A HANGING OFFENSE

Gay rights progress, but same-sex relations still a crime in 69 states: report

Issued on: 15/12/2020 -

Despite significant progress on gay rights around the world, dozens of countries still criminalise consensual same-sex activity Sergei SUPINSKY AFP/File

Geneva (AFP)

Despite significant progress on gay rights around the world, dozens of countries still criminalise consensual same-sex activity, including six where being gay is punishable by death, campaigners said Tuesday.

In a fresh report, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) found "considerable progress" in legal protections for LGBTI people worldwide.

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has created significant additional challenges for LGBTI and other minority communities, "positive developments have taken place," the organisation said.

But while the trend is towards acceptance, a full 69 UN member states continue to criminalise consensual sex between people of the same gender, the report found.

That is one fewer than last year, after Gabon backtracked from a 2019 law -- "the shortest-lived law of its kind in modern history," ILGA research coordinator and lead author of the report Lucas Ramon Mendos said in a statement.

More urgently than laws on the books, ILGA verified that 34 countries -- more than half of those with criminalising laws -- have actively enforced them in the past five years.

The report warned the real number could be "much higher".

"Wherever such provisions are in the books, people may get reported and arrested at any time even just under the suspicion of having sex with someone of the same gender," Mendos said.

"Courts actively prosecute and sentence them to jail, public flogging, or even death," he said.

In six UN member states, the death penalty is the legally prescribed punishment for consensual homosexual sex: Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as across 12 northern states of Nigeria.

And the report said sources indicated that the death penalty could potentially be used in such cases in five other countries -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates -- although there was less legal certainty.

- 'Oppress, persecute, scapegoat' -

Another 42 countries have erected legal barriers to freedom of expression and sexual orientation and gender identity issues, while 51 have legal barriers to setting up NGOs that work on LGBTI issues.

ILGA's head of programmes Julia Ehrt voiced concern that some governments had taken advantage of the coronavirus crisis to step up efforts to "oppress, persecute, scapegoat and violently discriminate against us."

The organisation also voiced concern over the proliferation of so-called "LGBT-free zones" in places like Poland and Indonesia, and renewed support for "conversion therapies".

But even as anti-gay rights forces seem to gain ground in a number of places, ILGA said its latest report showed "how our global community has collectively achieved progress in every single legal category tracked."

It highlighted that Sudan in July repealed the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts, and hailed that Germany had become one of four UN member states which ban conversion therapies at the national level.

A number of jurisdictions within Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United States have also done so.

And it celebrated that Costa Rica had joined the growing number of countries that have introduced marriage equality, bringing the total to 28.

Another 34 countries provide for some partnership recognition for same-sex couples, it pointed out.

Tuesday's report also showed that as of this month, same-sex sexual acts are legal in 124 countries -- 64 percent of UN member states.

A full 81 countries meanwhile have laws offering protection against discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, ILGA said, pointing out that 20 years ago, only 15 did.

Despite the challenges, Ehrt said the report "contains hope for a better tomorrow (and) a future in which our communities will no longer have to fight to reclaim rights that should have never been taken away from us in the first place."

© 2020 AFP

‘Coral IVF’: A way to save the Great Barrier Reef?

20:30

Issued on: 14/12/2020 - 

Text by:FRANCE 24

Video by:Sam BALL

Researchers say that a technique dubbed "coral IVF" has shown promising signs that it could be used to restore some of the damage to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which has lost more than half its coral in the past three decades due to global warming, pollution and other threats to its long-term future.

The IVF – in vitro fertilization – technique sees the collection of coral sperm and eggs during the annual mass spawning event on the reef, which is located off the coast of northeast Australia and is on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

These are then used to grow coral larvae in specially designed enclosures.

After about a week, the larvae are distributed to areas of damaged reef in need of live coral.

The tactic was first deployed just off Heron Island in 2016 and a survey carried out this month shows that the replanted coral is thriving with more than 60 new corals of varying sizes growing on the reef.

"I'm really excited. We've just been over to the site in Heron Island lagoon, where we put larvae onto certain parts of the reef in 2016. And we've found a lot of very large corals that have grown from those larvae," lead researcher Professor Peter Harrison told Reuters.

The new coral is healthy, say researchers, and even survived a mass bleaching event in March.

"This proves that the larvae restoration technique works just as we predicted and we can grow very large corals from tiny microscopic larvae within just a few years," said Harrison.

Mass bleaching has hit the reef in three of the last five years.

The phenomenon occurs when rising water temperatures destroy the algae which the coral feeds on, causing them to turn white and in many cases die.

A recent study from James Cook University's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies found that the reef had lost more than half its coral since 1995.

