LyrArc Article Gist
US Forest Service agency plans to relocate it to Utah from Washington DC. The idea is to relocate to the communities it serves by placing 15 state directors to regions NFS serves. Salt Lake City's family focused life, its international airport and its lower cost of living are seen as attractive for recruitment. Utah is also one of the mountain states where large forests are located in the western US. Tom Schultz, head of the Forest Service says -"This is about building a Forest Service that is nimble, efficient, effective and closer to the forests and communities it serves." A network of centers of US Forest Service will also be used to redistribute personnel to regions and states- including ones at Colorado, Georgia, New Mexico, Montana, Wisconsin and California.

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The 100 year old Capt. Tom Moore who decided to walk 100 laps in his garden in Bedfordshire, England, to raise 1000 pounds for NHS charities ended up raising 32 million pounds from one and half million supporters. Here he is knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

LyrArc Article Gist
The US received a boost in the economy with larger public spending than the European Union countries and more spending on vaccines. This is changing quickly as the EU has secured a large order of vaccines from Pfizer and other companies. France and Germany are now making steady progress in their vaccination drives. Britain has already secured results in the NHS vaccination drive, a leader in the field.

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"Sooner or later our NHS hospitals would be full. Not just administratively at full stretch, but physically overwhelmed." Here a leading cabinet member talks about the lockdown decision in Britain by government ministers and how it went against their instincts about individual liberties held for a lifetime, and how in the end they arrived at the same decision reached by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.

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Tory MP's rebels in the southern part of England are opposed to prime minister Boris Johnson's second lockdown for the whole of England. This report in The Times of London looks at how Johnson's conservative government might have to get Labor party support to pass the lockdown measures in parliament. Or Labor may decide to abstain from the vote. Mr. Gove says the NHS risks being overwhelmed if the lockdown does not take place. Responding to the statements that southern England does not have high or has falling rates of coronavirus Mr. Johnson says it has been shown that a low rate catches up in one area when it is next to a high rate area for coronavirus so that the result is the spread of the virus to the point where the NHS cannot cope.  The NHS like the French health system and other health systems in the European Union, U.S.  India, and other countries are strained to the limit. Most healt care workers in hospitals have felt severe strain on themselves and their families during the first wave. Most are exhausted and are in a situation of fatigue with the added factor of some healthcare workers on leave from the virus illness. This puts additional burdens on the system. Without the action taken the health system may be overwhelmed in many countries leading to disaster.   ...

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NHK Japan provides this wonderful video to revive the soul on the winter solstice, this time of the year.

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A cap on the number of medical students by the Conservatives is seen by Labor Shadow Secretary for Health as shortsighted. He says Conservatives have concluded that there is no point in increasing medical students as they will come into the workplace when the Labour party is back in government. The NHS desperately needs more doctors.

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The National Health Service in Britain says a call for 250,000 volunteers to help NHS in contacting and helping 1.5 million senior elderly citizens had an extraordinary response. About 170,000 volunteers have come forward, about 3 a minute in an astonishing response, says the health secretary. The 1.5 million elderly people were asked to remain at home for 12 weeks as a safety precaution.

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Wyson Lungu returned to Zambia after studying in the US and joined a telecommunications company in Lusaka. On one of his trips to a remote part of Zambia his car broke down and needed repairs. It took 24 hours before a man with a bicycle helped get him to a place 8 hours away by bicycle. This was one of the few bicycles in that village. Most women simply walked 4 hours carrying farm produce for sale on roadsides starting at 2 or 3 in the morning. This is when Lungu started a bicycle business for farming villages, and so far has sold 3000 bicycles to women in farming villages, with bicycle repair places set up in the villages for bicycle repair and maintenance. This is changing lives in these remote farming villages of Zambia and helping women who do agricultural work in small farms. Lungu relies on cooperative associations he sets up in the villages to organize the sales including payment in instalments and through barter of commodities such as crops or maize. ...

