Africa CDC Chief: 'The response to Covid on the continent of Africa has been exceptional"

France 24 is joined by Dr. John Nkengasong, Virologist and Director of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The Africa CDC Chief lauds Africa's political leadership for taking the pandemic very seriously from the moment it emerged in 2020. Throughout the pandemic, Dr. Nkengasong has worked closely with African heads of state and the African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat. Despite limited resources, the African continent really came together, explains Dr. Nkengasong, and displayed a remarkable "ability to coordinate the (overall) response, to distribute diagnostics, to deploy responders, and to create platforms like the African Medicine Supply Platform (AMSP) and the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT). Whether it's Ebola or Covid-19, Dr. Nkengasong describes "certain core principles that guide all pandemics." He calls them The Five P's of a Pandemic: pathogen, population, political, policies, partnerships. And, speaking from 30 years of experience, the Africa CDC Chief proclaims "you can actually apply them from one pandemic to another."

France introduces free birth control for all women under 25

SHOULD BE DONE IN CANADA TOO

Fri, 31 December 2021



Free birth control for all women under 25 will be available in France from Saturday, expanding a scheme targeting under-18s to ensure young women don't stop taking contraception because they cannot afford it.

The scheme, which could benefit three million women, covers the pill, IUDs, contraceptive patches and other methods composed of steroid hormones.

Contraception for minors was already free in France. Several European countries, including Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, make contraception free for teens.

Britain makes several forms of contraception free to all.

France announced the extension to women under 25 in September, saying surveys showed a decline in the use of contraception mainly for financial reasons.

The move is part of a series of measures taken by President Emmanuel Macron's government to boost women's rights and alleviate youth poverty.

The free provision is supported by women's groups including the association En Avant Tous.

"Between 18 and 25-years-old, women are very vulnerable because they lose a lot of rights compared to when they were minors and are very precarious economically," spokeswoman Louise Delavier told AFP.

Leslie Fonquerne, an expert in gender issues, said there was more to be done.

"This measure in no way resolves the imbalance in the contraceptive burden between women and men," the sociologist said.

In some developed countries, the free contraception won by women after decades of campaigning is coming under attack again from the religious right.

In the United States, former president Barack Obama's signature health reform, known as Obamacare, gave most people with health insurance free access to birth control.

But his successor Donald Trump scrapped the measure, allowing employers to opt out of providing contraception coverage on religious grounds -- a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in 2020.

Poland's conservative government has also heavily restricted access to emergency contraception as part of its war on birth control.

(AFP)

For the videogame industry to grow, it needs to first grow up

Providedby Dow Jones

Dec 30, 2021 6:42 AM MST

By Wallace Witkowski

After 'frat boy' culture came to light in 2021, videogame publishers need to be more inclusive to expand customer base and cure their workplaces

The videogame industry appears to have hit a watershed moment in 2021 that sent a clear message: It's time to grow up before you can grow any larger.

Allegations of a "frat boy" culture and sexual harassment, rape and discrimination at Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) became a public-relations nightmare for the videogame publisher, directly affecting the business and ability to produce games, both in keeping current workers productive and attracting and maintaining top talent. The same type of trouble has plagued "Assassin's Creed" publisher Ubisoft, and "League of Legends" publisher Riot Games, which this week agreed to pay $100 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit.

The videogame industry has grown into one of the largest -- if not the largest -- entertainment industry categories in the world, far surpassing movies, TV and book publishing, but could be approaching a growth slowdown. While videogame revenues received a huge boost of 24% in 2020 amid stay-at-home mandates due to COVID-19, experts expect that rate of growth to flatten.

Worldwide gaming revenue is expected to come in at $251.39 billion in 2021, according to Lewis Ward, gaming research director at IDC, a gain of 11% compared with 2020's $226.84 billion. While that's still pretty healthy growth, Ward expects a more "dramatic" flattening in 2022, when he forecasts revenue of $256.43 billion, or only 2% growth, with an expectation of console/TV sales declining nearly 6% to $62.75 billion in 2022.

