Category: Covid-19

"Unless we open up our economy, we have millions facing starvation."

That was the straightforward assessment of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on the impact of COVID-19 during a virtual meeting of the Forum's COVID Action Platform on 20 May.

Khan explained: "In Pakistan, we have 25 million workers who are either [on] daily wages or get paid weekly or are self-employed. When we locked down, like the whole of the world, to stop the spread of the virus, all these people became unemployed. When we're talking about 25 million workers, you're talking about 25 million families and it has affected almost 120-150 million people...unless the men and women work, they cannot feed their families."

Launched in March, the Forum's platform aims to convene leaders from governments and the business community for collective action to protect peoples livelihoods, facilitate business continuity and mobilize support for a global response to COVID-19. To date, more than 1,500 people from more than 1,000 businesses and organizations have joined the platform.

To find the latest updates on the Platform, check out our recently-launched highlights blog.

A new strain of Coronavirus, COVID 19, is spreading around the world, causing deaths and major disruption to the global economy.

Responding to this crisis requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the centre of the World Economic Forums mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

The Forum has created the COVID Action Platform, a global platform to convene the business community for collective action, protect peoples livelihoods and facilitate business continuity, and mobilize support for the COVID-19 response. The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action.

As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.

In addition to Khan, participants on this week's webinar included: Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Netherlands; Werner Baumann, Chief Executive Officer, Bayer AG, Germany; and Meenakshi Gupta, Co-founder, Goonj, India.

Here are some key quotes from the session:

"Debt relief is the key issue...if the weakest link in the chain is not supported effectively, we will all be damaged."

"The response has to be global. There has to be a way of picking up countries that are struggling right now, especially in the developing world."

"When no vaccine is available, the name of the game is testing, testing, testing...[and] as we learn more about the virus, we are more and more concerned about how dangerous it really is."

"In the past, India's informal economy has been its strength - but in a lockdown situation where daily wages aren't possible, it leaves many with no choice."

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Global political and business leaders on the economic impact of COVID-19 - World Economic Forum

UPDATE (4:34 p.m. PT) An inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary who tested positive for COVID-19 died Wednesday evening, according to the Department ofCorrections.

Its the first COVID-19 related death connected to the states prisonsystem.

The unidentified inmate was between 50 and 60 years old and one of three with the disease who have been hospitalized, DOC said in a statement. Next of kin have been notified. Two other inmates remainhospitalized.

The Oregon State Police will investigate the death and the state medical examiner will determine thecause.

Inmates are at greater risk for contracting the disease because its difficult to create enough social distance in prisons, jails and detention centers to slow the spread of COVID-19. Some of the largest outbreaks in the country have been in correctionalinstitutions.

As of Thursday, Oregon DOC said there were 148 inmates who have tested positive for the disease, as well as38 employees. The agency houses more than 14,000 inmates across 14institutions.

Last month, Gov. Kate Brown said she wouldnt release inmates in large groups over risks surrounding the disease. Rather, she said, she would evaluate early releases on acase-by-casebasis.

The death comes as the DOC and Brown are being sued for their response to the pandemic inside the states prisons. Inmates in several institutions allege not enough has been done to slow thedisease.

Among other things, the suit asks a judge to mandate a social distance of 6 feet or more between inmates in all of the DOCs facilities. If that cant be accomplished, the lawsuits ask that a three-judge panel review cases and reduce the number of prisoners inOregon prisons so itispossible.

The Oregon Justice Resource Center, which is suing the DOC and Brown, said the death underscores the risks COVID-19 poses to staff andinmates.

There is an urgent and clear need for a comprehensive program of prevention, testing, and care to be implemented throughout Oregons prisons, OJRCs Juan Chavez said in a statement. Governor Brown must no longer ignore the reality that prisons are not built to withstand a global pandemic and act on the knowledge she has of the riskofharm that exists for all those who work and live in theprisons.

DOC has set up medical isolation units for patients with COVID-19 at the Coffee Creek Correctional Institution and the Snake River Correctional Institution, where theres 24/7nursingcare.

This week, DOC started antibody testing, but have not yet receivedresults.

Antibody testing will help us quantify the breadth and scope of COVID at our institutions with positive tests, DOC said in a statement. For example, we will offering antibody testing to all(inmates) at Shutter Creek. This will allow us to identify those now presumptivelyimmune.

