"In pandemic recovery, New York has had more success than Mass. What explains the gap?" by Dasia Moore and Kay Lazar Globe Staff, August 16, 2020
Before the coronavirus pandemic had even reached some states, it was ripping through New York and Massachusetts. Both weathered a devastating spring, reaching peaks in April. New York was especially hard-hit; more than 32,000 residents have died of COVID-19 thus far, the vast majority in March and April.
While both states have charted remarkable roads to recovery, it is New York — the state with the highest total death count in the country — that has emerged as a national leader this summer. As many states have faced alarming surges and even Massachusetts has seen key metrics fluctuate, New York has managed to continue its steady progress in beating back the disease.
I.... I.... I.... I think I'm going to puke.
It must be the sight of rank evil that I read every day.
Good God!
Experts said that while it is difficult to determine exactly what has given New York an edge in surmounting COVID-19, a combination of extensive testing, cautious and region-based reopening, and vigilant enforcement of business safety guidelines have combined to create an impressive turnaround.
Of course, retailers are fleeing New York City because “there’s no reason to do business in New York,” and the great governor of New York is begging the wealthy to return as he threatens and closes down bars, but the Globe backs choose to ignore that.
Some of this is a product of two governors’ contrasting leadership styles — the very aggressive, in-your-face approach taken by New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo, compared to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s more detached and cautious approach, experts said. While Baker’s calm tenor drew praise during the pandemic’s more frightening days, some experts said guiding reopening may require a heavier hand.
What world are these reporters talking about? Baker has been an absolute tyranny, has the kidnapping contract tracers in state, just formed a task force for social violations as the state goes to shit, and he was part of this diabolical plot from the start.
Both these governors should be in jail cells, not taxpayer-funded mansions, for their negligent care as they blame Trump for the mass murder that occurred on their watch and over which the pre$$ puts a sheet.
What's worse, they are going to have a ceremonial tribute to them after saying they were not.
“Comparatively with other states, [Massachusetts and New York] are both doing quite well,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, but, she said, New York still stands in a league of its own. “It’s not so much the absolute difference [in metrics], it’s also the trend. What’s encouraging about New York is that its trends have held for a long time.”
That is where they held Event 201, and she also has a regular column in Globe for God's sake!
Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker reports that over the past month, Massachusetts has counted 10,189 new COVID-19 cases compared to New York’s 20,265. When accounting for the states’ populations, that means Massachusetts has seen nearly 1.4 times the number of new cases per capita.
I have no doubt the numbers of deaths are real; it's the cause that is in doubt, and it's not COVID.
COVID is a LIE!
Was there seasonal flu dressed up as COVID by the CDC and CB?
You bet your ass there was!
The number of cases per capita in New York is lower even though that state is testing more extensively than Massachusetts is — almost twice as many tests per capita in the week from Aug. 5 through Aug. 11.
All bull$hit simulation numbers!
The average rate of Massachusetts COVID-19 tests that come back positive also appears to show higher infection rates than in New York. Johns Hopkins puts that figure at 2.1 percent for Massachusetts over the past seven days versus 0.9 percent for New York, though Nuzzo noted that comparisons across states can be difficult since they report data differently. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported a lower figure, 1.4 percent, on Friday.
Then why the f*** are we still under restriction and are being threatened by terrorists?
Though both states are in the latter stages of their four-phase reopening plans, New York has progressed through its phases on a regional basis, with Governor Andrew Cuomo moving each of 10 regions forward based on localized health metrics and risk factors.
WTF are they talking about?
Baker put us back in Phase 2 last week!
The endless lies from the Globe have become sickening!
This has resulted in a more fine-tuned approach for the state’s largest, densest, and highest-transmission region. New York City did not begin reopening until June 8, three weeks after some New York regions took their first steps to end their lockdowns and after some had already advanced to the second phase of Cuomo’s plan.
Boston, in comparison, has for the most part kept pace with the rest of Massachusetts, though the city has held off an additional week on some aspects of reopening.
Experts also pointed to one significant difference in the two reopening plans: New York City still does not allow indoor dining, whereas Boston chose to allow inside eating as of June 22, when Massachusetts gave the green light for eateries statewide.
Indoor dining has been linked to 10 percent of new infections in other states, said Shan Soe-Lin, managing director of Pharos Global Health Advisors, a Boston nonprofit focused on global health matters. Disease experts in the state have also pointed to indoor dining as an area of concern, with some calling for a rollback of reopening.
The Pharos Global Health Advisors is a team of expert consultants and permanent staff draw on decades of experience at diverse institutions including the World Bank, UNAIDS, The Boston Consulting Group, Harvard and Yale Universities, the Results for Development Institute, Partners in Health (the child-snatching network?), and others, and did you see which $ickening philanthropi$t billionaire is funding that along with government?
New York has been especially tough on businesses that fail to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Cuomo on July 23 announced a task force led by state police and liquor authorities to help local officials monitor violations of coronavirus-related regulations. More than 700 establishments have received citations, and punishment can range from fines of $10,000 per violation to liquor license suspension and temporary closure.
Look at that, they are applauding the tyranny that has destroyed New York's economy and left Cuomo begging rich people to return.
With each paragraph, one becomes more ill.
Baker announced a similar statewide task force on Aug. 7, along with new guidelines for restaurant safety, so it is too soon to tell how it will affect the virus’s spread. Most enforcement of pandemic rules in Massachusetts, however, has been left to local boards of health.
This as they let the rapists and murders out of jail -- to make room for you, recalcitrant citizen!
Baker’s administration has adopted stricter travel restrictions than Cuomo’s has; travel to Rhode Island, for example, is currently restricted under Massachusetts rules but not New York’s.
Sarah Finlaw, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts COVID-19 Command Center, said the Baker administration had also “launched a first-in-the-nation contact-tracing effort, and continues to report comprehensive public health data, including community-level data unveiled … to monitor cases in cities and towns so the administration can work with local officials to enforce reopening guidelines in order to slow the spread,” but Robert Hecht, an epidemiology professor at Yale University’s School of Public Health, said Cuomo’s leadership style of “showing teeth and passion and not being afraid of stepping on toes in the business community” may be more effective.
Oh, he is also part of the team over at Pharos (the modern-day type), and don't even get me started on what a great job they have done!
“I wish states had the time, bandwidth, and incentives to learn more from each other,” Hecht said. “Understanding New York’s tougher enforcement and the benefits of this should be critical information for us in Massachusetts,” but experts warned that clamping down has a cost. Strict regulation can target the same communities of color already disproportionately impacted by the disease, said Allie Bohm, policy counsel for the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“Typically in New York, and I think around the country, it has often been harsher enforcement in communities of color,” Bohm said. “When you are using law enforcement discretion to enforce public health issues and you’ve got scarce resources, you’re going to end up with enforcement mirroring the preexisting biases in society.”
