Scientists are seeing an 'acceleration of pandemics':
They are looking at climate change
by Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 9/10/20

STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
"We have entered a pandemic era," a recent study in
the journal Cell said.
Almost certainly, the impacts of pandemics like COVID-19
are exacerbated by climate change.
"It is hard to imagine that climate change will be
anything good for human health."

COVID-19 may only be the beginning of global pandemics €“ a
future scenario in which climate change may also play a role.

"We have entered a pandemic era," said a recent study in the
journal Cell. Written by Dr. Anthony Fauci & medical historian
Dr. David Morens, both of the National Institute of Allergy &
Infectious Diseases, the study paints a picture of a future
where pandemics become more numerous.

€œI dont have a crystal ball, but what we are seeing looks
very much like an acceleration of pandemics,€œ Morens told
BuzzFeed News. Causes he cited include deforestation, urban
crowding and wet markets for wild game.

But climate change's possible role is complicated: We know
that the virus survives longer in cold temperatures than hot,
so that could mean that a warmer planet would slow the spread
of the disease, said meteorologist Jeff Masters, who writes
for Yale Climate Connections. On the other hand, he said heat
waves cause people to spend more time indoors in A/C spaces,
where the spread of the disease increases.

Unsuitable for 'human life to flourish': Up to 3B will live
in extreme heat by 2070, study warns

"Thus, Florida had a difficult time with COVID-19 this summer,
despite the fact that some parts of Florida recorded their
hottest summer on record," Masters told USA TODAY. "These
complexities make it difficult to judge how climate change
may be affecting COVID-19."

Warming creates 'opportunity' for pathogens

Some scientists do believe warming will play a bigger role
in future pandemics.

"We do know that climate change alters how we relate to other
species on Earth and that matters to our health and our risk
for infections," said Dr. Aaron Bernstein, director of
Harvard's T.H. Chan C-CHANGE program.

"As the planet heats up, animals big & small, on land & in
the sea, are headed to the poles to get out of the heat," he
said. "That means animals are coming into contact with other
animals they normally wouldnt, which creates an opportunity
for pathogens to get into new hosts."

In addition, Masters said the diseases of most concern
globally that are worsened by climate change are the ones
spread by mosquitoes, since mosquitoes like it hot and wet €“
conditions that are becoming increasingly common because of
global warming. Malaria, Zika, chikungunya, dengue fever &
the West Nile virus are all expected to spread into areas
where they currently are not endemic, he said. Tick-borne
diseases such as Lyme disease will also spread.

Bernstein said climate change has already made conditions
more favorable to the spread of some infectious diseases,
including Lyme disease, waterborne diseases such as Vibrio

parahaemolyticus (which causes vomiting & diarrhea) &
mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria & dengue fever.

"Future risks are not easy to foretell, but climate change
hits hard on several fronts that matter to when & where
pathogens appear, including temp & rainfall patterns,"
Bernstein said. "To help limit the risk of infectious
diseases, we should do all we can to vastly reduce greenhouse
gas emissions & limit global warming to 1.5 degrees."

As for whether climate change could exacerbate future
pandemics, Morens told USA TODAY it is too early to
draw definitive conclusions.

"One might imagine that if climate change causes further
environmental degradation & change (beyond what humans are
already doing), then we are likely to see more of these
diseases," he said. "But one could equally argue that we
will see less. These are big questions to which we may not
have good answers for decades, or even centuries to come.

"But at the end of the day, for many reasons, it is hard
to imagine that climate change will be anything good for
human health."

Climate change is a 'threat multiplier'

One expert said that almost certainly, the impacts of
pandemics such as COVID are exacerbated by climate change.

Meteorologist Michael Mann of Penn State called climate
change a "threat multiplier," meaning "it amplifies existing
challenges & threats by increasing our vulnerability &
reducing our adaptive capacity."

He said to consider, for example, the situation in Puerto
Rico, where many people have died of COVID-19 for the simple
reason that they have not yet recovered, in terms of their
public health infrastructure, from the devastating impacts
of Hurricane Maria 3 years ago.

"There's no doubt in my mind that the storm was made more
destructive by unusually warm tropical Atlantic sea-surface
temps, which provide more energy & moisture for the storm,"
Mann said. "This anomalous warmth can only be explained
taking into account human-caused climate change."

He said a case can also be made for at least an indirect
connection between COVID-19 & climate change. Environmental
degradation, including deforestation, the destruction of
rain forests & natural habitats for development may be
displacing exotic disease-carrying creatures in a way that
does favor increased human contact.

"These same activities €“ deforestation in particular €“ are
also leading to increased carbon emissions, which are behind
human-caused climate change," Mann said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...cs/5749582002/

David P wrote

Scientists are seeing an 'acceleration of pandemics':

Hardly surprising given that the mass movement
of people continues to accelerate at a massive rate.

They are looking at climate change

More fool them. There has in fact been **** all measured
climate change and vastly less than we have seen in the past.

by Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 9/10/20

Just some ****wit journo in yet another **** rag.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
"We have entered a pandemic era,"
a recent study in the journal Cell said.

We have always had pandemics, ****wit.

Almost certainly, the impacts of pandemics like
COVID-19 are exacerbated by climate change.

Mindlessly silly given that we have in fact seen
sweet **** all climate change in the last decade.

"It is hard to imagine that climate change
will be anything good for human health."

How odd that human health did fine with previous
much more dramatic climate change.

COVID-19 may only be the beginning of global pandemics €“
a future scenario in which climate change may also play a role.

More utterly mindless silly stuff.

"We have entered a pandemic era,"
said a recent study in the journal Cell.

We have always had pandemics, stupid.

Written by Dr. Anthony Fauci & medical historian
Dr. David Morens, both of the National Institute of
Allergy & Infectious Diseases, the study paints a picture
of a future where pandemics become more numerous.

Without a shred of evidence that it has anything
to do with climate change and a wealth of evidence
that it it has much more to do with the mass movement
of people and how china does its agriculture.

€œI dont have a crystal ball, but what we are seeing looks
very much like an acceleration of pandemics,€œ Morens
told BuzzFeed News. Causes he cited include deforestation,
urban crowding and wet markets for wild game.

Which has nothing to do with climate change and
wet markets have always been with us, stupid.

But climate change's possible role is complicated: We know
that the virus survives longer in cold temperatures than hot,
so that could mean that a warmer planet would slow the spread
of the disease, said meteorologist Jeff Masters, who writes
for Yale Climate Connections. On the other hand, he said
heat waves cause people to spend more time indoors in
A/C spaces, where the spread of the disease increases.

And yet this virus is worse in winter, stupid.

Unsuitable for 'human life to flourish': Up to 3B
will live in extreme heat by 2070, study warns

And that claim is straight from their collective
arses, we can tell from the smell.

none of the rest of this even sillier **** worth
bothering with, all flushed where it belongs

On Mon, 8 Feb 2021 16:40:04 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH the trolling senile asshole's latest troll**** unread


--
The Natural Philosopher about senile Rodent:
"Rod speed is not a Brexiteer. He is an Australian troll and arsehole."
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