Post-Covid, nations will look inwards; India should look at neighbourhood: Ex-NSA – Observer Research Foundation

Posted on by

object(WP_Post)#848 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(66318) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "1" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2020-05-19 10:23:54" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2020-05-19 04:53:54" ["post_content"]=> string(12534) "

There is a great shift taking place, we are moving from the global order we have known since 1945 to a new global order, an extremely uncertain one, said former National Security Advisor (NSA) of India M.K. Narayanan, during an online discussion organised jointly by ORF-Chennai Initiative and the Madras Management Association (MMA) on 29 April 2020.

In conversation with Prof. Harsh V Pant, Director (Studies) and Head-Strategic Studies, ORF, on the topic Geo-politics & Geo-economics: Consequences of COVID-19, Narayanan outlined the emerging global order, as he saw it: The new world order is no longer dominated by the US. China is to some extent in the driving-seat, though nowhere near American power in the post-War period. Most other countries are still licking their wounds from the global recession.

Reflecting on the debate on globalisation, Prof Pant wondered whether the world was entering a new, uncharted territory or if Covid-19 was simply accelerating a push-back against globalisation that has been taking place for some time with the rise of economic nationalism across countries. Responding to this, Narayanan said globalisation has undeniably been in retreat for some years now and the coronavirus pandemic is likely to exacerbate this process. Though there is a lot being said about international cooperation and international community, my own assessment is that one of the devastating impacts of Covid-19 will be that nations are going to look even more inwards. Rather than look beyond its borders, nations will focus on their narrowly-defined national interests, he said.

In times of crisis, leadership is key. Unfortunately, across the world we have a leadership vacuum. There is an absence of leaders who can think beyond their immediate problems, well beyond their immediate surroundings, Narayanan observed.

Normally, the international community would have turned to the US to lead the way. It is perhaps the only country which has the ability to spend and also has the moral stature to stand up and do something globally, but the US is faltering, he said. For a variety of reasons, not only owing to the Trump administration, the US has been retreating from the world stage for some years now. This has left open a big vacuum that regrettably international organisations havent been able to fill, he added.

There has been a total failure of international organisations, such as the UN and the WHO, to step up to the present challenges. Covid19 is graver than any military threat we have faced since 1945 and yet the UNSC dithered for days and WHO has been charged with grossly underestimating the pandemic, he pointed out.

In some ways, the geo-political situation is far more threatening than geo-economics, evaluated Narayanan. The problem we are faced with is this Who is going to show the way, which country will take charge of restarting international organisations and giving it the status, they deserve? Which country has the material capabilities and the moral authority to produce the leadership we need? he asked.

Assessing the geo-political landscape, Narayan felt that the European Union is struggling with its own internal problems; Germany without Chancellor Angela Merkel, he believed, would turn insular. The UK, post-Brexit, is not in a position to offer global leadership. West Asia has been in crisis for some time now and the region is set to face further difficulties due to the oil price meltdown. Russia, he felt, will not be severely affected, except in its oil arrangements with West Asia. India, which could have offered some leadership assistance, is disadvantaged by its economic situation, he argued.

While China is undoubtedly trying to fill the leadership vacuum, Narayanan felt this was a matter of some concern. China is not a great believer of international rules of conduct, Mr Narayan argued. According to him, China should have been stigmatised for its negligence and failure to alert the world to the pandemic. It first identified and detected the virus COVID-19 in Wuhan in December 2019, but only sounded the alarm in January 2020, Narayanan pointed out.

China, however, seems unfazed by this stigma. Having had an early recovery, China is now trying to exploit the situation by utilising its manufacturing capability into an advantage sending out masks and medical equipment to Asia and Africa. It is attempting to shift from being a Black Swan into a White Swan. This is Sino-Centrism of a particular kind, warned Narayanan.

In the light of suggestions that Covid-19 should also be seen as an opportunity for India, Prof. Pant put forward the question, Is India in a position to leverage these opportunities in the immediate aftermath of the crisis?

Narayanan responded: It is wishful thinking to believe we can exploit opportunities due to what might seem like Chinas diminished economic power due to the pandemic. If there were opportunities to exploit in terms of companies moving out of China due to Covid-19, then countries like Vietnam are more likely to benefit from it than India. He explained that though India has the resilience to survive the crisis, it is not in a position to exploit it because of its economic downturn.

Lockdown has been very important in terms of restricting the spread of the virus but economic capacities have bottomed out, he said. India will recover faster than the West, yet China will come out of Covid-19 better than most, he assessed. Most countries are still flocking to China, he pointed out. China holds all the cards, what are the cards India holds?

Looking to the future, Narayanan criticised Indias foreign policy for investing too much in the US. The world is being re-ordered in crucial ways. Indias foreign policy and its diplomatic efforts need to reflect these new changes rather than continuing to focus on the US. The US was at one time the most important power, today it is in deep trouble and is being referred to as a failing state. To hitch our wagon to the US would be unfortunate, he said.

As nations across the world turn inwards, Indias focus needs to turn towards its neighbourhood. We need to strengthen our position in South Asia and SAARC has to be brought back. We need to be seen as the glue that puts SAARC back together, he recommended.

One of the big challenges for Indias foreign policy will be to answer the question: How can India make the rest of South Asia see it as a far better friend to have rather than China? It is imperative for India to strengthen itself in South Asia, only then will the rest of the world see it as a leading power. In this regard, Narayanan said, political clout doesnt always rely on economic growth.

During the fifties, when Indian economic growth was extremely low and pejoratively referred to as the Hindu rate of growth, India was still providing leadership to many parts of the world, such as leading the Non-aligned Movement, reaching out to several African countries and even mediating in the case of the Korean War in 1950s. Of course, if you are stronger economically it makes it easier, but leadership is not entirely dependent on doling out economic aid, Narayanan remarked.

Acknowledging that maintaining relations with China is vital for India despite the problems, Prof Pant asked, What should be Indias China policy? Having been a foreign policy practitioner and China expert since the sixties, Narayanan explained that China will resent Indias efforts to gain influence in South Asia. China will be unhappy to have India on the same table as them. However, China will not look to get into a conflict with India, 1962 was an aberration. The challenge will be in terms of influence. China and India are going to be the two most important countries in the future. China will look to constrict India in its neighbourhood and isolate it from the rest of the world.

Having said that, he also maintained that China recognises strength. They have a concern and respect for India and Indias intellectual capabilities. They see that Indians are able to think spatially and in linear fashion which they are not able to do. So, there is a challenge but also there will be opportunities Narayanan outlined. Therefore, Indias most important equation for the next few decades will be China. Maintaining good relations with China will be Indias biggest foreign policy goal and challenge. This will throw up challenges as well as opportunities and will require deft handling.

Given Pakistans refusal to join the SAARC video-conference, Prof Pant asked, If India and Pakistan cannot get along even during Covid-19, does this relationship have a future? Narayanan recalled that US-India relations were not always warm. There was a time when the US-India nuclear deal seemed an impossible idea and it was widely scoffed at. Every relationship has a future. Maintaining relationships are not easy, he responded.

India can deal with Pakistan and it has to deal with Pakistan, Narayanan stated. He further pointed out, If India and Pakistan are not so hostile to each other, India-China relations will also improve and in turn our smaller neighbours will not play games with us. These are triangular, sometimes quadrangular relationships.

To conclude, Narayanan said, India is too important a country to be side-lined in the world. This is the question Indian foreign policy experts need to think seriously about:How can India be beacon of light in a world where there are no permanent relations and no permanent structures?