Why does the ACLJU turn everything into a race issue now, and why are they not defending all our civil liberties by filing lawsuits against the tyrannical lockdowns?
In May, the New York Police Department came under fire after reports showed that 91 percent of people arrested for coronavirus-related crimes were Black or Hispanic.
Though the task force charged with inspecting restaurants and bars has not faced the same criticism, some parts of New York City have seen more enforcement than others.
Even when applied fairly, strict enforcement can hamper public health progress, Bohm said, as people may fear that cooperating in crucial efforts including contact tracing could lead to punishment or job loss for themselves or their neighbors.
“Enforcement may be an important tool, but you can also imagine some scenarios in which enforcement could backfire,” Nuzzo added.
Like people VOTING for TRUMP!
She explained that public health officials must be careful of inadvertently driving people to socialize in private, difficult-to-regulate spaces if they act too quickly to shut down such venues as restaurants and bars.
One method of soft enforcement multiple experts said might help New York adhere to safety precautions and keep its COVID-19 transmission low: New Yorkers’ shared memory of a traumatic spring.
“One thing that sets New York apart from any other state at least at this point is just how hard-hit it was,” said Nuzzo.
These sickening monsters who want to protect you want to traumatize you all over again!
WHAT EVIL CRETINS!
She said the pandemic was “inescapable,” particularly in New York City, where relentless sirens, daily tributes to health care workers, and overrun hospitals and crematoriums sent shock waves through neighborhoods.
She means the mass simulation and drill that went live because the hospitals were as quiet as the streets!
“New York City, as a whole, got rocked way harder than we did in Boston. The hospitals here didn’t get overrun,” said Soe-Lin. “That’s a good thing, but it’s hard when people need to remember to maintain their vigilance now.”
The hospitals were not overrun anywhere.
Our pre$$ lied to us.... AGAIN!
--more--"
Yeah, that's them and the Globe ignored the weekend shootings, crime, and violence in Chicago and New York while watching TV:
"Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised city police Sunday for “fairly quickly’’ settling weekend protests that devolved into violent skirmishes while activists and other elected officials blasted police for unnecessary aggressive tactics. The day of demonstrations against police brutality started peacefully Saturday with a march around noon. Later, a separate demonstration near downtown resulted in two dozen arrests, 17 injured officers, and at least two injured protesters. None of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening. Lightfoot told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that agitators ‘‘have embedded themselves in these seemingly peaceful protests and come for a fight’’ though the clashes were “over very fairly quickly because our police department is resolved to make sure that we protect peaceful protests.’’ Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown said that some in the group used black umbrellas to make it harder for police to see them, pushed officers, and assaulted them. In one video released by Chicago police, a person swinging a skateboard strikes an officer. At the same time, activist groups and some elected officials called out police for using aggressive tactics, including spraying the crowd with a chemical irritant and striking protesters with batons. “The march was peaceful until CPD and other law enforcement agencies began an all-out assault on protesters,” said a Sunday statement from youth activist group Increase The Peace. Several Chicago Democrats questioned using department money on such a response to protesters in a city that has had a lower homicide case clearance rate than other big cities."
I'm shaking head in disbelief at the fudged figures in the most dangerous city in AmeriKa, although New York appears poised to recapture the title.
Lightfoot is treading lightly in calling out the $oro$-$pon$ored goons as the Globe focuses on Cincinnati:
"At least 18 people were shot, including four killed, as gunfire erupted in several places around the city overnight, officials said Sunday, news outlets reported....."
Your Zolucky, and they also need to keep stuff like this quiet:
Antonella D’Eramo, with son Elio, “was so happy I could cry” when she heard the Watertown Free Public Library reopened (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff/The Boston Globe).
Strangely, the advertisement right next to the photo and all over the place borders on $ex-trafficking (complete with masonic hand signaling at bottom)!?!
Children's librarian Kazia Berkley-Cramer led children in a song while using Facebook Live during storytime at the Watertown Free Public Library in Watertown (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff).
"‘Libraries are about being together.’ So what do they do now?" by Tim Logan Globe Staff, August 10, 2020
With books and magazines so easily downloaded, libraries in recent years have come to be about far more than their traditional stacks and shelves. Many offer services that range from yoga classes for kids to movie streaming to help with job searches to simply offering a place where someone can sit and read a magazine in peace, and as architect Scott Pollack notes, they’re rare public spaces that are truly free and open to all.
“Libraries are our 21st-century community centers, and they’ve become really, really important to our communities,” said Pollack, a principal at the Boston architecture firm Arrowstreet.
Some libraries cranked up their Wi-Fi systems, so patrons in the parking lots could get online from their cars. Others started video programs they would never have held in person, such as the Woburn Public Library’s weekly how-to sessions with a hair stylist.
More 5G $hit!
“We’re humans. We’re looking for different ways to connect, and signal that we’re all going through this together,” said Bonnie Roalsen, director of the Woburn Public Library. “It’s not just sending out book lists.”
I'm going to bite my tongue and not say anything in respect to the institution.
Still, it all depends on Internet access, and not everyone has it. Indeed, many patrons go to libraries specifically to use the Internet — to do schoolwork or look for a job or print out documents from websites.
Still!
Oh, sorry!
Shhhhh!
Lakshmi Vinodkumar, 7, hoisted her books to the checkout desk at the Watertown Free Public Library (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff/The Boston Globe).
While there, they’ll often get help from librarians who double as experts in everything from online research to resume writing. That kind of interaction is hard to replicate remotely, said Rob Favini, head of library advisory and development at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
“There’s really a digital divide here, and this exacerbates it,” he said. “To a lot of folks, it’s the building that’s so important.”
The an$wer is, of cour$e, to digitalize our identities as well as everything else so a select few control every movement on Earth while getting tremendously wealthy.
--more--"
Now get back in your hole:
"Taller cubicles, one-way aisles: Office workers must adjust" by Mae Anderson Associated Press, August 16, 2020
NEW YORK — Bergmeyer, a design firm in Boston, has erected higher cubicles, told employees to wear masks when not at their desks and set up one-way aisles in the office that force people to walk the long way around to get to the kitchen or the bathroom.
Better give yourself plenty of time so you don't have an accident, especially with the runs (maybe it was that burrito for lunch).
“The one-way paths take me a little out of the way, but it was easy to get used to,” said Stephanie Jones, an interior designer with the company. “It actually gives me the opportunity to see more people and say a quick hello when I might have just walked directly to my desk before.”
Not on the elevator, and do you think they heard you through the mask?
