Americans Are Really Scared About Their Economic Future

A third of Americans expect their households' finances to be worse a year from now.

Posted on May 11, 2020

Paul Ratje / Getty Images

After weeks cooped up at home or working in essential jobs that expose them to the coronavirus, people in the United States are experiencing record levels of anxiety about the future.

Released Monday, the New York Federal Reserve Bank's April Survey of Consumer Expectations found that consumers — especially those earning low incomes — are expecting their lives to get grim: “The perceived probability of losing one’s job reached a new series high for the second consecutive month. Expected earnings, income, and spending growth each reached series lows.”

Notably, 31.6% of respondents expected their households to be worse financially a year from now, and 21.9% expected their household income would decrease over the next year.

Each month for seven years, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has asked people how much they expect their income to rise or fall over the next year. In this month's survey, people said they thought their earnings would increase by only 1.8% over the coming year — the lowest number ever recorded in the series. The outlook was best among those who earn over $100,000 and worst among those who earn less than $50,000.

The average person thought there was a 20.9% chance they would lose their job in the next 12 months, another survey record. Those who earned less than $50,000 had a worse outlook, saying there was a 25% chance they will lose their job. And 47% of people said they would be able to find a job within three months if they lost their current job. Last month, that number was 53%; the decline is the largest month-to-month drop recorded by the survey.

The survey was taken by 1,300 people between April 2 and April 30, giving it a margin of error of approximately 3%.

The fears that the survey reported are real. The US unemployment rate rose to 14.7% in April, and women and people of color have lost their jobs at higher rates than white men.

The unemployment rate has begun to affect basic spending. An Apartment List survey released on Thursday found that fewer people were able to pay their May rents on time than they were in April. Twenty-two percent of renters made no payment at all, while 11% of renters made a partial payment. And most renters who were late on their April rents were also unable to pay all or part of their May rents on time.

“Lower-income families continue to struggle the most. For those making less than $25,000 per year, delinquencies rose from 31% in April to a staggering 41% in May,” read the Apartment List report.

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How the novel coronavirus attacks our entire body

COVID-19 is known primarily as a respiratory illness. However, the aggressive pathogen SARS-CoV-2 attacks not only the lungs but also the heart, nerves, brain, vessels, kidneys and skin


Of course, the lungs and airways are the main focus of attention with the COVID-19 respiratory disease. Since the new SARS-CoV-2 pathogen mainly attacks the lower respiratory tract, infected persons who experience a moderate or severe course of the disease have a dry cough, shortness of breath and/or pneumonia.

However, there are now numerous indications that the new coronavirus also attacks other organs on a massive scale and can severely affect the heart, blood vessels, nerves, brain, kidneys and skin.

Heart

Several studies and papers from countries including the US, China and Italy suggest that SARS-CoV-2 also attacks the heart. The evidence is based not only on the significantly higher mortality of COVID patients with cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure: Several studies have also shown that patients with severe courses of the disease often had elevated blood biomarkers released by destroyed and dying heart muscle cells. In many previously healthy patients, the virus infection has been shown to cause myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle.

Whether the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 itself causes this damage to the heart or — as seems more likely — the harm is done by the immune reactions triggered by the infection remains to be seen. However, acute heart damage has also occurred in the past in some SARS and MERS patients, and these SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV pathogens are very closely related to the current coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Lungs

During the COVID-19 disease, the lung is massively attacked, but the damage doesn't always stop there: Many recovered patients have presented partially reduced lung function as a late consequence. Chinese researchers have found a milky glass-like cloudiness in the lungs of some people who have recovered from COVID-19, which suggests permanent organ damage has occurred. Further investigations must now show whether the patients have developed pulmonary fibrosis, in which the connective tissue of the lung becomes inflamed.


A milky glass-like cloudiness in the lungs indicates permanent organ damage

This makes it harder for oxygen to reach the blood vessels, stiffens the lungs and makes breathing shallow and rapid. Respiratory disorders, shortness of breath and a dry, irritable cough are the consequences; physical performance decreases and even everyday activities become difficult.

Pulmonary fibrosis cannot be cured because the scarred changes in the lung tissue do not regress. But the progression of the condition can be delayed and sometimes even stopped if it is detected in time.

Vessels

During the autopsy of deceased COVID-19 patients, pathologists at the University Hospital of Zurich discovered that in some of them the entire cell layer on the inside of the blood and lymph vessels (endothelium) of various organs was inflamed.

