UK Quarantine List: Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas have been added – Full details – Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard

Travellers arriving in the UKfrom Belgium, Andorra and The Bahamas will have to quarantine for 14 days from this weekend.

Here's what you need to know.

Why has this announcement been made?

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said rising Covid-19 infection levels in the three countries mean they have been removed from the so-called travel corridors which meant arrivals were exempt from self-isolating.

What time will the rules come into force?

In a tweet, he said the measures would come into force in England from Saturday at 4am, echoing a statement made earlier by Scotland'sJustice Secretary Humza Yousaf.

In Wales, the restrictions come into force from midnight tonight, August 6.

At the same time, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has updated its travel advice to warn against all but essential trips to Andorra, Belgium and The Bahamas.

What has been added to the travel corridor list?

Brunei and Malaysia have been added to the Governments travel corridor list, following a decrease in confirmed cases of coronavirus - meaning arrivals from these countries no longer need to quarantine.

What has happened in Belgium?

Figures released on Thursday show Belgium has suffered a consistent increase in cases in recent weeks, rising to 27.8 new cases per 100,000 people.

This towers over the UKs latest rate of 8.4 per 100,000, and is higher than Spains 27.4 level around the time when the UK introduced travel restrictions there.

Belgiums prime minister, Sophie Wilmes, was last week forced to put a halt to the nations Covid-19 exit plan by introducing drastic new social distancing measures in the hope of avoiding a new national lockdown.

Contacts outside every household were limited to the same five people for a month, in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

What about Andorra?

In Andorra -new cases per week have increased five-fold since mid-July, while in The Bahamas the weekly case rate peaked at 78.6 last week, up from 3.1 in the middle of last month.

The UKs move to add Spain onto the quarantine list on July 26 sparked a diplomatic row with the nation and caught out holidaymakers who had already flown over, including Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

It also angered transport bosses who have called for increased testing to reduce the isolation period.

Luxembourg was added to the UKs red list on July 31.

Mr Shapps said he cannot rule out other countries being included on the list, as officials keep overseas infection rates under close observation.

The Foreign Office says it keeps its own travel advice under constant review.

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UK Quarantine List: Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas have been added - Full details - Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard

Spain denies it is facing second wave; Africa cases hit 1 million as it happened – The Guardian

Africas confirmed coronavirus cases have surpassed one million, but global health experts say the true toll is likely several times higher, reflecting the gaping lack of testing for the continents 1.3 billion people.

While experts say infection tolls in richer nations can be significant undercounts, large numbers of undetected cases are a greater danger for Africa, with many of the worlds weakest health systems.

The World Health Organization calls the milestone a pivotal point for Africa as infections in several countries are surging.

The virus has spread beyond major cities into distant hinterlands where few health resources exist and reaching care could take days.

African nations banded together early in the pandemic to pursue badly needed testing and medical supplies and advocate for equitable access to any successful vaccine. Swift border closures delayed the virus spread.

But Africas most developed country, South Africa, has strained to cope as hospital beds fill up and confirmed cases are over a half-million, ranking fifth in the world.

The country has Africas most extensive testing and data collection, and yet a South African Medical Research Council report last week showed many Covid-19 deaths were going uncounted.

Other deaths were attributed to other diseases as people avoid health centres and resources are diverted to the pandemic.

The WHOs Africa chief, Matshidiso Moeti, said:

Its all a warning for Africas other 53 countries of what might lie ahead.

While dire early predictions for the pandemic have not played out, we think its going to be here at a slow burn.

Just two African countries at the start of the pandemic were equipped to test for the virus.

Now virtually all have basic capacity, but supplies are often scarce. Some countries have a single testing machine.

Some conduct fewer than 500 tests per million people, while richer countries overseas conduct hundreds of thousands. Samples can take days to reach labs.

Even in South Africa, turnaround times for many test results have been a week or longer.

We are fighting this disease in the dark, International Rescue Committee expert Stacey Mearns said.

In addition, Africa has just 1,500 epidemiologists, a deficit of about 4,500.

African nations overall have conducted just 8.8 million tests since the pandemic began, well below the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Preventions goal of 13 million per month.

Africa CDC director John Nkengasong said estimating the true number of cases on the continent is very tricky. Some 70% of infections are asymptomatic, he said.

But some experts are making their best guesses.

Africa likely has at least 5 million infections, said Ridhwaan Suliman, a senior researcher at South Africas Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

He believes the true number in South Africa alone is at least 3 million.

The country has conducted far more tests than any other in Africa, more than 3 million, but in recent days about 25% have come back positive.

Because of shortages, South Africa largely limits testing to health workers and those showing symptoms.Experts see South Africa as an indication of whats to come elsewhere.

Sema Sgaier, an assistant professor of global health at Harvard and director of the Surgo Foundation, thinks the number of infections across Africa could be more than 9 million.

The US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation puts the number at more than 8 million. And Resolve to Save Lives, led by Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimates it could be 14 million.

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Spain denies it is facing second wave; Africa cases hit 1 million as it happened - The Guardian

Weather forecast: UK to ‘be hotter than the Bahamas’ this week as heatwave arrives – Evening Standard

The UK is likely to be hotter than the Bahamas later this week as a heatwave sweeps the country, the Met Office has said.

The forecaster has issued a level three heat warning from Thursday morning as it expects hot air to move in from southern Europe, leading to a sudden increase in temperatures.

Britain is expected to pass the threshold for a heatwave, which requires three consecutive days of temperatures over 25C across most of the country, and 28C in London.

The mercury is even expected to soar to 37C by Friday in the south east - meaning London would be hotter than sun-drenched Caribbean holiday destinations.

Beachgoers enjoy the sunshine as they sunbathe and play in the sea on Bournemouth beach

AFP via Getty Images

Barry Island beach in Wales

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Swimming in Hyde Park

Jeremy Selwyn

People enjoy the sunny weather at a beach in Brighton

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People enjoy the hot weather during a punt ride along the River Cam in Cambridge

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People take a selfie in front of the entrance of the Brighton Palace Pier

REUTERS

Charlton Lido

Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

People sunbathe on Barry Island beach in Wales

PA

People enjoy the weather at the beach in Joss Gap Bay, Broadstairs

REUTERS

People sunbathe on Barry Island beach in Wales

PA

People enjoy the hot weather during a punt ride along the River Cam in Cambridge

PA

People paddle in the sea on Barry Island beach

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Blackpool beach

PA

A woman fans herself with an electric fan as she looks at her smartphone on the tube

AFP via Getty Images

People sit in the shade Green Park

AP

People play basketball as they enjoy the sunny weather at a beach in Brighton

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People enjoy the hot weather at Blackpool beach

PA

Cycling in London

Jeremy Selwyn

People enjoy the sunny weather at a beach in Brighton

REUTERS

People enjoy the hot weather at West Reservoir Centre near Finsbury Park, Londo

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Western lowland gorillas enjoy an ice lolly on the hottest day of the year so far, in London Zoo

AP

People on the edge of a fountain at Trafalgar Square in London

AP

"Lido Ladies of London" Nicola Foster and Jessica Walker enjoy the heatwave at Hillingdon Sports and Leisure complex

Getty Images

Bournemouth beach

Steve Parsons/PA

People ride on jet skis as they enjoy the sunny weather at a beach in Brighton

REUTERS

People on Barry Island beach

PA

Charlton Lido

AFP via Getty Images

People cycle in London

AP

People enjoy the sunny weather at a beach in Brighton

REUTERS

Swimming in Hyde Park

People on Barry Island beach

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Blackpool beach

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Blackpool beach

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People enjoy the weather at the beach in Joss Gap Ba

REUTERS

Sunrise over Kilvington Lakes in the Vale of Belvoir, Leicestershire

PA

REUTERS

Getty Images

A man sits on the edge of a fountain at Trafalgar Square in London

AP

Beachgoers enjoy the sunshine as they sunbathe and play in the sea on Bournemouth beach

AFP via Getty Images

Barry Island beach in Wales

PA

Swimming in Hyde Park

Jeremy Selwyn

People enjoy the sunny weather at a beach in Brighton

REUTERS

People enjoy the hot weather during a punt ride along the River Cam in Cambridge

PA

People take a selfie in front of the entrance of the Brighton Palace Pier

REUTERS

Charlton Lido

Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

People sunbathe on Barry Island beach in Wales

PA

People enjoy the weather at the beach in Joss Gap Bay, Broadstairs

REUTERS

People sunbathe on Barry Island beach in Wales

PA

People enjoy the hot weather during a punt ride along the River Cam in Cambridge

PA

People paddle in the sea on Barry Island beach

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Weather forecast: UK to 'be hotter than the Bahamas' this week as heatwave arrives - Evening Standard

Healthism Is the Bias Many of Us Already Have – SELF

Crawfords work on healthism was published before some major public health crises and panics in the U.S. It was published just before the AIDS crisis began, and queer and trans people watched one another die at astronomical rates, with a delayed government response that many LGBTQ+ people experienced as indifference to our very lives. It was published before obesity was declared an epidemic, and before we declared a war on obesity, often fighting that war by stigmatizing fat bodies. And it was published before health became, in a sense, a moral imperativeand one that nearly all of us feel compelled to enforce at one moment or another.

