Factory workers wary as Detroit's 'Big 3' begins to motor back up

AFP/File / JEFF KOWALSKY

Detroit's 'Big Three' are scheduled to resume manufacturing after shutting plants in March due to the coronavirus

Detroit's auto giants are keen to resume production this week, but there will be unease on assembly lines where social distancing is difficult and worries about the deadly coronavirus persist.

Motor City carmakers insist they are taking precautions to protect employees for the ramp-up that marks a key moment in the attempted relaunching of the US economy.

But not everyone is convinced.

"I am expecting a bumpy ride," said one United Auto Workers official, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The "Big Three," which have the experience of relaunching in Asia, have set their US restart for May 18.

That is the same day Tesla has been cleared by local regulators in California to resume full production following a faceoff between public health officials and brash Tesla boss Elon Musk that apparently was resolved with a compromise on enhanced safety measures.

Unlike California, Michigan has been the site of armed marches to the state capitol in protest over restrictions imposed by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Under pressure from the state's automotive suppliers and carmakers, she modified her stay-at-home orders to allow for the resumption of manufacturing with social distancing.

After effectively shutting down in March to combat the deadly virus, US carmakers say they are now ready to get back to business.

"Above everything else, our top priority has always been to do what is right for our employees," Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley said in a statement this week.

"We have worked closely with the unions to establish protocols that will ensure our employees feel safe at work and that every step possible has been taken to protect them."

- Safeguarding plants -

The monumental tasks at FCA includes sanitizing 57 million square feet of production space and implementing new disinfection schedules to maintain hygiene. Some 4,700 work stations were modified to allow for social distancing.

GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File / BILL PUGLIANO

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has faced criticism for strict stay-at-home orders that are beginning to ease on better trends for the coronavirus in Detroit


Temperature checks and daily health self-screening are required for all employees and visitors; start times will be staggered; and break and lunch times will be altered to increase social distancing. Everyone will have to wear face masks and safety goggles, FCA officials said.

Manley said FCA was using what it has learned from opening plants in China and Italy as it resumes production in the US, Mexico and Canada.

General Motors and Ford have described similar measures.

Jim Glynn, a vice president for workplace safety at GM, said on a conference call that workers will follow a strict protocol each day beginning with filling out a questionnaire and having a temperature scan.

"We have not had one case of person-to-person spread among our employees" when the rules have been followed at GM's plants in Asia and at US plants now making medical equipment, Glynn said.

However, none of the companies will test employees regularly. Kiersten Robinson, Ford's chief human resources officer, said during a conference call there is not enough capacity for regular tests.

- Good enough? -

Lack of testing is an issue for the UAW, which has stopped short of endorsing the industry's return to work model. The union also pressed GM, Ford and FCA to relax their policies on absenteeism so workers will stay home or self-quarantine if they feel ill.

GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File / SCOTT OLSON

A nearly-empty parking lot at an Illinois Fiat Chrysler Automobiles plant in March after US auto manufacturing effectively shut down due to the coronavirus

"While it is the companies that have the sole contractual right to determine the opening of plants, we have the contractual right to protect our members, and we will do so at all costs," said UAW President Rory Gamble.

"We have made it clear in our talks that we are asking for as much testing as possible at the current time."

Gamble has praised Whitmer's stay-at-home orders that have sparked gun-toting protests outside the state capitol building Michigan. The state has had about 50,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 4,800 fatalities.

The union's reticence is due in part to the fact more half of GM, Ford and FCA workers are over 50. Also, nearly three dozen auto workers have died from COVID-19, according to the UAW.

"I'm personally not ready to return to work and feel they are rushing to get us back into the plant to make a profit at the expense of those working there," said one anonymous worker in a Facebook post, adding that it is "almost impossible" to socially distance at an auto plant facing ambitious production targets.

El Salvador quarantine centers become points of contagion

DEAR YANKEE SNOWFLAKES PROTESTING LOCK DOWN, 

THIS IS WHAT A REAL LOCK DOWN LOOKS LIKE

By MARCOS ALEMAN and CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN

today

1 of 6

 https://apnews.com/dbbfbe2ab5ef904dfaa8026c934594a6/gallery/b63bfc45c7814cbf884baed671be939b

In this May 4, 2020 photo, men wearing protective face masks look out from a building where they are being held for violating a quarantine decreed by the government as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, in San Salvador, El Salvador. The detained range from business executives returning from abroad to parents stopped by police while out to buy groceries. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has imposed some of the hemisphere’s toughest measures against the new coronavirus — closing his country’s borders, imposing a national quarantine and dispatching police and the army to detain violators.

An overwhelming majority of Salvadorans approve of Bukele’s performance, but human rights advocates complain the 38-year-old leader has ignored the country’s constitution and rulings by its Supreme Court.

