Coronavirus shock: Pandemic lockdowns have changed how the planet SOUNDS and vibrates  Express.co.uk

Suzan Murray, chief veterinary medical officer at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park, recently returned from Hanoi, where she led a team of scientists training pathologists from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to better sample, recognize and detect wildlife diseases in hopes of preventing emerging pandemic disease.

The post Q&A: National Zoo veterinarian Suzan Murray is working to halt pandemic disease in hotspots around the world appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Use of protective face coverings will be one of many strategies used to slow or prevent transmission of the flu virus in the event of a pandemic, even though scientific evidence about the effectiveness of inexpensive, disposable medical masks and respirators against influenza is limited.

Infectious disease outbreaks that turn into epidemics or pandemics can kill millions of people and cause trillions of dollars of damage to economic activity, says a new report from the international, independent Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future.

The recently formed National Academies Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats, assembled at the request of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, has been providing rapid expert consultations on several topics, such as social distancing and severe illness in young adults.

As a novel coronavirus spreads throughout the world and the number of cases and deaths continues to rise, almost no country or community remains untouched by this rapidly evolving threat.

It is critical for the U.S. to continue its funding for the World Health Organization in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic given the WHO’s lead role in coordinating an international response, especially in developing countries.

Anthony Fauci and other panelists explored the status of the pandemic, research underway, and the key role of vaccines in bringing the pandemic to an end.

US-based payments processor Nets has released

Pinwheel; Credit: /iStock

About The Reflections:

Over the past weeks, most us have had to adapt to a new normal. We reached out to a few TED speakers to ask how their lives have changed and what they're thinking about these days.

Who We Hear From:

Dawn Wacek is the Youth Services Manager of the La Crosse Public Library in Wisconsin. She will appear on an upcoming episode. Her talk is A Librarian's Case Against Overdue Book Fines.

Dixon Chibanda is the director of the African Mental Health Research Initiative. He's based in Zimbabwe, and he has appeared on the episode, Erasing The Stigma.

Susan Pinker is a developmental psychologist and writer, who has most recently researched the importance of social interactions. She is based in Montreal, she will appear on an upcoming episode, and her talk is The Secret To Living Longer May Be Your Social Life.

Leticia Gasca is co-founder of the movement F***up Nights and Executive Director for the Failure Institute, the first think tank devoted to studying business failure and the reasons behind it. She's based in New York and has appeared on the episode, Setbacks.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Attorney General William Barris pictured at a coronavirus task force meeting at the White House on March 23. The Justice Department is looking to crack down on coronavirus-related fraud.; Credit: Alex Brandon/AP

The coronavirus pandemic has brought out the good side of many Americans, but certainly not all Americans. Officials say that fraud related to COVID-19 — like hoarding equipment, price gouging and hawking fake treatments — are spreading as the country wrestles with the outbreak.

"It's a perfect ecosystem for somebody like a fraudster to operate in," said Craig Carpenito, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey and the head of the Justice Department's COVID-19 price gouging and hoarding task force.

"People want to believe that there's a magic pill that they can take or that if they buy a certain kind of mask or a certain kind of protective gear that it's going to protect them and their families," he said. "That creates opportunities for the types of people that prey upon scared people. They prey upon their fear."

A month ago, Attorney General William Barr instructed federal prosecutors around the country to aggressively investigate and prosecute scams and other crimes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also created the price gouging and hoarding task force and put Carpenito in charge of it.

From that perch, Carpenito has one of the best views of virus-related crime nationwide.

"Instead of seeing that tremendous support from all aspects of society, we're still seeing that sliver, that that dark underbelly, that small percentage of folks who instead of putting the interests of the country and support for those medical professionals that are putting themselves at risk in the forefront, they're finding ways to try and take advantage of this situation and illegally profiteer from it," he said. "And it's despicable."

The most prevalent kind of fraud that federal authorities are seeing at this point, he and others say, is tied to personal protective equipment like N95 masks, gloves or face shields.

In one notable case, prosecutors brought charges against a Georgia man, Christopher Parris, for allegedly trying to sell $750 million worth of masks and other protective equipment to the Department of Veterans Affairs but with a sizable advance payment.

The problem, prosecutors say, is the masks and other items didn't exist, at least not in the quantities Parris was offering.

Steven Merrill, the head of the FBI's financial crimes section, says the bureau refers to these sorts of operations as advance-fee schemes.

"We're getting many complaints that different entities are entering into these agreements, paying money upfront, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars, and may or may not get any masks or other PPE ordered at all," Merrill said. "So our guidance to the public is to please be wary of these frauds and solicitations."

Other problems, such as hoarding and price gouging, can arise even when the medical gear does exist.

The FBI is trying to identify individuals who are stockpiling protective equipment and trying to sell it at exorbitant markups, sometimes 40 to 70 times the value, Merrill said.

A few weeks ago, the FBI seized nearly 1 million respirator masks, gloves and other medical gear from a Brooklyn man who was allegedly stockpiling them and selling them to nurses and doctors at what officials say was around a 700% markup.

