Margaret Brennan and Kelsey Micklas, - EcoWatch/CBS News
Stephan: Yet another confirmation of an SR prediction. Covid-19 should be seen as a wake-up call, this is the beginning of a new era. Here is what the World Health Organization has to say.
Doctor wearing highly protective suit while injecting a vaccine into the earth. Credit: Hocus-Focus / Getty
Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and since well before the COVID-19 outbreak, the World Health Organization has been tracing and analyzing the impact of how climate change is impacting public health.
But as the global community continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, top climate officials say our attention needs to shift to climate-related issues that directly impact our health.
In an interview with “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan, Dr. Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Head of the Climate Change and Health Program at the World Health Organization, says presently, air pollution “is one of the severest problems that we face around the world.”
Air pollution increases the risk of other illnesses like heart disease and respiratory issues, something that has had a direct impact on those suffering during the coronavirus outbreak. About one in eight deaths around the world are caused by air pollution.
Additionally, extreme weather events and increased temperature can all have negative effects on public health.
Stephan: I have been telling SR readers for several months now that I thought that as a result of Covid, and criminal Trump's immigration policies, we were heading into a food crisis.
At the time I got a lot of emails from Trumpers telling me what a fool I was, what a "crisis monger" I was for saying that. Well, my prediction has become the mainstream reality. Here is an example of what I mean.
If you can garden now is the time to do so. By June, I think, we are going to see Romaine lettuce at $6 a head, $15 a pound garlic, and similar price increases across the board.
Immigrant farm workers
Credit: USDA/Bob Nichols
The coronavirus pandemic has upended food supply chains, led to closures of meat producing plants and left Americans with the unsettling experience of seeing empty shelves at supermarkets.
Coupled with the run on toilet paper that led to severe shortages, recent events are leading Americans to wonder if the nation’s food supply is secure.
Experts say that by and large, Americans don’t need to worry about food running out, but that does not mean all food will be readily available.
“I think we have a strong food supply system, and it’s diversified enough to provide the products to consumers,” said Olga Isengildina Massa, an associate professor of agriculture and applied economics at Virginia Tech.
“Obviously it has a lot of hiccups right now, but we’re working through the system,” she added.
Here are five of the major challenges facing food supply chains.
Virus outbreaks at food plants
One vulnerable spot in the nation’s foods supply chains is processing plants, where workers often stand in close quarters as they prepare food to be delivered to grocery stores and wholesale customers.
Aram Roston and Marisa Taylor, Reporters - Reuters
Stephan: The nation is in a medical crisis unlike anything seen in America in more than a century; hundreds of thousands are infected; tens of thousands are dying. So who do criminal Trump and his familiar Alex Azar, a former drug industry executive, choose to lead the task force to guide the nation. Why a former Labradoodle breeder was the obvious choice. Labradoodles are so cute.
Trump on every occasion always picks loyalty over competence and, I think, history is going to assess his administration as the most incompetent in 240 years.
Labradoodle Credit: Spring Creek Labradoodles
WASHINGTON – – On January 21, the day the first U.S. case of coronavirus was reported, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services appeared on Fox News to report the latest on the disease as it ravaged China. Alex Azar, a 52-year-old lawyer and former drug industry executive, assured Americans the U.S. government was prepared.
“We developed a diagnostic test at the CDC, so we can confirm if somebody has this,” Azar said. “We will be spreading that diagnostic around the country so that we are able to do rapid testing on site.”
While coronavirus in Wuhan, China, was “potentially serious,” Azar assured viewers in America, it “was one for which we have a playbook.”
Azar’s initial comments misfired on two fronts. Like many U.S. officials, from President Donald Trump on down, he underestimated the pandemic’s severity. He also overestimated his agency’s preparedness.
As is now widely known, two agencies Azar oversaw as HHS secretary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, wouldn’t come up with viable tests […]
Stephan: I just don't think most of us realize how damaging to America's place in the world the actions and words of Impeached Trump and his familiars have been. Day after day in the international press all over the world I read stories whose cumulative effect has been the destruction of the image of America. We are now portrayed as inept, greedy, bullies. And the more intelligent parts of the American media now recognize this as well. Here's an example.
The global coronavirus crisis crashed into the United States in Washington state in January and quickly brought the richest and most powerful nation in the history of the world to its knees.
And so far, the federal response has been too small in scope and short on creative solutions to meet the greatest challenge since World War II.
The nation needs upward of 30 million tests per week to properly track the virus, health experts say. The country is testing only about 1 million a week now. It could take a public health army of more than 100,000 to track and trace those carrying the virus. There are only a few thousand so far.
It may take $1 trillion just to keep small businesses alive, based on the current burn rate of the federal small business rescue program. Congress, mostly stuck outside Washington with no capacity to legislate remotely, as though it it were stuck the 19th century, appeared to seal a $484 billion deal Tuesday that would bring the total for small business […]
Stephan: Nothing reveals real priorities like a medical crisis. If you had any doubt about what matters to the great majority of Republicans look no further than Republican Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. He'll set you straight.
After facing intense criticism for suggesting on Fox News last month that he’d rather perish from the new coronavirus than see instability in the state’s economic system, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said last night that he’s thankful Texas is beginning the process of reopening its economy because the restrictions are currently “crushing small businesses” and the economic market.
“I’m sorry to say that I was right on this and I’m thankful that now we are now finally beginning to open up Texas and other states because it’s been long overdue,” he told interview host Tucker Carlson.
“What I said when I was with you that night is there are more important things than living. And that’s saving this country for my children and my grandchildren and saving this country for all of us,” Patrick said. “I don’t want to die, nobody wants to die, but man we’ve got to take some risks and get back in the game […]