In his introductory remarks, Peter Rimele, Resident Representative to India, Konrad-Adenaur-Stitftung (KAS), said several questions are being raised about American power, American reliability and trust-worthiness as well as about the stability of the multi-lateral order post Covid19. East and West Europeans alike have been watching the US response to the Covid19 with alarm, he lamented. The US plans to freeze funding for the World Health Organisation (WHO) has created immense uncertainty, especially for many African and Latin American countries.

Christian Hirte, Member of German Bundestag, who joined the discussion to offer a German and trans-Atlantic perspective on the current crisis, reflected similar sentiments when he said post-pandemic, Germany will look to focus more on domestic production and domestic supply chains. Though Germanys push for a stronger EU has been its long-time agenda he wondered whether the pandemic will provide an opportunity to re-prioritise this goal.

This report was written by Dr. Vinitha Revi, Independent Researcher, Chennai

Continued here:

Post-Covid, nations will look inwards; India should look at neighbourhood: Ex-NSA - Observer Research Foundation

Posted in NSA

Journalist Who Helped Break Snowden’s Story Reflects On His High-Stakes Reporting – WFDD

Posted on by

In 2013, Edward Snowden, a contractor with the National Security Agency, rocked the world when he leaked thousands of classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs.

Barton Gellman, formerly of The Washington Post, was one of three journalists including filmmaker Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian with whom Snowden chose to share the documents. Gellman says initially Snowden was skeptical of him.

"He thought that The Washington Post would be afraid to publish or would bow down to government pressure," Gellman says. "It took a lot of convincing for him, just as it took a lot of convincing for me that he was for real."

Snowden shared information about surveillance programs previously unknown to the American public, including the fact that the government was keeping records of private citizens' phone calls and that the NSA was harvesting data from big internet companies, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

Gellman reached out to The Washington Post, the paper he had left three years earlier, which went on to publish a series of articles based on Snowden's classified information.

In a new book, Dark Mirror, Gellman writes about his relationship with Snowden and the high-stakes reporting that ultimately garnered him, Poitras and Greenwald a Pulitzer Prize.

The U.S. government charged Snowden with espionage, but Snowden, who is living in exile in Russia, maintains that he acted as a whistleblower in sharing the classified documents.

Gellman says that no matter what your opinion about Snowden is, one thing is clear: "Ed Snowden succeeded beyond the wildest ambitions that he could plausibly have had. ... Even the biggest critics of Snowden not all of them, but some of them ... all say he started a debate that the public needed to have about the limits of surveillance in a democratic society."

"At the same time," Gellman adds, "most of the programs that he exposed continue."

On the terms Snowden agreed upon with Gellman, Poitras and Greenwald

I told Snowden that ... I would make my own judgment about the news value and that I would give the government an opportunity to tell me about damage they foresaw, if the story was published. And so I had that conversation with the government every time. Snowden at first seemed a little skeptical about this and worried that it simply meant I was going to give the government veto power over an article. And in fact, he saw it as potential evidence of a cowardly approach by The Washington Post. Later, he came to see the value and the importance of trying to avoid avoidable harm in the publication of these stories. And he began to insist that that was what he wanted all along. ...

Snowden absolutely wanted us to make our own judgments about newsworthiness. He absolutely did not want us to dump the entire archive online. If he wanted that, he could have done it himself. I mean, the guy knows how to work the Internet. He wanted the credibility of journalists behind the disclosures. He wanted us to check the facts and set the context. And he wanted us to decide what was newsworthy and what was harmful. So he essentially relinquished all the close judgment calls to me and my fellow journalists.

On the importance of checks and balances on the government's surveillance power

There were people in 2013 and '14 and '15 who told me they didn't worry about the enormous power of this surveillance machinery because they trusted the people who were running it. They trusted themselves. They trusted the inspector general to call out and prevent bad behavior. They trusted supervisors. They trusted, fundamentally, the president and the presidency. And they trusted Democrats and Republicans. They trusted George W. Bush and Barack Obama equally to use this stuff with the right motives and with the right kinds of limits.

But so much of what is done under authority of the NSA is done based on norms and traditional understandings of what terms mean and on legal interpretations. When [Donald] Trump came to power a guy who is allergic to norms, a guy who is at war with every institution of accountability, whether it's the press, whether it's inspectors general, whether it's courts when that kind of person has his hands on the enormous power that is granted by the ability to look into [and] see into anything that travels across the Internet, then they're worried.

So people who surprise me people like Jim Comey, and people like Gen. [James] Clapper, who had been the director of national intelligence, these were people who had ardently defended the surveillance powers and the checks and balances held on them they were no longer so confident about those checks and balances.

On his tense relationship with Snowden

Snowden wanted advocates on his side. He wanted a pure and clear message of dissent against the way the NSA was behaving. And he wanted nothing that would raise any doubts or questions about him or get into his personal life or anything like that. I continued to ask questions the way a journalist should ask questions. And so we would have these tense exchanges in which he would say, for example, "Are you purposely asking me things you know I won't answer just to piss me off?"

The first time he got angry at me he was right to be angry. In an early profile of him, I inadvertently exposed an online handle an anonymous handle that he was still using for communications. And that caused him some trouble as he tried to change handles and encryption keys on the fly. ...

He quit talking to me for several months after that. And we started up again because he believed I was handling these stories seriously, that I was diving into the subject in a way that was exposing truths that weren't being exposed anywhere else, because this wasn't just a question of opening the documents, reading and writing your story. The documents were incomplete, pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, very hard to understand. They required external reporting with sources in the government and out of the government. They required interpretation and discovery. And I was putting things together in a way that he thought was important. And so he got over his personal anger at the way I behaved.

On the cybersecurity precautions he took when he visited Snowden in Moscow in December 2013

I don't like to be dramatic or self-important, but I thought, "Yeah, there's a pretty good chance that if an American journalist who is writing about secret American intelligence programs comes over to interview a former intelligence officer, Ed Snowden, that that would probably be worth their diversion of a little bit of surveillance to themselves."

I assumed that my devices and my telephone calls would be monitored, and so to begin with, I didn't bring any data over with me. I wasn't gonna bring classified U.S. documents to a country where they could possibly read them and directly expose American secrets to a foreign power.

So I didn't log onto any of my accounts, I didn't bring my actual computer or my usual telephone, I brought empty ones. But I still had the puzzle of how I was going to interview Snowden, take notes, take photographs, make recordings, and then bring those back to the United States while crossing an international border and not hand over those documents, those recordings and so on to either government. I didn't want the U.S. government to hear everything I'd said with Snowden. I didn't want the Russian government to have access to all that information either.

On the House Intelligence Committee report, which was very critical of Snowden

If there were particular harms done by particular disclosures, that fact itself would be classified. ... And so I can't argue with an assertion that's made in the dark, and there may be legitimate reasons to keep that classified. On the other hand, I would have to say that, not to put a fine point on it, that House Intelligence Committee report was garbage. It was a political document. It was basically a long screed about Ed Snowden, and it was filled with facts or assertions of fact that were plainly rebuttable, that they were simply wrong.

Just the simple question of calling Ed Snowden "a high school dropout." He had earned his GED at the same time that his class graduated, with top, top scores. They knew that he had advanced computer security and computer science credentials. Or, for example, they said there's no evidence that Ed Snowden actually was injured in the Army. And so he was lying about the reasons for the end of his Army service. Well, Army records made it very clear. I've seen the records. He broke both legs in training, and for the House Intelligence Committee, which had privileged access to government records, to say things like that gives you a decent flavor of the more complicated untruths in the report.

On being a target for international hackers

It's not paranoid if people are really trying to get you. I knew from the first time I saw the documents before I published a story that this was going to paint a big target on my back. It's advertising that you have something special and secret and advertising pretty quickly that I was not going to publish all of it. So I knew that I would be a subject of interest to hackers, to the U.S. government and to foreign intelligence agencies. And I gradually accumulated considerable evidence that this was true.

