Items

2022-07-04

When is long-COVID a disability?

This is a news story from Stephenson Harwood, a law firm with its headquarters in London. This is on the classification of long-COVID as a disability. Using the Equality Act from 2010, it classifies a disability as physical or mental impairment which would prevent someone's ability to carry out daily activities. Using a case of Burke v Turning Point Scotland, it describes Mr. Burke developing long-COVID symptoms, which prevented him from doing work. He describes immense fatigue, where tasks like showering would become exhausting. Due to this, he remained off work, with his sick pay ending around June 2021. In August 2021, he was dismissed on grounds of ill health. The ruling with the Scottish Employment Tribunal declared that between November 25, 2020 and August 13, 2021 that Mr. Burke was disabled. For his specific case, he can now file disability discrimination against the company, but it does not mean the employer discriminated. The law firm suggests that employers develop methods to better serve employees that could end up having long-COVID. Some of these suggestions include: change in policies around disability services, changes in communication to handle an employee suffering from long-COVID, and a supportive environment where employees will feel comfortable giving updates on their symptoms.

2022-04-08

NHS Approved PPE

This is an Instagram post by sciquipuk. This is a store that sells NHS approved PPE for people to buy. Throughout the pandemic, I have seen people use a variety of these items. I have mostly seen masks. Every once in a while, I have seen people use face shields. This is a good post that demonstrates some of the things people have regularly worn during the course of the pandemic.

2021-04-08

Did COVID doubters' perspective get lumped in with deniers?

I believe we all know someone during the worst days of the pandemic who doubted that it was as serious as it really was. Perhaps they willingly discussed their perspective, reluctantly talked about it if pressed, or just did not even want to talk about it. I am not talking about the people seen in the attached article that were out protesting masks or vaccines, pushing conspiracy theories on 5G and Bill Gates' love of vaccines. I am thinking of the people we work with, are friends with, or very likely are in our families that just really just wanted life back to normal and did not think the global reaction was justified. A casual search of the internet for the perspectives of COVID doubters, or those who thought that the reaction to the pandemic was over-the-top, immediately sends you to articles and stories about the horrors and idiocy of the COVID deniers who pushed crazy theories about world dominance. Wouldn't it be nice to understand how the middle ground of the pandemic felt, lived, and reacted to the reality of the pandemic, if at all? We owe it to future generations to not only highlight the worst in the deniers, as seen in the attached article, but to also illustrate the everyday people who just were not sure who to believe, fake news or science. One thing is for sure, it is not fair to lump everyone in the middle into the far right. I would like to hear the stories of people who doubtfully lived in the pandemic, their trials, frustrations, and tribulations and if they had any change of heart or ideals. Their perspective will give a further understanding of the sociological impact of the pandemic.

2022-04-03

The can-do vaccine spirit must be applied to refugees

This is a news story written by The Sunday Times (cannot find author). The Sunday Times is a British paper and this is detailing the contrast between the generosity of the British citizens towards Ukrainian refugees, but the lack of care from the British federal government. It says that over 200,000 people and organizations have registered to sponsor refugees in the Homes for Ukraine scheme. The overall story is not about the vaccines themselves, but the author is wishing for the can-do attitude of distributing vaccines in the UK to be applied to the refugees. Of the visas applied by refugees, for families, 32,300 applied for a scholarship, but only 4,700 were issued. I think that during the pandemic, the author that wrote this got more used to the government being lenient in helping, but now when faced with a refugee crisis, lacks that same helpful spirit.

2021-07

Traveling During Covid

In July of 2021, travel was open in the UK. My family immigrated to the United States in 1998 from England. My grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins all still reside in the UK. Covid has been a very hard time as I could not visit my family and they could not travel to the US. When travel opened back up we were thrilled. My mom and I planned to travel to England in July 2021. The day before we were set to leave we noticed that my passport had expired the month prior. Since my passport had not been used in over a year, we were not aware that it had expired. We tried everything to get a new one as soon as possible, but there was a delay on getting passports out because many people had the same problems. Fortunately I was able to get an emergency passport appointment in Buffalo. I got my passport at the end of July and my mom and I were set to travel in August. Traveling to the UK required many covid tests, forms and mask wearing. I had not been in an airport in over a year, and this new way of travel was very strange to me, but I was still happy to be able to travel. Traveling back to the US also required many tests and forms, the National Guards were even placed in US airports making sure travelers were filling out locator forms. It was an insane experience, and hopefully travel goes back to normal in the coming years. Although it is a different way of traveling it is still amazing that we are able to leave the US and visit other countries after a long time of not being able to do so.

2020-10-20

"In the Return of Art Fairs, Smaller Is Better", The New York Times

This New York Times article from October 20, 2020 comments on the positive spotlight smaller art fairs and lesser known galleries have bene thrust under due to restrictions on social gatherings and a changing public perspective amidst uncertainty and turbulent political and social issues exacerbated by Covid-19. The pandemic has provided an opportunity for smaller, more niche art fairs such as 1-54 or Viennacontemporary.

2021-10

A fitness lovers life during a pandemic in the UK

It describes how I struggled during the pandemic as I was not able to do what I love doing the most: training.

2021-09-21

Ludo and Ben Oral History 09/21/2021

We completed this interview for our History of Global Pandemics class, which we take at Northeastern University.

2020-08-26

The ED Musos

The ED Musos are a group of health care workers from Emergency Departments in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, the UK and the USA. We came together for connection and wellbeing during the pandemic. We made this and other videos in our own time. We send love and support to everyone impacted by COVID-19.

2021-07-14

Los Angeles Covid Cases Up 500% Over Past Month; Test Positivity Rises Nearly 700% As Delta Variant Takes Hold

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed 1,103 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday. It’s the fifth consecutive day cases have been over 1,000. For perspective, one month ago, the 5-day average of cases was 201. Today the 5-day average is 1,095; this is an increase of more than 500% in just one month. That increase has come even as testing has dropped precipitously, which means the actual rise of infections is likely much greater as there are fewer chances to identify cases.

2021-03-21

Banksy’s ‘Game Changer’ Canvas sells for a record £16.7m in aid of NHS charities, 2021

Banksy will donate the hammer price of £14.4m to help support health organisations and charities across the UK that enhance the NHS’s care and treatment. Christie’s Auction House will “donate a significant portion of the Buyer’s Premium to these causes” too. The Game Changer canvas first appeared in May 2020 at the University Hospital Southampton as a thank you to all the staff and NHS workers across the country during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The black and white artwork shows a little boy playing with a superhero nurse whilst Batman and Spiderman’s usual heroes are now in the trash. A reproduction of Game Changer will remain on view at University Hospital Southampton hospital.

2021-02-22

UK Theaters Set to Be at Full Capacity by June

This article discuses how theaters in the UK are already partially open and are expected to be at full capacity by June 2021. This is in contrast to Broadway, which is closed in any capacity until May. I feel like this shows how detrimental the United States' response to COVID-19 in 2020 was and how it set us behind the rest of the world in returning to normalcy.

2021-01-27

Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine Works Against Mutations Found in U.K, South Africa Variants, Lab Study Finds

With the emergence of new COVID-19 mutations, people have been worried about the effectiveness of the new vaccine. Studies have been conducted to see how effective the vaccines are against the mutations with Pfizer's vaccine showing to be effective against both new strains.

2021

statistics

when covid first started in march, I was checking the rising statistics every day and trying to stay positive. Who knew it would be still high in January. Now, the cases seem to be going down everywhere, which is really good. The countries with the highest cases seem to be the united states and united kingdom, but they are both thankfully going down. People i know have affected these statistics, for my grandparents and parents got covid, but no one died from it. In august/september, the cases were going down a lot, but went super high again when the holidays came around. Now that the cases are going down again with no holidays coming up, I feel like we are getting to a good point. Its been a stressful year but I learned alot from it and improved myself.

2021-01-24

International Students

For international students, there are concerns about accessing the vaccine abroad. The UK has plans to make the vaccine available to students who are there on international student visas with the Department of Health and Social Care stating, “international students will ‘be able to access these vaccinations, just as they are able to access healthcare’”. Students who had plans to study abroad are also planning on getting vaccines in their home countries before continuing their plans. Most potential international students see no reason to postpone their plans to study abroad. https://www.studyinternational.com/news/international-students-uk-covid-19-vaccine/ https://www.studyinternational.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-international-students/

2020-10-16

Maternal mental health and coping during the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK: Data from the COVID-19 New Mum Study

This study demonstrates the interest of medical professionals in the UK towards the mental wellbeing of new mothers being impacted by pandemic-related lockdown. Various descriptors were used in the survey to assess emotion, feelings, states of being, and how the new mothers could cope with these changes as they specifically relate to the COVID-19 experience and mental health.

2021-01-21

Iran’s Khamenei bans the import of U.S. and U.K. coronavirus vaccines

I wonder how local regions around Iran will react to this proclamation. Iran a country paranoid of America for legitimate reasons. How many other countries treat America with such a paranoid predisposition. The tragic answer to that question would be; we deserve it.

2020-12-21

Fall Semester Admist a Global Pandemic

I am a student enrolled in Northeaster's first semester freshmen year study abroad program. As a member of the NU IN program I was originally going to be in Prague for this semester but due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19 that site was shut down. I ended up "studying abroad" 15 mins down the street from Northeastern at the Westin in Copley plaza. Living in a hotel for the first semester of college was a very different experience than what I was expecting; however, the nice hotel wasn't the only standout of the semester. As a result of the pandemic all of my classes, like almost every of student, were conducted over zoom. Some of my professors were not even in the United States, but were teaching me virtually from London. The social aspect of college also presented its own new challenges as students had to limit capacity in common spaces, social distance, and of course wear masks. While this new aspect of college was difficult to get used to, after a month or so I got the hang of it. I got into a rhythm of taking classes in the hotel but still going to campus and getting out to explore the city with new friends. As a matter of fact living of campus first semester was great because I was better able to explore more parts of the city. While i have no doubt studying abroad would have been a lot of fun, the whole NU IN community really came together to try and make this semester great, and despite all of the craziness of the pandemic and election season, this semester was one full of memories and a great start to my college experience.

2020-12-17

COVID-19 Affected My Summer

With COVID-19 spreading around the world this summer, a lot of my plans I was looking forward to doing were all cancelled. My brother was going to visit Ireland for his abroad last summer, but of course COVID exists. My mom and I were going to meet with him in Ireland and stay for about 4 weeks. I was really excited to go also because we were going to travel to London, Manchester, and Wales. Also not to mention the Irish pubs seem really cool and vintage.

2020-12-08

90-Year-Old Woman Becomes First Person to be Vaccinated

The 90-year-old woman, Maggie, became the first person to received the fully tested and approved COVID-19 vaccine as the United Kingdom became the first country to approve the vaccine. This was remarkable due to how fast the vaccine was developed. This could be considered the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

2020-11-24

England Allowing Visitors To Come After Taking Covid Test

The UK is setting plans to allow visitors to come to the UK after taking a Covid-19 test. This is a huge step considering the country has been under a major travel ban and had been requiring individuals to partake in a 14-day quarantine. This new testing protocol is great for those wanting to see family and loved ones in the UK.

2020-10-25

Some people believe in the idea of the pandemic being staged

This is an image from someone's Twitter recounting their ideologies surrounding the pandemic being planned by the government.

2020-11-04

UK parliament approves month-long COVID-19 lockdown for England

As COVID-19 ramps up in the UK, the government had to implement another lockdown. Parliament put the official stamp on it. I wonder who the 38 people against were?

2020-10-31

England Shutdown Again

England goes into lockdown again.

2020-03-18

Farewell to Edinburgh

I was on exchange in Edinburgh in the first half of 2020, and was forced to return home to Melbourne 3 months early. This was an incredibly sad and confusing time, where so many of my plans and dreams for the rest of exchange were scuppered. Things moved at a breakneck pace. My first exchange friend decided to leave Edinburgh on the 12th March, and by the 18th March I was flying home to Melbourne, having made dozens of rushed goodbyes in the previous few days. This object is a farewell post I made on Instagram, with 10 photos with my friends in Edinburgh. It sums up the mixed emotions I felt in those days - sadness, fondness, nostalgia, gratitude.

2020-10-10

Quarantine Doesn't Apply To The Rich and Famous

Kanye west visits the UK and doesnt even qurantine at all. Your supposed to undergo a 14 day quarantine but Mr. West immediately went out for a day trip with his daughter. I'm over here unable to visit my finace because of the difficulties of navigating the quarantine, but apparently all I had to do was be a famous rapper.

2020-10-04

Now I Know How My UK Fiancé Felt With Boris

I remember earlier in the pandemic Boris Johnson got sick. It was weird thinking the leader of England could get sick from such a deadly disease. How the country was panicking wondering what happens if the Prime Minister dies. I could only imagine how it must've been like. Now I actually get to experience it. Donald Trump is officially in the Hospital with covid, but it seems hes doing better then Boris did.

2020-09-20

Wedding? Forget about it.

Getting engaged in November 2019 was one of the greatest moments of my life. Planning the wedding for 2020 was confusing, exciting, and often involved me agreeing with her. Me being in the US and her the UK this was no problem. That is, until March 2020. The concept of having a two week quarantine for all visiting members to the UK, makes wedding planning impossible. Instead of guest coming for a weekend or maybe a week, you have to plan at least 15 days. 14 in quarantine and 1 for the wedding. Knowing how work schedules and American vacation time works, this is clearly impossible. So here we are wondering in this world of Covid, will we ever be able to have a wedding? or should we just ditch the ceremony and just get married!

2020-08-19

Wild Goats Wander into Town Amidst COVID-19 Lockdown

This photo, specifically taken in a town in Wales, shows that there are so little people and cars out on the streets that the goats find it safe to wander them. Apparently the goats are very cautious around humans so this is one of the only times they’ve even dared to come into the town. Artifacts like these are important to remember because they show the lighter side of things during the pandemic. Other animals such as coyotes in California and monkeys in Thailand have also been seen making their way into cities amidst the lockdown.

2020-03-24

Filipinos Coping With Covid - Series

I am doing a series, Filipinos Coping With Covid, published in my blogs and some in Positively Filipino

2020-07-20

The Road Home & the dust on my feet

I returned to the Philippines from London in June, and I wanted to make sure that my experience was catalogued among others like it. I'm planning to add more entries, but this is the first. I wrote it out very like a report, and the succeeding entries will likely expound a little bit more about the experience, firsthand, of bureaucracy on the ground, and the people it most affects; how slowly the government response arrives, and who bears the brunt of this inefficiency.

2020-07-05

1/3 of UK report enjoying lockdown, 40% report weight gain

UK social study reports that around one third of people in the country have reported enjoying lockdown. The same study reports that around 40% of adults have reported gaining weight over lockdown. These are some notable social side effects of lockdown. I found this report both amusing and informative, and a good item to include in the archive. With most peoples lives getting more sedentary during lockdown, weight gain is not surprising to see. Adding into this would be general increases in stress also contributing. What i found most interesting is the 1/3 of people enjoying lockdown. Seeing that made me wonder what behaviors and patterns will persist even past covid, such as things like working from home.

Screenshot of an Instagram post of a dog and a caption explaining that the dog will be trained as an emotional support animal for healthcare workers.

2020-05-18

Very good boys are joining the fight against coronavirus

A screenshot of a instagram post sent to me by a former roommate showing a pug wearing protective equipment so it can work as a therapy dog with reduced risk of spreading the virus.

2020-05-04

Transmission of Wisdom: The Marshall Scholar Class of 2019 Meets the 2020 Class Over Zoom

The COVID-19 pandemic is unique in the way it disrupted a world more globalized than ever before in history. The Marshall Scholarship is funded by the British government as a living gift to the American people in honor of the Marshall Plan, which helped rebuild Britain after World War II. The scholarship allows young Americans representing a cross-section of academic fields a to study for a graduate degree at a British univeristy. The 2020 Class of Marshall Scholars, the second largest class in the program's history, class will be among the scholarship's most diverse, represent a wide diversity of cultural, academic, institutional and socio-economic backgrounds. Over one-third of this year's class are from minority backgrounds and 61% of this year's class are female scholars. The pandemic has thrown much of the traditional process of the scholarship into re-evaluation, as questions of how the scholars will travel to the UK, whether they will need to quarantine upon arrival, and how their academic programs will be altered still loom large. This scholarship is a life changing opportunity for these individuals, with the pandemic threatening to drastically alter a program that has generated transatlatic leadership in mutlifarious fields whose work has sustained the Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for decades, one of the most important and dynamic international relationships in the world.

05/19/2020

Cambridge University: All lectures to be online-only until summer of 2021

Cambridge University announces that no classes will be held in person for the upcoming academic year 2020-2021. Various other methodologies will be tried out in accordance with health and safety guidelines

05/20/2020

Threat Levels in the U.K.

The British mentality of keeping a "stiff upper lip" is legendary. This piece pokes fun at the way the British have handled various monumental events throughout history and how they relate to the current crisis being faced. Originally found on the website imgur.com, the meme seems to be playing off of an older joke found at https://www.eetimes.com/england-raises-security-level-from-miffed-to-peeved/?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F#

2020-05-12

Travel and Self Isolation for a boarding school student

2020-03-19

U.K. in Morocco Tweet to help get any person of any nationality out of closed down Morocco due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

A screen shot of f this tweet to share with others in my What’s App group “Stranded in Morocco.” My wife and I were able to book this flight for a reasonable price. Might I note we were out in the Sahara Desert without service or news when the country shut down and after desperately trying to get help from our Embassy, with no success, we turned to the British Embassy for help and support. Original iPhone screenshot from Twitter. #HST643

2020-03-20

Getting close to check-in time at the Marrakech Airport in Morocco. Repatriation flight thanks to the U.K. Embassy.

Getting close to check-in time for our Ryanair repatriation flight to London from the Marrakech Airport in Morocco. Repatriation flights for England, Turkey, Germany, France and the Netherlands were taking off all week thanks to arrangements made by their governments. The United States finally replied to their citizens announcing there would be a few flights out on March 20, 2020 at a repayment cost of $1475 a person. This announcement was made at 12:01am on March 20, 2020, not allowing enough time for all Americans to get to Marrakech and flights were leaving at 25% occupancy. We worked with the U.K. Embassy and were able to get on a fully packed repatriation flight to London and then onto Orlando via JFK Airport in New York for a total of $925. So disappointed to be an American during this time. We had been traveling the world since late December and got caught up in the Coronavirus pandemic trying to out-run it. Only to have it finally catch up to us in Morocco. Original iPhone video. #HST643

2020-03-20

Repatriation Flight out of Marrakech Airport Morocco.Thanks to the U.K. Embassy.

This is a video my wife Tammy took from the Marrakech airport approximately 8 hours before we were to board a flight on Ryan Air to London and then onto Orlando, Florida as a repatriation flight negotiated by the United Kingdom after Morocco abruptly shut down all flights in and out of Morocco. It was a surprisingly happy place but also a potential hotbed for the spread of the virus. #HST643 Scott and wife Tammy Mentel, iPhone video

2020-04-21

First Dog on the Moon Cartoon

Cartoon inthe Guardian

2020-03-30

HM Government Press Release relating to COVID-19 Misinformation

This is an official press release from HM governmnet detailing their efforts to combat misinformation and "fake news" related to COVID-19. This effort is being headed up by experts from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. *Nicholas Bowers, Bowling Green State University, HIST 4800

2020-03-30

SHARE Checklist

This is a checklist published by the UK government as a part of the SHARE campaign, meant to help people evaluate the validity of sources and curb the flow of misinformation related to COVID-19. It is part of the larger "Don't Feed the Beast" campaign pioneered by the UK Government. #HIST4800 *Nicholas Bowers, Bowling Green State University, HIST 4800

2020-04-03

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