Coronavirus is ‘the tip of the iceberg,’ warns Chinese researcher nicknamed ‘bat woman’

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-is-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-warns-chinas-top-bat-researcher-2020-05-26

The Chinese researcher known as the “bat woman” warns that the deadly coronavirus the world is battling now is “just the tip of the iceberg” in terms of what humans could face without a global effort to prevent similar infectious-disease outbreaks.

“If we want to prevent human beings from suffering from the next infectious-disease outbreak, we must go in advance to learn of these unknown viruses carried by wild animals in nature and give early warnings,” Shi Zhengli, a top Chinese scientist specializing in viral transmissions from bats, told CGTN in an interview that aired Monday.

“If we don’t study [the viruses], there will possibly be another outbreak,” warned Shi, dubbed the “bat woman” by the press because of her research involving those flying mammals.

A Light unto the Nations: What do today's rabbis say?

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280967

When I became a baal t’shuva 37 years ago, I benefited greatly by studying the writings of Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsh, especially his Commentary on the Torah and his Commentary on the Book of Psalms. In the year 1836, he wrote in his book, “Nineteen Letters” that the mission of Am Yisrael, the Jewish people, in the Exile was to be a light to the nations.

With the Festival of Shavuot approaching, I asked a group of influential Rabbis in Israel if, after the establishment of the State of Israel, the Jews in the Diaspora still had the same mission?

 

Hear Trump criticize Obama for playing golf during crisis

Donald Trump delivers Memorial Day address, returns to golf course

White House defends watchdog firings, but does not offer explanation

https://www.timesofisrael.com/white-house-defends-watchdog-firings-but-does-not-offer-explanation/

 

A White House letter issued in response to concerns from a prominent Republican senator does little to explain the decision-making behind Trump’s recent upheaval of the inspector general community. It is unlikely to quell outrage from Democrats and good-government groups who fear the president is moving to dismantle a post-Watergate network of watchdogs meant to root out corruption, fraud and other problems inside federal agencies.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa — a longtime, self-appointed defender of inspectors general and congressional oversight — requested that the White House explain the basis for the firings in April and May of the inspectors general for the intelligence community and the US State Department. 

The response Tuesday from White House counsel Pat Cipollone does not provide those details, instead making the points that Trump has the authority to remove inspectors general, that he appropriately alerted Congress and that he selected qualified officials as replacements.

A Stark Illustration Of The Choice Voters Will Have In November | Deadline | MSNBC

As U.S. Deaths Reach 100,000, Trump Praises His Handling Of Virus | Morning Joe | MSNBC

The human cost of virus misinformation

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-52731624

A BBC team tracking coronavirus misinformation has found links to assaults, arsons and deaths. And experts say the potential for indirect harm caused by rumours, conspiracy theories and bad health information could be much bigger.

Trump Golfs And Attacks Opponents As Death Toll Nears 100,000 | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Lori Klausutis death: Twitter will not remove Trump's 'horrifying lies'

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52810661

At a Rose Garden news conference on healthcare on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Trump was asked if he had seen the widower's letter.

"Yeah, I have," he said. "I'm sure that ultimately they want to get to the bottom of it and it's a very serious situation."

He added: "It's a very suspicious thing and I hope somebody gets to the bottom of it. It would be a very good thing.

"As you know there's no statute of limitations."

White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany said earlier on Tuesday when asked about Mr Klausutis' appeal: "I don't know if [Mr Trump] has seen the letter, but I do know that our hearts are with Lori's family at this time."

 

Buenos Aires: Jewish bride, groom and rabbi arrested at wedding

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280931

Eight people, including the bride, groom, and officiating rabbi, arrested at Jewish wedding in Argentina.

Twitter labeled Trump tweets with a fact check for the first time

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/26/tech/twitter-trump-fact-check/index.html

For the first time, Twitter called tweets from Donald Trump "potentially misleading" — a decision that prompted the president to accuse the social media platform of election meddling.

On Tuesday, Twitter highlighted two of Trump's tweets that falsely claimed mail-in ballots would lead to widespread voter fraud, appending a message the company has introduced to combat misinformation and disputed or unverified claims.

"Get the facts about mail-in ballots," read the message beneath each tweet. It linked to a curated fact-check page the platform had created filled with further links and summaries of news articles debunking the assertion.

Twitter said the move was aimed at providing "context" around Trump's remarks. But Twitter's unprecedented decision is likely to raise further questions about its willingness to consistently apply the label to other Trump tweets that have been deemed misleading by third parties, particularly as the president has lobbed baseless allegations against former Rep. Joe Scarborough regarding the death of a congressional staffer years ago. 

Shortly after the labels were applied, Trump took to Twitter to claim the company "is interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election" and "stifling FREE SPEECH." He added that he "will not allow it to happen!"

Twitter's actions quickly led to criticism from some of its users, however, who said the measures did not go far enough. Some faulted Twitter for not explicitly saying in the label that Trump's tweets contained false information; other users said the company should have used a larger font size.

Rolling out mass hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis for covid-19 in India’s slums risks eroding public trust

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/05/01/rolling-out-mass-hydroxychloroquine-prophylaxis-for-covid-19-in-indias-slums-risks-public-trust/

 

The municipal corporation of Greater Mumbai (BMC) has decided to roll out a seven-week-long course of chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) mass community prophylaxis for the people living in slums [7]. The decision is apparently backed by the announcement of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) dated 22nd of March, for the prophylaxis of asymptomatic healthcare workers involved in the care of suspected or confirmed cases of covid-19 and asymptomatic household contacts of confirmed cases [8].

This is a baffling decision for while some of the studies suggest these antimalarial drugs may be effective [9–12] as well as safe [13,14], there are also concerns [15,16] that the evidence is not robust and adverse effects will be likely if the drugs are rolled out indiscriminately for mass prophylaxis, without rigorous monitoring [17]. Contradictory statements have been issued about ongoing studies and trials for CQ and HCQ prophylaxis in India [15] and concern expressed about promoting its use as a prophylactic therapy on the basis of insufficient evidence [17]. Muddled and contradictory messages about the benefits and risk of using antimalarials for mass prophylaxis to the marginalised communities in the slums are fuelling confusion and mistrust.

Hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis for high-risk COVID-19 contacts in India: a prudent approach

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30430-8/fulltext

We read with interest the Correspondence from Sahaj Rathi and colleagues¹ on hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis for COVID-19 contacts in India. The authors see the decision by the Indian Council of Medical Research, under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to recommend chemoprophylaxis with hydroxychloroquine in select groups of contacts at high risk as an abandonment of scientific reasoning in desperate times. We present our counterview on this issue.

The criticisms made by Rathi and colleagues overlook the fact that prophylactic hydroxychloroquine would be targeted to individuals at high risk rather than the general population. Projection of adverse events to the population level causes unjustified alarm. The advisory from the Indian Council of Medical Research includes a section of key considerations that address all such concerns, which have been ignored by Rathi and colleagues. In addition, the argument that there will be a shortage of the drug is not tenable. Production has been ramped up and the Government of India is supplying hydroxychloroquine to more than 50 countries, which has received widespread appreciation.