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Acting US Navy secretary resigns BBC / April 8, 2020 The acting secretary of the US Navy has resigned amid uproar over his handling of a coronavirus outbreak on an aircraft carrier. Thomas Modly fired the USS Theodore Roosevelt's captain after he pleaded for help in a letter leaked to media. Mr Modly apologised on Monday after it emerged he had called Captain Brett Crozier's actions "naive" and "stupid". The secretary's exit comes a day after US President Donald Trump signalled he might get involved in the dispute. Defence secretary Mark Esper said Mr Modly had "resigned of his own accord". The Pentagon chief said the crew's health and safety were a priority for the department. Army Undersecretary James McPherson is expected to replace Mr Modly. Capt Crozier was fired last week, and footage of his crew sending him off the warship with applause went viral. Mr Modly flew 8,000 miles on Monday to the Pacific island of Guam, where the USS Theodore Roosevelt is docked, and berated the crew for having cheered the captain as he left the ship. Mr Modly told the crew what their former captain did "was very, very wrong" and amounted to "a betrayal of trust with me, with his chain of command", according to recordings leaked to US media. "If he didn't think that information was going to get out into the public... then he was a) too naive or too stupid to be the commanding officer of a ship like this," Mr Modly said. "The alternative is he did it on purpose." Amid rebukes from members of Congress, Mr Modly issued an apology the same day, saying: "I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naive nor stupid. I think and always believed him to be the opposite." Capt Crozier sent a letter to defence officials on 30 March begging for assistance with a coronavirus outbreak on his vessel, which has more than 4,000 crew. "We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die," he wrote, requesting the quarantine of nearly the entire crew. The president said he "heard very good things" about Capt Crozier and did not want his career to be ruined "for having a bad day", but added that "the letter should not have been sent to many people unclassified". The US Navy is investigating Capt Crozier's actions.

F-600 models (versus later F-700 models)

Tesla engineering impresses ! Some very sharp engineers. .

Using the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics's model , you can click on the down arrow in the "United States of America" box at the top to see detailed projections for each state. On another note, Bill Gates has a strong understanding of the situation. .

The New York Times / April 5, 2020 Capt. Brett E. Crozier, the Navy captain who was removed from command of the coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, has tested positive for Covid-19. The commander began exhibiting symptoms before he was removed from the warship on Thursday. Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper said Sunday there were 155 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among sailors aboard the aircraft carrier, and that more than half of the ship had been tested. On Sunday, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. expressed criticism of the Navy’s actions saying, “I think it’s close to criminal the way they’re dealing with this guy. I think he should have a commendation rather than be fired.”

The Guardian / April 5, 2020 The US surgeon general warned the country on Sunday that it will face a “Pearl Harbor moment” in the next week, with an unprecedented numbers of coronavirus deaths expected coast to coast. “The next week is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment. It’s going to be our 9/11 moment,” Jerome Adams said today. “It’s going to be the hardest moment for many Americans in their entire lives, and we really need to understand that if we want to flatten that curve and get through to the other side, everyone needs to do their part.” Adams’s thoughts were echoed by Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s foremost infectious diseases expert. “Things are going to get bad and we need to be prepared for that,” Fauci said. “It’s going to be shocking to some and it certainly is really disturbing to see that … Just buckle down. We’ve got to get through this week that is coming up because it’s going to be a bad week.” On a positive note, New York state recorded 594 deaths on Saturday – down from 630 deaths the day before, the first day-on-day decrease since the pandemic began.

