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So Paulo witnessed a tense standoff for four hours, including a real pitched battle for two hours, between two unequal sides on 31 May.[1] The Military Police of So Paulo, the best trained, best equipped in the country, on one the side. Anti-fascist on the other side organized by soccer fans, mostly from the Corinthians Faithful Hawks club (Gavies da Fiel), but also Palmeiras, So Paulo and antifa Santos fan clubs as well. They decided to demonstrate for democracy near where the So Paulo Bolsonarists usually meet at the same time.

The homies arrived shortly after noon, almost all dressed in black, looking like an old school battalion carrying a huge banner for democracy, drums, and their own security team. They installed themselves in the gap and in front of the Museum of Art of So Paulo Assis Chateaubriand in the middle of Avenida Paulina, So Paulos main drag. From the beginning, they were surrounded by an immense number of military police (MPs) with menacing attitudes. Of course the press said the police were working to prevent the two groups from confronting each other.

Four blocks away, no more than 100 hundred supporters of the neo-fascist president gathered in front of the Chamber of Commerce (Fiesp) headquarters. The Boslonarists were vocal as usual, but demonstrated some innovations by carrying Ukrainian neo-Nazi flags (hello?) and then there was the innocent female baseball fan carrying a bat whose shirt read FASCIST. A video of a policeman escorting this lady out of the area after she tried to provoke a small group of passers-by with the bat spread quickly on social media.

[Read next, Gabriel Santos: What can Brazilian socialists learn from Minneapolis?.]

Around 2:15 pm, the MPs attacked the anti-fascists in front of the Masp. According to a legal observer present on the scene, the pitched battled started because a Bolsonarist, backed up by three others, tried to enter the opposition bloc evidently aiming for a provocation.

The antifascists prevented the Bolsonarists from wading into their group passage, which gave the police an excuse to start raining tear gas bombs and to send in riot police against the demonstrators. (Obviously the So Paulo MPs are giving a diametrically opposed version in which the demonstrators provoked the police.)

Once the resistance began, more than forty Shock Battalion police (with 6 or 8 police vehicles backing them up), armed with shields, clubs, and tear gas grenade launchers tried for 90 minutes to force the anti-fascists to withdraw from the street ironically the length as a regulation soccer game!

In the midst of the pitched battle, the antifascists effected an organized and combative retreat, in which the organization, tenacity, and technique of the team in black were on full display. They had obviously had some experience (and some had a lot of experience) in facing down police violence.

The antifascists threw stones and hurled back tear gas cannisters, defended themselves with movable metal fences, and used pieces of construction siding to the slow down the police they used everything they could get their hands on. In the end, the police failed to disperse them. The five arrests made by police were a small price to pay for the size and duration of the confrontation.

Read next, International open letter: Jair Bolsonaro is a threat to Brazil and global health.]

The result of the Battle of the Paulistas, broadcast live by the media offers some lessons for the social and political opposition to Bolsonaro:

1. The Military Police serve Bolsonarism. Watch out.

2. State governors should be asked by civil society to place limits on police abuses at all levels.

3. It is necessary to face fascism with organized action. There is nothing to dialogue over with people carrying golf clubs and Ukrainian fascist flags, wearing Ku Klux Kan clothing, shouting Nazi-fascist rhetoric.

4. The streets are the most important site for this confrontation, although petitions and institutional actions also have their roles. We must start to reclaim the streets taking all necessary social-distancing and protective measures.

5. We need unity between all Brazilian soccer fans! Between the Greeks and Trojans, the Russians and Bahians to oppose the snake Bolsonaro. If the Corinthians Faithful Hawks were in the majority and dictated tactics on Sunday, there were also rival fans. I only wish that opposition political parties in particular those on the left and social movements throughout Brazil acted like So Paulos soccer fans on this sunny Sunday. Theres still time.

31 May 2020

Source: translated by No Borders News from Insurgncia.

Read the rest here:
Lessons from The Battle of the Paulistas - International Viewpoint

The history of the LAC goes back to the colonial era of the British when the Qing Dynasty negotiated a vague area border between China and the Indian region. Even today, the border dispute has not been resolved. After repeated diplomatic failures and disagreements, skirmishes and exchange of minor hostilities are a routine matter in the region of Ladakh along the Pangong Lake. But the year 2020, has brought with it the winds of change. On 5th of May, there was a hot engagement between the troops of both countries. In a heated exchange of fighting, pelting and inflicted injuries, a standoff began which has not subsided even after 26 days. Will this lead to all-out war? What would be the consequences? And why this is happening now? These are the questions that are perplexing military and economic strategists all over the world. A war between China and India is the only probable incident that could be more disastrous than Covid-19 pandemic.

The border between China and India is 3400Kms long. It is a tri-juncture with rights being claimed by India, China and Bhutan. India favors Bhutan in the dispute. China and India are both giants and together they are around one third of all human population on the planet. Both are nuclear powers but China is far more superior in defense budget and military technology. The quantum of military budget of China is four times that of India. In 1962, there was a war between the two which ended with humiliation and massive casualties for India. There is no misconception that the result would be the same if a war breaks out now. It will be devastating for India but the benefit will go the economic opponents of China and its attention will be diverted. With being bogged down in Xin Jiang, Hong Kong and a cold war with the US, a confrontation with India is not what the Chinese would want at this time.

