Snap-in aluminum capacitors save space

Vishay’s snap-in aluminum capacitors deliver 20% higher ripple current in a 20% smaller case size.

source http://www.electronicproducts.com/Passive_Components/Capacitors/Snap_in_aluminum_capacitors_save_space.aspx

Tuesday CoronaBuzz, April 21, 2020: 35 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.

Tuesday CoronaBuzz, April 21, 2020: 35 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

Added a new section: INSTITUTION / CORPORATE / GOVERNMENT RESPONSE. Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. Please be careful. I love you.

NEW RESOURCES – MEDICAL/HEALTH

BetaNews: Facebook and Carnegie Mellon University launch COVID-19 symptom map. “Facebook, in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, has launched a new interactive map to help people keep up to date with the spread of coronavirus across the US. For now, the map is based on surveys carried out around the country and it enables you to see how many people are experiencing symptoms associated with the disease. The map only covers the US at the moment, but there are plans to expand it to cover other countries soon.”

Bing Blogs: Bing delivers new COVID-19 experiences including partnership with GoFundMe to help affected businesses. “Bing has already released a full-page map tracker of case details by geographic area. Now, those working in academia and research can access our data on cases by geographic area at bing.com/covid/dev or on GitHub. This dataset is pulled from publicly-available sources like the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, and more. We then aggregate the data and add latitude and longitude information to it, to make it easier for you to use. Since COVID-19 data is constantly evolving, we have a 24 hour delay so we can ensure the stability of the data that we include. This data is available for non-commercial, public use geared towards medical researchers, government agencies, and academic institutions.”

The Straits Times: Volunteers build crowdsourced databases to capture scale of virus outbreak in Indonesia. “The Covid-19 outbreak has prompted members of the public to launch their own crowdsourced databases on the spread of the virus in their respective communities in a bid to shed some light on cases that have otherwise slipped under the government’s radar.”

BGR: New website visualizes how fast the coronavirus is spreading across each U.S. state. “The site is called RT.live and uses data from the Covid Tracking Project which boasts that it houses the most complete and up-to-date data regarding coronavirus cases in the country. What makes the website unique is that it doesn’t just provide users with raw Covid-19 data — which can be found anywhere — but rather uses a statistical method to gauge the rate at which the virus is spreading.”

NEW RESOURCES – EDUCATION/ENTERTAINMENT

Troy Today: College of Education provides database of online resources to assist teachers, parents. “Founded in 1887 as a teacher’s college, Troy University has a long history of preparing teachers and equipping them with resources to help them to be successful in the classroom. Now, as the COVID-19 coronavirus has forced the closure of schools, the University’s College of Education is helping teachers adjust to teaching from a distance, while also assisting parents who have now found themselves playing an increased role in their children’s education. The College of Education, and, in particular, the Department of Teacher Education, has developed a website that offers tips for parents and teachers, while also providing a vast database of online resources that can prove helpful as students adjust to learning at home.” Occasionally the annotation is not great, but it’s a huge list of resources.

3 News Las Vegas: UNLV creates ‘story time’ resource for children & families. “UNLV has created a ‘story time’ resource for children and families amid the coronavirus outbreak. The university’s College of Education is creating read-aloud videos to recreate storytime for kids virtually while libraries and schools stay closed. An online library of nearly 50 stories is available, along with other videos and resources for parents and teachers, with new videos uploaded daily.”

ArtsHub: Digital art guide to beat coronavirus closures. “The world may be in lockdown, but self-isolation doesn’t mean we have to stop experiencing art. Despite COVID-19 closures, Australian art is finding new ways to go viral. Artists, museums, galleries, institutions, and more are exploring innovative ways to reach audiences, spreading some timely comfort and unity. Below is our ever-growing list of Australian art ready for you to discover.” Not all events are free, but it’s a huge list and the annotation is excellent.

NEW RESOURCES – OTHER

ABC 7 Denver: New website aims to be a one-stop shop for Coloradans to find jobs and services. “On Monday, technology company Bitwise Industries and the Kapor Center launched a new website for Coloradans to find jobs and connect to other vital services. Onward Colorado is described as a one-stop shop for those who have lost their jobs due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The site provides information and links to resources including job postings, food assistance, childcare, and housing.”