At the heart of the controversy are “containment centers” where thousands of Salvadorans have been detained for more than a month at a time without judicial review, some swept off the street as they went to buy food for their families. Others had the bad luck to be traveling outside the country when Bukele imposed the quarantine and were locked up upon return.


In some 90 rented hotels, convention centers and gymnasiums hastily converted to police-guarded shelters, the government mixed the sick with the healthy, often waiting weeks before testing people for the virus, according to human rights groups and people who have been detained.

The country’s Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that the detentions are unconstitutional since no law authorizes them. But Bukele has ignored the order and accused critics of seeking the deaths of thousands of Salvadorans.

“Of course in all containment centers there’s a risk of the illness, because they are designed to hold the population that has the highest risk of suffering the illness,” Health Minister Francisco Alabí told The Associated Press. He apologized if the 30-plus day detentions resulted in “inconveniences.”

Tourism Minister Morena Valdez, who is part of the government’s containment team, said that some 7,000 people in the nation of about 6.4 million have been held in the shelters. Officials have not revealed how many of those held have tested positive for the disease, nor how many have died. Nationwide, the government has reported 1,265 cases and 26 deaths.

Bukele announced on March 11 that El Salvador was closing itself to foreigners and that Salvadorans returning to the country would be subject to 30-day forced quarantine in the new centers — a stay twice as long as that recommended by the World Health Organization.

The next day, 67-year-old Carlos Henríquez Cortez, a Salvadoran manager for a steel company on a two-day business trip to Guatemala, checked with his embassy there. He was told that because he was over 60 years old and suffered from hypertension he would have to quarantine at home — not in a government center — according to a detailed account by the José Simeón Cañas Central American University Human Rights Institute and his relatives.


A day later, Henríquez flew into a San Salvador airport in chaos. After hours of confusion, he was bused with dozens of others to a sports complex known as the Olympic Village that was being used to house those swept up in the president’s quarantine decree.

Photographs he sent to his family depict a sea of people crowded together in a large hall, clogged toilets, broken sinks and mold-coated showers. People coming from all over the world, including the most infected countries, were stuffed 10 to a room on bunk beds that touched.

Henríquez told relatives he felt surrounded by people getting sick. People coughed through the night.

That experience was shared by business executive Ernesto Sánchez, 38, who flew into El Salvador March 12 after a 36-hour business trip to Panama and was also bused to the Olympic Village.

“They didn’t examine us,” he told the AP. “The most they did was take our temperature.”

He said 50 to 55 men were assigned to his unit, sharing dirty communal showers and bathrooms. He said he was terrified of those around him.

“I knew they came from countries with infections,” said Sánchez, who asked that only part of his name be used to avoid retaliation. “It was more a center of contamination.”

Five days into Henríquez ’s stay he had a fever and began coughing. He waited in line for hours to see a doctor who gave him medicine for his fever.

“We as a family identified, after a week, the symptoms (in him) one by one,” said his son Carlos.

Henríquez’s condition worsened and on March 22 he was transferred to a small hotel, according to the report. A doctor saw him the following day and diagnosed him with colitis and dehydration. Under pressure from his family, the Health Ministry sent another doctor to see him. That doctor ordered his immediate transfer to a hospital.

Soon unable to talk, he sent his family desperate text messages. “Get me out of here,” “I’m scared,” “Help.” Held in a ward surrounded by COVID-19 patients, Henríquez wasn’t tested until March 27. The result was positive.

A week later, before heading to his second hospital, Henríquez wrote to his wife to say goodbye. It was the last communication his family would have with him, because the hospital took his phone. A few days later, the attending doctor told his family he was intubated and in intensive care.

At a third hospital, doctors told the family Henríquez’s kidneys were failing and he needed dialysis. But the dialysis machine never arrived.

On April 22, Henríquez died.

The human rights center concluded that Henríquez’s detention had been arbitrary, unsupported by any law and likely led to his death.

The case “is a clear example of the improvisation and disorganization of the government in managing the containment and prevention measures of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the institute concluded.

Henríquez’s relatives said they have received no response from the government since the human rights report was published last week, nor has it provided information about those who have fallen ill inside its containment centers. They believe he was infected during detention.

“My father-in-law was a very good person, a man of faith and he always fought against injustices and was a person who helped his neighbors,” said Oscar Monedero. “That motivated us to bring to light the injustices that he lived.”

Tourism Minister Valdez told the AP conditions have improved, and that the centers now separate those who test positive.

Sanchez, meanwhile, was eventually moved to another center and was tested three times, coming up negative. But officials held him for 48 days.

“They have violated my rights,” Sánchez said. “They told me it would be for 30 days and it was 48. ... I had not committed any crime and I had a right for them to tell me what was happening.”

__

Sherman reported from Mexico City.