Someone tried to break into my Gmail accounts, where I did not store sensitive documents. But nevertheless, Google warned me, a big flashing pink bar on my screen said, "Warning! We believe that state-sponsored attackers are trying to break into your device or your account." I found out later that that was the government of Turkey. Turkey was unexpected and bad news for me, because I thought there were a substantial number of likely candidates and more capable candidates coming after me. So if Turkey also was joining the party, that suggested the threat landscape was broader than I would have liked to think.

My iPad was hacked right in front of my eyes as I was holding it. The screen gutted out of the static and then white letters started marching across the screen with technical commands in a language called Unix. If that had worked as expected, as intended, it would have happened while I slept or wasn't looking at the machine. And after a couple of minutes of fooling around like that, the hacker would have complete control of the device. And what worried me about that was that remotely hacking an iPad is not a beginners' hack. It's quite difficult and quite expensive to break through Apple's considerable security remotely without physically connecting to the device. It's a million-dollar hack, that is, say that data brokers or surveillance brokers pay million-dollar bounties for what's called an untethered hack of the iPad operating system. I did not want to be worth that kind of effort. I did not want to be worth that kind of expense. But I was.

Sam Briger and Joel Wolfram produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Meghan Sullivan adapted it for the Web.

Originally posted here:

Journalist Who Helped Break Snowden's Story Reflects On His High-Stakes Reporting - WFDD

Posted in NSA

Help for health care workers facing stresses on the job – WKOW

Posted on by

MADISON (WKOW) -- As some communities begin to return to normal, we'll still be fighting COVID-19 for months and the stress over the virus hasn't gone away.

An April poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found one in five adults believes the ongoing crisis has had a negative impact on their mental health.

Health care workers are seeing how it impacts patients every day, working harder than ever right now to keep everyone safe.

"When these COVID patients are the ICU they're very, very sick," said SSM Health respiratory therapist Kristie Reilly. "You're with them a lot. They're very tenuous. Simple things like repositioning their head can make their blood pressure drop, can make their oxygen saturation drop."

That kind of pressure can add to the stresses for these essential workers. Plus, the fears of the virus itself.

"Not that I didn't think about what I was going to bring home to my family [before the pandemic], but now it's definitely on my mind," Reilly told 27 News. "As soon as I get home, before my kids can talk to me, before my husband talks to me, I take everything off and I take a shower, wash my hair, just to make sure that I don't give them anything."

Experts say they're seeing more health care workers seeking counseling because the pandemic is taking a toll on their mental health.

"People get in survival mode and you just think, what do I need to do today to get to the job, to meet my family obligations. And we can really neglect our own mental health needs," said Dr. Lisa Baker, a psychologist at SSM Health.

Dr. Baker says the healthcare system is working on ways to help frontline workers get through the challenges. SSM launched a new virtual collaborative space, where people across departments can get together online and talk about what's going on.

"It's definitely something new in our system, really in reaction to the needs of healthcare workers at this time," she said. "It's been really an opportunity to collaborate with different disciplines across our system and it's been really rewarding to be a part of."

SSM Health is also providing more guidance for department leaders and educating staff to spot signs of stress among their coworkers.

"That is one way to mitigate, is having people look out for each other, giving each other breaks, normalizing, utilizing time for self care and really encouraging people to take care of themselves," Baker told 27 News.

It's that support from colleagues that's helping Kristie Reilly.

"We're really great at being there for each other, helping each other. We laugh a lot. We really are like a family," she said.

That family shares in the extra workload and keeps an eye out for each other on the job.

"We help each other a lot and I think that gets you through it, that builds morale when you know that you can count on your coworkers," said Reilly.

She also makes sure to relax when she gets down time at home, going for walks with her family or watching TV to ease her mind.

Plus, the public showing of support through thank you messages, meals and parades, helps them through one more day on the frontlines of the crisis.

"It really makes you feel good. It makes you feel appreciated," she said. "To know you have that community support, to know that you can go home and that people are behind us, I think it's really cool. It was definitely not something that we ever expected, but it's been a really neat thing to see that the community has come together."

Experts say everyone should take time to focus on their mental health right now. That may mean prioritizing a good night's sleep, getting exercise and eating well.

Many workplaces offer Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), which can provide mental health services. An April survey from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans found 15 percent of employers have added services to their EAP since the pandemic began. 17 percent now have more coverage for mental health and 15 percent added telepsychiatry options.

Click here for resources and information on mental health services.

Here is the original post:

Help for health care workers facing stresses on the job - WKOW

‘Noble Army’ Makes Thousands of Face Shields for Health Care Workers – WTTW News

Posted on by

They have already made and delivered nearly 8,000 face shields to health care workers in the Chicago area for free.

Now, they want to make it easy for groups around the country to replicate their success, and theyve created a website with everything you need to start a socially distant face shield factory.

It all began on March 25, when retired Oak Park resident Rob Parks saw a story on Chicago Tonight about a mother and son making face shields for health care workers using a 3D printer. Parks tried it out on the printer in his basement and showed it to his neighbor, Lisette Verhagen Metman, an ICU nurse, who had expressed concern about supplies of personal protective equipment. When she showed the shield to her bosses, the intensivist and the manager said immediately order 72! Metman said. Basically all the nurses and the intensivists and the respiratory therapists would use them.

That threw me into a bit of a panic, Parks said with a smile, because it took me three hours to print that first one.

Rob and Susan Parks hold face shields made by the Noble Army. (Courtesy of Rob and Susan Parks)

Employees of the Dr. Lucy Lang-Chappell Housing Complex in Chicago wear face shields provided by the Noble Army. (Courtesy of Rob and Susan Parks)

Parks put out a call on an Oak Park email list, asking for anyone with a 3D printer to help out. Inside of a day I had 20 people signed up to print, he said. He dubbed his eager recruits the Noble Army. After they completed that first order they easily found other institutions that needed face shields. Soon there were 40 people cranking out more than 200 face shield frames a day.

So obviously, there is a hidden but very powerful force in the community that was like waiting to be tapped. All these people are so generous and they are so dedicated and they really want to help they want to find a way to help, Parks said.

Parks, and his wife Susan Parks, both have business backgrounds and they created the necessary systems to handle the volume.

I will be glad when what we do is not necessary anymore, said Susan Parks, because that means that people will not need this type of protection. But while it is there we will fill the need.

And as long as the need exists, they hope others will use what they have learned and follow in their footsteps.

Read more:

'Noble Army' Makes Thousands of Face Shields for Health Care Workers - WTTW News

Microsoft targets health-care industry with new cloud offering – CNBC

Posted on by

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella gestures as he speaks during a Bloomberg event on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21, 2020.

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Microsoftis targeting the health-care sector with a new Cloud for Health Care bundle a customized solution incorporating existing products like the Azure cloud and the Teams communication app for businesses.

The move shows that Microsoft intends to deliver more growth in Azure as it competes with Amazon:by tailoring its wares to the needs specific industries. In 2017, the company announced an initiative to focus on health care and five other industries, such as manufacturing and retail. It added media, communications and automotive last year

Industry customizations are already available in Dynamics 365 and Power Platformproducts, like a patient portal. Now Microsoft is keen to ensure they work together to provide the best possible experience for customers.

Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare is available to customers in public preview with a six-month free trial, Microsoft corporate vice presidents Tom McGuinness and Greg Moore said in a blog post Tuesday. It was not immediately clear how pricing for the bundle will differ from the standard fee for individual products in the bundle. Microsoft will provide more details in the fall, a spokesperson told CNBC in an email.