USEFUL STUFF

CNET: Coronavirus chronicles: Here’s some good news amid the dire reports. “Right now the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 are all anyone can talk about. You’re not alone if you feel overwhelmed or find yourself focusing on worst-case scenarios. So let’s take a second, breathe deep and look at some of the positive things going on in these strange times.” A nice read if you need something hopeful.

Popular Science: How to read the news without doom scrolling through social media. “Social media has plenty of uses—it allows us to stay in touch with our loved ones in spite of social distancing and keeps us informed of what’s going on out there in the world. But even in the best of times, these platforms can be a hell-pit, where relatives rant about the latest political activity and anonymous trolls and bots turn every headline into a hill to die on. It can seem hard to take time away from Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit if you want to stay on top of the latest news, but it doesn’t have to be. There are other ways to stay up to date on current events without relying on the hive mind. And you won’t be less-informed by using them.”

UPDATES

BBC: Facebook bans events that violate social distancing orders. “Facebook has banned event listings that violate government social distancing policies. On Monday, the social media giant removed the listing for anti-quarantine protests in California, New Jersey, and Nebraska.”

CNET: Coronavirus movie delays: New release dates for 2020 and 2021 blockbusters. “For many, it came as a shock to hear that the latest James Bond premiere was being called off because of the coronavirus outbreak. But the Bond announcement was just the first in a cascade of movie blockbusters being canceled or postponed, causing a huge reshuffle of the release schedule throughout 2020 and into 2021.”

Associated Press: AP: Publicly traded firms get $300M in small-business loans. “The Paycheck Protection Program was supposed to infuse small businesses, which typically have less access to quick cash and credit, with $349 billion in emergency loans that could help keep workers on the job and bills paid on time. But at least 75 companies that received the aid were publicly traded, the AP found, and some had market values well over $100 million. And 25% of the companies had warned investors months ago — while the economy was humming along — that their ability to remain viable was in question.”

NBC News: 7 Wisconsin virus cases linked to in-person voting, health official says. “Officials have identified seven people who appear to have contracted the coronavirus through activities related to the April 7 election in Wisconsin, Milwaukee’s health commissioner said. Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said six of the cases involve Milwaukee voters and one is a Milwaukee poll worker, the Journal Sentinel reported.”

NPR: Nursing Home COVID-19 Reporting Rules To Be Strengthened. “After shocking instances of nursing homes failing to disclose the existence and extent of COVID-19 cases within their facilities, the federal government will require nursing homes to inform residents, their families and representatives when residents or staff contract the illness. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Sunday night that notification must come within 12 hours of a confirmed single case of COVID-19. Residents, families and representatives must also be told when three or more individuals develop respiratory symptoms within a 72-hour period.”

Internet Archive: The National Emergency Library – Who Needs It? Who Reads It? Lessons from the First Two Weeks. “At a time when every day can feel like a month, it’s hard to believe that the National Emergency Library has only existed for two weeks. Recognizing the unique challenges of connecting students and readers with books now on shelves they cannot reach, the Internet Archive loosened the restrictions on our controlled digital lending library to allow increased lending of materials. Reactions have been passionate, to say the least—elation by teachers able to access our virtual stacks, concern by authors about the program’s impact, and fundamental questions about our role as a library in these dire times when one billion students worldwide are cut off from their classrooms and libraries.”

SOCIETAL IMPACT

Gulf News: COVID-19: A 19th century Japanese ‘spirit’, Amabie, is going viral on Twitter in hopes for end to coronavirus pandemic. “As many countries extend their coronavirus lockdown, a Japanese monster is going viral on Twitter, in hopes for an end to the pandemic. Recently, tweeps have been getting creative with images of a legendary 19th century Japanese yōkai or spirit that was said to have emerged from the sea and spoken of an epidemic. Many people across the globe have shared depictions of the amabie, that has apparently become a mascot of sorts, alongside messages wishing for a swift end to the spread of COVID-19.”

BuzzFeed News: At This Coronavirus Graveyard, Family Members Have To Bury Their Loved Ones With Their Own Hands. “By noon, Shameem was digging his fourth grave for the day. That’s when he got the call telling him that “a corona case” was on its way to him. In the past week, he had watched 22 people, all victims of COVID-19, as they were buried on the stretch of 45 acres where he lives. ‘Time to wear your mask,’ he told his father. Shameem, 42, is the third generation in a family of gravediggers, but the first in his family to supervise burials in a pandemic.”

