Page 3 - aruba-today-20190824

A3
U.S. NEWS Saturday 24 auguSt 2019

Illinois patient’s death may be first in US tied to vaping

By D. BABWIN / M. STOBBE of the illnesses hasn’t been nois agency said the num-
Associated Press identified and that they ber of people who con-
CHICAGO (AP) — Health are being called “potential tracted a respiratory illness
officials said Friday that an cases” that are still under after vaping had doubled
Illinois patient who con- investigation. in the past week, to 22.
tracted a serious lung dis- All of the sickened have “The severity of illness peo-
ease after vaping has died been teens or adults who ple are experiencing is
and that they consider it had used an electronic cig- alarming and we must get
the first death in the United arette or some other kind the word out that using e-
States linked to the smok- of vaping device. Doctors cigarettes and vaping can
ing alternative that has be- say the illnesses resemble be dangerous,” IDPH Direc-
come popular with teens an inhalation injury, with tor Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in
and young adults. the lungs apparently react- the release.
The Illinois Department of ing to a caustic substance. Electronic cigarettes have
Public Health the adult pa- So far, infectious diseases been described as a less
tient was hospitalized after have been ruled out. dangerous alternative to In this Tuesday, April 10, 2018 photo, Marshfield High School
falling ill following vaping, The illnesses have been re- regular cigarettes, but Principal Robert Keuther displays vaping devices that were
though it didn’t give other ported since late June, but health officials have been confiscated from students in such places as restrooms or
information about the per- the total count has risen worried about kids using hallways at the school in Marshfield, Mass.
son, including the patient’s quickly in the past week. them. Most of the concern Associated Press
name, age, hometown or That may be partly be- has focused on nicotine, the high-inducing ingredi- Health officials said they
date of death. cause cases that weren’t which health officials say ent in marijuana. CDC offi- need to gather more infor-
The state received the re- initially being linked to is harmful to developing cials said they do not have mation.
port of the death Thursday, vaping have begun to be brains and might make kids a breakdown of how many “Investigators haven’t iden-
said Dr. Jennifer Layden, grouped that way. more likely to take up cig- of the sick people vaped tified any specific product
the Illinois agency’s chief Among the newest reports arettes. But some vaping THC. or compound that is linked
medical officer. are two in Connecticut, products have been found The American Vaping As- to all of the cases,” Ileana
Officials with the Centers four in Iowa and six in Ohio. to contain other potentially sociation, an advocacy Arias, a CDC official who
for Disease Control and Health officials are asking harmful substances, includ- group, issued a statement oversees non-infectious dis-
Prevention said Friday that doctors and hospitals to tell ing flavoring chemicals arguing that “tainted, black ease, said during a Friday
193 people in 22 states state health officials about and oils used for vaping market THC products” are call with reporters. She also
have contracted severe any possible vaping-relat- marijuana, experts say. to blame. The group called said the sickened might
respiratory illnesses after ed lung disease cases they A number of the people on federal officials to clear be dealing with different
vaping. However, they said encounter. who got sick had vaped nicotine vaping products illnesses that have similar
a clear-cut common cause In its news release, the Illi- products containing THC, of suspicion. symptoms.q

North Carolina allows bar code ballots despite voter outcry

By EMERY P. DALESIO dangerous in this country. I all 50 states were targeted
Associated Press work hard to prevent that.” by foreign adversaries in
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North People objecting to bar 2016. The Russian govern-
Carolina election officials code ballots are “inconsis- ment directed “extensive
on Friday certified bar tent at best” because they activity” against U.S. elec-
code ballots for use in elec- accept the technology tion systems ahead of the
tions starting next year de- when it tracks their grocery 2016 presidential elec-
spite an outcry that they purchases, Republican tion, said the committee
can’t be trusted by voters board member Ken Ray- chaired by Sen. Richard
uncertain their choices are mond said. Burr, a North Carolina Re-
accurately counted. But public confidence in publican.
The State Board of Elec- accurately recorded votes Special Counsel Robert
tions voted 3-2 to allow a is a bigger concern than Mueller warned during a
voting-machine maker to whether a checkout scan- congressional hearing in
sell equipment that digi- ner correctly totals grocer- July that Russian election
tizes votes into bar code ies, elections board mem- interference was continu-
data, which is then tallied ber Stella Anderson said. ing even today.
by the company’s count- “We have heard voters The state panel authorized
ing machines. Almost two In this Friday, Aug. 16, 2019 photo, A man holds a ballot card don’t like this. Voters do not county elections boards to
dozen speakers urged the with bar codes during a voting machine demonstration in trust this, and that’s their buy the challenged equip-
elections board to reject Raleigh, N.C. judgement to make,” she ment marketed by Omaha,
bar code systems because Associated Press said. Nebraska-based Election
voters can’t read the chines in about a quarter of tions use human-readable “Bar codes are not human- Systems & Software.
bar codes to check that the state’s counties need paper ballots that people readable. The whole pur- Counties also could select
they’re correct. to be replaced as primary can inspect and recount. pose of a paper ballot is to from equipment made by
But Democratic board elections loom in March. “The 2020 election is going be able to recount or audit Clear Ballot of Boston and
chairman Damon Circosta After hackers tried to ac- to be very controversial. the voter’s votes in a way Hart InterCivic of Austin,
sided with two Republicans cess U.S. election systems We need to make it a point independent of any possi- Texas.
on the five-member panel, in 2016, a study released to prove to the loser that bly hacked or buggy com- North Carolina has spent
citing the risk of delay after last year by the combined he really lost,” said John puters.” about two years studying
touchscreen-only equip- National Academies of Brakey, an Arizona-based The U.S. Senate Intelligence which voting machines to
ment is disallowed in De- Science, Engineering and election transparency ac- committee last month re- allow for use over the next
cember. New voting ma- Medicine urged that elec- tivist. “We could get very leased a report concluding decade or longer.q