Steve Thomas - IT Consultant

Formula 1 replaces its postponed races with a virtual grand prix series

Posted on March 20, 2020 in: China, TC

Formula 1 had to postpone and cancel several races on its calendar due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. With races in Australia, Bahrain, Monaco and Vietnam and China already called off, and the Dutch and Spanish Grands Prix now postponed, the organization today announced that it would now host an esports series, the F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix series, with a number of current F1 drivers, alongside a number of other stars.

The virtual Formula 1 races will use Codemaster’s official Formula 1 2019 PC game and fans can follow along on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook, as well as on F1.com. The races will be about half as long as regular races, with 28 laps. The first race will take place this Sunday.

“We are very pleased to be able to bring some light relief in the form of the F1 Esports Virtual GP, in these unpredictable times, as we hope to entertain fans missing the regular sporting action,” said Julian Tan, Formula 1’s head of digital business initiatives and sports. “With every major sports league in the world unable to compete, it is a great time to highlight the benefits of esports and the incredible skill that’s on show.”

While some F1 drivers are already avid gamers, many are not. To make up for this difference in skill levels, “game settings will be configured in such a way to encourage competitive and entertaining racing,” the organization says. That means all cars will be set to the same performance characteristics, vehicle damage will be reduced and anti-lock brakes and traction control will be optional.

As the organization notes, “The series is strictly for entertainment purposes, to bring racing action to fans in this unprecedented scenario the world has been affected by, with no official World Championship points up for grabs for the drivers.”

Formula 1 is not the only motorsports organization to take these steps to keep their events top of mind for fans even as the real races have been postponed. NASCAR is launching its eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series this weekend, for example, which will also feature current drivers.

“Until we have cars back on track, the entire NASCAR community has aligned to provide our passionate fans with a unique, fun and competitive experience on race day,” said Ben Kennedy, VP of racing development at NASCAR. “Our long-time partners at iRacing offer an incredible product and we are excited to see how many of our best drivers will stack up in the virtual domain of competitive racing.”

Across the Atlantic, the first-ever virtual round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series will kick off on Saturday.

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Scanwell aims to launch at-home 15-minute coronavirus test, but it still needs FDA approval

Posted on March 20, 2020 in: China, Health, Startups, TC

At-home diagnostics startup Scanwell, which produces smartphone-based testing for UTIs, is working on getting at-home testing for the novel coronavirus into the hands of U.S. residents. The technology, which was developed by Chinese diagnostic technology company INNOVITA and has already been approved by China’s equivalent of the FDA and used by “millions” in China, can be taken at home in 15 minutes with the guidance of a medical professional via telehealth, and produces results in just hours.

Scanwell’s test will require FDA clearance, but the company tells me that it’s in the process of securing approval through the FDA’s accelerated emergency certification program. The FDA guidance says that this approval process should take 6-8 weeks (though that “could be faster,” Scanwell says), and Scanwell is aiming to be ready to go with shipping these as soon as it receives that approval. While the U.S. drug regulatory agency previously had only included PCR tests in its protocols, it updated that guidance to include serological tests earlier this week. Scanwell further says they “don’t anticipate any issues with FDA approval.”

The test that Scanwell is aiming to launch uses what’s called a ‘serological’ technique, which looks for antibodies in a patient’s blood. These are only present if someone has been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, since as of right now researchers haven’t found any evidence that natural antibodies to this particular virus exist without exposure. By contrast, the types of tests that are currently in use in the U.S. are “PCR” tests, which use a molecular-based approach to determine if the virus is present genetically in a mucus sample.

The PCR type of test is technically more accurate than the serological variety, but the serological version is much easier to administer, and produces results more quickly. It’s also still very accurate on the whole, and is much cheaper to produce than the PCR version. Plus, it could help expand efforts beyond testing only the most severe cases with symptoms present, and do a much better job of illuminating the full extent of the presence of the virus, including among people with mild cases who have already recovered at home, and those who are asymptomatic but carrying the virus with the possibility of infecting others.