Boston Globe: A stark reality: Sunday’s Boston Globe runs 16 pages of death notices. “With coronavirus cases surging in Massachusetts, the Boston Sunday Globe offered a stark reminder of the death toll that COVID-19 is taking on the state, with the paper running 16 pages worth of death notices in the print edition. For comparison, on the same Sunday last year — April 21, 2019 — the Globe ran seven pages of death notices, according to an archive of the paper.”

INSTITUTION / CORPORATE / GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

STAT News: The months of magical thinking: As the coronavirus swept over China, some experts were in denial. “TThe response to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and other countries has been hobbled by a host of factors, many involving political and regulatory officials. Resistance to social distancing measures, testing debacles, and longtime failures to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic all played a role. But a subtler, less-recognized factor contributed to the wasting of precious weeks in January and February, when preparations to try to stop the virus should have kicked immediately into high gear.”

Gulf News: This small tribal town in India used puppetry & social media to beat COVID-19. ” Dungarpur, a triTbal dominated district, is silently shooing away the dreadful coronavirus from its periphery by merging simple traditional methods with modern means to spread awareness about COVID-19, using puppet shows and pictorial stories, says District Collector Kanaram. So much so that the state health department now wants to replicate it elsewhere. Kanaram added that all five COVID-19 positive patients in this district have tested negative and are undergoing quarantine as advised by medical team since the last six days.”

BuzzFeed News: Smithfield Foods Is Blaming “Living Circumstances In Certain Cultures” For One Of America’s Largest COVID-19 Clusters. “Was there any way to prevent the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in South Dakota from becoming one of the country’s largest known coronavirus clusters, with more than 700 workers infected? It’s hard to know ‘what could have been done differently,’ a Smithfield spokesperson said, given what she referred to as the plant’s ‘large immigrant population.’… But internal company communications and interviews with nearly a dozen workers and their relatives point to a series of management missteps and half measures that contributed significantly to the spread of the virus.”

The Guardian: ‘No way food safety not compromised’: US regulation rollbacks during Covid-19 criticised. “The US government is accelerating controversial regulatory rollbacks to speed up production at meat plants, as companies express growing alarm at the impact of Covid-19 on their operations.”

WPVI: Delaware County workers sleep at job for 28 days to make gear for health care workers. “In Delaware County, Pennsylvania, there’s a group of people sleeping at work for nearly a month to make equipment to help keep others safe. At Braskem America in Marcus Hook, workers are sleeping, eating and working at their plant for 28 days to make equipment for health care workers.”

RESEARCH

ScienceBlog: COVID-19 Treatment Depends Upon Disease Severity. “How individuals, and health care professionals, deal with infection from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, varies depending on the severity of the infection. While the infection almost always starts with relatively mild, flu-like symptoms that can be treated at home, this can change depending on a number of factors. What follows is a breakdown of treatment protocols, based on the nature of the infection.”

Phys .org: Restarting the coronavirus economy: 4 possible steps. “Successfully re-establishing businesses in a COVID-19 economy requires government, health-care and business leaders working together to implement a phased return to employment. The first phase is the one in which we now find ourselves: working from home or unemployed. Many professional and business-to-business companies have learned to facilitate working from home using web-based technology over the past few weeks. This has been critical in reducing COVID-19 transmission, but it’s not sustainable in the long term. So what’s next?”

Phys .org: Why social distancing is a big challenge in many African countries. “While African countries have acted decisively to prevent large outbreaks, the conditions of many people’s everyday lives there could make a Swiss-style lockdown difficult to enforce—and, even more importantly, highly inequitable. A virus does not distinguish between poor and rich, but it is much more difficult for the poor to protect themselves. Lockdowns are intended to ‘flatten the curve’: to slow the spread of COVID-19, and thereby ensure that the health system is not overwhelmed at any one point in time. Given many African countries’ weak medical infrastructure and capacity to handle severe COVID-19 cases, their curves need to be flattened even more aggressively.”

The Conversation: Coronavirus: three misconceptions about how animals transmit diseases debunked. This article was written by a lecturer in epidemiology at the University of Cambridge. “Zoonotic diseases are caused by pathogens which originate in other animal species. Some diseases, such as rabies, cause sporadic outbreaks, often self-contained but deadly and traumatising for the communities they infect. Others manage to spread worldwide and become pandemic, circulating in the global population. Some are repeat offenders that re-emerge from animal hosts in a mutated form every few decades – think influenza, plague and cholera. Many others are now part of our burden of endemic diseases, such as measles, mumps or HIV. The coronavirus causing COVID-19 is closely related to those that caused the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) pandemic in 2003. Despite speculation, it’s too early to tell whether COVID-19 will disappear within a year or stay with us permanently like the flu.”

