It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, April 30, 2020
PM Justin Trudeau worries about food supplies after meat plant outbreaks April 29, 2020 By Agence France-Presse
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday he was following with “interest and concern” the challenges facing Canada’s meat industry after coronavirus outbreaks at two major packing plants.
More than 1,300 COVID-19 cases, including one death, have been linked to Alberta’s Cargill and JBS processing plants, which supply 70 percent of the nation’s meat.
The resulting closure of the Cargill plant, which supplies McDonald’s in Canada, forced the fast-food giant for the first time to source its beef abroad.
“We understand how important it is to ensure the supply of foods to Canadians right across the country,” Trudeau told a daily briefing.
“And we’re watching with interest and concern some of the issues facing meat producers and the supply chain across the agricultural industry,” he said.
Asked whether he would force workers to stay on the job at these facilities as President Donald Trump did in the United States, the prime minister said it was crucial for food supply chains to “keep functioning.”
“But,” he added, “we also need to make sure that the people who work in those supply chains, and will continue to need to work in difficult circumstances over the coming weeks and months as we continue to battle COVID-19, are kept safe." On Tuesday, McDonald’s Canada announced that “due to unprecedented COVID-19 impacts on the Canadian beef supply chain” it would temporarily import beef, upending its “long-standing commitment to serve 100 percent Canadian beef.”
It cited the “current processing capacity limitations” of Canadian suppliers, including the closure of Cargill’s High River, Alberta processing facility.
McDonald’s also temporarily removed its Angus beef burgers from Canadian menus.
Image copyrightDR ARGHAVAN SALLESImage captionIn a video posted on Twitter, Dr Arghavan Salles joked about having "a small head" for PPE.
There is growing concern that standard personal protective equipment (PPE), which often has a unisex design, doesn't always fit women properly.
PPE is essential for protecting frontline workers exposed to Covid-19.
The Department of Health said the kit is designed to protect "both genders".
However, healthcare workers are saying that even the smallest sizes are too big for some women - who make up 77% of the NHS workforce, according to NHS Digital figures from 2018.
If it is too big it can be less effective in providing a complete barrier to the virus.
"PPE is designed to be unisex and offer protection for both genders, although some products are available in different sizes to enable fit to both small and larger frames," said the Department of Health, in a statement.
But the Royal College of Nursing has described "one-size-fits-all" personal protective equipment as "problematic" and "restrictive" when it can be worn for up to 12 hours during shifts. PPE includes gloves, masks, gowns and face shields.
"Nurses can find it very difficult to treat patients if this equipment is so uncomfortable it makes them hot and unwell," said Rose Gallagher, professional lead for infection prevention and control.
Some female NHS workers have taken to social media to share photos of themselves wearing badly-fitting PPE.
'What else comes in just two sizes?'
Dr Arghavan Salles, scholar-in-residence at Stanford University School of medicine, is currently working in the intensive care unit of a hospital in New York.
"There are only two sizes of the N95 mask, which is bizarre," she said.
"What else comes in just two sizes? We're suggesting that all faces on the planet are one of two sizes."
Dr Salles said the smaller size fits her but is harder to find.
"Yesterday I was working with someone whose N95 strap broke - we couldn't find her a new one [in the small size] so she had to go home," she said.
Dr Salles said she was given two masks to last her two weeks. She added that the smallest-sized gloves and goggles are also often too large.
"My hands are a size 6, I'm wearing a 6.5 glove," she said.
"The goggles have a really good [protective] seal but they just don't fit."
'Weird shape'
The growing call for more PPE specifically designed for women, sits against a backdrop of issues getting hold of PPE overall.
Author Caroline Criado-Perez researched the issue while writing her book Invisible Women, before the pandemic.
"The vast majority of personal protective equipment has been designed to fit the male body, so when you have for example 'small' - that's actually small for men rather than small for women, or just average for women," she said, in a New Scientist podcast.
"That's particularly an acute problem in this context because the majority of healthcare workers are female and they get told things like, 'your face is a weird shape' - well it's not a weird shape, it's a female shape."
Former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood issued a statement calling on the Welsh government to source better PPE kit for women.
Image captionLeanne Wood said poorly fitting PPE was "a scandal within the scandal" of the equipment's availability.
