Coronavirus News (221)

 'It's a Race to the Bottom.' The Coronavirus is Cutting Into Gig Worker Incomes as the Newly Jobless Flood Apps  Hustlers are launching bots that use algorithms to grab jobs before humans can and then charge potential workers to use these bots, says Matthew Telles, a longtime Instacart shopper who has been outspoken about the platform’s flaws. The so-called “grabber bots” take a bunch of jobs as soon as they come out, which means only people who have the bots installed can find work. Instacart shoppers pay a fee to use the bots, which are also a problem on services like Amazon Flex.  ...........  The World Bank estimates that COVID-19 will cause the first increase in global poverty since 1998. .......  “It is a lot of supply but not a lot of demand.” ........  Sites like Upwork and Fiverr say the demand is still there. Adam Ozimek, the chief economist at Upwork, says that a third of Fortune 500 companies now use the platform, and that client spending has been stable since the pandemic hit. .........  Arguably, companies could save money and balance their budgets by hiring overseas marketers or coders willing to work for less money and no benefits. Nearly half of the world is now connected to the Internet, up from just 15% in 2007. ..........  Fiverr hit all-time daily revenue records four times in April, CEO Micha Kaufman said. ...........  Just as manufacturing shifted overseas for cheaper labor and as gig economy apps drove down wages for taxi and delivery drivers, the pandemic has hastened the gig-ification of white-collar jobs. 

A New Study Suggests COVID-19 Reinfection Is Possible. Here's What to Know it’s possible to get COVID-19 twice—but experts say the news is not as concerning as that headline may seem. .........  the Hong Kong patient was infected by two different strains of SARS-CoV-2, which suggests he indeed got sick twice. ...........  the man’s first infection likely protected him enough that he did not develop symptoms during his second infection. There’s no guarantee all patients’ immune systems will react that way  

“SAY 12 MORE YEARS”: AT THE RNC, TRUMP’S AUTHORITARIAN “JOKE” SLIPS CLOSER TO REALITY The media shrugs, yet again, as Trump makes extremist comments. It’s just a “provocation”—until it isn’t.

They tried to get Trump to care about right-wing terrorism. He ignored them. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security waged a yearslong internal struggle to get the White House to pay attention to the threat of violent domestic extremists. Frustrated, they gave up on the Trump administration.

CDC Details COVID-19's Massive Mental Health Impact — Young adults, people of color, essential workers, and adult caregivers particularly affected ...... Nearly 11% of American adults seriously considered suicide this June ........   Among 5,470 people surveyed in the last week of June, 30.9% reported symptoms of an anxiety or a depressive disorder, 25.3% reported a traumatic or stressor-related disorder (TSRD), and 13.3% said they were using substances to cope with the pandemic's stressors ..........  the risk for suicidal ideation was elevated among respondents between ages 18 and 25 (25.5%), Hispanic respondents (18.6%), Black respondents (15.1%), unpaid adult caregivers (30.7%), and essential workers (21.7%). ..........  interventions to reduce these numbers should target financial strain, racial discrimination, social connectedness, and community supports for patients considering suicide. ............  social isolation associated with social distancing, along with soaring unemployment rates, could further accelerate the national suicide crisis. ...........  40.9% reported having at least one mental or behavioral health condition. ..........  Compared with CDC data from the second quarter of 2019, adults in this survey reported three times the rate of anxiety symptoms (25.5% vs 8.1%) and four times the rate of depression symptoms (24.3% vs 6.5%)  

With Coronavirus Cases Surging, Europe Braces for New Phase in Pandemic Despite rules on masks and distancing, fears are growing that the end of the summer travel season will bring a wave of infections. ........  in recent days France, Germany and Italy have experienced their highest daily case counts since the spring, and Spain finds itself in the midst of a major outbreak. ............  The increase in cases in Europe, as in many other parts of the world, is being driven by young people. The proportion of people age 15 to 24 who are infected in Europe has risen from around 4.5 percent to 15 percent in the last five months .........  “Low risk does not mean no risk,” he said. “No one is invincible, and if you do not die from Covid, it may stick to your body like a tornado with a long tail.” .......  A growing number of French cities have made mask wearing mandatory in crowded streets and markets, and on Thursday the southern cities of Nice and Toulouse became the first to extend the rule to all outdoor areas. ..........  Nearly 40 percent of recent new infections in Germany have been brought back by returning vacationers .......  This month, tens of thousands of people in Berlin took part in demonstrations against coronavirus restrictions.  

Fearing a ‘Twindemic,’ Health Experts Push Urgently for Flu Shots There’s no vaccine for Covid-19, but there’s one for influenza. With the season’s first doses now shipping, officials are struggling over how to get people to take it. .......  As public health officials look to fall and winter, the specter of a new surge of Covid-19 gives them chills. But there is a scenario they dread even more: a severe flu season, resulting in a “twindemic.” .........  Flu can leave patients vulnerable to a harsher attack of Covid-19, doctors believe, and that coming down with both viruses at once could be disastrous. ...........  how to prompt people to get a shot that a majority of Americans have typically distrusted, dismissed and skipped. ..........  In the 2018-19 flu season in the United States, only 45.3 percent of adults over 18 got the vaccine, with rates for those ages 18 to 50 considerably lower. ............  should a vaccinated person contract the flu, the severity will almost certainly be reduced, hospitalization rarely necessary .......  “People who say ‘I’ll never get it because it gives me the flu’ have not had the flu and don’t know what it is”  .........  flu vaccine compliance rates among people ages 18 to 49 are low. Vermont’s, for example, is only about 27 percent. 

