Stanford doctor: COVID lockdowns are ‘biggest public health mistake we’ve ever made’

COVID-19 lockdowns constitute the “biggest public health mistake we’ve ever made,” according to Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University Medical School professor. He says he bases this conclusion on two basic facts: the risk and danger of the virus is far greater for older people than it is for all others; and that, “Lockdowns themselves are harmful” because they “are not a natural, normal way to live.” CNS News

 

New York labor department investigating fireman’s medical emergency

The New York Department of Labor’s Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau is looking into what happened at the New York State Academy of Fire Science, where a fireman last week had a medical emergency while training with a breathing apparatus. WWNY (Watertown, N.Y.)

 

Employees of Michigan food processing plant claim exposures to harmful chemicals

Employees of an asparagus processing facility in Oceana County, Michigan claim that, in 2019, a persistent chemical smell caused eyes to water, throats to itch and heads to ache. One employee alleges the smell from the chemicals became so overpowering, she passed out in a bathroom and had to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Now, they’ve filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages from the owner. Michigan Radio

 

Syracuse-area man in serious condition after logging accident

A 53-year-old man was injured last week while logging in an extremely wet and dense portion of the Cicero Swamp, near Syracuse, New York. Fed-OSHA is investigating. LocalSYR

 

Fed-OSHA has issued guidance but little else for maritime employees

Ten months after CQ Roll Call spoke to the head of a steelworkers union in Virginia, he said they still haven’t heard directly from Fed-OSHA or had an in-person visit to employee safety during the pandemic. Roll Call [with video]

 

Suspected ammonia leak at Georgia poultry plant where January gas leak killed 6

A refrigeration company and firemen were called on Thursday afternoon to a northeast Georgia chicken processing plant where a liquid nitrogen leak killed six employees in January. In the earlier incident, all of the victims were found to have died from asphyxia due to liquid nitrogen exposure. Minneapolis Star-Tribune