Coronavirus Affects African Americans More-Beyonce

Beyonze put forth a passionate speech about how COVID-19 has 'severely affected' African American communities during her stint on the One World: Together at Home concert on Saturday.  The 38-year-old singer explained to viewers that African Americans make up a 'disproportionate' part of the essential workforce and 'do not have the luxury of working from home.' This virus is killing black people at an alarmingly high rate here in America,' said Knowles. 'Those with preexisting conditions are at an even higher risk.'

COVID 19 Hits Africans Americans More

While a virus can't discriminate, COVID-19 isn't hitting everyone equally. A new poll first published by OZY shows Black Americans are four times more likely than their white counterparts to know someone who's died of the disease. That's likely down to social inequities in frontline jobs: About a third of Black respondents told pollsters they're still having to leave the house for work — though they're less likely to go out for other reasons — compared to just a fifth of white people. And as states push to reopen, they'll be even more at risk.

SOURCE: ozy.com

Trump Floats Toxic Coronavirus Cures

Sunlight is the best disinfectant" is just an idiom. But President Donald Trump suggested at a Thursday briefing that ultraviolet light, heat or disinfectants — which have proven effective at killing coronavirus on surfaces — could be injected inside the body. Alarmed health experts around the world warned that inhaling, ingesting or injecting disinfectant could easily be fatal. This week the CDC reported that calls to poison centers about cleaning chemicals have increased as sales of disinfectants soar, and a court case is pending against a church group that marketed bleach as a coronavirus treatment.

SOURCE: ozy.com

Why Lock downs May not Work for Africa

BY JAMES FAIRHEAD & MELISSA LEACH

As cases of the COVID19 increased in Wuhan this January, China took the then drastic step of imposing a lockdown. In a country where over 23% of the population is over 55, the government introduced severe restrictions to mitigate the spread of the disease and avoid overwhelming the health system. As the disease spread to other parts of the world, the likes of Japan, Europe and the US – all of which have even older populations than China’s – employed the same strategy.

Many governments in Africa have also imposed lockdowns to deal with the pandemic. Yet these countries have radically different age demographics to those in Asia and Europe. Take two extremes. In Japan, 40% of people are over 55, and 28% are over 65. In Uganda, the equivalent figures are 5% and 2%. In Japan, 13% of the population is made of up children under 14. In Uganda, this figure is 48%.

These different age demographics are very important. Mortality rates for coronavirus start to increase for people aged 55 and higher. Meanwhile, young people are statistically highly unlikely to suffer severe symptoms. This means that in countries with a lower proportion of old people, the relative benefits of lockdown are more limited and are more likely to be outweighed by the downsides.In many countries in Africa, these downsides are particularly significant. Poor countries are much less able to cushion the potentially devastating economic impacts produced by lockdowns. This is if they are feasible in the first place. Effective lockdowns are near impossible in crowded low-income settlements that lack taps and sewers.

Part of the lockdown strategy is also to “protect the health system” by “flattening the curve” and reserving resources for coronavirus cases. This approach not only has more marginal benefits when populations are young and there is a less of a system to protect, but it also diverts attention from addressing health that are dangerous to much of the population, such as malaria, measles and complications in childbirth.

It might be argued that poorer countries with less effective health systems will have a higher burden of underlying health conditions, thus increasing vulnerability to COVID-19. However, the pre-existing health problems most closely related to getting severe symptoms from coronavirus tend to be associated with age. Current evidence from Spain, for example, suggests that people living with HIV are not at increased risk of acquiring COVID-19 or developing severe symptoms. In fact, the opposite may be the case.

This is not to say that there are not susceptible groups in Africa. Though they make up less of overall populations, there are still many older people in African countries. Meanwhile, there may be significant numbers of people who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 due to more widespread diseases of poverty such as TB, though this is not certain.

Nonetheless, the best policies for countries with young populations may not be lockdowns. There may be better ways to save lives such as physically shielding and supporting the most vulnerable while allowing the wider population to gain immunity, whether through a vaccine when it arrives or by virtue of enough people catching and recovering from the virus itself.

Shielding the vulnerable could involve a mix of physical isolation, restrictions on their movement, and focused care, eventually by those who have recovered from the virus. These measures will work best when based on local innovations appropriate to particular social contexts and designed with input from those involved. These could build on practices of respect for the elderly and community organising in many African settings.

Countries – and even regions within them – vary enormously in terms of age profiles, health systems, living conditions, economic resilience, and much more. In some places, including in Africa, lockdowns may be the best policy on balance. In other areas, including even in the likes of Europe and America, there may be more appropriate alternatives to lockdown. It is unlikely, however, that a one-size-fits-all approach serves everyone’s interests equally.

Today, some version of the lockdown has become most countries’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In years to come, we may look back on this moment as one in which an ideological practice emanating from older and wealthier countries was misguidedly “copy and pasted” by elites in younger and poorer societies, leading to marginal benefits in tackling the coronavirus but with the effect of increasing poverty and mortality among the poor.

Source: Africanarguments.org

Trial for potential Covid-19 drug shows no effect on Patients

Remdesivir, a drug thought to be one of the best prospects for treating Covid-19, failed to have any effect in the first full trial, it has been revealed.

The drug is in short supply globally because of the excitement it has generated. It is one of the drugs Donald Trump claimed was “promising”.

In a “gold standard” trial of 237 patients, some of whom received remdesivir while others did not, the drug did not work. The trial was also stopped early because of side-effects.

source: Theguardian.com

Ramadan Kicks off Amid COVID 19 Fears

Saudi Arabia has announced that the holy fasting month of Ramadan will start Friday, as Muslims worldwide face unprecedented restrictions to counter COVID 19

“Based on the sighting of the new month’s moon … it has been decided that Friday is the start of the month of Ramadan,” the royal court said Thursday in a statement cited by the SPA news agency.

King Salman said he is saddened that Muslims cannot pray at mosques because of corona virus restrictions.

GTB Announces Financial Results

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc wednesday made public its unaudited financial results for the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2020, showing a revenue of N112.865 billion, which was an increase of 2.3 per cent above the N110.328 billion recorded in the corresponding Q1 of 2019.

Net interest income rose from N57.566 billion to N63.058 billion in 2020, while net fee and commission income fell from N18.010 billion to N13.554 billion.