ter Matt Hancock loses cool as he snaps at Nick Robinson during BBC interview and says it's 'too early' for lockdown exit strategy By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-16T09:47:00Z Follow our live coronavirus updates HERE Coronavirus: The symptoms Full Article
ter Britain will stay in lockdown until coronavirus vaccine is found, health minister says By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-15T20:21:00Z Follow our live coronavirus updates here Full Article
ter Health minister Nadine Dorries forced to clarify lockdown comments after Twitter row By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-16T11:07:00Z Coronavirus: the symptoms Read our LIVE updates on the coronavirus here Full Article
ter SNP MP Steven Bonnar apologises after row over football flag in his window By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-19T08:59:00Z Full Article
ter Home Secretary Priti Patel facing legal action from Sir Philip Rutnam after bullying allegations By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-20T16:21:23Z Legal action has been formally launched against Priti Patel following allegations of bullying from a top civil servant. Full Article
ter Keir Starmer calls for probe into leaked anti-Semitism report to be concluded in 'matter of months' By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-22T23:01:00Z Sir Keir Starmer has called for Labour's inquiry into a leaked anti-Semitism dossier to be concluded in a "matter of months", ahead of a meeting of the party's ruling National Executive Committee. Full Article
ter Government website for key workers to book coronavirus tests stops taking applications just hours after launch By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-24T08:41:00Z "You can select a regional test site drive-through appointment or home test kit. Full Article
ter Row after Dominic Cummings attended key scientific group's coronavirus meetings By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-24T18:53:00Z A row has broken out over Boris Johnson's chief adviser Dominic Cummings attending meetings of the senior scientists advising the Government on the coronavirus outbreak. Full Article
ter Former Chancellor Philip Hammond calls on Government to reopen economy soon or face disaster By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-25T11:29:00Z But in one sign of a turning tide in Number 10, the UK Government is reportedly considering a proposal to allow Brits to meet up with small "bubbles" of up to 10 of their closest family or friends. Full Article
ter Labour frontbench MP blasted 'after claiming Tories plot to murder British citizens' By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-26T14:32:04Z Full Article
ter Boris Johnson 'focused on securing more PPE' in first Cabinet after return to work By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-28T16:09:27Z Securing more personal protective equipment was top of the agenda for the Prime Minister as he returned to work, his official spokesman said. Full Article
ter Home Secretary Priti Patel 'cleared of bullying staff after investigation' By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-28T18:01:19Z Priti Patel has reportedly been cleared of bullying members of staff after an official investigation. Full Article
ter Labour calls for immediate release of Priti Patel bullying probe after reports she has been cleared By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-29T06:33:19Z The investigation into bullying accusations against Priti Patel must be released "as soon as possible", Labour has demanded. Full Article
ter Boris Johnson will not take part in PMQs after birth of son with Dominic Raab expected to face Sir Keir Starmer By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-29T08:51:00Z Boris Johnson will not take part in Prime Minister's Questions today following the birth of his son. Full Article
ter Boris Johnson baby name odds: What will the Prime Minister and Carrie Symonds name their son? By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-29T09:01:00Z The pair announced the exciting news this morning Full Article
ter Priti Patel defends Boris Johnson after rapper Dave brands him 'racist' during Brit Awards performance By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-02-19T08:26:00Z Priti Patel had defended Boris Johnson after he was branded a "racist" by rapper Dave on stage at the 2020 Brit Awards. Full Article
ter Boris Johnson's rollercoaster month as he returns to work hours after son's birth to lead war against Covid-19 By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-29T13:46:00Z The PM has had two life-changing events in just three weeks - a new family and a brush with death Full Article
ter Will Boris Johnson take paternity leave now he's a new father? By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-29T19:42:00Z He has now been absent from the front line of the Government response for a month, after his three-week recovery period at the Chequers official residence in Buckinghamshire. Full Article
ter Robert Buckland says 100k testing target may be missed but ministers were 'brave' to set it By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-30T07:11:00Z Full Article