The researchers concluded that the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 leads to a generalized inflammation in the endothelium via ACE2 receptors. This could lead to severe microcirculatory disturbances that damage the heart and cause pulmonary embolism and vascular occlusion in the brain and intestinal tract. As a result, multiorgan failure occurs, which can often lead to death.

Nervous system

In more than 80% of COVD-19 patients, a disturbance of the senses of taste and smell is observed. Such ageusia or anosmia occurs at the very beginning of the infection, and COVID-19 can be diagnosed early on the basis of these symptoms. This is because in a normal flu-like infection, which is triggered by adenoviruses, the olfactory and taste disorders occur only at an advanced stage of the disease.


The olfactory nerve leads from the nasal mucosa through the skull bone directly into the brain

This seemingly banal observation shows, however, that in many patients the nervous system is also affected by the novel coronavirus SARS CoV-2. This is because the olfactory nerve leads from the nasal mucosa through the skull bone directly into the brain. Researchers from Belgium found out that the nerve cells serve as a gateway for the virus into the central nervous system.

Brain

The earlier coronavirus infections MERS and SARS already showed a similar penetration of the viruses via the nerves into the brain. When a patient in Japan infected with the new coronavirus showed signs of epileptic seizures, he was diagnosed with meningitis caused by the new coronavirus, which had penetrated the central nervous system.

Researchers from Japan and China therefore fear that in some people, the pathogen penetrates into the brain stem and damages the respiratory center there. This might explain why older COVID-19 patients, in particular, sometimes stop breathing without having previously experienced massive breathing problems due to the lung infection. It is still unclear whether SARS-CoV-2 also causes or promotes strokes.

Kidneys

If COVID-19 patients with pneumonia need to be ventilated, this can also damage the kidneys. Acute kidney failure often occurs. Because pneumonia often causes a lot of fluid to accumulate in the lungs, patients are given a drug that removes fluid from the body. However, this reduces the blood supply to the kidneys, and they can no longer fulfill their cleansing function.


In about 30% of COVID-19 patients, the kidneys are acutely impaired to such an extent that they require dialysis.

In addition, the blood coagulates faster in severe COVID-19 disease. As a result, blood clots can easily form, blocking the blood vessels and often also the kidneys. Small infarctions in the kidney tissue have been observed in numerous patients.

In about 30% of these patients, the kidneys are acutely restricted to such an extent that they require dialysis. It is not clear yet whether the kidneys heal after the patients recover or whether SARS-Cov-2 triggers long-term damage to the organs.

Skin

The novel coronavirus SARS CoV-2 also appears to cause visible damage to the largest organ of the human body, the skin. There are reports from several countries that COVID-19 patients showed significant skin lesions.

Small dermatological lesions on the feet have occurred particularly in children and young people. These purple patches resembled those caused by measles, chickenpox or chilblains. On the toes, the lesions usually resembled frostbite or formed reticular patterns, normally caused by blood clots in small blood vessels. Sometimes, however, marks, redness and hives-like rashes have also been observed on other parts of the body.

It is possible that the bluish discoloration of the skin is due to pathological blood clotting, which could also be caused by the novel coronavirus.



CORONAVIRUS AND THE ENVIRONMENT: 7 CHANGES TO EXPECT
Better air quality

As the world grinds to a halt, the sudden shutdown of most industrial activities has dramatically reduced air pollution levels. Satellite images have even revealed a clear drop in global levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a gas which is primarily emitted from car engines and commercial manufacturing plants and is responsible for poor air quality in many major cities.

FOTOS HERE 1234567

Date 11.05.2020
Author Alexander Freund
Related Subjects Coronavirus
Keywords coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, organs, lung, blood vessels, kidneys, nerves, brain, heart

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3c19Y

Uganda: Kampala gears up for e-mobility

Uganda's motorbikes go green

Kampala's boda bodas — motorcycle taxis — are discovering how solar power can make the streets cleaner and their business greener.

Project aim: To help Uganda make the switch to electric mobility and raise awareness of green technology

Budget: The project is part of a $34-million initiative led by the United Nations Environment Program and the International Energy Agency to support the transition of 17 developing and transition countries to electric mobility

Project partners: Implemented by the International Climate Initiative of the German Environment Ministry in partnership with the Ugandan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development

Electric mobility is still a new phenomenon in Uganda, with fewer than 10% of the vehicles on Kampala's roads electrically powered. But a new project by the German Environment Ministry's International Climate Initiative and the United Nations Development Program aims to change all that. The goal is to bring cleaner air to Uganda's cities and at the same time create new jobs in green technology.