Around the country, office workers sent home when the coronavirus took hold in March are returning to the world of cubicles and conference rooms and facing certain adjustments: masks, staggered shifts, spaced-apart desks, daily questions about their health, closed break rooms, and sanitizer everywhere.
They want to destroy our immune systems with sanitizers!
Then you will get COVID and need to be traced and vaxxed!
For some at least, there are also advantages, including the opportunity to share chitchat with colleagues again or the ability to get more work done.
Yeah, be a busy worker drone fro the bo$$.
Employers in some cases are requiring workers to come back to the office, but most, like Bergmeyer, are letting the employees decide what to do, at least for now. Some firms say the risks and precautions are worth it to boost productivity and move closer to normal.
But never again to normal.
It is a meager trend so far: Real estate trade group NAIOP Massachusetts estimated the occupancy rate for many office towers in downtown Boston at around 5 percent, and 10 percent to 20 percent in the suburbs. That echoes what is happening in other cities. In New York, real estate firm CBRE said the offices it manages have a 7 percent occupancy rate in Manhattan and nearly 30 percent in the suburbs.
The Globe features that as a rou$ing $ucce$$ $tory this morning!
Bergmeyer began bringing people back in June in stages. It is now in Phase Three, with 60 percent of the staff back in the office but split into two groups: Half come in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the other half on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Employees are asked to report any symptoms to a human resources director who can work with them on getting tested and quarantining themselves.
Better quit now.
Jones elected to come back in the second wave, in late June.
I was just told the first wave never ended!
“I found that I was surprisingly more productive than I thought I would be working from home, but ultimately decided to come back. I live alone, and I was missing the social interaction,” she said.
She also missed the space in the office, her double computer monitors, and other advantages.
“I’m an interior designer, and I’m used to picking finishes and materials with a whole resource library here I didn’t have access to,” she said. “Suddenly I had to be ordering everything to my home, and it was taking over.”
At first, the one-way aisles meant that those who sat just past the restrooms had to walk all the way around the office to get to them. So Bergmeyer added another path down the middle, but if you go to the kitchen, Jones said, you have to keep walking around the circle to get back to your desk.
They are LITERALLY RUNNING US in CIRCLES, and must be LAUGHING s you get DIZZY!
The natural light in the office was too bright for some Zoom calls, so the company has been experimenting with audio, lighting, acoustics, and backdrops in several new dedicated “Zoom rooms.”
All in all, Jones said, ‘‘it’s great to come back in on a part-time basis on my own terms.”
Stephan Meier, a business professor at Columbia University, expressed skepticism about bringing workers back in the midst of the outbreak, which has been blamed for more than 5 million confirmed infections and nearly 170,000 deaths in the United States. Most firms have discovered that people can work effectively remotely, he said.
Remember when they told us 2 million would be dead by now?
And yet the whole world has changed over this blatant hoax!
“The safety of your workers has to be top priority,“ he said.
As virus cases surge in many states, some companies have found that reopening has led to reclosing.
The Blue Sky advertising agency in Atlanta began reopening in May in stages, reconfiguring its open-plan workspace by spreading out tables, installing plastic partitions, and establishing a limit of 10 people in the office at any one time out of a workforce of 25, and caps on how many could be in certain rooms, but a surge in cases in Georgia led to another shutdown at the end of June. Now employees come in only if they absolutely need to, said Dawn Evans, human resources manager.
Kippy Castillo, an account manager at Blue Sky, was working at the office once a week before it closed again. She drove in and brought her lunch. She said the precautions around the office made her feel safe. “I really didn’t feel like we’ve missed a beat working from home,” she said, “but it’s nice to get back in the routine of being in the office.” Being there, she said, “helps if you need to focus on getting work done or a certain meeting.”
The $lave ma$ters $ure are happy with the productivity, and they should have been wearing masks.
See:
"Georgia’s governor, who has opposed local mask mandates and even sued over one in Atlanta, has signed a new executive order that allows local governments to enact mask requirements to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. As with previous orders, the one issued Saturday says residents and visitors of the state are “strongly encouraged” to wear face coverings when they are outside of their homes, except when eating, drinking or exercising outside, but unlike previous orders, this one allows local governments in counties that have reached a “threshold requirement” to require the wearing of masks on government-owned property. A county meets that threshold requirement if it has had 100 or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people over the previous 14 days. Only two of Georgia’s 159 counties were below that threshold, according to data from the state Department of Public Health."
Not a very good governor he.
Steve Spinner, an accountant in Chicago, went back in June when his office started letting people return. He takes a commuter train into work and has to ride the elevator to the 27th floor, but he said for him it’s the best option. “One, I’m 51 years old, and I’m not very good at working from home. I’m not used to it,” he said. “We’re more productive when we are all here together, and there have been no issues or incidents, knock on wood.”
Only a quarter of the 200 employees at the firm are allowed back. The desks have been reconfigured so no one sits next to anyone else, and common areas like the kitchen are closed. There are hand sanitizer stations and mask requirements. Only three or four people are allowed in the elevator at once, and building workers push the button for them.
Spinner said the riskiest part of his day is the commute.
“Frankly when I come to the office, I’m not worried once I’m here. Everything is safe,” he said. “The trains are a little more sketchy, not everyone following rules for masks and whatnot.’’
I have been told within the last couple of weeks that there is no concern at all. No mention of COVID on the red line, although there are now "dire warnings that the systems will go into a “death spiral,” and join the rest of us.
--more--"
Related:
"Two people whose bodies were recovered Friday from an SUV submerged in the water near Boston’s Seaport District were missing since Tuesday night, State Police said on Sunday. The family of Tatianna Morales, who lived in New Bedford, reported the 21-year-old missing to police on Wednesday, as did the family of 21-year-old Djovany Pierre of Roxbury, officials said. A State Police spokesman said the agency had been working with Boston and Massport police since Wednesday on the missing persons investigation and found Morales and Pierre’s bodies on Friday. The two were found inside a white Ford SUV that was submerged in 40 feet of water near the Black Falcon Terminal, officials said. State Police went to the terminal Friday afternoon after learning that an SUV had gone into the water there earlier in the week, State Police spokesman David Procopio said on Friday. “We developed information about the vehicle’s location in the water on Friday and immediately sent detectives and divers to that location,” Procopio said Sunday. A Boston Fire Department diver found the SUV about 15 feet out from the pier; three State Police divers then went into the water and determined there were two bodies inside, according to Procopio. Officials did not comment further on the nature of circumstances of Morales and Pierre’s deaths. No further information was immediately available Sunday night."
This is an ongoing concern at the Globe, and I stand by what I said. It looks like suicide because of COVID, but not because of COVID, if you know what I mean.
My reading is that life had turned unbearable for the couple and they decided what's the use?