It’s easy to say, after an event, that someone “should have done” this or that. However, there do appear to be some valid points here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. ‘wasted’ months before preparing for virus pandemic Associated Press / April 5, 2020 WASHINGTON — As the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment. A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers. By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and were pleading for shipments from the Strategic National Stockpile. That federal cache of supplies was created more than 20 years ago to help bridge gaps in the medical and pharmaceutical supply chains during a national emergency. Now, three months into the crisis, that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients needing critical care is surging. Some state and local officials report receiving broken ventilators and decade-old dry-rotted masks. “We basically wasted two months,” says former health and human services (HHS) secretary Kathleen Sebelius. As early as mid-January, U.S. officials could see that hospitals in China’s Hubei province were overwhelmed with infected patients, with many left dependent on ventilator machines to breathe. Italy soon followed, with hospitals scrambling for doctors, beds and equipment. HHS refuses to respond to questions about why federal officials waited to order medical supplies until stocks were running critically low. President Trump has asserted that the federal government should take a back seat to states when it comes to dealing with the pandemic. Trump and his appointees have urged state and local governments, and hospitals, to buy their own masks and breathing machines, saying requests to the dwindling national stockpile should be a last resort. “The notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile,” Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser, said at a White House briefing Thursday. “It’s not supposed to be state stockpiles that they then use.” (???????????) “States do not have the purchasing power of the federal government. They do not have the ability to run a deficit like the federal government. They do not have the logistical power of the federal government,” said Sebelius, who served as governor of Kansas before running the nation’s health care system. Because of the fractured federal response to COVID-19, state governors say they’re now bidding against federal agencies and each other for scarce supplies, driving up prices. “You now literally will have a company call you up and say, ‘Well, California just outbid you,’” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, D-N.Y., said Tuesday. “It’s like being on eBay with 50 other states, bidding on a ventilator.” For nearly a month, Trump rebuffed calls from Cuomo and others to use his authority under the Defense Production Act to order companies to increase production of ventilators and personal protective equipment. He suggested the private sector was acting sufficiently on its own. More than three months after China revealed the first COVID-19 cases, Trump finally relented last week, saying he will order companies to ramp up production of critical supplies. By then, confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the United States had surged to the highest in the world. Now, the number of people infected in the U.S. has climbed to more than 312,000 and deaths have topped 8,500. Trump spent January and February playing down the threat from the new virus. He derided warnings of pandemic reaching the U.S. as a hoax perpetrated by Democrats and the media. As the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global public health emergency on Jan. 30, Trump assured the American people that the virus was “very well under control” and he predicted “a very good ending.” His administration was so confident that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Feb. 7 that the U.S. government had airlifted nearly 18 tons of donated respirator masks, surgical masks, gowns and other medical supplies to China. On Feb. 24, the White House sent Congress an initial $2.5 billion funding request to address the coronavirus outbreak. The next day, federal health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that the virus was spreading quickly in the U.S. and predicted that disruptions to daily life could be “severe,” including school and business closures. Unfazed, HHS Secretary Alex Azar told lawmakers on Feb. 27 that “the immediate risk to the American public remains low.” During those crucial early weeks when the U.S. could have been tracking the spread of the disease and containing it, hardly anyone was being tested after a series of federal blunders led to a shortage of tests and testing capacity, as AP reported last month. Without data showing how widespread the disease was, federal and state governments failed to prepare. By the middle of March, hospitals in New York, Seattle and New Orleans were reporting a surge in sick patients. Doctors and nurses took to social media to express their alarm at dwindling supplies of such basic equipment as masks and gowns. Trump accused some Democratic governors of exaggerating the need and derided those that criticized the federal response as complainers and snakes. “I want them to be appreciative,” Trump said on March 27. At the start of the crisis, an HHS spokeswoman said the Strategic National Stockpile had about 13 million N95 respirator masks, which filter out about 95% of all liquid or airborne particles and are critical to prevent health care workers from becoming infected. That’s just a small fraction of what hospitals need to protect their workers, who normally would wear a new mask for each patient, but who now are often issued only one to last for days. Trump during a White House briefing on March 26 claimed that he had inherited an “empty shelf” from the Obama administration, but added that “we’re really filling it up, and we fill it up