The Covid-19 Thread: News, Preparation Tips, Etc

meka72

Well-Known Member
A group of young adults held a coronavirus party in Kentucky to defy orders to socially distance. Now one of them has coronavirus

(CNN) — At least one person in Kentucky is infected after taking part at a "coronavirus party" with a group of young adults, Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday.

The partygoers intentionally got together "thinking they were invincible" and purposely defying state guidance to practice social distancing, Bashear said.

"This is one that makes me mad," the governor said. "We have to be much better than that."

While Covid-19 has been more deadly and severe for people older than 60 and those with underlying health issues in data from China, health officials and leaders around the country have been imploring millennials and other young people to practice social distancing, because even people who are infected but without symptoms can transmit it to other people.

In fact, recent modeling based on Chinese data shows that asymptomatic carriers of the virus may have been responsible for its initial rapid spread there.

And the virus seems to be affecting young people in the United States more than it has in China. A
report released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that up to 20% of people hospitalized with coronavirus in the United States are between the ages of 20 and 44.
"So far the demography definitely seems to be very different in the United States versus in other countries that saw this hit earlier," US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said on NBC's "Today" on Monday.

In New York state, more than half of coronavirus cases -- 53% -- have been among young people between the ages of 18 and 49, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.


California on Tuesday reported the first death in the United States of a Covid-19 patient younger than 18, and the family of a 12-year-old in Georgia said Sunday she was on a ventilator and
fighting for her lifein an Atlanta hospital.
There also have been "concerning reports from France and Italy" about young people becoming seriously ill, "and very seriously ill in the ICUs," said Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House's coronavirus reponse coordinator, last week.

There are now more than 52,000 cases of the virus in the United States. At least 680 people had died as of Tuesday afternoon.

There are at least 163 cases of Covid-19 in Kentucky, Beshear said Tuesday, announcing 39 new cases there.
 

yamilee21

Well-Known Member
Well, there was just the measles outbreak in Rockland last year, and when they wanted to ban anyone unvaccinated from going out in public, people said it was anti-semitic and directed towards those communities.

This is everywhere though, so they really can't be blamed, and I really expected it to spread in NYC sooner than it did. ...

I agree that it has become too widespread now, but as a high-risk person living in NYC, unfortunately I can’t help but feel that if there had not been such a effort not to offend these communities out of fear of anti-semitism accusations, we would not be seeing the astronomical spread we are seeing right now... greater effort could have bought us some time to slow things down. I started following that aspect of the story in Jewish media, and it seems to be an issue in Israel as well. In any case, in Orange County in NY it completely backfired, and the anti-semitism is out in force there as a result.

I wonder about other insular communities, such as the Amish...

With so many asymptomatic carriers, everyone should be wearing masks, as in Taiwan and South Korea. Although it seems Singapore has slowed things down with just testing and isolation, no masks.

ETA I went out very briefly this morning in my area, and was shocked to see so many people wearing masks, mostly surgical masks and construction (dust) masks.
 
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Ganjababy

Well-Known Member
I just applied for a public health nursing COVID-19 job with the city. Not sure how that’s going to work because I can now drive but I don’t yet have a license and all the test Centers are closed until further notice. DH said he won’t take me to work if I get the job.

I think I can talk him into taking me if I do get the job. But would that be ethical? To put his health at risk because I feel some sense of duty? Not sure. I will decide if I get a response from the city.
 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
Making a few masks today for my son and his girlfriend. Both work at UPS. They’re super busy. Especially with folk calling out sick daily.

I ordered N95 masks awhile ago. But they’re so hot! Anyone work all day is a mask? If so, which ones do you use?
I'm actually about to file a complaint to UPS about the delivery guy. He was already a jerk. But this morning he refused to have his temp taken but had on a mask. And dang on near threw the boxes to my staff. The Fed Ex guy yesterday refused to be screened or have his temp taken and barreled past the nurses to make his delivery. We work at the Health Department. I'm so upset and so are the staff. We are trying to protect people. And ourselves since we still have to report.
 

tigereyes83

Well-Known Member
I'm actually about to file a complaint to UPS about the delivery guy. He was already a jerk. But this morning he refused to have his temp taken but had on a mask. And dang on near threw the boxes to my staff. The Fed Ex guy yesterday refused to be screened or have his temp taken and barreled past the nurses to make his delivery. We work at the Health Department. I'm so upset and so are the staff. We are trying to protect people. And ourselves since we still have to report.

