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eretzyisrael · 5 years ago

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Moral Dilemmas Then and Now

Dario Gabbai died last month, aged 97. Gabbai was a Sonderkommando, a Greek-Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau who was forced to help herd new arrivals to the German death chambers and remove their bodies to the crematoria a few minutes later. Very few of them survived the war, and Gabbai may have been the last of them.

Gabbai, who was often interviewed and appeared in several documentaries about the Holocaust, described shutting down his brain in order to survive in that hellish place. There were things that he had seen, he said, that he could neither talk about nor get out of his mind.

His situation raised moral dilemmas in the purest possible way. He had a choice: he could help the Germans or they would kill him immediately. Should he sacrifice himself in order to avoid becoming an accessory to murder? It would be pointless: there was no shortage of prisoners who would take his job in order to stay alive a bit longer. The Germans killed all the Sonderkommandos every few months, anyway (Gabbai arrived near the end). Maybe they simply stopped being able to do the soul-destroying work, or maybe the Germans were afraid of a revolt; there were at least three bloody but unsuccessful revolts of Sonderkommandos in Treblinka, Sobibor, and Birkenau. These were men – boys, actually – who had nothing to lose, and who knew in the most graphic and painful way they had nothing to lose.

One day, the transport included two of Gabbai’s friends from Salonika. “I told them they were going to die,” he recalls. “My cousins and I gave them whatever food we had, and we told them where to stand so the gas would kill them in two minutes instead of five.”

The cousins scooped the men’s ashes from the oven and buried them outside the crematoria. “We said ‘Kaddish’ for them,” Gabbai says. “But we were already so ice-cold [emotionally]. Nothing was penetrating. That is the only way we could survive.” – Naomi Pfefferman, “Job of Infinite Horror”

Gabbai was apparently not religious, but he indicated that it gave him some comfort to be told that his actions were permitted as pikuach nefesh, a doctrine that permits violating almost any of the commandments when it is necessary to save a human life.

I rarely write about the Holocaust; I’m not happy with the uses to which it is sometimes put. But I’m thinking about it today because the worldwide coronavirus pandemic has again posed hard, though different, moral questions. There are simple (but not easy) ones, such as that faced by the doctor with an inadequate number of ventilators at his disposal. And there are the more complicated ones, like finding a balance between shutting off economic activity in order to reduce the rate of transmission of the virus, and preventing an ensuing economic catastrophe.

This is a very difficult question from a scientific standpoint, since getting a good answer depends on predicting the effects of social distancing, quarantines, and lockdowns on the spread of the virus, something which as yet is only partially understood. We are better able to predict the economic consequences of these measures, although even then there is uncertainty about possible feedback effects that could make a downturn more severe.

There are moral questions too. As an extreme example, suppose it were decided to impose no restrictions at all on workplaces and schools, and let the virus run its course. Because of the nature of the illness, the greatest number of those seriously affected would be the elderly. It might be possible to mitigate the imbalance by isolating only older people – many of them are retired, after all – but there would still be a much greater opportunity for them to be exposed if movement and commerce weren’t restricted. And if the healthcare system became overloaded, as happened in northern Italy, then they would be much more likely to die, even if care were not apportioned according to age.

If, on the other hand, a society succeeded in “flattening the curve” by reducing normal activity, then everyone who was sick would be more likely to receive the best possible care, which would disproportionately reduce the death toll among the older patients.

A straightforward utilitarian argument can be made for letting the virus run its course. Older people are on balance consumers and not producers. They have a negative effect on the economic life of a society. Economically speaking, they wouldn’t be missed. The virus would just be a small blip, with a small number of productive individuals becoming seriously ill and very few dying.

Sweden seems to be doing something like this. They are taking some social distancing measures and trying to isolate older citizens, but they have not shut down workplaces and schools. At some point there will be herd immunity, and at some point a vaccine.

This strategy could not possibly be adopted in Israel, where even secular people are imbued with Jewish ethical principles, according to which every human life is equally valuable. The tradeoff that is being made in Israel between economic activity and suppressing viral transmission leans in the direction of protecting people from the virus, a policy of pikuach nefesh. And I think this is a humane policy, a morally better one, even if it is less rational by some standard than strictly minimizing economic damage.

Somewhat less admirably, people in assisted living facilities here have been more or less abandoned. Staff have passed the disease to residents, and then essentially fled. No one has picked up the ball.

There are other factors in dealing with the epidemic. I haven’t mentioned the attempt to track and isolate carriers of the disease before they can transmit it. In this respect, Israel could do much better if she would (could?) increase the number of tests done daily. This is a win-win activity, because it only isolates those who need to be. In addition, research is proceeding on various treatments that may be efficacious. The slower the virus spreads, the more patients will be able to receive these treatments in time.

There are (naturally) political problems. There is a struggle between the Health Ministry and the Defense Ministry over who should be in charge of coordinating the overall response to the epidemic, although we do not see the kind of political controversies about the efficacy of this treatment or another which seem to exist in the US. On the other hand, the lack of a permanent government and the specter of a possible fourth election may have serious effects on the ability of Israel to deal with the economic fallout from the epidemic.

The corona pandemic is not like the Holocaust in many ways. There is no Auschwitz-Birkenau and there are no Sonderkommandos. But the campaign against it is much like a military campaign, involving logistics, foot-soldiers, and orders that must be followed. And I suspect that some medical personnel, like Dario Gabbai, will be left with memories that will be very hard to erase, much as they would wish to.

Abu Yehuda

#Israel #israel society #War

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uk-news-talking-politics · 4 years ago

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We can't fight covid and Brexit at the same time

By Ros Altmann

"Everybody has a plan," said Mike Tyson, "until they get punched in the mouth."

It's probably Tyson's best-known quote and with good reason. It speaks to anyone who has felt their heart sink and possibly their legs wobble as their carefully crafted scheme runs into inconvenient events.

In Britain of late, we've become accustomed to being hit by events, be they full-on global crises or more modest DIY jobs.

Both Brexit and covid could entail severe economic shocks. A great many jobs in this country depend on businesses being able to absorb the fallout from the pandemic and any effects of leaving Europe.

Inevitably, some sectors will be affected more than others. A weighty report, commissioned by Best for Britain from the independent Social Market Foundation last week, illustrated what the combined effects of covid and Brexit could be.

If you work in the North-West of England, the Midlands or parts of London, it makes for a particularly disturbing read, though it's not exactly laugh-a-minute for the rest of the country either.

The report divides business sectors into five risk categories, and looks at the impact of covid, followed by an agreed free trade deal (FTA) or WTO (No Deal) exit from the EU, and then the combined impact of these individual storms.

In the three geographic areas just mentioned, more than a quarter of jobs are in high-risk businesses, should Britain exit without a deal.

The report clearly shows that, while leaving Europe with some kind of a deal will be painful, exiting without a deal will be hugely damaging for many businesses – businesses already reeling from the impact of covid.

For Conservative politicians, something that stands out in this analysis is the high level of risk in the so-called Red Wall seats that elected Tory MPs at the general election. The government places great importance on 'levelling up' Britain and is relying on this plan to hold on to those seats.

But come December 31st, countless businesses in these Red Wall seats will face extremely significant challenges if Britain says goodbye to the EU without a deal. Nissan will not be the only major manufacturer considering withdrawing from the UK altogether.

So I do urge colleagues to remember Tyson's warning about how useful plans are until one is punched in the mouth. Be in no doubt that, in addition to the tragic human cost, covid has already inflicted a huge economic blow.

Large numbers of jobs have gone and, according to the Institute for Social and Economic Research, up to 6.5 million could be at risk at some point as we tentatively leave lockdown. Plans for apprenticeships and rebuilding infrastructure will help, but businesses need time to get over the pandemic.

There have apparently been discussions in Threadneedle Street about dropping interest rates into negative territory. This could destabilise the entire banking sector again and would, at the very least, put pension funds under intense pressure. Central banks do not have all the answers to the human costs of job losses.

Our health and care system also needs time to get over the pandemic, having in many ways been stretched beyond breaking point.

Of course, there are many elements we cannot control – the global prevalence and impact of the coronavirus, and the domestic politics of countries with whom we wish to sign trade agreements, to name but two. But one thing we do have some control of is the timing of new trading arrangements with Europe.

We have already left the EU – Brexit has happened – but it is within our gift to agree an extension to that December 31st deadline, so that businesses, hospital trusts, civil servants, bankers, politicians and the rest of us do not have to get in the ring with covid and Brexit simultaneously.