Albanian protesters, police clash over theater demolition

By LLAZAR SEMINI


1 of 6
Protesters scuffle with police during the demolition of the national theater building in Tirana, Sunday, May 17, 2020. The government's decision to destroy the old National Theater, built by Italians when they occupied Albania during World War II, was opposed by artists and others who wanted it renovated instead. (AP Photo/Gent Onuzi)


TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian police clashed Sunday with opposition supporters who were protesting the demolition of the country’s crumbling National Theater building in the capital.

Police pulled a group of artists and some opposition leaders away from the building in Tirana early in the morning before heavy machinery started to bring it down. The country is in a lockdown because of the coronavirus outbreak and no mass gatherings are allowed.

A new 30 million-euro ($32.4 million) theater will be built in its place — a modern design by Danish architects from the Bjarke Ingels Group.

The government’s decision to destroy the old National Theater, built by Italians when they occupied Albania during World War II, was opposed by artists and others who wanted it renovated instead. Workers started building the theater in 1938 and finished it the following year before it opened as a cultural center in 1940. Albania’s government took the decision to tear it down two years ago and shuttered it. Actors and artists continued to use it even after that despite the dilapidated condition of the theater.


The theater had many names over the years. When it first opened, the Italians named it Savoia, and then during the German occupation it was called Movie Theater Kosova before being renamed the People’s Theater during communist times and finally the National Theater.

It’s not clear when the project to build the new theater will begin. Initially, a local construction company was going to build and fund it in exchange for the government giving the firm a nearby land plot to build towers on it. But the government abandoned that plan because of protests, and the construction of the new theater will now be funded by Tirana’s city hall.

Hundreds of protesters continued to stay near the site of the demolished theater as they tried to break through the police cordon. The demonstrators chanted “Down with the dictatorship!”

Later in the day, police tried to move a group of young people sitting on a boulevard close to the site. Officers used pepper spray and took away some of the demonstrators, and police also tried to stop local television crews from reporting on it.

Opposition leaders joined the group and pledged to stage a sit-in with them in solidarity.

President Ilir Meta denounced the move of the left-wing government of Prime Minister Edi Rama as “a constitutional, legal and moral crime.”

In a Facebook post, the prime minister compared old and renovated views from the capital, saying, “They cannot stop Tirana!”

A statement from the European Union office in Tirana deplored the demolition of the theater at a time when they had called for negotiations with civil society, and for political parties to avoid “an escalation of the situation.”

Police said 37 people, including a journalist, were briefly detained before being released and reminded that mass gatherings were prohibited because of the virus outbreak.

Two policemen were injured and television stations showed a bloodied citizen too.

Television footage showed Monika Kryemadhi, leader of a small opposition party and wife of the country’s president, being put into a police van. The position of president is mostly a ceremonial post in Albania. Kryemadhi was later freed.

The leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, urged residents to topple the government over the theater’s demolition.

Basha called on all citizens to start nationwide protests “to get rid of this bandit and this great evil,” adding that demonstrations would be held “respecting hygienic conditions.”

Albania, which earlier this year got approval from the EU to launch full membership negotiations to join the bloc, has been in a tense political situation since last year when opposition parties left their seats in the parliament.

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY

In 1973, the U.S. Senate Watergate Committee opened hearings into a break-in at Democratic National headquarters in Washington.

File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI

On this date in history:

In 1792, 24 brokers met in New York City and formed the New York Stock Exchange.

On This Day: Explorer begins journey to sail papyrus boat across Atlantic

On May 17, 1970, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl set sail from Morocco in a papyrus boat called the Ra II, modeled on drawings of ancient Egyptian sailing vessels

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2020/05/17/On-This-Day-Explorer-begins-journey-to-sail-papyrus-boat-across-Atlantic/8081588947204/?sl=7

In 1970, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl set sail from Morocco in a papyrus boat called the Ra II, modeled on drawings of ancient Egyptian sailing vessels. His mission was to prove his theory that ancient civilizations could have sailed to the Americas. He arrived in Barbados 57 days later.

Coronavirus deaths, cases surge in Brazil as other nations stabilize
By Allen Cone
Photo by Joedson Alves/EPA-EFE

Federal public officials protest against the president of Brazil,

 Jair Bolsonaro, in front of the Palacio Planalto headquarters,

 in Brasilia, Brazil, on Friday.

The sign reads "Go Bolsonaro! Stay civil service!."

May 17 (UPI) -- Deaths and cases in Brazil are skyrocketing as other nations, including epicenters at one time, have stabilized.

The death toll has ballooned in the South American nation to 15,662 to rise to sixth place in the world, according to worldometers.info tracking. Two weeks ago the death count was 7,025 and one week later it had exploded to 11,123. Cases stand at 127,837, second in the world, compared with 51,131 two weeks ago.

On Saturday, Brazil reported 816 more deaths -- second only to the United States with 1,218. And cases have been climbing exponentially, including 14,919 Saturday and a record 15,3053 on Friday. The total number of cases are 233,511 -- fifth in the world.

