The Food and Drug Administration is now warning against more than 100 potentially dangerous hand sanitizers.
Antonio_Diaz / Getty Images
Antonio_Diaz / Getty Images
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now warning against more than 100 potentially dangerous hand sanitizers.
<p><br>Since June, the agency has been <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fda-hand-sanitizers-list-2646412872.html" target="_self">expanding</a> its list of hand sanitizers that may be contaminated with deadly methanol alcohol. But on Friday, the FDA announced a new problem. While some hand sanitizers contain the wrong kind of alcohol, others don't have enough of the right kind.</p><p>"FDA test results show certain hand sanitizers have concerningly low levels of ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol, which are active ingredients in hand sanitizer products," the FDA <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-consumers-should-not-use" target="_blank">wrote</a>. "The agency urges consumers not to use these subpotent products."</p>
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html" target="_blank">recommends</a> washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds as the best hand hygiene method to prevent the spread of disease. Soap and water is more effective than hand sanitizer at killing certain germs, and some people do not use hand sanitizer correctly, either wiping it off too early or not using enough.</p><p>However, if soap and water are not available, the CDC recommends using a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent ethanol alcohol.</p><p>"Many studies have found that sanitizers with an alcohol concentration between 60–95% are more effective at killing germs than those with a lower alcohol concentration or non-alcohol-based hand sanitizers," the CDC explained. "Hand sanitizers without 60-95% alcohol 1) may not work equally well for many types of germs; and 2) merely reduce the growth of germs rather than kill them outright."</p><p>The rise in hand sanitizer demand has been driven by attempts to stop the spread of the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>, so it is important that products actually work.</p>
<p>The FDA flagged the following hand sanitizers for being less effective:</p><ol><li>dgreen Advanced Sanitizer Alcohol Free</li><li>dgreen Advanced Hand Sanitizer Antibacterial Gel</li><li>Biokaab Inc. Hand Sanitizer</li><li>Biokaab Inc. Hand Sanitizer Gel</li><li>Clean Humans Hand Sanitizer</li><li>Medicare Alcohol Antiseptic Topical Solution</li><li>NeoNatural</li><li>Datsen Hand Sanitizer</li><li>Alcohol Antiseptic 62% Hand Sanitizer</li><li>Bernal Hand Sanitizer</li><li>Inflatables LLC Alcohol Antiseptic 65% Hand Sanitizer and Alcohol Antiseptic 70% Hand Sanitizer</li></ol>
<p>In addition to the subpotent hand sanitizers, the FDA continues to warn against hand sanitizers that contain methanol, or wood alcohol, which is toxic when absorbed through the skin and can be deadly when swallowed. There have been reports of people going blind, damaging their hearts or nervous systems, being hospitalized and even dying because of exposure to these toxic hand sanitizers, the agency <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-reiterates-warning-about-dangerous-alcohol-based-hand-sanitizers" target="_blank">said in a news release</a>. One of the deaths was associated with Blumen Hand Sanitizer, which is distributed by 4e North America and manufactured by 4E Global in Mexico. The company has recalled an expanded list of products.</p><p>"Practicing good hand hygiene, which includes using alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not readily available, is an important public health tool for all Americans to employ. Consumers must also be vigilant about which hand sanitizers they use, and for their health and safety we urge consumers to immediately stop using all hand sanitizers on the FDA's <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-consumers-should-not-use" target="_blank">list</a> of dangerous hand sanitizer products," FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen M. Hahn said in the press release. "We remain extremely concerned about the potential serious risks of alcohol-based hand sanitizers containing methanol. Producing, importing and distributing toxic hand sanitizers poses a serious threat to the public and will not be tolerated. The FDA will take additional action as necessary and will continue to provide the latest information on this issue for the health and safety of consumers."</p><p>There are now 115 hand sanitizers on the agency's "do-not-use list," mostly manufactured in Mexico, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/health/fda-hand-sanitizers-list-expands-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. As such, the FDA has issued import alerts to stop the products from entering the U.S.</p><p>It also sent a warning letter to one of the companies involved, Eskbiochem S.A. de C.V., for poor manufacturing practices, distributing hand sanitizers made at a facility that has undeclared methanol and falsely claiming its products are FDA approved.</p>
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a news conference on July 1, 2020 in New York City. Byron Smith / Getty Images
While the nation overall struggles with rising COVID cases, New York State is seeing the opposite. After peaking in March and April and implementing strict shutdowns of businesses, the state has seen its number of positive cases steadily decline as it slowly reopens. From coast-to-coast, Governor Andrew Cuomo's response to the crisis has been hailed as an exemplar of how to handle a public health crisis.
<p>Seeing the numbers go the wrong way in other parts of the country has prompted Cuomo to rail against the federal response to the crisis, and, in particular, the dearth of leadership from the White House. On Monday, Cuomo called President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump</a>'s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic "the worst government blunder in modern history," as <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Cuomo-Trump-COVID-19-response-worst-government-15454992.php" target="_blank">The Times-Union</a> in Albany reported.</p><p>During a press briefing in New York City, Cuomo passionately listed off a list of false statements and poor decisions that Trump and various White House officials made over the course of the crisis that underplayed the severity of the disease and resulted in many downplaying the risks and underpreparing for an outbreak.</p><p>"It was a mistake to say, 'It's just the flu,'" he said, as <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/coronavirus-updates-us-hits-monthly-high-new-cases-dr-birx-says-some-americans-should-wear-masks-home" target="_blank">Gothamist</a> reported.</p>
<p>In a video that Cuomo posted to <a href="https://twitter.com/NYGovCuomo/status/1290363480277688320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1290363480277688320%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgothamist.com%2Fnews%2Fcoronavirus-updates-us-hits-monthly-high-new-cases-dr-birx-says-some-americans-should-wear-masks-home" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, he asked the president to tell the truth and reiterated his list of grievances, writing, "The president has to tell the American people the truth. It was a mistake to downplay COVID. It was a mistake to say it would be gone by Easter. It was a mistake to say it will magically disappear. And it was a mistake to not set up a national testing program."</p><p>In his press conference, Cuomo said the nation should have learned the lessons New York did earlier and prepared better in the spring. He compared the deaths due to the virus to the loss of life in the Vietnam War.</p><p>"This was a colossal blunder, how COVID was handled by this federal government," Cuomo said, as <a href="https://www.syracuse.com/coronavirus/2020/08/coronavirus-in-ny-hospitalizations-down-federal-response-a-colossal-blunder-cuomo-says.html" target="_blank">Syracuse.com</a> reported. "Shame on all of you."</p>
<p>He noted that states that opened too soon like Texas and Florida followed the federal government's lead in downplaying the pandemic.</p><p>"The reason they didn't (believe the gravity of the crisis) is because they were listening to the president," Cuomo said, as the Times-Union reported. "COVID kills Republicans and COVID affects red states. It is deadly serious."</p><p>According to Gothamist, he added: "This was not a political issue and it shouldn't have been politicized. This is public health, that's what this was, and it should have never been turned into a political symbol which is what this president did."</p><p>Cuomo also noted that medical experts were saying that the country needs to again "reset" by shutting down. And yet, he questioned if that would be effective if Trump did not change what he was saying about the seriousness of the infectious disease tearing through the country.</p><p>"If we don't tell the truth on the reset, COVID will never end," Cuomo said, according to the Times-Union. "And it will just bounce across the country."</p><p>The percentage of people testing positive in New York is around 1 percent. Hospitalizations reached a new low on Sunday after a peak of 18,000 in April. As Syracuse.com reported, 136 people were in intensive care units on Sunday and 62 people were intubated due to the virus, the lowest numbers since March.</p>
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Healthcare workers admit a coronavirus patient to a special intensive care unit set up outside Milan's San Raffaele hospital, where 55 percent of patients surveyed developed mental health symptoms after recovering from the new coronavirus. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP via Getty Images
A study from a hospital in Milan, Italy has uncovered another complication to the process of recovering from the new coronavirus. More than half of patients surveyed one month after their treatment had developed a psychiatric disorder.