In Kampala, motorcycles are the number one way to get around and local companies Zembo and Bodawerk are leading the charge to make them cleaner. Bodawerk converts conventional motorcycles, while Zembo imports tailor-made e-bikes from China and is building a network of solar-powered charging stations.

For the boda boda drivers who ferry paying passengers around the Ugandan capital on their motorbikes, the switch to e-bikes is proving a good investment.

A film by Wolf Gebhardt and Julius Mugambwa

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Uganda: Kampala gears up for e-mobility

Date 12.05.2020
Homepage Global 3000 - The Globalization Program
Related Subjects Energiewende (Transition to renewable power sources), Solar power, Renewable energy
Keywords Renewables, Uganda, solar, electric mobility, motorbikes
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Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3btGM

CULTURE
Why Hannah Arendt remains inspiring today

The German-American philosopher was one of the great political thinkers of the 20th century. Berlin's German Historical Museum has dedicated an exhibition to Hannah Arendt, who remains more relevant than ever.

FOR HANNAH ARENDT, SMOKING AND THINKING BELONGED TOGETHER
The thinker
A philosopher, writer and professor of political theory: Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) became renowned in the US and worldwide for her works examining revolutions and totalitarian systems, as well as the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, in which she radically questioned traditions and ideologies.
FOTO ESSAY HERE 1234567891011


The poster for the exhibition "Hannah Arendt and the 20th Century" — delayed due to the coronavirus shutdowns but now opening on May 11 — is a black-and-white close-up of the German philosopher, chin in hand, face tilted slightly upward, a thoughtful look on her face and a lit cigarette in her hand. Its thought-provoking caption reads: "No one has the right to obey."
The exhibition examines in 16 chapters the thinker's subjective perspective on historical events — with photos, sound and film documents, objects from Arendt's private estate and international loans. The aim is to present key events in 20th century history in a new way.

Hannah Arendt's work is indeed ideally suited for this purpose. The philosopher published works on anti-Semitism, colonialism and racism, the Nazis and Stalinism in her straightforward style — demonstrating that critical thinking could be both daring and entertaining.

The list of controversies the intellectual philosopher triggered is long, and her 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem — a major focus in the exhibition — certainly tops that list.

In 1961, Hannah Arendt witnessed the trial of former SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem as a reporter. Eichmann was responsible for the deportations of millions of Jews to concentration and extermination camps.

Arendt's article on the trial appeared in 1963 in The New Yorker and then as a book with the subtitle, "A Report on the Banality of Evil." She describes Adolf Eichmann as a technocrat without convictions who stylized himself as a mere tool of his superiors.

Model of crematorium II in Auschwitz-Birkenau, by Polish artist Mieczyslaw Stobierski

The banality of evil

The banality of evil, the famous phrase coined by Arendt, is characterized by organized thoughtlessness and irresponsibility, she wrote. The "unconditional" obedience that Eichmann repeatedly referred to was an expression of this thoughtlessness and irresponsibility.

The controversy surrounding Arendt's report was sparked not only by the title and the question of "banality," but also by the fact that she questioned the reaction of the "Judenräte" (Jewish Councils) to developments in Germany at the time. Were the members of these institutions guilty of collaboration?

Read more: The ratlines: What did the Vatican know about Nazi escape routes?


Interrogation records from the Eichmann trial

"We are putting Hannah Arendt's analysis of 20th-century issues up for discussion," says exhibition curator Monika Boll. "Not because we believe that Hannah Arendt is always right, but by transmitting her enthusiasm for analytical thinking to the visitors, we want them to form their own opinions."

Hannah Arendt, who viewed critical thought as an eminently political activity, would most certainly have agreed with that approach. After all, the philosopher felt that National Socialism spelled not only a collapse of all moral values, but also the breakdown of the ability to show judgment, points out Boll. Opinions were synchronized; people learned to talk as "we" and not "I" — and the question of personal responsibility was thus shifted to impersonal authorities, says Boll.

A 20th-century thinker

Born in 1906 as the daughter of secular Jewish parents near Hannover, Hannah Arendt grew up in the educated circles of Königsberg. In 1924, she began to study philosophy and theology, first in Marburg, later in Freiburg and Heidelberg. She received her doctorate in philosophy in 1928 with Karl Jaspers.