Mic: How coronavirus is affecting mental health, according to our social media posts. “At the AI Institute of the University of South Carolina, my colleagues and I have processed more than 700 million social media posts since the beginning of March and more than 700,000 news articles about the COVID-19 pandemic. We are monitoring these information sources to capture the evolving human experience in the U.S. during the pandemic. We have found troubling indications of a growing mental health crisis and an increase in social ills such as substance abuse and gender-based violence.”

Washington Post: Hundreds of nursing homes with cases of coronavirus have violated federal infection-control rules in recent years. “Forty percent of more than 650 nursing homes nationwide with publicly reported cases of the coronavirus have been cited more than once by inspectors in recent years for violating federal standards meant to control the spread of infections, according to a Washington Post analysis. Since 2016, the nursing homes accrued hundreds of deficiencies for unsafe conditions that can trigger the spread of flu, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and skin diseases. Dozens were flagged by inspectors only months before the coronavirus pandemic struck the United States.”

FUNNY

The Irish Times: Dalkey locals spin Matt Damon yarns: ‘Seen down the nudist swimming hangout’. “In a very funny scene in the film that’s sure to emerge from Matt Damon’s accidental sojourn in south Co Dublin during the Covid-19 shutdown, the people of Dalkey came out over the weekend to defend the Hollywood star from prying paps. Well, not quite prying paparazzi, but a journalist named Heather Murphy, who introduced herself on the Dalkey Open Forum Facebook page.”

POLITICS AND SECURITY

BBC: Coronavirus: Immigration to US to be suspended amid pandemic, Trump says. “President Donald Trump has said he will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend all immigration to the US because of the coronavirus. On Twitter, he cited ‘the attack from the invisible enemy’, as he calls the virus, and the need to protect the jobs of Americans, but did not give details.”

Washington Post: Brett Giroir, Trump’s testing czar, was forced out of a job developing vaccine projects. Now he’s on the hot seat. . “Brett Giroir, the federal official overseeing coronavirus testing efforts, says that his experience working on vaccine development projects at Texas A&M University helped prepare him for this historic moment. He once said that his vaccine effort was so vital that ‘the fate of 50 million people will rely on us getting this done.’ But after eight years of work on several vaccine projects, Giroir was told in 2015 he had 30 minutes to resign or he would be fired. His annual performance evaluation at Texas A&M, the local newspaper reported, said he was ‘more interested in promoting yourself’ than the health science center where he worked. He got low marks on being a ‘team player.'”

The Next Web: Scammers are using fake coronavirus stimulus payment sites to steal your money. “Last month, the US Congress passed a historic $2 trillion stimulus package to help Americans fight the devastating economical effects of the coronavirus epidemic. As a part of the program, the government started sending out $1,200 checks to US citizens last week. So far so good. Unfortunately, cybercriminals are taking advantage of this situation to trick people out of their money in these difficult times. According to a study by cybersecurity company Check Point, attackers are targeting people through stimulus-themed websites and emails for stealing data and money.”

New York Times: Trump, Head of Government, Leans Into Antigovernment Message. “First he was the self-described ‘wartime president.’ Then he trumpeted the ‘total’ authority of the federal government. But in the past few days, President Trump has nurtured protests against state-issued stay-at-home orders aimed at curtailing the spread of the coronavirus.”

CoronaBuzz is brought to you by ResearchBuzz. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment, send resource suggestions, or tag @buzz_corona on Twitter. Thanks!

