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Justice Department Sues Facebook for Favoring Migrants

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Justice Department Sues Facebook for Favoring Migrants
Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit against Facebook, alleging that the technology firm favored migrant or foreign workers on H-1B visas and others on temporary visas over U.S. citizen employees.

In a statement, the Justice Department said Facebook refused to recruit qualified U.S. workers for more than 2,600 jobs, reserving them for temporary visa holders it wanted to sponsor for permanent work authorization.

The positions, which were allegedly discriminated against by Facebook, offered an average salary of approximately $156,000 and, according to the lawsuit, the company did not advertise these positions on its career website as it normally does.

Assistant Attorney General Eric S. Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division said the department alleges that Facebook "committed widespread and intentional violations of the law by reserving positions for temporary visa holders rather than considering interested and qualified U.S. workers. 

"This lawsuit follows an almost two-year investigation... Our message is clear: if companies deny employment opportunities by illegally preferring temporary visa holders, the Justice Department will hold them accountable," the official added.

The complaint states that, from January 1, 2018 to September 18, 2019, Facebook employed tactics that discriminated against U.S. workers and preferred holders of temporary work visas in connection with the labor certification process (PERM).

It also alleges that Facebook attempted to channel jobs to temporary visa holders, at the expense of U.S. workers, by not advertising those vacancies on its career website and refusing to consider U.S. workers who applied for those positions. 

In its investigation, the department determined that Facebook's "ineffective" recruitment methods deterred U.S. workers from applying for their PERM jobs.

Thus, the department concluded that, during the referred period, Facebook received between zero and one U.S. applicant for 99.7 percent of its PERM positions, while comparable positions advertised on its career site during a similar period generally attracted 100 or more applicants.

It should be noted that the PERM process is administered by the Department of Labor and allows employers to offer permanent positions to temporary visa holders, making them legal permanent residents who can live and work in the U.S. indefinitely.

However, the PERM process requires that an employer demonstrate that there are no qualified U.S. workers available for the position that the employer plans to offer the temporary visa holder.

Indeed, H-1B visas are often used by the technology sector to bring highly skilled foreign workers to the U.S. However, for some critics of these permits, the laws governing such visas are lax and make it too easy to replace U.S. workers with cheaper foreign labor.

According to a statement picked up by the U.S. media, technology giant spokesman Daniel Robertson, "Facebook has been cooperating with the Justice Department in its review of this matter and while we dispute the allegations in the complaint, we cannot comment further on the pending litigation.

The Facebook lawsuit is the latest example of the Trump administration's crusade against Silicon Valley in its effort to restrict immigration of foreign workers.

This is totally contrary to what companies such as Facebook and Apple have said, as they believe that banning such visas would stifle the ability of American companies to attract the best talent, drive innovation and promote economic prosperity.

In June, Trump issued a presidential proclamation that temporarily blocked foreign workers entering on H-1B visas, ensuring that 525,000 U.S. jobs would be restored.

According to a May Economic Policy Institute report, the top 30 employers of H-1B workers include Amazon, Microsoft, Walmart, Alphabet's Google, Apple and Facebook.

Infidelity or COVID-19, what really killed the cat?

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Infidelity or COVID-19, what really killed the cat?
Editorial office. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

Wilma and Ricardo divorced this year after six months of confinement after spending 16 years sleeping in the same bed. They have a daughter, Carolina, three dogs, two parrots, two cats and an anthill that they got for Caro on her birthday. 

Ricardo had an affair last year and, although they had decided to give each other one last chance, the confinement ended up annihilating what was left of their relationship. 

Was it adventure or was it confinement that ended up untying the ties of love after so many years? 

A study of married life during confinement and extramarital relationships addresses several topics, including sex, stress, dating during a pandemic, thoughts about the future of marriage, monogamy, and divorce. 

We give you 5 keys to manage your marriage and (possible) infidelity during the pandemic: 

You be the one to initiate sex

Wear something sexy or something you know your partner likes. Start by looking for some kind of contact or throwing a look. Maybe some words you know will trigger the other one and prompt him/her to play. 

Being locked up doesn't mean we spend all day like bunnies. The 58 % of married people who date outside of marriage comment that their spouse has not initiated any sexual intimacy during quarantine. It is not surprising then that 75 % of the unfaithful have less sexual intercourse than usual or none at all with their spouse. 

