Africa Cup of Nations 2021 – Day 3
Africa Cup of Nations – Day 3, Jan. 11, 2022
Algeria vs Sierra Leone | 0-0
Nigeria vs Egypt | 1-0
Sudan vs Guinea Bissau | 0-0
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White House Urges Continued Mitigation Efforts Amid Omicron Surge
The White House COVID-19 response team on Wednesday reminded Americans of the continued need to slow the omicron variant’s spread despite its decreased severity and announced new efforts to help keep schools open.
As the omicron variant sweeps across the U.S., Dr. Rochelle Walensky emphasized that wearing masks, getting vaccinated and undergoing COVID-19 testing when necessary are the best strategies to help lower cases of the virus.
Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the omicron variant accounted for 98% of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Earlier this week, the U.S. set a record for the number of daily infections at nearly 1.5 million, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
“All of us must do our part to protect our hospitals and our neighbors and reduce the further spread of this virus,” Walensky said.
The White House team also announced that the Biden administration would distribute 10 million tests to schools across the country each month to ensure they remain open, more than doubling the testing volume from last year.
Although the omicron variant is highly transmissible, it remains less severe than the delta variant, with a decreased risk of hospitalization and death.
Walensky, citing a recent study comparing the two variants, said omicron infections were associated with a 91% reduction in the risk of death and a 74% reduction in the risk of ICU admission.
She also said that infections with the variant had a 53% reduced risk of symptomatic hospitalization.
More hospitalizations
While the risk of hospitalization remains low, the “staggering rise in cases” has increased the country’s number of hospitalizations, according to Walensky.
Nonetheless, she said, patients infected with omicron are experiencing 71% shorter hospital stays than those infected with the delta variant.
On average, omicron patients are hospitalized for about 1.5 days and 90% are expected to be discharged in three days or less.
As the surge continues, Walensky reiterated that cases of the variant are expected to peak in the coming weeks. She also said deaths have increased, with more than 2,600 reported by John Hopkins on Wednesday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious-disease expert, said the country would not be able to eliminate or eradicate COVID-19, but would “ultimately control it.” As the virus becomes endemic, it is likely that “virtually everybody is going to wind up getting exposed and likely get infected,” he said.
However, he added, this does not mean that vaccinations or preventative measures are ineffective or pointless. Fauci clarified that getting vaccinated and staying up to date with booster shots will prevent serious illness from the disease.
“If you’re vaccinated and if you’re boosted, the chances of your getting sick are very, very low,” Fauci said.
To help battle the current surge, the White House team stressed that mitigation efforts remain critical, including wearing a mask. While N95 masks have been shown to be the most effective in resisting airborne transmission of the virus, the CDC still recommends that, for the time being, people choose the mask that is right for them, and that wearing any well-fitting mask is better than no mask.
“We want to highlight that the best mask for you is the one that you can wear comfortably,” Walensky said.
Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, was asked about finding masks and said the administration is “strongly considering options to make more high-quality masks available to all Americans.”
As for schools, the team said that, along with increased testing, vaccination and other mitigation efforts are the keys to keeping students in the classroom.
Walensky stated that with pediatric vaccines now available, schools should be able to continue operating as planned. She also reminded reporters that 99% of schools remained open in the fall during a surge in the delta variant.
“One of the best things we can do is get our children and our teenagers vaccinated,” she said.
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Indigenous People Lead Push for 2030 Winter Olympics, Paralympics in Vancouver
A group of Indigenous people is prepping a bid to bring the 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to Vancouver, Canada. It would be the first time any Olympics was hosted by Indigenous people and could lead to further reconciliation with Canada’s First Nations.
The group was known as the “Four Host First Nations” when Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2010.
The Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh are from the area around the present-day city of Vancouver. The Lil Wat are near the present-day village of Whistler, the famed ski resort about 120 kilometers north of downtown Vancouver.
They have signed a memorandum of understanding with the municipal governments of both Vancouver and Whistler to take the lead on making the bid for the same Games in 2030.
The First Nations played a prominent role in the 2010 Games and during the opening and closing ceremonies.
