Category: Corona Virus

Dont already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here

Good morning.

On 16 April, the White House issued guidelines for the nations slow reemergence from lockdown. But the next day, rather than promote his own administrations advice, Donald Trump tweeted demands to immediately LIBERATE MICHIGAN, LIBERATE MINNESOTA and LIBERATE VIRGINIA. At every step of the crisis, say public health experts, the president has undermined the governments efforts.

Now, local officials are begging Trump to cancel his planned rally in Tulsa this weekend amid a surge of coronavirus cases in Oklahoma, one of six US states to report record numbers of infections in recent days.

In New Zealand, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has asked the military to oversee the countrys quarantine process after two infected visitors entered the largely virus-free country and came into close contact with some 320 people: a fiasco Arden described as unacceptable. China has closed schools and grounded flights in response to a new outbreak in Beijing.

Meanwhile, leaders from the WHO, the UN and WWF International have issued a joint warning that pandemics result from humanitys destruction of nature. Writing in the Guardian, they call for a green recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, with legislation to restrict destructive farming and unsustainable diets.

We have seen many diseases emerge over the years such as Zika, Aids, Sars and Ebola and although they are quite different at first glance, they all originated from animal populations under conditions of severe environmental pressures. And they all illustrate that our destructive behaviour towards nature is endangering our own health.

On Tuesday, Trump appeared to address the policing reforms being demanded in the wake of the George Floyd protests, by signing an executive order to discourage officers from using chokeholds and to create a national database for police misconduct.

But critics described the order as a woeful attempt to shift focus from the presidents own divisive rhetoric. And even in his accompanying remarks, Trump seemed to deny the existence of systemic racism, blaming police violence instead on a small number of bad police officers.

A police officer used a chokehold on Manuel Ellis in the moments before his death. In video of the incident released on Monday, the officer appears to use a neck restraint on Ellis, before a second officer tasers him.

The Trump administration has sued to block the publication of a White House memoir by the former national security adviser, John Bolton, claiming it contains classified information that would compromise national security. Publishers Simon & Schuster said the book, The Room Where it Happened, depicts a president for whom getting re-elected was the only thing that mattered, even if it meant endangering or weakening the nation.

This opportunity to silence his opponents is a fight the president has been itching for, says Lloyd Green:

Sadly, the ghosts of the Pentagon Papers are back. Once again, an unmoored administration appears determined to use the courts to muzzle its critics.

Twenty members of the Indian military have been killed in a clash with Chinese forces on the disputed Himalayan border between the two Asian giants. Soldiers on both sides rarely carry firearms, in an effort to avoid such escalating conflict, so the violent face-off was reportedly fought instead with iron bars, rocks and fists and most of the victims fell to their deaths from the narrow mountain ridge.

The first fatal clash between the two nuclear states since 1975 came after Chinese forces occupied areas of disputed Himalayan territory in April and refused to leave. Julian Borger says its a conflict that could spiral further out of control:

The deadly brawl in the Galwan valley was the latest symptom of an increasingly aggressive Chinese policy on territory and borders, of the sort that has been playing out among the rocks and reefs of the South China Sea.

Live animal markets are hardly unique to China, and amid the coronavirus crisis there have been calls for their closure all the way from Wuhan to New York City. But researchers say such a move could unfairly target immigrants and their culinary cultures, without preventing the spread of disease. Kimon de Greef reports.

After months of lockdown, men in many families have grown accustomed to doing a greater share of childcare and housework. Brigid Schulte and Haley Swenson ask whether this temporary shift in gender norms could become a lasting change.

The film-maker Ivy Meeropol is the granddaughter of the Rosenbergs, the couple executed by the US for espionage in 1953 after their prosecution by Roy Cohn, the sinister fixer who went on to be Trumps mentor. Her latest documentary delves into Cohns dark legacy, she tells Charles Bramesco.

Last year, 90% of New Yorks illegal walking tickets were issued to black and Hispanic people, over an offence confected by the US automobile industry. Jaywalking laws are part of widespread systemic racism and should be abolished, says Arwa Mahdawi.

Police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, made headlines this week when they violently detained two teenage African American boys, and arrested one, for walking down a quiet street that didnt have a pavement.

Trump refuses even to wear a mask to reduce his risk of catching the coronavirus. But his Russian counterpart is taking no chances. Vladimir Putin has installed a disinfection tunnel at his residence near Moscow, which anyone visiting him must first pass through.

First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If youre not already signed up, subscribe now.

See the article here:

First Thing: Trump is undermining America's coronavirus recovery - The Guardian

Public health officials are urgently reviewing the potential ability of vitamin D to reduce the risk of coronavirus.

It comes amid growing concern over the disproportionate number of black, Asian and minority ethnic people contracting and dying from the disease, including a reported 94% of all doctors killed by the virus.

A delayed Public Health England review into the reasons why BAME people are disproportionately affected which pointed to historical racism did not review the role of diet and vitamin D.

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) began this work last month and is considering recent evidence on vitamin D and acute respiratory tract infection in the general population. Evidence will be considered on specific population groups, including those of different ages and BAME groups.

In a parallel development, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) is conducting a rapid evidence review on vitamin D in the context of Covid-19 with support from Public Health England (PHE).

It is understood the reviews will be published in the coming weeks. The Nice review may be used alongside other available information, such as specific patient circumstances, to inform individual healthcare decisions.

Public Health Scotland and NHS boards are also assessing emerging evidence to see whether the so-called sunshine nutrient should be prescribed in hospitals and to high-risk groups to mitigate a second wave of Covid-19.

Adrian Martineau, a professor of respiratory infection and immunity at Queen Mary University of London, welcomed the reviews and said deaths among BAME NHS staff had brought the question of vitamin D deficiency to the fore.

