Veteran actor Deepti Naval opens up about fighting depression, suicidal thoughts

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Veteran actor Deepti Naval opens up about fighting depression, suicidal thoughts

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Veteran actor Deepti Naval opens up about fighting depression, suicidal thoughts

In the wake of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, veteran actor Deepti Naval has opened up about her struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts in the early ‘90s. Nawal shared a poem that she wrote during her struggle with depression on her Facebook page after paying tributes to Rajput, who was found hanging in his Bandra apartment on Sunday at the age of 34. According to a police official, Mumbai Police found out during the probe that the actor was under medication for depression

“Dark days these. So much has been happening – mind has come to a point of stillness. Or rather numbness. Today I feel like sharing a poem I wrote back in the years when I was fighting depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts – Yes, fighting. and like how,” Naval wrote.

The 68-year-old actor made her debut with Shyam Benegal’s 1978 “Junoon” and went on to feature in films like “Chashme Buddoor”, “Ankahee”, “Mirch Masala”, “Saath Saath” among others in the 80s.

Naval’s poem, titled “Black Wind”, begins by describing how anxiety engulfs a person.

“Anxiety grips me with both hands, spiked claws dig deep into my soul I gasp for breath and stagger around sharp corners of my single bed.” In the poem, Naval talks about fighting suicidal thoughts and depression, describing it as a “ghoulish lust” she won’t succumb to.

“The telephone rings. no, it stops. God damn! Why don’t anyone speak? A voice, Just a human voice In this shameless, pitiless Abyss of the night – gloom deepens into darkness, turns purple I feel dark inside.” The actor ends by writing that she will survive the night, its “deathly design” and fight.

“The world’s a snake pit, so let it be! I dare the devil to get the better of me! Deepti Naval, Night of July 28, 1991.”

In an interview with PTI last year, Naval had mentioned how acting assignments started to thin in the late 90s and as a “serious actor” it was “devastating” to be ignored.

 

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Laura Ingraham Calls Fauci ‘Medical Deep State,’ Tells Trump To Ignore Rally Virus Warnings

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Laura Ingraham Calls Fauci ‘Medical Deep State,’ Tells Trump To Ignore Rally Virus Warnings

Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Monday disparagingly referred to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, as “the medical deep state.”

The host of “The Ingraham Angle” also urged President Donald Trump’s campaign to ignore the “alarmist COVID drivel” ahead of his planned indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Public health officials have warned Saturday’s event at the 19,000-capacity BOK Center could prove catastrophic in spreading the virus that has now killed more than 118,000 people nationwide. But Ingraham, a staunch defender of Trump, argued the warnings were bunk.

She mocked Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House coronavirus task force, for an interview with Britain’s Daily Telegraph in which he warned that “we could get back to some degree of normality within a year or so, but I don’t think it’s this winter or fall.”

“The medical deep state strikes again,” Ingraham quipped, slamming “the science” that “has deemed it OK, essential, actually, to pack together outdoors in large crowds to protest in the name of liberal political causes” but “considers it unacceptably dangerous to attend large indoor gatherings.”

“I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that these super-spreader events happen to exactly match the campaign rally that Trump had planned over the weekend,” she said.

“The president and his campaign should simply not react to any of this alarmist COVID drivel from here on out,” continued Ingraham. “None of these people, sadly including Dr. Fauci, can be really taken all that seriously anymore given what we’ve seen, because science, just like journalism and entertainment, has become obscenely politicized.”

“Now why did none of these people wailing about the health hazards of Trump’s future rallies voice any real sustained concern about the shoulder to shoulder protesters screaming at the top of their lungs, some not wearing masks, some taking them on and off, carrying BLM, antifa, or nasty anti-Trump signs, no worries,” she added.

Ingraham seemed not to have noticed that political leaders, public health experts and physicians have repeatedly warned that the protests could cause surges in coronavirus infections. 

Check out the segment here:

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Protest live updates: Seattle bans police from using tear gas, pepper spray; Donald Trump to sign order limiting use of deadly force

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Protest live updates: Seattle bans police from using tear gas, pepper spray; Donald Trump to sign order limiting use of deadly force

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Oluwatoyin Salau, Victoria Sims found dead: What we know

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President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Tuesday that will encourage police departments in the U.S. to “meet the most current professional standards for the use of force.”