rapidly.” Federal purchasing records, however, show the Trump administration delayed ordering additional supplies until the virus had taken root and was spreading. HHS first announced its intent to purchase 500 million N95 masks on March 4, with plans to distribute them over the next 18 months. The following day, Congress passed an $8.3 billion coronavirus spending bill, more than three times what the White House had originally asked for. Eight days later, on March 13, Trump declared the outbreak a national emergency. That was almost six weeks after the WHO’s action. By then, thousands of U.S. schools had closed, the National Basketball Association had put its season on temporary hiatus and there were 1,700 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country. The government had already sent tens of thousands of masks, gloves and gowns from the stockpile to Washington state, which was hit early with a coronavirus outbreak. But state officials even then said the supplies weren’t enough. Federal contracting records show that HHS had made an initial order March 12 for $4.8 million of N95 masks from 3M, the largest U.S.-based manufacturer, which had ramped up production weeks earlier in response to the pandemic. HHS followed up with a larger $173 million order on March 21, but those contracts don’t require 3M to start making deliveries to the national stockpile until the end of April. That’s after the White House has projected the pandemic will reach its peak. HHS refused this past week to say how many N95 masks it has on hand. But as of March 31, the White House said more than 11.6 million had been distributed to state and local governments from the national stockpile — about 90% of what was available at the start of the year. Dr. Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, testified before Congress last month that the country would need roughly 3.5 billion N-95 respirators to get through the pandemic, but the national supply chain then had just about 1% of that amount. The Strategic National Stockpile was created in 1999 to prevent supply-chain disruptions for the predicted Y2K computer problems. It expanded after 9/11 to prepare for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks. Congress provided money in 2006 to prepare for a potential influenza pandemic, but much of that stock was used during the H1N1 flu outbreak three years later. As AP reported last month, much of the world’s supply of N95 masks and other basic medical supplies is made in China, the first nation hit by COVID-19. As a result, the Chinese government required its producers to reserve N95 respirators for domestic use. China resumed exports of the precious masks only in recent days. Experts are now worried the U.S. will also soon exhaust its supply of ventilators, which can cost upward of $12,000 each. The White House said Tuesday that it had already distributed nearly half the breathing machines in the stockpile, which at the beginning of March had 16,660; some of them dated back to the flurry of post-9/11 purchasing. An additional 2,425 were out for maintenance. Cuomo said New York may need as many as 40,000 ventilators to deal with the outbreak that is already overwhelming hospitals there. Throughout March, governors and mayors of big cities urged Trump to use his authority under the Defense Production Act to direct private companies to ramp up production of ventilators. It wasn’t until last week that Trump finally said he would use that power to order General Motors to begin manufacturing ventilators — work the company had already announced was underway. But GM says its first ventilators won’t be available before the summer. The federal government had made an effort to prepare for a surge in the need for ventilators, but it was allowed to languish. Since 2014, HHS has paid a private company, Respironics Inc., $13.8 million to develop a cheaper, less complicated ventilator that could be bought in bulk to replenish the national stockpile. In September, HHS placed a $32.8 million order with the Dutch-owned company for 10,000 of the new model, set for delivery by 2022, federal contracts show. Respironics’ parent company, Royal Philips, said it’s planning to double U.S. production of ventilators to 2,000 a week by the end of May. Steve Klink, a spokesman for Royal Philips in Amsterdam, said the company is now focused on producing its other commercial models and will deliver the first ventilators to the national stockpile by August, long after the White House projects COVID-19 cases will peak. Trump, who pledged on March 27 that his administration would ensure that 100,000 additional ventilators would be made available “within 100 days,” said on Thursday that he’ll use the Defense Production Act to order Respironics and other ventilator makers to step up production. It’s not clear that Trump’s order would translate into the 100,000 new ventilators he promised. In a House Oversight and Reform Committee briefing last week, top Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials hedged, saying 100,000 ventilators would be available by late June “at the earliest.” Cuomo predicted on Friday that New York would run out within days. With coronavirus deaths in his state surging, the governor vowed to use his authority to seize ventilators, masks and protective gear from private hospitals that aren’t utilizing them. Meanwhile, federal health authorities are lowering standards. New guidance from the Food and Drug Administration allows hospitals to use emergency ventilators typically used in ambulances and anesthesia gas machines in place of standard ventilators. The agency also said nightstand CPAP machines used to treat sleep apnea and snoring could also be used to keep coronavirus patients breathing, as a last resort. The CDC advised health care workers last month to use homemade masks or bandanas if they run out of proper gear. Across the country, hospitals have issued urgent pleas for volunteers who know how to sew.

