Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari: Ongoing Shutdowns Are Likely for 18 Months
Neel Kashkari, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, told CBS the country is looking at an 18-month strategy of rolling shutdowns to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
“We could have these waves of flare-ups, controls, flare-ups and controls, until we actually get a therapy or a vaccine,” Kashkari said on Face the Nation Sunday. “We need to find ways of getting the people who are healthy, who are at lower risk, back to work and then providing the assistance to those who are most at risk, who are going to need to be quarantined or isolated for the foreseeable future.
“We’re looking around the world. As they relax the economic controls, the virus flares back up again,” Kashkari added.
Additionally, the Federal Reserve’s St. Louis district estimated 47 million, or more than 30% of citizens in the U.S., could end up unemployed by the time the outbreak ends. Kashkari also warned that unless a vaccine or effective therapy is developed in the near future, a fast reopening of the government is impossible.
“It’s hard for me to see a V-shaped recovery under that scenario,” Kashkari said.
The federal government has stepped in, passing a $2 trillion response bill, but funds are running dry and another response is currently in the works.
Cleveland Fed Chief Loretta Mester said Friday that the central bank was “likely not done” in seeking ways to keep credit flowing in the economy.
“We’re always looking for things where if we have a tool to be able to do it, and if we think it’s needed, we’re going to do it,” she told an online forum hosted by the City Club of Cleveland.
Fox News Sued For Claiming COVID-19 Pandemic is a ‘Hoax’
The network that claims other networks report fake news is being sued for the exact same thing, according to Mic.
Fox News has been slapped with a lawsuit on its coverage of what they once termed a “hoax” regarding the coronavirus. Based on early coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fox News had initially covered the news as a hoax by the Democratic Party to use it as a tool to attack President Donald Trump. As the virus started to spread, the network shifted its focus and started to praise the president’s response to the pandemic. To add insult to injury, Fox News claimed that it was the Democrats who were slow to act.
Last week, the Washington League for Transparency and Ethics (WASHLITE) sued the network, claiming that it had intentionally misled people and in doing so, it allowed the coronavirus to spread.
“Defendants knowingly disseminated false, erroneous, and incomplete information, which was reasonably relied upon by the public and which had the effect of delaying and interfering with the implementation of effective mitigation and countermeasures against the virus,” the League said in the complaint. “Defendants’ actions created an ongoing uncertainty amongst some members of the public as to the dangers of the virus and the rapidity with which the virus spreads.”
WASHLITE also is alleging that one of its members contracted the virus; due, in part, because Fox minimized the COVID threat by the malfeasance of the network. “The defendants have created an epidemiological hazard,” WASHLITE said in the lawsuit. “A subset of the population has and will continue to ignore or resist reasonable and necessary efforts to control and mitigate the virus and prevent mass death.”
The Fox News network has dismissed the lawsuit as a frivolous one. “Wrong on the facts, frivolous on the law,” said Lily Fu Claffee, general counsel for Fox News Media. “We will defend vigorously and seek sanctions as appropriate.”
Amanda Martin, a media lawyer at the firm Stevens Martin Vaughn & Tadych, tells Mic: “Generally speaking, the First Amendment protects speech, even some false speech,” explaining that “protections are even stronger for statements of opinion, such as saying that the ‘liberal media were motivated by desires to harm President Trump.'”
Martin also stated that false claims in advertising can “give rise to liability,” but media organizations have stronger First Amendment protections than does commercial speech.
“Over the years there have been a few cases against media, claiming that a broadcast or publication led to someone’s death,” she says. “Those claims usually come in the form of a negligence claim, and they almost always fail. It is very difficult for a plaintiff to establish that the media have a generalized ‘duty of care’ to an audience and that they failed to meet that duty.”
The SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program May Be Harming Black Business Owners
Small business owners have been one of the groups hit hardest by the COVID-19, or novel coronavirus pandemic. Reports have shown that 1 in 4 small businesses will be permanently closed due to the viral outbreak. To save American business owners, the government created the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help small businesses maintain their workforce amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Some black business owners, however, argue that the program is doing more harm than good.
