Month: September 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a nurse staffing crisis that is forcing many U.S. hospitals to pay top dollar to get the help they need to handle the crush of patients this summer.The problem, health leaders say, is twofold: Nurses are quitting or retiring, exhausted or demoralized by the crisis. And many are leaving for lucrative temporary jobs with traveling-nurse agencies that can pay $5,000 or more a week.It’s gotten to the point where doctors are saying, “Maybe I should quit being a doctor and go be a nurse,” said Dr. Phillip Coule, chief medical officer at Georgia’s Augusta University Medical Center, which has on occasion seen 20 to 30 resignations in a week from nurses taking traveling jobs.“And then we have to pay premium rates to get staff from another state to come to our state,” Coule said.The average pay for a traveling nurse has soared from roughly $1,000 to $2,000 per week before the pandemic to $3,000 to $5,000 now, said Sophia Morris, a vice president at San Diego-based health care staffing firm Aya Healthcare. She said Aya has 48,000 openings for traveling nurses to fill.At competitor SimpliFi, President James Quick said the hospitals his company works with are seeing unprecedented levels of vacancies.“Small to medium-sized hospitals generally have dozens of full-time openings, and the large health systems have hundreds of full-time openings,” he said.The explosion in pay has made it hard on hospitals without deep enough pockets.Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly lamented recently that the state’s hospitals risk …

The perilous state of the planet’s wildlife will be laid bare when the largest organization for the protection of nature meets Friday hoping to help galvanize action as the world faces intertwined biodiversity and climate crises.Relentless habitat destruction, unsustainable agriculture, mining and a warming planet will dominate discussion at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conference, hosted by France in the city of Marseille.The meeting, delayed from 2020 by the pandemic, comes ahead of crucial United Nations summits on climate, food systems and biodiversity that could shape the planet’s foreseeable future.”Our common goal is to put nature at the top of international priorities — because our destinies are intrinsically linked, planet, climate, nature and human communities,” said French President Emmanuel Macron in a statement ahead of the IUCN meeting.He said the conference should lay the “initial foundations” for a global biodiversity strategy that will be the focus of UN deliberations in China in April next year.The international community is grappling with a near set of goals to “live in harmony with nature” by 2050, with interim goals to be set for this decade.Nutritious food, breathable air, clean water, nature-based medicines — humans are dependent on the health of the ecosystems they are destroying.Previous IUCN congresses have paved the way for global treaties on biodiversity and the international trade in endangered species.But efforts to halt extensive declines in numbers and diversity of animals and plants have so far failed to slow the destruction.In 2019 the UN’s biodiversity experts …

Racial minorities in the United States will bear a disproportionate burden of the negative health and environmental impacts from a warming planet, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday, including more deaths from extreme heat and property loss from flooding in the wake of sea-level rise.The new analysis, which comes four days after Hurricane Ida destroyed homes of low-income and Black residents in Louisiana and Mississippi, examined the effects of the global temperature rising 2 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial levels. It found that American Indians and Alaska Natives are 48% more likely than other groups to live in areas that will be inundated by flooding from sea-level rise under that scenario, Latinos are 43% more likely to live in communities that will lose work hours because of intense heat, and Black people will suffer significantly higher mortality rates.The world has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution began and is on track to warm by more than 1.5 degrees by the early 2030s.Joe Goffman, acting head of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said the comprehensive review was a “first of its kind.” It amounts to a federal acknowledgment of the broad and disproportionate effect that global warming is having on some of America’s most socially vulnerable groups. Just this week, the Department of Health and Human Services established the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, the first federal program aimed at specifically examining how the burning of fossil fuels and other greenhouse gas emissions affect …

Americans will likely have to get a third shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday at a White House press briefing.”I must say from my own experience as an immunologist, I would not at all be surprised that the adequate full regimen for vaccination will likely be three doses,” Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told reporters.He said the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would make the final decision.Whether those who got the one-shot Johnson & Johnson will need boosters remains to be seen.Any booster for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines would be given between five and eight months after the second dose.White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients said that 175 million Americans were now fully vaccinated, an increase of 10 million from a month ago.”That’s a major milestone in our vaccination effort,” Zients said at the briefing.The seven-day rolling average on Thursday of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. was more than 150,000 per day, while hospitalizations were at 12,000 and deaths at 953, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.Fauci also addressed the so-called mu variant, which the World Health Organization added to its list of variants of interest Monday.”We’re paying attention to it — we take everything like that seriously — but we don’t consider it an immediate threat right now,” said Fauci, who also serves as White House chief medical adviser.First identified in Colombia, mu has been seen in at …

