Day: November 25, 2021

European Nations Add Boosters, Plan Shots for Children Amid COVID Surge

European countries expanded COVID-19 booster vaccinations, began plans to get shots to young children and tightened some curbs Thursday as the continent battled a surge in coronavirus cases and concerns about its economic fallout grew.

Slovakia went into a two-week lockdown, and the Czech government declared a 30-day state of emergency involving early closure of bars and clubs and a ban on Christmas markets. Germany crossed the threshold of 100,000 COVID-19-related deaths.

Europe is at the heart of the latest COVID-19 wave, reporting a million new infections about every two days and now accounting for nearly two-thirds of new infections worldwide.

The European Commission proposed Thursday that EU residents would need to have booster shots if they wanted to travel to another country in the bloc next summer without the need for tests or quarantines.

More boosters in France

In France, authorities announced that booster shots would be made available to everyone over 18, rather than just the over-65s and those with underlying health issues.

Many countries are rolling out or increasing the use of booster shots, although the World Health Organization wants the most vulnerable people worldwide to be fully vaccinated first.

In Africa, where just 6.6% of the population of 1.2 billion is fully vaccinated, many countries are struggling with the logistics of accelerating their inoculation campaigns as deliveries of vaccines finally pick up, the head of Africa’s disease control body said Thursday.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on Wednesday recommended vaccine boosters for all adults, with priority for those over 40.

The number of new daily cases in Germany hit a record of 75,961 on Thursday and its total death toll reached 100,119 since the start of the pandemic, according to the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.

Data showed the surge is weighing on consumer morale in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, dampening business prospects in the Christmas shopping season.

Shots for young kids

There is a growing push in some countries for vaccinating young children.

The EU’s medicines watchdog Thursday approved use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine in 5- to 11-year-olds at a lower dose, after authorizing it for children as young as 12 in May. The European Commission is expected to issue a final decision Friday.

Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic were preparing to inoculate younger children following the European Medicines Agency’s approval, although deliveries of the lower doses are not due until December 20.

In France, where the number of infections is doubling every 11 days, Health Minister Olivier Veran said he would ask health regulators to examine whether 5- to 11-year-olds should be able to get vaccinated.

Nearly half a million lives across Europe have been saved because of vaccinations, among people aged 60 years and over since the vaccine roll-out began, the World Health Organization’s regional office said Thursday in a study with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Stricter curbs

Many European countries are toughening curbs. The state of emergency announced by the Czech Republic allows the government to order restrictions on public life. Authorities there ordered bars and clubs to close at 10 p.m., banned Christmas markets and capped attendance at cultural and sports events at 1,000 people.

Slovakia’s two-week lockdown from Thursday followed neighboring Austria, which began a lockdown Monday. Slovakia, with one of the EU’s lowest vaccination rates, reported a critical situation in hospitals and new infections that topped global tables.

Authorities ordered all but essential shops and services closed and banned people from traveling outside their districts unless going to work, school or a doctor. Gatherings of more than six people were banned.

French authorities said rules on wearing face masks would be tightened and checks on health passes used for entry to public places would be increased. But officials said there was no need to follow European countries that have reimposed lockdowns.

In Germany, Greens co-leader Annalena Baerbock said the new government, comprising the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Free Democrats (FDP), had set itself 10 days to decide if further restrictions would be needed.

Much of Germany already has introduced rules to restrict access to indoor activities to people who have been vaccinated or have recovered.

Warning in Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the number of coronavirus patients in hospital has hit levels not seen since early May, and experts have warned that hospitals will reach full capacity in little more than a week if the virus is not contained.

The Dutch government said it would take strong measures to curb infections. National broadcaster NOS reported Thursday that the government’s leading Outbreak Management Team had advised the closure of restaurants, bars and nonessential stores by 5 p.m. as part of a new package of lockdown measures.

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Attacking an Asteroid

NASA tests an asteroid-assaulting system to protect planet Earth. Plus, Japanese tourists ready for the trip of a lifetime, and a look at the historic, sky-darkening lunar eclipse. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space

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USAID Says Wheat Seeds Sent to Northeast Syria Meet ‘High Standards’

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) says the wheat seeds it recently provided to farmers in northeast Syria meet “high standards for safety and quality.”

The announcement comes after claims by the Syrian government that the seeds donated by the U.S. agency “are not suitable for cultivation.”

Last week, USAID donated 3,000 tons of wheat seeds to Syria’s northeast to help address wheat shortages in a region hit by a growing drought.

The Syrian government claimed Tuesday, however, that a sample analysis of the U.S.-provided seeds found they are not suitable for cultivation.

The “seeds contain a high rate of nematodes [plant-parasitic worms], which reached 40 percent, and this poses a great danger to agriculture in the region, especially as its effects cause great damage that is exacerbated by the passage of time,” Said Hajji, head of the government’s agriculture directorate in Hasaka province, was quoted by Syria’s state-run SANA news agency as saying.

The Syrian government official warned local farmers in northeast Syria against using the seeds, urging people to destroy them.