As a fat person, my health is one of the primary grounds offered by those who mock, harm, and reject me as a fat person. Cruel and judgmental behavior is often justified with an off-handed Im just concerned about your health. As if my health were their responsibility. As if I owed it to them, a debt Id never taken out and could never repay.

And often, as many fat people know, trolling often masquerades as genuine concernthats what makes it so insidious, and what can make it so cutting. But underneath its explicit message of caring concern, theres a clear implicit judgment. Youre doing it wrong. You have failed. I have been monitoring your health. I know your body better than you.

And healthism isnt just a problem for fat peopleits a tool used to further anti-fat bias, yes, but also ableism, transphobia, misogyny, racism, and more. Healthism shows up when we joke about getting diabetes from a single dessert, or refer to a rich meal as a heart attack on a plateimplying that those health conditions are caused by failures of a perceived personal responsibility to be healthy, not by structural forces that disproportionately harm the health of people living on the down side of power. Healthism shows up when we suggest that trans people should be more worried about the side effects of long-term hormone therapy than their own lived experience of their gender.

Healthism isnt just an individual problem, eitherits present in many of our systems and institutions. Until the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, U.S. insurers routinely (and legally) denied health insurance to people with pre-existing conditions. Paradoxically, we had a system where people were not healthy enough to qualify for health care coverageand countless patients were unable to meet their most basic needs as a result. Healthism even shows up in the war on drugs, when we culturally and politically respond to drug dependencystrongly linked to environmental factors like poverty, stress, and traumaas a personal responsibility to just say no. And it shows up in the worlds of fertility, pregnancy, and lactation, all of which pressure expecting parents to become pregnant, be pregnant, and give birth in one or two right ways.

To be clear, healthism isnt the root cause of transphobia, ableism, racism, anti-fatness, or misogynybut it can be a tool to enforce all of them. Thats in part because healthism assumes a playing field that simply isnt there. And when it stubbornly attributes societal and community outcomes to individual choices, it reinforces the biases facing marginalized communities. If health is a personal responsibility, and so many marginalized communities have such bad health outcomeswell, they must just be less responsible. Its an insidious and powerful kind of bias, and one that many of us perpetuate every dayeven if we dont know it, and even if we dont mean to.

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Healthism Is the Bias Many of Us Already Have - SELF

Belize Is Postponing Its Tourism Reopening Caribbean Journal – Caribbean Journal

Belize is postponing what had been a planned tourism reopening on Aug. 15, destination officials confirmed.

Citing an increase in COVID-19 cases, the Belize Tourism Board said it was necessary to delay the reopening of Belizes Philip Goldson International Airport.

The country has not yet announced a new date.

Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow said the move had come in an overabundance of caution, folloiwng a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in three districts in the country.

Ensuring that travelers have reliable, trustworthy, and useful information continues to be a top priority so they can make the best decisions for their health and safety when choosing a vacation destination, the Belize Tourist Board said in a statement.

As a country, we are committed to enhancing our tourism product to be able to welcome back visitors to our shores in a safe and responsible manner. A new date for re-opening has not yet been established, and will be determined based on further developments in country, the Belize Tourist Board said.

Belize is continuing its weekly repatriation flights for Belizean nationals abroad, however.

More than a dozen Caribbean destinations have reopened their borders for tourism in some form.

For more, visit the Belize Tourist Board.

CJ

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Belize Is Postponing Its Tourism Reopening Caribbean Journal - Caribbean Journal

Take your taste buds to the Caribbean and help support Kent hospice charity – In Your Area

InYourArea Community

Turn on the Calypso music, ladle some rum punch and learn how to make authentic Caribbean food

Submitted by Pam Chattin

Hospices of Hope has lined up a fun series of virtual events to raise money for its hospices in Romania, Serbia, Moldova and Albania.

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has decimated their ability to raise funds through their charity shops and programme of live events, so they have turned to Zoom.

This month youre invited to join Winnie Joseph-Tebutt for two free cooking demonstrations when she will share her enthusiasm for some amazing Caribbean recipes.

For the next two Thursdays, Winnie will be demonstrating traditional St Lucian cooking in her own fun-loving style from 6.30pm to 8pm.

On Thursday, August 13 viewers will be able to follow her step-by-step instructions in real time and create delicious, authentic jerk chicken accompanied by mango salsa and roasted sweet potato.

The second demonstration will be on Thursday, August 20 when Winnie will show how to make a sumptuous Caribbean carrot and coconut cake with ginger and orange buttercream.

Winnie is hoping that you will have such a great time that you will make a donation to the charitys Emergency Covid-19 Appeal for its hospices in south eastern Europe.

The west Kent charity work tirelessly to support thousands of sick people in hopeless situations.

The hospices provide vital nursing, hospital treatments, training sessions and home visits completely free of charge, and nobody is ever turned away.

Winnies Caribbean cooking demonstrations are free to watch but you need to register in advance here.

Hospices of Hope is based in Otford and has charity shops in Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Biggin Hill, Maidstone and Ashford, Kent.

Shine a spotlight on your neighbourhood by becoming an Area Ambassador.

Click here to learn more!

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Take your taste buds to the Caribbean and help support Kent hospice charity - In Your Area

Letters to the Editor for Aug. 9, 2020 | Opinion | thepilot.com – Southern Pines Pilot

Publishers Note: The following letters were submitted by readers. The Pilot welcomes letters from readers on its Opinion pages, which serve as a public forum. The Pilot is not in the business of suppressing public opinion. We are a forum for community debate, and publish almost every letter we receive. For information on how to submit a letter to the editor, click here.

Im as excited as anyone to have professional sports back. But shouldnt we be providing these quick result tests to those on the front lines, nurses, EMTs, police?

If its too expensive, then send my stimulus check to them. But regardless, they should get them first.

Rich Tompkins, Carthage

Another Look at the Numbers

The president claims that we have more COVID-19 infections because we are testing more. He implies, but does not state, that there are more deaths because we are testing more. Testing does not cause deaths.

Lets ignore testing numbers and look only at COVID-19 deaths. The CDC expresses deaths per 100,000 population, but I want to bring that down to a more intimate level. If you divide the U.S. population by the total number of COVID-19 deaths, you have a rate of one death per population group.

I have tracked the death rate for the U.S., Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia since May. Norway: 1 death per 22,314; Finland: 1 death per 16,871; Denmark: 1 death per 9,715; Sweden: 1 death per 2,501; U.S.: 1 death per 3,296. While the rest of Scandinavia went into mandated lockdown, Sweden did not. We were similar to Sweden.

As of Aug. 4, the rest of Scandinavia remains close to the rates in May. Italy, which was an epicenter in May, has retained a near-flat death rate of 1 per 1,720 during July. We are steadily approaching Swedens and Italys death rates.

To put that in a local perspective, if you live in Pinehurst, eight of your neighbors would have died of COVID-19. If the CDC is correct in estimating 250,000 deaths, that would be a rate of 1 per 1316, or 13 of your neighbors. Please consider that before you decide to socialize without a mask.

Matt Farina, Southern Pines

Please, homeowners: Stop pesticide companies from destroying our environment. They want to sell us insect-spraying packages to rid our yards of supposedly bad bugs. There are bad and good bugs.

Companies make us believe our yards are infested with insects, which is far from the truth. By wholesale spraying of industrial-strength insecticides, they kill off the honeybees, which are already in serious decline due to colony collapse; damel- and dragonflies, which eat mosquitos; ladybugs, which eat aphids and rose rust; and the thousands of insects our beautiful Carolina birds and the geckos eat daily.

Weve been eating from our vegetable garden since April, and have no insects. I plant flowers that attract honeybees and dill for Monarch butterflies to mature in. I also compost and prepare my soil well. The success of my garden this year proves its value.

I think we can all do our part in keeping these pesticide companies, which seem to be mostly owned by the corporate lawn care companies, from destroying our bees, driving our birds away, and polluting our local watercourses with toxic runoff. Apparently our birds are struggling to find sufficient food so we have started feeding them again. Wouldnt it be sad if we dont see our cardinals, a brilliant red flash against the dark green of our pines?