Azure derives a greater portion of its revenue from large enterprises than market leader Amazon Web Services, RBC analysts led by Alex Zukin said in a note to clients on Sunday. Go-to product collections for various industries could yield more widespread enterprise adoption. Azure revenue growth slowed to 59% in the first quarter from 62% one quarter earlier, although it continues to grow faster than other parts of the company. Microsoft does not specify Azure revenue in dollars.

Google's cloud organization is also targeting health care and other individual industries, and Salesforce offers a Health Cloud.

Microsoft offloadedhealthassets in 2012 with the formation of Caradigm, a joint venture with GE. Microsoft said last week it's working with UnitedHealthCare to bring out an Azure-powered app that can help companies in their efforts to return their employees to offices.

WATCH: FedEx announces strategic partnership with Microsoft

Here is the original post:

Microsoft targets health-care industry with new cloud offering - CNBC

NetWalker Ransomware Expands Operations, Targeting Healthcare – HealthITSecurity.com

Posted on by

May 22, 2020 -The NetWalker ransomware threat actors a serious threat to the healthcare sector has ramped up its business model, transitioning into a Ransomware-as-a-Service (Raas) model in an attempt to partner with other seasoned cybercriminals, according to a recent Advanced Intelligence report.

The healthcare sector has been a prime target for NetWalker through the pandemic. The hacking group was behind the ransomware attack on the website of Champaign-Urbana Public Health District in Illinois in mid-March.

In March, Microsoft detailed some its tactics alongside other human-operated ransomware groups, such as Maze and REvil. These groups all rely on similar techniques, such as credential theft and lateral movement, before later deploying a ransomware payload.

In the last two months as the impact of the pandemic increased, NetWalker has become extremely active. And its new business model will allow the group to collaborate with other cybercriminals whove already gained access to large networks and have the capability of disseminating ransomware.

Members of the hacking group began posting advertisements for a ransomware affiliate program, on March 19. NetWalker appears to be looking for groups that prioritize quality, not quantity. The researchers noted this preference is vastly different than typical Russian-based ransomware operations that commonly leverage brute-force attacks and mass production.

To gain further interest, NetWalker shared some of its victim-focused material, such as IP addresses, administrator access, and network-attached storage access, among other key elements. A month later, the group refreshed its advertisement asking for experienced hackers in an effort to create an exclusive group of top-tier network intruders to execute its new RaaS business model.

Trend Micro researchers recently reported NetWalker is now also leveraging fileless ransomware, written in PowerShell, and executed directly in memory without storing the virus on the disk. As a result, these attacks allow the hackers to maintain persistence and easily evade detection by abusing system tools.

NetWalker is also actively leveraging the COVID-19 crisis for its phishing campaigns, targeting individuals interested more information about the virus, as well as healthcare industry individuals and entities.

The hackers primarily distribute their ransomware through phishing schemes or spam emails, or through large-scale network infiltration. The group claims theyre able to first exfiltrate data from its victims and posts it online: a model made notorious by the Maze hacking group.

Further, the group will typically ask for a significant ransom demand from its victims, from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Researchers explained NetWalker is rapidly evolving and highly credible, especially to the healthcare sector during the COVID-19 crisis. And its likely there will be more attacks and updates from the group in the coming weeks.

NetWalker now claims a singular preference for network infiltration, which is novel to the Russian-speaking ransomware community, researchers explained. As a result, the threat actor is requiring its new affiliates to have pre-existing access to large networks.

NetWalker poses a significant threat, as it has been carrying out these high-profile attacks while simultaneously posting on the top-tier Russian-language DarkWeb forums in order to expand its operations and capabilities, they added.

As ransomware attacks on healthcare providers rose 350 percent during Q4 2019, healthcare organizations should review key ransomware resources, paying particular attention to the human-operated methods, including insights from Check Point, Microsoft, the FBI, the NSA, the Office for Civil Rights, and other security leaders.

Go here to see the original:

NetWalker Ransomware Expands Operations, Targeting Healthcare - HealthITSecurity.com

Scripps, Sharp HealthCare Voice Concerns Over County Reopening Plan – KPBS

Posted on by

Photo by Alexander Nguyen

Above: The driveway entrance to the emergency room at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, May 14, 2020.

As San Diego County officials move forward with plans to reopen restaurants for dine-in service and retail stores, two local health care systems say they wanted more of a say in the final plan.

"We want to see businesses open too Scripps like every health care system is losing a ton of money but we need to do it in the right way," said Scripps Health CEO Chris Van Gorder.

Van Gorder said Scripps was given the county's 180-page plan to reopen more businesses the morning of Tuesday's supervisors' vote.

"Didnt give us enough time to really look it over discuss it with them, they are elements in the triggers that we have deep concerns about," Van Gorder said.

Van Gorder said the curve isnt flattening everywhere. Scripps has been at or near capacity at their Chula Vista hospital for weeks and he said reopening businesses could make that situation even worse.

"Weve had to transfer 56 patients from Chula Vista up to our northern hospitals," Van Gorder said. Scripps is also starting to take patients from Imperial County.

Sharp HealthCare also said Tuesday they had not reviewed the plan before the vote and were only shown an outline the night before. Sharp and Scripps officials say currently they are handling about 60% of the countys presumed COVID-19 cases Both health care giants are concerned about the triggers that could lead to restrictions coming back.

"One of the triggers is the hospitals reach 80% capacity," Van Gorder said. "The County always talks about the 6,051 beds. Thats total beds in the county. Thats not intensive care unit beds, thats not negative pressure isolation rooms. So wed be in deep trouble long before we ever filled all 80% of our beds if our ICU beds were full and our negative isolation rooms were full in a COVID situation."

While Scripps and Sharp might not have seen the plan prior to Tuesday's vote, UC San Diego Health and Palomar Health officials both said they supported it after meeting and going over it directly with county health doctors.

"I wanted to thank Patty Maysent from UCSD and Dianne Hansen from Palomar from two large hospital systems that came down and took the time to work with our CAO and our team," County Supervisor Dianne Jacob said during Tuesday's board meeting.

After Scripps and Sharp officials raised their concerns, county supervisors unanimously passed the plan to reopen more businesses.

KPBS asked county health officials Wednesday why Scripps and Sharp were not briefed on the plan in advance. Public health officer Dr. Wilma Wooten said no one was left out.

"It was completed over the weekend and we had our partners review it on Monday and we submitted it Tuesday evening so no one was left out," Wooten said.

Wooten said health care providers got the reopening plan after it was completed.

"Weve reviewed the application with them and different people have different opinions," Wooten said.

Sharp issued a statement to KPBS Wednesday saying they are reviewing the reopening plan.

"We have now received the 187-page proposal for accelerated implementation of Californias road-map to modify the stay-at-home order, and we will be reviewing the document and providing our thoughts to county staff and the supervisors," a Sharp spokesperson said via email.

Scripps is currently conducting a similar review of the proposed plan.

The reopening outline was unanimously passed by supervisors Tuesday and is currently awaiting state approval to be implemented.

Aired 5/21/20 on KPBS News

Listen to this story by Matt Hoffman.

KPBS' daily news podcast covering local politics, education, health, environment, the border and more. New episodes are ready weekday mornings so you can listen on your morning commute.

Matt Hoffman General Assignment Reporter

I am a general assignment reporter for KPBS. In addition to covering the latest news and issues that are relevant to the San Diego community, I like to dig deeper to find the voices and perspectives that other media often miss.

To view PDF documents, Download Acrobat Reader.