She described it as "a scandal within the scandal" of general PPE availability.
"We are asking women to put their lives on the line in the NHS and in care settings for the good of society and we cannot even provide them with PPE - or when we do, it is not the right size," she said.
The Women's Equality Party tweeted that it was "utterly shameful" that women were wearing kit designed to fit men.
In a report published in 2017, trade union association the TUC noted that "most PPE is based on the sizes and characteristics of male populations from certain countries in Europe and the United States".
"As a result, most women, and also many men, experience problems finding suitable and comfortable PPE because they do not conform to this standard male worker model," it said.
It's an issue that is being noted by consumers as well: political journalist Marie Le Conte tweeted her frustration at having to search specifically for women's masks "because all the 'standard' ones I bought online a few weeks ago are just very clearly too big for my face", she said.
BC Portrait photographer Anna Soriano turns making protective masks into a family affair
by Carlito Pablo on April 29th, 2020 STRAIGHT.COM Anna Soriano learned how to sew as a young woman, which has come in handy during the pandemic.Photographer
As a portrait photographer, Anna Soriano shows people at their best.
With women, she likes to take it a notch higher through glamour. This is why she makes gowns for them to wear for the shoot.
“I want them to look like celebrities,” Soriano tells the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “I want them to look like they just walked out of an Oscars awards night.”
Sewing is one of the survival skills she acquired as a young woman. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and masks fell into short supply, the craft became useful for the South Surrey mom and realtor.
Soriano began making cloth face masks, and she donated dozens of her creations to a seniors’ assisted-living facility in White Rock, where there was a virus outbreak.
Word spread about what the Filipino woman was doing, and soon her friends were paying for her masks so they could also give away face coverings to frontline health workers across the Lower Mainland.
Soriano recalls that she started before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. and the Public Health Agency of Canada in April recommended the use of nonmedical masks to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“I knew that it would be a preventative measure,” she says.
Soriano relates that she always reminds the people receiving her masks that the face covering is just one way of protecting everyone’s health.
“You still have to wash your hands, and you don’t put your hands on your face,” she says.
In order to continue her personal donations of face masks to various institutions, Soriano sets aside a portion of what she gets from paying clients.
She has heard that a similar thing is being done by Winnie Tan, a personal fitness trainer and a common acquaintance with photographer-friend Dean Guzman, both also Filipinos.
Guzman provided the Straight with a copy of a letter from the Langley Food Bank, thanking the Tri-Cities-area-based Tan and family for their donation of cloth face masks to the facility.
“Your masks are wonderful and will help protect our staff as we are handing our food to the less fortunate,” the letter reads.
Winnie Tan models one of her favourite Pretty Wings mask creations.
As someone with an economics degree, Soriano observes that shortages in medical-grade masks and protective equipment during this pandemic have exposed the risk of relying on other countries to produce essential products.
“Why are we not making these ourselves?” she asks.
She has raised six children, and three of them are living at home with her. Her 86-year-old mother is also with them. They’re tight-knit, and making masks has become a family activity that has brought them even closer together.
According to Soriano, her children have learned to live simply during this pandemic. They have also acquired a greater appreciation of the value of charity.
Vancouver fashion designer Jason Matlo moves into making face masks and visor units for volunteers by Janet Smith on March 27th, 2020 STRAIGHT.COM From bespoke clothing to assembled masks: Jason Matlo's gear for volunteers (left) contrasts with looks from his high-end Matlo Atelier (right).
He's created everything from high-end womenswear and menswear to stunning bridal gowns to atelier-based bespoke clothing, but now Vancouver fashion designer Jason Matlo is putting his skills to a new in-demand look: face mask and visor units.
Driven by a new Gofundme campaign, the gear will be directed to volunteers who are grocery shopping and making deliveries to those in isolation through MAV (Mutual AID Vancouver). Matlo is assembling the units with a team of volunteers, each living and working in isolation to avoid contamination
To date his project has made 71 face mask and visor units, with purchased supplies for an additional 100 units.
Until now, the units have been purchased by MAV volunteer. Funds raised on Matlo's campaign will go to reimburse them for their purchases, as well as purchase new supplies for assembly of one-time-use masks.
