Health & Fitness

Aussie TV star Deborah Hutton gets real about her deadly brush with skin cancer in a candid Instagram post, proving that celebs aren’t immune from this deadly disease.

from Health | body+soul https://ift.tt/2ZXdIKz

The race is on to develop the first vaccine for COVID-19, with competitors eager to roll out what's likely to be the most fast-tracked vaccine ever created. Initially, public health officials had stated that a vaccine could be ready in an unprecedented 12 to 18 months. Now, there's talk of accelerating vaccine delivery even further, with a target date of fall 2020.¹

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),² and Bill Gates are among those who have stated that life cannot return to normal until there is a vaccine against COVID-19.

"Humankind has never had a more urgent task than creating broad immunity for coronavirus," Gates wrote on his blog in April 2020. "Realistically, if we're going to return to normal, we need to develop a safe, effective vaccine. We need to make billions of doses, we need to get them out to every part of the world, and we need all of this to happen as quickly as possible."³

The earliest results from COVID-19 vaccine studies are starting to roll in, however, and they're far from reassuring. In addition to failing to prevent COVID-19, the experimental vaccines may still allow those who are vaccinated to spread the illness, and unforeseen serious side effects, even death, are a real possibility.

Monkeys Given Oxford's COVID-19 Vaccine Harbor Virus

One vaccine, developed at the University of Oxford Jenner Institute and named ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, uses a "replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus to deliver a SARS-CoV-2 protein to induce a protective immune response."⁴ It was tested on six rhesus macaque monkeys, which received the experimental vaccine, then were infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, 28 days later.

The study revealed that monkeys that received the vaccine had the same amount of coronavirus in their noses as three nonvaccinated monkeys used as the control.^5,6 William Haseltine, a former professor at Harvard Medical School, wrote in Forbes:⁷

"All of the vaccinated monkeys treated with the Oxford vaccine became infected when challenged, as judged by recovery of virus genomic RNA from nasal secretions. There was no difference in the amount of viral RNA detected from this site in the vaccinated monkeys as compared to the unvaccinated animals. Which is to say, all vaccinated animals were infected."

Also concerning, a titer of neutralizing antibody, which stop viruses from entering cells, was extremely low. While neutralizing antibodies from effective vaccines can be diluted by 1,000-fold and still be active, the neutralizing antibody in the study could only be diluted by four- to 40-fold before becoming inactive.

"[W]e know in the case of SARS and other coronavirus infections that even high titers of neutralizing antibodies fade quickly over time. How long can we expect weakly neutralizing antibodies to protect?" Haseltine questioned.⁸ Despite the serious concerns raised by the trial, the authors promoted it as a success, stating that it protects monkeys against COVID-19 pneumonia⁹ and moderates some effects from COVID-19.

When comparing breathing rates, three of the six vaccinated monkeys were clinically ill, but three of them were indistinguishable from the control group. When the amount of virus in the lungs was measured, viral RNA was found in two of the six vaccinated animals and all three of the unvaccinated animals, which suggests only partial protection.

As for lung damage, while two of the three unvaccinated animals had some degree of pneumonia in the lungs, no such damage was found in the vaccinated monkeys.¹⁰ The researchers took this and ran, stating, "The vaccinated animals showed no signs of virus replication in the lungs, significantly lower levels of respiratory disease and no lung damage compared to control animals."¹¹

Vaccine Moves on to Human Trials With 50% Chance of Success

Oxford's vaccine trial results were less than stellar, yet they've teamed up with drug maker AstraZeneca and moved on to testing in humans anyway. A Phase 1 trial of the vaccine, funded by the U.K. government, began April 23, 2020, in healthy volunteers in the U.K.¹² "Time will tell if this is the best approach. I wouldn't bet on it," Haseltine said.¹³

The first two human volunteers were injected with the vaccine in late April 2020. In all, about 1,100 volunteers are expected to receive the vaccine and then mix with the general population to see if they end up catching COVID-19.

As of May 25, 2020, about one month since the human trial began, problems are already arising — namely, COVID-19 cases are declining so quickly that scientists are worried they won't be able to determine if the vaccine works.

"At the moment, there's a 50% chance that we get no result at all," Adam Hill, director at Oxford University's Jenner Institute, told The Telegraph,¹⁴ adding that they may need to "chase" COVID-19 around Britain or internationally.

