Google Update on Exposure Notifications

In May, we partnered with Apple to launch the Exposure Notifications System (ENS) and made it available to public health authorities around the world in their fight against COVID-19. The ENS allows public health authorities to develop apps that augment manual contact tracing efforts while preserving the privacy of their citizens. As of today, public health authorities have used ENS to launch in 16 countries and regions across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America, with more apps currently under development.

In the United States, 20 states and territories—representing approximately 45 percent of the U.S. population—are exploring apps based on ENS. We expect to see the first set of these apps roll out over the coming weeks. The Association of Public Health Laboratories also announced recently that it will host a national key server to support all U.S. states, which will allow people with Exposure Notification apps to receive alerts even if they travel across state borders.

We’ve continued to improve the technology and provide more transparency based on feedback we’ve received from public health authorities and other experts. Public health authorities will continue to make their own decisions about how exposure notifications become part of their plans in controlling COVID-19, and we will work to improve the technology in response to their feedback. Here are some of the changes we’ve already made, as well as some upcoming additional changes.

Improvements to the Exposure Notification API

Since the Exposure Notification API was publicly released in May, we’ve spoken with dozens of public health authorities to understand how the API could be improved to help them better manage the COVID-19 pandemic while preserving privacy. Based on this feedback, we recently launched an update to the API, which includes the following changes:

• When an exposure is detected, public health authorities now have more flexibility in determining the level of risk associated with that exposure based on technical information from the API.
• Bluetooth calibration values for hundreds of devices have been updated to improve the detection of nearby devices.
• The API now supports interoperability between countries, following feedback from governments that have launched Exposure Notification apps.
• To help public health authorities build apps more efficiently, we’ve added reliability improvements for apps and developer debug tools.
• We’ve improved clarity, transparency and control for users. For example, the Exposure Notifications settings on Android now include a simple on/off toggle at the top of the page. In addition, users will also see a periodic reminder if ENS is turned on.

Technical guidance and transparency

We’ve heard feedback that public health authorities and developers want more technical guidance about how ENS works. In response, we’ve published the following resources over the last few weeks:

• Reference verification server to help guide public health authorities in building a server that allows verification of test results when users report themselves as positive for COVID-19.
• Implementation code showing how the Exposure Notification API works underneath the hood.
• Telemetry design explaining what de-identified diagnostics data is collected to ensure that ENS is functioning properly and securely.

Additional technical resources will be publicly shared as we continue to improve ENS.

Education and privacy protections

The Exposure Notifications website has more information about ENS, and offers educational and technical resources, as well as the latest updates.

As a quick reminder, here are some of the core privacy protections that were built into ENS:

• You decide whether you want to use Exposure Notifications—it’s off unless you turn it on.
• ENS doesn’t use location data from your device.
• Your identity is not shared with Google, Apple or other users.
• Only public health authorities can use this system.

Finally, we’ve received questions about why your Android device location setting has to be turned on if you want to use an Exposure Notification app. We want to explain why this particular setting needs to be on, and how you can control your location settings on Android.

To be absolutely clear, ENS does not use device location, and the policies for using ENS prohibit public health authority apps from requesting or collecting device location. Instead, ENS uses Bluetooth technology to detect when two devices are near each other, without revealing the location of either device. While Bluetooth scanning doesn’t necessarily reveal location, it can in some cases be used to infer your device’s location. For example, if a shopping app scans for the Bluetooth signals of a stationary Bluetooth beacon located inside a store, then the app could infer that you went to that store. So in 2015, with privacy in mind, we designed the Android operating system to prevent Bluetooth scanning unless the device location setting is on. At that time no one could have anticipated that Bluetooth scanning might one day be helpful in controlling a global pandemic like COVID-19.