"Please note: we are purchasing supplies that ARE NOT deemed PPE, to ensure we are not taking away supplies from medical and health professionals who need them, and we ARE NOT distributing these to medical professionals as this is against current legislation and moral ethics," Matlo has clarified on the site.
Any proceeds left over from the assemblies will be donated to a Vancouver-focused COVID-19 relief charity.
For those concerned about visiting a doctor's office because of the pandemic, a telehealth provider can put them in contact with physicians and other health-care professionals
From mountain tops to hospital corridors: Arc'teryx and other B.C. outdoor brands join to pump out protective medical gowns
by Janet Smith on April 22nd, 2020 STRAIGHT.COM Arc'teryx's new medical gown, ranked at badly needed level 3 isolation.JAMES KIM
At first glance, Vancouver’s thriving outerwear industry might seem far removed from that of protective surgical gowns. One apparel is designed to take adventurers outdoors, across glaciers and through rainforests; the other, as we see every night on the television news, is confined to a strictly indoor world with its own invisible hazards.
But at Arc’teryx and other local outdoor-gear companies, the similarities are coming sharply into focus.
Applying the materials, techniques, and innovation that’s made it a go-to in extreme-adventure sports, Arc’teryx has managed to pivot within 10 days to manufacturing badly needed Level-3 isolation medical gowns for Vancouver Coastal Health. Under the health authority’s guidance, it’s joined in the effort by likeminded Mustang Survival (which makes protective gear for water rescue and mariners) and Boardroom Clothing (known for technical clothing and sustainability) in the B.C. Outdoor Apparel and Gear project. Each company has committed to making 30,000 gowns—90,000 in total.
“When we were given the technical specs [from the health authority] we started to recognize the tests for water resistance and spray penetration, the breathability,” Shirley Chan, senior director of product commercialization, who’s leading the project at Arc’teryx, explains over a video call. “What we do has nothing to do with pathogens, but it’s about barrier protection.
“We’re known for our waterproof, breathable technology,” Chan says, adding that’s achieved mostly through using Gore-Tex. “But it’s really about managing weather and the ability to sustain comfort in inclement weather. If you are comfortable, you will last longer at what you’re doing—whether that’s on a mountain top and you want to perform better or longer, or in protective gear at a hospital. You’ll generally feel safer as well; gear shouldn’t be something you think about.”
Like outdoor wear, she stresses, hospital gowns have to allow for as much range of movement as possible. One of the challenges of the surgical gowns is its universal fit for all shapes and sizes of frontline healthcare workers; cuffs need to be able to be pushed up and ties have to sit in the right place.
Machinery was moved apart and safety measures were instituted at Arc'teryx's manufacturing facility in New West.JAMES KIM
Developing a pattern was relatively easy, though, compared to finding a material that would live up to the protective grade needed. “We weren’t wanting hundreds or thousands but hundreds of thousands of metres,” she stresses. Between Arc’teryx, Boardroom, and Mustang, they tested numerous materials in stock for quality, but some were too waterproof or too heavy or too thin, she explains. That’s when Delta-based KenDor Textiles stepped in with a type of breathable Softshell.
At Arc’teryx’s ARC’One manufacturing facility in New Westminster, the company has sourced enough to deliver more than 1,500 Level-3 isolation gowns at a below-market rate. KenDor tapped a mill in China, whose new shipment should arrive by boat by the beginning of May to fill the rest of the orders within four to six weeks.
Arc’teryx had initially been forced to lay off about 450 workers from its New West facility when the pandemic struck. Now it’s been able to bring some of those workers back, wearing medical masks and assigned to spread-out work stations.
The project moved so fast, Chan relates, “we were literally cutting fabrics and moving machines simultaneously.” The company is already looking at the possibility of making more gowns for other districts once this batch is delivered.
Developing patterns and prototypes, then delivering product within 10 days would normally be unthinkable in the high-end, extreme outdoor-wear industry. Not so with the medical gowns.
As much as it’s been a smooth transition, there is one huge difference between what Arc’teryx normally does and this project: the idea that sewers, sample makers, pattern makers, and engineers could finish prototypes and kick a design into production in only 10 days would be almost unthinkable in the world of high-end adventure apparel. Chan laughs that, normally, it takes Arc’teryx two years to design and take a piece to market. “But then it’s blue sky—your options are limitless,” she says. “With this item the specs were predetermined.”