When sex is so important, yet so unattainable in marriage, people will inevitably look for another place to have their needs met. Since confinement, marriages have had to spend the longest period of time with their spouses, and not be able to leave! Clearly, the answer is in your hands. If sexual pleasure is not on the menu, it will go to another restaurant that serves it... and warmly. 

Trust and instill confidence in your partner in times of uncertainty and stress, do not resort to third parties

Ricardo felt anxiety, worry and fear, frustration and anger. Wilma boredom. But both felt discomfort and uncertainty caused by the pandemic and confinement. With the bad news and the third wave the country is in, it is hard to stay positive. 

However, Ricardo felt great relief when his infidelity began, it is a great distraction, something he longed for and something that allows him to maintain a sense of normalcy.

It could even be said that infidelity is a reliable form of personal care, for Ricardo, since his state of mind increased and he is not alone, as is the case with many infidels, according to the study on married life and infidelity during the pandemic. 

It's the same with sex, if you don't open up to your partner and tell them your fears and uncertainties, your deepest desires and share your state of mind, you'll have to put it somewhere else. In the same way, you must leave the door open so that your partner feels confident to deposit what he or she has inside you. 

Only you are responsible for your happiness, not your partner

The myth is that of the fairy tale where your spouse must be your main and only confidant, BFF (best friend forever), lover, haven of peace and also dress in blue to save you from every problem you face or from the other side, dress in pink and wait patiently, docile and quietly for the storm to pass; it must stop at once. 

The pandemic has definitely changed the way we interact with others, in some ways, for the better. 

Avoiding COVID-19 infection leaves you with few alternatives, since the best thing to do is to stay at home and get away from people. This makes interaction with your partner difficult, since you tend to overload yourself to do absolutely everything with just one person. Those of you who are married may have realized that you cannot depend on your spouse for everything, and this bubble is a way of meeting your various needs.

Happiness can only be found in yourself, and burdening your partner with such responsibility will only aggravate the situation. Think that when you met you were happy, together yes, but you were happy before he or she came. Besides, you owe it to yourself. 

Another alternative to happiness

An alternative, with all the risks that they imply, could be to create a healthy social bubble for socializing and personal fulfillment. However, creating the bubble necessarily implies a previous selection and forces us to think about what we need and who can give it to us. When you are alone, who do you call? When you need fun, who do you want to see? When you want passion, who do you look for? Perhaps the answers indicate that it will be a different person for each situation. 

There is no one person who can offer fulfillment in all aspects of life, not even a spouse. Perhaps times are beginning to come up with new ways of building sex-affective relationships where there is no longer room for monogamy. 

Lara Ferreiro, an expert psychologist in sexuality and couples therapy says that:

"In times of pandemic, it is the lover who is meeting and attending to the emotional and sexual needs of many, not the partner. Even spending more time together than ever with your partner is not enough to match everything your lover offers you. In them they find not only a physiological outlet; their lover is their confidant and their main emotional support that helps them to cope with the current situation in their home. Monogamy is a concept that no longer works for many, and is beginning to be questioned and even revised.

Let's not talk about opening up your marriage, but what do we do about infidelity then? In the end, maybe the affair is a way to avoid divorce

What a hoax! Before the altar one never promises to spend 24 hours a day every day glued to one's partner without leaving home. 

It is understandable that new tensions, stress and even some arguments at home have surfaced, as couples in marriage now spend more time together since the confinement began than they ever did since they met. As a result, divorce consultations have increased by as much as 25% according to The National Law Review. But the unfaithful go their own way. For them, divorce is the last thing on their minds, and they thank their alternative relationship for it. 

This was not the case for Wilma and Ricardo, who after the deception only saw the solution of separating definitively. But one cannot help but wonder if for many others, an affair, an affair, is not the escape valve required, from time to time, to save the marriage. 

Infant deaths, among the greatest horrors of the Donald J. Trump administration

Pamela Cruz
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Infant deaths, among the greatest horrors of the Donald J. Trump administration
Susan Barnum. Protest against child detention outside Border Patrol facility in Clint, Texas.
Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has become the epicenter of some of the greatest horrors of the past four years, embodied in stories that, so far, cannot be forgotten.