Vitamin D could almost be thought of as a designer drug for helping the body to handle viral respiratory infections, he said. It boosts the ability of cells to kill and resist viruses and simultaneously dampens down harmful inflammation, which is one of the big problems with Covid.

He is leading a national study collecting information about risk factors for Covid-19 with a focus on vitamin D deficiency to address the absence of research in this area. Any UK resident aged above 16 is eligible to participate.

There are no clinical trials of vitamin D to prevent Covid ongoing anywhere in the world to my knowledge and clinical evidence for its use to reduce risk of acute respiratory infections is mixed, Martineau added.

However, studies have suggested that vitamin D supplementation is safe and protects against acute respiratory tract infection. Higher levels of melanin in the skin lead to lower levels of vitamin D creation which are exacerbated in countries which have less sunlight. This can cause immune systems to be weaker.

PHE has acknowledged reports about vitamin D potentially reducing the risk of coronavirus but said there was not enough evidence to support this.

It has since April recommended all people take 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day to maintain bone and muscle health owing to concerns they may not be getting enough sunlight, particularly during the lockdown.

UK vitamin D advice is focused on musculoskeletal health conditions such as rickets and there are fears that its effect on general immune systems has been overlooked. On 3 June the Scottish government specifically recommended people from minority ethnic groups with dark skin to take the supplement.

Across the UK, as many as 750 NHS staff have received free wellness packs including liposomal vitamin C, vitamin D and zinc from a voluntary initiative called the Frontline Immune Support Team, and there has been some frustration that a more holistic approach to the pandemic has not been implemented.

Singapore general hospital reportedly routinely gives coronavirus patients aged over 50 a mix of vitamin D, magnesium and vitamin B12, while countries which have recently had summers have generally been less affected by the pandemic.

Read more here:

UK public health bodies reviewing vitamin D's effects on coronavirus - The Guardian

The critical indicators surrounding the coronavirus crisis in New York have clearly turned a corner: Deaths have slowed to a trickle, new cases have declined sharply and the numbers of hospitalizations and intubations have eased.

But over the weekend, a more ominous sign emerged. Throughout New York City, many people openly disregarded social-distancing rules, prompting state officials to threaten to reinstate restrictions in the city to guard against a second wave of infections.

We have 22 states where the virus is increasing, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a news conference on Monday. Its a dramatic national turnaround. We dont want the same plight of these other states.

Mr. Cuomo sounded the alarm after a weekends worth of videos and reports of people violating social-distancing rules, including on Friday in Manhattans East Village and on Saturday in Hells Kitchen, neighborhoods with many bars and restaurants.

The governor singled out bar owners and patrons in Manhattan and the Hamptons on Long Island for flouting the rules, and he warned that if local officials did not crack down on such behavior, the state authorities might suspend or roll back reopening plans for those areas.

Such a move could be financially devastating for business owners who were forced to close for most or all of New Yorks almost three-month shutdown, and for the tentative recovery in the city, where municipal coffers were decimated as nearly a million people lost jobs.

There is a very real possibility that we would roll back the reopening in those areas, Mr. Cuomo said on Sunday, suggesting that a second wave of infections was almost inevitable if people gathering outside bars and others violated rules. It will come. And once it comes, its too late.

Mr. Cuomos warning came as state officials touted the minuscule rate of new positive virus cases in New York just over 1 percent of more than 56,000 tests conducted on Sunday, according to the governor and as other states grappled with surges in infections.

The number of virus cases has been rising in many of the states that reopened earlier, and in a broader fashion, than New York: Arizona, Florida and Texas all recently reported their highest numbers of cases yet. The governors of Oregon and Utah have taken the drastic step of pausing reopenings in their states as a result of similar spikes.

Without a vaccine for the virus, experts have warned, about 70 percent of the population will need to be infected and develop immunity to halt the spread of infection. New York has had about 390,000 confirmed cases, or about 2 percent of the states population.

As of Monday, about 1,600 people in the state were hospitalized because of the virus, the fewest since March 20 and a huge decline from a peak of over 18,000. The daily death toll has hovered below 50 for the past five days, compared with the nearly 800 in one day that were recorded at the outbreaks peak.

But health officials have cautioned that the number of cases could rise as businesses fully reopen, people return to work and commuters take mass transit again, especially in New York City, which has tallied more than 20,000 virus-related deaths. The city began a limited reopening on June 8 that allowed construction and manufacturing to resume, while also permitting curbside and in-store pickup for retail businesses.

Another concern is the recent mass protests against police brutality that have, at times, clogged the citys streets with tens of thousands of people. Although they have encouraged participants to wear masks, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Mr. Cuomo have fretted about the possibility the protests could fuel the viruss spread.

There have also been conflicting messages from the state leaders about social gatherings. Such gatherings are still technically limited to 10 people, although Mr. Cuomo said on Monday that the New York regions in the third phase of reopening most of the state from the Hudson River to Lake Erie could allow gatherings of up to 25 people.

The mixed messages on gatherings, along with a weekend of warm weather, may have contributed to a false sense of security among those who were seen flouting social-distancing guidelines.

Jennifer Charlera, 19, a college student, has self-quarantined in her familys apartment in Harlem since March. She said it was difficult to balance respect for social-distancing rules with the desire to see friends and relatives after many weeks of isolation.

She said she had recently begun to get together outdoors, with masks with friends who themselves had quarantined at home. Family outings have included walking homemade dinners to relatives, to eat together outside.

Ive gotten more lenient now, she said. I go out more than I did in March and April.

On Sunday, Mr. Cuomo said that the state had been deluged with around 25,000 complaints about businesses that were in violation of the reopening plan. He warned that bars and restaurants could lose their liquor licenses if they failed to comply, noted that State Liquor Authority inspectors had been dispatched to problem areas and said that he had called several establishments himself.

But he emphasized it was ultimately up to local governments to enforce the states reopening policies, and he publicly urged mayors and county executives to target establishments that were found to be flouting rules.

