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Federal Agencies Must Test Unvaccinated Workers Weekly Starting in February + More
Federal Agencies Must Test Unvaccinated Workers Weekly Starting in February, Biden Administration Says
Federal agencies must start testing unvaccinated employees at least weekly for the coronavirus by Feb. 15, the Biden administration said in new guidance issued Tuesday.
The testing, which mainly affects those exempted from President Biden’s vaccination mandate for federal workers, would be required during any week in which those employees “work onsite or interact in person with members of the public as part of their job duties,” the guidance says.
Employees who do not comply with the mandate generally are first to be counseled, then suspended without pay and then, potentially, fired unless they get the vaccines.
School Board Apologizes for Identifying Unvaccinated Staff Members to 400 People
The Durham District School Board (DDSB) of Durham, Ontario, in Canada, has apologized after accidentally sharing the names of staff members who are either unvaccinated or have refused to reveal their vaccination status. The names were shared with a group of almost 400 people.
The accident occurred on Jan. 5. On that day, the board accidentally sent out a “routine email” regarding staff members who had complied with a guideline to get COVID-19 rapid testing.
The email inadvertently had a spreadsheet attached, which contained information about approximately 800 employees who were either unvaccinated or didn’t disclose their vaccination status.
Hundreds Press Maine Lawmakers to Ban COVID Vaccine Mandates
A bill that seeks to bar Maine from imposing any COVID-19 vaccination mandates for five years drew a slew of worried residents pleading with lawmakers to back the measure despite a lack of evidence their fears have merit.
The bill, pushed by Republicans and who are outnumbered in the Legislature, says the mandate delay is needed to allow more time for research on potential fertility problems from the vaccines, though the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and other experts say there is no reason to believe there is any risk.
Federal Lab in New Mexico Pauses Vaccine Mandate
One of the federal government’s national laboratories in New Mexico is pausing a vaccine mandate that was set to go into effect this month.
Sandia National Laboratories had previously issued directives that all employees and subcontractors be fully vaccinated by mid-January. Scott Aeilts, the associate director of mission services at Sandia, told the Albuquerque Journal on Tuesday that the decision had been made to pause enforcement.
The decision comes amid an ongoing lawsuit that was filed by a handful of unvaccinated employees.
NYC Students Walk out of Schools to Protest COVID Conditions
Students walked out of classes across the city Tuesday to protest school conditions amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
Participants exited buildings just before noon to lobby for remote learning options and more stringent testing procedures with COVID-19 cases spiking.
Sources at several schools said that both administrators and teachers quietly signed off on the walk out and told students that they would not be subject to unexcused absences. Participation was particularly high at some of the city’s most exclusive academic bastions — including Brooklyn Tech High School, Stuyvesant and Bronx Science.
Mexico Has Refused to Close Its Borders During the COVID Pandemic. Does That Make Sense?
As the coronavirus swept the globe, nervous countries imposed bans on flights, cruise ships and border crossings. But from the beginning, Mexico has stayed open. Radically open.
New arrivals here aren’t required to show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test, or to quarantine. When the Omicron variant was detected, the United States slapped a temporary ban on visitors from eight African countries. Mexico didn’t stop a single flight.
No Vax, Pay Tax, Says Canada’s Quebec as Health System Struggles
Quebec, Canada’s second most populous province, is planning to force adults refusing to get COVID-19 vaccinated pay a “health contribution” in a move likely to spur a debate about individual rights and social responsibility.
Unvaccinated people put a financial burden on others and the provincial finance ministry is determining a “significant” amount that unvaccinated residents would be required to pay, Premier Francois Legault said, adding that such an amount would not be less than C$100 ($79.50).
Governments globally have imposed movement restrictions on the unvaccinated and few have levied fines on the elderly, but a sweeping tax on all unvaccinated adults could be a rare and controversial move.
German President Calls for Debate Over COVID Vaccine Mandate
Germany’s president called Wednesday for a thorough debate over plans for compulsory coronavirus vaccinations for all adults in the country, saying such a drastic measure needs to be fully justified.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has backed calls for a vaccine mandate and lawmakers are expected to begin debating a bill later this month. Polls show a majority of people in Germany back compulsory vaccination against COVID-19, but a vocal minority opposes the idea.