Brazil's Federal Council of Nursing said at least 116 nurses and medical technicians have died from confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases in recent weeks. Ventilators and intensive care units are in short supply.

In all, 312,902 people have died from the disease globally and the cases have passed 4.7 million.

Around the world, while nations' leaders had attempted to curb the spread of the disease, including lockdowns, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has played down the situation, telling people to work and encouraged people to go into public gatherings.

Bolsonaro issued an executive order last week classifying gyms and beauty salons as essential businesses. He wants them open, saying "health is life."

"Brazil's could have been one of the best responses to this pandemic," Marcia Castro, a professor at Harvard University who is from Brazil and specializes in global health, told The New York Times. "But right now everything is completely disorganized and no one is working toward joint solutions. This has a cost, and the cost is human lives."

Brazil handled HIV infections in the 1990s and the Zika outbreak in 2014 prior to Bolsonaro becoming president in January 2019.

"Now there's been a rupture in the nation with its scientific community," Tania Lago, a professor of medicine at Santa Casa University in Sao Paulo, who worked in the ministry of health in the 1990s, told The New York Times. "What saddens me is that we are and will continue to lose lives that could be saved."

Although deaths and cases have been spiking in Brazil with 209.5 million people, the nation's deaths per million are 74, lower than the 272 in the United States. The world total is 40.3 per million.

As the pandemic has spiraled out of control in Brazil, European nations have been controlling the pandemic.

Sandwiched between the United States and Brazil with the most deaths are four European nations.

Yet their combined deaths totals 821 after only five more than Brazil's Saturday count: Britain with 468, Italy with 153, France with 96 and Spain with 104. And the numbers were even less on Sunday for nation's reporting: Britain with 170, Italy with 145 and Spain with 87.

Spain's figure is the lowest figure since March 16 after a high of 961 on April 2.

The total number of deaths in Spain now stands at 27,650.

Despite the low number, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday he will seek to extend its coronavirus state of emergency for the last time until late June.

In the past week, France has posted two days of double-digit increases, down significantly from the high of 14,38 on April 15.

Health officials in the nation have uncovered evidence the virus had hit before the first cases were declared on Jan. 24.

Researchers in northeastern France announced in a release last week that it had identified two X-rays, from Nov. 16 and Nov. 18, showing symptoms consistent with the novel coronavirus, NBC News reported. That's even before the disease was officially identified in China.

Italy at one time was the epicenter, moving to No. 1 in deaths, but now is third behind Britain -- at 31,908 -- from a high of 919 new deaths on March 27. Before Sunday, the previous low was 97 on March 9.

Factories in Maranello and Modena are no longer closed as Ferrari has resumed production of its cars.

And Britain's daily death count has had ups on downs. Sunday's new deaths were about half as many as the Saturday figure. On Friday, there were 384 compared with 210 on Monday. The high was 1,172 on April 21.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain may not be free of the coronavirus "for some time to come."

Two other European nations are in the top 10. On Sunday, No. 7 Belgium reported 47 more deaths and Germany initially one. Netherlands fell out of the top 10, dropping behind Canada, and added only 10 more deaths Sunday.
Sweden, which has been attempting "herd immunity," reported 5 more deaths Sunday after 28 more deaths Saturday for 3,679 in 15th place as well as 466 cases. Neighboring Norway reported zero deaths at 232 and 7 cases.

Cases, however, been climbing in Russia. The nation reported 9,709 new cases for a total of 281,752 on Sunday, second in the world behind the United States. However, Russia is only at 2,631 deaths, including 94 more Sunday, for 18th.

In Europe, 162,332 have died from the virus so far Sunday.

In Asia, just 245 deaths were reported Sunday for a total of 24,547. That includes 4,633 in China where an additional death hasn't been reported since April 27. The handful of cases over the past few weeks include six reported Sunday. China has continually dropped in the world in total, now in 13th places.

Wuhan's hospitals finally returned to normal over the weekend after the last patients in the city were discharged. However, the city plans to test all 14 million residents after confirming its first cluster last week since the end of the lockdown on April 8.

Korea also didn't report a death Sunday to stand at 262 with 13 more cases for a total of 11,050.

A patient infected with the virus visited multiple clubs in Itaewon earlier this month. The nation instituted extensive quarantines of more than 1,000 who attended the clubs. The number of cases linked to the clubs was 162.

High school seniors will return to classrooms starting Wednesday, a week later than earlier scheduled, and other students will go back to school by June 8.

India, which surpassed China's cases on Friday, reported a record 4,864 ones Saturday and then 1,591 on Sunday to stand 92,329. Its death count is 4,633 with an additional 40.

India's lockdown will continue until at least May 31, the Ministry of Home Affairs said Sunday.

Iran reported 1,806 cases but only 51 deaths Sunday for ninth place in deaths with 6,988.