They dont want to enforce them because theyre not popular, Mr. Cuomo said on Monday. Nobody wants to go to a bar and say, You guys have to wear a mask. You guys are violating social distancing. I get it, but they have to do their job.

A spokeswoman for Mr. de Blasio, the governors fellow Democrat and frequent rival, took issue with Mr. Cuomos remarks, saying in a statement that city employees had worked over the weekend to disperse large groups, distribute face coverings and help business owners keep patrons at an appropriate distance from one another.

Updated June 16, 2020

The steroid, dexamethasone, is the first treatment shown to reduce mortality in severely ill patients, according to scientists in Britain. The drug appears to reduce inflammation caused by the immune system, protecting the tissues. In the study, dexamethasone reduced deaths of patients on ventilators by one-third, and deaths of patients on oxygen by one-fifth.

The coronavirus emergency relief package gives many American workers paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives qualified workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are ill, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive care for coronavirus, or if they are caring for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people caring for children whose schools are closed or whose child care provider is unavailable because of the coronavirus. It is the first time the United States has had widespread federally mandated paid leave, and includes people who dont typically get such benefits, like part-time and gig economy workers. But the measure excludes at least half of private-sector workers, including those at the countrys largest employers, and gives small employers significant leeway to deny leave.

So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was very rare, but she later walked back that statement.

Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus whether its surface transmission or close human contact is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.

The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nations job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.

Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.

States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you arent being told to stay at home, its still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.

Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

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 dont 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 dont replace hand washing and social distancing.

If youve 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.

We must balance safety with peoples need to reopen their businesses, the statement said. These businesses are allowed to be open per the governors guidelines, and we dont believe imprisoning people or taking away their livelihood is the answer.

In another sign of frustration over the virus-related restrictions, residents of Brooklyns Williamsburg neighborhood gathered at a playground there on Monday to demand that it be reopened so children who had been cooped up for months had a place to play.

Joseph Lentol, a state assemblyman who represents the area, said police officers from the local precinct had provided a temporary reprieve by unlocking the playgrounds gates. Mr. Lentol said he understood the need for rules meant to keep the virus contained, but suggested that there were inconsistencies in how they were being enforced.

Nobody seems to be disciplining people who go out and stand around all night in the street and drink, he said.

Monday was also the start of the second stage of New Jerseys reopening. Across the state, outdoor dining was allowed to resume with restrictions, and retail businesses swung their doors open for limited indoor shopping for the first time in months.

Our goal is to not experience the spikes that other states are now seeing because they rushed to open too much, too soon, Gov. Philip D. Murphy said. We have lost too many lives in too short a period to not heed the lessons of this virus.

Not every public official was pleading for caution.

Steven McLaughlin, the Republican county executive of Rensselaer County, N.Y., just east of Albany, has been encouraging local businesses to fully reopen against the states guidelines, saying that county officials would not enforce the restrictions.

Mr. McLaughlin has criticized the governors shutdown as unnecessary, arguing that it was hurting small businesses despite there being few active cases in the county.

Ignore him and his stupid phases, Mr. McLaughlin wrote of the governor on Twitter last week. Every day he proves they are arbitrary and based on nothing but his maniacal need for power.

Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Mr. Cuomo, said Mr. McLaughlin was a conservative extremist who always puts politics over science.

Look no further than the 22 states experiencing spikes to see what happens when you do that, he added.

Reporting was contributed by Corey Kilgannon, Ed Shanahan and Matt Stevens.

Read the original post:

New York Flattened the Coronavirus Curve. Now Theyre Dropping Their Guard. - The New York Times

Earlier this year during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, experts were worried about a potential resurgence of infection rates and positive cases in the form of a second wave of the virus. In the last few weeks, many American states and countries worldwide have started the reopening process, easing restrictions on business, travel, and daily life. This has been accompanied with its share of consequences. Some states that are pushing forward with aggressive reopening measures have seen significant spikes in positive cases. Conversely, other states such as Illinois are showing more promising results, displaying not only decreasing infection numbers, but also progressively better testing capabilities. Experts attribute this variance to a variety of factors, including the vastly different reopening procedures between different states, more available testing capabilities in certain areas compared to others, and individuals not following proper social distancing and infection control guidelines. Regardless, these varying trends just continue to confirm the same point that experts have been saying all along: COVID-19 is unprecedented, complex, and may not necessarily show historically expected patterns of spread or resolution.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 16: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and ... [+] Infectious Diseases, listens to the daily briefing of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Accordingly, experts are having a difficult time predicting what the next few months will look like. In a statement to CNN last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci commented that It is not inevitable that you will have a so-called 'second wave' in the fall or even a massive increase if you approach it in the proper way. Dr. Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been an advisor to the White House on the approach to COVID-19 over the last few months, and thus remains a prominent public voice during this pandemic. Others who contend that a second wave may be avoidable are optimistic for different reasons. One such reason is that many believe that the first wave is not yet over, and will not be over anytime soon. Rather, controlling the original surge itself may take many more months, by which time experts are hoping for more viable solutions to the pandemic globally, including better infrastructure to practice social distancing, more widespread testing capabilities, and most importantly, a viable vaccination.

In terms of a vaccination, over 100 potential vaccines are being explored globally, with more than a handful in human trials already. But the vaccine development process has its own obstacles, including funding, transparency, as well developing the operations infrastructure to eventually mass produce billions of doses. However, experts remain hopeful that the scientific community will innovate something viable in the near future that may be able to provide hope and eventual resolution. As of today, total confirmed cases exceed 7.9 million globally, with over 430,000 deaths. Until a more permanent solution can be found, communities and individuals must continue to strictly enforce and follow the guidelines put forth by public health officials and experts, in order to ultimately contain the death-toll of this devastating pandemic.

