Pa. businesses organizing to defy pandemic mandates

 In the first few months of the pandemic, a sports bar and tavern in Lansdale followed the rules. They shut down, then reopened to provide takeout, serve customers outdoors, and sling beer and wings at reduced capacity indoors with tables spaced out.

But after Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered a new prohibition on indoor dining statewide, Panico’s Neighborhood Grill & Sports Tavern is operating at 100% capacity. On Thursday, they hosted karaoke.

“I see what’s happening to my industry,” owner Rob Panico said. “We just celebrated our 100th year last year doing business in this town. I don’t want to go out not swinging.”

Panico’s is one of a growing number of Pennsylvania businesses, mostly restaurants and gyms, that are openly defying the state’s recent orders, which ban indoor service at restaurants, gyms, casinos, and theaters through Jan. 4.

Many of the businesses are organizing in Facebook groups that have amassed tens of thousands of members. They use the pages to share advice on how to flout the mandates, pass around lists of hundreds of businesses they say are ignoring the restrictions, and post anti-Wolf memes.

Meanwhile, a web of enforcement agencies including the Wolf administration, county health departments, and police are coordinating to respond to the businesses they say are breaking the law. Health officials are pleading with owners to comply, and at least one county has told small businesses they won’t qualify for financial support if they defy the mandates.

State Police Liquor Control Enforcement officers this week issued 17 warnings and 11 notices of violation to establishments that failed to follow COVID-19 restrictions. The notices precede a citation and investigations are ongoing, so police have not released the names of the establishments.

The state Department of Agriculture on Monday also warned dozens of restaurants they risk a closure order if they fail to comply, but hasn’t released updated enforcement figures since Wednesday.

At least one restaurant, a Kutztown diner, appears to have received a closure order. The restaurant posted on Facebook a photo of the placard — including the name of the food safety inspector — and said it’s continuing to operate indoors anyway. The photo then traveled, being shared across other groups by users who oppose Wolf’s restrictions and cheered the diner for staying open. The diner’s owners declined an interview request.

https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/pa-coronavirus-restrictions-restaurants-gyms-open-enforcement-20201218.html

Johns Hopkins Launches COVID-19 Mortality Calculator to Inform Vaccine Prioritization

 The first COVID-19 vaccine doses are going out in the United States, predominantly to frontline healthcare workers. Unfortunately, the vaccines are currently extremely limited, meaning that state governments are having to make difficult decisions about the order of vaccination priority. In most states, the plan involves frontline healthcare workers, followed by some combination of the elderly and people with preexisting immunocompromising conditions such as heart disease or diabetes.

Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have developed a data-driven COVID-19 mortality risk calculator that allows any individual to estimate their own risk of death if infected with COVID-19 – and which the researchers hope will be used to inform the distribution of vaccines and other crucial resources.

In July, a team of UK researchers used OpenSAFELY – a secure health analytics platform covering 40% of patients in England – to analyze 10,926 COVID-19-related deaths in the UK and develop risk scores for various demographics and medical conditions. The Johns Hopkins researchers tweaked those risk scores based on U.S. mortality rate data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Finally, they combined the modified risk scores with projections of pandemic spread and mortality from epidemiological models in order to provide not just a risk of death if infected, but an absolute risk of infection and death over a given period of time.

Having validated the model across 54,444 deaths in the U.S. from June to October, the researchers have now launched the tool for the general public, providing both an individual mortality risk estimator and an interface that shows the prevalence of higher-risk individuals across states and major metropolitan areas. For the latter tool, the researchers worked with PolicyMap, which describes itself as a “state-of-the-art mapping and analytics platform” intended to make geographic data “easily accessible and understandable to policy-makers.”

The PolicyMap risk view at the state level. Dark shades indicate a higher average relative population risk of COVID-19 mortality.

When users enter their information – age, height, weight, chronic conditions, ethnicity, sex assigned at birth, zip code – they are presented with their risk relative to the average U.S. population (as a multiplier) and an absolute risk of death (per number of people in “subgroups of the population with a similar risk profile to yours”) from December 12th through January 1st.

A graphic from the risk profile for a hypothetical individual.

Disclaimers pervade the tool: “the information provided by this tool is not for medical advice and cannot be used to diagnose or treat any medical condition”; “an individual’s risk will also heavily depend on personal behavior such as social distancing, hand-washing and mask-wearing”; “individuals who themselves have a low risk of COVID-19 serious illness and/or mortality … are still able to spread the infection to others who are at high risk.”

With that said, the researchers think the tool offers important conclusions: for instance, that roughly 4% of the population will constitute roughly 50% of the deaths and that at-risk populations vary wildly from area to area. “For example, the percentage of the adult population exceeding the fivefold risk threshold varies from 0.4 percent in Layton, Utah, to 10.7 percent in Detroit, Michigan,” said Nilanjan Chatterjee, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the Bloomberg School and senior author of the study.

Chatterjee and his colleagues hope that this information will be useful for governments working to prioritize vaccine and mask distribution, as well as for individuals trying to understand their own level of risk in the pandemic. 