In North America, all but of around 11,000 deaths are linked to the United States. But cases and deaths have been spiking in its border nations.
Canada has risen to 10th place and Mexico is in 12th place.

On Saturday, Canada reported 117 more deaths for 5,679. Mexico gained 290 deaths, the fourth-most in the world, for a total of 4,767.

In Mexico, testing is not a priority, conducting only 89 tests per 100,000 people, according to health ministry data.

"I don't think testing is a must," Dr. Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexico's top epidemiologist, told CNN when asked if the country could re-open safely without more tests. "This doesn't mean we're resistant to testing, we will use testing but in a carefully planned manner."

British Columbia has among the lowest death rates in North America -- 3 per 100,000 people -- as the province became one of the first in the world to develop a test.

Two other continent have reported relatively fewer deaths.

In Oceania, 199 fatalities have been reported -- 98 in Australia and 21 in New Zealand. One death was last reported in Australia on May 13. In New Zealand, it was one on May 6.

Victoria plans to reopen restaurants and pubs beginning June 1 but patrons will need to provide some brief personal details to enter venues for tracing purposes.

In Africa, there have been 2,726 deaths, including 612 in Egypt and 542 in Algeria.

SUNDAY MAY 17

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia - A Time for Showing Support, Friendship and Love



NEWS PROVIDED BY
Aile parlementaire du Parti libéral du Québec

May 15, 2020,
/CNW Telbec/ - On the occasion of the 18thedition of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, the MNA representing Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne and Leader of the Official Opposition, Ms. Dominique Anglade, and the MNA representing Westmount—Saint-Louis and Official Opposition Critic for LGBTQ2 Community Rights, Ms. Jennifer Maccarone, want to underscore the importance of this day and show their support to the LGBTQ2 community.

MONTREAL, May 15, 2020 The MNA representing Westmount—Saint-Louis believes that this day is a symbolic moment for Quebec society to celebrate love and respect, and to show its solidarity with LGBTQ2 communities. Ms. Maccarone also recalls that in spite of the work that still needs to be done, Quebec is nonetheless one of the most advanced societies in the world when it comes to LGBTQ2 rights, and that is something we should be proud of.

She also wanted to draw attention to and participate in the "Family Support is Essential" campaign organized by Fondation Émergence. She reminded that the support of loved ones is such a fundamental part of humans' development and fulfillment. That is particularly true for LGBTQ2 people, for whom self-affirmation is so important.

She invites Quebecers to contact LGBTQ2 people in their circles to show them their support, friendship and love.

"On May 17th, 2020, let's recall the importance and the richness of the diversity that guides our society, but above all let's reiterate the fact that Quebec has always been an ally of the LGBTQ2 community. On my behalf and on behalf of the entire Quebec Liberal Party, we will continue on as we have always done and actively campaign so that together we can build a world that reflects us, an inclusive world where everyone can express themselves and live their identities to the fullest."

Dominique Anglade, Leader of the Official Opposition and MNA representing Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne.


"Support and love from those around us are crucial, and there are still too many families ripped apart by prejudice pertaining to the sexual orientation or gender identity of one of their own. I call on you every day, but today in particular, to tell LGBTQ2 people you know that you love them exactly as they are!"


Jennifer Maccarone, MNA representing Westmount—Saint-Louis and Official Opposition Critic for LGBTQ2 Community Rights


For a long time, the Quebec Liberal Party has been an ally to sexually and gender diverse communities. Recall that in June 2016, it adopted the Act to Strengthen the Fight Against Transphobia and to Improve the Situation of Transgender Minors in Particular, that it amended the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to include explicit protection against discrimination based on gender identity or expression. It also published 2017-2022 Government Action Plan against Homophobia and Transphobia.


SOURCE Aile parlementaire du Parti libéral du Québec

COVID-19 LOCKDOWN PROTEST MEMES

SERIES: IRONY

'Llamas are the real unicorns': why they could be our secret weapon against coronavirus

Researchers hope llama antibodies could help protect humans who have not been infected

Matthew Cantor in Oakland

Sun 17 May 2020


International researchers owe their findings to a llama named Winter, a four-year-old resident of Belgium. Photograph: VIB-UGent Center for Medical Bio/AFP via Getty Images


The solution to the coronavirus may have been staring us in the face this whole time, lazily chewing on a carrot. All we need, it seems, is llamas.

A study published last week in the journal Cell found that antibodies in llamas’ blood could offer a defense against the coronavirus. In addition to larger antibodies like ours, llamas have small ones that can sneak into spaces on viral proteins that are too tiny for human antibodies, helping them to fend off the threat. The hope is that the llama antibodies could help protect humans who have not been infected.