Trump calls on India to release Covid-19 drug hydroxychloroquine Financial Times / April 5, 2020 President Trump called on India to release orders of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that has been identified as a potential treatment for coronavirus. India has tightened export restrictions on hydroxychloroquine to combat rising infections there. Trump in a phone call with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Saturday requested more of the drug because the country made it in “large amounts”. “I said I’d appreciate it if they would release the amounts that we ordered and they are giving it serious consideration,” said Trump. India has prioritised the supply of the drug for its own use as it counts a growing number of cases that threatens to overwhelm its underfunded healthcare system. The world’s second most populous country of 1.37 billion people has reported almost 3,600 coronavirus infections with 99 deaths as of Sunday — triple its caseload from last week. The Indian Council of Medical Research has recommended hydroxychloroquine, which is also used to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, can be used as a preventive medication for Covid-19 high-risk individuals such as healthcare workers. On March 25, India limited exports with some exceptions, including for orders with full advance payment and on humanitarian grounds. But on Saturday the commerce and industry ministry issued a circular prohibiting all exports of “hydroxychloroquine and formulations made from hydroxychloroquine . . . without any exception”. In a separate notice on the same day, it also put restrictions on the export of diagnostic kits. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Related reading: US drugmaker doubled price on potential coronavirus treatment Financial Times / March 19, 2020 The only US drugmaker that makes hydroxychloroquine, a potential treatment for the coronavirus that was touted by President Donald Trump raised the price by almost 100 percent in January, as the virus caused havoc across China. Rising Pharmaceuticals, a New Jersey based company, increased the price of chloroquine — an antimalarial, which is one of the drugs that is being tested against Covid-19 — on January 23. The drug price rose 97.86 per cent to $7.66 per 250mg pill and $19.88 per 500mg pill. But Rising alleges the price rise was “coincidental” and it restored the old price once it realized that the drug might be in demand because of the outbreak. The reversal of the price lift has not yet shown through in the data. One executive claims the company had originally increased the price because it wanted to be able to invest in new manufacturing facilities to keep the drug on the market. “As soon as we saw the increase in demand and the potential that this was going to be utilized in the way some folks are projecting it to be, we rescinded that price increase to the same price it has been on the market for since 2015,” he said. Studies have shown encouraging results, including one in France released on Wednesday that hydroxychloroquine had accelerated recoveries and reduced how long patients were contagious. Michael Rea, chief executive of RxSavings Solutions, which provides software for employers to lower their drug bills, said: “Hiking drug prices at such a pivotal time in world history will not play well in the market for any companies partaking in that activity long term.” In December 2019, Rising Pharmaceuticals admitted price fixing in a case in Pennsylvania and agreed to pay $3m in fines and restitution. The executive speaking on behalf of the company said it is not promoting the drug as a treatment for coronavirus. But Rising received five times as many orders as usual in the last week and it is ramping up production in India to meet demand, purchasing “extraordinary amounts” of more active ingredients, bottles and labels.