For now, while the medical gowns start to roll off the assembly line, Arc’teryx’s blue-sky creatives are working from home to create fall 2021 and spring 2022 collections.
“This is a bit of a hiatus on the world, but when the pandemic ends, we’re going to have to be ready to go,” Chan says.
Canadian physicians remain concerned about PPE supplies and COVID-19 testing: survey
Meanwhile, B.C.'s Health Minister has reported that the province has received more supplies from vendors and donors by Craig Takeuchi on April 29th, 2020 STRAIGHT.COM JJ GOUIN/GETTY IMAGES A recent national survey has found that the vast majority of responding Canadian physicians remain worried about the levels of COVID-19 testing and availability of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Physician pandemic concerns
On April 28, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) released the results of a survey of almost 2,500 physicians conducted on April 20 and 21 as a followup to a previous poll conducted of 5,000 physicians in late March.
The recent poll found that approximately half of the respondents felt that their concerns could be reduced by increases or improvements in availability of medication (54 percent), virtual care options (53 percent), and peer support (49 percent).
The survey also revealed that 84 percent of physicians feel that more COVID-19 testing would help reduce their anxieties and almost 90 percent felt more availability of PPE would help to reduce their concerns.
About one-third of physicians in community practices responded that they only had two days or less of key PPE (including eye or faceshields, respirators, gowns, or goggles or glasses) or had already run out.
The percentage remains the same as the results found from the late March poll, which also found that over two-thirds of physicians in community care had tried to order supplies but less than 15 percent received confirmation that the supplies were being sent or had been received.
Where physicians expressed variation in responses in the recent poill was whether or not they’ve seen PPE supply amounts improve in recent weeks.
While 29 percent said that supplies had worsened, the same amount felt they had improved. Meanwhile, 42 percent reported not seeing any change.
“The anxiety experienced by health care providers is compounded by a lack of information and assurance that everything possible is being done to protect them and understand the spread of the virus among Canadians,” CMA president stated in a news release. “We know that governments are working hard to improve the availability of personal protective equipment, but physicians continue to be gravely concerned about their ability to provide care safely.”
The CMA is requesting to meet with federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu about improving supplies reaching frontline workers, including more organizations and transparency between federal and provincial governments and governments providing assurances to hospital administrators of supplies.
B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix
PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
PPE in British Columbia
In B.C.’s daily COVID-19 update on April 9, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix explained that obtaining PPE for the medical system is not simply a matter of purchasing and distributing the items.
Dr. Henry said that they have specific requirements for the type of N95 mask that they need. In addition, Dix talked about how they have to inspect and test all PPE before distributing it in order to avoid problems and risks that have been experienced in some jurisdictions.
For example, on April 7 the City of Toronto had to recall about $200,000 worth of defective face masks that were sent to longterm care homes, including one with a COVID-19 outbreak.
On April 24, Global News reported that Chinese suppliers had to replace one million defective masks and contaminated testing swabs sold to the Canadian government.
Although Canada has received several planeloads full of PPE, the Public Health Agency of Canada has to certify that the equipment meets Canadian standards.
During the daily B.C. COVID-19 update on April 21, Dix said that they had received three million N95 masks, three-quarters of a million KN95 masks, and other supplies
During the April 28 daily update, Dix said that since that time, B.C. has received more PPE from suppliers and donors, including over 170,000 N95 respirators; over 350,000 pieces of eye protection, including face shields and goggles; over 100,000 surgical masks; over 185,000 gowns; and almost five million pairs of gloves.
Dix said that since that since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has not had to resort to using any alternate N95 respirators in the healthcare system.
For those concerned about visiting a doctor's office because of the pandemic, a telehealth provider can put them in contact with physicians and other health-care professionals.
Leaked Vancouver School Board document recommends against use of masks, gloves, and gowns in dealing with kids with complex needs
2 of 3 Even though surgical masks can be obtained at a relatively low price, Vancouver school board staff are being told they're not necessary when dealing with kids with complex needs.AMAZON
In normal times, K-12 educators face challenges in dealing with children with complex needs and behavioural problems.
But that can be magnified during a pandemic when the consequences can be deadly.
This is particularly so for teachers and aides with compromised immune systems, including cancer survivors and those with heart disease or diabetes.
