including ahead of the President’s Leaders Summit on Climate next month.” Former President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Paris Climate agreement, a global pact to fight climate change shortly after being sworn into power in 2016. The United States officially re-joined on Biden’s first day in office. The spokesperson made clear that Kerry would be sticking to the climate issue. “Special Presidential Envoy Kerry is focused squarely on the climate change, and he makes that clear in every conversation he has,” they said. The first State Department official told CNN that Kerry is able to do things Blinken cannot because he can travel without a big footprint of staff — an advantage in the ongoing Covid pandemic. Another official familiar with Kerry’s travel plans said he traveled commercially and with only one aide. But the Europe trip highlighted the fact that there is sensitivity surrounding Kerry’s role, and some kinks still need to be worked out. The administration official familiar with the planning for Kerry’s trip said it was weeks in the making and required the normal White House and State Department approval. But some State officials felt the trip came together at the “last minute” and others were not aware that Kerry’s travel was officially approved until von der Leyen put out a statement on Friday about a call she had with Biden and mentioned Kerry was coming, one department official said. The White House readout of Biden’s call with von der Leyen made no mention of Kerry. After weeks of video meetings, Kerry felt like he needed to see his counterparts in person, particularly because of the upcoming April 22 climate summit hosted by the Biden administration and then the “sprint to Glasgow” for the UN Climate Change Conference in November, the administration official said. Trip caused some stress Another official noted that faced with Kerry’s drive to travel, it is hard to say no to a former secretary of state. A third State Department official said that staff think that “as Blinken starts to travel more it will be fine,” but like others, acknowledged that this first trip caused some stress. That’s partly because in diplomacy there are always the important considerations of protocol and rank as meetings are arranged, particularly at the beginning of a new administration. One official said Kerry’s former standing, expertise and well-known love of chewing over policy questions could mean he gets called on to answer questions about issues that are no longer his purview, but Blinken’s. “Who knows what he’ll say when he’s out there if someone asks him about non-climate issues: Iran, or the GOP, or insurrection or whatever,” this official speculated. The State Department spokesperson, perhaps anticipating these concerns, made clear that Kerry would be sticking to the climate issue. “Special Presidential Envoy Kerry is focused squarely on the climate change, and he makes that clear in every conversation he has,” they said. For State Department officials, Kerry’s enthusiasm to get things done dovetails with the challenge of managing European allies’ eagerness to engage in personal diplomacy with Biden administration officials after four strained years with Trump. “Kerry has all of these contacts who find out he’s coming and then want to meet with him,” said the second official. Under Trump, diplomacy became less disciplined, as White House officials and the former President’s associates conducted outreach while sidestepping an often marginalized State Department. Some foreign officials, now familiar with that ad hoc approach, might see Kerry as another avenue to reach Biden and convey messages or requests through him instead of the more proper route of speaking through Blinken. In Paris, French officials were lining up to see Kerry. “All I can guess is that the French suppose he is coming with Blinken’s blessing, so they will meet with him,” said a fourth State Department official. “I imagine the French are thrilled to have an interlocutor on the ground,” said this official. “While they might prefer for protocol reasons that it be (the Secretary), they will go forward on the assumption that everyone is playing nicely.” ‘Thrilled’ One specific protocol concern is that Kerry knows France’s Macron and the UK’s Johnson well, but ordinarily wouldn’t necessarily be granted a formal appointment with them, officials said. Even Blinken would not normally get a formal meeting with the French President or British prime minister because protocol is that the secretary of state meets with his or her counterpart, the foreign minister. What traditionally happens on these visits is that officials in the State Department and Foreign Ministry arrange for the prime minister to make a seemingly impromptu “drop by” visit. That is precisely what happened in the UK, where Kerry became the first Biden Cabinet official to pay a visit to London to mark the “special relationship.” Kerry tweeted that during his meeting with COP26 President Alok Sharma, he had a “surprise visit” from Johnson and signaled future diplomacy and travel ahead. “Only eight short months until Glasgow,” Kerry said, “thrilled to have both these leaders as strong partners in the work ahead.” It wasn’t clear how France handled Kerry’s meeting with Macron, but the climate envoy emerged from their conversation and told reporters that the US was “back to being partners.” On the 7th floor, where the secretary and his senior staff have offices, Kerry is seen as potentially powerful force multiplier for Blinken, who could help make the secretary and US diplomacy more effective. “It certainly helps things that they are close friends,” a source told CNN. Blinken, Kerry and their teams talk regularly because climate issues are threaded throughout the Biden administration’s approach to foreign policy, this source said, and dealing with climate change is a central administration priority. “Secretary Blinken recognizes the importance of the US being engaged on this and that is why he, from the start, has been a champion of this office and of Secretary Kerry in this role,” said the official. “He has confidence that Secretary Kerry can make progress.” CNN’s Zahid Mahmood in Coventry and Pierre Bairin in Paris contributed to this report Source link Orbem News #Blinken #Kerry #KerrytakestotheworldstagebeforeBlinken-CNNPolitics #Politics #Stage #Takes #World