Ancient ceramic oil-lamp workshop unearthed in Israel

Workers for the Israel Antiquities Authority clean an ancient oil lamp workshop discovered in Beit Shemesh, Israel, on December 14, 2020. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 14 (UPI) -- An ancient ceramic oil-lamp workshop, one of the largest of its kind, has been unearthed in Beit Shemesh, a city located west of Jerusalem in Israel.

Several Islamic-era artifacts from the workshop, including lamp molds, a kiln and several well-preserved, unused oil lamps -- all dated between the 7th and 11th centuries AD -- were put on displace at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem this week.

In addition to yielding astonishing ceramic artifacts, the discovery has helped to solve a decades-old mystery.

The oil-lamp workshop was actually first discovered in 1934 by archaeologist Dimitri Baramki, an inspector with the Department of Antiquities during the British Mandate.

RELATED Earthquake may have destroyed Canaanite palace 3,700 years ago

The initial excavation yielded a treasure trove of unfinished oil lamps and ceramic figurines, but the Palestine dig site was abandoned and its location lost shortly after Israel's founding in 1948.

Archaeologists rediscovered the dig site while surveying the ancient settlement in perpetration for the establishment of a new neighborhood by Israel's Construction and Housing Ministry. The workshop was found beneath ornate stone pillars collapsed by a series of 11th century earthquakes.

The artifacts were found buried next to a large cistern, which archaeologists estimate was once positioned at the center of a lush courtyard.

RELATED Archaeologists find 1,200-year-old mosque in Israel's Negev Desert

"The debris was excavated and seems to be impressive testimony to the earthquake of 1033 in which Tiberias was destroyed," Oren Gutfeld, the head of the Israel Archaeological Services, told The Times of Israel.

The lamps and figurines excavated at the site highlight the complicated history of the Beit Nattif region, which was home to both Arab and Jewish communities, but became the domain of pagans and Roman rule following the failure of the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

"From the writings of Josephus, we know that during the Second Temple period, Beit Nattif was a regional administrative center -- one of the ten principal cities under Hasmonean rule," Benyamin Storchan of the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a press release.

RELATED Ancient pot of gold found in Israel

"After the failure of the Bar Kokhba Revolt and Roman takeover of the region, the local Jewish population of the Judean Hills was greatly diminished and in turn, the region was settled by pagans. The many figurines unearthed at the site attest to this," said Storchan, and expert on the Beit Nattif lamps.

In addition to the pagan symbols that adorn many of the lamps, researchers found artifacts bearing the symbols of Jewish faith, including one lamp with a menorah, as well as lamps etched with the Islamic word for God, "Allah."

"During this period, Christianity also began to emerge and some of the Beit Nattif oil-lamps carry fish motifs, one of the symbols of Christianity," Storchan said. "The sheer variety of lamps and figurines therefore proves that the local population featured a mix of pagans, Christians and Jews."

Because the Israel Antiquities Authority was anxious to showcase the site's artifacts ahead of Hanukkah celebrations, the lamps and figurines have yet to be closely examined and documented by archaeologists.

Officials plan to preserve the dig site and develop a park where artifacts and information about the historic site can be shared with the public.

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2020/12/14/Ancient-ceramic-oil-lamp-workshop-unearthed-in-Israel/7381607959516/

IN THE AGE OF COVID19 THIS IS NEWS

 Cats in Thailand dying of respiratory disease, reports say

Authorities in northeastern Thailand have sent veterinarians to villages after the death of more than 20 cats. File Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/UPI 

Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Cats are dying from a deadly flu in northeastern Thailand, but local authorities say the disease cannot be transmitted to humans.

The provincial administration of Nakhon Rachasima said veterinarians are being sent to villages where more than 20 cats have died from "cat flu," or feline respiratory disease, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Monday.

Reports of the disease could be raising concern among residents of a village in Kham Sakaesaeng district, according to Thai PBS World. Previous outbreaks nearly wiped out the local cat population, residents say.

Doctors are telling locals that the feline flu does not infect people or other animals. Thai veterinarians said they have administered medicines to infected cats and the epidemic is under control, according to Xinhua.

Cat flu spreads rapidly among cats and kittens. The cause of the disease is the feline herpesvirus type-1 and the feline calicivirus. Sick cats show several symptoms, including sneezing, coughing, runny eyes and tongue ulcers.

The feline disease also may have hit a cat population in the central Thai province of Anthong in 2012. According to Nation Thailand at the time, several cats were found dead at a local temple. Officials said cat flu was the cause of death, and that the virus could also spread to dogs.

"Before they died, they would have sores on their bodies, coughs, runny noses, no appetite, and convulsions," said Payao Inman, a Buddhist nun who said there were about 200 cats in the area, according to the 2012 report.

"If the disease hit a mother cat, it would claim the lives of the mother and the kittens," she said.

