10:24 AM 7/23/2020: Hamptons home prices skyrocket due to demand from NYC coronavirus fleers
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| Google Alert - coronavirus in new york post: Hamptons home prices skyrocket due to demand from NYC coronavirus fleers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The COVID-19 exodus has driven Hamptons real-estate prices to record ... boom times because a few big-ticket transactions can pull the number up. ... is increased demand from hordes of New Yorkers fleeing the virus epicenter. ... The study counted 1,906 Hamptons properties on the market during this ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Alert - covid rash: Researcher: Covid-19 infection rates 5 times higher in US Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Researcher: Covid-19 infection rates 5 times higher in U.S. Prisons ... prisoners for the disease and recently found its largest rash of infections yet 89 ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Alert - Sars-Cov-2 origins: Italy's earliest coronavirus strains not from China, new study suggests | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
After Milan's researchers analyzing more than 300 blood samples of COVID-19 patients and tracing the origin of the viral strains by changes in their ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Alert - coronavirus in italy: Italy's first coronavirus strains didn't come from China, study suggests | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
... has suggested that the first COVID-19 variants that spread throughout Italy's Lombardy region were not from China. The non-peer-reviewed paper ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8:06 AM 7/23/2020 - Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks: Hypothesis: The pathogens causing the Disease X-19 circulated in the major local epicenters areas for years (10-15) before the first clinical cases were detected and identified. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks - Latest Post ______________________________________________________ Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks | InBrief |
News Review from Michael Novakhov
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| 7:33 AM 7/23/2020 - Hypothesis: The pathogens causing the Disease X-19 circulated in the major local epicenters areas for years (10-15) before the first clinical cases were detected and identified. Besides Sars-Cov-2, they may include, hypothetically, the pathogens of the Hantaviruses Infections, African Swine Fever, and/or other infections, with or without the genomic modifications of these pathogens in a Lab. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 11 mysteries about the coronavirus and COVID-19 we have yet to solve | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In the realm of medicine, what you don't know can indeed kill you.
Six months have passed since China reported the first coronavirus cases to the World Health Organization. But evn now, what experts are still trying to understand sometimes seems to outweigh what they can say for certain.
That is little surprise to any infectious-disease researcher: Highly contagious diseases can move through communities much more quickly than the methodical pace of science can produce vital answers.
What we do know is that the coronavirus seems to have emerged in China as early as mid-November and has now reached 188 countries, infected more than 10.4 million people, and killed around 510,000. Population-level studies using new testing could boost case numbers about 10-fold in the US and perhaps elsewhere as well.
As hospitals around the world care for COVID-19 patients with blood clots, strokes, and long-lasting respiratory failure, scientists are racing to study the coronavirus, spread life-saving information, and combat dangerous misunderstandings.
Here are 11 of the biggest questions surrounding the coronavirus and COVID-19, and why answering each one is critically important.
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| 7:18 AM 7/23/2020 - The Hypothesis of the Disease X-19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19760564/GettyImages_1204248113.jpg) The Hypothesis of the Disease X-19 7:18 AM 7/23/2020 Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks - Latest Post
Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks | InBrief |
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| 6:27 AM 7/23/2020 - Study of Covid-19 in Lombardy, Northern Italy "revealed that a sustained community transmission was ongoing way before the first COVID-19 case found in Lombardy." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Study of Covid-19 in Lombardy, Northern Italy "revealed that a sustained community transmission was ongoing way before the first COVID-19 case found in Lombardy."
6:27 AM 7/23/2020
Hypothesis: The pathogens causing the Disease X-19 circulated in the major local epicenters areas for years (10-15) before the first clinical cases were detected and identified.
Besides Sars-Cov-2, they may include, hypothetically, the pathogens of the Hantaviruses Infections, African Swine Fever, and/or other infections, with or without the genomic modifications of these pathogens in a Lab.
The vectors may include pigs, especially industrially produced, as in the Northern areas of Italy and Spain, and various rodents: rats and mice, including the large water or river rats, such as nutrias or coypus. The unusual and very noticeable proliferation of these rodents, especially the large ones, which appear to be sick, infected, and psychotic, was observed in all mayor cities of the world. Quite often, these infections may occur in humans and animals asymptomatically.
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| Italys earliest coronavirus strains did not arrive from China, study suggests | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The earliest coronavirus strains circulating in Italy did not come directly from China, according to a new study.
Researchers in Milan collected more than 300 blood samples of Covid-19 patients from the Lombardy region between February and April and traced the origin of the viral strains by changes in their genes.
