1 HZS C2BRNE DIARY – October 2020 www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com 2 HZS C2BRNE DIARY – October 2020 HZS C2BRNE DIARY– 2020© October 2020 Website: www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com Editor-in-Chief BrigGEN (ret.) Ioannis Galatas MD, MSc, MC (Army) PhD cand Consultant in Allergy & Clinical Immunology Medical/Hospital CBRNE Planner & Instructor Senior Asymmetric Threats Analyst Manager, CBRN Knowledge Center @ International CBRNE Institute (BE) Senior CBRN Consultant @ HotZone Solutions Group (NL) Athens, Greece Contact e-mail: [email protected] Editorial Team ⚫ Bellanca Giada, MD, MSc (Italy) ⚫ Hopmeier Michael, BSc/MSc MechEngin (USA) ⚫ Kiourktsoglou George, BSc, Dipl, MSc, MBA, PhD (UK) ⚫ Photiou Steve, MD, MSc EmDisaster (Italy) ⚫ Tarlow Peter, PhD Sociol (USA) A publication of HotZone Solutions Group Prinsessegracht 6, 2514 AN, The Hague, The Netherlands T: +31 70 262 97 04, F: +31 (0) 87 784 68 26 E-mail: [email protected] DISCLAIMER: The HZS C2BRNE DIARY® (former CBRNE-Terrorism Newsletter), is a free online publication for the fellow civilian/military CBRNE First Responders worldwide. The Diary is a collection of papers/articles related to the stated thematology. Relevant sources/authors are included and all info provided herein is from open Internet sources. Opinions and comments from the Editor, the Editorial Team or the authors publishing in the Diary do not necessarily represent those of the HotZone Solutions Group (NL) or the International CBRNE Institute (BE). COVER: UAE-based gynaecologist Dr Samer Cheaib shared the image which reveals the new child along with her hand clasped round her physician’s masks, pulling it off his smiling face. The caption given by Dr Cheaib reads, “We all want (a) sign are we going to take off the mask soon (?)” www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com 3 HZS C2BRNE DIARY – October 2020 www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com 4 HZS C2BRNE DIARY – October 2020 Editorial Brig Gen (ret.) Ioannis Galatas, MD, MSc, MC (Army) Editor-in-Chief HZS C2BRNE Diary Dear Colleagues, Month #10 and the beast is still alive! Some (many) thought that it would be easy; something like what we knew (flu) so far. Well, it is not. Almost daily we read about new death records in more than one country around the globe. Of course, if we paid similar attention to annual seasonal flu hecatombs humanity would have been more familiar with viral epidemics or pandemics. But the most important of all is the fact that we should have been better prepared for the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. We were not. We are not – even when the period between the first and the second waves gave us the opportunity to fill some gaps and revise our plans. The only thing we did is to get to know the novel virus a bit better but still, the virus enjoys to surprise us with new offensive modus operandi and adverse effects on the human body. I said it before and I will repeat it one more time. There has to be a brain in every virus or a viral mother brain group of cells in every human organism attacked that guides all the incoming viruses on what to do and where to go. Something like the mother spacecraft during alien invention seen on the movies! The vaccine race is on although we already have a (Russian Sputnik) winner but the West is constantly changing the rules until our runners are back in the race and game. Because life is a game for some! Similar conditions in the antibody, antiviral, cytokine races with some promising results but not with the one that could make the difference. In this Viral Olympiad we were happy to watch the US President be a corona-winner with a new world recovery record although there is the suspicion that he was dopped. But who can ask for a dope testing of a President? Nevertheless, he promised to give the (American) people his secret recovery medication for free. To those that will combine his noble action with coming elections I contempt to comment. By the way, the 8 million US cases’ burden belongs to the past … and so are the 40 million cases on Planet Earth. Ten months now and we still do not know (?) when to use the rapid antibody tests available worldwide! It seems that we are not as clever as we thought and that we need a lot of time in order to decide that molecular tests and antibody tests are not rivals because they target two different things – the presence of the virus itself AND the response of the human body exposed to the virus! If the virus had a brain then it would be dead by now because of endless laughter! Ten months and we still do not know if there is immunity to the virus and if there is for how many months. Initially, it was for 3 months; then for 8 months; then we had some