Yet despite these health concerns, a 21-page Vancouver school board document recommends against the use of personal protective equipment—including masks, gloves, and gowns—for staff in the educational sector. (See the PDF link at the left of this article if you're reading this article on a desktop computer.)
The document, which was leaked to the Georgia Straight, purports that there is "no benefit from wearing masks in public settings or in schools".
Elsewhere, it states that physical distancing "is not an expectation in a childcare or K-12 educational setting".
In contrast, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people wear cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
"The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators," the CDC emphasizes on its website. "Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers instructions on its website for how to create a cloth mask.U.S. CDC
Spitting risk deemed low for asymptomatic kids
Additional School and Childcare Safety Protocols for Working with Children with Complex Needs (COVID-19) also states that masks are not recommended for children unless advised by a health-care provider.
"In young children in particular, masks can be irritating and may lead to increased touching of the face and eyes," it says.
Under "Spitting Recommendations", the document acknowledges that this behaviour is "challenging".
Then it adds: "if the student is asymptomatic and healthy, the risk of transmission is low, especially if the behaviour is paired with handwashing and cleaning."
In fact, asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 has been deemed a serious problem by researchers. It was even described as the "Achilles' heel" of current control strategies in a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine.
That's due to the high-level of shedding of the virus in the upper respiratory tract, even in presymptomatic patients.
Yet the VSB document states that no additional personal protective equipment is required by those working in the educational sector "unless identified on a case by case basis by the health authority".
The document also says that face masks are not required for rendering first aid if there are no flulike symptoms.
If a student begins to show flulike symptoms, certified first aid attendants should remain two meters away and "discreetly" move the person to a private isolation room and alert the principal or supervisor.
The Vancouver School Board's document makes no accommodation for staff who may have compromised immune systems due to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, or other conditions.
Vancouver Coastal Health reviewed document
Additional School and Childcare Safety Protocols for Working with Children with Complex Needs (COVID-19) was originally developed by the Langley school district in cooperation with others, including Fraser Health Authority.
The document states that Vancouver Coastal Health has reviewed this adapted version for use in its jurisdiction, which includes Vancouver, Richmond, the North Shore, Sunshine Coast, and Sea to Sky corridor.
It also claims that COVID-19 has "a very low infection rate in children", estimated at one to five percent worldwide.
But this statement does not acknowledge that many countries, provinces, and states have not been testing representative samples of the populations, preferring to focus diagnostic efforts on health-care workers and those deemed to be at higher risk.
In addition, the document states that there's "no conclusive evidence that children who are asymptomatic pose a risk to other children or to adults".
It correctly notes that children infected with the novel coronavirus have milder symptoms, if any. And a very low number of them become critically ill.
According to WorkSafe B.C., employees have "the right to refuse work if they believe it presents an undue hazard".
"In those circumstances, employers need to consider the refusal on a case-by-case basis, depending on the situation," WorkSafe B.C. states on its website. "For more information, see Occupational Health and Safety Guideline G3.12."
Richmond students manufacture personal protective equipment at J.N. Burnett secondary school
by Carlito Pablo on April 29th, 2020 STRAIGHT.COM Grade 12 student Christopher Lam makes face shields and ear savers with 3D printers.
A change of plans was not going to keep Christopher Lam away from the fight against COVID-19.
Lam, a Grade 12 student at J. N. Burnett Secondary School in Richmond, is a volunteer with St. John Ambulance, a first-aid and safety charity.
He was expecting to be deployed with one of its teams to the Vancouver Convention Centre. That’s where the provincial government has set up a temporary health facility to serve patients not sick with the virus, in case hospitals are overrun with COVID-19 cases.
But that situation didn’t appear to be happening, so Lam decided to focus his efforts elsewhere.
The high-school student then began making face shields with a 3-D printer at home.
“I wanted to do something to help the community, to help those on the frontlines,” Lam tells the Straight in a phone interview.
Lam began in March, and before long he was able to produce hundreds of face shields, which he gave to hospitals and care homes.
Sean Uy, another Grade 12 student at J. N. Burnett, also started to make face shields at home. Lam says that he later inquired whether the school’s 3-D printers could be put into action as well.