Our engineering teams have been working to update the next version of Android with Exposure Notifications in mind. On Android 11, which will soon be released, users will be able to use Exposure Notification apps without turning on the device location setting. We’re making this update for Exposure Notifications only, given that ENS has been designed in such a way that neither the system nor the apps using it can infer device location through Bluetooth scanning, and apps that are allowed to use ENS are subject to additional policies that disallow automatic collection of location. All other apps and services will still be prohibited from performing Bluetooth scanning unless the device location setting is on.

But even in current versions of Android, when you turn on the device location setting, your phone continues to prohibit access to any apps, including Google apps, that don’t have permission to use device location. The device location setting is like a circuit breaker in a house: When it’s on, power is flowing to the house, but you can turn the lights on or off in each room. If you turn on the device location setting to use ENS, it won’t affect the decisions you’ve already made about specific apps. You can always view and change which apps have access to your device location by going to Settings > Location > App permissions.

We’re committed to supporting public health authorities as they build tools to fight COVID-19. We’ll continue to improve ENS based on feedback, while ensuring that people can trust in the privacy-preserving design of this technology.

https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/update-exposure-notifications/

NBA: No-Cost Community Covid Testing Program in Orlando, Other Team Markets

The NBA has launched a new community testing program, which plans on providing no-cost COVID-19 tests in Orlando, Fla. and other team markets, the league announced Wednesday.

The program, which is part of the league’s NBA Together program, says it aims to “support, engage, educate and inspire youth, families and fans in response to the coronavirus pandemic.” Per the league’s official release, the program began earlier in July and will run through August.

The NBA is collaborating with UnidosUS and the National Urban League as well as a number of other private laboratories to identify areas most in-need of access to no-cost testing. In its release, it says that “public health data has made clear that the impacts of the coronavirus are most concentrated in historically marginalized communities of color where access to testing is scarce.”

In partnership with BioReference Laboratories, the NBA’s testing provider on its Walt Disney World campus in Orlando, Fla., the league says it is providing free, daily COVID-19 PCR tests at a mobile collection site at the Orlando Vineland Premium Outlet.

The league is also involved in a number of other coronavirus-related initiatives, pertaining to testing, research and information awareness.

Earlier Wednesday, the NBA and NBPA announced that of the 344 players tested for COVID-19 on the NBA’s Orlando campus since results were last announced on July 20, zero tests returned confirmed positive tests.

The 2019-20 season is set to resume on Thursday as the Pelicans square off against the Jazz. The Lakers and Clippers also play Thursday night. Both games can be seen on TNT.

https://www.si.com/nba/2020/07/29/nba-no-cost-community-coronavirus-test

All volunteers reported developing Covid immunity after Russian vax trials

The vaccine against the novel coronavirus, developed by Russian scientists, has created immunity in 100% of volunteers who took part in its trials, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev said in a CNN interview on Friday.

According to the Russian official, 100% of volunteers developed immunity on the 21st day after receiving the first dose. Their immunity doubled after the second injection.

“I can tell you, from first and second phase we have hundred percent of people developing immunity after day 21. It doubles after the second shot. Hundred percent of animals were also protected [against the novel coronavirus],” Dmitriev said.

When asked when Russia would publish its findings, the RDIF head replied that all information would be released in August.

“We selected the safest approach, it has been extensively tested not only now, but also in Ebola vaccine we got approved, in MERS vaccine that was approved,” he went on. “We chose the safest possible delivery mechanism.”

According to Dmitriev, more than 20 nations have demonstrated interest in buying Russia-developed anti-coronavirus vaccine.

“More than 20 countries approached us on our vaccine,” he said, adding that five nations were planning to take part in the production of the Russian anti-coronavirus vaccine.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said earlier it was planned to launch mass production of a vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian health ministry in September 2020. Apart from that, in her words, the first batch of another vaccine, developed by the Russian sanitary watchdog’s Vektor Research Center, would be manufactured in October 2020.

https://tass.com/world/1184711

One of the first ships to resume cruising is having a COVID outbreak

On second thought, maybe it was too soon.

