US tops 5 million confirmed virus cases, to Europes alarm

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ROME  With confirmed coronavirus cases in the U. S.  hitting 5 million Sunday, by far the highest of any country, the failure of the most powerful nation in the world to contain the scourge has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe. Perhaps nowhere outside the U. S.  is Americas bungled virus response viewed with more consternation than in Italy, which was ground zero of Europes epidemic.  Italians were unprepared when the outbreak exploded in February, and the country still has one of the worlds highest official death tolls at over 35,000. But after a strict nationwide, 10-week lockdown, vigilant tracing of new clusters and general acceptance of mask mandates and social distancing, Italy has become a model of virus containment. Dont they care about their health? a mask-clad Patrizia Antonini asked about people in the United States as she walked with friends along the banks of Lake Bracciano, north of Rome.  They need to take our precautions.   They need a real lockdown. Much of the incredulity in Europe stems from the fact that America had the benefit of time, European experience and medical know-how to treat the virus that the continent itself didnt have when the first COVID-19 patients started filling intensive care units. More than four months into a sustained outbreak, the U. S.  reached the 5 million mark, according to the running count kept by Johns Hopkins University.  Health officials believe the actual number is perhaps 10 times higher, or closer to 50 million, given testing limitations and the fact that as many as 40% of all those who are infected have no symptoms. We Italians always saw America as a model, said Massimo Franco, a columnist with daily Corriere della Sera.  But with this virus weve discovered a country that is very fragile, with bad infrastructure and a public health system that is nonexistent. With Americas worlds-highest death toll of more than 160,000, its politicized

Early voting opens in virus-era NT poll

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Early voting in the Northern Territory election starts on Monday with 111 candidates lining up for the poll. A total of 141,225 Territorians are now on the electoral roll and eligible to vote in the August 22 election. So far 6500 Territorians have applied for postal votes, but many more are expected. The NT has single-digit active COVID-19 cases, but no evidence of community transmission. The Northern Territory Electoral Commission is encouraging voters to use early and postal voting as part of its strategy to minimise the spread of the virus. "Both options will limit the congregation of people in one location, and allow Territorians to vote without having to travel," the commission said. "It is expected there will be an increase in electors utilising these voting methods. "At the 2016 election just under 35 per cent of votes were cast on election day, with the figure expected to fall well below that in this years poll. Opinion polls are pointing to Labor, led by Chief Minister Michael Gunner, retaining majority government in the 25-seat assembly. The Gunner government has been dogged by concerns about the struggling NT economy and its handling of law and order issues. But Mr Gunner has been praised for his efforts in tackling COVID-19 and reopening the NTs economy. Country Liberal Party leader Lia Finocchiaro, who took over in February, has a huge task to take her party from two seats to victory. Preferences from the fledgling Territory Alliance and independents will be crucial to a CLP win. 

Shelf life of 21 days or more could save red meat waste, say UK industry...

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Use-by dates on red meat in the UK should be extended, say industry experts who are lobbying the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to endorse scrapping the current 10-day cap and extending it to 21 days or more. According to 2008 guidance from the FSA, clarified in 2017, the shelf life of either vacuum- or gas-packaged fresh meat kept at 3-8C should be limited to 10 days unless suitable grounds for a longer shelf life can be identified, such as high salt content or low pH. Industry experts are contesting the guidelines, calling for a return to the previous situation in which manufacturers and retailers determined use-by dates, a shift that could see the shelf life of packaged and chilled red meat extended to three weeks or more. We didnt need this 10-day cap, it was ridiculous this was brought in, said David Lindars, the technical operations director of the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA),, adding that legislation already stated that food must be proven safe for the given shelf life. Beef is safe at 21 days.  You can go beyond that, he said, adding 21 days is simply a common timeframe used in marketing beef. A report by the BMPA and Meat and Livestock Australia Limited, published last year with support from a host of supermarkets, contested the FSAs guidelines, finding a maximum shelf life at 3-8C of up to 23 days for beef, 27 days for lamb, and 18 days for pork provided a high level of protection against Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium behind life-threatening botulism poisoning. The report also revealed results from experiments in which samples of meat were exposed to such bacteria and kept at 8C.  The results, it said, showed that beef did not become toxic before day 50, lamb before day 35, and pork before day 25. The report suggested ditching the 10-day shelf-life cap would not only benefit retailers and producers, but could also help to reduce food waste. According to Wrap, the Waste and Resources Action Programme,

Eviction crisis looms as COVID-19s next catastrophe

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After many years of being looked down on, motels are getting new respect in the era of social distancing. Guests at open-corridor inns may come and go without passing through crowded lobbies, packed elevators or enclosed hallways where viruses may linger. In outdoor corridors, people feel safe, said Mike Riverside of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association.  People can go directly to their rooms and potentially reduce exposure to the coronavirus. Outdoor-facing, low-rise motels and hotels also stand to benefit from being typically reached by car, unlike big resorts and urban hotels that rely on air travel to deliver most guests.  With many still apprehensive about flying, drive-to destinations are widely expected to be the first beneficiaries of the gradual return of pleasure jaunts away from home. There is pent-up demand for leisure travel and nobody is too excited to share an elevator, said Patrick Scholes, an analyst who follows the lodging and leisure industries for investment bank SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.  For the moment, it definitely does give you an advantage to have outdoor corridors in your hotel. Inns where every guests front door opens to the elements loom large in the collective memories of Americans, but they are for the most part relics of the 20th century car culture that gave middle-class people the chance to explore their country.  At the beginning of auto travel, overnight options were mostly limited to proper city-style hotels or camping near the side of the road. Soon bare-bones cabin camps made up of individual shacks sprang up around rural gas stations.  Many were so primitive that mattresses and sheets cost extra. By the 1930s, according to Smithsonian Magazine, a classier alternative emerged known as cottage courts, made up of tiny cookie-cutter cottages built around a public lawn.  Gas stations and restaurants began to appear nearby, and the freedom of the road gained a romantic allure.