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Italy was the first country in the world that put up a travel restriction barring all flights from China, but the genome sequencing suggested a transmission chain not directly involving China, said the researchers led by Professor Carlo Federico Perno of Milan University in a non-peer-reviewed paper posted on <a href="http://medRxiv.org" rel="nofollow">medRxiv.org</a> on Monday.
Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.
Lombardy had the earliest known outbreak in the West and has accounted for more than a third of the coronavirus cases in Italy. It is Italys richest region with thriving businesses, international transport connections and densely populated urban areas.
Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease Covid-19, was isolated and sequenced by Chinese researchers in early January. It was not until February 20 that the first case of local infection was confirmed by Lombardys health authorities, but sustained community transmission was ongoing way before that date, the researchers said.
Pernos team collected blood samples from 371 patients in 12 provinces across the region. They were randomly chosen from people admitted to hospital with mild, moderate or severe symptoms. About 7 per cent of the samples failed to produce high-quality reading of the virus full genome, but the remainder still provided the largest sample base so far from the Lombardy region.
Hong Kong tops previous daily record of 108 Covid-19 cases: sources
The strains belonged to two separate lineages, each playing a dominant role in some provinces. But they did not contain viral strains isolated in the first months of the outbreak in China, said the paper.
Italy banned travellers from China on January 31, after a Chinese couple tested positive for Covid-19 in Rome. But according to a study by the Italian National Institute of Health last month, the virus had already appeared in sewage water in Milan and Turin in mid-December.
Pernos new study showed that there could have been multiple introductions of the virus to the Lombardy region. These strains formed relatively isolated clusters in separate areas. One possible direction of the source was Central Europe, where strains with similar mutations had been detected, according to the researchers.
Their calculation suggested that these entries may have happened in the second half of January, based on the assumption that the virus was mutating at a relatively constant speed although that may not have been the case.
The Italian study is one of several around the world to have found strains that were not traced to China.
In New York, the viral strains circulating in March did not come from China, which researchers said was unanticipated because government scientists had gone put extra emphasis on collecting samples in Chinese-speaking neighbourhoods.
Rather, the sequence analysis suggests probable introductions of Sars-CoV-2 from Europe, from other US locations and local introductions from within New York, said the official report of the joint research by the citys Department of Health and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, released last Friday.
A study by the Pasteur Institute in Paris in May confirmed that the outbreak in France had no direct link to China. Another study by Russian government scientists identified 67 introductions into their country and found only one that related to a Chinese source.
Some other studies challenged the belief that the pandemic originated in Wuhan, where the virus was first detected in late December.
A research team led by Spains top biologists identified the virus in a waste water sample in Barcelona dated back to March last year. In the Brazilian beach town Florianopolis, drainage samples collected and stored in government research facilities in November later tested positive for the coronavirus.
Benjamin Neuman, professor and chair of biological sciences with the Texas A&M University Texarkana, said that the recent findings could be potentially a really big story but that the data would require more scrutiny.
For example, the viral strains detected in sewage samples should have their genome sequenced to determine their position in the evolutionary tree, he said.
If the sequences are indeed from that early part of the outbreak, it should resemble the earliest sequences from China, possibly with mutations that have not yet been seen, Professor Neuman said.
They should not have some of the mutations that appeared later in other parts of the world, he added.
A government epidemiologist in Beijing, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said tracing the origin of the coronavirus by its genes had limitations.
The copies preserved in poor environments such as waste water were probably compromised and unlikely to produce full genome sequences, they said. It would be difficult to estimate a strains age by mutation because a genetic change appearing later in an international database may not mean it was younger than those sequenced earlier.
A mutation could be in circulation for some time in a remote corner of the world, said the researcher. Can we say that it did not exist until sequencing?
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This article Italys earliest coronavirus strains did not arrive from China, study suggests first appeared on South China Morning Post
For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020.
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| Genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 reveals multiple lineages and early spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Lombardy, Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abstract
From February to April, 2020, Lombardy (Italy) was the area who worldwide registered the highest numbers of SARS-CoV-2 infection. By extensively analyzing 346 whole SARS-CoV-2 genomes, we demonstrated the simultaneous circulation in Lombardy of two major viral lineages, likely derived from multiple introductions, occurring since the second half of January. Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (five of them non-synonymous) characterized the SARS-CoV-2 sequences, none of them affecting N-glycosylation sites. These two lineages, and the presence of two well defined clusters inside Lineage 1, revealed that a sustained community transmission was ongoing way before the first COVID-19 case found in Lombardy.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Funding Statement
This work was financially supported by an unrestricted grant from Cariplo foundation.