Also, while other, PCR-based at-home testing options already exist, like one from Everlywell that will start going out on Monday, require round-tripping test samples, adding time, complexity and cost and relying on testing materials like swabs that are in short supply globally.

Once the test is available, people deemed eligible via Scanwell’s screening process in their Scanwell Health app will be sent the test via next-day delivery. They’ll be guided by telehealth partner Lemonade’s licensed doctors and nurse practitioners, and they’ll then receive results and further guidance about those results via the app within a few hours. The whole testing process will cost $70, which Scanwell says just covers its costs (it’s also looking at ways to provide free service to those who need it), and will be deployed first in Washington, California and New York, as well as other areas depending on the severity of their coronavirus situation.

That the tests will take potentially 6-8 weeks to come to market seems like a long time, given the current state of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation and testing. But we’ll likely still be very much in need of testing options at that time, especially ones that can serve people who aren’t necessarily meeting the criteria for other available testing resources.

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Chinese cloud infrastructure market generated $3.3B in Q42019

Posted on March 18, 2020 in: China, TC

Research firm Canalys reports that the Chinese cloud infrastructure market grew 66.9% to $3.3 billion in the last quarter of 2019, right before the COVID-19 virus hit the country. China is the second largest cloud infrastructure market in the world with 10.8% share.

The quarter puts the Chinese market on a $13.2 billion run rate. Canalys pegged the US market at $14 billion for the same time period with a 47% worldwide market share.

Alibaba led the way in China with over 46% market share. Like its American eCommerce giant counterpart, Amazon, Alibaba has a cloud arm, and it dominates in its country much the same way AWS does in the U.S.

Tencent was in second with 18%, roughly the equivalent of Microsoft Azure’s share in the US, and Baidu AI Cloud came in third with 8.8%, roughly the equivalent of Google’s US market share.

Slide: Canalys

Matthew Ball, an analyst at Canalys says the fourth quarter numbers predate the medical crisis due to the COVID-19 outbreak in China. “In terms of growth drivers for Q4, we have seen the ongoing demand for on-demand compute and storage accelerate throughout 2019, as private and public organizations embark on digital transformation projects and start building platforms and applications to develop new services.”

Ball says gaming was a big cloud customer, as was healthcare, finance, transport and industry. He also pointed to growth in facial recognition technology as part of the smart city sector.

As for next year, Ball says the firm still sees big growth in the market despite the virus impact in Q12020. “In addition to the continuation of digital projects once business returns to normality, we anticipate many businesses new to using cloud services during the crisis will continue use and become paying customers,” he said. The cloud companies have been offering a number of free options to businesses during the crisis.

“The overall outcome of current events around the world will be that companies will assess their business continuity measures and make sure they can continue to operate if events are ever repeated,” he said.

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TikTok brings in outside experts to help it craft moderation and content policies

Posted on March 18, 2020 in: Apps, Censorship, China, Mobile, Security

In October, TikTok tapped corporate law firm K&L Gates to advise the company on its moderation policies and other topics afflicting social media platforms. As a part of those efforts, TikTok said it would form a new committee of experts to advise the business on topics like child safety, hate speech, misinformation, bullying, and other potential problems. Today, TikTok is announcing the technology and safety experts who will be the company’s first committee members.

The committee, known as the TikTok Content Advisory Council, will be chaired by Dawn Nunziato, a professor at George Washington University Law School and co-director of the Global Internet Freedom Project. Nunziato specializes in free speech issues and content regulation — areas where TikTok has fallen short.

“A company willing to open its doors to outside experts to help shape upcoming policy shows organizational maturity and humility,” said Nunziato, of her joining. “I am working with TikTok because they’ve shown that they take content moderation seriously, are open to feedback, and understand the importance of this area both for their community and for the future of healthy public discourse,” she added.

TikTok says it plans to grow the committee to around a dozen experts in time.