School principal Wennie Walker supported the initiative and got in touch with the Richmond school district to get more printers for the cause.
Lam, Uy, and a third student, Adriano Carvalheiro-Nunes, are actively involved in this school-based project, with support from technology teacher Wes Bevan and other school staff.
Adriano Carvalheiro-Nune, Chris Lam, Sean Uy, and J.N. Burnett principal Wennie Walker have been supported by the Richmond school district.
The students are producing face shields and ear savers, a mask accessory that reduces skin irritation. According to Lam, they want health workers in care homes to get the devices.
“They’re a major part of what we’re supporting, because they don’t get as much provincial support as hospitals,” Lam says.
On Tuesday (April 28), Lam had made more than 100 ear savers that day.
Lam also says they need more materials to keep going. Specifically, these are PETG sheets and filament, and clear polycarbonate sheets. (PETG is polyethylene terephthalate glycol plastic, a durable material used for 3-D printing.)
No one knows for sure where the world is headed with the COVID-19 pandemic, but that is not about to stop Lam.
“For me, I’m already a licensed paramedic, so if all education goes down, I will just end up joining either the ambulance service or a private service to help with the situation,” Lam says.
After beating COVID-19, Vancouver physician Joseph Finkler explains how pandemic transformed emergency medicine
Dr. Joseph Finkler's daughter Laura, a palliative care nurse at St. Paul's Hospital, was unable to do work in the community for 14 days after her dad contracted COVID-19 because she also had to be isolated.
One of the tragedies of the novel coronavirus pandemic has been the impact on front-line workers’ health. Many have contracted COVID-19 and some have died.
Dr. Joseph Finkler considers himself one of the lucky ones—the St. Paul’s Hospital emergency room physician is back at work after recovering from the disease and coming out of quarantine just over a week ago.
He concedes that it sort of snuck upon him.
“I didn’t recognize the symptoms because I had been working a whole bunch of night shifts,” Finkler told the Straight by phone. “I felt really crummy and tired.”
The 62-year-old doctor said he had a persistent cough for months. But on March 26, he decided to stop working and get tested after feeling a fever, chills, and night sweats.
After being diagnosed, he worried for a “fleeting moment” that he might develop lower interstitial pneumonia.
That, he feared, could bring on a “cytokine storm”, in which immune-system cells attack other cells in the body, perhaps forcing him to go on a ventilator.
According to the New Scientist, these cytokine storms are common complications of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.
Fortunately, he avoided that fate but it still troubled him that he couldn’t help patients during his period self-isolation. He even had to remain at a distance from his partner and two daughters, who all amazingly avoided infection even though they live in the same house.
One of those daughters, Laura, is a palliative care nurse at St. Paul’s Hospital. She was restricted from going into the community because she was also required to remain isolated.
“My radioactivity not only resulted in their lifestyles being restricted for 14 days, but also they were stigmatized by their connection with me,” Finkler noted.
He acknowledged that upon his return to work, some colleagues were not keen to be too close to him.
“I understand it,” he said. “There’s a disconnect between what we know in science and what we might feel.”
Finkler explained that because of the pandemic, it’s become far more complicated dealing with patients in the emergency ward.
In early March, he said, staff were wearing gloves and sometimes wearing a surgical mask if they were swabbing patients.
By the time he was diagnosed later that month, doctors and nurses were not only using surgical and N95 masks, but also wearing protective eye shields and disposable gowns over layers of clothing.
“It’s like walking in molasses, or underwater,” he said. “It’s so crazy because it’s so restrictive. It really slows down the process.”
Dr. Joseph Finkler says that treating patients has become more complicated during the pandemic because of all the protective gear that health workers must wear.
At the same time, Finkler acknowledged that all this protective gear is necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to patients and colleagues, even if it has slowed the delivery of health care somewhat.
Patients often have to be separated when they arrive in the emergency room. Those who may be showing symptoms of respiratory problems or anyone who is critically ill is transferred to an area called "COVID", which has 12 beds where they can remain isolated.
This keeps them away from other patients who might be suffering from acute mental-health issues or other problems unrelated to the novel coronavirus.
Finkler said that there's a perception among some that if you contract COVID-19, it's a death sentence. In fact, the death rate is only a little over one percent in Canada if all the fatalities are divided by the number of positive test results.
