⚠️WARNING TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS: A top seller of “bipolar ionization” (avoid!) air purification cleaners among schools is facing a federal class action lawsuit that its devices could produce toxic chemicals in classroom air & do not work to fight #COVID19.🧵 motherjones.com/coronavirus-up…
2) Bipolar ionization (avoid this type) maker “Global Plasma Solutions preys on people desperate to cleanse the air and protect themselves from ailments including the COVID-19 virus,” alleges the complaint filed in US District Court in Delaware on May 7.
3) “Defendant’s ‘profits over people’ scheme won the company acclaim, publicity, and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.”
4) Global Plasma Solutions (GPS) is one of the country’s top manufacturers of purifiers that use a technology called bipolar ionization: small machines, usually installed in air ducts, that zap passing air molecules and give them a positive or negative electrical charge.
5) According to the company, those charged molecules, called ions, spread through the room, destroy pathogens, and eliminate other harmful contaminants. GPS claims its devices can eliminate 99.4% of #SARSCoV2 from surfaces in 30 minutes and 98.3% from the air in 60 minutes.
6) Schools have found the pitch compelling: GPS says over 1,300 K-12 schools have installed its devices, and demand has only increased over the last year. The lawsuit estimates that GPS has sold “tens of thousands of units” at minimum.
7) The company’s claims about COVID are “deceptive,” overstating the purifiers’ ability to fight COVID and “instilling customers with a false sense of security through misleading claims,” according to the lawsuit.
8) Testing that GPS touts as “independent” is actually paid for by the company itself and employs unrealistic experimental conditions, the complaint adds.
9) It cites an investigation published last week by Kaiser Health News, which found that one of the company’s COVID tests amounted to blasting the virus with 27,000 ions per cubic centimeter in a chamber the size of a shoebox… see piece @By_CJewett
Not pleased at all—In a sharp turnabout from previous advice, CDC on Thursday said fully vaccinated may stop wearing masks or maintaining social distance in most indoor and outdoor settings, regardless of size, regardless of others.
2) This is too risky in my opinion. asymptomatic transmission efficacy is only in the 70s-80s even for the best vaccines. Much lower for others and for some variants.
3) “Walensky's announcement have a few caveats. She warned that people who are immune compromised should speak with their doctors before giving up their masks.”
📍My god… the upgraded warning #B16172 variant (magenta) is surging so fast. Epidemiologists now estimate it is 60% faster than even #B117 UK/Kent variant, which is already 50% faster. If true, it could make it fastest transmission one to be found worldwide. Thread 🧵. #COVID19
2) #B1672 has become quite dominant in India 🇮🇳 sequenced samples in @GISAID data. And it is projected to take over further by June. Figure from @TWenseleers.
Some say it could be due to sampling, but Tom doesn’t think so because #B16171 wouldn’t be selectively withheld.
3) @TWenseleers used his methods from earlier paper to estimate the new #B16172 transmission being 60% fast than the U.K. Kent #B117 variant.
📝REPORT—“Countries with poor results had uncoordinated approaches that devalued science, denied potential impact of pandemic, delayed comprehensive action, & allowed distrust to undermine efforts”
2) “On the basis of the panel's comparative analysis of 28 countries from across the spectrum of responses that is published alongside the report, it is clear countries with successful responses had timely triage and referral of suspected COVID-19 cases to ensure swift case…
3) “identification and contact tracing, and provided designated isolation facilities, either for all or for those unable to self-isolate. High-performing countries also developed partnerships on multiple levels across government sectors and with groups outside government…
⚠️“dramatic rise in UK cases of a variant first discovered in India could undermine roadmap for reopening”, scientists caution. One of 3 key 🇮🇳variants, #B161712, now surged to 6% of all variants in UK, WHO & England both upgraded to “variant of concern”.🧵theguardian.com/world/2021/may…
2) Prof @chrischirp, of University College London and member of @IndependentSage experts, speaking in a personal capacity said rise in B.1.617.2 cases was concerning enough to delay the next stage of the roadmap scheduled for Monday, when a range of restrictions are to be lifted.
3) “the second most common variant in the UK. Wellcome Sanger Institute’s Covid-19 genomic surveillance data – **which excludes recent travellers and surge testing specimens** – suggests about 6.1% of Covid genomes in England sequenced in the 4 weeks to 24 April are B.1.617.2.
Worrisome cluster at Singapore 🇸🇬 @ChangiAirport of many #B1617 Indian variant (+pending). 92% of aviation staff vaccinated—of primary cases: 11 breakthroughs in vaccinated airport staff, 3 in unvaccinated staff, 4 non-airport staff unvaccinated. #MaskUp🧵 channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore…
2) The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) said on Sunday that all workers in Changi Airport’s operating terminals will be tested for COVID-19 in a special testing operation.
3) About 9,000 workers from Terminal 1, Terminal 3 and Jewel Changi Airport will undergo these tests. Terminal 2 is not open.
All vaccinated frontline airport workers will also be tested every 14 days as part of rostered routine testing, up from the 28 days previously.