Ironically, the number of people with COVID-19 is falling so quickly that those who are vaccinated may not even come in contact with enough infected people to determine if it works — yet the vaccine, which allowed monkeys to still contract COVID-19, is still being fast-tracked at an unparalleled rate. Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, expressed further doubts, tweeting May 17, 2020:¹⁵

"That viral loads in the noses of vaccinated and unvaccinated animals were identical is very significant. If the same happened in humans, vaccination would not stop spread. I genuinely believe that this finding should warrant an urgent reappraisal of the ongoing human trials of the ChAdOx1 vaccine."¹⁶

Moderna Vaccine Maker Withholds Key Data

Moderna has partnered with NIAID to create its own experimental COVID-19 vaccine, called mRNA-1273. In February 2020, its stock price increased 78.1% when it announced that its messenger RNA vaccine was ready for clinical trials.¹⁷ "The company's CEO has become a new billionaire overnight," wrote Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC).

Its stock soared again in May, hitting $29 billion, even though the company currently doesn't sell any products,¹⁸ when it released early results from its Phase 1 study of 45 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55 — the first released from a study involving human volunteers.

Moderna's press release¹⁹ is overwhelmingly positive, stating that 25 participants who received two doses of its low or medium dose vaccine had levels of binding antibodies — the type that are used by the immune system to fight the virus but do not prevent viral infections — at levels approximating or exceeding those found in the blood of patients who recovered from COVID-19.²⁰

Data for the more significant neutralizing antibodies was reported for only eight people, with Moderna stating that levels in each of these initial participants met or exceeded antibody levels seen in recovered COVID-19 patients. Moderna added that "mRNA-1273 was generally safe and well tolerated," and Dr. Tal Zaks, chief medical officer at Moderna, stated in their news release:²¹

"These interim Phase 1 data, while early, demonstrate that vaccination with mRNA-1273 elicits an immune response of the magnitude caused by natural infection starting with a dose as low as 25 µg.

When combined with the success in preventing viral replication in the lungs of a pre-clinical challenge model at a dose that elicited similar levels of neutralizing antibodies, these data substantiate our belief that mRNA-1273 has the potential to prevent COVID-19 disease and advance our ability to select a dose for pivotal trials."

During Phase 2 trials, 600 people will receive the vaccine, while a Phase 3 trial is expected to start in July 2020 — an unprecedented move in terms of typical vaccine development timelines — but a number of experts are questioning even the Phase 1 results.

For starters, the vaccine hasn't been tested against a placebo to determine if it's effective in preventing infection. Further, specific numbers on antibody concentrations weren't released, nor were the exact ages of the eight people who developed neutralizing antibodies.

Those antibodies were tested for just two weeks after vaccination — another red flag. "That's very early. We don't know if those antibodies are durable," Anna Durbin, a vaccine researcher at Johns Hopkins University, told STAT News.²²

Severe Systemic Symptoms Triggered by High-Dose Shot

"While Moderna blitzed the media, it revealed very little information — and most of what it did disclose were words, not data. That's important: If you ask scientists to read a journal article, they will scour data tables, not corporate statements. With science, numbers speak much louder than words," STAT News reported.²³ Far more than 45 people will need to be tested before results can be trustworthy, and there are also safety concerns.

During the trials, subjects received two doses of the Moderna vaccine about a month apart at dosage levels of 25, 100 or 250 micrograms (µg). The low or medium doses of the vaccine in the Phase 1 clinical trial were associated with a mostly mild reaction, but three of those who received higher doses of the vaccine had more severe systemic symptoms.²⁴

There were four participants who reported adverse reactions to the experimental mRNA-1273 vaccine in the Phase 1 clinical trials.

As reported by The Vaccine Reaction on May 24,²⁵ one the participants who received doses of between 25 µg and 100 µg experienced a "Grade 3 adverse event" after receiving the mRNA-1273 vaccine that included erythema or a rash around the injection site, which means the reaction could have included blistering, open ulcers, wet peeling (moist desquamation) or a serious rash over large areas of the body.

Three other participants in the clinical trial who received a vaccine dose of 250 µg reportedly experienced "Grade 3 systemic symptoms" following administration of the second dose. Moderna described these as the "most notable" of the adverse events, but that they were "transient and self-resolving."

A Grade 3 adverse event is described by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as "severe or medically significant but not immediately life-threatening; hospitalization or prolongation of hospitalization indicated; limiting self-care" such as "bathing, dressing and undressing, feeding self, using the toilet, taking medications."²⁶

Ian Haydon was one of the three trial volunteers to suffer from a systemic adverse reaction to the vaccine, which occurred after his second dose. According to STAT News:²⁷

"Twelve hours after receiving his second dose, he developed a fever of more than 103 degrees, sought medical attention, and, after being released from an urgent care facility, fainted in his home … His girlfriend caught him and kept his head from hitting the floor.

She then called one of the doctors working in the study, and asked what they should do. The doctor told them he could go back to urgent care, or call 911, and reminded them that all his medical costs would be covered by the study … Haydon said the experience left him as sick as he'd ever felt."

