The Week America Lost Control of the PandemicSixteen states have reported record caseloads since Sunday. ........... What should concern all Americans is that, as more and more states see their outbreaks intensify, the country will lose its ability to understand what is happening. .......... some of the country’s major testing providers are backlogged and overwhelmed, and are no longer able to turn around test results as quickly as is epidemiologically useful ......... Governor Gavin Newsom of California enacted some of the strictest pandemic rules outside the Northeast, but Los Angeles is seething with cases right now. Many of the states now facing outbreaks did not struggle much with the virus in March or April—except for Louisiana, which saw a major outbreak in March and is seeing cases spike again now. What seems to unite many of the most affected states is that they reopened indoor dining, bars, and gyms. What will distinguish them is how they react now. ........... The South is burning with infection at the same time other regions are trying to reopen. This feat—opening one region while suppressing the pandemic in another—has never been done before, and there is no guarantee that it can be done. Many public-health leaders signaled this week that they do not think it is possible. ........... “This is really the beginning,” Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the CDC, told Congress this week. “I think there was a lot of wishful thinking around the country that Hey, it’s summer. Everything’s going to be fine. We’re over this—and we are not even beginning to be over this. There are a lot of worrisome factors about the last week or so.” ............ the U.S. could soon see 100,000 new cases a day. If that prediction comes true, then what befell the Northeast could look like mere preamble. ......... The U.S., by one estimate, avoided more than 4 million infections. We are now losing that work, watching weeks of pandemic suppression vanish in days. It took the country acting in concert to subdue the virus in the spring. We may need to do the same, again, to avoid the worst now.
Over half of coronavirus patients in Spain have developed neurological problems, studies showNew research indicates that Covid-19 is causing a wide range of disorders in the nervous system and may be directly attacking the brain .......... The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus attacks the respiratory system, but there is growing evidence that it also affects the nervous system. ............. some research indicates that the virus is directly attacking the brain. ........ the most common symptoms experienced by coronavirus patients were myalgia, headaches and dizziness ....... Another 20% of patients (they are not exclusive groups) developed neuropsychiatric problems such as insomnia, anxiety and psychosis. .......... In a dozen cases, the patient went into a coma. What’s more, neurological complications were the main cause of death in 4% of coronavirus victims .......... 90% of cases simultaneously experienced changes to, or the loss of, the sense of smell and taste ........ the coronavirus can enter the brain. ........ “The brain is characterized for being isolated from the bustle of the world. If there is a pathogen in the rest of the body, the blood-brain barrier stops it from entering,” explains Segura. This defense system allows oxygen-filled blood to reach the capillaries and even the neurons, but filters out toxins, bacteria and viruses that travel in the bloodstream. “The rupture of this barrier is an effect that we have not seen before,” he adds. For Segura, finding the endothelial cells (the thin layer of cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels) in the samples of analyzed brain tissue could indicate that the coronavirus has overcome the blood-brain barrier, and that the neurological problems have not been caused by weakness from the immune system’s response to Covid-19. According to Segura, the world is facing “a respiratory virus that is also neurotoxic.”
Donald Trump simply doesn’t understand: We can’t deal with our economic crisis without solving the public health crisis.
And for all his bluster about his expertise on the economy, he is unable to explain how he will actually help the working families hit the hardest.
Tesla and the science behind the next-generation, lower-cost, ‘million-mile’ electric-car batteryNew battery technology is possible, allowing cars to go 400 miles or more between charges and lasting as long as 1 million miles. That could spur EV sales the same way the first 100,000-mile warranties on gas cars once did. .......... Vehicles with lithium-ion batteries, also used in cellphones, are expected to give way over the next few years to cars and trucks made with lithium-iron phosphate and other chemistries. This will cut costs, extend vehicle ranges to 400 miles or more between charges and enable batteries to last as long as 1 million miles. ............ “If you’re talking about batteries that can last twice as long for the same price, it completely changes the math for the consumer......... Iron phosphate batteries are safer, and they can have second or third lives as electricity storage.″ ........ Canning cobalt is one of the biggest elements of cutting the cost of batteries below the $100/kWh threshold that is a rough proxy for making electric vehicles as cheap as those powered by internal combustion engines .......... Today’s batteries cost about $147/kWh, down from about $1,000 in 2010 and $381 in 2015 ........... The most obvious is that the cost of electric vehicles — which recently has reached parity with gasoline-powered cars and SUVs in some luxury niche segments — could catch up to internal combustion engines by about 2023 ........ “I hope we get there sooner than 2025. Lithium-iron phosphate and its upgraded versions will have a major role in the future of EVs and fundamentally change large-scale energy storage.”