<p>The study, published in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159120316068" target="_blank">Brain, Behavior, and Immunity</a> on Thursday, found that 55 percent of former patients surveyed experienced either post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, insomnia or obsessive compulsive (OC) symptoms.</p><p>"After three weeks of treatments, I was healing from COVID, at home, had no fever, and just a little cough," one of the patients surveyed for the study said. "But sometimes at night, my breath could go away all of a sudden, making me feel as if I was to die. I knew what it was because I had suffered from panic attacks in the past. I stayed there out on the balcony, for hours, trying to put fresh air into my lungs. It was terrible. Panic made me suffer more than COVID."</p>
<p>To obtain their results, researchers surveyed 402 patients who were treated at Milan's San Raffaele Hospital between April 6 and June 9: 265 men and 137 women. The patients were all initially assessed at the emergency room and then either admitted to the hospital or treated at home.</p><p>A month after treatment, the patients were interviewed and given questionnaires to assess their <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mental-health" target="_self">mental health</a>. They reported psychiatric symptoms at the following rates:</p><ul><li>Anxiety: 42 percent</li><li>Depression, 31 percent</li><li>Insomnia: 40 percent</li><li>PTSD: 28 percent</li><li>OC Symptoms: 20 percent</li></ul>
<p>Women fared worse psychologically than men, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/03/survivors-of-covid-19-show-increased-rate-of-psychiatric-disorders-study-finds" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. People who had previously been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder also were more likely to develop mental health symptoms after recovering from COVID-19.</p><p>The researchers were not surprised by their results, because previous studies of other coronaviruses had turned up increased mental health problems in survivors. For example, 10 to 35 percent of those who recovered from SARS have experienced psychiatric symptoms.</p><p>The reason COVID-19 survivors develop these symptoms could be down to two main reasons, the researchers think: the immune system's response to the disease and the stress of illness, such as fear, stigma and social isolation.</p>
<p>Research suggests a link between immune-triggered inflammation and mental illness. In addition, the study found that outpatients had worse mental health outcomes than people treated in the hospital, suggesting isolation played a role.</p><p>"Also considering the worse severity of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients, this observation suggests that less healthcare support could have increased the social isolation and loneliness typical of COVID-19 pandemics, thus inducing more psychopathology after remission," the researchers wrote.</p><p>They said their findings warranted more investigation into the link between the pandemic and mental health issues.</p><p>"PTSD, major depression, and anxiety, are all high-burden non-communicable conditions associated with years of life lived with disability," they wrote. "Considering the alarming impact of COVID-19 infection on mental health, the current insights on inflammation in psychiatry, and the present observation of worse inflammation leading to worse depression, we recommend to assess psychopathology of COVID-19 survivors and to deepen research on inflammatory biomarkers, in order to diagnose and treat emergent psychiatric conditions."</p><p>The impact of the pandemic on mental health isn't limited to disease survivors, however, as <a href="https://www.techtimes.com/articles/251558/20200804/covid-19-psychiatric-disorders-like-ptsd-and-depression-prevalent-in-survivors.htm" target="_blank">Tech Times pointed out</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">Public health</a> experts have already warned about a second pandemic of psychological disorders even among those who do not contract the disease. The fear of illness and the stress of losing employment or simply following current events could all take a toll.</p>
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Coronavirus Shines Light on Zoos as Danger Zones for Deadly Disease Transmission Between Humans and Animals
03 August
Insights + Opinion
An elephant at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. In Defense of Animals
By Marilyn Kroplick
The term "zoonotic disease" wasn't a hot topic of conversation before the novel coronavirus started spreading across the globe and upending lives. Now, people are discovering how devastating viruses that transfer from animals to humans can be. But the threat can go both ways — animals can also get sick from humans. There is no better time to reconsider the repercussions of keeping animals captive at zoos, for the sake of everyone's health.
<p>COVID-19, the illness that's caused by the novel coronavirus, is the result of human contact with animals, though the exact source remains a subject of debate. The risk of such zoonotic disease transmission drastically increases in any setting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/08/human-impact-on-wildlife-to-blame-for-spread-of-viruses-says-study-aoe" target="_blank">where wild animals are confined</a><a href="http://theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/08/human-impact-on-wildlife-to-blame-for-spread-of-viruses-says-study-aoe" target="_blank"> in close proximity to humans</a>, including public display facilities like zoos. Unfortunately, the risks posed by zoonotic transmission go beyond COVID-19. A recent <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/uoc-asa041320.php" target="_blank">study</a> found that more than 40 percent of zoo animals in Spain were infected with a parasite that can be passed to humans and causes a disease known as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/gen_info/faqs.html" target="_blank">toxoplasmosis</a>, which can lead to damage to the brain, eyes and other organs in human beings. Across the U.S., another dangerous zoonotic disease has long been lurking in our midst at zoos: <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/basics/default.htm" target="_blank">tuberculosis</a> (TB).</p>
<p>TB is a deadly, highly infectious disease that has long existed in captive populations of African and Asian <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/elephants">elephants</a> in zoos and circuses across the U.S. According to the World Health Organization, TB is one of the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis" target="_blank">top ten </a>causes of death worldwide, killing millions of people each year. Although TB rates have been on the decline for decades in the U.S., captive elephants represent a persistent <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2015/03/elephant-tuberculosis-epidemic-zoo-and-circus-animals-passing-tb-to-humans-and-one-another.html" target="_blank">reservoir</a> of the virus. Incredibly, "licensees and registrants who own elephants" are <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/stakeholder-info/sa_by_date/sa_2015/sa_10/ct_elephant_tb_policy" target="_blank">not required</a> to test elephants for the virus. Even if they were, these tests, known as "trunk washes," are difficult to conduct and can be unreliable. This means that zoos may be bringing the unsuspecting public into contact with infected elephants. Because TB is no longer common in the U.S., children are not vaccinated against it, making them particularly susceptible.</p>
<p>The risk of elephants transmitting TB to humans is generally greater among those who work closely with elephants, though it is thought that TB can spread from elephants to humans <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166032/" target="_blank">through air</a> also. The risk of wider contagion, especially to zoo guests, is therefore a possibility. Many zoo exhibits bring people through indoor barns where elephants spend much of their time, separated only by bars and a few feet of space. Even more intimate encounters, such as rides or feedings that enable people to come into direct physical contact with elephants, are particularly concerning given their amplified transmission opportunities.</p><p>TB has long been known as a <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/02/19/dont-think-about-contagious-elephants-whose-job-is-it-to-combat-and-contain-tuberculosis/" target="_blank">potentially serious issue in U.S. zoos</a>. Many people have been infected over the years, including, as recently as 2019. In 2013, seven staff members were <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/health/2016/01/officials_identify_tuberculosi.html" target="_blank">infected</a> at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, following an outbreak among three bull elephants. Elephant infections persisted there into <a href="https://www.wweek.com/news/2019/07/10/pregnant-asian-elephant-at-oregon-zoo-may-have-tuberculosis/#:~:text=The%20Oregon%20Zoo%20announced%20today,Chendra%20as%20potentially%20having%20TB." target="_blank">2019</a>. Also, last year, some staff members <a href="https://www.pdza.org/connect/newsroom/press-releases/staff-test-positive-for-latent-tuberculosis/" target="_blank">tested positive</a> for latent TB at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington. Both the Bronx Zoo in New York City and the Saint Louis Zoo in Missouri also have had elephants test positive in recent years.</p>
