Login
Big Brother News Watch
Washington, D.C. Becomes First Major City to Impose Student Vaccine Mandate + More
Washington, D.C. Becomes First Major City to Impose Vaccine Mandate on Students
Washington, D.C. has imposed a vaccine requirement for indoor activities that will also apply to all K-12 students, including those who attend charter, private and parochial schools.
Effective Jan. 15, the order requires that patrons aged 12 and over present proof of at least one dose to enter certain businesses including restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, indoor exercise and recreational establishments, indoor cultural and entertainment facilities, and indoor event and meeting establishments. By Feb. 15, people aged 12 and up must be fully vaccinated to enter these businesses.
Nested in the directive is also a sweeping vaccine requirement for students, who must receive both shots, if they’re eligible, in order to attend school starting March 1, 2022.
D.C. is the first city to require vaccination for students, ahead of even New York City which has been known to be more aggressive with its COVID-19 restrictions.
California to Require Booster Shots for Healthcare Workers
California will require healthcare workers to get a booster shot of the coronavirus vaccine, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday, pledging to make sure hospitals are prepared as a new version of the disease begins to spread throughout the state.
California already requires healthcare workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, a directive that took effect in September and has since led to the firing or suspension of thousands of people. Now it will join New Mexico as at least the second state to require booster shots for healthcare workers.
Chicago to Require Vax Proof Starting in January for Restaurants, Bars, Other Indoor Venues
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Tuesday Chicagoans looking to enter indoor venues serving food and drinks will need to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination starting Jan. 3.
In addition to restaurants, bars, sports stadiums and concert venues, the rules will also apply to gyms. The new measures will not affect grocery stores, schools, office buildings, apartment buildings or religious institutions.
Employees at affected venues who don’t want the vaccine will have the option to do weekly COVID-19 tests, but this does not extend to customers.
Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group to Require Boosters for Workers, Diners
Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group (USGH) said Wednesday it will begin requiring customers to show proof of having received a COVID booster shot in order to dine indoors at its restaurants, starting in the new year.
Employees and new hires must also receive a booster shot, effective immediately, Meyer announced on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
USGH has a large presence in New York City. Its restaurants include Gramercy Tavern, Manhatta and Union Square Cafe. It also operates Anchovy Social in Washington, D.C.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet changed its definition on what it means to be fully vaccinated against COVID.
China Puts Entire City of 13 Million Under Lockdown Amid COVID Surge
Health officials in northwestern China have ordered 13 million residents into another full lockdown amid a surge in the Delta variant of COVID.
A notice by the Xi’an city government said the stay-at-home order would come into effect at midnight local time on Thursday. The mandatory quarantine period is indefinite, with an end date to be announced at a later time, according to the statement.
All non-essential businesses including public transport will be suspended in Xi’an. The city’s 13 million residents will be compelled to remain at home, and each household will be permitted to send one person out for essential shopping every two days, said the government announcement.
According to local media reports, some 3,574 schools will pause in-person classes and switch to online learning.
Supreme Court Denies Challenge to New Mexico’s Vaccine Mandate
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected, without comment, a bid to challenge New Mexico’s vaccine mandate for workers in hospitals, nursing homes and prisons, among other settings.
The court has repeatedly denied bids to block states’ vaccine mandates, including in New York and Maine. The New Mexico requirement, which includes medical and religious exemptions, took effect in August.
Two women, including a former nurse who was fired after refusing to get the vaccine, argued in their petition that the mandate violates their “constitutional rights to bodily integrity and to engage in one’s chosen profession.”
Amazon Reinstates Mask Mandates Across All of Its Warehouses
Workers in Amazon‘s considerable warehousing operations will be required to wear masks, again. The shift comes as U.S. cases have spiked again due to the highly-transmissible Omicron variant, and will apply to all “operations facilities, FCs [fulfillment centers], sort centers, and delivery stations,” effective today, according to an email shared with Engadget.
Amazon made temperature checks and masking a requirement in April of last year. It allowed individuals who were 14 or more days past their final dose of the vaccine to unmask in May. That decision was seen, at least by some workers, as premature.