She wrote for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper and looked into the writings of Rahel Varnhagen von Ense, an intellectual Jewish woman of the Romantic period whose life was regarded as an example of successful assimilation — unlike Arendt, who was skeptical about the idea of assimilation in the name of the equality of all people. She considered it politically naive, a stance that often offended people.


Visitors need to wear face masks in the exhibition halls

Hannah Arendt anticipated as early as 1931 that the Nazis would come to power. Two years later, and unlike most people living in Germany at the time, it was clear to her that Germans needed to actively fight against the regime.

That same year, the young woman emigrated to France, where she worked for Zionist organizations in Paris alongside her academic work. In 1941, she fled with her husband and her mother to New York via Lisbon. Hannah Arendt was naturalized as a US citizen in 1951.

'Thinking without a banister'

She stayed true to herself throughout her life, never following any particular school, tradition or ideology. Her thinking, says Monika Boll, is difficult to classify and that is why it is so interesting. "You can always find liberal as well as conservative and left-wing elements in her thinking, which makes it very difficult to pinpoint her in any political camp." Hannah Arendt herself called it "thinking without a banister." She was also an excellent writer. All that contributes to her appeal, says Boll: "That's why people like to look into her life and works."

Indeed, Arendt's reports from post-war Germany, her remarks on the refugee question, racism in America or the international student movement always manage to surprise people. Her views encourage visitors to the Berlin exhibition to rethink their own opinions.

Boll also hopes that the exhibition will inspire visitors to realize that it is important to form well-founded opinions of their own. In times of fake news and mass hysteria generated by social media, Hannah Arendt is a wonderful antidote.


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For Hannah Arendt, smoking and thinking belonged together

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Keywords exhibition, Hannah Arendt, Holocaust smoking


Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3bwhm

How East Africa is fighting locusts amid coronavirus

DATA ANALYSIS
East Africa is battling its worst locust invasion in decades. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, countries are fighting to stop a new generation of locusts swarms, which could jeopardize food security.




Since 2019, East Africa has been desperately trying to control a devastating desert locust invasion. The long rains that typically fall across the region from March to May this year will probably allow yet another generation of locusts to mature, further threatening crops and livelihoods.

This would be an additional blow to food security in East African countries, which are also facing economic disruption from the coronavirus pandemic response.

Read more: Severe hunger threatens Africa during COVID-19 lockdowns

In the region, swarms of desert locusts covered more than 2,000 square km – an area as big at Ethiopia's Lake Tana – in April alone.

Swarms of this size are made up of billions of insects, which can obliterate vegetation, eating more in a day than the combined population of Kenya and Somalia do.
https://www.dw.com/en/locusts-hit-east-africa-during-coronavirus/a-53357078
Watch video

UN sounds alarm as locusts spread in East Africa

Ethiopia and Kenya are currently the worst hit by the locust infestation.

New waves of locusts are forecast for the coming months in Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia as seasonal rains create favorable breeding conditions.


"The next generation of swarms will be around late June or early part of July," says Keith Cressman, senior locust forecasting officer at the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

The timing is particularly worrying as this would coincide with the start of the harvest season.

Crops wiped out

Desert locust swarms strip almost all green vegetation from crops and trees over immense areas, leaving behind ravaged fields and pasture lands and putting both farmers and pastoralists at risk of severe food shortages.

It's predicted more than 25 million people in East Africa will experience food insecurity in 2020 with the locust infestations compounding the situation.


Some farmers lost 90 percent of their crops in the first wave of locust to hit Ethiopia, says Yimer Seid of Ethiopia's South Wollo agricultural department.

"I visited families who have no food in their house. They sold their animals," he says.

Perfect conditions for desert locusts

A disastrous combination of circumstances fueled the current desert locust plague.

In 2018, two cyclones in succession unleashed rain in the immense sandy desert on the southern Arabian Peninsula known as the Empty Quarter. The moist sand and sprouting vegetation provided favorable conditions for the locusts to thrive.

Solitary desert locusts are usually harmless. If they are packed densely enough, however, the insects change behavior and even appearance, forming large groups that devour everything in their path. Groups of young, wingless locusts form bands, which eventually mature into fast-moving swarms.