Among these stories, he mentions the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), are those of children crying breathlessly after being separated by their parents at the border, or of little ones sleeping in cages on the ground in the open air.

Perhaps the cruelest of all is the photograph of a girl desperately clinging to her father's neck with her arm around him, who ended up drowning on the side of the Rio Bravo as they tried to cross to the United States.

The disturbing image has generated comparisons with other photos, such as that of the death of Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned in 2015 when his family was trying to reach a shrine in Greece; or that of Omran Daqneesh, 5, when he was wounded in an air raid in Aleppo.

Just as these images focused the world's attention on the humanitarian crisis in Syria and Turkey, the intense image of the little girl and her father drowned in the Rio Bravo was a stark reminder of the human cost of the migration crisis.

Cuando el presidente electo Joe Biden asuma el cargo en enero próximo, refiere ACLU, debe asegurarse de que este tipo de abusos nunca vuelvan a ocurrir, así como de erradicar el clima de propagación de miedo en la frontera, que ha excusado la crueldad y ha enfrentado al abuso con impunidad.

While the new administration is contemplating how to fund the Department of Homeland Security's management in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will also have to focus on significantly cutting the budget of the Customs and Border Protection agency.

The federal agency is one of the largest in the country, with some 45,600 sworn officers and agents, along with a budget of more than $17 billion for both Border Patrol and port of entry operations. 

Despite its size, the Department of Homeland Security stated in 2019 that 40 percent of CBP resources were being absorbed by an "unprecedented increase" in the number of families fleeing Central American countries, and it was unable to manage other border security missions.

Thus, for the ACLU, CBP should have no role in the detention of individuals beyond a short processing period, since, in the last two years, at least seven children died in CBP custody or shortly after their release, because they received late or no medical care at all. 

CBP should also be removed from the asylum process, as it has been found to have confiscated crucial personal documents or lied on government forms, and should not make decisions about how and when to separate families arriving at the border.

Also, adds the ACLU, reforms are needed to address CBP's culture of impunity for abuse, including the death of people at the hands of CBP, since, since January 2010, at least 117 people, including some US citizens, have died following encounters with CBP. 

As Biden's transition team contemplates a new model for receiving asylum seekers, it should also develop alternatives for detaining them. 

Similarly, stricter standards are needed to limit CBP's use of lethal force, require agency officials to keep their credentials visible, and use body cameras. As well as a complaint mechanism that is accessible online, a uniform process for reviewing and investigating abuse and ensuring that CBP personnel are held accountable for inhumane treatment.

Accountability will require more than the appointment of new leadership, concludes the ACLU, but will require a rebalancing and recalculation of the role of CBP.

EEJ

COVID-19: Immunization Plan for California

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COVID-19: Immunization Plan for California
Christian Carlos. Peninsula 360 Press.

El gobernador de California, Gavin Newsom confirmó, a través de su cuenta de Twitter, el plan de vacunación que será puesto en marcha en dicho estado. Comenzará «a mediados de diciembre», dijo Newsom, luego de que anunciara una nueva orden de confinamiento en casa.

327,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in the 6 regions of California; likewise, Newsom pointed out that, starting this Friday, the regions will begin to place orders according to need in their three stages:

  • Region I: 126,750 doses.
  • Region II: 80,497 doses.
  • Region III: 8,592 doses.
  • Region IV: 35,145 doses.
  • Region V: 16,706 doses
  • Region VI: 59,910 doses.

The vaccination plan will consist of 3 stages, the first of which I feel is the most important:

Stage 1

  • Intensive care, psychiatric and correctional hospitals.
  • Skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities and similar environments for the elderly or medically vulnerable.
  • Paramedics, paramedics and others who provide emergency medical services.
  • Dialysis centers.

Stage 2

  • Intermediate care facilities.
  • Home health care and support services
  • Community health workers.
  • Public health personnel in the field.
  • Primary care clinics: Rural health centers, correctional facilities clinics and urgent care clinics.

Stage 3, other settings and other health workers

  • Specialized clinics.
  • Laboratory workers.
  • Dental and oral health clinics.
  • Pharmacy staff who do not work at higher levels

Both the distribution and application of the COVID-19 vaccines will be logistically challenging because, as mentioned, refrigerated containers at very low temperatures are needed to keep the doses safe, but Newsom is confident that after the first part of the application, the work will be efficient from start to finish over the next few months.

