Latest news with #sprung
News18
20-05-2025
- Health
- News18
From Covid-19 To Nipah, What Makes Kerala The 'Alarm Bell' Of India?
Last Updated: As of May 19, only 257 active cases were reported nationwide, of which Kerala reported 69 cases, the highest in the country so far. As Covid-19 cases surge again globally, particularly in Singapore and Hong Kong, health authorities have sprung into action to assess domestic preparedness. The Union Health Ministry is closely monitoring the evolving crisis, concerned about the potential ripple effects of the new Omicron sub-variants fuelling the latest spike. However, every time a new virus starts making headlines, be it Covid-19 or the Nipah virus, it seems the first red flag rises from one particular Indian state: Kerala. The pattern is so consistent that it often prompts a national question: Why always Kerala? From the first Covid-19 case in India, confirmed in a 20-year-old student returning from Wuhan to Thrissur on January 30, 2020, to the highest number of new cases in the latest Covid-19 resurgence, Kerala continues to lead the national tally. According to PTI, as of May 19, only 257 active cases were reported nationwide, of which Kerala reported 69 cases, the highest in the country so far. But instead of viewing this as a sign of vulnerability, experts suggest it's precisely Kerala's strength in public health surveillance that puts it ahead in the viral detection race. A high-level review meeting was convened late Monday night in New Delhi, chaired by the Director General of Health Services. The session brought together top experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Emergency Medical Relief Division, the Disaster Management Cell, and representatives from central government hospitals. Officials reviewed both domestic case trends and international developments. This early detection isn't a coincidence; it's the result of a robust and deeply integrated health intelligence network that operates across the state. Here's why Kerala is often first to sound the alarm: Kerala's health infrastructure has long been recognised as one of the most efficient in the country. Its disease surveillance system is rigorous, proactive, and often faster than that of the Centre. From district hospitals to remote primary health centres, every facility is digitally linked and mandated to report any unusual symptoms in real time. Rapid response teams are mobilised as soon as a suspicious case is flagged, enabling quick testing, isolation, and contact tracing. 2. District-Level Micro-Tracking Each district in Kerala has specialised teams, including virologists and infection control officers, who monitor disease trends daily. Community health workers, often referred to as Kerala's 'health warriors", are trained to detect even minor signs of infection at the grassroots level. This network is so effective that diseases are often 'decoded" in Kerala before they appear on the central health radar. 3. International Mobility and Exposure Kerala has one of the largest populations of expatriates in India, particularly in Gulf countries. With frequent international travel, especially from regions with high infection risks, the likelihood of importing a virus is naturally higher. These travellers often become the first to present symptoms, prompting the state's quick-response mechanism into action. 4. Kerala as a National Health Model What Kerala detects early, India eventually prepares for. After Covid-19 first surfaced in Thrissur, other states began adopting Kerala's methods; door-to-door screening, training of local health volunteers, real-time digital health records, and decentralised tracking systems. The Centre frequently dispatches teams to Kerala to study its methods and share insights nationwide. In many ways, Kerala acts as India's frontline health sentinel – a place where disease trends are first observed, decoded, and reported. While the headlines may often highlight the state's case numbers, they rarely credit its role as the country's early warning system. First Published: May 20, 2025, 18:09 IST
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Voltaire's take on the ‘Utah Way'
Darci Stone holds a sign during the Stand Up For Science protest at the Utah State Capitol on the last day of the legislative session, Friday, March 7, 2025. (Photo by Alex Goodlett for Utah News Dispatch) Perhaps the most eloquent summation of America in the age of Donald Trump comes from the famous quote of eighteenth-century French Enlightenment philosopher and acerbic social critic François-Marie Arouet, known by his pen name as Voltaire. He wrote, 'Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.' Trump has been dragging this country into a land littered with 'absurdities' and non-reality since he rode down the escalator in 2015. Now in his second term, teamed up with apex predator and wolf in DOGE clothing, Elon Musk, those absurdities are in full bloom as authoritarian, Nazi-saluting moral atrocities. Public protests have sprung up throughout the country on almost every move Trump and Musk have made. One of the most important protest movements, but least publicized, is 'Stand Up for Science.' I attended the rally in Salt Lake City on March 8 along with hundreds of other Utahns. But next time the attendance should be hundreds of thousands. Two weeks ago, new director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, announced that EPA's mission would be flipped on its head, i.e. it would no longer be to protect human life, public health and our air, water, and environment from contamination, but to 'lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business.' Even from an economic standpoint this is an