Paris climate agreement still alive

[2/19/21] U.S. rejoins Paris accord

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[12/15/18] KATOWICE, Poland — Diplomats from nearly 200 countries reached a deal on Saturday to keep the Paris climate agreement alive by adopting a detailed set of rules to implement the pact.

The deal, struck after an all-night bargaining session, will ultimately require every country in the world to follow a uniform set of standards for measuring their planet-warming emissions and tracking their climate policies. And it calls on countries to step up their plans to cut emissions ahead of another round of talks in 2020.

It also calls on richer countries to be clearer about the aid they intend to offer to help poorer nations install more clean energy or build resilience against natural disasters. And it builds a process in which countries that are struggling to meet their emissions goals can get help in getting back on track.

The United States agreed to the deal despite President Trump’s vow to abandon the Paris Agreement. Diplomats and climate change activists said they hoped that fact would make it easier for the administration to change its mind and stay in the Paris Agreement, or for a future president to embrace the accord once again. The United States cannot formally withdraw from the agreement until late 2020.

flu almost wiped out?

The number of individuals experiencing influenza has reportedly dropped to record lows.

Simon de Lusignan, a professor of primary care at the University of Oxford and director of the Royal College of GPs research and surveillance centre, told the Sunday Times that the flu has dropped by 95%, which is the lowest average in more than 130 years.

The study reports just 1.1 individuals among 100,000 were reported to be experiencing flu-like symptoms during the second week of January, which is typically the peak of flu season.

“I cannot think of a year this has happened,” de Lusignan told the Times.

John McCauley, director of the the WHO's collaborating centre for reference and research on influenza, added that rates haven't been this low since 1888, prior to the 1889-90 flu pandemic and "when we were still just counting influenza deaths."

The World Health Organization's Norio Sugaya called the historically low rates "an extremely puzzling phenomenon," and the WHO believes the measures taken globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, including wearing masks and limiting social distancing, have likely helped in limiting the spread of influenza, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The WHO said an increase in flu vaccinations may have also contributed to the lower rates this year. Doctors said awareness of COVID-19 helped drive flu vaccinations, with more than 80% of the elderly population in England receiving a shot this season, which was more than 10% more than the previous year.

Additionally, the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may have also played a role in blocking the flu by lifting individuals' immunity to other viruses.

A New York study conducted in spring 2020 revealed individuals who tested positive for SARS-Cov-2 were much less likely to be carrying other common viruses, including those related to influenza.

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[2/4/21] With COVID-19 precautions in place, flu is nowhere to be seen in Hawaii