Apparently, it seems as if the border dispute was the reason for the military clash and stand-off but matters in diplomacy are always complex. In August, 2019, India altered the disputed status of Indian Occupied Kahsmir and began construction of ambitious infrastructure and military projects in the area. Without consultation, China has taken the construction of air bases and roads connecting military installation as a threat. Safeguarding the borders and physical territory of China is one of the primary manifestos of the PLA(Peoples Liberation Army). Further, India state media and political circles have stressed the need to conduct a military operation, and to capture Pakistan administered Azad Kashmir. Not only does China considers this a threat to a close ally Pakistan but also perceives it as a threat to the One Belt One Road Project. China has based its future progress, prosperity and a foothold in International trade through Pakistan in the shape of Gwadar. Any plan to thwart the CPEC or OBOR is a major challenge to Chinese aims. A military stand-off in the Ladakh region would move the focus of the Indian Army from any intervention into Azad Kashmir and towards the Dolkham Plateau and the Pangong Lake area. In a twenty plus day military buildup, India is clear that it needs to review its military intelligence and strategy in the region. The changing of the status of disputed territory and warming up to US, Japan and Australia is going to have consequences. On the other hands, CPEC and OBOR gives China access to the Arabian Sea, a dream that will unlock limitless possibilities for China and Pakistan.

After the 5th May incident, the Chinese army has moved into over 50 Kms of area which was previously under Indian control. Both armies have been mobilizing. On the Chinese side, over 2500 troops have been brought in. Heavy military equipment, artillery and surveillance technology is being deployed. Such a kind of military formation has not been observed in many decades. The disputes and skirmishes that occurred in the previous years would be resolved through local military commanders but this time the call for military personnel and equipment has come from the highest echelons of the Chinese Army.

China is dealing with multiple fronts at the moment. There is the unrest in Hong Kong, the economic slowdown from corona pandemic, the cold war with the US and now this military stand-off at 14,000 ft with India. It appears that China is prepared for all kinds of scenarios. It is wary of the fact that India under the fascist leadership of Modi is capable of making aggressive moves. It is also considering the fact that this is the time when India has to decide whether it will take a neutral role or lean towards the American Government when a cold war is on the horizon. If the latter is the case, China could engage India in a hostile border dispute which would weaken the economy to the brink that India is no longer a threat, or it can develop a deterrence that if India participates in any anti-China activities under the leadership of the United States, the military front would be the first of many factors that India would have to consider. Also, in the event of India siding with the US against China, would result in cutting of trade ties between India and China which would be a serious blow to an already shaken economy because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although, it is India that has prompted the stand-off, China seems to be determined to use it to its advantage.

The LAC is a loose border with no clear boundaries and vague protocols. If diplomatic means fail, the military options can be catastrophic for the region and for India. It must be kept in mind that if China enters the region along the Pangong Lake and captures the roads built by India to connect Ladakh to IOK, then the grip of the Indian Army in the whole region will be halved. The stakes are high for both countries. With Pakistan moving closer to China with every new step in CPEC and OBOR and India entering military alliances with the United States, a cold war of superpowers can frantically turn into a full blown all out combat. Although, China is keeping a deterrent strategy at the moment, it certainly has the might and the means to initiate and win this fight, only this time with much more sophisticated armaments and strategies compared to those available in 1962. Donald Trump is marching towards the blame game and accusing China of hijacking WHO and the UN, blatantly vilifying Chinese interests in Hong Kong and Taiwan, trying to change the International narrative towards Beijing, perhaps it is through Ladakh that the Chinese Government will show their display of military power instead of the soft power they have communicated Western world for so many decades.

The writer is Chairman of Jinnah Rafi Foundation

Original post:
China and India on the edge - Daily Times

Your medicine cabinet is your first go-to in times of illness, and sometimes it gets a little bare. But we're in the midst of a global health crisis. And whether you get Covid-19 or not, it's important to be prepared.

We know, we know. Some of these may be a little obvious, but go ahead and actually check your supplies now.

Let this be your friendly reminder to confirm you do, in fact, have the basics. If not, add these to your shopping list. Like now.

Here's a list of what you can use to make sure your household's medicine chest is well-stocked for the length of the pandemic.

Pandemic essentials

Do you think you have Covid-19? A fully stocked medicine cabinet can help you make an initial assessment.

"There are certain signs and symptoms that tip people off to whether they have Covid-19," said Dr. Gary LeRoy, the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians and an associate professor of family medicine at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

But also know how to use the thermometer right: Timing is everything. Check your temperature first, before you take your pain or fever reducer. "These medicines artificially lower your temperature," LeRoy said. Once you know how bad your fever is, then take your medicine.

Doctors recommend using rectal thermometers for infants. For children and adults, a thermometer under the tongue works just fine.

More advanced no-contact infrared thermometers also have their virtues, especially by eliminating the need to physically touch a symptomatic person.

"Infrared thermometers are easy to use, but they are more expensive," LeRoy said.

Cough drops and cough syrup: These stalwarts of the home health arsenal are a good initial line of defense to help reduce the coughing symptoms that are a key indicator of Covid-19.

Acetaminophen: It helps reduce the muscle ache pains associated with Covid-19 and other viruses, as well as fevers (again, check your or your child's temperature first before administering this pain and fever reliever).

Ibuprofen: This anti-inflammatory is also great for reducing pain and fevers. Use with caution, though, if you have gastrointestinal issues such as acid reflux, LeRoy said.

For all of these medications, make sure to read the labels carefully to ensure you take the right dosage.

The new additions everyone should have

"You should also have extra masks for visitors to your house who don't have one," LeRoy said.

Make sure you've got a supply of face masks for your whole family. You might not be doing much flying this summer, but you can still keep in mind a familiar line from flight attendants: Put on your mask before assisting others. We mean this literally.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes: Read the labels and try to focus on products that contain a base of 60% or more of alcohol.

At home, experts say the average person doesn't necessarily need a fancy device to measure blood oxygen levels. If shortness of breath is an issue, call your doctor.

"It is not physically possible to measure SpO2 (oxygen saturation levels) using current smartphone technology," the authors concluded.

More general items are still key in the pandemic

You ought to be keeping a supply of general health items at home, too.

Some of the symptoms of Covid-19 mirror those of other conditions, particularly allergies.

Antihistamines: Spring and summer mark allergy season, so if your symptoms feel a little better when you're not outside, you could be suffering from allergies. If these antihistamines aren't clearing up coughing or congestion, that could be a sign that something else is causing your symptoms.