Longer, Larger Studies Necessary to Reveal Side Effects

Even vaccination proponent Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, stated that longer testing on a larger group of patients is needed, as, "You don't know about uncommon side effects." He further told BioPharma Dive, "We're in the 'science by press release' age. I just wish there were more data before people step up to the microphone."²⁸

Not only did Moderna and NIAID conduct human trials of the experimental mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine without first conducting animal trials,²⁹ but its vaccine uses new RNA technology. "No RNA drug or vaccine product has ever been certified for public use. Other companies have tried and failed, mainly because safety was a serious problem," wrote journalist Jon Rappoport, adding:³⁰

"Fauci, Gates, and others are itching to get an RNA product approved for public use. In the area of vaccines, the manufacturing process is far quicker and easier than the traditional approach. Thus, they can flood the world with all sorts of new vaccines at the drop of a hat. That's what they want: a massively vaccinated planet under the gun."

So, not only are they dealing with a novel virus, the mechanics of which are still not thoroughly understood, they're also using a novel RNA-based vaccine that has never been used before, and attempting to fast-track it through testing and development faster than any vaccine before it. As I said in May, what could possibly go wrong?

from Articles https://ift.tt/3gDcFFA
via IFTTT

I’ve often stated that if you want to stay healthy, staying out of hospitals, except in cases of emergency, is highly recommended. Not only are hospitals the scene of tens of thousands — and possibly hundreds of thousands — of preventable deaths annually due to medical errors,¹ but they’re also notorious for spreading lethal hospital-acquired infections.

Each day in the U.S., about 1 in 31 hospital patients has at least one health care-associated infection, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.² COVID-19 is now among them, with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, being transmitted from health care workers to patients, as well as from infected patients to other hospital patients.

Figures released from NHS England suggest that up to 20% of hospital patients with COVID-19 were infected at the hospital, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson went so far as to call deaths from hospital-acquired COVID-19 an epidemic.³ The data came from an NHS briefing and was reported by the Guardian:⁴

“Senior figures at several NHS trusts have confirmed to the Guardian that a senior official at NHS England said in the briefing, held by telephone conference in late April, that the rate of hospital-acquired Covid-19 infections was running at 10% to 20% and that asymptomatic staff had caused some of the cases.

Senior doctors and hospital managers say that doctors, nurses and other staff have inadvertently passed on the virus to patients because they did not have adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) or could not get tested for the virus.”

Rapid Spread of Hospital-Acquired COVID-19 Reported

The NHS briefing is not the lone warning bell to signal a problem with hospital-acquired COVID-19. Nosocomial (originating in a hospital) transmission of SARS-CoV2 was also reported in a 24-bed geriatric unit in Edouard Herriot University Hospital, the largest emergency hospital in the Lyon, France, area.

Two potential index cases were noted, including a 97-year-old man who was admitted February 29, 2020, with fever and shortness of breath, but tested negative, then tested positive March 7.

In the second potential index case, a 76-year-old man was admitted February 1, 2020, with cough and fever. March 6, he tested positive for COVID-19. From there, six other cases occurred in the same unit until March 13. The overall infection rate for COVID-19 among patients in the geriatric unit was 20%, and two of the patients (28.6%) died.

“The rapid spread of nosocomial COVID-19 in this ward confirms the contagiousness of SARS-CoV-2 in health care settings and the high mortality rates in this population. The existence of super-shedders has been suggested, which could facilitate cluster emergence,” researchers wrote in a letter to the editor of Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.⁵

A rapid review and meta-analysis of 40 studies found an even higher rate of nosocomial infections, noting, “As patients potentially infected by SARS-CoV-2 need to visit hospitals, the incidence of nosocomial infection can be expected to be high.”⁶

The researchers searched for case reports on nosocomial infections of COVID-19, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), revealing that, among the confirmed patients, the proportions of nosocomial infections were 44% for COVID-19, 36% for SARS and 56% for MERS. Medical staff were believed to have accounted for 33% of the nosocomial COVID-19 cases, with nurses and doctors the most commonly infected medical staff.

Hospitals Are Super Spreaders of Disease

It’s been estimated that 1.7 million health care-associated infections occur in U.S. hospitals each year, making such infections “a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States.”⁷ During outbreaks of MERS and SARS, hospitals have been called out as super spreaders of disease, including in Ontario in 2003, where 77% of SARS cases were contracted in a hospital.⁸

Even in Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 is said to have originated, hospital-related transmission was associated with 41% of cases.⁹ Across the globe, in the early days of the pandemic and often without proper protective equipment, health care workers feared they would inadvertently spread the disease. In a news release, Dr. Nishant Joshi of the U.K.’s Luton and Dunstable general hospital, said:¹⁰

“Overnight I had a patient sneeze on me and cough on me, which happens on a daily basis. Where does that leave me? We are concerned about being vectors of transmission, we are concerned we are the super-spreaders, we are concerned that healthcare workers are spreading the infection.

