Epidemiat maailmalla

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Donald Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator, Dr Deborah Birx, has cautioned that social distancing measures are likely to stay in place throughout the summer, as she sought to downplay the president’s dangerous suggestion that injected disinfectant and ultraviolet light could play a role in the medical treatment of Covid-19.

Birx made a number of appearances on the Sunday morning TV news shows, where she was asked about Trump’s outlandish comments made at a White House briefing on Thursday, which prompted immediate backlash from medical experts and industrial manufacturers who cited the potentially fatal outcome of such a process. Trump has falsely claimed the comments were sarcastic.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Birx was asked if she was bothered by the fallout from the president’s remarks.

“It bothers me that this is still in the news cycle, because I think we’re missing the bigger pieces of what we need to be doing as an American people to continue to protect one another,” Birx said. “As a scientist and a public health official and a researcher, sometimes I worry that we don’t get the information to the American people that they need when we continue to bring up something that was from Thursday night.”

In a later appearance on NBC News, Birx also responded to a suggestion from the vice-president, Mike Pence, in which he claimed that the US would “largely have this coronavirus epidemic behind us” by Memorial Day, on 25 May.

Birx said that while downward trends in infections and deaths in certain locations such as Houston and Detroit “gives us great hope”, she said “social distancing will be with us through the summer”.

She added that the US required a “breakthrough innovation in testing” to speed up the reopening, by testing for those who have already had coronavirus but displayed little to no symptoms, in order to track the virus’s spread.

The comments came as New York governor Andrew Cuomo said some less affected regions of the state could partially re-open when his statewide shelter in place order expires on 15 May. New York, the worst hit state in America, reported a drop in the number of deaths again on Sunday.
 
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African people continue to be barred from hotels, shops and restaurants in Guangzhou, despite Chinese officials assuring governments across Africa that discrimination resulting from efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak would stop.

Racist discrimination in Guangzhou earlier this month caused outrage in Africa, provoking rare official protests to China by several countries.

Africans in the city who were contacted recently by the Guardian said they still faced hostility and racism, prompted by fears they may be carriers of Covid-19.

Frank Nnabugwu, a Nigerian businessman who has lived in Guangzhou for a year, said he was not allowed to return to his rented accommodation last week after being released from two weeks’ quarantine. “The security guards said to us: ‘No foreigners are allowed’. I was upset, very upset. I slept on the street,” the 30-year-old said.

Police eventually found a hotel willing to rent Nnabugwu a room.

“We use the receptionist to order food,” Nnabugwu said. “If they [food delivery companies] know it is a foreigner ordering food they will not come. You cannot buy anything in a shop; if you go in they will cover their face and chase you out.”

 
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Trade figures have issued new social distancing guidelines for shops to prepare for any easing of the lockdown.

The British Retail Consortium and Usdaw's advice includes providing hand sanitiser for customers.

Helen Dickinson, the BRC's boss, said: "The safety and wellbeing of retail colleagues and customers remains the highest priority."

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Sunday that "careful steps" will be needed when easing the lockdown.

The industry body and the union issued the advice to non-food retailers, closely based on what is already happening in many food stores. Some suggestions include:
  • limiting the number of people in-store at any one time
  • encouraging customers to shop alone where possible
  • scheduling deliveries to avoid crowding
  • cleaning door handles, lift buttons and hand rails regularly
  • using floor markings to remind customers to maintain a distance of 2m
Shops that were deemed "non-essential" have been shut since the government set out strict new measures to tackle the spread of coronavirus on 23 March.

Those allowed to trade under lockdown include supermarkets, pharmacies, newsagents and post offices.

Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis said that "Non-food retail should only start trading again when expert public health advice agrees.

"However, we need to be ready and we need to make sure that the proper preparations and measures are put in place."
 
Australia has released its promised COVID-19 contact-tracing app.

Dubbed COVIDSafe, the smartphone app follows the now-established practice of asking people to register their name, age range, phone number, and postcode, and create a unique identifier. That identifier is shared with other users of the app when they come into close contact with each other.