<p>The threat of deadly disease transmission, however, does not only affect humans. In a process called <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3938448/" target="_blank">reverse zoonosis</a>, diseases such as influenza A virus, herpes simplex 1, measles and methicillin-resistant <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em> (MRSA) have been documented as passing from humans to animals. Regarding TB, <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y9ztj4ls" target="_blank">studies have shown</a> that the causative agent that leads to human infection of TB is also present in elephants, suggesting a reverse zoonosis of the disease from humans to elephants. This opens the possibility that humans could actually be the <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y9ztj4ls" target="_blank">cause</a> of TB infections in captive elephants.</p><p>Another incident of reverse zoonosis occurred at the Bronx Zoo recently. In April 2020 the zoo announced that one of its tigers <a href="https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/14010/A-Tiger-at-Bronx-Zoo-Tests-Positive-for-COVID-19-The-Tiger-and-the-Zoos-Other-Cats-Are-Doing-Well-at-This-Time.aspx" target="_blank">tested positive</a> for COVID-19. While no other cats were tested, the tiger's sister, along with two other tigers and three African lions, developed symptoms including a dry cough, suggesting they might have also been infected.</p>
<p>One of the main reasons that zoos can be hotbeds for deadly disease transmission — which threatens elephants, tigers and other captive animals as well as human beings — is that captive animals can suffer from compromised immune systems due to the confines of captivity, rendering them more susceptible to illness. In many facilities, tigers and elephants are often held in cramped enclosures that bear little resemblance to their natural wild habitats. They can be forced to perform or interact with the public on a daily basis or endure living in solitary confinement. The Bronx Zoo, for example, has forced an elephant named Happy to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/nyregion/bronx-zoo-elephant-lawsuit-happy.html" target="_blank">live alone</a> since 2006, a crushing sentence for a highly social species. These types of living conditions can cause a range of physical and psychological ailments, which have been <a href="https://www.idausa.org/campaign/elephants/10-worst-zoos/" target="_blank">well documented</a>. Captive elephants tend to live shortened lifespans in contrast to those in the wild and suffer from diseases and conditions virtually unseen in the wild. The cumulative effect of these factors renders elephants prone to the TB contagion.</p>
<p>The fact that TB has continued to infect captive elephant populations in the U.S. for decades reveals the extent to which zoos are incapable of providing adequate living conditions to prevent the spread of this disease, despite their best efforts. While zoos and their supporters continue to argue that keeping animals captive is necessary to raise awareness and get people to care about them, seeing animals trapped in unnatural environments that prevent them from thriving doesn't do anything to teach us about how they live or how they should be recognized, respected and protected in the wild.</p><p>We can hope that the world will soon return to some semblance of normalcy, but if this pandemic has taught us anything, it's that we can't continue with business as usual when it comes to our relationship with wildlife and the environment — at least not if we want to survive. In the meantime, we can protect captive animals and ourselves by avoiding zoos.</p>
<p><em>Marilyn Kroplick is the president of <a href="https://www.idausa.org/" target="_blank">In Defense of Animals</a></em><em>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Isiais now approaches the Carolinas, and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane again before reaching them Monday night. NOAA
Florida was spared the worst of Isaias, the earliest "I" storm on record of the Atlantic hurricane season and the second hurricane of the 2020 season.
<p>The storm's projected path had prompted fears that Floridians would have to evacuate in large numbers as the state struggles to contain the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic. But Isaias weakened to a tropical storm Saturday afternoon, <a href="https://abc11.com/isaias-track-storm-tropical-where-is-now/6350016/" target="_blank">ABC 11 reported</a>. It also remained offshore, drenching parts of the Florida coast with rain but largely sparing the state, according to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/02/tropical-storm-isaias-nears-east-coast-florida-aims-carolinas-next/5566396002/" target="_blank">USA TODAY</a>.</p><p>"Florida dodged a bullet for sure!" BAM Weather meteorologist Ryan Maue tweeted. </p>
<div id="14b13" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3dabcc399c214226e768937f555a5ebc"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1289943962405318657" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Tropical Storm #Isaias no longer expected to restrengthen into a hurricane. 🌀 The vertical wind shear shredder has… https://t.co/kqBsJOS3Tj</div> — Ryan Maue (@Ryan Maue)<a href="https://twitter.com/RyanMaue/statuses/1289943962405318657">1596381581.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>However, Isiais isn't done with the U.S. yet. It now approaches the Carolinas, and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane again before reaching them Monday night, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/weather/tropical-storm-isaias-carolinas-monday/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>A storm surge warning is in effect from Edisto Beach in South Carolina to Cape Fear in North Carolina, along with parts of the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds and the North Carolina Outer Banks from Oregon Inlet to the North Carolina and Virginia borders. It could raise water levels by three to five feet from South Santee River, South Carolina to Cape Fear, North Carolina, according to an 11 a.m. EDT update from the <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/" target="_blank">National Hurricane Center</a> (NHC).</p><p>"A Storm Surge Warning means there is a danger of life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline, during the next 36 hours in the indicated locations," NHC explained.</p>
<div id="dea35" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="132c2812ba753aaaf415ad33fb7ff2c0"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290213982947737600" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Here are the 5 am EDT Monday, August 3 Key Messages for Tropical Storm #Isaias. For the full advisory on #Isaias, v… https://t.co/5MbSBJmEhI</div> — National Hurricane Center (@National Hurricane Center)<a href="https://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic/statuses/1290213982947737600">1596445959.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The North Carolina coastal communities of Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island were evacuated Friday ahead of the storm, CNN reported.</p><p>President Donald Trump approved a disaster declaration for parts of North Carolina, and Gov. Roy Cooper reminded residents Sunday to have their emergency kits ready, ABC 11 reported.</p><p>South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, meanwhile, said Friday he would not issue any evacuations.</p><p>"Right now we're hoping this storm will not hit us hard if it hits at all," McMaster said in the CNN story. "At this time we have no intention at all of declaring any sort of evacuation."</p><p>Isaias is expected to slowly weaken after making landfall and then travel north. It will bring strong winds to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York, impacting the Mid Atlantic states on Tuesday and New Hampshire and Maine on Wednesday.</p><p>Along the way, storm surges and winds aren't the only threat. </p><p>"Heavy rainfall from Isaias will result in flash and urban <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a>, some of which may be significant in the eastern Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic, through Tuesday night near the path of Isaias up the East Coast of the United States," NHC wrote.<span></span></p>
<div id="80487" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dcd38a3bef604d3ff7ef47552482cbe4"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290216672976986113" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">There is a moderate risk of flash flooding across portions of the eastern Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic states from… https://t.co/C5Ys46ZetX</div> — National Hurricane Center (@National Hurricane Center)<a href="https://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic/statuses/1290216672976986113">1596446600.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Tornadoes could touch down in coastal South Carolina Monday and eastern North Carolina into Tuesday. Twisters are also possible from eastern Virginia to southern New England on Tuesday.</p><p>Before Isaias reached the U.S., it knocked down trees and tore off roof shingles in the Bahamas, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/hurricane-isaias-batters-bahamas-florida-coast-200801143455063.html" target="_blank">Al Jazeera reported</a>. Some residents of Abaco and Grand Bahama Islands, who were still living in temporary shelters following last year's devastating <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-dorian" target="_self">Hurricane Dorian</a>, had to be evacuated ahead of the storm.</p><p>"With everything not quite shored up, property not secured, homes not prepared, even a category one will be enough to set them back," Bahamas Mercy Corps Director Paula Miller told The Associated Press, Al Jazeera reported.</p>
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A plane drops fire retardant over a home as the Apple Fire burns during the coronavirus pandemic on Aug. 1, 2020 in Cherry Valley, California. Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Southern California's first major wildfire this year has devoured more than 20,000 acres since Friday and forced thousands to flee their homes in the midst of a pandemic.