The pre$$ won't report it as a COVID death because they didn't have COVID; it was likely a lockdown death because of COVID, know what I mean?
Let's turn to some other once-great American cities:
"Protesters have vandalized a Minneapolis police precinct office and targeted officers with fireworks, the police chief said Sunday. Chief Medaria Arradondo said demonstrators marched to the 5th Precinct on Saturday night and vandalized the exterior of the building and also targeted officers with “commercial grade fireworks.” “This unlawful and senseless behavior will not be tolerated. Acts such as these do absolutely nothing to constructively engage and activate true and real needed reforms,’’ Arradondo said in a statement. He said those who hijack peaceful protests “will be prosecuted to the full extent lawfully.” Images provided by the Minneapolis Police Department show red paint splattered on the sidewalk and graffiti such as “Blood on your hands” spray-painted on the building. Police spokesman John Elder said Sunday that no officers were hurt and no one has been arrested."
Message received, loud and clear. Police stand down in Minneapolis.
"A riot was declared in Oregon’s biggest city as protesters demonstrated outside a law enforcement building early Sunday, continuing a nightly ritual in Portland. Officers used crowd control munitions to disperse the gathering outside the Penumbra Kelly building. Protesters had thrown “softball size” rocks, glass bottles, and other objects at officers, police said on Twitter. The department also said security cameras had been spray painted and other vandalism occurred. The actions came after what started as a peaceful protest, with demonstrators chanting “take it to the streets!” Saturday afternoon, a rally by a small group of far-right demonstrators quickly devolved as they traded paint balls and pepper spray with counterprotesters. About 30 people were participating in the Patriot Prayer rally in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center."
There is no place like home.
"Mayor Bill Peduto says he has “serious concerns” about the tactics used in the arrest of a protester during a march Saturday that drew condemnation from the American Civil Liberties Union and others. Pittsburgh Public Safety officials said they were trying to protect the public when plainclothes officers arrested a protester at about 5 p.m. Saturday in the city and placed the person in an unmarked, white van. Public Safety officials said the person had repeatedly refused to work with police and was blocking intersections needed for people to get to hospitals and for students moving into the University of Pittsburgh. The march of about 150 people started about an hour and 45 minutes before the arrest, they said. Commander Ed Trapp of the Special Deployment Division said the man was stepping in front of cars and directing vehicles “with no situational awareness” and feared he would direct cars into other vehicles or pedestrians. Trapp said officials decided on a “low-visibility” arrest to avoid gathering a crowd and have the situation escalate. “The idea was a surgical maneuver to remove the person that was the problem and allow the main protest march to continue, which it in fact did,’’ he said. Peduto said he had “serious concerns” about the tactics used and would work with public safety leaders on whether and when such things should be done. “That imagery, what people saw, scared them because they don’t believe that’s part of what Pittsburgh is,” Peduto said. “They saw officers getting somebody and throwing them into a van, and they ask ‘Why?’ and they’re right to ask ‘Why?” Public safety officials said that they were committed to assuring the rights of people to express their opinion, but that the protests had become increasingly unsafe in recent weeks and protest organizers had refused to cooperate with police on their planned routes and intentions."
How communi$tic of them with the van and all, and when the authorities turn finally do a hard turn on them, it will be the end of all protest.
Btw, why is the ACLJU not filing lawsuits regarding the civil-liberty destroying lockdowns?
Why are they MIA on that, their alleged core mission?
See you in the extermination camp :(
Or not if the Globe posts it for them:
Criticism against Mass. Bail Fund misses the mark
They say the outrage of a violent offender’s release does not invalidate the organization's worthy racial justice mission, except it wasn't just one rapist and an oopsie, it was murderers, too!
I guess the Globe doesn't read its own reporter's work, and why would they?
They don't want to hear you.
Just do your job, drone, and spew pablum.
It's also time for property seizures since the reparations for slavery are due, whitey, because the legacy of slavery is far from resolved and it persists every day and everywhere. That's according to David Gardinier, founder of the Fund for Reparations NOW!, and Karen Hilfman, a founding member of White People for Black Lives and a board member of FFRN!, and David M. Abromowitz, a real estate attorney in Boston and past chair of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association, will help you get ahead of the next housing downturn and capitalize on the downturn in real estate in order to guarantee affordable housing.
If that cho$en tribe gets its wishes, white people will find out what it means to be Palestinian. How oddly surreal that it is the same Joos that are guilt-tripping white people for something that happened long ago and which no one alive had anything to do with.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
It's enough to make one ill:
"Scientists who have been monitoring immune responses to the coronavirus are now starting to see encouraging signs of strong, lasting immunity, even in people who developed only mild symptoms of COVID-19, a flurry of new studies suggests. Disease-fighting antibodies, as well as immune cells called B cells and T cells that are capable of recognizing the virus, appear to persist months after infections have resolved — an encouraging echo of the body’s enduring response to other viruses. “Things are really working as they’re supposed to,” said Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona and an author of one of the new studies, which has not yet been peer-reviewed. Although researchers cannot forecast how long these immune responses will last, many experts consider the data a welcome indication that the body’s most studious cells are doing their job — and will have a good chance offending off the coronavirus, faster and more fervently than before, if exposed to it again. “This is exactly what you would hope for,” said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington and an author of another of the new studies, which is currently under review at the journal Nature. “All the pieces are there to have a totally protective immune response.” Protection against reinfection cannot be fully confirmed until there is proof that most people who encounter the virus a second time are actually able to keep it at bay, Pepper said, but the findings could helpquell recent concerns over the virus’s ability to dupe the immune system into amnesia, leaving people vulnerable to repeat bouts of disease. Researchers have yet to find unambiguous evidence that coronavirus reinfections are occurring, especially within the few months that the virus has been rippling through the human population. The prospect of immune memory “helps to explain that,” Pepper said. Considered with other recent reports, the new data reinforce the idea that, “Yes, you do develop immunity to this virus, and good immunity to this virus,” said Dr. Eun-Hyung Lee, an immunologist at Emory University who was not involved in the studies. “That’s the message we want to get out there.”
Is it, because the herd immunity was not in print.