‘A Protective Bubble’: COVID-Sniffing Dogs Help Scientists — and Metallica — Spot Infection
With a sense of smell up to 100,000 times more sensitive than humans’, dogs have been employed in the service of sniffing out everything from contraband to crop molds to cancer.
Yet while researchers first began exploring whether canines could be effective agents in the fight against COVID-19 early in the pandemic, only in recent months have conclusive, peer-reviewed studies begun verifying the hypothesis that dogs know COVID when they smell it.
China Testing Entire City of 14 Million for COVID a Second Time, Suspends Trains, Buses
Tianjin’s population of 14 million will have to be tested for COVID-19 for the second time as nearly 100 new cases were reported on Sunday.
Around 12 million tests have already been distributed and 7.8 million of those were returned with samples. All citizens have been ordered to shelter in place as the investigation continues.
The outbreak could pose a major problem for one major event. Tianjin is only an hour from Beijing, where the Winter Olympic Games are still scheduled to begin on February 4. With high-speed railways and buses now suspended, it is unclear whether the outbreak could spread to the host city.
Judge Grants FTC Second Chance to Challenge Facebook on Antitrust Grounds
A judge granted the Federal Trade Commission a second chance to pursue its charges of illegal monopolization against Facebook, rejecting the company’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit in a new filing on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg granted Facebook’s earlier motion to dismiss over the summer, but allowed the FTC a chance to amend its complaint and try again.
While Boasberg maintained the FTC could still face challenges in proving its allegations, he wrote Tuesday that “it has now cleared the pleading bar and may proceed to discovery.”
Boasberg said the FTC achieved this by providing enough alleged facts to plausibly establish Facebook’s monopoly power in the market, claim its market share is protected by barriers to entry and allege it’s “willfully maintained” dominance through anticompetitive behavior, particularly through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
How to Protect Your Online Privacy With Apple’s iCloud Private Relay
If the thought of the big, bad internet slowly building a detailed profile of you gives you the heebie jeebies, we have fantastic news: There’s a way to prevent that on an iPhone.
You can turn on iCloud Private Relay, a beta feature on iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey that Apple says will ensure that your web traffic will be encrypted and sent through two separate internet relays. This will protect your IP address, location, and browsing activity from websites and network providers.
The only caveat? You must have an iCloud+ subscription, which ranges from $0.99-$9.99/month.
Facebook Drops 36 Spots on Glassdoor’s Annual Best Places to Work List After a Year of PR Crises
Facebook parent Meta Platforms dropped 36 spots on Glassdoor’s annual ranking of the best places to work in the U.S., falling from No. 11 to 47 in a year marked by major public relations crises.
The company, which rebranded from Facebook last year but continues to operate the social media platform by that name, has made the list for 12 years, but this is its lowest spot in the 100-company ranking.
Vaccine Mandate Firings Cascade as Employers Face Toughest Labor Market in Years + More
Vaccine Mandate Firings Cascade as Employers Face Toughest Labor Market in Years
Private companies and public employers are continuing to lay off unvaccinated employees this month, as vaccine mandates proliferate and many employers struggle to fill open jobs in a recovering economy.
The cascading firings come as the U.S. has 10.6 million job openings, according to the Labor Department, which works out to 0.7 job-seekers per open job. That’s a lower ratio than at any point since at least November 2006.
Some layoffs are mandatory due to government policies. In October, more than 33,000 healthcare workers in New York state were fired, retired or placed on unpaid leave because they refused to get vaccinated in accordance with the state’s policy.
Others were fully at the company’s discretion, like when United Airlines fired more than 230 employees in October, before the details of the Biden administration’s vaccine policies were announced.
Federal Judge Dismisses LAPD Employees Lawsuit Against COVID Vaccine Mandate
A federal judge has dismissed a civil lawsuit from 13 Los Angeles Police Department employees who protested against the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, testing and reporting requirements.
Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti approved an ordinance in August requiring all city employees to be vaccinated by October. Exceptions to the mandate included those with a medical or religious exemption, but those employees would still be subject to weekly COVID-19 testing, according to court documents.
In an opinion filed Friday, Judge R. Gary Klausner sided with the city’s request to dismiss the suit and agreed that vaccine-related mandates for government employees were reasonable methods to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Supreme Court Will Likely Issue ‘Split’ Ruling on Biden Vaccine Mandate: Dhillon
Center for American Liberty CEO and civil rights attorney Harmeet Dhillon predicted a “split ruling” out of the Supreme Court in the case that will determine the constitutionality of President Biden‘s COVID-19 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) vaccine regulations.
