Daily Archives: April 3, 2020

2020-04-03: News Headlines

Fay Bound Alberti (2020-04-04). [Perspectives] Face transplants as surgical acts and psychosocial processes. thelancet.com In 2017 the face of Katie Stubblefield made headlines. Not the face she was born with or the face that emerged after 22 reconstructive surgeries. This was another face altogether: a transplant that Stubblefield would receive from Adrea Schneider. There have been 46 recorded face transplants in history. Katie's was the 40th—only the third to have taken place at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which also undertook the first face transplant in the USA, on Connie Culp, in 2008. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it took 11 surgeons and staff from 15 specialties more than 31 hours to transplant Stubblefield's new…

The Lancet (2020-04-04). [Editorial] COVID-19 will not leave behind refugees and migrants. thelancet.com Never has the "leave no one behind" pledge felt more urgent. As nations around the world implement measures to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, including lockdowns and restrictions on individuals' movements, they must heed their global commitments. When member states adopted the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, they promised to ensure no one will be left behind. Chief among the world's most vulnerable people are refugees and migrants. The COVID-19 crisis puts these groups at enormous risk.

thelancet (2020-04-04). [Department of Error] Department of Error. thelancet.com Mease PJ, Rahman P, Gottlieb AB, et al. Guselkumab in biologic-naive patients with active psoriatic arthritis (DISCOVER-2): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. Lancet 2020; 395: 1126—36—In this Article, the following sentence from the Participants section has been corrected as follows: "Patients were permitted, but not required, to continue stable use of selected standard treatments, including NSAIDs or other analgesics up to the regional marketed dose approved; oral corticosteroids (‚â§10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent dose); or non-biologic DMARDs (limi…

Talha Burki (2020-04-04). [World Report] 2020 Canada Gairdner Award winners announced. thelancet.com On March 31, the Gairdner Foundation announced the winners of its annual prizes in biomedical science and global health. Talha Burki spoke with the laureates.

The Lancet (2020-04-04). [Editorial] Redefining vulnerability in the era of COVID-19. thelancet.com What does it mean to be vulnerable? Vulnerable groups of people are those that are disproportionally exposed to risk, but who is included in these groups can change dynamically. A person not considered vulnerable at the outset of a pandemic can become vulnerable depending on the policy response. The risks of sudden loss of income or access to social support have consequences that are difficult to estimate and constitute a challenge in identifying all those who might become vulnerable. Certainly, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable groups are not only elderly people, those with ill health and comorbidities, or…

Renato D Lopes, Claudio Gimpelewicz, John J V McMurray (2020-04-04). [Correspondence] Chagas disease: still a neglected emergency? thelancet.com 10 years after highlighting the health consequences for millions of people infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, a 2019 report from the Pan American Health Organization concluded that there has been little progress in the prevention and treatment of Chagas disease, a problem that now extends beyond Latin America.1…

Richard Horton (2020-04-04). [Comment] Offline: COVID-19—what countries must do now. thelancet.com How should countries plan for the approaching health crisis caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, himself struck down with infection, has written to every household warning that, "we know things will get worse before they get better". The UK Government is right to prepare the public for the coming human catastrophe. All governments have a responsibility to do the same. But this advice does not go far enough. Here are five critical actions that need to be considered immediately.

The Lancet (2020-04-04). [Editorial] Open versus endovascular repair of aortic aneurysms. thelancet.com When the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released draft guidelines on the diagnosis and management of abdominal aortic aneurysms in May, 2018, it caused outcry. By recommending that endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of unruptured aneurysms should not be offered—even in patients for whom open surgical repair was contraindicated—critics said that many patients would be denied life-saving treatment and that the guidelines were unworkable.

Alastair Brown, Richard Horton (2020-04-04). [Comment] A planetary health perspective on COVID-19: a call for papers. thelancet.com It is natural during the unfolding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to focus on emergency response planning, including containment, treatment procedures, and vaccine development, and nobody would doubt the need for these measures. However, an emergency can also open a window of opportunity for reflection and learning. We live in increasingly global, interdependent, and environmentally constrained societies and the COVID-19 pandemic exemplifies these aspects of our world. We would therefore be wise to take a broad integrated perspective on this disease, the impacts of which are already spilling over in…

Fathiah Zakham, Olli Vapalahti, Hilal A Lashual (2020-04-04). [Correspondence] Education and research are essential for lasting peace in Yemen. thelancet.com Yemen, known to many as the land of Sheba, and Manhattan of the desert, is now referred to only as one of the poorest countries on Earth. The name Yemen has become synonymous with cholera, famine, death, instability, and war. The war continues to erase the lives, history, and the future of Yemenis, and meaningful aid and peace have yet to reach Yemen.