Publishers could counteract that growth, but it will be quite a tightrope: Not only do they have to keep new, high-quality and bug-free content flowing on schedule, but also grow their audience beyond that of stereotypical gamers -- generally young males who devote enormous amounts of time playing on consoles or gaming PCs with superfast graphics cards from Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) or Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).

The barrier for growth beyond the hardcore gamer is that the decades-old industry was built -- fairly exclusively -- by those same hardcore gamers, so appealing to other customers and maintaining videogame developers who are not young males has become increasingly difficult. However, the atmosphere at videogame publishers has not been conducive to attracting and supporting a diverse workforce that could develop games for a more diverse customer base, as 2021 showed, leaving a chicken-and-egg problem that will be the focus of 2022.

Read:People are still playing a lot of videogames, but how much?

Toxicity isn't just bad for the workplace, it's bad for business

Working in the videogame industry has long trended toward overworked employees in potentially toxic atmospheres. While the industry has managed to grow tremendously, problematic workplaces are beginning to have an adverse effect for publishers looking to recruit and retain their most valuable resource: talented game developers.

One of the challenges that faces videogame publishers is that younger game developers have grown up in atmospheres of equality and inclusion and expect those same values in the workplace, said Kimberly Voll, co-founder of the Fair Play Alliance, an organization that encourages healthy communities in online gaming.

"For companies, it's becoming a retention aspect," Voll told MarketWatch in an interview. "The generation coming in today, that's what they want to see, they're expecting their employers to have better stances, to have better practices."

In a developer satisfaction survey released in September, the International Game Developers Association polled 803 developers and found that about 90% believe diversity in the workplace, the industry and in game content itself is important. Diversity took into consideration age, sex, gender (including those that identify as trans or non-binary), race, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation.

Not surprising was that the survey found that the "prototypical game-industry worker" was a white male in his early 30 with a university degree who lives in North America and has no children. What was a little surprising was that 74% of those polled said there wasn't equal treatment and opportunities for all in the industry.

"I think the amount of 74% is a bit of surprise," Renee Gittins, IGDA executive director, told MarketWatch in an interview. "Certainly we've not only seen diversity issues and discrimination issues within the industry, we've seen a greater awareness of that on the tail of the Activision Blizzard and Riot lawsuits ... more people in the industry are becoming aware of those issues."

In 2021, 44% of respondents said they had never experienced inequity towards themselves and 29% said they had never seen it directed at others, according to IGDA's survey. In 2019, 51% said they had never been discriminated against and 36% said they had never seen it directed toward others.

Non-discrimination and harassment policies were put under the microscope in 2021 to the point in which Activision Blizzard spent the majority of its August earnings call addressing its zero-tolerance behavior policies, while other videogame companies followed suit and highlighted their policies.

Even with zero-tolerance policies in place, however, only 41% of respondents in the 2021 survey felt those policies were enforced, compared with 59% in 2019, and 56% in 2017, according to IGDA.

"I think there's often a disconnect between company policies and HR policies and the way that companies are actually run," Gittins said. "And especially in game development, where you have the core employees of the company being passionate, geeky game developers, who are working with each other, sometimes there's a disconnect between the culture that they create and the culture that the company is trying to create for them."

So even with companies highlighting their anti-discrimination and harassment policies, Gittins said that "without proper enforcement of that through upper-level management and proper appreciation and cultivation of that culture through all of the employees, then a lot of those end up being empty words."

Read:Activision Blizzard stock falls to lowest close in more than a year after report that CEO knew about misconduct for years

Toxicity is also a problem among gamers, now that most videogames network players against other players rather than have them play against a computer. And anonymity behind a screen makes it easier for bad actors to spew out racial and sexual slurs, especially in games that seem to invite such toxic activity.

In a Pew Research survey released in February, polling more than 10,000 adults, 63% said they had experienced offensive name-calling while gaming online, topping all other digital venues included in the survey, such as social media and online discussion sites. Of those polled, 25% said they had experience sustained harassment and 22% reported having received physical threats, according to the survey.

It's up to videogame publishers to tackle this problem within their networks and also within their games, IGDA said in a recent white paper in a partnership with Facebook (FB) Gaming. And if the tenor of the game can influence the behavior of the players, then games need to be designed by more diverse teams to grow their customer base.