The rest is here:

Man Becomes 1st Oregon Inmate To Die With COVID-19 - OPB News

However, these reports give the misleading impression that Mother Earth stands to benefit from the restrictions on movement imposed on people around the world, especially in cities.

Unfortunately, outside urban areas, the situation is very different. In rural areas, there is less wealth and the main savings account for people is nature, with hunting, fishing and logging necessary to provide food and support livelihoods. People who moved to cities and have now lost their employment and income opportunities due to the quarantines are returning to their rural homes, further increasing the pressure on natural resources while also increasing the risk of COVID-19 transmission to rural areas.

At the same time, opportunistic actors and criminal groups involved in land-grabbing, deforestation, illegal mining and wildlife poaching are taking advantage of the fact that governments are focused on COVID-19 instead of on conservation. There are reports of increased deforestation in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Areas dependent on tourism to fund conservation such as community conservancies in Kenya and iconic natural World Heritage Sites like the Galpagos, Ecuador and the Tubbataha Reef in the Philippines are facing reduced resources as tourism has come to a halt. Meanwhile, illegal mining for gold and precious stones in Latin America and Africa is on the rise, as prices spike and protected areas are left unguarded.

There are reports of increased deforestation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Image: Haroldo Castro/Conservation International

These increased pressures on nature and rural areas are expected to persist until economies rebound and governments are able to refocus on conservation. This gives the false impression that the protection of nature is a secondary concern in controlling disease outbreaks like the current pandemic. However, the failure of protection may be the cause of this and future outbreaks. Land use change is a major driver of disease transmission from wildlife to people. Species threatened by exploitation and habitat loss are twice as likely to be sources of zoonotic disease compared to other threats. As the biologist Thomas Lovejoy noted, This pandemic is the consequence of our persistent and excessive intrusion in nature and the vast illegal wildlife trade.

Some governments have seen an uptick in illegal mining during the pandemic.

Image: Pete Oxford

Governments in countries experiencing upticks in deforestation, illegal mining and poaching urgently need to maintain enforcement efforts, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Equally important, countries must start planning for rebuilding their economies in a way that fosters green structural transformation, including through long-term commitments to public spending and pricing reforms. After restrictions are lifted, both governments and development financing institutions should prioritize stimulus efforts that have high economic multiplier effects and that reduce carbon emissions. A recent study based on input from central bankers and ministries of finance identified several priority policies: natural climate solutions and the protection of carbon-rich ecosystems like mangroves, tropical forests and peatlands, and rural support for ecosystem restoration. Such policies are especially beneficial for tropical countries, where land use change is often the major source of carbon emissions. Such investments would have additional benefits for biodiversity and reduce the risk of zoonotic disease outbreaks, too, thereby addressing an important root cause of the current pandemic.

It is equally important that climate and biodiversity stay at the top of the agenda in 2020 and beyond, and that leaders leverage every opportunity to maintain the momentum. Every effort must be made to ensure that the global efforts under the United Nations (UN General Assembly Nature Summit, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Convention on Biological Diversity) are not unduly delayed; meetings could take place online if necessary. Countries are stronger working together, and international cooperation is the best opportunity to resolve future existential threats.

The first global pandemic in more than 100 years, COVID-19 has spread throughout the world at an unprecedented speed. At the time of writing, 4.5 million cases have been confirmed and more than 300,000 people have died due to the virus.

As countries seek to recover, some of the more long-term economic, business, environmental, societal and technological challenges and opportunities are just beginning to become visible.

To help all stakeholders communities, governments, businesses and individuals understand the emerging risks and follow-on effects generated by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Marsh and McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group, has launched its COVID-19 Risks Outlook: A Preliminary Mapping and its Implications - a companion for decision-makers, building on the Forums annual Global Risks Report.

The report reveals that the economic impact of COVID-19 is dominating companies risks perceptions.

Companies are invited to join the Forums work to help manage the identified emerging risks of COVID-19 across industries to shape a better future. Read the full COVID-19 Risks Outlook: A Preliminary Mapping and its Implications report here, and our impact story with further information.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates how much we depend on one another one humanity living on one planet for our health systems as well as for our food systems and supply chains. This is the moment to rise to the challenge of collaborative leadership and work together to emerge from this crisis with a global economic reset. People and nature must be at the center of this reset, for redistribution, regeneration and restoration.