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that Virgin Galactic cannot launch anyone into space until an investigation is complete into a mishap that occurred during July’s flight with founder Richard Branson.The ban came as Virgin Galactic announced plans to launch three Italian researchers to the edge of space in a few weeks.The FAA said the rocketship carrying Branson and five Virgin Galactic employees veered off course during its descent back to New Mexico on July 11. The deviation put the ship outside the air traffic control clearance area.The FAA is overseeing the probe; it’s responsible for protecting the public during commercial launches and reentries. Crew safety, on the other hand, is outside its jurisdiction. Virgin Galactic insisted Thursday that Branson and everyone else on board were never in any added danger.”Virgin Galactic may not return the SpaceShipTwo vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety,” the FAA said in a statement.Virgin Galactic acknowledged the space plane dropped below the protected airspace for 1 minute and 41 seconds. The spacecraft’s free-flying portion of the up-and-down flight lasted about 15 minutes and reached an altitude of 53.5 miles (86 kilometers).Virgin Galactic said high-altitude wind caused the change in flight path and insisted the two pilots “responded appropriately.” In a statement, the company said the flight was “a safe and successful test flight that adhered to our flight procedures and training protocols.””At no time were passengers …

As officials assess the damage done by Hurricane Ida on the U.S. Gulf Coast and in the Northeast, forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center are staying busy watching Hurricane Larry grow stronger in the eastern Atlantic. At last report, forecasters said Larry was far out in the eastern Atlantic, still closer to Africa than the U.S. mainland. But the storm’s winds were already at 130 kilometers per hour, and forecasters said Larry would strengthen rapidly as it turned to the west-northwest over the next 24 hours or so. It was expected to become a major hurricane by late Friday.The forecast track put the storm on course for, but well south of, Bermuda by next Tuesday, when it could well be a Category 4 hurricane, with forecast winds of 206 kph. …

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry warned Thursday that Beijing’s coal-building spree could “undo” global capacity to meet environmental targets, after holding talks with top officials in China. Tensions between Beijing and Washington have soared in recent months, with the two sides trading barbs on China’s human rights record and its initial handling of the coronavirus. Tackling climate change is among a handful of issues where the two sides had struck notes of harmony. But Beijing has in recent months emphasized that environmental cooperation could be hurt by deteriorating Sino-U.S. relations. Kerry told journalists Thursday evening that the United States has made it “clear that the addition of more coal plants represents a significant challenge to the efforts of the world to deal with the climate crisis.” FILE – Workers put away equipment after coming out of the Datai coal mine in Mentougou, west of Beijing, Jan. 8, 2020.Chinese plans for new coal plants could “undo the capacity of the world to reach net-zero by 2050,” he said, adding that while they had “very constructive” talks, he also was “very direct” on the topic. Despite pledges to reach peak coal consumption before 2030, then move toward carbon neutrality. China brought 38.4 gigawatts of new coal-fired power into operation last year — more than three times the amount brought online elsewhere in the world. China has challenged the United States to fix relations with Beijing in order to make progress on climate change. Kerry urged the Chinese government, however, not to let environmental cooperation be affected by tensions between the world’s …

The space delivery business is booming.  Plus, Hurricane Ida from space, and wildfire smoke so thick satellite imagery captures the damage.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space. Produced by:  Arash Arabasadi Camera:  AP/REUTERS/SPACEX/BLUE ORIGIN/NASA TV/MAXAR/NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA)  …

A United Nations global report on nutrition says malnutrition is to blame for more than a third of Malawian children who have stunted growth and nearly a quarter of child deaths.  To combat the problem, the U.N. and Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera launched a campaign Thursday to promote child nutrition and health.  The theme for the Scaling Up Nutrition 3.0 Campaign is “Unite to end all forms of malnutrition for sustainable human well-being and economic development.”   Launching the campaign, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera says Malawi’s high malnutrition rate is largely because most of its citizens are overly dependent on Nsima as the only food.    Nsima is a hard porridge cooked from maize flour and often is eaten with fish, meat and vegetables.   “The painful truth is that those among us, who say, ‘we haven’t really eaten until we have eaten Msima,’ need to rethink our beliefs about nutrition and take seriously the science of how too much Nsima consumption affects our bodies,” he said.  Chakwera said the campaign has provided an opportunity for Malawi to re-engineer its society toward a more diversified diet. “As a special challenge, I am calling on all of you to replace 10% of your Nsima consumption every year with other and more nutritious food. That kind of discipline and commitment will take all of us to make malnutrition history in our country,” he said.    Dr. Alexander Kalimbira is the associate professor in nutrition at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.    He said besides the effect on a …

The World Health Organization reports Africa will fail to reach the global target of vaccinating 10% of vulnerable populations against COVID-19 in every country by the end of September. WHO’s regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, blames the situation on what she says is the hoarding of life-saving vaccines by the world’s wealthier countries. She notes African countries have received more than 143 million doses and inoculated 39 million people, or less than 3% percent of the continent’s population. This, she says, compares to more than 50% in the European Union and United States. “Equally concerning is the continuing inequity in the distribution of doses. Africa accounts for just 2% of the over five billion doses given globally. This percentage, I’m afraid, has not shifted in months… If current trends hold, 42 of Africa’s 54 countries — nearly 80% — are set to miss the September target, I’m afraid.”  FILE – A COVID patient is being treated at a makeshift hospital run by charity organization The Gift of the Givers, in Johannesburg, South Africa, July 10, 2021.Africa’s third wave of the coronavirus peaked in July; however, WHO reports 24 of Africa’s 54 countries are still reporting high or fast-rising case numbers. The situation is particularly acute in west, central and east Africa. The latest WHO figures put the number of coronavirus infections at nearly eight million, with more than 214,000 new cases reported this past week.  Of the 196,000 Africans who have died from this infection, more than 5,500 lost their lives last week. Moeti says the pandemic …