Amid calls for police reform across the nation, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to ban police from using tear gas and pepper spray. The vote comes after officers defied Mayor Jenny Durkan’s promise to not use tear gas on protesters in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Also Monday night, three New York Police Department officers were hospitalized after complaining of not feeling well after drinking shakes from a Manhattan restaurant, with the NYPD’s labor union claiming that the officers were “intentionally poisoned.”

A closer look at some recent developments: 

  • The Seattle City Council voted unanimously to ban police from using tear gas and pepper spray.
  • A hospital in California’s capital city of Sacramento removed a statue of John Sutter, who enslaved Native Americans, from outside its building.
  • Nineteen Atlanta officers resigned this week amid ongoing unrest in the city.
  • While fighting back tears in a press conference in Atlanta, Rayshard Brooks’ widow Tomika Miller said: “There’s no justice that can ever make me feel happy about what has been done.”

Our live blog will be updated throughout the day. For first-in-the-morning updates, sign up for The Daily Briefing.

3 NYPD officers hospitalized after drinking shakes from Shake Shack

The New York Police Department is investigating whether three of its officers were poisoned after drinking milkshakes on Monday night at a Shake Shack restaurant in Manhattan.

The officers complained of “not feeling well” before being hospitalized and later released, the NYPD said in a statement to USA TODAY, and Shake Shack said via Twitter that it was “horrified” and working with police.

The Detectives’ Endowment Association, the labor union that represents 20,000 active and retired New York City Detectives, condemned the incident as an attack on police, claiming on Twitter that the officers were “intentionally poisoned by one or more workers.”

Seattle City Council votes to ban police from using tear gas, pepper spray

The Seattle City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to ban police from using tear gas, pepper spray and several other crowd control devices after officers repeatedly used them on mostly peaceful demonstrators protesting against racism and police brutality.

The 9-0 vote came amid frustration with the Seattle Police Department, which used tear gas to disperse protesters in the city’s densest neighborhood, Capitol Hill, just days after Mayor Jenny Durkan and Chief Carmen Best promised not to.

The council heard repeated complaints from residents forced out of their homes by the gas even though they weren’t protesting; one resident said his wife doused their child’s eyes with breast milk.

A federal judge on Friday issued a temporary order banning Seattle police from using tear gas, pepper spray, foam-tipped projectiles or other force against protesters, finding that the department had used less-lethal weapons “disproportionately and without provocation,” chilling free speech in the process.

California hospital removes John Sutter statue from outside its building

Amid calls to remove controversial historic monuments nationwide, a hospital in California’s state capital removed a statue of John Sutter sitting outside of its building on Monday, KCRA reported.

Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento removed the statue “out of respect for some community members’ viewpoints,” according to a statement.

“There are important conversations happening across the country about the appropriate representation of statues and monuments, and we look forward to listening to and participating in future conversations about how our own community may display artwork from the different communities and individuals that have played important roles in Sacramento’s history,” the statement read.

Sutter was a Swiss-German who enslaved Native Americans and built the Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park in 1841, which is directly across the street from the hospital.

Donald Trump to sign order to encourage police to limit deadly force

Under political pressure over protests against police brutality, President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Tuesday that encourages law enforcement agencies to adopt high standards for the use of deadly force.

“We want law and order and we want it done fairly, justly, and we want it done safely,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday, declining to provide details ahead of a formal signing ceremony.

Trump and his staff developed the executive order amid protests in cities nationwide in response to a series of police killings, particularly last month’s death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The White House was itself the scene of protests in the week following Floyd’s death. The order comes down as Trump, down in pre-election polls to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, faces criticism over his handling of nationwide protests over Floyd’s death.

– David Jackson

19 Atlanta officers resign as morale falls after Rayshard Brooks shooting

Nineteen Atlanta Police officers have resigned in the last week amid unrest in the city following the tasing of two college students by APD officers, and most recently the killing of Rayshard Brooks. 

Police Chief Erika Shields also stepped down after the shooting of Brooks, who was stopped Friday night at a Wendy’s due to suspicion of drunk driving.

Prior to the announcement of the resignations, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced reforms to the police department by limiting the use of force through executive orders.

“The morale is bad right now,” the mayor said, according to Fox 5 in Atlanta. “My understanding is it is really bad.”

– Autumn Schoolman

California authorities will further review hanging death of Robert Fuller

Los Angeles County officials acknowledged Monday that community pressure and voices nationwide against racial inequality prompted them to take another look at the circumstances surrounding the death of Robert Fuller, a Black man found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, California.