Vania Bredy is the owner of Bredy Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation in South Florida with her husband, Yonel Bredy. They are one of the many small business owners across the country in need of the program to keep their business afloat. Bredy says they have been trying to apply for a PPP grant since the program opened. She also says she contacted her bank multiple times but has gotten no response. Wells Fargo sent an automated message stating she’s in the queue of applicants but has provided no further update. As a result of the pandemic, Bredy and her husband were forced to lay off one of their employees.
“I feel like the application is a black hole and they’re going to apply all these criteria that we can’t meet as black business owners,” Bredy said in an interview with Moguldom. “I was excited about it at first, but as time went on, I just feel like it’s just a hoax and it’s going to be difficult for us. I don’t know anyone who’s gotten any funds in their account and I know at least 10 different healthcare providers that tried to apply.”
Dominique Jones, who owns Jam Box Fitness in Dallas, says she also has applied for PPP with two different banks where she has business accounts—Regions Bank and Wood Forest National Bank— and hasn’t heard any response back.
“I have applied through both and I have not heard anything from either and also no one at the bank really knows anything. They just know the top 10 high points and everything else is ‘call SBA, call SBA, call SBA,’” explained Jones. With three locations each with a full staff, Jones has been struggling to keep the doors open. “I definitely have fears that I’ll never see the money. I don’t have a lot of stock in getting funding to be honest, just because the numbers are so staggering and nobody knows anything.”
Dawn Dickson Raises Capital to Solve Retail Hardships Amid COVID-19
Dawn Dickson is always finding a way to make life easier for others through technology. As retail stores have closed their doors, Dickson is leading PopCom, an automated retail company that leverages facial detection, machine learning, and blockchain technology to help retailers collect valuable customer insights. Dickson leads its second equity crowdfunding campaign to respond to and meet the need for more automated retail machines in the wake of COVID-19.
Dickson is known for driving innovation within retail and technology. She’s also known for raising capital to take her business to the next level. PopCom recently announced the campaign on Start Engine, an equity crowdfunding platform for underrepresented startups and micro angel investors to invest alongside venture capitalists. To date, PopCom has raised over $239,000.
With the funding, the company aims to grow its operations, build its sales team, reach more customers, and meet the demand for more automated retail machines in the wake of COVID-19, with its proprietary vending machine, the PopShop Kiosk.
In a statement released by PopCom, Dickson said “Although the timing is sensitive due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we must continue to look towards the future and build products for our customers. While some industries are hurting, the requirement for social distancing validates the need for vending and retail automation. We believe that the market will continue to move towards self-service and contactless retail. Vending machines and convenience services are becoming more essential, and retailers are looking for more ways to deliver their products direct to customer with less human friction. We are excited about what is to come.”
With social distancing and the shift in the economy, PopShop Kiosks can serve as a solution for retailers whose businesses have been and could be impacted by COVID-19 and other crises in the future.
“The global community is calling for self-service retail to become more easily accessible, considering the shifts in our climate and technological advancements,” said Dickson.
For those reasons, Dickson’s goal is to have PopCom service the entire regulated retail market and power all machine-driven transactions in the retail space with their operating system that integrates facial detection to understand the customer demographic profile including age, gender, and emotion. And she is diligently working towards that goal. In fact, the company has secured technology pilots and rollouts starting with cannabis and alcohol in 2020.
With over 2,000 investors in PopCom, Dickson is among the few black women entrepreneurs to secure $1 million or more in funding. And she is adamant about making sure that others are able to successfully raise capital as well. “I aim to bridge the gap between venture capital and everyday people.”
As an entrepreneur who is dedicated to the advancement of black business owners, Dickson is confident that PopShop Kiosks will revolutionize the retail industry and create opportunities for others as investors in the company. “With investment becoming more inclusive and open to forward-thinkers, my family, friends, community, and supporters, I believe we will reach the next milestones to success.”
To learn more about PopCom’s equity crowdfunding campaign, click here.
Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban Optimistic That the NBA Could Be Back In Early June
Sports enthusiasts are clamoring for some sort of return of sports—in any form. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban feels the same and is almost certain that the National Basketball Association (NBA) can make a return by early June, according to Yahoo Sports.
The Shark Tank investor and outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner expressed his optimism in an interview with Pittsburgh radio station, 93.7 The Fan. “If things really go our way, it’s not inconceivable to me, and this is me being hopeful and not being scientific, that we could potentially play games in early June.
“I think we’re coming back. I can’t tell you exactly when, but this is purely a science and doctor’s thing. My attitude always is it’s not about if the glass is half empty or half full, it’s who’s pouring the water. In this particular case, it’s the scientists pouring the water. All I know from all the science and everything that I’m reading, I think we’re making enough advances that several of them will come through so we can start planning what a comeback would look like.
“I’m a big believer in American exceptionalism, and everything I’m starting to hear in terms of the science is coming along and the medical advances that we’re making to fight this thing makes me very positive. If I had to bet, and this is more a guess than a bet, I’d say early June is when you see teams start to take the field and maybe play games just for television.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has stated on many occasions that the league will not make a return until national health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) give a full clearance to resume activities. In the meantime, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association just recently agreed to extend the moratorium on transactions indefinitely.
The league has also been discussing the possibility of playing games in a “bubble” city like Las Vegas, potentially setting a two-week quarantine where teams can work out in solitary settings, then go through a two-week training camp followed by an abbreviated regular season and postseason.
Caribbean Nations Can’t Get U.S. Medical Supplies Under Trump Policy
The spread of COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus, has put a strain on many countries around the world as they struggle to contain the outbreak and provide resources for their citizens. Smaller Caribbean nations are struggling to protect the lives of their citizens against the coronavirus with limited resources and their allies in the West aren’t looking to help them.
A spokesperson from U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed to the Miami Herald last week that the agency is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to prevent distributors from sending needed personal protective equipment, or PPE, such as face masks, ventilators, and gloves, to overseas territories.
“To accomplish this, CBP will detain shipments of the PPE specified in the President’s Memorandum while FEMA determines whether to return the PPE for use within the United States; to purchase the PPE on behalf of the United States; or, allow it to be exported,” the statement read.
Three Caribbean nations —the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, and Barbados —have all reportedly had container loads of personal protective equipment purchased from U.S. vendors blocked from entering their countries by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The blockade was linked to President Donald Trump’s April 3 signing of the Defense Production Act. The order gives the federal government more control over the procurement of coronavirus-related supplies and it also allowed the administration to ban certain exports.
“We are talking about personal protective equipment; we’re talking about durable medical devices and gloves, gowns, ventilators as well,” Bahamas Health Minister Dr. Duane Sands told the Miami Herald. Sands continued to explain how the Bahamian government had already been fielding multiple “complaints from freight forwarders and shipping companies that they were having challenges clearing certain items.”
Barbados has a similar incident with a shipment of 20 ventilators being blocked by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In the Cayman Islands, eight ventilators and 50,000 masks that were produced and purchasedin the U.S. were removed from a Grand Cayman-bound ship in Miami.
After the ministers of nations went public, the White House issued a statement to address the accusations.
“The United States, like many other nations, is currently experiencing a high demand for ventilators, masks, gloves, and respirators that is straining available supplies and production capacity,” a senior administration official told the Herald. “President Trump has made clear that this Administration will prioritize the well-being of American citizens as we continue to take bold, decisive action to help slow the spread of the virus and save lives.”
The official also said that the administration “is working to limit the impacts of PPE domestic allocation on other nations. The United States will continue to send equipment and supplies not needed domestically to other countries, and we will do more as we are able.”
Airlines Will Offer Fewer Choices and Charge More After Coronavirus Crisis
Airline executives believe when the country reopens, a drop in demand will lead to fewer flights and airlines charging more per flight.
The travel industry has been turned upside down by the coronavirus outbreak. According to CNN, Nationwide quarantine orders have all but shut down travel and domestic carriers have cut their flights by 70% to 90%.