"If it's not getting better, don't just keep treating it," LeRoy said. "Talk to your doctor."

Calamine lotion: It's a great standby if you're spending more time outdoors this summer and get exposed to poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac.

Check expiration dates and dispose of medicine properly

Use the pandemic as motivation for an overall inventory check. As you're updating your stockpile, it's a great time to get rid of medications or other products past their use-by date. Besides avoiding a stomach ache or other complications, you'll be able to make room for new remedies.

Know when to seek care

Your home medicine cabinet is your first stop for routine scrapes or runny-nose symptoms. But it's no substitute for sound medical advice.

The contents of your medicine cabinet are a "tool, not a replacement for medical intervention or a conversation with your physician," LeRoy said.

Pay close attention to how you're feeling. "Chart what those symptoms are and then treat those symptoms," LeRoy said.

But before any of this gets out of hand, fulfill this homework assignment for us.

Seriously, check your medicine cabinet.

Now add this to your to-do list: Replace those last few items that are missing. You'll be glad you did.

Jen Rose Smith, Sandee LaMotte, Susan Scutti and Harmeet Kaur contributed to this story.

Read the original:
Time to stock your medicine cabinet for the pandemic - CNN

Ocracoke trouble spot along N.C. 12 shown Aug. 29, 2011. Photo: NCDOT Communications

This is the fifth installment in a continuing series on climate change and the North Carolina coast that is part of thePulitzer Centers nationwide Connected Coastlinesreporting initiative.

Twenty-seven years ago, an interagency panel of bureaucrats, politicians and scientists gathered for the first time in Atlanta, Georgia, to study how to save a North Carolina coastal highway skirting the volatile waters of the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

No one back then talked about resilience or adaptation, and certainly not retreat. Still, the diverse group turned out to be pioneers of brainstorming and collaborating to solve the multitude of challenges from sea level rise and other climate change impacts.

The Outer Banks Task Force met six times before being shelved after one year for lack of funds and staff. But that was only one iteration of numerous transportation study groups that assembled over the years to address N.C. 12, a sliver of roadway stretching about 65 miles on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.

The two-lane road has been a headache for the state practically from the day the first tire hit the pavement. In 1962, the infamous Ash Wednesday Storm ripped open an inlet in Buxton and destroyed 25% of the dunes that buffered the road from ocean waves.

Still, the extreme and worsening coastal conditions for N.C. 12 serve as both lesson plan and cautionary tale for teams like the Outer Banks Task Force, working against time while begging for funds to maintain vital transportation infrastructure into the future.

Gov. Roy Coopersexecutive orderin 2018 directed 10 cabinet agencies and the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to integrate climate adaptation and resiliency planning into their policies, programs and operations. In response, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency was created to coordinate agencies and assist communities facing storm recovery and/or risks of future climate change impacts.

But complex problems that involve many players, a slew of stakeholders and tons of money can become unwieldy and paralyzing.

At least 10 government entities federal, state and local were represented on the task force, in addition to several coastal engineers and scientists from different universities.

How do we simplify what were trying to do so that we get something done? former Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Geneva Perry asked the revived task force in November 1998, as quoted then in The Virginian-Pilot. This thing has been going on forever, and unless we keep kicking it, it dies again.

Built in phases during the 1950s, N.C. 12 bisects Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and seven villages. It is also the only route for millions of tourists that contribute to the Outer Banks $1 billion tourism economy.

The roadway, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the massive Pamlico Sound on the other, is inches above mean sea level and crosses numerous weak spots on skinny barrier islands that are subject to severe beach erosion. To add to its vulnerabilities, the islands are close to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, the super-highway for Atlantic hurricanes.

Over the decades, the road has been repeatedly over-washed by ocean and sound tide; undermined by ocean surge; inundated by moon tide and rain deluges; buried by mountains of sand from storm-flattened dunes; broken apart by hurricanes and nor-easters; and covered by telephone poles, trees and debris from destroyed buildings.

Sections of road have been replaced, elevated, bridged or moved further from the ocean. Adjacent beaches have been widened and walkways have been built to protect dunes.

And the dunes between the beach and the road have been built, knocked down and rebuilt, higher, longer and stronger. Then flattened again.

Its a very good example of a corridor being impacted by climate, Jerry Jennings, Division 1 engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said in a recent telephone interview. Certainly, from Division 1s perspective, theres not another road that has the challenges that N.C. 12 has.

Located in the northeast corner of North Carolina, Division 1 is a huge, mostly rural territory that encompasses 14 counties. It not only includes the second-largest estuarine system in the nation, its coastal area the Outer Banks is one of the most vulnerable regions in the U.S. to the impacts of sea level rise.

Maintenance and repair of the road from Oregon Inlet to Ocracoke village has cost NCDOT about $75 million in the last 10 years, not including N.C. 12 improvements that were part of the recently completed Bonner Bridge replacement project.

Opened last year, the new Marc Basnight Bridge spans the inlet and incorporates phased work on the road to just south of Rodanthe.

The only other comparison in the state to N.C. 12 cited by some transportation officials could be the heavily traveled Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains, which is subject to costly landslides and intense winter weather.

But a lot of environmental changes generally have been observed over time in coastal regions and in low-lying areas, Jennings said. Shoreline erosion along water bodies, for example, can impact roadway shoulders and potentially threaten the road. Flooding is a persistent problem on roads in Mackeys Island, Aydlett and Water Lily in Currituck County and on N.C. 94 at Lake Mattamuskeet in Hyde County.

Theres a number of those out there, he said. Its not just a beach thing.

An ongoing improvement project on Colington Road in Kill Devil Hills includes elevation of parts of the road vulnerable to tidal flooding, he said, which seems to be a longstanding problem.

That project will attempt to resolve that, Jennings said. Its hard to say what is directly related to climate change.

NCDOT had been working with the new North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, or NCORR. But NCDOTs resiliency work has been suspended indefinitely while the agency addresses severe budgetary shortfalls aggravated by COVID-19 shutdowns.

