Latest news with #Eakin
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
COVID on the Climb: Health Officials Urge Caution, Not Panic
It's something many of us had hoped we'd left behind. But COVID-19 is making a quiet comeback across the islands. The state is reporting a noticeable increase in new cases this week, along with the flu. But as health officials tells us, this isn't cause for panic, but it is reason to stay informed. It may not be making the headlines like it used to but COVID-19 is still with us – and this week, it's making a bit more noise. According to the State Department of Health, 210 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in Hawaii this week. 'I would say compared to past years, it's still a very modest increase that we're seeing this time of year, but we have seen summer surges in Hawaii. So I think it's something to pay attention to,' said Dr. Sarah Kemble, State Epidemiologist. Our senior population is seeing the greatest increase in COVID cases – an average of 23 new cases reported this week. The variant circulating is the LP variant. 'It's something that's been seeing emerging globally. It does seem to have an advantage over other variants, but it's not associated with more severe disease or greater resistance to vaccine,' said Dr. Kemble. Other respiratory illnesses. like the flu, are also seeing a slight rise, accounting for 11% of positive tests and 2% of emergency room visits. Not as high as the peak of flu season when it's closer to a 305 positive rate, but there has been increased activity, particularly in children. 'Technically we're out of the flu season, but we're still seeing cases every day. I'm still seeing a fairly good number of COVID cases as well. I would say the RSV cases are probably the least of those three, but I'm seeing a case here and there,' said Dr. Paul Eakin, JABSOM Pediatric Emergency Medicine Division Chief. The health department's overall disease activity indicator is currently at a medium level. Dr. Eakin says the latest wave isn't unexpected considering that respiratory illnesses occur year round in Hawaii. 'Because we get tourists from the mainland. We also get tourists from the southern hemisphere. So I don't know if flu ever truly goes away. And then I think COVID is also kind of here to stay,' said Dr. Eakin. So what should you do if you're feeling sick right now? The advice is simple – but important. 'I think the biggest take home point is if you're feeling sick, if you're having sore throat, runny nose, cough, and especially if you're having fever, safest thing is to stay home and not spread your germs until you're feeling better,' said Dr. Kemble. Doctors also recommend staying up to date on vaccines. A link to the State Health Department's Respiratory Disease Dashboard is here: Respiratory Viruses Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Coral Reefs Are Bleaching More Than Ever Right Now
Last week, the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), a global partnership and forum of 100-plus governments, NGOs, and other entities working toward the preservation of the world's coral reefs and their associated ecosystems, announced that it has recorded the worst coral bleaching event on record, with 84% of the world's reefs showing effects. Coral bleaching is a broad term conceived back in 1998 after the phenomenon was first widely noticed—or at least seriously and widely recognized—that essentially describes critically stressed corals, which turn white due to inhospitable changes in temperature and pH level, among other things. The fourth global bleaching event on record since 1998, the current crisis, first announced in 2023, has just seriously outdone the previous event from 2014-2017 and affected about two-thirds of the world's reefs. This current crisis is blamed on the average of ocean temperatures away from the poles, which has seen back-to-back record highs just at or above the 2.7-degree Fahrenheit (1.5-degree-Celsius) 'warming limit' above 'pre-industrial,' or average global ocean temperatures between 1850 and 1900 A.D., as called for by the 2015 Paris World Meteorological Organization (WMO) averaged figures from six international data sets for a composite temperature rise of nearly 2.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1.55 Celsius). This six-piece data set included various government and non-governmental bodies including the NOAA and NASA in the U.S., The E.U.'s Copernicus team, Japan, the U.K., and the privately funded Berkeley Earth, founded by a climate-change skeptic, which calculated the highest of those numbers: 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit (or 1.6 Celsius). 'We're seeing forecasts that temperatures are going to continue to stay high,' Mark Eakin, corresponding secretary for the International Coral Reef Society and retired chief of NOAA's Coral Reef Watch program, told the Associated Press. 'We just may never see the heat stress that causes bleaching dropping below the threshold that triggers a global event, so this may be the last one… We're looking at something that's completely changing the face of our planet and the ability of our oceans to sustain lives and livelihoods,' Eakin added. What's a lowly surf rat left to do in the here and now? Reef-safe sunscreens, alternative surfboard construction, and manual and/or analog paddling of said surfboards may be about the best most of us can offer our great giver, the sea. 'The best way to protect coral reefs,' Eakin puts forth, 'is to address the route cause of climate change, and that means reducing the emissions—the human emissions—that are mostly from the burning of fossil fuels. Everything else is looking like a Band-Aid rather than a solution.' Here's where that thorny, convoluted little term oft-hawked by libertarians and neoliberals, 'better capitalism,' could come into play. Love or hate the ocean and its temperature-dependent multitude of critters, and reject climate change, chaos, crisis, and/or warming all you like. By all means, fellow ocean-goers, continue to vote with those John Wayne dollars as always, but it's up to the nerds whose direction is at the discretion of the energy geezers and geezettes to sort out both us and our beloved reefs, whose wondrous associated peaks, slabs, peelers, and tubes none of us can deny.
