Daily Archives: February 7, 2022

Roatn, the Fragile Beauty Off the Coast of Honduras – The New York Times

Posted: February 7, 2022 at 6:32 am

Scuba divers are much like children, I imagine, to dive-resort owners: They are almost always wonderful to have, but at night, its best if they are safely in their beds.

This thought popped into my head at the end of a night dive, off the southern shore of the Honduran island of Roatn in December. As the sun set, four of us had waded into the dark waters that lay only yards from the Reef House Resort, and swam down the side of a steep underwater cliff, holding flashlights to illuminate trumpet fish, lobsters, brain coral, sea fans and the other marine life that call this part of the nearly 700-mile Mesoamerican Reef home. Night dives were new to me: The inky darkness was exhilarating, mysterious, alive and more than a little frightening.

After 45 minutes of underwater wonderment, I safely ascended and surfaced while Aaren, my travel partner, and our new scuba buddies, Will and Kris, stayed just below, taking one last photograph. But instead of emerging to silence and milky white stars, I saw a figure with a flashlight standing on the nearby jetty, shouting.

Follow my light! Do you hear my voice? Swim to me, called Davey Byrne, a co-owner of the Reef House, our home for three nights over the Christmas holiday.

Surprised, I responded by blurting out the first thing in my head: Its OK! We were just looking at two cuttle fish!

Davey laughed and said no problem, he simply wanted to make sure we were all right. The bar, and dinner, were waiting whenever we got out of the water.

About 35 miles off the northern coast of mainland Honduras, Roatn is the largest of the Bay Islands, an archipelago encircled by some of the prettiest and most accessible coral reefs anywhere in the world. Deciding not to cancel this international trip our first since the pandemic began was a gut buster, as it was for many who had holiday travel plans this year. As a travel editor, the virus and its impact on travel has been on the forefront of my mind for nearly two years, and now in late December, half of the Greater New York area seemed to be sick from Omicron and the other half awaiting test results. What if I brought the virus to the island? What if I tested positive and fell ill? What if our flights were among the thousands canceled? The questions were endless and the judgment unspoken, spoken and internal brutal.

But neither Aaren nor I had underlying conditions. We were both boosted and tested negative each of the three days before our flight. Other precautions included wearing double K95 masks while flying as well as on our three taxi rides. We brought our own scuba regulators and other gear, and planned to spend our time outside, mainly with each other, or underwater.

The Bay Islands lie along the southern end of the Mesoamerican Reef, one of the largest barrier reefs in the world (Australias Great Barrier Reef comes first in this category) it touches Guatemala, Mexico and Belize, as well as Honduras. Its a vibrant, diverse marine ecosystem, with around 65 coral species, more than 500 types of fish and almost countless other examples of marine life like sea turtles and sponges.

It delivered. We made our base at the rustic 10-room Reef House, on a cay a brief boat ride from the village of Oakridge, and spent our days eating, diving, sleeping, on repeat. Four days, eight dives, one snorkel, countless creatures, breathtaking beauty. None of the dive sites were more than a 10-minute ride from the resort, on the dive boat docked at the Reef House. Swimming down vertical reef walls and through coral canyons, we spotted green moray eels, nurse sharks, toadfish, puffer fish, schools of blue chromis and invasive lionfish. Our dive master, David, skewered many of the last in front of us to our horrified delight. The colors, textures and shapes of the corals and sea fans ranged from the reds and greens of Christmas to a Southwest landscape of cactus-like corals in shades of sand and lavender. Never were there more than four divers on an outing, excluding our dive master, nor another boat at the mooring.

This lack of company was glorious, although not so much to the Reef House or the islands greater economy. The Bay Islands had a prepandemic economy almost entirely based on tourism, an evolution that came after the islands commercial fishing collapsed. Tourism started when the scuba community and the hardy found the archipelago in the 1970s, but with the arrival of major cruise lines in the 2000s, its popularity exploded, with three ships or more arriving each day, three or more days a week in the high season before the pandemic.

In 2005, several local dive operators established the Roatn Marine Park, now a 22-employee nonprofit that aims to conserve the reef with coral restoration efforts, coastline patrolling, research and community engagement and education. Its part of the Bay Islands National Marine Park, a marine sanctuary declared by the government of Honduras in 2010 to protect the coast and marine life around the islands.

From taxi drivers to scuba divers, the reef is important to everyone, said Gabriela Ochoa, a program manager for the Roatn Marine Park, of the local population. I think at least one person in every household relies on the tourism sector. Basically, this island runs on tourism.

In March 2020, the Bay Islands abruptly shut to cruise ships and both international and domestic flights for more than six months (leaving some travelers stranded). For the early part of the pandemic, the local population was under strict curfew. No visiting the beach. Twice-monthly access to food stores. GoFundMe campaigns as well as soup kitchens and food pantries were created to help residents.

Roatn has yet to see tourist numbers bounce back, with flight arrivals between January and September 2021 numbering around 270,000, around two-thirds of that reported for all of 2019, according to the Honduran Institute of Tourism. Cruise ship passenger numbers were even lower: Dropping from 1.4 million in all of 2019 to 180,000 from July to November 2021.

We saw some amazing things here, said Mr. Byrne, playing dominoes one afternoon at the quiet Reef House bar, which overlooks the ocean and the house reef below. But we really wanted some tourists to share it with.

The Reef House, awash in charm and hospitality, is on the quieter eastern side of the island. There are no TVs in the guest rooms and no shampoo in the bathrooms; on two nights including Christmas Eve I fell asleep to the dance music blaring through our rooms walls from a nearby bar. Come for the diving, not the luxury.

The Reef House is far from Roatns more established tourist infrastructure, which you encounter in West Bay. We spent our last two nights there, at the Xbalanque Resort, a boutique hotel about an hours drive from Oakridge and 20 minutes from the islands airport. Built into the verdant hillside, the hotel offered spacious, airy rooms: Our Wind Elemental Loft, just a short walk from the beach, came with a plunge pool. One morning, as I sipped coffee there feet dipped in the water a troop of white-faced capuchin monkeys fed in the trees.

