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Its time for pest management professionals (PMPs) to participate in Bed Bug Awareness Week, taking place this year June 7-13. The annual education campaign is promoted by the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA), which serves as the public outreach arm of theNational Pest Management Association (NPMA).

Bed Bug Awareness Week is recognized by Chases Calendar of Events and is celebrated throughout the pest management industry. Through various media relations and social media strategies, PPMA will work to educate the public on the need for diligent bed bug prevention, the signs of an infestation and the importance of working with a licensed PMPs to mitigate infestations.

With all of the excitement the prospect of summer travel brings in response to stay-at-home restrictions being slowly lifted nationwide, its easy to forget that bed bugs are still very much a threat, said Cindy Mannes, executive director of PPMA. Its a common misconception that bed bugs simply disappear without human hosts, as theyre actually able to survive for several months while waiting for their next meal. Bed bug populations that were established in hotels before the COVID-19 crisis impacted occupancy rates may in fact be hungrier than ever, posing an increased threat to unsuspecting travelers.

With more than six million online conversations in the U.S. on the topic of finding bed bugs in April 2020 alone a 70 percent increase from April 2019 PPMA is urging PMPs to get involved by taking advantage of the custom marketing materials made available by the association.

PPMA encourages PMPs and industry members to join the cause by launching media relations campaigns, including devoting their company social media pages to bed bugs throughout the week and using the hashtag #BedBugWeek on Facebook, Twitterand Pinterest.

To aid our partners who have supported our industrys initiatives by investing in PPMA, weve developed a robust Bed Bug Awareness Week toolkit to help promote their businesses and the importance of working with a pest control professional. We will also be unveiling a series of exclusive videos next week showing consumer audiences just how elusive and difficult to control these hitchhiking pests are, Mannes added.

The toolkit is available for download onPPMAMainframe.org, an exclusive digital marketing hub containing hundreds of custom, professionally designed marketing materials and assets PMPs can use to promote their businesses. The Bed Bug Awareness Week kit contains a customizable press release, suggested social media content, Bed Bug Awareness Week logos, high resolution photography, media training documents and a list of video content that can be directly embedded on a companys website.

Let us know what youre doing for#BedBugWeekon social media or email us atpmpeditor@northcoastmedia.net.

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Participate in Bed Bug Awareness Week 2020 - Pest Management Professional magazine

To try to kill the novel coronavirus, some Americans are unsafely using disinfectants and cleaners, including washing food with bleach, using the products on bare skin, and inhaling and ingesting them, federal health officials reported Friday.

Health experts caution explicitly against using cleaning products in those ways.

The findings come from an online survey of 502 adults conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May. Thirty-nine percent had misused the cleaning products, and one quarter reported an adverse health effect that they believed was a result of the products.

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Of the respondents, 19% said they had used bleach on food, 18% said they had applied household cleaners to their skin, 10% said they had misted themselves with disinfectant sprays, 6% had inhaled vapors from the cleaners, and 4% had drunk or gargled diluted bleach solutions, soapy water, or other disinfectants.

These practices pose a risk of severe tissue damage and corrosive injury and should be strictly avoided, the CDC researchers wrote in a paper, published in the agencys Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Although adverse health effects reported by respondents could not be attributed to their engaging in high-risk practices, the association between these high-risk practices and reported health effects indicates a need for public health messaging regarding safe and effective cleaning practices aimed at preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in households. (SARS-CoV-2 is the formal name of the novel coronavirus.)

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The paper does not mention President Trumps public questioning at a press conference in April of whether an injection inside the body of a disinfectant could kill the virus. His remarks led poison control centers and manufacturers of cleaning products to reiterate that disinfectants and cleaners should not be ingested, inhaled, or injected. The president later claimed he was trying to prank reporters with his remarks.

The CDC survey set out to see if consumers knew how to safely store and use disinfectants at a time when health officials were urging regular cleanings of high-touch surfaces to combat the spread of the virus. It also came amid an increase in calls to poison control centers about exposures to cleaning products.

The survey showed that many people did not know how to safely use different cleaning products, even as most said they knew how to properly store and use them. About a quarter of respondents knew that only room temperature water should be mixed with bleach, and a third knew not to mix bleach with vinegar. More of the respondents about two thirds knew that eye protection and gloves were recommended when using certain cleaners.

The researchers pointed to several limitations of their report, including whether the respondents were representative of the country.

Excerpt from:
CDC: Some Americans are misusing bleach to try to kill coronavirus - STAT

Facebook has announced that its photo and video transfer tool, which enables users to copy their Facebook photos and videos over to Google Photos, is now available in all regions.

Facebook first announced the option back in December, with users in Ireland being the first to be able to shift their content across.Facebook then extended it to European, Asian and African regions in March, then the US and Canada in April. And now, all users, globally, can save their Facebook content to Google Photos.

The process is the first step in Facebook's expanded data portability approach, which will see it explore new ways to enable users to share their Facebook data, which many see as a means to better ingratiate itself with the FTC and weaken arguments of market dominance.