This was the print lead:
"As public health officials look to fall and winter, the specter of a new surge of COVID-19 gives them chills, but there is a scenario they dread even more: a severe flu season, resulting in a “twindemic.” Even a mild flu season could stagger hospitals already coping with COVID-19 cases, and though officials don’t know yet what degree of severity to anticipate this year, they are worried large numbers of people could forgo flu shots, increasing the risk of widespread outbreaks. The concern about a twindemic is so great that officials around the world are pushing the flu shot even before it becomes available in clinics and doctors’ offices. Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been talking it up, urging corporate leaders to figure out ways to inoculate employees. The CDC usually purchases 500,000 doses for uninsured adults but this year ordered an additional 9.3 million doses. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been imploring people to get the flu shot “so that you could at least blunt the effect of one of those two potential respiratory infections.” A life-threatening respiratory illness that crowds emergency rooms and intensive care units, flu shares symptoms with COVID-19: fever, headache, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, and fatigue. Flu can leave patients vulnerable to a harsher attack of COVID-19; coming down with both viruses at once could be disastrous, doctors warn. According to the CDC, flu season occurs in the fall and winter, peaking from December to February, and so was nearing its end as the pandemic began to flare in March, but now, fighting flu proactively during the continuing pandemic presents significant challenges — not only how to administer the shot safely and readily but also how to prompt people to get a shot that a majority of Americans have typically distrusted, dismissed, and skipped."
That jerk sure is making the rounds these days, and maybe that is a good thing.
What they will do is once again conflate seasonal flu with COVID, and the fear campaign is no longer working because I have a robust immune system!
So what biological warfare agent will they be releasing soon?
You know who they will test it on, just as they did decades ago:
"When the coronavirus emerged in the United States this year, public health officials and advocates for the homeless feared the virus would rip through shelters and tent encampments, ravaging vulnerable people who often have chronic health issues. They scrambled to move people into hotel rooms, thinned out crowded shelters, and moved tents into spots at sanctioned outdoor camps. While shelters saw some large COVID-19 outbreaks, the virus so far doesn’t appear to have brought devastation to the homeless population as many feared; however, researchers and advocates say much is unknown about how the pandemic is affecting the estimated half-million people without housing in the United States. In a country that’s surpassed 5.3 million identified cases and 169,000 deaths, researchers don’t know why there appear to be so few outbreaks among the homeless. “I am shocked, I guess I can say, because it’s a very vulnerable population. I don’t know what we’re going to see in an aftermath,” said Dr. Deborah Borne, who oversees health policy for COVID-19 homeless response at San Francisco’s public health department. “That’s why it’s called a novel virus, because we don’t know.’’
They killed an economy and a way of life over that!
Remember when South Korea used to be the model?
"Health officials in South Korea reported 279 new coronavirus cases Sunday, warning of a resurgence of infections, many linked to a church that has vocally opposed President Moon Jae-in. South Korea had battled the epidemic down to two-digit daily caseloads since April, but the number of new cases has soared recently, with 103 on Friday and 166 on Saturday, most of them worshippers at the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul, the capital, and another church in the surrounding province of Gyeonggi. The church outbreaks have alarmed health officials. Tightly packed, fervent prayer services in some South Korean churches have made them particularly vulnerable to the virus. When South Korea was hit by its first wave of the coronavirus in late February and early March, the epidemic spread mainly from the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the central city of Daegu, about 150 miles southeast of Seoul. During the first wave of infections, the daily caseload across the country was as high as 909. In the past four days, the Sarang Jeil Church alone has reported at least 193 cases among its members and contacts, the Seoul metropolitan government said. Moon on Sunday warned of a surge in infections in coming days as health officials rush to test thousands of members and their contacts. The Sarang Jeil Church’s chief pastor, the Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon, has been a driving force behind largely Christian conservative rallies against Moon in Seoul in recent months. Jun accuses Moon’s liberal government of trying to “communize” South Korea and urges an uprising to “oust” the president from office. His political activism included calling for a large anti-Moon rally in Seoul on Saturday. The Seoul city government banned the rally, citing fears that a large gathering would help spread the virus. More than 4,000 members of Jun’s church were also ordered to self-isolate for two weeks, but Jun ignored the order, attending a rally in central Seoul on Saturday organized by another antigovernment conservative group. He claimed that the outbreak in his church had been caused by a “terrorist” attack. Local news media reported members of his church were among thousands of antigovernment protesters Saturday. Moon on Sunday called their participation in the rally an “unpardonable act.”
May God look after Jun, and I once looked up at the Moon, but now he makes me howl in rage.
How do you say f***k him in Korean?
Finally, something that stops war in its tracks:
"The United States and South Korea will begin their annual joint military exercises this week, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday, but a spreading coronavirus outbreak has apparently forced the allies to scale back an already low-key training program mainly involving computer-simulated war scenarios. The drills from Tuesday to Aug. 28 could still irk North Korea, which portrays the allies’ training as invasion rehearsals and has threatened to abandon stalled nuclear talks if Washington persists with what it perceives as “hostile policies” toward Pyongyang. The exercises also come at a delicate time after President Trump openly complained about the costs of maintaining 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea to protect against North Korean threats. The allies have so far failed to sign a new cost-sharing agreement after the last one expired at the end of 2019. The drills involve so-called combined command post training, which is focused on computerized simulations aimed at preparing the two militaries for various scenarios, such as a surprise North Korean attack. The Joint Chiefs of Staff did not specify how many troops will participate."
Everything is a simulation these days, except for the dead bodies, and the North Koreans have already abandoned useless talks as Trump tries to extricate us from another endless occupation.
"Health authorities reported 13 new cases of the coronavirus in New Zealand on Sunday, including 12 linked to an outbreak in the city of Auckland and one returning traveler who was already in quarantine. The outbreak in Auckland, discovered Tuesday, has prompted officials to put the nation’s largest city back into a two-week lockdown. The outbreak has now grown to 49 infections, with authorities saying they believe the cases are all connected, giving them hope the virus isn’t spreading beyond that cluster. New Zealand had gone 102 days without community spread of the disease before the latest outbreak. Officials believe the virus was reintroduced from abroad but haven’t yet been able to figure out how."
They won't be winning the battle this time.
Famine coming to France?
"After France recorded its highest one-day rise in virus infections since May, the government is pushing for wider mask use and tighter protections for migrant workers and in slaughterhouses, but France still plans to reopen schools nationwide in two weeks, and the labor minister says the government is determined to avoid a new nationwide lockdown that would further hobble the economy and threaten jobs. France’s infection count has resurged in recent weeks, blamed in part on people criss-crossing the country for weddings, family gatherings, or annual summer vacations with friends. Britain reimposed quarantine measures Saturday for vacationers returning from France as a result. France reported 3,310 new infections in a single day Saturday, and the rate of positive tests has been growing and is now at 2.6 percent. The daily case count was down to several hundred a day for two months, but started rising again in July. Overall France has reported more than 30,400 virus-related deaths, among the world’s highest tolls."