The beach at Xbalanque offered Instagram views of ocean sunsets, and, I imagine, many guests never leave its pool and landscaped grounds. But on our first morning we hit the water again, paddling one of the resorts two-person kayaks a few miles down the shore, checking out the beaches and waterfront restaurants and boisterous vacationers. We passed on kite-surfing and a ride on a glass-bottom boat, but gaped at black iguanas in the coral cliffs at the islands far western edge and the sailboats anchored offshore (One came from Denver. Denver?). We took turns kayaking and snorkeling back to the hotel beach.

Aaren spotted the differences first (he is a marine biologist, of course he did). On the western side of the island, the corals appeared to be smaller, and carried more algae. The underwater scene still delighted when I was in the water, two tuna swam by, a suspicious barracuda checked me out, three remora, sometimes known as suckerfish, may have wanted to stick their heads on my head and that sea turtle grazing on sea grass will never be forgotten but it was clear, even to a nonexpert, that there were fewer fish, fewer corals, less life.

I learned the reasons later, from Ian Drysdale, the Honduras coordinator of the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative. For the past 14 years, this nonprofit has brought together the governments of Honduras, Belize, Mexico and Guatemala, along with 80 partner organizations, to analyze the health of the Mesoamerican Reef. Every two years, the nonprofit issues a report card that assesses the main indicators of reef health: the percentage of live coral cover and that of macroalgae on the 286 monitored sites, as well as the abundance of herbivorous fish (like parrotfish), and grouper and other commercially important species.

The reef is having a very hard time. For years, this part of the island and its corals took on most of the stress of the tourist population. Then the lack of tourists during the pandemic led to food insecurity among the Bay Islanders and poaching increased by 150 percent, Ms. Ochoa said.

Meanwhile, warming waters brought on by climate change are leading to coral bleaching. But for experts like Mr. Drysdale and Ms. Ochoa, concern now lies with stony coral tissue loss disease, considered by the Heathy Reef Initiative to be the most lethal coral disease known. It can kill off stony corals the major pillar of healthy reefs in a matter of weeks or months. First identified on the Mesoamerican Reef in Mexico in 2018, the disease its cause is unknown has slowly spread along the reef to the Bay Islands. It arrived off Roatns West End in October 2020, said Ms. Ochoa, and in Oakridge, in September 2021.

Unfortunately, we are experiencing one of the largest coral die-offs ever, Mr. Drysdale said. We have lost about 50 percent of corals in the areas where the disease is prevalent.

The community of Roatn, for better or for worse, relies on its reef, and now certified divers can give back: Researchers have determined that a topical application of marine epoxy and antibiotics can hamper the spread of stony coral tissue loss disease among some species of hard corals.

Now they are looking to train certified divers, including environmentally minded tourists, to apply antibiotics, with a large syringe, into pillar, brain and other stony corals. The project in Honduras is spearheaded by the Roatn Marine Park; working with local dive shops, the nonprofit has organized orientation and training sessions for certified divers to help the reefs, either with syringes, collecting data or tagging corals for future evaluation.

You are taught all this time to not touch corals, thats the golden rule, and now we say not only touch it, but use this syringe, Ms. Ochoa said.

The initiative has treated 3,000 corals so far its a small number when you think about the reef itself, Ms. Ochoa warned and the treatment, she said, has been found pretty effective, 60 to 70 percent, for some species. She tries to be optimistic.

These animals have been here for thousands of years, she said. But some corals are more susceptible than others, and some of these will be lost.

During our dives in this beautiful ecosystem, the coronavirus and its related worries were finally far from my mind. The exposure to this marine community, however, led me to ponder how important relationships are, both under the sea and above the water, on the shores of Roatn and beyond.

Symbiotic relationships are common in the natural world. On the worlds coral reefs, parrotfish feed on algae, keeping the plants in check, allowing corals to grow (mutualistic is the term biologists use), while those remora fish prefer to hitch a ride on sharks, not snorkelers (thats a commensalistic relationship).

The pandemic laid bare the relationship that many destinations around the world have with tourists. Its a relationship that is at times both mutualistic and commensalistic, although many would argue that it is, overall, parasitic. Now, with the reflection gained from the pandemic travel lull, we have a chance, perhaps an obligation, to rethink our own relationships with the places we visit and rebuild them stronger. That might mean not only opening our wallets, but turning to smart organizations like the Roatn Marine Park for guidance and education, and even, perhaps, wielding a medical syringe as we explore a coral reef.

So, instead of banning visitors outright to environmentally sensitive places, said Mr. Drysdale of Healthy Reefs, a portion of travel revenue could be devoted to reducing their impact, such as modernizing wastewater treatment plants or improving plastic recycling.

As for Roatn itself, Mr. Drysdale said, he hopes sustainable travelers will come, and become acquainted with the islands beauty, and then he paraphrased some words from the famed ecologist Baba Dioum: You wont protect what you dont know, and you protect what you love.

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Roatn, the Fragile Beauty Off the Coast of Honduras - The New York Times

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Out with January, on to February – Shreveport Times

Posted: at 6:32 am

You remember March of 2020. It was the beginning of the Pandemic the lockdown Lysol wipes, toilet paper, and masks were at a premium. The stock market as measured by the Standard & Poor 500 fell almost 32% from mid-February to mid-March that year. As you know the market, for the most part, has been very kind to us since that time until it wasnt. January 2022 is now in the books, and you likely remember it more clearly than any month in 2020. You know, that recency bias thing. It was the worst month since the beginning of the Pandemic down 11.4% at one point and finishing the month down a little less than 6%. But we dont let a little volatility bother us, do we? It helped to start February on a positive note.

If we were really smart, we would time the market. Cash out at high points and load up at the bottom. However, if we were all that smart it wouldnt work at all. Remember, to have a market there must be a buyer and a seller thus creating a winner and a loser. My dear friend and colleague Rick Wedell, the Chief Investment Officer over in Birmingham has a descriptive word picture of the market timing game. He says its like catching a falling knife. It looks really cool if you can do it but hurts really badly if you get it wrong! Makes sense to me.

Ive also noted a piece of human nature that tends to skew the way all the above appears to most of us. With the exception of a few clever self-deprecating characters I know, most everyone brags about their winning transactions. Somehow, we dont hear about the losers. There is no law in the world of finance and investing that says we have to tell the truth about such things in casual conversation. Of course, the more successful one tends to be, the less he/she tends to talk about it (again with the exception of a few obnoxious braggards). All that to say, if one had a crystal ball granting them the predictive power to successfully time the market, they would likely be very quiet about it. Broadcasting that gift could put a person on the hit list for every nonprofit fund raiser in the community (along with requests for financial support from everyone around them).