The reason we're concerned is because all the data from China, from Italy, from Iran, from other countries that have been affected by coronavirus is that healthcare workers can be vectors of transmission.”

Drastically different death rates from COVID-19 reported in different regions in Italy may also be related to hospitals acting as primary carriers of COVID-19. The American Conservative reported:¹¹

"When the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto recorded Italy’s first local cases of the coronavirus, the two nearby regions were isolated by lockdowns. Since then their fortunes have diverged.

Lombardy has a death rate of 17.6 percent while Veneto’s is 5.6 percent. Veneto tested far more widely than Lombardy, but the main difference is how patients were treated. In Lombardy 65 percent of people who tested positive were sent to the hospital. By contrast, in Veneto only 20 percent were sent to hospital.

A group of doctors from Bergamo warned in the New England Journal of Medicine. ‘We are learning that hospitals might be the main Covid-19 carriers,’ they wrote. ‘They are rapidly populated by infected patients, facilitating transmission to uninfected patients.’

As a group of Italian doctors wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association,¹² ‘hospital overcrowding may also explain the high infection rate of medical personnel … Moreover, early infection of medical personnel led to the spread of the infection to other patients within hospitals. In Lombardy, SARS-CoV-2 became largely a nosocomial infection.’”

Nosocomial Infections May Explain Differing Mortality Rates

In the video above, taped April 17, 2020, Dr. John Ioannidis discusses results from three preliminary studies, pointing out that nosocomial infections appear to help explain why the COVID-19 mortality rate is so much higher in certain areas, such as Italy, Spain and the New York metropolitan area.

A common denominator between these areas is a massive number of hospital personnel who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 and who spread it to patients who are already in an immune-compromised state.

“Hospitals are the worst place to fight the battle with COVID-19,” he says. “We should have done our best to keep people away from the hospitals if they had COVID-19 symptoms, unless they had really severe symptoms.”

These findings highlight not only the need for very stringent infection control measures in hospitals to avoid transmission from asymptomatic personnel to patients, but also the need to more carefully assess your need for medical care.

Ioannidis stresses that people experiencing mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19 should not rush to the hospital, as they simply increase the risk of infectious transmission to personnel and other more vulnerable patients.

Another surprising revelation was the poor outcomes noted among many COVID-19 patients placed on mechanical ventilators. In a JAMA study that included 5,700 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the New York City area between March 1, 2020, and April 4, 2020, mortality rates for those who received mechanical ventilation ranged from 76.4% to 97.2%, depending on age.¹³

There are many reasons why those on ventilators have a high risk of mortality, including being more severely ill to begin with; however, ventilator-associated pneumonia has also been reported. In fact, there have been cases of patients with COVID-19 who are put on ventilators only to then be diagnosed with a secondary case of ventilator-associated pneumonia acquired at the hospital.¹⁴

Sunshine and Fresh Air Improve Survival

Ironically, the “high-tech” hospitals of modern day, with their enclosed, indoor close quarters, may be facilitating the spread of disease far more so than open-air hospitals of yesteryear. “By the time of the 1918-1919 [influenza] pandemic, it was common practice to put the sick outside in tents or in specially designed open wards.

Among the first advocates of what was later to become known as the ‘open-air method’ was the English physician John Coakley Lettsom (1744-1815), who exposed children suffering from tuberculosis to sea air and sunshine at the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital in Kent, England, in 1791,” researchers wrote in the American Journal of Public Health in 2009.¹⁵

They cited records from an open-air hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, during the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 to 1919, which suggest that patients and staff there were spared the worst of the outbreak. “A combination of fresh air, sunlight, scrupulous standards of hygiene and reusable face masks appears to have substantially reduced deaths among some patients and infections among medical staff,” they wrote.¹⁶

Fresh air and sunlight are two things notably lacking in modern hospitals, but they were in abundance at the Camp Brooks Hospital, which treated hundreds of patients during the 1919 influenza pandemic. Treatments took place outdoors to maximize sunshine and fresh air.

Exposure to ultraviolet light has been shown to inactivate viruses like influenza, while sunlight would have boosted patients’ vitamin D levels, a deficiency of which may increase susceptibility to influenza and other respiratory infections.¹⁷

The surgeon general of the Massachusetts State Guard, William A. Brooks, reported that in a typical general hospital with 76 influenza cases, 20 patients died in a three-day period while 17 nurses became ill. “By contrast,” the researchers wrote, “according to one estimate, the regimen adopted at the camp reduced the fatality of hospital cases from 40% to about 13%.”¹⁸

In the case of a future pandemic, they noted, improvements in air-handling units and portable filtration units may be warranted for hospitals and other buildings but, even better, “more might be gained by introducing high levels of natural ventilation or, indeed, by encouraging the public to spend as much time outdoors as possible.”¹⁹