Then the death rate must be dropping and herd immunity rising, and speaking of the schools:
"The number and rate of coronavirus cases in children have risen since the pandemic took hold in the spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in recently updated guidance, underscoring the risk for young people and their families as the new school year begins. According to the CDC, the infection rate in children 17 and under increased ‘‘steadily’’ from March to July. While the virus is far more prevalent and severe among adults, the true incidence of infection in American children remains unknown because of a lack of widespread testing, the agency said. The United States continues to report more than 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths every day. Health officials reported 1,220 new deaths and 57,120 new infections Saturday — roughly even with the 1,117 deaths and 56,555 cases announced on the same day last week. School closures and other public health measures may have contributed to initially low rates of coronavirus infections in children early in the pandemic, according to the CDC. Children between 5 and 17 also test positive for the coronavirus at higher rates than any other age group, according to CDC data, with positivity rates exceeding 10 percent in public and private lab tests. The virus incubation period is the same for children as it is for adults. The new academic year could bring new challenges."
Not according to the Scandinavian study, and WHAT LIARS are the CDC!
In any event, keep your kids home safe this fall:
"Boston aims to provide child care and remote learning space for thousands of students" by Naomi Martin Globe Staff, August 16, 2020
Boston Public Schools and after-school providers stepped up planning last week to create emergency learning centers where students will be able to gather in person during the fall to study.
Sort of like a pod?
It’s an effort that several city leaders say is long overdue — cities including New York and San Francisco operated remote learning centers throughout the spring. The initiative is also, so far, scant on details, including who will staff the centers (and whether the staff will include tutors who can help the students with their homework), the locations of the centers, how many students will be able to participate, and who will be eligible.
“Our goal is to serve every family who wants it,” said Chris Smith, executive director of Boston After School & Beyond, but he added that programs will be limited by the need to socially distance kids across available spaces and, possibly, by funding issues.
After-school programs typically held in schools are concerned those buildings may no longer be feasible, Smith said, so they’re scrambling to find space in churches, community centers, parks, museums, summer camps — and even the Franklin Park Zoo. About 50 locations have been identified so far, he said, adding that families interested in securing spots should inquire at their schools.
In the end, organizers concede the need is likely to outpace availability.
Officials estimate that 20,000 to 25,000 of the district’s 54,000 students could need slots, said James Morton, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Boston and a state Board of Education member involved in the effort, but in a typical year, the district’s 350 after-school programs serve only 12,000 to 15,000 students, Smith said. Now programs may need to reduce capacities for social distancing.
Still, the plans could mean a child-care lifeline for hundreds of low-income parents who can’t work from home and students who need quiet, Internet-connected places to focus on schoolwork.
Do you know where is your kid?
If he/she isn't at home, you will be getting a call from the DCF.
Lucy Perez, a recently laid-off single mother in Dorchester whose 7-year-old twins will enter second grade at Blackstone Elementary School this year, said she wishes her daughter and son could learn from home this year to protect them from the virus, but she also desperately needs to find a job before the family ends up homeless; and she has no one to watch them if she leaves.
Perez loves the idea of free remote learning centers, but has concerns about her kids being exposed to other children.
“My kids’ health is the most important thing for me,” she said in Spanish. “It’s a very difficult dilemma.”
Boston Public Schools has said it is leaning toward a hybrid model in September, which would entail most students attending school two days a week and learning remotely the other three days, but the district is also considering going fully remote, which the Boston Teachers Union has demanded, citing safety concerns.
Regardless of the district’s ultimate decision, remote learning centers would give the city’s neediest students a safe, supervised place to learn, socialize, and be active, said Morton.
“We’ve got a yeoman’s task ahead of us, but the Y and many other youth services organizations in the city are determined to figure it out,” Morton said.
Pedo wolves in the fold.
The effort desperately needs funding for protective equipment, transportation, locations, staffing, and supplies, Morton said. He hoped funding would arrive from philanthropists or the school district, city, or state governments, but he hadn’t heard of any sources yet.
Now drop to your knees and beg before the kings.
The Boston effort comes after similar programs were announced in other places, including Los Angeles, Orlando, Indianapolis, and the Raleigh, N.C. area. New York City is planning child care for 100,000 students when schools partially reopen. San Francisco will offer “community learning hubs” for up to 6,000 children with the most needs, including those living in poverty, experiencing homelessness, and learning English.
Where exactly is New York City going to get the $$$?
These efforts could have a profound impact on narrowing the growing racial and economic educational disparities, said Robin Lake, director of Center on Reinventing Public Education, a Seattle-based research organization. She said the pandemic has exacerbated those gaps, as many affluent families have hired tutors, formed tiny “learning pods,” or enrolled in private schools to provide socialization and enhanced learning, but all kids deserve that, Lake said.
Programs offering disadvantaged children quiet study spaces and opportunities to see other children help, she said, but “the real untapped opportunity is to provide some learning support” through tutoring, and it’s unclear so far the extent to which that will be part of the Boston initiative.
Mattapan Records members (from left) Peterly Durosca, Eric Hines, and Jahmel Axell practiced at the Mattapan Teen Center.
Several Boston city councilors have said the move to create the remote-learning centers is long overdue. Councilor Andrea Campbell said she was frustrated by Boston Public Schools’ delay in deciding whether schools will reopen partially or remain shuttered during the fall, as families’ plans require that information. She said she spoke to several nonprofits that want to support students in remote learning, but the city hasn’t given them an opportunity to help.
“The partners are ready for us to give them a call to make this happen,” Campbell said. “The district and the administration are dragging their feet.”
So far, the city has offered little information on the learning centers. Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s office told the Globe the city was working with BPS and Boston After School & Beyond on the effort, but wouldn’t provide any details. In a media briefing this month, Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said the plans for daytime centers were “evolving.”
You had all f**king summer.
“I’ve always said this is going to be an all-hands-on-deck,” she said. “We are absolutely going to need our partners, especially the three days that children are in remote learning, because parents do need to go to work and we know that that’s a reality.”
Though the pandemic presents a huge logistical challenge in keeping kids safe, many Boston nonprofits operated in-person summer programs and feel safety is possible.
The YMCA operated 12 emergency child-care centers for essential workers’ families, Morton said, and only one out of 1,000 children ever tested positive for COVID. Two staffers also tested positive.
I would say they are not passing the virus along even if they have it, which they don't.
What is with the evil then coming from authority and the pre$$?
What's with the fear-mongering, agenda-pushing lies?
To minimize the number of people that kids would come into contact with, organizers want to keep them in small groups, he said. Morton said the YMCA programs would offer tutors, as well.
At Mattapan’s Boys & Girls Club, the Mattapan Teen Center, usually open after 1 p.m., is interested in offering its participants a place to learn remotely during the school day, but it’s unclear how many it could serve. The center typically serves 60 to 75 teenagers who play and record music, learn job skills, and engage in social-justice activism, but this summer, the program had to reduce its in-person capacity to around 25.