The authorities initially indicated the death of Fuller, 24, appeared to be a suicide. Fuller’s family has challenged that contention, and hundreds of protesters turned out Saturday for a march starting at the park where his body was discovered June 10, across the street from City Hall.

As of Monday afternoon, more than 260,000 people had signed an online petition demanding a full investigation. At a Monday news conference, L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the civil rights division of the FBI would monitor the Fuller investigation in an effort to make sure “that we leave no rock unturned.”

– Jorge L. Ortiz and Lorenzo Reyes

Brooks’ widow, Tomika Miller: ‘Long time before this family heals’

While speaking at a press conference alongside several other family members and family attorney L. Chris Stewart, Tomika Miller, Brooks’ widow, fought back tears and thanked the Atlanta community for an outpouring of support over the weekend.

“There’s no justice that can ever make me feel happy about what has been done,” Miller said. “I can never get my husband back. I can never get my best friend. I can never tell my daughter: ‘Oh, he’s coming to take you skating,’ or for swimming lessons. It’s just going to be a long time before I heal. It’s going to be a long time before this family heals.”

Miller asked protesters to remain peaceful during demonstrations “because we want to keep his name positive and great.”

Stewart said that another customer who was at the Wendy’s drive-thru sent him an image of a stray bullet hole that struck the customer’s car when the Atlanta police officer fired at Brooks. 

“There could have been more casualties,” Stewart said. “That’s what happens when you fire in a crowded parking lot.”

Stewart also thanked actor and comedian Tyler Perry for his offer to pay for Brooks’ funeral services.

Breonna Taylor’s legacy could be an end to no-knock warrants

Louisville’s ban on no-knock search warrants, the kind used in the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, may be the start of something bigger. State Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville, said she expects to prefile within the next week a bill to ban no-knock warrants in Kentucky. And U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has already said is filing a bill he’s calling the “Justice for Breonna Taylor Act” that effectively would end no-knock warrants in the U.S.

Police investigating a drug case obtained a warrant with a no-knock provision for Taylor’s apartment, though officials have said that officers knocked before crashing through the door. Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker has said he did not hear anyone announce that they were police, and fired at what he thought were intruders. Taylor was killed in the ensuing gunfight. No drugs were found.

– Matt Mencarini, Louisville Courier Journal

More on protests:

Contributing: The Associated Press

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NI unemployment more than doubles in two months

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NI unemployment more than doubles in two months

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Unemployment in Northern Ireland has more than doubled in two months, official figures suggest.

They show that claimant count unemployment increased from 29,700 in March to to 65,200 in May.

Claimant count includes Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants and those people on Universal Credit who were claiming principally for the reason of being unemployed.

The figures are from the NI Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).

The increase of 5,700 from April to May was less dramatic than the jump of almost 30,000 from March to April.

The claimant count is now above its most recent peak in February 2013 when it hit 64,800.

Nisra estimates that the claimant count unemployment rate is now 7%.

The other, preferred, method of measuring the unemployment rate is the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

However, the current survey results only cover the early period from of the coronavirus lockdown.

The figures also suggest that more firms are planning to make redundancies.

Just under 350 redundancies were proposed in May, but more than 1,400 were proposed in the first two weeks of June.

Across the UK, the number of workers on payrolls fell by more than 600,000, according to the Office for National Statistics.

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EU grants €38 million for protection of #CriticalInfrastructure against #CyberThreats

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EU grants €38 million for protection of #CriticalInfrastructure against #CyberThreats

The Commission has announced that it is committing more than €38 million, through Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation programme, to support several innovative projects in the field of protection of critical infrastructure against cyber and physical threats and making cities smarter and safer.

Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Commissioner Mariya Gabriel said: “Over the past years we have offered our support to research and innovation actions in the area of cybersecurity that contribute to better protecting key infrastructure and the people living in European smart cities. I am pleased that today we are able to offer yet another significant amount of funding through Horizon 2020 towards security, privacy and threat mitigating solutions.”

Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton added: “Securing network and information systems and enhancing cyber resilience are key for shaping Europe’s digital future. As we are faced with a diverse array of cybersecurity threats, the EU is taking concrete measures to protect critical infrastructures, cities and citizens. More investments at EU and national level in innovative cybersecurity technologies and solutions are of paramount importance to strengthen EU’s resilience to cyberattacks.”