Thailand has said it has brought COVID-19 under control since the country's first outbreak in January. On Saturday, Thailand's Disease Control Department said recent cases originating from people crossing illegally from Myanmar have "all been accounted for," according to Nation Thailand.

Climate change fuels new toxic algal blooms along Pacific Coast

Pseudo-nitzschia algae blooms, which produce a neurotoxin called domoic acid, have become increasingly common along the Pacific Coast. Photo by Rozalind Jester/Florida Southwestern State College

Dec. 14 (UPI) -- According to a new study, a new kind of algal bloom is becoming more common along the West Coast -- fueled by human-caused climate change.

Red tides, masses of phytoplankton and dinoflagellates that tun the ocean a rusty, reddish orange, have long plagued the shores of California, but a previously rare rare type of bloom, which releases a neurotoxin called domoic acid, is increasingly putting fishers, swimmers and seafood at risk.

On Monday, researchers published a new study in the journal Frontiers in Climate, detailing the threat of domoic acid and other algal toxins.

"This study shows that climate change can influence the occurrence and intensity of some harmful algal blooms, HABs, by creating new seed beds for their survival and distribution," study lead author Vera Trainer said in a news release.

RELATED Phytoplankton perform photosynthesis, bloom beneath Arctic sea ice

"Coastal communities, including Native Tribes, will suffer from the effects of HABs more frequently in the future, illustrating the importance of early warning systems such as Harmful Algal Bloom Bulletins that are becoming operational in the US and other parts of the world," said Trainer, a researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

For more than two decades, Trainer and her colleagues have been measuring domoic acid concentrations in ocean water and seafood samples along the West Coast.

In 2015, the algae that produced domoic acid, Pseudo-nitzschia, proliferated throughout the Northeast Pacific. Fueled by a severe ocean heatwave, the toxic bloom triggered widespread marine mammal mortalities.

RELATED Climate change driving mussel, barnacle, snail declines along Maine coast

As highlighted by the new research, massive blooms can turn a rare phenomena into an endemic problem.

In the wake of the 2015 bloom, domoic acid has become a persistent threat among the waters along the shores of northern California and southern Oregon. Shellfish harvests in the region has been disrupted by Pseudo-nitzschia blooms each of the last five years.

Scientists have previously used models to suss out the roles temperature, wind and ocean currents play in generating and sustaining extreme heatwaves.\

RELATED With global warming, marine heatwaves like 'The Blob' could be commonplace

Simulations showed climate change made the marine heatwave that plagued the Pacific Coast between 2013 and 2015 five times more likely to occur under modern climate conditions than it would have been in a world without human-caused climate change. The same models suggest extreme heatwaves will be up to 20 times more likely in the near future.

For the new study, researchers examined the ways ocean currents and coastal topography make the waters off the coast of northern California and southern Oregon especially susceptible to recurring algal blooms.

Their analysis showed Pseudo-nitzschia algae can lie dormant in marine sediments, becoming reanimated by upwelling that brings deeper water to the surface.

Massive algal blooms ensure a reserve of algae cells remain in coastal sediments, putting the region at greater risk of future toxic blooms.

Researchers at NOAA are currently working with an array of regional partners, including the University of Washington, the Washington State Departments of Health and Fish and Wildlife and Native Tribes, to monitor and forecast the risk of Pseudo-nitzschia blooms and their impact on local shellfish harvests.

"There is evidence that bacteria associated with seagrasses have algicidal properties, indicating that seagrass planting may be used to successfully control some HABs in Puget Sound," said Trainer. "But for large-scale marine HABs, early warning is our best defense and these HAB Bulletins will help preserve a way of life that includes wild shellfish harvest, on which coastal people depend."

upi.com/7061066

THIRD WORLD USA
Study: Black kids in U.S. have higher risk for death from sepsis than White kids

"There is growing evidence that structural racism may be an important factor in the social and economic conditions that ultimately lead to health inequalities in children," 

HEALTH NEWS 
DEC. 14, 2020 

Black children are more likely to die from sepsis than their White and Hispanic peers, according to a new study. File Photo by Mary Rice/Shutterstock

Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Black children hospitalized in the United States have a significantly higher risk for death from sepsis than White or Hispanic children, according to a study published Monday by The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

Severe sepsis is a life-threatening reaction caused by the immune system overreacting to an infection, and it occurs most frequently in newborns and infants.

With an average of 10 days, Black and Hispanic children also had longer hospital stays than White children, who had averaged eight days, the data showed.

"There is growing evidence that structural racism may be an important factor in the social and economic conditions that ultimately lead to health inequalities in children," study co-author Dr. Nadir Yehya said in a statement.

"Our findings demonstrate a need to examine the different ways in which these biases may contribute at structural, interpersonal or individualized levels to sepsis outcomes in children," said Yehya, attending physician in the Pediatric Sepsis Program and the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

More than 75,000 children and teens in the United States are hospitalized with sepsis annually, and 7,000 of them die, according to the Sepsis Alliance.