<p>The Apple Fire sparked around 5 p.m. on Friday in Cherry Valley in Riverside County, <a href="https://www.sbsun.com/2020/08/02/apple-fire-in-riverside-county-at-15000-acres-no-containment/" target="_blank">The San Bernardino Sun reported</a>. Dry air and vegetation fanned the flames, and it is now 20,516 acres and only five percent contained, according to the <a href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6902" target="_blank">most recent update</a> from the U.S. Forest Service.</p><p>"The fuels are there, and they're ripe," Daron Wyatt, a spokesman for area incident commanders, told The San Bernardino Sun.</p>
<div id="1f9c6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="845a1fd9765b9467fcaf6f5787e0e373"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1289936103739240448" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#AppleFire timelapse between 9 and 10 PM August 1st. Taken from Mt. Edna just south of Banning. This is just showin… https://t.co/Lx71YUa6YR</div> — Big Rock Moto (@Big Rock Moto)<a href="https://twitter.com/BigRockMoto1/statuses/1289936103739240448">1596379707.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The blaze has forced around 7,800 people to flee their homes, the Riverside County Fire Department said, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/02/us/california-apple-fire/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN</a>. But the evacuations have been complicated by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic. California has the most cases of any state in the nation and, as of Friday, had broken its daily death record four times in a little over a week, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/31/california-covid-19-deaths-coronavirus" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p>
<div id="375bc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="55edda8b88bee19de35447f1e4dd273a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1289951696571887620" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">How do you evacuate 7,800 people in a pandemic? A question I was hoping we wouldn't have to answer but wildfire & h… https://t.co/XnzBcZ9K9g</div> — Amy Westervelt (@Amy Westervelt)<a href="https://twitter.com/amywestervelt/statuses/1289951696571887620">1596383425.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Evacuation centers have been set up at hotels and at Beaumont High School, with measures like temperature checks, mask wearing and social distancing in place, Riverside County Fire Department spokesperson Rob Roseen told CNN. But evacuees are still wary of seeking shelter in the school.</p><p>"Folks not taking advantage of it over concerns about COVID-19, we have measures in place. We planned for this months ahead," Capt. Fernando Herrera of Cal Fire <a href="https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/08/02/apple-fire-in-riverside-county-intensifies-to-15000-acres-0-percent-containment/" target="_blank">told CBS Los Angeles</a>.</p><p>Instead, the Red Cross has been helping evacuees find hotel rooms, according to<a href="https://laist.com/2020/08/02/apple_fire_evacuees_no_shelter_red_cross_coronavirus_covid_riverside_san_bernardino_county.php" target="_blank"> LAIst</a>, and families like the Mejias have stopped by the high school asking for their assistance in booking these rooms.</p>
<p>Marcella Mejia fled with her husband, three children, two dogs and 15 chickens Friday night when firefighters knocked on their door and told them to leave. They stayed with neighbors for the first two nights, but then Marcella came seeking out a room.</p><p>"We were told when we moved to Banning that it was a very high-risk area for fires," Mejia told LAIst. "But you never imagine this happening."</p><p>However, Red Cross volunteer Chris Ellsworth said it was sometimes difficult to find rooms immediately because the Red Cross, fire departments and individuals were all looking at once.</p><p>"You have a number of different groups of people looking for the same set of limited resources," Ellsworth told LAIst.</p><p>As of Sunday afternoon, the Red Cross had only helped fewer than 40 people.</p><p>So far, no one has been injured in the blaze, but one home and two outbuildings were destroyed, CNN reported.</p>
<div id="96f7a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3e2d3c0627953735511591c5785c8a23"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1289574540138254336" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#AppleFIRE [UPDATE] 1 single family dwelling and 2 outbuildings were destroyed by the fire near Avenida Miravilla i… https://t.co/M3OTTfZFoZ</div> — CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department (@CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department)<a href="https://twitter.com/CALFIRERRU/statuses/1289574540138254336">1596293504.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The Apple Fire in the midst of a pandemic is also an example of how crises can compound each other. The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making California's wildfires larger and more extreme, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/10/climate-change-california-power-outage/" target="_blank">National Geographic pointed out</a>. The state has warmed by about three degrees Fahrenheit this century, and warmer air means drier vegetation.</p><p>The Apple Fire in particular is being fueled by vegetation with record-low moisture levels, according to the Forest Service, as well as hot, dry air. Those fire-friendly weather conditions are expected to continue for the next few days.</p><p>The fire is also difficult to fight because its north and east sides are burning on steep hillsides that firefighting vehicles cannot access.</p><p>The way it is burning also means that it is not safe for firefighters to try and surround it.</p><p>"We don't want to put firefighters in a dangerous situation," U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Lisa Cox told The San Bernardino Sun. "It's burning in a straight line up a mountain."</p><p>There are 29 hand-crews, 9 Helicopters, 260 Engines, 11 Dozers and 48 Water Tenders battling the blaze, according to the Forest Service.</p><p>Smoke from the fire has drifted as far as Phoenix, Arizona.</p>
<div id="91d82" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="34f3939bd37bc8373b32c2d9e5dd1fed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1289951950587404290" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Incredible GOES-West satellite imagery showing smoke from the #AppleFire making it all the way to #Phoenix this mor… https://t.co/PRSbXubIA9</div> — NWS San Diego (@NWS San Diego)<a href="https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego/statuses/1289951950587404290">1596383485.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Locally, the smoke was expected to cause unhealthful air quality in San Gorgonio Pass, the Coachella Valley and eastern Riverside County, according to The San Bernardino Sun.</p>
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How Other Countries Reopened Schools During the Pandemic – and What the U.S. Can Learn From Them
02 August
Health + Wellness
Students at the "Japon" public school number 72 attend class during the first day of the final phase of the gradual process to reopen schools on June 28 in Montevideo, Uruguay. Ernesto Ryan / Getty Images
By Bob Spires
As American school officials debate when it will be safe for schoolchildren to return to classrooms, looking abroad may offer insights. Nearly every country in the world shuttered their schools early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have since sent students back to class, with varying degrees of success.
<p>
I am a <a href="https://spcs.richmond.edu/people/bspires/" target="_blank">scholar of comparative international education</a>. For this article, I examined what happened in four countries where K-12 schools either stayed open throughout the pandemic or have resumed in-person instruction, using press reports, national COVID-19 data and <a href="https://globalhealth.washington.edu/sites/default/files/COVID-19%20Schools%20Summary%20%282%29.pdf?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTkRreE5XWXlORFF3TXpNeCIsInQiOiJIbVNQTTVySEo0Vzk1cHVBZVVqWnFGVmR1UEJxRGdpd01mTXg4OGw3Mk5nTnpmaUoyMGt2UXIwWVZBOE5GVjIybHA5aStrbzJ3MUxsanoxamZibmlocmpSbXZyVFVoV0VHYU1aTGx0RnpsMXlmOEtXSVJqaDJsZ0RJU1BQcVZjZSJ9" target="_blank">academic studies</a>.
</p><p>
Here's what I found.