One of the first cruise ships in the world to resume sailing since the coronavirus-caused worldwide halt to cruising in March is experiencing a significant outbreak of the illness that already has sent several people to the hospital.

Norwegian expedition cruise company Hurtigruten late Friday said four sick crew members from the 535-passenger Roald Amundsen were admitted to the University Hospital of North Norway in Tromsø, Norway, earlier in the day after the vessel docked in the city. All four had tested positive for COVID-19.

On Saturday, the line said another 29 crew members had tested positive for the illness.

The Roald Amundsen on Friday had just finished a seven-night sailing out of Tromsø to the Arctic’s wildlife-filled Svalbard archipelago.

All four of the hospitalized crew members had been sick for several days while on board the vessel, and all four had been placed in isolation. But the line said their symptoms weren’t consistent with COVID-19. They only tested positive for the illness after the ship docked in Tromsø early Friday.

It’s unclear if the crew members are seriously ill, or if they only are being hospitalized as a way to keep them isolated.

The entire ship has now been placed in isolation, and the 154 remaining crew members on board have all been tested for COVID-19. Hurtigruten on Saturday said 120 of the crew members had tested negative for the illness. Another five are being retested to verify their results.

Hurtigruten’s Roald Amudsen is an expedition cruise ship with a strengthened hull capable of driving into ice in the Arctic. (Photo courtesy of Hurtigruten)

Hurtigruten on Saturday said it had contacted all 178 passengers who left the ship early Friday, and they had been ordered to self-quarantine in line with Norwegian health regulations.

The company also has contacted another 209 passengers who were aboard the previous sailing of the Roald Amundsen, and they have been told to self-quarantine, too.

The next voyage of the vessel, which had been scheduled to begin Friday, has been canceled.

Hurtigruten has been at the forefront of efforts to restart cruising in Europe in the wake of falling coronavirus case counts across the continent. The line started cruises to Norway out of Hamburg, Germany, in June with a single ship, the 530-passenger Fridtjof Nansen. It added cruises to Svalbard on the Roald Amundsen and the 335-passenger Spitsbergen in July.

The trips only have been open to local travelers from select European countries. No Americans have been on board the vessels.

“We are now focusing all available efforts in taking care of our guests and colleagues,” Hurtigruten spokesperson Rune Thomas Ege said in a statement posted Saturday at the line’s website. “We work closely with the Norwegian national and local health authorities for follow-up, information, further testing, and infection tracking.”

Hurtigruten had implemented a wide range of new health and safety measures on Roald Amundsen and the other ships it brought back into operation, including enhanced cleaning, added medical screenings for passengers and crew, and an end to buffets. All the vessels were operating at a sharply reduced capacity, below 50% of normal, to ensure social distancing.

The measures were similar to what many lines have been touting as the solution to keeping coronavirus off ships as cruising resumes.

The Roald Amundsen trips included Zodiac landings for wildlife sightseeing in the Svalbard archipelago as well as kayaking and other expedition-related activities.

Hurtigruten pioneered cruises to Svalbard in 1896.

Cruises to Svalbard and other parts of the Arctic were thought to be somewhat simpler to run during a pandemic as they don’t involve much passenger interaction with other humans. The typical Arctic voyage is an expedition-style sailing that involves landings and Zodiac excursions to see wildlife, glaciers and floating ice formations.

The Roald Amundsen currently is scheduled to begin sailings around the British Isles for U.K. residents in early September. Hurtigruten didn’t say whether those trips would go ahead.

Hurtigruten is just one of several cruise companies in Europe that have been starting to bring back sailings since June. Until now, no cruise operators in North America have resumed sailings. But one small-ship cruise company, UnCruise Adventures, plans to resume trips out of Juneau, Alaska, on Saturday.

Update: One of the first ships to resume cruising is having a COVID outbreak

Kodak Insider Trading Activity Ahead Of Drug News

Eastman Kodak Company KODK 25.82% shares skyrocketed 222% on Tuesday after the company announced it’s pivoting to drug ingredient development and announced a large government loan.