The Junkers Ju 86 bomber (later replaced by the He 111) was fitted with Junkers Jumo 205 diesel engines. .

https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/39184-ups-mh-6122927-all-wheel-drive-4x4/

Automakers and Others Aiding Coronavirus Relief Car & Driver / April 4, 2020 Carhartt: Masks, Protective Clothing Carhartt is branching into protective equipment for health-care workers. The company will start making 50,000 medical gowns on April 6 and 2.5 million masks starting April 20. FCA: Masks, Meals for Kids Automaker FCA is currently converting a plant to make face masks for health-care workers and first responders, with a goal of producing a million masks starting in "the next several weeks." FCA also has pledged to partner with nonprofits to provide children more than a million meals in communities around its plants in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio while school is closed. The automaker says it will later extend that food program nationwide and to Canada and Mexico. Ford and GE: Ventilators Ford and GE Healthcare will start building the first 20,000 ventilators the week of April 20, at Rawsonville, Michigan, which normally makes transmission and other vehicle components. The goal is to produce 50,000 ventilators per month in the first 100 days and 30,000 per month after that. It's a simplified design, Ford says, that works on air pressure without needing electricity and can be used to meet the needs of most COVID-19 patients. General Motors: Masks "Project kickoff to first mask in six days, 23, hours, 30 minutes," GM says. Having jumped on the task at the Warren, Michigan, plant in the third week of March, the automaker is able to start delivering the first 20,000 masks as early as April 8 to front-line health-care workers. The company will make 1.5 million each month once fully ramped up. General Motors and Ventec: Ventilators GM's Kokomo, Indiana, facility normally builds electronic components. Now it's the site of an ambitious project with Ventec, maker of critical-care ventilators. Through the partnership, 1000 GM workers will help build up to 10,000 ventilators per month, and the first will be ready to deliver in late April. Lamborghini: Masks and Shields The ultra-high-end, low-volume sports-car maker has turned its carbon-fiber and interior workshops into medical-equipment ateliers. Lamborghini will make 1000 masks and 200 face shields a day. They're going to a nearby hospital in hard-hit northern Italy. Mercedes-AMG: CPAP Machines The Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains division has partnered with University College London engineers and health-care workers at University College London Hospital (UCLH) to develop a CPAP device to help coronavirus patients. These will be a step up from oxygen and could help many patients avoid need for a ventilator, the company says. Peugeot and Air Liquide: Respirators Peugeot (PSA) and other French companies and suppliers, including Air Liquide, Valeo, and Schneider Electric, are planning to increase Air Liquide's existing respirator production for coronavirus patients in France. The group aims to produce 10,000 respirators in 50 days. Volkswagen and Faurecia: Gowns VW and fabric specialist Faurecia will be delivering their first 75,000 face masks and gowns to medical workers at New York hospitals and the Javits Center this week. They will be creating 50,000 gowns and up to a quarter-million face masks per week after that. The items are being produced at a Faurecia plant in Mexico.

Captain Crozier Is a Hero Theodore Roosevelt, my great-grandfather, would agree. By Tweed Roosevelt The New York Times / April 3, 2020 Mr. Roosevelt is a great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt and the chairman of the Theodore Roosevelt Institute at Long Island University. On Monday, Capt. Brett Crozier, the commander of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, sent a letter to the Navy pleading for permission to unload his crew, including scores of sailors sickened with Covid-19, in Guam, where it was docked. The Pentagon had been dragging its feet, and the situation on the ship was growing dire. “We are not at war,” he wrote. “Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our sailors.” After the letter was leaked to The San Francisco Chronicle, the Navy relented. But on Thursday, it relieved Captain Crozier of his command. Captain Crozier joins a growing list of heroic men and women who have risked their careers over the last few weeks to speak out about life-threatening failures to treat the victims of this terrible pandemic. Many of them are doctors and nurses, and many of them, like Captain Crozier, have been punished. All of them deserve our deepest gratitude. In removing Captain Crozier, the Navy said that his letter was a gross error that could incite panic among his crew. But it’s hard to know what else he could have done — the situation on the Theodore Roosevelt was dire. Ships at sea, whether Navy carriers or cruise ships, are hotbeds for this disease. Social distancing is nearly impossible: The sailors are practically on top of one another all day, in crowded messes, in cramped sleeping quarters and on group watches. It is thought that a sailor caught the virus while on shore leave in Vietnam. Once on board, the virus took its now predictable course: First a sailor or two, then dozens, and all of a sudden more than 100 were sick. Captain Crozier received orders to take the ship to Guam, but he was not given permission to offload most of the sailors. The virus was threatening to overwhelm the small medical crew aboard. There was not much time before sailors might start dying. The captain felt he had to act immediately if he was to save his sailors. He chose to write a strong letter, which he distributed to a number of people within the Navy, demanding immediate removal from the ship of as many sailors as possible. Perhaps this was not the best approach for his career, but it got results. The letter, once leaked to The Chronicle, quickly reappeared in papers nationwide. The immediate public pressure forced the Navy to relent, and it started arranging to get as many of the crew members as possible off the ship and into hotels in Guam . Captain Crozier, however, paid a big price. The acting secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly, summarily fired the captain, not for leaking the letter (for which he said he had no proof), but for showing “extremely poor judgment.” Many disagree, believing that Captain Crozier showed excellent judgment. He left the ship Thursday night to a rousing hero’s sendoff. I suppose it is too much to hope that the Navy, if only for its own benefit, will see its way to reverse this unfortunate decision. But it is probably too late to save Captain Crozier’s career. As a descendant of the namesake of Captain Crozier’s former command, I often wonder, in situations like this, what Theodore Roosevelt would have done. In this case, though, I know exactly what he would have done. In 1898, he found himself in almost the exact same position. Before his rise to national politics, Roosevelt commanded the Rough Riders, a volunteer cavalry regiment, in the invasion of Cuba during the Spanish-American War. The Battle of San Juan Hill had been fought and won, and the war was basically over. However, the soldiers, still deployed in Cuba, faced a far worse enemy: yellow fever and malaria. As was usual in the days before modern medicine, far more soldiers died of disease than of enemy action. The battlefield commanders, including Roosevelt, wanted to bring the soldiers home. But the leadership in Washington — in particular Russell Alger, the secretary of war — refused, fearing a political backlash. A standoff ensued. The career Army officers, who did not want to risk their jobs by being too outspoken, were stymied. Roosevelt , as a short-term volunteer, had less to lose. So, with the tacit approval of his fellow commanders, he wrote a fiery open letter and released it to the press. The letter, known as the “round robin,” was printed in virtually every newspaper in the country, creating an uproar demanding that the soldiers be brought home immediately. Alger relented, and the troops were sent to quarantine on the end of Long Island, at Montauk Point. Though hundreds of men died of disease in Cuba, Roosevelt’s actions probably saved countless more. He did, however, pay a price. Alger was furious with him. When Roosevelt’s nomination came up for a Medal of Honor, the secretary shot it down (Roosevelt eventually received the medal, posthumously, in 2001). Of course, Roosevelt came out the winner. Who today remembers Russell Alger? In this era when so many seem to place expediency over honor, it is heartening that so many others are showing great courage, some even risking their lives. Theodore Roosevelt, in his time, chose the honorable course. Captain Crozier has done the same.