Previous studies have found that Black adults and uninsured people are more likely to die from sepsis, and that those living in high-poverty areas are more likely to be diagnosed with the disease, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researchers said.

The new study included 9,816 children diagnosed with severe sepsis from the 2016 Kids' Inpatient Database, which records 80% of pediatric hospital discharges across 47 U.S. states.

Of the children in the study, 15% died from sepsis.

However, 18% of Black children in the study died from the disease, compared to 13% of White children and 14% of Hispanic children, the data showed.

RELATED Racial disparities in deaths among premature babies narrowing

Risk for death from sepsis for Black children was 60% higher than that for White children in the western United States and 30% higher in the South.

More White children -- 52% -- were privately insured than Black -- 23% -- or Hispanic -- 20% -- children, and Black and Hispanic children were up to twice as likely to live in low-income ZIP codes than White children.

And children from households lacking health insurance or whose parents paid out-of-pocket for care had a 30% higher risk for death from sepsis than those who had health insurance or Medicaid.

A range of factors may contribute to poorer outcomes for severe sepsis in minority children and those of lower socioeconomic position, including lack of access to quality healthcare and provider bias, the researchers said.

Further studies, they said, are needed to investigate why these disparities exist and how they can be addressed.

"Some of the disparities in outcomes from sepsis that we've identified related to race/ethnicity and socioeconomic position are alarming, but this analysis is an important step toward working out why they exist and what measures can be taken to address them," study co-author Dr. Hannah Mitchell said in a statement.

"Importantly, no differences in survival were seen between publicly and privately insured children," said Mitchell, a pediatric resident at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

THIRD WORLD USA

Experts fear looser HUD count will worsen plight of homeless in U.S.

By Katie Livingstone, Medill News Service

A homeless man holds an American flag near the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa, Okla., on June 20. File Photo by Kyle Rivas/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued less stringent guidelines, due to COVID-19, for conducting an annual survey of the U.S. homeless population. Experts fear the move will lead to a more inaccurate count -- and less help for needy Americans.

During the Point-in-Time count held each January, the department coordinates with U.S. shelters and advocacy groups to get an idea of the scope of the homeless problem. The survey is the only comprehensive, national look each year at the homeless population size and demographics and will provide the only hard data showing this year's impact of the coronavirus crisis.

"The data is important for us because it provides us with a consistent data point of what homelessness in our community looks like from one year to the next," said Kristy Greenwalt, director of the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Greenwalt added that although the survey is just one source cities and shelters use to estimate needs, the January count has historically been essential for understanding greater demographic changes that could lead to policy or strategy shifts -- especially in areas with high populations of unsheltered homeless.

The department's updated guidelines for the 2021 count, which normally includes both sheltered and unsheltered populations in odd-numbered years, will allow organizations to conduct less rigorous surveys that skip harder-to-gather requirements, use broader estimation tactics or opt out of the unsheltered portion of the count altogether.

The department has not yet formally announced the changes or responded to repeated requests for comments.

Weeks after quietly publishing the new guidelines to its website, the department scheduled a series of question-and-answer sessions for organizations that conduct the count -- but has yet to make any public announcement or note potential effects on the survey's accuracy.

In larger areas with more unsheltered homeless, the count demands a significant number of resources and volunteers who have been in short supply since the pandemic began. Mindful of these logistical issues, combined with fears of being exposed to the virus, some organizations have also discussed skipping the count this year. To ensure that some data will be collected, the department offered the new guidelines as a compromise.

"What HUD is trying to say is that if you can't do the whole unsheltered count, here are some ways that you can reduce it, make it simpler and make it safer for people that are involved," said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Roman said the department has never before altered the requirements to this extent.

Even before the changes, some advocates criticized the PIT count for relying too heavily on figures for sheltered homeless and failing to get an adequate picture of unsheltered and itinerant homelessness. Critics of the survey say its methodology is based on a limited definition that fails to take into account millions of families who live in vehicles, on someone's couch or simply out of sight -- homeless that are harder to quantify.

Some estimates of the U.S. homeless population dwarf the department's, although no two surveys use the same framework or methodology. In 2018, about 553,000 people were estimated to be homeless on any given night, according to the PIT count. That same year, the National Center for Homeless Education said federal data from the Department of Education found that more than 1.5 million students were homeless at some point during the academic year.

Experts say inaccurate data causes a lot of problems. Jurisdictions rely on the figures to plan resource distribution and budgets and to track changes over time.

Advocacy groups that use PIT data to understand larger demographic trends are particularly concerned.

"It's just going to be really hard to understand the trend lines, because we're going to have this year that's just off," Roman added. "And we're not going to know if the trends are up or down."