It is expected that Modern, who also issued an emergency authorization request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), also assist in the production, distribution, storage and application of your vaccine as long as the state of California is ready.

COVID-19: New regional order in California to stop contagion

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COVID-19: New regional order in California to stop contagion
⚠️ Update: Immunization plan announced for California.
Christian Carlos. Peninsula 360 Press.

"Our intensive care units are filling up fast. Our mortality rate is increasing. To stop the resurgence of #COVID19 and thus save lives, California is announcing a Regional Home Confinement Order," said California Governor Gavin Newsom.

And that's because, he points, "regions where the capacity of the intensive care units is less than 15%" of their capacity, will enter such confinement for the next three weeks". However, he points out that no region has been required to enter this new confinement order.

He recalled that, if this order is implemented, it is a temporary measure. "Hope is coming. Relief - from the pandemic - is coming." He recalled that the first doses of the first vaccines will be available in the coming weeks. 

Through his Twitter account, the governor of California indicated that the economic sectors that will remain open in the regions where the new confinement order applies include only schools that have already reopened, critical infrastructure, retail - taking care of the 20% of maximum capacity - and restaurants that only offer take-out.

The businesses to be closed during the next three weeks in the regions designated for the new containment order will be bars, warehouses, personal and aesthetic services.

All non-essential travel is temporarily restricted throughout the state of California during the implementation of the new confinement order.

The governor added the importance of being as physically active as possible and virtually connected. He recommended going out to parks or beaches. Go for a walk or bike ride. Fishing, yoga, walking the pets, taking outdoor fitness classes, running, skiing or, instead, snowboard.

COVID-19: United Kingdom, first country to use Pfizer vaccine

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COVID-19: United Kingdom, first country to use Pfizer vaccine
Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

The United Kingdom granted emergency approval Wednesday to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, making it the first Western country to allow mass vaccination against the disease, which has killed more than 1.487 million people worldwide.

"Help is on the way," Health Secretary Matt Hancock said this morning, after UK regulators granted emergency authorisation for the vaccine, manufactured by the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson stressed via his Twitter account that the approval of a vaccine is a big step towards normality, but the rules in the country area have not changed and restrictions must be followed to protect others.

"Until the vaccine is fully implemented, our plan depends on all of us continuing to make the necessary sacrifices to protect those we love," he added.

According to CNN, the United Kingdom ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine, so next week 800,000 initial doses would be delivered from Pfizer's facilities in Belgium, and a few million more before the end of the year.

Thus, older people living in residential homes, frontline health workers and other vulnerable people would be at the top of the priority list for vaccination.

According to the final analysis of the phase 3 trial, which Pfizer published last month, the vaccine was 95 percent effective in preventing the disease, even in older adults, and caused no serious safety problems.

At the time, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the study results marked an important step in the historic eight-month journey "to deliver a vaccine that can help end this devastating pandemic".

For this reason, he said, marketing authorization would be requested "in a few days" from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), since with thousands of people infected every day around the world, "we urgently need to bring a safe and effective vaccine to the world.

Notably, the announcement means the U.K. has overtaken the U.S. and the European Union in the race to approve a vaccine, a decision that comes with a vaccination campaign unprecedented in modern medicine, including an information crusade about the benefits of vaccines.

This development may also intensify pressure on U.S. regulators, who are being criticized by the White House for not moving faster to get the doses to people. 

According to U.S. regulators, they were falling behind in recent days because they are virtually on their own to pore over thousands of pages of raw data on vaccine trials before they reach approval.

Instead of accepting the findings of studies shown by vaccine manufacturers, U.S. regulators have to validate the results themselves.

Shirley Jackson, the biggest horror writer in the San Francisco Bay Area

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Shirley Jackson, the biggest horror writer in the San Francisco Bay Area
Rober Diaz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

Born on December 14, 1916 in San Francisco, California, like her literature, Shirley Hardie Jackson's childhood was full of aberrations and contradictions that would deeply mark the writer. Her mother, Geraldine even said that she had not had to be born. The reason she gave was because she needed to spend more time with her handsome husband. Facing her mother's personality, little Shirley had trouble socializing with her peers. She preferred, much to her mother's chagrin, to isolate herself in order to write. She asked herself questions like her character, the teenage Merricat of The Road Through the Wall (1948): "Who wants us out there? The world is full of bad people."    