5/8/23 Update: Goshen (NY) puts Third World corruption to shame, thanks to greedy, corrupt, unethical lawyers like Andra Dumais. ..... I toppled a Third World dictator and German Radio called me Robin Hood On The Internet. I am not going to get intimidated by some small-town racist. Andrea Dumais is a small-town racist. ....... You are treating me worse than the people 2,000 years ago.

Coronavirus News (220)

 कोरोनाले अबकाे केही हप्ता तथा महिना नेपालमा खराब अवस्था निम्त्याउँछ : विश्व स्वास्थ्य सङ्गठन

CNN Exclusive: Details, title and cover revealed for Bob Woodward's upcoming book on Trump 

Google court docs raise concerns on geofence warrants, location tracking Google staffers have criticized how the company explains data privacy controls, calling Google's approach a mess.........  geofence warrants -- requests for location data in which law enforcement provides a time and a place, and Google responds with information on all devices that were in that area.......  Police have increasingly used geofence warrants, with a 1,500 percent rise from 2017 to 2018, and a subsequent 500 percent increase from 2018 to 2019. The surge in geofence warrant requests, coupled with confusion among Google staff about location data, rang privacy alarms within the search giant .......  "These emails describe a Google where employees know enough about geofence warrants to be scared, without knowing enough to actually fix the problem" .........  we shipped a [user interface] that confuses users and requires explanation

Leading in the New Reality  

US has ‘modest’ lead over China in artificial intelligence but gap has narrowed, American think tank says Beijing’s focus on AI and the advantage of having a vast population for big data sets is helping the country catch up, according to Rand report America has the edge in advanced semiconductors, but there is ‘no room for complacency’

Biogen conference likely led to 20,000 COVID-19 cases in Boston area, researchers say A new study estimates the Biogen conference held at Boston’s Marriott Long Wharf hotel in February played a far greater role in spreading the coronavirus than previously thought.

The Economic Model of Higher Education Was Already Broken. Here's Why the Pandemic May Destroy It for Good While there is considerable variety in the actual plans, ranging from mostly in-person to all virtual, they all share one imperative: to maintain an economic model that is as imperiled by the pandemic as the hardest hit service industries. ............  Over the past decade, colleges and universities have taken on staggering amounts of debt to expand their physical plant and justify spiraling fees. The selling point for the most competitive residential colleges has been not just the education and the credential but the experience, and with COVID-19 and health strictures making a “normal” college experience all but impossible for now, these schools are left with the unenviable challenge of trying to ensure enough student revenue to keep the music going for the next year. ............   The way most schools are structuring the next year compromises education, health and student life to the point where the next year is more likely to unravel the model rather than actually preserve it. ........  Without at least some students in residence, the delicate and extraordinarily expensive armature of higher education could collapse. ........  Schools seem to be trying to solve the square peg and round hole problem by smashing the peg into the hole in order to shore up a revenue model that was already out of control pre-pandemic. ...........  Given these pretzel-like contortions, it is hard to see what motivates the schools other than trying to preserve an imperiled economic model with a pseudo-opening. ...........  on-line education as the primary model is a fraction of the cost. A student can earn a degree via distance learning for a few thousand dollars a year.   

Megacities Are Not the Future. They Are Inhumane and Unsustainable  Megacities are not the future because they thrive on cheap labor and government policies fuel this abuse. Stagnant rural economies encourage people to move to the cities, hollowing out rural communities and leaving a hole often replaced by an increasingly concentrated and industrialized agricultural system......  One recent study in Mumbai’s slums found that over half of slum dwellers had antibodies for SARS-COV-2. ......... the pandemic makes population density look like a danger rather than an opportunity for productivity gains ........  In growing economies, mass urbanization will remain the focus, as it is still seen as the best, if not the only, vehicle for economic development, moving people from the “unproductive” countryside to the more productive cities. By emptying rural hinterlands with its demand for low-paid workers, this urbanization ultimately leads to more unstable, more damaging, and more unequal economies. ........  World economic growth in recent history has been centered on a few superstar cities: New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris and more recently Shanghai, for example. London makes up 30% of the UK’s economy, has 13% of its population and is more than eight times as populous as the country’s second largest city, Birmingham........  the pandemic has highlighted the inequality and unsustainability of these cities. A population of urban professionals, with safe and secure lifestyles, is supported by a large and poorly-paid service sector. These people work in the grocery stores, hair salons, restaurants, bars, and gyms, and live in poor neighborhoods or even slums. They deliver food, fix homes, cut hair, dispose waste, keep transport systems running, clean suburbs, look after children, and walk dogs. .....................  the privileged work-from-home crowd ....... The expansion of cities beyond the ability of infrastructure to cope means these communities have lower-quality housing, worse access to education, poor provision of electricity and clean water, bad sanitation, traffic congestion, dead spots for internet and mobile access, and “food deserts.” ......  Worse, urban lifestyles are increasingly oriented around the so-called innovation of the gig economy: service workers now lack even the basic protections afforded to proper employees. ........  While the impacts of remote work and other digital technologies are probably not as great as their promoters claim, it is true that they reduce the unique value that density provides and may finally dent the allure of large cities for white-collar workers. ............  Rural economies live off small business, but a hollowed-out economy and greater competition from national and global firms run them out of business. ..........  Cities will always be useful to national economies, but they have grown into unmanageable Frankensteins. Yes, there really are some things that can only be done in a dense, urban environment but that does not mean turning a blind eye to growing megacities with over five million people. Countries probably don’t need the extreme urbanization we’ve seen over the past few decades, nor should we be strangely resigned to the notion that urbanization is inevitable and a net good. The time has come to rethink whether we should continue to place cities at the heart of our nations, turning them into large parasitic centers which practice economic apartheid.