"A diverse team will innately build a more diverse and inclusive game, as the team members will incorporate their own backgrounds, experiences, ability, heritage and culture into their development process and creations," according to the white paper. "A team that is diverse and inclusive will tackle problems more effectively and create content that will be enjoyed by a wider audience."

-Wallace Witkowski

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-30-21 0842ET

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Judge sides with law enforcement in pipeline protest suit


In this Nov. 11, 2016, file photo, more than 500 clergy from across the country gather for a "Clergy for Standing Rock" march on N.D. Highway 1806 near Cannon Ball, N. D. A federal judge on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, has sided with local law enforcement in a case brought by Dakota Access Pipeline demonstrators alleging excessive use of force by police at a protest site in North Dakota in 2016.

 (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File)More

Thu, December 30, 2021

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge has sided with local law enforcement in a case brought by Dakota Access Pipeline demonstrators alleging excessive use of force by police at a protest site in North Dakota in 2016.

The Bismarck Tribune reported that temperatures dropped below freezing the night of Nov. 20 as police and protesters faced off on a highway just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Officers sprayed protesters with water during the incident.

Attorneys for the protesters who brought the suit say police fired rubber bullets and exploding munitions “indiscriminately into the crowd” and also used tear gas. Some of the demonstrators were injured that night.

HEAVILY ARMED AND PROTECTED POLICE CLAIM 'SELF DEFENSE'

Lawyers for law enforcement, including Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, say officers were outnumbered and were concerned for their lives and safety. They sought to have the protesters’ legal claims dismissed.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor issued the order granting their request on Wednesday.

Morton County Assistant State’s Attorney Gabrielle Goter said in a statement that she was pleased with the ruling.

An attorney for the plaintiffs did not immediately comment on the case. The lead plaintiff is Vanessa Dundon, a member of the Navajo Nation whose eye was injured the night of the incident.

ANARCHY OF THE MARKET

Activists Demand An Immediate End To Oil Production

Editor OilPrice.com
Thu, December 30, 2021

Europe may be in the grips of an energy shortage and forced to reopen retired coal plants to cope but climate activists insist that it is time to part company with fossil fuels, the sooner, the better. According to them, this is a simple solution to the world’s emission problems.

“It is overflowing with too much carbon. The world can’t absorb any more,” said Tom Goldtooth, an activist and the executive director of the North American Indigenous Environmental Network on the sidelines of COP26, as quoted by CNBC. “The simple solution, that we are still demanding, is the world has to turn the valve off.”

Yet the solution of turning off the valve appears to not be as simple as it may sound. Goldtooth is neither the first nor the last activist to call for an immediate end to oil and gas production. Earlier this year, following the release of the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the very head of the UN, Antonio Guterres slammed oil and gas.

"This report must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels before they destroy our planet," he said, adding "Countries should also end all new fossil fuel exploration and production, and shift fossil fuel subsidies into renewable energy."

Also earlier this year, the International Energy Agency published a roadmap to net zero, in which it called for the end of all new oil and gas exploration. Only a few months later, the IEA called on OPEC to boost new oil and gas exploration in order to ensure an adequate supply of hydrocarbons amid fast-growing demand.

The IEA’s contradictory stances are a perfect illustration of how challenging the “simple solution” of turning the oil taps off is in reality. Shell’s chief executive put it succinctly in comments on the historic court ruling that obliged the supermajor to cut its carbon footprint substantially.

Related: U.S. Oil Industry Warns Of Sharply Higher Costs

“Imagine Shell decided to stop selling petrol and diesel today,” Ben van Beurden wrote in a LinkedIn post. “This would certainly cut Shell’s carbon emissions. But it would not help the world one bit. Demand for fuel would not change. People would fill up their cars and delivery trucks at other service stations.”

It is the demand side of the hydrocarbon equation that climate activists regularly appear to choose to overlook, focused with laser precision on the production side. When the pandemic started last year, many, including BP, claimed we are already past peak oil demand. As lockdowns eased, however, reality reasserted itself and it turned out that demand for oil has not, in fact, peaked at all.