Amazon does not have the sunniest track record where COVID precautions are concerned. Workers at several locations raised concerns that they were not being informed when positive case were discovered at their facilities. In California, the company was fined $500,000 for “concealing” cases from workers.
Hundreds of Business Owners Protest COVID Restrictions, Demand More Government Support
Hundreds of small business owners across South Korea took to the streets of Seoul Wednesday to protest recently re-enacted strict COVID-19 restrictions that they claim hurt their establishments.
No clashes with police or other forms of violence were reported at the event. However, the protesters were critical of the distancing measures, which include a 9 p.m. business curfew and bans on gatherings of more than four people. Due to the measures, business owners fear that their already-low profits will drop even further.
Worsening tensions is the fact that the South Korean government allegedly has not followed through with their compensation plans.
Facebook Papers: How the 2021 Leak Could Haunt Meta in 2022
This year was a wild ride for the world’s largest tech companies, from Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) reaching a $2 trillion market cap to the chip shortage taking a bite out of Apple’s (AAPL) revenue.
But ex-Facebook (FB) employee Frances Haugen spearheaded the year’s biggest tech story: the leak of thousands of internal documents dubbed The Facebook Papers. The trove laid bare Facebook-parent Meta’s inability to police its platform, risking public safety in the U.S. and abroad.
It also showed the negative impacts of Meta-owned Instagram on the mental health of some teen girls.
While the Facebook Papers humiliated Meta in 2021, they could prove even more problematic for the company in 2022, as governments around the world begin to crack down on the social media giant.
Poll Finds Distrust of Facebook, TikTok and Instagram
Most Americans distrust TikTok, Facebook and Instagram with their personal information and data, according to a Washington Post-Shcar School poll released Wednesday.
Seventy-two percent of respondents said they distrust Facebook. Other platforms under the same Meta parent company didn’t fare much better, with 60% of those surveyed saying they distrust Instagram and 53% said they distrust WhatsApp, based on the poll.
Sixty-three percent of surveyed Americans said they distrust video-sharing app TikTok with their data, according to the poll.
The poll found that 56% of respondents said Facebook has a negative impact on society, with just 10% saying the company has a positive impact.
Face Recognition Is Being Banned — but It’s Still Everywhere
In November, voters in Bellingham, Washington, passed a ballot measure banning government use of face recognition technology. It added to a streak of such laws that started with San Francisco in 2019 and now number around two dozen.
The spread of such bans has inspired hope from campaigners and policy experts of a turn against an artificial intelligence technology that can lead to invasions of privacy or even wrongful arrest.
Such feelings got a boost when Facebook unexpectedly announced on the day of the Bellingham vote that it would shutter its own face recognition system for identifying people in photos and videos, due to “growing societal concerns.”
This is the paradox of face recognition in 2021: The technology is banned in some places but increasingly normalized in others. That’s likely to continue, because face recognition is unregulated in most of the US, as there’s no federal law covering the technology.
Judge Rules Against San Diego Unified’s COVID Student Vaccine Mandate + More
Judge Rules Against San Diego Unified’s COVID Student Vaccine Mandate
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported:
A judge struck down San Diego Unified School District’s COVID-19 student vaccination mandate Monday, saying that the mandate conflicts with state law.
The ruling effectively saves thousands of unvaccinated students from being kicked out of in-person school. San Diego Unified’s mandate would have forced students 16 and older to learn remotely via independent study starting Jan. 24 if they did not get both doses of the COVID vaccine by Monday.
The court’s ruling, by San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer, immediately affects only San Diego Unified. But the ruling could have influence in challenges to COVID vaccine mandates that have been adopted by a handful of other California school districts.
Biden Administration’s Vaccine Requirements Take Center Stage at Supreme Court
The Biden administration’s coronavirus protection requirements intended to persuade millions of healthcare and other workers to get vaccinated are taking center stage at the Supreme Court.
More than half the states and coalitions of business and religious groups are asking the justices for emergency action to block the administration’s nationwide vaccine-or-testing mandate for large businesses, which would cover about 80 million workers.