Unspecified cuts are also expected in NCDOTs Ferry Division, which operates about 20 ferries on seven regular routes on the coast. The passenger ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke islands has been canceled for the season.

In March, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies released theNorth Carolina Climate Science Report, an assessment of current and projected climate impacts to the state. The report is a component of the comprehensiveN.C. Risk Assessment and Resilience Planthat is expected to be completed this summer.

The report found that future impacts in the state from climate change some effects are already apparent will likely be more intense storms, increased rain volume, more wildfires and drought, more hot days and higher humidity, increased flooding including sunny day tide and higher sea levels, especially on the northeast coast.

For transportation, it means offering people multiple ways to get around, by better connecting roads and sidewalks and providing quality transit services, the report said.

Jessica Whitehead, chief resilience officer with NCORR, said that NCDOT has been an engaged participant in discussions about such critical needs as building redundancy and updating old infrastructure.

Even with NCDOTs and other state agencies budgetary woes from the pandemic, Whitehead said that resiliency work will continue.

The thing about climate change in any of this, its not going to go away, she said. Were still going to figure out ways to plan for it.

Transportation projects in North Carolina have already been engineered for environmental changes, said Chris Werner, director of technical services at NCDOT.

Resiliency is a critical part of how we design and build our infrastructure, he said. We work with all our partners across the state.

Werner said that the agency has an inbuilt culture that fosters innovative and proactive approaches to problem solving.

Were always looking for cutting-edge analytics and software, he said. Most of us are engineers. The more data we can get, the more analytics we can perform.

One example is application of the states data-richFlood Inundation Mapping Alert Network, or FIMAN, to not only predict flooding on roads and bridges, but also to design for it by looking at trends in the data.

The agency, he said, is in the process of expanding the FIMAN gauge system from a property-impact focus to provide data specific to transportation infrastructure. For instance, data collection can be tailored so it can be used to prevent future road washouts.

Its not just a matter of fixing a damaged structure, he explained, the goal is to keep it from happening again by building redundancy and resiliency.

When severe flooding on U.S. 421 in Wilmington in 2018 during Hurricane Florence damaged the road and cut off traffic, Werner said, the agency took the opportunity to build better and stronger. After analysis of historic and current data, instead of just replacing ruined culverts, the department replaced them with a new bridge. Another bridge was also built nearby, providing the transportation corridor with both redundancy and resiliency in the event of future flooding.

Our goal is to build infrastructure thats durable and safe and resilient as possible, Werner said. As civil engineers, were constantly improving what weve done in the past. Thats what we do. It all stems from field observation and data.

Other measures NCDOT has put in place, he said, are monitors of water levels at low bridges, and identifying alternative travel routes on itsREADY NC app. The department has partnered with Google Maps and WAZE to feed their traffic data into the app. Also,DRIVENC.govshows up-to-date closures and maintenance work on the states roads.

In reality, the feats of engineering for NCDOT are not so much in dramatic crane work at bridge construction sites or road restorations after storms. Its mostly what goes on behind the scene at research centers and laboratories.

We do a lot of work with our universities, said Neil Mastin, NCDOT Research and Development manager. We work with business units and academics.

In May 2019, the department presented its first Research & Innovation Summit at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to discuss transportation-related innovations and research.

Although it is not often a focus of public discussion, NCDOT has been studying numerous issues that could result in transportation improvements, although its research program for 2021 has been postponed, Mastin said.

Ongoing or planned research projects include the following:

Mastin said that NCDOT is also hyper-aware of the public concern about drainage issues. The state is responsible for the ditches and culverts within road right of ways, as well as the nine ocean outfalls in the state, all of which except one is on the Outer Banks.

Water in general, he said, is the enemy of transportation networks.

In the past, locations of all small and medium drainage pipes around the state were mapped, he added, with the ambitious goal yet mostly unfulfilled of eventually replacing them. But thats just pipes and flooding is getting increasingly worse.

Eastern North Carolina in particular, with land as flat as it is, makes it extremely challenging, Mastin said. We can fix one problem somewhere and it makes it worse somewhere else.

Drones are being used more often by NCDOT to provide footage of flooded areas and to help manage flood gates, he said. Theyre also used to build wetlands, to identify plant types, to measure elevation and to help determine where to send crews after disasters. Researchers are also studying development of drones to inspect bridges.

Improvements of material mostly concrete and asphalt are constantly being studied, Mastin said. One example of research results is the proposed bridge replacement on Harkers Island, which would be the states first fully composite reinforced bridge. Rather than using corrosion-prone steel rebar, he said, the structure will be built with a mixture of carbon fiber prestressed strands and fancy fiberglass.

Well be monitoring this closely, he said. This is really exciting.

The new Marc Basnight Bridge over notoriously wild and wicked Oregon Inlet was designed to last 100 years and was built with high-performance, less-permeable concrete made to better endure corrosive salt air and water. It is the first bridge project in the state to use stainless reinforcing steel, and the bridge has longer and deeper pilings to withstand scour.

The Outer Banks Task Force, in a significant way, laid the groundwork for the bridge and the N.C. 12 improvements by determining where the problems were and what to do about them. Most importantly, the panel recognized the need for safety and access for both the bridge and the road and linked them together as a single corridor.

Jennings, the division engineer, said that over the last few years, feasibility studies have been completed looking at long-term options for eroded areas in Buxton, Hatteras and Ocracoke, as well as costs of the alternatives and how long projects would last.

Years before the panel was replaced by a merger team that worked on planning and permitting for the road and bridge projects, the Outer Banks Task Force had designated six vulnerable hot spots between Oregon Inlet and Ocracoke village that were critical to address, and started the planning process on each one.

Predictions about the dire risks at each of the hot spots from storm surge, beach erosion, road loss, dune breaching, even another inlet cutting through have since played out all too often.