Read the rest here:

Scripps, Sharp HealthCare Voice Concerns Over County Reopening Plan - KPBS

Plants given to healthcare workers in Freeport – Freeport Journal-Standard

Posted on by

Jane Lethlean Correspondent

FridayMay22,2020at9:12AM

FREEPORT Health care workers on the front lines have had to deal with much during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two employees of FHN decided to bring a little sunshine into their lives. On Tuesday, Mary Freidag and Colleen Gallagher delivered colorful plants to healthcare workers.

The women call their mission Wagons of Hope. With the help of an anonymous donor, the two women hauled their wagon around Freeport and outlying clinic locations to hand over plants.

This is our way to let healthcare workers, including clerical, housekeeping, cafeteria, medical records, and those at hospice and the health department know that we appreciate them, Freidag said. It takes all of us working together to help people for a better tomorrow.

Each plant had a special sign that read, Hope Blooms from Within.

It feels wonderful to work in health care, and to be able to give back to those who work so hard to make a difference, Gallagher said.

As Freidag and Gallagher waited at the employee entrance at FHN Family Healthcare Center Burchard Hills on Tuesday, they greeted employees as they left work for the day. Even though face masks worn to prevent spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 disease caused by the virus hid the smiles of each employee, their eyes lit up with the gesture of hope.

As Lorrie Heeren accepted a plant, she said, Its exciting to be given that little extra hope and faith.

Keri Wall said: This just brightens my day, and its nice to be thought of as a healthcare worker. This is special.

Jane Lethlean: jlethlean1210@gmail.com; @DOGWMN2

Read this article:

Plants given to healthcare workers in Freeport - Freeport Journal-Standard

Bronson Healthcare launches antibody testing for coronavirus – mlive.com

Posted on by

KALAMAZOO, MI -- This week, Bronson Healthcare launched antibody testing to identify patients who have been exposed to COVID-19 but may have been asymptomatic or were not able to get tested.

The antibody test is not meant to determine if someone currently has COVID-19, said Dr. Aaron Lane-Davies, chief of quality for Bronson Medical Group.

The test is intended to see if the patient was exposed to the virus and has built up some immunity to it. Its too early to tell if someone who recovered from COVID-19 would have permanent immunity to the virus and not be susceptible to getting infected again, he said.

For things to truly return to the pre-COVID norm, we would need to understand that people are protected long-term, either for natural infection or for vaccination, he said. That data is really at least a year away.

The data collected from antibody testing will also give a fuller picture of how many people were infected with COVID-19, which is especially relevant in a county like Kalamazoo where testing was delayed or limited for the first several weeks of the pandemic.

It will be really important to understand the prevalence in our community, Lane-Davies said. And it will be really important as we begin to have access to a possible vaccine to ensure that people are creating an antibody response to that vaccine.

The antibody tests will also greatly expand the pool of applicants who can donate plasma for current coronavirus patients, he said. Still, a provider must decide if a patient is a good candidate for the antibody test and request it on their behalf, Lane-Davies said.

If we use the plasma and give antibodies from people whove been affected to people who are fighting the infection, theres data that suggests that those people have better outcomes," he said. People who are interested in being a plasma donor and were unable to be tested when they were symptomatic then thats a good use of that testing.

On Wednesday, April 29, Bronson requested its first plasma transfer for a patient, said Dr. Carla Schwalm, medical director of Bronson Childrens Hospital Pediatric Hematology and Oncology.

A plasma transfusion from a COVID-19 survivor transfers antibodies that have been exposed to COVID-19 to the current patient. Those antibodies can attack the virus and improve the chances of the patient getting not as sick or of them recovering faster, Schwalm said.

As of Thursday, May 21, Bronson has referred around 45 patients to be plasma donors. Across the healthcare system, approximately 10-15 patients have received a plasma infusion.

Bronson Methodist and Ascension Borgess hospitals both have recovered as well as currently hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Both are working with Versiti Blood Center to receive the plasma donations. The center has locations in Portage, Grand Rapids and Grandville.

On Thursday, Lane-Davies said the number of COVID-19 patients and deaths have reached a plateau in the last three weeks and are now on a downward trend.

Were beyond that three-week plateau and moving into how do we deliver care going forward, understanding that COVID-19 is in our community for the foreseeable future, he said.

Bronson Methodist reported 71 recovered COVID-19 patients on Friday. Recovered patients are defined as someone who has 72 hours of improvement in cough and fever and is 10 days out from the onset of symptoms.

In the last 30 days Bronson Methodist has averaged 18 patients a day. On Friday, the hospital reported 16 patients and a total of 25 deaths.

Ascension Borgess has not released its patient, recovery and death data, citing patient privacy.

A visual representation of the increasing case counts and death toll in Kalamazoo County is shown below, based on data reported by the state. Apparent conflicts in data reported there result from slight differences in daily case counts provided by state and county health officials.

More coronavirus coverage on MLive:

Michigan-made coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer in clinical trials

Bronson hospital in Kalamazoo sees decline in coronavirus patients

Kalamazoo hospitals begin treating coronavirus patients with plasma donations

Kalamazoo hospitals adapt to new normal after coronavirus brings uncertain future

Long-term care facility residents make up the majority of Kalamazoo Countys coronavirus deaths

See more here:

Bronson Healthcare launches antibody testing for coronavirus - mlive.com

Pacific Health Care Organization, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2020 Results – GlobeNewswire

Posted on by

Newport Beach, CA, May 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacific Health Care Organization, Inc., (the Company) (OTCQB: PFHO) today filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) its quarterly report on Form 10-Q announcing financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

Quarterly Results

The Company reported total revenue of $1,552,909 for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, compared with total revenue of $1,783,438 for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. The Company reported net income of $123,128 or $0.01 per share on a basic and fully diluted basis for the first quarter 2020, compared to net income of $314,563 or $0.02 per share on a basic and fully diluted basis for the first quarter 2019.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $404,754 during the three months ended March 31, 2020, compared to $297,951 for the same period in 2019. Net cash used in investing activities during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, was $19,637 compared to $2,284 during the quarter ended March 31, 2019. The Companys cash balance at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, was $8,489,281 and $8,104,164, respectively.

About Pacific Health Care Organization, Inc.

The Company specializes in workers compensation cost containment. The Companys business objective is to deliver value to its clients that reduces their workers compensation related medical claims expense in a manner that will assure that injured employees receive high quality healthcare that allows them to recover from injury and return to gainful employment without undue delay. Workers compensation costs continue to increase due to rising medical costs, inflation, fraud and other factors.Medical and indemnity costs associated with workers compensation in the state of California are billions of dollars annually.Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, the Company provides a range of effective workers compensation cost containment services, including but not limited to, Health Care Organizations, Medical Provider Networks, HCO + MPN, Workers Compensation Carve-Outs, Utilization Review, Medical Bill Review, Medical Case Management, Lien Representation, Legal Support and Medicare Set Aside services. Safe Harbor Statement: Statements included in this press release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on managements current judgment, expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions about future events. While management believes these assumptions are reasonable, such statements are not guarantees of future results and involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results and trends may differ materially from what is forecast in any forward-looking statement due to a variety of factors. Additional information regarding these factors, such as the potential loss of one or more key customers or the possible impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, is contained in the Companys filings with the Commission, including without limitation, its annual report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they were made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or publicly release any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances or changes in expectations after the date of this press release.

To view the Companys quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, filed with the Commission today and the Companys annual, quarterly and current reports and other information the Company files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission go to: http://www.sec.gov. You may also view our annual report on Form 10-K on our website at http://www.pacifichealthcareorganization.com.