Author Declarations
I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.
Yes
The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:
The study protocol was approved by local Research Ethics Committee of the two hospitals (prot. 92-15032020 and P_20200029440). This study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.
All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived.
Yes
I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).
Yes
I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable.
Yes
Data Availability
Corresponding author is Carlo Federico Perno, MD, PhD, University of Milan, email: <a href="mailto:cf.perno@uniroma2.it">cf.perno@uniroma2.it</a>. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Paper in collection COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 preprints from medRxiv and bioRxiv
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| Italys first coronavirus strains didnt come from China, study suggests | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A NEW study has suggested that the first Covid-19 variants that spread throughout Italys Lombardy region were not from China.
The non-peer-reviewed paper published on <a href="http://medRxiv.org" rel="nofollow">medRxiv.org</a> took 371 blood samples of coronavirus patients in Lombardy between February and April and concluded that the Covid-19 strains were ones that had rarely been found in China.
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The findings suggest a transmission chain not directly involving China, as researchers from Milan University wrote in the study.
Researchers found two different strains in Lombardy, but neither contained viral strains isolated in the first months of the outbreak in China suggesting they may have come from Central Europe instead.
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The fired police officer charged with the murder of George Floyd was charged with felony tax crimes on Wednesday.  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vessel AMERICAN TRIUMPH (Trawler) IMO 7738412, MMSI 366047000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 10:51 AM 7/22/2020 - "American Triumph" - A Telling (teasing) Name? I noticed a string of them lately, attached to the clusters of Covid-19. Are these the (Russian Mafia) communications? - M.N. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10:51 AM 7/22/2020 - "American Triumph" - A Telling (teasing) Name? I noticed a string of them lately, attached to the clusters of Covid-19. Are these the (Russian Mafia) communications? - M.N. Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks - Latest Post Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases. Now it's headed for Seward. - Alaska Public Media | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10:51 AM 7/22/2020 - "American Triumph" - A Telling (teasing) Name? I noticed a string of them lately, attached to the clusters of Covid-19. Are these the (Russian Mafia) communications? - M.N. Covid-19-Review: covid-19-review.blogspot.com/2020/07/1051-a | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10:51 AM 7/22/2020 - "American Triumph" - A Telling (teasing) Name? I noticed a string of them lately, attached to the clusters of Covid-19. Are these the (Russian Mafia) communications? - M.N.
Covid-19-Review:
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| The fact that American Seafoods had put those stricter rules into place makes the source of the new outbreak somewhat of a mystery. A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases. Now its headed for Seward. alaskapublic.org/2020/07/19/a-f via @AKPublicNews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The fact that American Seafoods had put those stricter rules into place makes the source of the new outbreak somewhat of a mystery.
A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases. Now its headed for Seward. alaskapublic.org/2020/07/19/a-f via @AKPublicNews
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| FOX News: Bob Just: As Antifa, other radicals rail against police, here's an apology to men and women in blue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Theres never an excuse for betraying almost a million police officers for the actions of a few and certainly not for the action of one.   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FOX News: Doctor reinfected with COVID-19 three months after recovering | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A doctor in Israel has reportedly been reinfected with COVID-19 three months after her first bout with the coronavirus.   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday threatened to take the Trump administration to court, should they send federal officers to the city amid violence and unrest in recent weeks.  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: Rallies In Khabarovsk Continue As Protesters Demand Putin's Resignation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hundreds of supporters of the arrested ex-governor of Russia's Far Eastern Khabarovsk Krai region, Sergei Furgal, have rallied for a 12th day.  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases. Now it's headed for Seward. - Alaska Public Media | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
More than two-thirds of the crew of a huge factory fishing vessel docked in the Aleutian fishing port of Dutch Harbor has tested positive for COVID-19, local authorities announced Sunday.
The 85 cases are on board the American Triumph, owned by Seattle-based American Seafoods one of the biggest players in the billion-dollar Bering Sea pollock fishery.
RELATED: COVID-19 outbreaks among seafood workers help push Alaskas one-day case count to new record high
The Triumph arrived in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor on Thursday, with seven crew members reporting symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
All seven were tested for the virus upon arrival, and six of those tests came back positive, officials announced Friday. That prompted staff from Unalaskas clinic, Iliuliuk Family and Health Services, to test the remaining 112 crew.
All crew members were restricted to either the vessel or their isolation locations while in Unalaska, city officials said.