The man, Baruch Feldheim, has been charged with lying to the FBI about price gouging. He's also been charged with allegedly assaulting a federal officer after he coughed on agents and claimed he had COVID-19.

The confiscated items, meanwhile, have been distributed to medical workers in the New York area.

Carpenito said the Justice Department has more than 100 investigations open into price gouging. It has hundreds more, he said, into other crimes tied to the pandemic, including fake treatments and cures.

In one case out of California, prosecutors charged a man who was allegedly soliciting large investments for what he claimed was a cure for COVID-19.

"He was doing so by broadcasting this scheme via, notably, YouTube, where had thousands of hits and views," Merrill said.

In a separate case out of Florida last week, the Justice Department got a court order to stop a Florida church from selling on its website an industrial bleach that was being marketed as a miracle treatment for the virus.

To be clear, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no cure at this point for the virus.

More than a month into this crisis, there's no sense COVID-related crime is going to slow down.

In fact, Carpenito and Merrill say that with the massive $2 trillion economic relief package beginning to be doled out, they expect to see even more fraud in the weeks and months ahead.

"What we're worried about is that not only do we have these existing conditions, but we are awaiting — like everybody in the country — the arrival of $2 trillion to hit the streets," Merrill said. "And anytime there's that much money out there, you can just multiply the amount of frauds that are going to take place. So we're preparing for many more complaints to come in and new schemes to arrive on a daily basis."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Payment service provider and direct card acquirer ECOMMPAY have...

DEF CON and Black Hat announced today that their upcoming security conferences in Las Vegas this summer will no longer be in-person and are instead moving to an all-virtual event. [...]

In this environment, the delivery of platform-enabled solutions at speed across the entire technology stack becomes even more important, it said. From cloud to networking, data centre to security and more, breadth and depth of capability are essential to recover and restore operations and position organisations strongly for the coming years.

As Indian firms realign their focus on revenue growth, they need to leverage customer and market behaviour to place their bets on long-term, sustainable growth, a new report said.

TONIK Financial, Asean’s first licensed digital-only bank, is leveraging cloud to mitigate the risks of Covid-19.

CIOs role is set to evolve post-Covid-19 with new demands coming in from the business. Here’s how they can be prepared.

In novel coronavirus times, there is so much fake news going around and according to new research, there's a price to pay when you get your news and political information from the same place you find funny memes and cat pictures.

People are actively seeking information on Covid-19’s impact — to stay updated and avoid panic.

TONIK Financial, Asean’s first licensed digital-only bank, is leveraging cloud to mitigate the risks of Covid-19.

CIOs role is set to evolve post-Covid-19 with new demands coming in from the business. Here’s how they can be prepared.

As Indian firms realign their focus on revenue growth, they need to leverage customer and market behaviour to place their bets on long-term, sustainable growth, a new report said.

THE Premier has moved quickly to placate angry landlords by offering to help struggling Tasmanians pay their rent.

The post Pop-up hospital may be answer to future pandemic needs appeared first on The Lead SA.

All parkrun events in the UK have been suspended until the end of March because of the coronavirus pandemic, organisers have announced.

Club cricket has become the latest sport to be suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The founder and general manager of Oxhey Jets has vowed to the club will survive the coronavirus pandemic and has contacted the Football Association with a proposal on how the lower league football season can be completed.

Never doubt the power of the humble frog. These miracles of nature might just help us sail through flu season.

We're eating leftovers, shopping less, and saving more because of the pandemic.

New research finds that parents who suppress their anxiety actually transmit it to their kids.

Bird flu can be transmitted between mammals — and possible humans — needing only four mutations to do so, a new study published this week in the journal Nat

Libraries are closed, but you don't have to leave the house to benefit from reading a free book during the pandemic.

An old dog named Toretto who waited years at the shelter finds the perfect family.

From veterinary visits to buying dog food, pet owners have questions about how to keep their pets healthy and safe during the coronavirus pandemic.

Researchers studying the declines say more lives may end up being saved from air quality improvements than are lost to the virus itself.

Why the last thing you should stress about while working from home during the coronavirus pandemic is productivity.

Here's how to get through the socially challenging times of coronavirus with grace, dignity and good health.

There are lots of ways to help neighbors and local businesses while still keeping your social distance.

The 1970s Swiss fitness creation called vitaparcour is back and more popular than ever.

The number of people growing their own food at home or forging a relationship with local farmers has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rain, shine or coronavirus pandemic, truckers keep the economy afloat.

Penguins are getting a chance to explore facilities that are closed to human visitors due to COVID-19.

The group, which has members including Aviva's Maurice Tulloch and RSA's Stephen Hester, is working closely with Pool Re to develop solutions to the crisis.

The business is to return £110m to car and van customers as part of Stay At Home Refunds as it becomes first to bow to pressure to give back as policyholders use vehicles less.

PR expert and former Allianz corporate communication lead, Mark Bishop considers how the reputation of the sector is being affected by Covid-19.

Biba's executive director, Graeme Trudgill, addresses the big question around business interruption and Covid-19.

Jonathan Edwards has signed an early day motion calling on the government to instruct all insurers to use dividends to pay Covid-19 claims.