Angola 3 Newsletter: DECARCERATE!!!!
ICFA | indybay.org | 2020-04-04
We dedicate this newsletter to the men, women and children in detention centers, jails and prisons, where they are unable to social distance or sanitize–leaving them to anxiously wait for the virus to take hold in their facilities. Please encourage your local governments to take action before the virus hits.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/02/18832077.php

[Editorial] COVID-19 will not leave behind refugees and migrants
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Never has the "leave no one behind" pledge felt more urgent. As nations around the world implement measures to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, including lockdowns and restrictions on individuals' movements, they must heed their global commitments. When member states adopted the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, they promised to ensure no one will be left behind. Chief among the world's most vulnerable people are refugees and migrants. The COVID-19 crisis puts these groups at enormous risk.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30758-3/fulltext?rss=yes

Trump Sends Gunnboats to Venezuela While World Partners to Fight Pandemic
Vijay Prashad | zcomm.org | 2020-04-04
The indictment against Venezuelan officials is bizarre. There is no footprint for it in any DEA document that is available…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/trump-sends-gunnboats-to-venezuela-while-world-partners-to-fight-pandemic/

Trump sends gun boats to Venezuela while the World partners to fight a deadly pandemic
Vijay Prashad | mronline.org | 2020-04-04
On April's Fools Day, U.S. President Donald Trump gave a press conference where he announced a new "counter-narcotics effort" by U.S. Southern Command. "We're deploying additional Navy destroyers, combat ships, aircrafts and helicopters, Coast Guard cutters…doubling our capabilities in the region," he said…
mronline.org/2020/04/04/trump-sends-gun-boats-to-venezuela-while-the-world-partners-to-fight-a-deadly-pandemic/

[Comment] A planetary health perspective on COVID-19: a call for papers
Alastair Brown, Richard Horton | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
It is natural during the unfolding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to focus on emergency response planning, including containment, treatment procedures, and vaccine development, and nobody would doubt the need for these measures. However, an emergency can also open a window of opportunity for reflection and learning. We live in increasingly global, interdependent, and environmentally constrained societies and the COVID-19 pandemic exemplifies these aspects of our world. We would therefore be wise to take a broad integrated perspective on this disease, the impacts of which are already spilling over in…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30742-X/fulltext?rss=yes

[Comment] The COVID-19 pandemic in the USA: what might we expect?
Gerardo Chowell, Kenji Mizumoto | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
As of March 19, 2020, 191‚Äà127 cases of, including 7807 deaths attributed to, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been reported worldwide.1 The incidence of reported cases in China has dramatically reduced to tens per day as a result of strict social distancing measures; however, the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is now generating sustained transmission in many countries including the USA. In The Lancet, Isaac Ghinai, Tristan D McPherson, and colleagues2 report details of the first known human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the USA, which was…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30743-1/fulltext?rss=yes

[Comment] Offline: COVID-19–what countries must do now
Richard Horton | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
How should countries plan for the approaching health crisis caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, himself struck down with infection, has written to every household warning that, "we know things will get worse before they get better". The UK Government is right to prepare the public for the coming human catastrophe. All governments have a responsibility to do the same. But this advice does not go far enough. Here are five critical actions that need to be considered immediately.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30787-X/fulltext?rss=yes

[Correspondence] Mass drug administration: time to consider drug pollution?
Gorka Orive, Unax Lertxundi | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Mass drug administration is the strategy recommended by WHO to control or eliminate many neglected tropical diseases that cause devastating consequences worldwide. This strategic approach, which has produced unquestionable benefits, consists of treating every person, infected or not, living in a defined geographical area at approximately the same time.1 In 2017, more than 1 ∑7 billion treatments (mainly albendazole, mebendazole, ivermectin, azithromycin, and praziquantel) were delivered to 1 ∑04 billion individuals.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30053-2/fulltext?rss=yes

[Correspondence] Education and research are essential for lasting peace in Yemen
Fathiah Zakham, Olli Vapalahti, Hilal A Lashual | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Yemen, known to many as the land of Sheba, and Manhattan of the desert, is now referred to only as one of the poorest countries on Earth. The name Yemen has become synonymous with cholera, famine, death, instability, and war. The war continues to erase the lives, history, and the future of Yemenis, and meaningful aid and peace have yet to reach Yemen.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30162-8/fulltext?rss=yes