The content of this article is not implied to be and should not be relied on or substituted for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment by any means, and is not written or intended as such. This content is for information purposes only. Consult with a trained medical professional for medical advice.

Go here to see the original:

Experts Are Now Questioning The Inevitability Of A Second Wave Of Coronavirus - Forbes

"My family depends on me financially and as of right now I do not really know if they will pay us," said Alvaro, a father and temporary foreign worker from Mexico. CNN agreed not to publish his full name as he fears being punished by his employer.

Alvaro is one of at least 600 migrant farm workers who have tested positive for Covid-19 in Canada since arriving in the country in early spring. According to local health officials, most were infected in Canada and two have died -- revelations that suggest failings in the government's declared protocols to protect this vulnerable group of essential workers.

When the coronavirus pandemic closed Canada's borders, the Trudeau government announced an important exception: a subsidy program that would allow foreign manual laborers to come into Canada before the growing season. In order to forestall any potential spread of infection, the government would pay for a two-week mandatory quarantine.

But workers say their quarantines were poorly handled by some employers, with little or no government oversight, and risked exposing them to the deadly virus.

In documents provided to CNN, at least three migrant workers described being kept in quarantine facilities that did not allow for social distancing, with crowded kitchens and bathrooms. One described arriving at a bunk house where there was no food supplied for the 14-day stay. He wrote to the federal government explaining he and others were forced to break quarantine and buy groceries in the community.

Employers that CNN has spoken with said they arranged for hotel rooms and food to be provided immediately in quarantine. But even for workers who were able to quarantine safely, crowded living and working conditions nevertheless increased their exposure to the deadly virus, according to the local public health unit.

Cheap communal housing: a perfect home for the coronavirus

Toilets and kitchens were communal, he said, and migrant workers slept 6 or 8 to a room, making it impossible to keep your distance.

Canadian employers hire tens of thousands of temporary foreign workers every year through the federal Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), which ties temporary workers to a specific employer through their work visa. They rely on the employer for housing for which they pay a small amount. Alvaro, for example, pays 14 dollars every other week.

In theory, employer-provided communal bunk houses allow temporary workers to save more money to send home to their families. But workers in the program have long voiced concerns and complaints about their housing, pay and working conditions. Now, as shown by the nine different agricultural outbreaks of the Covid-19 so far in the Windsor-Essex region, such housing also leaves them vulnerable to communicable diseases, including Covid-19.

"Unfortunately, because of the way they are housed or what their accommodation looks like, they spread it to pretty much everyone who lives in the same house," Dr. Wajid Ahmed, medical officer of health for Windsor-Essex County, Ontario, told CNN.

So far, 167 of the Scotlynn Group's 216 migrant workers have tested positive for Covid-19 in the last few weeks, with several admitted to hospital, according to Scott Biddle, the company's president and CEO.

"This has been a tough time, that's for sure," said Biddle in an interview with CNN. He added that the majority of his employees who work in the field, planting, tending and picking, are temporary workers from Mexico.

Biddle said his workers spent quarantine in a hotel, and described the conditions in his bunk houses as up to government guidelines. "Our accommodations meet or exceed all Canadian standards. They're all fairly new, built in the last 10 years," said Biddle.

But advocacy groups say local and national guidelines on living conditions for temporary workers are weak and inconsistent, with little resources for proper enforcement. In a recent report titled "Unheeded Warnings: Covid-19 and Migrant Workers in Canada," the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, an advocacy group working to protect migrant workers' rights, accused some agricultural employers of exploiting migrant workers and failing to take adequate measures to ensure their health.

The group also accused the Canadian government of having abdicated its responsibility toward workers brought in from abroad. "They are treated as disposable and expendable even in a situation like this when lives are at stake," said Karen Cocq, an activist with the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change in an interview with CNN.

Workers and advocates also told CNN that there was no PPE available in greenhouses and packing facilities where workers are "stacked" in close proximity.

Bill George, chair of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Association, told CNN there were challenges with obtaining PPE in the first few weeks of the pandemic, but said his members are working hard to address shortcomings and protect the safety of all workers.

The association, an Ontario lobby group, said it is up to the government to ensure farms are meeting safety requirements and pointed out that most inspections do not result in violations. George said the industry is meeting all the requirements of current regulations when it comes to both workplaces and employee housing.

"We are an essential frontline service and it's unfortunate that happened, but we are doing anything that we can do as an industry to prevent that, we are doing our best," said George.

The government's responsibility

"This is a temporary pause in order to determine the circumstances surrounding the safety conditions on farms," said a Mexican government official with first-hand knowledge of the discussions but who is not authorized to speak on the issue.

The official said Ambassador Juan Jose Gomez Camacho, on behalf of the Mexican government, has been in daily communication with the Canadian government to try and understand why and how hundreds of Mexican workers have been infected with Covid-19, weeks after completing the mandatory 14 day quarantine in Canada.

Both the Canadian and Ontario governments said they are reviewing health and employment protocols, but controlling the outbreaks has been left largely to already overworked local health units like Dr. Wajid's that covers up to 10,000 workers in Windsor-Essex alone.

Dr. Wajid said his health unit is now doing extensive testing for up to 10,000 migrant workers, and conducting daily calls and some in-person visits to check on workers' health. His unit is also trying to enforce more stringent guidelines for employers regarding isolating those with symptoms and providing for better PPE and distancing in the workplace.

In guidelines issued by the province of Ontario, agriculture employers have been asked to stagger start times and breaks, restrict the number of people on site, minimize the number of employees using a piece of equipment and install barriers between workers where practical.

But local health units report that those measures continue to be a challenge for some agriculture producers.

Migrant workers "come here, all the way here, taking all those risks and challenges to feed their families and it's unfortunate that at the end of the day they still lose their battle and lose their lives," Dr. Wajid said.

Early warnings

For Alvaro, the entire process has been overwhelming. Scotlynn Group told CNN a government insurance program enables workers such as Alvaro to be paid for 30 hours per week while in quarantine with Covid-19.

