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Fauci Warns Americans Could Face More Lockdowns Amid Spread of New COVID Variant
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned Americans this week that they could soon face additional COVID-19 lockdown measures should a new strain of the virus cause case numbers to increase.
Fauci, who also serves as an adviser to President Biden, said the BA.2 subvariant could soon increase the rate of infections in America. He suggested that Americans should “be able to pivot” back and forth between a more common way of life and the measures that were taken in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus at the height of the pandemic.
“We can’t just say, ‘We’re done. We’re going to move on.’ We’ve got to be able to be flexible because we’re dealing with a dynamic situation,” he added, noting the new variant to be less fatal than the Omicron variant. “The overall mortality is actually down. It’s a very interesting situation where the cases are going up, but it does not, at this point in time, appear to be any degree of severity.”
During the segment on CNN, Fauci seemingly dismissed concern over the crippling economic burdens associated with lockdown measures or other precautions.
Major Government Surveillance Revelations Fail to Make a Big Splash
Multiple covert government surveillance operations hoovering up Americans’ information without oversight have been exposed in the last year. Those not following closely may not have noticed. Recent revelations about government spying have failed to make a major splash in Congress, the media or public discourse.
Over the past several months, lawmakers and reporters have revealed that the country’s intelligence agencies have been using broad executive authority and taking advantage of a loophole in the Fourth Amendment to obtain much more data than was previously known.
Three of these major discoveries, all made public by Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D-Ore.) office, concern the CIA gathering American data, a defense agency buying consumer data from a third-party broker and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) participating in a program stealthily compiling money transfer records.
The Mask Mandate Returns to Six Chicago Public School Classrooms Amid COVID Spike at School
At Chicago’s John C. Coonley Elementary School, six classrooms have reverted to universal masking, a Chicago Public Schools spokesperson confirmed, amid a spike in cases at the school.
The pivot back to required masking in the Coonley classrooms is apparently the first in CPS since it dropped its universal mask mandate a week ago, though it continues to recommend masks. After announcing that shift, CPS later clarified that masks would still be required in certain circumstances, such as when someone is exposed to a person with COVID-19.
The Chicago Teachers Union has also fought the end of universal masking, saying it’s a breach of a safety agreement forged after a January standoff that prompted the cancellation of five days of classes. The state’s Educational Labor Relations Board last week narrowly declined the CTU’s request for an emergency injunction as the union’s complaint is considered.
But many parents had pushed for and have welcomed the end of CPS’ mask mandate; some participated in a lawsuit that prompted school systems around the state to ditch the requirement.
Amici for Freedom and the Fate of Free Speech
What will be the fate of free speech in the United States? The answer is coming soon from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Netchoice v. Paxton.
Last year, Texas protected free speech from Big Tech censorship by passing a statute finding that the largest social media platforms are “common carriers” and barring them from discriminating against speech on grounds of viewpoint.
Rather than comply with the Texas law, the social media platforms secured a preliminary injunction against its enforcement. A district court judge granted the injunction, saying the anti-discrimination regulation violated the social media platform’s First Amendment rights. It is no surprise that Texas is appealing the injunction, taking the question up the ladder to judges who will give it more serious attention.
We depend on dissent to hold ourselves accountable. The freedom to tell the truth — even more fundamentally, the freedom to speak even if it turns out to be in error — is the foundation of modern society. It is the crucible of our science, literature and politics. It is part of the give and take of life itself. So it is worth fighting for.
Los Angeles Schools Announce End of Classroom Mask Mandate
The Los Angeles Unified School District — the largest U.S. school district still requiring masks for staff and students — announced Friday that it will lift the mandate as COVID-19 infection rates continue to plunge.
The nation’s second-largest school district said it will drop the requirement by next Wednesday after reaching an agreement with the teachers union, although other virus safety measures such as weekly testing will remain in place through the school year.