According to the company, other committee members include:

Rob Atkinson, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, brings academic, private sector, and government experience as well as knowledge of technology policy that can advise our approach to innovation

Hany Farid, University of California, Berkeley Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and  School of Information, is a renowned expert on digital image and video forensics, computer vision, deep fakes, and robust hashing

Mary Anne Franks, University of Miami Law School, focuses on the intersection of law and technology and will provide valuable insight into industry challenges including discrimination, safety, and online identity

Vicki Harrison, Stanford Psychiatry Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing, is a social worker at the intersection of social media and mental health who understands child safety issues and holistic youth needs

Dawn Nunziato, chair, George Washington University Law School, is an internationally recognized expert in free speech and content regulation

David Ryan Polgar, All Tech Is Human, is a leading voice in tech ethics, digital citizenship, and navigating the complex challenge of aligning societal interests with technological priorities

Dan Schnur, USC Annenberg Center on Communication and UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, brings valuable experience and insight on political communications and voter information

Nunziato’s view of TikTok — of a company being open and willing to change — is a charitable one, it should be said.

The company is dangerous territory here in the U.S., despite its popularity among Gen Z and millennial users. TikTok today is facing a national security review and a potential ban on all government workers’ phones. In  addition, the Dept. of Defense’s suggested the app should be blocked on phones belonging to U.S. military personnel. Its 2017 acquisition of U.S.-based Musical.ly may even come under review.

Though known for its lighthearted content — like short videos of dances, comedy, and various other creative endeavors — TikTok has also been accused of things like censoring the Hong Kong protests and more, which contributed to U.S. lawmakers’ fears that the Chinese-owned company may have to comply with “state intelligence work.” 

TikTok has also been accused of having censored content from unattractive, poor, or disabled persons as well as videos from users identified as LGBTQ+. The company explained in December these guidelines are no longer used as they were an early and misguided attempt to protect users from online bullying. TikTok had limited the reach of videos where such harassment could occur. But this suppression was done in the dark, unasked for by the “protected” parties — and it wasn’t until exposed by German site NetzPolitik that anyone knew these rules had existed.

In light of the increased scrutiny of its platform and its ties to China, TikTok has been taking a number of steps in an attempt to change its perception. The company released new Community Guidelines and published its first Transparency Report a few months ago. It also hired a global General Counsel and expanded its Trust & Safety hubs in the U.S., Ireland, and Singapore. And it just announced a Transparency Center open to outside experts who want to review its moderation practices.

TikTok’s new Advisory Council will meet with the company’s U.S. leadership to focus on the key topics of importance starting at the end of the month, with an early focus on creating policies around misinformation and election interference.

“All of our actions, including the creation of this Council, help advance our focus on creating an entertaining, genuine experience for our community by staying true to why users uniquely love the TikTok platform. As our company grows, we are focused on reflection and learning as a part of company culture and committed to transparently sharing our progress with our users and stakeholders,” said TikTok’s U.S. General Manager, Vanessa Pappas. “Our hope is that through thought-provoking conversations and candid feedback, we will find productive ways to support platform integrity, counter potential misuse, and protect the interests of all those who use our platform,” she added. 
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Japanese flu drug appears ‘effective’ in coronavirus treatment in Chinese clinical trials

Posted on March 18, 2020 in: China, Health, TC

Japanese-made flu drug favipiravir (also known as Avigan) has been shown to be effective in both reducing the duration of the COVID-19 virus in patients, and to have improved the lung conditions of those who received treatment with the drug, based on results of clinical trials conducted with affected patients in both Wuhan and Shenzhen by Chinese medical authorities.

The trials involved 340 patients in total, and since they drug has already been developed and approved for use in treating flu, it has a “high degree of safety,” according to China science and technology ministry official Zhang Xinmin, who spoke to reporters on Wednesday according to The Guardian. The tests showed a reduction in the period during which patients tested positive for the new coronavirus from 11 days down to just four, and showed improvements in the lung condition of around 91 percent of patients treated with favipiravir, compared to just 62 percent for those without among the trial participants.