cases of re-infection of previously infected individuals; and now a new study (University of Montreal, Canada) revealed that plasma neutralization activity continues decreasing past the sixth week of symptom onset and so are the antibodies provided to the Covid 19 patients. Ups and downs of hope is as hazardous as the virus itself! People continue to behave in a strange way convinced that there is no tomorrow and because of that they have to party in all possible ways and occasions. Superspreading is the new normal and people compete which group will contaminate more! It is also a good opportunity for a variety of diagnoses from experts and gov officials ranging from evolution related deficiencies (referring to those younger than 18 years old) all the way to modern anxiety status and capitalism. Nobody dears to speak out loud that too much freedom is, at the end, bad for our health. “All in good measure” an ancient Greek quota (“παν μέτρον άριστον”) has been forgotten globally – it is OK for those living in Peru or Vietnam; but not for Greeks and other more educated (?) nations. The ongoing pandemic is a good opportunity to redefine “individual democratic limits” that confuse people or minorities. Covid-19 is one plague; Turkey is another! Spreading in the SE Mediterranean region and Central Asia is causing problems to the level of a regional war! The EU-US apathy is combined with an “empire” ambition and the mixture might be highly explosive. It is heartbreaking to watch strong nations to bow to a bully just because they are doing business www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com 5 HZS C2BRNE DIARY – October 2020 with him or because he happens to live at a crossroad necessary for their ambitions (mainly anti-Russian and oil/gas related). In addition, it is a fine example of solidarity between Muslim nations (Azerbaijan is actively supported by Turkey and Pakistan) compared to the no support provided within Western nations. On the other hand, it is a powerful lesson to everybody that in good things we are all together but in bad things you are alone. Nothing new you might say along with the fact that history repeats itself. The remaining two months before 2021 will be very interesting especially if we do have the good Western vaccine for the virus and if a conflict or war between Turkey and Greece is avoided (Galip Dalay @ Robert Bosch Academy) – because obedience and civilized behavior has its limits. Take care First Responders! The pandemic is not that bad if we all understand the new norms (masks; distances; hygiene) and act accordingly. Help people play defense and reassure them that this is the right tactic to win critical games! The Editor-in-Chief www.cbrne-terrorism-newsletter.com 6 HZS C2BRNE DIARY – October 2020 Birds in San Francisco Started Singing Differently in The Silence of COVID-19 Lockdown Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/sparrows-have-changed-behaviour-in-response-to-coronavirus-anthropaus Sep 25 – As the streets of San Francisco emptied out in the first months of the pandemic, the city's male birds began singing more softly and improving their vocal range, making them "sexier" to females, according to a new study published Thursday. The paper adds to a growing body of research describing how animals - from whales to coyotes to the white-crowned sparrow studied here - have adapted their behaviors to COVID-19 shutdowns that forced humans to retreat to their homes, a phenomenon dubbed the "anthropause." "When the city was loud, they were singing really loudly," Elizabeth Derryberry, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Tennessee, who led the study published in Science, told AFP. But as traffic ground to a halt following a statewide shelter-in-place order in spring, noise levels fell by 50 percent, she said. The number of vehicles on the Golden Gate Bridge collapsed to 1954 levels, the researchers found. They compared birdsong data they had collected from previous years to recordings made at the same sites from April to May 2020, finding the sparrows were now singing far more quietly, and were able to hit much lower notes, which in turn expanded their range and enhanced their overall performance. Imagine going to a party at a friend's house: at the start of the night you speak at a normal volume, but as the place fills up you have to raise your voice to be heard. "When you're shouting at a cocktail party, your voice is not at its best," said Derryberry, adding that it was similar for birds. As noise pollution decreased, "their songs also sounded better, they sounded sexier," she said. "They were better competitors, and they sounded like better mates to females." The scientists were surprised by just how far the volume of their songs had dropped - almost a third.