Why U.S. hospitals see promise in plasma from new coronavirus patients Reuters / April 4, 2020 U.S. hospitals desperate to help very sick patients with COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, are trying a treatment first used in the 1890s that relies on blood plasma donated by recovered patients. People who survive an infectious disease like COVID-19 are generally left with blood containing antibodies, or proteins made by the body’s immune system to fight off a virus. The blood component that carries the antibodies can be collected and given to newly infected patients - it is known as “convalescent plasma.” More than 275,000 Americans have tested positive for COVID-19, and epidemiologists say hundreds of thousands more likely have the disease. To help match donors to hospitals, the AABB, formerly the American Association of Blood Banks, this week issued guidelines on plasma collection. The American Red Cross also launched an online registry for potential donors. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday announced an “expanded access” program for convalescent plasma, coordinated by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, aimed at making it easier for hospitals across the country to collect and use plasma. IS THERE EVIDENCE THIS WILL WORK? “Historically, this has worked,” said Dr. Jeffrey Henderson, associate professor of medicine and molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Before we had vaccines, this was used for infectious diseases like measles and diphtheria.” Convalescent plasma was also successfully used during the 1918 flu pandemic, he said. Doctors say protocols, such as dosage, are still uncertain for COVID-19 patients, but they believe the method is worth trying, at least until an effective COVID-19 vaccine or treatment is developed. The Mayo Clinic and other U.S. sites are conducting a clinical study. Similar trials are under way in other countries where the virus has hit and some data has begun to emerge. In one trial in China, levels of the virus in five seriously ill COVID-19 patients were undetectable after plasma transfusions, according to study results published last week in The Journal of the American Medical Association. HOW IS PLASMA BEING TRIED? The process involves drawing blood from a donor - in this case someone who has recovered from COVID-19 but is in generally good health and meets other criteria for blood donation - and running it through a machine to extract the plasma. The remaining blood goes back into the donor. The process takes up to 90 minutes, and plasma from a single donor can be used to treat three or four patients. Donors must have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and need to wait a defined period of time after they test negative for the disease before donating plasma. Tests are also being developed to measure antibody volume. Centers including Houston Methodist Hospital and several hospitals in hard-hit New York City have used the experimental treatment on an emergency basis for patients who are seriously ill with COVID-19. Dr. Timothy Byun, a hematologist/oncologist at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, dosed his first COVID-19 patient on Wednesday. He said the patient was doing better, but it was too early to tell if the therapy was effective. St. Joseph, a 450-bed hospital, does not have a blood donation center and instead had to modify a dialysis machine to collect plasma from the donor. Before the plasma infusion, Byun’s patient had received multiple treatments, including the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and the intravenous anti-inflammatory drug Actemra, but his condition still worsened. Risks of the plasma therapy could include infusion site reactions or other rare, allergic reactions. “Of the current therapeutic options, I believe convalescent plasma offers the best chance of efficacy in treatment,” said Dr. Daniel McQuillen, an infectious disease specialist at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Associated Press - The Guardian / April 4, 2020 Chinese billionaires working with the Chinese government have facilitated ventilator donations to New York state to treat patients with Covid-19. New York governor Andrew Cuomo has obtained 1,000 ventilators from the Chinese government with the help of billionaires Joseph and Clara Tsai, and Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Cuomo praised the collaboration of the Chinese government in securing a shipment of the breathing machines that was scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Airport on Saturday. “We’re all in the same battle here,” he said. “And the battle is stopping the spread of the virus.” In addition, the state of Oregon is loaning New York another 140 ventilators. The White House has repeatedly claimed it has 10,000 ventilators in a strategic national stockpile. However, states have reported some of those ventilators are unusable, after the Trump administration failed to ensure the stockpile was properly maintained. The number of people infected in the U.S. has exceeded a quarter-million, with the death toll climbing past 7,000; more than 3,500 of those deaths are in New York state, including more than 1,900 in New York City alone. “I want this all to be over,” Cuomo said. “It’s only gone on for 30 days since our first case. It feels like an entire lifetime.”