In the Empty Quarter, the locusts multiplied unnoticed for three generations, increasing their original number 8,000-fold before swarms migrated up the Arabian Peninsula to Yemen.

https://www.dw.com/en/locusts-hit-east-africa-during-coronavirus/a-53357078

Watch video Locusts threaten food security in East Africa

Locusts are common in Yemen but its ongoing civil war has devastated the country's ability to monitor and fight the insects.

From Yemen, in 2019 the desert locust swarms traveled north to Iran then to Pakistan and India.


They were also carried on the wind across the Red Sea to northeastern Ethiopia, south Eritrea and Somalia, where higher than average rainfalls over the 2019 summer allowed the locusts to proliferate.

Ongoing locust crisis

That's when FAO declared an emergency, increasing and prioritizing equipment and monitoring efforts.

"We started fast tracking everything because we knew the situation was going to be out of control very quickly," says Cressman from the FAO.

But despite FAO and other organizations moving as fast as they could to curb the spread of the locusts, their sheer numbers meant they were already hard to control.

In December 2019, the insects started swarming into Kenya in what has turned into the worst outbreak the country has experienced in 70 years.


To make matters worse, East Africa's short rains, which normally fall from October to December, continued into 2020, allowing this first wave of swarms to mature and start laying eggs.

Now, the region has to fight this new generation as it hatches, before it creates the new swarms predicted for June.

Fighting the locusts

Managing locust swarms is best done before they even form. Regular monitoring is essential, since small numbers of the insects can be controlled relatively easily.

"It's not difficult to kill a locust. You put pesticide on the locust and it dies," says Cressman.

Normally, this is done by teams on the ground spraying pesticides from hand-held tanks, reinforced by planes or helicopters.

Read more: Why locusts are so destructive in East Africa

The problem with the current infestation is its sheer scale, he says.

"It's like a forest fire. If you find it really small as a campfire, you just put it out. But if you miss it, then it becomes a wildfire, and the problem gets much more difficult and expensive to control."

Time of the essence
Countries like Kenya, having little recent experience with locusts, took a few months to set up control operations. With locusts multiplying exponentially, that's valuable time lost.

Authorities in the affected countries have already sprayed pesticides on thousands of hectares of land. But if the weather conditions don't dry up, that might not be enough.

Control operations are falling behind: In April, only a quarter of the area affected by locusts was treated. Locust populations are expected to increase 20- or even 400-fold in the months to come.


Locusts multiply faster than control operations can keep up.

Helping hands

Spraying isn't the only way of weathering the devastation caused by the locusts.

In Ethiopia's South Wollo Zone, the community worked together in 2019 to bring in the harvest before the locusts could devour them.

"We harvested the crops in cooperation with everyone," says Yimer Seid. "There would have been around 100 people in a large field …, all volunteers from the region."

He's also seen more examples of people in the community sharing crops and food with each other to make sure people don't go hungry.

Two crises at once

The coronavirus pandemic makes such community action much harder. Although Ethiopia isn't under a strict lockdown, the movement of people is restricted by a national emergency decree.

Normally, agricultural officers in South Wollo would monitor the locusts in the field, explained Seid. Now farmers send in their reports online or over the phone, making it harder to assess the situation.

Overall, though, monitoring efforts and pesticide spraying operations are continuing in Ethiopia as locust control counts as an essential service.


But with new swarms on their way, Ethiopia desperately needs to scale up its operations, says Fatouma Seid from FAO Ethiopia. This should include "more teams on the ground, more vehicles for the government and more pesticides on the ground in addition to the air control."

However, the current stock of pesticides will only tide over locust control in Ethiopia up to June, she says.

As for neighboring Somalia, the country currently has enough pesticide at hand to spray around 2,000 square km.

That will cover the first phase of controlling hoppers (the juvenile locust, which can't fly) up to July, says Alphonse Owuor, Crop Protection Officer with FAO Somalia.

More pesticide is available if needed, Owuor says.

"We have been in constant contact with the supplier since late 2019. They are aware of our requirements for the rest of the year and are on standby on the event we will need more supplies urgently."

Anticipating future invasions difficult

African countries are much better equipped to tackle the locust threat than they used to be.

In the past, locusts plagues regularly swept across the continent. In the 1950s, the insects ate their way through countries in West and East Africa all the way to India and Pakistan in a plague lasting 13 years.