Is it required by law to have temp taken? My husband is a trucker and I suspect he wouldn't be Ok with this either. He would most likely leave items outside..
Can you request a designated drop off area outside?
 

Chicoro

5 Year Shea Anniversary: Started Dec 16th, 2016!
Formally Declaring an Emergency in a City and How it Impacts City Workers Who Perform Trash Pick-Up
  1. City must declare a state of Emergency.
  2. Depending upon the union contract of the city, the city must then have to pay union workers to come to work during the emergency.
  3. Usually, if it is in the union contract, then they city must pay those workers an escalated rate also known as hazard pay. (Learned this from Omari Hardwick video).

Pittsburgh has declared an Emergency but it looks like there is nothing place in the contract for the workers who do the trash pickup that gets invoked automatically in a state of emergency.

 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
Information on the government's strategic national stockpile that sends medical equipment during times of crises

Health
Inside the secret U.S. stockpile meant to save us all in a bioterror attack



(Monica Akhtar)
By Lena H. Sun
April 24, 2018 at 6:00 AM EDT
A SECRET LOCATION OUTSIDE WASHINGTON, D.C. — From the outside, it looks like an ordinary commercial warehouse, only much bigger, about the size of two super Walmarts. Inside it’s dark except when motion sensors are triggered. When the lights come on, hundreds of thousands of shrink-wrapped boxes of medicines emerge from the gloom, stacked on shelves nearly five stories high.

This is quite a different kind of warehouse. It and several others across the country are part of the $7 billion Strategic National Stockpile, a government repository of drugs and supplies ready for deployment in a bioterrorism or nuclear attack, or against an infectious disease outbreak — of either a known pathogen or some unknown threat with pandemic potential, which global health officials dub “Disease X” — or other major public health emergency. There are antibiotics, including the powerful medication Ciprofloxacin, vaccines for smallpox and anthrax and antivirals for a deadly influenza pandemic.

The need for biodefense has become more clear in the wake of outbreaks of Ebola in West Africa, Zika in the Americas, devastating wildfires and hurricanes, and the poisonings of the North Korean leader's half brother in Malaysia and former Russian spies in England with nerve and radiological agents. Last year, the federal government added three new chemicals to its list of high-priority threats, including chlorine and blister agents, such as mustard gas, that have been used in deadly chemical weapons attacks in Syria. On Monday, officials announced plans to add more anthrax antitoxin.


For nearly two decades, the repository has been almost exclusively managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That will change under a Trump administration plan to shift oversight of the $575 million program to a different part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Doing so, proponents say, will keep the program intact but streamline decision-making and create “efficiencies.”

But some public health officials and members of Congress in both parties worry the move will disrupt a complex process that relies on long-standing relationships between the federal program and the state and local agencies responsible for distributing the medicine. During a congressional hearing last week, lawmakers expressed concern that a change could risk the government’s ability to deliver lifesaving medical supplies to what public health officials call “the last mile” — to people in need during a disaster.

“You have spent years planning and exercising and training because you need to know what to do if 100,000 doses of Cipro showed up in your state,” said Ali Khan, who used to oversee the program and now is dean at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health. “How would you get it out? Who would dispense it? These parts are as critical as maintaining the medicines in pristine condition.”


He and other public health experts also question whether the administration’s plan will politicize decision-making about products bought for the stockpile. The office of the assistant secretary for preparedness and response (ASPR) oversees the process by which the government awards contracts to private biotechnology companies that develop and manufacture medicines such as anthrax vaccine. The CDC then is responsible for buying and replenishing the materials. Eligible medicines are tested by the Food and Drug Administration to check if, and for how long, the expiration date can be extended.