As a result, she said, organizations need to create a new "baseline" and "kind of reset to understand data moving forward."

Advocacy groups are also worried about what could happen if the federal government doesn't extend a national coronavirus-related moratorium on evictions. Congress passed the first ban with the CARES Act in March, and it was extended through the end of 2020 by federal health officials when lawmakers failed to agree on another relief package.

"What happens when the eviction moratorium is lifted if there is no federal aid package? There are not going to be local dollars to address that problem," said Greenwalt. "We need Congress."

Barricades removed in Oregon neighborhood protest against family's eviction

Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The barricades for a protest in a three-block stretch of an Oregon neighborhood against a family's eviction have come down upon a tentative deal with the city.

Barricades blocking North Mississippi Avenue to protest eviction of the Kinney family were removed upon the tentative deal to buy back the "Red House on Mississippi," in north Portland.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said the family and developer were not in direct contact, but were negotiating through intermediaries.

"I am very confident they will reach an amicable solution on this," Wheeler said.

Demonstratrs removed barbed wire barricades in place since last week on Sunday ahead of a Monday deadline for the street to be cleared without police forcing the family to leave amid ongoing negotiations, activists said.

Multnomah County deputies served a court order for eviction to the Kinney family on Sept. 9, the sheriff's office said.

Since then, activists have been camping out on the property to support the fourth-generation Afro-Indigenous family's right to stay in their home, an activists' website shows. Tensions heightened Tuesday when sheriff's deputies attempted to forcibly remove the Kinney family, prompting the barricades.

The "Red House" had belonged to the Kinney family for more than six decades, but the home went into foreclosure when the family fell on hard times, and two years ago a developer bought it for $265,000.

Julie Metcalf Kinney, who is Native American, and her husband William Kinney Jr, who is Black, owned the home before they fell on hard times financially when a son faced criminal charges, and they had to take out a mortgage, which they failed to pay for nearly a year and a half, leading to foreclosure.

A GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to save the Kinney family from eviction has raised over $308,000.

"We don't need another empty, high-rise, high-rent luxury condominium," the GoFundMe post reads. "The Kinneys are one of the last Black families remaining on Mississippi and their fight for their home is also a real-time fight against gentrification. In order to stand a chance against the big banks and developers who've systematically displaced Black families across North and Northeast Portland, we need leverage."

Urban Housing Development, a construction company in Portland, currently owns the house, according to Multnomah County property records. The family filed a formal request to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case in November and response is due Dec. 23

NEIGHBOURS HALT EVICTION OF STRIKING MINERS FAMILY

FROM BW SALT OF THE EARTH 1954, FILM MADE BY BLACKLISTED

HOLLYWOOD 10

Some workers say religious beliefs bar them from getting vaccinated


One of the first Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines is administered in New York City on Monday. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 14 (UPI) -- In a case that could have implications for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, an employee has filed a complaint against the University of Virginia Health System for refusing to exempt him from getting a flu shot that he believes would "defile the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit."

The man says his Christian beliefs require him to refrain from accepting vaccines made from fetal cell lines derived from an abortion or made by companies that profit from selling other vaccines made from those cell lines. However, his requests for an accommodation were denied and he was told he could be fired if he didn't get the flu vaccination.

"I have a sincerely held religious belief in the sanctity of innocent human life, prebirth, to birth, to natural death," the employee wrote in his exemption request. "I cannot participate in or benefit from abortion, which is murder according to the Bible. All humans -- born and unborn -- are made in the image of God."

With the help of Liberty Counsel, an Orlando, Fla.-based nonprofit, the worker filed a complaint in November with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that his religious liberty rights have been violated.

Liberty Counsel will assess its next steps after it gets a response from the EEOC, which will investigate the complaint, said Richard Mast, the organization's senior litigation counsel.

Liberty Counsel wouldn't identify the employee or release the complaint, which is not a public record. He is still employed at UVA Health and had not been suspended as of Friday, Mast said.

A spokesman said UVA Health does not comment on pending legal matters.

COVID-19 vaccines

With pharmaceutical companies completing development of COVID-19 vaccines, more disputes between workers and their employers over inoculation requirements are expected.

"A great majority of the people who have contacted Liberty Counsel regarding mandatory flu vaccination orders have expressed concern that they will also be ordered to accept a COVID vaccination," Mast said in an email to UPI. "Liberty Counsel has also been contacted by a number of people concerned solely about the coming COVID vaccine and potential mandates."

On Monday, a New York nurse became one of the first people in the United States to receive the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. About 184,275 vials of the vaccine were expected to be distributed among all 50 states on Monday.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved emergency use authorization of the vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted Saturday to recommend the vaccine as appropriate for people 16 and older, and CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield accepted the recommendation.

