Month: August 2020

The World Meteorological Organization says temperatures of 54.4 degrees (Celsius) reported Sunday at Furnace Creek, Death Valley in the U.S. state of California, may be the third hottest on Earth.The U.N. weather agency is assembling an international team of atmospheric scientists to verify the temperatures reported in Death Valley are legitimate. The WMO says that is a very complicated procedure and is likely to take several months to complete.   If validated, however, World Meteorological scientists say it would qualify as the third highest temperature ever recorded on the planet. The hottest temperature ever recorded was 56.7 degrees (Celsius) in Death Valley on July 10, 1913. The second hottest was set in July 1931 in Kebili, Tunisia, at 55 degrees (Celsius).   The scorching conditions come as sweltering heat grips the west coast of the United States, with temperatures reaching the high 30s and 40s. WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis says the U.S. National Weather Service expects the intense heat to continue for a while.“The National Weather Service in Las Vegas, which covers the Death Valley area, tweeted overnight, ‘We are in the midst of a long-duration extreme heat event. Another run at 130 degrees Fahrenheit plus temperatures in Death Valley remains possible,’” ,” said Nullis.  A person walks on a boardwalk at the salt flats at Badwater Basin, Aug. 17, 2020, in Death Valley National Park, California.The WMO says extreme high temperatures are part of a global trend.  It says July was the hottest July on record for the northern …

One of the hottest air temperatures recorded anywhere on the planet in at least a century, and possibly ever, was reached on Sunday afternoon at Death Valley in California’s Mojave Desert where it soared to 130 Fahrenheit (54.4 Celsius). An automated observation system run by the U.S. National Weather Service in the valley’s sparsely populated Furnace Creek reported the record at 3:41 p.m. at the crest of an extreme heat wave, a more frequent occurrence because of climate change. It was a dry heat: Humidity fell to 7%. But it felt “insanely hot” all the same, according to meteorologist Daniel Berc at the weather service’s Las Vegas bureau. A heat wave roasting much of the Western United States would continue all week, he said on Monday. “It’s literally like being in an oven,” he said in a telephone interview. “Today is another day we could take another run at 130F.” Tourists on Monday took selfies by an outdoor thermometer at the Death Valley visitor center while avoiding touching metal surfaces with bare skin. Those who live and work in Furnace Creek, which had a population of 24 in the 2010 census, saw cause for pause in the record. “We are seeing more records being broken at a daily and monthly level,” said Brandi Stewart, a public information officer for Death Valley National Park who can see the Furnace Creek weather station from her window. “It is significant that we’re seeing more records breaking.” A temperature of 134F (56.7C) was recorded …

A U.S. based vaccine development company is set to begin the second phase of human testing for its COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa, which is in the midst of a surge in coronavirus cases.  Novavax said in a statement that the clinical trials will include 2,665 healthy adults in South Africa. The trials will also compare the vaccine’s effect on 240 medically stable adults with HIV whose immune responses may differ from individuals without HIV. Preliminary findings from the first trial showed people receiving the two doses generated neutralizing antibodies, which can prevent the virus from entering cells, after receiving a second dose of the vaccine.  Along with evaluating the immune response in the phase 2b trial in South Africa, Novavax will also organize a phase 2 trial in the United States and Australia in the near future. In Novavax’s statement, Dr. Gregory Glenn, president of research and development at Novavax said, South Africa’s surge in COVID-19 cases lends importance to the Phase 2b clinical trial, with the potential to provide an early indication of efficacy, along with additional safety and immunogenicity data for the vaccine. South Africa is the fifth most affected country worldwide, with more than 583,000 coronavirus cases and more than 11,600 deaths. Novavax said the trial in South Africa is made possible in part from a $15 million grant from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations is providing money to manufacture doses of the vaccine needed for the trial.  Last month, the U.S. government awarded Novavax a $1.6 billion contract to cover testing and development of a vaccine for the coronavirus in the United States with the goal of providing 100 million doses by January.  …