But in the last few decades, thanks to better monitoring and control, the infestations have tended to last for a shorter time and cover less area. Ethiopia and Somalia, for example, haven't experienced an outbreak of this scale in 25 years


Now though, predicting locust invasions has become harder is harder as weather patterns become more erratic due to climate change change.

"The desert locust is just one long, continuous story," says Cressman. "It's about figuring out the current chapter of that story."

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WWW LINKS

Data and code behind this analysis

More data-driven journalism by DW

Date 11.05.2020
Author Kira Schacht

Related Subjects Environment, Food security, Coronavirus

Keywords locusts, Coronavirus, East Africa, food security, environment, DDJ

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3bsc2

How contagious? Conspiracies, lies and the Covid-19 'infodemic'

Issued on: 12/05/2020

THE DEBATE © FRANCE 24

By:François PICARD

Follow| Alessandro XENOS|Melinda CRANE

From anti-science conspiracy theories to state-sponsored disinformation, the United Nations warns that an "infodemic" of half-truths and falsehoods is undermining the effort to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. How is social media driving anti-lockdown protests and just how much traction are they getting? François Picard and Deutsche Welle's Melinda Crane team up for a special edition of The Debate that asks about the role of fringe groups, social media giants and populist leaders everywhere – from the US and Brazil to China.

>> Conspiracy theories and fake news: Fighting the Covid-19 'infodemic'



OUR GUESTS

Jen SCHRADIE, Assistant Professor at Sciences Po Paris; Author of "The Revolution That Wasn't"
Franziska BRANTNER, Member of the Bundestag (Green Party)
Sandro GOZI, Member of the European Parliament ("Liste Renaissance"); Italy's former Europe minister

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams faces backlash over 'racist' COVID-19 post

The  singer said in posts that his gigs were nixed thanks to "bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards."

Issued on: 12/05/2020 

Bryan Adams, seen here in Ottawa, Canada in 2017, has been slammed for 'racist' comments about how "bat eating' triggered the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused his London hosws to be canceled Lars Hagberg AFP

Ottawa (AFP)

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams faced a backlash and accusations of anti-Chinese racism Tuesday over his online rant about the pandemic forcing the cancellation of his London shows this week.

The "Cuts Like a Knife" singer said in Twitter and Instagram posts that his gigs at the Royal Albert Hall were nixed thanks to "bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards."

He went on to say that "the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus."

He went on to say that "the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus," admonishing the Chinese to "go vegan."

While animal rights groups praised his call to stop eating meat, others interpreted the expletive-laced comments as anti-Chinese.

"This is so irresponsible and so racist," Amy Go of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice told AFP.

"He's a Canadian idol and he's fanning the flames of anti-Chinese racism, and contributing to an increase in hateful taunts and blatant (physical) attacks on Chinese and Asian people in Canada and around the world," she said.

Others called his remarks "racist garbage."

Wet markets sell fresh food and produce, including farmed animals and wildlife.

One such market is Wuhan, China was identified last week by the World Health Organization as having been a possible source or "amplifying setting" of the outbreak.

The recent rise of anti-Chinese rhetoric and violence linked to the pandemic is only anecdotal but there are a myriad of cases reported online.

Go cited, for example, the recent experience of a 92-year-old man thrown out of a Vancouver convenience store and onto the sidewalk by the shopkeeper simply because he is of Chinese descent.

A Chinese-Canadian woman was also punched in the face in an unprovoked attack while waiting last week at a downtown bus stop in the Pacific coast metropolis.

Adams has since deleted the tweet but his message remained on Instagram.

In it he also said he missed his band or "other family" while in self-isolation with his wife and children.

© 2020 AFP

Coronavirus was in Brazil before carnival: study

Issued on: 12/05/2020

The first night of Rio's 2020 carnival parade, when the coronvirus is now thought to have been already spreading in Brazil CARL DE SOUZA AFP


Rio de Janeiro (AFP)

The new coronavirus was circulating in Brazil in early February, weeks earlier than initially detected, and just before millions of people were partying in the streets for carnival, according to a new study.

Brazil is the Latin American country hardest hit in the pandemic, with more than 11,500 deaths and 168,000 infections so far. Experts say under-testing means the real figures are probably far higher.

The study used statistical analysis to work backwards from the number of reported COVID-19 deaths and establish the probable time-frame of the virus' early spread in Brazil and other countries, said the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the country's leading public health institute.

