Notations On Our World (Thursday Edition): Out & About re #CoronaVirus & Other Thoughts

Exhausted Iranian Health Workers at the forefront of the Virus 

The World has been gearing up to fight the Corona Virus.    As we went to press, the US House of Representatives passed a 8.9 Billion Dollar Package that was slated to be voted by the US Senate and subsequent signature by President Trump.  Italy was dealing with a crisis as it closed out schools and Universities.  Iran continued to be the epic center in the MENA (Middle East/North Africa Region) as this from the indivisible provided guidance on the view of the funding bill passed by the US House of Representatives:

We know it’s been a tough week, but we have some good news to report: Earlier today we got word that all three of our asks were included in the bipartisan emergency funding bill to address the coronavirus outbreak. You can read NPR’s coverage of the bill by clicking here.  Getting all three asks means the bill has no money for DHS, includes transfer restrictions to keep Trump from stealing money for bad things (like his wall, immigration enforcement, etc.), and that there's language to help ensure that the treatment or vaccine is affordable and accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy.  Indivisibles helped make this happen by calling your members of Congress and demanding that the bill stayed clean, included a strong public health response, and didn’t exacerbate harm to vulnerable communities. As a movement, we can be really proud that we put forward an intersectional analysis that blended democracy, immigration, and healthcare; organized with coalitions, and quickly used pressure to elevate our asks.  While it’s important that we celebrate this win, we also have to face the fact that the coronavirus is spreading and that Congress still has to vote on this bill, and the Trump Administration has to implement it. Here’s what we’ll be watching for elected officials to do in the next few days:  Making sure that the supplemental funding bill is passed and signed quickly so that we can immediately address the outbreak and help those impacted. Ensuring that test kits are readily available for healthcare workers. Click here to read about how the Trump Administration only has 2500 test kits (!!). Demanding that the Trump Administration doesn’t suppress information in an effort to claim that the virus is contained. Read about how the Trump administration has tried to hide the impact of the virus. Overall, we urge you, your friends and neighbors, and every elected official to listen to medical professionals for your news and action items, not the Trump reelection campaign. You can find our coronavirus resource here -- we’ll be updating it frequently as our asks change, so stay tuned for that. On a more individual note, take care, wash your hands frequently, and try to stay home when you’re feeling ill if your job and finances allow it. Click here to read more about the coronavirus, including how to prevent and treat the illness.  Iran claimed that it approved the furlough of 54,000 prisoners although we received this on the detention of a leading Iranian Filmmaker and the continued profound challenges faced by Iranian Filmmakers as the corona virus rages on in Iran:  Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Renowned Filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof Summoned to Prison https://iranhumanrights.org/2020/03/amid-coronavirus-outbreak-renowned-filmmaker-mohammad-rasoulof-summoned-to-prison/ Rasoulof’s Film About Iran’s Death Penalty Recently Won Top Prize at Berlin Film Festival  March 4, 2020 – The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) strongly condemns the Iranian judiciary’s decision to put internationally acclaimed filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof in harm’s way by summoning him to prison when thousands of prisoners are being released to prevent coronavirus transmissions. “Yet again we’re witnessing the cruel lengths judicial officials will go to stifle peaceful criticism of state policies,” said CHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi. “Filmmakers and free speech advocates everywhere should loudly call for this absurd sentence to be rescinded.” “Making films shouldn’t be a life-endangering act,” he added. “This case is about the state’s ongoing efforts to criminalize freedom of expression and a filmmaker’s courageous attempts to challenge them.” Rasoulof was summoned to Tehran’s Evin Prison to serve a one-year prison sentence for the content of his films via text message, his lawyer told the Associated Press. In July 2019, Rasoulof informed CHRI that he had been charged with “propaganda against the state” for the content of his films. Rasoulof was summoned less than a week after his film “There is No Evil,” about Iran’s death penalty policy, won the top prize at the Berinale – Berlin International Film Festival. He was unable to attend the award ceremony because the judiciary has banned him from traveling abroad, but discussed his film with the festival's organizers via a video interview. Filmmakers in Iran face enormous pressure from the Iranian government to refrain from producing films that challenge or criticize state policies. The Iranian judiciary has a documented history of punishing filmmakers who have resisted that pressure. Several Iranian directors have been sentenced to prison and seen their films banned in Iran after refusing to toe state lines. In November 2019, more than 200 members of the country's film industry signed an open letter condemning state censorship policies. “All these restrictions and obstacles have not only prevented Iranian films from shining internationally, but also eroded their domestic audience,” said the letter. “We express our disgust toward all policies that interfere in the form and content of our work and demand freedom of expression and thought.” As part of our commitment to be supportive in this war on the #CoronaVirus, please note this guidance courtesy the team at eHealth: Coronavirus FAQ: What You Need to Know What is the coronavirus (COVID-19), and how does it spread? Read our FAQ to understand symptoms, confirmed cases, and more. Continue reading

Notations On Our World (Special Edition): On the #CoronaVirus

Our team has been on the prowl re: The Corona Virus.   Our Healthcare Agency provided the following guidance which we will feature throughout our Platforms for the week--although it is directed at those of us who call Orange County Home, it is still critical for all to be aware of: 

The County of Orange has declared a local emergency and a local health emergency to prepare for COVID-19, commonly known as novel coronavirus.

The declaration of both a local emergency and local health emergency assists the County of Orange to better leverage resources in order to prepare to our staffing needs and greater agency coordination all while allowing for future reimbursement for County activities by state and federal governments in the event of an COVID-19 outbreak in Orange County.