Ultimately, Britain has what it takes to deal with both these challengers, but no amount of pluck and flag-waving will save us from the utterly unnecessary damage that could be mitigated by ensuring we are fighting only one bout at a time.

This Best for Britain Report highlights the emerging risks to the entire country – and particularly to the North-West and Midlands – of carrying on with EU divorce negotiations as if covid never happened.

Brexit occurred on January 31st, just as the coronavirus was getting its gloves on. We cannot undo either of them.

But we can take a pragmatic, common-sense view about retaining the option to avoid having to deal with two major threats at once and avoid diverting resources away from fighting the killer virus. The immediate focus must be on covid, and that may well mean giving ourselves more time to deal with the EU negotiations more thoroughly.

Otherwise, come December, we could find ourselves wishing we had not chosen to be in the ring with Tyson and Ali too. It's time to take back control of the timescale and focus on winning one fight at a time.

#coronavirus #brexit

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jobsearchtips02 · 5 years ago

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E.U. Is Facing Its Worst Recession Ever. Watch Out, World.

New forecasts predict a 7.4 percent economic collapse and risks of even worse decline if the reopening triggers a second virus wave.

The Louvre, in Paris, during lockdown.Credit…Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

Published May 6, 2020Updated May 7, 2020, 3: 16 a.m. ET

BRUSSELS — The good news for Europe is that the worst of the pandemic is beginning to ease. This week deaths in Italy hit a nearly two-month low. And the German leader Angela Merkel announced that schools, day care centers and restaurants would reopen in the next few days.

But the relief could be short-lived.

The European Commission released projections on Wednesday that Europe’s economy will shrink by 7.4 percent this year. A top official told residents of the European Union, first formed in the aftermath of the Second World War, to expect the “deepest economic recession in its history.”

To put this figure in perspective, the 27-nation bloc’s economy had been predicted to grow by 1.2 percent this year. In 2009, at the back of the global financial crisis, it shrank by 4.5 percent.

It’s a grim reminder that even if the virus dissipates, the economic fallout could pressure the world economy for months, if not years.

In China, where the outbreak has subsided in recent weeks, the factories that power the global supply chain have been fired up. But with few global buyers for its goods, its economy has been slow to recover.

In the United States, where the growth of new cases in the hardest-hit areas shows signs of slowing and there is a push to lift lockdowns, there are also signs that a recovery may be elusive. The government on Friday is set to release the monthly employment report, and some forecasts predict a loss of more than 20 million jobs in April — a number that would wipe out a decade’s worth of job gains.

The European Union, home to 440 million people, is the United States’ No. 1 trading partner, and China’s second-largest. It’s the biggest foreign investor in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the developing world.

A prolonged European recession, a second wave of the virus or an anemic economic recovery would spell added misery for many Europeans, and hurt companies, banks and people the world over. The crisis is also reigniting political divisions between a wealthier north and a poorer south, threatening to break the brittle balance between divergent nations with inextricably linked economies.

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A nearly deserted piazza in Milan.Credit…Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times

A recovery will probably start unevenly in the second half of the year, Paolo Gentiloni, European commissioner for economy, said at a news conference after the release of the forecast, which comes out four times a year. But by the end of 2021 the countries of the European Union will be in worse shape than they were just two months ago, before the coronavirus started ripping through the continent. U.S. gross domestic product fell at a 4.8 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, and some economists believe it will contract at an annual rate of 30 percent or more in the current quarter.

“The danger of a deeper and more protracted recession is very real,” the head of the commission’s economic unit, Maarten Verwey, said in the forecast’s foreword.

A resurgence of the virus after the end of lockdowns would shave a further 3 percentage points off economic performance this year, he said.

The economies of Italy and Spain, two of the countries hardest hit by the disease, will most likely shrink by over 9 percent each this year, and Italy’s economy will be particularly slow to recover, Mr. Gentiloni said.

Greece, which had started turning a corner after a decade of economic calamity, will be worst-hit in the union, according to the forecasts, losing 9.7 of its economic output this year. Poland would suffer the least, with a 4.5 percent recession.

And unemployment will most likely average 9 percent in the bloc, the European Commission said, from 6.7 percent the year before.

The bloc’s biggest economy, Germany, will also be hammered, suffering its worst recession since World War II, set to shrink by 6.5 percent, but it is expected to recover relatively quickly. France, the second-largest economy, is expected to contract 8.5 percent this year.

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The traditional Plaka district of Athens, during lockdown in April.Credit…Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press

The severe downturn in Europe will have major repercussions for United States growth and jobs because the two economies are intimately connected.

The European Union and the United States are each other’s largest trading partners, exchanging goods and services worth $1.3 trillion last year. European companies like Daimler, BMW or Siemens employ more than four million people in the United States, according to U.S. government figures.

China will also suffer. The European Union is second only to the United States as a customer for Chinese goods.

As grim as the economic outlook appears, the greater danger to the world economy may be the risk that the euro common currency could be undermined by the deepening rifts between its members and their leaders. That almost happened in the early years of the last decade, but was averted when the European Central Bank, the euro’s Federal Reserve, used its monetary firepower to prevent Greece, Italy and Spain from becoming insolvent.

The central bank is again flooding the eurozone with credit and buying the bonds of eurozone governments to keep their borrowing costs from spinning out of control. But the central bank’s ability to rescue the euro again may be constrained after a ruling Tuesday by Germany’s highest court.

The German Constitutional Court issued an ultimatum to the European Central Bank, saying it must show that the side effects of the bond buying do not outweigh the economic benefits. The court threatened to bar Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, from taking part in the stimulus program, which would be a serious breach of European unity.

The coronavirus is already producing an economic shock in Europe more severe than the one that followed the financial crisis in 2008.

“It is clearly more massive, and it is going down more steeply,” Clemens Fuest, the president of the Ifo Institute, one of Germany’s leading economic think tanks, said during an online presentation Wednesday.

The pandemic could have ramifications for politics and society that are impossible to predict. The economic dislocation caused by the 2008 financial crisis helped fuel far-right populist movements in Germany, Italy and France.

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The city center in Munich, Germany.Credit…Laetitia Vancon for The New York Times

Europe’s best hope is that economies will bounce back quickly, in what economists optimistically call a V-shaped recession, as lockdowns are eased.

Already, factories have resumed production in much of Italy, and Germany this week allowed hairdressers to begin receiving customers again. France will begin gradually ending its lockdown next week.

But many restrictions remain, including bans on large public gatherings. And no one knows yet whether the virus will reappear with a vengeance as public life resumes.

The fresh set of figures will pile pressure on European leaders to conjure up a brave joint response to the recession to ensure the recovery isn’t lopsided, hurting the joint currency and spawning more political unrest in the weaker economies.

Although the leaders have approved a half-trillion euros’ worth of measures that effectively call on wealthier nations to subsidize the recovery of worse-hit poorer ones, they have been criticized for not going far enough.

The persistent divide “poses a threat to the single market and the euro area — yet it can be mitigated through decisive, joint European action,” Mr. Gentiloni said.

Matina Stevis-Gridneff reported from Brussels, and Jack Ewing from Frankfurt.

Updated April 11, 2020

What should I do if I feel sick?

If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

When will this end?

This is a difficult question, because a lot depends on how well the virus is contained. A better question might be: “How will we know when to reopen the country?” In an American Enterprise Institute report, Scott Gottlieb, Caitlin Rivers, Mark B. McClellan, Lauren Silvis and Crystal Watson staked out four goal posts for recovery: Hospitals in the state must be able to safely treat all patients requiring hospitalization, without resorting to crisis standards of care; the state needs to be able to at least test everyone who has symptoms; the state is able to conduct monitoring of confirmed cases and contacts; and there must be a sustained reduction in cases for at least 14 days.

How can I help?

The Times Neediest Cases Fund has started a special campaign to help those who have been affected, which accepts donations here. Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities using a numbers-based system, has a running list of nonprofits working in communities affected by the outbreak. You can give blood through the American Red Cross, and World Central Kitchen has stepped in to distribute meals in major cities. More than 30,000 coronavirus-related GoFundMe fund-raisers have started in the past few weeks. (The sheer number of fund-raisers means more of them are likely to fail to meet their goal, though.)

Should I wear a mask?

The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.

How do I get tested?

If you’re sick and you think you’ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the C.D.C. recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there’s a chance — because of a lack of testing kits or because you’re asymptomatic, for instance — you won’t be able to get tested.

How does coronavirus spread?

It seems to spread very easily from person to person, especially in homes, hospitals and other confined spaces. The pathogen can be carried on tiny respiratory droplets that fall as they are coughed or sneezed out. It may also be transmitted when we touch a contaminated surface and then touch our face.