Fern Sinnott, Pinehurst

One persons art is another persons eye sore. I was born and raised in Southern Pines. I love the quaint feel of the towns architecture.

The natural look of brick or stone or wood is so much prettier than some type of painting on a building, even if its ivy-covered.

Elsie Dutton, Akerson

There are 3,525 Medal of Honor winners. Pick one and move on.

Consider an enlisted soldier such as Mary Edwards Walker or Robert Augustus Sweeney, who won two Medals of Honor.

Beth Hill in a recent editorial said mail-in ballots will not work in the upcoming election? Oregon is doing that and we have time to get our ducks in a row until the November timeframe, dont we.

Or is the system riddled with fraud or other inside difficulties? Do we not have proper election officials to mandate the rules on how to carry this out if we do go to mail in voting?

I heard on the radio that the state was going to spend a massive amount of money on masks for the election judges, money we do not have. Most people by now, if they are out in public, should possess a face covering. Why do I have to pay for something that a person is going to wear on the job?

Let us dwell on this but not too long, and who knows how long this virus will last, so we have to prepare for the worst.

Jonathan Paris, Whispering Pines

It seems there cannot be enough repeated mail concerning the subject of masks to make a difference, but I remain hopeful because it is so important.

He goes on to say just what I have wanted to write in a letter to the editor for a long while.

Bonnie Becker-Jones, Pinehurst

History repeats itself in patterns that are like stencils. The riots over George Floyd replicate the riots in 1992 in Los Angeles over the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers for the Rodney King beating.

The looting of over 2,300 Korean American stores resulted in empowerment by that group in succeeding years. Both riots involved looting of Asian, Latino and African American stores as well as national chain stores. What did both riots accomplish? An increase in political empowerment by those affected by the looting. Though police violence is the sound-bite hot point on television broadcasts, police violence is only one component of a dangerous economic issue among emerging cultural and ethnic groups in a diversified America.

Occasional Pilot columnist Marvin Covault was appointed by President George Bush in 1992 to lead the Joint Task Force Los Angeles to end the riots by military and allied force. He was appointed because he was in command of Fort Ord in Northern California.

I would prefer that Gen. Covault writes about what he learned from that tragic Los Angeles riot and how it resonates with the riots today.

Kevin Lewis, Carthage

I immediately wondered if he was referring to the millions Trump has received from the U.S. taxpayers for his own personal gain, or why he tries to ignore the Constitution by not counting everyone for the census.

Imagine my surprise when Mr. Smiths column referred to Confederate statues. He begins by excusing Gens. Bragg and Lee while attacking Gen. Sherman. He does not mention Sherman received approval from President Lincoln and Gen. Grant.

Im assuming he considers the bombing of Dresden and the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki similarly. After all, collectively their purpose was to end the war.

Mr. Smith mentions Lees oath of allegiance. In it, Lee says, I will henceforth faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the States. Of course, that was after he lost the war.

If the criteria is someone who once did good things for our country, I eagerly await Mr. Smiths next column, Why Benedict Arnold Deserves a Statue.

Bob Curtis, Pinehurst

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Letters to the Editor for Aug. 9, 2020 | Opinion | thepilot.com - Southern Pines Pilot

‘We Are Here to Help Them’ | Harvard Medical School – Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medicine News recently caught up with new financial aid director Ryan Callahan, who hasn't had much of a chance to meet his fellow workers in person becausethe coronavirus pandemic began shortly after he arrived at HMS. Here we introduce you to Ryan virtually to learn a little more about him.

Tell us somethingabout the career path that brought you to HMS.

I began my career as an assistant director of financial aid at Boston College. This allowed me to work while receiving my masters degree in higher education from BC.From there I moved on to MIT for more than a decade. I worked as the senior assistant director of financial aid and was later promoted to associate director. Having dedicated my career to working in elite educational institutions, I understand the importance of financial aid in affording families with the opportunities of a private education.

What do you find most rewarding about working in financial aid?

The most rewarding part of working in financial aid is working with students and helping make it possible for them to attend their dream school.I have been very fortunate to work at schools with generous need-based financial aid programs allowing me to help reduce the financial barriers confronting prospective students. Financial aid is a truly unique field, where I may be doing my best work while costing my employer money!

The pandemic has derailed normal office life at HMS, but in the time youve been here, what have you enjoyed most about being at HMS?

I began working at HMS in early February and spent only four weeks in the office before moving to full-time remote work at home.This presented many new challenges for the Financial Aid Office and all areas of HMS.It has been truly amazing to see the way the HMS community has come together to tackle these issues. In the Financial Aid Office, every team member has put it additional time creating new procedures in order to provide seamless service to our students.Before arriving at HMS I was told I would be joining a great team in the Financial Aid Office, but these new challenges have highlighted their talents, experience and dedication to our students.

What do you think are some of the challenges and opportunities ahead on the financial aid horizon?

HMS firmly believes in the importance of our need-based financial aid policy.Thanks to the generosity of HMS donors, our office was able to create a new medical student emergency aid fund. As a result of the pandemic, many of our students and their families will be negatively impacted, and our office will be front and center helping them navigate this difficult time. This new fund will allow us toprovide temporary, short-term financial assistance to students enrolled in the MD program who are struggling with unanticipated or emergency financial situations.

Whats the most important thing people should understand about the financial aid picture at HMS?

I think open communication is paramount right now. It is the responsibility of the office to make all potential resources clear to our students and let them know we are here to help them through all of this. It is critical we keep our lines of communication open to students. We also ask our students to keep us informed and make us aware of any financial challenges. We are acutely aware of the stress financial concerns can place on a student and our ultimate goal is to alleviate those concerns so they can remain focused on their education.

Tell us a little about youfamily life? Background? Hometown?

I grew up just outside of Boston, in Somerville. My mother was a teacher, so the importance of an education was always stressed in our home. My father was the superintendent of recreation in Somerville. Their positions meant I always had to be on my best behavior in both school and at athletic events! I love Boston and am fortunate to raise my family in this area. My wife, Vy, also works in higher education, and we have two amazing daughters, Avery and Lia.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I am at my happiest when I am with family and friends. I am the youngest of three children and my wife is one of five, so we are fortunate to be surrounded by parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. I am an avid sports fan and love all the Boston teams, so the past two decades have been very kind to me! I also have a passion for personal finance and real estate. I am working towards a certificate in financial planning at Boston University.

What are you looking forward to when the pandemic is over and things get back to normal?

I think, like everyone else, I am looking forward to being able to freely see family and friends again. The single thing I am looking forward to the most is being able to watch my daughters hug their grandparents again.

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'We Are Here to Help Them' | Harvard Medical School - Harvard Medical School

In the face of challenges posed by a pandemic and racism, the White Coat Ceremony underscores the importance of our shared humanity – AAMC

Since the mid-1990s, undergraduate medical education has been bookended by two memorable ceremonies: the White Coat Ceremony at the start of ones medical school career and graduation at its conclusion. In the age of COVID-19, these events, like all in-person gatherings, have been turned upside down. We realize the logistics are daunting. As tempting as it is to postpone, or to cancel, White Coat ceremonies altogether, we instead urge medical schools to forge ahead and adapt this ritual that highlights the importance of the human connection in health care.

Medical students deserve this essential touchpoint of humanism on their journey. Indeed, in the face of COVID-19 and great social unrest, the true message of the White Coat Ceremony becomes even more compelling and necessary. The White Coat Ceremony began in 1993, a brainchild of Arnold P. Gold, MD, a Columbia pediatric neurologist and co-founder of his namesake nonprofit organization. For years, Gold had observed medical students reciting the Hippocratic oath on graduation day, and he would turn to his wife (and co-founder), Sandra Gold, and shake his head: Its too late, he would tell her. They are already the physicians they will be.

Gold believed that as clinical responsibilities have moved closer to Day 1, the oath the traditional pledge to do no harm, to care for patients with compassion should come at the very beginning of medical education, not the end. And so, he envisioned a ceremony that would emphasize humanism at the start. Such a ritual would reflect and reinforce the deep belief in caring for fellow human beings the belief, in fact, that leads so many to apply to medical school.

White Coat ceremonies took off rapidly, and today, hundreds of schools around the globe hold such events. They have become an eagerly anticipated marker of the start of undergraduate medical education.

As the White Coat Ceremony has expanded over the years, the very point of this ritual risks being lost. At its core, the White Coat Ceremony is not about a piece of attire or public recognition, but rather about a physicians fundamental, intimate responsibility to care, heal, and protect others.

As such, White Coat ceremonies are acutely relevant as we face the dual challenges of COVID-19 and racism.

