Elderly people are believed to be especially susceptible to the coronavirus. As a result, many senior living facilities have been on lockdown mode, not allowing visitors in order to protect the residents. But experts say this social isolation could lead to feelings of loneliness for many seniors.  One virtual reality company, MyndVR, is donating VR headsets to all 50 U.S. states to keep seniors engaged.  VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports on the potential benefits of a virtual reality experience.
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Outside of rural areas and some medical practices, telemedicine in the U.S. has been slow to catch on. But the pandemic’s social-distancing requirement has accelerated the use of telemedicine worldwide, particularly primary care visits over video chat. Doctor and patient alike are learning that a lot can be accomplished remotely. Michelle Quinn takes a look.
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When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the United States in mid-March, visits to doctors’ offices dropped precipitously as people stayed home to protect themselves from the virus.But the stay-at-home order has spurred people to seek medical help in another way – talking to a doctor over the phone, email or video, according to a new study.Now, 30% of all outpatient visits are televisits, up from less than 1% in early March, FILE – A patient sits in the living room of her apartment in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Jan. 14, 2019, during a telemedicine video conference with her doctor.Waiting for the telemedicine revolutionCommunicating electronically with a doctor isn’t new. With some specialties such as dermatology and mental health, phone or video appointments are common.In many U.S. rural communities, which have seen a decline in the number of hospitals and doctors, telemedicine has been a lifeline.But when it comes to primary care, doctors, patients and regulators alike have mostly stuck with how medical care has been delivered forever: in-person meetings.Some doctors say a lot can be accomplished over video.“Looking at a rash, looking at a spot on an arm, that’s perfect for telehealth, because we have the video capabilities,” said Dr. Edward Lee, an internal medicine physician and chief information officer at the Permanente Federation, a consortium of eight medical groups that deliver care to Kaiser Permanente’s 12.2 million patients and members.FILE – A telemedicine hub, run by Avera Health, is seen in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, June 22, 2015.“If I needed to do an injection, if I need to do a minor procedure, I’m not going to be able to do that over video or a phone,” he said. “And so, in those situations where there are urgent needs, we would bring the patient in to see us.”
Mehrotra, the Harvard professor, says doctors and patients are embracing telemedicine now, out of necessity, but are also realizing its limits.“Given what I’ve heard from clinicians who’ve tried it, I have to think this will accelerate growth in the post-pandemic period,” he said. “But I’m also hearing from a lot of doctors, ‘It’s cool, but I like in-person visits. I can’t do the tests, I can’t do the full exam.’”Paying the same for video and in-person visits
Policy decisions are also driving the adoption of telemedicine. Until the pandemic, government agencies and insurers paid less than half their normal amount for telemedicine visits. Now they have increased the pay for a televisit so it is on par with an in-person one, according to Kaiser Health News.Federal regulators have also paused enforcing patient privacy rules, so that doctors can use popular applications like Skype, FaceTime and Whatsapp, according to Consumer Reports. The alternative for hospitals and doctors is finding a telemedicine firm that provides secure video calls, a process that can be time consuming.Mehrotra questions whether widespread adoption of telemedicine, post-pandemic, is the right course for U.S. health care.But one place where telemedicine might make huge strides, he said, is in rural parts of developing countries, places where access to health care can be difficult.“Telemedicine has great potential in that context,” he said. “It can be life-saving.” 
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Apple Inc. plans to sell Mac computers with its own main processors by next year based on the chip designs currently used in its iPhones and iPads, Bloomberg reported Thursday.The iPhone maker is working on three Mac processors based on the A14 processor in its next iPhone, suggesting the company will transition more of its Mac lineup away from current supplier Intel Corp., the report added, citing people familiar with the matter.Apple started using Intel’s processors in 2006 and a year later all Mac computers featured its chips. Since then, Intel has made chips for other Apple products such as modem chips for its iPhones.Apple has always relied on outside suppliers for its modem chips, a crucial part that connects devices like the iPhone to wireless data networks.In a bid to make its own chips, Apple bought a majority of Intel’s modem business last July for $1 billion and settled a long legal battle with supplier Qualcomm Inc. over the chipmaker’s patent licensing practices.Apple’s Mac computers generated $7.16 billion in revenue in the last reported quarter while Intel’s PC unit that includes modem chip sales recorded $10 billion in sales in the last quarter.Apple was planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, Bloomberg reported in April 2018.Apple and Intel did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comments.