NASA scientists say a small but significant “dent” in Earth’s magnetic field is expanding and splitting and continuing to weaken intensity, which could impact low-orbit satellites circling the globe.According to scientists, Earth’s magnetic field acts like a protective shield, blocking and trapping charged particles — or radiation — from the sun that could otherwise cause harm but are more likely to affect electronic equipment, like satellites.But the “dent,” or weak spot, in the magnetic field over South America, known to scientists as the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), allows radiation to penetrate Earth’s surface. The scientists have observed no ill effects to daily life on the planet. But they have observed the anomaly is moving westward and appears to be splitting.Scientists say Earth is a bit like a bar magnet with north and south poles that represent opposing magnetic polarities and invisible magnetic field lines encircling the planet between them.Earth’s magnetic field is generated from its outer core, 1,800 miles below the surface, comprised of molten iron and other metals that are constantly churning and acting like a giant generator – known as geodynamo — that generates electric currents that produce the magnetic field. Because of the constant motion, the magnetic field is not perfectly aligned throughout the globe, nor is it perfectly stable.Scientists say these fluctuations, along with the tilt of Earth’s magnetic axis, are what causes the SAA. Because of the radiation it allows, the region can be hazardous to satellites that pass through it. They can short-circuit a satellite’s onboard …

Work began Monday to remove the two pieces of a grounded Japanese ship that leaked tons of oil into the protected coast of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius and broke apart. Tug boats will pull the bow — the smaller part of the shipwrecked MV Wakashio — out to sea and allow it to sink, according to environmental experts on the island. The larger part of the ship will be dragged off the coral reef where it ran aground and towed away, possibly to India for salvage. “When the ship split in two, there was further leakage of oil, but it appears most of that fuel was on the other side of the coral reef and was in the high seas,” Sunil Dowarkasing, an environmental consultant and former parliament member in Mauritius. “With the sea currents, we don’t know if the new leakage will stay outside the lagoon or not.”   Oil barriers were in place and a skimmer ship to scoop up the fuel was nearby. The Mauritius government has closed off the coastal area of the eastern part of the island, where thousands of civilian volunteers worked for days to try to minimize damage to the Mahebourg lagoon and protected marine wetlands polluted by the spilled fuel.   Only officials and hired workers are permitted to work in the coastal area and the waters surrounding the grounded ship. Experts from France, Japan and the United Nations are also involved in the clean-up work.   “Now, we …

South Africa, with the continent’s highest burden of COVID-19, has reached the peak of the pandemic, according to the president and top health officials.  President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a loosening of restrictions but said that he is not yet breathing a sigh of relief. A ray of hope for the Rainbow Nation, as the president announced that South Africa, with the continent’s heaviest known burden of the coronavirus, has passed its viral peak since reporting its first cases in early March.President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking late Saturday, said that over the past three weeks, the number of new confirmed cases has dropped from an daily average of about 12,000 to around 5,000 per day.FILE – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visits the COVID-19 treatment facilities at the NASREC Expo Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, April 24, 2020.“A ray of light is visible now on the horizon,” said Ramaphosa. “Let us continue to exercise the greatest caution and care and remain ever vigilant.  Let us continue to stand united in our determination to defeat this virus.”  On the streets of Johannesburg Monday, residents had mixed feelings about the news.  Robert Etzinger said while he was happy that the restrictions have eased, he wants more.  “I feel as though it’s now lagging on too long. You know the rest of the economy needs to get back into the swing of things,” said Etzinger. “The sooner we get over level two down to one, the sooner we can get the economy going and restart again. …

A U.S. disease expert says COVID-19 survivors may expect to be immune from another case for as long as one year. Former Food and Drug Administration official Dr. Scott Gottleib appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday to talk about new findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that say a three-month immunity is a certainty.  “But it’s probably the case that you’re going to have a period of immunity that lasts anywhere from six to 12 months. It’s going to be highly variable. Some people will have less immunity, some people will have slightly more. But it’s good news that they’re able to document that people have really sterile immunity. They’re not going to get reinfected for at least three months and probably longer than that after infection.” But Gottlieb cautioned that the COVID-19 is called the novel (new) coronavirus for a reason – there is still much that doctors don’t know about it. With the U.S. closing in on 170,00 coronavirus deaths, experts at the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics predict that number will hit 186,000 by September 1 and more than 390,000 by December 1.  Health officials have not been able to convince enough people to wear masks and practice social distancing to slow the spread of the disease.A man wearing a face mask walks across the street in Los Angeles, Friday, Aug. 7, 2020.U.S. scientists say they have isolated infectious particles of the coronavirus as far as 4.8 meters away from hospitalized patients. The scientists said the widely accepted 2-meter social distancing advice provides a “false sense of security” and could result in large groups of people being exposed to the disease. The study, conducted at the university of Florida Health Shands Hospital, has not been peer reviewed.   The Italian cruise ship MSC Grandiosa will began …

