Stoddard-Bergen Chief Joe Pfaff said the bans in Stoddard and the Town of Bergen are in effect until weather conditions significantly improve.
In his release, he said the ban "applies to burn piles, burn barrels, and all campfires unless in developed camping areas. Use caution, disposing of any matches, ashes, charcoal briquettes, or any burning materials into the outdoors. All firework use is banned. Remember to dispose of any cigars, cigarettes, or pipes in a designated receptacle. Charcoal grills may be used only near a residential dwelling on a non-combustible surface, such as concrete."
Chief Pfaff also shared the list of descriptions of how fire danger is gauged.
Descriptions of ratings Low - Fires are not easily started. Fuels do not ignite readily from small firebrands, although a more intense ignition source, such as lightning, may start many fires in duff or punky wood Moderate - Fires start easily and spread at a moderate rate. Fires can start from most accidental causes, but except for lightning fires in some areas, the number of starts is generally low. High - Fires start easily and spread at a fast rate. All fine dead fuels ignite readily, and fires start easily from most causes. Unattended campfires are likely to escape. High-intensity burning may develop on slopes. Very High - Fires start very easily and spread at a very fast rate. Fires start easily from all causes, spread rapidly, and intensify quickly. Spot fires are a constant danger. Extreme - The fire situation is explosive and can result in extensive property damage. Fires under extreme conditions start quickly, spread furiously, and burn intensely. All fires are potentially serious. Development of high-intensity burning will usually be faster and occur from smaller fires than in the very high danger class.
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues into its second year, public health experts are increasingly concerned that the response to this global crisis may be accelerating another one: the development and persistence of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as superbugs. Why? All antibiotic use hastens the emergence of resistance. And although antibiotics aren’t used to treat Covid-19, which is a viral illness, they’re often prescribed to Covid-19 patients who are at risk for bacterial infection.
New research from our organization, the Pew Charitable Trusts, sheds additional light on the extent to which antibiotics are being prescribed unnecessarily in the midst of the pandemic. In a study of nearly 6,000 hospital admissions between February and July 2020 among patients with Covid-19, at least one course of antibiotics was given to more than half (52%) during their hospital stays.
Patrick Skerrett / STAT Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts.
That’s significantly greater than the percentage of those patients who had bacterial infections. In just 20% of admissions, patients were diagnosed with suspected or confirmed bacterial pneumonia, and only 9% were diagnosed with a community-acquired urinary tract infection. The actual number of cases of such bacterial infections is probably even lower based on the was the study was conducted.
advertisement
This disparity between the number of patients treated with an antibiotic and those who actually needed one is at least partly explained by the fact that the vast majority of patients who received antibiotics were given their first course within 48 hours of admission — before medical personnel would typically know the result of diagnostic tests for bacterial infection.
Patrick Skerrett / STAT Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Although prescribing antibiotics before a bacterial infection has been confirmed to be helpful for providing timely care for infections such as sepsis, it can also unnecessarily expose patients to antibiotics. This, in turn, jeopardizes patient safety and accelerates the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens. For example, hospitalized Covid-19 patients are sometimes prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotics, which are known to accelerate resistance, or other antibiotics that put them at high risk for getting Clostridioides difficile infections, which can result in life-threatening diarrhea. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that as many as 35,000 Americans die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections.
advertisement
To help minimize these risks, health care providers have been ramping up antibiotic stewardship programs over the past decade. Such programs focus on ensuring that the right antibiotic is prescribed in a timely fashion, at the appropriate dose, and for the proper duration. They also use data, such as negative bacterial cultures, to determine when an antibiotic treatment should be adjusted or ended. The CDC reports that 89% of hospitals nationwide had implemented such programs as of 2019, up from 48% in 2015.
Findings from Pew’s study suggest that antibiotic stewardship programs may be helping optimize patient care even in the midst of the pandemic. Of admissions where an antibiotic was prescribed, only 28% of them resulted in a course of antibiotics being administered both before and after the first 48 hours in the hospital. This finding indicates that when enough time had passed for physicians to receive test results, they likely determined that no further antibiotics were needed for patients without bacterial infections.