April 21, 2020 at 08:07PM
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Board-to-board connectors support 3 Gbits/s data rates

 Harwin’s 1.27-mm pitch board-to-board connectors combine data rates of up to 3 Gbits/s and mechanical robustness for industrial data applications.

from Electronic Products Technology Center Articles https://ift.tt/3bq6IJf

Board-to-board connectors support 3 Gbits/s data rates

 Harwin’s 1.27-mm pitch board-to-board connectors combine data rates of up to 3 Gbits/s and mechanical robustness for industrial data applications.

source http://www.electronicproducts.com/Interconnections/Connectors/Board_to_board_connectors_support_3_Gbits_s_data_rates.aspx

Thermoelectric cooler increases cooling capacity by 10%

Laird Thermal Systems has released a new generation of thermoelectric coolers that increases heat pumping capacity by 10%, along with a higher temperature differential and higher efficiency.

from Electronic Products Technology Center Articles https://ift.tt/2RV3d5L

Thermoelectric cooler increases cooling capacity by 10%

Laird Thermal Systems has released a new generation of thermoelectric coolers that increases heat pumping capacity by 10%, along with a higher temperature differential and higher efficiency.

source http://www.electronicproducts.com/Thermal_Management/Thermoelectric_Coolers/Thermoelectric_cooler_increases_cooling_capacity_by_10.aspx

Monday CoronaBuzz, April 20, 2020: 33 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.

Monday CoronaBuzz, April 20, 2020: 33 pointers to new resources, useful stuff, research news, and more.
By ResearchBuzz

Longtime readers may remember that today is ResearchBuzz’ birthday — its 22nd, as it started in 1998. I know some of y’all have been reading from the jump, and I really appreciate it. All I want to do is bring you helpful information every day in a low-key, hopeful kind of way. I’m so grateful for your support over the years. I can’t express how much it means to me. I’m looking forward to the day when I’m just doing ResearchBuzz again, and CoronaBuzz is no longer needed. But as long as it’s necessary and useful, I’ll be here. Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. Please be careful. I love you.

NEW RESOURCES – MEDICAL/HEALTH

NiemanLab: Lost on the Frontlines wants to memorialize (and count) the health care workers who’ve died from coronavirus. “On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that, among health care workers, there have been 9,282 confirmed cases and 27 deaths as of April 9. But Kaiser Health News, USA Today, and even the CDC itself have all said that number is a major undercount because of the way testing varies in each state…. The Lost on the Frontlines project, launched Wednesday, is a series of profiles of deceased frontline workers, like J. Ronald Verrier, a surgeon in the Bronx, or Daisy Doranila, a nurse in Kearny, New Jersey.”

NEW RESOURCES – EDUCATION/ENTERTAINMENT

Nieman Lab: This new newsletter looks to inform the black community about the coronavirus. “In Louisiana, 7 out of 10 patients killed by COVID-19 in Louisiana were black. In Michigan, 40 percent of the people who have died of the virus are black, even though black people only make up 14 percent of the state population. Though often referred to as the ‘great equalizer,’ the novel coronavirus has disproportionately hit black communities and decades of disparities are now on full display. Journalist Patrice Peck is dedicated to covering all of this with her newsletter, Coronavirus News For Black Folks. Peck, who has written for and/or worked at publications including EBONY, NBC’s The Grio, HuffPost Black Voices, CNN, The New York Times, and BuzzFeed, is sharing how the virus is impacting the black community worldwide.”

Mashable: Michelle Obama will entertain your kids for you. “Starting April 20 at noon EDT, the former first lady will be reading children’s books live in a weekly event dubbed ‘Mondays with Michelle.’ Obama will read a different beloved children’s book for four consecutive Mondays, through May 11, in a collaboration with Penguin Young Readers, Random House Children’s Books, and PBS Kids.”

Mashable: David Attenborough is teaching online geography lessons to kids at home. “From today, the BBC is launching its biggest educational offering in its history, Bitesize Daily, featuring lessons from over 200 teachers and scores of celebrities. The BBC has collaborated with teachers and education specialists to compile a 14-week curriculum for youngsters across the UK. Remarkably, this program has been put together in just four weeks. ” I was able to browse the site but not play any videos because I’m not in the UK.

NEW RESOURCES – OTHER

EurekAlert: Amid COVID, computing society releases report on best practices for virtual conferences. “Science and technology conferences are engines of innovation–essential to the incubation of new ideas, the dissemination of research, and the spawning of new technologies. But this year, with no warning, conferences around the globe are finding themselves in uncharted waters as the global COVID-19 pandemic makes physical meetings impossible. To help organizers cope, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has issued a new report, ‘Virtual Conferences: A Guide to Best Practices,’ on how to replace face-to-face conferences with virtual ones during the pandemic.”