[Correspondence] Obsolete medical law in Japan harms doctors' health
Genichi Sugihara, Nori Takei | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Japan has achieved one of the most successful health-care systems in the world.1 Under the nation's insurance scheme, Japanese citizens have taken for granted that anyone can choose any health-care facility and receive the most advanced medical care across the nation. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that such a health system is supported by dedicated and self-sacrificing medical professionals. Such overloaded expectation is especially high in rural areas where the number of doctors remains low.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30176-8/fulltext?rss=yes

[Perspectives] Man up
Tom Shakespeare | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Masculinities: Liberation through Photography explores half a century of photographic representations of men–their bodies, their identities, and their social roles. Contemporary politics is full of powerful men–Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Vladimir Putin, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan–behaving in stereotypically dominant ways. You could be forgiven for thinking that the more things change, the more things remain the same. But #MeToo is here to say it can't go on like this, in the wake of the conviction of Harvey Weinstein.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30683-8/fulltext?rss=yes

[World Report] 2020 Canada Gairdner Award winners announced
Talha Burki | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
On March 31, the Gairdner Foundation announced the winners of its annual prizes in biomedical science and global health. Talha Burki spoke with the laureates.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30789-3/fulltext?rss=yes

[Department of Error] Department of Error
thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Mease PJ, Rahman P, Gottlieb AB, et al. Guselkumab in biologic-naive patients with active psoriatic arthritis (DISCOVER-2): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. Lancet 2020; 395: 1126–36–In this Article, the following sentence from the Participants section has been corrected as follows: "Patients were permitted, but not required, to continue stable use of selected standard treatments, including NSAIDs or other analgesics up to the regional marketed dose approved; oral corticosteroids (‚â§10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent dose); or non-biologic DMARDs (limi…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30741-8/fulltext?rss=yes

[Perspectives] Face transplants as surgical acts and psychosocial processes
Fay Bound Alberti | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
In 2017 the face of Katie Stubblefield made headlines. Not the face she was born with or the face that emerged after 22 reconstructive surgeries. This was another face altogether: a transplant that Stubblefield would receive from Adrea Schneider. There have been 46 recorded face transplants in history. Katie's was the 40th–only the third to have taken place at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which also undertook the first face transplant in the USA, on Connie Culp, in 2008. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it took 11 surgeons and staff from 15 specialties more than 31 hours to transplant Stubblefield's new…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30684-X/fulltext?rss=yes

[Correspondence] Authoritarianism and the threat of infectious diseases
Juan M Pericà s | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Punitive social policy, encompassing the dismantling of the welfare state with the expansion of the penal state and its associated institutions, as nicely stated by Elias Nosrati and Michael Marmot in their Perspective,1 might indeed be considered an upstream social determinant of health. Nosrati and Marmot's analysis relates to the findings described by Navarro and colleagues,2 linking political ideology with policies aimed at reducing social inequalities such as welfare state and labour market policies.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32595-4/fulltext?rss=yes

[Department of Error] Department of Error
thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Biswal S, Borja-Tabora C, Martinez Vargas L, et al. Efficacy of a tetravalent dengue vaccine in healthy children aged 4–16 years: a randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Lancet 2020; published online March 17. dox.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30414-1–The appendix of this Article has been corrected as of April 2, 2020.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30682-6/fulltext?rss=yes

[Editorial] Open versus endovascular repair of aortic aneurysms
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
When the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released draft guidelines on the diagnosis and management of abdominal aortic aneurysms in May, 2018, it caused outcry. By recommending that endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of unruptured aneurysms should not be offered–even in patients for whom open surgical repair was contraindicated–critics said that many patients would be denied life-saving treatment and that the guidelines were unworkable.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30759-5/fulltext?rss=yes

[World Report] Developing antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2
Anna Petherick | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Laboratories and diagnostic companies are racing to produce antibody tests, a key part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anna Petherick reports.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30788-1/fulltext?rss=yes

