Miss a day, miss a lot. Subscribe to The Defender's Top News of the Day. It's free.
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.