ter Ease lockdown fast to help firms, says ex-minister By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-01T11:16:00Z Too many workers are still falling through cracks in the Covid rescue package, a former cabinet minister warned today as he called for the lockdown to be eased "as quickly as possible". Full Article
ter Robert Jenrick would not report neighbours for lockdown breaches after police get 200,000 calls By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-01T07:30:00Z Asked by LBC's Nick Ferrari if he would join them, Mr Jenrick said: "No, I don't think I would do. But I'm not going to pass judgement on other people and what they're choosing to do. Full Article
ter Boris Johnson ally Conor Burns resigns as minister after suspension from Commons for attempting to intimidate member of public By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-04T10:33:00Z One of Boris Johnson's closest allies quit as a minister today after being found to have breached the MPs' code of conduct by trying to "intimidate" a company chairman involved in a loan row with his father. Full Article
ter Boris Johnson ally Conor Burns replaced after quitting over intimidation in financial dispute By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-05T19:53:00Z Downing Street has replaced a trade minister who resigned when an investigation found he threatened a company chairman over a financial dispute with his father. Full Article
ter Theresa May hits out at world leaders for 'incoherent international response' to coronavirus pandemic By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-06T07:34:00Z Theresa May has hit out at world leaders for failing "to forge a coherent international response" to the coronavirus pandemic. Full Article
ter Senior minister James Brokenshire admits 'there will have been mistakes' in handling of coronavirus crisis By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-06T09:49:00Z Admission that faster testing might have helped as UK hit by top death toll in Europe Full Article
ter The election day that never was: how red letter day in political calendar was brought to juddering halt by coronavirus By www.standard.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-07T06:51:00Z It should have been the first litmus test of Sir Keir Starmer's appeal - as well as a verdict on whether Boris Johnson's general election earthquake in former Red Wall regions translated into long term local success Full Article
ter How a Nuclear Submarine Officer Learned to Live in Tight Quarters - Issue 84: Outbreak By nautil.us Published On :: Thu, 09 Apr 2020 03:00:00 +0000 I’m no stranger to forced isolation. For the better part of my 20s, I served as a nuclear submarine officer running secret missions for the United States Navy. I deployed across the vast Pacific Ocean with a hundred other sailors on the USS Connecticut, a Seawolf-class ship engineered in the bygone Cold War era to be one of the fastest, quietest, and deepest-diving submersibles ever constructed. The advanced reactor was loaded with decades of enriched uranium fuel that made steam for propulsion and electrical power so we could disappear under the waves indefinitely without returning to port. My longest stint was for two months, when I traveled under the polar ice cap to the North Pole with a team of scientists studying the Arctic environment and testing high frequency sonar and acoustic communications for under-ice operations. During deployments, critical-life events occur without you: holidays with loved ones, the birth of a child, or in my case, the New York Giants 2011-2012 playoff run to beat Tom Brady’s Patriots in the Super Bowl for the second time. On the bright side, being cut off from the outside world was a great first job for an introvert.It’s been a month since COVID-19 involuntarily drafted me into another period of isolation far away from home. I’m in Turkey, where a two-week trip with my partner to meet her family has been extended indefinitely. There were no reported cases here and only a few in California in early March when we left San Francisco, where I run a business design studio. I had a lot of anticipation about Turkey because I’d never been here. Now I’m sheltering in a coastal town outside of Izmir with my partner, her parents, their seven cats, and a new puppy.Shuttered in a house on foreign soil where I don’t speak the language, I have found myself snapping back into submarine deployment mode. Each day I dutifully monitor online dashboards of data and report the status of the spread at the breakfast table to no one in particular. I stay in touch with friends and family all over the world who tell me they’re going stir crazy and their homes are getting claustrophobic. But if there is one thing my experience as a submarine officer taught me, it’s that you get comfortable being uncomfortable.OFFICER OF THE DECK: Author Steve Weiner in 2011, on the USS Connecticut, a nuclear submarine. Weiner was the ship’s navigator. Submarine and crew, with a team of scientists, were deployed in the Arctic Ocean, studying the Arctic environment and testing high frequency sonar and acoustic communications for under-ice operations.Courtesy of Steve WeinerMy training began with psychological testing, although it may not be what you think. Evaluating mental readiness for underwater isolation isn’t conducted