Express Tribune
24-04-2025
- Science
- Express Tribune
Coral bleaching reaches unprecedented scale, hitting 84% of reefs worldwide
Listen to article A record-breaking coral bleaching event is now affecting 84% of the world's reefs, according to the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), marking the most extensive marine bleaching crisis in recorded history. The global event, the fourth since 1998, began in 2023 and has already eclipsed the 2014–2017 bleaching period, which damaged around two-thirds of coral reefs worldwide. The ongoing event has been fuelled by ocean warming driven by climate change. 'We may never see the heat stress levels dip below the threshold for global bleaching again,' said Mark Eakin, corresponding secretary for the International Coral Reef Society and former chief of coral monitoring at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Eakin warned the crisis is fundamentally altering the planet's ecosystems and the ocean's ability to support human life. Corals, which consider as rainforest of the sea, support around 25% marine species, are critical for biodiversity, food security, tourism and coastline protection. Algae are the reason of coral bright colours and it also nurish the coral. Due to high temperature algae release toxic compounds which is ejected by coral. Afterthat only weak white skeleton left behind and heightened the risk of coral death. The average sea surface temperature in last year reached a record 20.87°C in non-polar regions, contributing to the mass bleaching. NOAA's Coral Reef Watch has even had to expand its alert system to reflect the increasing intensity of the crisis. Conservation efforts are underway in some areas. Projects in Florida and the Seychelles are attempting to rescue, regenerate and reintroduce coral to their natural habitats. A Dutch lab has been growing coral in captivity to help restore damaged reefs in future scenarios. Still, scientists insist that without aggressive cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, such efforts may only offer temporary relief. 'The best way to protect coral reefs is to address the root cause of climate change. And that means reducing the human emissions that are mostly from burning of fossil fuels … everything else is looking more like a Band-Aid rather than a solution,' Eakin said. Melanie McField, co-chair of the Caribbean Steering Committee for the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, echoed that urgency: 'Inaction is the kiss of death for coral reefs.' Their update comes as US President Donald Trump, in his second term, continues to dismantle clean energy policies in favour of fossil fuel expansion — a move Eakin says could further endanger global marine ecosystems.