The Supreme Court on Friday heard close to four hours of oral arguments over two of the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates — which have remained under intense legal scrutiny and have been struck down in battles across federal courts.
Dhillon, who is personally representing a client in the case, said the justices will likely uphold the mandate requiring healthcare workers to be vaccinated while overturning the rule applying to private companies with more than 100 employees.
The first phase of Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for employees at applicable companies went into effect Monday despite the ongoing consideration from the High Court.
States Uncertain as Biden Vaccine-or-Test Mandate Takes Effect
U.S. News & World Report reported:
The first stage of the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for employees at large companies began Monday. But without word yet from the Supreme Court on pending challenges to the rule, some state leaders were left to take matters into their own hands.
In lieu of a ruling from the justices, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration began implementing its rule for private companies Monday — although to a limited extent.
Still, some state leaders are acting ahead of a decision from the Supreme Court.
Center for COVID Control Branded a ‘Scam’ as Testing Sites Under Investigation
An investigation is underway into a COVID testing company that’s been flooded with negative online reviews.
The Center for COVID Control offers free same-day rapid test results at its more than 300 locations across the country, according to the company’s website.
The website claims it’s “partnered with a CDC approved & licensed laboratory” that it doesn’t identify. It’s linked to a Twitter account created in March 2021 that has just 82 followers and an Instagram account — with the handle “freecovidtest” — that has been flooded with comments calling the testing sites “fake” and “a scam.”
State officials are warning people to be wary of illegitimate test sites that could be used to steal people’s personal details.
Olympic Snowboard Champ Chooses Quarantine Over Vaccine
Olympic snowboard champion Patrizia Kummer will head to the Beijing Games early to spend three weeks in quarantine because she isn’t vaccinated against the coronavirus, she said Tuesday.
Chinese authorities require unvaccinated Olympians to enter quarantine upon arrival if they don’t have a valid medical exemption. Kummer, a Swiss snowboarder who won gold in the parallel giant slalom at the 2014 Sochi Games, is scheduled to arrive this week. The Olympics start on Feb. 4.
“After my personal decision not to be vaccinated, quarantine is the logical consequence,” Kummer said in a statement issued by Swiss Ski.
China Locks Down 3rd City, Raising Affected to 20 Million
A third Chinese city has locked down its residents because of a COVID-19 outbreak, raising the number confined to their homes in China to about 20 million people.
The lockdown of Anyang, home to 5.5 million people, was announced late Monday after two cases of the Omicron variant were reported. Residents are not allowed to go out and stores have been ordered shut except those selling necessities.
Another 13 million people have been locked down in Xi’an for nearly three weeks, and 1.1 million more in Yuzhou for more than a week.
The lockdowns are the broadest since the shutting down of Wuhan and most of the rest of Hubei province in early 2020 at the start of the pandemic.
Novak Djokovic Now Facing Questions About Travel in Days Before Australia Arrival
Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic is facing questions about his travel activity leading up to his flight to Australia, where he could be deported because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Djokovic wants to defend his Australian Open title but must now deal with problems regarding a travel form.
The Federal Circuit Court said he checked “no” on the Australian Travel Declaration form question that asks if he’s traveled in the past two weeks before his flight to Australia. However, he was seen in two countries during that 14-day period.
Facebook Will Require COVID Vaccine Boosters for All In-Person Employees
Facebook parent company Meta Platforms will require all employees working from its U.S. offices to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster by late March, the company announced Monday.
The social media giant also told employees this week that it would further delay their return to the office until Mar. 28 as Omicron cases surge across the country. The company had originally planned to fully reopen its U.S. campuses at the end of January.
Facebook is the latest corporation to alter its reopening plans as rising cases force several tech companies, including Apple and Google, to indefinitely push back their planned returns.
Mozilla Wants to Show Just How Much Meta and Facebook Tracks You
Firefox maker Mozilla has announced a wide-ranging new program aiming to discover the scope and depth of tracking services used by Facebook parent company Meta.
“According to its own privacy policy, Facebook may collect information about you across the web even if you don’t have a Facebook account,” the project’s website reads.