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Google said Thursday it would expand its program of verification of advertisers on its platform as part of an effort to weed out fraud and “bad actors.”   The internet giant and global leader in digital advertising said it would start by verifying advertisers in phases in the United States and expand the program globally.   The move builds on Google’s efforts launched in 2018 to verify political advertisers with a requirement to indicate where they are located.    Google’s action comes amid growing concerns over ads promoting fraud or fake treatment for coronavirus, among other things.   “As part of this initiative, advertisers will be required to complete a verification program in order to buy ads on our network,” Google’s ads integrity chief John Canfield said in a blog post.   “Advertisers will need to submit personal identification, business incorporation documents or other information that proves who they are and the country in which they operate.”   With the change, which will take “a few years” to complete, according to Canfield, users will be able to click on a link to get information about specific advertisers.   “This change will make it easier for people to understand who the advertiser is behind the ads they see from Google and help them make more informed decisions when using our advertising controls,” he said.   “It will also help support the health of the digital advertising ecosystem by detecting bad actors and limiting their attempts to misrepresent themselves.” 
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Zoom Video Communications Inc. said Wednesday it was upgrading the encryption features on its video conferencing app to quell safety concerns as its users surged by 50 percent in the past three weeks.Zoom now has over 300 million daily users after adding 100 million in the last 22 days, the company said, even as it faces a barrage of criticism from cyber security experts and users alike over bugs in its codes and the lack of end-to-end encryption of its chat sessions.The use of Zoom has soared with corporate offices, political parties, school districts, organizations and millions across the world working from home after lockdowns were enforced to slow the spread of the coronavirus.The app’s issues, including “Zoombombing” incidents where uninvited guests crash meetings, led to several companies, schools and governments to stop using the platform.In response, the company said it would be rolling out a new version of the app, Zoom 5.0 within the week.The company, which competes with Microsoft Teams and Cisco’s Webex has also launched a 90-day plan to improve the app and appointed former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos as an adviser.Zoom said it had made several changes to its user interface, including offering password protection and giving more controls to meeting hosts to check unruly participants.To account for criticism that the company had routed some data through Chinese servers, Zoom said an account admin can now choose data center regions for their meetings.Zoom shares closed up nearly 5 percent at $150.25 on Wednesday. 
  
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Far-right computer hackers have published nearly 25,000 email addresses allegedly belonging to several major organizations fighting the coronavirus pandemic, including the World Health Organization, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the World Bank.The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activities, has yet to confirm the addresses are genuine but said that the hackers posted the email addresses across far-right messaging and chat sites, as well as Twitter, this week.“Using the data, far-right extremists were calling for a harassment campaign while sharing conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic,” SITE Executive Director Rita Katz said. “The distribution of these alleged email credentials was just another part of a monthslong initiative across the far right to weaponize the COVID-19 pandemic.”It is unclear where the hackers got the email addresses. Other victims of the hacks include the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Gates Foundation; and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a research center in the Chinese city where the COVID-19 outbreak began in December.While those affected by the security breach did not comment on the specifics of the case, NIH and the Gates Foundation both said they consistently monitor data security and take appropriate action.A Twitter spokeswoman said the company is taking action to remove in bulk any links that send users to far-right websites where the alleged email addresses can be found.An Australian cybersecurity expert, Robert Potter, told The Washington Post that the WHO’s password security is appalling and that he was able to get into its computer system simply by using email addresses the WHO posted on the internet.“Forty-eight people have ‘password’ as their password,” Potter said, adding that others used their own first name or the word “changeme.”He said the right-wingers may have been able to buy the WHO passwords on what is called the dark web, a part of the internet that is not seen by search engines.Megan Squire, a computer science professor at Elon College in North Carolina who monitors right-wing extremism online, said neo-Nazis and white supremacists are looking to exploit the coronavirus pandemic to stir up violence, chaos and anti-Semitism, hoping it will all lead to a collapse of society and a white power takeover.“The fantasizing about it is not limited. They are really doing that to a great extent — openly fantasizing about how this is the event they’ve been waiting for, this is going to bring about the societal collapse they all hope for … bringing down infrastructure and so on. That’s all fantasy/hopefulness on their part.”Squire said the password hack may be part of an effort to get people to read the WHO or Gates Foundation emails to look for what the extremists believe are conspiracies surrounding the pandemic, including far-right theories that the coronavirus was created and deliberately released from the Chinese or that COVID-19 is part of a Jewish plot.Masood Farivar contributed to this report.
