Workers Fired for Being Unvaccinated May Not Be Able to Collect Jobless Benefits

 As people continue to return to the office amidst the surging Delta variant, more employers are requiring employees to get the COVID-19 vaccination or risk losing their jobs. However, if you are fired for refusing to get vaccinated, the company has the right to terminate your employment for violating company policy. And, if you refuse to get one and quit or are terminated, you won’t be eligible for unemployment benefits.

CNN revealed that it had fired three unvaccinated employees for violating the company’s vaccine requirement for in-person workers, according to an internal memo signed by Jeff Zucker, the cable network’s president, obtained by the New York Times. According to employment law experts, the three former CNN employees likely won’t receive unemployment benefits, reports MarketWatch.

To receive unemployment benefits, most individuals must prove that they are out of work through no fault of their own. Unemployment benefits may also be unlikely if one quits due to vaccination refusal, although state workforce departments are able to make changes to that eligibility requirement.

“Typically, an employee who is terminated for failing to comply with company policies is not eligible for unemployment benefits, which would include refusing to comply with a company’s COVID-19 prevention policies, masking requirements or vaccine requirements,” Alana Ackels, a labor and employment lawyer at Bell Nunnally, a Dallas-based law firm, told MarketWatch.

Rebecca Dixon, executive director at the National Employment Law Project, told MarketWatch that an employee who has proof of a medical exemption or religious objection to receiving the vaccine may still be eligible to collect unemployment benefits if terminated.

The New York Times reported that other large companies — including Facebook and Google — have said they will require employees to be vaccinated in order to return to the office. Some companies, including The Washington Post, have made vaccination a condition of further employment; however, few have given details about the consequences of violating vaccine requirements.

“This could lead to tens of thousands of people across the United States without work or access to unemployment benefits because they refuse to get vaccinated,” Ronald Zambrano, employment law chair at West Coast Trial Lawyers, a Los Angeles-based law firm, told MarketWatch.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/workers-fired-being-unvaccinated-may-145759775.html

Osterholm: Current virus surge could sustain itself another six weeks

 A top U.S. infectious disease expert said on Sunday that a surge in the COVID-19 virus could sustain itself for at least another four to six weeks if certain states continue to see cases increase.

Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told on NBC's "Meet the Press" how much longer the current surge of COVID-19 cases would last.

“If you look at the state of Louisiana right now, they're tied with the country of Georgia for the highest rate of infections in the world. But what we're seeing happen right now is while those states are starting to potentially level off a bit, we're now seeing in the Southeast: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, southern Illinois, all start to take off,” Osterholm said. 

“We're seeing in the northwest in states like Oregon and Washington. We're even seeing in the Midwest increases. So, even if this increase that we're seeing in the southern Sun Belt states, which has been dramatic -- we’re at 83,000 hospitalizations today. A month ago, we were at about 25,000. So, it gives you a sense of what's happened just in the last month.  And if these other states take off, then I think this surge can sustain itself for at least another four to six weeks,” he continued. 

The surge comes as the delta variant makes its way among unvaccinated communities in the U.S. 

The director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Sunday that he would not be surprised if the country started seeing at least 200,000 daily COVID-19 cases within the next several weeks. 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/567932-top-researcher-current-virus-surge-could-sustain-itself-for-another-six

NIH director: COVID-19 infections among children 'very worrisome'

 The director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Sunday that he is worried about the number of pediatric COVID-19 cases, noting at least 400 children have died from the virus.

“We are also seeing a sharp rise in the number of pediatric cases, both unvaccinated kids and vaccinated kids who are getting COVID from this new delta variant. How bad could that spike in pediatric cases get?” Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace asked NIH Director Francis Collins.

“That's very worrisome. I think traditionally people kind of considered, ‘Well, you know, kids aren't going to get that sick with this.’ More than 400 children have died of COVID-19. And right now we have almost 2,000 kids in the hospital, many of them in ICU, some of them under the age of four,” Collins said.

“So anybody who tries to tell you, ‘Well, don't worry about the kids, the virus won't really bother them,’ that's not the evidence. And especially with delta [variant] being so contagious, kids are very seriously at risk. And it's up to all of us to do everything we can to protect them, as well as we're trying to protect everybody else at the same time,” he added. 

Children under the age of 12 have not been authorized to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, a concern among parents who are worried about the spread of the delta variant.

The spread of the delta variant among unvaccinated communities with the U.S. has worried health officials who anticipate even higher caseloads within weeks.

Collins said on Sunday that the pandemic "is going very steeply upward with no signs of having peeked out."

"So I will be surprised if we don't cross 200,000 cases a day in the next couple of weeks," he added.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/567929-nih-director-says-theres-concern-over-rising-number-of-pediatric-cases-in

Biotech week ahead, Aug. 16

 Biopharma stocks retreated in the week ending Aug. 13, defying the optimism that was found in the broader market. Earnings continued to dominate the headlines, with small- and mid-cap companies among those reporting during the week.