International researchers owe their findings to a llama named Winter, a four-year-old resident of Belgium. Her antibodies had already proven themselves able to fight Sars and Mers, leading researchers to speculate that they could work against the virus behind Covid-19 – and indeed, in cell cultures at least, they were effective against it. Researchers are now working towards clinical trials. “If it works, llama Winter deserves a statue,” Dr Xavier Saelens, a Ghent University virologist and study author, told the New York Times.

To any llama aficionado, this news should come as no surprise. The animals have developed a reputation for healing. Llama antibodies have been a fixture in the fight against disease for years, with researchers investigating their potency against HIV and other viruses.

And their soothing powers go beyond the microscopic. Llamas have become exam-season fixtures at a number of top US colleges. George Caldwell, who raises llamas in Sonora, California, brings his trusted associates to the University of California, Berkeley, UC Davis, Stanford, and other northern California universities and high schools, where their tranquility is contagious, helping students overcome end-of-term anxiety. “When you’re around a llama, you become very calm and at peace,” one Berkeley senior said at a campus event last year.


George Caldwell with Ana Claire Mancia, a Berkeley senior, last year, and a mutual friend. Photograph: Matthew Cantor/The Guardian

At that event, I joined the ranks of the converted, having had the good fortune to receive a “llama greeting”, which involves warm llama breath hitting one’s face. It was the most pleasant nostril-based salutation I have ever received – all my anxieties seemed to dissipate in the llama-generated air. (This was long before the pandemic, which has largely ruined the appeal of being breathed on.)

Humans and llamas are natural allies, said Caldwell, though too few realize it. “People see the llamas, they all light up,” he said. “Llamas just have that ability – it’s programmed right into us.” Their hair can be used to make clothing, their manure benefits crops, and as Winter’s antibodies reaffirm, “even their blood can help us”. And they are known as pack animals, a skill currently serving them well in Wales, where these hairy essential workers are delivering groceries.

“Everything about these guys – you’d think that they’d be the most valued creature in the world,” Caldwell said. His goal is to spread the word about their gifts: “Llamas are the real unicorns.”

Now they are doing their part inside and outside the laboratory. Caldwell has discussed collecting antibodies with his vet, but it is not an easy process, he says, especially for an older person: some llamas are less than eager to become blood donors, and they can be “ruffians” when the situation calls for it.

They are offering their services elsewhere, however. The pandemic has halted campus visits for now, so Caldwell has moved some operations online. This month he offered a live-streamed tour of his llamas’ residence, hosted by UC Davis.

The creatures’ enclosure was a picture of peace, where Quinoa, Joolz, McSlick and friends sat munching and gazing out at the world, blissfully unaware of the global pandemic, or perhaps simply confident that better times lie ahead.

With Winter on our side, they could be right.

'The magic of llamas': furry friends help stressed university students relax

Students at UC Berkeley have an unusual way to take the edge off before final exams. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to a petting session

Matthew Cantor in Berkeley @CantorMatthew 

THE GUARDIAN

Annam Quraishi with Quinoa the llama at Berkeley, 3 May 2019. She had been preparing for this moment for weeks, she said. Photograph: Hezekiah Burton

Final exams are approaching at one of America’s elite universities, and the atmosphere might be tense – if it weren’t for eight hairy campus visitors.

On Friday, students flocked to UC Berkeley’s Memorial Glade for Llamapalooza, a human-llama social occasion on a sunny campus lawn. The eight animals were scattered throughout the crowd, munching grass while the adoring masses petted, fed and photographed them under the supervision of trained student volunteers.

The semesterly event is intended to help Berkeley students relax before the tests. For many, it works.

Grace Park, a junior, had an exam that very day – but her interactions with the animals left her feeling “significantly less stressed”, she said. “It’s very wholesome,” added Mazel Mihardja, also a junior.


Why llamas are the new unicorns (just don’t mention the spitting)

Ana Claire Mancia, a business major who graduates this year, launched Llamapalooza a year and a half ago. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to her final event as a student, as she sought to avoid the heavy press presence of previous semesters.

“When you’re around a llama, you become very calm and at peace,” she said. Any reputation the animals have for spitting was undeserved, she noted: such behavior is reserved for inter-llama disputes. When it comes to humans, “you would have to really agitate it and be super in its face and irritate it for a llama to spit at you”.

'The magic of llamas': furry friends help stressed university students relax

Ana Claire Mancia, a business major who graduates this year, launched Llamapalooza a year and a half ago. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to her final event as a student, as she sought to avoid the heavy press presence of previous semesters.

“When you’re around a llama, you become very calm and at peace,” she said. Any reputation the animals have for spitting was undeserved, she noted: such behavior is reserved for inter-llama disputes. When it comes to humans, “you would have to really agitate it and be super in its face and irritate it for a llama to spit at you”.