Benzinga’s PreMarket Prep co-host Dennis Dick said on Tuesday morning’s show that he noticed some suspicious trading activity in both the Kodak stock and options market on Monday ahead of the news.

“All I want to know is who got the memo yesterday? Look at the pop on this thing yesterday ahead of the news. That’s a big candle. That’s the biggest up move it’s had in two months,” Dick said.

What Happened? Kodak shares were up 25% on Monday ahead of the big news. Kodak’s legacy business was producing cameras, but it has since pivoted to blockchain and now is planning to produce generic drug ingredients, the company said.

“I’d be looking at who was buying that thing yesterday. If there was some insider buying happening, that’s interesting knowing it’s this type of headline, which is basically just trying to drive the price up in my opinion,” Dick said.

“Would I be chasing this? Absolutely not. I think when the dust settles, this thing will be back down.”

How To Play It: Dick said Kodak’s share price reacted similarly back in 2017 when the company attempted to get in on the blockchain trend on Wall Street. Despite huge short-term spikes on the blockchain news, Kodak shares were still down about 80% overall in the past three years ahead of this week’s explosive gains.

“I wouldn’t be chasing it up around $8 because I don’t know when the hot potato ride ends, but I think you’ve got to be careful shorting it as well because these things can go crazy. This is a squeeze now,” Dick said.

https://www.benzinga.com/news/20/07/16814320/kodak-had-some-very-suspicious-trading-activity-ahead-of-drug-news

Red Flags Soar as Big Pharma to Be Exempt From Covid Vax Liability Claims

Last week we warned readers to be cautious about new COVID-19 vaccines, highlighting how key parts of the clinical trials are being skipped as big pharma will not be held accountable for adverse side effects for administering the experimental drugs.

A senior executive from AstraZeneca, Britain’s second-largest drugmaker, told Reuters that his company was just granted protection from all legal action if the company’s vaccine led to damaging side effects.

“This is a unique situation where we as a company simply cannot take the risk if in … four years the vaccine is showing side effects,” said Ruud Dobber, a top exec at AstraZeneca.

“In the contracts we have in place, we are asking for indemnification. For most countries, it is acceptable to take that risk on their shoulders because it is in their national interest,” said Dobber, adding that Astra and regulators were making safety and tolerability a top priority.

AstraZeneca is one of the 25 pharmaceutical companies across the world, testing experimental drugs that could be used to combat the deadly virus. And, of course, if testing yields positive results, AstraZeneca could manufacture hundreds of millions of doses, with no legal recourse if side effects are seen.

European officials told Reuters that product liability was a significant discussion to secure new vaccine drugs from Pfizer, Sanofi, and Johnson & Johnson.

As for the US, well, when it comes to the legal framework around vaccines, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already has a law called the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, which provides immunity to vaccine companies if something goes wrong.

With AstraZeneca, and many US big pharma companies rushing COVID-19 vaccines to market with governments granting them immunity if the vaccine has side effects, all suggest corporate elites and government regulators have very little faith in these drugs.

For more color on leading vaccines in development that produce “severe” side effects, read our latest piece titled “Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Induced Adverse Reactions In “More Than Half” Of Trial Participants.” 

Maybe these rushed vaccines are more for optics, get consumers back into airplanes, hotels, resorts, and malls.

The major red flag is how governments are allowing big pharma to rush experimental vaccines, with no legal recourse if something goes terribly wrong.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/red-flags-soar-big-pharma-will-be-exempt-covid-19-vaccine-liability-claims

How coronavirus travels indoors

A numerical simulation shows aerosol transport and deposition in a small classroom setting with an asymptomatic instructor and the ceiling ventilation system located in the back (top) and front (bottom) of the classroom. Credit: Suo Yang, University of Minnesota

A new study from the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering analyzes how the coronavirus spreads indoors—information that could help businesses and schools take precautions to reduce the chance of COVID-19 transmission as they reopen.

