Coronavirus updates: CDC chief says masks could halt outbreak in 4-6 weeks; more stimulus checks possible; vaccine candidate shows promise
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Submitted by mike kraft on
Submitted by mike kraft on
Submitted by mike kraft on
Submitted by mike kraft on
Submitted by mike kraft on
Submitted by mike kraft on
Submitted by mike kraft on
Submitted by Kathy Gilbeaux on
Exclusive: Scientists examine whether this route enables infections at longer distances
Large virus-laden droplets from infected people’s coughs and sneezes fall to the ground within 1-2 metres. Photograph: Nick Gregory/Alamy
theguardian.com - by Damian Carrington - April 24, 2020
Coronavirus has been detected on particles of air pollution by scientists investigating whether this could enable it to be carried over longer distances and increase the number of people infected.
The work is preliminary and it is not yet known if the virus remains viable on pollution particles and in sufficient quantity to cause disease.
Submitted by Kathy Gilbeaux on
A person in China scans a QR code with a smartphone to register their real name before getting off a bus in Wuhan, China. Zhang Chang/China News Service via Getty Images
The US is rolling out digital contact tracing. How has it been working in other countries?
vox.com - by Shirin Ghaffary - April 18, 2020
If and when lockdown restrictions are lifted in the US, would you agree to let the government anonymously track your interactions with people within a 6-foot radius to control the spread of Covid-19?
That’s an increasingly urgent question as President Trump and state governors debate how and when to safely reopen the US economy — and as technology is being touted as a solution that would help people reenter public life.
And tech giants are stepping up. Last week, Apple and Google announced a plan to turn phones into opt-in Covid-19 tracking machines that would, if all goes as planned, make it easier for health officials to identify and alert people if they’ve been exposed to the virus.
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Battelle Memorial Institute's CCDS Critical Care Decontamination System uses a hydrogen peroxide vapor to decontaminate N95 respirators. The organization says that the process takes about 2½ and that masks can be cleaned and reused up to 20 times.Battelle Memorial Institute
nbcnews.com - by Didi Martinez, Brenda Breslauer and Stephanie Gosk - April 14, 2020
Late Monday, the Pentagon announced a $415 million contract to commission 60 decontamination systems that will allow millions of highly protective N95 face masks to be reused.
The system, which can process up to 80,000 masks per day, has been called a potential "game changer" for the front-line health care workers and first responders who rely on the masks, according to hospital officials concerned about a shortage of protective equipment to shield their staff from COVID-19.
But the story of how this system came to be is a testament to what can happen when a doctor and an engineer — who happen to be husband and wife — ask, "What if?"