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British regulators say they have"absolute confidence" in the Pfizer vaccine after analysis of over 1000 pages of data on the vaccine. The vaccine was approved by the Medicine and Health care products Regulatory Agency. The first vaccines to be shipped to Britain are being packed in Belgium. Britain has secured 40 million doses enough for 20 million people. Vaccination will begin as soon as doses reach Britain. The NHS will prioritize, first care home staff and residents, then healthcare workers, followed by people over 80 years age. Clinically vulnerable people will get a jab alongside people ages 70-74. People with severe obesity and underlying conditions will get jab after people over 60 years, followed by people over 50 years. About 34% of the 66 million population of Britain is over 50 years age, which is about 22 million. This means the Pfizer vaccine ( with doses already secured by Britain enough for 20 million people) covers over 90% of these people or 19 million people and the 1.1 million workers in NHS. Rapid progress in vaccinating these people would make Britain the first country in the world to have done this, a remarkable achievement. By the end of the year the Oxford vaccine should also be available making it possible to proceed with vaccinating the rest of the population of 46 million people. ...

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The Cass Commission of the National Health Service in Britain looked at the serious risks to health of children and mental health of parents from transgender medical activities.

The Cass Commission in Britain of the National Health Service NHS has raised serious concerns about transgender medicine and its impact on the health of young people. Parents across the US and in European countries are very seriously worried about the impact on their children creating a great deal of stress, coming so soon after the pandemic when elder care caused much distress.

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We show here several articles from The Guardian on the topic of family time. Keir Starmer said he would keep Friday nights after 6 pm for family time. His wife Vic Starmer 50 years, works in occiupational health at the NHS and wants to continue her life as usual unaffected by Labour's and her husband's win. The couple wanted to stay at their north London home and not move to 10 Downing Street as the two value their privacy highly. One of the children is taking the GCSE's and the wish is for the family to keep going on as normal. Starmer says he also get a direct insight into the NHS from Vic Starmer's interaction with the NHS staff.

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This article gives some simple answers to questions about how the NHS test and Trace system setup by Baroness Harding could go so wrong. It was setup as a separate agency and ignored some of the vital information of how contact tracing should be done close to local area coming out of Germany. This information was available early and was also on the Lyrarc site, as Germany had effective contact tracing as early as March-April. First Britain wasted time waiting for some brilliant App to do the work. The when this was going nowhere the NHS Test and Trace was setup but ignored the need for this to be done locally and followed up with personal visits to the homes of those needing to be visited to isolate. Most important- the local knowledge and the persons doing the calling having human skills to get people to cooperate and feel reassured. Less important or not at all- sophisticated equipment, a simple desktop, national database to which data is connected and sourced and a desk, a skilled motivated local person the key. Germany resorted to using the underutilized state or local employees who were diverted to these tasks but extraordinarily effective.  ...

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Captain Sir Tom Moore a 100 year old veteran who served in the Wellington regiment in World War II was knighted for his walks in his garden in Bedfordshire raising $3 million for the NHS.

His positive spirit is reflected in his words that he doe not feel very old inside, maintaining a youthful spirit in older age. He cooks his own dinner and walked for miles in his garden to raise money for the National Health Service.

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This article in The Lancet published in February 2018 throws much light on how the ban on gain of function research on virus was lifted -research that carries with it the danger of increasing transmission of virus if something unexpected happens in the manipulation of a virus. It was lifted in 2018 in the US by officials in the US Health Ministry, NIH and HHS. The Cambridge group of scientists and experts opposed lifting the ban on such dangerous research that could make the virus more contagious through manipulation. Epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch of Harvard School of Public Health wrote at the time that the lab research to create a more lethal strain of virus could lead to "an accidental pandemic" yet he was ignored. The public in America and in the world is unaware of how this created serious risks for public health in the world through the coronavirus.  Did US health officials lift the ban on such research without consulting other countries such as India, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, and the EU on its ramifications. Were public health experts and the publics themselves in the US and around the world not drawn into the discussion of public health and the dangers that existed. Not only did officials in HHS and NIH restart the research by lifting the ban but also sent funds overseas for such research- was this a proper or thoughtful action considering the risks involved.  Is enhanced surveillance of virus- a dubious benefit from manipulation of a virus- something a few health officials can decide for the whole world in addition to the US. How are health officials in one or two countries responsible to the people in India, Brazil, Europe and the poorest populations in the world in the world in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, people who have suffered devastating consequences from transmissibility of the virus, including children and older people with health problems. India, Brazil, Italy, Spain, France, UK, and other countries worst hit by the coronavirus must ask serious questions about how they can protect their people if institutions in the US and international institutions are seen as failing to protect world public health. ...