“If the recovery is as slow as we fear, it means our airline and our workforce will have to be smaller than it is today,” said United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz and President Scott Kirby in a message to employees last Friday.
Lawmakers passed a $50 billion aviation bailout last week that will keep airlines in business for the next six months. However, airline executives are expecting fewer flights and slumping demand, which, of course, means job cuts.
At the beginning of 2020, there were more than 750,000 jobs in the industry, but that will certainly change. Additionally, fliers will come back to a significantly different industry. One with fewer choices in airlines, flight times, and available routes and markets.
“Fewer seats flying means fewer cheap seats at the margin,” Philip Baggaley, chief credit analyst for airlines for S&P Global told CNN.
The last time the airline industry saw such a dramatic change was after the 9/11 attacks. Before that attack, there were nine major US airlines but Continental, Northwest, and US Airways all merged into the four remaining carriers, American, United, Delta, and Southwest. Those four now make up 80% of the US airline market.
Smaller companies that offer cheap fares such as Jet Blue and Spirit, will help to keep prices lower but those companies will also have significant financial setbacks due to the coronavirus outbreak.
It took the airline industry three years to bounce back after the 9/11 attacks. After the Great Recession of 2008, it took even longer. 2013 was the first year that passenger traffic reached what it was before the recession.
Even in those situations, however, people were still flying. Today, the number of passengers entering TSA screening points fell 93% between Tuesday and the last Tuesday of March in 2019.
The airline industry has taken some big blows during the outbreak. Earlier this month, the US government ordered all US airlines to pay refunds to customers whose flights were canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. In late March, Airlines for America, the trade group representing US air companies, told the government it would need $50 billion to stay in business.
Hydration Awareness: 10 Ways to Be ‘Water Wise’ (Even in the Workplace)
Water.
We all need it—and know we need it—for optimum health and wellness, but a shocking few live daily life (and those work hours) in a properly hydrated state and certainly not with appropriate consistency. One doctor-driven report revealed that fully 75%, a staggering three-fourths majority, of Americans may suffer from chronic dehydration. It went on to underscore that, “Over time, failure to drink enough water can contribute to a wide array of medical complications, from fatigue, joint pain and weight gain to headaches, ulcers, high blood pressure and kidney disease.” Apparently, this is the tip of the proverbial dehydration-induced illness iceberg.
“During a normal day, we lose about two liters of water just through breathing, sweat and other bodily functions,” notes board-certified internist Dr. Blanca Lizaola-Mayo. “Even while asleep, we can lose over one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of water-weight not just through sweating, but respiration as well. Even air conditioning has drying effects on our body. The health implications of dehydration are vast and can range from mild to severe, including problems with the heart, blood pressure and breathing, headaches and cognitive issues like concentration … just to name a few. Those who’ve felt that ‘afternoon slump’ should know that dehydration is the No. 1 cause of daytime fatigue. And, it’s important to understand that when we first start to sense thirst, we are already close to 2% dehydrated.”
For all of its importance, proper hydration is a delicate balance to uphold. An Institute of Medicine report cited the fragility of keeping the body duly hydrated, noting, “Over the course of a few hours, body water deficits can occur due to reduced intake or increased water losses from physical activity and environmental (e.g., heat) exposure.” So, a perfectly hydrated body can tip the scales into a dehydrated state in a fairly short amount of time, whether actively (as with exercising), or passively (as with breathing).
Understanding there are commonplace facets of our collective lifestyles, both at work and at home, that put us at a higher risk of developing mild to severe dehydration, here are some insights and tips from preeminent health experts to help you stay happily hydrated:
How Much Water Do You Need?
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “Many factors impact how much water you need, including your age, gender, activity level, and overall health. For women, the amount of total water is about 11.5 cups per day and for men about 15.5 cups. These estimates, however, include fluids consumed from both foods and beverages, including water. You typically get about 20% of the water you need from the food you eat. Taking that into account, women need about nine cups of fluid per day and men about 12.5 cups in order to help replenish the amount of water that is lost.”