One more observation about the really good tips on how to make a windfall: My experience has been the best deals typically are handed out to close associates of the deal maker. Im generally very skeptical when I hear of really good opportunities in an advertisement. If a deal was that good, wouldnt they tend to share it with close friends, associates, and family? Sharing it with the public, though perhaps altruistic, is not the way I historically have seen the really good opportunities offered to prospective investors.

Meanwhile, back on planet earth and off of my human nature soapbox, I did check in via a weekly commentary with Linda Duessel, Senior Equity Strategist at Federated Hermes. She puts it simply: The Golden Rule If theres no recession in sight, stay bullish (optimistic). She cites that signs are mounting that inflation is starting to subside. The supply chain issue is slowly, but steadily improving and inventories are moving back toward normality. There are reports that the Omicron variant is peaking (and decreasing) in the parts of the country where it was first identified. Perhaps we are about to get a long-awaited break from the Pandemic. Also, corporate America is returning a lot of money to shareholders in the form of healthy dividends. Finally, in somewhat of a counterintuitive twist you know markets love gridlock. Replacing retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer with another liberal Justice will eat up scarce Senate time. This further endangers the odds of President Biden getting his scaled down Build Back Better agenda to the finish line. The markets simply love it when government interference is at a minimum.Nothing like one more time-consuming distraction.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing. The economic forecasts set forth in the presentation may not develop as predicted and there can be no guarantee that strategies promoted will be successful. Performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly. Investing involves risk including loss of principal.

RFG Advisory and its Investment Advisor Representatives do not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for tax, legal, or accounting advice. Please consult your own tax, legal, and accounting professional for guidance on such matters.

Visit us at http://www.planinvestinspire.com. Tommy Williams is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER Professional with Williams Financial Advisors, LLC. Securities offered by Registered Representatives through Private Client Services, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory products and services offered by Investment Advisory Representatives through RFG Advisory, a Registered Investment Advisor. RFG Advisory, Williams Financial Advisors, LLC and Private Client Services are unaffiliated entities. Branch office is located at 6425 Youree Drive, Suite 180, Shreveport, LA 71105.

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Out with January, on to February - Shreveport Times

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Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, on reconciliation, healing and hope – The San Diego Union-Tribune

Posted: at 6:32 am

It took about 10 minutes for the ultimate frozen chosen to thaw. The royal audience at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle actually laughed a little.

Then there was more laughter. More nodding heads. More knowing smiles.

After Bishop Michael Curry stepped down from the pulpit on that spring day in 2018, many of the people attending and the estimated two billion watching discovered what many of us on this side of the pond already knew: The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is one of the best preachers of his generation.

Media reviews cemented the verdict for this son of an Episcopal priest and descendant of slaves.

Stunning.

Amazing.

Brought down the house.

Readers will soon get a chance to sample several of Currys more-recent homilies, courtesy of a new book featuring sermons delivered during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic at the Washington National Cathedral, home of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and a spiritual beacon for many of Americas faithful.

Reconciliation, Healing, and Hope: Sermons from Washington National Cathedral, due out Feb. 22, includes five of Currys sermons, along with dozens of others delivered by an array of speakers who sought to bring solace to thousands of worshippers who had turned their couches into pews.

The book was inspired by the cascade of cards and letters thanking the cathedral for these sermons, a sentiment reinforced by a survey of new supporters that singled out the importance of this preaching.

Reconciliation, Healing, and Hope begins and ends with sermons delivered by Curry from Pentecost Sunday 2020 to Pentecost Sunday 2021 (Pentecost is the post-Easter holy day thats generally regarded as the birthday of the Christian church).

So how does he do it? Whats the magic formula for weaving the right words together to persuade and inspire hearts and minds in 20 minutes or less?

The 68-year-old prelate, the first African-American to head the Episcopal Church, says he starts with a question: Who is the audience and what do they need?

What is the deep yearning of the human heart that brings us together at the time? he tells me in an interview from Pittsburgh, where he was in town for a funeral service.

Then comes the challenge to make the message relevant to the world outside the walls of the church. For that, he turns to the late theologian Karl Barth, who taught that preachers should hold the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

Consider this excerpt from the first sermon in the book. Like other houses of worship across the country, the National Cathedral had been shuttered by the pandemic and uncertainty prevailed. Then, just days before he was due to preach, George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer as the world watched.

Curry had a perfectly good sermon already written. He threw it out.

To avoid it is to deny Christmas, he says of that terrible scene and the furor it unleashed. Christmas is about God coming into the world. Not God avoiding it.

And so he turned his attention to two pandemics plaguing this country.

This past week, we have not only had to endure a pandemic occasioned by a virus a viral pandemic but weve had to endure and face a spiritual pandemic: the roots of self-centeredness, where one person can look upon another person and despise and reject them, and not even behold them as a fellow child of God.

We have seen once again the unthinkable become thinkable. Its caused great pain or better said, increased the great pain that was already there ...

There is a part of us that just wants to throw up our hands, and in the words of the Psalmist cry: How long? How long, O Lord? How long? And yet, we are not victims of fate. We are people of faith. We are not doomed and condemned to continue our past into our present and future.

We need not be slaves of fate. We follow in the footsteps of Jesus. This Jesus taught us that love will make a way out of no way. He taught us that sometimes you have to take up the cross and follow in his footsteps and that if you dare to follow his way of love, you will find Gods way of life.

May 31, 2020

Curry is not afraid to put himself in the sermon or his whole body. His hands, his arms and his facial expressions are extensions of his words, punctuating, cajoling, beseeching. His cadence is lyrical at times, repeating phrases and words like a composers rhythmic refrain.

He credits a parish he served early on in his career, where the faces he stared into each Sunday ranged from domestic workers who may or may not have known how to read to well-educated professionals.

They made me learn how to preach and how to use everything I could genuinely, including my very self, to communicate that message to a diverse group of people of different educational levels, different life experiences, he says.

It was one of those domestic workers who became a Sunday morning compass for getting it right.

