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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marcher who wrote (176282)	8/14/2021 5:35:32 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 217774

Re <<uncertainty>> Am filled w/ dread as uncertainty becomes less so. As this state go global, everything impacted negatively, except the vaccine makers. timesofisrael.com Health officials predict thousands of seriously ill COVID patients within month Bennett reportedly agrees to expand hospital capacity after being presented with numbers showing hospitalizations quadrupling by mid-September; funding for plan unclear By TOI staff 11 August 2021, 4:58 pm Israeli hospitals have to prepare for an influx of nearly 5,000 coronavirus patients within weeks, half of whom will need acute care to deal with severe bouts of COVID-19, health officials have warned Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, according to reports Wednesday. The dire predictions came during a Tuesday meeting between Bennett and senior health experts amid a major influx of new cases, prompting the premier to back a plan to expand hospital capacity, a signal that the government will look to absorb the crush of severe cases head-on rather than attempt to swerve out of its way. Senior Health Ministry officials and other experts presented Bennett with data forecasting some 4,800 coronavirus patients requiring hospitalization by September 10. The experts expect half of the patients to be seriously ill, putting a major strain on Israel’s health system, according to Hebrew-language media reports on the closed-door meeting. Israel has seen new case numbers skyrocket in recent weeks from a few dozen a day to over 6,000 on Monday. Another 5,755 were diagnosed on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said Wednesday morning, bringing the number of active cases to 38,942. Ministry numbers showed 694 patients hospitalized as of Wednesday morning, 400 of whom were listed in serious condition. Sixty-two people were being treated on ventilators. The predictions from the health experts were based on a doubling of the number of hospitalizations and serious illnesses every 10 days. Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz agreed to pump money into the health system to bring in 100 more doctors, 500 nurses and 200 paramedical and support staff every 10 days to keep up with growing demand, according to a summary of the meeting drafted by the Prime Minister’s Office and published by the Ynet news site. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, center, watches a resident of the Migdal Nofim retirement home in Jerusalem be tested for the coronavirus on July 27, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90) Some 3,000 students will also be hired and paramedics and military medics will be brought in to carry out home visits and assist in home treatment for coronavirus patients. Special summer camps and afterschool care will be provided for the children of health workers to free up their time. The plan will also increase the capabilities of the geriatric care system and boost the ability of HMOs to treat patients at home in order to ease the load on hospitals. During the third wave of the virus, which crested in January with some 10,000 new daily cases, health officials warned that the health system would be unable to cope if the number of seriously ill patients rose above 800. At the pandemic’s peak, nearly 1,200 patients were listed in serious condition, and some 50 people died each day. Hospital internal ward heads told Health Ministry Director Nachman Ash Wednesday that they were already dealing with “heavy crowding,” and feared beds in their units would be moved to coronavirus wards, worsening the pressure, the Health Ministry said in a statement. A health care worker tests Israelis for coronavirus at a drive-through complex in Rehovot on August 8, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90) The proposal is estimated to cost between NIS 1.5 billion to NIS 2 billion ($465 million to $620 million), Channel 12 reported. Bennett was to meet later Wednesday with the heads of the country’s hospitals to present them with the plan, Ynet reported. While the source of the money has yet to be determined, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman has promised on numerous occasions to fund hospitals in order to increase capacity and deal with the rising case numbers. Liberman, who has likened COVID-19 to the flu, and other government officials see expanding the ability of the health system to deal with thousands more patients as key to pursuing its policy of avoiding lockdowns or strict restrictions that could harm the economy, seeking to “live with” the virus and vaccinate where possible rather than attempt to eradicate it from public life. Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked came under fire Tuesday after appearing to brush aside the pandemic’s human toll while defending the government’s stance, telling Channel 13 news that “we have to to know how to accept severe cases and also to accept deaths, because this is a pandemic and in a pandemic people die.” Ministers were to convene later Wednesday to discuss broadening the scope of the so-called Green Pass system to apply to most events and leisure activities. Under the system, Israelis seeking to enter most venues aside from stores will have to show proof they are vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19, or tested negative for the virus in the past 72 hours. Sent from my iPad

To: marcher who wrote (176282)

8/16/2021 6:18:00 AM

From: TobagoJack

Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 217774

Re <<From N of one we conclude>> ... that a 'N of one' on the spot-on weekend when Jack and I went glamping Message 33439600 and missed out on the N of one that happened in our neighbourhood Message 33440061 can turn Hong Kong 180 degrees on a Covid dime

and makes 'N of one' it to Bloomberg, because it be the critical one.

