By Natalie O’NeillJanuary 21, 2022 2:54pm  UpdatedMeat Loaf was ‘seriously ill’ with COVID days before his death: reportShareVideo Player is loading.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.496.0_en.html#goog_113422987 Close

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The late rocker Meat Loaf was outspokenly anti-vaccine mandate and anti-mask before his death —  once telling a reporter, “If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled,” according to reports Friday.

The 74-year-old “Bat Out of Hell” singer —  who was reportedly critically ill with COVID-19 before he passed away Thursday — was opposed to pandemic restrictions, slamming lockdowns and mask mandates during an interview last summer.

The Grammy Award-winning musician, whose real name was Marvin Lee Aday, also railed against vaccine mandates in Australia, sources told TMZ.

Meat Loaf, who struggled with asthma and other health conditions, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in August he considered lockdowns “political” and masks “useless” before offering reporter Scott Mervins an embrace.

“I’m happy to give you a hug. I hug people in the middle of COVID,” Meat Loaf said, adding that he refused to live life in fear. 

“I’m sorry, I understood stopping life for a little while, but they cannot continue to stop life because of politics. And right now they’re stopping because of politics,” he said.

SEE ALSO

Meat Loaf’s life in photos

“And on CNN last night, it finally came out that the masks we’re all wearing are useless. But I’ve known that for six months. They don’t do anything. They don’t stop you from getting COVID. They’re just a nuisance and make your nose itch and make it so you can’t breathe.”

He added, “If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled.”

The rocker’s official cause of death wasn’t immediately known Friday. He had not said publicly whether he had been vaccinated for COVID-19.

The “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” singer also suffered from a back injury in November, which played a role in his declining health.

Meat Loaf won a Grammy for the 1993 hit “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),” which soared to number one on the charts in more than two dozen countries.

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• CELEBRITY DEATHS 
• CORONAVIRUS 
• COVID VACCINE 
• MEAT LOAF 
• 1/21/22

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/covid-19-detected-in-deer-university-of-guelph-1.6322026

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Provincial ministry says the animals, tested in November, were located in the London area

CBC News · Posted: Jan 23, 2022 7:00 AM ET | Last Updated: January 23

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A Guelph expert says crucial research is underway after the discovery of five white-tailed deer in southwestern Ontario that tested positive for COVID-19.

The Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mine, Natural Resources and Forestry confirmed these are the first cases reported in free-ranging wildlife in Ontario.

Cases in wildlife have been detected in deer in Quebec and Saskatchewan, as well as northeastern U.S.

Scott Weese, chief of infection control at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph, said it’s still not known how the deer contracted COVID-19 and more research is needed to determine the possibility of transmission from deer to other species.

“This is a human driven pandemic and we spill it over into animals probably not uncommonly, but we don’t really know how it got into deer,” Weese told CBC K-W.

“The other potential is the animal bridge: cats are quite susceptible to this virus. If you have a person that has a cat and the cat goes outside, could the cat be a bridge?” he added.

Transmission path

He said if deer can transmit the virus to other animals or among themselves, then it can be challenging to control the spread and could potentially create a reservoir of the virus.

He said the bigger concern is that transmission could lead to high replication and mutation rates that could cause issues if they spread back into people.

• Wildlife experts watching deer population for virus behind COVID-19

“If were starting to find old strains in deer or different strains [of COVID-19] in deer, then we’d be more concerned that this virus is hanging out for a while and changing,” he said.

“If we’re finding the same stuff we’re finding in people then it would support the fact that this is just [a case of:] ‘humans infect deer and it burns out’. But we need more time to sort that out.”

The ministry said the samples were collected in November from the London area. To date, 213 samples were collected in 2021 and have been tested, with testing initiatives ongoing.

Rate of infection

Based on current information, the risk of wildlife — including deer — spreading the virus to people is low. There has been no known transmission of COVID-19 from deer to humans at this time, the ministry said.

More research needs to be done to better understand the range of species that are susceptible and how species may be infected, carry and transmit the virus.

There is currently limited information on animals and COVID-19 and whether they can spread the virus. Usually it’s spread from human to animal, or exposure from the environment.

• Quebec zoo hoping to vaccinate wild animals against COVID-19 over coming weeks

So far, there has been reported transmission from animal to humans from farmed mink in Europe, according to research though the World Organization for Animal Health.

Studies in the U.S. have found evidence of widespread transmission in some areas where white-tailed deer are infected, which could suggest transmission from human-to-deer and deer-to-deer.

Hunting, using game meat

The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative suggests there have been no reports of people contracting COVID by preparing or eating meat from an animal infected with the virus.

Weese said he’s not worried about venison being a source of infection as long as people continue to handle and cook the meat properly.

Until more research can be done, people who hunt are urged to wear masks when exposed to animals’ respiratory tissues and fluids, which should not be splashed or sprayed.

• Nova Scotia to pay for COVID-19 vaccines for mink as B.C. shutters industry

Proper hand and eye protection should be worn when handling and dressing the carcass.