Come October, however, the ASPR will be in charge of choosing the products and then purchasing them for the stockpile. Proponents say the shift makes sense operationally to place key decisions about the repository under one office.

“I think this is a very good move,” said Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University. “It will help coordinate and organize the delivery of vital medical responses.”


But critics say it will allow biotech companies to lobby for more of their specialized, and often more expensive, drugs to be included because the federal government is often the only purchaser. Just because the government can buy these products, they say, doesn’t mean it should do so given the parallel need for medications, like antibiotics, that have much broader use.

And it’s not clear, they caution, whether the new structure will make Americans safer.

The stockpile should contain “the stuff we need for the disasters we know we’re going to have — like gloves, syringes, Cipro, penicillin, antibiotics, and influenza vaccines — versus the newest, sexiest version of the anthrax vaccine,” said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, who was Maryland’s health secretary during the 2001 terrorist and anthrax attacks.

Officials won't say how many stockpile warehouses exist. But there are at least six, according to a 2016 independent report. All the locations are secret, including this one in an industrial complex off a busy highway. A reporter allowed to tour the facility had to agree not to disclose the location. No camera, video equipment or cellphone is permitted inside.

Inside one of the warehouses of the Strategic National Stockpile are containers of medical supplies ready for shipment in the event of a large-scale public health incident. These supplies can be sent out within 12 hours of a federal decision to deploy. (CDC)
In the early hours of a crisis, the warehouse can send an affected city or region a “12-hour push package,” a pre-configured cache of 130 containers of antibiotics, syringes and oxygen tubing, enough to fill the belly of a widebody plane. “About 50 tons of materiel,” said Shirley Mabry, the stockpile’s chief logistics officer.


In the section of the warehouse where biologic drugs such as botulism antitoxins are stored at minus-4 degrees Fahrenheit, workers wear full-body insulated suits. Because of the intense cold they are limited to 20 minutes inside the two enormous freezers, just enough time to drive a forklift in and retrieve a pallet of medicine. An intensely loud vibrating sound makes conversation impossible.

Nationwide, the repository contains enough medical countermeasures to add up to more than 133,995 pallets. Laid flat, they’d cover more than 31 football fields — or 41 acres of land. They contain enough vaccine to protect every person in America from smallpox.

The stockpile program was created in 1999 under President Bill Clinton to respond to terrorist events, including the first World Trade Center bombing, the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway and the Oklahoma City bombing. The original goal was to be ready for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. The repository includes nearly 2,000 caches of nerve agent antidotes, known as Chempacks, that are stored and maintained separately from the warehouses at more than 1,300 locations around the country where they can be accessed quickly.


Over time, the stockpile’s mission has expanded to include natural disasters and emerging infectious disease threats. The stockpile deployed antiviral medicine during the 2009-2010 swine flu pandemic, and vaccines, portable cots and other supplies during the hurricanes that devastated Houston and Puerto Rico last year. As the only source of botulism antitoxin in the United States, it also sends medicine for about 100 cases a year of severe food poisoning.

The inventory exceeds 1,000 categories of drugs and other items, but CDC’s budget hasn’t always been able to keep up with the program’s ever-growing list of needs.

Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center became a shelter for those displaced by Hurricane Harvey. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
“It’s a mission among many pressing missions among the CDC,” said Tara O’Toole, who was undersecretary for science and technology under President Barack Obama and chaired a National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee in 2016 that reviewed the challenges facing the program. “Bottom line, it's a good idea to lay the responsibility of the cost of maintaining it on the same people who decide what to put in the stockpile.”


The group of federal agencies making decisions about what goes in the repository is led by the ASPR office, which is headed by former Air Force physician Robert Kadlec. He is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush on biodefense and former deputy staff director of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Kadlec stresses that the impending change has nothing to do with CDC’s performance. “The question here is whether we can get better efficiencies,” he said in an interview. At the same time, he said he will be able to advocate most effectively for the program to give it greater visibility, which could lead to more funding.

“Quite frankly, by the back of the envelope, they need more money,” he said.