And the administration itself is asking the court to lift lower-court decisions that have blocked a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds. That implicates about 17 million workers.
The court has called for additional briefing in those cases by Dec. 30, which suggests rulings early in the new year.
Judge Says Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Goes Beyond Workplace and Into Public Health, Blocks It
A federal judge in Missouri issued a preliminary injunction Monday blocking President Joe Biden‘s COVID vaccine mandate for federal contractors in 10 states, saying it extended beyond the president’s authority and was more of a public health mandate than a workplace mandate.
The decision comes in addition to the nationwide halt to the mandate issued by a federal judge in Georgia on Dec. 7.
U.S. Magistrate Judge David Noce issued the ruling saying that the federal government can typically only set rules like wages, non-discrimination policies and employees’ rights for federal contracts. “The vaccine mandate would reach beyond the workplace and into the realm of public health,” Noce wrote.
‘No More Shutdowns:’ NYC Offers $100 to Get Boosters at City-Run Sites Before New Year’s
New York City is digging back into its pockets as it scrambles to curb the record-setting Omicron tide, offering $100 cash to anyone who gets a COVID-19 booster at a city-run vaccine site between now and New Year’s Eve, the mayor said Tuesday.
Calling the program “by far the biggest booster incentive program in the United States of America,” Bill de Blasio acknowledged the limited-time opportunity but said it was coming at exactly the right time for the pandemic-weary city.
New Yorkers can also go to SOMOS sites partnering with the city and get the $100 incentive. There are more than 1,000 options — and home booster options as well.
Steve Bannon Says ‘War on Unvaccinated’ Is Starting, Dismisses ‘Mass Vaccinations’
With Omicron spreading rapidly throughout the United States, Steve Bannon warned that he felt a “war” against unvaccinated people is coming and pushed back on the White House’s strategy to fight the pandemic by increasing inoculations.
Bannon, the former White House Chief Strategist under Donald Trump, called Omicron the strain of COVID-19 that could help America reach herd immunity. He noted that the variant, which is now the dominant strain in the U.S., is highly transmissible but believed to cause less severe disease than other variants.
The goal of herd immunity, which is achieved through either large numbers of inoculations or a majority of people having antibodies due to previous infections, is to have enough people protected from a virus that it struggles to spread and thereby helps protect those who cannot be inoculated.
Intel Tells Unvaccinated Employees They Face Unpaid Leave
Intel has told workers that unvaccinated people who don’t get an exemption for religious or medical reasons will be on unpaid leave beginning in April.
The California-based semiconductor company told employees last month they had a Jan. 4 deadline to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or seek an exemption, citing a government mandate for federal contractors.
In a Dec. 7 memo to employees, Chief People Officer Christy Pambianchi told employees the Jan. 4 vaccine deadline remains in place. She wrote that employees who aren’t vaccinated must seek a medical or religious accommodation and submit to weekly testing, regardless of whether they are still working remotely.
Airline CEO Says ‘Idiot’ Anti-Vaxxers Should Not Be Allowed to Fly, Shop for Groceries
The CEO of Ryanair, one of the largest airlines in Europe, said last week that those who have chosen not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 should be banned from various aspects of everyday life.
Michael O’Leary told The Telegraph that authorities should be making life harder for “idiot” anti-vaxxers or those who’ve denied the jab without good cause.
“If you’re not vaccinated, you shouldn’t be allowed in the hospital, you shouldn’t be allowed to fly, you shouldn’t be allowed on the London Underground, and you shouldn’t be allowed in the local supermarket or your pharmacy either,” O’Leary told the paper.
Washington, DC to Reinstate Indoor Mask Mandate
Washington, DC will reinstate an indoor mask mandate beginning Tuesday, Dec. 21, until the morning of Jan. 31, Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Monday.
The mayor added that all employees, contractors and grantees of the District of Columbia government must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and must have a booster shot. There will be no test-out option, the mayor said. There was no deadline specified for the vaccination guidance.