USEFUL STUFF

Thanks to Esther S. for this pointer. BGR: These nature live streams will lift your spirits during lockdown. “Being stuck inside is a bummer. Being stuck inside because there’s a global pandemic and coming within six feet of someone else could make things even worse? Well, that’s even more of a bummer. If you’re self-isolating in a rural area or small town it might be easy to get a bit of nature every day, but millions of people cooped up in big cities don’t really have that option. As someone who works from home anyway, virus or no virus, I’ve found that being stuck inside doesn’t necessarily mean you have to abandon your love of the great outdoors. Let me introduce you to the world of live nature cams.”

Getty Iris: How to Build an Art Museum in Animal Crossing. “Animal Crossing emulates the joys of the real world, and we especially love going to art museums—so a small team of us banded together to create a way for users to bring museum artwork into their own virtual homes. The generator makes it possible for any image in the Getty Museum’s open-access collection to be transformed into a mini artwork fit for Animal Crossing. You can search art and artists from the collection or choose from some of our favorites in one click, then scan the generated QR code to bring the artwork into your game where it can be used on clothing, wallpaper, canvas, and more.”

Mashable: 10 games and activities to keep you and your friends entertained on Zoom. “Maintaining friendships online, as is true offline, requires real effort and thought. Unless you’re making a deliberate effort to mix things up each time, Zoom dates will soon start to lose their luster and feel a bit routine. So forget Netflix and Zooming, here are 10 other things you can do to keep your friendship — ahem, I mean conversation — alive. Just make sure you know how to share your screen on Zoom.”

BBC: Coronavirus: How to get to sleep during lockdown. “Since the coronavirus lockdown, the hashtag ‘can’t sleep’ has been trending, with tales of people struggling to get their heads down for the night….If that’s you, here’s how you can reverse that trend.”

UPDATES

BBC: We are not prepared at all’: Haiti, already impoverished, confronts a pandemic . “With barely 60 ventilators for 11 million people, Haiti is the most vulnerable nation in the Americas to the coronavirus. While many countries would struggle to cope with a serious spread of Covid-19, Haiti might never recover from one. The reality inside Haiti’s intensive care units is even bleaker than that number – taken from a 2019 study – suggests. According to Stephan Dragon, a respiratory therapist in the capital, Port-au-Prince, the true number of ventilators is actually closer to 40, and maybe 20 of those aren’t working.”

Salt Lake Tribune: Navajo Nation has a higher coronavirus testing rate than Utah and most states. “The Navajo Epidemiology Center announced 1,127 confirmed cases of the disease and 44 deaths as of Saturday, and Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez has warned the peak may still be weeks away — a startling trend for a Native American nation that has an on-reservation population of about 174,000. As The Salt Lake Tribune previously reported, if the Navajo Nation were a U.S. state, it would rank behind only New York and New Jersey for per-capita confirmed cases.”

The Verge: Google is now listing COVID-19 testing centers in search results. “Google searches for terms related to COVID-19 will now display information for more than 2,000 COVID-19 testing centers across 43 states in the US, the company tells The Verge. There are other changes, too. When you search for something related to COVID-19, you’ll now see a new ‘Testing’ tab as part of the information shown in Google’s COVID-19 SOS alert.” This is for the United States only at the moment — and does exclude some states.

SOCIETAL IMPACT

Gizmodo: Couple Fined For Violating Lockdown After Posting Old Vacation Photos to Facebook. “An Australian couple was issued hefty fines this week for violating lockdown orders after they posted photos to Facebook that were taken at a vacation spot two hours from their home. Police showed up at their door and issued over $3,300 in fines for the photos, according to multiple reports. The only problem? The photos were taken last year, long before non-essential travel was banned due to the coronavirus pandemic.”

San Francisco Classical Voice: The Art of the Pivot: Local Music Organizations Cope with COVID-19. “On the Vallejo Symphony website, the call is clear: ‘Let’s all take care of ourselves and each other.’ In early March, the coronavirus impacted Bay Area productions, canceling or postponing them in several counties that had called for sheltering in place before the statewide mandate was imposed. Lost performances mean lost revenue for organizations in one of the most expensive areas in the United States.”

New York Times: A Beloved Bar Owner Was Skeptical About the Virus. Then He Took a Cruise.. “Decades before he would embark on a cruise to the Mediterranean, confident that the coronavirus would have little to do with him, Joe Joyce was known to the world as a social creature, the kind who would do well on a boat full of strangers.”