in a laboratory by clipboard-toting, spectacled scientists. The process to select officers was created by Admiral Hyman Rickover—the engineering visionary and noted madman who put the first nuclear reactor in a submarine—to assess both technical acumen and composure under stress. For three decades as the director of the Navy’s nuclear propulsion program, Rickover tediously interviewed every officer, and the recruiting folklore is a true HR nightmare: locking candidates in closets for hours, asking obtuse questions such as “Do something to make me mad,” and sawing down chair legs to literally keep one off balance.Rickover retired from the Navy as its longest-serving officer and his successors carried on the tradition of screening each officer candidate, but with a slightly more dignified approach. Rickover’s ghost, though, seemed to preside over my interview process when I applied to be a submariner as a junior at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. I was warned by other midshipmen that I would fail on the spot if I initiated a handshake. So, dressed in my formal navy blue uniform and doing my best to avoid tripping into accidental human contact, I rigidly marched into the Admiral’s office, staring straight ahead while barking my resume. When I took a seat on the unaltered and perfectly level chair in front of his desk, the Admiral asked me bluntly why I took so many philosophy classes and if I thought I could handle the technical rigors of nuclear power school. My response was a rote quip from John Paul Jones’ “Qualifications of a Naval Officer.” “Admiral, an officer should be a gentleman of liberal education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor.” My future boss looked at me, shook his head like he thought I’d be a handful, and told me I got the job.Confinement opened something up in my psyche and I gave myself permission to let go of my anxieties. Nuclear power training is an academic kick in the face every day for over a year. The curriculum is highly technical and the pedagogy resembles a cyborg assembly-line without even a hint of the Socratic method. Our grades were conspicuously posted on the classroom wall and a line was drawn between those who passed and those who failed. I was below the line enough to earn the distinguished dishonor of 25 additional study hours each week, which meant I was at school at 5 a.m. and every weekend. This is how the Nuclear Navy builds the appropriate level of knowledge and right temperament to deal with shipboard reactor operations.I finally sat down for a formal psychological evaluation a few months before my first deployment. I was ushered into a room no bigger than a broom closet and instructed to click through a computer-based questionnaire with multiple-choice questions about my emotions. I never did learn the results, so I assume my responses didn’t raise too many red flags.During my first year onboard, I spent all my waking hours either supervising reactor operations or learning the intricacies of every inch of the 350-foot tube and the science behind how it all worked. The electrolysis machine that split water molecules to generate oxygen was almost always out of commission, so instead we burned chlorate candles that produced breathable air. Seawater was distilled each day for drinking and shower water. Our satellite communications link had less bandwidth than my dial-up modem in the 1990s and we were permitted to send text-only emails to friends and family at certain times and in certain locations so as not to risk being detected. I took tests every month to demonstrate proficiency in nuclear engineering, navigation, and the battle capabilities of the ship. When I earned my submarine warfare qualification, the Captain pinned the gold dolphins insignia on my uniform and gave me the proverbial keys to the $4 billion warship. At that point, I was responsible for coordinating missions and navigating the ship as the Officer of the Deck.Modern submarines are hydrodynamically shaped to have the most efficient laminar flow underwater, so that’s where we operated 99 percent of the time. The rare exception to being submerged is when we’d go in and out of port. The most unfortunate times were long transits tossing about in heavy swells, which made for a particularly nauseated cruise. To this day, conjuring the memory of some such sails causes a reflux flashback. A submariner’s true comfort zone is beneath the waves so as soon as we broke ties with the pier we navigated toward water that was deep enough for us to dive.It’s unnatural to stuff humans, torpedoes, and a nuclear reactor into a steel boat that’s intentionally meant to sink. This engineering marvel ranks among the most complex, and before we’d proceed below and subject the ship and its inhabitants to extreme sea pressures, the officers would visually inspect thousands of valves to verify the proper lineup of systems that would propel us to the surface if we started flooding uncontrollably and sinking—a no-mistakes procedure called rigging for dive. Once we’d slip beneath the waves, the entire crew would walk around to check for leaks before we’d settle into a rotation of standing watch, practicing our casualty drills, engineering training, eating, showering (sometimes), and sleeping (rarely). The full