Last September, Facebook published a white paperwhich outlined the various considerations in building improved portability tools, including user privacy considerations,setting the table for a new approach to such process moving forward.

The Google Photos tool is the first step in this direction, and while Facebook still has a way to go in enabling full data portability, the transfer tool, in combination with its Download Your Information option(which it updated back in March) provides users with more ways to both understand what information Facebook had stored on them, and to transport that information to an alternate source.

The next step will be to enable the export your connections listings to other social networks, which could make it easier to establish networks on other platforms. Of course, that also necessitates those other users joining said platform, and assumes that you'll want to connect with the same people in other social apps, but providing the freedom to shift all of your information and content around could open up more competition, with Facebook holding less of an advantage in this respect.

But then again, with 3 billion active users across its apps, it's pretty safe to assume that Facebook will be able to maintain its dominance either way. Sure, having the capacity, and control, to decide where and how your information is used could soften Facebook's hold, most people are active on Facebook's apps because all of their friends are, because it's where everybody else is, and where everyone else logs in and checks for the latest updates.

Enabling users to port that info into new networks could make it easier for the latest trending apps to grow faster, but given Facebook's efforts to stifle competition, and its habitual position in the modern interactive process, it likely won't have a significant effect on such.

But maybe that's a pessimistic view - either way, Facebook giving users more control over their data is a good thing.

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Facebook's Photo and Video Transfer Tool is Now Available in All Regions - Social Media Today

Senior advocate Harish Salve appeared on a webinar on Saturday to discuss the attacks that are made to undermine the authority of the judiciary. In this context, he discussed numerous issues and spoke on the kind of criticism that is permissible and that which is not. The webinar was hosted by the CAN Foundation.

Harish Salve subtly chided activist Harsh Mander who was spotted during the recent spate of violence in the country inciting Muslims against the Indian State. He did not take any names but the implication was obvious. He said, There are several people who criticize the Supreme Court, the stature of judges and say that they wont yield justice and then they come to Court the next day. Should the Supreme Court support them? It is better to ignore these people and not give them importance but there is a need to establish a conduct and calls for introspection.

An article by an Indian said the Indian judiciary is hopeless, only the international judiciary can do something. This is crossing the boundaries and over stepping the liberty of expression and free speech. Criticism on grounds of its judgment or for not taking proper action is admissible but to say that the Court is doing or not doing a particular thing to please the government is immoral. People have gotten used to using the court for their agenda and rather than criticising the judgement, they criticise the institution, added the senior advocate.

During the interview, Harish Salve said that he had recommended the government to form a tribunal for private defamation. He lamented the fact that defamation cases in India take a long long time to complete and gave the example of the United Kingdom where such cases are fast-tracked. In this context, the senior advocate referred to an incident involving PIL activist Prashant Bhushan.

Harish Salve said that Prashant Bhushan had made derogatory comments against Justice Kapadia which had led to the Justice expressing anguish in court nu the Attorney General had not done anything. As an amicus, Harish Salve had moved a contempt case in the matter. However, Justice Kapadia has passed away since then but the case is still pending.

Thye senior advocate also said that while trollers can be ignored, people with an influence over public opinion such as activists and those holding government positions who have the capability to mobilise public opinion must be dealt with carefully. In this context, he referred to a recent judgement in Andhra Pradesh where a certain verdict had gone against the ruling party. He opined that calling the judges casteist was not correct.

You can criticize a Judgment saying the Judge has taken a conservative line, you can say court is not robust, you can say that they dont want to take deference with the executive but you cant say that the judges or a particular is scared to take on the government and personally attack the stature of the judge. That is absolutely wrong and immoral, said Harish Salve.

The senior advocate reserved scathing remarks for media trials. In recent years, we have seen numerous instances where the media takes upon itself the mantle of judge, jury and executioner. Harish Salve said, Why do we say that in the currency of the trial, there should not be any media trial? It is not because the judges will get influenced, but, because by doing such media trials you undermine the real trial. If we do nothing about this growing menace, it will become a major problem.

He continued, Many people come to court with a certain agenda of shaming the government. If the judge doesnt rule in their favour, they criticise the judge for being dishonest. The judge has taken an oath of honesty and acting without fear, but due to the media pressure hes under the constant fear of public opinion. Harish Salve also said that if social media diatribe goes unchecked, 20 years down the line we may not have courts left to practice in.

Harish Salve also slammed NDTV news anchor Sreenivasan Jain for the media trial he engaged in after Lt. Col. Purohit received bail. He said, Srinivasan Jain called me to ask, how come Col. Purohit got bail? I said Srinivasan, you are so prepared, instead of ASG arguing you should have. He also said that media should be more accountable for how and what they publish on their platforms.

Another instance he mentioned involved PTI, the news agency. He recounted an incident where it was claimed in a tabloid that, Salve said in the Court Yes my client has evaded tax, so what? Along expected lines, it caused quite an uproar. Hurt by the blatant piece of misinformation, he decided to investigate how it came about. He then discovered that it was by a member from PTI.