"The new coronavirus began spreading in Brazil around the first week of February. That is to say, more than 20 days before the first case was diagnosed in a traveler returning from Italy, on February 26... and more than 40 days before the first official confirmation of communal transmission," the institute said.

That means the local outbreak was already well under way when Brazil celebrated carnival from February 21 to 25, an event that draws millions of tourists and brings throngs of revelers into the streets in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador and other cities.

The study, which also analyzed data from Europe and the United States, found the virus was probably also spreading locally two to four weeks before the first cases were detected in Italy, the Netherlands and the United States.

"This lengthy phase of hidden communal transmission of the new coronavirus... indicates that containment measures should be taken at least as soon as the first imported cases are detected," said the lead researcher on the study, Gonzalo Bello.

© 2020 AFP

Hong Kong: Hundreds arrested as protest movement returns

Police say they have arrested 230 people, some as young as 12, after a weekend of pro-democracy demonstrations. Activists are concerned that pandemic lockdown measures will be used by China to roll back more rights.


Some 230 people were arrested in protests over the weekend in Hong Kong, local authorities said on Monday. Pro-democracy demonstrations have picked back up in the city after weeks of under a coronavirus-related lockdown.

Police said the detainees were between the ages of 12 and 65, and the charges ranged from assaulting an officer to failure to provide proof of identity. Democratic lawmaker Roy Kwong was amongst those arrested, officers said he was being charged with disorderly conduct. Video showed him being surrounded by police and pushed to the ground.

Read more: China: First foreign national prosecuted over Hong Kong protests

On Sunday, protestors had gathered for a sing-along event at a shopping mall when hundreds of riot police were called in to disperse the crowd. According to police, they also blocked roads in the city's Mongkok district and started fires.

Onlookers and journalists also got caught up in the ensuing clashes, with police firing tear gas at reporters and activists alike.


"Some journalists who were sprayed by pepper spray were not allowed to receive immediate treatment, and they were requested to stop filming," said Chris Yeung, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association.

Several people hospitalized
Footage of the scuffles, which included some people lying on the ground bleeding, were reminiscent of when Hong Kong was brought to a standstill by months of protests last year. At least 18 people had to be brought to local hospitals, the city's Hospital Authority said, including Kwong.

Read more: Lam Wing-Kee: Hong Kong bookseller fights back against China with Taiwan shop

There have been widespread worries amongst democracy advocates in Hong Kong that restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the pandemic will be used by China to further clamp down on rights. For example, a contact-tracing app meant to control who comes into contact with infected people may be used to target anti-Beijing protestors, activists have warned.

Current restrictions only allow public gatherings of a maximum of eight people.

Despite fears across Asia about a possible second wave of the virus, organizers are still planning to hold an annual mass pro-democracy rally on July 1. They say they are expecting two million people to join the even that marks the anniversary of Hong Kong was handed over from British to Chinese rule.

es/mm (AP, Reuters)

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AUDIOS AND VIDEOS ON THE TOPIC

Martin Lee: 'From now on, China's going to rule Hong Kong with an iron fist'

Date 11.05.2020

Related Subjects Hong Kong, Coronavirus

Keywords Hong Kong, protests, arrests, democracy, coronavirus

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3c1Kj

Coronavirus and the plague: The disease of viral conspiracy theories

As countless coronavirus rumors circulate online, DW takes a look at some of history's biggest conspiracy theories during pandemics.



Contrary to what you might have heard, the novel coronavirus was not developed in a Chinese or US military lab. Albanians are not genetically immune to the virus. And Bulgarian Prime Minster Bojko Borissov does not have a mystical aura that protects him from contracting COVID-19 — even if a fortune teller has claimed so on national television.

Countless unsubstantiated coronavirus claims have been circulating lately, ranging from the entertainingly absurd to the shockingly outlandish. YouTuber Dana Ashlie, for example, recently posted videos online to explain what she claimed was the real reason behind the virus outbreak. Ashlie, who has hundreds of thousands of YouTube and Facebook followers, claimed that COVID-19 emerged because 5G mobile technology was rolled out in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the center of the outbreak.



HOW IS CORONAVIRUS AFFECTING LIFE IN GERMANY?

Food donations drop

Panic-buying has left empty shelves in supermarkets — and food banks. With Germans snapping up canned goods and toilet paper to weather the outbreak, stores have fewer supplies left over to donate to the needy, said Jochen Brühl, head of Tafel Deutschland, which supports more than 1.5 million people with surplus groceries and other donations. Brühl encouraged those who had overreacted to donate.