On the regulatory front, the Food and Drug Administration kept its tryst with the PDUFA goal date for Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. JAZZ 2.4%'s sleep disorder drug and issued a positive verdict. Merck & Co, Inc. MRK 0.93% and Eisai Co. ,Ltd. ESALY 0.56% received approval for Keytruda-Lenvima combo for the first-line treatment of advanced kidney cancer.

Moderna, Inc. 

MRNA 0.42% and Pfizer, Inc. PFE 2.65%-BioNTech SE BNTX 0.88% received a third authorization for their respective COVID-19 vaccines to be used in immuno-compromised individuals. Moderna shares, however, came off its all-time high amid valuation concerns.

On the other hand, Sesen Bio, Inc. SESN 57.03%'s regulatory application for Vicineum for the treatment of BCG-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer was issued a complete response letter.

Positive clinical readout catalyzed a strong move in Fulcrum Therapeutics, Inc. FULC 2.14%, and earnings and a pipeline update sent shares of Cortexyme, Inc. CRTX 4.69% soaring. Meanwhile, Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. AXSM 5.96% shares plummeted on a potential delay in the approval of its investigational asset to treat major depressive disorder.

Eliem Therapeutics, Inc. ELYM 16.67% and Dermata Therapeutics, Inc. Common Stock NASDAQDRMA were among the companies that made their Wall Street debuts following their initial public offerings.

Here are the key catalytic events for the unfolding week:

Conferences

H.C. Wainwright Ophthalmology Virtual Conference: Aug. 17
Third Annual Conference on Brain Metastases hosted by the Society for Neuro-Oncology, or SNO: Aug. 19-20

Clinical Readouts

• Fate Therapeutics, Inc. FATE 3.72% will present at an investor event on Thursday, Aug. 9 new Phase 1 data from FT516 and FT596 programs in relapsed/refractory lymphoma.
• Plus Therapeutics, Inc. PSTV 2.46% will present at the SNO Brain Metastases conference, data from one planned clinical trial and one completed preclinical study evaluating its lead investigational drug, Rhenium-186 Nanoliposome for the treatment of leptomeningeal metastases.

Earnings

• Milestone Scientific Inc. MLSS 3.49% (Monday, before the market open)
• Biocept, Inc. BIOC 4.08% (Monday, after the close)
• Eton Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ETON 2.64% (Monday, after the close)
• STRATA Skin Sciences, Inc. SSKN 4.38% (Monday, after the close)
• Osmotica Pharmaceuticals plc OSMT 0.72% (Monday, after the close)

IPOs

IPO Pricing

Los Altos, California-based RenovoRx, Inc. NASDAQRNXT has filed for offering up to 1.85 million units of securities in an initial public offering. Each unit comprises one share of common stock and a three-quarter warrant to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $14.40 per share, assuming an initial public offering price of $12 per unit. RenovoRx expects to price the offering between $11 and $13. The company‘s shares have been approved for listing on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "RNXT."

RenovoRx is a clinical-stage biopharma focused on developing therapies for the local treatment of solid tumors and is currently conducting a Phase 3 registrational trial for its lead product candidate RenovoGem.

• IPO Quiet Period Expiry
• Absci Corporation ABSI 4.86%
• Caribou Biosciences, Inc. CRBU 4.3%
• Cytek Biosciences, Inc. CTKB 11.44%
• SOPHiA GENETICS SA SOPH 0.77%
• Candel Therapeutics, Inc. CADL 8.11%

https://www.benzinga.com/general/biotech/21/08/22498723/the-week-ahead-in-biotech-aug-15-21-fate-therapeutics-data-readout-renovorx-ipo-in-focus-amid-tap

U.S. appeals court sets quick schedule to consider COVID-19 eviction ban

 A three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia late Saturday set a quick schedule to consider whether to allow a new Biden administration COVID-19 residential eviction ban to remain in place.

Earlier on Saturday, lawyers for Alabama and Georgia realtors filed an emergency request seeking to overturn the new 60-day eviction ban that was ordered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Aug. 3.

On Friday, a U.S. district court judge in Washington said he would have blocked the new ruling but said her hands were tied by an earlier appeals court ruling.

The appeals court said the Justice Department has until Tuesday at 9 a.m. EDT to respond and then lawyers for the landlords have until Wednesday at 9 a.m. EDT to reply. Both sides asked the court to rule by Thursday.

The White House said Friday it continues to urge state and local governments to quickly distribute $46.5 billion in emergency rental assistance funds approved by Congress.

Lawyers for the landlord and real estate groups on Saturday cited President Joe Biden's earlier statements in asking for a quick ruling.

"As the president himself has acknowledged, the CDC’s latest extension is little more than a delay tactic designed to buy time to distribute rental assistance," the groups said urging the appeals court to consider taking immediate action to block the eviction ban's enforcement.

Under heavy political pressure, the CDC reversed course on Aug. 3 and issued a slightly narrower eviction moratorium just three days after the prior one expired. The current moratorium covers nearly 94% of U.S. counties, but that could change based on COVID-19 conditions.

More than 15 million people in 6.5 million U.S. households are currently behind on rental payments, according to a study, and collectively owe more than $20 billion to landlords.