View post:

Pacific Health Care Organization, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2020 Results - GlobeNewswire

Emory Healthcare to cut hours, furlough employees due to COVID-19’s ‘negative impact’ on revenue – Atlanta Intown

Posted on by

As Emory Healthcare works to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the economic hit to its other services has it furloughing or cutting work hours for up to 1,500 full-time-equivalent positions.

The furloughs and hour reductions will run June 1 through Aug. 31, said Dr. Jonathan S. Lewin, Emory Healthcares president and CEO, in a May 21 announcement. The healthcare system, which is part of Emory University, projected a $660 million revenue shortfall through August, he said.

While never more proud of our teams response, COVID-19 has had a significant negative impact on our normal revenue and operating expenses, which we must address to ensure a sustained financial recovery throughout our extensive health care system to continue our care and academic missions, Lewin said in a written statement.

Emory Healthcare operates 11 hospitals and around 250 outpatient practices.It has nearly 25,000 employees.

Departments throughout the system will reduce labor expenses by at least 10 percent through the end of the fiscal year, Lewin said, through flexible scheduling and the furloughs. The intent is to still have staffing to meet patient demand and administrative work. These changes will be reassessed continuously throughout that period, he said.

Furloughed employees will retain healthcare benefits. Executive and senior management will receive a scaled aggregate compensation reduction of up to 25 percent for the fiscal year.

Excerpt from:

Emory Healthcare to cut hours, furlough employees due to COVID-19's 'negative impact' on revenue - Atlanta Intown

How to bridge the health data information gap after COVID-19 – Healthcare IT News

Posted on by

One of the greatest challenges facing the global healthcare community in the post-COVID-19 era will be to improve the handling of health data to provide better connectivity between health systems that remain fragmented and disjointed.

Thats the view of Bernardo Mariano Jr, CIO and director, digital heath and innovation at the World Health Organization, who was speaking during a recent webinar hosted by HIMSS, 'Accelerating Health Systems Digital Transformation: Why Digital Health must be the new standard in a post-COVID-19 world', which was moderated by HIMSS president and CEO, Hal Wolf.

Mariano said the pandemic had opened up three battle fronts for the future of healthcare: public health security, the rapid development of digital solutions, and cybersecurity. All three must coalesce, with the ideal outcome being a global surveillance system that brings data from multiple countries, enabling a rapid response to future crises, but also using analytics to share learning.

HIMSS20 Digital

In the financial sector, data is the new gold, he said. In the healthcare sector, data is the new blood. So we need to make sure that we have principles and policies around how we manage and handle it, how we ensure ethics, how we monetise or demonetise health data. How do we ensure that the principles around the management of data address the challenges that we have today?

The answer, said Mariano, lies in taking health data to the next level to stop being guided by principles rooted in silos, and find ways to draw the data from multiple sources so that we can ensure the algorithms deliver meaningful health gains.

While some countries have achieved a degree of integration that overcomes the information connectivity gap, the community has to find ways to take the lessons of the pandemic forward rather than reverting to pre-COVID models.

Finland is a showcase for how digital systems can help during a crisis, said Pivi Sillanaukee, director general for the countrys ministry of social affairs and health. She said that when a country has already gone through a discussion about data use, it can be at the core of discovering ways to make that data available for research and ultimately the development of digital solutions and AI services.

Benedict Tan, group chief digital strategy officer at Singapore Health Services, suggested that even during the height of the pandemic, privacy concerns might still be putting the brakes on global collaboration.

Philosophically, I dont know what is happening on the ground, but I feel that different labs, researchers and countries are working independently, he said. Imagine the difference, he added, if everyone collaborated and shared data to find a common benefit.

But the acceleration of digital transformation caused by the pandemic has also created a new Wild West, according to Pravene Nath, global head for digital health strategy, personalised healthcare, at Roche.

The shift in selective health data disclosure requirements and governance demands a new framework for what privacy means, and how disclosure should happen all of which will create new intersections with the data.

The translation of real-world clinical data into regulatory-grade data that can be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of particular treatments could emerge from new partnerships with healthcare entities, said Nath. This will bring new ways of mapping health data, normalising it and building it into standardised data models.

We have to leverage what weve been doing, accelerate it and bring it out with real-time data access, he said.

From a crisis that has generated too much information and no time to process or review it clinically, a new model must emerge that combines patients willingness to share health data with a new definition of interoperability that is practical, useful and problem-oriented.

Ultimately, said Bernardo Mariano, there is one overwhelming lesson to take away from this pandemic. Globally, we must change our health data policies and change data governance, in order to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies that really delivesr the benefits of closing the information gap.

Original post:

How to bridge the health data information gap after COVID-19 - Healthcare IT News

Brain & Courtlin Honored 5 More ‘Healthcare Heroes’ This Week – khak.com

Posted on by

Billion Honda of Iowa City is helping ushonor some more wonderful local healthcare workers this week!

Inthe fightagainst the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare workers are on the front lines. Their knowledge, dedication, kindness, and selflessness in the midst of all this chaos has not gone unnoticed. That's why westarted decided to start a new segment called the'Healthcare Hero of the Day.'

Each weekday around 6:45 a.m., we honor one of the many amazing healthcare workers here in Eastern Iowa, postthe honoree on the98.1 KHAKFacebook page, and mention them on the air throughout the day. It's just one small way we cansupport and recognize all their hard work.

Here are all of this past week's honorees:

You can view more local winners below:

ClickHEREto nominate an awesome local healthcare worker for our 'Healthcare Hero of the Day!'

See the original post here:

Brain & Courtlin Honored 5 More 'Healthcare Heroes' This Week - khak.com

The pandemic’s next blow: Over 1 million Texans will lose health insurance – The Dallas Morning News

Posted on by

The worst is about to get worse.

In Texas, where 5 million people already go without health insurance, nearly 1.2 million more are projected to join their ranks far more than any other state.

Thats the estimated collateral damage from the coronavirus recession, assuming the national unemployment rate hits 20%, according to a recent Urban Institute report. Some believe the real jobless number for April may already be that high.

In that scenario, 25 million adults and children in the U.S. are expected to lose employer-sponsored health insurance. The vast majority 7 in 10 nationwide will get coverage elsewhere, the study estimated.

But in Texas, just 1 in 2 are projected to be covered, which would be the lowest share among the states.

The surge in uninsured arrives while COVID-19 is still raging and states are struggling to restart their economies safely. Laid-off workers who lose health insurance generally have a 60-day window to sign up for replacement coverage, usually through their company plan or the federal health exchange.

Its a complicated decision that can be expensive, and unemployed Texans have a weak record of enrolling in such backup plans. Thats why the report projects such a low take-up in the state.

Losing insurance will greatly compound the health and financial challenges for people, hospitals, doctors and the broader economy.

Its devastating for the families that wont be able to get the care they need, said Vivian Ho, a Rice University economist who specializes in health issues. Many are gonna try to tough it out on their own, and they could get really ill.

Its also devastating for health providers, she said. Their patient volumes have declined sharply amid coronavirus fears, and theyve had to ramp up spending on supplies and preparation for COVID-19 cases.

Providers are already running in the red, Ho said. This is gonna turn it blood red.

Even before the pandemic, hospitals were struggling with a large number of uninsured and underinsured patients in the state, said John Hawkins, senior vice president for the Texas Hospital Association. Facilities in Texas provide billions in uncompensated care, and he said the costs are generally passed on to commercial customers and taxpayers in hospital districts.

Adding more uninsured now will amplify the strain.

Its huge, Hawkins said. It has a fiscal impact and a quality-of-life impact.

Every state will see an increase in uninsured, the study shows. But Texas stands apart in both the total number to be added and the share of workers projected to end up without coverage.