“We’re thinking about if we have the capacity to help families so their kids aren’t at home and stuck with other responsibilities and they can be in a place where they can focus,” said co-director Rick Aggeler. Now, “the teens are just happy to be outside the house and doing something constructive.”
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Here comes COVID:
"For students returning to Greater Boston, it’s a radically altered ritual" by Lucas Phillips Globe Correspondent, August 16, 2020
Under the lingering threat of COVID-19, the ritual of college students returning to the Boston area now includes staggered move-ins, frequent testing, and fewer colleagues — as the first significant group of students found as they arrived over the weekend.
Images of thousands of parents and students carrying boxes — and sometimes of moving trucks mashed beneath low overpasses — have long been a feature of August in Greater Boston, but things look very different this year as schools implement strategies to cope with concerns about COVID-19.
Over the weekend, hundreds of Boston University students moved into dorms, the first small wave as the school spaces out its arrivals, said Colin Riley, a spokesman.
“It’s like . . . a little bit of [the excitement of] coming back to school tempered by the fact that you see maybe five people on the street,” said Evan Jimenez, 19, a sophomore from New Jersey after moving into a BU dorm Sunday.
After moving into a space that would normally house four, but now with only two to accommodate social distancing, Jimenez was already on his way to get a COVID-19 test, the new ritual of return for students.
“It’s a little sad, I think,” he said of the atmosphere, but in spite of the risks and complications, the decision to go back was easy, said his father, Gabriel Jimenez, 54.
“He’s been home the last few months, and he’s been climbing the walls,” he said. “After a year of freedom, to have Mom and Dad staring at him for five months . . . ”
Still, Gabriel Jimenez said he is worried about the possibility the school might have to send students home because of the pandemic, as it did during the spring semester. His son packed “less stuff to move in, just in case we have to turn around and come get him,” he said Sunday afternoon.
Better hope the test doesn't turn up a false positive before you celebrate.
On Sunday, the same day BU students were arriving for the fall, Jason Cho and Jiayi Ma returned to campus to shoot the portraits graduating students didn't get to take in May (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff).
Although some schools, including Harvard University and Emerson College, have announced they will have few if any students on campus this fall, some have raised concerns about the students who will be arriving over the next month.
“I’m pretty frightened about the fall,” Gregg Gonsalves, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale University, told the Globe last month, referring to the return of college students.
In a statement Sunday, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh reminded returning students of “how far we’ve come in the fight against the coronavirus as a result of the continued vigilance of our residents who are taking all the precautions necessary and following the public health protocols put in place.”
He urged students to review and follow the city’s guidelines, saying through his office: “It’s important that collectively as a city we do not let our guard down now because we still have a long way to go in our recovery.”
He just used a communi$t buzz word, and still a long way to go, huh?
At BU, the first weekend of move-ins was quiet, said Tatyana Da Rosa, 22, of Brockton, a residential adviser in one the school’s high-rise dorms.
“It feels very controlled — peaceful and serene,” she said, a far cry from the usual sprint, and she was mostly optimistic about the university’s plans to keep students safe, including frequent testing, she said in a phone interview Sunday.
“A lot of my friends are wary; a lot of are very confident. I’m very much in the middle,” said Da Rosa, who is beginning her first year of graduate school.
Brandon Millington, 22, a senior from New York, was far more skeptical of the university’s plan.
“I just don’t think there needs to be an open choice given to students to come back to campus,” he said by phone Sunday, criticizing the decision not to limit housing only to those students who could not attend from home, as was the case at the end of the spring semester; moreover, the decision to hold in-person classes puts both students and faculty at risk, said Millington, who is completing his final semester this fall.
“The one thing that’s on my mind is when is [expletive] going to hit the fan,” he said.....
I give it about two weeks.
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Unless they te$t and get a va¢¢ine, of cour$e:
"Testing, schools, and a vaccine: What these experts are watching this fall amid COVID-19 in Mass." by John Hilliard Globe Staff, August 16, 2020
As Massachusetts continues to grapple with the coronavirus, the coming fall brings an uncertain future, as schools reopen, college and university students return, and officials fight to limit the spread of COVID-19.
There are signs of progress in the fight against the coronavirus: The state’s dashboard of public health indicators showed what it called positive trends in the disease, and Massachusetts has made it to the third phase of a four-part plan to reopen its economy since the outbreak began, but the virus continues to lash. It has killed 8,607 people in Massachusetts, including 11 additional deaths reported Sunday, and a total of 114,398 people have confirmed cases of the disease, including 303 new cases, and as local schools, colleges, and universities move to reopen this fall, Dr. Robert Horsburgh, a professor of epidemiology at Boston University, said the biggest challenge continues to be testing capacity. That has remained an issue since the start of the pandemic, he said.
It was indicated in the front-page feature that the economies were in phase four, and Baker dropped us back to phase two last week.
“We won’t know if we are getting into trouble unless schools can test lots of kids and get results back in 24 hours. Some of the colleges may able to do this, but they have been preparing for months,” Horsburgh said in an e-mail. “The primary and secondary schools are not prepared, and the state’s testing capacity is not up to the challenge of an onslaught of kids needing testing next month.”
Are you kids as sick of this as I am?
Meanwhile, as some colleges and universities are bringing students back with widespread testing and other precautions, like Boston University, and other schools like Berklee College of Music and Smith College will hold online classes only.
Then why bring them back
In the days and weeks ahead, Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, director of Boston College’s Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good, said he will be watching what happens in Boston as colleges and universities reopen.
“The influx of many thousands of students to Boston from across the United States and around the world opens up the possibility of importation of new cases no matter how carefully incoming students are screened,” Landrigan said in an e-mail Sunday. “None of the screening tests is perfect.”
What was that last bit?
Baker has slowed the reopening as numbers of new coronavirus cases ticked up. Last week, the state rolled out additional restrictions, including reducing the size of outdoor gatherings and stepped up enforcement for masks.
Local educators have also sounded concerns about resuming school in the pandemic, and the state’s handling of the crisis.
Some schools have already moved in that direction over local COVID-19 concerns. Friday was the deadline for local school officials to finalize plans to bring students back, including measures for full-time instruction in classrooms, but many districts, including Boston and Newton, opted instead to focus on remote learning and a limited return to school buildings.
Horsburgh, the Boston University professor, said the issue of whether schools, particularly grade schools, will be a factor in spreading the virus is still an open question.
“However, I think it is likely that they are [going to be],” Horsburgh said.
Massachusetts needs to watch and see what is happening in states where other schools have already opened, he said. If leaders here delay schools’ start to mid-September, Massachusetts will have time to see if primary and secondary schools can be opened without a serious rise in cases in adults, he said.
If there are problems in other states, Massachusetts must have plans for virtual school, Horsburgh said.