Prosperity for people and the planet is possible only if we make bold decisions today, so that future generations can survive and thrive.

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Written by

Sebastian Trong, Executive Vice President, Field Delivery, Conservation International, Bogot, Colombia

Edward Barbier, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Economics, Colorado State University

Carlos Manuel Rodrguez , Minister of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica

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

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The COVID-19 pandemic is not a break for nature here's why - World Economic Forum

Less than 1% of Americans live in nursing homes, yet these facilities account for between 15% and 25% of Covid-19 cases and half of all deathsfrom the disease in some states; in Minnesota, nursing home residents and workers account for81% of all Covid-19 deaths.

If we hope to contain SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, until we have better treatments or a vaccine, we need a concerted national testing effort focused on nursing homes. From a public health perspective, they are not only areas of focused harm but are also wells of infection that may keep the pandemic rolling unless we take drastic steps.

The transmission rate for the virus was as high as five in February and March, meaning each person infected with it spread it to five others. The transmission rate is now probably down to two, with some local variation, so we have made progress. More is needed: to contain the spread of the virus we must drive the transmission rate below one.

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Nursing homes offer a potential opportunity to contain the virus in a targeted way that benefits those who live in them, those who work in them, and everyone else. If we focus our efforts on testing all nursing home residents and workers, we may be able to drive down transmission rates in ways that have eluded us so far.

Workers in nursing homes care for the most vulnerable members of society in intimate ways, helping them dress, bathe, eat, and go to the toilet. They are vital to the care system of the elderly in our nation, though they are not paid that way and most are not given enough personal protective equipment and do not receive paid sick time.

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This reality is likely behind the initial outbreak at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, a nursing home near Seattle.

Workers in these facilities are at great risk of occupational exposure to the coronavirus, but they also pose a risk of transmitting it more widely bringing it into nursing homes from the community and spreading it to the community from nursing homes. This transmission risk is heightened by the fact that many individuals work in more than one facility. Another source of infection entering nursing homes is elderly people who have been discharged from the hospital to nursing homes after things like hip fractures or heart procedures for short rehabilitation stays. In many nursing homes, long-term patients live just down the hall from those who will be there for a few days or weeks only, and this mixing helps spread SARS-CoV-2.

The nation must mobilize so every state has the capacity to test all patients and workers in every nursing home across the country. We need to do this in a way that generates solid scientific evidence about how testing should be undertaken in nursing homes. That effort should answer a series of critical questions, including what tests should be deployed, how often asymptomatic workers and residents should be tested, and how long sick workers must be quarantined before they can return to work. We should also investigate how to most effectively isolate infected patients within nursing facilities, and whether a testing program can safely enable family members visit their loved ones.

There are numerous details to be ironed out, and this work will be hard and expensive. But there are experts who have given their lifes work to these topics, and we need to empower them to work out the details about how to implement testing programs in nursing homes while ensuring that a focused national effort provides the needed resources to support this effort.

It will take federal money to do this testing all residents and nursing home staff nationally just once would cost $440 million, and repetitive testing will be needed for some time to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in nursing homes. The cost of widespread testing will be enormous, but so too is the cost of the quiet default that we seem to be settling for that normalizes infection, death, and isolation of elderly nursing home residents and continues to put the workers who care for them at risk.

We cant know for certain if this approach will completely halt the devastating progress of SARS-CoV-2 across the nation. If it falls short, the worst that can be said is that we sought first to protect the least of these while also protecting vulnerable workers who show up daily to help our parents and grandparents to live as best they can each day.

The best outcome is that we control the coronavirus pandemic while rediscovering the common good and that we can work toward it together.

Donald H. Taylor Jr. is a professor of public policy in Duke Universitys Sanford School of Public Policy, a founding faculty member of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, and director of the Social Science Research Institute.

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Focus Covid-19 testing on nursing home patients and workers - STAT

The press has a natural affinity for catastrophes, which make compelling viewing and good copy. The pandemic is indeed a once-in-a-generation story. So the media is naturally loath to shift gears and acknowledge that the coronavirus has begun to loosen its grip.