Is there a vaccine yet?

No. Clinical trials are underway in the United States, China and Europe. But American officials and pharmaceutical executives have said that a vaccine remains at least 12 to 18 months away.

What makes this outbreak so different?

Unlike the flu, there is no known treatment or vaccine, and little is known about this particular virus so far. It seems to be more lethal than the flu, but the numbers are still uncertain. And it hits the elderly and those with underlying conditions — not just those with respiratory diseases — particularly hard.

What if somebody in my family gets sick?

If the family member doesn’t need hospitalization and can be cared for at home, you should help him or her with basic needs and monitor the symptoms, while also keeping as much distance as possible, according to guidelines issued by the C.D.C. If there’s space, the sick family member should stay in a separate room and use a separate bathroom. If masks are available, both the sick person and the caregiver should wear them when the caregiver enters the room. Make sure not to share any dishes or other household items and to regularly clean surfaces like counters, doorknobs, toilets and tables. Don’t forget to wash your hands frequently.

Should I stock up on groceries?

Plan two weeks of meals if possible. But people should not hoard food or supplies. Despite the empty shelves, the supply chain remains strong. And remember to wipe the handle of the grocery cart with a disinfecting wipe and wash your hands as soon as you get home.

Can I go to the park?

Yes, but make sure you keep six feet of distance between you and people who don’t live in your home. Even if you just hang out in a park, rather than go for a jog or a walk, getting some fresh air, and hopefully sunshine, is a good idea.

Should I pull my money from the markets?

That’s not a good idea. Even if you’re retired, having a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds so that your money keeps up with inflation, or even grows, makes sense. But retirees may want to think about having enough cash set aside for a year’s worth of living expenses and big payments needed over the next five years.

What should I do with my 401(k)?

Watching your balance go up and down can be scary. You may be wondering if you should decrease your contributions — don’t! If your employer matches any part of your contributions, make sure you’re at least saving as much as you can to get that “free money.”

from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/e-u-is-facing-its-worst-recession-ever-watch-out-world/

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sly2o · 7 years ago

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Hi! New follower here, been stalking your the 100 tag and totally love your speculation (plus you are so point on!). I love your scientific input so would you mind if I asked a few questions over the hiatus? :) f. e. how did, in your opinion, Clarke pulled off the whole surviving thing? Directly after the death wave. I mean she stumbled into the lab, right? How come it didnt colapse? What about water, food, etc? Basically I am asking for your survival guide for this situation lol plus theories -

- theories how could Clarke and that green spot survive *_* Plus rover survived too, what the hell? That death wave was seen to melt everything it touches… and how come it ONLY takes 5 years in order for the radiation to go down considerably??? aaaarg, so many questions haha throw science at me, I will take anything you come up with :)

Ok first off, this is a super nice ask - thank you for the complements! Seriously, this made my day.

Getting on to the ask… there’s a lot of questions in here so I’m going to tackle them one at a time.

1a- Clarke’s immediate survival.

There’s two pieces to the puzzle here on how Clarke survived the death wave.

The first piece of this survival puzzle is the people-melting energy levels of the death wave. This is why it was vital that Clarke make it inside.

Being inside and underground is the best place you can be. This is illustrated in the image below.

(Credit: Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/survive-nuclear-attack-fallout-shelter-cars-2017-5 )My head canon is that Becca’s lab is surrounded by multiple blast shields. We know from canon it has at least one shield to protect the lab from the rocket. It is highly likely that there are additional shields surrounding the rest of the lab. This would be to both protect the lab from a rocket launch, but also for containment breaches resulting from the research in the lab. This insulation would protect Clarke from the energy of the blast.

The next piece is about Clarke surviving the increased toxicity from the radiation associated with the nuclear plant meltdowns and the death wave.

We have to conclude that the nightblood solution worked – this is eluded to when Clarke greets Madi (someone clearly born prior to the death wave) by calling her a nightblood. Nightblood is what they have in common and likely let them both live.

Nightbloods have a higher tolerance for toxicity caused by acute radiation. This was proven earlier in the season when Luna showed up with Floukru after ingesting fish that had been exposed to the increased radiation. Luna was able to recover from the acute radiation sickness when the rest of Floukru did not.

It seems that Clarke had a similar but worse reaction from her exposure to the oncoming death wave. Clarke had much higher level of radiation toxicity to deal with - hence the severe and rapid symptoms - but eventually was able to heal once she was removed from that acutely toxic environment.

1b- Clarke’s prolonged survival and how to find food/water.

For water, I strongly believe Clarke had one of two options.

Access to a fresh water aquifer through a well. For this source to still be viable after the death wave it must also be true that there was minimal or inconsequential earthquake-like activity. Creating such a well would require drilling deep down into the ground to an aquifer that the ocean had not infiltrated. By pulling from a source deep underground the numerous meters of earth capping the aquifer would ensure that the radiation of the death wave would not impact the water. This option is also viable regardless of whether or not the lab has power.

A functioning water recycler. Given Becca’s work was funded on the premise that humanity was outgrowing it’s limits, you could make a case that Becca’s lab had to prove they too could live off of recycled water. We also know from the finale that Becca’s equipment was very similar to that on the Ark (Monty mentioned it when they went to grab the oxygenator). Additionally, it might have been with the increased activity in space that at-home or at-work recycled water was common and economically feasible.

There are of course other ways Becca’s lab could have received their water (e.g. desalinated ocean water), but we need a scenario where the water Clarke is drinking hasn’t been impacted by the radiation. Unless there is a really intense and self-cleaning water treatment system in Becca’s lab, I believe either of the two options above could work.

Food - I must admit I am not sure what Clarke would be able to find to eat. I really think the plot is what is going to make a decision here.

For example, the Writers could decide that some food was left behind because it’s weight to nutritional value ratio wasn’t high enough. This would get Clarke through the first year with some severe rationing.

I find the question of “what to do about food?” to be most challenging to figure out a realistic scenario.

Clarke has guns in the finale, which implies she has been hunting (it seems there are no other humans around). But my first piece of advice to anyone going into a place with high toxicity would be to not eat anything high up on the food chain. The higher up you go, the more radiation has been accumulated by radiation exposed beings eating other radiation exposed beings.

Perhaps Clarke’s nightblood will save her again — despite the established precedent that eating radiation exposed fish would make you severely sick.

Now there are two other possible scientific options for Clarke to acquire food:

1. Clarke has become a forager and is eating irradiated food. This would mean that by complete happy coincidence the death wave was releasing energy waves at such a level that it was able to kill off any bacteria growth - but not so intense that it influenced the nuclei of the food to become radioactive. Given the unplanned nature of the death wave this seems far-fetched to me.

2. Clarke was able to wait for new plant growth. There are some plants that need fires for germination of their seeds. (Source if you don’t believe me: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/yosemite-sequoias-fire ). These plants are highly resistant to fire… but not completely. Given Bellamy looked down to an Earth that was completely on fire (you couldn’t even see the oceans!) this also seems unlikely.

I firmly believe the plot will save Clarke here.

2- Survival of Becca’s lab

I’m not too worried about Becca’s lab.

Becca’s lab is primarily located underground. We’ve seen in the credits of the show and in other areas that it’s really only an entryway that is above ground - and there must be at least one other blast door that opens to let the rocket leave.

As I mentioned above - my headcannon is that the blast door to the rocket wasn’t the only blast-proof wall attached to Becca’s lab.

I’d back this headcannon up by referencing the most under-rated hilarious moment of the finale – Becca’s lab staff overdoing it on health and safety protocols at the antenna thereby forcing Clarke to be unsafely left behind (good grief THE IRONY!). As mentioned before, planning to mitigate the effect of a rocket blasting off on top of your laboratory will require planning and blast shields.

But the writers may decide something different.

No matter what, the only piece of the building above ground was the entryway - which if it collapsed or was consumed by fire wouldn’t be too big of a deal. Given its relative size to the rest of the structure it is unlikely it would do much additional damage.

3 - how did the rover survive?

It shouldn’t have.

For contrast, let’s compare this with a real life scenario.

In 2016 a huge wild fire happened in and around Fort McMurray, Canada. Over 75,000 people were evacuated from this city as a wall of fire descended and cut off the only highway to leave. Thankfully due to a culture of safety and good planning - no one died from the fire.