But Alvaro fears the virus will cost him -- he says he normally works longer than 30 hours per week and is unsure if he must now formally apply for sick pay. He feels that he and other workers have been "sacrificed" by Canada, he adds.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a press conference last week that the country had to do "a better job" of protecting temporary agricultural workers. This week, he added that Canada would follow up to ensure workers' safety in the future.

But experts point out that the government had ample warning about the dangers of its quarantine strategy months ago.

In April, Amir Attaran, a professor in both Law and Medicine at the University of Ottawa, testified to a Canadian parliamentary committee that the program to quarantine and then try to ensure the health of migrant workers during the pandemic was ill-advised.

Attaran told CNN agricultural producers lacked the time or support from the government to implement measures to control and contain the virus among migrant workers.

"I said it's crazy, it's not going to work, what makes you think that a person who is expert at growing asparagus or expert in raising cattle is going to know how to manage a quarantine? It's fanciful," Attaran recalled.

"This is frankly an incompetent country in terms of public health," Attaran added. "They're willing to write checks ad nauseum to blunt or assume the liability of the epidemic. So, they will pour out as much money as needed to assume the liability of failure but they're not willing to insert themselves in such a way as to prevent failure." He said that it was simply more expedient to 'throw money' at industries like agriculture instead meticulously following up on public health protocols.

And that is part of the reason why advocates for migrants are still worried for the health of workers as this pandemic drags on. "I think we're going to see piecemeal responses unless we continue to put a lot of attention on this issue and to demand much more," said Cocq of the Migrant Workers Alliance.

Continued here:

They came to Canada as essential workers. Hundreds were infected with the coronavirus on the job - CNN

The latest:

China raised its emergency warning to its second-highest level and cancelled more than 60 per cent of the flights in and out of Beijing on Wednesday amid a new coronavirus outbreak in the capital. It was a sharp pullback for the nation that declared victory over COVID-19 in March and a message to the rest of the world about how tenacious the virus really is.

The virus prevention and control situation in Beijing was described as "extremely grave" at a meeting of Beijing's Communist Party Standing Committee led by the city's top official, Party Secretary Cai Qi.

"This has truly rung an alarm bell for us," Cai told participants.

The website of the Communist Party's Global Times said 1,255 flights to and from the capital's two major airports were scrapped by Wednesday morning. Beijing Capital Airport is traditionally the world's second-busiest in passenger capacity.

WATCH |Beijing on edge as cases of COVID-19 spread:

No official public notice on a change in regulations has been issued by China's civil aviation authority or by either Beijing Capital Airport or Beijing Daxing International Airport. But Beijing Capital said on its microblog it expected to handle 500 flights on Wednesday, sharply lower than in recent days.

The cancellations are among a number of limits on travel in and out of the city, especially in hot spot areas. Beijing had essentially eradicated local transmissions until recent days, recording137 new cases since late last week.

On Wednesday, the city of 20 million people raised its threat level from 3 to 2, leading to the cancellation of classes, suspended reopenings and stronger requirements for social distancing. China had relaxed many of its coronavirus controls after the ruling Communist Party declared victory over the virus in March.

Since the coronavirus emerged in China late last year and spread worldwide, more than 8.1 million people have contracted it,according to Johns Hopkins. The university has tallied more than 440,000 deaths from the disease it causes, COVID-19.

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and lead to death.

Globally, 8.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been recorded, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 85,000 of those cases are in China, where there have been more than 4,600 deaths.

The World Health Organizationsaid it was moving to update its guidelines on treating people stricken with COVID-19 to reflect results of a clinical trial that showed a cheap, common steroid can help save critically ill patients.

Trial results announced on Tuesday showed dexamethasone, used since the 1960s to reduce inflammation in diseases such as arthritis, cut death rates by around a third among the most severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital.

TheWHO's clinical guidance for treating patients infected with the novelcoronavirus is aimed at doctors and other medical professionals and seeks to use the latest data to inform clinicians on how best to tackle all phases of the disease, from screening to discharge.

WATCH | The latest on dexamethasone findings for severe COVID-19 patients:

Although the dexamethasone study's results are preliminary, the researchers behind the project said it suggests the drug should immediately become standard care in severely stricken patients.

For patients on ventilators, the treatment was shown to reduce mortality by about one third, and for patients requiring only oxygen, mortality was cut by about one fifth, according to preliminary findings shared withWHO.

The benefit was only seen in patients seriously ill with COVID-19 and was not observed in patients with milder forms of the disease.

Canada and the U.S. will extend to July 21 an agreement to keep their border closed to non-essential travel, with many Canadians fearing cases arriving from the U.S.

"This is a decision that will protect people on both sides of the border as we continue to fight COVID-19," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

In B.C., Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henryannounced thatB.C. has confirmed 11 new cases of COVID-19, including 10 new test-positive cases and one that has been epidemiologically linked to previous cases. The province has had2,756 cases to date.

Ontario is considering granting adegree of immunity from civil lawsuits related to COVID-19.

The move would protect organizations and people including health-care providers from lawsuits if they spread COVID-19 while acting in good faith, according to a provincial government source. Premier Doug Ford confirmed Tuesday thatan immunity provision is on his government's radar.

Canada has recorded 99,774 cases of COVID-19 as of 11:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, and 8,299 deaths. Nearly 62,000 cases have been resolved, according to a CBC News tally.

The U.S. death toll has exceeded 116,900, according to Johns Hopkins University. That surpasses the number of Americans who died in the First World War, when 116,516 were killed although both tolls are far from precise.

The U.S. has the most confirmed infections and deaths from COVID-19 in the world, and as parts of the economy have reopened in recent weeks, cases have surged in places like Texas, Arizona and Florida, where the virus has sidelined some members of a U.S. team that tracks hurricanes.