In 1999, John Fisher, a N.C. State University civil engineer and then-chair of the task force science panel, called a reconstructed dune lost during Hurricane Dennis at the eroding Ocracoke hot spot a Band-Aid that wouldnt last.

We seriously think you should think about abandoning that whole stretch of road and relocating the ferry system, he told the task force, according to The Virginian-Pilot on Nov. 7. It didnt make sense to us to try to maintain the highway.

That is exactly what NCDOT is now considering. After storm after storm over the last 20 years wiped out dunes in the same hot spot, it seems Hurricane Dorian last September may end up taking that one off N.C. 12s list.

Read more here:
Resilience Bigger Part of Plan to Save NC 12 - Island Free Press

Researchers are learning more about howCovid-19affects children, and a new study finds that among a group of children and adolescents in New York who were hospitalized with the disease, about a fifth 22% had obesity.

The study,published in the journal The Lancet on Wednesday, suggests thathaving obesity could put a child at an increased risk of getting severely ill withCovid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

"Obesity was the most significant factor associated with mechanical ventilation in children 2 years and older," the researchers added. "Contrary to some previous reports, infants seemed largely spared severe manifestations."

More on the study: The study included data on 50 young people, ages 21 and younger, who were diagnosed withCovid-19between March 1 and April 15 and hospitalized for at least a day or longer.

The data, which came from the patients' electronic medical records, showed that about half of the patients 52% had an adult family member or was living with someone with symptoms associated withCovid-19. None of the patients had a history of international travel around the time they were diagnosed.

Most of the patients 80% had a fever, and 64% had some respiratory symptoms, but three of the patients only experienced gastrointestinal problems, the researchers found. Nine of the patients, or 18% of them, needed mechanical ventilation and one patient died.

Overall, the researchers found that obesity was significantly associated with needing mechanical ventilation among children ages 2 or older. Among the patients who required mechanical ventilation, six of them 67% had obesity.

About the study: The study had some limitations, including that the group of patients included in the datawas smalland half of the patients were Hispanic.The researchers noted thatthe hospital serves a predominantly Hispanic community.Somore research is needed to determine whether similar findings would emerge among a more diverse group of patients.

Yet overall, "studies such as this one emphasize that certain groups of children may be disproportionally affected. In this study, 50% were Hispanic,"Dr. Jason Newland of theWashington University School of Medicine in St Louis, and Dr. Kristina Bryant of theUniversity of Louisville in Kentucky, co-wrote in an editorial that accompanied the new study.

"As theCovid-19 pandemic has spread and created adversity for many people physically, emotionally, and economically, the groups most affected have been those of color," Newland and Bryant wrote.

"Going forward, multicenter collaborative studies are needed to define the infectious and postinfectious sequelae ofCovid-19in children in communities across the US, including rural communities, and in all racial and ethnic groups. We also need to understand the association of the pandemic with adverse health outcomes in children beyond the consequences of viral infection," they wrote.

The researchers noted that on May 15, "the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a precipitous drop in the ordering and administration of pediatric vaccines. Are outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases on the horizon? That could be the next important chapter of the evolvingCovid-19story."

Read the original:
WHO says coronavirus is not mutating, but that doesn't mean it is not dangerous - CNN

The Government has now released its decisions on a number of freshwater policy initiatives that were first revealed in September 2019 under the banner Essential Freshwater Action for Healthy Waterways.

The announcements see the new National Policy Statement, National Environmental Standards and Stock Regulations proceed largely unchanged, but with notable tweaks to the time frames, nutrient limits, and regulatory mechanisms. Most notably, dissolved organic nitrogen and dissolved reactive phosphorous will no longer have national bottom lines, restrictions on farm intensification and stock exclusion requirements will both be relaxed slightly in response to submissions, and the Resource Management Act (RMA) will be amended to include a new regime for farm management plans.

The Action For Healthy Waterways package was first announced in September 2020, and was fairly described at the time as the biggest set of freshwater reforms since the RMA was passed in 1991. Our summary of the proposals as first announced is available here; this Newsflash focuses on the recent changes. The main proposals were:

The thrust of last Thursdays announcements was to confirm that the Government will proceed with the New NPS-FM, NES-Freshwater, and Stock Exclusion Regulations. While final drafting is not yet available (it will now be developed and then put to Cabinet for decisions by 20 July 2020), it appears that there will be refinements rather than wholesale changes to the exposure drafts of these three documents released last year. However, the Cabinet Paper and supporting materials do outline a number of notable changes, which are summarised below. No firm date is provided in terms of when these instruments will be passed into law (beyond later this year), but we can anticipate that it is likely to be late July or early August, before Government enters the pre-election caretaker period.

The RMA changes to introduce the new planning process were already well advanced through the Resource Management Amendment Bill 2019, which is now at the Second Reading stage. As introduced, the Bill had included a rather ambitious deadline of December 2023 for councils to notify the next wave of regional plans to reflect the new national policy instruments, but that date will now be pushed out (slightly) to December 2024 (with decisions due December 2026) as a result of COVID-19.

Another key change proposed to the Bill (via a supplementary order paper) is for it to introduce a new regime for farm plans (originally proposed as part of the draft NES-Freshwater) into the RMA itself.

To date there have not been any further public announcements in relation to the NES for Wastewater or the NES for Sources of Human Drinking Water.

It is intended that the New NPS-FM 2020 will entirely replace the existing NPS-FM 2014, although it retains and builds on many of the same concepts.

Many of the core features of the draft version released in September will be retained (with refinements), including (as detailed previously): a central focus on Te Mana o te Wai (the mana of the water), an expanded national objectives framework including new attributes to focus on broader components of ecosystem health, new requirements for primary contact sites (swimmability), and a suite of new requirements to protect streams and wetlands, and provide for fish passage.

Key changes announced from the draft version released in September last year include that:

As noted above, the deadline for notifying plan changes to give effect to the New NPS-FM will be shifted to December 2024.

The new NES will directly regulate a number of activities that have the potential to impact on freshwater, by setting out standards to be met and when resource consents will be required under the RMA.