Now, investment banks, the International Energy Agency, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration are all forecasting greater demand still next year. Investment banks are also projecting higher oil prices because they expect demand to be greater than supply after the first quarter. In fact, some are forecasting much higher prices for oil. What this means, aside from market speculation, is that the supply of oil is expected to remain too tight to meet expected demand for most of 2022.

What this context suggests for calls to turn off the valve is not exactly a better world, although it would certainly be a lower-emission world, for a while. Global emissions fell last year while hundreds of millions stayed home during the lockdowns. As soon as the lockdowns were over, people got out and emissions began to rise. It is hardly a wonder that the idea surfaced that we needed the equivalent of the 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns in order to cope with emission control.

This idea may yet gain traction amid activist calls for an end to oil and gas. Activists—and scientists, by the way—warn that the Paris Agreement targets are impossible to achieve with current efforts. In fact, scientists have estimated that we need to put a lot more effort into reducing emissions, halving current levels over the next eight years, in order to have a chance of meeting the Paris Agreement goals and chiefly the goal of reducing the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

To be fair, the 1.5-degree scenario was until recently commonly referred to as the more ambitious and therefore less likely to succeed scenario. The 2-degree scenario was the one recognized as more within our powers. Now, it appears that the 1.5-degree scenario is the one we should strive for, whatever it takes.

And whatever it takes might include national lockdowns and, if activists get heard at a high enough level, cuts in oil and gas production, which, as IHS Markit’s Daniel Yergin warned earlier this year, would lead to more energy crunches like the one currently ravaging Europe. Because demand for energy is going nowhere. In fact, demand for energy on a global scale is set to increase substantially in the coming years. Policy-makers and activists both need to refocus their attention on that part of the hydrocarbon equation.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

Criminal charges possible for man attacked by tiger after reaching into enclosure at Florida zoo

MEREDITH DELISO and WILL GRETSKY

Thu, December 30, 2021

A maintenance worker who entered an unauthorized area of a Florida zoo and was attacked by a tiger could face criminal charges, authorities said. The tiger was shot and killed by responding authorities in order to free the man from the animal's jaws.

The incident happened Wednesday at the Naples Zoo after it had closed to the public, the Collier County Sheriff's Office said.

A member of a cleaning service contracted by the zoo to clean restrooms and the gift shop, but not the animal enclosures, had "entered an unauthorized area near a tiger that was inside its enclosure," according to the sheriff's office.

The man, identified by authorities as 26-year-old River Rosenquist of Naples, was possibly petting or feeding a male Malayan tiger, "both of which are unauthorized and dangerous activities," when the attack occurred, the sheriff's office said.

PHOTO: A man was attacked by a Malayan tiger at the Naples Zoo in Naples, Fla., on Dec. 29, 2021. The tiger was shot by authorities. (WZVN)

"Initial reports indicate that the tiger grabbed the man's arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the man traversed an initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing of the tiger enclosure," the office said.

Rosenquist called 911 to request help, according to the sheriff's office. A deputy responded to the zoo around 6:30 p.m. and found the man with his arm in the tiger's mouth. The deputy kicked the enclosure in an attempt to get the tiger to release the arm, but was "forced" to shoot the animal, authorities said.

MORE: Cheetah attacks Columbus Zoo employee; staffer hospitalized and released

"Our deputy did everything he could do in that situation and he ultimately made the only possible decision he could in order to save this man's life," Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said in a statement Thursday. "This was a tragic encounter at our world-class zoo facility. We value our community partnership with the Naples Zoo and their focus on conservation and education."

The cleaner suffered serious injuries and was transported to an area hospital, authorities said. Lee Memorial Hospital Emergency Department confirmed to ABC News it had received a patient via medical helicopter from Naples with injuries related to a tiger attack.

The Malayan tiger, which is a critically endangered species, was killed in the shooting, according to a spokesperson for the zoo. The animal retreated to the back of the enclosure after it was shot and a drone that authorities flew inside showed it was unresponsive.

PHOTO: A man was attacked by a Malayan tiger at the Naples Zoo in Naples, Fla., on Dec. 29, 2021. The tiger was shot by authorities. (WZVN)

A veterinarian sedated the animal and examined it "when it [was] safe to do so," and determined the tiger had died, the sheriff's office said.