Here are three key takeaways for policymakers and public health leaders:
Ensure that hospital stewardship programs continue to receive adequate resources. Even before the pandemic, antibiotic stewardship programs had proved effective in reducing resistance rates, lowering health care costs, and improving patient outcomes. Pew’s research highlights the value of these programs, which are essential to preserving the effectiveness of existing antibiotics, and demonstrates their essential role in protecting public health. Federal and state policymakers should ensure sufficient funding to support continued expansion and improvement of stewardship programs across the country. In addition, leaders of hospitals and health systems must make sure that stewardship efforts are prioritized in individual facilities and allocate the resources required.
Take action to reinvigorate the development of urgently needed antibiotics. The pipeline of new antibiotics is woefully insufficient, and the acceleration of resistance resulting from increased antibiotic use during this pandemic makes the need for new antibiotics even more critical. One immediate step Congress can take is to pass the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions To End Up Surging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act of 2020. It aims to jump-start the development of new antibiotics, which are urgently needed to address unmet patient needs, by changing the way the U.S. government pays for these treatments.
Policymakers should also consider options to reform how hospitals are paid for administering antibiotics, either through regulatory changes to inpatient payment policies driven by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), or by legislative ideas like those proposed in the Developing an Innovative Strategy for Antimicrobial Resistant Microorganisms (DISARM) Act, to ensure that insurers pay hospitals a fair rate for antibiotics. DISARM would let Medicare reimburse hospitals for antibiotics above the rates set for a particular diagnosis if they have an antibiotic stewardship program and report antibiotic resistance data to the CDC. Reimbursement reform would help stabilize the market and improve access to these lifesaving drugs.
Continue to make the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria a national priority. Among the many lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic is the importance of public health preparedness. Unlike the case of Covid-19, which took much of the world by surprise, we already know that the emergence of new, increasingly resistant bacteria is inevitable; after the events of the past year, there is no excuse for not being ready. In the U.S., that would require, among other steps, aggressive implementation of the national action plan for combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which was updated in October 2020; sufficient funding for the agencies and programs essential to the fight against superbugs; and a commitment to strengthening our public health infrastructure and data reporting capabilities.
Although some progress has been made in fighting antibiotic resistance, as it stands today, the U.S. is not adequately prepared to meet the threat — one that grows more serious each day. There is no time to waste to turn that around.
David Hyun, an infectious diseases physician, is the project director andRachel Zettsis an officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts’ antibiotic resistance project.
MINNEAPOLIS (CBS Minnesota) — Many in the Black community are watching the trial of Derek Chauvin and realizing how triggering re-visiting the events of last year can be.
Many who chose to watch the trial of Derek Chauvin are uncovering old feelings, feelings they have not felt since last May, when they watched video of George Floyd begging for his life.
While the trial gets underway so does the effort to meet people where they are to help them process their hurt. Dozens of people calling for justice for Floyd gathered out front of city hall Monday morning.
“We want to meet everybody where they are at while keeping everything civil,” said Kim Griffin.
Crews from A Mother’s Love Initiative are also downtown offering support to those who need help in processing their feelings.
All over social media, people are crying out. It’s triggering, re-traumatizing. They are angry, frustrated, some even sad after watching the video of Floyd’s arrest.
Lewis says emotions are high in his community.
“A lot of people don’t want to see it. They don’t want to relive it. They don’t want to see it again because it brings back those old emotions,” said Manu Lewis. “People need spaces to process what’s going on with them because a lot of people are isolated right now.”
Shiloh Temple is one of the places where people can go to process their feelings while watching the trial.
Minister Arnetta Phillips says people are taking advantage of the space, the facilitators and counselors on hand.
“It’s the tension and it’s the not knowing. It’s the not understanding of what’s really going to happen during the trail,” Phillips said.
One lady walked in and just needed to be with others.