The Chinese studies are not the only attempt to test the efficacy of the drug in COVID-19 treatment – Japanese doctors are bonding their own studies. A Japanese health ministry source told Japanese newspaper the Manichi Shimbun that the drug so far has been given to around 70 to 80 people, but that early results suggest it isn’t effective in treating those with more severe symptoms where the virus has already multiplied to a much greater extend.

Still, a treatment that is effective in reducing the duration of the presence of the virus even in milder cases, and in lessening the impacts in moderate symptomatic patients, would be a huge benefit to the ongoing fight against the coronavirus. Any approvals for use of favipiravir would of course require further clinical testing, followed by approval of widespread use by each country’s relevant medical treatment regulating body.

Other drug treatments have been tested for COVID-19 treatment, and are in the process of development, but no antiviral has yet been approved or created specifically for dealing with the new coronavirus. Other drugs that have shown early promising signs include remadesivir, a compound developed by Gilead Sciences that has shown some promise as a general antiviral.

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Report: China clamps down further on dissent as it expels journalists from NYT, WSJ, and WaPo

Posted on March 17, 2020 in: Asia, China

As China continues to handle the fallout of the novel coronavirus that first originated in Wuhan in Hubei province in early-to-mid December, the Chinese Communist Party announced today that it would rescind the press credentials for certain journalists working at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and would further demand operating details from Time magazine and Voice of America.

Those journalists would be limited from working in China, including in Hong Kong, where mass protests last year fueled by a growing democracy and independence movement has brought increasingly critical global attention onto the Beijing government.

China had previously kicked out three reporters from the Wall Street Journal in mid-February, for what it claimed was an insensitive headline in the newspaper’s opinion pages. The Journal’s opinion section operates outside of its newsroom.

China’s suppression of external dissent is also being mirrored with regard to its own citizens. While there was a bit of an open window for discussion as the government attempted to moderate blowback over its response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, internet censors according to the New York Times are now once again clamping down hard on negative conversations and adding additional reinforcements to police online discussions:

Little is known about the group, formally part of the Cybersecurity Defense Bureau, which has long policed hacking and online fraud. But occasional government releases offer clues. In 2016, the 50-million person region of Guangxi said it had almost 1,200 internet police officers. The goal was to have one internet police officer for every 10,000 people in the region, a sign of the force’s ambitions.

The U.S. and China have been locked in a trade war over the past few years, but the looming global depression has placed ever more acute pressure on a relationship that has frayed since China’s turn toward authoritarianism under President Xi Jinping and the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.

Last week, the U.S. State Department issued its annual human rights report, which particularly singled out China as among the worst offenders globally. In a paragraph that should win an award for semicolon usage, the department wrote that:

Significant human rights issues included: arbitrary or unlawful killings by the government; forced disappearances by the government; torture by the government; arbitrary detention by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison and detention conditions; political prisoners; arbitrary interference with privacy; substantial problems with the independence of the judiciary; physical attacks on and criminal prosecution of journalists, lawyers, writers, bloggers, dissidents, petitioners, and others as well as their family members; censorship and site blocking; interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including overly restrictive laws that apply to foreign and domestic nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); severe restrictions of religious freedom; substantial restrictions on freedom of movement (for travel within the country and overseas); refoulement of asylum seekers to North Korea, where they have a well-founded fear of persecution; the inability of citizens to choose their government; corruption; a coercive birth-limitation policy that in some cases included forced sterilization or abortions; trafficking in persons; and severe restrictions on labor rights, including a ban on workers organizing or joining unions of their own choosing; and child labor.

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Apple now says its retail stores are closed “until further notice”

Posted on March 17, 2020 in: China, Gadgets, iPhone

Apple appears to be expecting a longer disruption to shopping at its physical retail stores as a result of the public health crisis posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this week, in a press release, the iPhone maker said it would be closing retails stores outside China until March 27. A note on its website now says the shut down is open ended. Apple writes that the bricks-and-mortar stores “are closed until further notice” — so at very least it’s signalling to customers to expect ongoing disruption to its retail business as usual.