If a user subsequently tests positive to COVID-19, they have the option to notify health authorities. Other users who have had close contact with an infected person are then contacted by health authorities. Close contact data is stored, encrypted, on devices for 21 days, but some data is stored off-device for health authorities to access.

Apple and Google have revealed a little more about their plans to support COVID-19 contact-tracing apps and changed up some of their security plans.

In an updated FAQ document released late last Friday, the companies explain their plans to employ a "privacy-preserving identifier - basically, a string of random numbers that aren't tied to a user's identity and change every 10-20 minutes for additional protection". The pair's previous plan was for a key to be associated with each device.

The new shifting identifier will make it more difficult for those tracking Bluetooth signals to associate the keys with specific users.The companies said they made the changes after consulting government and health agencies around the world.

The companies also clarified that data will never reach a public health authority - or Apple and Google - until a person tests positive for COVID-19 and opts in.

However apps using the API will check health authorities databases of self-confessed carriers daily, and match those records with encounters recorded on users' phones. What happens if there's a match is not made clear.

The regime outlined in the new FAQ appears also to have ended the debate over whether to use "centralised" contact-tracing that creates on source of data, or the "decentralised" scheme advocated by Apple, Google and the DP-3T contact-tracing effort. Germany's health minister, after the nation previously favored the PEPP-PT scheme, told Die Welt the government is now backing the decentralised approach. Switzerland and Austria have done likewise.

“This app should be voluntary, meet data protection standards and guarantee a high level of IT security,” they said. “The main epidemiological goal is to recognise and break chains of infection as soon as possible," Chancellery Minister Helge Braun and Health Minister Jens Spahn said.

Apple and Google say their system will be released in two phases. The first will release a whitelisted API to authorities in each country. "Apps will receive approval based on a specific set of criteria designed to ensure they are only administered in conjunction with public health authorities, meet our privacy requirements, and protect user data."

The second phase will see the software installed at the operating system level. Apple hopes that this will encourage widespread adoption of the tracing app, which experts say is necessary to its success
 
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@e7i Mikset tee tuosta jotain kaaviota ja postita sitä päivittäin? Tuo lista on aika turha.

Ehkäpä joku muu tekee siitä graafeja. Tätä numeraalista dataa ei saa mistään jälkikäteen, eli se on itsessään arvokas sarja.
 
Jatketaan Ruotsin ja Suomen vertailua, iltapäivälehdistä otettuna.
Luvut riippuvat siitä mihin aikaan ja mistä lehdestä ottaa joten ovat vaan suuntaa-antavia.