</p>
Israel: Too Much, Too Soon
<p>Israel took stringent steps early on in the coronavirus pandemic, including severely restricting everyone's movement and closing all schools. By June, it was being <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/08/middleeast/israel-coronavirus-second-wave-netanyahu-intl/index.html" target="_blank">lauded internationally</a> for containing the spread of COVID-19.</p><p>But shortly after schools reopened in May, on a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/224fa625-657c-4ffb-a6a0-a40e04d685b9" target="_blank">staggered schedule paired with mask mandates and social distancing rules</a>, COVID-19 cases <a href="https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1278682387325616129" target="_blank">surged</a> across Israel. <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/israeli-data-show-school-openings-were-a-disaster-that-wiped-out-lockdown-gains" target="_blank">Schoolchildren and teachers</a> were among the sick. Today, <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/school-openings-across-globe-suggest-ways-keep-coronavirus-bay-despite-outbreaks" target="_blank">several hundred Israeli schools have closed again</a>.</p><p>Some blame <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/15/21324082/coronavirus-school-reopening-trump-children-safety" target="_blank">lax enforcement of health guidelines</a> in schools. The weather didn't help: In May, a <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/school-openings-across-globe-suggest-ways-keep-coronavirus-bay-despite-outbreaks" target="_blank">record heat wave hit Israel</a>, making masks uncomfortable for students to wear.</p><p>But schools were only part of a broader reopening in Israel that, many experts say, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/where-we-went-wrong-expert-says-these-3-blunders-caused-new-israeli-covid-chaos/" target="_blank">came too soon and without sufficient testing capacity</a>.</p><p>"The reopening happened too fast," said <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/israeli-data-show-school-openings-were-a-disaster-that-wiped-out-lockdown-gains" target="_blank">Mohammed Khatib, an epidemiologist on Israel's national COVID-19 task force</a>. "It was undertaken so quickly that it triggered a very sharp spike, and the return to more conservative measures came too little, much too late."<br></p><p>Israel's public health director, Siegal Sadetski, resigned in early July, saying the health ministry had ignored her warnings about <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-battles-new-wave-coronavirus-infections-after-reopening-n1233139" target="_blank">reopening schools and businesses</a> so rapidly.</p>Sweden: A Hands-Off Approach
<p>Schools never closed in Sweden, part of the Scandinavian country's risky <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/15/world/europe/sweden-coronavirus-deaths.html" target="_blank">gamble on skipping a coronavirus lockdown</a>. Only students 16 and older stayed home and did remote learning. <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/05/sweden-hasnt-locked-down-but-normal-life-is-a-luxury/" target="_blank">Social distancing</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/school-openings-across-globe-suggest-ways-keep-coronavirus-bay-despite-outbreaks" target="_blank">masks were recommended but optional</a>, in line with the Swedish government's emphasis on personal choice.</p><p><span></span>This strategy earned <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/schools-reopening-coronavirus/2020/07/10/865fb3e6-c122-11ea-8908-68a2b9eae9e0_story.html" target="_blank">praise from President Donald Trump</a> but some resistance from Swedish parents, especially those whose children have health issues. The government threatened to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-sweden-compels-parents-send-kids-to-school-2020-5" target="_blank">punish parents</a> who didn't send their kids to school.</p><p>Sweden's plan <a href="https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-schools-sweden-denmark-5ff88c81-67e3-4c33-8b74-fe57b9555827.html" target="_blank">seems to have been safe enough</a>. Its health agency reported on July 15 that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-sweden-schools/swedens-health-agency-says-open-schools-did-not-spur-pandemic-spread-among-children-idUSKCN24G2IS" target="_blank">COVID-19 outbreaks among Sweden's 1 million school children</a> were no worse than those in neighboring Finland, which did close schools. And pediatricians have seen <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa864" target="_blank">few severe COVID-19 cases</a> among school-age children in Stockholm. Only <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107913/number-of-coronavirus-deaths-in-sweden-by-age-groups/" target="_blank">one young Swedish child is believed to have died of the coronavirus</a> as of this article's publication.</p><p>However, officials in Stockholm have admitted they don't know how the disease may have affected teachers, parents and other adults in schools.</p><p>Sweden had <a href="https://www.coronatracker.com/country/sweden/" target="_blank">over 70,000 COVID-19 cases</a> as of July 21, which puts it in the middle of the pack in Europe, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa864" target="_blank">a joint study</a> from Sweden's Upsala University and the University of Virginia. Of those, slightly more than <a href="https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/contentassets/c1b78bffbfde4a7899eb0d8ffdb57b09/covid-19-school-aged-children.pdf" target="_blank">1,000 involved children and teens</a>.</p>Japan: So Far, So Good
<p>Japan, which has mostly <a href="https://www.coronatracker.com/?country_code=JP" target="_blank">kept COVID-19 under control</a>, took <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japan-coronavirus-schools-reopen/2020/06/06/9047be8c-a645-11ea-8681-7d471bf20207_story.html" target="_blank">a conservative approach</a> to reopening schools in June.</p><p>Different schools have <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/06/bdd000c967a7-school-restarts-picking-up-in-japan-amid-lingering-coronavirus-fears.html" target="_blank">different strategies</a>, but generally Japanese students <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/18/national/japan-schools-reopen-state-of-emergency/" target="_blank">attend class in person on alternating days</a>, so that classrooms are only half full. Lunches are silent and socially distanced, and students undergo daily temperature checks.</p><p>These precautions are <a href="https://globalhealth.washington.edu/sites/default/files/COVID-19%20Schools%20Summary%20%282%29.pdf?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTkRreE5XWXlORFF3TXpNeCIsInQiOiJIbVNQTTVySEo0Vzk1cHVBZVVqWnFGVmR1UEJxRGdpd01mTXg4OGw3Mk5nTnpmaUoyMGt2UXIwWVZBOE5GVjIybHA5aStrbzJ3MUxsanoxamZibmlocmpSbXZyVFVoV0VHYU1aTGx0RnpsMXlmOEtXSVJqaDJsZ0RJU1BQcVZjZSJ9" target="_blank">more stringent than those in many other countries</a>. Still, some Japanese school children have <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/06/bdd000c967a7-school-restarts-picking-up-in-japan-amid-lingering-coronavirus-fears.html" target="_blank">gotten COVID-19</a>, particularly in major cities.</p><p>A survey from Save the Children found that Japanese school children <a href="https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00744/" target="_blank">wanted more clear and detailed information</a> about the virus and the outbreaks. <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/04/06/national/japan-parents-back-to-school-coronavirus/" target="_blank">Parents</a>, students and <a href="https://japan-forward.com/what-its-like-going-back-to-school-after-the-coronavirus-emergency/" target="_blank">teachers</a> continue to express hesitancy about returning to school and <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/06/09/national/japanese-students-coronavirus-measures-school/" target="_blank">displeasure over reopening measures</a>.</p>Uruguay: A+ for Safety
<p>Analysts credit Uruguay's <a href="https://www.wlrn.org/post/small-uruguay-big-proof-committing-public-health-can-contain-covid-19#stream/0" target="_blank">well-organized and efficient public health system</a> and Uruguyans' <a href="https://theconversation.com/uruguay-quietly-beats-coronavirus-distinguishing-itself-from-its-south-american-neighbors-yet-again-140037" target="_blank">strong faith in government</a> for its success stopping the coronavirus. The progressive South American country of 3.4 million has the region's <a href="https://www.wlrn.org/post/small-uruguay-big-proof-committing-public-health-can-contain-covid-19#stream/0" target="_blank">lowest rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths</a>, and it never shut down its economy entirely.</p><p>Uruguay was one of the Western Hemisphere's first countries to send its students back to school, using a <a href="https://blogs.iadb.org/educacion/en/uruguayreopening/" target="_blank">staged approach</a>.</p><p>In late April, Uruguay <a href="https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/gobierno-anuncio-que-el-22-de-abril-se-pueden-retomar-las-clases-en-973-escuelas-rurales-202048204622" target="_blank">reopened schools in rural areas</a>, where the student population is small. In early June, it brought vulnerable student groups, which were <a href="https://blogs.iadb.org/educacion/en/uruguayreopening/" target="_blank">struggling to access online learning</a>, and high school seniors back into classrooms. Then all students in non-urban areas went back to classrooms.</p><p>Finally, on June 29, <a href="https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2020/06/29/uruguay-completa-la-reapertura-de-las-escuelas-256-mil-alumnos-vuelven-a-clase-en-montevideo/" target="_blank">256,000 students in the capital of Montevideo</a> returned to school. An <a href="https://labs.ebanx.com/en/notes/uruguay-one-of-the-first-in-the-americas-to-reopen-schools/" target="_blank">alternating schedule</a> of in-person and virtual instruction reduces the number of students in classrooms at one time.</p><p>Uruguay is notable for residents' <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-30/in-midst-of-covid-chaos-one-latin-american-nation-gets-it-right" target="_blank">consistent and early adoption of measures</a> like social distancing and masks. Its successful pandemic response comes despite its <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-30/in-midst-of-covid-chaos-one-latin-american-nation-gets-it-right" target="_blank">proximity to hard-hit Brazil</a>, where schools remain closed.</p>Final Grades
<p>There is no perfect way to reopen schools during a pandemic. Even when a country has COVID-19 under control, there's no guarantee that schools can reopen safely.</p><p>But the policies and practices of countries that have had some initial success with schools point in the same direction. It helps to slowly stage the reopening. Strict mask wearing and social distancing is critical, both in schools and surrounding communities. And both officials and families need <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/puar.13252" target="_blank">reliable and up-to-date data</a> so that they can continually assess outbreaks – and change course quickly if necessary.<span></span></p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyODU5Ni9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDQ1NTk4NX0.i16YKkoUv-KY3pZ1B9CGk-4FkQhreKJl6fyg5mpbPSw/img.png?width=980" id="142a8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c4579ab29a2384b2ba637504377a1004" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>That complicates school reopenings in the U.S., with its <a href="https://theconversation.com/experts-agree-that-trumps-coronavirus-response-was-poor-but-the-us-was-ill-prepared-in-the-first-place-133674" target="_blank">soaring COVID-19 cases</a>, limited testing capacity and decentralized education system. Most countries have national education systems. In the U.S., school officials in all 50 states must sort through the same <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/us/politics/trump-accuses-media-democrats-coronavirus.html" target="_blank" style="">politicized messaging</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-numbers-confusing-you-heres-how-to-make-sense-of-them-142624" target="_blank" style="">confusing data</a> as everyone else to make their own decisions about whether, when and how to welcome back students.</p><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bob-spires-697413" target="_blank">Bob Spires</a> is an Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Richmond. </em></p><p><em>Disclosure statement: Bob Spires does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-other-countries-reopened-schools-during-the-pandemic-and-what-the-us-can-learn-from-them-142706" target="_blank" style="">The Conversation</a>. </em><em></em></p>
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Satellite imagery of Isaias on July 31, 2020. CIRA / NOAA
Isaias, the earliest Atlantic "I" storm on record, strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Thursday and now has the Bahamas and potentially Florida in its path.