Fox Tightens Its Vaccine Rule, Removing a Test-Out Option for NYC Office Workers
Fox Corporation, the owner of Fox News, told employees on Friday that those working in New York City would have to show proof they’d had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine by Dec. 27, removing the option to get tested weekly instead.
The new policy was in keeping with New York City’s vaccine rule, which Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in early December and which is more stringent than a contested Biden administration rule requiring vaccine mandates or weekly testing at larger employers.
Why I’m Pro-Vaccine but Anti-Vaccine Mandate
Last Thursday, the University of California fired my good friend and new colleague, Aaron Kheriaty, for refusing vaccination. The next day, a federal circuit court allowed President Joe Biden‘s OSHA vaccine mandate to take effect throughout the United States, meaning many other citizens may soon be penalized.
But we should not treat conscientious objectors to the vaccine like this.
Dr. Kheriaty, a physician and psychiatrist, has taught and treated patients at the UC-Irvine Hospital and Medical School for 15 years. He has also directed the medical school’s bioethics program.
He treated COVID patients throughout the pandemic, including when everyone was most concerned about the virus’ lethality. As a result, he caught the virus and developed natural immunity.
COVID: EU Vaccine Passports Only Valid 9 Months Without Booster
The European Commission announced Tuesday that COVID vaccine certificates in the bloc would only be valid for nine months without a booster shot.
Announcing the decision, the EU Commission said that a harmonized validity period for COVID vaccine passports “is a necessity for safe free movement and EU level coordination.”
EU residents are recommended to receive a booster shot six months, at the latest, after they’re fully vaccinated. But the certificate will be valid for three additional months as a grace period to ensure access to booster doses, the Commission added.
Spain, Portugal Face New Restrictions Despite High Vaccine Rates
Despite vaccination rates that make other governments envious, Spain and Portugal are facing the hard truth that, with the new Omicron variant running rampant, these winter holidays won’t be a time of unrestrained joy.
Portugal on Tuesday announced a slew of new restrictions over Christmas and the New Year, making working from home mandatory and shutting discotheques and bars beginning Saturday night. Also, a negative test result must be shown to enter Portuguese cinemas, theaters, sports events, weddings and baptisms until at least Jan. 9.
Catalonia, home to the northeastern city of Barcelona, is prepared to become the first Spanish region to reinstate serious limitations and put a damper on the holiday cheer.
Catalan health authorities have asked the courts to authorize a battery of measures including a new nightly curfew from 1-6 a.m., a limit of 10 people per social gathering, the closure of nightclubs, and capping restaurants at 50% of indoor seating and stores, gyms and theaters at 70% capacity. If approved, the rules would take effect on Christmas Eve and last for 15 days, wiping out most New Year’s parties.
iPhone Users Could Soon Have an Easier Time Getting Through Airport Security Lines
Apple’s plan of allowing iPhone and Apple Watch users to store their driver’s license and state ID in the Wallet app was originally set to arrive this year before being pushed back to 2022.
Now the Secure Technology Alliance announced in a post that the transportation administration will accept Mobile Driver’s Licenses (mDL) at two airports next February.
The goal will be to streamline the ID verification process so travelers can quickly file through security lines.
Some users have raised privacy concerns about keeping their most sensitive information housed in a device that could end up in the wrong hands. Security experts who spoke with NPR are worried digital IDs will make us more reliant on tech companies than before and fear the feature could be used for tracking and monetization.
A Bluetooth Bug in a Popular At-Home COVID Test Could Falsify Results
A security researcher found a Bluetooth vulnerability in a popular at-home COVID-19 test allowing him to modify its results.
F-Secure researcher Ken Gannon identified the since-fixed flaw in the Ellume COVID-19 Home Test, a self-administered antigen test that individuals can use to check to see if they have been infected with the virus. Rather than submitting a sample to a testing facility, the sample is tested using a Bluetooth analyzer, which then reports the result to the user and health authorities via Ellume’s mobile app.
Gannon found, however, that the built-in Bluetooth analyzer could be tricked to allow a user to falsify a certifiable result before the Ellume app processes the data.