These precautions are especially important for people who aren’t fully vaccinated or are at higher risk of COVID-19 illness. Whenever possible, people who are fully vaccinated should handle and dress carcasses.

“There is currently no evidence that humans can get COVID-19 from skinning, processing, or eating meat from wildlife, however hunters and trappers should always follow food safety recommendations, such as practicing good hygiene and properly cooking meat to an internal temperature of 74°C (165°F) to kill any parasites, viruses or bacteria that may be present,” the ministry said in an email.

People who are symptomatic are advised to avoid close contact with animals.

GOP governors confront rising sea levels and wildfires: ‘We’re not doing any left-wing stuff,’ Florida’s Ron DeSantis says

By Ariane Campo-Floreshttps://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-focus-on-effects-not-causes-of-climate-change-11642950002

“What I’ve found is people, when they start talking about things like global warming, they usually use it to mean a bunch of left-wing things,” Mr. DeSantis said at the event. “We’re not doing any left-wing stuff.”

Governors and lawmakers in several Republican-led states, including Idaho, South Carolina and Texas, are taking a similar approach to concerns about climate change. Research shows that after natural disasters are becoming more frequent and intensifying, they are taking measures such as infrastructure upgrades to reduce floods, wildfires and severe storms. They say such steps are important for the economic livelihood of their states.

As in Florida, in most cases the focus is on adaptation. A spokesman for Mr DeSantis did not respond to requests for comment.

In the past two years, the US has experienced the highest annual highs Billion Dollar Weather Disasters Since 1980—when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began compiling such records—with 22 in 2020 and 20 in 2021. The government agency has said that the warming climate is a significant contributor.

a December analysis of five surveys Researchers at Florida Atlantic University concluded that the share of self-identified Florida Republicans who say they believe in climate change rose 5 percentage points to 88% in the nearly two years beginning October 2019, while increased by 1 percentage point to 96% for the state’s self-identified Democrats. 

Nearly half of Republicans said climate change was caused by human activity, compared to three-quarters of Democrats.

Prominent Democratic governors often talk about climate change and back policies aimed at limiting or eliminating emissions. In his budget blueprint presented earlier this month, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, pledged $9.1 billion to advance clean-transit initiatives to reduce emissions and help transition to zero-emissions vehicles. proposed for $6.1 billion. In a budget presentation last week, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York promoted a $4 billion bond measure that would partially fund climate-change mitigation projects.

At the Oldsmar event, Mr. DeSantis outlined a proposal to dedicate more than $270 million to 76 projects aimed at strengthening protection against rising sea levels and flooding. “We are a low-lying state, we are a hurricane-prone state, and we are a flood-prone state,” he said.

In South Carolina, a series of devastating storms, including Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence, prompted Republican Governor Henry McMaster to form a flood water commission to develop recommendations for mitigating the effects of floods in 2018. Last year he named Ben Duncan to head a new Office of Resilience, which is managing funds to provide disaster relief and buy flooded properties and creating a statewide resilience plan.

The office aims to strengthen protection in coastal and low-lying areas, not to address factors that contribute to severe flooding, such as greenhouse-gas emissions. “We are focusing on the effects rather than the causes,” said resilience planning director Alex Butler.

Jason Crowley, a senior program director for the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, said an informal understanding between environmental groups and Republican elected officials has led to a focus on addressing the climate crisis rather than debating its causes to work on policy gains. paved the way for.

“We’ve been able to cut that noise,” he said. “In South Carolina, we have a problem, and we have to do something about it.”

At the federal level, Rep. John Curtis (R., Utah) led the creation of the Conservative Climate Caucus, which now has more than 70 GOP members of Congress and emphasizes private sector innovation to reduce emissions.

Some environmental advocates say elected officials who do not link the effects of climate change to the underlying causes are failing to fully address the problem. “We have to not only build resilience, but slow the pace of those impacts in the future,” said Nat Keohen, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, an environmental-policy think tank.

In Louisiana, a state hit by rising sea levels with significant oil and gas production, Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards convened a task force that earlier this month called for a plan to reach net zero greenhouse-gas emissions. submitted its final draft of the Climate Action Plan. 2050. It sought to address both the causes and effects of climate change through proposals such as generating electricity from renewable resources.

“The more we do against climate change, the more effective our restoration and protection projects are,” said task force chairman Harry Vorhoff.

Some of its recommendations would require action by the Republican-led state legislature. Eddie Lambert, the GOP chairman of the Environmental-Quality Committee, said he is open to considering its recommendations, but is wary of cutting oil and gas production altogether. Still, he said, the effects of global warming demand a response.

He said, “Climate change is caused by us or is a natural phenomenon, it is happening.”–

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People under 40 will experience ‘unprecedented life’ of climate change disasters, study says.

https://news.yahoo.com › people-under-40-experience-…

Sep 28, 2021 — People under 40 will experience ‘unprecedented life’ of climate change disasters, study says.

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Majority of US Population Now Under Age 40 – VOA Learning …

https://learningenglish.voanews.com › study-majority-o…Aug 13, 2020 — A new study shows that Americans under the age of 40 now make up a majority of the U.S. population.