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Showing posts with the label covid-19

Business changed during COVID, but Lisa's rental didn't. So he moved to the corner

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In Williamstown, about 10 kilometers southwest of Melbourne’s city centre, Lisa Malkin Hill helped run the family clothing store that traded in Douglas Parade for 27 years. Last year, he said they had no choice but to move about 200 meters round the corner because they could no longer afford the rent. He said they found it very difficult to negotiate with their landlords when the pandemic hit. “We need their help,” he said. “Given we’ve been good tenants for a long time. Will they work with us so we can both survive?” After months of negotiations, the business was finally able to reach a secret lease assistance agreement with the owner. The homeowner said COVID had also affected him greatly. Lisa Malkin Hill said the storefront she left in Williamstown remained empty a year after she moved her business. ( ABC News: Scott Jewel ) Some suburban rental like city rates When Ms Malkin Hill’s lease ended, they left the property in search of a more reasonable lease. “The rent in Williamstown

AI model detects people's attitudes towards vaccines from their social media posts

People’s attitudes towards vaccines can now be detected from their social media posts with a smart AI model, developed by researchers at the University of Warwick. An AI-based model can analyze social media posts and determine the author’s attitude towards vaccines, by being ‘trained’ to recognize that attitude from a small number of sample tweets. As a simple example, if a post contains mention of distrust of health care institutions, fear of needles, or something related to a known conspiracy theory, the model can recognize that the person who wrote it may have negative feelings about vaccinations. The research, funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will be presented today (12 July) at the North American Association of Computational Linguistics Annual Conference 2022. It is led by Professor Yulan He from the University’s Department of Computer Science, supported by a 5-year Turing AI Fellowship funded by the EPSRC. Professor He and his colleagues at the University of Warwick h

Experts urge vigilance in rushing to define the long term COVID

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While the old COVID-19, also known as the post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), is a rapidly emerging health crisis across the US and abroad, there is no practical medical definition for it — and it may not be the case. the bad ones, say experts. There are overarching definitions for long-term COVID, such as that from the CDC, which states that long-term COVID-19 is first identifiable “at least four weeks after infection,” and WHO, which says that it occurs “usually within three months of the onset of COVID-19, with symptoms and effects that last for at least two months.” The medical community has taken a more clinical swing in defining the term COVID in an effort to improve patient care. The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation has listed 50 different symptoms that may be associated with prolonged COVID-19. Scrolling through patient-driven forums, such as a Reddit channel called r/covidlonghaulers, reveals a wider list of symptoms. However, researchers and do