<p>As a tropical storm, Isaias has already battered Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, still recovering from 2017's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-maria" target="_self">Hurricane Maria</a>, the storm knocked out the power of 300,000 to 400,000 people, dumped five to 10 inches of rain and caused mudslides and flash <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a>, National Weather Service San Juan meteorologist Gabriel Lojero told <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/31/weather/hurricane-isaias-forecast/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. One woman went missing when her car was swept away.</p><p>"A lot of neighborhoods were submerged under water," Lojero said.</p>
<div id="6e2f2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ad3c7b65ff4e5430baa62dd1d5b18d9a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1288973886441234432" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Southwestern PR | Suroeste de PR:
Flash Flood Warning in effect until 9:15 pm.
Aviso de Inundaciones repentinas en… https://t.co/k7IMKHlQJJ</div> — NWS San Juan (@NWS San Juan)<a href="https://twitter.com/NWSSanJuan/statuses/1288973886441234432">1596150297.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The Dominican Republic also experienced flooding, water and power outages and storm damage, <a href="https://apnews.com/db2517c2ff9ef9597a49cb57524cdbc9" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>. One man died when he was electrocuted by a toppled electrical cable.</p><p>Isaias is now 340 miles from Nassau in the Bahamas with winds of 80 miles per hour, according to an <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT4+shtml/311157.shtml" target="_blank">8 a.m. EDT update</a> from the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Hurricane conditions are expected in parts of the Bahamas today.</p><p>The storm is expected to reach the central Bahamas tonight and move near or over the Northwestern Bahamas and near or east of the Florida peninsula Saturday and Sunday.</p>
<p>One of the major potential hazards from the storm is rain. It is expected to dump four to eight inches of rain on the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, northern Haiti and the Turks and Caicos islands through Saturday and one to two inches over Cuba.</p><p>"These rainfall amounts will lead to life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides, as well as river flooding," the NHC warned.</p><p>Between Friday and Monday, the storm could dump two to four inches over South and east-Central Florida, potentially causing flooding. Heavy rains could reach the Carolinas early next week.</p>
<div id="36dae" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0015f4d2cae5180475f5b241bfa3288c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1289128870101184514" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Here are the Key Messages for July 31 at 5 am EDT for #Hurricane #Isaias. The full advisory is at… https://t.co/8AG5wNA6jn</div> — National Hurricane Center (@National Hurricane Center)<a href="https://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic/statuses/1289128870101184514">1596187248.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Isaias has slowed somewhat as it approaches the Bahamas, from 22 miles per hour Wednesday to 17 on Friday. This means it will have more time to strengthen as it passes over warmer water, the <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/hurricane/2020/07/31/hurricane-isaias-forms-in-caribbean-sea-and-is-still-headed-to-south-florida" target="_blank">Tampa Bay Times pointed out</a>. This could spell trouble for the Bahamas, parts of which were devastated by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-dorian-bahamas-2640172331.html" target="_self">Hurricane Dorian</a>, which rapidly intensified last year.</p><p>"We know from past and recent experience that storms could change course very quickly," Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said during a press conference Thursday, as the Tampa Bay Times reported. "They can intensify rapidly as we saw with hurricane Dorian. So I ask all Bahamians and residents to take this storm seriously and to make preparations."</p><p>Grand Bahama and Abaco, two of the islands in the Bahamas battered by Dorian, are also covered by the hurricane warning for Isaias, The Associated Press reported. People on both islands are still living in tents almost 11 months later.</p>
<div id="345a1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="479aeeb7859d59b4fbf7146de68a450d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1289051000897015809" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">(1/2) 🌀 11PM CDT: Latest on now Hurricane #Isaias. Here is a late-night infrared satellite view of the storm which… https://t.co/rOqbY1j0Vc</div> — NWS New Orleans (@NWS New Orleans)<a href="https://twitter.com/NWSNewOrleans/statuses/1289051000897015809">1596168682.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>It is still unclear if Isaias will make landfall in Florida, lash the Florida coast without making a direct hit as it moves towards the Carolinas, or veer off into the Atlantic.</p><p>However, the state is preparing, in part by closing some of its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> testing sites, CNN reported.</p><p>The approaching hurricane comes as Florida reported almost 10,000 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, and the combination of the two hazards complicates the response to each.</p><p>"Look, if we have a major hurricane here, then we're going to have to evacuate a number of people and then we're going to have to ... try to keep them separated as much as possible," Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez told CNN. "That's a concern."</p><p>Isaias is the second hurricane in an early and active Atlantic hurricane season. Hanna, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-hanna-texas-2646805833.html" target="_self">which battered Texas last weekend</a>, was both the season's first hurricane and the earliest "H" storm on record.</p><p>A study <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tropical-storm-intensity-climate-crisis-2646033123.html" target="_self">published in May</a> found that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making tropical storms stronger and wetter.</p>
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If you lived in a community suffering from bad air quality in 1981, chances are your neighborhood hasn't improved much. That's the takeaway from a new study that found despite years of progress to improve air pollution, wealthy, white Americans are breathing much cleaner air than low-income communities of color, The Guardian reported.