Chartered planes are in the process of flying the 34 crew members who tested negative for the virus from Unalaska to Anchorage to begin a period of quarantine and symptom monitoring, said City Manager Erin Reinders.
Those who tested positive are receiving further medical screening from clinic staff.
The American Triumph, and its crew members who tested positive, are scheduled to depart Unalaska late Sunday or early Monday with American Seafoods medical support personnel on board. Theyre scheduled to sail to Seward and arrive by Wednesday, when crew members will be moved directly to an isolation location in Anchorage for further care and monitoring.
American Seafoods has brought in an additional paramedic to assist and monitor crew members during the sailing, and the vessel plans to hug the coast on its sailing to make it easier to evacuate sick people should that become necessary, said Melanee Tiura, chief executive of Unalaskas clinic.
All of that has been well thought out, Tirua said. There are exit strategies if that additional level of care is needed.
Clinic personnel are still assessing whether any of the crew members who tested positive are too sick to travel and if any of the sick individuals may need to stay in Unalaska.
Unalaska is the largest community in Alaska without a critical-access hospital, and the nearest emergency room is almost 1,000 miles away, in Anchorage. Unalaskas clinic is the only healthcare facility on the island, with one part-time and four full-time providers living in the community, and four part-time providers that provide additional coverage as needed.
They serve anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 year-round residents and seasonal workers. Tiura said testing 119 people from the factory trawler took a toll on the healthcare resources of the island, but she added that Unalaska still has plenty of COVID-19 testing supplies at this time.
Were a small facility, Tiura said. Our team was all hands on deck for the last couple of days. Its certainly something we can recover from, and our team is in very good spirits. Theyve done an excellent job, as always.
Reinders said the island and clinic are prepared and moving forward, and Unalaskas Unified Command a COVID-19 response team made up of healthcare officials, seafood industry and school district representatives, social service agencies, and the Qawalangin Tribe has planned for similar situations.
Weve got the relationships in place and plans in place, Reinders said. Weve talked about this kind of thing before, and I think we have learned from our past experiences. I think were able to respond quite well to the situation. Obviously, we hope it doesnt repeat itself, but weve got a good team.
The American Triumph had been at sea since June 27, fishing both offshore from Washington and Oregon and then moving to Alaska to fish for pollock.
The seafood company runs six vessels that fish for pollock, hake and sole in both the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. It generated concern among Alaskans last month, after it announced more than 100 crew members on three of its vessels had tested positive for the virus in Washington, ahead of the summer fishing season in Alaska.
At the time, experts questioned the companys decision to mandate a more liberal five-day quarantine period, rather than the 14 days required for fishing companies operating in Alaska. No other companies that operate large Bering Sea factory processing vessels have confirmed cases of the virus among their crews let alone an outbreak.
American Seafoods subsequently said it had extended its quarantine period to two weeks. Now, before boarding, all new crew members had to undergo a series of testing and screening procedures, including two nasal swab PCR tests and the longer quarantine period, according to the company.
The fact that American Seafoods had put those stricter rules into place makes the source of the new outbreak somewhat of a mystery.
I cant speak at this point (about) anything specific that was done wrong, said Tiura, the clinic executive We know this is a very infectious agent, it can be difficult to detect, someone can be completely asymptomatic, can test negative, and then still develop the virus days later. So, in a large vessel like this, the ability for it to spread is significant.
Reinders said Unalaska is not concerned about community spread at this time, and will not be increasing its assessment of the local risk level, which is currently set at medium. She said all cases are related to the American Seafoods vessel and that everyone was kept isolated.
I think this does remind us all that this is an active pandemic that we are all currently experiencing and so, each of those individual choices that we make day in and day out, they really do make a difference, she said. And so, please remain diligent in your efforts.
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| A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases. Now it's headed for Seward. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
American Seafoods had more than 100 COVID-19 cases on its ships. ... a COVID-19 response team made up of healthcare officials, seafood industry and ... have confirmed cases of the virus among their crewslet alone an outbreak. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| JBS installs "ultraviolet germicidal" ventilation to combat Covid-19 in slaughterhouses MercoPress | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
One of the world's largest meatpackers said they have installed ultraviolet air cleaning equipment in some US plants, as pressure mounts on food companies to protect workers amid growing concerns about airborne transmission of the coronavirus.
JBS USA, owned by Brazil's JBS SA and one of four major US beef processors, said it installed ultraviolet germicidal air sanitation equipment in plant ventilation and air purification systems that use a specific frequency range of light waves to kill germs.
