WHO explores COVID-19 airborne transmission

https://www.wkrn.com/news/who-explores-covid-19-airborne-transmission/

WHO explores COVID-19 airborne transmission

Alex Denis

2-3 minutes

by:

Posted: Jul 7, 2020 / 04:20 PM CDT / Updated: Jul 7, 2020 / 05:38 PM CDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – More than 230 scientists and infectious disease experts, from around the world, published an open letter in a scientific journal called Clinical Infectious Diseases.

They claim, whether propelled into the air by a sneeze or by someone simply breathing, the coronavirus is airborne gliding through spaces for an extended period of time.

At Mayor John Cooper’s COVID-19 task force briefing Tuesday, Dr. James Hildreth explained the findings. “Breathing the exhaled air from an infected person in a closed environment for more than a few minutes,” he said, “Results in infection by the virus.”

The letter goes on to explain that an infected person, speaking normally, can expel micro droplets.

“Which is less than a tenth of a diameter of a human hair,” explained Dr. Hildreth. Those can travel up to 40 feet infecting someone clear across the room.

These findings differ from the World Health Organization’s recent guidance that states infection occurs though droplets or larger particles. The WHO claims airborne transmission of the virus is possible only after medical procedures which produce tiny aerosols.

In a briefing Tuesday, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove the WHO technical lead stated, “We’re also looking at the possible role of airborne transmission in other settings where you have particularly close settings. Where you have poor ventilation. We will be releasing our brief in the coming days.”

The open letter calls for changes in indoor ventilation which would incorporate outdoor air to limit re-circulation particularly in public buildings, work environments, schools, hospitals, and nursing homes. As well as the following, “Supply general ventilation with airborne infection controls such as local exhaust, UV lights, and highly efficient filtration,” said Dr. Hildreth.

COVID-19 in Tennessee

(This reflects what the TDH is reporting each day at 2 p.m. CST for every county other than Davidson. Information for Davidson comes from the Metro Public Health Department.)

>>9888888

Digits

>>9888934

Someone needs to put together a picture book of all the best memes on here.

This one had me KEK!

FDA warns against using 5 more hand sanitizers found to contain methanol

https://wsvn.com/news/us-world/fda-warns-against-using-5-more-hand-sanitizers-found-to-contain-methanol/

(CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration has added five hand sanitizers to its list of products that have tested positive for a toxic chemical.

These additional hand sanitizer products tested positive for methanol, which is a substance that can be toxic when absorbed through skin or ingested.

The FDA’s discovery comes just two weeks after the agency advised consumers not to use nine hand sanitizers manufactured by the Mexican company Eskbiochem SA, because samples had tested positive for methanol.

Exposure to significant amounts of methanol can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death.

Anyone exposed to these hand sanitizers should seek immediate treatment, the FDA warns.

The five hand sanitizers added to the FDA’s list are:

Grupo Insoma’s Hand Sanitizer Gel Unscented, 70% alcohol

Transliquid Technologies’ Mystic Shield Protection Hand Sanitizer

Soluciones Cosmeticas’ Bersih Hand Sanitizer Gel Fragrance Free

Soluciones Cosmeticas Antiseptic Alcohol 70% Topical Solution Hand Sanitizer

Tropicosmeticos’ Britz Hand Sanitizer Ethyl Alcohol 70%

These have all been manufactured in Mexico as well.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that proper hand hygiene is an effective response to Covid-19, and the agency recommends using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol.

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2020 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

>>9889018

I find that racist.

>>9889054

Liquid meth discovered in gas tank, spare tire at Otay Mesa Port of Entry

https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/liquid-meth-discovered-in-gas-tank-spare-tire-at-otay-mesa-port-of-entry

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Nearly 140 pounds of liquid methamphetamine and two pounds of heroin were discovered inside a vehicle’s gas tank and spare tire at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says.

According to the agency, the drugs were discovered after a detector dog alerted officers to the undercarriage of the vehicle around 4:30 a.m. Monday.

Following the alert, officers guided the driver, a 52-year-old woman who is a citizen of Mexico and lawful U.S. resident, to a secure location for inspection.

That’s when, according to CBP, officers found the drugs hidden inside the gas tank and spare tire.

The driver was turned over to agents with Homeland Security Investigations while a 71-year-old female passenger was released.

The narcotics are estimated to have a value of $175,000.

Previously-deported sex offender arrested by Border Patrol in San Diego

https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/previously-deported-sex-offender-arrested-by-border-patrol-in-san-diego

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – A previously-deported sex offender who tried to enter the U.S. illegally was arrested Sunday by Border Patrol agents.

On July 5 around 1:30 a.m., agents patrolling the U.S./Mexico border near Tecate saw three people enter the U.S. illegally, the agency said.