Specifically, the draft released last year included standards for activities in wetlands and streams, requirements to provide for fish passage, restrictions on high risk farming activities (e.g. feedlots, sacrifice paddocks, and intensive winter grazing), restrictions on further intensification of farming and horticulture activities, and requirements to prepare farm plans.

Key changes to these proposals include:

In the exposure draft released in September last year it was proposed that the NES-Freshwater would include a requirement for freshwater modules of Farm Plans (FW-FPs).While the policy intent has not substantially changed, it is now proposed to instead provide for FW-FPs through a legislative change to the RMA itself.

That amendment is being progressed through supplementary order paper (SOP) to the RM Bill, to enable the development of an enforceable FW-FP regime through subsequent regulations under a new Part 6AAA of the RMA. The requirement to have a FW-FP will apply to almost all farms over a minimum size (e.g. 20 ha for pastoral farming and arable farming, 5 ha for horticulture), or otherwise as described in the regulations (yet to be prepared).

Farmers will be required to prepare a FW-FP in accordance with regulations, have it certified as appropriate by an independent certifier, and have their farm audited for compliance.Regional Councils in turn will be responsible for ensuring compliance. It is intended that regulations will initially prioritise the roll-out of FW-FPs in highly nitrogen-impacted catchments, being those within the top 10% of in-stream nitrate levels, once the new regime is in place.

The Stock Exclusion regulations (released in draft last September) will be phased in more or less as proposed, but relaxed in some respects in response to submissions.Key changes will be that:

The restrictions will now apply to grazing dairy cattle and pigs on all terrain, intensive stock activities on all terrain, and beef cattle and deer on low slope land only.

Overall, these announcements largely stay the course in terms of the policy direction signalled last year. While some may have hoped or feared (depending on their perspective) that the Government would delay or significantly water down the proposed changes given the economic situation following COVID-19, that has not really been the case (and Minister Parker was quick to clarify that the decisions to ease limits for DIN and DRP were made in advance of the pandemic).

When pressed on the economic implications of the new requirements on Thursday, Minister Parkers response was to the effect that we cant make things better by letting them get worse, and that delaying action now would only make it more expensive in the long run.Similarly, Minister Shaw acknowledged that there may have been some additional measures that the Green Party might have wanted, but emphasised that the package was nonetheless the strongest protection any government has ever put in place for waterways in New Zealand.

While these sorts of announcements tend to attract equal and opposite criticism from both environmental groups and the primary sector, to date the complaints from the environmental side have been slightly louder, principally in relation to what might be seen as a backdown on the proposed DIN and PRP limits. Of course, in the current economic climate and heading into the national election it can be expected that there will be further debate to come. That said, it is clear that the proposals have been relaxed in response to submissions (or advice) in a few key areas, such as those DIN and PRP limits and the detail of the stock exclusion regulations.Horticulture has also faired relatively well, being taken back out of the new restrictions on intensification (despite being one of the most nitrogen-intensive land uses), and potentially also being exempted from certain NPS-FM requirements in the key vegetable growing areas of Pukekohe and Lake Horowhenua.

At a more technical level, shifting farm plans from an NES requirement to a standalone RMA instrument (perhaps somewhere between a resource consent and a certificate of compliance in nature) is an interesting development.The regulatory (and political) challenge in this space has always been to develop a system that is flexible and responsive to on the ground circumstances, while also enforceable and effective in improving water quality. In this regard the policy explanation (at Appendix 1 to the Cabinet paper) states that, while industry involvement in the setup of the FW-FP regime is desirable, this is not a non-regulatory partnership with industry, and the future FW-FP regime will incorporate strong regulatory oversight.One of the future challenges will now be in resourcing, as it may take some time to get suitably trained and qualified farm plan certifiers and auditors up and running.

The new 190kg nitrogen limit is also notable because it is an input control in relation to water quality, whereas Government has to date preferred an output-based' approach to regulation.However, Minister Parker signalled that further input controls may be necessary in the future, if the present suite of output controls proved ineffective (and nitrogen management settings are to be revised in 2023).Similarly, the Cabinet paper describes the current freshwater package as the last chance saloon for output controls, and signals an openness to other blunter input measures (like stocking rates per hectare or limits on supplementary feed) if we do not see rapid progress on freshwater quality.

Beyond their immediate implications for primary production activities, the reforms will also be of interest to infrastructure providers, particularly in terms of the of the provisions in the NES-Freshwater and New NPS-FM around streams and wetlands, and the extent to which these will allow necessary maintenance and upgrades to significant infrastructure assets.There will also be more direct implications for providers of three waters infrastructure, as the increased focus on urban water quality will raise the bar for stormwater and wastewater operations in particular.

Overall, while there were few big shocks in the announcements on Thursday, the challenge of making meaningful progress on freshwater quality (without drastically reducing production levels) is as big as it ever was.The time frame for notifying new plans (or plan changes) to give effect to it all has only been slightly deferred to 2024, and the technical work, community consultation, and plan drafting remains a mammoth task for regional councils. Last weeks announcements provide useful certainty going forward, but the devil as always will be in the drafting detail, and we will be reviewing this with interest when the final wording of these new instruments is released in July.

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Government confirms Action for Healthy Waterways - with some key changes - JD Supra

A busy Yeovil road will close for five days as resurfacing work is carried out on the route - only two years after it was last resurfaced.

The A30 Sherborne Road will be closed between the Lyde Road junction and the Dorset boundary for the work.

The route will be closed for five days from Monday June 15, Somerset County Council has revealed, and heavy traffic disruption is expected.

The road was initially resurfaced in 2018, but the surface has already begun to deteriorate.

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A spokesman for Somerset County Council said: "Testing has shown the surface to be defective and it will be removed and replaced at no cost to the county council.

"This replacement is also taking place earlier than planned, making use of the quieter network at present.

"Works will take place over five nights, starting on June 15, with a road closure in place to keep the workforce and travelling public safe."