Tyson Foods, which produces beef, pork and chicken, said it is doing extensive research on air flow and testing ultraviolet air treatment systems across several plants.
It is not known whether such technologies kill the new coronavirus.
The moves underscore the mounting pressure to protect workers in the U.S. meat industry, which has seen more than 16,000 plant employees in 23 states infected with COVID-19 and 86 worker deaths related to the respiratory disease.
Plant employees and their families have said processors like JBS and Tyson Foods told sick workers to show up at plants, and moved too slowly to protect them with social distancing and equipment like masks.
As worker infections grew, so have meatpackers' legal problems. In one case, the family of a Pennsylvania man who died from COVID-19 sued JBS USA parent company JBS SA for failing to protect him at the meat plant where he worked.
Low temperatures, which generally allow viruses to survive in the air longer, and crowded working conditions have made meatpacking plants global coronavirus hotspots.
In Germany, a COVID-19 outbreak forced meatpacking plants to review infection risks posed by their cooling systems. One meatpacker had to install high-efficiency HEPA filters typically used in hospitals before being allowed to reopen on Friday.
The World Health Organization last week acknowledged evidence emerging of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended meat companies consider consulting engineers to ensure adequate ventilation in work areas, but has not required changes to air systems.
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| German abattoir scandal puts cooling systems under COVID spotlight - Reuters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
July 17, 2020 / 8:36 AM / 2 days ago
German abattoir scandal puts cooling systems under COVID spotlight
(This July 17 story corrects to show company name in 15th paragraph is Howatherm not Howarth)
By Caroline Copley
BERLIN (Reuters) - A COVID-19 outbreak in Germany is forcing meatpacking plants to review infection risks posed by their cooling systems, placing the industry at the sharp end of growing global concerns over airborne transmission of the coronavirus.
Toennies, a slaughterhouse and meat producer, shut down one of its plants in western Germany in June after more than 1,500 workers were found to be infected with the virus.
It had to install high-efficiency HEPA filters typically used in hospitals and on airplanes before being allowed to reopen on Friday.
It now plans to retrofit its other sites. We anticipate that the authorities will issue this as a requirement for the entire industry, a spokesman said.
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Low temperatures, which generally allow viruses to survive in the air longer, and crowded working conditions have made meatpacking plants global coronavirus hotspots.
To keep temperatures between 6 and 10 degrees Celsius (43-50°F), ventilation systems draw the air out of the meatpacking halls and cool it before pumping it back in, increasing the risk of spreading virus-laden droplets.
The World Health Organization last week issued new guidelines on the airborne transmission of the virus, with its technical lead on the pandemic saying droplets appeared to be the most common infection route.
The EUs public health body is assessing risks posed by workplace ventilation systems, while Germanys Agriculture Minister has also asked other industries that operate in low temperatures, like dairies and fish processing, to carry out assessments.
There are nearly 1,500 meat production plants in Germany, according to the Federal Statistics Office.
The countrys meat industry association said other companies were testing out ventilation filters, but not enough was known about their effectiveness in preventing the spread of COVID-19 to recommend upgrades.
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The fish industry association said risks were lower than for the meat industry because its plants operated with fewer people and at higher temperatures.
COSTLY UPGRADES
Before it could reopen, Toennies also had to install ultraviolet (UV) irradiation systems in parts of the plant where pig meat is processed.
A UV lamp that kills germs with radiation can cost a few thousand euros while upgrading a meatpacking hall could amount to a five-figure sum, said Christian Rueth, marketing and sales head at UV air disinfection systems maker Heraeus Noblelight GmbH.
The company has seen enquiries more than double since the Toennies outbreak, in particular from companies in the meat, fish, frozen fruit and vegetable and milk sectors.
Low temperatures can reduce the performance of UV radiation, meaning plants would have to install more powerful lamps, said Christoph Kaup, CEO of ventilation equipment maker Howatherm. His firm has also seen rising enquiries, including from offices and sports halls.
HEPA filters are cheaper but have higher maintenance and repair costs as they tend to clog up quickly with dust, he said.
Martin Exner, a public health expert at the University of Bonn who identified Toennies ventilation system as a possible virus-spreader, said companies that used air circulation systems to cool the air were in special focus and must come up with new hygiene plans.
It remained to be seen if such ventilation systems could pose a problem beyond industry, for example in cinemas or offices.
But if people were crowded together in rooms where the air was being recycled, the topic needed consideration, he said.
Reporting by Caroline Copley; editing by John Stonestreet
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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