Meanwhile, progressives and many journalists have developed a near-theological commitment to the lockdowns, such that any information that undermines them is considered unwelcome, even threatening. This accounts for the widespread sense that no one should say things have gotten better ... or people are going to die.

Usually when it is thought the public cant handle the truth, it is a truth about some threat that could spark panic. In this case, the truth is information that might make people think its safe to go outside again.

Almost all the discussion about reopening is framed by worries that we will reopen too soon, not that we might reopen too latethat is literally unthinkable.

None of this is to minimize the seriousness of this pandemic. New York and its surrounding suburbs have been through hell. Whats happened in the countrys nursing homes is a tragedy. We want to be cautious about reopeningas even the most forward-leaning governors have beenand vigilant about new outbreaks.

But we have entered a new phase. As Nate Silver pointed out on Tuesday, the seven-day rolling average for deaths is 1,362, down from 1,761 the week prior and a peak of 2,070 on April 21. Thats still much too high, but the trend is favorable.

Testing capacity, such a concern for so long, has really begun to expand after hitting a plateau for weeks. Testing nationally on some days has been in the high 300,000s or (on May 17) over 400,000. The issue in some states now is not capacity but actually finding enough people to test.

Scott Gottlieb of the American Enterprise Institute notes that the positivity rate, or percentage of people testing positive, has continued to fall throughout May. In New York City, the countrys epicenter, the positivity rate was below 5 percent as of the middle of the week.

The reopenings could certainly still go awry, but so far there is no clear indication of it. Cases are still falling in Austria, Denmark and Norway, despite those countries being relatively far along on reopening. Denmark has been mystified why it is almost five weeks into reopening and hasnt yet seen increases in infections.

On Tuesday, Georgia, so widely criticized for its reopening, had its lowest number of Covid-19 patients in the hospital since April 8, when such data began being reported. The number has dropped 12 percent since the week before, and 34 percent since May 1.

The press has often, out of sloppiness or willfulness, tried to create negative news around the reopenings. CNN tweeted last weekend, Texas is seeing the highest number of new coronavirus cases and deaths just two weeks after it officially re-opened. As Sean Trende of RealClearPolitics pointed out, the seven-day rolling average of new cases had indeed been trending up, but the seven-day rolling average of the number of tests had gone up, toowhich would naturally turn up more cases.

The key indicator is the positivity rate, and it was down in Texas.

A North Carolina TV station tweeted, Breaking News: NC sees largest spike in coronavirus cases since pandemic began. That referred to 800 new cases over the past 24 hours on May 16. But tests had been going sharply up and the positivity rate trending down. Hospitalizations were basically flat.

The other day, headlines noted that Florida recorded 500 new cases on one day. It generated fewer headlines, and perhaps none, when Gov. Ron DeSantis pointed out that the state had received a dump of 75,000 test results, yielding the 500 new cases, for a minuscule positivity rate of 0.64 percent.

Its not as though we havent had a cataract of unassailably legitimate bad news over the past few months. Weve been experiencing a wrenching public health crisis and a steep recession on top of it. There shouldnt be a need to obscure favorable trends. We can handle the truth.

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Opinion | Its OK to Acknowledge Good Covid-19 News - POLITICO

Boris Johnsons insistence that the UK will be able to roll out a world-beating coronavirus test, track and trace regime by 1 June has inevitably drawn comparisons with countries around the world that have already set up effective Covid-19 tracing programmes.

It has also raised questions about timing, as some experts insist a system would have been more useful at the beginning of the pandemic.

Contact tracing is one of the most basic planks of public health responses to a pandemiclike the coronavirus. It means literally tracking down anyone that somebody with an infection may have had contact with in the days before they became ill. It was and always will be central to the fight against Ebola, for instance. In west Africa in 2014-15, there were large teams of people who would trace relatives and knock on the doors of neighbours and friends to find anyone who might have become infected by touching the sick person.

Most people who get Covid-19 will be infected by their friends, neighbours, family or work colleagues, so they will be first on the list. It is not likely anyone will get infected by someone they do not know, passing on the street.

It is still assumed there has to be reasonable exposure originally experts said people would need to be together for 15 minutes, less than 2 metres apart. So a contact tracer will want to know who the person testing positive met and talked to over the two or three days before they developed symptoms and went into isolation.