cycle was 18 hours, which meant the timing of our circadian cycles were constantly changing. Regardless of the amount of government-issued Folger’s coffee I’d pour down my throat, I’d pass out upon immediate contact with my rack (the colloquialism for a submarine bunk in which your modicum of privacy was symbolized by a cloth curtain).As an officer, I lived luxuriously with only two other grown men in a stateroom no bigger than a walk-in closet. Most of the crew slept stacked like lumber in an 18-person bunk room and they all took turns in the rack. This alternative lifestyle is known as hot-racking, because of the sensation you get when you crawl into bedding that’s been recently occupied. The bunk rooms are sanctuaries where silence is observed with monastic intensity. Slamming the door or setting an alarm clock was a cardinal sin so wakeups were conducted by a junior sailor who gently coaxed you awake when it was time to stand watch. Lieutenant Weiner, it’s time to wake up. You’ve got the midnight watch, sir. Words that haunt my dreams.The electrolysis machine was out of commission, so we burned chlorate candles that produced breathable air. I maintained some semblance of sanity and physical fitness by sneaking a workout on a rowing erg in the engine room or a stationary bike squeezed between electronics cabinets. The rhythmic beating of footsteps on a treadmill was a noise offender—the sound could be detected on sonar from miles away—so we shut it off unless we were in friendly waters where we weren’t concerned with counter-detection.Like a heavily watered-down version of a Buddhist monk taking solitary retreat in a cave, my extended submarine confinements opened something up in my psyche and I gave myself permission to let go of my anxieties. Transiting underneath a vast ocean in a vessel with a few inches of steel preventing us from drowning helps put things into perspective. Now that I’m out of the Navy, I have more appreciation for the freedoms of personal choice, a fresh piece of fruit, and 24 hours in a day. My only regrets are not keeping a journal or having the wherewithal to discover the practice of meditation under the sea.Today, I’m learning Turkish so I can understand more about what’s happening around me. I’m doing Kundalini yoga (a moving meditation that focuses on breathwork) and running on the treadmill (since I’m no longer concerned about my footsteps being detected on sonar). On my submarine, I looked at photos to stay connected to the world I left behind, knowing that I’d return soon enough. Now our friend who is isolating in our apartment in San Francisco sends us pictures of our cat and gives us reports about how the neighborhood has changed.It’s hard to imagine that we’ll resume our lifestyles exactly as they were. But the submariner in me is optimistic that we have it in us to adapt to whatever conditions are waiting for us when it’s safe to ascend from the depths and return to the surface.Steve Weiner is the founder of Very Scarce, a business design studio. He used to lead portfolio companies at Expa and drive nuclear submarines in the U.S. Navy. He has an MBA from The Wharton School and a BS from the U.S. Naval Academy. Instagram: @steve Twitter: @weenpeaceLead image: Mike H. / ShutterstockRead More… Full Article
ter We Aren’t Selfish After All - Issue 84: Outbreak By nautil.us Published On :: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:30:00 +0000 What is this pandemic doing to our minds? Polls repeatedly show it’s having an adverse effect on our mental health. Physical distancing, for some, means social isolation, which has long been shown to encourage depression. Previous disasters have been followed by waves of depression, exacerbated by financial distress. The situation also puts us in a state of fear and anxiety—anxiety about financial strain, about being lonely, about the very lives of ourselves and our loved ones.This fear can also bring out some of the everyday irrationalities we all struggle with. We have trouble thinking about numbers—magnitudes, probabilities, and the like—and when frightened we tend toward absolutes. Feeling powerless makes people more prone to conspiracy theories. We naturally believe that big effects should have big causes, and we see with the current coronavirus, as we did with AIDS and SARS, conspiracy theories claiming that the virus was engineered as a weapon.We are seeing the theory of “collective resilience,” an informal solidarity among people, in action. These psychological ramifications can make us fail to behave as well as we should. We have what psychologists call a “behavioral immune system” that makes us behave in ways that, in general, make us less likely to catch infectious disease. Things we perceive as being risky for disease makes us wary. An unfortunate side effect is that it increases prejudice against foreigners, people with visible sores or deformities, and people we perceive as simply being ugly. Politically, this can result in xenophobia and outgroup distrust. Coronavirus-related attacks, possibly encouraged by the misleading term “Chinese virus,” have plagued some ethnic Asian people.And yet, in spite of all of the harm the pandemic seems to be wreaking on our minds, there are also encouraging acts of kindness and solidarity. In turbulent