12.6 million people have been displaced because of climate change in the last six months alone. The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies report that most of these displacements were due to natural disasters. Asia has been hit hardest.
Louisiana is losing land to sea level rise. The state has a $50 billion plan to restore the coast and literally reroute the Mississippi River. British Petroleum is going to help foot some of the bill.
Iceland has had 40,000 earthquakes in recent weeks, and a volcanic eruption is probably imminent. In the meantime, Icelanders aren’t getting much sleep. The Big Island of Hawaii also has a rumbling volcano, and it’s one of the biggest volcanoes in the world.
There are reports of tornadoes in multiple states yesterday and today and there’s continued severe weather all over the Southeast. 26 million people are under storm risk.
In the era of remote work, cities that pay you to relocate are very attractive. Over 9 million people relocated in 2020.
The IRS Tax Day deadline for individuals has been pushed back to May 17th in recognition of a chaotic, stressful 2020.
That microchip shortage could create a serious kink in smart phone supply. Apple, smartly, produces its own processors and does not anticipate a shortage.
The Great Texas Outage shuttered multiple chemical plants, and now the plastics supply chain is in trouble. PVC products, face shields, and phone parts are a few examples of impacted products.
The world has nearly 122.3 million COVID cases. The world has gained 3.2 million cases in a week. There have been over 2.7 million deaths in total. The US has over 30.4 million cases. Over 552,000 Americans have died. 9,000 Americans have died in the last week. There have been over 1,500 deaths in the last 24 hours in the US. The US gained nearly 60,000 new cases in the last day. Brazil is leading the globe in daily deaths, with over 2,600 in the last day.
Moderna has begun testing its COVID vaccine in children under 12. Johnson and Johnson will soon begin vaccine trials in 12 to 18-year-olds. It’s possible that a vaccine for children will be available by the fall.
People with long-COVID are reporting some relief after receiving a COVID vaccine. Placebo effect is one possible contributor to relief, but so is the general immune boost people get after getting an immunization. It’s hard to even define long-COVID, making teasing out mechanisms for its relief even harder.
France joins Italy in another significant lockdown:
JUST IN – France declares a new lockdown in 16 regions (including Paris) for at least four weeks, curfew rules to be tightened.
— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) March 18, 2021
A new COVID variant in France might be bypassing PCR tests. But before we jump to conclusions, be advised that this could be due to sampling error. It’s best to wait for more data.
A baby born to a partially vaccinated mother had COVID antibodies. The baby has probably some protection from COVID now, although it’s not clear how much.
Some mouthwashes may actually help reduce transmission of the virus by killing the virus. Colgate Peroxyl and Listerine are a few listed as deactivating the virus:
Certain mouthwashes might stop SARSCoV2 transmission. This is ongoing research at Rutgers in New Jersey. Investigators at the dental school have found 2 types of mouthwash disrupt the virus in lab conditions, preventing it from replicating in human cells https://t.co/dBrNKA64Ja pic.twitter.com/w0vhPVhHpG
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) March 18, 2021
The CDC says COVID testing could be used in place of other screening strategies in the workplace. It’s a good recommendation, but most places of business do not have the funding necessary to do this. Issues of consent, privacy, and confidentiality must also be considered.
A large study of reinfection in Denmark found that fewer than 1% of people have been reinfected with COVID. Previous infection protects for at least 7 months. People over the age of 65 are more likely to get reinfected:
Just out @TheLancet: Largest study of reinfection, whole country of Denmark
—0.65% after prior covid
—Protection ~80%, lasts ≥ 7 months
—Age ≥ 65 protection reduced to 47%https://t.co/xMn3tKaja0@SteenEtTo @uni_copenhagen @SSI_dk pic.twitter.com/cpWpT2JKdz— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) March 17, 2021
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