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France’s parliament votes next week on plans to use a controversial tracing app to help fight the coronavirus, as the country eyes easing its lockdown next month.French Digital Affairs Minister Cedric O says the downloadable app would notify smartphone users when they cross people with COVID-19, helping authorities track and reduce the spread of the pandemic.In a video on the ruling party’s Facebook page, O said the so-called “Stop COVID” app will fully respect people’s liberties, and will be completely voluntary and anonymous. It also will be temporary — lasting only as long as the pandemic, he added.A man rides his bike in an empty street during a nationwide confinement to counter the COVID-19 in Paris, April 21, 2020.The government wants to launch the app on May 11, the date it has set to begin easing a two-month lockdown in the country. It initially announced a parliamentary debate on the technology, but that’s been changed to a vote, after major pushback from lawmakers.The app’s critics include ruling party member Guillaume Chiche, who told French TV the app would reveal people’s health status and lead to discrimination and exclusion.He’s not the only one worried.”We think that it is very dangerous for the government to say to French people that the solution will be this kind of application,” said Benoit Piedallu, a member of La Quadrature du Net, an advocacy group defending digital rights and freedoms.The potential problems he sees range from chances the app could infringe on individual liberties, to whether it would actually work effectively.”We think that the digital application is not the correct answer to this problem,” Piedallu said. “The government should buy masks, the government should open new hospitals. … There are a lot of other solutions than an application.”A recent poll showed eight in 10 French respondents said they would be willing to download the app. But Piedallu believes the numbers of those actually using it will likely be much smaller, and many seniors —who are among the most vulnerable to the coronavirus — don’t have smartphones.France isn’t the only European country working on tracing apps and sparking similar rights debates, including in neighboring Germany. Reports say the French government is also pushing Apple to allow the app to work on its iPhones without built-in privacy measures.  
 
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The CCTV footage from a Dutch business park shows a man in a black cap pouring the contents of a white container at the base of a cellular radio tower. Flames burst out as the man jogs back to his Toyota to flee into the evening.
It’s a scene that’s been repeated dozens of times in recent weeks in Europe, where conspiracy theories linking new 5G mobile networks and the coronavirus pandemic are fueling arson attacks on cell towers.
Popular beliefs and conspiracy theories that wireless communications pose a threat have long been around, but the global spread of the virus at the same time that countries were rolling out fifth generation wireless technology has seen some of those false narratives amplified.
Officials in Europe and the U.S. are watching the situation closely and pushing back, concerned that attacks will undermine vital telecommunications links at a time they’re most needed to deal with the pandemic.
“I’m absolutely outraged, absolutely disgusted, that people would be taking action against the very infrastructure that we need to respond to this health emergency,” Stephen Powis, medical director of the National Health Service in England, said in early April.
Some 50 fires targeting cell towers and other equipment have been reported in Britain this month, leading to three arrests. Telecom engineers have been abused on the job 80 times, according to trade group Mobile UK, making the U.K. the nucleus of the attacks. Photos and videos documenting the attacks are often overlaid with false commentary about COVID-19. Some 16 have been torched in the Netherlands, with attacks also reported in Ireland, Cyprus, and Belgium.
Posts threatening to attack phone masts were receiving likes on Facebook. One post in an anti-vaccine group on April 12 shared a photo of a burned phone mast with the quote, “Nobody wants cancer & covid19. Stop trying to make it happen or every pole and mobile store will end up like this one.”
The trend received extra attention in Britain when a tower supplying voice and data traffic to a Birmingham field hospital treating coronavirus patients was among those targeted.
“It’s heart-rending enough that families cannot be there at the bedside of loved ones who are critically ill,” Nick Jeffery, CEO of wireless carrier Vodafone UK, said on LinkedIn. “It’s even more upsetting that even the small solace of a phone or video call may now be denied them because of the selfish actions of a few deluded conspiracy theorists.”
False narratives around 5G and the coronavirus have been shared hundreds of thousands of times on social media. They vary widely from claims that the coronavirus is a coverup for 5G deployment to those that say new 5G installations have created the virus.