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Business Standard
23-04-2025
- Science
- Business Standard
84 per cent of world's coral reefs hit by worst bleaching event on record
Harmful bleaching of the world's coral has grown to include 84 per cent of the ocean's reefs in the most intense event of its kind in recorded history, the International Coral Reef Initiative announced Wednesday. It's the fourth global bleaching event since 1998, and has now surpassed bleaching from 2014-17 that hit some two-thirds of reefs, said the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), a mix of more than 100 governments, non-governmental organisations and others. And it's not clear when the current crisis, which began in 2023 and is blamed on warming oceans, will end. We may never see the heat stress that causes bleaching dropping below the threshold that triggers a global event, said Mark Eakin, executive secretary for the International Coral Reef Society and retired coral monitoring chief for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). We're looking at something that's completely changing the face of our planet and the ability of our oceans to sustain lives and livelihoods, Eakin said. Last year was Earth's hottest year on record, and much of that is going into oceans. The average annual sea surface temperature of oceans away from the poles was a record 20.87 degrees Celsius. That's deadly to corals, which are key to seafood production, tourism and protecting coastlines from erosion and storms. Coral reefs are sometimes dubbed rainforests of the sea because they support high levels of biodiversity approximately 25 per cent of all marine species can be found in, on and around coral reefs. Coral get their bright colours from the colourful algae that live inside them and are a food source for the corals. Prolonged warmth causes the algae to release toxic compounds, and the coral eject them. A stark white skeleton is left behind, and the weakened coral is at heightened risk of dying. The bleaching event has been so severe that NOAA's Coral Reef Watch programme has had to add levels to its bleaching alert scale to account for the growing risk of coral death. Efforts are underway to conserve and restore coral. One Dutch lab has worked with coral fragments, including some taken from off the coast of the Seychelles, to propagate them in a zoo so that they might be used someday to repopulate wild coral reefs if needed. Other projects, including one off Florida, have worked to rescue corals endangered by high heat and nurse them back to health before returning them to the ocean. But scientists say it's essential to reduce emissions from the greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, that warm the planet. The best way to protect coral reefs is to address the root cause of climate change. And that means reducing the human emissions that are mostly from burning of fossil fuels everything else is looking more like a Band-Aid rather than a solution, Eakin said. I think people really need to recognise what they're doing inaction is the kiss of death for coral reefs, said Melanie McField, co-chair of the Caribbean Steering Committee for the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, a network of scientists that monitors reefs throughout the world. The group's update comes as President Donald Trump has moved aggressively in his second term to boost fossil fuels and roll back clean energy programmes, which he says is necessary for economic growth. We've got a government right now that is working very hard to destroy all of these ecosystems ... removing these protections is going to have devastating consequences, Eakin said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
CNN
23-04-2025
- Science
- CNN
The state of the world's coral reefs has tumbled to an alarming new low
FacebookTweetLink Follow Harmful bleaching of the world's coral has grown to include 84% of the ocean's reefs in the most intense event of its kind in recorded history, the International Coral Reef Initiative announced Wednesday. It's the fourth global bleaching event since 1998, and has now surpassed bleaching from 2014-17 that hit some two-thirds of reefs, said the ICRI, a mix of more than 100 governments, non-governmental organizations and others. And it's not clear when the current crisis, which began in 2023 and is blamed on warming oceans, will end. 'We may never see the heat stress that causes bleaching dropping below the threshold that triggers a global event,' said Mark Eakin, executive secretary for the International Coral Reef Society and retired coral monitoring chief for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 'We're looking at something that's completely changing the face of our planet and the ability of our oceans to sustain lives and livelihoods,' Eakin said. Last year was Earth's hottest year on record, and much of that is going into oceans. The average annual sea surface temperature of oceans away from the poles was a record 20.87 degrees Celsius (69.57 degrees Fahrenheit). That's deadly to corals, which are key to seafood production, tourism and protecting coastlines from erosion and storms. Coral reefs are sometimes dubbed 'rainforests of the sea' because they support high levels of biodiversity — approximately 25% of all marine species can be found in, on and around coral reefs. Coral get their bright colors from the colorful algae that live inside them and are a food source for the corals. Prolonged warmth causes the algae to release toxic compounds, and the coral eject them. A stark white skeleton is left behind, and the weakened coral is at heightened risk of dying. The bleaching event has been so severe that NOAA's Coral Reef Watch program has had to add levels to its bleaching alert scale to account for the growing risk of coral death. Efforts are underway to conserve and restore coral. One Dutch lab has worked with coral fragments, including some taken from off the coast of the Seychelles, to propagate them in a zoo so that they might be used someday to repopulate wild coral reefs if needed. Other projects, including one off Florida, have worked to rescue corals endangered by high heat and nurse them back to health before returning them to the ocean. But scientists say it's essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet, such as carbon dioxide and methane. 'The best way to protect coral reefs is to address the root cause of climate change. And that means reducing the human emissions that are mostly from burning of fossil fuels … everything else is looking more like a Band-Aid rather than a solution,' Eakin said. 'I think people really need to recognize what they're doing … inaction is the kiss of death for coral reefs,' said Melanie McField, co-chair of the Caribbean Steering Committee for the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, a network of scientists that monitors reefs throughout the world. The group's update comes as President Donald Trump has moved aggressively in his second term to boost fossil fuels and roll back clean energy programs, which he says is necessary for economic growth. 'We've got a government right now that is working very hard to destroy all of these ecosystems … removing these protec
