Hello and welcome back to the Good News Bulletin! We’re back for another installment of good news to help you find out about all the good things that are happening, we promise there are still good things happening. Let us know any good news you hear and we’ll put it in the next edition.
Industry Developments
15 Minute Testing Kit
Rapid testing for COVID-19 is available from Nantong Egens Biotechnology Company Ltd and would deliver test results in 15 minutes. The manufacturing company has yet to approach the Australian regulator for approval in Australian markets however, a spokeswoman for the Health Department was quoted in The Guardian saying there were “no compelling reasons not to use it based on compelling science and methodology”.
3D printers creating medical supplies
3D printers are being crowdsourced to help produce personal protective gear for healthcare workers. Designs are available to the public and anyone with a 3D printer is invited to join the movement. The industry regulator ‘Therapeutic Goods Australia’ has already approved these designs and once printed they are able to be used. 3D One Australia, a manufacturing company in Brisbane, is working on doubling its output of the PPE.
Animals
Healthy koala being released back into the wild
Multiple Koalas who were badly burned in the 2019 Australian Bushfires are being returned home to the wild. Most famously, the female koala Anwen has been released. Anwen garnered national attention when photos of her at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital in a pink cast went viral. The aftermath of the bushfires is truly beginning to cease, with wildlife across Australia coming home.
Social
101-year-old Holocaust and Spanish flu survivor just beat COVID-19
An Italian man born in 1919 has recently been released from isolation after contracting COVID-19 and recovering in hospital. ‘Mr. P’ is a holocaust survivor and survived the Spanish Flu. He contracted the disease mid-March while living in the Italian city of Rimini and was released from the hospital a couple of weeks later.
Music
Isolaid Festival
Isolaid Festival is swooping in to save your festival blues. If you’ve recently had Splendour in the Grass or Groovin the Moo cancelled, Isolaid is an online, Instagram-Live festival that has been playing for the past few weekends. Check out the set times on their Instagram, and then head over to the artist’s page to see them perform a 20-30minute set, free of charge. The weekly festival is to raise money for the support act, a vital charity that helps musicians in need.
Public Figures
John Krazinski
John Krazinski also likes good news. He’s started a YouTube channel called Some Good News to brighten people’s days and it’s working. His first episode included a catch up with his The Office co-star, Steve Carell, as well as a whole heap of other lovely stories. It is definitely one to subscribe to in these dark times.
Jessica Watson
If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about isolation, it’s Jessica Watson. She spent 210 consecutive days on the open ocean, sailing around the world. Recently, Jessica published an essay on how to adjust to living in isolation, from someone that knows.
A second patient has been cured of HIV
Following the ‘Berlin’ patient in 2008, the next cured case is the ‘London’ Patient, Adam Castillejo. After a bone-marrow transplant to cure his lymphoma, he became HIV-free. This second discovery has galvanised researchers to continue to look for a cure for all persons living with HIV.