Here’s a before picture:

(Credit: CBC http://www.cbc.ca/interactives/longform/news/battling-the-beast-fort-mcmurray-wildfire )

Here’s an after picture:

(Credit: CBC http://www.cbc.ca/interactives/longform/news/battling-the-beast-fort-mcmurray-wildfire )

Fires, like the one we saw in the death wave both consume and cook what lays before them. If the rover wasn’t chewed up by the fire, the heat from it should have melted its systems within it that would allow it to function.

Some far-fetched reasons the Rover could have survived:

The writers could say that for ~*~reasons~*~ the rover was surrounded in something that protected it from the initial blast and the prolonged flames.

Perhaps it was parked in a garage that was underground before they got on the boat to the island. Given we never saw an underground garbage by the ocean this would be a very convenient after the fact consideration. Also I doubt the delinquents would have nicely put the car away when they had planned to leave it behind for five+ years.

Or perhaps since the delinquents knew they weren’t going to see the rover again, in a last moment of childish end-of-world shenanigans they joy-rided it into the ocean. The ocean water then would have protected it from some of the heat and fire. Now Clarke would have a mostly intact Rover to deal with… but even still I feel like this would be beyond her ability to repair.

Maybe the rover we saw in the finale isn’t our rover, just one that looks incredibly similar.

4- only five years for radiation to go down considerably

Wild speculation:

Perhaps it took six years and that is why the delinquents haven’t returned to Earth.

Or maybe, in a throw back to the pilot, the penal colony ship will open the door and the air will be too toxic this time. Could you imagine? We get a season premiere where we see two characters bickering “what if the air is toxic?” “then we’re all dead anyways” and they actually die. This would be followed by me as the audience ACTUALLY DYING.

Wild speculation aside, I agree - this is a problem. Especially in contrast to the visuals we see at the end of the finale. Seeing the entire world on fire - EVEN THE OCEANS - makes it seem that the world is done and gone forever.

( Look at this - there are BURNING AREAS, not just clouds, EVERYWHERE. And that’s before you consider the giant dramatic plumes of spinning green-hot energy launching into the air.)

Everything we know about the death wave hints at the fact that the Earth is dead.

For instance, why was the death wave speeding up? What was providing new energy to the death wave to allow it to do this?

But for me the biggest hole of all is the fact that our burning planet would leave no oxygen behind for our heroes to live. Certainly not for Madi at any rate, who we can not possibly believe was in some sort of air-tight bunker. Madi and likely Clarke should be dead from Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

And look at these dense clouds of smoke — how on earth (literally) is a plant supposed to grow without access to sunlight?

… I probably shouldn’t be adding questions to my own ask…

But quite frankly, the impacts of the nuclear plant meltdowns as portrayed in the show just do not fit in the hard end of Mohs Scale of Science Fiction.

I’m sure the writers will tell us something about how the half-life of the radiation will come down quickly thanks to some sort of 22nd Century invention. But for what we understand at the moment, the death wave and its impacts are a bit beyond reasonable.

Or at least that’s my response - I’d love to hear otherwise from someone who specializes in physics. Perhaps there is something I am not considering here, such as the energy caused by cascading breakdowns of molecules and what that means as they coalesce later.

Anyways… I hope this helps. I’m personally putting most of the death wave’s physical properties in a box of “Sci-Fi Fun”. The rest is much more reasonable to consider.

#the 100 #the 100 math and science #sly2o asks #praimfaya

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global-news-station · 4 years ago

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PARIS: Global health authorities said Thursday European countries should be able to ride out a surge in coronavirus cases without reimposing full lockdowns, as the World Bank warned the crisis could push 100 million people into extreme poverty.

Worrying spikes in cases reported Thursday in France, Italy, Spain and Germany showed the pandemic was rebounding across the continent — often due to travel, summer holidays and parties.

While Italy registered 845 new cases on Thursday, its highest daily tally since May, France reported 4,700 fresh infections — a massive increase on the previous day. Spain s daily increases topped even those of France, and Germany was concerned about its own resurgence.

Despite the rise in cases, a top World Health Organization official said additional lockdowns should not be necessary.

“With the basic nationwide and additional targeted measures, we are in a much better position to stamp out these localized virus flare-ups,” the head of the WHO s European branch, Hans Kluge, told reporters.

“We can manage the virus and keep the economy running and an education system in operation,” he added.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus in Latin America surged past 250,000.

Nine months after the virus began sweeping across the world from China last December, the pandemic has hit the Americas harder than anywhere else.

Latin America and the Caribbean recorded nearly 6.5 million infections and 250,969 deaths by 2200 GMT Thursday, according to an AFP tally based on official national figures. Globally, the virus has claimed at least 788,242 lives.

Brazil is the region s worst-affected country with 3.5 million cases and more than 112,000 deaths.

The South American giant is second only to the United States as the world s worst-hit country.

Peru, where figures released Thursday showed a 30 percent fall in GDP in the second quarter, has registered more than 26,000 deaths.

The crushing economic damage has sprung not just from the virus itself but also from the lockdowns that largely halted business activity across the world.

The United States — where 174,000 people have died — continues to bear the brunt in health terms and is suffering grim economic fallout.

The number of Americans filing claims for joblessness each week topped one million again, US officials said on Thursday, an increase on the previous week s figures.

Germany will need to take on yet more debt in 2021 to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on the economy, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said.

“Next year we will continue to be forced to suspend the debt rule and spend considerable funds to protect the health of citizens and stabilise the economy,” Scholz said in an interview with the Funke media group, referring to Germany s cherished policy of keeping a balanced budget.

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brajeshupadhyay · 4 years ago

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Dallas Fed Chief Robert Kaplan calls mask-wearing key to the economic recovery; other Fed officials haven’t gone so far

The White House’s message on mask-wearing has been inconsistent, and there is no firm federal policy on it. That confusion has left businesses large and small to take matters into their own hands and mandate their own policies.

Kaplan’s mask-wearing call is significant, because Fed officials tend to avoid political or controversial issues that aren’t immediately tied to employment, interest rates or financial markets. Yet his emphasis on masks further reveals how, for some members within the central bank, public health tools for controlling the pandemic are viewed in tandem with safeguarding the economy. Other Fed leaders, including Chair Jerome H. Powell, have said more generally that the virus will dictate the pace of the recovery.

Still, few have stepped forward to advocate mask-wearing so pointedly, for fear of inflaming political tensions, even as early signs of the recovery appear to be fizzling.

“Unless we get the virus under control, we see that growth is slowing and the rebound is less pronounced,” Kaplan told The Post.

A growing number of academic and private-sector economists echo the idea that more people wearing masks will help fuel the recovery. Goldman Sachs economists concluded that a national mask mandate could save the economy from a 5 percent loss in gross domestic product and offset fears that persistent shutdowns would be drags on economic activity.

“The three most important policies for creating an economic recovery are public health, public health and public health,” said Justin Wolfers, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. “And the fourth and fifth are monetary and fiscal policy.”

Masks are among the most efficient ways of containing the virus, Wolfers said, and a low-cost alternative to closing schools and public spaces. He pointed to the basic economic concept of opportunity costs, which would show that the economic and health consequences of not wearing a mask are extremely high — and far more expensive than the cost of wearing them.

“The Fed clearly has an interest here,” Wolfers said, “and that’s because the Fed serves the American people, and the American people have an interest here.”

Not all Americans are sold on the public health or economic benefits of wearing masks. Deep into the pandemic, President Trump said wearing a mask should be voluntary, while raising doubts about whether face coverings limit the virus’s spread. Especially in more conservative states, masks have been criticized as government overreach or an infringement on personal liberty. The sharp partisan divide is playing out within states, with conservative governors clashing with mayors in left-leaning cities over mask requirements.

This week, the governors of Alabama, Montana, Arkansas and Colorado issued statewide mask orders, meaning about half of all states now have a mandate in place. Meanwhile, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed an executive order on Wednesday banning cities from adopting their own mandates.

Masks may be among “the cheapest forms of stimulus ever designed by humans,” said Austan Goolsbee, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. But widespread mask usage would also make it easier for the Fed’s unprecedented emergency response to take root. Goolsbee recently co-wrote research on how peoples’ basic fear of catching the virus is an ominous sign for the recovery.

“There’s a fence around the effectiveness of monetary policy,” Goolsbee said. “For the policy to be effective, people have to buy into it.”

The reason mask-wearing can heal the economy is twofold, economists say: Public health officials say they contain the virus’s spread and that masks are necessary to give people the confidence to safely go back to work, their favorite restaurant or the neighborhood mall. Strong consumer confidence fuels consumer spending, which typically drives about 70 percent of the U.S. economy.