“One way Facebook performs this tracking is through a network of ‘pixels’ that may be installed on many of the sites you visit. By joining this study, you will help Rally and The Markup investigate and report on where Facebook is tracking you and what kind of information they are collecting.”
A Data ‘Black Hole’: Europol Ordered to Delete Vast Store of Personal Data
The EU’s police agency, Europol, will be forced to delete much of a vast store of personal data that it has been found to have amassed unlawfully by the bloc’s data protection watchdog.
The unprecedented finding from the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) targets what privacy experts are calling a “big data ark” containing billions of points of information.
Sensitive data in the ark has been drawn from crime reports, hacked from encrypted phone services and sampled from asylum seekers never involved in any crime.
Omicron Makes Biden’s Vaccine Mandates Obsolete + More
Omicron Makes Biden’s Vaccine Mandates Obsolete
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Federal courts considering the Biden administration’s vaccination mandates — including the Supreme Court at Friday’s oral argument — have focused on administrative-law issues. The decrees raise constitutional issues as well. But there’s a simpler reason the justices should stay these mandates: the rise of the Omicron variant.
It would be irrational, legally indefensible and contrary to the public interest for government to mandate vaccines absent any evidence that the vaccines are effective in stopping the spread of the pathogen they target. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening here.
Unvaccinated Italians Now Barred From Public Transport Unless Recently Recovered From COVID
Italian lawmakers added new restrictions on January 10, 2022, including proof of vaccination or recovery from the virus, to use public transportation and enter shops, gyms and other locations.
While nearly 86% of Italy’s over-12 population is fully vaccinated, 2 million people are currently testing positive for the virus. The government’s new restrictions, which limit Italians from both recreations and essential activities, encourage those who have yet to get the vaccine to do so.
Citizens can no longer just show a negative COVID test if they hope to use public transportation such as the bus or subway. These new restrictions even limit citizens’ entry into places such as coffee shops, gyms and hotels.
Italians have supported past mask mandates and the new restrictions, including police checking train commuters’ vaccine status and enforcing wearing proper Ffp2 face masks, now required on public transportation.
In Much of the West, the Walls Are Closing in on Anti-Vaxxers
Republican governors in the United States may be championing the cause of the vaccine resistant and suing to stop mandates imposed by the Biden administration. But elsewhere in the West, the jab-less are increasingly becoming personae non gratae.
Studies suggest Omicron causes milder symptoms. Even so, the unvaccinated — at least those without valid medical reasons — are being blamed for overburdening hospitals by putting themselves, and society, at risk.
In Florida, for instance, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a law that barred companies and schools from insisting all their employees be vaccinated. Within the week, Disney halted its vaccine requirement for Walt Disney World workers.
Compare that to the stance of French President Emmanuel Macron, who vowed in less-than-tactful language last week to make the life of the unvaccinated a living hell.
COVID Mandates Keep Americans From Getting Back in the Game
A recent New York Times article, “If You’ve Had COVID, Do You Need the Vaccine?” argues that vaccination is still the best choice after recovering from the disease.
We argue, on the contrary, that the scientific evidence does not favor vaccination — nor warrant coercive mandates or restrictions — for those with natural (infection-induced) immunity. Furthermore, we affirm that all people should maintain the right to informed consent or refusal for COVID vaccines.
The natural immunity debate, to which Dr. Anthony Fauci recently said he has no firm answer, is not about whether people should try to acquire natural immunity by deliberately getting infected; nobody is suggesting this.
It is about the level of immunity afforded to those who have already recovered from COVID (estimated at more than half of all Americans) compared to immunity from the vaccine.
Citigroup Will Fire Employees Who Haven’t Been Vaccinated Against COVID, According to Reports
Citigroup has warned U.S. office staff that they’ll be fired at the end of the month if they don’t get vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 14, according to multiple reports. The vaccine policy is the strictest so far among big financial companies, The New York Post reported.
An internal memo from last Friday added that staff who don’t get jabbed will be placed on unpaid leave before being terminated on Jan. 31, both Bloomberg and the Post reported.
Citigroup said in the memo that some fired staff would be eligible for year-end bonuses, but that they’d only get the money if they signed agreements saying they wouldn’t pursue legal action against the company, Bloomberg and the Post both reported.
GOP Governor Says Large Businesses Should Not Comply With ‘Oppressive’ Vaccine Mandate
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Sunday said large businesses should not comply with the Biden administration’s “oppressive” vaccine or testing mandate.
