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No Jab, No Job: Google Will Fire Unvaccinated Employees
Google is giving employees until Jan. 18 to prove that they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 or apply for an exemption, according to a report from CNBC.
News of the requirement broke late Tuesday, but Google employees have been aware of the policy since Dec. 3, when an internal memo alerted them to the deadline. If employees don’t upload proof of vaccination by then, they’ll be placed on paid administrative leave for 30 days and unpaid personal leave for six months after that. If they still haven’t shown proof of vaccination after seven months, they’ll be fired.
“We expect that almost all roles at Google in the U.S. will fall within the scope of the executive order,” the memo said. “Anyone entering a Google building must be fully vaccinated or have an approved accommodation that allows them to work or come onsite. Frequent testing is not a valid alternative to vaccination.”
Court Revives U.S. COVID Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare in 26 States
A U.S. federal appeals court on Wednesday revived in 26 states a Biden administration COVID-19 mandate requiring millions of U.S. healthcare workers to get vaccinated if they work in federally funded facilities.
In a rare win for President Joe Biden’s pandemic strategy, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that a lower court only had the authority to block the mandate in the 14 states that had sued. The appeals court ruled that the lower court was wrong to impose a nationwide injunction. read more
The rule initially required more than 2 million unvaccinated healthcare workers be vaccinated by Dec. 6. It was blocked before the deadline and remains temporarily blocked in 24 states — the 14 states involved in the case reviewed by the New Orleans appeals court and 10 states where the mandate was blocked by a Nov. 29 ruling from a federal judge in St. Louis. read more
U.S. Passenger Railroad Amtrak Suspends Vaccine Mandate for Employees
U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak said on Tuesday it will temporarily suspend a vaccine mandate for employees and now no longer expects to be forced to cut some service in January.
In a memo seen by Reuters, Amtrak Chief Executive Bill Flynn said the railroad would allow employees who were not vaccinated to get tested.
Currently, fewer than 500 active Amtrak employees are not in compliance. Last week, the railroad told Congress it anticipated “proactively needing to temporarily reduce some train frequencies across our network” because of the mandate.
Colleges Go Back to Drawing Board — Again — to Fight COVID
Facing rising infections and a new COVID-19 variant, colleges across the U.S. have once again been thwarted in seeking a move to normalcy and are starting to require booster shots, extend mask mandates, limit social gatherings and, in some cases, revert to online classes.
The threat of the Omicron variant comes as a gut punch to schools that were hoping to relax safety measures this spring. Now, many are telling students to prepare for another term of masking, testing and, if cases get bad, limits around social life.
Hundreds of colleges already require COVID-19 vaccines, and some say boosters are an obvious next step.
Navy Starts Kicking Out Sailors for Refusing the COVID Vaccine as Republicans Rage Over Mandate
The Navy has begun kicking out sailors who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but won’t slap dishonorable discharges on anyone for their decision to ignore a direct order.
Overall, 5,731 active-duty sailors remain unvaccinated, and at this point, Navy officials say they believe most of those will likely continue to refuse the order, weeks after the Nov. 28 deadline for full vaccination.
“If a sailor gets their shot, we will honor that and make every effort to retain them,” Rear Adm. James Waters, the Navy’s director of military personnel plans and policy, told reporters. “On the other hand, those who continue to refuse the vaccine will be required to leave the Navy.”
L.A. School Board Delays Enforcement of Student Vaccine Mandate as Thousands Remain Non-Compliant
The Los Angeles school board agreed Tuesday to delay enforcement of its student COVID-19 vaccine mandate from Jan. 10 to fall 2022, citing concerns over disrupting learning and the monumental task of transferring tens of thousands of students into independent study.
The decision came after interim Supt. Megan K. Reilly laid out a plan Friday to push back the deadline because the district was confronted with the reality that about 28,000 students had not complied and under the rules would be barred from in-person schooling and enrolled in independent study.
The board also voted to expand the student vaccination mandate to charter schools that are authorized by the district.
Quarter of NY Counties Refuse to ‘Become Mask Police’ Despite Hochul Mandate
County officials statewide opposed to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s mask mandate called it “silly,” “misguided” and “unenforceable” on Tuesday — with one rejecting it as “Gestapo tactics” and another saying “we’re not going to become the mask police.”
Since Hochul announced her order on Friday, leaders in 13 Republican-controlled counties have publicly refused to force businesses that don’t require vaccination for admittance to make workers, customers and visitors wear masks.
The defiant counties — along with Nassau County, where incoming Republican County Executive-elect Bruce Blakeman has said he’ll defy the mandate — account for nearly one-quarter of all the state’s territories, not including the five boroughs of New York City.
U.S. Appeals Court Declines to Block United Airlines Vaccine Mandate
A divided U.S. appeals court has rebuffed a request by six employees to block United Airlines (UAL.O) from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for workers that imposes unpaid leave on those who are granted religious or medical exceptions.
A panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 on Monday night to reject the emergency request for an injunction blocking the mandate while the employees appeal a November ruling by a federal judge in favor of the airline.
The case is one of many legal battles over vaccine requirements imposed by companies and governments.