Indeed, despite being surrounded by throngs of overexcited humans, the llamas themselves remained remarkably calm. Their drooping eyelashes created an impression of utter contentment as they helped themselves to large quantities of campus vegetation. A student volunteer said Lorenzo the llama, known to friends as Zoe, was feeling a little overwhelmed, but it was difficult for this reporter to tell.


Many students took pre-exam solace in the llamas’ fur, lauded as “quite fuzzy” and “surprisingly soft”. “I want to pet them forever,” said Phoebe Kay, a junior from Australia.

But interactions weren’t limited to petting. Mancia taught the Guardian what is known as a “llama greeting”. The trick is to approach the animal nose-to-nose and “breathe the same air”, she said.

Having heard that llamas could be temperamental, the Guardian was initially nervous about engaging closely with the animals. But such fears were unfounded: while this reporter was debating how close to get, a llama named Munay performed the greeting uninvited, blowing hot llama air from his nostrils. It was as soothing as advertised.
Lorenzo (Zoe) the llama at Berkeley. Photograph: Matthew Cantor/The Guardian

That success inspired the Guardian to go further and feed the elder statesman of the bunch, a 14-year-old male called Quinoa for his speckled head. The process was daunting: the feeder provides the carrot directly from their own mouth. But Quinoa nonchalantly plucked it from the Guardian’s teeth and it disappeared in an instant.

This easy rapport is why George Caldwell, who raises the llamas and brings them to campus, believes they are so well-suited to such visits. Thanks to a long history living among humans in South America, “these guys developed social skills that are just amazing”, Caldwell says. “That’s the way they can put up with all these people coming around them and touching them and everything, because they realize their intentions are just social, family: good intentions.”

Caldwell’s dream, he said, would be to facilitate more human-llama hangouts. It would be mutually beneficial: not only would it relieve stress, it would ensure that humans don’t abandon the animals. “The llamas, if they’re gonna be around in the 21st, 22nd century, they need to get jobs.”

George Caldwell with kids and Munay the llama. Photograph: Matthew Cantor/The Guardian

Caldwell had been bringing the animals to Berkeley to destress the students for several years before Mancia launched Llamapalooza, but the event was somewhat under the radar.

Llamapalooza changed that. Now, the event typically gets 5,000 RSVPs on Facebook, Mancia says, with one to two thousand students actually showing up.

The llamas’ success has inspired many local universities to follow Berkeley’s lead. Quinoa and the gang have made inroads at UC San Francisco, UC Davis and Stanford. This week, they offered comfort at a high school where a student had recently passed away.

“These llamas allow you to love them … And once you get a big dose of love, that changes whatever mood you’re in,” Caldwell said. “That’s the magic of the llamas.”

'The magic of llamas': furry friends help stressed university students relaxStudents at UC Berkeley have an unusual way to take the edge off before final exams. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to a petting session

Matthew Cantor in Berkeley @CantorMatthew 

THE GUARDIAN

Annam Quraishi with Quinoa the llama at Berkeley, 3 May 2019. She had been preparing for this moment for weeks, she said. Photograph: Hezekiah Burton

Final exams are approaching at one of America’s elite universities, and the atmosphere might be tense – if it weren’t for eight hairy campus visitors.

On Friday, students flocked to UC Berkeley’s Memorial Glade for Llamapalooza, a human-llama social occasion on a sunny campus lawn. The eight animals were scattered throughout the crowd, munching grass while the adoring masses petted, fed and photographed them under the supervision of trained student volunteers.

The semesterly event is intended to help Berkeley students relax before the tests. For many, it works.

Grace Park, a junior, had an exam that very day – but her interactions with the animals left her feeling “significantly less stressed”, she said. “It’s very wholesome,” added Mazel Mihardja, also a junior.


Why llamas are the new unicorns (just don’t mention the spitting)

Ana Claire Mancia, a business major who graduates this year, launched Llamapalooza a year and a half ago. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to her final event as a student, as she sought to avoid the heavy press presence of previous semesters.

“When you’re around a llama, you become very calm and at peace,” she said. Any reputation the animals have for spitting was undeserved, she noted: such behavior is reserved for inter-llama disputes. When it comes to humans, “you would have to really agitate it and be super in its face and irritate it for a llama to spit at you”.

'The magic of llamas': furry friends help stressed university students relax

Ana Claire Mancia, a business major who graduates this year, launched Llamapalooza a year and a half ago. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to her final event as a student, as she sought to avoid the heavy press presence of previous semesters.

“When you’re around a llama, you become very calm and at peace,” she said. Any reputation the animals have for spitting was undeserved, she noted: such behavior is reserved for inter-llama disputes. When it comes to humans, “you would have to really agitate it and be super in its face and irritate it for a llama to spit at you”.

Indeed, despite being surrounded by throngs of overexcited humans, the llamas themselves remained remarkably calm. Their drooping eyelashes created an impression of utter contentment as they helped themselves to large quantities of campus vegetation. A student volunteer said Lorenzo the llama, known to friends as Zoe, was feeling a little overwhelmed, but it was difficult for this reporter to tell.