Three projects (SAFETY4RAILS, 7SHIELDand ENSURESEC) will work to improve prevention, detection, response and mitigation of cyber and physical threatsfor metro and railway networks, ground space infrastructure and satellites, as well as e-commerce and delivery services. Two additional projects (IMPETUS and S4ALLCITIES) aim at enhancing the resilience of cities’ infrastructures and services and protecting citizens in case of security incidents in public spaces. The projects are expected to start between June and October 2020 and will run for two years. The support is part of the EU’s commitment to build a strong cybersecurity culture and enhanced capabilities to resist and respond effectively to potential cyber threats and attacks.

More information on the EU’s actions to strengthen cybersecurity capacities is available in these Q&A, while EU-funded cybersecurity projects can be found here, and new funding opportunities under Horizon 2020 here.

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As Meat Plants Stayed Open to Feed Americans, Exports to China Surged

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As Meat Plants Stayed Open to Feed Americans, Exports to China Surged

Smithfield Foods was the first company to warn in April that the coronavirus pandemic was pushing the United States “perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply.” Tyson Foods also sounded the alarm, saying that “millions of pounds of meat will disappear” from the nation’s supply chain as plants were being forced to close because of outbreaks.

That same month, Smithfield sent China 9,170 tons of pork, one of its highest monthly export totals to that market in the past three years. Tyson exported 1,289 tons of pork to China, the most since January 2017.

In all, a record amount of the pork produced in the United States — 129,000 tons — was exported to China in April.

The data compiled by Panjiva, the supply chain research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, and the Department of Agriculture is potentially embarrassing for an industry that trumpeted its role in feeding the American public to argue to keep plants operating during the pandemic. Although some meat companies say much of their exported pork was produced before the outbreak, even previously processed meat could have stocked shelves in April and May.

After slaughterhouses in several states were closed when thousands of workers tested positive and dozens died, the industry publicly lobbied the Trump administration to intervene with state and local officials or risk major meat shortages across American grocery stores. Indeed, some retailers put limits on the amount of meat customers could buy, and the fast-food chain Wendy’s, at one point, ran low on hamburger.

But the meatpackers, including Smithfield, which China’s largest pork producer bought in 2013, did not emphasize, at least not publicly, that keeping the plants open would also protect their long-term investments in exporting to a country that is vital to their growth.

Analysts say the meat shortages have subsided, with most plants having reopened, though many are still operating at slower speeds. As some meat companies continue to test their workers, they are still discovering positive cases. So far, 25,523 meatpacking workers have tested positive and 89 have died, according to the Food & Environment Reporting Network, which has been tracking the outbreak.

After decades of relatively stagnant pork consumption in the United States and a recent thaw in the trade war with China, this was the year that the pork exports were set to take off.

“The meat companies were saying the sky was falling, and it really wasn’t,” said Tony Corbo, a senior lobbyist at Food & Water Watch, a consumer and environmental watchdog group. “It wasn’t that there was not enough supply. It was that the supply was being sent abroad.”

The industry stands by its warnings about shortages and the need to keep the plants operating.

“As long as our nation’s harvest facilities continue to operate, not only do we have enough meat to feed Americans, but also to feed the world,” Smithfield said in a statement.

Smithfield said the meat it exported in April “was actually ordered and processed in the months prior to Covid-19.”

The company added that “much of what is exported are items that attract little or no interest from domestic consumers,” such as the pigs’ feet, snouts and tails, and that exports had declined as production slowed amid the pandemic.

Tyson said pork exports to China had amounted to about 3 percent of its total production since October. “In recent months, we’ve prioritized supplying meat to the U.S. domestic market and have voluntarily curtailed shipping those pork export items that are also used by domestic consumers to try to meet U.S. demand,” the company added.

Before the pandemic took hold, the U.S. pork industry had been undergoing a major expansion. Large new slaughterhouses across the Midwest contributed to a 12 percent increase in pork processing between 2017 and 2019, federal government figures show. Farmers also enlarged their herds and even invested in building giant packing plants to process their pigs.

In 2017, a venture involving five large Midwestern pig farmers built a nearly one-million-square-foot, $335 million pork plant in Sioux City, Iowa, which started processing three million pigs a year. A year later, the company, Seaboard Triumph, added a second shift, doubling its annual output to six million pigs. To fully staff the plant, Seaboard Triumph recruited workers from as far as Micronesia.

