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It’s Time to End the Five-Day Isolation Guidance for COVID
The United States is set to end its public health emergency in May, and the World Health Organization has indicated it will also declare an end to the pandemic soon.
But there is one lingering residual: the five-day isolation period following a COVID diagnosis. We believe it’s time for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to retire that policy and move to an alternative guidance: Stay home when sick; return to work and school when you are better.
This is especially important for kids. Extensive evidence shows that time away from school due to COVID has worsened learning loss, screen addiction, the teen mental health crisis and obesity rates. Schools are playing catch-up not only for academics but also social and emotional learning. While many schools have been open for in-person instruction for more than two years, the mandatory five-day isolation period means educational disruptions continue.
It is incumbent upon health officials to keep the number of days that children have to be out of school to an absolute minimum. We also must recognize that it’s not only children who are harmed by the five-day isolation requirements but also the caregivers of children who are too young to stay alone at home. During this time of staffing shortages across many industries, especially in healthcare, we must consider this negative impact on society.
Google Drops Vaccine Mandate for Its Buildings Worldwide
Google is dropping the COVID-19 vaccine requirement it has had in place since the life-saving shots became available as the coronavirus pandemic raged.
“Most people today have some level of immunity against COVID-19, case rates and hospitalizations have stabilized for many months now, and governments all around the world — including the U.S. — are ending emergency declarations, lifting restrictions and ending vaccination mandates,” the company’s vice president of global security Chris Rackow wrote in a memo obtained by CNBC. “Vaccines will no longer be required as a condition of entry to any of our buildings.”
During the height of the pandemic, Google was adamant about keeping unvaccinated people outside its doors, even threatening them with pay cuts or job loss. Twice it attempted office comebacks that were delayed by the onset of new strains.
San Diego Paying Out $110K to Settle Lawsuits Challenging Vaccine Mandate for City Workers
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported:
San Diego is paying out $110,000 to settle two lawsuits challenging the city’s controversial COVID-19 vaccine mandate for its workers, which the City Council repealed this winter.
The city is paying out $70,000 to a group called Protection for the Educational Rights of Kids, which sued over the mandate in state court, and $40,000 to ReOpen San Diego, which filed a federal lawsuit.
The controversial vaccine mandate led to the firing of 14 employees and to resignations by more than 130 police officers. The labor union representing city police officers suggested in January that the litigation helped prompt the repeal.
The union has called the mandate a “shortsighted” policy and blamed it for higher crime rates and slower response times to emergencies.
Alex Berenson Sues Biden, Pfizer Board Member Over Twitter Ban
Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson on April 12 sued President Joe Biden and a Pfizer board member over the pressure placed on Twitter to ban him.
Berenson, now an independent journalist, was suspended from Twitter in 2021 after top Biden administration officials and Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), urged the social media company to take action against him.
Twitter initially resisted the pressure but ultimately banned Berenson from the platform. Berenson later settled a suit with Twitter, which acknowledged it should not have banned him.
Now he’s targeting the officials who pressured Twitter, including Gottlieb and Dr. Andrew Slavitt, a one-time White House COVID-19 official.
GOP House Judiciary Chairman Subpoenas FTC Over Twitter Probe
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Wednesday subpoenaed Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan as part of his panel’s investigation into the agency’s probe of Elon Musk‘s purchase of Twitter.
The House subcommittee investigating the so-called weaponization of the federal government has made Twitter — and the federal government’s relationship with the social media platform — a central focus of its investigative efforts, particularly as it relates to free speech and the First Amendment.
The subpoena demands the FTC turn over a series of documents and internal communications relating to the agency’s investigation of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter by April 26.
Jordan asserts in a letter accompanying the subpoena that the FTC has “abused its statutory and enforcement authorities” and cites a report released by the subcommittee last month alleging the agency “made inappropriate and burdensome demands coinciding with Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company.”
After an Investigation Exposes Its Dangers, Pinterest Announces New Safety Tools and Parental Controls
Following last month’s NBC News investigation into Pinterest that exposed how pedophiles had been using the service to curate image boards of young girls, the company on Tuesday announced further safety measures for its platform, including a new set of parental controls and updated age verification policies, among other things. However, the company also said that it would soon re-open some of its previously locked-down features for teens to allow them to once again message and share content with others.
Immediately after the report, two U.S. Senators reached out to Pinterest for answers about what was being done and to push for more safety measures. The company said it increased the number of human content moderators on its team and added new features that allow users to report content and accounts for “Nudity, pornography or sexualized content,” including those involving “intentional misuse involving minors.” Before, it had only allowed users to report spam or inappropriate cover images.
Now, the company is announcing even more safety controls are in the works. For starters, it says it will expand its age verification process. By the end of this month, if someone who entered their age as under 18 tries to edit their date of birth on the Pinterest app, the company will require them to send additional information to its third-party age verification partner. This process includes sending a government ID or birth certificate and may also require the users to take a selfie for an ID photo.
In addition, Pinterest announced it will soon offer more parental controls. Parents and guardians of children under the age of 18 will have the ability to require a passcode before their teen is allowed to change certain account settings. This would prevent a younger child from trying to change their account to an adult’s age — which matters because minors’ accounts have further protections.
Google Antitrust Cases at a Crossroads as Giant Seeks Early Knockout
A federal court this week will hear arguments over Google’s motion to dismiss a pair of blockbuster antitrust lawsuits targeting its sprawling search engine business, marking a critical juncture for U.S. authorities’ efforts to bring the tech giants to heel.
Google is pushing for summary judgment in the two cases, brought by the Justice Department and a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general respectively. If granted, it would head off a high-stakes trial and deal a massive blow to antitrust enforcers.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is leading the state lawsuit against Google, called it the “most significant such case” since the landmark U.S. v. Microsoft Corp. antitrust case over two decades ago. And he said that if Google’s move succeeds, it would deprive the government of a chance to rein in anti-competitive harms they allege there’s already abundant proof of.