absurdity. On average the economic benefits to EPA regulations established through the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act have been about 30 times the cost to industry of complying with those regulations. Even the narrowest of interpretations of that equation finds a 3-to-1 benefit ratio. It is primarily thanks to EPA regulations on smoke stack and tail pipe emissions that Utah's particulate pollution (PM2.5) has generally improved in the last 20 years (although that improvement is being eroded by more wildfire pollution). A recent study from Utah scientists estimated that up to 8,000 Utahns die, and economic losses are up to $3.3 billion a year, due to current levels of pollution. Voltaire would have cringed at Zeldin boasting the EPA will do its part to 'power the great American comeback.' Comeback to what? More dead and sick Utahns and more economic losses? Even if you assign no economic value to your own health, quality of life, or life expectancy, fossil fuel generated energy is now more expensive than clean energy. On the EPA's official website, Zeldin boasts, 'We are driving a dagger through the heart of the climate change religion.' A MAGA cultist slandering the most important scientific reality in human history as a 'religion' is right from the authoritarian play book: accuse your opposition of the very atrocities you're committing. Over 99.9% of climate research dating back to 1807, has confirmed an accelerating climate crisis from increasing atmospheric CO2. It's been declared the greatest public health threat of the 21st century by the world's top 200 medical journals. Even the oil industry's scientists identified looming catastrophic global warming with 'shocking skill and accuracy' as early the 1970s. As we all know, the industry betrayed their own science, deciding that saving humanity would not interfere with quarterly profits. That Musk promotes himself as a scientific genius while spearing heading some of the most anti-science delusions infecting the Trump Administration is particularly galling. Trump's entire cabinet, their party's Congressional majorities, and even some Democrats have for years personified the scientific absurdity and moral atrocity warned about by Voltaire. For their part, our legislature keeps telling themselves that Utah is the best managed state in the nation. The 25,000-80,000 Utahns that died in the last decade from our air pollution might think otherwise. Our legislature is also disconnected from the wishes of their undead constituency, with their ongoing determination to wrest control of public lands away from the federal government, and to immunize Utah against mythical 'federal regulatory overreach.' A Colorado College annual poll found that 76% of Utahns want their leaders 'to place more emphasis on protecting water, air, wildlife habitat, and recreation opportunities over maximizing the amount of land available for drilling and mining.' Fifty-seven percent 'oppose giving state government control over national public lands,' such as forests, monuments, and wildlife refuges. Nearly two thirds support government action 'to reduce carbon pollution that contributes to climate change.' Yet our leaders persist in doing the opposite. For example, Utah has spent your tax dollars fighting the 'Good Neighbor Rule' which would have required reducing pollution from our coal power plants that send death and disease over to Colorado, as if those lives mean nothing. How does anyone square that moral failure with the Parable of the Good Samaritan whose virtue so many of our legislators hear extolled in their church services? If Voltaire targeted his pen on the vaunted 'Utah Way' in the era of Donald Trump, I'm pretty sure he would say, 'Yup, nailed it.'
CBS News
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Westmoreland Museum of American Art ringing in spring with 'Art in Bloom' exhibit
Spring has sprung at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, and for the next week, special floral arrangements will not only be accenting their galleries but taking center stage. While spring colors are just starting to bud outdoors in the Pittsburgh region, indoors at the Westmoreland Museum, flowers and art are in bloom. This is thanks to 20 local florists who have made floral arrangements that coincide with specific art and paintings around the museum. The exhibit is called 'Art in Bloom' and is back for its second year at the museum. Claire Ertl, the museum's marketing director, says this exhibit was brought back for a second year after its radiant success last year. She says they intend to have 'Art in Bloom' at the museum each spring. "Coming to the museum itself is inspirational," Ertl said. "But having just this added feature of the flowers and it being the beginning of spring, it's just a great tradition that I think we have started here. And I think the community really embraced it as something to look to in the spring season." While many artists' floral works are on display, one local artist, JD Peterson, was at the museum on Wednesday, meeting guests and telling them about her unique arrangement of calla lilies, which is paired with a painting by Mildred Thompson called 'String Theory.' "You really have to think about how to interpret this," said Peterson. "For example, (String Theory) is a two-dimensional piece of art, but you have to bring it to life in three dimensions. And I just loved working with the texture, the color, the line, and the shape, and I am just thrilled to have this piece." Admission to 'Art in Bloom' is $10 for the public and free to museum members. The flowers will only be on display through Sunday, March 30. For tickets and more information, click here .