The flying taxi market may be ready for takeoff, changing the travel experience foreverThe goal is to link urban centers with suburbs while leapfrogging traffic — air taxis could cruise at 180 mph at altitudes of around 1,000 ft to 2,000 ft. But NASA has reported they can go at an altitude up to 5,000 ft. ......... The autonomous urban aircraft market may be worth $1.5 trillion by 2040 ....... The start-up is building a prototype that it says should eventually approach the cost of ground transportation and help a billion people save more than an hour in commuting time every day. ............ “Joby Aviation’s aircraft is designed for four passengers plus a pilot. It can travel more than 150 miles on a single charge, is 100 times quieter than conventional aircraft during takeoff and landing, and is near silent in flyover.” ........ It aims to make flying taxis cheaper than owning passenger cars. .......... “Air taxis are definitely the next phase of mobility” ....... They will usher in a nimble form of intracity travel, transporting people on the shortest possible route between two locations ........... “Everyone in the industry proceeds as though safety is guaranteed and technology will solve everything, which, as we know, is never the case” ........... Personal helicopter travel has been around for a long time but hasn’t expanded beyond wealthy passengers ........... “If they are priced correctly, air taxis may be able to democratize travel in cities where there is no public transport alternative or where the congestion and size of the urban area (Sao Paulo is the classic example) are so great”
5G is accelerating factory automation that could add trillions to the global economyImagine a manufacturing plant in which all the production equipment is continually changing in response to market needs. .......... Also known as Industry 4.0, the smart factory runs on data and artificial intelligence, but connectivity forms the backbone of operations. The new fifth generation of mobile networks (5G) is a catalyst for this new industrial revolution because it offers much greater speed and bandwidth than previous networks, as well as low latency, or time required for data to travel between two points. 5G will work with and in some cases replace existing fixed, wired connections, making manufacturing more flexible and ready to implement innovations. ............ 190 million 5G subscribers by the end of 2020 and 2.8 billion by the end of 2025. ........... “In the future, we might be able to create ‘what we want’ in smart factories and receive it in a short time as we do purchase mass-produced products at online malls like Amazon” ........... “For the customer experience, products will become unique, customized and enriched with services.”
U.S. Intel: China Ordered Attack on Indian Troops in Galwan River ValleyGen. Zhao Zongqi, head of the Western Theater Command and among the few combat veterans still serving in the People's Liberation Army, approved the operation along the contested border region of northern India and southwestern China, a source familiar with the assessment says on the condition of anonymity. Zhao, who has overseen prior standoffs with India, has previously expressed concerns that China must not appear weak to avoid exploitation by the United States and its allies, including in New Delhi, the source says, and saw the faceoff last week as a way to "teach India a lesson." ........ the deadly and contentious incident – in which at least 20 Indian and 35 Chinese troops died, and reportedly a handful on each side were captured and subsequently released – was not the result of a tense circumstance that spiraled out of control, as has happened before, but rather a purposeful decision by Beijing to send a message of strength to India. ........ Beijing's attempts to make India more amenable to future negotiations, including about contested territory, instead appear to have pushed the economic giant closer to the U.S. .......... Much is at stake, far beyond territorial control. The U.S. has pressured India for months to back away from employing Chinese tech company Huawei to help build its 5G infrastructure. In the aftermath of last week's incident, Indians were reportedly deleting Chinese social media app TikTok and destroying phones made in China. "It does the very opposite of what China wanted," the source says. "This is not a victory for China's military." ........... On June 15, a senior Indian officer and two non-commissioned officers traveled unarmed to a meeting place where they expected to be met by a comparable delegation of Chinese troops to discuss the withdrawal, according to the source familiar with the U.S. assessment of the incident. Instead, dozens of Chinese troops were waiting with spiked bats and clubs and began an attack. Other Indian troops came in to support, leading to a melee that caused more casualties from the improvised weapons, rocks and falls from the steep terrain.
The hard truth is that it didn’t have to be this bad, but Donald Trump ignored the experts and refused to take action. He has failed our nation. pic.twitter.com/WAhigUtsxz
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