"But if we include a whole bunch of asymptomatic people [who have the virus] we haven't tested, it's actually way lower," he added.
Finkler applauded the way that everyone in the health-care system has “locked arms and come up with creative solutions” to the crisis.
“Our planners did a ton of work—our department heads, operations managers, program managers, vice presidents of medicine, administrators, CEOs—they moved mountains to prepare us,” Finkler said. “Even though we’ve not had to deal with the tsunami [of cases], I think that was incredible.”
He Worked As A Janitor At The University Where He Was Studying. He Died From The Coronavirus Just 20 Credits Shy Of Graduating.
Darrin Adams made a living cleaning the halls of Wayne State University in Detroit. As a custodian there for six years, he helped keep the school tidy.
But he was also there to make a new life for himself.
After a couple of years working at the school, he enrolled himself in 2016. He chose to major in sociology, pursuing a bachelor of arts degree.
Eager to learn, he sat in the front rows of his classrooms, dressed in the college's sports swag. He asked nuanced questions and spoke poignantly about issues of race. He had a 3.64 GPA. The university said he was “an all-star student.”
For Adams, this new beginning was sacred. “He made a pact with God that if he got out this time, he would make changes and wouldn’t go back [to prison],” Woolfork told BuzzFeed News.
Adams, though, was not able to finish his dream.
His story of redemption ended on April 3 when he died after nearly a month of having COVID-19 symptoms, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. He was just 20 credits shy of graduating.
Instead, on Friday, Wayne State University officials announced Adams would be posthumously awarded his bachelor’s degree.
“Adams’ commitment to his education and community will be remembered and missed,” officials said.
They made two separate trips to urgent care. “We had a hard time because nobody would let us in because we had fevers,” said Woolfork, who also tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently awaiting results after quarantining for nearly a month.
After landing at the Ascension Providence Hospital emergency room, each of them tested negative for the flu. They were given antibiotics and instructed to quarantine, according to Woolfork.
“It was crippling," she said. “Our bodies were aching. We were sweating. We had fevers. We couldn’t eat, and the Z-Paks weren’t doing it. So I said, ‘We got to go back and find out what’s going on.’ That’s when I started getting worried. I’d never felt like this before.”
Two days later, the couple returned to the hospital.
During this trip, Adams was diagnosed with double pneumonia and sent home with a prescription for an inhaler and other medications. The comments on his discharge papers noted “worsening conditions,” according to documents BuzzFeed News reviewed. Woolfork said Adams had a history of bronchitis and asthma.
“I just watched him just decline,” said Woolfork. “I mean, I was sick too, but not as sick as he was — because he was having problems breathing.”
“They didn’t even come inside, because they said they couldn’t get contaminated or whatever,” Woolfork said.
So Adams walked outside of his one-family house and down two steps from his porch; he was put onto a stretcher and admitted to Sinai-Grace Hospital.
“That was the last time I saw him,” said Woolfork.
The same day, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer directed all nonessential businesses to close and signed a statewide stay-at-home order, which went into effect on March 24 at midnight.
Adams died some 10 days later.
Friends and family members characterized Adams as a hard worker, a jokester, and someone who loved to dance. “He always repped the men in the dance battles,” his cousin Darryl Franklin told BuzzFeed News. “He was the life of the party.”
Adams was also a member of the AmeriCorps Urban Safety Program, working to increase public safety throughout his city. As part of the initiative, he helped board up more than 200 abandoned homes, many of which line routes that children in Detroit walk each day to get to school.
“He was a good person who wanted to leave a mark on the world,” said Woolfork. “And he has done just that.”
“What The Fuck?” Elon Musk Calls Coronavirus Shelter-In-Place Orders “Fascist.”
In an earnings call, the Tesla CEO called public health orders in the Bay Area an "outrage."
Ryan Mac BuzzFeed News Reporter April 29, 2020, at 9:02 p.m. ET
Hannibal Hanschke / Reuters
After an 18-hour span on Twitter, in which he blocked at least one prominent doctor, exchanged tweets with a far-right influencer, and demanded that the US be set “FREE,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk did what he does best. He doubled down.
On a call with analysts and investors following the company’s quarterly earnings announcement, Musk bashed government officials and the Bay Area counties’ shelter-in-place orders, overshadowing what was otherwise a positive quarter for the electric car maker.
