Tag: covid-19

Palantir’s Tiberius, Race, and the Public Health Panopticon

Operation Warp Speed, the “public-private partnership” created to produce and allocate COVID-19 vaccines to the American populace, is set to begin rolling out a mass-vaccination campaign in the coming weeks. With the expected approval of its first vaccine candidate just days away, the allocation and distribution aspects of Operation Warp Speed deserve scrutiny, particularly given the critical role one of the most controversial companies in the country will play in that endeavor.

Palantir Technologies, the company founded by Alex Karp, Peter Thiel, and a handful of their associates, has courted controversy for its supporting role in the US military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its participation in the detention of “illegal” immigrants through their contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and in “predictive policing” law enforcement programs that disproportionately affect minority neighborhoods. Equally controversial, but perhaps lesser known, is Palantir’s long-standing and enduring ties to the CIA and intelligence community at large, which was intimately involved in the development of Palantir’s products that now run on the databases of governments and corporations around the world.

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OHSAA coronavirus rules: Students can wrestle, but can’t shake hands

Among the new rules is student-athletes are permitted to wrestle, but must refrain from handshakes before and after the match.

Wrestlers are also required to wear facial coverings off the mat when not actively competing or warming up.

Equipment should not be shared. If equipment needs to be shared, OHSAA mandates the proper sanitation between use. Student-athletes must also sanitize their hands before and after warmups, at all timeouts and period breaks any time they leave the competition or practice mats.

All those on the team bench also need to observe social distancing of 6 feet.

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‘No Vaccine, No Work’ – Employers Discuss Making COVID Immunity Mandatory For Workers

With hospitalizations surging to record levels and California once again heading into lockdown, millions of Americans would probably gladly take the vaccine just to feel a sense that the pandemic is “over”, even though the duration of that immunity is still not very well understood, and some “conspiracy-minded” skeptics have raised question about the headline efficacy numbers.

But as the US and UK prepare to start delivering the first jabs in a week, industries are jockeying to try and get their workers designated as “essential” so they can have faster access to the vaccine (for many, profits are ultimately on the line).

Even though many Americans believe it’s morally reprehensible to fire someone for refusing to take a vaccine, some companies and industry groups are planning to require workers to be vaccinated as a precondition for returning to work. Maybe they think taking such a public stand might help them secure supplies for their vaccines more quickly.

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Omar Husband’s Firm Received Half Million in COVID Bailouts

A political consulting firm co-owned by Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D., Minn.) husband, Tim Mynett, received more than half-a-million dollars in pandemic bailout cash—even as it was raking in millions from Omar’s campaign.

The E Street Group, a D.C.-based company run by Mynett and Will Hailer, received $134,800 in Paycheck Protection Program loans and $500,000 in Economic Injury Disaster loans, new data show. Both funds were established to help small businesses cope with the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mynett’s firm, whose LinkedIn page says it has between 11 and 50 employees, received the aid as it was being showered with cash from Omar’s campaign. Throughout the 2020 election cycle, Omar’s campaign steered nearly $3 million to the E Street Group to cover advertisements, consulting, travel expenses, and production costs. It was by far the campaign’s largest vendor.

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Many Epidemiologists Want Social Distancing and Masks Forever—Even After the Vaccine

The New York Times asked700 epidemiologists to describe their COVID-19 habits, how their thinking has changed since the pandemic began, and when they think it will be safe for normal life to resume. Dismayingly, several answered that last question with a resounding never.

“I expect that wearing a mask will become part of my daily life, moving forward, even after a vaccine is deployed,” Amy Hobbs, a research associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told The Times.

Marilyn Tseng, an assistant professor at California Polytechnic State University, said life would never revert to the way it was, though the preventative measures currently practiced—masks and social distancing—will feel “normal” in time. Similarly, Vasily Vlassov, a professor at HSE University in Moscow, said life was perfectly normal now because this is the new normal.

Others disagreed. Michael Webster-Clark of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said he expected “further relaxation of most precautions by mid-to-late summer 2021″ following widespread availability of the vaccine. Some epidemiologists said their own risk aversion would decrease after they were vaccinated, but many said they would remain just as cautious until”80 percent or more” of the entire population had received the vaccine.

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Vaccination cards will be issued to everyone getting Covid-19 vaccine, health officials say

The Department of Defense released the first images of a Covid-19 vaccination record card and vaccination kits Wednesday.Vaccination cards will be used as the “simplest” way to keep track of Covid-19 shots, said Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of the Immunization Action Coalition, which is supporting frontline workers who will administer Covid-19 vaccinations.

“Everyone will be issued a written card that they can put in their wallet that will tell them what they had and when their next dose is due,” Moore said. “Let’s do the simple, easy thing first. Everyone’s going to get that.”Vaccination clinics will also be reporting to their state immunization registries what vaccine was given, so that, for example, an entity could run a query if it didn’t know where a patient got a first dose.Moore said many places are planning to ask patients to voluntarily provide a cell phone number, so they can get a text message telling them when and where their next dose is scheduled to be administered.Every dose administered will be reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers.The CDC did not immediately respond to CNN’s inquiry about whether such a database would include a record of everyone immunized.

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