Those looking to buy Apple products are told to shop on the website. Service and support is also offered online or via telephone.

We’ve reached out to Apple to ask for confirmation on a policy change.

In its March 13 missive, the company wrote that it is committed to paying all its hourly workers as if the stores remained open, and also said it was expanding its leave policies to “accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by COVID-19”.

Late yesterday six Bay Area countries issued a ‘shelter in place’ order to restrict potential spread of the novel coronavirus. Additional measures seem likely in the coming days.

Multiple countries in European Union have already ordered the closure of non-essential shops — instructing residents to stay at home unless they need to venture out to obtain essential supplies or are required to work and cannot work from home.

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WHO calls for rapid escalation in global COVID-19 response, including testing and isolation

Posted on March 16, 2020 in: China, Health, Japan, TC

The World Health Organization (WHO) held a briefing today for media to update them on the current status of the global pandemic of the COVID-19 coronavirus, and called out worldwide efforts on what the agency’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom described as not an “urgent enough”  response in terms of fielding a truly comprehensive approach.

In prepared remarks to kick-off the media Q&A, Adhanom said that while to date we have “seen a rapid escalation in social distancing measures, like closing schools and cancelling spring events,” there still hasn’t been enough done on a global level in terms of “testing, isolation and contact tracing,” which he said formed the “backbone of the response.”

“You cannot fight a fire blindfolded,” Adhnom said. “And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected. We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test. Test every suspected case. If they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in close contact with up to 2 days before they developed symptoms, and test those people too.”

The agency noted that it has shipped a total of 1.5 million tests to 120 countries thus far. The U.S. in particular has lagged behind its global peers when it comes to testing, with the country refusing the WHO tests offered and opting instead to develop its own CDC-developed tests, whose initial rollout met with mirrors. Based on data from last week, the U.S., even now that private lab tests are coming online to attempt to supplement the CDC-issued ones, the country is still far behind Japan, the UK, Italy, China, South Korea and many others when it comes to testing on a per capita basis compared to its population.

Adhanom went on to advise that all confirmed cases be isolated once identified, in health facilities if possible, but in either makeshift facilities set up for the purpose if that’s not an option, or for those with very mild symptoms, at home. He clarified this meant that care-givers treating people at home should wear a medical mask when they occupy shared space, and that the patient should both sleep separately and use a different bathroom.

“Once again, our key message is: test, test, test,” Adhanom said. “This is a serious disease. Although the evidence we have suggests that those over 60 are at highest risk, young people, including children, have died.”

He also pointed out that while we’re now seeing epidemics even in developed countries with advanced health care systems and institutions in place, facing significant challenges, there’s an even greater pending global threat as the pandemic spreads to low-income nations. Adhanom said that limiting impact among those vulnerable populations requires “every country and every individual to do everything they can to stop transmission.”

During the Q&A, Adhanom went further, noting that while the immediate threat still needs to be addressed, and addressed promptly, the COVID-19 pandemic has also revealed fundamental issues with our global approach to pandemic preparedness that we’ll need to address longer-term.

“Globally we have a very, very serious weakness in terms of preparedness,” he said. “While doing our best to suppress this pandemic, at the same time we have to think about planning for the future, for the long-term. Improving our preparedness, making sure that the world is better prepared.”

“It’s time to commit to invest in our weaknesses, and minimize our risk as a global community,” Adhanom continued. “No country can develop or strengthen its system and protect itself from outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics. The world is more intertwined than ever before – globalization cannot be reversed […] we need to make sure that we act in unison to build the global preparedness and the global resistance.”

WHO also reiterated and clarified the best actions that individuals can take to help contribute to the global effort to combat the spread of the virus. The organization’s COVID-19 Technical Lead Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an infection disease epidemiologist, acknowledged that people are feeling afraid, and stressed the importance of hand-washing as one action that everyone can take to make a difference.

