Boris Johnson Made Light of Coronavirus Then Ended Up In the Hospital

Boris Johnson is reportedly responding to coronavirus treatment and remains clinically stable after four nights in St. Thomas Hospital in London. Johnson was admitted to the hospital with a cough and high fever on Sunday, 10 days after testing positive for the virus. Johnson was given oxygen and later sent to intensive care. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has spoken out saying he is confident Johnson will make a full recovery. Additionally he said:

But we’ve got very clear directions, very clear instructions from the prime minister, and we’re focused with total unity and total resolve on implementing them so that when he’s back, I hope in very short order, we will have made the progress that he would expect and that the country would expect.”

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab

The UK has yet to flatten the curve with a record 938 deaths in one day, based on the latest numbers from the department of health. These numbers put the UK death toll at more than 7,000.

Johnson banned public gatherings of more than 2 people as well as closed all non-essential retail on March 23rd in an effort to flatten the curve. Lockdown review occurs every 21 days, however health minister Edward Argar commented saying that cases have to peak before changes are made. The London mayor spoke out saying he expects the peak in cases is still a week away. London has plans to build temporary hospitals if necessary.

Boris Johnson isn’t Laughing Anymore

In the beginning of the outbreak, like Trump, Boris Johnson did not seem to take the threat seriously. He quipped that while everyone should wash their hands he would not stop him shaking hands with people he met.

I can tell you I am shaking hands continuously. I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were actually a few coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody.

Johnson’s War With Coronavirus Is No Joke Anymore

Johnson also said, on a call with ventilator manufacturers, that their task should be code-named “Operation Last Gasp.”

Sources:

Coronavirus: Boris Johnson responding to treatment in intensive care – BBC News

Wisconsin Primaries takes place amidst Coronavirus Pandemic – Putting Thousands At Risk

Wisconsin held primary elections on Tuesday in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, even though the Centers for Disease Control recommends practicing social distancing and staying indoors whenever possible. Despite those recommendations, the president has yet to enact an executive stay at home order, and stay at home orders are currently up to the ruling of each individual state.

Related: Coronavirus – Your Guide to the CoVID-19 Pandemic

In Wisconsin, an executive order was put into place by Tony Evers on April 6th, postponing their primary election. However, the executive order was overturned Monday night by the Wisconsin supreme court. Additionally, the WI supreme court overturned a ruling that would extend the deadline for absentee ballot voting despite concerns that a surplus of absentee ballot requests would keep voters from receiving their absentee ballot in time for the election.

Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

People are being forced to risk their lives to place their vote or fulfill their right as an American to vote. It’s just unbelievable that we are even having this conversation right now,”

-Milwaukee Health commissioner Jennette Kowalik

Wisconsin took certain precautions to protect voters, having a volunteer spray sanitize each voters’ hands as they walked through the door, as well as wiping down poll booths after each person votes. Voters were instructed to dispose of, or take home the pen they used for voting. Poll workers were provided with gloves, masks, and sneeze guards. Tape was placed every 6 feet to practice social distancing, although this proved difficult with lines at polling locations extending far beyond the pre-taped area. One volunteer running a polling location speaks about precautions she is taking to prevent her 77-year-old husband from getting sick, she plans to “Strip in the garage put my clothes in the washer and go downstairs for two weeks”

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden put out a statement claiming that in-person voting could be done safely saying the following:

“A convention having tens of thousands of people in one arena is very different than having people walk into a polling booth with accurate spacing with 6 to 10 feet apart, one at a time going in, and having the machines scrubbed down,”

-Joe Biden via virtual press briefing

While Joe Biden put out a statement saying voting could be done safely, democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke out against the decision to hold in-person voting at this time saying the following:

“It’s outrageous that the Republican legislative leaders and the conservative majority on the Supreme Court in Wisconsin are willing to risk the health and safety of many thousands of Wisconsin voters tomorrow for their own political gain,”

-Bernie Sanders via twitter

Senator Sanders has since suspended his campaign.

Holding an election in the middle of a pandemic puts millions of citizens at risk for illness. Hundreds of polling locations were closed due to CoVID-19, making it even harder to practice social distancing. In Milwaukee, five polling locations were open, where under normal circumstances there would be 180 locations open. Videos and pictures show crowded polling locations with long wait times. Continuing to hold primaries in the middle of a global pandemic is a form of voter suppression where citizens of Wisconsin have had to choose between their safety and exercising their right to vote.

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Trump’s Ban On the Use of Fetal Tissue Delays Coronavirus Vaccine Research

A recent report by Washington Post’s Amy Goldstein, states that immunologist Kim Hasenkrug wants to test potential treatments for Covid-19 in mice using “humanized lungs.” Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services are not allowing the research because using donated fetal tissue from abortions was banned last year by the Trump administration.

Government scientists will be barred from conducting research using donated fetal tissue the Trump administration announced on Wednesday, dealing a major blow to scientists who say it is an irreplaceable part of ongoing scientific research.

Trump Administration Bans Government Scientists From Using Fetal Tissue –
Jun 6, 2019

Fetal tissue from abortions is used to create mice with human tissue suitable for medical testing. The research Kim Hasenkrug proposed reportedly aims to use mice with implanted fetal lung tissue, then infecting the mice with coronavirus strains similar to CoVID-19, and then testing for successful treatments for CoVID-19.

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Humanized mice have been key to developing several important medical treatments for diseases like the Zika virus or HIV/AIDS, which was Hasenkrug’s previous research focus. The calculation is simple. You can’t test certain treatments without humanized mice, and you can’t get humanized mice without fetal tissue.