In any case the two campuses of the kids physical school opened today as planned and the Jack's hope for longer summer break was dashed.

The about-turn comes after a resident returning from the U.S. tested positive for the virus several days after completing a seven-day quarantine, sparking fears that the eased travel rules would allow the delta variant to slip into the Asian financial hub.

bloomberg.com

Hong Kong Hikes Travel Curbs for 16 Nations on Delta Threat
Jinshan Hong
16 August 2021, 17:16 GMT+8

Hong Kong tightened its travel curbs for residents returning from 16 countries -- including the U.S., France and Spain -- less than two months after it started easing some of the world’s strictest quarantine measures.

The abrupt reversal reflects a fear of reopening as the delta variant drives resurgences across the world. Fifteen countries were moved up to the “high-risk” category, which means that vaccinated Hong Kong residents returning home must spend 21 days in hotel quarantine upon arrival, triple the previous length of stay. Tourists and unvaccinated residents from those places are no longer allowed entry.

The new restrictions take effect starting Aug. 20, according to a government statement Monday. Residents and tourists with antibody test results proving they had been vaccinated previously had to spend a week in hotel quarantine.

The flip flopping creates additional uncertainty and risks further diluting Hong Kong’s attractiveness as a business destination. The city implemented new rules to allow visitors from all but ten places to enter on Aug. 9.

Hong Kong is caught between its desire to reopen and its zero tolerance for any cases of Covid-19. Meanwhile, it’s rival financial hub in Singapore has announced plans to ease Covid restrictions on daily life and begin slightly loosening border controls, citing vaccination rates that rank among the best in the world.

Hong Kong’s success with Covid-19 has come through its strict mitigation measures, including lengthy hotel quarantines for those newly arriving. Just 39% of its population is fully vaccinated, less than many other developed economies. Mainland China, which is also following a Covid-zero strategy, has commited to tightly sealed borders to stamp out the virus, risking leaving it isolated for years.

“This is a devastating announcement in terms of the inability for businesses to plan,” said Tara Joseph, president of the American Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong, in a WhatsApp message. “We respect the worries over the need to keep infections down, but business and people need to connect overseas and plan for the future.”

Risk Level / Countries

High-risk areas	Current: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, South Africa and the U.K. Adding Aug. 20: Bangladesh, Cambodia, France, Greece, Iran, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the U.S.
Medium-risk areas	Everywhere outside of China that isn’t high- or low-risk
Low-risk areas	Current: Australia and New Zealand Removing Aug. 20: Australia moves to medium-risk from the low-risk group

The about-turn comes after a resident returning from the U.S. tested positive for the virus several days after completing a seven-day quarantine, sparking fears that the eased travel rules would allow the delta variant to slip into the Asian financial hub. Hong Kong has enjoyed a streak of over two months with nearly no local virus cases, even as neighbors like Singapore and mainland China struggled to contain the mutation.

“The global Covid-19 epidemic situation is under serious threat from the delta variant, with acute surges in the number of confirmed cases within a short period of time in many countries,” the government statement said. The measures are meant to “uphold the local barrier against the importation of Covid-19,” it said.

Hong Kong is once again seeing its border rules tighten as the delta variant spreads in neighboring areas. It also reinstated quarantine rules for its residents returning from Macau and mainland China, except Guangdong province.

The business community has struggled for the past 18 months with an economy that’s been starved of big-spending tourists and business travelers. Hong Kong had about 99.9% fewer visitor arrivals in the first half this year than in the same period in 2019.

Hong Kong’s economy has faced an uneven recovery from two years of contraction. Retailers and tourism-related businesses, which are some of the biggest employers of Hong Kong’s working class, were particularly hard hit as borders remained closed and travel was curtailed. Financial services and the property market are booming, though, exposing a deepening wealth imbalance.

(Updates with business implications in the fourth paragraph)

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