A USAID spokesperson, however, told VOA in a statement that the wheat seeds go through treatment and testing for safety and quality before they are donated.

“USAID is supplying Adana and Cihan wheat seed varieties to Syrian farmers, which are sourced from the region and undergo a series of tests at a qualified lab in (the) Kurdish Region of Iraq to verify their quality before they are transported and distributed to farmers in northeast Syria,” the spokesperson said.

The U.S. official added that the “seeds are tested for purity, germination rate, smut, presence of barley, insects, Cephalonia, nematodes, and to ensure they are effectively treated with fungicide.”

Some local farmers told the Kurdish news network Rudaw they have received wheat seeds from USAID partners and have already cultivated them in their farmlands.

Northeast Syria is largely under the control of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led military alliance that has been a major U.S. partner in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terror group in the war-torn country.

The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has minimal presence in the area, doesn’t recognize an SDF-led local administration and opposes the presence of about 900 American troops, who are deployed in northeast Syria as part of an international coalition against IS.

John Saleh, a Washington-based Syrian affairs analyst said, “The Assad regime, along with its main backer, Russia, don’t want to see development in the Kurdish region, especially if it is supported by the U.S.”

He told VOA the Syrian government wants northeast Syria to remain economically weak in the hope that it will control it again if U.S. forces depart at some point.

“Therefore, they spread these types of absurd rumors to create fear and panic among farmers who are in desperate need for help during these tough economic times,” Saleh said. 

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COVID Vaccine Company BioNTech Founders Aim to Tackle Cancer

Their goal was to find a cure for cancer, but the whole world recognized them for developing the first vaccine against the coronavirus. The founders of the German company BioNTech, Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, now turn their attention back to cancer. VOA’s Dilge Timocin interviewed Ugur Sahin and files this report. Camera: Tezcan Taskiran

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US Nurses Leaving Hospital Bedsides  

“I could not understand how this highly educated, powerful trauma nurse is now the patient.”

A registered nurse who asks that we call her “Gi” is talking about herself. While working in the emergency room of her community hospital at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gi started crying unconsolably, unable to speak or function. She was having a panic attack and was later hospitalized in an in-patient psychiatric facility, diagnosed with PTSD. Gi is back at a hospital bedside now – as a hospice nurse. 

A pandemic of nurses suffering 

Gi is not alone. The number of nurses with mental health issues has grown substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) shows that the number of nurses reporting mental health issues since the pandemic started has risen from 60% to 80% in many countries.  

“Nurses are suffering,” says ICN CEO Howard Catton. He cites violent attacks, “along with the exhaustion, grief and fear faced by nurses who are caring for patients.” 

The American Nurses Foundation says 1 of 3 nurses indicate they are “emotionally unhealthy.” 

 

‘Normal systems breaking down’ 

Nurses say the mental health strain arises from a variety of issues.The industry was already facing a staffing shortage prior to COVID-19, and many nurses juggled multiple jobs caring for increasing numbers of patients.Now the recommended ratio of 1 nurse for 2 patients is stretched to a ratio of 1 to 3, to the detriment of patients and nurses alike. 

“Clara,” who has spent her career as a nurse, says she’s up against “tremendous workloads, tremendous volumes, with not enough resources.”One misstep can make the difference between life and death – and potentially ruin a career.

“It’s a constant pressure on your shoulders, a constant downward pressure, you have to move faster, you have to do better, you have to work harder,” she said. 

Alex Kaspin was suffering from a panic disorder from being overworked, overtired and overwhelmed. She recently stepped away from a Philadelphia emergency room when the COVID-19 numbers were matched by the city’s rising homicide rate.

 

“At that point,” says Kaspin, “all normal systems were breaking down.” Kaspin says her hospital was operating in a “triage situation.” It did not have enough nurses to attend to patients in regular rooms.So the emergency room was filled with in-patients, and the waiting room became the emergency room.

‘Please give me the vaccine now’ 

Between rising violence in the United States and the increase in COVID-19 patients, Kaspin felt she could not deliver health care at the standards she set for herself.Adding to the stress were patients unvaccinated against COVID-19. 

She is haunted by her memories of several COVID-19 patients in their 20s. “Right before we put the breathing tube down, the last thing they say is. ‘I want the vaccine now. Please give me the vaccine now.’ “ 

Pennsylvanian Jen Partyka calls vaccine hesitancy a willful ignorance she’s never seen in her 27 years of nursing.

“You are willfully creating a situation that I can’t keep up with as a nurse manager,” says Partyka. She will always do her best for her patients, she says, but she feels differently when she learns they are unvaccinated.“You are willfully harming others.”

 

Experts say getting more people vaccinated will tremendously lower patient numbers. 

Chip Kahn is the president and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals. He says there is no “short term, magic bullet,” but what is needed is “less COVID.”

No more banging pots of support 

Abigail Donley worked in a Manhattan ICU during the early phases of the pandemic.She left her job to co-found IMPACT in Healthcare to work to change policies to benefit workers and patients.IMPACT’s December campaign promotes safe staffing levels.