When the stockpile was established, CDC was the only major public health agency in the federal government. The ASPR office, created in 2006 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to manage emergency responses across the government, was historically focused on natural disasters and threats from dirty bombs or crude biological or chemical weapons, he said. But since then, the world has changed, with many more unpredictable threats. The ASPR office needs to change to meet these threats. “The decision to move the stockpile, I think, was just a natural one,” Kadlec said.


Yet Congress has some bipartisan concerns about the stockpile’s future. Republican and Democratic appropriators, who just gave the program budget a slight boost for this year, signaled their unease as part of the recently passed spending bill. They specifically highlighted CDC’s “unique expertise in public health preparedness and response, science-based policy and decision-making, public health communication, and coordination with state and local groups.” Lawmakers also “strongly urged” HHS Secretary Alex Azar to “maintain a strong and central role for CDC” in the program.

Kadlec testified April 18 at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on next year's HHS biodefense budget. Rep. Tom Cole, (R-Okla.), who chairs the health subcommittee, told Kadlec his main concern is “that we make this organizational change in a way that makes [the stockpile] stronger, not one that's duplicative, let alone something that might disrupt the relationships we have.”

Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, faults the administration for failing to get “any input from Congress” despite the fact that lawmakers are in the process of reauthorizing the law that includes the Strategic National Stockpile.


“We have yet to see proof this large-scale public health program with complex state, local and federal partnerships would be better served at ASPR than at CDC,” Murray wrote in a letter in February to Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget director. At the CDC, she said, the program “may be better protected from politicization and therefore better able to be scientifically driven.”

Mulvaney defended the plan in his response, saying it will “streamline operational decisions during responses to public health and other emergencies and improve responsiveness.” It is unlikely Congress could derail the move, but appropriators have to fund it and still can provide direction and oversight.

At CDC, the program’s current director is hoping its planned move this fall will provide new ways to improve the stockpile’s capability. Regardless of where it is located within HHS, Greg Burel said, in an emergency “we will not change the way we respond.”

Read more:

CDC seeks new labs for bioterror pathogens to replace aging facility

In emotional speech, CDC's new director vows to uphold science

This woman is first human infected with rare eye worm


0 Comments
Lena Sun
Lena H. Sun is a national reporter for The Washington Post covering health with a special focus on public health and infectious disease. A longtime reporter at The Post, she has covered the Metro transit system, immigration, education and was a Beijing

Fun fact about the stockpile--since as a Public Health employee---we basically are taught to be preppers and we know where our regional Stockpile is and how to set up shop within 12 hrs since it takes that long to helicopter it into our area. We have a small local one as well as its mostly push packs and vaccines, stuff for anthrax, malaria, influenza, masks, gloves, etc... Its why DeSantis wants Trump to call an emergency to our state so we can be on alert for deployment.

1. A stockpile actually was developed pre-WWII. And it was actually 3X as large than it currently is. It went away in the 70's because its SUPER SUPER expensive.You have to replace expiring equipment, mes, prophylaxis, antidotes, and buy more. Yes there are smallpox meds there too. (also, the conspiracies that the gov't keeps strains of disease on hand is true--so they can develop meds/vaccines for new strains when they mutate so the reasons are practical, same for the patents they keep on drugs and meds) But it had everything- hundreds of millions of masks, there ARE VENTILATORS charged and ready to go, equipment, hazmat, shields, vaccines, drugs, etc. Its impressive and however you're thinking now, think bigger. Its impressive now but it was even bigger before. Its hard to keep and this is the issue citizens have when keeping prep materials for themselves for a pandemic/disaster that may never come (but here we are).
2. Clinton was the one who actually reauthorized it in 1999 and renamed it the national stockpile. It was for military only and Clinton made one for citizens which is the one we have. It included lots of trucks, raw materials for bombs, buildings, etc, and what we have as part of SNS now but again, much bigger.
3. Unfortunately---for equipment its already strained.
4. One of the problems that they are saying but not saying is that state governments cannot purchase because they are being outbid by the Federal government...The only reason the Feds are buying stuff is because of one reason----to replenish the stockpile due to what I mentioned in #3.
 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
Ive been curious about this since I saw Contagion. I would love to get an understanding of the distribution plans and some of the other logistics involved.
Usually the military is involved but your local health departments are set up and trained to dispense materials and set up PODS (points of dispensions) so people can drive through. I mentioned way upthread a week or so ago about our team at our HD training yearly on how to set up PODS. We go into an incident command structure based on experience and training and work with local law enforcement, fire, EMS, military if need be. We have to have all of them involved because we are trained to also expect the "Worried well" to come in and cause a ruckus/panic/threats, often taking resources away from the people who actually HAVE symptoms of say Anthrax. We usually recieve screening citeria for PODS depending on the contaigion from the CDC by the time we set up. We already know that based on current Stockpile levels at the last inventory...if we had an Anthrax exposure and more than 50K are affected....get out of dodge or hunker in place. Our city has 200K souls living here. We are trained for these things but politicians are not and have NO idea. The State of Florida, including our HD is tapped ALL THE TIME to teach and educate other states. We definitely know disasters down here.