While there has been only one confirmed case in Orange County and that individual has recovered, the OC Health Care Agency continues to engage and monitor the rapidly changing worldwide response to COVID-19.

Should more COVID-19 cases occur in Orange County, the OC Health Care Agency (HCA) would share that information with community members and medical providers, and colleagues at the California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

County of Orange residents are encouraged to visit www.ochealthinfo.com/novelcoronavirus, call the OC Health Care Agency’s Health Referral Line from Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1 (800) 564-8448, and monitor social media channels to ensure they have the most accurate and up to date information related to COVID-19.

Orange County residents need to take the proper precautions to ensure their health and welfare are
protected at all times, The best way to receive the most up to date information on how to stay healthy and safe locally is to follow our OC Health Care Agency on
Twitter and Facebook.

UPDATE:   Please note the following:

There are now at least 100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S., with New York, the most populous city in the country, reporting its first case on Sunday. Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo had days earlier called the arrival the virus “inevitable,” and the city is one of several that have been planning for an uptick of cases.  In New York, hospitals designated 1,200 beds for treatment of Covid-19 patients, while city officials are weighing options to limit or stagger public transit ridership. In Texas, weeks before the state confirmed its first case, Tarrant County had established a "war room" in a downtown Fort Worth building so officials could gather for daily conference calls. And in California, San Francisco and a handful of counties have declared public health emergencies to free up funding.  But having a plan doesn't necessarily means being prepared, cautions John Barry, leading historian of the 1918 Spanish flu, which was dubbed the "Mother of all pandemics.” "The problem isn’t the plan,” Barry said in a conversation with me this morning. Some of the most important factors are out of cities’ hands. ”How many hospital beds do you have, specifically ICU beds?" he says, warning that hospitals may be overwhelmed as the number of cases spike. Barry also points to the supply chain disruption in China, which will make nurses and doctors vulnerable. "The surgical gloves, the hypodermic needles, the surgical gowns," he adds. "Nobody stockpiles that stuff." New York, for example, has obtained 1.5 million face masks for its health workers, and needs 300,000 more. The U.S. is currently facing a shortage amid a surge in public demand. All the while, delays and missteps—including the slow distribution of reliable test kits by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention —have already limited local communities' ability to detect and contain the spread of the virus. In Washington state, the virus may have been spreading, undetected, for six weeks. And as health experts brace for an increase of cases in coming days, King County officials are looking to buy a motel to isolate potential patients. -Linda Poon More on CityLab Coronavirus Outbreak Maps Rooted in History Cartographers are mapping the coronavirus in more sophisticated ways than past epidemics. But visualizing outbreaks dates back to cholera and yellow fever. -MARIE PATINO

Notations From the Grid (Special Sunday Edition): On the #CoronaVirusUpdate

Our team has been assessing the Corona Virus Epidemic as the Economist of London said it well:  It is going Global. We will continue to provide guidance/updates daily through our Twitter Corner, Ordinary Faces, as we note a sampling of the coverage--and as we note that Orange County, our home county, declared an Emergency to deal with the challenges at hand as the World continues to grapple with it--Please visit the following resources for the latest and the updates: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention:  https://www.cdc.gov/  World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/ Tracking the Corona Virus Worldwide--By Johns Hopkins: https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/01/23/coronavirus-outbreak-mapping-tool-649-em1-art1-dtd-health/

World Pence struggles to win over critics as US coronavirus co-ordinator Critics point to record of scepticism of established medical science by vice-president FEBRUARY 27, 2020 by James Politi and Courtney Weaver in Washington World How coronavirus could upend the US election Donald Trump has bet his reputation on something he cannot control FEBRUARY 27, 2020 by Edward Luce Coronavirus: French govt says number of confirmed cases has jumped from 18 to 38  Read more on France24.com COVID-19 Emergency Press Release and Declarations 02/26/2020 04:08 PM PST The County of Orange has declared a local emergency and a local health emergency to prepare for COVID-19, commonly known as novel coronavirus. "The County of Orange and our County Health Officer Dr. Nichole Quick have declared a local emergency. We have issued these declarations in light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's comments on COVID-19 yesterday, along with the possibility of active COVID-19 patients being brought to Fairview Developmental Center in my district in Costa Mesa," said Chairwoman Michelle Steel, Second District. "Although there are currently no cases of coronavirus in Orange County, my goal is to ensure all residents and visitors to Orange County as well as all of our resources can be prepared in the event of an outbreak." We remain hopeful:  February 27, 2020 I’m in Florida, at the Lake Nona Impact Forum, where I had the opportunity to interview a man who is trying to cure Covid-19. Given his track record, he may well succeed. He is George Yancopoulos, chief science officer and cofounder of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Yancopoulos developed a treatment for Ebola , using an innovative technique that involves infecting thousands of mice implanted with human genes to find protective antibodies. Now he’s doing the same for the new coronavirus. If all goes well, Regeneron could be producing a treatment within two or three months. Yancopoulos got his start in health science as a high school student, when he won the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, which later became the Intel Science Talent Search and now, thanks to Yancopoulos, is the Regeneron Science Talent Search. When I asked his advice for government policy makers on health care, he answered: “There is so much focus on affordability and access in health care. And price is a huge burden. But we don’t pay enough attention to the biggest problem, which is the huge burden of disease. We should be focusing our attention on innovation, to try and come up with solutions. That’s far more important than affordability and access. If we don’t come up with innovations that change the future, it’s all going to be over.” My conversation with Yancopoulos reminded me why I’m glad to have made the transition from working in Washington, where I spent the first half of my career, to writing about business. Business, at its best, is focused on solving difficult problems; the federal government, increasingly, won’t fix even the easy ones.