 

Donley says nurses were once viewed as COVID-19 heroes.“People were banging the pots for them at seven o’clock, but now they can’t get a raise,” Donley said on Skype. “They can’t get a bonus. They can’t get child care. They don’t have maternal health care.” 

A growing number of nurses are leaving the hospital bedside for a less daunting work schedule and better pay.Travel nursing agencies send nurses where they are needed to stem the dwindling staffing numbers, offering as much as triple the salary that other nurses receive.

“Michelle” helped set up the COVID-19 unit at the hospital where she had worked for 10 years.This month she left her $30-an-hour registered nursing job to be a travel nurse in an intensive care unit in another city. She calls her new salary “crazy.”

“I’m leaving that system and going to a travel nursing position, and I’ll be making $120 an hour,” she told VOA. 

Kahn says agencies are “gouging” hospitals when they offer travel nurses such high salaries. He agrees it is much better to have a strong, in-house team rather than temporary staffing.

When asked why hospitals don’t retain veteran nurses by offering higher salaries and other benefits, Kahn says, “There’s no way that that any institution could afford to pay the broad base of their nurses anywhere near what they’re paying for the travel nurses.”

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How White House Thanksgiving Menu Evolved With Times

Most Americans don’t have oysters on their Thanksgiving table, but, for a time, the mollusks were a key ingredient on the White House holiday menu. 

“Oyster stuffing and various oyster elements were always included, especially in the later 19th century. Oysters were very popular,” says Lina Mann, a historian with the White House Historical Association. “I think that the location of Washington, D.C., near the Chesapeake Bay, which was a huge oyster hub, made it more of a regional sort of thing, but that has died out over the years.” 

In addition to oysters, White House Thanksgiving meals have included other regional foods such as rockfish from the Potomac River, turtles from Maryland’s Eastern Shore and cranberries from Massachusetts.

Because the holiday is often a more private affair, the White House Thanksgiving menu is not set. Presidential families often spend the day away from the White House, either out of town at their own private homes or at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. 

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan spent Thanksgiving at his California ranch. The menu included turkey, cranberries, cornbread dressing, salad, mashed potatoes, monkey bread, string beans with almonds, and pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream. 

In 1996, President Bill Clinton enjoyed Thanksgiving with family and friends at Camp David, where they ate turkey; dressing with bread stuffing; giblet gravy; mashed potatoes; sweet potatoes; green beans; cranberry mold; a relish tray of pickles, celery, tomatoes, green onions, green and black olives, and carrots; fruit salad; cranberry salad; and pecan and pumpkin pies. 

In 2007, also at Camp David, President George W. Bush and family feasted on a meal that included turkey, jellied cranberry molds, whipped sweet potato soufflé and pumpkin mousse trifle. 

No matter where the commander in chief spends the holiday, turkey is usually on the menu and has been since the 1870s. 

“You have a man named Horace Vose, who is the quote, “poultry king of Rhode Island,” and he starts sending, in 1873, all of these turkeys to the White House,” Mann says. “He does that for Christmas and Thanksgiving, and he does it for 40 years until he dies in 1913. So, there is this kind of precedent of the public sending presidents various birds to their table.” 

But people haven’t always sent poultry. In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge received an unusual offering from a supporter in Mississippi. 

“They were sent a raccoon that was supposed to be served on his Thanksgiving table,” Mann says. “But the Coolidge family decided they didn’t want to eat the raccoon. So instead, they ended up making her a family pet. They named her Rebecca and then eventually Coolidge, for Christmas that year, got her a collar that said, ‘White House Raccoon’ on it.” 

What presidents eat for Thanksgiving can also depend on what is going on in the country. In 1917, during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson remained in Washington and focused on having a more economical Thanksgiving. 

“So, they’re eating cream of oyster soup with turkey trimmings and vegetables, pumpkin pie for the very simple menu,” Mann says. “First Lady Edith Wilson wanted to abide by various food conservation programs that were spearheaded at the time.” 

There were also more austere Thanksgivings during the Great Depression and World War II. In 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family dined on “clam cocktail, clear soup, roast turkey with chestnut stuffing and cranberry sauce, Spanish corn, small sausages and beans, sweet potato cones, grapefruit salad, pumpkin pie and cheese, coffee, and ice cream.”

This year, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are spending Thanksgiving on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, a family tradition since 1975. The first lady recently shared Thanksgiving recipes, including her grandmother’s savory stuffing featuring stale Italian bread, with the Food Network.

“Food is love — and gathering together this year for Thanksgiving is healing for our hearts,” Jill Biden said. “The family recipes passed down through the generations, the fun traditions that continue, and the meaningful blessings shared, all keep me filled with gratitude.”

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US, China and Cyberattacks, the Tool of the 21st Century

China was behind one of the biggest hacks of all time, quietly stealing email and data from organizations, according to the U.S. and other nations’ governments. Experts say China-orchestrated attacks on strategic targets have increased in recent years. Michelle Quinn reports.

Producer: Michelle Quinn. Camera: Michael Burke.

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