… The calculation is simple. You can’t test certain treatments without humanized mice, and you can’t get humanized mice without fetal tissue.

Coronavirus treatment research is being held up by Trump’s ban on the use of fetal tissue

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The Washington Post reported that Kim Hasenkrug at the NIH Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana has been appealing for “nearly a month” to get approval for the experiments using fetal tissue.

Regarding the proposal, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told CNA “no decision has been made.”

Related: How Plumbing Eradicated Disease

A Study Shows Masks are Extremely Effective at Preventing Virus Spread

New research shows that masks are extremely effective at preventing the spread of CoVID-19. Previous research focused primarily on masks preventing the spread of the flu rather than CoVID-19. The new study tested the effectiveness of surgical masks at preventing the spread through droplets aerosolized particles.

“…surgical face masks could prevent transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals.”

Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks– Nature Medicine

The study found that CoVID-19 was detected in 30- 40% of particles in aerosols and droplets expelled by those not wearing a mask. However, no virus was detected in aerosols or droplets from those who wore a face mask.

Despite research indicating that wearing masks could prevent the spread of the virus, the CDC has not recommended that everyone wear N95 masks. Alternatively, they recommend that N95 masks are saved for healthcare personnel only. Currently, the CDC is recommending homemade/alternative masks that are not N95 masks, and recommending social distancing and handwashing instead of N95 masks.

A surgical N95 (also referred as a medical respirator) is recommended only for use by healthcare personnel (HCP) who need protection from both airborne and fluid hazards (e.g., splashes, sprays). These respirators are not used or needed outside of healthcare settings.”

Coronavirus Disease 2019 -CDC

The Trump administration has ordered 3M to stop supplying N95 masks to Canada however they have not yet recommended that everyone wear masks, although the CDC is expected to advise all citizens to wear masks, very soon.

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Measures Taken to Decriminalize Psychedelics in Washington D.C

Earlier this year advances were taken in the early steps to decriminalize many psychedelics in Washington D.C. The Ballot initiative was given initial approval by the Board of Elections, and will now have to get the approval of their title and summary statement. If the ballot initiative goes through, psychedelics will be of the lowest priority in local law enforcement. The measure does not remove any penalties. Decriminalize Nature D.C is the organization behind this ballot initiative and had many advocates speak in favor of decriminalization at its original hearing.

Decriminalization can only bring safety and knowledge around the therapeutic use of substances that are already widely available, It will allow therapist to speak candidly to clients, researchers and students to pursue areas of study without fear of retribution, and an overall more educated society.”

Measure To Decriminalize Psychedelics Advances In Washington, DC

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Last year Denver, Colorado became the first city to decriminalize psychedelics and several more cities have followed suit. Many people have advocated the legalization of psilocybin mushrooms because of their therapeutic purposes.

Sources

DOJ Wants to Suspend Certain Constitutional Rights Because of Coronavirus

Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) wants chief judges to be able to hold people and suspend other constitutionally-protected rights indefinitely without trial during pandemics like coronavirus and other national emergencies, according to a report by Politico’s Betsy Woodruff Swan.

POLITICO reviewed documents that show the DOJ quietly asked Congress to draft legislation.

The move has tapped into a broader fear among civil liberties advocates and Donald Trump’s critics — that the president will use a moment of crisis to push for controversial policy changes. Already, he has cited the pandemic as a reason for heightening border restrictions and restricting asylum claims. He has also pushed for further tax cuts as the economy withers, arguing it would soften the financial blow to Americans. And even without policy changes, Trump has vast emergency powers that he could deploy right now to try to slow the coronavirus outbreak.

The DOJ requests — which are unlikely to make it through a Democratic-led House — span several stages of the legal process, from initial arrest to how cases are processed and investigated.

POLITICO

The DOJ has requested Congress allow any chief judge of a district court to pause court proceedings “whenever the district court is fully or partially closed by virtue of any natural disaster, civil disobedience, or other emergency situation,” according to draft language obtained by Politico. This would be applicable to “any statutes or rules of procedure otherwise affecting pre-arrest, post-arrest, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures in criminal and juvenile proceedings and all civil processes and proceedings.” They justify this by saying currently judges can pause judicial proceedings in an emergency but that new legislation would allow them to apply it “in a consistent manner.”

Rolling Stone

Global Fungus Infections Caused by Climate Change, Says Study

Three unrelated strains of Candida Auris have emerged on three different continents simultaneously, and a new study says rising temperatures due to climate change are to blame. Dr. Arturo Casadevall from Johns Hopkins University is one of the study’s authors, and according to him,

The argument that we are making based on comparison to other close relative fungi is that as the climate has gotten warmer, some of these organisms, including Candida auris, have adapted to the higher temperature, and as they adapt, they break through human’s protective temperatures…What this study suggests is this is the beginning of fungi adapting to higher temperatures, and we are going to have more and more problems as the century goes on…”

Why This Is Scary

C. auris came to the medical world’s attention in 2009, and it has proven to be a particularly troublesome microbe. It often occurs with other infections, leading to the fungus being misidentified and mistreated. C. auris also displays multi-drug resistance and outbreaks usually happen in a healthcare setting like a hospital.

Silent and Deadly

In all the noise about climate change, it’s easy to forget that we aren’t the only organism that will be forever altered by the changes to the Earth’s climate. It would be a mistake to forget that, especially when you realize how much more easily bacteria and fungus will be able to adapt. Candida auris is a new kind of infection, one that’s immune to our usual antifungals, difficult to properly detect, and can be transmitted through person to person contact. This fungus is a new, scary plague, and it won’t be the last.