All three men were arrested and, after fingerprinting all three, a records check revealed that one of the men, a 33-year-old Mexican national, had been convicted for sex crimes against a child.

According to the agency, the man had been convicted in 2006 of lewd acts upon a child and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was removed from the U.S. in 2014.

The man is currently being held in federal custody pending charges for felony illegal re-entry after deportation, Border Patrol says.

Meet the First and Only Air Force Pilot to Shoot Down a Satellite

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/07/07/meet-first-and-only-air-force-pilot-shoot-down-satellite.html

7 Jul 2020 Task & Purpose By David Roza

On September 13, 1985, an Air Force pilot pushed his F-15A into a steep climb at near-supersonic speeds as he prepared to launch into history. The pilot had prepared many months for what he was about to do: fire a heat-seeking missile towards a satellite the size of a 1969 Volkswagen as it hurtled through orbit at five miles a second. Basically, he was about to hit a bullet with another bullet, which would require absolutely perfect timing. But the pilot was ready for it.

"After we left the tanker, I started getting very confident we were going to make our timing," said Maj. Gen. Wilbert "Doug" Pearson Jr. (ret.), who was then a major. "Everything was looking just perfect as we flew out to the launch point."

The G-forces piled on as Pearson climbed 7 miles over the Pacific Ocean at nearly Mach 1. He was about 200 miles off the coast of southern California, but his target, an aging weather satellite, was still over Hawaii, more than 2,000 miles west. That was just fine for Pearson, whose aircraft carried the ASM-135, a missile purpose-built to hit that faraway mark.

At 38,100 feet, Pearson launched the missile, which blew through two rocket stages as it left the atmosphere. It then released a miniature homing vehicle that locked onto the satellite's infrared image and rammed it at 15,000 miles per hour 345 miles above the Earth.

Pearson was too far away to see the hit or the 285 pieces of debris that scattered into orbit. Mission control back at Vandenberg Air Force Base also couldn't tell him, since they were not using a secure channel and the event was considered classified. But the major had worked out a code with his friend Scott in the control room.

"I'm going to level off at 36,000 feet today," Pearson told Scott before the flight. "You can tell me if that's a good altitude or bad altitude. If you say that's a good altitude, I'm going to assume we hit it. And if you told me that's a bad altitude, I'm going to assume we missed."

But when the time came, Pearson didn't need the code to figure out what happened.

"When Scott keyed the microphone, he couldn't get a word out because all the screaming and yelling at the control room totally overrode him," Pearson said. "I had a pretty good idea we'd hit it at that point."

How did Pearson become the first pilot in history to shoot down an orbiting satellite, and why has nobody done it since? The decorated aviator talked about it with Task & Purpose earlier this summer:

Why was it necessary to shoot down a satellite from an aircraft?

The real reason we were trying to do this was at the time the Soviet Union had developed a robust capability of putting up very small satellites that could keep up with where our military forces were, primarily our ships at sea.

At the time, we had the ability to show up a couple of hundred miles off somebody's shore and it could be pretty intimidating. But with overhead photography, they could keep up with where our carriers were. So we couldn't surprise anybody to the same extent.

Earlier programs identified how absolutely difficult it was to hit a satellite with another object, because things in space, in order to be in orbit around the Earth, have to move at very high velocities, and hitting something at very high velocities is very difficult.

Our program was designed to do that with an airplane because you don't know exactly where the target's going to appear. A ship can't move very fast, and a ground-based system can't move very fast or at all. If a target comes in your area it pretty much has to come right over your base or your ship. But an airplane can move fairly fast and has a range of plus or minus 500 miles from its operating base. So that's why an airplane was looked at.

Why an F-15?

It was the real racehorse of the fighter community. And it was big enough and powerful enough that it could carry a fairly large missile on the centerline. So it was the perfect choice. And it had good navigation capabilities, very reliable, and it could operate from many bases along the East or West coast.

(article too long to post here)

>>9889308

KEK!

>>9889323

Texas partnership plans to use drones for disinfecting large public venues

https://www.fox26houston.com/news/texas-partnership-plans-to-use-drones-for-disinfecting-large-public-venues

Using drones to disinfect large spaces

A company says its drones can likely disinfect a 15.000 seat stadium in under an hour.

HOUSTON - While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, large gatherings of people are still, generally, out of the question. Now, a partnership between two Texas companies hopes to make some of those events cleaner and safer.

"We want to become experts in disinfecting large public venues," says Paul Woessner of Arvika Aerial Tech. He started the company after exploring safe ways to disinfect his Houston and New Braunfels flight schools to keep planes, facilities, and students safe.

After seeing a new generation of non-toxic, yet efficient, disinfectant, Woessner got the idea of using drones to spray large spaces to kill-off any lingering virus, before people could get infected.