At the door, if the sermon spoke to her, she would say, Oh Lord, you preached this morning, you preached this morning, he remembers. And if the sermon didnt speak to her, she would say, Thats a nice robe you have on today.

Asked why he often makes the message personal, he quotes Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal priest perhaps best known for his Christmas carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem, who described preaching as the communication of truth through personality.

You dont need too much of the person because the sermon is not about you, Curry cautions. But to be authentic means its got to be the communication of truth through you, through the lived experience.

It may be as simple as personalizing a scholar you are about to quote. Or as intricate as putting a human face on the Golden Rule.

I was probably 16 or 17. I was getting ready to go off to college. I was in the car with my daddy, and he said something to me what he had said to us growing up. He said, When you get to college, you treat every girl the way you want somebody else to treat your sister. I remember thinking, Man, you have just ruined all the dreams I had for college.

But I knew what he meant. He said, Treat every girl the way you want somebody else to treat your own sister because that girl is your sister. Treat every boy the way you want somebody else to treat your brother because he is your brother. Treat every woman like shes your mother, because she is. Treat every man like hes your father, because he is. Treat them like you want your own family to be treated because they are your family.

Show them the same love, honor, care, dignity and respect that you would want for your own. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

This is not rocket science, but it is world changing. He said, If we did that, if we did that, then every child would have access to quality education. If we did that, then there would be justice and equality for everybody in this land and around the world.

May 23, 2021

His attempts to persuade sometimes come with a spoonful of confession. When the mask wars erupted, he admitted it isnt fun to wear the facial covering. But he wears it anyway.

The possible miracle could be that if I wear it to protect you from me, and you wear it to protect me from you, or the virus within, we get protected and we all win.

Its a small sacrifice, he added, that actually may be a symbol of what it means to love.

Sharing your own reluctance can make you vulnerable, he admits, but it also makes you genuine.

Im not talking about pretending to be something else. Im talking about opening up yourself both to God and to God in front of other people.

A Chicago native who was raised in Buffalo, Curry has been an Episcopal priest since 1978, the same year he got his masters degree from Yale University Divinity School. He served churches in North Carolina, Ohio and Maryland before being elected bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina in 2000.

Fifteen years later, he was elected presiding bishop, becoming president and chief executive officer of a mainline Protestant denomination that operates in 17 countries and counts more than 1.7 million members. The Episcopal Church is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Curry already had distinguished himself as a champion of civil rights, womens ordination and LGBTQ equality along with something youve probably already picked up on: an unwavering conviction that God is love.

That love remains his epicenter.

Im telling you, that is the key to any kind of preaching, Curry declares, with more than a little excitement. You can do that in two minutes or you can do it in 15 minutes. But just do it.

He mentions the biblical story of Lazarus, who was brought back to life from his own tomb by Jesus. When Jesus noticed that Lazarus was still wearing his burial cloth bindings, he called out for someone to unbind him and let him go.

Unbind preachers, Curry says, and let them go to be the vessel, the instrument, for Gods love, to pour through them and communicate to other folk.

Hes getting warmed up now, leaning closer to the Zoom camera as he talks.

Thats when preaching happens. And thats how preaching comes alive. And it is vulnerable. It is risky. It is not acting.

If COVID-19 doesnt cause another postponement, folks here will get a chance to hear from Curry up close and personal later this year, when hell be the featured speaker at a Good News Festival hosted by the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego on Dec. 9-10 at the Town and Country Resort Hotel (Details: thegoodnewsfestival.com).

You can bet hell be bringing up the love word.

I am convinced, he tells me, that the decision to live by the way of sacrificial love is going to be the decision that is going to make or break us.

Let me bring this to a conclusion. A few years ago, I was listening to public radio on a Sunday afternoon, probably in the summer. I suspect I was on vacation. There came a broadcast about a man named Norman Gershman, who had recently published a photographic essay and published a documentary on the Muslims of Albania ...

As Nazi armies advanced toward the small country of Albania, messages were sent by couriers to the Albanian foreign ministry. You are to identify all Jews living in Albania, provide their addresses and any contact information.

It so happened that the foreign minister of Albania was a Muslim, a member of this small community. And in the spirit of Harriet Tubman, he organized an underground railroad, if you will. He sent out word to the small I want you all to hear me to the small Muslim community in Albania.

It said, The Jewish people are to be your people. They must live in your homes. They must sleep in your beds. They must eat at your tables. You are to treat them as members of your own family, for that is who they are. And the Muslim community of Albania saved 2,000 Jews from the Holocaust.

May 23, 2021

Dolbee is the former religion and ethics editor of The San Diego Union-Tribune and a former president of the Religion News Association. Email: sandidolbeecolumns@gmail.com.

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Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, on reconciliation, healing and hope - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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Tonga volcanic eruption and tsunami: Elon Musk’s SpaceX reportedly in Fiji preparing to help with telecommunications – New Zealand Herald

Posted: at 6:31 am

Aid efforts are continuing as the Kingdom of Tonga recovers from the recent volcanic eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Haapai. The violent blast generated a Tsunami and blanketed the islands in volcanic ash. Video / Supplied

Engineers for SpaceX, owned by the world's richest man Elon Musk, are reportedly in Fiji with plans to help restore internet to the Kingdom of Tonga.

The devastating eruption in mid-January damaged an undersea telecommunications cable, which experts have said could take a month to repair.

National Party MP Dr Shane Reti wrote a letter to Musk, who also produces electric cars under the Tesla brand, asking for help to provide his Starlink satellite technology to the Pacific country.

The technology uses satellites to deliver internet access to remote locations around the world.

Musk replied offering to assist Tonga, asking on Twitter whether Tonga authorities could inform him whether Starlink terminals were needed.

The Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, FBC News, reports that the team from SpaceX are now in Fiji to work on an internet gateway for the Kingdom of Tonga.

Minister for Communications Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum confirmed the news to FBC News, saying the engineers from SpaceX will establish and operate a temporary ground station in Fiji for six months.

"The Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (Space X) had applied for a temporary emergency telecommunications license on the 20th of Jan, the sole purpose of this license is to provide an internet gateway," Sayed-Khaiyum told FBC News.

"Space X and FINTEL are currently, however, in commercial negotiations to co-locate the earth station and connect to Fiji's internet gateway."