Many students took pre-exam solace in the llamas’ fur, lauded as “quite fuzzy” and “surprisingly soft”. “I want to pet them forever,” said Phoebe Kay, a junior from Australia.

But interactions weren’t limited to petting. Mancia taught the Guardian what is known as a “llama greeting”. The trick is to approach the animal nose-to-nose and “breathe the same air”, she said.

Having heard that llamas could be temperamental, the Guardian was initially nervous about engaging closely with the animals. But such fears were unfounded: while this reporter was debating how close to get, a llama named Munay performed the greeting uninvited, blowing hot llama air from his nostrils. It was as soothing as advertised.
Lorenzo (Zoe) the llama at Berkeley. Photograph: Matthew Cantor/The Guardian

That success inspired the Guardian to go further and feed the elder statesman of the bunch, a 14-year-old male called Quinoa for his speckled head. The process was daunting: the feeder provides the carrot directly from their own mouth. But Quinoa nonchalantly plucked it from the Guardian’s teeth and it disappeared in an instant.

This easy rapport is why George Caldwell, who raises the llamas and brings them to campus, believes they are so well-suited to such visits. Thanks to a long history living among humans in South America, “these guys developed social skills that are just amazing”, Caldwell says. “That’s the way they can put up with all these people coming around them and touching them and everything, because they realize their intentions are just social, family: good intentions.”

Caldwell’s dream, he said, would be to facilitate more human-llama hangouts. It would be mutually beneficial: not only would it relieve stress, it would ensure that humans don’t abandon the animals. “The llamas, if they’re gonna be around in the 21st, 22nd century, they need to get jobs.”

George Caldwell with kids and Munay the llama. Photograph: Matthew Cantor/The Guardian

Caldwell had been bringing the animals to Berkeley to destress the students for several years before Mancia launched Llamapalooza, but the event was somewhat under the radar.

Llamapalooza changed that. Now, the event typically gets 5,000 RSVPs on Facebook, Mancia says, with one to two thousand students actually showing up.

The llamas’ success has inspired many local universities to follow Berkeley’s lead. Quinoa and the gang have made inroads at UC San Francisco, UC Davis and Stanford. This week, they offered comfort at a high school where a student had recently passed away.

“These llamas allow you to love them … And once you get a big dose of love, that changes whatever mood you’re in,” Caldwell said. “That’s the magic of the llamas.

Why llamas are the new unicorns (just don’t mention the spitting)

From jumpers and cushions to shower curtains and weddings, the South American camelid is this season’s must-have animal adornment

Fay Schopen

Sun 5 Nov 2017 Last modified on Mon 2 Jul 2018 

 

A llama wedding in Oregon (the one on the left is an alpaca); and some llama-themed products. Photograph: Guardian Design Team


November can be a chilly, soul-sapping time. Not only is it dark at 5pm, but, most importantly, you have no idea what the next whimsical animal trend is. What on earth are you going to festoon your cushions with?

Fret no more – it’s llamas. Yes, it’s (finally) time to say goodbye to ubiquitous unicorns – one-horned, prancing, glittery, rainbow-covered idiots – and wave hello to your new friends. The South American domesticated camelids are ideal for the fashion crowd and social media obsessives alike. Not as relentlessly pink as flamingos, or as fishy as mermaids, they’re cuter than pugs, thanks to their shaggy coats, funny ears and expressive “smiles”. Even better, their exotic origins mean they pair perfectly with on-trend cacti, mountain ranges and bright hues.

In short, they are perfectly placed to be plastered across clothing, soft furnishings, homeware and absolutely everything, until your eyes bleed and llamas dance in your dreams. Llama shower curtain anyone? Go on. Llama doormat? It’s a must-have.

Even the word “llama” is on point – rhyming with the slogan-friendly drama, pyjama, and Obama. Alternatively, if you’re George at Asda, you could simply festoon jumpers with “Fa La La La Llama”, which may sound like word salad, but is, according to the supermarket chain, “a great way to upgrade traditional Christmas knitwear”.

Llamas may be about to hit the big time, but they have been bubbling under for a while. Fans of BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers will know that Ambridge culture vulture Lynda Snell has two llamas, Constanza and Salieri. Instagram account Llama With No Drama (@llamawithnodrama) has 100,000 followers (spoiler alert – not a real llama), and llamas are a wedding trend (although at this point, what isn’t?). Llama therapy is also a thing, and honestly, it sounds like the best therapy ever. If you live in Portland, Oregon or Vancouver, you could combine the two and hire a pair of therapy llamas dressed as a bride and groom for your wedding. That’s if you don’t mind being pushed to the floor and trampled as your guests rush to marvel at a llama in a veil. So go on, get stuck in. Buy a llama pencil case. Just don’t mention the spitting.