times, people come together and help each other.A RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS: Author Jim Davies took this photo in Centretown, Ottawa. The sign in the window reads, “Physical distancing is an act of love.”Jim DaviesIn the days after the World Trade Center fell, it wasn’t just the police, hospitals, and firefighters who came forward to help, it was normal citizens who often put themselves at risk to help other people out. An equities trader named Sandler O’Neill helped rescue a dozen people and then went back to save more. A tour guide at the Pentagon helped victims outside, and then went back in the burning building to help more. We find these kinds of behaviors in every disaster.During this pandemic, we see the same thing. Some acts are small and thoughtful, such as putting encouraging signs in windows. Others have made games out of window signs, putting up rainbows for children on walks to count. Some show support for health care and other frontline workers, applauding or banging on pots on their balconies and at windows in a nightly ritual. Others are helping in more substantial ways. In the United Kingdom, over half a million people signed up to be a National Health Volunteer, supporting the most vulnerable people, who have to stay home.John Drury, a professor of social psychology at the University of Sussex, England, who studies people’s behavior in disasters, has seen these acts of kindness in his own neighborhood over the past month. He and his neighbors set up a WhatsApp group to help one another with shopping. “I think that translates across the country and probably across the world,” Drury says. “People are seeing themselves as an us, a new kind of we, based on the situation that we all find ourselves in. You’ve got this idea of common fate, which motivates our care and concern for others.”We have always been a social species who rely on each other for happiness and our survival. Drury is the pioneer of a theory known as “collective resilience,” which he describes as “informal solidarity among people in the public.” Drury’s study of the 2005 London bombing disaster found that mutual helping behaviors were more common than selfish ones. This basic finding has been replicated in other disasters, including the crash of the Ghana football stadium and the 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Chile. In disasters, Drury says, people reach heights of community and cooperation they’ve never reached before.It turns out that being in a dangerous situation with others fosters a new social identity. Boundaries between us, which seem so salient when things are normal, disappear when we perceive we’re locked in a struggle together, with a common fate, from an external threat. People go from me thinking to we thinking. Respondents in studies about disasters often spontaneously bring up this feeling of group cohesion without being asked. The greater unity they felt, the more they helped.Popular conceptions of how people respond in a crisis involve helplessness, selfishness, and panic. In practice, though, this rarely happens. “One of the reasons people die in emergencies isn’t overreaction, it’s underreaction,” Drury says. “People die in fires mainly because they’re too slow. They underestimate risk.” The myth of panic can lead to emergency policies that do more harm than good. At one point during Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana governor at the time Kathleen Blanco warned looters that National Guard troops “know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so if necessary, and I expect they will.” A few days later, New Orleans police officers shot six civilians, wounding four and killing two.People revert to selfishness when group identity starts to break down. Drury describes how people acted when the cruise ship, Costa Concordia sank off the coast of Italy in 2012. “There was cooperation until one point, when people got to the lifeboats and there was pushing,” Drury says. “Selfishness isn’t a default because many times people are cooperative. It’s only in certain conditions that people might become selfish and individualistic. Perhaps there isn’t a sense of common fate, people are positioned as individuals against individuals. After a period of time, people run out of energy, run out of emotional energy, run out of resources, and that goodwill, that support, starts to decline. They just haven’t got the resources to help each other.”Perceptions of group behavior can shape public policy. It’s important that policymakers, rather than seeing groups as problems to be overcome, which can lead to riots and mob behavior, take account of how people in groups help one another. After all, we have always been a social species who rely on each other for happiness and our survival. And groups can achieve things that individuals cannot. This understanding couldn’t be more important than now. We can build on people’s naturally arising feelings of unity by emphasizing that we are all in this together, and celebrating the everyday heroes who, sometimes at great cost, go out of their way to make the pandemic a little less awful.Jim Davies is a professor of cognitive science at Carleton University and author of Imagination: The Science of Your Mind’s Greatest Power. He is co-host of the Minding the Brain podcast.Lead image: Franzi / ShutterstockRead More… Full Article