Ruotsi 24.3. kuolleita 36, tehohoidossa 136
Suomi 24.3. kuolleita 1, tehohoidossa 17
Ruotsi 25.3. kuolleita 63 , tehohoidossa 168
Suomi 25.3. kuolleita 3, tehohoidossa 22
Ruotsi 26.3. kuolleita 66, tehohoidossa 142
Suomi 26.3. kuolleita 5, tehohoidossa 24
Ruotsi 27.3. kuolleita 92, tehohoidossa 160
Suomi 27.3. kuolleita 7, tehohoidossa 32
Ruotsi 28.3. kuolleita 102, tehohoidossa 182, sairaalassa 803
Suomi 28.3. kuolleita 9, tehohoidossa 31, sairaalassa 112
Ruotsi 29.3. kuolleita 110, tehohoidossa 269 (ehkä luokittelu muuttunut?), sairaalassa (ei löytynyt)
Suomi 29.3. kuolleita 12, tehohoidossa 41, sairaalassa 134
Ruotsi 30.3. kuolleita 146, tehohoidossa 311, sairaalassa ???
Suomi 30.3. kuolleita 13, tehohoidossa 49, sairaalassa 149
Ruotsi 31.3. kuolleita 180, tehohoidossa 293, sairaalassa 1219 (aftonbladetilla vaihtelee tilastointitapa vähän väliä)
Suomi 31.3. kuolleita 17, tehohoidossa 56, sairaalassa 137
Ruotsi 1.4. kuolleita 239, tehohoidossa 312, sairaalassa 1320
Suomi 1.4. kuolleita 17, tehohoidossa 62, sairaalassa 158
Ruotsi 2.4. kuolleita 282, tehohoidossa 440, sairaalassa ???
Suomi 2.4. kuolleita 19, tehohoidossa 65, sairaalassa 160
Ruotsi 3.4. kuolleita 333, tehohoidossa 361, sairaalassa 1480
Suomi 3.4. kuolleita 20, tehohoidossa 72, sairaalassa 180
Ruotsi 4.4. kuolleita 373, tehohoidossa 374, sairaalassa 1508
Suomi 4.4. kuolleita 25, tehohoidossa 73, sairaalassa 187
Ruotsi 5.4. kuolleita 401, tehohoidossa 397, sairaalassa 1726
Suomi 5.4. kuolleita 28, tehohoidossa 76, sairaalassa 133
Ruotsi 6.4. kuolleita 477, tehohoidossa 415, sairaalassa 1742
Suomi 6.4. kuolleita 27, tehohoidossa 81, sairaalassa 147, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=11,85
Ruotsi 7.4. kuolleita 591, tehohoidossa 439, sairaalassa 1799
Suomi 7.4. kuolleita 34, tehohoidossa 83, sairaalassa 148, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=12,16
Ruotsi 8.4. kuolleita 687, tehohoidossa 451, sairaalassa 1838
Suomi 8.4. kuolleita 40, tehohoidossa 82, sairaalassa 157, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=11,7
Ruotsi 9.4. kuolleita 793, tehohoidossa 464, sairaalassa 1846
Suomi 9.4. kuolleita 42, tehohoidossa 82, sairaalassa 162, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=11,4
Ruotsi 10.4. kuolleita 870, tehohoidossa 486, sairaalassa 1919
Suomi 10.4. kuolleita 48, tehohoidossa 81, sairaalassa 155, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=12,31
Ruotsi 11.4. kuolleita 887, tehohoidossa 504, sairaalassa 1983
Suomi 11.4. kuolleita 49, tehohoidossa 80, sairaalassa 155, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=12,79
Ruotsi 12.4. kuolleita 899, tehohoidossa 500, sairaalassa 2037
Suomi 12.4. kuolleita 56, tehohoidossa 77, sairaalassa 158
Ruotsi 13.4. kuolleita 919, tehohoidossa 519, sairaalassa 2100
Suomi 13.4. kuolleita 59, tehohoidossa 74, sairaalassa 156
Ruotsi 14.4. kuolleita 1033, tehohoidossa 522, sairaalassa 2148
Suomi 14.4. kuolleita 64, tehohoidossa 75, sairaalassa 157, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=13,68
Ruotsi 15.4. kuolleita 1203, tehohoidossa 531, sairaalassa 2167
Suomi 15.4. kuolleita 72, tehohoidossa 75, sairaalassa 151
Ruotsi 16.4. kuolleita 1333, tehohoidossa 527, sairaalassa 2156
Suomi 16.4. kuolleita 75, tehohoidossa 76, sairaalassa 139
Ruotsi 17.4. kuolleita 1400, tehohoidossa 523, sairaalassa 2221
Suomi 17.4. kuolleita 82, tehohoidossa 73, sairaalassa 135
Ruotsi 18.4. kuolleita 1511, tehohoidossa 524, sairaalassa 2121
Suomi 18.4. kuolleita 90, tehohoidossa 70, sairaalassa 129
Ruotsi 19.4. kuolleita 1540, tehohoidossa 522, sairaalassa 2213
Suomi 19.4. kuolleita 94, tehohoidossa 68, sairaalassa 124
Ruotsi 20.4. kuolleita 1580, tehohoidossa 537, sairaalassa 2254
Suomi 20.4. kuolleita 98, tehohoidossa 67, sairaalassa 142
Ruotsi 21.4. kuolleita 1765, tehohoidossa 525, sairaalassa 2183
Suomi 21.4. kuolleita 141, tehohoidossa 63, sairaalassa 139
Ruotsi 22.4. kuolleita 1937, tehohoidossa 517, sairaalassa 2200
Suomi 22.4. kuolleita 149, tehohoidossa 63, sairaalassa 136, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=16,17
Ruotsi 23.4. kuolleita 2021, tehohoidossa 537, sairaalassa 2188
Suomi 23.4. kuolleita 172, tehohoidossa 60, sairaalassa 146
Ruotsi 24.4. kuolleita 2152, tehohoidossa 541, sairaalassa 2205
Suomi 24.4. kuolleita 177, tehohoidossa 61, sairaalassa 138
Ruotsi 25.4. kuolleita 2192, tehohoidossa 556, sairaalassa 2233
Suomi 25.4. kuolleita 186, tehohoidossa 60, sairaalassa 130
Ruotsi 26.4. kuolleita 2194, tehohoidossa 543, sairaalassa 2232
Suomi 26.4. kuolleita 190, tehohoidossa 62, sairaalassa 137
Ruotsi 27.4. kuolleita 2274, tehohoidossa 533, sairaalassa 2307
Suomi 27.4. kuolleita 193, tehohoidossa 56, sairaalassa 131

