What impact has the lockdown had on our mental health, and what determines how people cope with isolation?

China's President XI jinping offered Saturday to help North Korean leader Kim Jong Un respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

One conversation could keep your kids safe

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

WASHINGTON — Six million immigrant workers are at the frontlines of keeping U.S. residents healthy, safe and fed during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Migration Policy Institute (MPI) analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data issued today. While the foreign born represented 17 percent of the 156 million civilians working in 2018, they account for larger shares in pandemic-response frontline occupations: 29 percent of all physicians in the United States, 38 percent of home health aides and 23 percent of retail-store pharmacists, for example.

As the threat of COVID-19 continues, infectious disease expert and TED Fellow Adam Kucharski answers five key questions about the novel coronavirus, providing necessary perspective on its transmission, how governments have responded and what might need to change about our social behavior to end the pandemic. (This video is excerpted from a 70-minute interview between Kucharski and head of TED Chris Anderson. Listen to the full interview at http://go.ted.com/adamkucharski. Recorded March 11, 2020)

Philanthropist and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates offers insights into the COVID-19 pandemic, discussing why testing and self-isolation are essential, which medical advancements show promise and what it will take for the world to endure this crisis. (This virtual conversation is part of the TED Connects series, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers. Recorded March 24, 2020)

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks offers thoughts on how we can navigate the coronavirus pandemic with courage, hope and empathy. With wisdom and clarity, he speaks on leadership, fear, death, hope and how we could use this moment to build a more just world. Watch for a special, impromptu prayer about halfway through the conversation. (This virtual conversation is part of the TED Connects series, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and head of curation Helen Walters. Recorded March 30, 2020)

Looking to put your skills to use to fight the pandemic? Consider joining The Global Hack, a virtual hackathon designed to rapidly develop solutions to the coronavirus crisis. Designer and technologist Marko Russiver shares the motivation behind a movement looking to help people build post-pandemic resilience. (This virtual conversation is part of the TED Connects series, hosted by head of curation Helen Walters. Recorded April 8, 2020)

The coronavirus pandemic is more global, dramatic and unusual than any crisis we've seen in a long time, says journalist Fareed Zakaria. Listen as he shares his perspective on how we can recover from the economic fallout, why certain countries were able to avoid major outbreaks and what this might mean for the balance of global power. (This virtual conversation is part of the TED Connects series, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers. Recorded April 9, 2020)

Aging Services Providers Dedicated to Fulfilling Their Critical Role in Public Health System

(PRWeb April 18, 2020)

Read the full story at https://www.prweb.com/releases/in_battle_to_fight_coronavirus_pandemic_leadingage_nursing_home_members_support_texas_action_to_gather_and_leverage_data/prweb17055806.htm

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said the company was aiming to resume production this month, despite the ongoing grounding and coronavirus pandemic.

Soccer's international governing body says it will maintain funding for women's soccer despite concerns about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The post The Value of a “Body Double” During the Coronavirus Pandemic appeared first on The SOLIDWORKS Blog.

THE LTA has today announced a multi-million pound package of additional funding and measures to support those involved in tennis in Britain through the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Glasgow's Summer Nights at the Bandstand festival has become the latest major music event to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before the massive rush to remote learning, most teachers used digital resources as supplements rather than primary materials, a RAND study shows.

Denver Newsroom, Apr 21, 2020 / 03:15 pm (CNA).- An Argentine archbishop has proposed 13 measures that would aim to allow churches to reopen churches during the coronavirus pandemic while reducing the risk of contagion.

The proposal is an effort to balance safety and the need for Catholics to receive the Eucharist, Archbishop Víctor Fernández of La Plata said this week.

In response to the pandemic, Argentina has been under lockdown since March 20. According to John Hopkins University, there are 3,031 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 145 deaths in the country.

Fernández said that although the Church is providing material sustenance to those hardest hit by the pandemic “when we think about sustaining the interior life of the faithful and encouraging its growth, we find ourselves in the serious difficulty of seeing them deprived of the Eucharist for a long time, and we can also foresee that this situation could last for several months.”

In a letter dated April 19 and addressed to the conference’s executive committee, the bishop said the Second Vatican Council teaches that “no Christian community is built up if it is not rooted and centered on the celebration of the Holy Eucharist,” and that Saint John Paul II emphasized that the Mass “rather than an obligation, should be felt as a requisite deeply inscribed in Christian existence.”

Fernández said the letter he sent puts together the suggestions of several bishops and that it is understandable “that many of the faithful are calling on us to find some way to make the Eucharist accessible again.”

“We tell them that they can experience other forms of prayer, and they do, but as Saint John Chrysostom has said “’You can also pray in your home, however, you cannot pray the same way you do in church where the brethren are gathered together.’”

Fernández noted that Pope Francis “teaches that God ‘in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter.’ It’s good that our faithful have learned that and so it’s not the same thing for them,” he said, adding that Catholics are eager “the food of the love that is the source of supernatural life.”

“It won’t be easy to prove that this situation is lasting too long, nor can we simply wait till the pandemic is completely over,” the prelate noted.

“We know that exposing yourself to infection is irresponsible especially because it involves exposing others to infection and indirectly could lead to a public health crisis that we don’t want to see in our country,” he said.