All of this expansion was taking place even though pork consumption in the United States has stayed relatively flat since the early 1980s. China, which consumes half the world’s pork, has long loomed as a big opportunity for American meat companies.

“We are talking record pork production last year and the year before that,” said Dennis Smith, a livestock analyst at Archer Financial Services. “The producers need exports.”

When China’s largest pork producer, W.H. Group, bought Smithfield, critics worried that the deal gave a Chinese company too much control over the American pork supply.

Some U.S. officials wanted to block the deal with W.H. But the $4.7 billion deal eventually went through.

Until recently, China had been largely self-sufficient in pork. That changed after African swine fever started decimating its pig population in 2018.

The trade war between the United States and China slowed pork exports. But by this winter, many of the tariffs had been reduced, and the American industry’s big bet on exports “started looking really smart,” Mr. Smith said.

The pork that is sent to China is often more profitable. In some cases, Chinese buyers import large portions of the pig carcasses, which require less labor to process and result in a higher margin for the meatpackers.

China had also started to shape how American pigs are raised. Recently, large producers like Tyson said they would no longer process pigs that were fed ractopamine, a feed additive that allows them to gain muscle while eating less grain. Most pigs in the United States had been raised on the drug, but China bans it.

  • Updated June 12, 2020

    • Does asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 happen?

      So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,” but she later walked back that statement.

    • What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?

      Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

    • How does blood type influence coronavirus?

      A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.

    • How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?

      The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.

    • Will protests set off a second viral wave of coronavirus?

      Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.

    • How do we start exercising again without hurting ourselves after months of lockdown?

      Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid,” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “When you haven’t been exercising, you lose muscle mass.” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.

    • My state is reopening. Is it safe to go out?

      States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’t being told to stay at home, it’s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.

    • What are the symptoms of coronavirus?

      Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

    • How can I protect myself while flying?

      If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

    • Should I wear a mask?

      The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.

    • What should I do if I feel sick?

      If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

Pork producers typically send 25 to 27 percent of their meat overseas, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation. But that number jumped to 32 percent in the first four months of this year, driven by demand from China.

Last week, the Department of Agriculture reported that total pork exports to mainland China in April reached their highest monthly total since the agency began keeping track 20 years ago. Overall pork exports increased 22 percent from the previous April, to 291,000 tons, though that was down from March.

While the companies emphasize that exports to China include feet, tails and other parts most American don’t eat, about 40 percent of the April exports were whole carcasses. Some analysts believe those totals could be even larger. Meatpackers are notoriously secretive, and it’s unclear how many of the nation’s plants are designed to ship carcasses to China.

“Some of the plants would be companies that maybe own five or six pork plants, and they said in one of our small plants, we’re just going to do carcasses for China,” said Brett Stuart, the president of the consulting firm Global AgriTrends. “I don’t think any of them have really reported what they’ve done.”

Government data on exports is also incomplete. After the meat executives warned of shortages, Mr. Corbo of Food & Water Watch filed public-records requests asking the Department of Agriculture for a list of all “exports certificates” detailing meat exports from each company. The federal agency declined to release the amount or type of meat included in each shipment without the companies’ permission, he said.

Smithfield has been sensitive about its connections to China for years. On its website, the company points out that it is owned by an entity with shares that trade on the Hong Kong stock exchange and that all of its top executives are American.

In late November, Reuters reported that the pork plant in Smithfield, Va., the company’s hometown, was shifting production to meet Chinese demand. Workers described how they had shifted their focus away from American products and were now focused on slaughtering and slicing pig carcasses into thirds for shipments to China.

In late April, President Trump announced an executive order keeping meat plants open, and a few days later Smithfield issued a news release saying it would “immediately begin the process of retooling” its hometown plant. The company said the plant would process pork exclusively for American consumers.

In its statement, Smithfield said it was making the changes to the plant “to meet demand for fresh pork, bacon and the company’s iconic Genuine Smithfield Ham” from U.S. consumers.

But there may be other considerations for the move. “I think it’s on their radar that exports could fester into a P.R. problem,” said Mr. Smith, the livestock analyst.