Scania Group Press Release / April 3, 2020 Alfons Mayolani is a driver for Mayolani AG Transporte in Zernez, Switzerland. He spends his days driving a Scania R 650 V8 in the Swiss Alps, where the weather can be a bit unpredictable. .

Scania Group Press Release / April 3, 2020 Upholding transport services during the Coronavirus crisis is essential for society to ensure deliveries of necessary goods, not least food and medical supplies. Keeping Scania’s workshops open is therefore crucial in this situation. Throughout the world, these workshops are taking measures to protect workshop personnel from being infected as well as ensuring the safety of drivers. Generally, workshops are practicing social distancing, maintaining a distance between colleagues. Drivers have similarly been encouraged to maintain a distance from workshop staff when arriving with their vehicles. Keys are dropped in plastic bags, that are disinfected prior to being handled by service technicians. When entering cabs, seats, dashboard, steering wheels and other points of contact are covered with plastic sheeting to avoid infection. While this is being carried out, service technicians wear gloves and facemasks. “We try to avoid direct contacts with customers as well as wear gloves and masks. It goes without saying that we wash our hands more often and carefully than usual,” says Reinaldo Descalço, parts supervisor at a Scania workshop in Lisbon. “While taking these precautions, we continue to maintain excellent customer relations.” Equally important is ensuring the continued health of drivers as they pick up vehicles from workshops. Scania in Denmark, for example, disinfects steering wheel, gearshift, handbrake, dashboard, seat belts, door handles and keys before returning vehicles to drivers. Information about the precautionary measures is provided to drivers as reassurance. “Our customers know that they can always rely on their partners and friends at Scania. We are in these awful times together, just as we’ve been in so many good times,” summarises Stjepan Hasanović, Scania’s Service Manager in Croatia. .