22.3. Leading indicator: sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=320/43=7,44

Ruotsin sairaalassa-luku on nyt toistaiseksi korkein. Huomenna uskon, että kuolleita tulee pitkälle toistasataa kun viikonloppua puretaan.

Ruotsin sosiaalihallitus pitää oma tilastointiaan, jossa kuolonuhrien määrä arvioidaan kymmenen prosenttia korkammaksi.

 
Nyt on pakko laittaa tähän Ruotsi keskusteluun pieni trolli. Minusta tässä pandemiassa nähdään ketkä on taistelija kansoja. Ja Ruotsalaiset eivät sitä ole, pyyhe heitettiin kehään heti kun alkoi tuntua kurjalta ja jopa aikaisemmin, heille on ihan sama vaikka porukkaa kuolee kunhan itsellä ei ole kurjaa. Minusta pitää taistella tuntematontakin uhkaa vastaan vaikka lopputulos on epäselvä . Kaikki me olemme arvokkaita vaikka ajateltaisiin että elin vuosia ei ole paljon jäljellä. Samaa asiaa tiedustellaan aina reserviläiskyselyssä kertauksen jälkeen. En luottaisi Ruotsalaisiin sodassa yhtään, ei ne taistele jos se on kurjaa..
 
Ruotsalaiset ottavat iskun vastaan nopeammin kuin suomalaiset. Muistetaas nyt, että molemmilla mailla näyttää olevan sama tavoite, vain vauhdissa on eroa. Ruotsissa toki tauti on levinnyt laajemmin vanhusten keskuudessa, mikä rumentaa lukuja, mutta eiköhän Suomessakin tauti tule tekemään tuttavuutta ikäihmisten kanssa.
 
Suomi taitaa olla suunnilleen samoilla tienoilla kuin Norja.

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Viimeksi muokattu:
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Olikohan tämä jo täällä. No joka tapauksessa sai minut ymmärtämään vähän paremmin, miksi Ruotsi toimii kuten toimii. Sama juttu kuin monikulttuurivalheen suhteen,
eli samanmielisyyden paine on aina kova Ruotsissa

 
Jatketaan Ruotsin ja Suomen vertailua, iltapäivälehdistä otettuna.
Luvut riippuvat siitä mihin aikaan ja mistä lehdestä ottaa joten ovat vaan suuntaa-antavia.