Aiming to send “a clear message to our People of God to show that we’re truly concerned and that we intend to take some steps that would allow us to resolve this situation as soon as possible,” without neglecting “the health concerns of the authorities” Fernández proposed a series of obligatory measures to celebrate the Eucharist publicly:
1) Keep a distance of two meters between people to the side, front and back. This will require removing or closing off half the pews in the church.
2) No more than two people per pew.
3) Once the pews are occupied in that manner, no more people are to be allowed to enter the church.
4) In the churches where there is usually a lot of people in attendance, the number of Masses should be increased so the faithful can spread themselves out over Saturday and Sunday at different times. Given the prevalence and closeness of churches this will not involve using transportation.
5) Mass should not be celebrated publicly at the most frequently visited shrines due to the difficulty of establishing appropriate controls.
6) There should be no line for communion, instead the Eucharistic ministers should go to the people positioned at the ends of the pews and place the Eucharist in the hand.
7) Every Eucharistic minister should wash his hands with soap before and after and apply alcohol gel.
8) The sign of peace and any physical contact should be omitted.
9) Mass should last no more than 40 minutes.
10) People should leave the church progressively, not all at once, and avoid greeting each other.
11) No intentions should be taken at Mass time, only those previously received by phone, mail or messages.
12) Those people who because of their age are prevented from attending may receive Communion at home.
13) The dispensation from the Sunday obligation should be temporarily maintained so that people who prefer to exercise extreme caution don’t feel obliged to attend.

The archbishop also pointed out in his letter that “if the economic impact has to be foreseen, it’s also appropriate to place a value on those things that provide consolation and strength to people during hard times.”

 

A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Lewis Macdonald MSP has been elected as a temporary Deputy Presiding Officer (DPO) of the Scottish Parliament. The election was held as part of the Parliament's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: www.youtube.com - Friday, May 08, 2020

Penn State researchers provide informed commentary on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the criminal justice system (CJS), focusing on its efforts to contain the spread of the virus through the three core components of the CJS — courts, corrections, and policing – as well as opportunities going forward. To read more, visit the "Insights from Experts" website — a partnership of Penn State's Social Science Research Institute and the Center for Health Care and Policy Research.

Yamaha Motor India Group (YMIG) on Saturday announced that its employees have joined the fight against the novel Coronavirus Pandemic by voluntarily donating a day's salary from the April month. The...

In response to ongoing concerns about the Coronavirus pandemic, House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf and Senate President Pro Tempore David McBride announced Wednesday that the Delaware General Assembly is postponing legislative session until further notice.

All Volkswagen facilities across the network along with the vehicles will be thoroughly sanitized on a regular basis for their safety.

Cognizant follows January-December as financial year. Its net profit was at USD 441 million in the March 2019 quarter.

Force majeure in contracts typically allow parties to avoid performing their contractual obligations when inevitable, unforeseen, and uncontrollable circumstances arise, rendering the performance of the contract impossible.

The plea pointed out that on the same day the Union government issued an advisory asking all private and public firms not to reduce salaries or sack employees due to the pandemic.

U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock reiterated that the peak of the pandemic is not expected to hit the world's poorest countries for three to six months.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that countries must also be able to manage any risk of the disease being imported into their territories, and communities should be fully educated to adjust to what will be a "new norm".

Coronavirus, COVID 19 latest news: The revelation has been made in a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The study looked at 144 geopolitical areas. These areas include large swathes of the US, Canada, Australia, and other countries around the world.

Three in 10 (31 per cent) said they would consider visiting their friends and family at their homes under similar circumstances, it added.  On the other hand, Indians are more likely to return to their offices or workplace once the government removes restriction on movement (29 per cent).

The postponement of the tournament was in thick of things since the time Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope had said that the state government was in discussion with the BCCI to postpone the annual cricket tournament that features cricketing stars from across the world.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) said in a statement that the escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak globally has forced it to cancel or postpone all tournaments from March 16 to April 12.

The IOC's executive board will meet via conference call to prepare an "information exchange" ahead of a series of talks with athletes' representatives, National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations (IFs), planned for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Japan has asked for a one-year postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games over the global coronavirus pandemic, and the International Olympic Committee has agreed, the country's prime minister said Tuesday.

In continuation of the travel advisory issued on March 11 and March 16, the following additional advisory has been issued.

However, the FICCI report indicates that cruise bookings for countries like Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia have registered considerable cancellations already.

"Disruption due to coronavirus could result in 18-20 per cent erosion of nationwide occupancy across the hospitality sector, and 12-14 per cent drop in average daily rates (ADRs) for the entire 2020," ICC Director General Rajeev Singh said.

Making things worse is that some countries that are specifically hard-hit by the coronavirus are also heavily dependent on tourism, like Italy and Spain.

"Since March 15, our volumes on outward remittance services have increased many fold. There is a significant difference in before-and-after demand since mid of March," said Praveen Kutty, Head of Retail and SME Banking, DCB Bank without quantifying the increase in demand.

At a time when all healthcare resources have been consumed in addressing the coronavirus threat, a large number of patients with other health conditions, be it chronic diseases or acute conditions requiring medical help are at loss.

With millions of children in India unable to attend school right now, edtech players are stepping in with live and interactive classes on their platforms

Formula One's income between January and March plummeted from $246 million in 2019 to just $39 million this year, a drop of 84%, figures released by championship owners Liberty Media revealed on Thursday.

The fallout from the pandemic looks set to stall trade and investment to Latin America.

It is becoming abundantly clear that the world as we know it will never be the same after the global coronavirus pandemic given the impact it has already had upon our daily lives, families, communities and the global economy. People have been forced...

Practice Direction 51Z: Stay of possession proceedings, Coronavirus The Coronavirus pandemic is having an effect on all areas of our lives, including the property world. Following Government announcements last month Practice Direction (‘PD&rs...

In an interview, medical historian Frank Snowden discusses how the coronavirus pandemic mirrors past outbreaks and argues that we must quickly apply the lessons learned today in preparation for the next disease.

Hundreds of paramilitaries kept people off the streets and virtually all stores have been closed for at least a week. On Friday night, security forces fired tear gas at stone-throwing residents who ventured...

Chance rules. Leaders lie. Deaths become statistics. The parallels between the disease and the war are everywhere. ......