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About 1 in 15 Parents ‘Hesitant’ About Child Vaccines: Survey

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About 1 in 15 Parents ‘Hesitant’ About Child Vaccines: Survey

MONDAY, June 15, 2020 (HealthDay News) — One-quarter of U.S. parents are hesitant about seasonal flu shots for their kids, and roughly 1 in 15 feel the same way about routine childhood vaccinations, a nationwide study finds.

The issue has gained added urgency this year, as fears around coronavirus keep many parents from bringing their kids to the doctor — including routine vaccinations.

Twelve percent of the nearly 2,200 parents surveyed were strongly concerned about potential side effects of both flu shots and routine childhood immunizations, while 27% had lesser concerns.

And while 7 out of 10 strongly agreed that routine vaccinations were effective, only 26% felt the same way about flu shots.

“The fact that one in eight parents are still concerned about vaccine safety for both childhood and influenza vaccinations is discouraging,” said lead author Dr. Allison Kempe, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora.

Adults with less than a bachelor’s degree were more skeptical of vaccinations. While race and ethnicity didn’t play a major role in attitudes, Hispanic parents were less hesitant about flu shots than white parents, the survey found.

The results were published June 15 in the journal Pediatrics.

Kempe said hesitancy about flu shots centers on doubts about effectiveness.

She pointed out that while flu vaccination isn’t 100% effective in preventing the flu, even when it is not a good match for the strains circulating in the population, it reduces severity of the illness.

In 2018-19, just under 6 in 10 American children were vaccinated against influenza. That rate affects everyone, Kempe said.

“Low vaccination rates among children for influenza vaccine makes influenza seasons more severe for all portions of the population, since children are a major conduit of the disease to vulnerable parts of the population such as the elderly,” she said in a university news release.

Flu kills between 10,000 and 60,000 Americans a year.

Learning more about parents’ reasons for vaccine hesitancy could help reduce those numbers, according to Kempe.

— Robert Preidt

MedicalNews
Copyright © 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.





QUESTION


The abbreviated term ADHD denotes the condition commonly known as:
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SOURCE: University of Colorado, news release, June 15, 2020



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Most Asymptomatic Coronavirus Cases Stay That Way, Cruise Ship Data Shows

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Most Asymptomatic Coronavirus Cases Stay That Way, Cruise Ship Data Shows

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 12, 2020 (HealthDay News) — There’s been a lot of talk recently about the transmission dangers posed by people who are infected by the new coronavirus but show no symptoms.

Are many of these “asymptomatic” carriers simply in a stage of infection that later moves on to symptomatic COVID-19?

No, suggests a small, new study of cruise ship passengers and crew.

Japanese researchers were able to track outcomes for 96 coronavirus-infected passengers and crew aboard the cruise ship Diamond Princess, which made headlines recently.

“In this cohort, the majority of asymptomatic infected persons remained asymptomatic throughout the course of their infection,” a team led by Dr. Yohei Doi, of Fujita Health University in Japan, reported June 12 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The plight of the 700 passengers aboard the Diamond Princess grabbed the world’s attention in February as coronavirus spread through the vessel while it was docked in Japan.

As Doi and his colleagues reported, 96 passengers who tested positive for coronavirus infection but had no symptoms, plus 32 of their cabin mates who tested negative, were transferred for observation and isolation to a hospital in central Japan.

This allowed doctors the unique opportunity of tracking changes in the patients’ symptom status over time.

Among the 96 passengers who at first tested positive for coronavirus but showed no symptoms, only 11 — about 11% — went on to show any symptoms over the course of their infection, the Japanese team said.

That meant that those 11 patients “had been presymptomatic, rather than asymptomatic” for COVID-19, the researchers explained.

That’s significant, due to controversy emerging earlier this week when the World Health Organization retracted a statement made by one of its officials that asymptomatic transmission of coronavirus “appears to be rare.”

The WHO quickly walked back from that statement, saying there simply isn’t enough data to know right now how infectious asymptomatic carriers are.

Speaking with ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said current evidence suggests that anywhere from 25% to 45% of people infected with coronavirus will never show symptoms.

“And we know from epidemiological studies they can transmit to someone who is uninfected even when they’re without symptoms,” he said.

Presymptomatic carriers are a bit different.

“People tend to be the most contagious before they develop symptoms, if they’re going to develop symptoms,” CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta told the news agency.

“They call that the presymptomatic period,” he said. “So people tend to have more virus at that point seemingly in their nose, in their mouth. This is even before they get sick. And they can be shedding that virus into the environment.”