Ruotsi 24.3. kuolleita 36, tehohoidossa 136
Suomi 24.3. kuolleita 1, tehohoidossa 17
Ruotsi 25.3. kuolleita 63 , tehohoidossa 168
Suomi 25.3. kuolleita 3, tehohoidossa 22
Ruotsi 26.3. kuolleita 66, tehohoidossa 142
Suomi 26.3. kuolleita 5, tehohoidossa 24
Ruotsi 27.3. kuolleita 92, tehohoidossa 160
Suomi 27.3. kuolleita 7, tehohoidossa 32
Ruotsi 28.3. kuolleita 102, tehohoidossa 182, sairaalassa 803
Suomi 28.3. kuolleita 9, tehohoidossa 31, sairaalassa 112
Ruotsi 29.3. kuolleita 110, tehohoidossa 269 (ehkä luokittelu muuttunut?), sairaalassa (ei löytynyt)
Suomi 29.3. kuolleita 12, tehohoidossa 41, sairaalassa 134
Ruotsi 30.3. kuolleita 146, tehohoidossa 311, sairaalassa ???
Suomi 30.3. kuolleita 13, tehohoidossa 49, sairaalassa 149
Ruotsi 31.3. kuolleita 180, tehohoidossa 293, sairaalassa 1219 (aftonbladetilla vaihtelee tilastointitapa vähän väliä)
Suomi 31.3. kuolleita 17, tehohoidossa 56, sairaalassa 137
Ruotsi 1.4. kuolleita 239, tehohoidossa 312, sairaalassa 1320
Suomi 1.4. kuolleita 17, tehohoidossa 62, sairaalassa 158
Ruotsi 2.4. kuolleita 282, tehohoidossa 440, sairaalassa ???
Suomi 2.4. kuolleita 19, tehohoidossa 65, sairaalassa 160
Ruotsi 3.4. kuolleita 333, tehohoidossa 361, sairaalassa 1480
Suomi 3.4. kuolleita 20, tehohoidossa 72, sairaalassa 180
Ruotsi 4.4. kuolleita 373, tehohoidossa 374, sairaalassa 1508
Suomi 4.4. kuolleita 25, tehohoidossa 73, sairaalassa 187
Ruotsi 5.4. kuolleita 401, tehohoidossa 397, sairaalassa 1726
Suomi 5.4. kuolleita 28, tehohoidossa 76, sairaalassa 133
Ruotsi 6.4. kuolleita 477, tehohoidossa 415, sairaalassa 1742
Suomi 6.4. kuolleita 27, tehohoidossa 81, sairaalassa 147, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=11,85
Ruotsi 7.4. kuolleita 591, tehohoidossa 439, sairaalassa 1799
Suomi 7.4. kuolleita 34, tehohoidossa 83, sairaalassa 148, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=12,16
Ruotsi 8.4. kuolleita 687, tehohoidossa 451, sairaalassa 1838
Suomi 8.4. kuolleita 40, tehohoidossa 82, sairaalassa 157, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=11,7
Ruotsi 9.4. kuolleita 793, tehohoidossa 464, sairaalassa 1846
Suomi 9.4. kuolleita 42, tehohoidossa 82, sairaalassa 162, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=11,4
Ruotsi 10.4. kuolleita 870, tehohoidossa 486, sairaalassa 1919
Suomi 10.4. kuolleita 48, tehohoidossa 81, sairaalassa 155, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=12,31
Ruotsi 11.4. kuolleita 887, tehohoidossa 504, sairaalassa 1983
Suomi 11.4. kuolleita 49, tehohoidossa 80, sairaalassa 155, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=12,79
Ruotsi 12.4. kuolleita 899, tehohoidossa 500, sairaalassa 2037
Suomi 12.4. kuolleita 56, tehohoidossa 77, sairaalassa 158
Ruotsi 13.4. kuolleita 919, tehohoidossa 519, sairaalassa 2100
Suomi 13.4. kuolleita 59, tehohoidossa 74, sairaalassa 156
Ruotsi 14.4. kuolleita 1033, tehohoidossa 522, sairaalassa 2148
Suomi 14.4. kuolleita 64, tehohoidossa 75, sairaalassa 157, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=13,68
Ruotsi 15.4. kuolleita 1203, tehohoidossa 531, sairaalassa 2167
Suomi 15.4. kuolleita 72, tehohoidossa 75, sairaalassa 151
Ruotsi 16.4. kuolleita 1333, tehohoidossa 527, sairaalassa 2156
Suomi 16.4. kuolleita 75, tehohoidossa 76, sairaalassa 139
Ruotsi 17.4. kuolleita 1400, tehohoidossa 523, sairaalassa 2221
Suomi 17.4. kuolleita 82, tehohoidossa 73, sairaalassa 135
Ruotsi 18.4. kuolleita 1511, tehohoidossa 524, sairaalassa 2121
Suomi 18.4. kuolleita 90, tehohoidossa 70, sairaalassa 129
Ruotsi 19.4. kuolleita 1540, tehohoidossa 522, sairaalassa 2213
Suomi 19.4. kuolleita 94, tehohoidossa 68, sairaalassa 124
Ruotsi 20.4. kuolleita 1580, tehohoidossa 537, sairaalassa 2254
Suomi 20.4. kuolleita 98, tehohoidossa 67, sairaalassa 142
Ruotsi 21.4. kuolleita 1765, tehohoidossa 525, sairaalassa 2183
Suomi 21.4. kuolleita 141, tehohoidossa 63, sairaalassa 139
Ruotsi 22.4. kuolleita 1937, tehohoidossa 517, sairaalassa 2200
Suomi 22.4. kuolleita 149, tehohoidossa 63, sairaalassa 136, sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=16,17
Ruotsi 23.4. kuolleita 2021, tehohoidossa 537, sairaalassa 2188
Suomi 23.4. kuolleita 172, tehohoidossa 60, sairaalassa 146
Ruotsi 24.4. kuolleita 2152, tehohoidossa 541, sairaalassa 2205
Suomi 24.4. kuolleita 177, tehohoidossa 61, sairaalassa 138
Ruotsi 25.4. kuolleita 2192, tehohoidossa 556, sairaalassa 2233
Suomi 25.4. kuolleita 186, tehohoidossa 60, sairaalassa 130
Ruotsi 26.4. kuolleita 2194, tehohoidossa 543, sairaalassa 2232
Suomi 26.4. kuolleita 190, tehohoidossa 62, sairaalassa 137
Ruotsi 27.4. kuolleita 2274, tehohoidossa 533, sairaalassa 2307
Suomi 27.4. kuolleita 193, tehohoidossa 56, sairaalassa 131
Ruotsi 28.4. kuolleita 2355, tehohoidossa 531, sairaalassa 2238
Suomi 28.4. kuolleita 199, tehohoidossa 56, sairaalassa 144

