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COVID-19 AND CHILDREN.
The good folks at Science put together a deep dive into the effects of Covid-19 on children. It’s written by a whole slew of scientists who address different aspects of the topic. One of the particularly interesting tid-bits is the admission that while vaccinating children is still the way forward, it is not quite the slam dunk in terms of certainty. According to the article,
“In addition to nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as improved ventilation, there is a strong case to vaccinate children so as to reduce possible long-term effects from infection and to decrease transmission. But questions remain about whether vaccination might skew immune responses to variants in the long term.”
Those are pretty significant unknowns to be fair. https://bit.ly/3BuSTc2
EMISSIONS VIOLATORS BEAR BLAME FOR PAKISTAN’S FLOODING.
The flash flood that slammed Pakistan has caused immense suffering in the country. According to the ____ Guterres, climate change is to blame. Therefore, countries who are responsible for significant global emissions should bear some responsibility. According to the Associated Press,
“Nature, the U.N. chief said in Islamabad, has attacked Pakistan, which contributes less than 1% of global emissions, according to multiple experts. Nations ”who are more responsible for climate change…should have faced this challenge,” Guterres said, seated next to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“We are heading into a disaster,” Guterres added. “We have waged war on nature and nature is tracking back and striking back in a devastating way. Today in Pakistan, tomorrow in any of your countries.””
Over 50% of flash flooding deaths occur when vehicles are driven into hazardous flood waters. People are unaware that most vehicles can be swept away in 18 to 24 inches of moving water. https://bit.ly/3d1hfR3
THE CONTINUED COSTS OF THE PANDEMIC.
The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to be felt in areas outside of public health as highlighted by a recent photo essay featured in Reuters. One of the most severely impacted facets of people’s lives has been their ability to earn a living.
“Like thousands of other elephant owners around the country, the Sapmak family had to return to their home village as the pandemic decimated elephant camps and foreign tourism ground to a virtual halt. Only 400,000 foreign tourists arrived in Thailand last year compared with nearly 40 million in 2019.
Some days, Siriporn doesn’t receive any donations and her elephants are underfed.”
As the world slowly crawls back to some form of normalcy, hopefully the stress on people’s finances alleviates as well. https://reut.rs/3B1Ysgs
SETTING THE AMERICAN AGENDA IN SPACE.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is set to chair her second National Space Council meeting later today. Per space.com,
“The National Space Council (NSC) helps shape American space policy. It’s made up of several dozen government officials, including the NASA administrator, the secretary of defense and the vice president, who chairs the body.
During last year’s meeting, Harris laid out key space priorities for the administration of President Joe Biden, which include using satellites to study climate change, tackling the growing space-junk problem and helping to establish norms of responsible behavior off Earth.”
Not quite the Galactic Senate, but we’ll get there. https://bit.ly/3L0NPPs
Thanks for reading. Let’s be careful out there.