Hurricane ida vexes US hospitals brimming with virus patients

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An abandoned vehicle is half submerged near a flooded highway as Hurricane Ida arrives on Aug. 29, 2021, in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. (AP)
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A section of roof that was blown off of a building in the French Quarter by Hurricane Ida winds blocks an intersection in New Orleans. (AP)
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Updated 30 August 2021
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Hurricane ida vexes US hospitals brimming with virus patients

  • Louisiana state is struggling with a surge in COVID-19 cases sparked by the highly contagious delta variant and low vaccination rates

NEW ORLEANS: Southern Lousiana’s hospitals, already packed with coronavirus patients from a fourth surge of the virus, were dealing Sunday with another challenge — the howling Category 4 hurricane pounding the coast.
“Once again we find ourselves dealing with a natural disaster in the midst of a pandemic,” said Jennifer Avegno, the top health official for New Orleans.
Lady of the Sea General Hospital in Lafourche Parish, near where Ida made landfall, reported extensive roof damage. “All patients and staff are fine at this time without injury; although, our hospital has sustained significant damage,” hospital CEO Karen Collins said in a message relayed via Facebook. The hospital’s phone system was down.
“Once it is safe to do so they will evacuate their small number of patients,” state health department spokeswoman Aly Neel said in an email. Details on the number of patients involved were not immediately available.
Another Lafourche Parish hospital, Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, reported a partial generator failure to the state. Christina Stephens, a spokesperson for Gov. John Bel Edwards, said the facility “had not lost all critical power.” She said some patients were moved to another part of the facility and the state health department was working with the hospital.

Ida struck as hospitals and their intensive care units were filled with patients from the fourth surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, sparked by the highly contagious delta variant and low vaccination rates across Louisiana.
Daily tallies of new cases in Louisiana went from a few hundred a day through much of the spring and early summer to thousands a day by late July. Gov. John Bel Edwards told The Associated Press on Sunday that more than 2,400 COVID-19 patients are in Louisiana hospitals, saying the state was in a “very dangerous place with our hospitals.”
The governor also said 22 nursing homes and 18 assisted living facilities have been evacuated though evacuating the largest hospitals was not an option because there simply aren’t other places to send them. Anticipating that power could be out for weeks in places, Edwards said a big focus will be on making sure there is enough generator power and water at hospitals so they can keep up with vital patient needs such as providing oxygen or powering ventilators.
“I hate to say it this way, but we have a lot of people on ventilators today and they don’t work without electricity,” he said.
Officials at Ochsner Health, which runs the largest hospital network in Louisiana, said roughly 15 of the network’s hospitals are in areas potentially affected by Idaho The network evacuated some patients with particular medical needs from small, rural hospitals to larger facilities.
Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Ochsner Health, said Sunday that the system decided preemptively to evacuate a smaller hospital in St. Charles Parish when the storm’s track shifted a bit east.
He said 35 patients were moved to other hospitals in the region over a little less than three hours. When it comes to power at their facilities, Mike Hulefeld said, they are in pretty good shape. Three of their facilities in areas affected by Ida were moved to generator power in anticipation of losing city power.
Hulefeld said the hospital network ordered 10 days of supplies for facilities in areas that might be affected by Ida, and everything arrived Saturday. Each facility has backup power that was tested and a backup fuel truck on-site. Many of the chain’s hospitals also have water wells in case city water goes out.
With people evacuating and potentially going to stay with relatives or in shelters, medical officials said they are concerned the hurricane could translate into more coronavirus infections in coming days just as hospitalization numbers are going down. Thomas said the hospital system has seen a decline in almost 200 coronavirus patients over the past week across all their facilities.




Hurricane Ida on Sunday hit the southern US state of Louisiana state at a time when it is struggling with a surge in COVID-19 cases. (AP file)

Officials said Sunday they have been making the rounds and talking to staff in the hospitals — often referred to as the “A Team” because they’re the ones that go into lockdown when a hurricane arrives and work until the storm passes and they can be relieved. The hurricane comes on top of the year and a half long pandemic that has been an amazing stress on health care workers, and many are sad and frustrated.
“Folks realize they got a job to do. There are people who need to be cared for,” Thomas said. “But it does take a toll.”
Dr. Jeff Elder, medical director for emergency management at LCMC Health, said the system’s six hospitals went into lockdown mode Sunday. Employees were going to stay at the hospitals for the duration of the storm arrived Saturday and early Sunday and would sleep there.
Elder said one of the first things their hospitals do when storms arrive is discharge patients who are able to leave. However, the patient load is high because of the pandemic so they’re not able to reduce by much. He said the hospitals in the system are more robust since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.
“We’ve learned a lot since 2005,” he said. Key pieces of infrastructure are now raised to keep them out of flooding. For example, at University Medical Center in New Orleans, which was built after Katrina, the generator is raised, diesel supplies are protected and the first floor doesn’t have essential services so even if flood waters get that high nothing essential is lost.
All hospitals in the system have generator backup power, Elder said. He also stressed that communication is now much better between hospitals in the hospital system as well as with various levels of government.
 