The world has watched, in this unprecedented time of COVID-19, how doctors and all health care team members have risen to the moment. Without a cure, without effective therapy, health care professionals have been caring for COVID-19 patients at the primary level of human-to-human. This essential human connection can be forgotten in the ordinary day-to-day reliance on the big data of intensive care units, in times of very brief appointments, and in the midst of routine protocols. In this heightened moment of so much uncertainty and fear, doctors and nurses have stepped in to be the epicenter of care, to fulfill the definition of humanism in health care that human interests, values, and dignity prevail.

The second of the threats, racism, is a foe of equal concern. Entrenched in our institutions, our unconscious minds, and our bodies, racism threatens to tear at the human connection we are all capable of, and which physicians rely on so heavily in their care of patients.

Incoming medical students who are witnessing and participating in these transformative times need to hear leaders of their schools acknowledge and reinforce the importance of the human connection in health care, the importance of anti-racism in health care and our world, and the essential compassion physicians must hold and protect in their care.

White Coat ceremonies can be one key piece of that ongoing message from the very start. While some ceremonies are being held in person with appropriate masking and social distancing, others have had to adapt to a virtual format.

Now how does this work?

We are still learning, but the white coat is a symbol of the beginners mind that is open to all possibilities. The spirit of approaching medicine and such logistical challenges that we face today with an open mind is essential to remaining compassionate throughout ones career.

As the entire academic community has begun experimenting with virtual graduations and other ceremonies, we can learn from their helpful lessons and the tools already in place. For example, with the help of a PowerPoint program framework and Zoom accounts, we have witnessed beautiful, moving celebrations of Gold Humanism Honor Society inductions.

One advantage of the virtual ceremony is that it crosses hundreds of miles in a single click. Leaders and orators have attended Gold Humanism Honor Society inductions all across the country, from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California to East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine to the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in New York a possibility never imagined even last year. The virtual ceremonies also mean that relatives and friends from across the globe can join.

The AAMC and the Gold Foundation are committed to helping schools adapt their White Coat ceremonies as needed to conform with the necessity of physical distancing.

We realize this is an exceptional, historically challenging time that can be disorienting to experienced mentors and new students alike. Yet the principles of the human connection in medicine are sustaining, and we are grateful to medical school leaders for ensuring the White Coat Ceremony continues this fall. To incoming medical students, congratulations on your start of this great journey and thank you, in advance, for your deeply compassionate care of your future patients.

Richard Levin, MD, is president and CEO of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. David Skorton, MD, is president and CEO of the AAMC.

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In the face of challenges posed by a pandemic and racism, the White Coat Ceremony underscores the importance of our shared humanity - AAMC

Physician Group Wants Medical Schools To Waive The MCAT This Year – Physicians News Digest

The American College of Physicians (ACP) issued a statement strongly encouraging medical schools to waive Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) requirements for applicants seeking admission in 2021, in light of the unique challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

ACP recognizes that traditional medical school application processes for pre-medical students taking the MCAT examination have been disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. ACP says that applicants of color and those from lower socioeconomic groups are disproportionately impacted by factors such as venue changes to distant testing centers, and expresses concern that mandatory MCAT testing in the midst of the current public health emergency will increase disparities in career opportunity among people of color and those of lower socioeconomic status.

ACP supports the needs of learners as they pursue entry into medical school in the midst of the current COVID-19 public health emergency, said Jacqueline W. Fincher, MD, MACP, president, ACP. Now more than ever, during these challenging times facing health care, we need to help reduce barriers for students who seek to continue their education and training on a path to join the physician workforce and medical community, which continues to fulfill a vital need in our country.

Source: ACP

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Physician Group Wants Medical Schools To Waive The MCAT This Year - Physicians News Digest

Born with 1 hand, she’s an inspiration in virus fight – ABC News

By

STACEY PLAISANCE Associated Press

August 10, 2020, 4:34 PM

3 min read

NEW ORLEANS -- Two years out of medical school, respiratory therapist Savannah Stuard is on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 in New Orleans, operating ventilator equipment or manually pumping air into patients lungs.

It's challenging work under any circumstances, involving 12-hour shifts, head-to-toe protective equipment and constant vigilance to avoid catching or spreading the disease. It's even more complicated for Stuard, who was born without a left forearm.

I dont have two hands, only the one, she said, discussing the challenges of working while maintaining a sterile enviroment. So I have to sit there and methodically think it out, what to touch next, what to put on my hand to make it as sterile as possible.

Stuard, who works at Ochsner Medical Center, keeps the tip of her left arm covered with a glove secured by tape.

To prepare for close contact with patients, she practices procedures such as "bagging" manually pumping air into a patient's lungs in a simulation room on a mannequin.

Stuard says she enjoys her work and likes to inspire others along the way.

Its so rewarding, she said. Most patients see me, and theyre like, 'Whoa.' They ask me questions, and I answer them. Its amazing.

Stuard volunteers at foundations where she mentors young people with limb differences to show them how she learned to do things like tie her shoes, participate in gymnastics and other sports and learn karate.

She has also shared her experiences with patients she encounters who have lost limbs.

Theyll say, I lost my leg in a car accident, and you just give me so much hope, Stuard said. Thats what I love to hear, and thats what I strive (for) to help people to be better, because they see someone that has less and doing more, and it makes them feel like they can do more.

Stuards story caught the attention of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who has undertaken charitable efforts to help front-line medical workers and provide health care in underserved communities in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Brees noted her efforts as part of his work with The Real Heroes Project, a collaboration involving 15 men's and women's sports leagues. Athletes who participate share personal thank-you messages to health care workers on social media.

He wrote my name on the back of his jersey and said, This is for you, the real hero, and he was just thanking me for what I was doing, Stuard said. To get recognized like that, it was really great and exciting.

While nonstop news about the effects of the coronavirus has become commonplace, so, too, have tales of kindness. One Good Thing is a series of AP stories focusing on glimmers of joy and benevolence in a dark time. Read the series here: https://apnews.com/OneGoodThing

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Born with 1 hand, she's an inspiration in virus fight - ABC News

NASA’s Mars Mole is Officially “Dug In”

The

After spending over a year of trying to bury itself into the surface of Mars to take the Red Planet’s temperature, the “mole” attached to NASA’s InSight Mars lander is finally officially “in” and buried in sand according to an update by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Back in June, the DLR team pulled the mole out of the Martian soil in to check up on it, and decided to get back to drilling down into the surface. After a lengthy “hammering session” of 150 strokes on June 20, as JPL put it in a July update, the mole caused “bits of soil jostling within the scoop — possible evidence that the mole had begun bouncing in place, knocking the bottom of the scoop.”

The team thought that soil fell in from the sides of the hole the mole dug. “Instead, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the Mole was largely covered with sand,” reads today’s DLR update. “Only the back cap and a few centimeters of the hull are sticking out.”

Having the mole completely covered in sand could provide enough friction for the mole to make more headway in its endeavor of reaching a maximum depth of ten feet. The success of burying the mole could also have big impacts on the scientific value of the Mars mole mission.

The mole’s mission objective is to take Mars’ temperature from below the surface — and after having it fully buried, “both the thermal and mechanical contact have improved,” the update reads. “So we’re feeling optimistic!”

The discovery came after a number of risky maneuvers trying to gage the state of the mole. “After intense discussion, the team decided to first do a push on the back cap, similar to the successful back cap pushes conducted in the past months,” today’s update reads. Unfortunately, the “scoop no longer fits in the pit,” making such a maneuver pretty risky.

After a lengthy back and forth, the team decided to scrape along the top of the buried mole to test if it was possible to push it using the scoop. “The scraping was a complete success!,” the team wrote. “The scrape was much more effective than expected and the sand filled the pit almost completely. The Mole is now covered, but there is only a thin layer of sand on the back cap.”

The team’s calculations may have gone array due to the fact that the shovel went in much deeper than initially thought.

READ MORE: Mars InSight mission: The Mole is ‘in’ and the ‘finishing touches’ are ‘in sight’  [DLR]

More on the mole: Crap: NASA’s Mars “Mole” Finally Started Digging, Then Hit Another Obstacle

The post NASA’s Mars Mole is Officially “Dug In” appeared first on Futurism.

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NASA’s Mars Mole is Officially “Dug In”

Battered travel industry urges UK to rethink Covid-19 quarantine policy – The Guardian

The travel industry has urged the government to rethink its 14-day quarantine policy for holidaymakers as rising coronavirus cases on the continent including France and Greece put more countries within the scope of the blunt approach.

Testing at airports and regional quarantine requirements are among alternatives put forward by tourism figures concerned by the impact the policy could have on an already battered sector.

