Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Government stops councils enforcing masks in English primary schools | Education | The Guardian (Brittle Boris just can’t stick to preventing illness and deaths with simple masks)

The government has intervened to stop councils requiring children in primary schools in England to wear face masks when they return to school next week.

The move came after it emerged that Redbridge council in east London had advised headteachers that all primary school pupils in the borough should be encouraged to wear a face covering when indoors as part of Covid health and safety measures.

Source: Government stops councils enforcing masks in English primary schools | Education | The Guardian

Researchers read sealed 17th-century letter without opening it | Manuscripts and letters | The Guardian

Computer-generated unfolding sequence of a sealed letter. The researchers believe that virtual unfolding will have an impact “far beyond” the Brienne collection, because so many collections around the world contain unopened documents. “One important example is the hundreds of unopened items among the 160,000 undelivered letters in the Prize Papers, an archive of documents confiscated by the British from enemy ships between the 17th and 19th centuries,” they write in the article, titled Unlocking History Through Automated Virtual Unfolding of Sealed Documents Imaged by X-ray Microtomography. “If these can be read without physically opening them, much rare letterlocking data can be preserved.”

Source: Researchers read sealed 17th-century letter without opening it | Manuscripts and letters | The Guardian

Fauci warns of risks from single-dose strategy for Pfizer, Moderna vaccines | TheHill

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said in a new interview that Biden administration officials plan to stick with a two-dose approach for Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines as they work to inoculate Americans even though at least one other country has used a single-dose method.  “We’re telling people [two shots] is what you should do … and then we say, ‘Oops, we changed our mind’?” Fauci told The Washington Post on Monday. “I think that would be a messaging challenge, to say the least.” Fauci warned that adopting a strategy to administer the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines with just a single dose in an effort to get more people vaccinated more quickly could render Americans too susceptible to infection and spark more doubts about the vaccines’ efficacy.

Source: Fauci warns of risks from single-dose strategy for Pfizer, Moderna vaccines | TheHill

Chinese vaccines sweep much of the world, despite concerns – The Washington Post

China’s vaccine diplomacy campaign has been a surprising success: It has pledged roughly half a billion doses of its vaccines to more than 45 countries, according to a country-by-country tally by The Associated Press. With just four of China’s many vaccine makers claiming they are able to produce at least 2.6 billion doses this year, a large part of the world’s population will end up inoculated not with the fancy Western vaccines boasting headline-grabbing efficacy rates, but with China’s humble, traditionally made shots. Source: Chinese vaccines sweep much of the world, despite concerns – The Washington Post

Israeli attorney general slams Netanyahu’s vaccine diplomacy – The Washington Post

Israel’s attorney general has warned Benjamin Netanyahu that he cannot single-handedly share the country’s surplus vaccines with far-flung allies in Africa, Europe and Latin America, and that such an important decision cannot be made by the prime minister alone.

In an official letter, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit argues that Netanyahu should have consulted the Cabinet for such a plan. The justice ministry released the letter, addressed to the national security adviser, Meir Ben Shabbat, on Monday.

Netanyahu’s announcement last week of his decision to share some of Israel’s vaccine stockpile had caused an uproar and was later frozen, due to legal questions in Israel, but not before thousands of vaccine doses were shipped to Honduras and reportedly the Czech Republic as well.

Source: Israeli attorney general slams Netanyahu’s vaccine diplomacy – The Washington Post

Nigeria receives nearly 4 million vaccines from COVAX – The Washington Post

Nearly 4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, the third and largest delivery so far to an African country by the global COVAX initiative, which was created to ensure that low- and middle-income countries have fair access to vaccines.

The COVAX program shipped 3.94 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, from Mumbai to Abuja, according to a joint statement from UNICEF, which is working in partnership with the World Health Organization, GAVI, which is an international vaccine alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

Source: Nigeria receives nearly 4 million vaccines from COVAX – The Washington Post

Pomona approves $4-per-hour ‘hero pay’ for grocery workers

Grocery stores in Pomona will be required to pay workers $4 an hour in “hero pay” on top of their regular wages after the City Council late Monday, March 1, approved an ordinance in support of the measure.

The council unanimously approved the ordinance, which will be in effect for the next 120 days, to support frontline retail workers facing greater risk of exposure in the coronavirus pandemic. The ordinance applies to retailers that employ 300 employees nationally and more than 10 within Pomona, and covers both grocery and pharmacy workers.

The ordinance will target the majority of large retail establishments within the city, including Stater Bros., Food 4 Less, Cardenas and Target. Under the ordinance, retailers are prohibited from retaliating against employees by reducing compensation and companies must notify workers of the new rules.

The move to support workers comes as grocery stores across the country have remained open throughout the pandemic as essential service providers. While many grocery stores have implemented various safety protocols such as plexiglass dividers at check stands and daily temperature checks, the stores have been among the hardest hit in terms of virus outbreaks in Los Angeles County.

Pomona joins a growing number of local governments that has pushed for “hero pay” ordinances for retail workers, including Montebello, Santa Ana, the city of Los Angeles and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

The California Grocers Association has already filed lawsuits against some cities to stop such measures, most notably Long Beach. Last week, a federal judge denied the association’s lawsuit to temporarily overturn Long Beach’s ordinance on the basis that it failed to establish a likelihood of success on its claims. The lawsuit is still ongoing.

Pomona City Attorney Sonia Carvalho said Monday evening the city is not aware of any pending lawsuits from the CGA but noted the city is susceptible to any forthcoming claims.

Related links

Multiple grocery workers called and emailed comments in support of the extra pay, recalling stories of coworkers contracting the virus on the job. United Food and Commercial Workers 1428, which represents unionized grocery store employees in Pomona, reported 74 COVID-19 positive cases in the city, equaling 46% of their represented employees there, according to a staff report.

“Our members have stood up every day just to do this job, to make sure our communities have what they need,” said Mark Ramos, UFCW Local 1428 president, who called into the meeting.

Experts warn Brazil facing darkest days of Covid crisis as deaths hit highest level | Brazil | The Guardian

Health experts and lawmakers have warned Brazil is steaming into the darkest days of its coronavirus catastrophe, as fatalities soared to new heights and one prominent politician compared the crisis to an atomic bomb.

Politicians from across the spectrum voiced anger and exasperation at the deteriorating situation on Monday, after Brazil’s weekly average of Covid deaths hit its highest level since the epidemic began last February and hospitals around the country reported being swamped.

According to the newspaper O Globo, intensive care units in 17 of Brazil’s 26 states were near capacity, while six states and the capital Brasília had run out of intensive care beds altogether.

Source: Experts warn Brazil facing darkest days of Covid crisis as deaths hit highest level | Brazil | The Guardian