The Guardian: Sick, elderly, pregnant: the California renters being evicted even during the pandemic. “When Covid-19 halted California’s economy, state officials promised to prevent evictions and defend tenants’ rights. But a dozen renters and their attorneys told the Guardian that some landlords are proceeding to expel them from their homes despite the new regulations, indicating there are significant gaps in the protections.”

BBC: Coronavirus: Will Covid-19 speed up the use of robots to replace human workers?. “As a pandemic grips the world, a person could be forgiven if they had forgotten about another threat to humanity’s way of life – the rise of robots. For better or worse the robots are going to replace many humans in their jobs, analysts say, and the coronavirus outbreak is speeding up the process.”

CNN: 3D printing enthusiasts are working from home to help hospitals fight coronavirus. “For weeks, Christian Parker has been working to save lives across the United States from his home in Washington state using a 3D printer and a blueprint for a small, Y-shaped piece of plastic. Parker has been under a stay-at-home order with his wife and three children since early March, as the US tries to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected at least 700,000 people nationwide.”

CNN: FaceTime dance parties and digital picture frames: How people are staying connected to their grandparents. “People around the world are turning to technology to stay connected during the pandemic, from livestreaming weddings and organizing virtual happy hours with friends on Zoom to meeting with coworkers on Webex. But less tech-savvy older generations are at risk of falling out of touch with loved ones at a time when stress and loneliness has the potential to impact an especially vulnerable demographic, who often lives alone or in assisted living facilities, which have been hit with coronavirus cases. In turn, families are finding creative ways to reach their elderly relatives through methods like smart picture frames, dance parties over FaceTime and simple tools like email.”

ProPublica: Most Illinois School Districts Did Not Have Approved E-learning Plans Before the Pandemic. “Long before the coronavirus crisis shut down Illinois schools, state education officials had encouraged districts to prepare for circumstances when they would have to teach remotely. But most of the state’s 852 school districts didn’t have e-learning plans in place when schools closed in mid-March, a ProPublica Illinois-Chicago Tribune analysis has found.”

New York Times: He Went to 3 Hospitals. When He Finally Got a Bed, It Was Too Late.. “After feeling unwell with what seemed like symptoms of the coronavirus, Luis Arellano first tried going to a nearby hospital in Brooklyn, where he was told to come back if his condition worsened. Days later, as his health deteriorated, his family took him to a New Jersey hospital. He waited eight hours, and after being told they’d have to wait another seven to nine hours, the family left, they said. By the time Mr. Arellano, 65, was finally determined to be sick enough to be immediately admitted into a hospital, his body had already been ravaged by Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.”

NBC News: 13 hours, 22 bodies: The long, lonesome shift of a crematory worker in the heat of COVID-19. “More than 12,000 people are believed to have died from the coronavirus in New York City, a death toll that’s still rising. The disease has fueled an exponential increase in the average number of deaths per day, placing an unprecedented strain on morgues, funeral homes and cemeteries. The challenges and dangers that the pandemic has thrust upon front-line medical workers have been well documented. So, too, has the plight of those who keep Americans fed and the mail moving — postal workers, truck drivers and grocery store clerks. But workers who spend their days digging graves or moving bodies into 1,850-degree furnaces have continued to labor largely in the shadows, doing the same work as always, only a lot more of it.”

Mashable: This bus plays voice messages from loved ones outside people’s homes. “Electric buses in Brussels are pulling up outside people’s homes and playing audio messages from loved ones via loudspeaker. The city’s transport authority STIB is asking residents to record messages for their grandparents, family members, healthcare workers, or the person they miss the most, so it can be played to them.”

RESEARCH

New York Times: The Coronavirus in America: The Year Ahead. “In truth, it is not clear to anyone where this crisis is leading us. More than 20 experts in public health, medicine, epidemiology and history shared their thoughts on the future during in-depth interviews. When can we emerge from our homes? How long, realistically, before we have a treatment or vaccine? How will we keep the virus at bay?”

EurekAlert: Nanobodies hold the key to imaging COVID-19. “Researchers from Protein Production UK, a collaborative project led by The Rosalind Franklin Institute, have isolated nanobodies – a type of antibody used in research, which bind to the ‘spike’ protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The team have already made these nanobodies, which bind with high affinity to the ‘spike’ protein, available to researchers at The University of Oxford. They will be making these important research tools widely available to other research groups around the world.”