India which has the fourth-highest caseload after the U.S., Brazil and Russia added more than 2,000 deaths to its tally, after Delhi and Maharashtra states included 1,672 previously unreported fatalities. Its death toll of 11,903 is the eighth highest in the world.

India has been reporting some 10,000 new infections and more than 300 deaths each day over the last two weeks. Adding the previously unreported deaths drove India's fatality rate from 2.9 per centto 3.4 per cent.

New Zealand, not long after declaring itself virus-free when the last known infected person recovered, is dealing with a re-emergence of the virus. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern assigned a top military leader to oversee the border quarantines after what she described as an "unacceptable failure" by health officials.

They had allowed two New Zealand citizens who had recently returned from London to leave quarantine before being tested for the virus. After the women tested positive, New Zealand began tracing their potential contacts to ensure the virus is contained.

Their cases raised the spectrethat international air travel could spread the virus just as countries are reopening airports to stimulate tourism.

New Zealand's neighbour Australia has deepened a diplomatic spat with China by accusing Beijing and Moscow of using the heightened anxiety around the pandemic to undermine Western democracies by spreading disinformation online.

"It is troubling that some countries are using the pandemic to undermine liberal democracy to promote their own more authoritarian models," Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a speech to a university.

Australia has angered China by calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of and responses to COVID-19.

Even as Mexico announces plans for reopening churches and religious events, the country is posting significant increases in cases and deaths. Tuesday's 4,599 was the second-highest daily increase to date, to reach an accumulated total of 154,863. Deaths rose by 730.

Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19, the Central American leader said late Tuesday in a television message.

Hernandez said that over the weekend he began feeling some discomfort and on Tuesday received the test results. He said his wife is asymptomatic and two other people who work with them are also infected.

In Europe, which has seen over 184,000 virus-related deaths, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that Spainwill hold a ceremony July 16 to honour its more than 27,000 dead.

In Germany, officials in the country's western region said thenumber of new COVID-19 cases linked to a large meatpacking plant has risen to 657a higher figure than many recent daily increases for the entire country. German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised officials for swiftly closing schools in the region.

"We are far away from an exponential increase," Merkel told reporters, insisting that the country would continue to try to relax restrictions despite the local outbreak at the slaughterhouse. "But we see from these outbreaks that the virus isn't gone."

Russia on Wednesday reported7,843 new cases of the novel coronavirus, its lowest dailycaseload registered since April 30, pushing the nationwide total to 553,301. The country'svirus response team said 194 people had died in thelast 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 7,478 sincethe crisis began.

The Russian government built special tunnels to protect President Vladimir Putin from the coronavirus at home and at work, Putin's spokespersonsaid Wednesday. Dmitry Peskov said one tunnel was installed at the president's home outside Moscow and two at the Kremlin.

"When it comes to the head of the state, additional precautionary measures are justified," Peskov said, adding that the tunnels were put in when Russia's coronavirus "was in full swing."

Read more:

Coronavirus: What's happening around the world on Wednesday - CBC.ca

The German government has appealed to its citizens to download a newly available coronavirus warning app as it launched what it insisted was its most sophisticated tool yet for tackling the pandemic.

The Corona Warn App suffered setbacks including disagreements over data privacy and functionality, but is seen as being introduced just in time as lockdown regulations rapidly relax with a decreasing infection rate.

The app will complement a human tracking and tracing system that has been in place across the country since February. It will alert users whether and for how long they have been in contact at a distance of 2 metres or less with someone who has tested positive for the virus.

Contact data will not as initially planned be saved centrally, only on the smart phones themselves, and the app is based on privacy-focused technology developed by Apple and Google. Users have been assured their private data will not be compromised and neither will the app drain a phones battery.

Use of the app, which cost 20m to develop, is voluntary but virologists say 60% of Germans must download it for it to become effective.

Public health leaders, computer hackers and government ministers, all of whom had been involved in its development, introduced the app to the public in Berlin on Tuesday morning. By midday it was said to have been downloaded more than 1m times. It has been backed by a massive advertising campaign across broadcasters and on billboards involving leading DAX companies and the German Football Association, the DFB, in the hope of reaching as large an audience as possible.

It follows the introduction of a French warning app, StopCovid, which launched last week but crashed four days later due to huge demand. Australia has introduced a similar system.

The German app has an open source program code, meaning it can be potentially copied and updated by other countries.

Helge Braun, the head of chancellor Angela Merkels office, and himself a doctor, said downloading the app amounted to one small step for us, but a giant step in our fight against the pandemic.

Lothar Wieler, of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germanys leading public health advisory body, said the app would be an effective tool to help us break chains of infection.

He said its introduction would mark the start of the digitalisation of all coronavirus case data, much of which has been gathered so far by about 500 containment scouts who have typically used fax machines to communicate new coronavirus cases to the RKI to ensure data protection.

Jens Spahn, the health minister, said the app would be vital in speeding up the measures taken to break chains of infection particularly at a time when Germans were becoming more mobile.

We are increasingly coming into contact with anonymous people, whether at demonstrations or on public transport, he said. Every hour we gain by an early warning is a gain in our fight against this virus. Id prefer people to get tested too often than too little.

The next step, Spahn said, would be to build a system that would work across Europe. Currently, if a German user travels abroad, the app will not work.

Timotheus Httges, of Deutsche Telekom AG, said its laboratory in Prague had been central to developing the app and adapting it to the variety of situations in which users might find themselves.

There we simulated everything from cocktail parties to the school classroom to train journeys, he said. When youre working on something thats for the benefit of the whole society, its amazing the extent of the possibilities. He said it had taken 50 days to develop, adding: It was a lot of fun.

More:

Germany appeals to nation to download coronavirus app - The Guardian

CHICAGO As people flock to bars and restaurants to enjoy a delayed patio season, workers say they have been completely overlooked in reopening plans.