Bangladesh urges EU states to expedite formal recognition of Palestine

Updated 5 sec ago
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Bangladesh urges EU states to expedite formal recognition of Palestine

  • Only 11 of 27 EU member states recognize the State of Palestine
  • Bangladesh responds to EU’s declared commitment to a two-state solution

DHAKA: Bangladesh has called on EU member states to expedite the formal recognition of the State of Palestine and use their influence to prevent permanent members of the UN Security Council from obstructing a ceasefire in Gaza.

Bangladesh’s delegation took part in a meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in Brussels on Thursday, where the EU foreign policy chief emphasized the bloc’s commitment to a two-state solution — providing Palestinians with their own nation-state — as “the only viable path to peace in the region.”

But so far, only 11 out of 27 EU member states recognize the State of Palestine, with three — Spain, Ireland and Slovenia — doing so earlier this year in the wake of Israel’s deadly onslaught in Gaza and with a genocide case against Tel Aviv ongoing in the International Court of Justice.

“The Bangladeshi delegation urged the participating member states to expedite their formal recognition of the State of Palestine, affirming this as a crucial step toward legitimizing and empowering Palestinian sovereignty and self-determination,” the Bangladeshi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement following the meeting.

For Bangladesh, which established diplomatic ties with Palestine soon after achieving independence in 1971, formal recognition of Palestinian statehood, was key to achieving peace.

“Already 149 countries have supported the UN recognition of the Palestinian state’s membership,” said Shafiqur Rahman, director general of the Bangladeshi Foriegn Affairs Ministry’s West Asia wing, who led the delegation to Brussels.

“It’s very important to galvanize and mobilize the global community. We must continue to apply pressure, and efforts should persist in this regard. There is no room for giving up,” he told Arab News on Friday.

The Bangladeshi delegation also called on EU member states to leverage their influence to discourage any vetoes by permanent members of the UN Security Council “that could obstruct adopting a permanent ceasefire in Gaza war and resultant peace initiatives.”

The most recent UNSC resolution demanding an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was voted down by the US last week, as Israel’s deadly bombardment of the Palestinian territory continues.

It was the fourth time Joe Biden’s administration has vetoed a UNSC Gaza ceasefire resolution, blocking international action to halt Israel’s war, which over the past one year killed at least 44,000 Palestinians, injured over 100,000 more and destroyed most of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.

 


Philippines looks to boost ties with Bahrain’s tourism, hospitality sector

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco speaks during the UN World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism in Manama on Nov. 18, 2024. (Philippin
Updated 8 min 57 sec ago
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Philippines looks to boost ties with Bahrain’s tourism, hospitality sector

  • Bahraini government is preparing to open its embassy in Manila
  • Cebu and Palawan are top destinations for Bahraini tourists in Philippines

MANILA: The Philippines is expanding collaborations with Bahrain to mutually boost tourism and hospitality expertise, Christina Frasco, the Philippine tourism secretary, said on Friday.

While other GCC countries have for years been the main overseas destination for Filipinos, relations with Bahrain started to expand only recently, with the Bahraini government preparing to open its embassy in Manila this year.

Frasco, who visited Manama earlier this month, held talks with her Bahraini counterpart Fatima Al-Sairafi on increasing tourism between the two countries.

“They’re very interested in learning from our world-renowned Filipino hospitality, as well as our brand of service excellence, and in collaborating to increase opportunities for meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions,” Frasco told Arab News.

Some 57,000 Filipinos currently live in Bahrain, working mainly as accountants, engineers, construction contractors, sales associates, and business and government support staff. The tourism sector, however, remains untapped territory.

“We discussed the potential of wide-reaching collaborations between Bahrain and the Philippines, first and foremost on joint cooperation to increase tourist flows,” Frasco said.

“We also discussed how we may be able to further expand connectivity between Bahrain and the Philippines, not only with Manila, but with other places in the country, especially since, as I learned when I was in Bahrain, there are certain destinations (in the Philippines) that are very popular with the people of Bahrain, such as Cebu and Palawan.”

The number of tourists from Bahrain has been on the rise, with more than 5,500 visiting the Philippines from January to October this year — a 16-percent increase over the same period in 2023.

The Philippines has been trying to attract more visitors from Middle Eastern countries and has been encouraging the local hospitality industry to introduce standards that will make their properties and services attractive to Muslim tourists.

“We note that these countries have recovered very well (from the COVID pandemic travel shutdown) ... and we wish to be able to grow this momentum further by forging strategic collaborations with them,” Frasco said.

“Connectivity is one thing that we are continuing to focus on, as well as really ensuring that our tourist destinations are prepared to receive tourists from that region. This includes the growth of our halal and Muslim-friendly establishments.”