Why so bad? Its no coincidence.

For years, Texas statewide elected leaders have rejected efforts to improve access to care. They turned down Medicaid expansion time and again, and resisted programs to help people enroll in the federal marketplace. Texas is leading the legal challenge to overthrow the Affordable Care Act, a case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Thirty-six other states, including some led by Republican governors and legislatures, have expanded Medicaid, a key plank of the ACA. The federal government pays 90% of those costs, and expanding Medicaid would cover nearly 1.6 million working poor in Texas that was the figure before the pandemic led to millions of layoffs and furloughs.

In Texas existing Medicaid program, the state sets the lowest income threshold in the country. If a single mom with two kids earns more than $3,800 a year or $317 a month she makes too much to get Medicaid coverage in Texas, said one expert.

We have the stingiest eligibility in the country, said Stacey Pogue, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.

The income cap in Texas is 17% of the federal poverty level for a family of three, which is lower than in Alabama and Mississippi, said the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average income cutoff for the U.S. is 138% of poverty level, which is generally the level in states that expanded Medicaid.

In those states, over half of the people losing employer insurance will get Medicaid coverage.

This is the purpose of the Medicaid program, to provide a safety net to people in financial distress, wrote Bowen Garrett and Anuj Gangopadhyaya of the Urban Institutes Health Policy Center.

Texas lags in another metric: Just 23% of those eligible for a marketplace plan enrolled in an ACA option. Thats lower than in the U.S. (32%) and far lower than in Florida (47%) even though Florida has a Republican governor and hasnt expanded Medicaid, either.

In Texas, maybe theres less of a culture of coverage, said Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which helped support the Urban Institute report.

That could be related to the type of households, family income, immigration status and other factors. All thats in addition to public policies from lawmakers, along with ideology and politics.

She believes the dynamic could change, perhaps with the new wave of workers who lose health plans during the pandemic. Theyre accustomed to having coverage and may prioritize it more highly than the uninsured in the past.

They could pressure elected leaders to expand Medicaid and push for other ways to help residents navigate the marketplace. Such efforts are underway in other states.

Sometimes a catastrophe can reshape whats considered normal and whos considered to be deserving, Hempstead said. This experience could normalize other kinds of health coverage. Theres so much financial strain right now, and Texas is passing on a huge source of federal money.

For years, Texas hospitals have fallen short in pushing for Medicaid expansion, which could be worth $100 billion in federal funding over a decade. The picture has changed, Hawkins said, because of the coronavirus and the energy bust.

These are extraordinary times, he said, and if theres a federal tool we can use, we ought to figure out how to access it.

Read more:

The pandemic's next blow: Over 1 million Texans will lose health insurance - The Dallas Morning News

New MI Executive Order Allows Outpatient Health Care Facilities To Resume Non-Essential Procedures Starting May 29 – JD Supra

Posted on by

On Thursday, May 21 Gov. Whitmer rescinded Executive Order 2020-91, issued only three days prior, and released an amended order that now includes new provisions governing outpatient health care facilities. This latest order, Executive Order 2020-97 (Order), also makes some minor adjustments to the workplace safety rules announced earlier in the week.

The governor's latest announcement allows outpatient health care facilities, including doctor's offices, dental offices and veterinary clinics to resume non-essential procedures starting May 29, 2020. These offices must abide by a number of workplace safety protocols, and the Order does not provide an expiration date for the new safety measures.

The Order provides 15 workplace safety rules specific to health care facilities, including limiting waiting room occupancy, conducting a common screening protocol for all patients and adding special hours for patients highly vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19. Facilities are also instructed to enable contactless sign-in as soon as practicable. Such facilities must also abide by the general business workplace safety rules set out in section one of the Order.

The new Order maintains the enhanced enforcement powers first revealed in Executive Order 2020-91. The State of Michigan now has two routes of enforcement it may pursue against employers who fail to follow the workplace safety rules enumerated in the Order. First, the workplace safety rules are given the force and effect of regulations adopted by the state agencies that oversee workplace health and safety. Such agencies are given full authority to enforce the rules, and any challenges to penalties must move through the agencies' administrative appeals process. Second, the Order states that violations of the workplace safety rules are also violations of the Michigan Occupational Health and Safety Act (MIOSHA). As a result, Michigan's Occupational Safety and Health Administration will have the authority to conduct investigations into violations, issue penalties and distribute cease operation orders.

View post:

New MI Executive Order Allows Outpatient Health Care Facilities To Resume Non-Essential Procedures Starting May 29 - JD Supra

Photos show healthcare workers in NYC coming together to dance – Insider – INSIDER

Posted on by

If you're not living in New York City during the pandemic, you might be wondering how we're even getting by. The numbers are staggering, the reality is harrowing the city has been hit by the coronavirusreally, really hard.

But there's a certain resilience that New Yorkers have that keep the spirits of a pre-pandemic city alive. I see moments of kindness on my walks through Brooklyn every day.

Written in chalk down the street, the sidewalk reads: "Tough times never last, but New Yorkers do!"

A healthcare worker looks out as a crowd of people gather to cheer her on at The Brooklyn Hospital Center on May 19. 2020. Natalie Colarossi/ Insider

Over the last few weeks, I've seen seen multiple neighbors bring bags of groceries to homeless people on the street. And all throughout my block, rainbows made by children dot the windows with encouraging messages to "Stay hopeful," "Be kind," and "Keep your head up."

But perhaps my favorite moment of resilience comes every day at 7 p.m., when New Yorkers take to their stoops, balconies, rooftops, and windows to cheer for the essential workers keeping this place alive.

A healthcare worker claps with her colleagues at The Brooklyn Hospital Center on May 19, 2020. Natalie Colarossi/ Insider

Without fail, people line the streets to clap for the city's heroes. It's become one of my favorite moments of quarantine, and one of the most important reminders of why I still want to live in a city that's been so devastatingly hurt.

I live about a 15-minute walk from a hospital in Brooklyn, located near a neighborhood park. I typically go to the park in the evening to clear my head after work, and each night that I do, I'm greeted with the inspirational sounds of a city coming together.

A healthcare worker reaches her arms out to embrace the community at The Brooklyn Hospital Center on May 19, 2020. Natalie Colarossi/Business Insider

Every night at the hospital, healthcare workers come outside while crowds gather (at a safe distance, of course) to cheer them on. Someone always brings a massive speaker, and inspirational songs such as Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" or Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" blast through the streets.

And we dance.

A Healthcare worker dances outside of The Brooklyn Hospital Center on May 19, 2020. Natalie Colarossi/Insider

In the most defiant of spirits, and in their full PPE, healthcare workers come outside to celebrate one another.

Healthcare workers dance outside of The Brooklyn Hospital Center on May 19, 2020. Natalie Colarossi/ Insider

Healthcare workers dance outside of The Brooklyn Hospital Center on May 19, 2020. Natalie Colarossi/ Insider

Crowds stand in front of them holding encouraging signs saying, "Together we shall overcome" and, "Our hearts are with you."

Two girls hold up signs of encouragement as they cheer for healthcare workers outside of The Brooklyn Hospital Center on May 19, 2020. Natalie Colarossi/ Insider

And a line of NYPD cars come in every night to cheer, too.

NYPD officers gather to clap for essential workers outside of The Brooklyn Hospital Center on May 19, 2020. Natalie Colarossi/ Insider

The result is an inspiring reminder that, even in the darkest times, we can take a moment to celebrate one another, and thank those who are fighting on the frontlines.

This is the New York that I know and love.

Excerpt from:

Photos show healthcare workers in NYC coming together to dance - Insider - INSIDER

Seven health-care workers at local long-term care home test positive for COVID-19 – St. Thomas Times-Journal

Posted on by

Secord Trails Care Community in Ingersoll.