SpaceX has also reportedly shown interest in providing internet services in Fiji.

15 Sep, 2021 05:28 AMQuick Read

The Herald has approached Sayed-Khaiyum for comment.

Reti said it was "wonderful news".

"I am just really pleased for Tonga and all the Pacific that they will be getting modern telecommunications."

Reti said he had been in contact with the Tongan consul and Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio, who were pleased to hear the news.

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Tonga volcanic eruption and tsunami: Elon Musk's SpaceX reportedly in Fiji preparing to help with telecommunications - New Zealand Herald

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Covid-19 update: US coronavirus death toll passes 900,000 – Pharmaceutical Technology

Posted: at 6:31 am

Global: The global Covid death toll has passed 5.7 million, with a figure of 5,740,187 according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, infections have passed 390 million to a world wide figure of 394,995,479.

US: Covid -19 infections have now passed 76 million. Meanwhile, the US coronavirus death toll has increased to more than 902,000 according to Johns Hopkins University data.

New York state passed a marker in the decline of the latest viral surge: the percentage of tests returning positive is the lowest since the World Health Organization declared Omicron a variant of concern, on 26 November. New infections reported on Sunday were 5,680, with the percentage positive at 3.52%. Other measures of the Omicron surge remain elevated: Hospitalizations are roughly double the level of late November, and deaths are roughly four times as high.

More US schools are likely to begin lifting mask mandates soon as the overall risk from the Omicron wave eases, said Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. We can start to lean forward and take a little bit more risk and try to at least make sure that students in schools have some semblance of normalcy for this spring term, Gottlieb, a Pfizer Inc. board member, said on CBSs Face the Nation. A lot of kids havent really known a normal school day for two years now.

Canada: The mayor of Canadas capital has declared a state of emergency as protesters opposed to Covid-19 restrictions continued to paralyse central Ottawa. Jim Watson said the declaration highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government.

UK: The UK reported another 54,095 Covid cases on Sunday, the lowest figure since 12 December. Infections have been declining since the Omicron wave peaked in early January, with the seven-day average down 5% to 83,474. Another 75 fatalities were reported Sunday. The country has stopped requiring those who test positive on lateral-flow devices to confirm the result with a laboratory PCR test. However, reinfections are also included as of last week.

UK travellers have been warned to check their half-term holiday plans to make sure they meet Covid vaccination rules when travelling to EU destinations as a growing number of countries impose new restrictions.

Meanwhile, Prime minister Boris Johnsons desperate efforts to save his premiership have been undermined with one of his most loyal backbench supporters saying it was now inevitable that Tory MPs would remove him from office over the partygate scandal.

Vietnam: More than 17 million Vietnamese students are due to return to school for the first time in about a year, the health ministry has said, as authorities announced plans to start vaccinating children from as young as five against Covid-19.

China: The Chinese city of Baise in Guangxi, population 3.57 million, has been locked down because of a Covid outbreak. The outbreak is tiny by global standards, but the curbs, including a ban on non-essential trips in and out, follow a national guideline to quickly contain any flare-ups. That news comes as Chinas chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou, says that as long as theres no other way to contain the spread of the virus, the country wont adjust its dynamic Zero Covid pandemic control policy.

Hong Kong: Hong Kong is set to report another record number of coronavirus infections, ramping up pressure on the government to contain the worsening outbreak. The city saw more than 600 cases on Monday, local media reported, citing people they didnt identify. All of the latest infections were local, with 136 listed as untraceable. Some 15 cases were detected in public housing estates in Tuen Mun and Sha Tin, where more than 7,200 residents have been tested, officials said. More than 300 preliminary positive cases were reported. There are invisible transmission chains in the community, Ronald Lam, director of health, said during the press conference. He added that is impossible to project the peak of the current wave.

India: Authorities in India have approved Russias one-jab Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine. It will be the second Russian-developed jab to be approved by the country, after Sputnik V was allowed in April 2021.

Indias central bank postponed its interest-rate review by a day as the nation and its neighbors mourn the death of celebrated singer Lata Mangeshkar after being diagnosed with Covid-19. She was 92 and had been hospitalized since 8 January. The Reserve Bank of Indias monetary policy committee will now meet February 8-10, the authority said in a statement late Sunday. Its decision will be announced Thursday.

Japan: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will instruct cabinet members to accelerate the pace of vaccinations to 1 million shots a day within the month, broadcaster NHK reported, without attribution. Kishida is to give the directive to health minister Shigeyuki Goto and others on Monday. Almost 79% of the population had two shots but only 4.8% had third as of Friday, when a little under 570,000 shots were reported.

The Japanese government is making final arrangements to extend a quasi-state of emergency in Tokyo and 12 other prefectures due to expire on 13 February, the Asahi reported, citing several unidentified officials.

Australia: Australia plans to open its borders to international tourists as soon as possible, a government minister said Sunday, following a report that they will be allowed back by the end of February after a Covid-related hiatus of almost two years. We are getting ready to open as soon as we can, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said in an ABC TV interview. We dont have all the information we need to be able to take the decision, but we are very close.

Meanwhile, A group of anti-vaccination demonstrators and conspiracy theorists have blocked roads and targeted businesses in the Australian capital of Canberra ahead of the return of federal parliament on Tuesday. Hundreds of cars and trucks waving Australian flags, military insignia and campaign banners for former US President Donald Trump descended on the city over the past week to call for the end to vaccination requirements in businesses and places of employment. The protests in Canberra have echoed similar demonstrations in the Canadian capital Ottawa.

Philippines: The Philippines started giving Covid-19 shots to children aged 5 to 11, after receiving 780,000 Pfizer doses last week. The Southeast Asian nation aims to inoculate 15.5 million from this age group, as economic managers see allowing more activities for kids and their families as key to reviving consumer demand.

South Korea: South Koreas daily cases could increase to up to 130,000-170,000 at the end of February with the surge of the Omicron variant, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The numbers are based on forecast modeling conducted by experts. President Moon Jae-in said it is a serious situation as its difficult to predict how much the number of confirmed cases will increase and when the peak will be. But he said there is no need to be too concerned about the current situation. South Korea confirmed 35,286 more cases on Monday.