Mechanical engineering associate professor Jiarong Hong and assistant professor Suo Yang modeled the airborne virus transmission through aerosols, which are ejected from our mouths when we exhale or speak. The researchers found that when an infected person does this, the SARS CoV-2 virus hitches a ride on those aerosols as they land on nearby surfaces or are inhaled by another person.

Using precise experimental measurements of aerosols released by eight asymptomatic individuals with COVID-19, the researchers were able to numerically model the external flow of the virus through the air in three interior spaces—an elevator, a classroom, and a supermarket. Then, they compared how the virus faired among different levels of ventilation and with different spacing among the rooms’ occupants.

“In general, this is the first quantitative risk assessment of the spatial variation of risks in indoor environments,” Hong said. “You see a lot of people talking about what the risks are of staying in confined spaces, but nobody gives a quantitative number. I think the major contribution we’ve made is combining very accurate measurements and computational fluid dynamics simulation to provide a very quantitative estimate of the risks.”

The researchers found that in indoor spaces, good ventilation will filter some of the virus out of the air, but may leave more viral particles on surfaces. In the classroom setting, after running a 50-minute simulation with an asymptomatic teacher consistently talking, the researchers found that only 10 percent of the aerosols were filtered out. The majority of the particles were instead deposited on the walls.

“Because this is very strong ventilation, we thought it would ventilate out a lot of aerosols. But, 10 percent is really a small number,” said Yang, who holds the Richard and Barbara Nelson Assistant Professorship in Mechanical Engineering. “The ventilation forms several circulation zones called vortexes, and the aerosols keep rotating in this vortex. When they collide with the wall, they attach to the wall. But, because they are basically trapped in this vortex, and it’s very hard for them to reach the vent and actually go out.”

In each scenario, the researchers mapped the air flow to find locations of virus “hot” spots, or where the aerosols congregated. With the right combination of ventilation and interior organization, it could be possible to mitigate the disease spread and avoid these hot zones, the researchers said.

For example, in a classroom setting, the virus aerosols spread significantly less throughout the room when the teacher—who is likely doing the most talking—was placed directly under an air vent. This insight could inform how classrooms are arranged and disinfected, and also help places like theaters and concert venues reopen with the proper precautions.

Yang and Hong recently began working with the Minnesota Orchestra to measure aerosol concentrations and flow while instruments are played onstage at Orchestra Hall. Eventually, they hope to provide the nonprofit with a plan to minimize the COVID-19 risk in Orchestra Hall.

“After our work goes out, I think more people will ask for help because I think many businesses reopening will have this need—movie theaters, drama theaters, any place with large gatherings,” Yang said. “If you do a good job, if you have good ventilation at the right location, and if you scatter the seating of the audience properly, it could be much safer.”

The researchers recently joined an international work group of experts led by University of Minnesota Professor Michael Osterholm of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. The task force’s goal is to learn how much of the SARS CoV-2 virus it takes to become infected and provide science-driven policy that will help mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to Hong and Yang, members of the research team include postdoctoral researcher Dezhi Zhou (mechanical engineering); Ph.D. students Santosh Kumar, Shufan Zou, Siyao Shao, Ruichen He, and Jiaqi Li (mechanical engineering); and mechanical engineering alumnus Kevin Mallery (B.S. ’14, Ph.D.’20). This research relied heavily on the work and dedication of these students, most of whom paused other projects to focus on this one, the researchers said.

---

Explore further

As businesses reopen, it’s crucial we wear masks, safely distance

---

More information: Shao et al., Risk assessment of airborne transmission of COVID-19 by asymptomatic individuals under different practical settings. arXiv:2007.03645 [physics.med-ph]. arxiv.org/abs/2007.03645

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-explores-coronavirus-indoors.html