Meta Cracks Down on Phishing Scams That Use Its Trademarks
Meta is taking legal action against the bad actors who allegedly impersonated Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram to conduct a phishing scam. The company claims that since 2019, the defendants created over 39,000 websites in an attempt to replicate Meta’s services, subsequently deceiving users and collecting their login information.
In the post on its blog, Meta explains that the defendants used a relay service, Ngrok, to send internet traffic to the phony login pages they created, all while concealing their identity and location.
Those who clicked the phishing link were brought to a login page that resembled Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp. When the user attempted to log in, defendants would collect their victims’ usernames and passwords.
Omicron Forces NFL to Change Course, Stop Regular COVID Testing of Players + More
Omicron Forces NFL to Change Course as Playoffs Near
Nobody is clicking on this column to read about this pervasive, crazy, very mild variant of COVID-19. “I swear to you I’m not sick, at all,” said one of those players who has tested positive, and who is still out because he continues to test positive, daily. This person is vaccinated and said he got the booster in late November.
The league and players agreed to do something counterintuitive this week. They’re going to stop regular testing of players, and begin a “targeted” testing program, focused on players and staff who exhibit symptoms or self-report them.
U.S. COVID Vaccine Mandate Revived, Supreme Court Showdown Looms
A U.S. appeals court on Friday reinstated a nationwide vaccine-or-testing COVID-19 mandate for large businesses, which covers 80 million American workers, prompting opponents to rush to the Supreme Court to ask it to intervene.
The ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati lifted a November injunction that had blocked the rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which applies to businesses with at least 100 workers.
Within hours of the ruling, at least three petitions were filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to immediately block the mandate.
Biden Administration to Start Penalizing Companies That Defy COVID Vaccine-or-Test Rule on Jan. 10
The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will begin penalizing large private employers who do not comply with the contested federal COVID-19 vaccine-or-test rule on Jan. 10, it said in a statement Saturday.
OSHA released the statement after a federal appeals court on Friday reversed another court decision blocking the Biden administration’s order for private employers with 100 or more employees to require their workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing.
Whiplash on U.S. Vaccine Mandate Leaves Employers ‘Totally Confused’
The marching orders from the Biden administration in November had seemed clear — large employers were to get their workers fully vaccinated by early next year, or make sure the workers were tested weekly.
But a little over a month later, the Labor Department’s vaccine rule has been swept into confusion and uncertainty by legal battles, shifting deadlines and rising COVID case counts that throw the very definition of fully vaccinated into question.
Then on Friday, an appeals court lifted the legal block on the vaccine rule, though appeals to the ruling were immediately filed, leaving the rule’s legal status up in the air. On Saturday, hours after the appeals court ruling, the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration urged employers to start working to get in compliance.
Boeing Suspends Vaccine Mandate for U.S. Employees
Boeing Co (BA.N) suspended its coronavirus vaccination requirement for U.S.-based employees, the U.S. planemaker said on Friday, capping weeks of uncertainty as thousands of workers sought exemptions and challenges to a federal mandate played out in court.
In an internal announcement, Boeing said its decision came after a review of a U.S. District Court ruling earlier this month that halted the enforcement of President Joe Biden‘s vaccine requirement for federal contractors.
In recent weeks, the number of Boeing employees seeking a vaccine exemption on religious or medical grounds had reached more than 11,000 — or nearly 9% of its U.S. workforce — a level many times higher than executives initially estimated, Reuters first reported.
The fact that the vast majority of applications were on religious grounds thrust one of America’s largest employers into the center of a debate about the ethics of probing an employee’s religious beliefs.
Boston Mandates COVID Vaccines at Restaurants, Gyms and Theaters
Starting early next year, Boston will require that patrons of indoor restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues show proof of coronavirus vaccination, Mayor Michelle Wu announced Monday morning, as infections surge in Boston amid escalating fears of the Omicron variant.
Customers will have to show they’ve been vaccinated in order to enter indoor spaces like restaurants, bars, movie theaters, museums, bowling alleys, indoor pools and sports stadiums, Wu said during a Monday morning press conference.