Gerardo Chowell, Kenji Mizumoto (2020-04-04). [Comment] The COVID-19 pandemic in the USA: what might we expect? thelancet.com As of March 19, 2020, 191‚Äà127 cases of, including 7807 deaths attributed to, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been reported worldwide.1 The incidence of reported cases in China has dramatically reduced to tens per day as a result of strict social distancing measures; however, the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is now generating sustained transmission in many countries including the USA. In The Lancet, Isaac Ghinai, Tristan D McPherson, and colleagues2 report details of the first known human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the USA, which was…

Juan M Pericà s (2020-04-04). [Correspondence] Authoritarianism and the threat of infectious diseases. thelancet.com Punitive social policy, encompassing the dismantling of the welfare state with the expansion of the penal state and its associated institutions, as nicely stated by Elias Nosrati and Michael Marmot in their Perspective,1 might indeed be considered an upstream social determinant of health. Nosrati and Marmot's analysis relates to the findings described by Navarro and colleagues,2 linking political ideology with policies aimed at reducing social inequalities such as welfare state and labour market policies.

Gorka Orive, Unax Lertxundi (2020-04-04). [Correspondence] Mass drug administration: time to consider drug pollution? thelancet.com Mass drug administration is the strategy recommended by WHO to control or eliminate many neglected tropical diseases that cause devastating consequences worldwide. This strategic approach, which has produced unquestionable benefits, consists of treating every person, infected or not, living in a defined geographical area at approximately the same time.1 In 2017, more than 1 ∑7 billion treatments (mainly albendazole, mebendazole, ivermectin, azithromycin, and praziquantel) were delivered to 1 ∑04 billion individuals.

Genichi Sugihara, Nori Takei (2020-04-04). [Correspondence] Obsolete medical law in Japan harms doctors' health. thelancet.com Japan has achieved one of the most successful health-care systems in the world.1 Under the nation's insurance scheme, Japanese citizens have taken for granted that anyone can choose any health-care facility and receive the most advanced medical care across the nation. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that such a health system is supported by dedicated and self-sacrificing medical professionals. Such overloaded expectation is especially high in rural areas where the number of doctors remains low.

Anna Petherick (2020-04-04). [World Report] Developing antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2. thelancet.com Laboratories and diagnostic companies are racing to produce antibody tests, a key part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anna Petherick reports.

The Canary (2020-04-03). More refugees attempt Channel crossing as covid-19 reaches Calais camps. thecanary.co At least 52 refugees, including five children, risked their lives to cross the Channel on 2 April.They were intercepted by Border Force travelling across the Dover straits in four inflatable boats, the Home Office confirmed late on Thursday.It comes as two cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in the Calais refugee community and another in a refugee camp in Dunkirk.Border Force officers bring to shore men thought to be migrants in Dover (Gareth Fuller/PA)Despite pictures taken in Dover appearing to show Border Force officials not wearing protective gear, the Home Office reiterated that all operational staff have…

RT (2020-04-03). EU member states in talks over possible border closure extension — von der Leyen. rt.com European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that talks were under way among EU member states over whether or not to extend border closures beyond Easter in order to tackle the coronavirus crisis. | "We are in consultation with member states on how to proceed beyond Easter," she told radio station Europe 1. | Von der Leyen also reiterated that the next EU budget should take the form of a new "Marshall Plan" to drive Europe's recovery from the coronavirus outbreak. | She feels that Europe will emerge from the coronavirus crisis in a stronger state, Reuters quoted her as saying.

Sasha Abramsky (2020-04-03). The Covid-19 Crisis Is Exposing Trump's Criminality. thenation.com The Covid-19 Crisis Is Exposing Trump's Criminality…

news.un (2020-04-03). COVID-19: from conflict to pandemic, migrants in Bosnia face a new challenge. news.un.org Migrants and refugees hosted at UN-run reception centres in Bosnia-Herzegovina, are learning to cope with the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

WSWS (2020-04-03). Germany marked an increase in violent attacks on refugees in 2019. wsws.org The Left Party has been instrumental, along with the country's other political parties, in creating a hostile climate and the corresponding explosion of violence against refugees and immigrants.