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Everyone over 50 years is to be given the vaccine in just a few months of 2021 by the NHS. A massive logistics and training effort is underway. The government changed the law to let student doctors, physiotherapists, and dental workers to give the vaccine. Retired doctors and nurses are called in. Britain has a war effort to counter antivaccine propaganda unlike other countries such as France and Germany. Compare that 79% of Britons are seeking the vaccine, 54% in France and 64% in the U.S. showing that the UK is doing a much better job. Vaccination starts next week for over 80 year old people. The world is watching.

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Labour Party's strategy in the coming British election is to tie Boris Johnson to Trump. This resonates especially on the issue of the National Health Service, with Labour saying a trade deal with the U.S. planned by Johnson is likely to raise costs of NHS with costly U.S. priced drugs. Mr. Trump says he sees little chance of the Johnson negotiated trade deal with the European Union allowing for a trade deal with the U.S. negating Conservatives plan to make Brexit work by negotiating trade deals independently. 

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The pending sale of Barnes and Noble.

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Captain Tom Moore a soldier from the Second World War II who marks his 100th birthday and has become a national hero in Britain. He decided to take 100 laps in his garden before he turned 100 to thank the Nation Health Service for a surgery of his hip. The activity created a fund raising drive for NHS raising 30 million pounds.

See the Royal Mail mailbox painted blue in his honor for the 100th birthday in this story, and the Spitfire and Hurricane planes flown  by the RAF in his honor. Tom showed humor in adversity, and a mature wisdom, no-nonsense attitude, to be an inspiration for young and old, says Britain's army chief.

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The NHS Nightingale hospital was built in 9 days by converting the ExCel convention center in east London. This is the largest hospital of this kind ever built with 4000 beds. Prince Charles opening it by video link from his home in Scotland said it was " a spectacular and almost unbelievable feat of work." The hospital is named after the founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale. The British government drafted hundreds of army engineers to help contractors build the hospital in record time. It will need 16,000 staff and hundreds of volunteers. 

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The chaotic nature of the national lockdown announcement in Britain with Health Secretary Hancock pushing for a national lockdown and prime minister Boris Johnson's hesitation for 2 weeks. The Chief Medical Officer Mr. Chris Whitty told a top level meeting of ministers that the NHS could be overwhelmed by the first week of December and warned of 4000 deaths a day, if a lockdown did not take place. Tory backbenchers continued to resist but the prime minister had no other option but to call for the lockdown. The fact that Germany and France decided on a national lockdown gives Boris Johnson the cover he needed in his own party.

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The use of cathedrals in Britain as vaccination centres is seen as a glorious way to bring people of all ages, particularly  the elderly in the community into a wonderful setting to preserve health. They came since the Middle Ages for a cure, and they come today for hope and care. The Archbishop of Canterbury thanks the cathedrals and the NHS for serving the community in such a beautiful way.

The famous cathedrals of England at Lichfield, Salisbury and Blackburn inviting people in for vaccination is the heart warming story of this month. Salisbury is one of the oldest and has copies of the Magna Carta, the historic document that put forward the rights of the people in a constitutional monarchy.

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Fortunately even here there is room for optimism as male life expectancy declined by only 0.2 years from 79.2 years to 79.0 years the level in 2014. Considering the scale and intensity of this pandemic this is a sign or resilience of the UK with the work of NHS at the forefront. Female life expectancy has remained unchanged in 2020 at 82.9 years, about three years more than men.

With more consciousness about the risks of obesity, importance of nutrition and exercise habits information given wide attention, there may be some positive signs from this period that will lead to a healthier population.