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With COVID-19, or SARS-CoV-2, dominating the headlines, it is hardly surprising that coronavirus misinformation is on the rise. That's why the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a dedicated website to dispel unsubstantiated claims about coronavirus cures and how the pathogen spreads.

Long history of conspiracy theories
Historically, the outbreak of pandemics has always been accompanied by the dissemination of rumors and conspiracy theories.

But what, exactly, defines the latter? Professor Michael Butter, who teaches at the University of Tübingen, says conspiracy theories tend to claim that a group is clandestinely plotting to control and destroy an institution, a country or the entire world.

The Black Death

In the 14th century, when the plague ravaged Europe, nobody knew how the illness had originated. Soon after, unfounded rumors surfaced that Jews caused the outbreak by poisoning wells in a bid to control the world. Jewish people were accused of being behind the plague — and were subjected to deadly pogroms and forcefully displaced.

Read more: Opinion: We need to deal with our coronavirus panic


'Spanish flu': Patients in Fort Riley, Kansas (USA), in 1918

1918 influenza pandemic

Between 1918-1920, the so-called Spanish flu killed between 25 and 50 million people — making it more lethal than World War I, which ended the same year the influenza pandemic began. As the origins of the virus outbreak remained a mystery until the 1930s, some people believed the pathogen had been developed by the German army to use as a weapon.

East Germany's beetle infestation

When a Colorado potato beetle infestation in 1950 threatened to wipe out all of East Germany's potato crops, the country's socialist leadership was quick to blame the US. In an attempt to distract from its own failures, East Germany accused the US of having orchestrated the beetle infestation to sabotage its economy.

Operation Detrick

The onset of the AIDS epidemic in the US during the 1980s was accompanied by an elaborate Soviet disinformation campaign. In 1983, the Soviet secret service KGB spread the rumor that the US had developed AIDS at Fort Detrick as a biological weapon and tested it on prison inmates, ethnic minorities and gay people. It also claimed the US was deliberately deflecting blame by saying the disease had originated on the African continent.

In 1985, Russian-born German biology professor Jakob Segal even published a pseudo-scientific study to back up the conspiracy theory. And even though many biologists and medical experts dismissed the unfounded claims as nonsense, the conspiracy theory remains popular today.

Read more: Coronavirus scare: When will 'hamsterkauf' become an English word?


Ticks getting under the skin of conspiracy theorists?

Once again, the US is blamed

By the mid-1990s the Soviet Union had collapsed, and national health agencies had largely gotten the AIDS outbreak under control. At this time, however, Africa experienced a major Ebola outbreak. Many conspiracy theorists who had falsely claimed AIDS was created in US military labs, now claimed the Ebola virus was a bio-weapon developed by the US or Great Britain.

Another conspiracy theory in the US military and ticks. In 2019, Republican Congressman Chris Smith called on the Pentagon to release classified documents about a supposed weaponized ticks program. Smith referred to a recent book that claimed the program, which supposedly ran between 1950 and 1975, had allowed the tick-borne Lyme disease to get out of control.

Digital age amplifies misinformation

A whole host of diseases has been blamed on secret US biological weapons programs. Although some conspiracy theorists have suggested that COVID-19 is an artificially engineered Chinese bioweapon.

These, and other conspiracy theories, however, rely on arguments that are never weighted in evidence. The conspiracies tend to emerge in the early stages of a pandemic — when little is known about a pathogen's origin and spread.

The digital revolution, meanwhile, has amplified the dissemination of rumors and disinformation. Online posts are shared much quicker on social media and through messenger apps than any medical or health authority can refute them. The digital age has allowed conspiracy theories to go viral.

COVID-19 can only be contained by studying it scientifically, practicing good hygiene and ensuring those infected receive adequate medical treatment. Similarly, education and media literacy, as well as good mental health, should be promoted to be in line with how we consume information in the digital age.

Some online trolls have even suggested downing a Corona beer to combat irrational coronavirus-related fears. While this has not been proven to help, it may provide a soothing effect in the meantime.

Date 10.03.2020
Author Christopher Nehring
Related Subjects AIDS, World Health Organization (WHO), Coronavirus
Keywords Coronavirus, AIDS, Pest, WHO, epidemic
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3Z7lB