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☆ Employee Monitoring and Surveillance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +50 min

Ensuring Employee Safety and Systems SecurityEmployers may use electronic workplace monitoring and surveillance to protect their:Worksites. Potential Liability for Electronic Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceEmployers that engage in electronic workplace monitoring and surveillance must comply with various federal and state laws, including:The Wiretap Act. Best Practices for Electronic Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceTo avoid violating relevant state and federal laws, before conducting workplace monitoring and surveillance, employers should:Consider the purpose and appropriate scope of their monitoring and surveillance activities and what methods will help them achieve their objectives. Determine the Purpose of Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceBefore conducting any workplace monitoring or surveillance, best practice is for employers to identify the purpose and goals of these activities to:Ensure that there is a legitimate business purpose for the planned monitoring and surveillance activities. Determine the scope of monitoring and surveillance necessary to accomplish the business purpose, and conduct only the minimum monitoring and surveillance necessary to meet that business need.

Governments were able to tailor their data reporting so it could be aggregated. Pulling the data closest to the outbreaks allowed us to publish nearly real-time information as the pandemic spread. Politicized rhetoric about vaccines also drove decisions in some parts of the country to end data reporting. As of this spring, only seven states continued to publish data on cases and deaths more than once a week. There is still much to do to fix the hodgepodge of antiquated, disconnected surveillance data systems that exist across governments.

☆ The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner Best Dressed
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Vanessa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

John FettermanThe senator from Pennsylvania continues his streak as one of the most notable dressers in Washington. Given that he only recently returned to the capital after being treated for depression, joining the melee on the red carpet at the W.H.C.D. with his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, was a deliberate statement about his recovery, his willingness to be open about his experience and his resilience. Still, he didn’t entirely abandon the just-a-regular-guy wardrobe that helped get him elected and that has been part of his signature even in Washington. They are a sign that he knows what he stands for — and in.

☆ How Randi Weingarten Landed at the Heart of America’s Political Fights
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Jonathan Mahler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

But Weingarten was friendly with McAuliffe from the Clinton days and was supporting his candidacy on Twitter and cable news, and the A.F.T. By the fall of 2021, America’s public schools were fully open, but mask mandates were still being hotly contested. gave more than $1 million to McAuliffe, and Weingarten even knocked on doors for him in Alexandria. The tabloid, which had been gleefully attacking Weingarten for years — dubbing her Whine-garten — trumpeted the story: “Powerful Teachers Union Influenced C.D.C. Senator Susan Collins of Maine grilled the C.D.C.’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, at a committee hearing over what she called the C.D.C.’s “secret negotiations” with the teachers’ union.

☆ Opinion | American Road Deaths Show an Alarming Racial Gap
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Adam Paul Susaneck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

The year before, pedestrian deaths reached a 40-year high. Pedestrian and cyclist injuries tend to be concentrated in poorer neighborhoods that have a larger share of Black and Hispanic residents. Roosevelt Boulevard North Philly High Injury Network West Philly 3 miles Percent Black and Hispanic 20 40 60 80% Washington D.C. Oslo and Helsinki, which adopted Vision Zero in the 1990s, recorded zero traffic deaths in 2019, and Helsinki had just two pedestrian deaths in 2021. In Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, pedestrian deaths have actually risen since the adoption of Vision Zero.

☆ Opinion | Who’s to Blame for a Million Deaths?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“Something clearly went wrong,” Anthony Fauci told me, reflecting on the long pandemic, in an interview for The New York Times Magazine. It was those who forced essential workers to stay on the job and those who kept ordering delivery from them. It was those who cut the line to get vaccinated, then those who didn’t get vaccinated, then those who stopped wearing masks once they did. It was the unvaccinated and it was Joe Biden saying “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” It was the C.D.C. And it was those people who kept annoyingly insisting that the pandemic wasn’t over, when, in truth, well, it both was and wasn’t.

☆ Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +55 min

Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ In his most extensive interview yet, Anthony Fauci wrestles with the hard lessons of the pandemic — and the decisions that will define his legacy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. We also had a public-health system that we thought was really, really good. But it was really, really antiquated.

☆ Rates on C.D.s Are Soaring, but the High Rates May Not Last
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Ann Carrns | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

You want to be able to withdraw the cash quickly if you need it, without worrying about paying a penalty. You may be better off getting a slightly lower rate in a high-yield savings account, with fewer restrictions on withdrawals. If you have a large expense coming at a known date in the future, however — say, a college tuition payment — a longer-term C.D. The paltry interest rates of recent years punished retirees, she said, so higher C.D. rates of 3 to 5 percent offer welcome relief: “We’re in this golden moment.”But given concerns about the economy and uncertainty about whether the Federal Reserve will continue raising rates, it’s unclear how long banks will continue to pay the high rates.