            His adolescence, also broken by not fitting the standards of beauty prevailing at the time, suffered from overweight. His literary activity would grow as Jackson finished college, collaborating with literary magazines such as Harper's, The New Republic, The New Yorker, among others. Soon after, she married the literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman with whom she would have, "four children, four cats, a dog and a hamster" as she would write.

            His literature is peppered with a stench of strangeness and vileness; a prevailing mystery that he lived through, or rather suffered from, in the town of North Bennington, New England, where he would live a little hell thanks to the accusation he made, along with other parents, of a local teacher for physically abusing students. The inhabitants of the village were on top of him and he was often offended by this action, a situation which exacerbated his already isolated tendency and which he reflected well in his novel The Road Through the Wall where a couple of women are harassed by an entire village, forcing them to stay indoors or go out very little, in the face of a massacre that has taken place in their unclear home.

            The voice that predominates in Shirley is struggling with its immediate spaces to which it fills them with mysteries and everyday situations that by their simplicity makes them spin with great narrative precision, let's say without getting dirty, but yes, transforming it, turning the common into something abnormal and even terrifying. 

            Shirley, suffered the United States after the 50's, those of the cold war, a village society, hostile and conservative where the role of women was relegated to domestic work. Jackson, relived with her husband the rejection that her mother Geraldine had shown her; Stanley called her: "that talented idiot" controlled her finances (even though she earned much more than he did) and forced her, moreover, to endure her infidelities.

            He lived in a state of continuous excitement from which he fed his favorite subjects: anguish and claustrophobia. The protagonists of his works are dragged by the force of circumstances and their personal ghosts: the monstrous is found in family relationships, circles of friends, neighbours, houses and villages.

         He died on August 8, 1965. In addition to being overweight, he suffered from alcoholism. His health was weakened by the constant use of barbiturates to control his growing anxiety. She spent her last days at home, prey to a terrible agoraphobia: its prevalence has had a boost that has led scholars to rescue works such as the The Haunting of Hill House which has been adapted on Netflix and directed by Mike Falanagan. 

Your story The Lottery was the one that brought her to fame, it also made her receive more than ten letters a day where they congratulated her and even threatened her not to go near places because the story, a normalization of evil, seemed to them grotesque and frightening.

         Jackson even signed that he couldn't stand people, "who think you start writing the moment you sit down at your desk and pick up your pen and finish writing when you leave it; a writer is always writing. Isolated from the world, she had to deal with her children and family life, which not infrequently became an obstacle.

         Thanks to the subjects she addressed, the publishers of her time associated her novels with an author who practiced witchcraft, something that deeply annoyed the writer and yet she was convinced that she had suffered "magical" attacks of clairvoyance. Some of her characters spoke with cats and had great knowledge of herbalism. Although she didn't like the nickname her literature sublimated her life, it gave her the opportunity to escape the continuous confinement that brought her family life from where she fought to escape through her letters. He died of a heart attack when he was 48 years old.

COVID-19: California to take "drastic" action on rising contagion

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COVID-19: California to take "drastic" action on rising contagion
Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P]

There's no subtle way to say this: California is likely to take drastic or highly restrictive measures in response to the increase in positive cases of COVID-19it is possible that the hospitals will be overwhelmed for the disease before Christmas, according to state governor Gavin Newsom.

This is almost a fact, California is the third state most affected by the disease, with 19,304 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The projections presented by Newsom last Monday during its press conference are not encouraging, as it noted that the intensive care units will be overloaded by mid-December, despite all the efforts that have been made to stop the spread of the disease.

As for SARS-CoV-2 infections, the state registered 1,246,042 cases, of which 15,778 were registered yesterday, December 1, a figure very close to the highest registered in California, which amounted to 16,990 cases on November 24.

"We did not anticipate this... I want the population to know that we intend to bend this proverbial curve," the governor said.

The map presented by the State Health Department is practically purple, the most restrictive level so far, with measures ranging from closing establishments to a curfew from 10 pm to 5 am, and these could get worse until they get orders to stay completely at home.