22.3. Leading indicator: sairaalassa(Ruotsi/Suomi)=320/43=7,44

Ruotsin kuolleet-luku nousikin maltillisesti, mutta saa nähdä seuraavan kahden päivän kirjaukset.
Tegnell kommentoi jossain, että näkisivät laskusuuntaa kuolleisuudessa. En nyt enää löytänyt juttua.
Mutta tuommoisia kommentteja ovat antaneet aiemminkin, eikä Korona ole totellut.
Nämä luvuthan saattavat tulla pitkällä viiveellä tietoon.
 
Do Not Resuscitate. This tag should be attached to the oil, airline and car industries. Governments should provide financial support to company workers while refashioning the economy to provide new jobs in different sectors. They should prop up only those sectors that will help secure the survival of humanity and the rest of the living world.

They should either buy up the dirty industries and turn them towards clean technologies, or do what they often call for but never really want: let the market decide. In other words, allow these companies to fail.

This is our second great chance to do things differently. It could be our last. The first, in 2008, was spectacularly squandered. Vast amounts of public money were spent reassembling the filthy old economy, while ensuring that wealth remained in the hands of the rich. Today, many governments appear determined to repeat that catastrophic mistake.

The “free market” has always been a product of government policy. If antitrust laws are weak, a few behemoths survive while everyone else goes down. If dirty industries are tightly regulated, clean ones flourish. If not, the corner-cutters win. But the dependency of enterprises on public policy has seldom been greater in capitalist nations than it is today. Many major industries are now entirely beholden to the state for their survival. Governments have the oil industry over a barrel – hundreds of millions of unsaleable barrels, to be more precise – just as they had the banks over a barrel in 2008. Then, they failed to use their power to eradicate the sector’s socially destructive practices and rebuild it around human needs. They are making the same mistake today.

