The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recognizes that first responders at the federal, state, and local levels are on the front lines of providing support to their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. To assist first responders in conducting activities as safely and efficiently as possible, DHS is providing links to authoritative resources to help inform and guide first responders actions.
The U.S. Geological Survey released a new report on geoelectric hazards for two-thirds of the contiguous United States, spanning from the northeast to the west coast of the nation. The research includes a map of voltages that would be induced on the national electric power grid by a geomagnetic superstorm.
bioMérieux announced that its subsidiary, BioFire Defense, has received Emergency Use Authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of its BIOFIRE® COVID-19 test for use in CLIA moderate and high complexity clinical laboratories to detect SARS-CoV-2. The BIOFIRE® COVID-19 test detects SARS-CoV-2 in approximately 45 minutes from a nasopharyngeal swab in transport media.
The Department of Defense (DOD) leveraged an existing contract agreement with BioFire Defense LLC, to develop a rapid response diagnostic test capability to detect novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The test will be developed for use on the BioFire® FilmArray® instrument, which is used to diagnose infectious diseases in order to aid in treatment of service members.
FLIR Systems Inc. announced the launch of the FLIR Ranger® HDC MR, a new high-definition midrange surveillance system. The Ranger HDC MR has the ability to detect illegal activities even in degraded weather conditions, utilizing embedded analytics and image processing to reduce the cognitive workload, enabling operators to distinguish quickly between true threats and false alarms.
In order to help prevent the spread of travel-related cases of coronavirus in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf issued a Notice of Arrival Restrictions outlining the process for American citizens, legal permanent residents, and their immediate families who are returning home after recently visiting certain European countries, China, and Iran.
A diagnostic test for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – designed for use in a diagnostic system that can process up to 1,000 tests in 24 hours – will receive advanced development support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR).
Every day, human and drug traffickers, smugglers, criminals, and terrorists attempt to enter the U.S. through one of 328 ports of entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has implemented face comparison and ID validation verification technologies to drastically reduce the number of people that require direct screening by CBP officers.
As part of the government-wide efforts to respond to the global outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services intends to purchase 500 million N95 respirators over the next 18 months for the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS).
FLIR Systems Inc. announced that the United States Air Force has ordered more than 180 of the company’s Centaur™ unmanned ground vehicles (UGV), plus spares. Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams will use the FLIR Centaur to assist in disarming improvised explosive devices (IEDs), unexploded ordnance, and similar hazardous tasks.