"We can disinfect a 15.000 seat stadium in, probably, under an hour," says Woessner, "Contactless, with nobody up in the stands and not needing to hire an army, to do it."

He's partnering with Dallas-based 'R-Water' founder, Rayne Guest. "COVID-19 is a virus and it's not especially hard to kill," says Guest.

She founded the company to find an alternative to toxic and inefficient disinfectants that are, widely, in use.

The company's device produces 'hypochlorous acid', which is non-toxic and found in white blood cells to kill pathogens. Used as a disinfectant, Guest says it works ten times faster than traditional products and she was intrigued by Woessner's plan.

"Just the fact that they can go these areas, like large stadiums, and really effectively spray all the surfaces with their drones is really a very appealing way to apply a disinfectant," says Guest.

Paul Woessner hopes it'll replace some of the uncertainty we've come to live with. "If we're healthy and sitting in a disinfected facility, I have confidence to go back," he says.

The partnership has already started its sales pitch in Texas and is ready to branch out to neighboring states to offer the service.

>>9889090

Doctors say experimental treatment may have rid man of HIV

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/doctors-say-experimental-treatment-may-have-rid-man-of-hiv

A Brazilian man infected with the AIDS virus has shown no sign of it for more than a year since he stopped HIV medicines after an intense experimental drug therapy aimed at purging hidden, dormant virus from his body, doctors reported Tuesday.

The case needs independent verification and it’s way too soon to speculate about a possible cure, scientists cautioned.

“These are exciting findings but they’re very preliminary,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an AIDS specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. “This has happened to one person, and one person only,” and it didn’t succeed in four others given the same treatment, she said.

Another UCSF specialist, Dr. Steven Deeks, said: “This is not a cure,” just an interesting case that merits more study.

The case was described at an AIDS conference where researchers also disclosed an important prevention advance: A shot of an experimental medicine every two months worked better than daily Truvada pills to help keep uninfected gay men from catching HIV from an infected sex partner. Hundreds of thousands of people take these “pre-exposure prevention” pills now and the shot could give a new option, almost like a temporary vaccine.

If the Brazil man’s case is confirmed, it would be the first time HIV has been eliminated in an adult without a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. Independent experts want to see whether his remission lasts and for the intense drug combination that he received to undergo more testing.

“I’m very moved because it’s something that millions of people want,” said the 35-year-old man, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition that his name not be published. “It’s a gift of life, a second chance to live.”

Transplants are how two other men, nicknamed the Berlin and London patients for where they were treated, were cured previously.

“I’m the living proof it’s possible to be cured,” Adam Castillejo, the London patient, said in a news conference at the AIDS meeting, which is being held online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

He and the Berlin patient, Timothy Ray Brown, had donors with a gene that confers natural immunity to HIV infection. Such transplants are too medically risky and impractical to attempt on a large scale, so doctors have been trying other approaches.

It’s hard to eliminate HIV because it establishes an early “reservoir” of blood cells where it lies dormant and can’t be attacked by medicines or the immune system. Infections can be controlled with drugs, but as soon as patients stop taking them, the dormant virus activates and renews the disease.

Dr. Ricardo Diaz of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil led a study testing strong and new drug combinations to try to purge this reservoir.

“We are trying to wake up the virus” and boost the immune system’s ability to eliminate it once it’s flushed out of hiding, Diaz explained. The Brazil man had been taking a standard three-drug combo to suppress his virus. In September 2015, Diaz added two newer ones to intensify his treatment — dolutegravir and maraviroc — plus nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3 that may help expose dormant virus.

After nearly a year, the patient went back to the standard three drugs for two more years, then stopped all HIV medicines in March 2019. The virus has been undetectable in many blood and tissue samples since then.

“We can’t search the entire body, but by the best evidence, we do not have infected cells,” Diaz said.

The most convincing evidence: Tests show the man has lost nearly all HIV antibodies — substances the immune system makes when fighting the virus.

Eager for independent verification, the patient said he went to a counseling center for an anonymous HIV test in February. It was negative.

“He made a picture of the results” and sent a photo of them, Diaz said.

The antibody results are “the most fascinating part of this story,” said Deeks. “These are solid scientists” and “the team may have come up with something that helps,” but it’s going to take verification of these results and much more testing to know, he said.

In particular, doctors will want to see proof from blood tests that the patient truly had stopped his HIV medicines. Diaz said all HIV patients in Brazil get their medicines from a government health program and that he verified the man had stopped.

“I think it’s very promising. This patient might be cured,” but it will take more time to know, Diaz said.

The treatment did not succeed in four others treated the same way, or in any of the others in the 30-person study testing related approaches.

>>9889495

Reminded me of Q's drop about shooting down the missle.