Tag: public health measures

Covid Era-Curbs Back In Kerala Amid Nipah Scare: 10 Developments

Like during COVID-19, the containment zone is barred from entry, with all key entry and exit routes to and from these wards being barricaded and police personnel posted . Shops selling essential items and medical shops can operate from 7 am to 5 pm. Those requiring urgent medical care and hospital attention are exempt from the restrictions.

Two people lost their lives and three others have tested positive for Nipah virus in Kerala.
In the wake of a Nipah outbreak in Kerala, due to which two people lost their lives and three others have tested positive for the virus, the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) has delivered the antibody requested by the state to combat the deadly virus. A mobile laboratory was also sent to ground zero to enable the state to test samples. Nine panchayats in Kozhikode district of the state have been turned into containment zones, with hundreds of health workers visiting homes of residents every day, conducting medical check-ups , monitoring people, and collecting data – a scene reminiscent of during the Covid-era. One more case was confirmed today in the state, taking the tally to six. As of now, there are four active cases in Kerala now.
Like during COVID-19, the containment zone is barred from entry, with all key entry and exit routes to and from these wards being barricaded and police personnel posted . Shops selling essential items and medical shops can operate from 7 am to 5 pm. Those requiring urgent medical care and hospital attention are exempt from the restrictions.
Here are top 10 developments on this big story:
  1. Authorities created containment zones after two people died after being infected by the Nipah virus. Five more are undergoing treatment at the hospitals. The samples of another 15 people in the high-risk contact list have also been sent for tests.
  2. In a big relief to the state government, the samples of 11 people sent to Pune’s National Institute of Virology for testing have returned negative.
  3. The ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune has sent its mobile BSL-3 (Biosafety Level-3) laboratory to Kozhikode to test samples for the virus. The decision was taken after five cases, including two deaths, were recorded.
  4. A five-member central team comprising experts from the National Centre for Disease Control, RML Hospital and NIMHANS has been stationed in Kerala to take stock of the situation and assist the state government in the management of the Nipah infection, news agency PTI reported.
  5. Kerala Health Minister Veena George said the stability of the antiviral was discussed with a central expert committee. “Further steps or course of action will be decided by the expert committee,” she said and referred to consultations between the state and the Union Health Ministry.
  6. The epicentres of the outbreak are the Kallad ward in Maruthonkara panchayat and Mangalad ward in Ayancheri panchayat. The 47-year-old man who died on August 30 was a resident of Maruthonkara, the 40-year-old who passed away on September 11 lived in Ayancheri.
  7. Asha workers are collecting detailed information about the health of the residents using a form. “Residents will fill the form based on their current health status. If they are experiencing fever, cough or other symptoms, they have to record it and we will keep a close tab,” Moidu Master Kattil, the panchayat president in Ayancheri said, according to PTI.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/india/covid-era-curbs-back-in-kerala-amid-nipah-scare-10-developments-article-103676531

Schools across America bring back Covid MASKS in classrooms amid rise in infections – in call back to dark days of pandemic

A slew of schools across America are reinstating mask mandates amid a surge in positive Covid tests – despite evidence they harm children’s learning.

Kinterbish Junior High School in Alabama has asked all students, staff and visitors to start wearing face masks in classrooms and hallways ‘due to the slow rise of Covid cases in the area’ since late last month.

Alabama’s Talladega City School district which serves more than 1,700 students has also urged children and staff to wear masks, but stressed they are ‘encouraged but not required.’

Meanwhile, a Maryland elementary school sparked outrage this week after saying students must don tightly-fitted N95 masks for 10 days, despite only a handful of schoolkids testing positive for Covid.

New York health officials are also providing free masks to schools in the state in response to rising Covid rates and absences, while face coverings are being strongly encouraged in some classrooms in Los Angeles.

The new calls for masks are a throwback to the dark days of the pandemic and come despite the growing body of evidence that masks were not only not effective at preventing the spread of the virus, but also hampered children’s learning, social interactions and natural immunity to other infections.

