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Trump Threatens to Permanently Pull WHO Funding; Fitness Classes Linked to High Coronavirus-Infection Rate; and Texas Experiences Largest Single-Day Increase of COVID-19 Cases.
WHO is once again under fire. President Donald Trump threatened to cut US funding from the World Health Organization late Monday–for good. However, WHO has one option to keep the funding. Trump said they must “commit to major substantive improvements in the next 30 days.”
Trump wrote in a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world. The only way to move forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China.
“My administration has already started discussions with you on how to reform the organization. But, action is needed quickly. We do not have time to waste.”
This move came after Trump temporarily halted funding to WHO last month.
“Had the WHO done its job to get medical experts into China to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out China’s lack of transparency, the outbreak could have been contained at its source with very little death,” said Trump at the time.
However, Trump’s comments are in stark contrast to his past statements, when he praised China’s management of the coronavirus outbreak in January. Whether WHO will need to pull out moving boxes anytime soon is still a guess.
Related: WHO Announces Wuhan Coronavirus Global Health Emergency
Think again before you go to your next fitness class. Researchers in South Korea have found that indoor fitness classes could encourage the spread of COVID-19. Evidence was found that a single, intense dance class caused 112 people to become infected with the virus.
The dance class was held in February. All cases were identified by March 9. The research showed how very quickly the virus can spread in enclosed spaces.
“All were asymptomatic on the day of the workshop,” wrote the team at Dankook University Hospital in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“By March 9, we identified 112 Covid-19 cases associated with fitness dance classes in 12 different sports facilities in Cheonan,” they wrote.
Half of the cases were the result of direct transmission. The virus spread from the instructors, and the students went on to infect others outside of the classes.
“The instructors met only during classes which lasted for 50 minutes two times per week and did not have contact outside of class. On average, students developed symptoms 3.5 days after participating in a fitness dance class,” wrote the Dankook team.
In conclusion, you should think twice about hitting up the gym this year. Getting in shape for the summer is a good thing. However, avoiding a deadly virus takes priority in this situation. Stay healthy. Stay smart.
Make sure you wear a mask when you go out in public. It is important to stay six feet away from other people.
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The Texas Department of Health has reported 1,800 new coronavirus cases. As a result, the total number of confirmed cases in the state has risen to 47,000.
Consequently, this marks the largest single-day increase of confirmed cases in the state since the pandemic first began. Despite this, Texas plans to move forward with its plans to reopen.
Gyms were allowed to reopen with 25% capacity on Monday. Similarly, offices and nonessential manufacturing workplaces were allowed to reopen at 25% capacity.
However, Governor Greg Abbott said in a press release that the increase was the result of a Surge Response Team he had recently deployed.
“These teams conducted a site survey of high-risk areas to begin testing employees in meatpacking facilities,” said Abbott. “Today, Texas is seeing the results of those tests and will continue to see these results in targeted areas over the next two weeks.”
However, time will tell if reopening is the right move. Many employees are scared to go back to work. For example, some companies have forced sick employees to continue working.
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