At the very least, it’s safe to say that viral transmission will typically be minimized in an outdoor setting, while conventional hospitals are likely to continue to concentrate and spread disease. To protect your health, spending time in fresh air and sunshine, while staying out of the hospital unless absolutely necessary, is about as fundamental as it gets.

from Articles https://ift.tt/2Xp5nOk
via IFTTT

As if vaccine passports, COVID-19 contact tracing apps and the Rockefeller Foundation's plan to reopen America don’t already pose enough of a threat to civil liberties and democratic society, here comes a new bill, H.R. 6666, the COVID-19 Testing, Reaching And Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act.¹

The bill was introduced and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce by Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., May 1, 2020. As of May 25, 2020, the bill has 64 cosponsors — all Democrats. Originally, there also was one Republican, but he withdrew his sponsorship May 15. According to the summary of the bill:²

“This bill authorizes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to award grants for testing, contact tracing, monitoring, and other activities to address COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019).

Entities such as federally qualified health centers, nonprofit organizations, and certain hospitals and schools are eligible to receive such grants. In awarding the grants, the CDC shall prioritize applicants that (1) operate in hot spots and medically underserved communities, and (2) agree to hire individuals from the communities where grant activities occur.”

H.R. 6666 — A ‘Monstrously Unconstitutional’ Bill

Needless to say, many an eyebrow are being raised over the “6666” in the resolution. It seems both unfortunate and ironically apt. As noted by Cheryl Chumley in a May 12, 2020, Washington Times article:³

“Mark of the beast. Mark of the beast for a beastly, monstrously unconstitutional bill. After all, what’s more devilishly un-American than launching one of the most massive government surveillance programs of private citizens in U.S. history, all under the guise of protecting people from the coronavirus?”

The government grants — a whopping $100 billion of taxpayer money for 2020 alone — would be used by “eligible entities” to hire employees and buy the supplies needed to conduct testing and contact tracing. This includes sending employees to the residences of citizens to conduct COVID-19 testing.

Entities eligible for grant money include federally qualified health centers, school-based clinics, disproportionate share hospitals, academic medical centers, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, high schools and any other entities determined to be eligible by the Health and Human Services Secretary.

If you test positive, you would then be quarantined either at a mobile health unit or in your own home. Contact tracers would also collect information about anyone you may have come into contact with so that they can be tested and, if needed, quarantined.

As noted by Chumley, just how the government intends to ensure compliance with quarantine remains an unanswered question. We now know that up to 80% of people who test positive remain asymptomatic,⁴ and for people who feel fine, being locked up, whether at home or in a mobile unit, for two weeks or more may not be a welcome proposition at this point.

COVID-19 Does Not Warrant Proposed Tracking Measures

In a nutshell, H.R. 6666 calls for taking $100 billion of our taxpayer money to fund our own persecution. I say “persecution,” considering this virus isn’t particularly lethal for people under the age of 80, and has an overall survival rate of about 99% and therefore doesn’t pose a significant threat for the vast majority of the population.

At present, most data are still unreliable, seeing how “suspected” cases are lumped into mortality statistics. But two situations for which we have more complete data suggest the risk from SARS-CoV-2 is minimal.

For example, of the roughly 4,800 crew on the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, 840 tested positive,⁵ but 60% were asymptomatic,⁶ meaning they had no symptoms. Only one crewmember died.⁷

Similarly, among the 3,711 passengers and crew onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, 712 (19.2%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and of these 46.5% were asymptomatic at the time of testing. Of those showing symptoms, only 9.7% required intensive care and 1.3% (nine) died.⁸ 

Military personnel, as you would expect, tend to be healthier than the general population. Still, the data from these two incidents reveal several important points to consider. First of all, it suggests that even when living in close, crowded quarters, the infection rate is low.

Only 17.5% of the USS Theodore Roosevelt crew got infected — slightly lower than the 19.2% of those onboard the Diamond Princess, which had a greater ratio of older people.

Second, fit and healthy individuals are more likely to be asymptomatic than not — 60% of naval personnel compared to 46.5% of civilians onboard the Diamond Princess had no symptoms despite testing positive.

‘Devilish’ in Its Substance

While H.R. 6666 may not be satanic, it’s certainly “devilish,” Bob Barr writes in a May 20, 2020, Marietta Daily Journal op-ed.⁹ Barr, president and CEO of the Law Enforcement Education Foundation, is a former U.S. Congressman for Georgia’s Seventh District.

“Make no mistake … the bill is a dangerous piece of legislation, not because of its number, but because of its substance,” Barr writes. “It is the latest in a long line of legislative vehicles … to increase the federal government’s power to gather and database private information on citizens ...