Other vaccines also are being developed under Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership working to produce and deliver millions of doses to combat coronavirus.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said between 75 percent and 80 percent of people need to be vaccinated in order to get "a real umbrella of protection" over the United States.

Connection to abortion

The use of fetal cell lines from two elective abortions, one in 1973 and the other in 1985, in connection with some COVID-19 vaccines has raised ethical concerns for some.

A report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the Susan B. Anthony List, says abortion-derived cell lines are not used in the production of the majority of the leading Operation Warp Speed vaccines. Among the vaccines described as "ethically uncontroversial" are the ones produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which also has applied for emergency use authorization.

The cell lines, though, were used in laboratory testing of some of the vaccine candidates or their use in testing could not be determined, the report says.

In a Nov. 20 memo, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said there appears to be confusion in the media about the permissibility of using the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and that "some are asserting that if a vaccine is connected in any way with tainted cell lines then it is immoral to be vaccinated with them."

"This is an inaccurate portrayal of Catholic moral teaching," says the memo, which was written by the USCCB chairmen for the committees on doctrine and on anti-abortion activities.

The memo, which was sent to all bishops and posted on the conference website, says the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines did not involve the use of cell lines that originated from the body of an aborted baby "at any level of design, development or production."

"They are not completely free from any connection to abortion, however, as both Pfizer and Moderna made use of a tainted cell line for one of the confirmatory lab tests of their products," the memo says. "There is thus a connection, but it is relatively remote."

According to the memo, taking tissue from an aborted child for creating cell lines is immoral but there are distinctions in the level of responsibility between those who design and produce a vaccine and those who receive the vaccine. For a recipient, "it is morally permissible to accept vaccination when there are no alternatives and there is a serious risk to health," the memo says.

The memo points out that the church's Pontifical Academy for Life has called for "appropriate expressions of protest" against the vaccines' origins, as well as for vigorous efforts to promote the creation of alternatives.

Jeff Barrows, a physician and senior vice president of bioethics and public policy at the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, said the CMDA also encourages people to advocate for ethical vaccines. He said his organization would like a vaccine that has "absolutely no association" with any abortion-derived fetal cell line, but the candidates that are close to getting approval all have some connection to it.

"In the absence of an ethically pure vaccine, CMDA is advocating that everyone considers taking even one of these because the association with the fetal cell line is so remote and the evil of the abortion is so remote that the good that will be achieved by getting the vaccine will far outweigh any evil that is associated with the abortion," Barrows said.

Some CMDA members will still refuse to take a vaccine that has a connection to the cell lines, despite their medical background, which is their right, he said.

"We just hope that they're very careful in not getting any type of illness themselves and passing it on to others, but we certainly do respect the individual right to refuse to get the vaccine," Barrows said.

'Harm to conscience'

In the case of the UVA Health employee, he was told to comply with the flu vaccination mandate or face disciplinary action, which could include suspension and termination, according to a Liberty Counsel news release.

The worker made several written requests for a religious accommodation. In one of them, he said that the mandated vaccine "is the equivalent of a prohibited 'unclean food' that causes harm to my conscience."

"Vaccines to me are analogous to what non-kosher food is to orthodox Jews, and no one requires anyone in the United States to consume a substance contrary to their faith," the employee said.

He also quoted 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 from the Bible:

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."

The accommodation requests were denied and one email from Immunize UVA said, "Stating that you are a Christian and citing biblical verses that do not address vaccinations is not sufficient basis for granting an exemption from the vaccine requirement. Christian philosophy does not have absolute rules that must be followed regarding vaccinations.

In an Oct. 22 letter to UVA Health's attorney, Mast wrote that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to make a reasonable accommodation for an employee's sincerely held religious beliefs if doing so does not pose an undue hardship on the employer. By declining to grant the accommodation, UVA is discriminating against the employee on the basis of religion, he said.

Mast said the employee is willing to wear a face covering to help prevent the spread of influenza, which he does to help stop COVID-19 from spreading.

"After all, if face coverings or masks are effective in helping prevent the spread of COVID, then surely, they are effective in helping prevent the spread of influenza," the letter says. "Moreover, a percentage of UVA employees who accept the flu shot become symptomatic with influenza, despite having received the vaccine."

In addition, the letter says that numerous workers who weren't able to take the flu vaccine have been allowed to wear masks instead.

Mast cites two recent EEOC lawsuits that resulted in settlements on behalf of workers who refused vaccination because of their religious beliefs.

Ozaukee County, Wis., paid $18,000 in 2019 to a former certified nursing assistant who worked at one of its care centers and changed its policy to no longer require that an employee submit a letter from a clergy member to get a faith-based exemption from the flu vaccination. The employee could not provide a letter because she had no affiliation with a church or organized religion and got the shot after being told she would be fired if she didn't.