There’s also evidence that other countries with strong mask mandates are seeing a turnaround. For example, China’s second-quarter GDP grew by 3.2 percent compared with a year ago, marking a rebound from earlier in the year when the pandemic tore through its economy.

When it comes to calling on Americans to wear masks, no other Fed leader has been as blunt as Kaplan. That includes Powell, who has declined to weigh in with specific advice for public health experts or lawmakers debating additional government support.

Instead, Powell talks about the recovery as dependent on the country’s ability to contain the virus. In congressional hearings and public appearances, Powell insists that the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the economy is inextricably linked with the pandemic. He has also said that “a full recovery is unlikely until people are confident that it is safe to reengage in a broad range of activities.”

“As the lockdown ends and the economy reopens, the first thing is that, you know, we need to do it in a sustainable way,” Powell said in a June 17 hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. “Keep a distance, wash your hands, you know, wear a mask, that kind of thing. That’s really going to help. That goes with faster reopening of the economy. That goes with a successful reopening.”

Regional Fed chiefs and Fed board members have talked about mask-wearing, along with extensive coronavirus testing, as necessary to contain the virus and get the economy back on track.

This week, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard spoke on how “simple risk mitigation strategies, including ubiquitous masks, hold the promise of delivering higher household incomes along with lower fatalities from covid-19.”

“The more we can practice our great mitigation strategies — wearing masks, social distancing — you know, the more likely we are to be able to sustain our economic activity,” said San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary C. Daly during a Washington Post Live interview earlier this month.

And in mid-June, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said that “better adherence to the guidelines on social distancing, mask wearing, and hygiene would help to control the virus’s spread.”

Fed leaders have led by example and worn masks in public, too. Powell wore one when he testified before the House Financial Services Committee on June 30. But beyond Kaplan, Fed leaders have not gone so far as to call on Americans to wear masks for the sake of the economy.

There are plenty of reasons for Powell to be cautious in his public statements. No recession in the modern era has been so entrenched within a public health crisis, and the Fed prefers to leave mask advocacy to epidemiologists and public health experts.

Plus, the Fed wants to preserve and protect its role as the government’s top economic authority by avoiding the political fray and not telling other parts of government how to do their jobs. Masks, in particular, have become a partisan flash point within the country’s response to the pandemic and the economic fallout.

As a surge in cases forced states such as Florida, California, Texas and Arizona to roll back their reopening plans, masks gained traction beyond the large coastal cities where they have been commonplace for months. Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, announced Wednesday that it will require masks in all stores, joining a list that now includes Target, CVS, Costco, Best Buy and Apple. The National Retail Federation also called upon all retailers this week to require customers to cover their faces.

The chaotic debate extends up to the White House, where Trump long refused to encourage Americans to wear masks and changed his tune only this week, telling CBS News that: “If it‘s necessary, I would urge [Americans] to wear a mask.”

Administration officials insist the economy is back on track. White House forecasts for a rebound this year are often at odds with more measured expectations from the Fed.

As the Fed doubles down on its crisis response, Powell is not looking to raise tensions with the White House. Before the pandemic, Trump routinely attacked Powell for not doing enough to juice the economy. More recently, the president has dubbed the Fed chair his “most improved player.”

“As this continues, the American people will use what they have learned about covid-19 and take the appropriate precautions, such as social distancing, facial coverings, and good hygiene, to protect the public health and return us to a growing economy,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere.

That leaves Powell and the Fed in a fraught position, even if masks are increasingly viewed as key to ushering in a stronger economic recovery.

“At the time of peak ‘Trump v. Powell,’ people asked, ‘does this threaten the Fed’s independence?’ ” Goolsbee said. “The biggest problem with this is that when there comes a crisis, which hopefully there won’t be, the Fed’s credibility is tremendously important.”

Scott Sumner, an expert on monetary policy at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, said the Fed is skilled at talking around issues that don’t fall squarely within its lane. Fed leaders wouldn’t “go on a crusade for mask-wearing,” Sumner said. But if there’s agreement that the pandemic is driving the recession, “it’s hard [for the Fed] to refrain from at least indirectly speaking out on that.”

“There is the perception that policy is very dysfunctional right now, there’s mixed messages coming out about whether people should wear masks, whether there’s enough testing,” Sumner said. “And that does spill over into the economy, which is the Fed’s territory.”

Kaplan agrees. He pointed to data from the Dallas Fed’s Mobility and Engagement Index, which tracks the pandemic’s impact on behavior through mobile data showing how much time people spend at home, how far they go when they leave the house, and so on. The index plummeted in mid-March as the country stayed home to avoid becoming infected, then began improving in late April.

More mobility means more economic activity — but it also means a higher risk of spreading the virus. Kaplan said he is convinced that masks could help keep people engaged in the economy without spurring such spikes in case counts.

That’s a message he says falls directly under his job description.

“I think it’s very critical, in the middle of a pandemic, that we are seen as apolitical,” Kaplan said. “But on the other hand, we’re willing to call out what we’re seeing. … That also means I’ve got to be willing to call out drivers that may not have a lot to do with monetary policy.”

Heather Long contributed to this report.

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thechasefiles · 5 years ago

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 17/5/2020

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is your daily news cap Sunday 17th May, 2020. There is a lot to read and digest so take your time. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS), Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Sunday Sun Nation Newspaper (SS).

FRANKLYN AGAINST “FORCED SAVINGS” - Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn is opposed to Government’s proposed option of forced savings, which is designed to mitigate the economic fallout from COVID-19. Franklyn said the idea, which, in principle, requires giving public servants a percentage of their salaries in bonds or some other instrument, would result in workers carrying a disproportionate share of the economic burden. After Thursday’s meeting of the Social Partnership, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley announced that this option was being explored as an alternative to job cuts in the public sector. “The Social Partnership, therefore, discussed as well, the option that I raised on the last occasion on which I spoke, which is how do we best share the burden and do we not need to look at some level of adjustment on the part of those who are working, in the form, not of wage cuts in the public sector, but what we call forced savings; in other words, to allow Government to be able to spend money on other things, particularly capital projects, to be able to get more people working,” said Mottley. (SS)

JULY 14 IS THE NEW DATE FOR BSEE – A new date has been set for over 3 300 Class 4 students to sit the 2020 edition of the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination (BSEE). Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw said today that the students who will now sit the BSEE on July 14, will return to the physical classroom from June 15 to allow for one month of face to face teaching in preparation for the annual examination. The examination was initially scheduled to be held on May 5 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bradshaw made the announcement during a press conference at the Ministry’s, Elsie Payne, Constitution Road, St Michael complex where she assured Barbadians that the students and teachers will be going into safe environments when they return to their respective plants. Sanitizing facilities, provision of masks for teachers and students, and physical distancing will form part of the requirements for the phased opening of schools. “With the assistance of protocols that have been put in place for the reopening of schools in a phased way by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), we have spoken to our public health officials, we have had discussions with the respective unions and we have come to some consensus in terms of the way forward as it relates to a set of protocols, which would guide the return to school for both our teachers as well as our students at the Class 4 level,” Bradshaw said. The Minister also announced that CXC students, who were in the process of putting together their School Based Assessments (SBAs) before schools were abruptly closed on March 18 as a result of COVID-19, will also be allowed to return to school to complete the assessments. She said the decision has also been made for the Trinity school term to remain at 12 weeks until further notice. “We are in discussions with the unions as it relates to how we should address the end of term and whether we should shorten and in the fullness of time we will come back to the country. But as it stands right now the term remains a 12-week term and we will come back in relation to the full details on that,” she said. The Minister also reported that the Blackman and Gollop School, which was used to assist with the period of COVID-19 will be handed back over to the Ministry of Education following a thorough sanitization of the facilities scheduled to commence in a matter of days. She said the sanitization of Blackman and Gollop will be completed before the Class 4 students return to the classroom. The Education Minister expressed gratitude to all education stakeholders who have remained committed to serving the nation’s children at this critical period. She especially thanked those donors who would have contributed tablets, laptops and other electronic devices to allow students to be able to participate in Emergency Remote Teaching sessions online. (BT)