South Korea has large teams of contact tracers and notably chased down all the contacts of a religious group, many of whose members fell ill. That outbreak was efficiently stamped out by contact tracing and quarantine.

Singapore and Hong Kong have also espoused testing and contact tracing and so has Germany. All those countries have had relatively low death rates so far. TheWorld Health Organizationsays it should be the backbone of the response in every country.

Sarah BoseleyHealth editor

Since mid-March, the World Health Organization has urged countries to scale up the testing, isolation and contact tracing of Covid-19 patients in order to combat the pandemic. Countries that initiated test and trace regimes early including Germany, South Korea, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Canada have fared better than those that did not.

One of the most striking success stories has been South Korea, which started its regime several weeks before the WHOs test, test, test appeal in March. The country was quickly able to test an average of 12,000 people a day and sometimes as many as 20,000 at hundreds of drive-through and walk-in testing centres, free of charge. Results were sent to peoples phones within 24 hours.

As some commentators have remarked, South Koreas regime was built on the base of well-funded public services and an effective infrastructure, including widespread digital surveillance.

Germany has emerged as another effective model. The country has carried out a rigorous test and trace programme since the first case of the virus was registered in late January. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the governments main advisory body on public health, has repeatedly referred to the programme as a basic epidemiological tool necessary for the viruss containment.

The system was hampered by a lack of staff at the overstretched local health authority offices responsible for enacting it, but over the weeks hundreds of containment scouts often medical students - have been trained by the RKI to help out. About 500 of them are operational around the country.

Typically when a new infection is registered, a hygiene inspector at the health office asks the infected person the following questions: how long have they had symptoms, where might they have been infected, have they been at work, with whom have they been in touch and in what way, and are school or nursery age children in the household?

Contacts are questioned and put into different categories by a team of at least a dozen staff, including doctors and containment scouts, and then quarantined. Contacts are not automatically tested, in order to avoid a negative result that could trigger a false sense of security,

Canada, with its experience of being the only country outside Asia to have deaths in the Sars outbreak of 2003, was also quick to conduct tests and contact tracing. As of mid-May more than a million people had been tested for Covid-19, using a centralised network of laboratories.

Jimmy Whitworth, a professor of international public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is among those to express scepticism about the framing of the UKs test and trace programme as world-beating.

World-beating, at the start of an outbreak, would been to have had a system large enough to be able to cope with number of tests needed, Whitworth said. Not just sending them out but doing them and reporting back so that you can take action and having the contact tracing to be able to identify people who might be incubating the disease.

If we come back to the situation now, there remains a question about [having a test and trace programme] large enough. The ONS [Office for National Statistics] data just released for England identifies 9,000 new cases a day.

Successful programmes like South Korea and Australia are doing 50 to 60 [contact] tests for every case. So we have got to have a system that can cope with that number of tests.

Whitworth also said countries that have been successful have deployed large amounts of human resources quickly and effectively, such as Germanys contact scouts and South Koreas rapid-reporting system.

The human element is central. If you have a web-based system or an app those are things that add value but they dont replace the human capital. They are good when tracing becomes difficult like if a confirmed case has got on a bus. Thats where an app can identify potential contacts.

The other thing very important is to make it convenient. And at the moment the systems here [in the UK] seem to be set up for convenience of the system and operators, not the users.

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Covid-19 track and trace: what can UK learn from countries that got it right? - The Guardian

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) - KSNs Bret Buganski and Kansas Governor Laura Kelly discussed concerns from viewers in a special report Thursday where they covered a range of topics -- fromproblems filing for unemployment to whether kids will be in the classroom this fall.

Many Kansans feel the way the state is handling unemployment isn't good enough, to which Governor Kelly said, "everybody has to be held accountable."

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Sedgwick County confirms 542 COVID-19 cases in the county - KSN-TV

The number of tests reported to the Indiana State Departmentof Health is now close to 203,000.

In Thursdays report from the Indiana State Department ofHealth, it states that 202,995 tests have been reported with 29,936 of thosebeing positive cases of COVID-19. Thesame report indicates that another 676 additional residents have been diagnosedwith COVID-19 through testing at the Indiana State Department of Health, theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention and private laboratories from May 2to May 20.

A total of 1,764 people have died from COVID-19 which is anincrease of 48 from Wednesdays report.Those new recorded deaths occurred between May 2 and May 20.