Wilson Williams, a council member and spokesperson for the Squamish Nation, fondly recalls the Vancouver area hosting the Winter Games and how it brought together over 300 Indigenous youth from across Canada in what came to be known as “The Gathering.”
He said in the years since, the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples has come into effect and Canada has entered an era of reconciliation involving historic human rights abuses committed against First Nations people.
Wilson said the Winter Games in 2030 would allow for the stories of First Nations people from across Canada to be told.
“So I think, you know, there’s a real hunger for sharing stories of who we are, where we come from, you know, there’s always that political eagerness to share the landscape in the visions of that, but I think the real story is paving a story that’s a vision for generations down the road,” he said.
Wiliams said hosting the Games would also set a healthy example for Indigenous youth and help build a better relationship with non-First Nations Canadians.
“I think a First Nation, especially Squamish nation, really trying to pave a healthy path for our future, and setting up our “mun-mun” (children), we call it, our children for success in the future. And living a strong, vibrant and harmoniously with, with our peers, not just with First Nations community, but the community at large, you know, and I think that’s something that we’re really going to take pride in,” Williams said.
Salt Lake City, Utah, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002, is also contending for the 2030 Games. Other bids could follow.
Montreal-based lawyer Dick Pound, the longest serving member of the International Olympic Committee and the founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, says, with Los Angeles, California set to host the Summer Games in 2028, it is less likely the United States will be picked for the 2030 Winter Games, boosting the chances that Vancouver’s First Nations-led bid will succeed.
“It’s the indigenous issue is one that now resonates a lot more strongly internationally. And the IOC is certainly alert to that. And of course, then they know the involvement in Vancouver to 2010. So, no, I don’t think it’s cutesy (a stunt) at all, I think it’s a very good way of involving an important part of the community, particularly in B.C. (British Columbia),” Pound said.
The next step is for a formal collaboration agreement to be ironed out between First Nations and municipal governments, and then a feasibility study, which will detail the costs and sources of funding for the Games.
It is hoped this will happen in the next few months.
Almost all major venues still exist from the 2010 Games and would not need to be built.
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Novak Djokovic Says He Made Mistakes in His Travel Documents Before Arriving in Australia
Novak Djokovic, the world’s top-ranked male tennis player, says errors were made on his entry documents about his activities in the weeks before traveling to Australia, adding another layer of controversy in his fight to compete in the year’s first major “Grand Slam” tennis tournament.
The Serbian star issued a statement Wednesday saying his assistants had incorrectly declared that he had not traveled anywhere in the 14-days before departing for Melbourne last week. Reports have surfaced showing he traveled to Serbia and Spain.
Djokovic also said he did not know he tested positive for COVID-19 on December 16 until the next day, after he appeared at a tennis event in Belgrade to present awards to children. He also admitted that he should have canceled a planned magazine interview and photoshoot the day after learning of his status.
The 34-year-old Djokovic has been at odds with Australian officials since his arrival in Melbourne last Wednesday to begin preparations for the Australian Open, which begins next Monday, January 17. An open skeptic of COVID-19 vaccines, he said he had received a medical exemption from two medical panels and Tennis Australia, the tournament’s organizer, from the government’s requirement that all visitors should be vaccinated against COVID-19.
But the government rejected Djokovic’s exemption and revoked his visa amid a public uproar in Australia, which is battling with a huge spike in new coronavirus cases driven by the omicron variant. He was placed in immigration detention until a judge overruled the government in a hearing Monday and reinstated his visa.
But Immigration Minister Alex Hawke still could decide to expel Djokovic from Australia because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Djokovic is seeking his second consecutive Australian Open men’s title and his 10th overall. It would also be his 21st career Grand Slam win, which would break the tie he shares with his closest rivals, Rafeal Nadal of Spain and Roger Federer of Switzerland.
Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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World Economic Forum Warns Cyber Risks Add to Climate Threat
Cyberthreats and the growing space race are emerging risks to the global economy, adding to existing challenges posed by climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, the World Economic Forum said in a report Tuesday.