In 2018, Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., agreed to pay $89,000 to three employees who wouldn't get flu shots.

COVID-19: indoor air in hospitals and nursing homes require more attention

Recommendations on how to reduce SARS-CoV-2 aerosol dispersal

LEIBNIZ INSTITUTE FOR TROPOSPHERIC RESEARCH (TROPOS)

Research News

 

IMAGE: HOW CAN THE SPREAD OF THE SARS-COV-2 CORONAVIRUS BE CONTAINED IN HOSPITALS AND NURSING HOMES? RECOMMENDATIONS FROM AN INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TEAM. view more 

CREDIT: BEATE RICHTER, TROPOS

Leipzig/New Delhi/Rome. A variety of measures are necessary to prevent the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in hospitals and nursing homes. It is particularly important to develop an appropriate strategy to protect healthcare workers from airborne transmission. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig, the CSIR National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi, the Institute of Atmospheric Science and Climate (ISAC) in Rome and 2B Technologies, Colorado recommend that more attention is required in respect to indoor air in such facilities and to further training of the staff. From an aerosol experts' point of view, it is necessary to combine these different measures, the research team writes in an Editorial article in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. These include regular ventilation, controlling fresh air consumption via CO2 monitor and using humidifiers to keep the relative humidity indoors at 40 to 60 percent. If it is not possible to ventilate sufficiently, the use of portable air purifiers is also advisable.

The risk of infection is particularly high in hospitals and nursing homes because infected and healthy people stay in the same room for long periods of time and the virus can be transmitted via invisible aerosol particles in the air, even over distances of several metres. According to media reports, COVID-19 infections are already reported in almost one tenth of the 12,000 old people's homes and nursing homes in Germany. Homes are now also considered as hotspot for the spread of the virus among new infections in Saxony.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, there have been increasing reports of transmissions via aerosol particles in the indoor air of hospitals and nursing homes. These include scientific reports from hospitals in China and the USA, but also from a nursing home in the Netherlands, where the virus apparently spread via the ventilation system using aerosol particles because unfiltered indoor air circulated in a ward. As further evidence, SARS-CoV-2 was detected on the dust filters of the air conditioning system there. "The complexity of the aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2, especially indoors, is far from being solved and there is a need to establish appropriate guidelines to protect medical staff. With this publication, we are therefore trying to give recommendations for measures that could contribute to the containment of not only current, but also future virus pandemics", reports Prof Alfred Wiedensohler from TROPOS.

The aerosol spread of the virus is, according to many experts, a major reason why the number of corona infections in Europe increased dramatically in the autumn. People stay indoors for longer durations and as temperatures fall, many indoor spaces are much less ventilated. Concentrations of viral particles in the air can rise sharply when infected people stay indoors. Simple mouth-nose masks can significantly reduce but not completely prevent the release of viral aerosol particles through the airways. The risk can therefore increase significantly with the number of people and the length of time they stay in the room. Hospitals and nursing homes are particularly affected by this, because additional risk factors are added there: particularly sensitive people, very long stays in a room and sometimes medical procedures such as intubation in intensive care units, where a lot of aerosol is produced.

The spread of viruses via the room air can be reduced with a number of measures. However, there is no single measure that can achieve this completely, but it is important to control indoor air and combine different measures:

"As protection against the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via the air in closed rooms, especially in cold and dry weather, we recommend humidifiers to keep the relative humidity in the room in the range of 40 to 60 percent and to reduce the risk of respiratory tract infection. It is in this middle range that the human mucous membranes are most resistant to infections. In addition, the viruses in the aerosol particles can survive at a relative humidity around 50 percent for less time than in drier or high humid air," explains Dr Ajit Ahlawat of TROPOS.

It is very important that there should be a constant supply of fresh air through the air conditioning system or ventilation. This can be controlled with measuring devices for carbon dioxide (CO2). The high CO2 values in indoor places indicate that there is lot of exhaled air in the room. If there is an infected person in the room, then there would also be many viral aerosol particles floating in the air and could be inhaled by a healthy person. The Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system should have a minimum efficiency of MERV-13 to filter even very small particles out of the air. (MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value and is a standard from the USA, established by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)).

If it is not possible to ventilate the room sufficiently, an attempt can be made to reduce the concentration of viruses in the room air by using air purifiers. However, these air purifiers should have so-called HEPA (High-efficiency particulate absorbing) filters. However, air purifiers can always only be an additional measure as they cannot replace the supply of fresh air and thus oxygen.