<p>"Disadvantaged communities remain persistently exposed to higher levels of air pollution," said Jonathan Colmer, an economist at the University of Virginia and co-author of the new <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6503/575" target="_blank">study</a> published in the journal <em>Science</em>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-environment-pollution/after-three-decades-most-polluted-us-neighborhoods-havent-changed-idUSKCN24V3BS#:~:text=After%20three%20decades%2C%20most%20polluted%20U.S.%20neighborhoods%20haven't%20changed,-Nichola%20Groom&text=Likewise%2C%20the%20least%20polluted%20areas,decades%20in%20the%20United%20States." target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported. "This was true in 1980, it was true in 1990, 2000, 2010, and so on."</p><p>The study examined fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, across the United States dating back to 1981. It found that the concentration of pollution from fine particulate matter fell about 70 percent between 1981 and 2016. Experts attribute the progress to stricter emissions regulations, more fuel-efficient vehicles and a decrease in coal-fired plants, Reuters reported.</p><p>But even with four decades of air quality improvement, low-income communities of color still do not have equal access to clean air. That's particularly worrying because of the connection between pollution and COVID-19. Recently, a group of <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/covid-pm" target="_blank">Harvard data scientists</a> found that a person living in areas with high-particulate pollution is 15 percent more likely to die from COVID-19 than someone living in an area with only slightly less air pollution, <a href="https://www.wellandgood.com/air-pollution-covid-19/" target="_blank">Well and Good</a> reported.</p>
<p>"The persistence of these relative disparities were striking," Colmer told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/30/896635668/air-quality-disparities-persist-despite-overall-gains" target="_blank">NPR</a>. "Federal and state guidelines aim for all people and places to enjoy the same degree of protection from environmental hazards. We're falling short in terms of addressing relative disparities."</p><p>The study was released four months after the Trump administration rejected an Environmental Protection Agency recommendation to tighten air quality regulations, Reuters reported. Though the administration countered that current standards were adequate, the evidence suggests otherwise.</p><p>"If a child was born in Los Angeles county today, they would be exposed to the same amount of pollution the average child was exposed to in the early 1990s," Colmer said in The Guardian.</p>
<p><br>"This paper nicely shines a spotlight on the fact that these disparities continue to be large and that we ought to do something about them," said Joshua Apte, an environmental scientist at the University of California, Berkeley not involved in the study, Reuters reported.</p><p>To address the disparities, researchers note that housing discrimination is one of the main culprits, as low-income communities are often located near sources of pollution, according to NPR.</p><p>But housing discrimination isn't the only issue.</p><p>"Only when we figure out what the causes of the disparities are can we then think about, 'Okay, what are the appropriate policies we can use to mitigate these disparities?'" Lala Ma, an environmental economist at the University of Kentucky told NPR.</p>
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An example of a dry field in San Joachin Valley, California, during the California drought that lasted from 2012 to 2016. Citizens of the Planet / Education Images / Universal Images Group / Getty Images
By Jose Pablo Ortiz Partida
The immediate emergency of COVID-19 has been a powerful reminder that the most valuable things in our lives are our families, friends, and the welfare of our communities.
<p>The current pandemic is a threat to those closest to us today in a way that presages what we will experience on an accelerating basis due to the climate emergency. In a place like California's San Joaquin Valley (SJV), Latinos account for <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-25/coronavirus-covid-19-farm-workers-san-joaquin-valley" target="_blank">70 percent</a> of COVID-19 cases, even though they represent 42 percent of the population. Improving access to clean and affordable water even as the pandemic grows more urgent, is critical to reducing the types of burdens worsened by the COVID-19 crisis. Continuing the hard work on groundwater sustainability required by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) could lessen the impact of future crises in the valley. The low level of preparation communities have experienced around the pandemic, echos what these same communities face for water management on a daily basis and will face with future climate change threats unless fundamental changes are made locally.</p>
Thousands of People in the SJV Live Without Reliable Access to Water.
<p>California is the wealthiest state in the most prosperous country in the world, and yet, there are close to one million people living without reliable access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water. Most of these people are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/21/us/california-central-valley-tainted-water.html" target="_blank">concentrated in disadvantaged communities</a> in the SJV. California identifies <a href="https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/sb535" target="_blank">disadvantaged communities</a> as areas that experience disproportionate levels of a combination of poverty, air and water pollution, high unemployment, and high rates of cardiovascular diseases and asthma. According to a report from the UC Davis Center for Regional Change, residents in these communities are <a href="https://regionalchange.ucdavis.edu/publication/water-justice" target="_blank">over 60% Hispanic</a>.</p><p><span></span>The SJV is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, <a href="https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/water-and-the-future-of-the-san-joaquin-valley-overview.pdf" target="_blank">producing more than half of California's agricultural output</a> with over 200 different crops and annual revenue of about 20 billion US dollars. The astonishing volume of water that agriculture requires has led to over-exploitation of groundwater and the continuous lowering of groundwater levels that has impacted water quality and quantity.</p><p>Groundwater is the primary source for household water needs and agricultural water supply. Yet, thousands of people are unable to drink and use the water in the SJV, because there are multiple contaminants in it. Some of the water pollution comes from natural sources and includes substances like arsenic, but most of it has emerged due to agricultural practices. These contaminants include pesticides and nitrates, which are linked to cancer, birth defects, and blue baby syndrome.</p><p>In years with average precipitation, water flowing in California's rivers from rain and melted snowpack meets about 60 percent of the state's water demand and groundwater meets the remainder. However, during dry years water supply sources shift and put severe stress on groundwater levels. During the California drought from 2012 to 2016, groundwater use, mostly from agricultural water pumping, <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/droughts-exposed-california-s-thirst-groundwater-now-state-hopes-refill-its-aquifers" target="_blank">grew to 80 percent</a> in some regions of the SJV increasing overdraft. Groundwater overdraft occurs when water extractions exceed recharge into an aquifer. An analogy is your bank account; extract more money than is put in, and your account will go dry. Aquifers are like a shared account, with some people taking out more than others. Consequently, thousands of domestic wells ran dry, unable to reach water due to lowered groundwater levels, in large part due to increased agricultural water pumping, and affecting thousands of people across the valley.</p><p>We think about drought as standalone events, but in reality, human actions triggered by droughts can have effects that continue long after the drought has ended, like permanently lowering the water table. In the SJV, the last drought has permanently reduced the capacity of some aquifers because overdraft left air in between soil particles instead of water, and the soils subsided eliminating the space for water storage. Overdraft also leads to infrastructure damage from land subsidence, that is when the ground levels drop, plus reduction of surface water, and an increase in water quality problems. That range of concerns brought by overdraft formed the basis of SGMA.</p>Groundwater Sustainability Plans Could Fix Part of the Problem but Are Currently Inadequate.
<p>SGMA passed in 2014 and is the first legislation in California to mandate sustainable management of groundwater resources. SGMA is intended to bring about groundwater sustainability by the year 2040. Local water agencies describe the means to achieve this goal in their Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs). For those interested in the details of SGMA, <a href="https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Groundwater-Management/SGMA-Groundwater-Management" target="_blank">here is a thorough description of it</a>. The focus of this post is on the latest developments.</p><p>The 21 most critically over-drafted groundwater basins submitted their GSPs at the beginning of the year and are now under review by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). External reviews of these plans argue that some of them do not sufficiently address current and future impacts on disadvantaged communities. For example, the Groundwater Leadership Forum (a group of organizations funded by the <a href="https://waterfdn.org/" target="_blank">Water Foundation</a> focused on ensuring the success of SGMA and of which UCS is part) also reviewed several GPSs and found gaps in how drinking water, climate change, stakeholder involvement, managed wetlands, and groundwater-dependent ecosystems were addressed in the plans. The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) reviewed 36 plans submitted for basins overlapping the SJV. They found Kings Basin (surrounding Fresno) stands out for having the highest number of domestic wells that may go dry, about 600 of them, under the proposed water level sustainable thresholds and yet the local groundwater plan considers that an <a href="https://www.ppic.org/blog/will-groundwater-sustainability-plans-end-the-problem-of-dry-drinking-water-wells/" target="_blank">insignificant impact from continued overdraft</a>. This is concerning and unacceptable. Public comments can be consulted in the <a href="https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/all" target="_blank">SGMA portal from DWR</a>.</p><p>I, and many others are concerned that multiple GSPs have questionable integrations of climate change projections. GSPs are considering numerous projects to tackle their local overdraft, yet they are not planning for the uncertain future that climate change is bringing. To reduce some of the vulnerabilities that we see now, GSPs need to integrate climate change and show benefits on the range of future scenarios.</p><p>Another concern is that on May 14, the <a href="http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/FullBudgetSummary.pdf" target="_blank">Governor announced</a> a $40 million cut on funding for SGMA. Part of the money was expected to support 37 new staff positions at DWR to uphold its statutory obligation on reviewing GSPs. While the budget still allocated $26 million of existing Proposition 68 bond funds to help with implementation projects in critically overdraft basin, it is unlikely that DWR will have the capacity to review the GSPs thoroughly. However, the governor's budget did prioritize safe and affordable drinking water and the State Water Board approved <a href="http://californiawaternewsdaily.com/infrastructure/state-water-board-approves-2020-21-funds-to-improve-access-to-healthy-drinking-water/" target="_blank">$130 million for 2020-2021</a> to projects that support such objective on vulnerable communities.</p>Without Bold Action and Preparation, Climate Change Threats May Bring Similar Impacts to Those of COVID-19.