☆ How Gay Men Saved Us From Monkeypox - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Ina Park | Dan Savage | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

We know gay sex has been unfairly blamed for everything from natural disasters to the fall of Rome. But in their efforts to avoid stigmatizing the community, health authorities and the media failed to effectively warn gay and bi men. Ignorant of the threat as the virus spread, gay and bi men couldn’t take steps to protect themselves and their partners. Gay party promoters canceled long-planned events and individual gay men temporarily deleted hookup apps from their phones and reduced their sexual contacts. They acknowledged the realities of gay sexuality and its breadth of expression, using the actual language gay men use when discussing sex with each other.

☆ Where Restrictions on Abortion Pills Could Matter Most
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Allison Mccann | Amy Schoenfeld Walker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

Abortion providers in the United States A United States map shows the location of abortion providers in states without abortion bans. total abortions Medication abortions 71,700 61,500 58% 37,500 32,100 28,800 29,500 41% 61% 60% 51% 52% Florida New York Georgia Pa. Mich. N.C. N.J. Ohio Wash. Mass. Some ways the ruling could affect the availability of abortion pills A flowchart shows possible outcomes from a judge’s ruling and highlights how abortion pills could remain available under some scenarios. Even if the judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs, abortion pills could remain available. The foundation’s Wichita, Kansas, clinic sees more than 500 patients a month, many from Texas, and 60 percent choose abortion pills.

☆ U.S. Forced Labor Crackdown Is Tough, But Opaque
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

The U.S. has mounted an aggressive crackdown on imports over concerns about Chinese forced labor, but the campaign is an opaque one, with little detailed data on which companies or sectors are being targeted. January alone saw 282 shipments stopped over forced labor concerns, according to Customs data. Luis C.deBaca helped lead the U.S. fight against forced labor in the Obama administration and now teaches law at the University of Michigan. Photo: Luis C.deBacaChina has rejected allegations that it uses forced labor in Xinjiang. The agency added that it is “committed to transparency” and is developing an interactive web-based tool to provide forced labor enforcement statistics.

China’s official count 0 2.5 million 83,150 deaths Model based on Shanghai outbreak 1.6 million deaths LOW ESTIMATE HIGH ESTIMATE Estimate using travel patterns 970,000 deaths Estimate using recent testing data 1.5 million deaths Estimate based on U.S. death rates 1.1 million deaths China’s official count 0 2.5 million 83,150 deaths Model based on Shanghai outbreak 1.6 million deaths LOW EST. But China’s official Covid death toll for the entire pandemic remains strikingly low: 83,150 people as of Feb. 9. Four separate academic teams have converged on broadly similar estimates: China’s Covid wave may have killed between a million and 1.5 million people. Why official data underrepresents China’s outbreak83,150 deaths China’s official count on Feb. 9 0 2.5M 83,150 deaths China’s official count on Feb. 9 0 2.5 millionChina has a narrow definition of what counts as a Covid-19 death. But the work was unwavering in its ultimate conclusion: Ending the “zero Covid” policy was likely to overwhelm the health care system, producing an estimated 1.6 million deaths.

The richest Black mothers and their babies are twice as likely to die as the richest white mothers and their babies. Yet there is one group that doesn’t gain the same protection from being rich, the study finds: Black mothers and babies. The researchers found that maternal mortality rates were just as high among the highest-income Black women as among low-income white women. The richest Black women have infant mortality rates at about the same level as the poorest white women. Generally, rates for Hispanic mothers and Asian mothers track more closely with those of white mothers than Black mothers.

☆ 'P.R. job' or antidote to 'groupthink'? Bank of Canada to offer policy-meeting minutes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Steve Scherer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Annual inflation shot to 8.1% in June, the highest in 39 years and four times the Bank of Canada's 2% target. On the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund, the BoC in September said it would release minutes to improve transparency,Other central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank already provide some form of record of their meetings. "The big enemy for policymakers and investors is groupthink," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex LLC. JOB'Other market-watchers say releasing minutes is more an exercise in public relations than an effort to boost transparency. Reuters GraphicsReuters GraphicsReporting by Steve Scherer, additional reporting by Fergal Smith, editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Most Abortion Bans Include Exceptions. In Practice, Few Are Granted.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Amy Schoenfeld Walker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +19 min

But abortion-rights advocates say legal exceptions do nothing but make abortion bans appear more reasonable than they really are. One shows states with abortion bans with exceptions for rape or incest and the other shows states without those exceptions. One shows states with abortion bans with exceptions for fatal birth defects and the other shows states without those exceptions. One shows states with abortion bans with exceptions for patients with severe health risks and the other shows states without those exceptions. One shows states with abortion bans with exceptions for the life of the patient and the other shows states without those exceptions.