In this latest effort, House Democrats have employed the tradecraft for which the Congress has become notoriously adept — hiding the true purpose of legislation behind a façade of protecting people from a known or perceived danger …

The specific provisions within H.R. 6666 pose a very real danger; not only as a stand-alone bill … but as a possible amendment that could be slipped into the most recent, massive COVID-19 ‘stimulus’ bill that passed the House last week.

The administration already has signaled support for some version of a Phase IV relief package, and whatever that final document looks like, it is certain to be long and complicated, making it a perfect vehicle in which to hide a provision for ‘contact tracing’ similar perhaps to what Rush’s TRACE Act would do ...

Those of us who are concerned about the growth of government surveillance and data-basing of personal information must be vigilant against measures like the TRACE Act, regardless of their surface appeal. We must demand the Congress and the Administration aggressively oppose any such measures.”

WARNING: Apple, Android Updates Include API for Tracing Apps

Considering the latest iPhone and Android updates make the phones contact-tracing ready, the bill has, in pragmatic terms, already come to pass.

As reported by Global World Trends,¹⁰ Apple’s iOS 13.5 update contains a built-in Exposure Notifications API, which will “allow governments and public health agencies to develop apps that alert you if you've come into contact with someone who later tests positive for Covid-19 and that person anonymously logs their positive result into a database.”

API stands for “application programming interface.”¹¹ It’s essentially a set of functions that allow apps to access certain data or features of the operating system. That said, you would still have to download a contact tracing app in order to participate in a contact tracing program, according to an Apple representative.¹²

HR 6666 Sets Us on a Dangerous Path

As detailed by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) in a recent “Action Alert” emailed to users of NVIC’s Advocacy Portal:¹³

“H.R. 6666 is a federal funding bill. It proposes to create a surveillance infrastructure that can be used by the federal government, as well as local and state governments and private businesses, to require medical testing and tracking of all citizens.

This is in violation of fundamental civil liberties as set forth in the Bill of Rights, which include the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution designed to protect individual rights and limit the power of the government.

H.R. 6666 lacks safeguards and conditions related to funding of the proposed surveillance operation to prevent it from being applied to intrusive programs mandating testing and surveillance without an individual’s voluntary consent.

If this legislation is passed by Congress and enacted into law, it could lead to denial of an individual’s right to appear in public spaces and travel; the right to employment and education or participation in government-funded services, and the right to receive care in a government funded hospital or other any other medical facility.

H.R. 6666 specifically allows for funded entities to home quarantine a person against their will, even while they are healthy. Once a vaccine is available, the testing and tracing results potentially could be used to force individuals to be injected with a COVID-19 vaccine against their will.”

As noted by NVIC, while the bill specifies that “Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede any Federal privacy or confidentiality requirement, including the regulations promulgated under section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996,” H.R. 6666 in no way guarantees privacy.

HIPAA “has always allowed disclosure of private health information to government officials and other government approved entities including foreign governments without the knowledge or consent of the individual for the purpose of conducting public health surveillance, investigations or interventions,” NVIC writes.¹⁴

Public Health Crisis Does Not Suspend Bill of Rights

NVIC also highlights the fact that the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution cannot be suspended or ignored by state or federal government during public health emergencies.

As noted by the U.S. Department of Justice in a recent Statement of Interest in Support of Plaintiffs in the case of Temple Baptist Church against the City of Greenville and its mayor, which banned drive-in church services and slapped attendees with fines:¹⁵

“There is no pandemic exception, however, to the fundamental liberties the Constitution safeguards. Indeed, ‘individual rights secured by the Constitution do not disappear during a public health crisis.’

In re Abbott, — F.3d —, 2020 WL 1685929, at *6 (5th Cir. Apr. 7, 2020). These individual rights, including the protections in the Bill of Rights made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, are always in force and restrain government action.”

Indeed, H.R. 6666 “sets the stage for multiple violations of our constitutional rights,” NVIC notes, including the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and Ninth amendments:

Take Action Today!

“H.R. 6666 should be opposed because it provides federal funding to entities to create and enforce unrestricted surveillance, testing, tracing and quarantine mechanisms and has no set end date. There is simply no way to know how many inalienable rights protected under the U.S. Constitution could be infringed upon or taken away from citizens if this bill becomes law,” NVIC says.

I urge you to take action today and help us stop this nasty bill. Call and email your U.S. congressional representative and ask them to vote against H.R. 6666, the “COVID–19 Testing, Reaching, And Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act.”

Feel free to select a few salient points to personalize your message. Keep in mind that many staffers are still working remotely, so be prepared to leave a coherent phone message.

If you’re unsure who your representative is, or don’t have their contact information, you can look them up on the NVIC’s Advocacy Portal. Just enter your zip code and click on the names listed to get their contact information. If you happen to live near a district office, you may also consider setting up a longer phone call, video chat or face-to-face meeting with your representative or staff.