In Marshall County, 51 positive caseshave been reported and one death. Thereare 29 positive cases in Starke County with three deaths, and 37 cases in Pulaski County.These are cumulative numbers.Information on the number of recovered patients is not included in thereport.

The increase in the numbers is reflected in an increase intesting across the state.

The Indiana State Department of Health is holding drive-thrutesting clinics today through Saturday in four locations including the Kankakee Valley Middle Schoolin Wheatfield. Other testing locationsaround the state can be found online at http://www.coronavirus.in.govand click on the COVID-19 testing information link.

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Nearly 203000 COVID-19 Tests Conducted in Indiana WKVI Information Center - wkvi.com

When Tyson Foods announced Wednesday night it had 570 positive cases of COVID-19 among its Wilkesboro workforce, the size of the outbreak rippled across the state.

However, its proving challenging to determine whether it is the largest single outbreak in North Carolina to date. An outbreak is defined as two or more cases at any single site.

Thats because meat-packaging operations, such as Tysons chicken-processing facilities that have a combined 2,244 employees, are not required to report infectious-disease cases to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

Instead, those operations are accountable to the N.C. and U.S. Agriculture departments, which have not posted specific outbreaks data on their websites.

State Agriculture officials could not be immediately reached for comment about how they are tracking and reporting outbreaks.

The most relevant COVID-19 related announcement on the state Agricultures website is geared toward reassuring consumers about the meat supply at retail.

Meanwhile, there doesnt appear to be an outbreak data clearinghouse either for non-agriculture employers, such as the 16 at Hanesbrands Inc.s distribution center in Rural Hall and up to 10 at Ashley Furnitures plant in Advance.

That was the case for the single COVID-19 case disclosed Tuesday by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. at its manufacturing plant in Tobaccoville. Reynolds also said March 30 it had two non-production employees to test positive.

N.C. Health News reported in early May there had been outbreaks at 15 meat and poultry processing plants in 11 counties: Bertie, Bladen, Chatham, Duplin, Lee, Lenoir, Robeson, Sampson, Wilkes, Union and Wilson. At that time, the combined case total was 604.

Since then, there has been an outbreak at a Wayne Farms chicken-processing plant in Dobson, along with the sharp increase at the Tyson plant in Wilkesboro.

Dr. Mandy Cohen, the states health secretary, said Thursday its evident that part of the surge in COVID-19 cases is coming from some of our critical infrastructure businesses by the nature of that business.

These meat-processing plants are heavily regulated by the Department of Agriculture.

As an industry, they are not required to report (outbreaks) to our department, but when it comes to our attention, our role from the Department of Public Health is to help them with various infection control methods.

Cohen said DHHS has tried to emphasize where major outbreaks are occurring by reporting cases by Zip code, along with those in nursing homes and residential care facilities.

Were also helping to facilitate on-site or close to the plant testing, with Tyson being a good example of that of working with local health departments and the state, Cohen said.

Where the tracking and contract tracing seems to have gaps in when employees work in one county, but live in another.

At least 70 cases of COVID-19 are Forsyth County residents who either work at the Tyson plant or have come into close contact with someone who works there, according to the Forsyth Department of Public Health.

Wayne Farms is one of Surrys largest private and manufacturing employers with at least 500 workers, according to the county Economic Development Partnership Inc.

Samantha Ange, Surrys health director, said Wayne Farms employees with confirmed cases are self-isolating.

We are working hand in hand with local health officials and in full conformance with CDC, OSHA and public health guidance, Wayne Farms spokesman Frank Singleton said in a statement.

With a very low percentage of our employee population testing positive for the virus, we believe these efforts have helped prevent the introduction and spread of the virus within our facility.

In the examples of the Ashley Furniture, Hanesbrands and Wayne Farms outbreaks, its unclear how wide the community spread may be since those facilities draw workers from several surrounding counties.

Hanesbrands said Wednesday that additional testing of employees at its Rural Hall distribution center found an additional 15 positive tests for a total of at least 16. Hanesbrands spokesman Matt Hall said the company had 164 distribution center employees tested.

Hall said of the 15 new cases, 10 were already in quarantine based on the first positive case that was disclosed May 15.

We have begun contact tracing on the other five and have suspended operations for all employees of this shift, Hall said. It is important to note that of the 15 positive cases, only two showed symptoms.