Thailand: Thailands Health Ministry will propose further easing of containment measures to the nations main virus task force later this week, the Bangkok Post reported, citing Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the ministrys Department of Disease Control. The ministry will encourage people to live with the virus rather than cope with lockdowns, the newspaper reported. Opas didnt give details of measures that may be relaxed.

Israel: The number of serious coronavirus cases in Israel reached 1,263 on Sunday, the highest reported since the beginning of the pandemic. Before Saturday the previous record of 1,193 severe cases was set in January 2021. At the same time, the number of new daily infections is declining, with about 38,000 new cases on Friday, compared with 49,500 the previous Friday, and a peak of more than 85,000 at the height of the Omicron wave. Israel was one of the first countries to roll out vaccines and booster shots, offering a fourth dose to higher-risk people last month.

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U.S. Olympic figure skater Vincent Zhou tests positive for COVID-19 ahead of men’s event – ESPN

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11:59 PM ET

Elaine TengESPN

U.S. Olympic figure skater Vincent Zhou tested positive for COVID-19 a day ahead of the start of the men's competition.

According to a U.S. Figure Skating statement, Zhou, 21, tested positive during a routine COVID-19 screening and is undergoing additional testing to confirm his status. If he tests negative, he will be able to compete in the men's short program on Tuesday morning Beijing time. The men's singles competition is Zhou's final event at the Games.

A two-time Olympian, Zhou is expected to contend for a medal alongside six-time U.S. champion Nathan Chen and two-time reigning Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu.

He had competed in the men's free skate portion of the team competition Sunday morning Beijing time. Team USA won a silver medal minutes before the news of Zhou's positive test was released.

The news was especially stressful for Chen; the two have been part of the same practice group in Beijing.

"We basically said: 'Vincent, we're sorry to hear the news. We miss you. We wish you were here because you're a big part of this team. You helped earn the silver medal,'" American ice dancer Evan Bates said after filming a video for Zhou. "And we're just hoping for the best and that he'll be all cleared and be able to take part in his individual event.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Covid-19 and Travel News: Live Updates – The New York Times

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A testing clinic at the Sydney airport in December.Credit...Jenny Evans/Getty Images

Nearly two years after Australia slammed its borders shut to almost all noncitizens, the country will reopen this month to international tourists who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Monday.

If youre double vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back to Australia, Mr. Morrison said at a news conference.

Vaccinated tourists, business travelers and all other visa holders can enter Australia starting on Feb. 21, Karen Andrews, the countrys home affairs minister, said on Monday. Visa holders who are not fully vaccinated will face quarantine requirements and need a travel exemption, she added.

The decision will not open all of Australia to foreign visitors, as individual states control their own borders, and can impose flight caps or require quarantines.

Australias two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, have no quarantine requirement for incoming vaccinated travelers. But Western Australia, which has experienced fewer cases of the virus than any other Australian state, will continue to tightly control who can enter, including from elsewhere in Australia.

Australia has moved from a Covid Zero approach, in which it attempted to contact-trace and stamp out any outbreak of the virus, to one in which the country is living with the virus. The more contagious Omicron variant has swept across New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria in the past two months, resulting in an explosion in case numbers, but the wave has been subsiding.

Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days.

In March 2020, Australia announced that it would close its borders to all noncitizens and nonresidents and prevent citizens already inside the country from leaving. Australians abroad who sought to go home faced a mandatory two-week hotel quarantine on arrival. For many, limited hotel spaces and frequent flight cancellations made it all but impossible to return.

Since late last year, the country has been steadily reopening its borders, with citizens permitted to enter New South Wales and Victoria without undergoing hotel quarantine. Australia is now allowing students and some laborers to enter, and travel corridors with countries like New Zealand, Singapore and Japan all of which, like Australia, have high vaccination rates have allowed in a trickle of tourists and others.

The countrys border policies were in the spotlight in January when the tennis player Novak Djokovic, who was not vaccinated against the coronavirus, had his visa canceled by the Australian government.

Speaking about the vaccination requirement at his news conference, Mr. Morrison appeared to refer to the tennis star: Events earlier in the year should have sent a very clear message to everyone around the world that that is the requirement to enter into Australia, he said.

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COVID-19: Top news stories about the pandemic on 7 February | World Economic Forum – World Economic Forum

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Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 395 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.74 million. More than 10.2 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

Indonesia has banned foreign tourists from entering the country through Jakarta's airport, in a bid to slow a spike in COVID-19 infections.

The South African health regulator registered the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, clearing the way for its use in the country.

The seven-day rate for COVID-19 cases and deaths has fallen in the UK, with infections down 5% and deaths 7%.

Malaysia reported 9,117 new confirmed COVID-19 infections on Saturday, the highest daily figure in four months.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has signed off the Food and Drug Administration's full approval of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in those aged 18 and over. It becomes the second fully approved COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.

More than 17 million Vietnamese students are due to return to school today for the first time in around a year after the COVID-19 pandemic saw learning move online.

New Zealand reported a record 243 new COVID-19 community cases on Saturday.

Singapore has also reported a record number of COVID-19 cases, with 13,046 local infections reported on Friday.

Thailand reported 10,490 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the highest in more than three months.

Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in selected countries.

Image: Our World in Data

Each of our Top 50 social enterprise last mile responders and multi-stakeholder initiatives is working across four priority areas of need: Prevention and protection; COVID-19 treatment and relief; inclusive vaccine access; and securing livelihoods. The list was curated jointly with regional hosts Catalyst 2030s NASE and Aavishkaar Group. Their profiles can be found on http://www.wef.ch/lastmiletop50india.

Top Last Mile Partnership Initiatives to collaborate with:

Confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the United States passed 900,000 on Friday, according to data collected by Reuters.

The latest tally marks an increase of more than 100,000 U.S. COVID-19 fatalities since 12 December, coinciding with a surge of infections and hospitalizations driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus. However, the US COVID-19 death rate does appear to be slowing.

The US has reported more COVID-19 deaths than any other nation, according to Johns Hopkins University.

South Korea has passed 1 million cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, as health officials reported a daily record of 38,691 new infections on Sunday.

South Korea saw its first confirmed COVID-19 case on January 20, 2020, and soon became the first country outside China to battle a major outbreak.

An aggressive strategy of tracking, tracing, masking and quarantining helped South Korea to blunt that initial wave and keep overall cases and deaths low without widespread lockdowns.