BRADSHAW URGES PARENTS TO BE VIGILANT – There has been an increase in the number of people paying their water bills after there were appeals for residents who could afford to pay their utility bills to do so. Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Wilfred Abrahams, who also made an appeal for persons to pay their water bills, stated today: “I am very happy to report that over the last couple of weeks the public has come into the Authority to pay their bills; some even have been paying online.” He added: “A number of people have stepped forward, and they contacted the Barbados Water Authority to try to make arrangements to pay their bills, even people that didn’t get bills.” Abrahams pointed out that while the receipt of payments by BWA is not back to 100 per cent, he understands that people are going through a difficult period. He said the BWA is willing to work with these persons on a “case by case basis”. Abrahams noted that last week, all the utilities came together with the backing of the Director of Finance to explain that without the payment of bills, utility companies could not perform their basic functions. He stressed that he does not believe any utility companies in Barbados are being “heavy handed” with customers, and all of them have been instructed to work with people where genuine cases of inability to pay exist, but in the absence of a genuine case, persons could not ignore their utility bills. Appealing to the public once more, Abrahams called on those persons who might not be able to cover their arrears to “at least keep current with the current bill, even if you have a difficulty with that, if you come in as an individual to the utility that is affected, and try to make an arrangement to pay, chances are you will be accommodated. I know you will be accommodated by the Barbados Water Authority and the National Petroleum Corporation, for certain”. To those customers of the BWA who have been experiencing water outages, and have been receiving bills, the Minister reminded them that whether they received water through their taps, a water tanker or a community tank, a service is being provided, which must be compensated for, and falls under their minimum bill payment. Abrahams said as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, plans to assist the BWA in addressing water outages had come to a halt, but with the proposed funding of between $50 and 55 million from the Ministry of Finance, and the ease of restrictions on construction projects, the Authority would soon be able to give definite timelines as to when its capital works projects, such as Vineyard, St Philip and placing more water from the Ionics Plant back into the Castle Grant system, would begin. (BGIS)

BARBADIANS PAYING WATER BILLS –There has been an increase in the number of persons paying their water bills after there were appeals for residents who could afford to pay their utility bills to do so. Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Wilfred Abrahams, who also made an appeal for persons to pay their water bills, stated: “I am very happy to report that over the last couple of weeks the public has come into the Authority to pay their bills; some even have been paying online.” He added: “A number of people have stepped forward, and they contacted the Barbados Water Authority to try to make arrangements to pay their bills, even people that didn’t get bills.” Minister Abrahams pointed out that while the receipt of payments by BWA is not back to 100 per cent, he understands that people are going through a difficult period. He said the BWA is willing to work with these persons on a “case by case basis”. Abrahams noted that last week, all the utilities came together with the backing of the Director of Finance to explain that without the payment of bills, utility companies could not perform their basic functions. He stressed that he does not believe any utility companies in Barbados are being “heavy handed” with customers, and all of them have been instructed to work with people where genuine cases of inability to pay exist, but in the absence of a genuine case, persons could not ignore their utility bills. Appealing to the public once more, Abrahams called on those persons who might not be able to cover their arrears to “at least keep current with the current bill, even if you have a difficulty with that, if you come in as an individual to the utility that is affected, and try to make an arrangement to pay, chances are you will be accommodated. I know you will be accommodated by the Barbados Water Authority and the National Petroleum Corporation, for certain”. To those customers of the BWA who have been experiencing water outages, and have been receiving bills, the Minister reminded them that whether they received water through their taps, a water tanker or a community tank, a service is being provided, which must be compensated for, and falls under their minimum bill payment. Minister Abrahams said, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, plans to assist the BWA in addressing water outages had come to a halt, but with the proposed funding of between $50 and 55 million from the Ministry of Finance, and the ease of restrictions on construction projects, the Authority would soon be able to give definite timelines as to when its capital works projects, such as Vineyard and placing more water from the Ionics Plant back into the Castle Grant system, would begin. (BT)

SSA OPERATIONS DURING COVID-Q9 PANDEMIC - Operations at the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) during the COVID-19 pandemic have been “business as usual”. Minister of Environment and National Beautification, Trevor Prescod, made this comment after a presentation of two small skips to residents of Parish Land, Christ Church, Saturday morning. He outlined that the SSA had been utilizing between 30 to 35 trucks on a daily basis in its operations. Minister Prescod noted that prior to December 2019, the SSA had challenges with collecting garbage, as a result of the small number of available garbage trucks. He added, since then, the collection of garbage had improved significantly, with the number of trucks moving from below 15 to almost 35 trucks. Prescod said the SSA now has a policy which includes trucks being sanitized every morning before leaving the yard with sanitizers being placed on them as well. He continued: “Sanitizers are placed at strategic points across the entire yard, and staff working on the trucks are provided with masks, gloves and hand sanitizer.” He urged the public to sanitize the receptacles which they place their garbage in, and refrain from placing loose garbage in the receptacles. Meanwhile, Minister Prescod, whose Ministry is also responsible for the ‘We Plantin’ More Than A Million” Tree project, said the programme had to be slowed down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he added the Ministry had to find a way to regenerate interest in it. “We still have to make sure that we keep on track, but as a result of these challenges, including the drought, the Government now has to reconfigure it, in order to move forward,” he stated. (BGIS)

SSA RECEIVES ASSISTANCE FROM JOSÉ Y JOSÉ – José Y José Liquid and Solid Waste Management has answered the call by Minister of Environment and National Beautification, Trevor Prescod, for corporate Barbados to assist the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA). Prescod, who asked for receptacles to collect of garbage in communities, received a donation of two small skips from Chief Executive Officer of the company, Anderson Cherry, at Parish Land, Christ Church, yesterday morning. Prescod noted that he was having discussions with private sector entities about this initiative to provide receptacles in communities where garbage pile-up was an issue, and José y José was one of the Barbadian companies that responded. “I have an obligation to the people in this entire community, and to the Barbadian public in general, and this is just one of the initiatives the Ministry is currently working on,” he said. Other initiatives include how to use waste in a more productive and meaningful way, such as waste to energy and recycling. He highlighted that the collection of garbage from the receptacles would be done exclusively by the SSA and not a private entity, and that he would ask for an increase in the collection of garbage from the area. Cherry stated that he had seen on social media videos and pictures of garbage pile-ups across the island, and after Prescod made the appeal, he and his team decided that they would donate around 25 bins to the SSA to help with community pile-ups. Pointing out that the receptacles have a special message on them, giving thanks to front line workers and reminding persons to cover their nose and their mouth, Cherry urged residents to place the waste in the receptacles, and not to have it scattered all around. He added that the SSA would do the pick-ups, but his company would provide the necessary support, whenever the need arose. Member of Parliament for Christ Church East, Wilfred Abrahams, thanked Prescod and Cherry for providing the two skips to the Parish Land area, and noted that this was just one area in Barbados where road access limited the collection of garbage, and as a result, residents placed garbage at a designated spot in a community, which caused pile-ups. Abrahams stated: “What is beautiful about the project is that this initiative seeks to provide a practical and sensible solution to the situation, by just placing a few bigger receptacles in needed areas, which helps in making the area tidy and reduces the incidence of dogs, cats or rats getting at the garbage.” He too made an appeal for all of corporate Barbados to step forward. “I encourage the rest of corporate Barbados to look around you and see where you can make a difference. It might not be this initiative, but keep your eyes and ears open, because there will be many more opportunities to help out communities and constituencies and the Government,” he said. (BGIS)

BOSTIC & BEST STILL PREACH CAUTION – Minister of Health and Wellness Jeffrey Bostic is still preaching caution even though the COVID-19 curve has flattened. The minister said he was pleased the vast majority of Barbadians adhered to the imposition of the curfew 50 days ago, noting this created the environment for containment in the spread. But he cautioned people should follow the protocols to protect themselves, their loved ones and by extension the community. “The curfew on its own will not stop the spread of the virus in the same way that the easing of restrictions to facilitate economic activity on its own will not cause a spike in cases. The glue that holds everything together is the adherence to public health protocols – personal hygiene, physical distancing, sanitising commonly used areas and equipment, and reporting to health officials anyone displaying COVID-19 symptoms,” said Bostic yesterday. (SS)

MAN UNDERGOES EMERGENCY SURGERY AFTER BEING SHOT TWICE - A 30-year-old man was rushed to surgery after being shot while walking through a track in the area of Odessa McClean Road, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael, last night. His name has not been released, but police say he was shot twice, in the back and chest, around 9:30 p.m. When police arrived on the scene, they found the injured man, who was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for treatment. His injuries were described as life threatening. More details as they come. (SS)

LYNCH HAPPY WITH CYCLING EASE - President of the Barbados Cycling Union (BCU), Charles Lynch, is pleased that the sport has been given some ease. Prime Minister, Mia Mottley on Thursday night relaxed some previously strict protocols to allow training in some non-contact sports. However, Lynch told Sun Sport cyclists must still exercise a level of caution and continue to follow the protocols of Government since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has not yet disappeared. “It gives us an opportunity to do a bit of training but we can’t do it in groups as yet. We are happy that we can go on the road and cycle but we must follow the protocols of not grouping and so on,” he said. (SS)