ter Why People Feel Misinformed, Confused, and Terrified About the Pandemic - Facts So Romantic By nautil.us Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 09:45:00 +0000 The officials deciding what to open, and when, seldom offer thoughtful rationales. Clearly, risk communication about COVID-19 is failing with potentially dire consequences.Photograph by michael_swan / FlickrWhen I worked as a TV reporter covering health and science, I would often be recognized in public places. For the most part, the interactions were brief hellos or compliments. Two periods of time stand out when significant numbers of those who approached me were seeking detailed information: the earliest days of the pandemic that became HIV/AIDS and during the anthrax attacks shortly following 9/11. Clearly people feared for their own safety and felt their usual sources of information were not offering them satisfaction. Citizens’ motivation to seek advice when they feel they aren’t getting it from official sources is a strong indication that risk communication is doing a substandard job. It’s significant that one occurred in the pre-Internet era and one after. We can’t blame a public feeling misinformed solely on the noise of the digital age.America is now opening up from COVID-19 lockdown with different rules in different places. In many parts of the country, people have been demonstrating, even rioting, for restrictions to be lifted sooner. Others are terrified of loosening the restrictions because they see COVID-19 cases and deaths still rising daily. The officials deciding what to open, and when, seldom offer thoughtful rationales. Clearly, risk communication about COVID-19 is failing with potentially dire consequences.A big part of maintaining credibility is to admit to uncertainty—something politicians are loath to do. Peter Sandman is a foremost expert on risk communication. A former professor at Rutgers University, he was a top consultant with the Centers for Disease Control in designing crisis and emergency risk-communication, a field of study that combines public health with psychology. Sandman is known for the formula Risk = Hazard + Outrage. His goal is to create better communication about risk, allowing people to assess hazards and not get caught up in outrage at politicians, public health officials, or the media. Today, Sandman is a risk consultant, teamed with his wife, Jody Lanard, a pediatrician and psychiatrist. Lanard wrote the first draft of the World Health Organization’s Outbreak Communications Guidelines. “Jody and Peter are seen as the umpires to judge the gold standard of risk communications,” said Michael Osterholm of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Sandman and Lanard have posted a guide for effective COVID-19 communication on the center’s website.I reached out to Sandman to expand on their advice. We communicated through email.Sandman began by saying he understood the protests around the country about the lockdown. “It’s very hard to warn people to abide by social-distancing measures when they’re so outraged that they want to kill somebody and trust absolutely nothing people say,” he told me. “COVID-19 outrage taps into preexisting grievances and ideologies. It’s not just about COVID-19 policies. It’s about freedom, equality, too much or too little government. It’s about the arrogance of egghead experts, left versus right, globalism versus nationalism versus federalism. And it’s endlessly, pointlessly about Donald Trump.”Since the crisis began, Sandman has isolated three categories of grievance. He spelled them out for me, assuming the voices of the outraged:• “In parts of the country, the response to COVID-19 was delayed and weak; officials unwisely prioritized ‘allaying panic’ instead of allaying the spread of the virus; lockdown then became necessary, not because it was inevitable but because our leaders had screwed up; and now we’re very worried about coming out of lockdown prematurely or chaotically, mishandling the next phase of the pandemic as badly as we handled the first phase.”• “In parts of the country, the response to COVID-19 was excessive—as if the big cities on the two coasts were the whole country and flyover America didn’t need or didn’t deserve a separate set of policies. There are countless rural counties with zero confirmed cases. Much of the U.S. public-health profession assumes and even asserts without building an evidence-based case that these places, too, needed to be locked down and now need to reopen carefully, cautiously, slowly, and not until they have lots of testing and contact-tracing capacity. How dare they destroy our economy (too) just because of their mishandled outbreak!”