The sheriff's office said Thursday it is working with state and federal prosecutors to investigate the "serious encounter" and determine whether criminal charges will be filed against Rosenquist.

The zoo will be conducting its own investigation, officials said.

MORE: Elephant killed in zoo enclosure by another bull elephant who attacked him while he slept

The 8-year-old tiger, who the zoo confirmed was named Eko, came to the Naples Zoo from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle in December 2019 and was introduced in February 2020. "Eko is a great ambassador for his species. When guests see him, we hope they fall in love and want to learn how they can do their part to save his cousins in the wild," the zoo says on its website.

The zoo was closed Thursday and will reopen on Friday, according to its website. A conservation fund will be set up in Eko's honor, zoo officials said.

"[We] thank our community for their understanding and for the messages and words of encouragement and support that have been flowing into us," the zoo said in a statement.

ABC News' Ben Stein contributed to this report.

Omicron: U.S. testing failures are 'morally scandalous,' doctor says

Adriana Belmonte

·Senior Editor

Thu, December 30, 2021

Testing has become a core focus as the U.S. tries to contain the spread of the Omicron variant, which now accounts for an estimated 58.6% of all COVID-19 cases in the country.

President Biden announced on Dec. 21 that his administration would be providing 500 million at-home tests for free across the U.S. And according to Dr. Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist and professor at NYU Langone's Health Division of Medical Ethics, the initiative is still not enough.

“Right now, I still think we’re not in a great place,” Caplan said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “We don’t have enough testing. The federal government has promised 500 million tests coming in six weeks or so. 500 million tests is, sadly, not sufficient. These tests require two tests, 24 hours apart, to confirm what you find. That means 250 million people can get tested, if you will, once. We need a lot more testing capability than that.”

President Biden has acknowledged the country's testing shortfall and admitted in an interview with ABC News that he wished he had thought about ordering the 500 million tests two months ago.

The number of COVID cases in the U.S. has skyrocketed by 153% over the past 14 days, with the country averaging a new pandemic high of more than 300,000 new cases a day.

“It’s morally scandalous that we don’t have the testing capability to tell people to stay home when they’re sick, when they’re positive,” Caplan said.

“Why are we talking so much about testing?” he added. “It’s because you test and you don’t go to school. You test and you don’t go to work. That’s the way to control spread. It’s great to be vaccinated, but it’s even better if we can get tested every day, every other day, and then stay home if we’re sick. It’s simple.”

'In an unvaccinated population ... it's just inevitable'

The recent images of long lines of people waiting for COVID tests echo the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020 when tests were hard to come by for Americans.

“The new strain, this Omicron strain, is as contagious as measles,” Caplan said. “And that might not mean much … but measles is almost impossible to contain. It’s so contagious. It’s crazy. And Omicron looks to be contagious at that level. In an unvaccinated population, 15-20 million people in some parts of the United States, you know they’re gonna get it. It’s just inevitable.”

People wait in line as city workers hand out take-home Covid-19 test kits in lower Manhattan on December 23, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Data has indicated that vaccines make a difference in the severity of illness from the Omicron variant. According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, getting a booster on top of initial COVID vaccinations produces sufficient antibodies to thwart the serious effects of Omicron. 

“If you haven’t been vaccinated — and I mean three shots with the booster — I think you’re very likely to get it,” Caplan said. “That’s the bad news. It doesn’t seem as harsh as other strains. That’s a little better. But even there, vulnerable people — people with immune diseases, older people, cancer patients — they’re really going to be in trouble if they catch this thing.”

He added that the U.S. should continue pushing for vaccines but conceded that "part of the way we’re going to work our way out of Omicron with its high contagiousness is more testing, and we’re not there yet. We’re just not pushing it hard enough.”

And for those who are able to access PCR tests, which are considered to be more accurate than rapid antigen tests but require laboratory work, the wait times are extending by days amid the surge.

Dr. Calvin Sun, a New York-based emergency medicine physician, previously told Yahoo Finance that these wait times make testing “not useful if it’s taking that long.”