Deaths have remained low in the highly vaccinated country, however, with 15 new deaths reported as of midnight Saturday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

Written by

Joe Myers, Writer, Formative Content

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Why some experts say the term ‘breakthrough’ COVID-19 can be misleading – The Dallas Morning News

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People who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can still test positive for the virus. Health officials have come to refer to that as a breakthrough case of the disease.

But some health experts say the term can be misleading and misconstrued, especially as new variants have emerged and vaccination rates across the country have slowed.

I think it was setting the vaccine up for an impossible standard that vaccines cant possibly meet, said Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the lead epidemiologist for the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Testing Insights Initiative.

COVID-19 vaccines were first approved in mid-December of 2021 and are now available to children 5 and older. Two of the vaccines, one manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and the other by Moderna, have since been granted full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

Researchers have established that all available COVID-19 shots offer significant protection against severe illness and death. According to data from the state health department, unvaccinated Texans are 16 times more likely to die from a COVID-19-related illness compared to fully vaccinated individuals.

The state health department doesnt include breakthrough cases on its COVID-19 dashboard. In Dallas County, 27,943 breakthrough infections have been reported out of 549,239 total COVID-19 cases as of Feb. 3. Thats only about 5% of all cases.

Nuzzo, who spoke last month at a webinar, said the term breakthrough may give people a false impression about the function of the shot.

Theyre not forcefields, she said. They dont repel the virus from your body.

Heres what health experts said you need to know about the term breakthrough case and COVID-19 shots.

The scientific definition of infection means that a person must encounter a disease for a vaccine to respond, Nuzzo said.

What vaccines do is train your immune system to recognize the virus and then to react quickly, hopefully before you have any symptomatic disease, but certainly before too many of your cells become infected by the virus, she said. And how does your body know that the virus is there?

Usually its when the virus invades your cells, which is the technical definition of infection.

Ultimately, a successful vaccine shouldnt be viewed as one that eliminates infection, but one that significantly reduces hospitalizations and death, Nuzzo said.

I view any infection [in a vaccinated person] that doesnt send somebody to the hospital as a success, Nuzzo said. If this virus could never put people in the hospital or kill them, most people would have never heard of it. Losing sight of that is fueling a level of anxiety that I think is just unhelpful but also underselling the vaccines.

Dr. Hana El Sahly, a professor of molecular virology and microbiology and infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said its important to remember the standard that was initially set by the World Health Organization for what a successful COVID-19 vaccine would look like.

What we would have called a successful vaccine is if it prevented 50% of documented infections, as long as it had a role in preventing severe disease, she said. Once these vaccines rolled into the communities the vaccines maintained real high efficacy against death and against ICU admissions and the need for being on ventilators.

As vaccination rates have slowed over the course of the pandemic, some health experts are concerned that the impression that some people may get from the term breakthrough case plays into skepticism and anti-vaccination ideals.

Health experts say people should remember that breakthrough cases, or getting infected with a disease that you are vaccinated against, are common and expected with any shot.

Theres not a single vaccine thats a hundred percent, said Dr. Grant Fowler, family medicine department chair at TCU School of Medicine in Fort Worth and chairman of the family medicine department at JPS Health Network. But our whole goal is to [minimize] it in the population and protect the vulnerable.

Nuzzo said its also important to remember that widespread testing for COVID-19 also means a larger share of breakthrough cases are being detected.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that if there are more COVID-19 cases occurring, like during the recent omicron surge, more breakthrough cases will naturally be detected.

We often hold up the measles vaccine as the standard of the best vaccine, Nuzzo said. But if we had a lot of measles circulating, and if we did a lot of testing, we would see a lot more breakthrough infections that we just dont notice because the symptoms are so mild.

While the impression a person gets from the term breakthrough case is in the eye of the beholder, Sahly said, its probably better for health care professionals to use a different term or phrasing when talking to patients.

In the mind of the common person, it may be wise to stop using the word breakthrough because it comes with the implication that something wrong has happened, when nothing wrong really has happened, she said.

Sahly says she tries to use different language when not speaking with someone in the scientific community.

If Im talking to the lay person, I try to use the word have gotten two doses of vaccine and an infection, or two doses of vaccine and COVID, depending on the situation, Sahly said.

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COVID-19 measures in Belgium: how perception and adherence of the general population differ between time periods – BMC Public Health – BMC Public…

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To our knowledge, our study was the first to assess the perceptions of and adherence to COVID-19 measures in Belgium at multiple times, on a large total sample of nearly 4000 respondents representative of the adult population in terms of gender, age, region and socio-economic status,. The results of the surveys revealed that both reported understanding of the preventive measures and their perceived usefulness were higher at the second survey in April/May 2021 than at the first one in September 2020. This was particularly the case for measures that were implemented at both survey periods, namely wearing a face mask in public spaces and shopping with maximum one other person. At the time of the second survey, these measures had been in place for a long time, which may explain the fact that they were better understood and that citizens were more likely to consider them as useful. However, it is important to note that most measures differed between the two periods. The better understanding and perceived usefulness of the preventive measures at the time of the second survey could therefore also be due to other factors, such as a clearer and less ambiguous formulation or overall better communication about the reasons for the measures.

In contrast, both past adherence to the measures and (intended) future adherence were lower at the second survey period, compared to the first. For the two recurring measures, the decrease of the score for future adherence was rather small, especially with regard to shopping with maximum one other person. Since at the time of the second survey all measures had been in place for more than 6 months, it is likely that this caused a certain level of fatigue amongst citizens. This may especially apply to the measures involving a reduction of social contacts, which were the ones that received the lowest scores in the second survey. This is in line with reports from other Belgian studies, showing a lower motivation to adhere to COVID-19 measures in April and May 2021 than in September 2020 [27], and also indicating that people had more contacts outside their household in April/May 2021 than in September 2020 [28]. Being confined also had a negative impact on mental health of affected populations [29], particularly among women and younger age groups [7]. A study in the US showed a negative relationship between having mental health problems such as a social distance burn-out and depressive symptoms on the one hand, and adherence to COVID-19 measures on the other hand [30]. A survey from the National Institute of Health in Belgium showed high levels of anxiety and depression among the general population since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among people aged 1829 [26]. Since in our study mental health was not assessed, we were not able to investigate the relationship between individual mental health and adherence.