☆ Opinion | Vaccines, Inflation, Abortion: 2022 in Charts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Steven Rattner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +16 min

By the end of 2022, 23 percent of American women resided in states with effective bans on abortion. June 2022 March 2022 Dec. 2021 Sept. 2022 Dec. 2022 Fed Funds Rate 6% 5 4 3 2 1 2022 2023 2025 2024 Longer run Unemployment 5% 4 3 2 1 2022 2023 2025 2024 Longer run G.D.P. Growth 4% 3 2 1 2022 2023 2025 2024 Longer run Core Inflation 5% 4 3 2 1 2022 2023 2025 2024 Sept. 2022 June 2022 March 2022 Dec. 2021 Dec. 2022 Fed Funds Rate G.D.P. Growth 4% 6% 5 3 4 3 2 2 1 1 2022 2023 2025 2022 2023 2025 2024 2024 Longer run Longer run Core Inflation Unemployment 5% 5% 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 2022 2023 2025 2022 2023 2025 2024 2024 Longer run Source: Federal Open Market CommitteeThe sustained period of high inflation left the Fed playing catch-up, as it had initially believed that the surge would prove transitory. 150 100 Xi Jinping addresses in 2017 & 2022 50 1982-2012 Economy Military Market Technology Reform Security Source: Capital EconomicsThen there was China: Our biggest source of imported goods became ever more clearly our biggest strategic adversary.

☆ Just How Bad Is the ‘Tripledemic’?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Amy Schoenfeld Walker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

R.S.V., or respiratory syncytial virus, has made so many young children ill this fall that weekly pediatric hospitalizations for R.S.V. Public health officials have been warning for weeks that a “tripledemic” of Covid-19, flu and R.S.V. Weekly hospitalizations for Covid-19, R.S.V. With flu surging and Covid-19 circulating, respiratory illness has overwhelmed pediatric units across the country, shifting the strain to emergency rooms and children’s hospitals. The predominant type of flu circulating right now, a subtype of influenza A known as H3, also tends to result in higher flu hospitalizations among the elderly, according to the C.D.C.

Annual gun deaths, ages 1 through 18 2021: 3,597 3,000 2,000 1,000 2000 ’10 ’20In May, the nation watched as horror unfolded in Uvalde, Texas. Last year, nearly two-thirds of gun deaths involving children — 2,279 — were homicides. Most homicides involved Black children, who make up a small share of all children but shoulder the burden of gun violence more than any others, a disparity that is growing sharply. Last year, suicides made up nearly 30 percent of child gun deaths — 1,078. The Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that has tracked deaths and injuries related to gun violence since 2014, compiles location and other data for thousands of fatal shootings.

☆ C.D.C. Links Deadly Listeria Outbreak to Deli Meats and Cheeses
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Eduardo Medina | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One person has died and 13 have been hospitalized in a listeria outbreak across six states that most likely was caused by contaminated deli meat and cheese, federal health officials said on Wednesday. The outbreak sickened at least 16 people from April 17, 2021, to Sept. 29, 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: three in Maryland, where the person who died resided; seven in New York; two people each in Illinois and Massachusetts; and one each in New Jersey and California. There may have been more recent cases, but it typically takes three or four weeks to determine if an illness is tied to an outbreak. The true number of sick people is most likely higher, and the outbreak “may not be limited to the states with known illnesses,” the agency said in a news release. The flulike symptoms of listeriosis — fever, vomiting and diarrhea — most often affect older adults, immune-compromised individuals and pregnant women, who can pass it on to their fetuses.

☆ Opinion | Abortion Is Legal in Ethiopia. But Half of These Clinics Won’t Provide Them.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Anu Kumar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

When Congress passed the Helms Amendment, only six of those countries allowed abortion in circumstances beyond saving a woman’s life. And every year, more than 16,000 of the women and girls who have received these unsafe abortions die from more serious complications. President Biden also has the power to mitigate some of the harms of the Helms Amendment. His administration could also ensure that clinics in countries where abortion is legal understand that U.S. rules allow them to offer abortion information and counseling. The Helms Amendment is an act of international interference and overreach, and it has to end.

☆ Opinion | Who Is Going to Therapy in America?
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

When I was coming up in the ’50s and ’60s, my parents noticed that I was doing odd things. People always talk about how you are on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being off-the-wall bonkers crazy. When I’m doing great, it is no more than a 4 or 5. If you have a fear that something is dirty, you avoid it, and you think, well, I’ll get that tomorrow. Someone who has experience will understand you need to be gradually exposed in a way that feels safe to you.

☆ Should You Get Another Covid Booster?
▼ + stars: | 2022-03-29 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

to authorize a second booster shot of its vaccine — that is, a fourth dose — for people aged 65 and older. Two days later, Moderna followed suit, but with a broader request to authorize a second booster for all adults over 18. The agency said on Tuesday that adults aged 50 and older could opt for a second booster shot of the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, to be given at least four months after the first booster of any authorized or approved Covid vaccine. A second booster would be the third shot for those who received one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and a booster shot of an mRNA vaccine. In fact, other data from Israel suggests that a second booster has only marginal benefits in healthy young people.

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