“Although we have long known about factors associated with greater mortality, there has been limited effort to incorporate these factors into prevention strategies and forecasting models,” Chatterjee said. “People may understand broadly that with a preexisting condition such as obesity or diabetes, for example, they are at higher risk, but with our calculator they should be able to understand their risk in a way that takes multiple factors into account.”

Still, Chatterjee suggests that the tool not be used as a one-stop-shop for risk assessment. 

“Our calculator represents a more quantitative approach and should complement other proposed qualitative guidelines, such as those by the National Academy of Sciences and Medicine, for determining individual and community risks and allocating vaccines,” he cautioned.

To access the individual risk calculator, click here.

To access the risk map, click here.

https://www.datanami.com/2020/12/18/johns-hopkins-launches-covid-19-mortality-calculator-aims-to-inform-vaccine-prioritization/

USPS Faces Busiest Time With Over 14,000 Employees Quarantined

 The U.S. Postal Service is experiencing its busiest period of the year ahead of the holiday season, but it is being forced to do so without all of its normal resources. 

More than 14,000 USPS employees are currently quarantining due to potential COVID-19 exposure, according to a recent update provided to the National Association of Letter Carriers, which represents more than 2% of the postal workforce. More than 7,000 employees are currently positive for the novel coronavirus or presumed to be, meaning more than one out of every 100 workers currently has COVID-19. About 23,000 employees have tested positive since the beginning of the pandemic. 

The uptick in cases—USPS has seen positive tests skyrocket by 43% in the last month—comes at a difficult time for the mailing agency, which always sees mail and package volume soar in December. Due to restrictions and fears related to the pandemic, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he expects record volume this season and increases of more than one-third compared to 2019. The Postal Service’s private sector competitors are overrun, DeJoy added, meaning USPS will get additional overflow.  

The postmaster general, who has faced significant criticism during his brief tenure for policies that led directly to mail delays, acknowledged the uptick of coronavirus cases is taking its toll. 

“We continue to see high rates of absenteeism in hot spots around the country,” DeJoy said in a video message to employees on Monday. “This has an impact on local and national service performance and it adds stress throughout the workforce.” 

DeJoy said USPS has taken steps to “support these areas,” but called on employees to do their part in staying healthy by practicing physical distancing, wearing masks and using hand sanitizer. He noted the Postal Service has brought on 50,000 seasonal employees, as is typical during the holidays. The Postal Service is also delivering packages on Sunday in most regions of the country.

Shortly after his swearing in earlier this year, DeJoy implemented operational changes calling for facilities to slash late and extra mail transportation trips. This led to mail being left behind each day and widespread delays. Federal court orders ultimately forced USPS to walk back those policies, though postal management is currently appealing those injunctions in hopes of reinstating the reforms. The Postal Service has yet to recover from the delays experienced over the summer, and widespread reports indicate customers are increasingly frustrated by slow deliveries. 

USPS also saw coronavirus cases impact on-time performance in the run up to the election. The agency experienced further delays during that period, officials said, as they focused so much of their resources on delivering mail-in ballots in a timely fashion. 

“While our ongoing commitment is to maintain the highest level of service performance for all mail, we acknowledge that our full focus and prioritization on election ballots is having a near-term impact on the overall on-time performance of other products throughout the network,” Kristin Seaver, chief retail and delivery officer for USPS, told a federal court last month. 

The Postal Service issued recommendations this week to customers looking to have packages arrive by Christmas. It suggested Tuesday as the deadline for normal retail packages, Dec. 19 for First-Class mail and packages, and Dec. 19 for Priority Mail. Going forward, DeJoy has promised a suite of new reforms including the need to “modernize retail and processing operations” as part of a strategic plan USPS will release in the coming months. In a more recent discussion with large-scale mailers, DeJoy more explicitly signaled a return to his initiatives from the summer while finding new ways to grow revenue.

https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2020/12/usps-faces-busiest-time-year-more-14000-employees-quarantined/170788/

Judge Allows San Diego Restaurants to Reopen Despite State Ban

 Thursday afternoon, a San Diego judge held a last-minute hearing to clarify a bombshell court order allowing strip clubs, strip clubs that serve food, and thus restaurants to reopen.

The order doesn't just buck Governor Gavin Newsom's Dec. 5 shutdown order (which forced strip clubs to close and relegated restaurants to takeout only), this also undermines the tier system that preceded the shutdown.

Legal analyst Dan Eaton said the order doesn't just allow for on-site dining again, it allows limited capacity indoor dining - something that was a no-no during the Purple Tier.

"The fact is that San Diego is the second-largest jurisdiction in the state of California," Eaton said. "And yes this is a big deal because it undermines the governor’s regional pod shutdown pod order as it applies to a broad sector of the population. And there is also the potential that other counties will look at what the judge in this case did and agree with it. In that case, you can see a cascading effect."

Meaning attorneys in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara might file requests asking judges for a judicial review of what happened in San Diego.

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/judge-doubles-down-on-order-allowing-restaurants-to-reopen/2474772/

Employers can bar unvaccinated employees from workplace: EEOC

 With the first doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine now being administered in the U.S., the federal government is giving employers around the country the green light to require immunization for most workers.