Medical staff need special protection during procedures and surgical operations that involve potentially infectious aerosol particles - such as dental treatment or intubation in intensive care units. Valve-free particle filter masks, so-called respiratory masks such as N95, should be worn and care should be taken to ensure that they lie close to the skin. " Avoid the use of FFP2 and FFP3 type respirators, which have an exhalation valve or ventilation, as these types of respirators are not sufficient. To reduce the risk, protective equipment such as goggles should also be worn," advises Dr Francesca Costabile of the Institute of Atmospheric Science and Climate (ISAC) in Rome. In addition, the researchers recommend avoiding aerosol-generating procedures and treatments in patients with COVID-19 wherever possible to reduce the risk of infection for medical staff. Aerosol-generating treatments usually include medication administered via a nebulizer. In order to avoid the risk of aerosolisation of SARS-CoV-2 by the nebulisation process, inhaled drugs should be administered by a metered dose inhaler rather than a nebulizer, if possible.

Care should also be taken when disinfecting rooms: "We recommend that disinfection with UV-C light should not be used too often. Although it is known that UV-C light destroys the SARS-CoV-2 viruses, it ultimately increases indoor ozone concentrations and can thus have a negative impact on health if the indoor air is not adequately replaced," stresses Dr Sumit Kumar Mishra of CSIR - National Physical Laboratory. Spraying oxidizing chemicals in the air, such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), can also have negative consequences. Indoors, these chemicals cause toxic chemical reactions that create other air pollutants and damage the central nervous system and lungs of humans.

The international research team emphasises that the training of hospital and nursing home staff is extremely important to prevent the spread of viruses via indoor air. Medical staff must be adequately trained to follow the recommendations. It is important to draw attention to the risks of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Such recommendations, if adequately provided by health authorities and implemented by medical staff, could significantly reduce the risk of airborne transmission in hospitals and nursing homes until vaccination is effective on a large scale. Tilo Arnhold

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Publication:

Ahlawat, A.; Mishra, S.K.; Birks, J.W.; Costabile, F.; Wiedensohler, A. Preventing Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Hospitals and Nursing Homes. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 8553. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17228553
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228553

Recommendations to prevent airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in indoor environments for winter season based on scientific publications:

https://www.tropos.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Aktuelles/News/Bilder/Bilder_2020/201214_Prevention_from_COVID19_indoor_-_Guidelines_Winter_-_en.pdf

Media contacts:

Prof Alfred Wiedensohler (de.+en.)
Head of the Department Experimental Aerosol & Cloud Microphysics
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS)
Phone +49 341 2717- 7062
https://www.tropos.de/en/institute/about-us/employees/alfred-wiedensohler

and

Dr. Ajit Ahlawat (en.)
Scientific staff (Post-Doc), Department Experimental Aerosol & Cloud Microphysics
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS)
https://www.tropos.de/en/institute/about-us/employees
https://www.tropos.de/institut/abteilungen/experimentelle-aerosol-und-wolkenmikrophysik/ag-troposphaerisches-aerosol

and

Dr. Sumit Kumar Mishra (en.)
Scientist, Environmental Sciences and Biomedical Metrology Division,
CSIR - National Physical Laboratory
Phone +91-11-45609387
http://www.nplindia.in/users/mishrasknplindiaorg

and

Dr. Francesca Costabile (en. + it.)
Scientist, Istituto di Scienze dell'Atmosfera e del Clima (ISAC)
National Research Council (CNR)
Phone +39 06 4993 4288
https://www.isac.cnr.it/en/users/francesca-costabile

or

Tilo Arnhold
Public Relations at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig, Germany
Phone: +49-341-2717-7189
https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases

Links:

Corona pandemic could be better tackled by reducing aerosol transmission. Working committee particulate matter (AAF) recommends concrete countermeasures for indoor areas
https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases/details/corona-pandemie-koennte-durch-reduzierung-der-aerosol-uebertragung-besser-bekaempft-werden

Position paper of the Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung on understanding the role of aerosol particles in SARS-CoV-2 infection
https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases/statements/positionspapier-der-gaef-zum-verstaendnis-der-rolle-von-aerosolpartikeln-bei-covid-19

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spreads more indoors at low humidity
https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases/details/coronavirus-sars-cov-2-breitet-sich-bei-niedriger-luftfeuchtigkeit-in-innenraeumen-staerker-aus

Support for the appeal of protective measures against the airborne spread of Covid-19
https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases/statements/unterstuetzung-appell-bezuegich-covid-19

Exposure to ultrafine aerosol particles in German homes depends primarily on the people themselves (press release, 19 May 2020)
https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases/details/belastung-durch-ultrafeinstaub-in-deutschen-wohnungen-haengt-vor-allem-von-den-menschen-selber-ab

TROPOS long-term studies for particulate air quality
https://www.tropos.de/en/institute/departments/experimental-aerosol-and-cloud-microphysics/tropospheric-aerosols-workgroup/ultrafine-particles-and-air-quality

UBA Indoor Air Hygiene Commission
https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/topics/health/commissions-working-groups/indoor-air-hygiene-commission

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