The World Health Organization warns few governments are providing necessary care for many of the more than 55 million people living with dementia at a time when this debilitating brain condition is growing rapidly around the world.A stock-taking analysis of WHO’s 2017 Global Action Plan on Dementia shows few states are implementing measures for caring and treating people living with this condition.It finds only a quarter of countries worldwide have a national policy or plan for supporting people with dementia and their families.  It warns too many governments are unprepared to deal with this growing public health problem, which affects 55 million people globally – more than 60 percent in low-and-middle-income countries.The World Health Organization estimates the number of people with dementia will rise to 78 million by 2030 and an estimated 139 million by 2050.  WHO estimates the global cost of dementia also is expected to balloon from the present $1.3 trillion to $2.8 trillion by 2030.Technical Officer in WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Use, Katrin Seeher, said too many countries lack a basic comprehensive policy to respond to the challenges that lie ahead.“We also need to strengthen the health and the social care system in countries to ensure that there is universal access to dementia diagnosis but also to treatment and care.  And we especially need to reduce the gap that exists between high-income and low-and-middle income countries and between urban and rural areas,” said Seeher.Dementia is caused by a variety of diseases and injuries that …

The United Nations Environment Program on Monday marked the official end of toxic leaded gasoline use in vehicles worldwide. A company in Nairobi, where the UNEP is headquartered, is working on the next step — converting all buses and utility vehicles to electric power by 2030. Lenny Ruvaga has the story. …

After suspending the use of 1.63 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine over contamination concerns last week, Japan is now recalling those doses, Moderna Inc. and its Japanese partner, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. said Wednesday.Last week, some vials of the vaccine were found to be contaminated with stainless steel.Japanese officials said Wednesday that they did not think the stainless steel particles posed a health risk, while Moderna said the contamination was probably caused by pieces of metal rubbing together in the machinery that puts stops on the vials.”Stainless steel is routinely used in heart valves, joint replacements and metal sutures and staples. As such, it is not expected that injection of the particles identified in these lots in Japan would result in increased medical risk,” Takeda and Moderna said in a joint statement.According to Taro Kono, the Japanese minister overseeing vaccinations, around 500,000 people received shots from the suspended Moderna batches.The focus on the contaminated doses was heightened after two men died within days of receiving second doses from the contaminated batches.While their deaths are still being investigated, Moderna and Takeda said there was no evidence the vaccine played a role in their deaths.”The relationship is currently considered to be coincidental,” the companies said in the statement.(Some information in this report comes from Reuters.)   …

A new report released Wednesday by the United Nations indicates extreme weather events have increased fivefold over the past 50 years, while the number of fatalities related to those events has dropped.Officials from the U.N.’s weather and climate agency, the World Meteorological Organization, introduced the report during a briefing from the agency’s headquarters in Geneva. The report shows weather-related disasters have occurred on average at a rate of one per day over the past five decades, killing 115 people and causing $202 million in losses daily.Mami Mizutori, U.N. special representative for disaster risk reduction, told reporters she found the report “quite alarming.” She noted that this past July was the hottest July on record, marked by heat waves and floods around the world. The study shows that more people are suffering due to this increased frequency and intensity of weather events.Mizutori said 31 million people were displaced by natural disasters last year, almost surpassing the number displaced by conflicts. She said on average, 26 million people per year are pushed into poverty by extreme weather events. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic is compounding the problem.The U.N. disaster risk specialist said, “We live in this, what we call, the multihazard world, and it demonstrates that we really need to invest more in disaster risk reduction and prevention.”WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said the good news in the report is that during that same period, fatalities related to these disasters dropped by nearly three times, due to early warning systems and improved disaster management.But …

The World Health Organization has designated a new strain of COVID-19 as a “variant of interest.”The global health agency announced in its weekly bulletin Tuesday that Mu, also known by its scientific designation B.1.621, has been detected in South America and Europe since it was first identified in Colombia in January.The WHO said the Mu variant has several characteristics that make it more resistant to vaccines, but said more studies needed to be conducted to fully understand how it works.The Mu variant is the fifth one designated by the WHO as a variant of interest.  Four other variants have been designated as “variants of concern,” including alpha, which has been detected in 193 countries, and the more transmissible delta, which is present in 170 countries and has been linked to the current worldwide surge of new infections.Scientists in South Africa announced earlier this week they have detected a new COVID-19 variant designated C.1.2.  The variant has spread across Africa, Asia, Europe and the southern Pacific region of Oceania since it was first spotted in South Africa in May.The variant has not been identified by the WHO as either a variant of interest or variant of concern.Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Tuesday urged Americans who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine to avoid traveling during the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend due to a surge of new infections and deaths driven by the delta variant.  The United States is averaging well …