Councillor John Woodman, Somerset County Councils cabinet member for Highways and Transport, added: Our contractors use approximately 23,000 tonnes of road surfacing materials every year and failures like this are very rare.

However, when it does happen, we have the necessary safeguards in place to ensure faulty materials can be replaced at no cost to the taxpayer.

Although the additional works may not be welcome in the short term, the restored road surface will be much improved and provide lasting benefits.

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Busy Yeovil road to close for five days with heavy traffic disruption expected - Somerset Live

The WESTCO Zephyr players were happy to be on the field practicing as a unit for the first time in three months.

While the players were excited to be on the green grass of Cleveland Field in 90-plus temperatures, WESTCO Zephyr head coach Jeremiah Luber was equally excited to be back on the field after an unusual coronavirus-inflicted break.

I am excited. It is 95 degrees out here and it is baseball weather, Luber said. All the guys have an extra pep in their step and excited to be here. It is a little different because normally when we are out here for the first practice, you have a couple layers on and it is chilly, and today we have some good baseball weather.

The make-up of the WESTCO teams are unknown for now, but one thing that Luber is pleased with is the numbers that are trying out for a spot on one of the three teams WESTCO will field this year.

We had a spike in numbers and excited about that, he said. We are planning on 35 to as many as 38 guys trying out. We are planning on having three teams and we are really excited about that. We have a big group of eighth graders coming up that will be able to field their own team.

Last year, WESTCO started a third team of eight graders. The same will hold true this year.

We have five or six guys back from last years team that had unbelievable experience, Luber said. They were the first team in six years to make the state tournament in Kearney and played some high competition. We have a good mix of young guys coming up and I am excited to come out and see these guys that I havent seen in a while. Some of these guys will be juniors and pushing for a spot with the Zephyrs.

WESTCO will have 17 days to practice before their first games. High school teams can have their first games on June 18 and the Zephyrs will open up on that date with a trip to Wheatland, Wyoming. The Zephyrs first home game is slated for June 19 against Torrington followed by a trip to face Cheyenne Post 6 on June 23.

The Zephyrs lose three key players from last years 31-21 team in Harold Baez, Paul Panduro, and Jack Jones.

Key returners include Creighton Dike, Hunter McCollum, Jace Heineman, Porter Robbins, Dario Rodriguez, Tate Carson, Izaiah Torrez, Keegan Nation, and KJ Hartline.

I can tell you just being out here that these guys are just excited to be out here after being quarantined for a little bit, Luber said. We are all just so thankful for the opportunity we get that half the states in the country dont get. We are going to come out and do the best that it works and follow the protocols and just help the guys improve and have fun playing.

Luber said that this season will be challenging with all the rules they have to follow, but the WESTCO organization will be following the new rules to set an example with the possibility of opening up other things.

What will be different for now is only household members can come to the game, he said. I cant look down the road to see if the guidelines might change a little bit on July 1, but where the fan seeding will be, no one will be allowed to be up in the stands so we will have fans down the rightfield line and fans down the leftfield line sectioned off where household members can come and watch. Obviously that that is disappointing, but by the end of the day, going through all these hardships, we are just trying to get out there so the kids can play baseball.

Our parents are really supportive. I was really concerned when I saw the guidelines and how much more it would take on each household to make sure the kids can get to the game. Everyone is supportive in our program.

Luber said the two weeks of practice will be beneficial for this team to get everyone on the right page. Come June 18, there will be a lot of baseball played in the next month and a half.

We will be looking forward to be playing, he said. With us not being able to have contact with the guys [during the pandemic], the guys have been doing workouts at home, but I dont know how much guys have been doing, so we need that practice time to make sure we are ready to go. I was gun-ho to play as soon as possible before the guidelines but then I thought about it that these two weeks will be really good to evaluate, get the guys arms built up, and get guys back in shape.

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WESTCO Zephyrs excited to be back on the diamond - Scottsbluff Star Herald

During the last couple of years, the vending machine market has demonstrated significant growth in general, with increasing market share of intelligent vending machines. According to research firm Technavio, the intelligent vending machine market size has the potential to grow by $11.24 billion during 2020-2024. As the maturity of connected devices and IoT sensors has been established, there is increasing demand both from customers and operators to use more intelligent machines.

In addition, the fast changing lifestyle of the population urbanization, extensive growth of public transportation usage, development of huge office buildings and parks and the consuming habits of the younger generations, millennials and Gen-Z led some research firms to claim an increasing market share of micro markets at the expense of slowing the growth of traditional vending machines.

Micro markets are more robust from a variety of products perspective, allow the selling of fresh foods, salads and sandwiches, and are much more relevant in office buildings' lobbies, workplaces, clubs, gyms, etc. The main challenge of micro markets is still the relatively high level of shrinkage, being open and relying on trust of the customers. That also limits their potential distribution to public areas such as railway stations.

Apparently, vending machines and micro markets leave a space for a solution that has significant potential growth: "a next generation vending machine" or "closed cabinet micro market." This type of machine will include a full micro market with a reasonably large number of SKUs functioning like a vending machine from a resilience and security point of view, while allowing a wider variety of products and price points. Several North American and European operators are offering such solutions, but until recently, it has not gained significant market share.

Micro markets are deploying a large variety of solutions, from single closed coolers or dry cabinets to combined cabinets to fully automated convenient stores equipped with several cabinets and open shelves offering an autonomous, frictionless shopping experience.

One of the main challenges in closed micro markets is the product recognition functionality. While solutions with sensors and telemetry can perform like traditional vending machines using scan-and-go or self-check-out technologies, such solutions actually downgrade the customer experience. That is why technologies such as smart weighing sensors, camera vision and in some cases even RFID will be used in micro markets.

With post COVID-19 market trends emerging, including the desire for more healthy food, sanitary and public safety, we can expect major growth in the demand for intelligent vending machines, equipped with more sensors monitoring the status of the food, and even consumers' temperatures.