“You cannot wait 5-7 days, especially in a city like New York,” he said. “Rapid antigen tests are finding out there’s a correlation with contagiousness which gives you your status at that moment, so it’s actually a more useful test, considering the circumstances, to test right before that gathering that you want to do with your family this holiday season.”

Adriana Belmonte is a reporter and editor covering politics and health care policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells and reach her at adriana@yahoofinance.com.

As Florida shatters its record for new coronavirus cases, Democrats ask, 

'Where is Ron DeSantis?'


DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - 2021/11/22

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference at Buc-ee's travel center, where he announced his proposal of more than $1 billion in gas tax relief for Floridians in response to rising gas prices caused by inflation. DeSantis is proposing to the Florida legislature a five-month gas tax holiday. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Timothy Bella
Thu, December 30, 2021, 12:46 PM·7 min read


As Florida reported nearly 47,000 new coronavirus cases, again shattering its single-day record since the start of the pandemic, Democrats and critics called on Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to do more to address the state's spike in infections driven by the highly-transmissible omicron variant.

The state on Wednesday reported 46,923 new cases from Tuesday, as the omicron surge nearly doubled Florida's previous peak over the summer. The state, which broke the record for new daily infections that was just set on Christmas Eve, is now averaging more than 30,300 new covid-19 cases a day, according to data tracked by The Washington Post - second in the nation to New York.

Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post.

While deaths continue to decline in Florida - an average of 18 a day as of Wednesday - the number of cases has exploded by 182% compared to the previous seven-day period. Florida now has reported 4 million total cases since the pandemic began, joining California and Texas as the only states with at least 4 million coronavirus infections since 2020.



Amid the surge, some in the state have argued that DeSantis, who recently signed multiple bills into law to curtail vaccine and mask mandates, has not done enough to help against omicron. Orange County, Fla., Mayor Jerry Demings, a Democrat, claimed at a news conference this week that counties have yet to receive funding for increased coronavirus testing during the holidays. He also questioned why DeSantis has been largely absent during the state's record-breaking period.

"We have not received any assistance from the state of Florida at our testing sites," he said on Tuesday. "Our residents, all Florida residents, should be outraged and they should ask the question, 'Where is our state? Where is our governor? Where is Ron DeSantis now?'"

DeSantis, one of the most prominent Republican critics of President Joe Biden's handling of the pandemic, has not made a public appearance since a Dec. 17 news conference, according to Florida Politics. DeSantis also appeared on Fox News on Dec. 19, saying that he had yet to receive a coronavirus booster shot.

"I've done whatever I did, the normal shot, and that at the end of the day is people's individual decisions about what they want to do," the governor told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo at the time.

Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, told The Washington Post on Thursday that omicron is responsible for most of the new cases in Florida, adding that many of the new infections appear to be "asymptomatic or mild." She noted how states such as California and New York are also breaking records for new infections, saying it is "evident that the vaccine passports, mask mandates and other heavy-handed government interventions did not achieve their stated goals."

"In Florida, we are continuing to emphasize the importance of early treatment and doing everything possible to expand access to clinically effective treatments," Pushaw said in a statement. "Governor DeSantis is not imposing any mandates or lockdown policies that have already proven ineffective in other parts of the country."

More than 4,400 people in Florida are hospitalized with covid, including 498 in the intensive care unit. While the hospitalization rate has increased by more than 100% compared to last week, Pushaw argued that "the percentage of cases requiring hospitalization as of now is lower overall than we saw with previous variants."

The spike in Florida comes as coronavirus cases are soaring nationwide, with the nation averaging about 240,000 new infections a day. Ahead of New Year's Eve, Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert, has urged Americans to rethink any potential party plans and encouraged smaller gatherings to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters Wednesday that hospitalizations remain "comparatively low," noting that those totals tend to lag behind infections by roughly two weeks. But she emphasized that omicron appears to cause milder symptoms, especially for vaccinated people.

In Florida, 63% of the population is vaccinated, which is slightly above the national rate of 62%.

Since DeSantis's last appearances, cases have skyrocketed in Florida and across the country thanks to omicron, which is now the nation's dominant variant.