“She was watching it at home and she was like, ‘I just had to walk, and I just had to walk,’ and she said, ‘I just ended up here.’ It just hurts, and I don’t care what color. It’s not about a skin color, it’s that it was a human being and he wasn’t treated as a human being,” she said.
That hurt is what many are trying to soothe.
“We have control over how we respond from this point on, how we react and how we relate to each other from this point on, how we actually see the humanity in each other from this point on,” Lewis said.
Many people CBS Minnesota spoke with say they need the energy of the protestors downtown — not the destructive energy, but productive energy to move the community forward no matter what the verdict ends up being.
"many" - Google News
March 30, 2021 at 06:21PM
https://ift.tt/39tlH65
For Many, Video Evidence Shown During Derek Chauvin Trial Is Reopening Old Wounds - CBS Denver
"many" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2OYUfnl
https://ift.tt/3f9EULr
EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) – Officials are warning of increased avalanche danger across parts of Colorado due to high winds. At least a dozen people have died in avalanches this season, tying the winter of 1992-93 for the most recreational avalanche deaths in Colorado.
Last Monday, two sidecountry skiers were caught in an avalanche south of Edwards. The avalanche carried one of the skiers down a chute and over a cliff at Lime Creek, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. The skier was fully buried and did not survive.
A stock photo of Sanctuary Chute (credit: Colorado Avalanche Information Center)
The CAIC reports considerable danger above the treeline in the Front Range and Vail/Summit backcountry zones. The danger is most pronounced in drifted slopes that face north, east and southeast.
“Noticeably this overlaps with the persistent slab problem where the incremental loading due to recent storms and the wind deposition is stressing deeper buried weak layers,” stated CAIC.
Avalanche danger is moderate in the Central and Southern Mountains with the potential for humans triggering a life-threatening slab. Officials recommend patience and careful terrain management.
The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, March 24, 2021.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - How can the collapse of a single prime-broking client wipe out the best part of a bank’s earnings for the year? That’s the question investors in Credit Suisse and Nomura are asking after both lenders warned of significant hits from the collapse of Archegos Capital Management. The glaring control failures raise questions about what other dangers are lurking in banks’ books.
Shares in the Swiss and Japanese lenders both fell by roughly 16% on Monday, wiping out a combined $8.4 billion of equity value. Nomura said it has a roughly $2 billion claim against a client, reported by Reuters to be Archegos, a family office run by former Tiger Asia manager Bill Hwang. The Financial Times reported that Credit Suisse’s losses may be $3 billion to $4 billion after the fund defaulted on margin calls late last week. The aggregate hit could be equivalent to the combined net income the two banks had been expected to generate in the current calendar year, using estimates compiled by Refinitiv.
Neither has been forthcoming about how a single client could cost them so much. True, Hwang’s underlying trades may have been dicey. According to news reports, Archegos used derivatives such as contracts for difference to make bets on richly valued companies like GSX Techedu and Baidu. Those instruments come with leverage built in, magnifying losses when markets turn. Nomura and Credit Suisse also seem to have been caught at the tail end of a domino effect which began when rivals like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley seized collateral from Hwang. Sales of multibillion-dollar tranches of shares by those banks tanked stocks like ViacomCBS, leaving the laggards holding the bag.
Yet the sheer size of the losses implies a broader failure of elementary risk management. The eight stocks most frequently associated with Hwang in media reports fell by an average of 36% last week. That’s steep, but well within the bounds of the worst-case scenarios that banks should be planning for when extending credit for risky trades. It’s also hard to fathom how the banks approved such large exposures.
One likely response is that prime broking desks at Nomura, Credit Suisse and elsewhere tighten their lending standards. That in turn could spark a wave of forced selling at other leveraged hedge funds, potentially exposing other overextended investors. Archegos’ collapse hasn’t yet dragged down wider markets, but it’s far too early to declare it a one-off.
Breakingviews
Reuters Breakingviews is the world's leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time.
Patrick Skerrett / STAT 