Scania Group Press Release / March 30, 2020 About 20 experts from Scania’s purchasing and logistics organisation are now helping Karolinska University Hospital and Region Stockholm to acquire protective equipment for healthcare workers working to save those suffering from COVID-19. At the same time, trailers from Scania are being converted to mobile testing stations. Just a week ago, Scania contacted Karolinska University Hospital and offered its expertise in purchasing and logistics. The theory was that Karolinska University Hospital, as one of the best in the world at healthcare, alongside Scania, as one of the best in the world in transport, logistics and purchasing, could together coordinate to manage the difficult situation Stockholm is in right now. Two days later, some 20 of Scania’s experts were already on site with employees from Karolinska and the Stockholm region, to build a command centre. Scania’s Transport Lab Today, some 60 people are working to find, purchase and deliver protective equipment, working from evacuated training rooms on the seventh floor of the new Karolinska University Hospital. Masks, visors, protective clothing, hand spray and surface disinfectant acquired from European suppliers are rolling in on vehicles from Scania’s Transport Lab, while material from further afield is being flown in. A wall with screens in the command centre describes both forecasts for and outcomes of the number of infected persons in need of intensive care in the Stockholm region. Twice a day, the group has pulse meetings, when the various “cells” report on developments from the last few hours. High tempo The pace is high and the updates come with precision: “New mouthguards from China”, “results from quality assurance checks”, “100,000 new visors from Denmark”, “we have found 9,000 liters of hand sanitiser and 6,000 litres of other solution for delivery to Scania, where the liquid will be repackaged before direct distribution into healthcare”, “500,000 basic aprons and 100,000 aprons with sleeves to be decided and probably 82,000 protective aprons tomorrow”, “eight transports on the way right now, including a flight from China”, “possible deviations”, ” 3D-printed masks”, ” respirators”, “door openers”… “We do this together with the help of Scania’s fantastic global logistics and purchasing organisation and all its expertise,” says Sara Lindholm, Director of Operations for Perioperative Medicine and Intensive Care at Karolinska University Hospital. In addition to Scania’s help, the hospitals in Region Stockholm also have their experts on the team. “We just started” Together, the experts from Scania, Karolinska and Region Stockholm have in a short time set up efficient working methods with fast decision paths. With all the necessary skills in the same room, the work becomes efficient. One of the groups is constantly receiving tips on where to find face masks, visors, hand sanitiser and other necessary equipment. The tips they receive are forwarded to different “purchasing cells” that decide whether to take action. Another group arranges the transport and retrieves the material, regardless of whether it is in Sweden, continental Europe or China. “Overall, we have created a lot in just a few days. And we have only just begun,” concludes Sara Lindholm. “Great pride” Tobias Rydin, normally Head of Supply Chain Networks, is one of the Scania experts who has led the work to set up the command centre at Karolinska. “Two things stand out in this unique collaboration, I think. It’s interesting to see that the working methods and processes that we have at Scania are fully applicable in this type of environment.” “But the most amazing thing, which I as a Scania employee feel immense pride in, is the total commitment and support in our organisation. There are so many who want to help. It really warms my Scania heart!” Testing Scania trailers Scania is also supporting the extremely strained healthcare system in the Stockholm region by lending truck trailers. One possible area of use is as mobile sampling stations for patients who may need hospital care. Sampling outside hospitals reduces the risk of spread to other patients and healthcare professionals. .

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / April 2, 2020 In response to the ongoing COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic, auto- and truckmakers are announcing extended production and factory closures. Navistar International Corp.'s truck assembly plant in Springfield, Ohio, temporarily ceased production on Monday, March 23. With the supply chain still interrupted, this stoppage is being extended. Production is planned to resume Monday, April 27. Additionally, Navistar is broadening its temporary suspension in manufacturing operations to its engine assembly plant in Huntsville, Ala. and truck assembly plant in Escobedo, Mexico. Production will resume at both locations Monday, April 13. The IC Bus Manufacturing Plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma and all Navistar service facilities and parts distribution centers are currently continuing regular operations. Nissan manufacturing facilities in the U.S. will remain closed through late April as a measure to help protect employees and reduce the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus. Some business-essential work that must be done on site will continue with enhanced safety measures. Paccar will extend the suspension of truck and engine production at its factories worldwide until April 20, 2020. The company will review future actions on a regular basis. Paccar will continue to provide aftermarket support to its customers who deliver medical supplies, food and essential infrastructure services to our communities.

Today, the CDC is finally suggesting that Americans wear face masks when out around other people.