Entire counties have been severely affected by the increase in cases, which has led to measures that have also diminished the economy and even mental health, as the quarantine has already taken its toll with cases of depression.

The situation even reached the sports world, as the Forty-nine San Francisco residents, who have their home in Santa Clara County, have had to moveat least their next two home games, to the Cardinals' home in Arizona.

Until a couple of weeks ago, California seemed to have made progress in controlling the virus; however, a wave arrived without warning and hit tremendously, as last Sunday it became the first state to register more than 100,000 cases in the week of Nov. 22-28, according to data from JHU.

According to California Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly, last weekend, several state officials held meetings with local leaders and health care providers to discuss their concerns about the rising numbers and the direction things are taking.

"Everything is on the table, in terms of how we guide the state through this," he said.

The head of state health also said that the measures taken are to ensure that they are as forceful and limited in time as possible.

It should be noted that the most affected continues to be the Latino population, with 58.7 percent of positive cases occurring in the Latino community, as well as 48.5 percent of deaths recorded from the virusAccording to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

They are followed by Caucasians with 19.2 percent of the cases positive for COVID-19, and 30.4 percent of the deaths; while Asian Americans are the third largest group with 5.8 percent of the cases and 11.7 percent of the deaths.

In response, Newsom noted that retired or part-time health care workers would be willing to return to work, and that steps are already being taken to do so, as well as the rapid construction of eleven urgent care facilities to receive patients.

In the area of vaccines, which are already outlined in Pfizer and Moderna to reach the market by the end of DecemberDue to an emergency request to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for marketing, first-line health care workers are expected to receive the first doses in the middle of this month.

However, assistance from the federal government will be necessary to cushion the economic havoc that the pandemic is wreaking, the state leader said, adding that urgent action by Congress is imperative.

At the national level, there are 13,721,304 confirmed cases by COVID-19 and, as a result, 270,242 deaths. This Tuesday, December 1, more than 180,000 new cases and 2,597 regrettable deaths were recorded.

COVID-19: Clinical Terms You Should Know

Peninsula 360 Press
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COVID-19: Clinical Terms You Should Know
Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

Almost nine months after the declaration of the pandemic by COVID-19, the number of infections and deaths is increasing, as well as the doubts in clinical terms, since it is often complicated to understand the documents that come out every day regarding the virus.

Below you will find a series of words that will help you better understand the terminology that is so necessary today - and because of the pandemic. 

  • Efficiency and Effectiveness

Both terms are often used interchangeably in the context of drugs or, now, in the performance of COVID-19 vaccines, especially in clinical trials, but there are key differences in both words.

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), efficacy refers to the performance under ideal circumstances, in this case, of a vaccine in clinical trials.

Instead, effectiveness refers more broadly to how the vaccine meets standards for success in the "real world" after it has been released for consumer use; this provides a more realistic picture of a vaccine.

  • Quarantine and Isolation

The two words have been used very often over the past nine months, especially for actions to be taken when there has been exposure to COVID-19, however, they do not mean the same thing.

The quarantine does not specifically refer to 40 days, but to separation and restriction of movement for people who were exposed to a disease, in order to see if they get sick. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) states that in the case of COVID-19, it is for those who have come in contact with a known case of the virus, but are not yet showing symptoms, so that person will remain at home and away from others for 14 days after a risky exposure.

Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease from those who are not sick. 

In this way, isolation usually means that the individual has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and is kept away from others - isolated - so as not to infect them, and is usually done inside the home, away from other members of the household.

Note that if several people in a household have confirmed VIDOC-19, it is okay to isolate them together, while if only one member tests positive, that person should be isolated from the others in the household and all members should be quarantined for 14 days.

  • Asymptomatic vs. Pre-symptomatic

VOCID-19 disease can range from mild to very severe symptoms requiring hospitalization, however there is a big difference between someone who has an asymptomatic case and someone who is pre-symptomatic.

Asymptomatic people test positive for 19-COVID, but "no symptoms indicating a SARS-CoV-2 infection," but some people may develop symptoms days after a positive test.

These individuals would be classified as pre-symptomatic at the time of their positive test and will eventually develop symptoms, according to the NIH.