The city entered Phase 3 of reopening from coronavirus on June 3, allowing restaurants to open for patio service with strict safety precautions. Bars and breweries can join them in reopening as of Wednesday.

But obedience to these guidelines requiring guests wear face masks when not eating and social distance has been mixed, which has servers like Alicia Rottman concerned about returning to work.

Just because the state says its OK to open up doesnt necessarily mean that its safe to, said Rottman, whos worked in the industry for 15 years.I think the consensus is were going to see a big pop in cases maybe a month into reopening and that will largely fall on us.

RELATED: Partaking In Patio Season? Be Very Careful, Doctors Say As Nervous Diners Emerge From Quarantine

Rottman said she fell into a panic after her employer, who she declined to name for fear of retribution, texted her last week asking if shed considered coming back to work. She asked what steps would be taken to protect employees during the pandemic, but didnt feel their answers were substantial.

Rottman began reaching out to her coworkers, and theyunanimously agreed that servers needed to be better compensated for the risks theyd take going back to work.For that risk to be worthwhile, servers could need more paid sick leave, employer-provided health insurance and higher wages to make up any loss in tips due to restaurants capacity limits, she said.

This is uncharted territory for the entire industry, so were not expecting them to have all the answers, but theres some really basic stuff that hasnt been addressed for workers and were getting completely overlooked as the state pushes for reopening, Rottman said.

Raeghn Draper, a bartender at Cindys Rooftop in the Chicago Athletic Club, said the hotel is gradually reopening, asking small groups of employees back as they can increase capacity. She said she was relieved when she wasnt in the first wave of employees asked back.

I dont want to risk my health and put my body on the line so I can serve people some cocktails and steaks, Draper said. There are no safety nets for me, so what would I be risking myself for by going back?

Rochelle Semons, who is a food runner at Big Star in Wicker Park and a server at Utopian Tailgate in Old Town, said she was asked back by both of her jobs, but she declined the work because she doesnt feel safe.

I drove through Old Town and saw so many people outside not distancing themselves and not wearing masks anymore. I simply dont feel comfortable, Semons said.

For now, Semons is able to remain on unemployment benefits, but she worries about losing them if restaurants rush to reopen and bring their employees back.

They havent offered sick pay, hazard pay, to cover our health benefits if we do get sick nothing to make us want to work for them and feel safe doing so, Semons said.

At the first weekend of Lakeviews Dine Out On Broadway event, which closed a stretch of Broadway from June 1214 so that restaurants could expand their outdoor patios into the streets, some restaurants were unable to participate because they didnt have enough employees back at work, according to Maureen Martino, executive director of the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce.

The biggest challenge for some restaurants was that they cant do it until next week when they have more employees back, Martino said. Theyre trying to get people off of unemployment so they to serve the customer base.

Groups of people who didnt follow social-distancing guidelines, didnt wear face masks or ignored open alcohol container rules were reported during the first days of the outdoor dining event. But Martino said the chamber had a handle on things by Sunday afternoon and in time for the next closure from June 1921.

Weve got it all down now and learned we had to be really strict that this is a dining event and cannot be a festival, Martino said. Theres a lot of pressure on us being the first outdoor dining closure to get it right so others can learn from this, and I hope we made the neighborhood proud.

Jake Wittich is aReport for Americacorps member covering Lakeview, Boystown and Lincoln Park for Block Club Chicago.

Subscribe to Block Club Chicago. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicagos neighborhoods.

Already subscribe?Click hereto support Block Clubwith a tax-deductible donation.

Go here to see the original:

As Restaurants And Bars Reopen, Servers Worry They Could Catch Coronavirus: 'There Are No Safety Nets For Me' - Block Club Chicago

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

2. WHO welcomes lifesaving drug trial breakthrough

The World Health Organization has said it will update its clinical guidance after a UK trial of dexamethasone was shown to reduce mortality of critically ill COVID-19 patients.

It was shown to reduce mortality by about one third in patients on ventilators, and by about one fifth for patients requiring only oxygen.

The inexpensive and widely available steroid has been used since the 1960s to reduce inflammation and is part of a larger trial by the University of Oxford which tests existing drugs for their effectiveness in COVID-19 patients.

This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

This is great news and I congratulate the Government of the UK, the University of Oxford, and the many hospitals and patients in the UK who have contributed to this lifesaving scientific breakthrough.

There are more than 2,000 registered clinical trials investigating COVID-19 worldwide.

Image: Statista

3. Nepal facing COVID-19 remittance crisis

As the world slides into recession, Nepal faces twin issues of falling remittances - a lifeline to workers' families and a key source of liquidity for banks - as well as thousands of stranded or returning migrants now out of work.

Earnings sent home as remittances by Nepal's migrant workers in the Gulf states and elsewhere represent more than a quarter of the Nepal's economic output.

Lockdowns in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, two of the most popular destinations for migrant workers from Nepal and India, have hit the tourism, hospitality and construction sectors hardest, where many migrant workers were concentrated.

More than 210,000 Nepalis need to be rescued and repatriated, Nepali Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali told a parliamentary committee in May.

Globally, it's projected there will be a 20% in remittances in 2020, according to KNOMAD and the World Bank, equal to $110 billion.

But global cooperation efforts are underway to address the crisis. The governments of Switzerland and the UK are spearheading a high-level call to action to keep remittances flowing.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Visit link:

What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 17 June - World Economic Forum

Paramedics from the San Antonio Fire Department set up swabbing stations in a suburban nursing home's parking lot as part of the massive state intervention to stop the spread of infections in Texas nursing homes. John Burnett/NPR hide caption

Paramedics from the San Antonio Fire Department set up swabbing stations in a suburban nursing home's parking lot as part of the massive state intervention to stop the spread of infections in Texas nursing homes.