JAMAICAN MEDIA MOGUL OLIVER CLARKE DIES AT 75 – Oliver Frederick Clarke, the media mogul who stood at the helm of The Gleaner as chairman and managing director for more than four decades, has died. Clarke died on Saturday at 9:45 p.m at his St Andrew home, ending his battle with cancer. He was 75. Months before his passing, Clarke stepped down as the chairman of the RJRGLEANER Group paving the way for Joseph M. Matalon to take the reins. But up until his death, Clarke had remained chairman of 1834 Investments, the investment spin-off of The Gleaner Company Limited, which in 2015 started a process of merger with the RJR Group. Forty-five per cent of 1834 Investments’ assets are real estate. The company owns the property at 7 North Street, Kingston, which is home to The Gleaner Company (Media) Limited. Born in Kingston in 1944, Clarke rose to prominence in the Jamaican private sector after completing his education at the Sherborne School and London School of Economics. He joined The Gleaner in 1976 at the invitation of then chairman Leslie Ashenheim and is credited with leading the turnaround of the entity. That turnaround of The Gleaner’s finances at the time placed the entity in a strong position to establish and defend its independence. In 2017, Clarke was appointed Chairman of the newly launched subsidiary, the JN Bank, as well as the restructured mutual holding company, The Jamaica National Group and the JN Financial Holding Company. Clarke is survived by his widow, Monica and daughter, Maria Alexandra. (BT)

OLD EMPIRE THEATRE TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO PERFORMING ARTS FACILITY –The 98-year-old Empire Theatre on Probyn Street, The City, which had been closed since 1975, is about to be restored into a performing arts facility at a cost of some $15 million. Developer Mark Maloney announced yesterday that the ‘Triple Threat Operation’ with a proposed seating capacity of 600 people, will be “a performing arts studio developing young children who have a passion to aspire in performing arts.” Maloney, who said he had been refused planning permission to establish a craft facility on the site of the Empire after acquiring the lease about six years ago, disclosed that he was now on the verge of a revised project. “We had been refused permission for what we wanted to do at the Empire, which was originally to incorporate a craft brewery and some other things. We changed up the design to turn it in into a full theatre,” said Maloney, who has started work on the Hyatt Ziva Hotel Resort just a stone’s throw away from the Empire. “We are a big part of Operation Triple Threat and we believe in what Operation Triple Threat is doing for the use of Barbados. I mean some amazing things. We would like to have it in a full operating theatre. You can see we have cleaned it up,” he said. The prominent developer told reporters during a tour of the site for construction of the Hyatt, that new designs have been submitted to Town Planning for the restoration of the Empire, which he hopes can be incorporated into the Hyatt. “We are hoping that we can incorporate the construction of that, along with what we are doing here and allow some benefits from that. It is near and dear to us. In fact, Rock Hard Cement is going to be a significant investor in that. So we are hoping we can get the roof on. The building is going to be restored in the exact condition it was in before, rather than do the extensions. It is in progress,” Maloney stated. He noted that like anything else, they encountered some problems with the original concept and had to resort to restoring the building and look at how best to utilize the limited space to get the maximum seating. Declaring that the start of the project was not being held up by Town Planning Department, Maloney said he wanted the help of international donors to get the venture off the ground. “It is not a money-making venture. It is a significant cost and we don’t get the returns, so we trying to see if we can work with donors that do similar projects around the world to help us as well,” he disclosed. The Empire Theatre opened in 1922 as a live theatre and first run motion picture theatre. In the mid-1940s, it was owned by the British Colonial Film Exchange, Ltd. It has been closed since around 1975 and has slowly become derelict, but plans in 2003 had been submitted to restore and renovate the theatre into a home for the national company for performing arts. Operation Triple Threat (OTT) is a registered Charity located in Barbados and is a developmental performing arts programme for students between the ages of seven and 21. It exposes students to the genre of musical theatre. (BT)

The world is facing the rapid spread of the Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. As we continue to do our part in Barbados please remember to stay home but on the days you have to go out wear your masks, practice social distancing (stand 6-10 feet away from each other), practice good daily hygiene, eat healthy, exercise and keep your mind active. There are 230 days left in the year Shalom! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps #bajannewscaps #newsinanutshell #coronavirusinbarbados #nationalresponse #dailynews #thechasefilesblog

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itsfinancethings · 5 years ago

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(BANGKOK) — Authorities in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic began were moving forward Wednesday with efforts to test all 11 million residents for the virus within 10 days after a handful of fresh infections were found there.

The U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, meanwhile, issued a blunt warning that cities and states could see more COVID-19 deaths and economic damage if they lift stay-at-home orders too quickly — a sharp contrast to President Donald Trump, who is pushing to right a free-falling economy.

“There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control,” Dr. Anthony Fauci warned a Senate committee and the nation Tuesday as more than two dozen states have begun to lift their lockdowns.

The tension in balancing people’s safety from the virus against the severe economic fallout is playing out in many other countries, too. Italy partially lifted lockdown restrictions last week only to see a big jump in confirmed coronavirus cases in its hardest-hit region. Pakistan reported 2,000 new infections in a single day for the first time after the easing of its lockdown saw crowds of people crammed into markets throughout the country.

China, the first nation to put a large number of its citizens under lockdown and the first to ease those restrictions, has been strictly guarding against any resurgence.

District health commissions and neighborhood committees in the city of Wuhan have been told to develop a plan to test all residents in their jurisdictions, local media reports said. The directive also said the testing should focus on the elderly, densely populated areas and places with mobile populations.

A person who answered the mayor’s hotline in Wuhan on Wednesday said local districts had been given 10 days to carry out the tests. The official declined to give his name because she was not authorized to speak to reporters.

The first cases of the new coronavirus were found in Wuhan in December, and by the end of January the government had placed the entire city and the surrounding region, home to more than 50 million people, under a strict lockdown.

A cluster of six new cases was recently found in one part of the city, the first local infections the government has reported in Wuhan since before the lockdown was eased in early April.

It wasn’t clear how many people would actually still need to be tested, as one expert at Wuhan University told the Global Times newspaper that up to 5 million residents of Wuhan have already been tested since the outbreak began.

Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 4.2 million people and killed over 291,000 — with more than 82,000 deaths in the U.S. alone, the world’s highest toll. Experts say the actual numbers are likely far higher.

Progress was being made in many places, including New Zealand, which reported no new cases on Wednesday. It was the second day in a row without any and the fourth such day since early last week.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said it was encouraging news as New Zealand prepares to ease many of its lockdown restrictions on Thursday. Most businesses, including malls, retail stores and sit-down restaurants, will be able to reopen. Social distancing rules will remain in place and gatherings will be limited to 10 people.

“The sense of anticipation is both palpable and understandable,” Bloomfield said.

Authorities in South Korea said Wednesday that they had no immediate plans to revive strict social distancing rules despite a spike in cases linked to nightclubs in Seoul.

In his Senate testimony, Dr. Fauci said more infections and deaths are inevitable as people again start gathering, but how prepared communities are to stamp out those sparks will determine how bad the rebound is.

“There is no doubt, even under the best of circumstances, when you pull back on mitigation you will see some cases appear,” Fauci said.

Move too quickly and “the consequences could be really serious,” he added. It not only would cause “some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to try to get economic recovery.”

With more than 30 million people unemployed in the U.S., Trump has been pressuring states to reopen.

A recent Associated Press review determined that 17 states did not meet a key White House benchmark for loosening restrictions — a 14-day downward trajectory in new cases or positive test rates. Yet many of those states have begun to reopen or are about to do so, including Alabama, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah.

Of the 33 states that have had a 14-day downward trajectory, 25 are partially opened or moving to reopen within days, the AP analysis found. Other states that have not seen a 14-day decline remain closed despite meeting some benchmarks.

Fauci expressed optimism that eventually vaccines will arrive, along with treatments in addition to the one drug that so far has shown a modest effect in fighting COVID–19. But it would be “a bridge too far” to expect them in time for fall, when schools hope to reopen, he said.

Although Trump declared this week that “we have met the moment, and we have prevailed” in increasing and improving virus testing, Republican senators on the panel were noticeably less sanguine.

A lack of testing has dogged the U.S. response from the beginning, when a test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ran into numerous problems. Sen. Mitt Romney said the U.S. may finally have outpaced testing leader South Korea but that country has far fewer deaths because it started testing early.

“I find our testing record nothing to celebrate whatsoever,” said Romney, a Republican from Utah.