What Are Common Causes of Dehydration?
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Sometimes dehydration occurs for simple reasons: You don’t drink enough because you’re sick or busy, or because you lack access to safe drinking water when you’re traveling, hiking or camping.” While certainly not all-inclusive, known causes for dehydration can encompass sweating from exercise and playing a sport; air travel; traversing in overly hot, humid, cold or windy weather conditions; drinking too much coffee and other diuretic beverages; recovering from a hangover; and a litany of other relatively commonplace daily activities.
Do All Fluids Hydrate the Body?
No. The Cleveland Clinic is very clear with its advisory that “Some beverages are better than others at preventing dehydration,” and that “alcoholic and caffeinated beverages, such as coffee, teas, and colas, are not recommended for optimal hydration. These fluids tend to pull water from the body and promote dehydration. Fruit juice and fruit drinks may have too many carbohydrates, too little sodium, and may upset the stomach. Adequate hydration will keep your summer activities safer and much more enjoyable.”
What Are Some Benefits of Proper Hydration?
While the benefits of a properly hydrated body are copious, the CDC points to a few top-line health advantages, including keeping your temperature normal; lubricating and cushioning joints, protecting your spinal cord and other sensitive tissues; and getting rid of wastes through urination, perspiration and bowel movements. Healthline also offers a number of evidence-based health benefits of drinking plenty of water, which include maximizing physical performance; optimized energy levels and mood; and aiding digestion and elimination. Be mindful of water intake, however, as Dr. Lizaola-Mayo warns, “Drinking too much water or fluid can lead to hyponatremia, which causes sodium in the cells to become diluted and too low and can be dangerous—and even life-threatening—if untreated.”
What Are Signs of Early or Mild Dehydration?
The Rehydration Project, a nonprofit organization, says that “the degree of dehydration is graded according to signs and symptoms that reflect the amount of fluid lost. In the early stages of dehydration, there are no signs or symptoms. Early features are difficult to detect but include dryness of mouth and thirst. As dehydration increases, signs and symptoms develop.”
According to the organization, symptoms of early or mild dehydration include the following: flushed face; extreme thirst; consuming more than normal or the inability to drink; dry, warm skin; the inability to pass urine or reduced amounts (dark, yellow); dizziness made worse when standing; weakness; cramping in the arms and legs; crying with few or no tears; sleepiness or irritableness; sickness; headaches; dry mouth or dry tongue with thick saliva.
What Are Signs of Moderate to Severe Dehydration?
The Rehydration Project also denotes that symptoms of moderate to severe dehydration include low blood pressure; fainting; severe muscle contractions in the arms, legs, stomach, and back; convulsions; a bloated stomach; heart failure; sunken fontanelle—soft spot on an infant’s head; sunken dry eyes with few or no tears; skin loses its firmness and looks wrinkled; lack of elasticity of the skin (when a bit of skin lifted up stays folded and takes a long time to go back to its normal position); rapid and deep breathing (faster than normal); and a fast, weak pulse. They say that “In severe dehydration, these effects become more pronounced and the patient may develop evidence of hypovolemic shock, including diminished consciousness; lack of urine output; cool moist extremities; a rapid and feeble pulse (the radial pulse may be undetectable); low or undetectable blood pressure; and peripheral cyanosis. Death follows soon if rehydration is not started quickly.”
Who is at Greatest Risk of Dehydration?
No one is immune to a dehydrated condition, but certain populations are at greater risk. The Mayo Clinic indicates that these vulnerable groups include infants and children, older adults, those with chronic illnesses and people who work or exercise outside. Serious complications can ensue, which they point out can include heat injury (ranging in severity from mild cramps to heat exhaustion or potentially life-threatening heatstroke); urinary tract infections, kidney stones and even kidney failure; seizures due to electrolyte imbalance, sometimes with a loss of consciousness; and low blood volume (hypovolemic) shock. They say it’s time to call your doctor if you or a loved one “has had diarrhea for 24 hours or more; is irritable or disoriented and much sleepier or less active than usual; can’t keep down fluids; and/or has bloody or black stool.”