when this structure breaks down or resources runs out...the military takes over. At this point HD staff are relieved....We did have this with Hurricane Irma when the entire state was affected based on its path. Gov. Rick Scott smartly declared an emergency while it was still far out. The year before he was slow even though Andrew Gillum who was Mayor here got things going locally very fast. Of course Scott was acting all Trump-like so he and Scott fought it out...a lot. It ws a pain to witness.
 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
Is it required by law to have temp taken? My husband is a trucker and I suspect he wouldn't be Ok with this either. He would most likely leave items outside..
Can you request a designated drop off area outside?
No. Its not a state law or mandate. The State Surgeon General is asking us to screen based on Gov. DeSantis' recommendations bc we are a state entity that is essential services... We actually depend on them for lifting it bc mostly women work here. They are actually delivering needed materials like Special formula for medically complex kids and babies and gloves, sanitizing wipes, etc to protect the nurses. We are going to have to suck it up and lift it ourselves but this could present another risk to the employee. The delivery people are coming in contact with many other people in the area and then us. Exposure = risk, and our attempts to screen being ignored helps no one. The fed ex worker who barged in there yesterday had a high temperature (104) and could have some kind of medical issue; Flu, COVID, Strep, who knows? He wouldnt even call his doctor or the Main Health dept line so what can we do? He could be in the hospital within weeks---he is just hurting himself....But he is walking around possibly sick not even caring. Just wants to do his job and wants us to leave him alone. The UPS guy will be here tomorrow and we'll be calling dispatch with his truck number.
 

Ganjababy

Well-Known Member
Is anyone having problems concentrating? I am doing 2 online courses and I am struggling to concentrate. I would just not bother but I need the certificate and I cannot afford to waste the money. It’s only the thought of the money going down the drain why I bother to do the work. But it’s soooo tedious because of my lack of interest. I just want to watch the news and then when that’s too much escape with movies and tv shows...
 

Bette Davis Eyes

The "OG" Product Junkie
No. Its not a state law or mandate. The State Surgeon General is asking us to screen based on Gov. DeSantis' recommendations bc we are a state entity that is essential services... We actually depend on them for lifting it bc mostly women work here. They are actually delivering needed materials like Special formula for medically complex kids and babies and gloves, sanitizing wipes, etc to protect the nurses. We are going to have to suck it up and lift it ourselves but this could present another risk to the employee. The delivery people are coming in contact with many other people in the area and then us. Exposure = risk, and our attempts to screen being ignored helps no one. The fed ex worker who barged in there yesterday had a high temperature (104) and could have some kind of medical issue; Flu, COVID, Strep, who knows? He wouldnt even call his doctor or the Main Health dept line so what can we do? He could be in the hospital within weeks---he is just hurting himself....But he is walking around possibly sick not even caring. Just wants to do his job and wants us to leave him alone. The UPS guy will be here tomorrow and we'll be calling dispatch with his truck number.

Leave the boxes in a designated area and spray those suckers before yall push/open them somewhere closer possibly ?
 