“The extension of the shelter in place or frankly I would call it ‘forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights’ — that’s my opinion — and breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why people came to America or built this country,” Musk said in response to a question from an analyst about the company’s liquidity. ”What the fuck? Excuse me. Outrage. It’s an outrage.”
Since calling the coronavirus panic “dumb” in early March, Musk has repeatedly downplayed the impact of a pandemic that has killed 57,505 people in the US alone. He’s said the fatality rate from the disease is “greatly overstated,” pushed potential treatments that hadn’t been properly vetted, and predicted that the United States would have zero new cases by the end of April. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 23,901 new US cases on Wednesday.
Musk’s prediction on March 19 vs. reality06:48 AM - 29 Apr 2020 ReplyRetweetFavorite Musk’s comments on Tesla's public earnings call were his most belligerent denouncement of the government’s response to the outbreak, and came after his company’s factory in Fremont, California, had spent more than a month out of commission because of officials’ shelter-in-place order. That order, which was extended by Alameda and other Bay Area counties to the end of May, infuriated Tesla’s CEO.
"But to say they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist,” he said. “This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom."
Despite what Musk said, Alameda County’s shelter-in-place order does not require that people remain in their homes around the clock, and does include provisions allowing them to go out to exercise or shop for goods. The county also allows businesses that have been deemed “essential” — including grocery stores, pharmacies, and banks — to continue operating. Despite an initial period of confusion, Tesla was not given that distinction.
“We are a bit worried about not being able to resume production in the Bay Area,” Musk said. “And that should be identified as a serious risk. We only have two car factories right now: one in Shanghai and one in the Bay Area, and the Bay Area produces the vast majority of our cars.”
Further adding to the chaos of the call, Tesla’s phone line was cut off minutes after Musk delivered his tirade, leaving a bewildered operator wondering where the Tesla CEO and his executives had gone. They later returned to the call to finish answering select questions.
The Tesla CEO’s earnings call rant came after he spent part of Tuesday night tweeting that the government should “give people their freedom back” and “FREE AMERICA NOW.”
Tesla reported earnings of $1.24 a share on revenue of $6 billion during the first quarter of 2020, a period in which analysts anticipated a loss. The carmaker’s shares were up nearly 9% in after-hours trading.
Below are excerpts from Elon Musk from Tesla's Wednesday earnings call:
In response to an analyst's question about Tesla's financial position and liquidity at the end of April:
We are a bit worried about not being able to resume production in the Bay Area. And that should be identified as a serious risk. We only have two car factories right now: One in Shanghai and one in the Bay Area, and the Bay Area produces the vast majority of our cars. All of S and X and most of the 3 and all of the Y.
The extension of the shelter in place or frankly I would call it "forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights" — that’s my opinion — and breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why people came to America or built this country. What the fuck? Excuse me. Outrage. It’s an outrage. It will cause great harm, not just to Tesla, but to many companies. And while Tesla will weather the storm, there are many small companies that will not. And all of people’s — everything they’ve worked for their whole lives has been destroyed in real time. And we’re going to have many and have many suppliers that are on super hard times, especially the small ones, and it’s causing a lot of strife to a lot of people. Yeah.
In response to an analyst's question about Musk's message to lawmakers coming out of the health crisis and whether or not there was an opportunity for the country to grow:
I think it’s high time we invested in infrastructure in this country. We have a lot of crumbling highways and bridges and frankly, when I visit China, I see their infrastructure as being much better than ours. It’s great. Europe has better infrastructure. It’s really quite sad the US infrastructure, especially roads and highways with where it is today. And airports in a lot of cases are an embarrassment. It’s not just a question of money, it’s a question of will. Sometimes we spend a lot of money on these things, but what do we gain for it? We really need to figure out where is the transportation of the future and not the transportation of the past. You know, if this was 1920, do you want to be investing in steam engines or internal combustion engines? Obviously not steam engines.
This is a time to think about the future and also to ask is it right to infringe upon people’s rights as what is happening right now. I think people are going to be very angry about this and are very angry. If somebody wants to stay in their house, that’s great. They should be allowed to stay in their house and they should not be compelled to leave. But to say they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom.