“[T]his mandate of [the Occupational safety and Health Administration], the federal government, needs to be struck down. And that’s why we’re fighting against it. And I expect the Supreme Court, hopefully, to rule against the Biden administration on that oppressive vaccine mandate,” Hutchinson told co-anchor Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Asked if eligible businesses should comply with the vaccine-or-test mandate, which is set to take effect on Monday, Hutchinson said “no,” pointing to the pending litigation in the Supreme Court.
Massachusetts Unveils Digital COVID Vaccine Card Option
Massachusetts residents who have received their COVID-19 vaccinations can now create a digital vaccine card proving their status using a new tool unveiled Monday by the state.
The tool, called My Vax Records, lets people create the digital card that includes information similar to that on the paper card given to individuals at the time of their vaccination.
The tool can be located at MyVaxRecords.Mass.Gov. About a dozen other states have similar digital cards.
The Baker administration isn’t requiring residents to create the digital card and isn’t mandating residents show proof of vaccination to enter any venue.
Thousands Protest in France Against Proposed New Vaccine Pass
French authorities say more than 105,000 people have taken part in protests across the country against the introduction of a new coronavirus pass.
A new draft law would in effect ban unvaccinated people from public life.
Demonstrators in the capital, Paris, held placards emblazoned with phrases like “no to vaccine passes.”
The bill, which passed its first reading in the lower house of France’s parliament on Thursday, would remove the option of showing a negative COVID-19 test to gain access to a host of public venues. Instead, people would have to be fully vaccinated to visit a range of spaces, including bars and restaurants.
Anti-Vaccine Protesters Rally in France, Germany, Austria, Italy
Protesters have taken to streets across western Europe in protest against COVID-19 vaccine requirements, with more than 100,000 people rallying in France alone to oppose what they called the government’s plans to restrict the rights of the unvaccinated.
More than 40,000 people also protested in the Austrian capital, Vienna, where vaccination against COVID-19 is set to become compulsory from next month. In Germany, protesters rallied in several cities on Saturday, with the largest event held in Hamburg, where some 16,000 people attended, according to the police.
Protests also took place in Italy, with hundreds of people in the city of Turin protesting against rules that make vaccines mandatory for anyone more than the age of 50. Tougher laws are also coming into force for others — from Monday, those who are unvaccinated can no longer use public transport or visit restaurants.
Novak Djokovic Can Remain in Australia, Judge Rules
Novak Djokovic, the Serbian tennis star, moved one step closer to competing for his record 21st Grand Slam title after an Australian judge ordered his release from immigration detention on Monday, the latest turn in a five-day saga over his refusal to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
The judge, Anthony Kelly, found that Djokovic had been treated unfairly after his arrival at a Melbourne airport for the Australian Open, where he had been cleared to play with a vaccination exemption.
Restoring the visa does not, however, guarantee that Djokovic will be able to vie for his 10th Open title when the tournament begins next Monday. In court, the government’s lawyers warned that the immigration minister could still cancel his visa, which would lead to an automatic three-year ban on his entering the country.
Thousands Rally in Prague Against Vaccination Mandate
Thousands of people marched through the Czech Republic’s capital on Sunday to protest against compulsory COVID-19 vaccination for certain groups and professions.
The protesters gathered at Wenceslas Square in central Prague to question the effectiveness of the current vaccines and reject the vaccination of children before marching through the capital, chanting “Freedom, freedom.”
The previous government released an order in early December, making vaccination mandatory for the 60 and over age group, as well as medical personnel, police officers, firefighters and medical students. The order is due to take effect in March, but it still might end up being overturned.
In Virtual Reality, There Are No Rules, so Parents Are Making up Their Own
Last summer, Allen Roach saw something that really disturbed him: His then-11-year-old son, Peyton, used a sword to slice off the arms and legs of characters in a virtual reality medieval fantasy game, Blade & Sorcery, then threw the dismembered digital bodies off a bridge.
Roach, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri and works as community manager for VR-based learning platform Edstutia, stopped letting his three oldest children play that game.
Roach is one of a growing number of parents navigating a new frontier in technology, and learning as they go. More kids have access to VR headsets than ever before — and with it, access to a still-niche but expanding virtual world of games, avatar-driven hangouts and many more activities.