The nonprofit National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is the largest and oldest consumer-led organization in the U.S. disseminating information on vaccines and infectious diseases and advocating for protection of the legal right to make voluntary vaccination decisions. NVIC researches and publishes referenced information you can trust and use for talking points when you speak with your legislators.

I urge you to register as a user of the free online NVIC Advocacy Portal so you can receive timely email Action Alerts from NVIC tailored to your state and access state and federal legislation action items and updates on the Portal website. NVIC constantly reviews and updates the status of pending vaccine-related bills so you can take action to protect your rights.

“Bills can change many times over the legislative process and your timely visits, calls, and emails directed at the correct legislators are critical to this process,” NVIC writes. Lastly, take a moment to forward this newsletter to your friends and family, and ask them to share their concerns with their elected representatives as well.

from Articles https://ift.tt/300iAhZ
via IFTTT

Years of yo-yo dieting and intense cardio only caused Jade to gain weight. She then decided to give it all up and adopt a more balanced approach to food and exercise - and saw the weight fall off. Here she reveals  how she's managed to keep it off for five years.

from Diet | body+soul https://ift.tt/36OFomu

The dwindling coronavirus numbers in Australia have prompted restrictions on indoor fitness facilities to be lifted in NSW from June 13. Here’s everything you need to know before your first training session back at the gym.

from Fitness | body+soul https://ift.tt/2U1DKJ0

The singer's post-pregnancy weight loss plan proves slow and easy equals results.

from Health | body+soul https://ift.tt/3dr6pP9

This healthy vegan salted caramel protein loaf is so simple to make. Enjoy it as an energy-boosting workout snack, comforting dessert or even a delicious breakfast slice. 

from Nutrition | body+soul https://ift.tt/302oP51

A new report has found popular plant-based takeaway options are more calorie-dense than meat-based meals.

from Diet | body+soul https://ift.tt/2Awtp0y

Aquaporins and glucose transporters facilitate the movement of substances across biological membranes and are present in all kingdoms of life.Biophysicists used a supercomputer to explore the atomic behavior of these proteins. The research suggests glucose transporters function by using a gate on the extracellular side that opens and closes based on body temperature.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3doR8yh

Researchers looked at the impact of temperature, precipitation, and UV index on COVID-19 case rates in the United States during the spring months of 2020. The findings reveal that while the rate of COVID-19 incidence does decrease with warmer temperatures up until 52 degrees F, further warmer temperatures do not decrease disease transmission significantly.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2yXF5cy

Almost overnight, the rapid emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and subsequent state and federal prevention measures dramatically altered daily behavior. A new study provides the first snapshot of the immediate impact of COVID-19 on Americans' stress levels, coping strategies, and adherence to public health guidelines.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2ZXrLjp

Pregnant women who take extra choline supplements may mitigate the negative impact that viral respiratory infections, including COVID-19, can have on their babies, according to a new study in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3dohCjN

A rapid review into the mental health impacts of loneliness on children and young people concludes that there could be a spike in demand for mental health services in the years to come.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2yTMzx3

Man's best friend may also be man's best bet for figuring out how environmental chemicals could impact our health.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2Az3AwT

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is one of the most devastating adult-onset neurodegenerative diseases. Patients, including the late actor/playwright Sam Shepard, become progressively weaker and eventually paralyzed as their motor neurons degenerate and die.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3donlpF

Researchers have uncovered how cancer cells protect themselves from viruses that are harmful to tumors but not to healthy cells. These findings could lead to improved viral treatments for the disease.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2Mh8bXp

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is one of the most devastating adult-onset neurodegenerative diseases. Patients, including the late actor/playwright Sam Shepard, become progressively weaker and eventually paralyzed as their motor neurons degenerate and die.

from Women's Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3donlpF

Neuroscientists found that a brain region called the lateral septum encodes spatial information with a special emphasis on the location of the reward.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3chzrj2

The prompt, precise, and massive detection of a virus is the key to combat infectious diseases such as Covid-19. A new viral diagnostic strategy using reactive polymer-grafted, double-stranded RNAs will serve as a pre-screening tester for a wide range of viruses with enhanced sensitivity.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3drdI9Q

Age, male sex, obesity, and underlying illness have emerged as risk factors for severe COVID-19 or death in the UK, according to the largest cohort study to date.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2Xmwnhh

What should you do if you get a call from a contact tracer letting you know you’ve been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19? Even our best efforts to stay well — by maintaining distance, washing hands often, restricting the size of our social circles, and wearing masks — may not keep the virus at bay as cities and towns lift restrictions.

That’s why many experts recommend three combined approaches to help prevent a dangerous resurgence of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19:

• continued mitigation efforts, which includes preventive strategies like those described above
• prompt access to testing, with quick turnaround on results
• contact tracing.