[Correspondence] Chagas disease: still a neglected emergency?
Renato D Lopes, Claudio Gimpelewicz, John J V McMurray | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
10 years after highlighting the health consequences for millions of people infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, a 2019 report from the Pan American Health Organization concluded that there has been little progress in the prevention and treatment of Chagas disease, a problem that now extends beyond Latin America.1…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30171-9/fulltext?rss=yes

[Editorial] Redefining vulnerability in the era of COVID-19
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
What does it mean to be vulnerable? Vulnerable groups of people are those that are disproportionally exposed to risk, but who is included in these groups can change dynamically. A person not considered vulnerable at the outset of a pandemic can become vulnerable depending on the policy response. The risks of sudden loss of income or access to social support have consequences that are difficult to estimate and constitute a challenge in identifying all those who might become vulnerable. Certainly, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable groups are not only elderly people, those with ill health and comorbidities, or…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30757-1/fulltext?rss=yes

[Obituary] Philip Leder
Geoff Watts | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Molecular geneticist and genetic code breaker. He was born in Washington, DC, USA, on Nov 19, 1934, and died from complications of Parkinson's disease in Chestnut Hill, MA, USA, on Feb 2, 2020, aged 85 years.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30685-1/fulltext?rss=yes

Webinar: Racial Justice has no Borders: War & Militarization in the time of Pandemic
MoveOn.org, Veterans For Peace, others | indybay.org | 2020-04-04
Online (go to link below)…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/03/18832098.php

'Govt sends us NAKED against Covid-19′: RT speaks to French nurse from caregivers' undressing flashmob
rt.com | 2020-04-04
French caregivers battling Covid-19 are appallingly underequipped and overloaded with fresh cases, a local nurse said, explaining a recent action which saw medics posing naked to show their vulnerability to the deadly contagion. | The unorthodox demonstration kicked off earlier this week, with dozens of nurses undressing in a silent protest against the government "sending us naked to face this pandemic," as Melina Dufraigne-Laflechelle, one of the nurses behind the flashmob, put it on RT France. | Using the hashtag #apoilcontrelecovid (naked against the Covid), the silent protest featured medics of all ages po…
rt.com/news/484948-french-nurses-naked-coronavirus/

Ecuadorians protest bodies of COVID-19 victims being left in the streets
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
Desperate families and neighbors have flooded social media with videos and reports of corpses rotting in their living rooms, sidewalks and parks for days.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/ecua-a04.html

Pakistani man SETS HIMSELF ON FIRE in front of PM Khan's office in protest of police & government
rt.com | 2020-04-04
A man in Pakistan self-immolated outside of Prime Minister Imran Khan's office in the capital city, leaving a note stating that officials failed to act on a series of complaints he filed, police told local media. | The man, named as Faisal Mehmood, 45, set himself on fire near the PM's office in Islamabad on Friday, leaving a letter behind explaining his motives, police said. In the hand-written missive, Mehmood argued that local law enforcement had ignored a spate of complaints submitted through the Prime Minister Secretariat, and had instead taken action against him in retaliation. | Dousing himself with a c…
rt.com/news/484947-pakistani-man-fire-pm-office/

U.S. gig and informal workers strike demanding better protection during COVID-19 outbreak
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-04-04
Workers at Amazon, Instacart and Whole Foods protested on March 30 and 31 over concerns about unsafe working conditions, inadequate safety measures and lack of enough pay.
mronline.org/2020/04/04/u-s-gig-and-informal-workers-strike-demanding-better-protection-during-covid-19-outbreak/

Russian doctors, nurses protest against horrifying conditions in hospitals
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
Nurses and doctors have walked off their jobs, pleading for medical and personal protective equipment, and renovations of dilapidated hospital buildings.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/russ-a04.html

Western media unlocked: Hypocrisy behind COVID-19 reports
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-04-04
Why did apparently stigmatizing names like Chinese virus or Wuhan virus keep making headlines? How have the Western media shaped the narrative of China's response to the novel coronavirus? As the virus continues to wreck havoc, China Daily investigates how the Western version of propaganda plays out in the global battle against coronavirus.
mronline.org/2020/04/04/western-media-unlocked-hypocrisy-behind-covid-19-reports/