Big Tech Stocks Will Benefit From Metaverse and Crypto but Apple Least Likely to Grow, Analyst Says
Large U.S. tech stocks will shrug off inflation and keep on rising this year thanks to several emerging technologies, according to Cyrus Mewawalla, head of thematic research at data analytics and consultancy firm GlobalData.
Tech firms will benefit from the metaverse, Web 3.0, cryptocurrencies and quantum computing if they operate in those areas, Mewawalla told CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” Monday.
Big Tech firms are investing billions into new technologies that have the potential to fundamentally change the way we live and work.
My Business Will Boycott the Metaverse. Yours Should Too.
Google Glasses promised to turn us into all-knowing, super-productive cyborgs. Segways promised to transform the future of cities and transportation. In the end, they both just made us look a little bit silly. My hope is that the metaverse headset will go the same way.
Approximately a third of American adults say they are almost constantly connected to the internet. We’re suffering as a result; too much time online is making us obese, depressed and socially disconnected.
That’s why the metaverse terrifies me. As the lovechild of social media and virtual reality, the metaverse will only make our addiction to trash entertainment, virtual validation and e-scapism even worse.
Texas Appeals Court Rules Against Gov. Abbott, Says He Can’t Ban Mask Mandates + More
Texas Appeals Court Rules Against Gov. Abbott, Says He Can’t Ban Mask Mandates
The governor of Texas and the state’s attorney general were dealt a loss in court Thursday.
A Texas Court of Appeals ruled that Governor Greg Abbott does not have the authority to ban mask mandates. In July, Abbott issued an executive order attempting to keep local governments and officials from instituting mask mandates, threatening an up to $1,000 fine for failure to comply.
The order also sought to keep both public entities and private businesses that are receiving or will receive money from the state from requiring proof of vaccination against COVID-19.
The Third District Court of Appeals in Austin issued their ruling Thursday. Harris County, Texas was challenging the governor’s order, saying that they did have the right to issue such mask mandates.
Germany to Require Proof of COVID Booster Shot to Enter Bars, Restaurants
German leaders announced tougher requirements to enter restaurants and bars on Friday in response to the spread of the Omicron variant.
Citizens have been required to show proof of full vaccination or COVID recovery to enter restaurants, bars, shops, theaters and cinemas. However, Friday’s decision means customers will have to show that they have either received a booster shot or provide a negative test along with vaccination proof.
Additional COVID changes include mirroring other countries by shortening the quarantine or self-isolation periods. Fully boosted individuals or those who have been fully vaccinated or recovered in the past three months won’t have to quarantine, even if exposed to the coronavirus.
Unvaxxed Pediatrician Still out of Work Despite Hospital’s Mandate Drop — Judge Rules Against Indiana Doc Who Cited Religious Exemption
An Indiana pediatrician who refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has been unable to work at his hospital job for several weeks and is now speaking out, according to reports and a court document.
In November, Paul Halczenko, MD, was removed from his position at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent in Indianapolis after declining to follow the health system’s vaccine mandate. Halczenko asked to be reinstated, citing a religious exemption, but Ascension declined.
Halczenko and four other employees sued to stop the hospital’s vaccine mandate Nov. 8 in Southern Indiana District Court, The Indiana Lawyer reported.
In mid-December, Ascension decided not to enforce its mandate and reinstated the four other employees who also declined to get vaccinated, yet Halczenko has remained suspended for reasons that remain unclear.
New GOP Leaders Say Virginia to Join Vax Mandate Challenges
Virginia will join other Republican-led states and business groups in challenging Biden administration mandates intended to increase the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate once GOP Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares take office, the two said in a statement Friday.
The announcement came the same day the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments about whether to allow the Biden administration to enforce a vaccine-or-testing requirement that applies to large employers and a separate vaccine mandate for most healthcare workers.
Court Keeps COVID Vaccine Mandate Ban in Place for Federal Contractors in 3 States
Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio will continue to have vaccine mandate bans.
The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined in a 2-1 vote that the vaccine mandate bans for federal contractors currently active in the states can continue to be implemented. The bans were implemented by the states as they argued that the proposed vaccination mandate proposed by President Joe Biden is unconstitutional and an overstep of his presidential duties.