The hotter trend appears to be the demand for closed micro markets. Closed cabinets of micro markets, or even autonomous closed micro markets, are expected to grow even faster because of their potential to better meet the customer's desires, including a full replacement for the supermarket.

Autonomous micro markets offer a variety of products, including fresh foods, available 24/7 (either at the office, on the way at the railway station or close to home in neighborhoods), while adhering to sanitary requirements, social distancing and providing a pleasant customer experience.

Micro markets are not only for traditional vending machine operators. By the nature of operations and data management, the micro market can be an ideal solution for retailers (mainly supermarkets and pharmaceuticals) wishing to expand beyond the store and allow customers 24/7 availability of products.

Even consumer product manufacturers, some of which are looking to get direct access to the end customers, are considering their own micro market networks.

And finally, having such digitized systems, equipped with a large number of sensors and available data, will become a rich source of data to be analyzed by the various stakeholders: operators, retailers and consumer product manufacturers, to learn and better understand the needs and habits of their customers. Such technology offers operational excellence, improved sales and many insights to other fields of expertise.

For an update on how the coronavirus is affecting convenience services, click here.

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Why the post COVID-19 era will drive intelligent vending, micro markets and beyond - Vending Times

Even with NCDOTs and other state agencies budgetary woes from the pandemic, Whitehead said that resiliency work will continue.

The thing about climate change in any of this, its not going to go away, she said. Were still going to figure out ways to plan for it.

Transportation projects in North Carolina have already been engineered for environmental changes, said Chris Werner, director of technical services at NCDOT.

Resiliency is a critical part of how we design and build our infrastructure, he said. We work with all our partners across the state.

Werner said that the agency has an inbuilt culture that fosters innovative and proactive approaches to problem solving.

Were always looking for cutting-edge analytics and software, he said. Most of us are engineers. The more data we can get, the more analytics we can perform.

One example is application of the states data-richFlood Inundation Mapping Alert Network, or FIMAN, to not only predict flooding on roads and bridges, but also to design for it by looking at trends in the data.

The agency, he said, is in the process of expanding the FIMAN gauge system from a property-impact focus to provide data specific to transportation infrastructure. For instance, data collection can be tailored so it can be used to prevent future road washouts.

Its not just a matter of fixing a damaged structure, he explained, the goal is to keep it from happening again by building redundancy and resiliency.

When severe flooding on U.S. 421 in Wilmington in 2018 during Hurricane Florence damaged the road and cut off traffic, Werner said, the agency took the opportunity to build better and stronger. After analysis of historic and current data, instead of just replacing ruined culverts, the department replaced them with a new bridge. Another bridge was also built nearby, providing the transportation corridor with both redundancy and resiliency in the event of future flooding.

Our goal is to build infrastructure thats durable and safe and resilient as possible, Werner said. As civil engineers, were constantly improving what weve done in the past. Thats what we do. It all stems from field observation and data.

Other measures NCDOT has put in place, he said, are monitors of water levels at low bridges, and identifying alternative travel routes on itsREADY NC app. The department has partnered with Google Maps and WAZE to feed their traffic data into the app. Also,DRIVENC.govshows up-to-date closures and maintenance work on the states roads.

In reality, the feats of engineering for NCDOT are not so much in dramatic crane work at bridge construction sites or road restorations after storms. Its mostly what goes on behind the scene at research centers and laboratories.

We do a lot of work with our universities, said Neil Mastin, NCDOT Research and Development manager. We work with business units and academics.

In May 2019, the department presented its first Research & Innovation Summit at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to discuss transportation-related innovations and research.

Although it is not often a focus of public discussion, NCDOT has been studying numerous issues that could result in transportation improvements, although its research program for 2021 has been postponed, Mastin said.

Ongoing or planned research projects include the following:

How to reduce environmental impacts of road construction.

Building 2-D scour models to improve understanding of water interaction at bridge pilings.

Monitoring erosion on the Outer Banks going back 20 years, along with an ongoing coastal monitoring program, that gathers data on island width, the size of the dunes and distance of the road to the ocean.

Documenting stormwater impacts from recent storms (on pause) and studying Neuse River watershed flood abatement study (ongoing).

Forensic analysis of sections of girders from the old Bonner Bridge that spanned Oregon Inlet to learn how they withstood the harsh coastal conditions.

Analysis of submerged aquatic vegetation in the Currituck Sound to understand where it is and how to protect it.

Biologic stabilization of soil to potentially increase resistance to erosion.

Using dredged material from the Rodanthe emergency ferry channel potentially to build bird or material disposal islands or to fill eroded areas.

Mastin said that NCDOT is also hyper-aware of the public concern about drainage issues. The state is responsible for the ditches and culverts within road right of ways, as well as the nine ocean outfalls in the state, all of which except one is on the Outer Banks.

Water in general, he said, is the enemy of transportation networks.

In the past, locations of all small and medium drainage pipes around the state were mapped, he added, with the ambitious goal yet mostly unfulfilled of eventually replacing them. But thats just pipes and flooding is getting increasingly worse.

Eastern North Carolina in particular, with land as flat as it is, makes it extremely challenging, Mastin said. We can fix one problem somewhere and it makes it worse somewhere else.

Drones are being used more often by NCDOT to provide footage of flooded areas and to help manage flood gates, he said. Theyre also used to build wetlands, to identify plant types, to measure elevation and to help determine where to send crews after disasters. Researchers are also studying development of drones to inspect bridges.

Improvements of material mostly concrete and asphalt are constantly being studied, Mastin said. One example of research results is the proposed bridge replacement on Harkers Island, which would be the states first fully composite reinforced bridge. Rather than using corrosion-prone steel rebar, he said, the structure will be built with a mixture of carbon fiber prestressed strands and fancy fiberglass.

Well be monitoring this closely, he said. This is really exciting.

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Resilience Bigger Part of Plan to Save N.C. 12 - Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting