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With Mission to China, W.H.O. Tries to Rehabilitate Its Picture

With Mission to China, W.H.O. Tries to Rehabilitate Its Image

A team of World Health Organization scientists said Tuesday in China that the coronavirus is likely to spread to humans first via an intermediate animal host and that the outcome of a laboratory accident is “extremely unlikely”.

The results, presented by the team in Wuhan, China, after 12 days of fieldwork, were the first step in a most likely painstaking process to trace the origins of the global pandemic. This question is crucial to prevent recurrence.

“All of the work that has been done on the virus trying to identify its origin continues to suggest a natural reservoir,” said Dr. Peter K. Ben Embarek, a food safety scientist at WHO who leads the team of experts, at a press conference in Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus was first discovered in late 2019.

Dr. Embarek rejected the idea that the virus could have originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, a theory that has gained traction among some officials and experts in the US and elsewhere. “It was very unlikely that anything could escape from such a place,” he said, citing security protocols.

The WHO experts largely focused their comments on the scientific aspects of their mission. However, the investigation has been overshadowed by politics in many ways.

The Chinese government has further warned that the virus may have come from overseas, an idea many scientists are rejecting. Chinese officials used Tuesday’s press conference to further advance this theory, arguing that the search for the virus’ origin should focus on locations outside of China.

The investigation will “not be limited to one location,” said Liang Wannian, who led the team of Chinese scientists who assisted the WHO mission.

The WHO experts at the three-hour press conference did not question the statements made by Chinese officials. They promised to look into reports of early cases of the virus outside of China. They also called for more research on the animals being sold in a sprawling market in Wuhan, where some of the first cases of the virus were discovered.

The visit was an opportunity for WHO to dispel criticism that it is too respectful of China.

For months, experts and politicians have condemned the WHO for allowing the Chinese government to control the investigation into the cause of the pandemic. Chinese officials, careful not to point out missteps during the outbreak, repeatedly delayed visits by WHO experts and tried to narrow the scope of their mission. The Chinese government gave in to mounting global pressure and finally let the 14-person team go to Wuhan last month.

Updated

Apr. 9, 2021, 9:36 p.m. ET

The WHO used the research to project an image of transparency and independence. During their stay in Wuhan, the team of scientists used social media to record their visits to laboratories, disease control centers and live animal markets. WHO officials have vowed to ask tough questions and press for access to data and research, but it remains unclear how soon the Chinese government will be.

“If the team can’t come up with a substance, there’s a risk that people will say this is all just a show,” said Daniel R. Lucey, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University.

The investigation takes place in a charged political environment. Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, recently suggested that the United States allow WHO to send investigators there as part of its investigation.

Officials in the United States and other Western countries have at times expressed doubts about the independence of the WHO investigation, fearing that China may try to influence the results.

Now it will be up to the team of scientists to conduct a difficult study that many say could take months or even years.

While China ultimately cooperated with the visit, the government still has a firm grip on research related to the virus in China and could try to prevent any embarrassing information from being published.

“One visit is not enough for a thorough investigation,” said Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow on global health with the Council on Foreign Relations. “They do all the work within the parameters set by the Chinese government.”

The WHO team commended the Chinese scientists involved in the mission and said the government had worked in good faith to provide access to key locations such as the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where some of the earliest cases were discovered . Scientists were also allowed to visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is home to a state-of-the-art laboratory that has been at the center of several unfounded theories about the virus.

Albee Zhang contributed to the research.

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WHO outlines Wuhan findings on origins of Covid pandemic

WHO outlines Wuhan findings on origins of Covid pandemic

Peter Ben Embarek and Marion Koopmans (R) come to a press conference on February 9, 2021 to conclude a visit by an international team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) to the city of Wuhan in the Chinese province of Hefei.

HECTOR RETAMAL | AFP | Getty Images

An international team of scientists led by the World Health Organization said Tuesday that the search for the introduction of the coronavirus was still in progress. Further research is needed to investigate how and whether the disease circulated in animals prior to human infection.

Scientists have been working in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the disease was first identified, for four weeks, looking for clues to the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The research team has visited hospitals, laboratories, and markets including the Huanan Seafood Market, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the laboratory of the Wuhan Center for Disease Control.

During the secret visit, researchers were also supposed to speak to early responders and some of the early patients. The team completed two weeks of quarantine before starting visiting local locations.

Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, WHO food safety and animal diseases specialist and chairman of the investigation team, told a press conference that the “most likely” path for Covid is to transition from an intermediate species in humans. That hypothesis will “require more study and more specific (and) targeted research,” he said.

The first results of the investigation found no evidence of major Covid outbreaks in Wuhan or anywhere else before December 2019. However, researchers found evidence of wider Covid spread outside the Huanan seafood market in the same month, Ben Embarek said.

He added that it was not yet possible to determine the intermediate animal host for the coronavirus and described the results as “in the works” after nearly a month of meetings and site visits.

“To understand what happened in the early days of December 2019, we dramatically changed the image we had before? I don’t think so,” said Ben Embarek.

“Have we improved our understanding? Have we added details to this story? Absolutely,” he said.

WHO has tried to meet expectations for a definitive conclusion on the origins of the Covid pandemic. To put the mission in a broader context, it took more than a decade to find the origins of SARS, while the origins of Ebola – first identified in the 1970s – are not yet known.

It is hoped that information on the earliest known cases of the coronavirus, first discovered in Wuhan in late 2019, can help pinpoint the start of the outbreak and prevent similar pandemics in the future.

After concerns about access and delays in issuing visas, the team led by the World Health Organization arrived in Wuhan on January 14 to work with Chinese scientists to investigate the origin of the coronavirus.

Laboratory leak “extremely unlikely”

A theory that the coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology has been discredited by the research team. The hypothesis had been upheld by former President Donald Trump’s administration without any burden of proof and was strictly denied by Chinese officials.

“The hypothesis of a laboratory incident is extremely unlikely to explain the introduction of the virus into the human population,” said Ben Embarek. “Hence, it is not in the hypotheses that we will propose for future studies.”

Liang Wannian, head of the Covid expert panel at the Chinese National Health Commission, said on Tuesday, alongside Ben Embarek of the WHO from the Hilton Optics Valley Hotel in Wuhan, he agreed with this assessment.

The team had concluded that a laboratory leak should be considered extremely unlikely “on the basis of serious discussion and very careful research,” he added.

Mink are seen on a farm in Gjol, Northern Denmark on October 9, 2020.

HENNING BAGGER | Ritzau Scanpix | AFP via Getty Images

Liang said ongoing research into the origins of the virus needs to focus on how the virus circulated in animals before humans were infected.

Animal hosts have yet to be identified, but bats and pangolins are both potential candidates for transmission, Liang said, but samples from these species have not been found “sufficiently similar” to the Covid virus.

The high susceptibility of minks and cats to the Covid virus suggests that there may be other animals that act as reservoirs, Liang continued, but research is currently insufficient.

China’s national health commission spokesman said there could have been an unreported spread of the coronavirus before it was first discovered in Wuhan. However, Liang said there was no evidence of significant spread of Covid in Wuhan prior to the outbreak in late 2019.

International concern

The WHO previously cited genetic sequencing that showed the coronavirus had started in bats and likely jumped to another animal before infecting the human.

Many of the people who contracted the new virus in Wuhan, a city of around 11 million people, are said to have had connections to the Huanan fish market.

Scientists initially suspected the virus came from wildlife sold in the fish market, which prompted China to swiftly restrict public access to the market early last year.

China’s CDC has since said samples from the fish market suggest that the virus has spread from where the outbreak first occurred.

Additionally, China’s Liang said Tuesday that the Huanan Fish Market was one of the places where the coronavirus first appeared. However, he added that with current evidence it is impossible to determine how the virus was first introduced to the fish market.

Security guards stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan as members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus visit the institute in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on February 3, 2021.

HECTOR RETAMAL | AFP | Getty Images

The origins of the coronavirus remain important as the virus is constantly evolving, as demonstrated by highly infectious mutant strains in the UK and South Africa.

To date, more than 106 million people worldwide have contracted the coronavirus and it has caused at least 2.32 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The US has by far reported the highest number of confirmed Covid cases and deaths, with more than 27 million reported infections and 465,072 deaths.

China has released little information about its research into the origins of the coronavirus, and there has been widespread international concern about what researchers in Wuhan are allowed to see and do as part of their research.

– CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.

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Fb says it plans to take away posts with false vaccine claims.

Facebook says it plans to remove posts with false vaccine claims.

Facebook said Monday that it plans to remove posts with false claims about vaccines from its platform, including repealing claims that vaccines cause autism or that it is safer for people to contract the coronavirus than vaccinations receive.

The social network has increasingly changed its content policies over the past year as the coronavirus has risen sharply. In October, the social network banned people and companies from buying advertisements containing false or misleading information about vaccines. In December, Facebook announced it would remove posts with claims exposed by the World Health Organization or government agencies.

Monday’s move goes even further by targeting unpaid posts to the website and, in particular, to Facebook pages and groups. Rather than just aiming at misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, the update includes incorrect information about all vaccines. Facebook said it had consulted with the World Health Organization and other leading health institutes to come up with a list of false or misleading claims regarding Covid-19 and vaccines in general.

In the past, Facebook had announced that it would only “rank down” or push down on people’s news feeds, leading to misleading or false claims about vaccines, making it harder to find such groups or posts. Now posts, pages and groups that contain such untruths will be completely removed from the platform.

“Building trust in these vaccines is critical, so we’re launching the world’s largest campaign to help public health organizations share accurate information about Covid-19 vaccines and encourage people to get vaccinated as soon as possible they have vaccines available, “said Kang-Xing Jin, director of health at Facebook, in a company blog post.

The company said the changes were in response to a recent decision by the Facebook Oversight Board, an independent body that reviews decisions made by the company’s policy team and determines whether they are fair. In a decision, the board said Facebook needed to create a new standard for health-related misinformation because its current rules were “inappropriately vague”.

Updated

Apr 8, 2021, 7:52 p.m. ET

Facebook also announced that it would provide US $ 120 million in advertising loans to ministries of health, non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies to help spread reliable Covid-19 vaccines and preventative health information. As vaccination centers became more prevalent, Facebook would help point people to places to get the vaccine.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, has been proactive against false information related to the coronavirus. He has Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, often hosted on Facebook for live video updates on America’s response to coronavirus. In his private philanthropy, Mr. Zuckerberg has also vowed to “eradicate all diseases” and pledge billions to fight viruses and other diseases.

However, Mr Zuckerberg was also a staunch advocate of free speech on Facebook and previously hesitated to contain most falsehoods, even if they were potentially dangerous. The exception was Facebook’s policy of not tolerating statements that could lead to “immediate, direct physical harm” to people on or outside the platform.

Facebook has been criticized for this stance, including for allowing President Donald J. Trump to stay on the platform until after the January 6 uprising in the U.S. Capitol.

Public health advocates and outside critics have questioned Facebook’s refusal to remove false or misleading claims about vaccines for years. This has resulted in an increase in false vaccine information, often by people or groups spreading other harmful misinformation on the website. Even when Facebook tried to update its guidelines, it often left loopholes that were exploited by misinformation spreaders.

Facebook announced on Monday that it was also changing its search tools to post relevant, authoritative results on coronavirus and vaccine information while making it harder to find accounts that are preventing people from getting vaccinated.

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Fb will inform individuals the place they will get vaccinated

Facebook will tell people where they can get vaccinated

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Georgetown University in a “Free Speech Conversation” in Washington, DC on October 17, 2019.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

Facebook this week will show its US users information on where and when they can get Covid-19 vaccines, the company said on Monday.

As part of the Covid-19 Information Center, Facebook will redirect users to the websites of local health authorities where they can obtain information about their eligibility for vaccination. The function will be expanded worldwide in the coming weeks.

The company will also provide public health authorities around the world with $ 120 million in advertising credits to run campaigns about Covid-19 vaccines.

In addition, the company announced that it worked with the World Health Organization to add to the list of false claims regarding Covid-19, which Facebook will remove from its services. This includes claims that Covid-19 was made by humans, claims that vaccines are not effective, and claims that vaccines can cause autism.

For groups that previously violated Facebook’s Covid-19 guidelines, the company temporarily requires administrators to approve all posts in their groups before they are posted. On Instagram, the company will make it harder for people to find accounts that are preventing people from getting vaccinated. Facebook and Instagram groups, pages and accounts that repeatedly share exposed Covid-19 claims could be removed entirely, the company said.

Facebook said it is also working with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to ensure information about the Covid-19 vaccines reaches communities where vaccine access may be lower. This includes Native American, black, and Latin American communities.

The company announced its plans in November to provide users with authoritative information about the Covid-19 vaccines.

Nominations are open to the 2021 CNBC Disruptor 50, a list of private startups that are leveraging breakthrough technology to become the next generation of large public companies. Post through Friday, February 12th at 3 p.m. EST.

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A Few Covid Vaccine Recipients Developed a Uncommon Blood Dysfunction

A Few Covid Vaccine Recipients Developed a Rare Blood Disorder

On January 29th, Dr. Bussel Mrs. Legaspis doctor, Dr. Niriksha Chandrani, an email labeled “My Strong Recommendations,” stated that he was “very afraid” that Ms. Legaspi would have a cerebral haemorrhage and recommended a different course of treatment. Dr. Chandrani, chief oncology physician at Elmhurst, realized that Dr. Bussel was a leading authority on platelet disorder, and she took his advice.

She had spent several sleepless nights worrying about Ms. Legaspi.

“I didn’t want her to die,” said Dr. Chandrani.

Recognition…about Luz Legaspi

A day later, Ms. Legaspi’s platelet count had reached 6,000: “Slow but steady progress,” said Dr. Bussel. The next morning it was 40,000, which got them out of the most perilous zone. Two days later, on February 1, there were 71,000.

It’s impossible to tell if the new treatments worked, if the first started, or if she recovered on its own. But on February 2, she went home from the hospital to the Queens apartment she shares with her daughter and 7-year-old grandson. On February 4, her daughter said Ms. Legaspi’s platelet count was 293,000.

Another vaccine recipient, Sarah C., 48, a teacher in Arlington, Texas, received the Moderna vaccine on January 3rd. She asked not to use her full name to protect her privacy.

Two weeks later, she began to have profuse vaginal bleeding. After two days, she saw her obstetrician, who ordered blood tests and other tests. A few hours later he called and urged her to go straight to the emergency room. He was stunned, hoping it was a lab mistake, but her blood count showed no platelets. She had had an exam less than a week before the vaccination and blood test results were completely normal.

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CDC director warns strains may reverse drop in circumstances, hospitalizations

CDC director warns strains could reverse drop in cases, hospitalizations

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

New, highly contagious variants of the coronavirus pose a “threat” to the United States and could reverse the recent decline in Covid-19 cases and hospital stays, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Monday.

The US reported a 7-day average of 119,900 new Covid-19 cases per day last week, a decrease of nearly 20% from the previous week but is still “dramatically higher” than the summer peak, CDC said -Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters during a White House press conference about Covid-19.

The nation also reported an average of 9,977 Covid-19 hospital stays per day last week, a decrease of at least 17% from the previous week, she said.

“The continued proliferation of variants remains a major problem and threat that could reverse the recent positive trends we are seeing,” said Walensky. “Please keep wearing a mask and stay 6 feet away from people you do not live with. Avoid travel, crowds, poorly ventilated rooms, and get vaccinated if you can,” she added.

U.S. health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have raised concerns about the Covid mutations that may be beyond the protection of the vaccines currently on the market. Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax have previously said that their vaccines may be less effective against B.1.351, the highly contagious strain in South Africa.

On Sunday, South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the country would stop using AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 in its vaccination program after data showed it offered minimal protection against B.1.351, the nascent strain there. He said the government would wait for advice from scientists on how best to proceed after disappointing results from a trial conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand.

As of Sunday, the CDC had identified 690 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, which were first identified in the UK, Walensky told reporters on Monday. The agency has identified six cases of the South African tribe as well as three cases of P.1, a variant first identified in travelers from Brazil.

Walensky said public health officials are working to find more cases of these variants, adding that federal and state officials have increased genome sequencing 10-fold in the past three weeks. “We expect to find more cases in the coming weeks,” she added.

The U.S. is always working to find out exactly how contagious and deadly the new strains are, said Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last month that early data suggests the strain on the country could be more deadly. Fauci said Monday that there is currently no data to suggest the virus is mutating into a “less virulent” strain, meaning less harmful than the original virus.

The UK data “has yet to be confirmed,” added Fauci. “So far, however, there is no evidence that it is less virulent. Sometimes when viruses mutate in order to spread more efficiently they become less virulent, but we have no data to suggest that this actually happens.”

Meanwhile, Fauci has been pushing for people to be vaccinated as soon as possible, saying last week that the virus cannot mutate unless it can infect hosts and replicate.

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State Capitols Grapple With Masks Mandates Amid Coronavirus

State Capitols Grapple With Mask Mandates Amid Coronavirus

A Democratic senator in Ohio was walking out of a hearing last week when he saw dozens of viewers in the room were maskless and sat close together.

“I saw danger,” said Senator Cecil Thomas, who added that he was concerned about the risk of infection, also because his daughter had a severely weakened immune system.

Mr. Thomas returned to his office, where he watched the rest of the hearing but was unable to attend.

Almost a year after the coronavirus crisis began, in which there is no national standard for legislation during a pandemic, lawmakers in the country’s state capitals are grappling with holding a new session season. A partisan pattern has emerged, but it remains a patchwork of changing, inconsistent rules about where to meet, how the public can participate, and what to do with masks.

At least 28 states, according to a New York Times poll of lawmakers in each state, require masks on the floors of both chambers of law. 17 of the 28 states are controlled by Democrats. Legislation in at least 18 states, including 15 Republican-controlled ones, doesn’t require masks on the floor in at least one chamber. In the three state legislatures that split party control, one mask is required and two are not.

In Minnesota, masks are required in the Democratic house, but the Senate Republican majority blocked a proposal to require masks in the upper chamber. Senators are allowed to attend meetings remotely. “Part of that is simply respecting those who take a different point of view,” said Senator Paul Gazelka, the Republican leader.

Similar partisan differences have emerged across the country. In Ohio, Republican lawmakers have denied requests from Democrats to demand masks in the statehouse and allow remote participation. When Mr. Thomas colleagues heard public comments on a bill to limit the governor’s emergency powers that could allow lawmakers to veto the governor’s health instructions, Mr. Thomas in his office was listening and unable to ask questions.

Other Republican-led legislatures like Missouri have also stopped wearing masks. The Arizona House of Representatives held two swearing-in ceremonies earlier this year: one for lawmakers who would wear masks and one for those who would not. Republican leaders in South Dakota, which has the second highest rate of known coronavirus cases in the country, have called for masks in the Senate but only encouraged them in the House of Representatives. The legislators in both chambers may participate and vote remotely.

With no shortage of urgent problems lawmakers face – budget constraints, economic relief, and restructuring to name a few – many state government rituals have been disrupted by the pandemic.

At least 26 governors, both Democrats and Republicans, have put their annual state of the state addresses online or in places that allow greater distancing than the legislative houses. Members of the public in 22 states have been banned from Capitol buildings. Legislation in 27 states has allowed lawmakers to attend meetings and cast their votes from home or other locations in Capitol buildings.

And lawmakers from both parties have come together under conditions unimaginable a year ago.

In Maryland, a maze of plexiglass barriers separated masked Senate lawmakers when they returned to work last month. New Hampshire legislature held its organizational meetings outdoors. In Illinois, the House of Representatives did business in a convention center, not the Capitol. And in California, the gathering moved its opening ceremony to the Golden 1 Center, the home arena of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings

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NY goals to reopen Broadway, massive venues, with Covid testing, Cuomo says

NY aims to reopen Broadway, large venues, with Covid testing, Cuomo says

All New York theater performances will be suspended until the end of 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Pictured Broadway theater with shutters.

Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images

New York plans to use extensive coronavirus testing to reopen its difficult entertainment options, which have been closed for months during the pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.

The coronavirus has crippled the live theater industry, particularly at its central hub in New York City. Broadway has been closed since March 2020 and is not expected to reopen until May 30 this year, according to the Broadway League, a trade organization that represents producers and theater owners.

However, Cuomo said there was hope that New York could allow Broadway, among other entertainment options, to reopen with some restrictions. The state would likely set an audience size limit, require everyone to take a negative Covid-19 test before entering, and require proper ventilation systems in theaters, the governor said.

“Would I go to a play and sit in a playhouse with 150 people? If the 150 people tested and they were all negative, I would,” Cuomo said during a press conference. “I think reopening with testing will be key.”

Cuomo said he couldn’t immediately provide a timetable for major venues to reopen. Much of the state’s plan depends on a pilot program that ran in January that allowed nearly 7,000 football fans to attend the Buffalo Bill’s home games as long as they presented a negative Covid-19 test.

The governor had already announced in late January that New York will allow some wedding ceremony venues to reopen on March 15 with limited capacity. Attendees can hold a wedding if all attendees are tested prior to the event and organizers get approval from their local health department in advance, he said.

“Opening locations with testing is something New York wants to lead the way,” Cuomo said Monday.

This is a developing story. Please try again later.

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Gorilla Glue as Hair Spray? ‘Dangerous, Dangerous, Dangerous Thought’

Gorilla Glue as Hair Spray? ‘Bad, Bad, Bad Idea’

Social media users were intrigued by the plight of a woman named Tessica Brown, her decision to use gorilla glue instead of hairspray, and a harrowing, month-long quest to undo a seemingly permanent hairstyle.

It all started when Ms. Brown ran out of her usual Got2b Glued hairspray. In a pinch, she decided on another product that she had on hand to complete her hair: Gorilla Spray Adhesive, made by Gorilla Glue.

“Bad, bad, bad idea,” she said in a TikTok released last week that warned others not to make the same mistake.

After more than 15 washes, various treatments, and a trip to the emergency room, her hair still hadn’t moved.

“My hair has been this way for about a month – it’s not voluntary,” she said in the video.

Ms. Brown’s hair loss has intrigued internet users who have been invested in their predicament and virtually ingrained it, leaving messages of encouragement and ideas in the comments of their posts.

Her original video was viewed nearly 16 million times on TikTok and nearly two million times on Instagram, and was widely shared on other social platforms.

The situation has caused mutual shocks and sympathies over the days in Ms. Brown, who has come to be known as Gorilla Glue Girl, and various remedies have not helped.

“You have to keep us up to date. I’m too invested now. I’ll be on my way with you, “commented a user on her Instagram post.

Ms. Brown brought her followers through multiple attempts to “get rid of that ponytail forever,” as she described it on Instagram.

In a second video, Ms. Brown demonstrated an attempt to wash it off: she filled her palm with a generous amount of shampoo, pushed it over her head, and rubbed angrily. She wiped off the foam that didn’t seem to have penetrated the glue layer and seemed close to tears.

She later posted on Instagram that a combination of tea tree oil and coconut oil that she left on her head overnight was an “epic mistake”.

“This is the life I am living right now,” she said in the video. “This is the life I think I have to live.”

Ms. Brown did not respond to interview requests on Sunday.

Some users suggested natural remedies, many with apple cider vinegar or various alcohol or acetone preparations. A woman who identified herself as a licensed stylist suggested applying glycerin to her hair, letting it sit for about 30 minutes, and then massaging it to loosen the glue.

“We are very sorry to hear about the unfortunate incident that Miss Brown experienced with our spray adhesive on her hair,” Gorilla Glue said in a statement on Sunday. It has been called a “unique situation” as the product should not be used “in or on hair” as it is considered permanent.

“We are delighted to see Miss Brown received medical treatment from her local medical facility on her latest video, and we wish her all the best,” it said.

On Saturday, Ms. Brown posted a video from St. Bernard Parish Hospital in Chalmette, La. And shared a photo of herself on a hospital bed.

A later video showed another woman, a TikTok user named Juanita Brown, applying acetone and sterile water to Ms. Brown’s head. It was unclear whether the treatment worked.

Skin and hair experts have rated TikTok and other social media platforms with suggestions.

Tierra Milton, the owner of She and Her Hair Studio on Staten Island, said if someone in Ms. Brown’s predicament came into her salon, she would likely recommend shaving their head.

“I wouldn’t even try to save it because it’s an industrial product that has other uses besides hair,” Ms. Milton said. “Women across the board, in all walks of life, should seek professional help when it comes to hair care.”

She noted that Gorilla Glue is not sold in beauty stores.

Dr. Dustin Portela, a dermatologist, suggested starting with acetone to break down the glue, or using Goo Gone, a product that helps remove bandages and adhesives. Coconut oil, sunflower oil, or petroleum jelly warmed in hot water could also work, he said, but added that solutions should be tested on a small area first.

“Obviously, Gorilla Glue is designed – and any superglue – to not be easily washed out with soap and water,” he said. “They formulate the product with bonds to withstand the most common types of things. So I knew she was going to have an incredibly difficult time.”

Glues like Gorilla Glue are not meant to be used on the skin, said Dr. Portela.

They can be irritating and cause rashes such as contact dermatitis. When all else fails, the best solution might be to go to a salon to have your head shaved.

“I think there would be a lot of fear that everyone would have if they were in this situation,” he said. “Now more than ever, we just have to have compassion for people and try to help them. And she deserves all the help she can get now because it’s a really unfortunate situation. “

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Dying of Covid in a ‘Separate and Unequal’ L.A. Hospital

Dying of Covid in a ‘Separate and Unequal’ L.A. Hospital

“This is a tragedy,” said Dr. Nida Qadir, co-director of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Medical Intensive Care Unit, on the MLK statistics. Her hospital had “much lower death rates,” she said, although the hospital hadn’t publicly released the number. A new study on patients in 168 hospitals found that about half of Covid patients died using ventilators and survival varied widely under hospitals.

Dr. Theodore J. Iwashyna, an intensive care physician at the University of Michigan, said the differences in hospital outcomes reflected a “system choice.” He and others have studied patients with complex lung diseases and found that those treated in smaller hospitals with fewer resources and less experience in treatment tend to have poorer survival rates. “Big hospitals should have taken these patients in and pulled them out of the MLK,” he said.

During the surge in Los Angeles, hospital mortality also rose as less mildly ill patients were hospitalized, said Dr. Roger J. Lewis, Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center helping with analyzing Covid data for the county. This is likely to be even more the case in small hospitals like MLK in areas with high chronic disease rates, he said.

The medical team invited Mr Flores’ wife to the hospital, which was normally closed to visitors during the pandemic. She found her husband scared and trembling. He wasn’t getting enough oxygen, a doctor said, and without a ventilator he could die in two days. Mr. Flores told her he wanted to go home and then changed his mind. He said he was exhausted and had chest pain. He would try the ventilator because he wanted to live longer for his family.

Even so, its oxygen levels remained low. Doctors gave him steroids and drugs to stop blood clots. They turned him on his stomach and even paralyzed him for some time so the ventilator could work more effectively. But nothing seemed to make a difference. Mr Flores had “cut and dried covid lung failure,” said Dr. Prasso.

Some Covid patients have a final option: treatment with a machine that allows the lungs to rest and hopefully repair. The procedure, the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO, is typically only offered to patients in larger hospitals who meet strict criteria.

According to Dr. Christopher Ortiz, an intensive care specialist from, Mr Flores might once have been a candidate for it UCLA, a high level hospital, But Dr. Prasso said he stopped thinking about treatment. At the start of the pandemic, he had pushed for some MLC patients to be taken to hospitals that offer ECMO, but eventually gave up.

“We have never been successful,” he said. “Nobody wants their insurance.”