The recent focus from the DeSantis administration has been on the U.S. government's pause on distributing monoclonal antibodies that have been used as treatment for many coronavirus patients who have not been vaccinated. Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo recently accused the Biden administration of "actively preventing" the distribution of the monoclonal antibody treatments from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly. The government noted that the treatments were unlikely to be effective against omicron.

In a Tuesday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Ladapo wrote that the pause from the administration would cause an "immediate and life-threatening shortage of treatment options." DeSantis has touted monoclonal antibody treatments, specifically Regeneron, as an effective way to keep people out of the hospital.

Many of the new cases are coming from South Florida, where the state's three most populous counties - Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach - have seen their case totals increase by close to 400% in recent days, according to the Miami Herald. Jason Salemi, an epidemiologist with the University of South Florida, told WPTV that omicron outpacing the delta variant could be cause for concern for the state's hospitals. It took more than a month for delta to average 21,000 daily cases.

"For omicron, that's happened in 12 days," Salemi said.

Pushaw said that the Jackson Health System in Miami reported Thursday that more than half of its patients who tested positive for the virus were "incidental positives" - "people who were admitted to the hospital for other reasons (not covid-19 symptoms) and incidentally tested positive upon admission."

More than 776,000 new coronavirus tests have been administered in Florida over the past seven days, the second-highest total in the nation, according to data tracked by The Post. Twenty-two percent of those who've tested were positive. Raul Pino, director of Florida Department of Health in Orange County, acknowledged the lack of resources for even more testing in the area. Not even adding more testing sites could prevent the department from being overwhelmed, he told the Associated Press.

"A lot of people are wanting to get tested," he said.

Some on social media documented the long lines for in-person testing in the state. A video posted to Twitter by Brian Entin, a journalist with NewsNation Now, showed the miles-long line of cars waiting to enter Miami-Dade County's 24-hour testing site on Wednesday night.

"This is the wait before you even get into Tropical Park where you have to zig zag around cones before the testing area," he tweeted.

Democrats and critics were quick to accuse DeSantis of being "MIA." Democratic State Sen. Annette Taddeo, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2022, shared a message she purportedly received from a friend about a difficult situation at a hospital in her district.

"And where's Ron DeSantis?" she tweeted.

On MSNBC, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is also running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, was asked by host Tiffany Cross on Wednesday if she knew why DeSantis had not made a public appearance during the holiday surge.

"I have no idea ... I haven't seen him since December 17," Fried said. "I don't know where he is."

On Thursday, as DeSantis's name trended on Twitter, Pushaw tweeted that the governor "has a wife and 3 kids ages 1-5, and it's not surprising if he wants to take a few days off at Christmas to spend time with his family, especially as his wife is battling cancer."

"I don't criticize Biden for going to Rehoboth Beach all week, right?" she wrote.

U.S. deportations of Guatemalans via air dwindle for second year of pandemic

David Toro

Wed, December 29, 2021

By David Toro

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - The United States, with the completion of the three final deportation flights of Guatemalans in 2021, marked a second year of steady decline in the amount of migrants sent back to the Central American country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guatemala this year received 17,806 of its citizens deported from the United States via 184 flights. Nearly 4,000 of the deportees were minors, according to data from the Guatemalan Institute of Migration(IGM).

Compared to pre-pandemic figures in 2019 of 54,599 Guatemalan deportees, this year marked a 38% decrease in the number of people sent back by air. In 2020, when some flights were suspended, the United States sent back 21,057 people.

Gerson Sanchez, a 40-year-old merchant from northern Guatemala, said that he and 23 others were arrested in early December crossing into Texas from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. He was deported on Tuesday from McAllen, Texas, on a flight with 125 other people.

"It was my first time trying to get to the United States to work, but after the bad experience in that detention center, I prefer not to try again," Sanchez said.

Despite the decrease in deportations from the United States via air, problems at the southern border are worsening as record numbers of migrants arrive in hopes of crossing, according to Ursula Roldan, a migration expert at Guatemala's Rafael Landivar University.

"This is due to the containment policies of the United States initiated under the Trump administration. This worries us because borders are places of risk due to human trafficking and drug trafficking and migrants are trapped in this area," Roldan said.