Layluh

Well-Known Member
Is anyone having problems concentrating? I am doing 2 online courses and I am struggling to concentrate. I would just not bother but I need the certificate and I cannot afford to waste the money. It’s only the thought of the money going down the drain why I bother to do the work. But it’s soooo tedious because of my lack of interest. I just want to watch the news and then when that’s too much escape with movies and tv shows...
Im taking calculus online. Tell me about it!
 

Chicoro

5 Year Shea Anniversary: Started Dec 16th, 2016!
Fun fact about the stockpile--since as a Public Health employee---we basically are taught to be preppers and we know where our regional Stockpile is and how to set up shop within 12 hrs since it takes that long to helicopter it into our area. We have a small local one as well as its mostly push packs and vaccines, stuff for anthrax, malaria, influenza, masks, gloves, etc... Its why DeSantis wants Trump to call an emergency to our state so we can be on alert for deployment.

1. A stockpile actually was developed pre-WWII. And it was actually 3X as large than it currently is. It went away in the 70's because its SUPER SUPER expensive.You have to replace expiring equipment, mes, prophylaxis, antidotes, and buy more. Yes there are smallpox meds there too. (also, the conspiracies that the gov't keeps strains of disease on hand is true--so they can develop meds/vaccines for new strains when they mutate so the reasons are practical, same for the patents they keep on drugs and meds) But it had everything- hundreds of millions of masks, there ARE VENTILATORS charged and ready to go, equipment, hazmat, shields, vaccines, drugs, etc. Its impressive and however you're thinking now, think bigger. Its impressive now but it was even bigger before. Its hard to keep and this is the issue citizens have when keeping prep materials for themselves for a pandemic/disaster that may never come (but here we are).
2. Clinton was the one who actually reauthorized it in 1999 and renamed it the national stockpile. It was for military only and Clinton made one for citizens which is the one we have. It included lots of trucks, raw materials for bombs, buildings, etc, and what we have as part of SNS now but again, much bigger.
3. Unfortunately---for equipment its already strained.
4. One of the problems that they are saying but not saying is that state governments cannot purchase because they are being outbid by the Federal government...The only reason the Feds are buying stuff is because of one reason----to replenish the stockpile due to what I mentioned in #3.

I remember hearing I think gov of New York saying that the Federal Government kept out bidding them. I didn't understand this for many reasons. Now you have explained it in conjunction with the article posted by @Layluh about the stockpile. I understand it now! Another piece of the puzzle has locked into place. Thank you @naturalgyrl5199 . So...ahm...what else you want to share?
 

nycutiepie

Well-Known Member
Is anyone having problems concentrating? I am doing 2 online courses and I am struggling to concentrate. I would just not bother but I need the certificate and I cannot afford to waste the money. It’s only the thought of the money going down the drain why I bother to do the work. But it’s soooo tedious because of my lack of interest. I just want to watch the news and then when that’s too much escape with movies and tv shows...
I’m in the same boat but I’m running around my house doing nothing...I have a zillion things to do.
 

awhyley

Well-Known Member
Formally Declaring an Emergency in a City and How it Impacts City Workers Who Perform Trash Pick-Up
  1. City must declare a state of Emergency.
  2. Depending upon the union contract of the city, the city must then have to pay union workers to come to work during the emergency.
  3. Usually, if it is in the union contract, then they city must pay those workers an escalated rate also known as hazard pay. (Learned this from Omari Hardwick video).

Pittsburgh has declared an Emergency but it looks like there is nothing place in the contract for the workers who do the trash pickup that gets invoked automatically in a state of emergency.


Whoa. I hope that these guys get sorted out, because if they back down, no one's going to remember this when the virus has passed. The government is having all kinds of meetings to give out money, so they needs to invoke and give these guys their dollars.
 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
I remember hearing I think gov of New York saying that the Federal Government kept out bidding them. I didn't understand this for many reasons. Now you have explained it in conjunction with the article posted by @Layluh about the stockpile. I understand it now! Another piece of the puzzle has locked into place. Thank you @naturalgyrl5199 . So...ahm...what else you want to share?
Nothing new. Hunker down. Keep personal home inventory monitored and make supply runs as needed. Be prepared for a possible total shut down even if there isnt one.
 
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