Some of the worst coronavirus outbreaks have occurred at long-term care facilities that now account for more than one-third of all COVID-19 deaths in America. Some states have taken aggressive actions to slow the spread of the virus among residents and workers in nursing homes. Texas formed a strike force to assess problems at its 1,222 nursing homes.

On a bright South Texas morning in the parking lot of a suburban nursing home, paramedics from the San Antonio Fire Department were setting up swabbing stations and donning periwinkle-blue protective gowns. They were part of the massive state intervention to stop infection from spreading in nursing homes. Municipal and Texas State Guard medics have fanned out to test more than 250,000 residents, as well as staff, for the coronavirus.

"OK, guys, so we got 260 swabs we're gonna do here today. It's 200 staff and 60 residents. We got y'all divided up in your teams already," shouted paramedic Lt. Travis Hopp. "Be safe, take care of each other, and stay clean."

Their work is critical. In Texas, 47% of the state's nearly 1,900 COVID-19 deaths have been tied to skilled nursing and assisted living facilities an even greater proportion than national COVID-19 fatality figures.

"Right now we're focused on licensed nursing facilities. We've seen extremely high mortality rates and that's a very vulnerable population," said Eric Epley, executive director of Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council, who is coordinating the statewide paramedic teams.

As the public health crisis that began in winter enters the summer months, why is the virus still running rampant through nursing homes?

The fundamentals of infection control are well known by now: frequent hand-washing, wearing masks, social distancing, donning protective gear and disposing of it properly, and isolating sick people.

A swabbing team enters a San Antonio nursing home to test residents for the coronavirus. In Texas, 47% of the state's nearly 1,900 COVID-19 deaths have been tied to skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. John Burnett/NPR hide caption

A swabbing team enters a San Antonio nursing home to test residents for the coronavirus. In Texas, 47% of the state's nearly 1,900 COVID-19 deaths have been tied to skilled nursing and assisted living facilities.

"Let me tell you, some of this stuff is really basic and I don't understand why they're not getting it," said Kevin Dinnin, president of BCFS. The nonprofit emergency provider of health and human services is part of the Texas Quick Reaction Force for nursing homes. BCFS medical teams have completely taken over operations at six Texas nursing homes where a third to a half of the population contracted COVID-19 and staffers were too afraid to come back to work.

Dinnin has a picture on his phone of a nurse's aide without a mask standing in the hallway of an East Texas facility, and directly behind her is an elderly resident who is COVID-19 positive.

What's alarming, he said, is that staffers are contracting the sickness, they don't know they have it, and they're likely infecting residents.

"And they're moving room to room to room with close patient contact," Dinnin continued. "Certainly, if they're not wearing any mask at all to protect others from them there's a good chance they're shedding the virus and they're exposing those high-risk patients to the virus."

His chief of operations, Todd Gates, has been working inside nursing home hot zones in Texas for weeks.

"They [nursing home administrators] are acting generally out of ignorance because they just don't know what they're doing is wrong," Gates said.

Dinnin said guidance on infection control from state and federal health care authorities "is too complex and it needs to be simpler and easier to understand."

The nursing home industry has generally blamed its coronavirus crisis on the early scarcity of masks and other protective equipment and the lack of testing. Moreover, they say, older adults are especially vulnerable, and no one saw this virulent disease coming.

But infection control has been a perennial problem well before 2020.

"I think there's always room to look at infection control protocols and how do we improve the process," says Kevin Warren, president of the Texas Health Care Association. "And how do we learn from this moving forward so that if and when something like this happens again, we don't have concerns like this." John Burnett/NPR hide caption

"I think there's always room to look at infection control protocols and how do we improve the process," says Kevin Warren, president of the Texas Health Care Association. "And how do we learn from this moving forward so that if and when something like this happens again, we don't have concerns like this."

Nursing homes throughout America have fallen short for years, according to a report released last month by the federal Government Accountability Office.

"We found that a number of nursing homes had deficiencies in their infection prevention and control efforts and that these deficiencies unfortunately were widespread across most nursing homes," said John Dickin, director of GAO's health care team, on an agency podcast.

The GAO report found that 82% of America's nursing homes got at least one deficiency in infection control between 2013 and 2017. And about half of the homes "had persistent problems and were cited across multiple years."

Texas with more than 1,200 nursing homes is always a trouble spot.

"This is a long-standing problem, particularly in Texas, with basic infection control practices," said Patty Ducayet, the long-term care ombudsman for Texas.

Federal and state inspections show that Texas nursing homes have among the most citations for infection deficiencies in the country and that infection prevention is the No. 1 problem in the state.

Ducayet said nursing homes conduct emergency planning, and infectious disease epidemics are supposed to be part of that.

San Antonio paramedics don protective equipment in preparation to enter a nursing home and test residents and staff for the coronavirus. John Burnett/NPR hide caption

San Antonio paramedics don protective equipment in preparation to enter a nursing home and test residents and staff for the coronavirus.

"Without a doubt," she said, "nursing homes could have been better prepared for this."

In their defense, a nursing home trade association said its members have taken stringent measures to stop the spread, such as canceling family visits and eliminating communal activities such as dining and bingo.

"I think there's always room to look at infection control protocols and how do we improve the process," said Kevin Warren, president of the Texas Health Care Association. "And how do we learn from this moving forward so that if and when something like this happens again, we don't have concerns like this."

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which regulates skilled nursing facilities, said it has conducted hundreds of on-site inspections over the past two months because of the coronavirus crisis. Now the agency is ratcheting up the response.

Last week, HHSC announced that in light of continuing serious problems with the coronavirus in nursing homes it has created Special Infection Control Assessment teams. They will visit troubled facilities throughout the state to review their practices and provide immediate guidance in an attempt to prevent further outbreaks of COVID-19.

Read the original:

Texas Calls In A Strike Force To Try To Slow Coronavirus Spread In Nursing Homes - NPR