• “Once again the powers-that-be have done more to protect other people’s health than to protect my health. And once again the powers-that-be have done more to protect other people’s economic welfare than to protect my economic welfare!” (These claims can be made with considerable truth by healthcare workers; essential workers in low-income, high-touch occupations; residents of nursing homes; African-Americans; renters who risk eviction; the retired whose savings are threatened; and others.)In their article for the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, Sandman and Lanard point out that coping with a pandemic requires a thorough plan of communication. This is particularly important as the crisis is likely to enter a second wave of infection, when it could be more devastating. The plan starts with six core principles: 1) Don’t over-reassure, 2) Proclaim uncertainty, 3) Validate emotions—your audience’s and your own, 4) Give people things to do, 5) Admit and apologize for errors, and 6) Share dilemmas. To achieve the first three core principles, officials must immediately share what they know, even if the information may be incomplete. If officials share good news, they must be careful not to make it too hopeful. Over-reassurance is one of the biggest dangers in crisis communication. Sandman and Lanard suggest officials say things like, “Even though the number of new confirmed cases went down yesterday, I don’t want to put too much faith in one day’s good news.” Sandman and Lanard say a big part of maintaining credibility is to admit to uncertainty—something politicians are loath to do. They caution against invoking “science” as a sole reason for action, as science in the midst of a crisis is “incremental, fallible, and still in its infancy.” Expressing empathy, provided it’s genuine, is important, Sandman and Lanard say. It makes the bearer more human and believable. A major tool of empathy is to acknowledge the public’s fear as well as your own. There is good reason to be terrified about this virus and its consequences on society. It’s not something to hide.Sandman and Lanard say current grievances with politicians, health officials, and the media, about how the crisis has been portrayed, have indeed been contradictory. But that makes them no less valid. Denying the contradictions only amplifies divisions in the public and accelerates the outrage, possibly beyond control. They strongly emphasize one piece of advice. “Before we can share the dilemma of how best to manage any loosening of the lockdown, we must decisively—and apologetically—disabuse the public of the myth that, barring a miracle, the COVID-19 pandemic can possibly be nearing its end in the next few months.”Robert Bazell is an adjunct professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at Yale. For 38 years, he was chief science correspondent for NBC News.Read More… Full Article
ter Three Russian Frontline Health Workers Mysteriously Fell Out Of Hospital Windows By www.npr.org Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 16:05:00 -0400 Three doctors in Russia have fallen out of hospital windows during the coronavirus pandemic. Two of them died, and the third one is in serious condition. Full Article
ter French Education Minister Says School Reopenings Will Be Done 'Very Progressively' By www.npr.org Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 16:39:04 -0400 France's minister of education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, talked with NPR about the gradual reopening of schools, which will be voluntary. Still, many parents and administrators are against the plan. Full Article
ter Armed protesters in Michigan foreshadow a tense election season in key swing state By news.yahoo.com Published On :: Tue, 05 May 2020 09:50:17 -0400 The sight of heavily armed, camo-wearing demonstrators at the state capitol building last week was “very bad, very disconcerting,” Rep. Debbie Dingell told Yahoo News. Full Article
ter Yahoo News/YouGov poll: Most Americans deny Trump virus response is a 'success' — nearly half say Obama would be doing better By news.yahoo.com Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 09:43:16 -0400 The unfavorable comparison between the current president and his predecessor is one of the clearest signs to date of an emerging dynamic that will define the remainder of Trump’s term and the presidential election. Full Article
ter Armed activists escort black lawmaker to Michigan's Capitol after coronavirus protest attended by white supremacists By news.yahoo.com Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 14:40:00 -0400 Rep. Sarah Anthony told Yahoo News that her security detail, made up of local black and Latino activists, came together because the armed protesters bearing white supremacist symbols represented a “different level of terror.” Full Article
ter Capitals forward Brendan Leipsic apologizes after 'inappropriate and offensive' comments go public By www.cbc.ca Published On :: Wed, 6 May 2020 20:20:05 EDT Washington Capitals forward Brendan Leipsic suddenly finds himself in hot water. A private group chat featuring Leipsic was leaked on Wednesday, including misogynistic comments made by the NHLer. Full Article Sports/Hockey/NHL
ter The pros and cons for Canadian cities interested in being hubs for fan-free NHL games By www.cbc.ca Published On :: Thu, 7 May 2020 11:27:32 EDT As the NHL looks for ways to salvage its regular season that was suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic, one option on the table is for a select group of so-called hub cities to host all the games. Three Canadian cities have expressed interest in the role. Full Article Sports/Hockey/NHL