<p>The lack of drinking water causes many residents in the valley to rely on bottled water as their primary source for drinking and cooking. Panic buying at the beginning of the pandemic left stores across the valley without bottled water. In the case of COVID-19, unsafe and unreliable access to water has endangered a multitude of low-income communities by preventing them from performing protective, hygienic acts, handwashing, in particular, and forcing them to go to public water supply kiosks. As we've all learned, hand washing is one of the most necessary measures needed to slow and stop the spread of a virus. Without a correct implementation of groundwater sustainability plans under SGMA, many of these risks will continue.</p><p>Shelter in place orders resulted in people losing their jobs and hence, their source of income and being unable to pay utility services. Small utility services were also impacted because of low economic margins of operations in which small drops in income translate to being unable to provide service. Fortunately, many organizations and individuals wrote a letter to Governor Newsom that prompted him to issue an <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/04/02/governor-newsom-issues-executive-order-protecting-homes-small-businesses-from-water-shutoffs/" target="_blank">executive order</a> protecting homes and small businesses from water shutoffs.</p><p>We now have the opportunity to give meaning to these current hardships by learning from them to prevent hardships from climate change. Climate change is a threat intensifier. In this case, the threat is a virus, and historical inequities and water vulnerabilities increased its impact on the most vulnerable among us. An example of the unpreparedness of the system to support our vulnerabilities during times of crisis is seen in the case of school children who rely on school lunches as their main meal of the day but are now unable to access this resource due to school closures. Some farmworkers, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/us/coronavirus-undocumented-immigrant-farmworkers-agriculture.html" target="_blank">while cataloged as 'essential' by the federal government</a> during this crisis, are undocumented and were not part of the stimulus package. The height of irony is <a href="https://www.kvpr.org/post/covid-19-deepens-food-insecurity-san-joaquin-valley" target="_blank">farmworkers struggled with access to food distribution</a> when they needed it.</p>There Is No Scenario Where Water Is Not Absolutely Necessary to Lessen the Impacts During a Crisis.
<p>One of my <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/cecilia-moura/covid-19-air-pollution-and-health-impacts-an-interview-with-pediatric-pulmonologist-dr-denise-serebrisky" target="_blank">colleagues wrote</a> that moments of crisis often expose the weak points of a system. In the SJV, the weak points of the water system have been exposed for years and won't be strengthened without managing water resources sustainably. This is evidenced by the number of people in the SJV without access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water. Considering that about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/28/california-water-wells-dry-sgma" target="_blank">95% of valley residents</a> depend on groundwater for at least part of their water, it is critical that GSPs explicitly include strategies for addressing some of the current and future water issues in the SJV.</p><p>Numerous, various kinds of climate threats will come, whether they develop as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0804-2" target="_blank">floods, heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, or other climate hazards</a>, we need to be prepared and do everything possible to improve sustainable water management for all. While future climate-change-derived crises most likely will be different than COVID-19, there is no scenario where water is not absolutely necessary to lessen the impacts.</p>
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Young Children May Have Higher Coronavirus Levels, Raising Concerns About Schools Reopening
31 July
Health + Wellness
A group of children eat ice cream in Washington Square Park during the coronavirus pandemic on May 25, 2020 in New York City. Gotham / Getty Images
As the debate about reopening schools continues in the U.S., a new study has found that children under five might have 10 to 100 times more coronavirus in their upper respiratory tracts than adults.
<p>The study, <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2768952" target="_blank">published in JAMA Pediatrics</a> Thursday, does not prove that children are passing on the virus, but does suggest that they could be "important drivers" of community spread. And this raises concerns about what will happen when and if children return to school, the researchers said.</p><p>"The school situation is so complicated — there are many nuances beyond just the scientific one," study leader and Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago pediatric infectious diseases expert Dr. Taylor Heald-Sargent told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/health/coronavirus-children.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "But one takeaway from this is that we can't assume that just because kids aren't getting sick, or very sick, that they don't have the virus."</p>
<p>The assumption that young children are not a driving force behind disease outbreaks is one of the arguments for reopening schools in the fall. </p><p>In recommending in-person schooling, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/reopening-schools.html" target="_blank">said</a> that current data suggests low rates of transmission between school age children or from students to teachers. The study authors acknowledged this, but also said the evidence was limited.</p><p>"Early reports did not find strong evidence of children as major contributors to SARS-CoV-2 spread, but school closures early in pandemic responses thwarted larger-scale investigations of schools as a source of community transmission," they wrote. "As <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> systems look to reopen schools and day cares, understanding transmission potential in children will be important to guide public health measures."</p>
<p>The research was inspired when Dr. Heald-Sargent noticed that children's coronavirus tests were showing up positive after fewer cycles, The New York Times explained. Each cycle picks up more virus, so a low "cycle threshold," or C.T., means more virus in the sample.</p><p>"It wasn't even something we had set out to look for," she told The New York Times.</p><p>So the researchers looked at 145 nasal tests from patients in the Chicago area with mild to moderate symptoms who were tested within one week of falling ill, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200730-young-children-carry-higher-levels-of-coronavirus-study" target="_blank">AFP explained</a>. The tests, conducted between March 23 and April 27, came from three different age brackets. Forty-six were from children under 5, 51 from children aged five to 17 and 48 from adults aged 18 to 65.</p>
<p>Older children and adults had similar median C.T.s, but the median C.T. for younger children was significantly lower, the study found.</p><p>"The observed differences in median CT values between young children and adults approximate a 10-fold to 100-fold greater amount of SARS-CoV-2 in the upper respiratory tract of young children," the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scientists" target="_self">scientists</a> concluded.</p><p>One limitation of the study is that the tests pick up the virus's RNA, not live virus itself. The study authors said that higher levels of virus nucleic acid in children have been shown to correlate with the ability to grow live virus from samples in the lab. However, other scientists said that the study would be more conclusive if the researchers had tested for live virus.</p><p>"I suspect that it probably will translate into meaning that there is more actual virus there as well, but we can't say that without seeing the data," Juliet Morrison, a virologist at the University of California, Riverside who was not involved with the study, told The New York Times.</p>
<p>The study's results are backed up by other research. German scientists found that asymptomatic children still had viral loads as high or higher than adults, and a French study found children without symptoms had similar C.T. values to children who were visibly sick.</p><p>However, it is possible that young children's higher viral load does not translate to higher transmission. A South Korean study found that children aged 10 to 19 spread coronavirus in the home at levels equal to adults, but children under nine did not, according to AFP.</p><p>Still, some external public health experts think the results of the JAMA Pediatrics study should be included in the discussion of reopening schools.</p><p>"Now that we're rolling into the end of July and looking at trying to open up schools the next month, this really needs to be considered," University of Manitoba virologist Jason Kindrachuk,, who was not involved with the research, told The New York times.</p>
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