In general, companies have the legal right to mandate that employees get a COVID-19 shot, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said Wednesday. More specifically, employers are entitled — and required — to ensure a safe workplace in which “an individual shall not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of individuals in the workplace.” That can mean a company requiring its workforce to be vaccinated.

The Americans with Disabilities Act limits an employer’s ability to require workers to get a medical examination. But the EEOC’s latest guidance clarifies that getting vaccinated does not constitute a medical exam. As a result, ordering employees to get a COVID-19 shot would not violate the ADA.

Not all employees must get vaccinated, according to the agency. Employees with either a disability or “sincerely held” religious beliefs that prevent them from getting inoculated areexempt, according to the EEOC, which is charged with enforcing laws against workplace discrimination. 

“If they do require it, an employee can make a request for an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act or Title VII, and if they do request the accommodation, the employer has an obligation to see if accommodation is possible,” said Helen Rella, a workplace attorney at Wilk Auslander, a New York law firm. 

In cases like these, an employer must attempt to make a reasonable accommodation for the worker, like allowing them to work from home, for example. If that’s not possible, however, and unvaccinated individuals pose a potential threat to either themselves or to others, a company has the right under employment law to exclude them from physically entering the workplace. 

Notably, that doesn’t mean an employer may summarily fire a worker who declines to be vaccinated. They could be eligible for unpaid leave or other similar entitlements under federal, state and local laws, according to the EEOC. 

“At some point, if they are on job-protected unpaid leave, that might rise to the level of undue hardship. But it would be on a case-by-case basis,” said Sharon Masling, a workplace attorney at Morgan Lewis in Washington, D.C., and former chief of staff to an EEOC commissioner.

But the agency’s guidance does mean that if a worker’s job can’t be done remotely and there’s no reasonable way to accommodate the person’s wish not to be vaccinated, then the employer can terminate their employment. 

“The logical conclusion is that if no possible accommodation can be made and the employee’s job requires that they be in the physical workplace — and they pose a direct threat to the safety of the workplace or others — that yes, they could be terminated,” Rella said. 

https://www.wtrf.com/news/health/coronavirus/employers-can-bar-unvaccinated-employees-from-the-workplace-eeoc-says/

71 percent in U.S. report that they would get COVID-19 vaccine

 Seventy-one percent of the U.S. public report that they would definitely or probably get a COVID-19 vaccine, marking an increase from 63 percent in September, according to the ongoing research project, the KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor.

The KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor used a combination of surveys and focus groups to track the U.S. public's attitudes to vaccination.

According to the results of the survey, there has been an increase in the proportion of people who would definitely or probably get a COVID-19 vaccine if it was determined to be safe and available for free, reaching 71 percent, an increase from 63 percent in September. Overall, 27 percent of the public remain hesitant about the vaccine, with hesitancy highest among Republicans (42 percent), those aged 30 to 49 years (36 percent), rural residents (35 percent), and Black adults (35 percent). The main reasons for vaccine hesitancy include being worried about possible side effects, lack of trust in the government to ensure safety and effectiveness, concerns that the vaccine is too new, and concerns over the role of politics in the process of vaccine development (59, 55, 53, and 51 percent, respectively). Among Blacks, concerns include not trusting vaccines in general or being worried they may get COVID-19 from the vaccine (47 and 51 percent, respectively).

"Many who are hesitant are in wait-and-see mode, and their concerns include worries about side effects and whether the vaccine can cause COVID-19, which may dissipate as people get more information and see the vaccine introduced successfully among people they know," Drew Altman, Ph.D., the president and chief executive officer of KFF, said in a statement.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-percent-covid-vaccine.html

Alphabet's Verily Nabs $700M Round

 Verily, the life sciences arm of the tech giant Alphabet, has raised a fresh $700 million round from a group of investors including Alphabet itself, Silver Lake, Temasek, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Verily says it'll use the new capital to support the expansion of some of its commercial businesses, including the clinical research platform Baseline and its health management platform, Verily Health Platforms. 

Verily will also use the new capital to support the progress of several of its life sciences programs across surgery, pathology, and immunology.

Notably, Verily has boosted its prowess amid the Covid-19 pandemic, wherein it's supported Covid-19 testing and research efforts with multiple partners with its Baseline clinical research platform. Verily has supported the testing of nearly two million people across 351 locations.

Verily was founded in 2015 as a life sciences division under Google X, before it later rolled over into Alphabet. Still led by its founding CEO Andrew Conrad, Verily raised a $1 billion round of funding from the same investors who provided this new round in January last year.

With $700 million fresh funding, Verily cements its status as a heavily-funded life sciences company with backing and talent from one of the world's biggest tech giants, Alphabet. 

Verily is notably similar to Calico, another biotech and healthcare division of Alphabet that's backed by $2.5 billion in funding both from Alphabet and the pharmaceuticals company AbbVie. 

https://www.thetechee.com/2020/12/alphabets-verily-nabs-700m-round.html