As the novel coronavirus began to spread through Minneapolis this spring, Health Commissioner Gretchen Musicant tore up her budget to find funds to combat the crisis. Money for test kits. Money to administer tests. Money to hire contact tracers. And yet even more money for a service that helps tracers communicate with residents in dozens of languages. While Musicant diverted workers from violence prevention and other core programs to the COVID-19 response, state officials debated how to distribute $1.87 billion Minnesota received in federal aid. As she waited, the Minnesota Zoo got $6 million in federal money to continue operations, and a debt collection company outside Minneapolis received at least $5 million from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, according to federal data. It was not until Aug. 5 — months after Congress approved aid for the pandemic — that Musicant’s department finally received $1.7 million, the equivalent of $4 per Minneapolis resident. “It’s more a hope and a prayer that we’ll have enough money,” Musicant said. Since the pandemic began, Congress has set aside trillions of dollars to ease the crisis. A joint Kaiser Health News and Associated Press investigation finds that many communities with big outbreaks have spent little of that federal money on local public health departments for work such as testing and contact tracing. Others, like in Minnesota, were slow to do so. For example, the states, territories and 154 large cities and counties that received allotments from the $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund reported spending only …

Geoff Woolf gave his sons a love for literature. When he got sick with COVID-19, they turned to books to help him — and others.   The 73-year-old retired lawyer was hospitalized in London in March, and within days he was on a ventilator in intensive care. Unable to visit, his family could only watch from afar with frustration and dismay.   Then sons Nicky, a 33-year-old journalist, and Sam, a 28-year-old actor, had an idea: Maybe literature could help him and other patients.   “He always said if he was in hospital for a long time, he would be able to deal if he had a book,” Sam said.   The brothers loaded an e-reader with Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” — “his comfort read,” according to Sam — and played it for their unconscious father.   Doctors said, “‘We can’t tell you he’ll definitely hear it. But we also can’t tell you he won’t,’” Sam said. “There is power in hearing a voice.   The brothers set out to acquire more devices for other patients. As they came to terms with the likelihood of losing their father, they saw the project, which they named Books for Dad, as a legacy.   Nicky and Sam recruited a team of volunteers to load e-readers, donated by audiobooks company Audible, with content, including classic novels, thrillers and podcasts. They delivered an initial batch of 20 — disinfected and individually bagged — to the hospital treating their father, along with single-use headphones …

A U.S. disease expert says COVID-19 survivors may expect to be immune from another case for as long as one year. Former Food and Drug Administration official Dr. Scott Gottleib appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday to talk about new findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that say a three-month immunity is a certainty.  “But it’s probably the case that you’re going to have a period of immunity that lasts anywhere from six to 12 months. It’s going to be highly variable. Some people will have less immunity, some people will have slightly more. But it’s good news that they’re able to document that people have really sterile immunity. They’re not going to get reinfected for at least three months and probably longer than that after infection.” But Gottlieb cautioned that the COVID-19 is called the novel (new) coronavirus for a reason – there is still much that doctors don’t know about it. With the U.S. closing in on 170,00 coronavirus deaths, experts at the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics predict that number will hit 186,000 by September 1 and more than 390,000 by December 1.  Health officials have not been able to convince enough people to wear masks and practice social distancing to slow the spread of the disease.A man wearing a face mask walks across the street in Los Angeles, Friday, Aug. 7, 2020.U.S. scientists say they have isolated infectious particles of the coronavirus as far as 4.8 meters away from hospitalized patients. The scientists said the widely accepted 2-meter social distancing advice provides a “false sense of security” and could result in large groups of people being exposed to the disease. The study, conducted at the university of Florida Health Shands Hospital, has not been peer reviewed.   The Italian cruise ship MSC Grandiosa will began …