In Omicron Outbreak, U.S. Governors Lose Appetite for Mandates
Governors took sweeping actions during earlier surges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many closed schools and ordered businesses shut down. They issued mask mandates, vaccine requirements and even quarantines in some places for people who had traveled to out-of-state hot spots.
Not this time, even as the exponential spread of the super-contagious Omicron variant shatters COVID-19 infection records. While governors are sending help to hospitals, they are displaying little appetite for widespread public orders or shutdowns.
Even Democratic governors who passed strict mandates early on are now relying more on persuasion than dictates. They largely are leaving it up to local officials to make the tough calls on decisions such as whether to limit capacity in restaurants and theaters or keep schools open.
White House Says Decision to Enact Vaccine Mandates for Schools up to Local School Districts
The White House said on Thursday the decision to enact vaccine mandates for schools is up to local school districts.
The White House also said it would continue to make the case for schools to be kept open, including in Chicago, where officials canceled classes in the nation’s third-largest school district on Wednesday amid a dispute with the teachers’ union.
USPS Asks for Extension on COVID Vaccination Mandate
The U.S. Postal Service is fighting to delay the Biden administration’s request of vaccine requirements for federal workers.
Officials with the USPS argue the deadline set won’t be attainable for them to meet. The new requirement requests workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 or show a negative test. They also say it would have major delays on the delivery of mail.
As a counter, the USPS wants a 120-day waiver. As the case is reviewed, the postal service says it will stand by its current COVID policies.
Citigroup to Fire Unvaccinated Office Employees at the End of January, Report Says
Citigroup said it will fire employees who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine at the end of the month, according to a memo sent to staff Friday and obtained by Bloomberg, after it became one of the first large financial institutions to tell staff that vaccinations would be a condition of employment.
Biden signed an executive order in September requiring federal contractors to ensure their employees are vaccinated against the coronavirus, spurring lawsuits.
All three of Biden’s vaccine mandates have faced legal action, and cases regarding the president’s mandate for healthcare workers and for large employers were argued before the Supreme Court on Friday.
Omicron: 13 Passengers on Italy-India Flight Escape Quarantine
At least 13 passengers, who tested positive for COVID-19 upon their arrival in the Indian city of Amritsar, have escaped institutional quarantine.
They were among 125 infected passengers on a chartered flight from Milan which landed on Wednesday afternoon.
While nine of them escaped from the airport, four others ran away from a local hospital, city official Sherjang Singh told BBC Punjabi. Police said they would file complaints against all of them.
Down Under: Unvaxxed Aussies Not Allowed to Exercise or Travel to Work
Unvaccinated Australians in the Northern Territory have been put under a new lockdown during which they won’t be allowed to go outside to exercise or travel to work.
The onerous new measures were announced by NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner in response to the detection of 256 new cases of COVID-19, including 27 cases of community transmission.
“The fully vaccinated can continue as they were. For people who are not vaccinated, lockdown rules will apply to everyone aged 16 and above,” Mr Gunner said.
The unvaccinated will be banned from traveling further than 30km from their home unless they’re traveling to hospital. Gunner said that unjabbed Aussies in the region will be forbidden from taking an hour of outdoor exercise and won’t be allowed to travel to their job.
Tim Cook Earned Over 1,400 Times the Average Apple Worker in 2021
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) boss Tim Cook’s pay in 2021 was 1,447 times that of the average employee at the tech giant, a filing on Thursday showed, fueled by stock awards that helped him earn a total of nearly $100 million.
Cook, whose salary remained at $3 million, received $82.3 million in stock awards, $12 million for hitting Apple’s targets and $1.4 million for air travel, 401(k) plan, insurance premiums and others.
In total, he earned $98.7 million, compared with $14.8 million in 2020.
How Artificial Intelligence Is Set to Evolve in 2022
Machines are getting smarter and smarter every year, but artificial intelligence is yet to live up to the hype that’s been generated by some of the world’s largest technology companies.
AI researchers have started to show that there are ways to efficiently adapt AI training methods to changing environments or tasks, resulting in more robust agents, Grefenstette said. He believes there will be more industrial and scientific applications of such methods this year that will produce “noticeable leaps.”
While AI still has a long way to go before anything like human-level intelligence is achieved, it hasn’t stopped the likes of Google, Facebook (Meta) and Amazon investing billions of dollars into hiring talented AI researchers who can potentially improve everything from search engines and voice assistants to aspects of the so-called “metaverse.”