Amid India's calamitous lockdown, Modi seeks to censor coronavirus reports
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
India's Supreme Court has ordered media outlets to publicize "official" government-authored coronavirus reports, and threatened prosecution if they disseminate "fake news."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/inco-a04.html

UK corporations scramble for coronavirus bailout funds
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
The £350 billion bailout is an unprecedented financial handout to UK corporations, conducted without even the rubber stamp of a parliamentary vote.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/bail-a04.html

Coronavirus crisis: Hunger and malnutrition spread in Germany
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
Research indicates some 13 million people in Germany are living in poverty or confront hunger, malnutrition and social misery due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/hung-a04.html

Russian national wealth fund covers half of expenses for coronavirus medical aid sent to New York
rt.com | 2020-04-04
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has announced it is investing in production of testing systems, medicine, and medical equipment necessary to battle the spread of Covid-19. | Russia has recently delivered personal protective and medical equipment supplies to New York, which has become the worst coronavirus-affected US city. The Russian plane carrying the vital cargo arrived in the US on April 1. | Also on rt.com | | Russian military plane with coronavirus aid lands in US | "RDIF paid half of the cost of medical supplies for clinics, hospital…
rt.com/business/484902-russia-pays-coronavirus-aid/

Turkish workers strike as bosses keep them at work despite COVID-19
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
As of Friday night, Turkey had passed 20,000 cases and 400 deaths in the global coronavirus pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/turk-a04.html

Master-class on social distancing: Russian cosmonauts share tips on how to cope with coronavirus isolation with RT
rt.com | 2020-04-04
Social distancing and self-isolation may be new concepts for people on Earth, but it's nothing new for residents of the International Space Station. Two Russian cosmonauts gave some advice on how to spend time indoors. | Fifty-five-year-old cosmonaut Andrei Borisenko is quite familiar with being confined to tight quarters for long periods of time, after making two flights into space and spending a total of 337 days in orbit. He told RT Russia that the best antidote to depression in such situations is to keep yourself busy. | Occupy yourself with something… Reread your favorite books. My parents live in St. P…
rt.com/news/484951-russia-cosmonauts-coronavirus-isolation-tips/

Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: How does SARS-CoV-2 make people sick?
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-04
A novel coronavirus is a new strain that has not been seen before in humans. SARS-Co-V2 is a novel virus, causing the disease COVID-19. Because COVID-19 is a new disease, much is still being learned about how it spreads and the severity of illness it causes. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Gregory Poland, …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-qa-podcast-how-does-sars-cov-2-make-people-sick/

Ireland woefully unprepared for COVID-19 onslaught
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
The European Centre for Disease Control warns that the intensive care system in Irish hospitals will not be able to cope with rising numbers of coronavirus patients in critical condition.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/irel-a04.html

UK: Elderly will be left to die as coronavirus plunges care sector into crisis
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
It is estimated that up to a fifth of all COVID-19 deaths in the UK have occurred in care homes, hospices, and individual households.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/care-a04.html

First COVID-19 Death Reported in Asia's Largest Slum, Dharavi
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-04
Asia's largest slum located in India's financial capital of Mumbai has reported its first COVID-19 fatality, according to local reports. | RELATED: | Amid COVID-19, India Buys $116M Worth Of Weapons to Israel | The patient, a 56-year-old man, had no travel history and was admitted to a local hospital with a fever on Sunday and tested positive for the new coronavirus on Wednesday, an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said, according to Al Jazeera. | The aut…
telesurenglish.net/news/First-COVID-19-death-reported-in-Asias-largest-slum-Dharavi-20200403-0016.html

Pandemic accelerates union-government-employer collaboration in Australia
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
ACTU leader Sally McManus is being feted by the corporate media as a "star" of the deepening coronavirus crisis.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/aust-a04.html