“Being scared is normal, what we need to do is channel that energy into something positive, and making sure that you know what you can do to protect yourself,” she said. What we do know that works in terms of your hands, and in terms of what you need to do, is washing your hands. We say this all the time. And it may not be the most exciting thing, but it’s the most important thing that you can do to protect yourselves.”

“Every single person who is washing their hands is helping themselves and others,” she continued, noting that everyone should “wash [their] hands as much as they possibly can.”

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Apple is closing all of its stores outside of China until March 27

Posted on March 14, 2020 in: China, TC

Apple will be closing all of its stores outside of China until March 27th.

In a statement on the company’s website attributed to Tim Cook, the company attributed the decision to lessons it had learned from its response to the outbreak in China, where the disease was first identified.

“What we’ve learned together has helped us all develop the best practices that are assisting enormously in our global response,” Cook wrote. “One of those lessons is that the most effective way to minimize risk of the virus’s transmission is to reduce density and maximize social distance. As rates of new infections continue to grow in other places, we’re taking additional steps to protect our team members and customers.”

The company committed to paying all of its hourly workers as if the stores were remaining open. The company also said it would expand its leave policies to accommodate personal or family health circumstances caused by COVID-19 — including recovering from illness, caring for someone infected, mandatory quarantining or childcare challenges due to school closures.

The company also said it had reached $15 million in donations to COVID-19 response efforts and will be matching employee donations two-to-one to support response efforts, locally, nationally, and internationally.

ations to the global COVID-19 response — both to help treat those who are sick and to help lessen the economic and community impacts of the pandemic — today reached $15 million worldwide.

We’re also announcing that we are matching our employee donations two-to-one to support COVID-19 response efforts locally, nationally and internationally.

“The global spread of COVID-19 is affecting every one of us,” Cook wrote. “At Apple, we are people first and we do what we do with the belief that technology can change lives and hope that it can be a valuable tool in moments like this.”

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An Apple Store employee on leave has tested positive for COVID-19 in Santa Monica

Posted on March 13, 2020 in: China, TC

An Apple Store employee who was on leave from the Third St. Promenade store in Santa Monica, California tested positive for COVID-19 late yesterday. The employee had been on leave to care for a relative since March 2nd.

Apple consulted health experts and deep cleaned the Third St. store which remains open. Apple says that it has also instituted additional deep cleaning protocols and taken measures to reduce density by cancelling Today at Apple sessions and spacing out Genius Bar appointments.

As of March 4, Los Angeles County had declared a local emergency and on March 11th CA Governor Gavin Newsom recommended against large scale events. The city of Santa Monica cancelled all public gatherings as of March 12. Apple’s home county of Santa Clara had announced 66 total confirmed cases of coronavirus as of yesterday and issued an order to cancel mass gatherings over 1,000 people for three weeks. Yesterday’s biggest closure news, though, came from Disney, which announced that Walt Disney World, Disneyland in California and Disneyland Paris would all close for several weeks.

We received a full statement from Apple regarding the employee as follows:

“Apple’s first priority — now and always — is the health and safety of our employees, customers and the communities we serve. An employee at our Third St. Promenade store in Santa Monica informed us they had tested positive for COVID-19 late yesterday. The employee has not been to the store since taking leave on March 2 to care for a relative.

In consultation with health experts, we’ve taken a number of steps to protect our teams and customers. All our stores around the world have increased deep cleaning protocols and we have actively reduced customer density in all stores worldwide by cancelling Today at Apple sessions and creating extra space for Genius Bar appointments. As a precaution, we also undertook an additional extensive deep clean overnight before reopening the Third St. Promenade store.

We recognize this is a challenging and ever changing time for our global community and our thoughts are with those around the world personally affected by COVID-19 and the heroic medical professionals and researchers fighting it.”

Many Apple Stores around the world remain open, while others have been closed in alignment with local regulations amid coronavirus concerns. The additional cleaning protocols have been in use since February at Apple Stores worldwide. In addition, Apple has closed its stores in Italy, which remains on lockdown. The last of Apple’s 42 stores in mainland China re-opened today with limited hours after closures.