Between the first and the second survey, there was a strong increase in the proportion of respondents that had experienced a confirmed COVID-19 infection. This is an expected finding, since, like most European countries, Belgium was confronted with an increasing number of cases between the two study periods [24]. Yet, while there was no difference in the perceived health consequences of COVID-19 for those who had had an infection, the expected health consequences reported by those who had not yet been infected at the time of the second survey was significantly higher than for the first survey. This may be related to the fact that at the second survey period, more people knew someone who had been infected: almost twice as many respondents knew someone who had been hospitalised with COVID-19, an important indicator of infection severity.

On the other hand, the respondents perceived risk of getting infected with COVID-19 was lower in the second survey than in the first, which may be explained by the fact that in April/May 2021 nearly a third (30%) of them had been vaccinated at least once. An unexpected finding however, is that the expected risk of older family members (parents and grandparents) being infected was higher in the second than in the first survey, especially since mainly older people had been vaccinated in Belgium at that time. Possibly, the fact that a larger proportion of respondents knew someone close who had been infected, sometimes with severe illness, might have made them more concerned about their own (vulnerable) relatives. However, this cannot be substantiated on the data from this study.

A difference was also observed in the support for the COVID-19 measures between the two study periods. The lower percentage of respondents who agreed with the statement that the government should recommend, but not oblige the COVID-19 measures and the higher agreement with the statement that the government should control the COVID-19 measures in the second survey suggests that citizens find it increasingly important to have clarity on what is expected from them, and that it should not be left up to the individual to decide this. Since COVID-19 had been part of peoples lives for more than a year in April/May 2021, less importance was given to reminders or nudges for preventive action compared to September 2020. Arguably, this may be because these actions became habits that were integrated in everyday life, so that nudges became less necessary.

Our study identified several characteristics associated with lower levels of adherence in both surveys. The finding that men adhere less than women, and younger age groups less than older ones, are similar to those of studies in other countries that studied characteristics of lower adherence [7, 8, 16, 17]. Yet while previous research in Belgium also identified disadvantaged or lower socio-economic background as a risk factor for low adherence [8, 19], educational level and annual income were not found to be significant contributors for past or (intended) future adherence in our study. In terms of occupational status, the only group that differed significantly from the reference group of workers were those who were incapacitated, and their adherence levels were actually higher. Since those who are incapacitated to work have likely underlying health problems, they might feel more vulnerable to becoming infected with COVID-19, and as such adhere stricter to the measures in order to protect themselves. On the other hand, French-speaking citizens were less adherent and intent on future adherence than Dutch speakers, and inhabitants of Wallonia less than inhabitants of Flanders or the Brussels Capital region. These findings are highly correlated, as Wallonia is a French-speaking region of Belgium, Flanders is Dutch-speaking, and Brussels is both French- and Dutch-speaking. The reasons for these findings are not clear, but since almost 40% of Belgians have French as their native language [31], this important difference warrants further investigation. It does suggest, however, that adherence to measures against COVID-19 does not only depend on what is being decided on a national level, but that cultural and linguistic differences within the population have an impact as well.

The last group that had lower adherence levels consisted of those with a symptomatic, confirmed COVID-19 infection. We see three potential explanations for this: either this group feels protected against COVID-19 due to their previous infection, and therefore feels that they do not have to adhere to the rules; or this group consists of individuals that are less likely to adhere (because of lack of motivation or faced with environmental barriers that make measures more difficult to adhere to), and are therefore more prone to an infection; or this group has perceived milder symptoms, and the perceived severity of a COVID-19 infection is therefore lower for them. A qualitative study among those who have been previously infected could potentially provide more insight into this.

Of all the measures that were investigated in the second survey, the two measures related to social contact (having one close contact and limiting close contact to one per household) were seen as the most difficult to adhere to, both in the past and in terms of (intended) future adherence. These two measures are arguably the ones that are most restrictive for peoples daily lives. Since these measures had already been in force for over 6 months at the time of the second survey, the difficulty to adhere to them is not surprising. This is also in line with the result of a multi-country study that showed potential pandemic fatigue, and as a result lower adherence, over time for high-cost measures such as social distancing [23]. In contrast, a measure that received overall high scores in terms of understanding, perceived usefulness, ease to adhere and past and future adherence is the use of a face mask in public spaces. In fact, the scores for this measure even became more positive compared to the first survey, implying that this measure has been well implemented in Belgian society. The same is also observed for testing and quarantining for those who have symptoms, indicating the perceived importance of this measure by citizens.

The second survey also allowed to investigate the perceptions regarding vaccination. High scores were given in support of the statements that COVID-19 vaccines are important to protect yourself and others and it is important that everyone is vaccinated against COVID-19, indicating that most people accept vaccines as an important protective measure. Nonetheless, scores for the statements COVID-19 vaccines are safe and COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing infection were much lower. Since the perceived safety of vaccines has been identified as an important predictor of vaccination intention [32], effective risk communication on vaccine safety is a crucial issue to improve actual uptake.

Our study had some limitations. First, while the samples from both surveys matched the predefined targets well in terms of gender, age, region and socio-economic group, there was a slight underrepresentation of respondents from the lowest socio-economic group. Obtaining an equal number of respondents from this group is often problematic, as they are less likely to participate in surveys. Secondly, citizens of Belgium who do not speak French or Dutch could not participate, since the survey questionnaire was only available in those two languages. However, this represents not more than 5% of the countrys population [31]. Thirdly, due to the anonymity of our questionnaire, we could not ascertain whether certain individuals participated in both surveys, which would have required a correction in the analytical approach. However, due to the methodology used by the market research and opinion poll company, this probably concerns only a marginal number of respondents, if any. Fourthly, although we obtained information on vaccination status, we could not include this as a potential predictor for adherence in the multivariate models. This is partly due to the fact that vaccination status was only relevant during the second survey (vaccines were not administered yet in Belgium during September 2020), and partly because only selected populations had been invited to get vaccinated at the time of the second survey (mainly elderly, healthcare professionals and chronically ill). As such, it is unlikely that vaccination status measured at that time would serve as a predictor for adherence. It is possible, however, that it would become a factor at a later stage, after everyone older than twelve years has received an invitation to get vaccinated.

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