 


Former Kosovo rebel commander ordered to pay victims

Updated 29 November 2024
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Former Kosovo rebel commander ordered to pay victims

  • The judges “set the total reparation award for which Mr.Shala is liable at 208,000 euros” ($220,000),” Judge Mappie Veldt-Foglia told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague
  • Although the “responsibility to pay the compensation lies exclusively with Mr.Shala“” the judge said, “he does not appear to have the means to comply with the order“

THE HAGUE: A special international court on Friday ordered a former Kosovo rebel commander to pay $220,000 in damages to victims of abuses suffered in 1999 during the Serbian province’s struggle for independence.
Pjeter Shala, 61, also known as “Commander Wolf,” was sentenced to 18 years behind bars in July for war crimes committed during the tiny country’s 1998-99 independence conflict, when separatist KLA rebels fought forces loyal to then Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
The judges “set the total reparation award for which Mr.Shala is liable at 208,000 euros” ($220,000),” Judge Mappie Veldt-Foglia told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
“Mr Shala is ordered to pay (damages) as compensation for the harm inflicted” on eight victims, she said.
The total amount comprised individual payments to the eight victims ranging from 8,000 to 100,000 euros, as well as a collective sum of 50,000 euros, the judge said.
Although the “responsibility to pay the compensation lies exclusively with Mr.Shala“” the judge said, “he does not appear to have the means to comply with the order.”
Kosovo’s current Crime Victim Compensation Program “could be one way to execute the Reparation Order,” Veldt-Foglia suggested.
However, the maximum sums per victim awarded by the program would be lower than those awarded by the court, she said.
Shala faced charges of murder, torture, arbitrary detention and cruel treatment of at least 18 civilian detainees accused of working as spies or collaborating with opposing Serb forces in mid-1999.
The judges acquitted him of cruel treatment and he was sentenced on the other three counts.
The judges said Shala was part of a group of KLA soldiers who severely mistreated detainees at a metal factory serving as a KLA headquarters in Kukes, northeastern Albania, at the time.
Shala was tried before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a court located in The Hague to prosecute mainly former KLA fighters for war crimes.
They included former KLA political commander Hashim Thaci, who dominated Kosovo’s politics after it declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and rose to become president of the tiny country.
Thaci resigned in 2020 to face war crimes and crimes against humanity charges, and has pleaded not guilty.


Germany indicts Turkish national for spying on alleged Gulen activists

Updated 29 November 2024
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Germany indicts Turkish national for spying on alleged Gulen activists

  • Gulen built a powerful Islamic movement in Turkiye and beyond

BERLIN: German federal prosecutors on Friday said they had indicted a Turkish national for alleged spying on individuals that he associated with cleric Fethullah Gulen.
The suspect, who is not in jail and was only identified as Mehmet K., in line with German privacy laws, contacted Turkiye’s police and intelligence service via anonymous letters, prosecutors added.
Gulen built a powerful Islamic movement in Turkiye and beyond, but spent his later years in the US mired in accusations of orchestrating an attempted coup against Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan.
Gulen died last month.


Death toll in Uganda landslides rises to 20 as search for more casualties presses on

Updated 29 November 2024
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Death toll in Uganda landslides rises to 20 as search for more casualties presses on

  • The Uganda Red Cross Society spokesperson Irene Kasiita told reporters that bodies of four more people were found on Friday while a fifth person, died at Mbale Hospital
  • Soldiers have been deployed to help with the digging

KAMPALA: More bodies buried under the mud were retrieved in eastern Uganda on Friday and an injured person died in a hospital, bringing the death toll from this week’s landslides to 20, officials said as search efforts pressed on in the stricken area.
Heavy rains had triggered the landslides that engulfed six villages in the mountainous district of Bulambuli, 280 kilometers (175 miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital, on Wednesday night. Some 125 houses were destroyed.
The Uganda Red Cross Society spokesperson Irene Kasiita told reporters that bodies of four more people were found on Friday while a fifth person, one of the injured in the landslides, died at Mbale Hospital.
The society in a statement said 750 people had been displaced, with 216 of those living temporarily at a neighboring school while others were being housed by relatives.
The Bulambuli Resident District Commissioner Faheera Mpalanyi said soldiers have been deployed to help with the digging.
“More bodies are still buried under the heaps of soils and stones and we are trying as much as we can to recover them,” she said.
Local officials told a journalist in the area on Thursday that an excavator would be brought to assist in the rescue efforts, but the roads were covered in mud and rain was still falling. The impacted area is about 50 acres with homesteads and farmlands spread downhill.
Lawmaker Irene Muloni from the Bulambuli district said Thursday the government would help relocate residents from the landslide-prone area.
“Waterfalls are everywhere, and the rainfall is excessive,” she said, urging everyone who had lost their home to seek refuge with relatives and “leave this dangerous place.”