Apple has extended additional sick time to all employees and any employee with symptoms similar to COVID-19 will be paid for sick time as long as they are out. I also understand that Apple Store managers are being as flexible as possible with concerned employees who are not yet sick though no official policies have been issued.

I asked Apple for comment on whether it was considering closing any retail stores in the US but it would not comment at this time. One would absolutely have to imagine that it was monitoring all of this very closely though. And given that it has proven willing to close every store in China and Italy due to conditions, it would probably do the same in the US.

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Airbnb extends no-charge cancellation policy due to coronavirus

Posted on March 13, 2020 in: China, Health, TC, Transportation

Airbnb has announced updates to its policies that provide reservation cancellations without charge for stays booked in specific areas, as a result of the current state of the global coronavirus pandemic. Guests that booked reservations through Airbnb in mainland China, South Korea, Italy and the United States are now eligible to cancel their stays without incurring any fees.

The policy, detailed by Airbnb on their newsroom page, specifies that for bookings made in the U.S., it applies to all reservations booked before and including today, March 13, that have a check-in date of April 1, 2020 or earlier. This time-bounding seems reasonable, since it’s basically covering bookings made by people uninformed about the situation in the U.S. and extending to an endpoint that fits with most of the existing measures being taken by states and communities around social distancing and travel limitations. Airbnb also notes in its news release that it’ll continue to assess the situation, meaning the specifics of its extenuating circumstances coverage could change.

In addition to the specific countries mentioned above, Airbnb is also extending the no-charge cancellation policy to anyone from the U.S. who has a reservation in Europen’s Schengen Area, and to anyone globally, including both hosts and guests, who has to cancel a reservation:

  • In order to comply with disease control restrictions implemented by relevant governmental or health authorities
  • In order to perform medical or disease control duties in connection with the COVID-19 outbreak;
  • As a result of flight or ground transportation cancellations initiated by an airline or ground transportation provider due to the COVID-19 outbreak;
  • In the event that they are diagnosed or suspected of being infected with COVID-19 by a medical or health authority.

This is a pretty laudable coverage policy by Airbnb that would seem to cover just about anyone whose travel plans are directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. That said, it’s likely that anyone considering any kind of global travel is at least reconsidering their plans – including any and all Airbnb bookings.

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FDA approves new Coronavirus test that could speed rate of testing up to tenfold

Posted on March 13, 2020 in: China, Health, Japan, TC

The U.S. Food and Drug and Administration has granted emergency approval for use of a new test that can increase the range of testing patients by up to 10 times compared to methods in use currently, Bloomberg reports. That speed improvement refers specifically to the technical capabilities of the testing process, meaning access to testing is still a separate issue, but it is the first commercially available test that has received emergency approval and for which equipment exists in fairly high volume across the U.S.

Testing is a core component of the effort to combat and control the spread of COVID-19, since those affected by the virus display a wide range of symptoms, and many could be carriers with only very mild external signs of the disease. Having effective and broadly available testing methods, that can test a high volume of patients per day, is a key part of any defense strategy since it means more effectively identifying the scope of affected populations and reinforcing the need for mitigation strategies like social isolation and distancing.

These new tests granted emergency approval can test up to 1,440 patients per day on an earlier generation of Roche’s testing hardware, or as many as 4,128 on a later iteration. Bloomberg notes that there are roughly 110 of these machines across both generations available in the U.S., and that more are being installed in “significant” volume in recent weeks as response efforts ramp up. These tests use analysis of patient saliva and mucus to determine if a patient has contracted a known coronavirus strain.

Access to coronavirus testing in the U.S. has been heavily criticized by healthcare professionals and experts to date, including at a congressional hearing this week. Observers have noted that countries that seem to have been able to bend the exponential curve of infection, including South Korea, China and Japan, have all done so in part supported by excellent and widespread testing available in high volume. This newly approved test should help private labs increase the availability of testing in the U.S., but it’s not yet clear exactly how that will play out in terms of the actual rate of U.S. patient testing in practice.

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