In June, a divided Supreme Court agreed to let the CDC moratorium remain in effect after the agency announced it would allow the ban to expire on July 31.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued a concurring opinion saying that in his view extending the CDC moratorium past July 31 would need "clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation)." 

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/U-S-appeals-court-sets-quick-schedule-to-consider-COVID-19-eviction-ban--36165824/

Homeland Security: Fresh COVID-19 Restrictions 'Could Spark Violent Attacks'

 The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a new terrorism warning bulletin, said violent extremists could view the reimposition of COVID-19-related restrictions following the spread of coronavirus variants as a rationale to conduct attacks.

The new DHS bulletin also warned of the risk of "targeted violence" around the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington and around religious holidays.

The department said that COVID-19-related stress has "contributed to increased societal strains and tensions, driving several plots by domestic violent extremists, and they may contribute to more violence this year."

In a bulletin issued in May, DHS had warned that domestic extremists could take advantage of moves earlier this year to ease COVID-19 restrictions to launch attacks on a broader range of targets.

In an interview with CNN, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department considered domestic violent extremists to constitute "the greatest terrorist-related threat to our homeland." He said the Department was seeing expressions of extremism fueled by "false narratives" and "ideologies of hate."

U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, welcomed the DHS warning but said it was "troubling that the terrorism threat increasingly is based on grievance-based violence and conspiracy theories, especially related to the election and former President Trump."

The rapid spread of the Delta variant and a related spike in COVID-19 infections has caused some U.S. states to reimpose stiffer guidelines related to mask-wearing and gatherings.

The latest DHS bulletin also noted that al Qaeda's Arabian Peninsula branch had recently released the first English-language version of its "Inspire" magazine in four years, which DHS says is evidence that violent foreign militants are still trying to inspire U.S. followers to engage in attacks.

DHS said it was promoting "authoritative sources of information" in order to "debunk" and if possible "pre-empt" disinformation.

DHS warned that media outlets linked to the Russian, Chinese and Iranian governments had "repeatedly" amplified conspiracy theories about the origins of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of vaccines.

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2021-08-13/homeland-security-warns-fresh-covid-19-restrictions-could-spark-violent-attacks

Children hospitalized with COVID-19 in US hits record number

 The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States hit a record high of just over 1,900 on Saturday, as hospitals across the South were stretched to capacity fighting outbreaks caused by the highly transmissible delta variant.

The delta variant, which is rapidly spreading among mostly the unvaccinated portion of the U.S. population, has caused hospitalizations to spike in recent weeks, driving up the number of pediatric hospitalizations to 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Children currently make up about 2.4% of the nation's COVID-19 hospitalizations. Kids under 12 are not eligible to receive the vaccine, leaving them more vulnerable to infection from the new, highly transmissible variant.

"This is not last year's COVID. This one is worse and our children are the ones that are going to be affected by it the most," Sally Goza, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN on Saturday.

The numbers of newly hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged 18-29, 30-39 and 40-49 also hit record highs this week, according to data from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

The spike in new cases has ramped up tension between conservative state leaders and local districts over whether school children should be required to wear masks as they head back to the classroom this month.

School districts in Florida, Texas and Arizona have mandated that masks be worn in schools, defying orders from their Republican state governors that ban districts from imposing such rules. The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened to withhold funding from districts that impose mask requirements, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is appealing to the state Supreme Court to overturn Dallas County's mask mandate, the Dallas Morning News reported on Friday.

A fifth of the nation's COVID-19 hospitalizations are in Florida, where the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients hit a record 16,100 on Saturday, according to a Reuters tally. More than 90% of the state's intensive care beds are filled, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

The nation's largest teachers union, the National Education Association, came out in support of mandatory vaccination for its members this week. NEA President Becky Pringle said on Saturday that schools should employ every mitigation strategy, from vaccines to masks, to ensure that students can come back to their classrooms safely this school year.

"Our students under 12 can't get vaccinated. It's our responsibility to keep them safe. Keeping them safe means that everyone who can be vaccinated should be vaccinated," Pringle told CNN.

The U.S. now has an average of about 129,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, a rate that has doubled in a little over two weeks, according to a Reuters tally. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is at a six-month high, and an average of 600 people are dying each day of COVID-19, double the death rate seen in late July.

Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oregon have reported record numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations this month, according to a Reuters tally, pushing healthcare systems to operate beyond their capacity.

"Our hospitals are working to maximize their available staff and beds, including the use of conference rooms and cafeterias," Florida Hospital Association President Mary Mayhew said in a statement on Friday.

In Oregon, Governor Kate Brown said on Friday that she was sending 500 National Guard members to assist overwhelmed hospitals, with 1,500 members in total available to help.

In Jackson, Mississippi, federal medical workers are assisting understaffed local teams at a 20-bed triage center in the parking garage of the University of Mississippi Medical Center to accommodate the overflow of COVID-19 patients.

Fifteen children and 99 adults were hospitalized with COVID-19 at UMMC as of Saturday morning, the hospital said. More than 77% of those patients were unvaccinated.

https://www.ksl.com/article/50223445/children-hospitalized-with-covid-19-in-us-hits-record-number