ter Winnipeg woman focusing on body positivity after being targeted by hockey players' misogynistic slurs By www.cbc.ca Published On :: Thu, 7 May 2020 21:06:07 EDT A Winnipeg woman who was a subject of misogynistic comments in a private group chat involving NHL players said she will continue her campaign of encouraging body acceptance. Full Article News/Canada/Manitoba
ter Capitals waive Brendan Leipsic after misogynistic comments made public By www.cbc.ca Published On :: Fri, 8 May 2020 11:19:34 EDT The Washington Capitals placed Brendan Leipsic on unconditional waivers on Friday, two days after it was revealed the forward made misogynistic comments in a private group chat. The team said the move was made with the intention of terminating Leipsic's contract. Full Article Sports/Hockey/NHL
ter Simmerling, Labbé keep each other going after Tokyo 2020 (and retirement) is delayed By www.cbc.ca Published On :: Sat, 9 May 2020 04:00:00 EDT Stephanie Labbé, goalkeeper for the Canada's soccer team, and her long-time girlfriend Georgia Simmerling, a vital member for Canada's team pursuit in track cycling, have already qualified for the Tokyo Games. But the COVID-19 lockdown measures have rocked them. This Olympic couple had planned to retire. Now, instead of facing four months until retirement they face 16 months. Full Article Sports/Olympics
ter Premier John Horgan tells NHL B.C. is interested in hosting games By globalnews.ca Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 02:07:15 +0000 Premier John Horgan has written to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman pledging the government's support for Vancouver as a hub city if hockey returns this season. Full Article Health Politics Sports Coronavirus COVID-19 Gary Bettman Hockey Host City John Horgan NHL return of hockey Rogers Arena Vancouver Canucks
ter Winnipeg-born NHL player Brendan Leipsic’s contract terminated by Washington Capitals By globalnews.ca Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 15:59:48 +0000 The Washington Capitals announced in a statement Friday morning that Brendan Leipsic has been placed on unconditional waivers for the purposes of terminating his contract. Full Article Sports Brendan Leipsic Brendan Leipsic comments Brendan Leipsic terminated NHL Offensive comments social media comments Washington Capitals Winnipeg hockey Winnipeg hockey player Winnipeg Sports
ter Monster Thunderstorm Cluster Charging from Kansas to Texas is Captured in Astonishing Satellite Views By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 01 May 2020 00:30:00 GMT As lightning crackled in the clouds, the GOES-16 weather satellite watched all the violent action from 22,000 miles away. Full Article
ter What’s the Difference Between Sourdough Starter and Yeast? By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 19:17:00 GMT If both can make a dough rise, why does your dough recipe call for both? Full Article
ter How VPN is Changing the Way we Use Internet By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 05:00:00 GMT Full Article
ter COVID-19: NCC reconsiders after mayor speaks out against Tulip Fest photo ban; Canada to extend wage subsidy program By ottawacitizen.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 02:46:03 +0000 Starting Monday, “park ambassadors” will be stationed at Ottawa’s busiest parks to provide information about what's permitted under pandemic rules. Full Article Local News cases Coronavirus Covid-19 Doug Ford Justin Trudeau local Ottawa Vera Etches
ter Today's letters: Music (from unusual sources) soothes the soul By ottawacitizen.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 10:45:50 +0000 Saturday, May 9: Some odd musical instruments, the Official Plan and the pandemic -- you can write to us too, on these or any topics, at: letters@ottawacitizen.com Full Article Opinion Letters City planning Covid-19 intensification Music Ottawa Official Plan urban boundary urban sprawl
ter Editorial: A long-term care review is badly needed. Let's do it right By ottawacitizen.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 11:00:20 +0000 And let's move beyond the tiresome ideological battle lines of “private bad, public good.” It's not that simple. Full Article Opinion Editorials Aging and the Elderly Coronavirus Covid-19 health care Long-Term Care Merrilee Fullerton novel coronavirus
ter Firefighters douse early morning garage fire in Kinburn By ottawacitizen.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 13:43:20 +0000 Ottawa Fire Services received a 911 call from the homeowner at 6183 Carp Rd., reporting a detached garage was on fire. That was followed by a number of 911 calls reported heavy smoke coming from the area of Carp and Styles Side roads. While on route to the scene, crews spotted the heavy smoke and […] Full Article Local News
ter People Are Fantasizing About the Day They Can Walk Down the Aisle With This Bittersweet Meme By time.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 14:52:27 +0000 A new meme imagines a walking down all sorts of aisles after coronavirus-related lockdowns end Full Article Uncategorized Brief clickmonsters COVID-19 News Desk
ter Nintendo to release remastered Mario classics for Switch in 2020 By rssfeeds.usatoday.com Published On :: Tue, 31 Mar 2020 15:46:38 +0000 Nintendo plans to release remastered versions of classic titles in the Mario catalog for Nintendo Switch in 2020. Full Article