Factors far beyond Massachusetts will affect the state’s response to the disease — and one that is closely watched is progress on a vaccine for COVID-19.
It always comes back to that.
Landrigan, the Boston College professor, said he will also be following efforts to develop a vaccine, and described himself as cautiously optimistic about the creation of one.
A potential vaccine being developed in part by Oxford University is moving along very nicely, he said, and some knowledgeable commentators believe that a usable vaccine will be available as early as the end of December.
Oxford is a BG baby!
“It is important to temper that information, however, with the recognition that it will still take many months after that to produce millions of doses and distribute them,” Landrigan said. “Health care workers and other essential personnel will probably be the first to receive any new vaccine.”
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Until then, here is your test:
Kelly Nagi, a nurse practitioner, conducted COVID-19 coronavirus test Friday in the parking lot at Brockton High School under a tent during the coronavirus pandemic (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
Yes, it is painful and completely unnecessary!
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Time to go to work:
"This East Boston factory supplied Navy peacoats. Now it’s making PPE; Sterlingwear's contract with the City of Boston to outfit front-line workers is helping to keep it alive" by Janelle Nanos Globe Staff, August 16, 2020
Ever since the protest they have been working her hard.
For over 45 years, the Sterlingwear of Boston garment factory supplied peacoats to the Navy. Now, after losing that contract — and facing closure — it has been tapped by the City of Boston to make PPE for front-line health care workers during the pandemic.
Located in East Boston, Sterlingwear is the city’s only remaining garment factory. It has sustained itself for decades by obtaining government contracts for the Navy coats, military uniforms, and other items, said David Fredella, chief operating officer and third-generation owner of the company, but in 2017, the Navy canceled its order for peacoats — “They were iconic but [sailors] never wore them,” Fredella said — and the company has since struggled to find a way forward. It stitched together a few contracts with the government, but those ended just before the pandemic.
Peacoats were “a big chunk of our business, that was our bread and butter,” Fredella said. “It was shaky for a while. Trying to make it on commercial work is extremely difficult. To get 150 people sewing again, it takes a high volume of work.”
When the pandemic hit, it only made things harder, he said; Sterlingwear had to close the factory and send workers home for several weeks.
Many of those workers began reaching out to Unite Here, a union that represents garment workers in Massachusetts.
“We’d also been hearing from health care workers who were asking if we knew anyone making PPE,” said Ethan Snow, chief of staff for the union. “The gowns were a huge need, and I thought Sterlingwear could do this. They can make anything under the sun.”
The Greater Boston Labor Council has been seeking to support both a locally owned business and workers through the crisis. The Sterlingwear factory now has a contract with the City of Boston to make medical-grade gowns for first responders and health care workers. The city has already paid $39,000 for 6,000 gowns, according to a copy of a contract provided to the Globe, and a city spokesperson said an additional contract will cover the cost of making 150,000 gowns through June 2021.
“During these challenging times, I am pleased that the City of Boston has been able to support a long-time, locally owned business, while producing needed, high quality PPE to support Boston’s first responders,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh said in a statement. “We will continue to support our local and small businesses that employ our residents and fuel our neighborhoods.”
As long as they contribute to the charade and Great Re$et.
Fredella said workers have returned to the factory, where they are taking precautions, wearing masks and screening for temperature spikes. “They’ve always been proud to make uniforms for the military,” he said. “This is something else they can put their pride behind.”
What happens if you are running hot?
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If they don't produce enough, you can always import:
"COVID brings riches to Malaysian rubber glove maker" by Yoojung Lee Bloomberg News,August 16, 2020
Malaysia has long been a place where vast fortunes have been amassed over time. The Kuoks, Tehs, and Queks are custodians of palm oil, property, and banking empires that stretch back decades.
That was until COVID-19, when the country’s low-key rubber industry — or more precisely, glove making — became one of the hottest on the planet.
Wong Teek Son, who co-founded Riverstone Holdings Ltd. in the 1980s after working as a research chemist, last month became the fifth billionaire in the country from manufacturing gloves. He’s now worth $1.2 billion as shares of his company rallied almost sixfold from a low in March, thanks to growing demand for protective products during the coronavirus pandemic.
A Riverstone spokesman declined to comment on Wong’s net worth.
The speed and strength of the gloves boom has been extraordinary, but there are signs the rapid rise could reverse, especially as research for a COVID-19 vaccine progresses.
Glove companies were hammered last week when Russia’s president said his nation had cleared the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine for use, while Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson are among those reaching deals with governments to supply their shots. Riverstone slumped 13 percent in its worst week since March.
Even though a vaccine may not result in lower demand for gloves, investors may sell their shares in anticipation that it’ll reduce the number of cases, RHB Research Institute analyst Alan Lim noted in an Aug. 13 report.
When it comes to gloves making, Malaysia is king: It produces about 65 percent of the world’s supply for rubber gloves, and the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry estimates exports will climb 45 percent this year.
Riverstone peers Top Glove Corp. and Hartalega Holdings Bhd. are now among the five most-valuable companies on Malaysia’s equity benchmark index. Their shares have jumped more than 192 percent this year, lifting the net worth of their billionaire founders, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Fortunes in the country are booming even as the economy contracted by the most since the Asian financial crisis. That’s exacerbating already wide inequality. Knight Frank estimates wealth creation is the 10th fastest in the world — while the mean income was 7,901 ringgit ($1,882) last year. The firm’s 2020 wealth report projected that the number of Malaysians with more than $30 million will swell by 35 percent between 2019 and 2024, compared with 2 percent between 2018 and 2019.
The glove industry’s rise to global dominance has created a huge need for foreign workers, leading to controversy over their treatment. The United States last month barred imports of the products from two Top Glove units due to “reasonable evidence of forced labor.”
The world’s largest glove producer said last week that while it’s continuing discussions with the United States, demand is picking up in many other countries where the outbreak is resurfacing.
Unlike its rivals, when Riverstone decided to go public in 2006, it picked neighboring Singapore. That’s because Malaysia had stricter currency controls and the funds raised in the city-state were more easily transferable to China and Thailand, where the company was expanding, according to its spokesman.
Riverstone has an annual production capacity of about 9 billion gloves, according to its latest annual report. Its profit more than doubled to 137.5 million ringgit in the first half of the year.
Wong co-founded the maker of nitrile gloves in 1989 after working as a research and development chemist in a company that supplied cleanroom products. He hadn’t planned to venture into building his own business.
“The opportunity presented itself only because the company I worked for shut down, and we were able to use their production lines,” he said in an interview with the Singapore Exchange in 2016. With the competition being strife, many peers in Malaysia had to close down. “We realized we needed to provide a service to our customers.”
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Time to set sail with the shipment.