  • Epidemic vs. Pandemic

The difference between an epidemic and a pandemic is the degree to which, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an epidemic occurs when there is a rise in cases of illness above normal in a limited population or area - for example, a single country - whereas an epidemic can become a pandemic if it spreads to several different countries or continents.

  • Outbreak vs. Cluster

The CDC also explains that epidemic and outbreak are two terms that can actually be used interchangeably for the most part, although an outbreak is generally used to define a smaller specific geographic area. 

Clustering, on the other hand, often refers to outbreaks on small, specific scales, over a period of time, within a defined location.

  • Community Propagation vs. Transmission

Transmission is technically used to describe how SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads from person to person; however, community spread is a term used to describe what happens when the disease spreads significantly in a given population without a clear source, refers the CDC.

  • Mortality Rate vs.

These terms are often among the most confusing, but there are important differences in both. The mortality rate is calculated by reference to the total population, while the fatality rate only takes into account people affected by a given disease.

Thus, in the case of COVID-19, the case fatality rate -CFR-, is the specific number of people with confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 who die as a result of the disease. An example of this is: out of every thousand people diagnosed with COVID-19, one person dies.

On the other hand, the mortality rate is a more general approximation of the number of deaths that occur within a larger or certain population, such as that of an entire country, said the World Health Organization -WHO-.

An example would be: Out of a population of 100,000 people, two die from COVID-19.

  • ICU and hospitalization rate - intensive care unit - vs. capacity

Hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) rates refer to the number of people in a specific area who are hospitalized after a diagnosis of COVID-19, and are compared to the total population of a given area, such as a county, state, or country. 

The capacity of hospitals and ICUs, on the other hand, are statistics that describe the burden by COVID-19. The figures are generally expressed as a percentage: the number of occupied beds divided by the total number of beds.

In this case, it is necessary to point out that hospital capacity is not only a question of beds, but also of the personnel available to attend to patients, the CDC points out.

  • Ventilator and Respirator

Although in Spanish-speaking countries both words refer to the same thing, according to the NIH and the CDC these two devices are not the same, since a ventilator, also known as a mechanical ventilator, is a machine that is generally used in a hospital and that blows air through tubes into the patient's airway.

While a respirator, it is a piece of personal protective equipment, which is worn over the mouth, nose or face to prevent the inhalation of airborne particles, gases or vapors, other than a mask.

In this regard, the CDC notes that N95 respirators are recommended for health care personnel in clinical settings, but not for the average person due to severe shortages of such equipment.

  • Positivity Rate vs. Prevalence

According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the positivity rate, also known as the "percentage positive rate" or "percent positive", is that of all coronavirus tests performed that are actually positive. 

This is an indicator of whether enough testing is being done and whether enough asymptomatic and mild cases are being evaluated, the university notes.

Prevalence, on the other hand, he said, is a specific number of people who have -- or had -- COVID-19 during a specific time period, which reflects the number of truly positive individuals in the entire population, not just those tested. 

In that regard, he noted that prevalence can help researchers and decision-makers understand the broader picture of the spread of such a virus in a specific area or population.

COVID-19: Mexico dies

Peninsula 360 Press
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COVID-19: Mexico dies
Christian Carlos. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

"The Ministry of Health reports this November 28, 2020 that, in Mexico, there are 67,981 active cases and 132,511 suspected cases of COVID-19; 105,400,49 people have died and 73.8 percent of the cases have recovered," is heard in the daily report issued, with the signature of the Government of Mexico, last Sunday after registering the highest number of estimated active cases derived from the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in the country.

Almost immediately, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization -WHO- issued an urgent warning, stating that: "The situation in Mexico is very worrying. The numbers show that the country is in a bad situation. When the cases and also the deaths go up it is a very serious problem and we would ask Mexico to be serious. We hope that all the leaders will set an example," replied the WHO on its Spanish Twitter account during the press conference where doctor Michael Joseph Ryan and epidemiologist Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove were also present.

The strong call for attention by the United Nations health agency comes a few months late, as the Mexican health authorities have seriously misled the population instead of informing them in a timely manner.