“To be concerned that 5G is somehow driving the COVID-19 epidemic is just wrong,” Dr. Jonathan Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health who chaired a World Health Organization committee that researched cell phone radiation and cancer. “I just don’t find any plausible way to link them.”
Anti-5G activists are undeterred.
Susan Brinchman, director of the Center for Electrosmog Prevention, a nonprofit campaigning against “environmental electromagnetic pollution,” says that people have a right to be concerned about 5G and links to COVID-19. “The entire 5G infrastructure should be dismantled and turned off,” she said by email.
But there’s no evidence that wireless communications – whether 5G or earlier versions – harm the immune system, said Myrtill Simko, scientific director of SciProof International in Sweden, who has spent decades researching the matter.
The current wave of 5G theories dates back to January, when a Belgian doctor suggested a link to COVID-19. Older variations were circulating before that, mostly revolving around cellphone radiation causing cancer, spreading on Reddit forums, Facebook pages and YouTube channels. Even with daily wireless use among vast majority of adults, the National Cancer Institute has not seen an increase in brain tumors.
The theories gained momentum in 2019 from Russian state media outlets, which helped push them into U.S. domestic conversation, disinformation experts say.
Ryan Fox, who tracks disinformation as chief innovation officer at AI company Yonder, said he noticed an abnormal spike last year in mentions around 5G across Russian state media, with most of the narratives playing off people’s fears around 5G and whether it could cause cancer.
“Were they the loudest voice at that time and did they amplify this conspiracy enough that it helped fuel its long-term success? Yes,” he said.  
The conspiracy theories have also been elevated by celebrities including actor Woody Harrelson who shared a video claiming people in China were taking down a 5G tower. It was actually a Hong Kong “smart lamppost” cut down by pro-democracy protesters in August over China surveillance fears. British TV host Eamonn Holmes gave credence to the theories on a talk show, drawing a rebuke from regulators.
“I want to be very clear here,” European Commission spokesman Johannes Bahrke said Friday, as the arson toll rose daily. “There is no geographic or any other correlation between the deployment of 5G and the outbreak of the virus.” 
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Australia says Facebook and Google will soon have to pay news outlets for their content.  Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced Monday that the government’s watchdog group, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, will unveil a mandatory code of conduct by July that will address the disparity between news outlets and internet giants when it comes to online advertising revenue. Facebook and Google receive nearly all online advertising spent in Australia.   The new rules are being undertaken after 18 months of talks with the U.S. tech companies over a voluntary code of conduct failed to yield an agreement. Australia would be the third western country in the world to impose such a plan, following similar moves by Spain and France.   Australian media companies have lost millions of dollars in advertising revenue in just the last month alone thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.   Facebook issued a statement that it was “disappointed” by the government’s decision, noting that it had begun a multi-million dollar investment in Australia’s news industry, while Google said it will continue to work with Australian news outlets, the ACCC and government to develop a code of conduct.  
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A senior cybersecurity official with the FBI said on Thursday that foreign government hackers have broken into companies conducting research into treatments for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.FBI Deputy Assistant Director Tonya Ugoretz told participants in an online panel discussion hosted by the Aspen Institute that the bureau had recently seen state-backed hackers poking around a series of health care and research institutions.”We certainly have seen reconnaissance activity, and some intrusions, into some of those institutions, especially those that have publicly identified themselves as working on COVID-related research,” she said.Ugoretz said it made sense for institutions working on promising treatments or a potential vaccine to tout their work publicly. However, she said, “The sad flipside is that it kind of makes them a mark for other nation-states that are interested in gleaning details about what exactly they’re doing and maybe even stealing proprietary information that those institutions have.”Ugoretz said that state-backed hackers had often targeted biopharmaceutical industry but said “it’s certainly heightened during this crisis.” She did not name specific countries or identify targeted organizations.”Medical research organizations and those who work for them should be vigilant against threat actors seeking to steal intellectual property or other sensitive data related to America’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Bill Evanina, Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. “Now is the time to protect the critical research you’re conducting.”The FBI declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had no immediate comment.    
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A mobile alert created in South Africa is putting information about coronavirus into the hands of millions. Praekelt.org has gone global … raising awareness about COVID-19. VOA’s Salem Solomon has the story.
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