[QUOTE=ATH;566195]LED lights found to kill coronavirus: Global first in fight against COVID-19
[url]https://aftau.org/news_item/led-lights-found-to-kill-coronavirus-global-first-in-fight-against-covid-19/[/url][/QUOTE]This article is just about the fact that virus killing UV light can be produced using LEDs. Just LED lights will no do. The fact that UV kill viruses is also no "global first".

The title should have been something like "LED produced UV could help in the fight against COVID-19".

Jacob

[QUOTE=S485122;566250]The title should have been something like "LED produced UV could help in the fight against COVID-19".[/QUOTE]Yes, you are correct.

But it didn't seem to help Mr. Orange at the White House. All those hours in the UV beds didn't protect him.

[QUOTE=ATH;566195]LED lights found to kill coronavirus: Global first in fight against COVID-19
[url]https://aftau.org/news_item/led-lights-found-to-kill-coronavirus-global-first-in-fight-against-covid-19/[/url][/QUOTE]The main significance appears to be, "It's cheaper."

[url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/cheaper-leds-can-disinfect-against-covid-19-israeli-scientists-find/]Cheaper LEDs can disinfect against COVID-19, Israeli scientists find[/url][quote]
<snip>
Israeli researchers have found a way to significantly cut the cost of COVID-19-killing ultraviolet lights, and they are working on LED-embedded surfaces that clean themselves.

"We have discovered that it's easier than previously imagined to disinfect from coronavirus using light, and we are already working on exciting applications for our findings," Hadas Mamane, head of Tel Aviv University's Environmental Engineering Program, told The Times of Israel.
<snip>
The team's research has been published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. The key finding is that LEDs emitting light with a wavelength of 285 nanometers were almost as efficient in disinfecting the virus as those with a wavelength of 265 nanometers, requiring less than half a minute to destroy more than 99.9% of the coronaviruses.

This result is significant because the cost of 285-nanometer LED bulbs is 30% lower than that of 265-nanometer bulbs, said Mamane. She predicted this will make ultraviolet cleaning more common in ventilation systems and air conditioners, and make it a common solution for public transportation and other uses, she said.
<snip>[/quote]

CBS reports that Covid was the leading cause of death in the USA during the first week of December:

[URL="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-leading-cause-of-death-united-states-this-week/"]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-leading-cause-of-death-united-states-this-week/[/URL]

[QUOTE=tServo;566293]CBS reports that Covid was the leading cause of death in the USA during the first week of December...[/QUOTE]

I just read that fatalities among Native Americans are much higher than those of the mass population. Many of them do not trust the "white man's medicine." They have their own ways of dealing with illness which probably goes back many hundreds of years.

[QUOTE=storm5510;566295]I just read that fatalities among Native Americans are much higher than those of the mass population. Many of them do not trust the "white man's medicine." They have their own ways of dealing with illness which probably goes back many hundreds of years.[/QUOTE]AutoDarwination?

[QUOTE=storm5510;566295]I just read that fatalities among Native Americans are much higher than those of the mass population. Many of them do not trust the "white man's medicine." They have their own ways of dealing with illness which probably goes back many hundreds of years.[/QUOTE]It is more typically for lack of resources, not ignoring modern medicine.
[URL="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/24/health/navajo-nation-coronavirus-losses-wellness/index.html"]https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/24/health/navajo-nation-coronavirus-losses-wellness/index.html [/URL]
[QUOTE]Lack of government support
Piñon High School Principal Timothy Nelson believes there are a number of reasons for the Navajo Nation's high rate of infection, including a lack of federal and state government support.[/QUOTE]

I would venture that many Native Americans are living in dire poverty, and therefore suffer from poor diet and/or chronic malnutrition, which can leave people less able to fight off illness than the well-nourished. Poor diet can also cause "pre-existing conditions" such as dietary deficiency diseases, and - especially if the diet is heavy on carbohydrates, fats, and sugars - obesity and diabetes. It may also be the case that in some locales, drinking water supplies may not be as free of pollutants, parasites, or pathogens as most of us Forumites likely take for granted.

On top of that, the likely very meager medical resources available already alluded to (which would result in less-than-optimal treatment of any previous bouts of injury or illness), and the near-certainty of extreme distrust toward the "white man's" [i]anything[/i], and the prospects for "negative patient outcome" from the current pandemic would seem to be enhanced.

It is also possible that some populations of Native Americans have been sufficiently isolated from the white man's world, that they have had much less exposure to white man's diseases than those not so isolated, and are therefore correspondingly less resistant to them.

That any of these circumstances are [i]self-imposed[/i] is IMO a very questionable proposition.

What the heck?

On Wednesday, many states announced that they were only getting half the number of doses that were originally scheduled for the second batch of the Pfizer vaccine. Here in Illinois, the governor stated that he was informed of this by the feds. When the federal agencies were questioned about this on Thursday, they explained that structural problems with supplies of some of the vials and other equipment, blah blah blah were preventing Pfizer from shipping out the full number of doses in the second batch. Pfizer quickly announced in a statement that they had all the doses sitting in warehouses ready to go but hadn't received orders on when and where to ship them.

This is mind boggling and is tremendous fodder for conspiracy theories/
Some possibilities:
(1) The tRump admin is just stupid and forgot ( Doh ).
(2) Everyone is bailing out and there is no one left to actually do any work.
(3) what's your idea? ( besides incompetence to the max )

[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/health/pfizer-covid-vaccine-doses.html"]https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/health/pfizer-covid-vaccine-doses.html[/URL]

With all the money involved and payments to people to stay home and do nothing, it is puzzling to me why the resources are not focused at increasing the production capabilities and making more labs. There are 8G people to vaccinate.
Start vaccinating the labourers and scientists and pay them to increase production capabilities worldwide. They can go back to hospitality and travel jobs once everyone that wants is vaccinated.

As for Native American's, I saw today that Biden has selected a Native American woman to be his [I]Secretary Of The Interior.[/I] Perhaps sometime down the road, things will not be so bleak for them.