Trump administration “testing czar” Adm. Brett Giroir said the U.S. could be performing at least 40 million to 50 million tests per month by September. That would work out to between 1.3 million and 1.7 million tests per day. Harvard researchers have said the U.S. must be doing 900,000 by this Friday in order to safely reopen.

___

Neergaard reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

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Kaplan’s comments are more forward-leaning than those of his central bank colleagues and come as masks have emerged as a hot-button political issue ranging from state to state — or in some cases, city to city — about how to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The White House’s message on mask-wearing has been inconsistent, and there is no firm federal policy on it. That confusion has left businesses large and small to take matters into their own hands and mandate their own policies. Kaplan’s mask-wearing call is significant, because Fed officials tend to avoid political or controversial issues that aren’t immediately tied to employment, interest rates or financial markets. Yet his emphasis on masks further reveals how, for some members within the central bank, public health tools for controlling the pandemic are viewed in tandem with safeguarding the economy. Other Fed leaders, including Chair Jerome H. Powell, have said more generally that the virus will dictate the pace of the recovery. Still, few have stepped forward to advocate mask-wearing so pointedly, for fear of inflaming political tensions, even as early signs of the recovery appear to be fizzling. “Unless we get the virus under control, we see that growth is slowing and the rebound is less pronounced,” Kaplan told The Post. A growing number of academic and private-sector economists echo the idea that more people wearing masks will help fuel the recovery. Goldman Sachs economists concluded that a national mask mandate could save the economy from a 5 percent loss in gross domestic product and offset fears that persistent shutdowns would be drags on economic activity. “The three most important policies for creating an economic recovery are public health, public health and public health,” said Justin Wolfers, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. “And the fourth and fifth are monetary and fiscal policy.” Masks are among the most efficient ways of containing the virus, Wolfers said, and a low-cost alternative to closing schools and public spaces. He pointed to the basic economic concept of opportunity costs, which would show that the economic and health consequences of not wearing a mask are extremely high — and far more expensive than the cost of wearing them. “The Fed clearly has an interest here,” Wolfers said, “and that’s because the Fed serves the American people, and the American people have an interest here.” Not all Americans are sold on the public health or economic benefits of wearing masks. Deep into the pandemic, President Trump said wearing a mask should be voluntary, while raising doubts about whether face coverings limit the virus’s spread. Especially in more conservative states, masks have been criticized as government overreach or an infringement on personal liberty. The sharp partisan divide is playing out within states, with conservative governors clashing with mayors in left-leaning cities over mask requirements. This week, the governors of Alabama, Montana, Arkansas and Colorado issued statewide mask orders, meaning about half of all states now have a mandate in place. Meanwhile, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed an executive order on Wednesday banning cities from adopting their own mandates. Masks may be among “the cheapest forms of stimulus ever designed by humans,” said Austan Goolsbee, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. But widespread mask usage would also make it easier for the Fed’s unprecedented emergency response to take root. Goolsbee recently co-wrote research on how peoples’ basic fear of catching the virus is an ominous sign for the recovery. “There’s a fence around the effectiveness of monetary policy,” Goolsbee said. “For the policy to be effective, people have to buy into it.” The reason mask-wearing can heal the economy is twofold, economists say: Public health officials say they contain the virus’s spread and that masks are necessary to give people the confidence to safely go back to work, their favorite restaurant or the neighborhood mall. Strong consumer confidence fuels consumer spending, which typically drives about 70 percent of the U.S. economy. There’s also evidence that other countries with strong mask mandates are seeing a turnaround. For example, China’s second-quarter GDP grew by 3.2 percent compared with a year ago, marking a rebound from earlier in the year when the pandemic tore through its economy. When it comes to calling on Americans to wear masks, no other Fed leader has been as blunt as Kaplan. That includes Powell, who has declined to weigh in with specific advice for public health experts or lawmakers debating additional government support. Instead, Powell talks about the recovery as dependent on the country’s ability to contain the virus. In congressional hearings and public appearances, Powell insists that the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the economy is inextricably linked with the pandemic. He has also said that “a full recovery is unlikely until people are confident that it is safe to reengage in a broad range of activities.” “As the lockdown ends and the economy reopens, the first thing is that, you know, we need to do it in a sustainable way,” Powell said in a June 17 hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. “Keep a distance, wash your hands, you know, wear a mask, that kind of thing. That’s really going to help. That goes with faster reopening of the economy. That goes with a successful reopening.” Regional Fed chiefs and Fed board members have talked about mask-wearing, along with extensive coronavirus testing, as necessary to contain the virus and get the economy back on track. This week, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard spoke on how “simple risk mitigation strategies, including ubiquitous masks, hold the promise of delivering higher household incomes along with lower fatalities from covid-19.” “The more we can practice our great mitigation strategies — wearing masks, social distancing — you know, the more likely we are to be able to sustain our economic activity,” said San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary C. Daly during a Washington Post Live interview earlier this month. And in mid-June, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said that “better adherence to the guidelines on social distancing, mask wearing, and hygiene would help to control the virus’s spread.” Fed leaders have led by example and worn masks in public, too. Powell wore one when he testified before the House Financial Services Committee on June 30. But beyond Kaplan, Fed leaders have not gone so far as to call on Americans to wear masks for the sake of the economy. There are plenty of reasons for Powell to be cautious in his public statements. No recession in the modern era has been so entrenched within a public health crisis, and the Fed prefers to leave mask advocacy to epidemiologists and public health experts. Plus, the Fed wants to preserve and protect its role as the government’s top economic authority by avoiding the political fray and not telling other parts of government how to do their jobs. Masks, in particular, have become a partisan flash point within the country’s response to the pandemic and the economic fallout. As a surge in cases forced states such as Florida, California, Texas and Arizona to roll back their reopening plans, masks gained traction beyond the large coastal cities where they have been commonplace for months. Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, announced Wednesday that it will require masks in all stores, joining a list that now includes Target, CVS, Costco, Best Buy and Apple. The National Retail Federation also called upon all retailers this week to require customers to cover their faces. The chaotic debate extends up to the White House, where Trump long refused to encourage Americans to wear masks and changed his tune only this week, telling CBS News that: “If it‘s necessary, I would urge [Americans] to wear a mask.” Administration officials insist the economy is back on track. White House forecasts for a rebound this year are often at odds with more measured expectations from the Fed. As the Fed doubles down on its crisis response, Powell is not looking to raise tensions with the White House. Before the pandemic, Trump routinely attacked Powell for not doing enough to juice the economy. More recently, the president has dubbed the Fed chair his “most improved player.” “As this continues, the American people will use what they have learned about covid-19 and take the appropriate precautions, such as social distancing, facial coverings, and good hygiene, to protect the public health and return us to a growing economy,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere. That leaves Powell and the Fed in a fraught position, even if masks are increasingly viewed as key to ushering in a stronger economic recovery. “At the time of peak ‘Trump v. Powell,’ people asked, ‘does this threaten the Fed’s independence?’ ” Goolsbee said. “The biggest problem with this is that when there comes a crisis, which hopefully there won’t be, the Fed’s credibility is tremendously important.” Scott Sumner, an expert on monetary policy at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, said the Fed is skilled at talking around issues that don’t fall squarely within its lane. Fed leaders wouldn’t “go on a crusade for mask-wearing,” Sumner said. But if there’s agreement that the pandemic is driving the recession, “it’s hard [for the Fed] to refrain from at least indirectly speaking out on that.” “There is the perception that policy is very dysfunctional right now, there’s mixed messages coming out about whether people should wear masks, whether there’s enough testing,” Sumner said. “And that does spill over into the economy, which is the Fed’s territory.” Kaplan agrees. He pointed to data from the Dallas Fed’s Mobility and Engagement Index, which tracks the pandemic’s impact on behavior through mobile data showing how much time people spend at home, how far they go when they leave the house, and so on. The index plummeted in mid-March as the country stayed home to avoid becoming infected, then began improving in late April. More mobility means more economic activity — but it also means a higher risk of spreading the virus. Kaplan said he is convinced that masks could help keep people engaged in the economy without spurring such spikes in case counts. That’s a message he says falls directly under his job description. “I think it’s very critical, in the middle of a pandemic, that we are seen as apolitical,” Kaplan said. “But on the other hand, we’re willing to call out what we’re seeing. … That also means I’ve got to be willing to call out drivers that may not have a lot to do with monetary policy.” Heather Long contributed to this report. The post Dallas Fed Chief Robert Kaplan calls mask-wearing key to the economic recovery; other Fed officials haven’t gone so far appeared first on Shri Times.

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