Judge: Montana Can’t Enforce Ban on Mandating Vaccines
Montana cannot enforce a state law that prevents most healthcare facilities from mandating vaccines while an interim federal rule is in place requiring millions of healthcare workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a federal judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula said his preliminary injunction applies only while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid interim rule is in effect because the federal rule takes precedence over the state law.
The rule, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in January, requires COVID-19 vaccinations or religious or medical exemptions on file for staff at Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers.
New Orleans Lifts Proof-of-Vaccine Rule for Bars, Eateries
Bars, restaurants and other businesses in New Orleans are no longer required to make patrons show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test for the disease, the city said Monday in a news release.
The mandate, which dates back to August, was officially lifted at 6 a.m.
The move comes nearly three weeks after locals and tourists crowded onto city streets — and into restaurants and bars — for the annual Mardi Gras celebration. An end to a citywide indoor mask mandate was announced on March 2, the day after Mardi Gras.
Austria to Reinstitute Face Mask Requirements as COVID Surges
Well, that didn’t last too long. Less than two weeks after lifting face mask mandates on March 5, the Austrian government announced on Friday that they will be reinstituting such requirements on March 23. That’s because Austria is in the midst of, guess what, a COVID-19 coronavirus surge.
The fact that Austria is having such a surge should be about as surprising as leaving your cat in charge of your tax return and finding some very strange deductions.
So starting this coming Wednesday if you go to the Sigmund Freud Museum in Vienna, don’t slip up and forget your FFP2 respirator. In fact, if you go to any indoor public location in Austria, you’re gonna be required to wear such a face mask.
The Austrian government will be requiring face masks with the more stringent FFP2 designation, which are supposed to filter out at least 94% of particles in the air. That’s just one percent lower than what masks with the N95 designation are supposed to do.
New Brunswick Lifts COVID Vaccine Requirement for Some Civil Servants
New Brunswick has announced vaccination against COVID-19 will no longer be a condition of employment with the provincial government as of March 28.
That doesn’t include workers at health facilities, Ambulance NB and corrections, which the province says “remain vulnerable sectors.”
Unvaccinated employees who work in health and corrections will remain on leave without pay until they receive two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. All other unvaccinated employees who are on leave without pay will be able to return to work March 28.
Parents up in Arms Against an Ontario School Board’s Move to Keep Masks on
As students in Canada’s most populous province return to mask-free classes after two years on Monday, one Ontario school board is facing backlash for defying the province’s decision to drop masks, potentially setting the stage for a clash on a contentious pandemic issue.
The mask mandate and other pandemic measures have become a lightning rod in Canada for an anti-government movement, sparking a three-week protest in capital Ottawa last month.
The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) voted against removing the mask mandate and proposed keeping students and teachers masked until April 1 to protect the medically vulnerable.
Why WhatsApp Wants to Convince Americans to Stop Sending Text Messages
WhatsApp, the mobile messaging service acquired by Facebook in 2014, has grown into a formidable force since then. Used by more than a quarter of the world’s population, the platform’s reach in its home market remains comparatively small.
While apps such as Facebook and Instagram are already widely used in the United States and don’t have much room to grow, the potential for WhatsApp is much larger. The messaging app cost Facebook $19 billion almost a decade ago but generates little revenue. Meta is now trying to change that.
Boosting WhatsApp in the United States could have positive ripple effects on its other platforms and create new monetization opportunities in a lucrative market. But to get there, WhatsApp must fight an uphill battle to change how Americans text and, perhaps, how they view WhatsApp’s parent company.
Brazil’s Supreme Court Suspends Telegram, a Key Bolsonaro Platform
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Friday ordered the suspension of messaging app Telegram, saying it had repeatedly refused to adhere to judicial orders to freeze accounts spreading disinformation or comply with the country’s laws, according to a copy of the ruling seen by Reuters.
Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters have increasingly relied upon Telegram as a form of mass communication as larger tech companies like Meta (FB.O), which owns messaging app WhatsApp, Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google and Twitter (TWTR.N) have adhered to Supreme Court orders to drop offending accounts over allegedly spreading disinformation.