When PTI was asked of the matter, they replied that it was the work of a youngster who was running in and out of court. The youngster was told by someone that Salve had indeed said the words and he ran with it.

On the matter of PILs, Salve said that it had become a tool to use against political adversaries. He said that PILs have become a tool to control the government and its functioning. He also emphasised that when the government abdicated its responsibility to govern, the Court transgressed its boundaries and started governing. In this regard that there were times when the Judiciary controlled the government.

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Harish Salve takes on Harsh Mandar, Prashant Bhushan and the cottage industry that attempts to defame the Judiciary and the Modi govt: Here are the...

An estimated 40% to 50% of all Americans whose deaths have been attributed to the novel coronavirus lived in nursing homes. The vulnerability of the residents and the shortcomings in many of the facilities were pre-existing conditions whose effects were magnified by the pandemic.

The question for government policymakers and operators of the homes is how can they learn from the tragic consequences of the past three months and prepare to handle future waves of Covid-19, as well as other threats.

Four primary areas need to be addressed: testing for Covid-19 and isolation of those who test positive; providing sufficient personal protective equipment for the staff; infection control; and staffing levels inside the homes.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has taken flak for a well-meaning but ill-advised directive his administration gave in late March, when the Department of Health declared that nursing homes had to accept residents who were suspected or confirmed to have Covid-19.

The mandate, announced on March 25, was based on fears that hospitals would be overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients unless they could discharge individuals who had recovered.

Also, the states directive included a statement that nursing homes unable to care for Covid-19 patients would need to transfer them somewhere else. That made the whole directive a bit vague, and nursing homes throughout the state struggled to properly accommodate Covid-19-infected patients, as well as protect their workers. The governor finally revised the policy on May 10, announcing that a hospital could not discharge a person who is Covid-19-positive to a nursing home.

Confusion over the policy no doubt contributed to unnecessary spread of Covid-19 among nursing home residents and staff. At the same time, there is plenty of blame to go around in the handling of the virus in the state. Reporting by ProPublica and other news outlets shows that the federal government and State of New York could have slowed the progression of the virus by taking earlier action.

Testing and PPE

When Covid-19 first asserted itself here in March, there was not enough testing available to gauge the presence of the virus among residents or nursing home employees. There has been improvement, but more rapid testing needs to be available.

The Cuomo administration in May directed that nursing homes need to test employees twice a week for Covid-19, but a fight over who pays for the testing regimen has yet to be resolved.

Testing is important for employees, who sometimes hold down more than one job and have the potential to carry the virus from one workplace to another. It also must be done for the residents, to see who needs to be isolated.

Employees also need to have adequate supplies of PPE to keep them safe while working in nursing homes. There have been media reports of staffers being told to share face masks, gloves or other equipment, or of facilities having to scrounge for supplies. Supply shortages are less apparent now and cases are decreasing in our region, but a second wave of the virus is likely in coming months. The time to prepare is before that takes hold.

Infection control

Preventing infections has been a longtime challenge, but new federal regulations announced last week bring hope for improvement.

The Buffalo News reported in May that more than half of the 46 nursing homes in Erie and Niagara counties were cited by the state for violating infection control standards over the past four years.

Kaiser Health News, in a story published in March based on its analysis of federal records, found that 63% of all nursing homes inspected going back to 2016 had been cited for infection-control deficiencies.

One of the most common infection-control lapses is staff members failing to wash their hands properly. Hand-washing has been a well-publicized tactic for slowing the spread of Covid-19, and it needs to become an ingrained habit for anyone involved in personal care.

The states Health Department performs inspections of nursing homes and issues citations for violations. A criticism in New York and in other states has been that enforcement of infection-control rules is lax, with few stiff penalties.

That could change and it needs to under new penalties announced by the Trump administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The CMS raised monetary penalties for nursing homes with persistent violations and said it would reduce federal aid to states that dont do enough scrutiny of nursing homes.

New York may not need such an ultimatum, but the message is clear: States need to inspect nursing homes early and often.

Staffing levels

Hiring, training and retaining staff members is a constant challenge for nursing homes. Demand far outstrips supply, partly due to the low wages paid to direct care workers.

The national median wage of Certified Nursing Assistants is $14.25 per hour, or less than $30,000 per year for a 40-hour work week. The Medicaid reimbursement system puts significant cost pressures on nursing home operators, who in turn often hold costs down by keeping staffing at low levels.

The care delivery system cannot be reformed overnight, but something has to change to make it worthwhile for care aides to stick to their jobs rather than flee to less stressful work that pays the same. A nursing home that offered a noticeably higher wage scale would no doubt find new applicants lining up. Hiring them would improve patient care and no doubt lead to higher quality ratings for the facility.

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.

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New York needs a better plan to safeguard nursing home residents - Buffalo News