The narrative of the speech in the daily report issued by the Mexican health ministry has changed during the 252 days since the health emergency was declared by COVID-19 in the country. For example, on June 22, when the number of confirmed active cases was barely 23,155, the "traffic light of risk" consisted of four colors: "the color red is high riskorange, medium; yellow, low; and, green, no risk"was heard in the report.

Today, the states of Chiapas and Campeche, Mexico, are in green, which, according to the Mexican government's first narrative, meant that these entities were without risk of contagion; however, the narrative changed the next day, when the phrase: "Remember: the color red is maximum risk; orange, highyellow, low; and, green, no risk."

The deaths are no longer "regrettable"

The change in narrative occurred simultaneously in the Ministry of Health under Vice Minister Hugo López-Gatell and in the presidency of Mexico under Andrés Manuel López Obrador for the second time in less than two days: "Remember: red is maximum risk; orange, high; yellow, medium; and, green, low». Three days were enough to confuse the population: by June 24, the Mexican government subliminally declared that there would be no entities without risk of contagion from COVID-19. The change in narrative didn't stop there.

Since March 26, when the COVID-19 daily case summaries began to be broadcast in the media, they were signed at the end with the words "Government of Mexico".

On June 24, 24,324 "regrettable deaths" were reported, according to the serene voice seal; the next day, the Mexican government, under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, suppressed the sensitive adjective to note that the deaths from coronavirus in the country would not stop. Even so, the government assumed that "lamenting" more than 25,000 deaths could represent a great lack of respect. The families who have lost family members to COVID-19 continue to mourn each of the deaths.

The voice stamp reminding people of the meaning of the colours of the "traffic light of risks" was removed in its entirety on 25 June.

Lopez-Gatell or Lopez Obrador?

The Mexican government's signature suddenly disappeared from the daily summaries as the "risk light" showed constant improvement, specifically on September 4 when only the state of Colima, Mexico, was, according to the narrative, at "maximum risk". From that day on, the Ministry of Health was in charge of signing the daily summaries transmitted by the media -different from the daily press conferences, also known as "technical reports"-. A voice stamp was attached announcing that the improvement in the country was to be attributed specifically to the Ministry of Health and not to the effort of the Government of Mexico.

This trend in the speech threatened the Mexican health ministry again when the second SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Mexico began during the last week of October; specifically, the week of October 30, when nearly 53,000 active cases of COVID-19 were confirmed and the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, went red - maximum risk - at the "risk light".

During the same week, Mexico's Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said that, according to "the scientific evidence"If you have a fever, using a mouthpiece "helps decrease the chance that viruses will get out of a sick person's airway. However, he continued: "The mouthpiece is of no great use in protecting ourselves.". Then, the Mexican media had to measure the statements made by the Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion in a press conference. And he continued: "The mouthpiece that several of you are wearing"referring to the journalists present at the conference, "is helping to keep you from infecting someone else in case you're sick."; in contrast, he said right away: "But we must be very aware that the mouthpiece does not help us as a protective barrier on the individual.".

As the number of active cases by COVID-19 in Mexico increased, the narrative passed to the Government of Mexico in recent days, which meant that the Ministry of Health would not sign the data presented daily.

Current Overview

The month of November brought negative consequences for Mexico in terms of increased mobility: the Day of the Dead festivities that are actively celebrated throughout the country and beyond its borders; the event organized by the country's ministry of economy that seeks to support the family economy through formal commerce with offers in stores throughout the country by the program called "El Buen Fin" (The Good End).

It should be noted that during the same period, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, - in orange at the "risk light" - a soccer match was played with an audience.

In this same week, Mexico was the focus of international media attention when it became, on November 20 - the 110th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution - the fourth country to reach the sad figure of 100,000 deaths after the United States, Brazil and India.

It's because of this lack of attention from the federal government that "The Ministry of Health reports this November 30, 2020 that in Mexico there are 61,631 active cases and 149,186 suspected cases of COVID-19; 105,940 people have died and 73.9 percent of the cases have been recovered.The report was signed by the Government of Mexico.

It is because of these statements made by Hugo López-Gatell, the contradictory social communication narrative of the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the lack of vigilance in health measures such as staying at home, the recommended use of mouthguards, practicing physical distancing between people in public spaces - "healthy distance"- that the warning from the WHO demands a response from the Government of Mexico. A serious response, as Tedros Adhanom pointed out.

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