How Can You Be a Water-Wise Shopper?
The USDA recommends consumers shop smartly, advising us to “Use the Nutrition Facts label to choose beverages at the grocery store. The food label and ingredients list contain information about added sugars, saturated fat, sodium and calories to help you make better choices.”
There are also highly efficacious and economical dehydration avoidance and treatment innovations that can be integrated into one’s lifestyle and used on a daily basis. The experts at SOS Hydration explain that their medically-formulated drink-mix powder accelerates hydration equivalent to an I.V. drip, rehydrating the body fully three-times faster than by drinking water alone. This unique product’s heightened hydration process leverages the body’s digestive “sodium/glucose co-transport system”—an Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.
Can Foods Help You Stay Hydrated?
Yes, the body intakes hydration not only from water and other liquids but foodstuffs as well—some boasting as much 90% water content. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, those in the 90-100% water content range include fruits like cantaloupe, strawberries and watermelon; as well as vegetables like lettuce, cabbage, celery, spinach, and cooked squash. The organization further states that options with a 70% to 89% water content include fruits like bananas, grapes, oranges, pears and pineapples; vegetables such as carrots, cooked broccoli and avocados; and dairy products like yogurt, cottage cheese and ricotta cheese. For drinks, the good folks at EatRight.org advise we focus on unsweetened beverages, like water, in order to limit calories from added sugars, and to use strategies to increase water intake—like adding a flavor enhancer. For this, a fruit-flavored rehydration accelerant like the SOS Hydration drink mix can do tasty double duty.
Can Sports Drinks Actually Undermine Hydration?
Yes. Why pay extra money for excess sugar when what you really need are electrolytes? Dr. Lizaola-Mayo says that “in truth, only a very small amount of sugar is required to help transport electrolytes and water into the cells as part of the sodium-glucose co-transport system. In fact, this system is most effective when it utilizes one molecule of sugar and one molecule of sodium in combination, which helps create the fastest and most effective way to transport water into the cells for hydration. Even water rehydration and other drinks that do actually claim to utilize the sodium-glucose co-transport system have been shown to contain excess sugar to enhance taste, apparently discounting the fact that that this added sugar commensurately increases calorie count and actually undermines cellular H2O absorption. If there is excess sugar in a drink, even one engineered as a rehydration solution, then you can trigger reverse osmosis. This process occurs when there is an incorrect balance of sugar to sodium. Sodium always follows sugar and water always follows sodium. In a drink that is correctly balanced (utilizing the sodium-glucose co-transport system) then the water and electrolytes optimally flow into the cells. In high sugar “rehydration” drinks there is too much sugar for the quantity of sodium and, as such, sodium and then water is actually leeched from the cells and passed out of the body as urine. This can actually cause dehydration—the opposite effect for a rehydration or sports beverage one has spent their hard-earned dollars to purchase.”
So whether indoors or out, active or at rest, suffering illness or perfectly healthy, one thing is clear: Keeping your water sources well at hand and ingesting with regularity (and consistency) can have a profoundly beneficial effect on your health and well-being. It’s one easy and highly accessible assist for a multitude of maladies.
As the Executive Editor and Producer of “The Luxe List,” Merilee Kern is an internationally-regarded brand analyst, strategist and futurist. As a wellness industry veteran and health advocate, she’s also author of the award-winning, illustrated fictional children’s book, “Making Healthy Choices – A Story to Inspire Fit, Weight-Wise Kids” (Amazon). Merilee spotlights noteworthy industry innovators, change-makers, movers and shakers: experts, brands, products, services, destinations and events.
***Some or all of the accommodations(s), experience(s), item(s) and/or service(s) detailed above may have been provided or arranged at no cost to accommodate this review, but all opinions expressed are entirely those of Merilee Kern and have not been influenced in any way.***
Texas Nursing Home Patients with COVID-19 Given Unproven Drug
A nursing home in Texas has been using an unproven drug to treat people who have tested positive for COVID-19, according to NPR.