David Bacon (2020-04-03). America's Farmworkers—Now 'Essential,' but Denied the Just-Enacted Benefits. zcomm.org The undocumented workers who pick the nation's food are excluded from the CARES Act…

Vijay Prashad (2020-04-03). These migrant workers did not suddenly fall from the sky. mronline.org Madness engulfs the planet. Hundreds of millions of people are in lockdown in their homes, millions of people who work in essential jobs—or who cannot afford to stay home without state assistance—continue to go to work, thousands of people lie in intensive-care beds taken care of by tens of thousands of medical professionals and caregivers …

Staff (2020-04-02). "Social Distancing Is a Privilege": Pandemic Highlights India's Class Divide as 1.3 Billion Lock Down. democracynow.org In India, 1.3 billion people have been locked down for more than a week to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The country reports nearly 2,000 cases and at least 50 deaths. Millions living in poverty and migrant workers were stranded far from home when the lockdown was announced, and some have reportedly died making the perilous journey home. More than 80% of India's workforce is informal, with most living off daily wages often less than $2 or $3 a day — wages they cannot earn under the present curfew — and more than 4 million Indians are homeless. We speak with Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, a contri…

The Canary (2020-04-02). Britons cite 'shocking' lack of medical checks and advice after landing back in UK. thecanary.co Britons returning to the UK from abroad have lambasted the "shocking" lack of testing and medical advice upon arriving back on home soil following the coronavirus outbreak.Some passengers told the PA news agency other countries appeared to be taking the Covid-19 pandemic much more seriously, with medical questionnaires and health checks at land borders and travel terminals.They said there was a chronic lack of similar measures upon landing in the UK, with air passengers breezing through security as though it was "a normal working day" and being left clueless about whether to go into quarantine.Mete Coban, a 27-ye…

Katrina Huber (2020-04-02). Fighting for immigrant rights during a pandemic. splcenter.org As people across the country are confined to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, little attention has been given to a group of people whose health is in danger because they are locked away from the outside world — people in immigrant detention centers.

Manar Waheed (2020-04-02). COVID-19 Doesn't Discriminate — Neither Should Congress' Response. aclu.org Congress' third bill addressing the impacts of COVID-19, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), was a necessary attempt to respond to this public health crisis but its exclusion of immigrant communities is downright racist and xenophobic. Immigrants were

news.un (2020-04-02). 'Everyone at risk' as coronavirus cases tick up among migrants and refugees sheltering in Greece. news.un.org With 23 migrants at an open accommodation site in central Greece testing positive for COVID-19, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) sounded the alarm on Thursday over conditions in crowded reception centres on five Greek islands where the virus risks taking hold.

Staff (2020-04-02). Pandemic Highlights India's Class Divide as 1.3 Billion Lock Down. truthout.org In India, 1.3 billion people have been locked down for more than a week to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The country reports nearly 2,000 cases and at least 50 deaths. Millions living in poverty and migrant workers were stranded far from home when the lockdown was announced, and some have reportedly died making the perilous journey home. More than 80% of India's workforce is informal, with most living off daily wages often less than $2 or $3 a day — wages they cannot earn under the present curfe…

news.un (2020-04-02). FROM THE FIELD: Sunny days power a better life for displaced Nigerians. news.un.org Water boreholes powered by solar energy are helping to improve life for Nigerians displaced by conflict, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM).

news.un (2020-04-02). India: Migrant workers' plight prompts UN call for 'domestic solidarity' in coronavirus battle. news.un.org Pervasive challenges remain for hundreds-of-thousands of migrant workers in India whose lives were upended by the sudden lockdown across the country, in response to the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, said the UN human rights chief on Thursday.

teleSUR (2020-04-02). US: Three Migrant Children Test Positive for Coronavirus. telesurenglish.net Three migrant children under state institutions custody in the U.S tested positive for the COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus. The minors contracted the virus in a facility located in New York. | RELATED: | According to the relocation office's report, 18 children were tested after showing symptoms like fever, dry cough, and difficult breathing. After the analysis, 11 of them were considered negative, 4 were waiti…

John Nichols (2020-04-02). 'People Should Not Be Forced to Put Their Lives on the Line to Vote'. thenation.com 'People Should Not Be Forced to Put Their Lives on the Line to Vote'

splcenter (2020-04-01). SPLC, partners seek temporary restraining order to prevent immigration courts from becoming public health hazard. splcenter.org

Staff (2020-04-01). Headlines for April 1, 2020. democracynow.org No Longer Downplaying Virus, Trump Says Up to 240,000 Will Die in U.S. from COVID-19, FEMA Sends 85 Refrigerated Trucks to NYC as Makeshift Morgues as COVID-19 Deaths Grow, As Confirmed U.S. Cases Top 188,000, Unhoused People Forced to Sleep in Las Vegas Parking Lot, Chicago COVID-19 Nurse Quits over Critical Lack of Personal Protective Equipment, Fed Economists: U.S. Unemployment Could Reach Record 32% in June, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Demands Release of All Jailed Immigrants Amid Pandemic, Captain Calls for Evacuation of Infected U.S. Aircraft Carrier: "Sailors Do Not Need to Die", Governor Won't Allow Sic…

news.un (2020-04-01). 'Working round the clock' to aid Venezuelan refugees and migrants during COVID-19 pandemic: UN agencies. news.un.org Two United Nations agencies came together Tuesday to urge the international community not to overlook the on-going plight of millions of refugees and migrants from Venezuela, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread around the world.