The vaccine mandate will be enforced in phases: Starting Jan. 15, all patrons over the age of 12 will be required to prove they have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and one month later in February, they must show they have been fully vaccinated.
Starting in May, children older than 5 must be fully vaccinated to enter indoor spaces in Boston, according to the city.
Harvard Plans to Return to Remote Learning in January as COVID Cases Rise
Harvard University has joined a growing number of schools and colleges across the US returning to remote learning as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads at a rapid rate.
The University announced Saturday that all students and teachers, unless they have been authorized to stay on campus, will be required to study and work from home through January 22, 2022.
Insider’s Bethany Biron reported that East Coast schools across New York, Maryland, and Maine were among the first to temporarily shutter and shift to remote learning to slow the spread of the virus. Schools in other parts of the US have since followed.
Thousands in Brussels Protest Renewed COVID Restrictions
Thousands of peaceful protesters demonstrated in Brussels on Sunday for a third time against reinforced COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Belgian government to counter a spike in infections as the Omicron variant sweeps across Europe.
The marchers — some with placards reading “free zone,” “I’ve had my fair dose” and “enough is enough” — came to protest the government’s strong advice to get vaccinated. They also included Belgian healthcare workers who will have a three-month window in which to get vaccinated against the virus beginning Jan. 1 or risk losing their jobs.
A strong police presence and widespread preventive controls were deployed for the march, given how previous protests had descended into violence. But only 13 arrests were made for “rebellion and possession of prohibited articles,” according to police spokesperson Ilse Van de Keere.
Omicron Casts a Shadow Over Winter Holidays as Countries Consider Serious Restrictions
Tighter restrictions are being considered around the world as spiraling cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant loom over the festive holiday period.
A number of curbs have already been introduced in countries across Europe. The Netherlands entered full lockdown from Sunday until mid-January, leaving only supermarkets and essential shops open. School in the country have been closed. People will not be able to have more than two visitors over the age of 13 per day, although this will be raised to four people between Dec. 24 and Dec. 26.
In Germany, meanwhile, only German citizens, residents and transit passengers will be allowed to enter the country from the U.K. from Monday, with all inbound travelers required to quarantine for 14 days irrespective of vaccination status. Travel restrictions were also imposed for arrivals from Denmark, Norway and France.
Austria will only allow entry to vaccinated travelers from Monday, while France has already banned travel from the U.K.
Israel Bans Travel to the United States and Canada Amid Omicron Fears
Israel on Monday barred travel to 10 new countries, including the United States, Canada and Germany, as its total number of Omicron cases reached 175 and the prime minister warned that the fifth wave of the coronavirus had already arrived.
Israel’s updated “red list” now also includes Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey. The list includes most of Africa as well. The ban against the added countries will come into effect Tuesday at midnight.
Travel from Israel to red countries is forbidden, unless travelers receive permission from a special committee. Israeli citizens flying from a red country must enter a seven-day quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated — entry of noncitizens was banned last month.
The Kid Surveillance Complex Locks Parents in a Trap
Intrusive surveillance has become a parental rite of passage in America. But the parental panopticon is not a mark of maturity and responsibility but rather of paranoia, distrust and devolvement.
From smartphones to schools to entertainment, parents can track the near totality of their children’s lives with ease. Share Location features come out of the box with any smartphone, and extremely popular apps like Life360 or Bark offer “enhanced” features such as driving monitoring and camera roll scanning for a small price.
Unsurprisingly, the companies behind these apps collect an enormous amount of data about millions of teenagers and children; Life360 recently came under fire for selling it to data brokers that, as the Markup reported, have in turn sold info on children’s whereabouts “to virtually anyone who wants to buy it.”
Before You Download One More App, You Must Check This List First
What are the five most-used apps on your phone? For me, it’s Messages, Mail, Refin, Instagram and Podcasts.
There are also those forgotten apps I downloaded and only used once or twice. I know you have them too. Before you hit “uninstall,” there’s a crucial step you need to take. Tap or click for the right way to delete apps.