A doctor at The Resort at Texas City, a nursing home in Texas City, reportedly distributed the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to many of the elderly patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The drug, which has not been officially approved for the treatment of the coronavirus, is being used by the physician and he is tracking the outcomes in what he’s calling an “observational study.”
The drug has been mentioned several times by President Donald Trump as a game-changer, yet, the nation’s leading health experts don’t yet agree with the assessment Trump has levied about the drug in its fight against COVID-19. As reported by NPR, “Some of the nation’s most respected health officials have said there is insufficient evidence showing that the 80-year-old drug, which is typically used to stave off malaria or treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, is a viable treatment in battling the new virus.” In addition, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19.
Robin Armstrong, a physician and the medical director of the nursing home, has made the controversial decision to administer hydroxychloroquine last week. “It’s actually going well. People are getting better,” Armstrong told NPR, stating that after just a couple of days, some of the 39 patients on the medication are showing signs of improvement.
Scientists and health officials are concerned about the drug as it is known to have serious negative health impacts. “To be clear, no one is worse than when they started,” Armstrong said emphatically. “From my perspective, it’s irresponsible to sit back and do nothing. The alternative would have been much much worse.”
People are also concerned about the political connections Armstrong had in getting the drugs. Armstrong called Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and he reached out to Texas state Sen. Bryan Hughes, also a Republican, who knew someone on the board of the New Jersey-based company Amneal Pharmaceuticals. The company, which makes and distributes the drug, has donated more than a million tablets nationwide, including to the states of Texas and Louisiana.
Armstrong has also acknowledged that some of the families were not aware their relatives were being given the drug, saying that “for the most part,” he consulted with each nursing home resident prior to giving them the tablets.
French Doctors Say COVID-19 Vaccines Should Be Tested On Poor Africans
There outrage all across Africa after two well-respected French doctors went on a live TV show and suggested that coronavirus vaccines be tested on poor Africans.
The two doctors said during a segment broadcast on the French TV channel LCI that the testing should be done in Africa, “where there are no masks, no treatment, nor intensive care,” reported Business Insider.
One of the doctors, Jean-Paul Mira, went further and compared Africans to prostitutes who were the focus of past AIDS testing. “We tried things on prostitutes because they are highly exposed and do not protect themselves,” he said.
Of course, these suggestions were immediately called out as racist, especially by several African notables such as former Chelsea Football Club star Didier Drogba and former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o who tweeted their outrage at the two medics’ remarks.
Drogba, who is from Ivory Coast, tweeted: “It is totally inconceivable we keep on cautioning this. Africa isn’t a testing lab. I would like to vividly denounce those demeaning, false and most of all deeply racists words.”
Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba, who is from Senegal, tweeted, “Welcome to the West, where white people believe themselves to be so superior that racism and debility become commonplace Time to rise.”
Mira is head of the intensive-care department at the Cochin Hospital in Paris. The other doctor, Camille Locht, is the research director at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, known as Inserm.
“If I can be provocative,” Mira said on the TV show, “shouldn’t we do this study in Africa where there are no masks, no treatment, no intensive care? A bit like we did in some studies on AIDS. We tried things on prostitutes because they are highly exposed and do not protect themselves.”
Locht agreed. “You are right. We are actually thinking of a parallel study in Africa to use with the same kind of approach with BCG placebos,” he said, referring to vaccination against tuberculosis that Inserm says has appeared to protect children against infections, particularly respiratory ones.
“We will, in fact, think seriously about it,” he said.
Africa is the continent with the lowest number of reported COVID-19 cases, with nearly 7,500 cases and more than 320 deaths, Al Jazeera reported.
Bienvenue en occident , la où le blanc se croit tellement supérieur que racisme et débilité deviennent banalité. TIME TO RISE ✊🏿 pic.twitter.com/R08R7K9QAw
It is totally inconceivable we keep on cautioning this.
Africa isn’t a testing lab.
I would like to vividly denounce those demeaning, false and most of all deeply racists words.
Helps us save Africa with the current ongoing Covid 19 and flatten the curve. pic.twitter.com/41GIpXaIYv
