“The Queen has spoken” - the TV anchors when @Simone_Biles landed the Yurchenko Double Pike!
(This is the one so difficult that the Olympics refuses to award extra difficulty points for)
2) NYT: Simone Biles executed a vault considered so dangerous that no other woman has attempted it in competition. For now, gymnastics limits the scoring rewards for trying it.
3) Biles is known for moves so difficult that several have been named after her. Her latest signature skill is called a Yurchenko double pike. She executed it with such speed that even "gravity seems to have been taken by surprise," writes @JulietMacur. nyti.ms/3yBYcmg
4) replay of the vault in supposedly ‘slow motion’
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Tide is turning on the Olympics—Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper, an official Tokyo #Olympics sponsor, calls for the Games to be cancelled, describing the event as "a threat to health".
2) The call comes with public opinion in Japan firmly against holding the Games this summer, and after prominent business leaders voiced their concern in recent weeks.
3) The Asahi daily's editorial urged Prime Minister Suga to "make a calm, objective assessment of the situation and make the decision to cancel this summer's Olympics".
The paper said it "cannot accept the gamble" of holding the event, despite organisers' assurances.
“PHE reports paint a far more concerning outlook for the roadmap and require an urgent public health response… before the situation worsens further.” 🧵 #COVID19 independentsage.org/response-to-th…
2) First the report notes that #B16172 “its growth has outpaced all other tracked variants” (including faster than the already fast #b117 UK ‘Kent’ variant)
3) “methods estimate that as of 15 May, B.1.617.2 represented approximately half of all identified cases in England. Regionally, it was dominant in the North West (about 70% of cases), likely dominant in London, the South East and South West”
French counterintelligence authorities are investigating whether the Russian government was behind an attempt to pay high-profile health and science bloggers (up to $2500/video) to sow public doubts about the safety of the Pfizer-BioNTech #COVID19 vaccine. wsj.com/articles/franc…
2) previous study:
“Whereas bots that spread malware and unsolicited content disseminated antivaccine messages, Russian trolls promoted discord. Accounts masquerading as legitimate users create false equivalency, eroding public consensus on vaccination. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
3) “Public Health Implications. Directly confronting vaccine skeptics enables bots to legitimize the vaccine debate. More research is needed to determine how best to combat bot-driven content.”
Residents in the epicenter of UK’s #B16172 variant outbreak, in Bolton 🇬🇧, told not leave the city unless it is essential, under new guidelines published. Hospitalization soaring along with cases. 90% of all #COVID19 in Bolton is the worrisome #B16172. 🧵 theboltonnews.co.uk/news/19325835.…
2) look how much cases in Bolton has increased… 113% in one week. But many other places too. Bolton just the largest so far.
3) this is part of the bigger nationwide surge in the UK driven mostly by #B16172. See detailed thread 🧵 for more details of the outbreaks… ⬇️
Hospitals in Osaka, Japan buckling under a huge wave of #COVID19, running out of beds, ventilators, and even intubation medicine—as exhausted doctors warn of a "system collapse", and advise against holding the Olympics. Even only ~half of HCW vaccinated. 🧵reuters.com/world/asia-pac…
2) The speed at which Osaka's healthcare system was overwhelmed underscores the challenges of hosting a major global sports event in two months' time, particularly as only about half of Japan's medical staff have completed inoculations.
3) "Simply put, this is a collapse of the medical system," said Yuji Tohda, the director of Kindai University Hospital in Osaka.
⚠️PAY ATTENTION to rising #B16172 crisis in UK—crucial because India variant affects us all. It is now ~50% of all cases in England, surging fast, especially in kids. Hospital #COVID19 ward in Bolton🇬🇧 filling up. “It’s too late to contain” @chrischirp 🧵 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…
2) And key worry is that the surge in #B16172 is domestic community transmission. Not related to international travel.
3) And look at the growth rate! #B16172 variant is by leaps and bounds growing faster than any other variant. The previously fast #B117 is growing much much slower—5x slower than B16172.
There can be 2 reasons—higher transmissibility, or more reinfection / vaccine breakthroughs.