Wednesday, March 10th, 2021
Third Wave Over, Lung Cancer Guidelines & Royal Reply
All the news you need in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by BLUblox.com/newsworthy & EveryBottleBack.org
Story Summaries
All the news stories mentioned in today's episode are listed with links below, so you can spend as much -- or as little -- time as you want reading about the latest happenings…
Worst of Pandemic Third Wave Over
American hospitals are saying the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is now over. The Health and Human Services Department put out new data from more than 4,500 hospitals around the country. It shows about 50% fewer hospitals are dealing with full or beyond full ICUs than at the start of the year. In general, the percentage of total hospital patients is going down too in every region of the U.S. Of course, this doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet. An average of 1,700 Americans are still dying from the virus every day.
Read More: USA Today, HHS
Study: Pfizer Vax Works Against Brazil Strain
A new study shows the Pfizer vaccine is highly effective against a more contagious strain of COVID-19 that was first found in Brazil. Researchers figured this out by taking blood from fully-vaccinated people and seeing how it reacted to that Brazil strain. They found the vaccinated blood neutralized the threat from the virus. Already, Pfizer found the same result against the original COVID-19, as well as the strains first discovered in the UK and South Africa.
Read More: WaPo, Reuters, Bloomberg, Full Study
New Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines
More Americans now qualify for yearly lung cancer scans. A medical task force put together by the federal government put out the new guidelines this week. They say people who have been smoking for 20 years or more should start getting low-dose CT scans every year, starting at 50 years old. A few years ago, the guidance said only those who smoked 10 years longer than that, starting five years later qualified for the scans. The change means 15 million people will now be eligible, double the current number.
Read More: NY Times, AP, WaPo, JAMA Network
Arkansas Near-Total Abortion Ban
Arkansas’ governor just signed one of the strictest abortion laws in the country. It outlaws all abortions except for when a pregnant woman’s life is in danger. That means there are no exceptions for rape or incest which Gov. Hutchinson had wanted included in the bill. He signed it anyway. With that, the bill’s sponsor said, “we must abolish abortion in this nation, just as we abolished slavery in the 19th century.” It’s set to take effect later this year. However, it will likely face legal challenges before then. A leader of the ACLU in Arkansas has already said, “we’ll see you in court,” calling the ban “cruel and unconstitutional.”
Read More: AP, Axios, FOX News, Gov. Hutchinson
New Capital Pipe Bomb Video
The FBI still hasn’t been able to find the person who left pipe bombs in Washington, D.C. the night before the Capitol riot. It released two more videos, hoping someone will recognize the suspect. They show the person walking with a backpack, carrying what investigators think are the pipe bombs. You can see the suspected bomber near the RNC and DNC headquarters where the two devices were found. The federal government is offering a $100,000 reward for information in the case.
Read More: ABC News, NBC News, USA Today
Photos and Video of Suspected Bomber: FBI
National Guard Mission Extended
Because of ongoing threats in Washington, D.C., heavy security is going to stick around for at least a couple more months. The Pentagon approved a request to keep a couple thousand National Guard members around the U.S. Capitol through May. About 5,000 troops have been in D.C. since the Capitol invasion in January. They were all supposed to leave this week, but now, about 2,300 troops will keep providing security.
Read More: NPR, AP, Axios, Pentagon
Queen Responds to Oprah Interview
Buckingham Palace broke its silence two days after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah first aired. The palace released a statement on behalf of Queen Elizabeth. It says the whole royal family is “saddened” to learn about how hard things have been for Harry and Meghan. It also says some of the issues raised in the interview, particularly the ones about race, “are concerning.” It says those allegations will be taken seriously but handled privately. Also, they will always be “much-loved family members.”
Read More: CBS News, USA Today, NY Times
Hackers Breach Security Cameras
An international hacking group told Bloomberg News it was able to access live feeds and video from 150,000 surveillance cameras around the world. They were set up inside businesses, hospitals, police departments, prisons, schools, and more. The hackers say they just wanted to prove how easy it was to get into the video systems and how these platforms need to be better secured. All the security cameras came from a California startup called Verkada. The company says it now has internal and outside security teams looking into the incident.
Read More: Bloomberg, Axios, The Hill
Cell Phone Ad Targeting
One of the nation’s largest wireless carriers is about to make a big change to its privacy policy. T-Mobile will start automatically enrolling customers into an advertising program. Unless you opt-out, the company will share your data about phone usage, web browsing, and mobile apps with third-party advertisers. That will help them identify and target people with certain interests. Privacy advocates have long urged companies to go in the opposite direction, saying it’s too easy to connect data with names for those who know where to look.
Read More: WSJ, Ars Technica, CNET
‘Fireball’ Meteorite Lands in UK Driveway
A meteorite that crashed into a British family’s driveway may hold clues about our solar system. The space rock soared across the sky over the UK last week and it landed just outside a home in England. Scientists say this is a rare, astonishing find. They believe it dates back to when our solar system was first forming. Meteorites like this one might have originally brought water to Earth, giving the planet its oceans. The space rock is now at the Natural History Museum in London and scientists will be studying it more over the next few years.
Read More: BBC, CNN, Sky News, NHM
Work Wednesday: Hospitality Workers Reinvent Careers
Millions of Americans are changing careers out of necessity. A lot of the job changes are happening in the hospitality industry which has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. Jobs at hotels, resorts, convention centers, and bars have dried up. The hospitality industry has reportedly shed some four million people, or a quarter of its workforce, since February of last year. Now, some are moving into fields that are faring better. The jobs listing site Flexjobs says those industries include sales, customer service, and project management.
Read More: CNBC, WSJ, Bloomberg, GBTA