France recorded its highest increase in cases since May on Friday, while countries emerging as preferred alternatives to Spain and France, such as Greece, have also experienced a steep rises in the number of cases.

There were 2,288 new cases in France in the 24 hours to Friday, leading many to presume it will be added to the governments quarantine list, which requires anyone entering the UK from selected countries to self-isolate for 14 days. Spain, Belgium and Andorra are currently among European countries on the list.

Meanwhile, Britains confirmed coronavirus cases rose by 1,062 on Sunday the first time the daily total has risen above 1,000 since late June up from 758 cases on Saturday. Eight people were confirmed to have died with Covid-19.

Emma Batchelor, the director of Discover Ferries, which represents the passenger ferry industry in the UK, said: We strongly advocate that any quarantine restrictions introduced by the UK government should be proportional and kept under close review in order to enable people to continue to travel to safe destinations and suggest adopting a regional rather than a country-based approach to quarantine.

We also call on the government to be transparent on its decision-making criteria and time frames so people can make an informed decision on where they can travel for their long-awaited holidays this summer.

It came amid signs that people were rebooking planned Spanish holidays for other countries, such as Greece. But late on Sunday Greece revealed it had recorded 203 new infections in the previous 24 hours, its highest daily tally since the start of the outbreak in the country, underlining the uncertainty across the continent. Greece has had just over 200 coronavirus deaths in total.

The Covid-19 pandemic is currently unfolding in one big wave with no evidence that it follows seasonal variations common to influenza and other coronaviruses, such as the common cold, theWorld Health Organizationhas warned.

Epidemics of infectious diseases behave in different ways but the1918 influenza pandemicthat killed more than 50 million people is regarded as a key example of a pandemic that occurred in multiple waves, with the latter more severe than the first. It has been replicated albeit more mildly in subsequent flu pandemics. Until now that had been what was expected from Covid-19.

How and why multiple-wave outbreaks occur, and how subsequent waves of infection can be prevented, has become a staple of epidemiological modelling studies and pandemic preparation, which have looked at everything from social behaviour and health policy to vaccination and the buildup of community immunity, also known as herd immunity.

Is there evidence of coronavirus coming back in a second wave?

This is being watched very carefully. Without a vaccine, and with no widespread immunity to the new disease, one alarm is being sounded by the experience of Singapore, which has seen a suddenresurgence in infectionsdespite being lauded for its early handling of the outbreak.

Although Singapore instituted a strong contact tracing system for its general population, the disease re-emerged incramped dormitory accommodationused by thousands of foreign workers with inadequate hygiene facilities and shared canteens.

Singapores experience, although very specific, has demonstrated the ability of the disease to come back strongly in places where people are in close proximity and its ability to exploit any weakness in public health regimes set up to counter it.

In June 2020, Beijing suffered from a new cluster of coronavirus cases which caused authorities to re-implement restrictions that China had previously been able to lift. In the UK, the city of Leicester was unable to come out of lockdown because of the development of a new spike of coronavirus cases. Clusters also emerged in Melbourne, requiring a re-imposition of lockdown conditions.

What are experts worried about?

Conventional wisdom among scientists suggests second waves of resistant infections occur after the capacity for treatment and isolation becomes exhausted. In this case the concern is that the social and political consensus supporting lockdowns is being overtaken by public frustration and the urgent need to reopen economies.

However Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, says Second wave isnt a term that we would use at the current time, as the virus hasnt gone away, its in our population, it has spread to 188 countries so far, and what we are seeing now is essentially localised spikes or a localised return of a large number of cases.

The overall threat declines when susceptibility of the population to the disease falls below a certain threshold or when widespread vaccination becomes available.

In general terms the ratio of susceptible and immune individuals in a population at the end of one wave determines the potential magnitude of a subsequent wave. The worry is that witha vaccine still many months away, and the real rate of infection only being guessed at, populations worldwide remain highly vulnerable to both resurgence and subsequent waves.

Peter Beaumont,Emma Graham-Harrison and Martin Belam

Paul Charles, a travel consultant at the PC Agency and founder of the campaign group Quash Quarantine, which has paused a planned legal action against the restrictions, said it was crucial the government learned from its mistakes with Spain and gave holidaymakers and the industry significant notice to allow consumers to rethink their plans.

He said the blanket quarantine approach was wrong, adding: Much better to have another solution, which is a combination of temperature testing at airports, swab or saliva testing at airports and very effective test and trace, and then you have a very good alternative to quarantine, which doesnt have the same impact on the economy.

Tim Alderslade, the chief executive of Airlines UK, said: Extending the furlough scheme would help enormously, as would stimulus measures such as an air passenger duty waiver, which would save many of the routes that will otherwise be lost this winter.

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Battered travel industry urges UK to rethink Covid-19 quarantine policy - The Guardian

Travel to Europe’s Best Cabinets of Curiosity – The Daily Beast

We've featured a number of tomes here at Just Booked (our series on gorgeous travel coffee table books) that took us inside fabulous rooms. But we're not sure any of them ever took us in rooms as awe-inspiring and eclectic as those in our latest selectionMassimo Listri's Cabinet of Curiosities, published recently by Taschen.

The book is filled with the fame photographer's detailed and engrossing photographs of some of Europe's most exciting cabinets of curiosityrooms where the most acquisitive individuals accumulated and displayed a variety of objects. They can be filled with art, decorative objects, items from nature (you will see a lot of coral), inventions, and just downright strange things.

The book's cover is a close-up of a delightful Arcimboldo-esque trompe-l'il pediment from the Francke Foundations. Inside, you'll race from the wax portraits at Freidenstein to the sparkling minerals in the collection at Seitenstetten Abbey. You'll lament the breakup of Rudolf II's hoard and just shake your head in bemusement at the oddities found at Schloss Ambras. And no doubt, when the world reopens, you'll make sure to add Dresden's Green Vault, Vienna's Kunstkammer, and Florence's Pitti Palace to your must do's.

Massimo Listri: Cabinet of Curioisities by Giulia Carciotto & Antonio Paolucci. Published by Taschen ($150)

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Travel to Europe's Best Cabinets of Curiosity - The Daily Beast

One pilot brings the world to Iceland – CNN

(CNN) Ancient tales of trolls and magic live on in Iceland, an island nation of volcanoes, lava fields, glaciers and ice caves.

To fully explore every corner of the dynamic landscape, unravel local folklore and battle the natural elements, one must take to the skies.

Enter Jn Kjartan Bjrnsson, the pilot with a mission to show the real Iceland.

Bjrnsson, a helicopter pilot for 35 years, has taken camera crews, directors and actors to some of the most stunning spots in the country.

A helicopter can go places in Iceland most people cannot.

FlyOver Iceland

The thundering waterfalls and deep valley gorges seen in TV's "Game of Thrones" and the movies "Oblivion" and "Flags of Our Fathers" are thanks to Bjrnsson's expert navigation skills.

Bjrnssons' explains that since you cannot use a zoom on the wide-angle camera, the trick to getting that intimate feel is moving the actual helicopter close to the shot: "If it feels like you're close, you are close," he says.

Iceland, the alien planet

Although Bjrnsson loves to showcase his strikingly dramatic country, many of the shots he enables filmmakers to create are not presented as Iceland at all.

In fact, Bjrnsson says, "Whenever directors want to show somewhere on another planet, they shoot in Iceland!"

The aerial filming world is small, explains Bjrnsson, who describes it as a big family.

The desolate volcanic deserts, glaciers and lush mossy valleys seen on the planets of Eadu and Hoth in "Star Wars," in "Game of Throne's" Land Beyond the Wall, and in Thor's home of Asgard were all filmed in Iceland.

From fast-rushing waterfalls to steep mountain peaks, Iceland's scenery has made it a favorite among filmmakers.

FlyOver Iceland

Iceland also stands in for an alien planet in the movie "Interstellar," where astronauts travel through a wormhole to find another home after Earth becomes uninhabitable.

And in the post-apocalyptic film "Oblivion," Iceland features as both a war-torn and ravaged Earth as well as its potential replacement, the planet of Titan.

Iceland immersion

The FlyOver exhibit, currently in Vancouver and Iceland and soon in Las Vegas and Toronto, takes visitors on a sensory ride suspended over a 20-meter (65.6-foot) screen. The experience blends some of those amazing sights depicted on film with the physical sensation of flying, including an actual mist falling on your face from a waterfall.

FlyOver Iceland is an immersive film experience that takes viewers through the otherworldly landscape.

FlyOver Iceland

You might even get a whiff of fresh mountain flowers as you glide over a meadow.