While you’re making your phone more secure, take some time to wipe out tracking cookies. You do this on your computer, and it’s a step worth taking on your phone, too. Tap or click for the steps to get the job done.
Before you visit the Google Play or Apple App Store again, there are a few things to keep in mind to keep nosey and dangerous downloads off your phone.
No Religious Exemptions to COVID Vaccine Approved Among Armed Forces Despite Over 12,000 Requests + More
No Religious Exemptions to COVID Vaccine Approved Among Armed Forces Despite Over 12,000 Requests
The military has not approved a single religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine, even as more than 12,000 service members have sought one.
Every active-duty military member must be vaccinated, now that each branch’s deadline has passed, unless the person has been granted or is awaiting a response on an exemption request.
According to data released by each branch, 1,746 soldiers, 2,751 sailors, 4,756 airmen, and 3,144 Marines have asked specifically for religious exemptions. While none have been approved thus far, many have not yet been denied either.
Last month, a group of nearly three dozen Navy sailors, the majority of whom are Navy SEALs, filed a lawsuit seeking to get their religious exemption requests approved. The SEALs and sailors involved in the suit are either Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant.
‘It’s Not the Government’s Job to Dictate My Healthcare,’ LA Firefighters File Case Against City’s Vaccine Mandate
It’s been nearly a month since John Knox last worked a shift for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Knox, along with more than 100 Los Angeles city firefighters have been suspended without pay for refusing to comply with L.A.’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“Over the past 22 months, without that shot, we’ve been here helping the public,” said Knox. “There has never been an issue until the city put this mandate out. Until the city turned us from heroes to criminals. We continued to come out and serve the public.”
Knox and the rest of the “Firefighters For Freedom” have filed a lawsuit challenging the city and its vaccine mandate. Their day in court is next Monday when a state judge is set to hear the case.
Courts Keep Chipping Away at Biden COVID Vaccine Mandates
Federal judges in Louisiana and Texas continue to chip away at Biden administration COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The latest of the piecemeal blows to the vaccine mandates came Thursday in lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Indiana and Mississippi. In that case, U.S. District Judge Dee Drell in Alexandria, Louisiana, declined to block a requirement that all employees of federal contractors get vaccinated — noting that there is already a nationwide block on that mandate issued by a Georgia-based federal judge.
But Drell did issue a preliminary injunction blocking the mandate in federal contracts or grant agreements between any of the three states and the federal government.
Also, a Texas-based federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the mandate for healthcare workers in that state. With that ruling, dated Wednesday, the health worker mandate is now blocked in half the states. The federal Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services has not said whether it will enforce the mandate in the other states.
Biden Asks Supreme Court to Revive Health Worker Vaccine Mandate
The Biden administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a vaccine mandate for health workers at hospitals that receive federal funding after lower courts blocked the order in roughly half of the country.
Rulings by federal judges in Missouri and Louisiana have effectively halted the public health measure in 24 states in recent weeks as the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 800,000.
Separately this week, a Texas judge on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction to the state of Texas against the vaccine mandate.
CDC’s School Mask Guidelines Fuel a Culture War That Europe, WHO Avoided
The use of face masks for children as a means to combat the spread of COVID-19 has rapidly become a major point of contention and added fuel to the fire of the long-running U.S. culture war.
The issue of mask-wearing has been at the center of controversial school board meetings across the country, with arguments and objections hitting headlines and footage sometimes going viral on social media.
Strict advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) seems to have stoked that culture war. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Europe’s top infectious diseases agency have largely avoided controversy by issuing guidelines that differ significantly from the CDC.
CDC Endorses Schools’ Coronavirus ‘Test-to-Stay’ Policies
U.S. health officials are endorsing “test-to-stay” policies that allow close contacts of students infected with the coronavirus to remain in classrooms if they test negative.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided to more firmly embrace the approach, already used by many school districts, after research of such policies in the Chicago and Los Angeles areas found COVID-19 infections did not increase when using the approach.