news.un (2020-04-01). COVID-19: International community must step up to prevent pandemic from devastating vulnerable on the run. news.un.org Given how quickly the COVID-19 pandemic is spreading, an outbreak is "looking imminent" in the world's refugee camps, crowded reception centres or detention facilities where migrant families are sheltering, the Executive Director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.

teleSUR (2020-04-01). Brazil Confirms First COVID-19 Case in Isolated Tribe. telesurenglish.net An indigenous woman in a village deep in the Amazon rainforest has contracted the novel coronavirus, the first case reported among Brazil's more than 300 tribes, the Health Ministry's Indigenous health service (SESAI) said Wednesday. | RELATED: | The 20-year-old woman from the Kokama tribe tested positive for the virus in the district of Santo Antonio do Iàßá, near the border with Colombia some 880 km (550 mi…

Fight Back (2020-03-31). Many immigrants left out of pandemic aid acts. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – Many immigrants won't be able to get help from the bipartisan COVID-19 pandemic aid bills passed by Congress and signed by President Trump. More than 4 million undocumented immigrants who are paying taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, will not qualify for the $1200 per person benefit because they have no Social Security number. Another 5 million American citizen children with undocumented parents also will not get the $500 per child benefit. | Legal immigrants and naturalized citizens tend to have lower incomes than native-born Americans. People whose income is low en…

pip.hinman (2020-03-31). Government inaction puts staff and inmates in immigration detention at risk. greenleft.org.au

Tasnim News (2020-03-31). Blast Halts Iran's Gas Exports to Turkey. iranian.com Iran's natural gas exports to Turkey have stopped following an explosion on a pipeline near their joint border, an official at the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said on Tuesday. "The explosion occurred near the Iranian border, causing gas to be halted from 6: 50 (0320 GMT) this morning," Mehdi Jamshidi-Dana said, Press TV reported. The …

splcenter (2020-03-30). Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative: COVID-19 Parole Informational Guide for Sponsors. splcenter.org

splcenter (2020-03-27). Weekend Read: SPLC demands ICE act amid pandemic to save the lives of countless immigrants trapped in its crowded detention centers. splcenter.org

Staff (2020-03-27). Headlines for March 27, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Leads World in Reported COVID-19 Cases as Hospitalizations Surge, Trump Doubts New York City's Need for 30,000 Life-Saving Ventilators, Politico: President Trump Failed to Follow Pandemic Playbook, Squandering Precious Time, Detroit and Chicago Join New Orleans as U.S. Coronavirus Hot Spots, House to Vote on Record-Shattering $2.2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package, Three Unaccompanied Migrant Children Test Positive for COVID-19, Jailed Asylum Seekers Stage Hunger Strike, Demanding Release During Pandemic, Activists Demand Release of Aging Prisoners as Coronavirus Spreads, Hospitals in Spain and Italy on th…

Ashoka Mukpo (2020-03-26). Asylum Seekers Stranded in Mexico Face a New Danger: COVID-19. aclu.org Since the Trump administration first unrolled its policy of

splcenter (2020-03-25). SPLC and allies seek federal court injunction in system-wide suit to protect people detained by ICE from contracting COVID-19. splcenter.org The SPLC and its allies asked a federal court today to issue a preliminary injunction requiring that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) take immediate steps to protect people in its custody, particularly those who have medical conditions making them more susceptible to serious illness and death from COVID-19.

Andrea Flores (2020-03-20). How the ACLU Organized to end Racial Profiling on Greyhound Buses. aclu.org Two years ago, the ACLU set a clear goal: push Greyhound to refuse Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers access to their buses to conduct warrantless searches. As part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, CBP officers were targeting bus passengers around the country, boarding their buses to racially profile, harass, and too often, detain people who they suspected of being undocumented. Of course, you can't tell someone's immigration status by how they look or sound — this practice is unconstitutional and blatantly racist. By pushing aggressively with the help of our membership and…

splcenter (2020-03-20). COVID-19 Updates: SPLC continues fight against injustice. splcenter.org We are only beginning to feel the impacts of the coronavirus, but we know that the communities we serve — including low-income people, immigrants and people of color — are already among the most affected.

Michael Edison Hayden and Hannah Gais (2020-03-20). As White House Contemplates Coronavirus Asylum Ban, Hate Groups Urge Trump to Seize the Moment. splcenter.org The Trump administration took steps to block asylum seekers from entering the U.S.-Mexico border amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This nativist policy course has been pushed by anti-immigrant pundits and hate groups from the time the crisis started to unfold.