In one stunning sequence in the Iceland film, Bjrnsson flies right through an impossibly narrow arch that has the whole audience gasping and holding their breath as they feel themselves trying to make it through the arch.

The finished footage from FlyOver and Bjrnsson's other projects -- full films and shows -- creates the impression that the audience is right there with him. It's as close as most people can hope to get to many of Iceland's otherwise inaccessible territory.

Remoter still

Remarkably for a man who has been flying professionally for over three decades, Bjrnsson says he is actually scared of heights and prefers low-level flying.

One scene in the eight-and-a-half-minute minimovie takes place at Iceland's highest peak, at 7,000 plus feet (2,134 meters) above sea level. "I almost had to close my eyes sometimes!" Bjrnsson quips.

Bjrnsson routinely has the opportunity to fly over places most Icelanders will never visit.

"Most of those sites in FlyOver are pretty difficult to get to unless you have a helicopter. The little lighthouse just south of Iceland is probably the most difficult one. But when you have the helicopter, you can go wherever you like to go!"

That remote and lonely little lighthouse is known as The rdrangaviti lighthouse and is located on the Westman Islands, about five miles off the coast of mainland Iceland.

The making of the movie

Some parts of the island do not feature in the final cut of director Dave Mossop's 2019 FlyOver Iceland video because weather conditions posed insurmountable obstacles.

Filming took place over a year and a half in all seasons. Mossop says that they were stranded for days in the northern part of the island when bad weather, including sideways snowstorms and zero light, made it impossible to film or to leave.

This part of the country seldom sees tourists and locals had warned Mossop that flying and filming would be difficult.

Jon Kjartan Bjornsson has been a helicopter pilot for 35 years taking camera crews, directors and actors to some of the most stunning spots in Iceland.

FlyOver Iceland

The challenging shoots, nonetheless, reaped great rewards: The helicopter's positioning gives viewers a grasp of the sheer scale of Iceland's glaciers, not visible in this way by land -- or even accessible.

Black sands, lava fields and deep green valleys look like a series of dramatic canvas landscapes stitched together into one true masterpiece.

"One of the most remote places that we got to visit and one that you would never be able to experience in its full effect from the ground is called the Tungnaa river, and I think it's one of the seven wonders of the world. It's just the most beautiful, wild, unbelievable river flowing from a glacier and spreading out over this silt sand," Mossop says.

When viewed from above in Bjrnsson's helicopter, Mossop says it looks like a three-dimensional Georgia O'Keeffe abstract painting, created by nature.

Directing danger

One of the most dramatic moments Mossop filmed in Iceland for FlyOver was a scene where kayakers come careening down the Aldeyjarfoss waterfall.

Mossop describes this as a "genuinely dangerous stunt." Although it wasn't the highest drop these adventure sports experts had navigated, it certainly was high stakes because of the sheer volume of water.

"The whole river channels into this notch and just piles off of this beautiful basalt column amphitheater and creates incredible impact at the bottom of the waterfall ... if it goes wrong, you're going to be buried under this mountain of water for minutes. And you could definitely, possibly, die," Mossop says.

Like much of the action filmed for this mini-movie, timing was everything.

"We were really fortunate we got a take that worked. And it's in the film and I think it's one of the most extreme and impressive shots I've ever worked on. It's such a beautiful location and such an impressive athletic stunt by both the pilot and the kayakers," Mossop says.

Mossop and Bjrnsson have captured something far more thrilling and dramatic than an alien planet or a fictional and magical world -- they have served up Iceland in all its rugged, other worldly beauty.

Thankfully for those of us who want to see it for ourselves, despite appearances, Iceland is actually located on our planet.

If you go

For the true Icelandic experience, choose a glacial landing, which costs around $725 USD per person.

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One pilot brings the world to Iceland - CNN

Indians are the most confident in world to travel post COVID-19 – Devdiscourse

By Lee Kah Whye Indians, among the most travelled before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, are the most confident in the world about resuming their international adventures once they allowed to do so.

They also top the list of people most eager to travel internationally in the next 12 months with 77 per cent saying they are keen to travel, followed by Thais at 70 per cent and Indonesians at 60 per cent. Singapore is the most favoured destination for people living in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines when it comes to post-lockdown travel.

This was revealed in a newly released study conducted jointly by social research agency Blackbox Research, data provider Dynata and language partner Language Connect, "Unravel Travel: Fears & Possibilities in a Post Coronavirus (COVID-19) World." It examines the sentiments, preferences, and expectations of 10,195 people across 17 countries regarding travel in a post-COVID-19 world. However, with bad news continuously emanating from the travel industry, travellers will have to put their plans on ice for the foreseeable future as the 'new normal' in travel is still some time away.

Two weeks ago, travel booking giant Expedia reported a steep 82 per cent revenue decline to USD 566 million in the second quarter (for period ending June) and a USD 577 net loss. A year earlier, the firm had a net income of USD 276 million. Last week, French hotel group Accor which owns luxury accommodation brands such as Swissotel, Sofitel and Raffles posted half-year losses of 1.5 billion euros (USD 1.77 billion) compared with a profit of 141 million euros one year ago. In addition, it announced that it was slashing 1,000 head office jobs worldwide out of a global corporate headcount of 18,000.

Also last week, Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic, which is 49 per cent owned by Delta Air Lines, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York. This is the second airline owned by Branson that is seeking the protection of courts, the first being Virgin Australia. Chapter 15 is slightly different from the usual Chapter 11 as it is designed for companies that operate in multiple countries. Virgin Atlantic based in Britain, is attempting to put together a private rescue package after having previously attempted to obtain a British government bailout.

Singapore Airlines reported a historic loss in its latest fiscal quarter (for the period April to June) of SGD 1.12 billion (USD 812 million). Following that, it announced pay cuts for all management and rank-and-file staff, as well as an early retirement programme for ground staff and pilots. Earlier, with support from government investment arm Temasek and other shareholders, it has managed to raise some SGD 15 billion (USD 10.9 billion) to weather the COVID-19 storm. Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA) does not expect air travel to be restored to 2019 levels until 2024.

With the COVID-19 virus rampaging throughout the world causing people to shelter in their homes for most of the last few months, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Tourism Barometer showed a precipitous fall of 98 per cent in international arrivals in May this year when compared with May 2019. The Barometer also uncovered a 56 per cent decline in tourist numbers for the first five months of this year, translating into a loss of 300 million tourists and USD 320 billion lost in international tourism receipts. This is more than three times the loss during the global financial crisis of 2009. Although there are hints of a gradual and cautious resumption of travel, confidence is low. A majority of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) panel of tourism experts expect international tourism will only recover in the second half of 2021.

When travel can resume under a 'new normal' travel framework, the "Unravel Travel" survey found that with a score of 76, India and Thailand are tied for top position for nationalities most confident of travelling. Asian countries dominate the countries that scored above the global average of 61, including China (69), Indonesia (65), Singapore (64). France and Germany also rated above the global average. At the other end of the spectrum, Japan was rated the most cautious with a score of 40, followed by the Philippines (43) and Hong Kong (50). Other countries that scored below the global average include Sweden, New Zealand, UK, Canada and the United States.

Saurabh Sardana, Chief Operating Office of Blackbox Research, said that each country's score reflects a balancing act between a number of considerations -- the perceived importance of tourism to the country's economy, national management of COVID-19 cases and even past experiences of similar epidemics. Notably, New Zealand's low case achievement has led to the country's more cautious attitude towards international travel. In another finding, the "Unravel Travel" study showed that contactless travel is something travellers would expect once they can resume travelling. 76 per cent of respondents indicated that their preferred destinations would be countries that offer more reliable contactless experiences. In terms of what the future of travel looks like, the study found that e-boarding passes (41 per cent), touchless lavatories (43 per cent), contactless journeys between airports and hotels (40 per cent), no more middle seats in transportation (36 per cent) and digital health passports (35 per cent) are some of the new ideas that global travellers hope to see implemented in the near future.

"Governments will need to play a key role in messaging and ensuring travellers' safety, as well as empowering the tourism industry through investment in new technology and innovation that would ensure a seamless, contactless travel experience that is sustainable," Sardana added. "The first movers will cash in on the pent-up demand as borders open." (ANI)

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Indians are the most confident in world to travel post COVID-19 - Devdiscourse

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price, charts, market cap, and other …

What is Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that aims to become sound global money with fast payments, micro fees, privacy, and high transaction capacity (big blocks). In the same way that physical money, such as a dollar bill, is handed directly to the person being paid, Bitcoin Cash payments are sent directly from one person to another.