Kinterbish Junior High School in Alabama last month asked all students, staff and visitors to start wearing face masks on its grounds ‘due to the slow raise of Covid cases in the area’
Studies suggest N95 masks may expose people to toxic chemicals. Pictured: California Governor Gavin Newsom joins masked schoolkids in a classroom in August 2021

Kinterbish Junior High School, in Cuba, Alabama, has around 120 students aged between five and 14, while Talladega City Schools district has 1,792 students aged four to 18.

New York State will also send masks and Covid tests to school districts that need them.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday that an outreach survey will be sent to districts in the state asking if they need supplies, which will then be sent out.

Case rates are slowly climbing in the US. The test positivity rate – the share of swabs that come back positive – has soared from 6.7 percent in the week ending July 15 to 13.5 percent by August 19, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

Schools in Los Angeles, which previously had some of the strictest Covid measures in the country, including mask mandates, 10-day illness quarantines and weekly Covid testing, have also opted for an optional masking policy.

But the Los Angeles Unified School District, which has more than 429,000 kindergarteners through 12th grade, has taken an even more relaxed approach to illness.

Los Angeles schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho urged students to come to school even if sick to combat high rates of absence.

He told the LA Times: ‘We’re back at a point — based on high levels of vaccination, therapeutics available and children’s higher resiliency than most — where if a child is mildly sick — no fever, just maybe the sniffles — it is OK for them to go to school.

‘There are ways of mitigating against that: some good meds, a mask and monitoring.’

Last month, a Kentucky school district canceled classes less than two weeks after reopening after swathes of students were hit by a ‘tripledemic’ of flu, Covid and strep throat outbreaks — meaning nearly a fifth signed off sick.

Meanwhile, there are growing concerns that damaging Covid policies could creep back into American life.

There is little evidence that face masks actually reduce infection rates, and mounting research shows the mandates stunted children’s social development and education.

Masks were blamed for the surge in flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and bacterial infection Strep A cases last year in minors because wearing face coverings and avoiding exposure to healthy germs prevented them from developing the natural immunity they would have otherwise gained.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12486965/Reinstate-MASKING-Covid-schools-Alabama-LA.html

Fauci roasted as ‘fraud’ and ‘liar’ after being confronted with damning study on masks

Social media erupted after Dr. Anthony Fauci was confronted by a CNN host with a study showing face masks made little to no difference in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conservative critics pounced on the former White House chief medical adviser after he acknowledged the masking study during the Saturday segment — while continuing to insist that, at an individual level, other research shows face coverings are effective at curtailing the spread of the virus.

“When you’re talking about the effect on the epidemic or the pandemic as a whole, the data are less strong,” Fauci admitted to CNN’s Michael Smerconish.

“But there are other studies, Michael, that show at an individual level, for individuals,” they might be protective, he said.

Fauci also stressed during the interview that at the moment “we’re not talking about forcing anybody to do anything.”

“Fauci admits that masks don’t work for the public at large but still absurdly claims masks work on an individual basis. More subterfuge,” Sen. Ran Paul (R-Ky.), a political nemesis of Fauci, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Dr. Anthony Fauci previously emphasized that he did not impose any mask mandates, but merely made recommendations to the public based on the science.
CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

“This is amazing. According to Fauci, masks work at the individual level but not on the pandemic level. Makes sense,” TRIGGERnometry podcast co-host Konstantin Kisin

“Holy s***t @cnn just directly confronted Dr. Fauci on air with bullet proof scientific evidence that masks don’t work at all. It only took three years, but finally!” Outkick host Clay Travis wrote.

“Fauci confronted with most definitive data analysis possible that masks make ZERO difference against Covid. Not a little, not slight- Zero. And he just mutters some numerical illiteracy bulls–t about ‘individual protection.’ He’s a fraud and a liar,” conservative commentator Buck Sexton said.

“It’s really hard to assume Fauci’s disastrous ‘mistakes’ were in good faith when he refuses to acknowledge obvious facts that don’t require a PhD to decipher. It looks a lot more like ‘TRUST THE SCIENCE!’ only applies when it suits Fauci’s personal or political narrative,” former senior White House and US Intelligence Community official Cliff Sims said.

Source: https://nypost.com/2023/09/03/dr-fauci-gets-roasted-after-being-confronted-with-damning-study-on-masks/

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