What is contact tracing and who does it?

Generally, contact tracing means locating and testing people known to have been in close contact with a sick person, to prevent an illness like COVID-19 from spreading to an ever-widening circle of people. This strategy works best when case numbers are low — not high or rising fast, as they did in hot spots like New York and California in late March and early April. After the peak passes, contract tracing is feasible. It’s proven effective in countries such as Germany, China, and South Korea.

Just how can we make contact tracing work in the US? Public health authorities are trying to figure that out, even as cities and towns recruit people to train as contact tracers. In some places, contact tracers are volunteers; others are paid. And they have a variety of backgrounds, including public health workers, retired healthcare professionals, furloughed hospitality workers, and students. Being able to speak the language and understand the culture of those who will be called are major advantages. So is a healthy amount of empathy.

Three steps in contact tracing for COVID-19

While local processes vary in the US and around the globe, the World Health Organization recommends these three steps for contact tracing programs:

• Identify close contacts. After someone tests positive for the COVID-19 virus, they should first receive appropriate medical care and take measures to isolate themselves. Then, a contact tracer can interview them to get a list of people with whom they’ve spent significant time. According to the CDC, this list should include intimate partners, household members, and anyone coming within six feet of the infected person for at least 15 minutes starting 48 hours before the symptoms that led to testing. Other factors, such as whether the infected person was coughing or wearing a mask, also affect infection risk. Checking calendars and social media communications can help people retrace their steps and refresh their memories about who they might have exposed.
• Contact close contacts. The contact tracer will call or text each person considered to be at risk for infection. This is tricky. If the call is unexpected, the contact might be distrustful, skeptical, or even uncooperative with the caller.

  If you receive a call, advice will vary depending on the exposure: for a minimal exposure to someone who wasn’t coughing, the recommendation may be to just monitor symptoms and call back if any develop. For more intense exposure, you may be advised to self-quarantine for 14 days. Testing may be suggested if you have symptoms, but may not be necessary otherwise.

• Follow-up. After a number of days, the contact tracer should call back to confirm that no symptoms have developed, and answer any questions that have come up. If you test positive for COVID-19, your contacts are called and the process starts over.

How cellphones can help with contact tracing

Researchers and tech companies quickly realized that cell phone technology could help determine who an infected person has come into contact with, with and the status of a person in quarantine. For example, apps exist (or are in development) that can

• alert you if a person you’ve been near tests positive and lists you as a potential contact
• store location information over a period of time that can be readily retrieved if anyone you’ve been near tests positive
• automatically text contacts of an infected person every few days to ask if symptoms have developed.

Cell phones have also been used to enforce quarantine in a few countries, although some measures taken may not be acceptable in the US due to concerns about privacy and personal freedoms. But as we enter the “new normal,” requests for our cell phone number when entering a restaurant, supermarket, or other business may become more common. Later, if a worker or other customer has a positive test, knowing who has been there and their phone numbers can make it much easier to notify those who could have been exposed.

Using cell phone technology for those who agree to participate will allow contact tracers and public health workers to allot more resources to those who don’t have a phone, or who are unwilling to share information by phone.

Challenges to contact tracing

Formidable challenges include:

• Trainees and cost. Current estimates suggest that we’ll need between 100,000 and 300,000 contact tracers nationwide. Recruiting, training, and paying them will require significant resources.
• Support services. If a contact is advised to quarantine, they may need help getting food, medications, child care, or other services. The contact tracer can help with this only if such support systems are in place.
• Testing availability. Contact tracing requires ready access to testing and prompt reporting of results.
• Acceptance. As long as participation is voluntary, a contact tracing program can only be effective if there is widespread cooperation and acceptance by the infected person and their contacts.
• Privacy concerns and scammers. Whenever personal medical information is requested, safeguards are needed to prevent accidental or inappropriate sharing of that information. The Federal Trade Commission has some helpful recommendations for avoiding scams that have already surfaced. For example, a legitimate contract tracing program may text to tell you to expect a call, but shouldn’t ask you to click on a link or request personal information, such as your social security number or any financial information.

And there is debate about whether data should be stored centrally (for example, by a government agency), whether sharing one’s medical information should be mandatory, and whether individuals should be able to opt out of tracing programs.

The bottom line

Hopefully you and those around you are doing everything possible to limit the risk of becoming infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, and you’ll never be called by a contact tracer. But if you do, don’t be alarmed. What they are doing is a vital part of safely reversing the stay-at-home orders and restrictions made necessary by the pandemic.

Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling

For more information on coronavirus and COVID-19, see the Harvard Health Publishing Coronavirus Resource Center.

The post Bracing for contact tracing appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

from Harvard Health Blog https://ift.tt/2TX6RgD