As a permissionless, decentralized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash requires no trusted third parties and no central bank. Unlike traditional fiat money, Bitcoin Cash does not depend on monetary middlemen such as banks and payment processors. Transactions cannot be censored by governments or other centralized corporations. Similarly, funds cannot be seized or frozen because financial third parties have no control over the Bitcoin Cash network.

Bitcoin Cash combines gold-like scarcity with the spendable nature of cash. With a limited total supply of 21 million coins, Bitcoin Cash is provably scarce and, like physical cash, can be easily spent. Transactions are fast with transaction fees typically less than a tenth of a cent. Anybody can accept Bitcoin Cash payments with a smartphone or computer.

Bitcoin Cash has various use cases. In addition to peer-to-peer payments between individuals, Bitcoin Cash can be used to pay participating merchants for goods and services in-store and online. Very low fees enable new micro-transaction economies, such as tipping content creators and rewarding app users a few cents. Bitcoin Cash also reduces the fees and settlement times for remittances and cross-border trade. Other use cases include tokens, simplified smart contracts, and private payments with tools such as CashShuffle and CashFusion.

In 2017, the Bitcoin project and its community split in two over concerns about Bitcoins scalability. The result was a hark fork which created Bitcoin Cash, a new cryptocurrency considered by supporters to be the legitimate continuation of the Bitcoin project as peer-to-peer electronic cash. All Bitcoin holders at the time of the fork (block 478,558) automatically became owners of Bitcoin Cash.

Unlike Bitcoin BTC, Bitcoin Cash aims to scale so it can meet the demands of a global payment system. At the time of the split, the Bitcoin Cash block size was increased from 1MB to 8MB. An increased block size means Bitcoin Cash can now handle significantly more transactions per second (TPS) while keeping fees extremely low, solving the issues of payment delays and high fees experienced by some users on the Bitcoin BTC network.

Development to further optimize the Bitcoin Cash network continues on the Bitcoin Cash roadmap, led by the Bitcoin ABC full node team. Planned upgrades take place every six months to put into effect the latest network developments.

Mining is the process in which new Bitcoin Cash transactions are confirmed and new blocks are added to the Bitcoin Cash blockchain. Miners use computing power and electricity to solve complex puzzles. By doing so, they gain the ability to produce new blocks of transactions. If one of their blocks is accepted by the network, the miner, or mining pool, earns a block reward in the form of newly-issued Bitcoin Cash.

Mining is highly competitive. As the price of Bitcoin Cash in the marketplace rises, more miners are incentivized to bring more hash rate into the ever-increasing miner competition to produce blocks and have them accepted by the Bitcoin Cash network. More miners make the network more secure by increasing and distributing the hash rate. This prevents a single miner from having control over the network.

Anyone can mine Bitcoin Cash. Mining requires specialized hardware called mining equipment, which can either be bought or rented. Miners also need to run a full node software (with the majority of miners currently running Bitcoin ABC) to build blocks and connect to the rest of the Bitcoin Cash network. Mining can be done independently but miners often pool their hash rate together and share proportionally in the earned block rewards.

Bitcoin Cash is available at a variety of crypto exchanges, depending on your region. For the latest list of exchanges and trading pairs for this cryptocurrency, click on our market pairs tab. Be sure to do your own research before picking an exchange for purchasing Bitcoin Cash.

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Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price, charts, market cap, and other ...

Bitcoin Cash – Wikipedia

Cryptocurrency that is a fork of Bitcoin

Bitcoin Cash is a cryptocurrency that is a fork of Bitcoin.[5][6] Bitcoin Cash is a spin-off or altcoin that was created in 2017.[7][8][5] In 2018 Bitcoin Cash subsequently split into two cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin SV.[9] Bitcoin Cash is sometimes also referred to as Bcash.[10]

The need to accommodate an increasing count of transactions per second contributed to a push by some in the community to create a hard fork to increase the block size limit.[11] This push came to a head in July 2017 when some members of the bitcoin community including Roger Ver felt that adopting BIP 91 without increasing the block-size limit favored people who wanted to treat bitcoin as a digital investment rather than as a transactional currency.[12][13] Fortune Magazine in early 2020 referred to Roger Ver as the co-creator of Bitcoin Cash.[14] Bitcoin Cash supporters, compared to Bitcoin, were more committed to a medium of exchange function.[15] This push by some to increase the block size met a resistance. Since its inception up to July 2017, Bitcoin users had maintained a common set of rules for the cryptocurrency.[12] Eventually, a group of bitcoin activists,[16] investors, entrepreneurs, developers[12] and largely China-based miners were unhappy with Bitcoin's proposed SegWit improvement plans meant to increase capacity and pushed forward alternative plans for a split which created Bitcoin Cash.[17] Segwit controversially would later enable second layer solutions on bitcoin such as the Lightning Network, and this controversy led to the split that created Bitcoin Cash.[15] The proposed split included a plan to increase the number of transactions its ledger can process by increasing the block size limit to eight megabytes.[12][13]

The would-be hard fork with an expanded block size limit was described by hardware manufacturer Bitmain in June 2017 as a "contingency plan" should the bitcoin community decide to fork implementing SegWit; the first implementation of the software was proposed under the name Bitcoin ABC at a conference that month. In July 2017, the Bitcoin Cash name was proposed by mining pool ViaBTC. The change, called a fork, took effect on 1 August 2017. As a result, the bitcoin ledger called the blockchain and the cryptocurrency split in two.[18]

A Hong Kong newspaper likened this to a new version of word processing software saying:

Bitcoin cash is like a new version of Microsoft Word, which generates documents that can no longer be opened via the older versions.[19]

Bryan Kelly, a stock analyst likened it to a software upgrade:

Bitcoin cash is doing a hard fork or effectively a software upgrade, Kelly said on Fast Money. When you do a software upgrade, everybody usually agrees. But in this particular case, everybody is not agreeing.[20]

At the time of the software upgrade (also known as a fork) anyone owning bitcoin came into possession of the same number of Bitcoin Cash units.[21][18] The technical difference between Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin is that Bitcoin Cash allows larger blocks in its blockchain than Bitcoin, which in theory allows it to process more transactions per second.[22] Bitcoin Cash was the first of the Bitcoin forks, in which software-development teams modified the original Bitcoin computer code and released coins with Bitcoin" in their names, with "the goal of creating money out of thin air."[23] In relation to Bitcoin it is characterized variously as a spin-off,[5] a strand,[24] a product of a hard fork,[25] an offshoot,[26] a clone,[17] a second version[16] or an altcoin. On 1 August 2017 Bitcoin Cash began trading at about $240, while bitcoin traded at about $2,700.[18]

A key difference of opinion between bitcoin cash and bitcoin camps was over the running of nodes. Bitcoin supporters wanted to keep blocks small so that nodes could be operated with less resources, while some bitcoin cash supporters find it acceptable that (due to large block sizes), nodes might only be run by universities, private companies and nonprofits.[27]

In 2018 Bitcoin Core developer Cory Fields found a bug in the Bitcoin ABC software that would have allowed an attacker to create a block causing a chain split. Fields notified the development team about it and the bug was fixed.[28]

Controversy

The arguments have devolved over three or four years of bitter debate, the principles are real and they are important to preserve, but a lot of the drama has nothing to do with principles anymore. A lot of this debate is now more about hurt feelings. Its about bruised egos. Its about things that were said that cant be unsaid, insults that were exchanged, and personalities and ego.