The Global Risks Report is usually released ahead of the annual elite winter gathering of CEOs and world leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, but the event has been postponed for a second year in a row because of COVID-19. The World Economic Forum still plans some virtual sessions next week.
Here’s a rundown of the report, which is based on a survey of about 1,000 experts and leaders:
World outlook
As 2022 begins, the pandemic and its economic and societal impacts still pose a “critical threat” to the world, the report said. Big differences between rich and poor nations’ access to vaccines mean their economies are recovering at uneven rates, which could widen social divisions and heighten geopolitical tensions.
By 2024, the global economy is forecast to be 2.3% smaller than it would have been without the pandemic. But that masks the different rates of growth between developing nations, whose economies are forecast to be 5.5% smaller than before the pandemic, and rich countries, which are expected to expand 0.9%.
Digital dangers
The pandemic forced a huge shift — requiring many people to work or attend class from home and giving rise to an exploding number of online platforms and devices to aid a transformation that has dramatically increased security risks, the report said.
“We’re at the point now where cyberthreats are growing faster than our ability to effectively prevent and manage them,” said Carolina Klint, a risk management leader at Marsh, whose parent company Marsh McLennan co-authored the report with Zurich Insurance Group and SK Group.
Cyberattacks are becoming more aggressive and widespread, as criminals use tougher tactics to go after more vulnerable targets, the report said. Malware and ransomware attacks have boomed, while the rise of cryptocurrencies makes it easy for online criminals to hide payments they have collected.
While those responding to the survey cited cybersecurity threats as a short- and medium-term risk, Klint said the report’s authors were concerned that the issue wasn’t ranked higher, suggesting it’s a “blind spot” for companies and governments.
Space race
Space is the final frontier — for risk.
Falling costs for launch technology has led to a new space race between companies and governments. Last year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space tourism venture Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson took off, while Elon Musk’s Space X business made big gains in launching astronauts and satellites.
Meanwhile, a host of countries are beefing up their space programs as they chase geopolitical and military power or scientific and commercial gains, the report said.
But all these programs raise the risk of friction in orbit.
“Increased exploitation of these orbits carries the risk of congestion, an increase in debris and the possibility of collisions in a realm with few governance structures to mitigate new threats,” the report said.
Space exploitation is one of the areas that respondents thought had among the least amount of international collaboration to deal with the challenges.
Experts and leaders responding to the survey “don’t believe that much is being done in the best possible way moving forward,” World Economic Forum’s managing director, Saadia Zahidi, said at a virtual press briefing from Geneva.
Other areas include artificial intelligence, cyberattacks and migration and refugees, she said.
Climate crisis
The environment remains the biggest long-term worry.
The planet’s health over the next decade is the dominant concern, according to survey respondents, who cited failure to act on climate change, extreme weather, and loss of biodiversity as the top three risks.
The report noted that different countries are taking different approaches, with some moving faster to adopt a zero-carbon model than others. Both approaches come with downsides. While moving slowly could radicalize more people who think the government isn’t acting urgently, a faster shift away from carbon intense industries could spark economic turmoil and throw millions out of work.
“Adopting hasty environmental policies could also have unintended consequences for nature,” the report added. “There are still many unknown risks from deploying untested biotechnical and geoengineering technologies.”
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Advances in Space Transportation Systems Transforming Space Coast
From a seaside perch overlooking the hustle and bustle of ships coming and going at Port Canaveral on Florida’s east coast, Dale Ketcham reflects on decades of history with nostalgia.
“I moved here and learned how to walk on Cocoa Beach three years before NASA was created” in 1958, he said.
Not only can Ketcham trace his life alongside the U.S. space program, he’s had a firsthand view of the transformation of the economies of communities surrounding NASA’s Kennedy Space Center several times since the 1950s.
“The space program continued to progress, but it was always government-focused,” said Ketcham, adding that the configuration did not bring long-term stability to the local workforce.
“For 50 years roughly, Florida’s Space Coast was the place for launch” but not production of spacecraft, said Brian Baluta of the Economic Development Commission (EDC) of Florida’s Space Coast.