CDC’s official guidance for schools has been that when someone in a school tests positive for COVID-19 infection, those who were deemed to be in close contact should stay out of school, in home quarantine, for 10 days. With the announcement Friday, the CDC is saying both test-to-stay programs and quarantining approaches are both equally good options for schools.
Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration Happening for Now for Fully Vaccinated
The New Year’s Eve celebration in New York City’s Times Square is still scheduled to take place, but officials said they’re watching the spread of COVID-19 very carefully amid an increase in infections.
The New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that for now, the event will continue as planned, but only for fully vaccinated people.
The celebration was canceled last year due to the pandemic.
Multiple Broadway shows, including “Hamilton,” “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” called off performances in recent days because of virus cases in their all-vaccinated casts and crews. California and New York brought back indoor mask mandates.
Compulsory COVID Jabs ‘Calamitous’ for Dental Services in England
Dentists’ leaders have said mandatory jabs for healthcare staff will have a “calamitous” impact on dental services in England, as a survey revealed that one in 10 dentists have not been double-vaccinated.
MPs voted this week to approve regulations requiring NHS and social care staff to be vaccinated by April next year. All frontline health and care staff must be fully jabbed with two COVID-19 vaccines before 1 April or risk losing their jobs.
But the British Dental Association (BDA) said compulsory vaccination risked “dropping a bomb on a service already stretched to breaking point” because it meant that thousands of dental workers would quit. The mass exodus would have devastating consequences for millions of patients, it said.
With Christmas COVID Surge Looming, Denmark Closes Public Venues, Limits Gatherings
Denmark will soon see public venues like theaters and museums closed, restaurant curfews go into effect and limits on gatherings advised as the country looks to squash a recent surge in COVID-19 cases. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced the new measures, most of which will take effect early Sunday, six days before Christmas.
In addition to theaters and museums, cinemas, concert halls, amusement parks and art galleries will also be required to shut doors with the new restrictions. Stores smaller than 2,000 square meters, the equivalent of 21,528 square feet, and restaurants must also limit the number of patrons allowed inside at one time.
Additionally, restaurants are required to close by 11 p.m. and the government is advising people to restrict the number of people they see over the holidays.
Meta Says 50,000 Facebook Users May Have Been Spied on by Private Surveillance Firms
Meta has said that around 50,000 Facebook users have been targeted by private surveillance companies.
Meta, which also owns and operates Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, said in a blogpost Thursday that it has alerted the people who it believes were targeted by the malicious activities. The companies targeted people including journalists and human rights activists in over 100 countries on behalf of their clients, Meta said, adding that they created fake accounts, befriended targets and used hacking methods to acquire information.
“The global surveillance-for-hire industry targets people across the internet to collect intelligence, manipulate them into revealing information and compromise their devices and accounts,” wrote Meta’s David Agranovich, director of threat disruption, and Mike Dvilyanski, head of cyber espionage investigations.
Boeing Wants to Build Its Next Airplane in the ‘Metaverse’
In Boeing Co’s (BA.N)factory of the future, immersive 3-D engineering designs will be twinned with robots that speak to each other, while mechanics around the world will be linked by $3,500 HoloLens headsets made by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).
This is emblematic of a digital revolution happening globally, as automakers like Ford Motor Co (F.N) and social media companies like Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O) shift work and play into an immersive virtual world sometimes called the metaverse.
So how does the metaverse — a shared digital space often using virtual reality or augmented reality and accessible via the internet — work in aviation?
Big Tech Is Luring Congress Into a Regulation Trap
In recent years, Big Tech executives have all said the same thing about the prospect of sweeping federal reform of legacy social media platforms: bring it on. By openly calling for regulation, Big Tech is luring Congress into stifling free market competition — and lawmakers are taking the bait.
At a recent hearing, the top executive of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, told the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security that the company supports federal oversight of the social media sector. He proposed implementing an industry panel that would regulate safety standards for social networking apps.
There is a very good reason why all these legacy social media giants are so supportive of government action: federal regulations will make it even harder for new platforms to compete with established tech giants.