Public health officials have declared an outbreak at an Ingersoll long-term care home after seven health-care workers there tested positive for COVID-19, but how the virus got into the home remains a mystery.

Southwestern Public Health, which covers Oxford and Elgin counties and St. Thomas, said a health-care worker at Secord Trails Care Community tested positive Monday. Since then, officials have recorded six more cases among staff, who hold different positions and have different levels of interactions with residents.

All seven infected workers are self-isolating at home, officials said.So far, none of the homes roughly 80 residents has tested positive, though some results are still pending.

The first case was confirmed after a staffer with very mild symptoms was tested, Joyce Lock, the regions chief medical officer, said at a news conference Friday. But theres no indication of how the virus got into the home.

We dont even know who the first (infected) staff member was, because when the other six staff members were deemed to be positive, on deeper questioning (we) realized some had developed very mild symptoms prior to the first case, Lock said.

So we dont know who the index case was or where the exposure may have occurred.

Lock said extra staff have been brought in to ensure the home, which employs about 110 people, remains fully staffed.

Though most of the infected staff reside within Southwestern Public Healths jurisdiction, health officials arent releasing where they live, Lock said.

All Secord Trails staff and residents have been swabbed since Monday, Lock said. Officials are working to inform people of their results and trace all contacts, and all precautions are being taken to prevent the virus spreading within the home.

Sienna Living, the homes owner, said Friday that 51 residents have tested negative, and test results on 27 others are pending.

Long-term care and retirement homes across Canada have been hit hard by the virus crisis, with residents accounting for most COVID-19 cases and deaths.

As of Friday, there were 171 active outbreaks at Ontario long-term care homes, and 1,486 residents and patients had died, according to figures collected by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

On Friday, Ontario reported 441 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the provincial total to 24,628 since the pandemic began. About 76 per cent of those cases have been resolved.

jjuha@postmedia.comTwitter.com/JuhaatLFPress

Continue reading here:

Seven health-care workers at local long-term care home test positive for COVID-19 - St. Thomas Times-Journal

Signature HealthCARE’s Morgantown Care & Rehabilitation Center is celebrating many victories over COVID-19 – WBKO

Posted on by

MORGANTOWN, Ky. (WBKO) - Since its first confirmed positive case on April 6th, Signature HealthCARE of Morgantown has been in a proactive battle with this virulent enemy we call Coronavirs and its related illness, COVID-19.

Signature HealthCARE of Morgantown has 75 victories over the coronavirus to celebrate.

As of the release of this statement, Signature HealthCARE of Morgantown has had a total of 144 positive COVID-19 cases including 100 residents and 44 staff members.

Of those 100 residents, 36 have since recovered and have been moved off the COVID-19 only unit.

Of the 44 staff members, 39 have recovered and, their calling remaining strong, the majority returned to work to fight the virus that fought them.

While CDC guidelines only require one negative test to deem a resident COVID-free, out of an abundance of caution and the utmost safety for all, Signature HealthCAREs company standard is two negative tests.

They believe the proactive protocol has resulted in the most encouraging news of all, that Signature HealthCARE of Morgantown has not had any new positive resident cases in the last 23 days and no new positive staff cases in 17 days.

Signature HealthCARE of Morgantown believes a great deal of this success lies within the facilitys initiation of a facility-wide test-based strategy; testing all residents and staff after the first confirmed cases.

This is now the standard testing strategy for Signature HealthCARE.

While these results are exhilarating, we cannot forget those of our Morgantown family who have passed.

This virus has taken the lives of 10 of our beloved residents.

Follow this link:

Signature HealthCARE's Morgantown Care & Rehabilitation Center is celebrating many victories over COVID-19 - WBKO

Local healthcare workers helping you cope with the Coronavirus – WeAreGreenBay.com

Posted on by

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) Living through a global pandemic causes an undeniable level of uncertainty and some local healthcare workers have stepped up.

Coming up with creative ways to inform the community on the latest Coronavirus statistics, provide tips to alleviate anxiety, and one uses what little free time she has creating masks.

I dont consider myself a hero, says Dr. Mendoza-Ayala an Aurora Bay Care Medical Center Pulmonologist. I think heroes are the ones doing all the work in the community, sacrificing their daily lives.

While he may not consider himself a hero, Dr. Mendoza is using his platform to educate the public with live Q & A sessions posted bi-weekly on his Facebook page.

The Q & As started out because of Dr. Mendozas interest in educating his friends and family. More and more of his viewers started asking questions and encouraging him to do more lives and according to him, it started snowballing into what it is today. The lives focus mostly on local and State numbers of Coronavirus cases, including trends to educate people on why things are happening.

Being educated on the latest numbers and trends is important to many. Acupuncturist from Aurora Medical Center in Oshkosh, Steven Mui, says its also key to take a mental and physical break from the data and release anxieties.

Mui teaches weekly Tai Chi and Qi Gong classes on his Facebook page, recently adding guided meditation. Were all sort of stuck in this experience together, he says. Having the information, like what Dr. Mendoza is doing is good the meditations and exercises are just one way for people to process that information and work out that frantic energy.

Some healthcare workers are using the time to make masks for organizations, family, friends, and co-workers.

Catherine Vollmer, Radiologic Technician at Aurora Health Center in Fond du Lac, tested positive for COVID-19 in late April, says It was scary. As a healthcare worker, she says she mentally prepared herself for the possibility of contracting the virus, but probably not enough.

She says her symptoms started as those of a bad cold but as soon as she lost her sense of taste and smell, she knew what it was and went to get tested.

After getting treatment and fully recovering from her diagnosis, she said she saw a post about convalescent plasma being evaluated to treat patients with serious or life-threatening COVID-19 infections. She said she knew she had to help, There was no doubt I would get involved.

In coordination with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American Red Cross is organizing the program. Aurora Advocate is also taking part.

Vollmar has since used her time to create fabric masks for basically everyone she knows, including organizations. She uses a variety of patterns, including local sports team logos, to give people fun ways to stay safe while expressing themselves.

Mui says a quote from the Bah writings has inspired him to stay the course, To be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity.

Visit link:

Local healthcare workers helping you cope with the Coronavirus - WeAreGreenBay.com

Utopia looks to the future with new product line – Catering Insight

Posted on by

Utopia Tableware is focusing on future opportunities, as it is working on a range of protection equipment to aid with new safety measures as the market reopens.

Marketing director Kathryn Oldershaw detailed: The range represents a significant investment for Utopia and is being specifically developed for the hospitality industry.

One thing were very aware of is that foodservice operators do not want to feel that their PPE may be depriving healthcare workers, so were developing new sources that wont in any way interfere with NHS supplies.

Story continues below

Advertisement

She emphasised that this builds on the companys solid foundations: Utopia entered 2020 in an excellent financial position with strong reserves and liquidity. We were delighted to launch our new look catalogue, showcasing our new collections, at Ambiente in the dedicated Horeca hall.

Nevertheless, Oldershaw acknowledged: Unfortunately those exciting times came to an abrupt end for all of us in the hospitality industry.

We acted decisively and quickly at the point that a lockdown became likely to secure our strong financial position. We have been planning our route out of lockdown ever since, taking into consideration the likely very slow return of the hospitality sector. Based on even the most pessimistic forecasts, were in the fortunate position that our business model works and we will continue to be financially secure and stable.

Utopia has remained open throughout this unprecedented period. We have operated with a skeleton staff working safely, determined to continue to provide our customers with the service that they expect.

Read more from the original source:

Utopia looks to the future with new product line - Catering Insight