Ashley has more than 1,600 employees at its mammoth Advance facility. It has been actively recruiting for months to hire an additional 100, including holding several job fairs on site and participating in events in Forsyth.

Ashley Furniture spokesman Cole Bawek said Wednesday that we have no reported cases where transmission is believed to have occurred while working at our facility.

Out of caution, we have nonetheless asked associates who may have previously come in close contact with these associates to quarantine at home.

Suzanne Wright, Davie Countys health director, said Thursday that since Ashley Furniture employs individuals from multiple counties, I can only confirm the one associated case that resides in Davie.

A member of Ashley Furnitures leadership staff reported Thursday that a handful can be defined as less than 10 employees.

The staff member reported that there is no consistent pattern of cases in one particular department or area of Ashley, and all confirmed cases are associated with close contact transmission outside of Ashley.

Joshua Swift, Forsyths health director, said Thursday he doesnt know of any significant number of cases in the county related to Ashley.

Health directors for Davidson, Iredell, Rowan and Yadkin counties did not respond when asked about any potential Ashley case spillover into their counties.

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Tracking COVID-19 workplace outbreaks proves to be challenge - Winston-Salem Journal

Before you book that next trip this summer, check out how United Airlines plans to keep travelers safe at the airport and in the air during a pandemic.

HOUSTON Earlier this month, a viral photo snapped by a doctor on a crowded United Airlines flight caused backlash against the airline. Now United has updated its social distancing policies and launched a new cleanliness initiative called United Clean Plus.

The airline gave KHOU 11 exclusive behind-the-scenes access to see the changes up close at Bush Intercontinental Airport, one of the airline's largest hubs.

"That's the only way we'll get them to fly, is if they feel comfortable," said Rodney Cox, vice president of Hub in Houston.

Right now the public still largely uneasy about flying again. On a typical day, United moves 55,000 people through Bush Airport. COVID-19 has tanked passenger traffic down to 4,500.

"It's a new way of life until we get a vaccine that can make sure COVID-19 doesn't come back," Cox said.

United's new partnership with Clorox and the Cleveland Clinic will implement new cleanliness and social distancing protocols across the airline's operations.

"We want to make sure the customer's journey from check-in to landing is sanitary, clean and safe," Cox said.

Among the new measures, all United employees must wear masks and receive temperature checks before starting work. At Bush Airport, you will find updated signage, new sneeze guards and a brand-new way to check in starting Friday.

"It's touchless check in," Cox said. "As a customer, I don't have to touch the screen at all."

At the gate, boarding will be different.

"Boarding may take a little longer, because we're very aware of social distancing," said Crystal Heckman, base director of Inflight Services.

Boarding will by row now from the back of the plane forward to minimize contact. And there will be constant cleaning of the gate waiting area.

"The agents will make continuous announcements regarding requirement of face masks," Heckman said.

If you don't have a face mask, United will provide you one free of charge, along with your own sanitizer wipe when boarding. Starting June 1, cleaning crews will conduct electrostatic spraying to disinfect every aircraft before every single flight.

"Electrostatic spraying that we're using is the same spraying hospitals use to disinfect their rooms," Heckman said.

There are special HEPA filters onboard every plane, too.

"This filter captures 99.97 percent of the particulates that are floating in the air," said Joe Condoleo, aircraft shift manager at IAH.

It circulates the air every 2 to 3 minutes. That's hospital-grade air filtration that United says keeps cabin air quality as clean as possible.

"Once our customers are on board they will absolutely see a change to our service," Heckman said.

You can expect only sealed beverage from now on. There's no more ice on the aircraft, and on flights longer than 2 hours and 20 minutes, you'll receive an all-in-one sealed snack kit with bottled water.

When you finally take your seat, United says it will socially distance passengers in the cabin as much as possible, but cannot guarantee the middle seat will always be empty.

But in response to the viral photo, the airline says it will give customers a heads up and a choice.

United has started notifying passengers 24 hours in advance if their flight is 70 percent full or more. The airline then plans to give travelers the option to re-book on a different flight to enhance social distancing and make sure every passenger is comfortable. This specific policy will be in place through June 30.

Link:

From check-in to landing: Behind-the-scenes look at United Airlines' new COVID-19 safety measures - KHOU.com