The Diamond Princess also provided good data on which asymptomatic carriers might in reality be presymptomatic.

According to the study, patient age appears to be key: For every 1 year added to the patient’s age, the odds that he or she would go on to develop symptoms rose by 8%.

The researchers also had data on 90 passengers who remained asymptomatic throughout the course of their infections. Among this group, their median age was 59, and 27% had chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure or diabetes, Doi and colleagues noted.

And by eight days after first testing positive for coronavirus infection, nearly half (48%) of those 90 patients had tested negative (meaning they had cleared the virus). By 15 days that number had risen to 90%.

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SOURCES: New England Journal of Medicine, June 12, 2020; Good Morning America, CNN

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Want Added Years? Try Volunteering

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Want Added Years? Try Volunteering

Latest Senior Health News

SATURDAY, June 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) — If you’re older and you want to prolong your life, try volunteering, new research suggests.

“Humans are social creatures by nature. Perhaps this is why our minds and bodies are rewarded when we give to others,” said lead investigator Eric Kim. He is from the department of social and behavioral sciences and the Center for Health and Happiness at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston.

For the study, Kim’s team looked at nearly 13,000 people older than 50 who took part in the U.S. Health and Retirement Study and were tracked for four years between 2010 and 2016.

Compared to those who didn’t volunteer, those who volunteered at least 100 hours a year (about two hours per week) had a substantially reduced risk of death and of developing physical limitations during the study period, and higher levels of physical activity and improved sense of well-being.

The study was published online June 11 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

“Our results show that volunteerism among older adults doesn’t just strengthen communities, but enriches our own lives by strengthening our bonds to others, helping us feel a sense of purpose and well-being, and protecting us from feelings of loneliness, depression and hopelessness,” Kim said in a journal news release.

“Regular altruistic activity reduces our risk of death, even though our study didn’t show any direct impact on a wide array of chronic conditions,” Kim added.

The study didn’t find connections between volunteering and improvements in chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, heart disease, lung disease, arthritis, obesity, mental impairment or chronic pain.

The study was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting need for social distancing, the researchers noted.

However, “now might be a particular moment in history when society needs your service the most. If you are able to do so while abiding by health guidelines, you not only can help to heal and repair the world, but you can help yourself as well,” Kim said.

“When the COVID-19 crisis finally subsides, we have a chance to create policies and civic structures that enable more giving in society,” he said. “Some cities were already pioneering this idea before the pandemic and quarantine, and I hope we have the willingness and resolve to do so in a post-COVID-19 society as well.”

— Robert Preidt

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SOURCE: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, news release, June 11, 2020



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COVID-19 Can Start With Neurological Symptoms

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COVID-19 Can Start With Neurological Symptoms

MONDAY, June 15, 2020 (HealthDay News) — While a fever and cough have seemed to be the early warning signs of COVID-19, new research shows almost half of hospitalized patients experience a host of neurological problems.

In fact, headaches, dizziness, strokes, weakness, decreased alertness or other neurological symptoms can appear before the more commonly known symptoms of infection with the new coronavirus (known as SARS-COV-2), the researchers said.

Those neurological symptoms can also include loss of smell and taste, seizures, muscle pain and difficulty concentrating.

“It’s important for the general public and physicians to be aware of this, because a SARS-COV-2 infection may present with neurologic symptoms initially, before any fever, cough or respiratory problems occur,” said researcher Dr. Igor Koralnik. He is chief of neuro-infectious diseases and global neurology, and a professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago.

For the study, Koralnik’s team looked at all COVID-19 patients hospitalized at Northwestern Medicine, to see how often neurological complications appeared and how they responded to treatment.

“This understanding is key to direct appropriate clinical management and treatment,” Koralnik said in a Northwestern news release.

The virus can affect the whole nervous system — the brain, spinal cord, nerves and muscles. COVID-19 can also affect the lungs, kidneys, heart and brain, he said.

Last, but not least, the virus can infect the brain. Moreover, the reaction of the immune system to the infection can cause inflammation that can damage the brain and nerves, Koralnik added.

Because little is known about the long-term effects of the virus, the researchers intend to follow patients with neurological problems, to see how they do over time.

The report was published online June 7 in the Annals of Neurology.

— Steven Reinberg

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References


SOURCE: Northwestern Medicine, news release, June 7, 2020

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