Andreas Antonopoulos, "The Verge"

In 2017 there were two factions of bitcoin supporters, those that supported large blocks and those who preferred small blocks.[22] The Bitcoin Cash faction favors the use of its currency as a medium of exchange for commerce while the Bitcoin-supporting faction view bitcoin's primary use as that of a store of value.[22] Bitcoin Cash detractors call the cryptocurrency "Bcash," "Btrash," or "a scam", while its supporters maintain that "it is the pure form of bitcoin".[22]

Samson Mow of Blockstream pointed to Bitcoin Cash's use of the "Bitcoin" name as a source of animosity between the Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash camps.[22] Emin Gn Sirer, a professor at Cornell stated that Bitcoin Cash was focused on use and Bitcoin was "enormously" focused on store of value.[22]

Bitcoin Cash trades on digital currency exchanges including Bitstamp,[30] Coinbase,[31] Gemini,[32] Kraken,[33] Bitfinex, and ShapeShift using the Bitcoin Cash name and the BCH ticker symbol for the cryptocurrency. On 26 March 2018, OKEx removed all Bitcoin Cash trading pairs except for BCH/BTC, BCH/ETH and BCH/USDT due to "inadequate liquidity".[5] As of May2018[update], daily transaction numbers for Bitcoin Cash are about one-tenth of those of bitcoin.[5] Coinbase listed Bitcoin Cash on December 19, 2017 and the coinbase platform experienced price abnormalities that led to an insider trading investigation.[34]

By November 2017 the value of Bitcoin Cash, which had been as high as $900, had fallen to around $300, much of that due to people who had originally held Bitcoin selling off the Bitcoin Cash they received at the hard fork.[11] On 20 December 2017 it reached an intraday high of $4,355.62 and then fell 88% to $519.12 on 23 August 2018.[35]

As of August 2018, Bitcoin Cash payments are supported by payment service providers such as BitPay, Coinify and GoCoin.[36]

Both Bitcoin, as well as Bitcoin Cash, use a proof-of-work algorithm to timestamp every new block. The proof of work algorithm used is the same in both cases. It can be described as a partial inversion of a hash function. Additionally, both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash target a new block to be generated every ten minutes on average. The time needed to calculate a new block is influenced by a parameter called the mining difficulty. If the total amount of mining power increases, an increase of the mining difficulty can keep the block time roughly constant. Vice versa, if the mining power decreases, a decrease of the mining difficulty can keep the block time roughly constant.[37]

To keep the block generation time equal to ten minutes on average, both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash use an algorithm adjusting the mining difficulty parameter. This algorithm is called the difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA). Originally, both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash used the same difficulty adjustment algorithm, adjusting the mining difficulty parameter every 2016 blocks. Since 1 August 2017, Bitcoin Cash also used an addition to the DAA, called an Emergency Difficulty Adjustment (EDA) algorithm. EDA was used alongside the original DAA and it was designed to decrease the mining difficulty of Bitcoin Cash by 20%, if the time difference between 6 successive blocks was greater than 12 hours.[37]

EDA adjustments caused instabilities in mining difficulty of the Bitcoin Cash system, resulting in Bitcoin Cash being thousands of blocks ahead of Bitcoin. To address the problem with stability, a change of the Bitcoin Cash DAA was implemented and the EDA canceled. The change took effect on 13 November 2017. After the change, the Bitcoin Cash DAA adjusts the mining difficulty after each block. To calculate the difficulty for a new block, the Bitcoin Cash DAA uses a moving window of last 144 blocks.[37]

A group of researchers demonstrated that, as of June 2019, Bitcoin DAA fails to generate new blocks at a constant rate as long as the hash supply is elastic. In contrast to that, the group demonstrated that Bitcoin Cash DAA is stable even when the cryptocurrency price is volatile and the supply of hash power is highly elastic.[38]

On 15 November 2018, a hard fork chain split of Bitcoin Cash occurred between two rival factions called Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV.[39][40] On 15 November 2018 Bitcoin Cash traded at about $289 and Bitcoin SV traded at about $96.50, down from $425.01 on 14 November for the un-split Bitcoin Cash.[41]

The split originated from what was described as a "civil war" in two competing bitcoin cash camps.[20][42] The first camp, supported by entrepreneur Roger Ver and Jihan Wu of Bitmain, promoted the software entitled Bitcoin ABC (short for Adjustable Blocksize Cap) which would maintain the block size at 32MB.[42] The second camp led by Craig Steven Wright and billionaire Calvin Ayre put forth a competing software version Bitcoin SV, short for "Bitcoin Satoshi Vision," that would increase the block size limit to 128MB.[39][42]

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Bitcoin Cash - Wikipedia

The Crypto Daily The Movers and Shakers August 10th, 2020 – Yahoo Finance

Bitcoin, BTC to USD, fell by 0.75% on Sunday. Partially reversing a 1.59% gain from Saturday, Bitcoin ended the week up by 5.57% to $11,675.3.

It was a mixed start to the day. Bitcoin rose to an early morning intraday high $11,788 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the first major resistance level at $11,866, Bitcoin slid to a late afternoon intraday low $11,530.0.

Bitcoin fell through the first major support level at $11,593 before finding support.

A late move back through to $11,600 levels cut the deficit on the day.

The near-term bullish trend remained intact, supported by the latest move through to $11,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $6,400 to form a near-term bearish trend.

Across the rest of the majors, it was a mixed day for the majors on Sunday.

Stellars Lumen and Tezos bucked the trend, with gains of 2.03% and 8.98% respectively.

It was a bearish day for the rest of the majors.

Bitcoin Cash SV led the way down, falling by 3.51%.

Bitcoin Cash ABC (-2.36%), Binance Coin (-2.23%), Ethereum (-1.78%), Litecoin (-2.55%), Moneros XMR (-2.13%), and Ripples XRP (-2.56%) also saw heavy losses.

Cardanos ADA (-1.28%), EOS (-1.20%), and Trons TRX (-0.43%) saw modest losses on the day.

It was also a mixed week for the majors.

Ripples XRP bucked the trend with a 0.04% loss.

It was bullish for the rest of the pack, however.

Tezos led the way, rallying by 27.30%.

Binance Coin (+6.82%), Bitcoin Cash ABC (+6.61%), Cardanos ADA (+8.36%), Moneros XMR (+9.69%), and Trons TRX (+7.38%) also found strong support.

Bitcoin Cash SV (+1.90%), EOS (+2.95%), Ethereum (+4.90%), Litecoin (+0.30%), and Stellars Lumen (+2.73%) trailed the front runners.

In the week, the crypto total market cap rose from a Monday low $322.88bn to a Thursday high $355.09bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $349.50bn.

Bitcoins dominance fell to a Tuesday low 61.24% before rising to a Friday high $63.16. At the time of writing, Bitcoins dominance stood at 62.15%.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.80% to $11,769.0. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin rise from an early morning low $11,746.3 to a high $11,789.0.

Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day.

Cardanos ADA bucked the trend early on, falling by 0.16%.

It was a bullish start for the rest of the majors, however, with Tezos up by 2.71% to lead the way.

Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall through the $11,664 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $11,799.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break out from the morning high $11,789.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level and the morning high would likely cap any upside.

In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin could eye the second major resistance level at $11,922.

A fall through the $11,664 pivot level would bring the first major support level at $11,541 into play.

Barring another extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should avoid the second major support level at $11,406.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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The Crypto Daily The Movers and Shakers August 10th, 2020 - Yahoo Finance

In Lawsuit, Cruise Line Crew Members Say They’re ‘Effectively Held Hostage’ on Stranded Ships, Working Without Pay – TIME

Crew members say theyve been trapped aboard Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line ships for months without pay, effectively held hostage during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a class action lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday.

The suit alleges that thousands of workers have been unnecessarily kept on the ships for months on end, many thousands of miles away from their homes and families and suffered lost wages and lost employment opportunities as a result. After the pandemic shut down cruises in March, crew members were required to continue cleaning, cooking and maintaining their ships without pay, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

This egregiously delayed repatriation is tantamount to false imprisonment of the crew, the lawsuit states.

In a statement, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line said the company has worked tirelessly with local governments around the world to repatriate as many of our crew members as possible.

To date, more than 90 percent have safely returned home. For those whose governments have closed their borders and not permitted them to return, we have provided accommodations, food, and onboard credit for incidentals, the statement said. While we understand the strain that these difficult times have placed on our crew, in particular those who have been unable to return home, we are confident in the approach weve taken to treating all team members with transparency and care.

In an earlier statement on July 21, announcing that it would not resume sailing operations until October per new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rules, the cruise line said it had followed all required guidelines, including adhering to strict requirements for our onboard crew members, and installed the best safety protocols in the industry across our fleet to protect our guests and crew, who are always our top priority.

Dragan Janicijevic, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, is a Serbian citizen who was employed on one of the cruise ships as a casino dealer. He told the Miami Herald that he and other employees had asked to be sent home in April, but were told the cruise line could not afford charter flights, which were initially required by the CDC to prevent disembarking crew members from potentially spreading the virus on commercial flights. They were keeping us captive, Janicijevic, who left the ship in late June, told the Herald.

When sailing operations were halted in March, the cruise line forced all crew members aboard the ship to sign a document stating they were voluntarily staying onboard, without pay, according to the lawsuit.

The crewmembers were forced to sign these agreements by being threatened that they would not be rehired if they did not sign, the lawsuit states. This system of requiring crewmembers to work, without pay, is the equivalent of forced labor or peonage.

In July, the CDC extended its no-sail order for cruise ships through September. Other cruise ship companiesincluding Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdingshave been paying working crew members, but not paying the non-working crew who remain on their ships, the Herald reported.

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Write to Katie Reilly at Katie.Reilly@time.com.

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In Lawsuit, Cruise Line Crew Members Say They're 'Effectively Held Hostage' on Stranded Ships, Working Without Pay - TIME