By contrast, the number of Guatemalans deported via land from Mexico doubled in 2021 compared to the previous year. The IGM received 1,194 buses with a total of 40,696 people, compared to 22,901 people deportees in 2020.

(Reporting by David Toro, writing by Cassandra Garrison; editing by Grant McCool)

Guatemalans deported from the U.S. arrive to the Air Force base in Guatemala City

MUDSLIDES

Heavy snows to hit Colorado after wildfires destroyed hundreds of homes

Strong winds and an extremely dry landscape are fuelling a dangerous fire in Colorado that is already feared to have destroyed hundreds of homes (AFP/-)

Jason CONNOLLY
Fri, December 31, 2021

A powerful storm system bringing heavy snowfall was blowing into Colorado on Friday, a day after devastating wildfires fueled by hurricane-force winds destroyed hundreds of homes and forced tens of thousands to flee.

Up to a foot of snow is expected in some parts of the state, in a blizzard that should help to extinguish the fires but could also present new "life-threatening" challenges to travel in some areas, according to the US National Weather Service.

"It will be very chilly as we ring in the new year tonight," the NWS office in Boulder tweeted early Friday, adding: "Snow will be falling across the majority of the area at midnight."

At least 33,000 people in the towns of Superior and Louisville were forced to find shelter on Thursday, officials said, as flames tore through areas desiccated by a historic drought. Authorities estimated that close to 600 homes had been lost.

"It is complete devastation ... We witnessed houses just exploding right before our eyes," Superior mayor Clint Folsom told CNN on Friday.

But the arrival of cooler weather and at least temporarily lighter winds had slowed the most destructive wildfire early Friday, allowing local authorities to lift evacuation orders outside of Boulder County, the Denver Post reported.

Smoke was still rising from several parts of Superior early Friday, after wind gusts ignited fires in several discrete spots, sometimes leaving blackened homes next to intact residences still decorated with Christmas lights.

At least 1,600 acres (650 hectares) have burned in largely suburban Boulder County northwest of Denver.

The blaze claimed a hotel, shopping center and apartment complex in Superior, where a mandatory evacuation order remained in place early Friday.

"We know that approximately 370 homes in the Sagamore subdivision... have been lost. There's a potential of 210 homes lost in Old Town Superior," Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told a news conference on Thursday.

Colorado media outlets reported that at least six people were hospitalized with injuries, though there were no immediate reports of deaths.

Patti Holtz on Thursday described the terror of evacuating her Boulder County home.

"There's embers everywhere. So it makes me very frightened of course, with the wind, that it's going to continue to spread to other homes," she said.

"You just can't see anything. It's like the black of night."

Dr Bonnie Abbott and her husband George watch flames engulf homes as the Marshall Fire spreads in Superior (AFP/Jason Connolly)

- Drought fuelling blazes -

The fast-moving fires are thought to have begun when power lines were toppled by gusting winds.

Winds of over 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour were reported in some places, fanning flames and preventing aircraft from taking off.

The area's infrastructure was under strain, with rolling electricity outages in some areas and some residents instructed to use bottled water as public water supplies were diverted to firefighting.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis declared a state of emergency Thursday, noting that this fire -- unlike previous blazes -- was in suburban areas.

"It's like the neighborhood that any of us live in," he said.

Like much of the American West, Colorado is in the grip of a years-long drought that has left the area parched and vulnerable to wildfire.

"One of the many factors that lead to the devastating wildfire today is the recent record dryness," the NWS office in Boulder tweeted.

Although fires are a natural part of the climate cycle, and help to clear dead brush, their scale and intensity is increasing.

Scientists say a warming climate, chiefly caused by human activities like the unchecked burning of fossil fuels, is altering weather patterns.

This prolongs droughts in some areas and provokes unseasonably large storms in other places.

Daniel Swain, a meteorologist at the University of California, tweeted that it was "hard to believe" these fires were taking hold in December, usually a quieter time for blazes.

"But take a record warm & dry fall, only 1 inch of snow so far this season, & add an extreme (100mph+) downslope windstorm...and extremely fast moving/dangerous fires are the result," he said.

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