Washington Post: Dozens of coronavirus antibody tests on the market were never vetted by the FDA, leading to accuracy concerns. “The Food and Drug Administration, criticized for slowness in authorizing tests to detect coronavirus infections, has taken a strikingly different approach to antibody tests, allowing more than 90 on the market without prior review, including some that are being marketed fraudulently and are of dubious quality, according to testing experts and the agency itself.”

FUNNY

Man of Many: Real Life with Sports Commentary is Remarkably Exciting. “Life has been pretty slow without any sports to watch. Fortunately, most of us have our work to distract us from the tedium. But what happens when sport is your work? Athletes might be enjoying the slowed-down lifestyle, but what about sports commentators? Where do they turn to not only find relief but to keep up their skills? One out of work sports commentator has taken to commentating on real-life situations. You never suspected that such normal activities could be so exciting until you’ve heard a professional commentator’s take on them.”

POLITICS AND SECURITY

BuzzFeed News: A Doctor Was Charged With Fraud For Allegedly Selling Drugs He Claimed Were A Coronavirus “Miracle Cure”. “Dr. Jennings Ryan Staley, a licensed physician, was charged Thursday with mail fraud in connection with the sale of what he described as a ‘100%’ cure for COVID-19, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a statement. Staley, who operates the Skinny Beach Med Spa, a beauty spa in San Diego, allegedly claimed that the treatment would make customers immune to the virus for at least six weeks.”

Washington Post: As U.S. discouraged mask use for public, White House team raced to secure face coverings from Taiwan for senior staff. “In mid-March, a National Security Council team rushed to address what they saw as a threat to the U.S. government’s ability to function amid the advancing pandemic: a lack of masks to protect enough staff on the White House complex. Alarmed by the small cache and the growing signs of an acute shortage of protective gear in the United States, a senior NSC official turned to a foreign government for help, according to people familiar with the situation. The effort resulted in a donation of hundreds of thousands of surgical masks from Taiwan, which had plentiful domestic production and had sharply curtailed the spread of the coronavirus on the island. The bulk of Taiwan’s goodwill shipment went to the Strategic National Stockpile, but 3,600 masks were set aside for White House staff and officials, administration officials said.”

Washington Post: Americans at World Health Organization transmitted real-time information about coronavirus to Trump administration. “More than a dozen U.S. researchers, physicians and public health experts, many of them from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were working full time at the Geneva headquarters of the World Health Organization as the novel coronavirus emerged late last year and transmitted real-time information about its discovery and spread in China to the Trump administration, according to U.S. and international officials. A number of CDC staffers are regularly detailed to work at WHO in Geneva as part of a rotation that has operated for years. Senior Trump-appointed health officials also consulted regularly at the highest levels with the WHO as the crisis unfolded, the officials said.”

Intelligencer: The White House Has Erected A Blockade Stopping States and Hospitals From Getting Coronavirus PPE. “Over the last few weeks, it has started to appear as though, in addition to abandoning the states to their own devices in a time of national emergency, the federal government has effectively erected a blockade — like that which the Union used to choke off the supply chains of the Confederacy during the Civil War — to prevent delivery of critical medical equipment to states desperately in need. At the very least, federal authorities have made governors and hospital executives all around the country operate in fear that shipments of necessary supplies will be seized along the way.”

Politico: A watchdog out of Trump’s grasp unleashes wave of coronavirus audits. “By the end of April, at least 30 CARES Act reviews and audits — ‘engagements,’ per GAO lingo — are expected to be underway, according to interviews with senior investigators. Topics will range from the government’s handling of coronavirus testing to its distribution of medical equipment, and from the nation’s food supply to nursing home infections and any missteps in distributing the emergency cash payments that began landing in millions of Americans’ bank accounts this week. The office’s top fraud investigator said it’s already received a complaint about a check landing in the account of a deceased person.”

The Atlantic: New Zealand’s Prime Minister May Be the Most Effective Leader on the Planet. “German Chancellor Angela Merkel embraces science. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rejects it. U.S. President Donald Trump’s daily briefings are a circuslike spectacle, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds no regular briefings at all, even as he locks down 1.3 billion people. Jacinda Ardern, the 39-year-old prime minister of New Zealand, is forging a path of her own. Her leadership style is one of empathy in a crisis that tempts people to fend for themselves. Her messages are clear, consistent, and somehow simultaneously sobering and soothing. And her approach isn’t just resonating with her people on an emotional level. It is also working remarkably well.”

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April 20, 2020 at 06:15PM
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