The Bank of England has decided to buy debt from oil companies such as BP, Shell and Total. The government has given easyJet a £600m loan even though, just a few weeks ago, the company frittered away £171m in dividends: profit is privatised, risk is socialised. In the US, the first bailout includes $60bn (£48bn) for airlines. Overall, the bailout involves sucking as much oil as possible into strategic petroleum reserves and sweeping away pollution laws, while freezing out renewable energy. Several European countries are seeking to rescue their airlines and car manufacturers.

Don’t believe them when they tell you they do this on our behalf. A recent survey by Ipsos of 14 countries suggests that, on average, 65% of people want climate change to be prioritised in the economic recovery. Everywhere, electorates must struggle to persuade governments to act in the interests of the people, rather than the corporations and billionaires who fund and lobby them. The perennial democratic challenge is to break the bonds between politicians and the economic sectors they should be regulating, or, in this case, closing down.

Even when legislators seek to represent these concerns, their efforts are often feeble and naive. The recent letter to the government from a cross-party group of MPs calling for airlines to receive a bailout only if they “do more to tackle the climate crisis” could have been written in 1990. Air travel is inherently polluting. There are no realistic measures that could, even in the medium term, make a significant difference. We now know that the carbon offsetting schemes the MPs call for is useless: every economic sector needs to maximise cuts in greenhouse gases, so shifting the responsibility from one sector to another solves nothing. The only meaningful reform is fewer flights. Anything that impedes the contraction of the aviation industry impedes the reduction of its impacts.

The current crisis gives us a glimpse of how much we need to do to pull out of our disastrous trajectory. Despite the vast changes we have made in our lives, global carbon dioxide emissions are likely to reduce by only about 5.5% this year. A UN report shows that to stand a reasonable chance of avoiding 1.5C or more of global heating, we need to cut emissions by 7.6% per year for the next decade. In other words, the lockdown exposes the limits of individual action. Travelling less helps, but not enough. To make the necessary cuts we need structural change. This means an entirely new industrial policy, created and guided by government.

Governments like the UK’s should drop their road-building plans. Instead of expanding airports, they should publish plans for reducing landing slots. They should commit to an explicit policy of leaving fossil fuels in the ground.

During the pandemic, many of us have begun to discover how much of our travel is unnecessary. Governments can build on this to create plans for reducing the need to move, while investing in walking, cycling and – when physical distancing is less necessary – public transport. This means wider pavements, better cycle lanes, buses run for service not profit. They should invest heavily in green energy, and even more heavily in reducing energy demand – through, for example, home insulation and better heating and lighting. The pandemic exposes the need for better neighbourhood design, with less public space given to cars and more to people. It also shows how badly we need the kind of security that a lightly taxed, deregulated economy cannot deliver.

In other words, let’s have what many people were calling for long before this disaster hit: a green new deal. But please let’s stop describing it as a stimulus package. We have stimulated consumption too much over the past century, which is why we face environmental disaster. Let us call it a survival package, whose purpose is to provide incomes, distribute wealth and avoid catastrophe, without stoking perpetual economic growth. Bail out the people, not the corporations. Bail out the living world, not its destroyers. Let’s not waste our second chance.

The head of Russia’s state-run nuclear corporation has expressed concern about the spread of the new coronavirus to three “nuclear cities”, including one that houses a top-secret research institute that helped develop the Soviet atomic bomb.

The cities are closely linked to Russia’s nuclear industry, which is managed by the Rosatom corporation. Several are closed to foreigners and Russians require special clearance to enter them as facilities located there are closely guarded secrets.

Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev said special deliveries of ventilators and personal protection equipment (PPE) were being sent to the closed town of Sarov, east of Moscow, and other towns where dozens of cases of the virus have been registered.

“This [pandemic] creates a direct threat to our nuclear towns. The situation in Sarov, Elektrostal [and] Desnogorsk is today particularly alarming,” he said in an online speech to Russia’s nuclear industry workers.

“The situation in Sarov is exacerbated by an outbreak of the illness in the nearby Diveyevo monastery,” he said, without elaborating further.

:unsure: :LOL::ROFLMAO::LOL:
 
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