Coronavirus Pandemic Makes the Case for Criminal Justice Reform
Akela Lacy | zcomm.org | 2020-04-04
"We need to think of our jails and our prisons as part of our community"
zcomm.org/znetarticle/coronavirus-pandemic-makes-the-case-for-criminal-justice-reform/

Africa's confirmed cases rise to 7,600, as 314 die from the coronavirus
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
The response of African governments has been to ramp up the powers of the state and impose brutal lockdowns with virtually no mass testing, contact tracing or isolation taking place.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/afri-a04.html

Unemployment surges in Europe amid COVID-19 pandemic
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
The catastrophe now unfolding in Europe is rooted not in the biological properties of the coronavirus, but in the political bankruptcy of European capitalism.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/euro-a04.html

US reports record 1,300+ Covid-19 deaths & 30,000+ new cases in 24hrs as New York braces for 'D-Day'
rt.com | 2020-04-04
With little sign of the curve flattening, the US has confirmed over 1,300 Covid-19 deaths in a single day, as well as more than 30,000 new cases, as New York City sounds alarms that its hospitals will soon run out of ventilators. | …
rt.com/usa/484946-coronavirus-new-cases-deaths/

How the virus that causes COVID-19 differs from other coronaviruses
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-04
Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause illnesses such as the common cold, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). So what makes those coronaviruses different from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19? Dr. Clayton Cowl, a pulmonologist and chair of Mayo Clinic's Division of Preventive, Occupational and Aerospace Medicine, …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-the-virus-that-causes-covid-19-differs-from-other-coronaviruses/

Navajo Nation cases of coronavirus increase to 214 with seven deaths
Brenda Norrell | indybay.org | 2020-04-04
The Navajo Nation has 214 cases of coronavirus, 40 new cases in the past 24 hours, and seven deaths. The Navajo President said they are in urgent need of more test kits. Doctors on the Navajo Nation said they need more critical care nurses, ventilators and masks.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/02/18832056.php

You Don't Need to Believe China About China's Coronavirus Success
Jim Naureckas | zcomm.org | 2020-04-04
Source: FAIR Total confirmed cases of Covid-19 by nation (with China highlighted), from Oxford University's Our World in Data. Bloomberg News (4/1/20) reported that anonymous US officials say that a secret US intelligence report says that China's statistics on the coronavirus outbreak are "fake": China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in Read…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/you-dont-need-to-believe-china-about-chinas-coronavirus-success/

Why coronavirus could spark a capitalist supernova
John Smith | mronline.org | 2020-04-04
There is no magic money tree

Nepal: Masses confront enormous hardships from coronavirus pandemic
wsws.org | 2020-04-04
Nepal's government has made no serious effort to ensure that the country's overwhelmingly poor population will have daily essentials, medicine and health safety equipment.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/04/nepa-a04.html

Pointing fingers won't beat coronavirus, former UN head Ban Ki-moon tells RT
rt.com | 2020-04-04
Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has criticized leaders in Washington and London for "pointing fingers" at China during the coronavirus pandemic. "Not a single country" has the capacity to fight the virus alone, he told RT. | Politicians in London suggest that China will face a "reckoning" from Britain after the Covid-19 pandemic subsides, due to its initial attempts to downplay the threat of the virus. Speaking on RT's Going Underground, Ban Ki-moon said that "pointing fingers" during a time of crisis hampers a true international response to the crisis. | "Not a single country, however powerful… has…
rt.com/news/484941-un-pointing-fingers-coronavirus/

Bodies of Covid-19 victims pile up in streets of Ecuador as residents beg authorities for help
rt.com | 2020-04-04
As the coronavirus pandemic rips through Ecuador, some cities are struggling to cope with a deluge of fatalities, pushing residents to make harrowing pleas for help as the bodies of loved ones accumulate in the streets. | The port city of Guayaquil, around 260 miles south of the capital, Quito, has been hit especially hard in the outbreak, leaving hospitals and morgues utterly overwhelmed in a flood of new patients and deaths. With local authorities unable to keep up with the influx of casualties, President Lenin Moreno has created a task force to tackle the problem, tapping Jorge Wated, board chairman at BanE…
rt.com/news/484944-ecuador-coronavirus-bodies-streets/