Most of the equipment used in the Apollo and space shuttle programs in the last half of the 20th century was shipped to Florida for assembly.When Atlantis touched down in 2011 on the final shuttle mission, it marked the end of an era in human spaceflight, with painful economic consequences for the Space Coast.
“The job losses started to pile up, and that happened to coincide with the Great Recession,” Baluta said.“And that was really a one-two punch for this area. In 2011, unemployment was 12% at that point. The economy and its outlook (were) not that strong.”
Baluta’s organization responded by forging a plan to boost the fortunes of the area’s workforce — permanently.
“It started with taking the unusual step of reaching out to the companies who were likely to produce the successor to the space shuttle,” he said.“At the time, it was called the Crew Exploration Vehicle, and there wasn’t a contract for it yet,” he said. “But we reached out to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing — the companies that would likely compete and win for that contract. And we made the unusual pitch of, ‘If you win the contract, not only should you consider launching from Cape Canaveral, but you should consider assembling your spacecraft here.’”
Diversify products
The concept took off.
“Just like diversifying a portfolio, if you diversify the area and your products, you can ride through those lows,” said Lockheed Martin’s Kelly DeFazio. Her company won the contract to create NASA’s next-generation spacecraft transporting humans back to the moon.
The Crew Exploration Vehicle, now called Orion, is the crew capsule of the upcoming Artemis missions. Instead of making them elsewhere, some of Orion’s key components are pieced together at Lockheed Martin’s new STAR (Spacecraft, Test, Assembly and Resource) Center near Titusville, Florida, which is the former home of Space Camp and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.
“This particular center here was an 18-month, $20 million investment by Lockheed Martin, and that is helping to expand the manufacturing footprint for the Space Coast and allowing us to increase throughput (output) over time to support the lunar mission,” said DeFazio, who is also a longtime resident of Florida’s Space Coast. She now oversees the work at STAR Center, which includes creating wiring harnesses and the application of thermal tiles that will protect the Orion capsule.
Amid all the activity at STAR Center, DeFazio said local excitement is building.
“I think that it will start to become very clear with the launch of Artemis 1 that there is a difference,” said DeFazio. “And you know what? We’re going to take humans farther than they have ever gone before.”
“When I was growing up with the original seven astronauts, it was really a frontier town,” Ketcham said. That Wild West frontier town description is also how he characterizes the present-day Space Coast, with government contractors and private companies jockeying for real estate and launch access.
“In many ways, we’re going back. … The workforce is younger, particularly with Space X. They aren’t afraid to fail,” Ketcham said.
‘The more the merrier’
Space X, Blue Origin, and the Airbus and One Web partnership are just a few of the growing number of companies now with facilities near the rocket launch pads at Kennedy Space Center, thanks in part to the efforts of the EDC and organizations like Space Florida, where Ketcham now serves as vice president.
“We just had an announcement this week that there will be a small launch company called Astra coming here to build small rockets for small satellites, which is a big new component of the space industry,” said Ketcham. “But we’ve also got Firefly, Relativity coming — and others will be coming after that.”
The more the merrier said Ketcham, who believes the flurry of activity not only helps the local economy but also keeps the United States competitive globally in what he sees as a new international space race.
China leading the race
“The Chinese will put more rockets into orbit than we will because the Chinese are competitive, very smart, very capable, very well-resourced and very committed. And they are the major competitors in space,” Ketcham said.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson agrees.
During a U.S. House of Representatives appropriations hearing conducted remotely last year, he signaled alarm over the recent successes in the Chinese space program, including landing a rover on the surface of Mars, and is concerned that their ambitions are not limited to the red planet.
“They want to send three big landers to the south pole of the moon,” Nelson told members of Congress. “And that’s where the water is. And we are still a year or two away from a much smaller lander going there.”
Nelson wants U.S. lawmakers to increase NASA’s funding so the agency can complete the Artemis program, which plans to return humans — including the first woman — to the moon, with Mars as an eventual destination.
“I think that’s adding a new element as to whether or not we want to get serious and get a lot of activity going on landing humans back on the surface of the moon,” he said.
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