Louisiana’s John Bel Edwards Adds COVID Vaccine to School Requirements, Despite Objections
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday the COVID vaccine will be added to the immunization schedule for schools and colleges in the state, overriding a previous 13-2 vote against the decision.
Edwards, a Democrat, sent a letter to the House Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday to inform them of his decision, stating eligible students will be required to be vaccinated in time for the 2022-23 school year or file for an exemption.
Under the current plan, only students who the vaccine has been fully approved for by the Food and Drug Administration will be required to be vaccinated. The current age threshold is 16. However, if the FDA does expand the approvals to a wider age range, Louisiana’s requirements could change.
Tony Blair Calls for New ‘Digital ID’ so People Can Prove Their Coronavirus ‘Disease Status’ Alongside Test and Trace Programs
People will need a new form of ‘digital ID’ so they can prove their ‘disease status’ as the world moves out of lockdown, Tony Blair has said.
The former Prime Minister said that only if people can show easily whether they are clear of coronavirus will industries like international travel be able to restart. Speaking at the virtual CogX technology conference, Mr Blair said that such a system would operate alongside track and trace programs as the economy reopens.
“You can create a digital ID today that is much more easily protected so you can deal with a lot of the privacy and surveillance issues that worry people,” he said on Tuesday. “It is a natural evolution of the way that we are going to use technology in any event to transact daily life and this COVID crisis gives an additional reason for doing that.”
UK Government Wins COVID Pass Vote; 98 Voted Against It
Behind a heavy oak door in Parliament, Prime Minister Boris Johnson implored Conservative lawmakers to back him by voting for new restrictions to help slow the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
The lawmakers cheered Johnson — yet almost 100 defied him, voting in the House of Commons against requiring vaccine passports for nightclubs and other crowded venues. The rebellion didn’t defeat the measure, which was approved with opposition support and took effect Wednesday. But it could have big implications for Johnson’s political future and for Britain’s pandemic response.
Tuesday’s rebellion by 98 Conservative lawmakers on vaccine certificates was by far the biggest of Johnson’s premiership. More than 60 Tory legislators also voted against mandating vaccinations for all healthcare workers.
Norway Bans Serving of Alcohol in Bid to Halt Omicron Outbreak
Norway will ban the serving of alcohol in bars and restaurants, impose stricter rules in schools and speed up vaccination as part of new efforts to curb the outbreak of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the government said on Monday.
“For many, this will feel like a lockdown, if not of society then of their lives and of their livelihoods,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference.
Poland Limits How Many Unvaccinated People Can Be Inside Restaurants, Theaters at One Time
Following a surge in COVID-19 cases, Poland put into effect a number of measures restricting capacities at public venues, especially for the unvaccinated.
Whereas previously places like restaurants, hotels, theaters and sports stadiums could have up to 50% of their capacity be made up of unvaccinated people, the new regulations have now cut this down to 30%.
The new restrictions also shut down nightclubs and discos, though they allow for them to be open for New Year’s celebrations with a 100-person cap. Public transportation capacity will also be limited to 75%.
Big Tech Doesn’t Always Make It Easy to Use the Apps You Want. Here’s How to Take Back Control.
Let’s say you’re on your phone, trying desperately to declutter your inbox and you tap on a link in one of your emails. What happens next? Your Web browser opens and directs you to whatever page you wanted to see in the first place. It’s the kind of interaction that’s so mundane, you probably don’t think about it very much. But maybe you should.
If you’re concerned about being tracked across the Internet, for example, you might want a browser like Brave or Firefox to open links on your Android phone instead of Chrome.
These companies are exerting a degree of control over the way we use their products, and to that, we say, “No thanks.” Apple and Microsoft eventually eased up on both of those issues, but changing the default apps can still take some work on our part. Here’s how to do it for the phones, tablets and computers you rely on every day.
Apple’s Controversial CSAM Photo Detection Feature May Be Toast
Months after a bungled announcement of a controversial new feature designed to scan iPhones for potential child sexual abuse material (CSAM), Apple has covertly wiped any mention of the plan from the Child Safety page on its website.
The on-device CSAM detection feature stood out among the other planned additions as a particular concern, with security researchers, policy groups, and regular-old Apple customers alike balking at the plan’s potential to erode privacy.
Critics had argued that giving Apple the ability to trawl users’ private data was problematic for a number of reasons, both in terms of its ability to misidentify CSAM (would a photo of your child in the bathtub land you on an FBI watchlist?) and its potential to open up the door to a dangerous surveillance precedent.
Meta Expands Bug Bounty Program to Reward Discoveries of Scraped Data
Meta is expanding its bug bounty program to reward researchers who report data scraping. The change will allow researchers to report both bugs that could enable scraping activity, as well as previously scraped data that has already been published online.
Data scraping is different than other “malicious” activity Meta tracks as it uses automated tools to mass-collect personal information from users’ profiles, such as email addresses, phone numbers, profile photos and other details.
Even though users often willingly share this information on their public Facebook profiles, scrapers can expose these details more widely, such as publishing the information in searchable databases. In April, the personal information of more than 500 million Facebook users was published on a forum.
