Many faculties across the nation have already made the choice for the scholars. No less than 63 of the 101 largest school districts within the nation determined to begin the 12 months with digital studying. There are different school districts which have determined to go in-person, although many with digital choices. My very own kids’ school left the selection up to the person households, and whereas it is troublesome, I’m grateful we have now choices. Households all around the nation are scuffling with entry to childcare, expertise and even meals — all of which might make a bodily return to school a necessity.
Understanding my household would have to decide about school,we began doing our homework a number of weeks in the past, trying on the knowledge and current standards, to give you one of the best science-based alternative for us.
For starters, I visited my kids’ school and hung out with the top of the school to finest perceive the security precautions they have been setting up. They’re very a lot in step with recommendations from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There might be a masks mandate, loads of hand hygiene stations, bodily distancing plans, frequent disinfecting of surfaces and even out of doors lessons when potential. College students will eat lunch within the classroom, and there will not be any mass gatherings or assemblies. Whereas bodily distancing is the hardest problem, the school has made inventive use of area in libraries, gymnasiums and cafeterias to acquire the mandatory sq. footage to try to deal with this. It has been a herculean effort over the previous few months, however in fact, none of this works if the scholars themselves aren’t diligent about following these practices on buses, in hallways and in lecture rooms.
Our school additionally took the additional step of testing all the scholars and college and employees this previous week, and the outcomes have been made obtainable inside 96 hours. My women all examined damaging, and that provides us some reassurance for these kids who select to attend school, as these college students testing constructive might be requested to isolate at residence. I totally understand this kind of “assurance” testing is unfortunately nonetheless not practically obtainable sufficient on this nation, and it is usually not an ideal software. Some checks have been identified to give a substantial quantity of false negatives, relying on the type of test you take and how early you take it. And, whereas somebody could take a look at damaging at the moment, there is no such thing as a assure they will not take a look at constructive for the virus tomorrow.
A lot of the dialogue about returning to school revolves across the danger to the well being of our youngsters. In accordance to the CDC, the biggest pediatric research out of China discovered that 90% of youngsters with Covid-19 develop mild or moderate symptoms, 4% have been solely asymptomatic and 6% turned severely or critically in poor health.
By the primary week of August, 90 youngsters within the US had died of Covid-19, which represents lower than 1% of all deaths, in accordance to an analysis by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Kids’s Hospital Affiliation.
As of August 6, MIS-C, a multi-system inflammatory syndrome, was recognized in a minimum of 570 kids throughout the nation, ranging in age from lower than 1 to 20. About two-thirds of these youngsters did not have underlying situations earlier than being recognized with MIS-C, like Juliet Daly, a Louisiana 12-year-old who practically died in April.
It’s true that youngsters are far much less probably to get sick from Covid-19, as in contrast to adults, however they’re on no account immune. They’ll develop into contaminated they usually can unfold it rapidly. A widely cited study out of South Korea confirmed that kids 10 to 19 have been spreading the virus simply as a lot as adults. In truth, that they had the very best charge of Covid-19 amongst family contacts. Curiously, in that very same research, youngsters youthful than 10 did not account for a major quantity of viral unfold. This was stunning as a result of a current research published in JAMA Pediatrics concluded youthful kids could carry greater quantities of the virus of their nostril, as in contrast to adults. And any father or mother will let you know how simply little kids unfold viruses in their very own properties. (When our kids have been very younger, a single chilly in any certainly one of them meant the entire household was going to quickly develop into contaminated.)
So, I determined to take a better take a look at the South Korean research, and seen a vital element: It included fewer than 30 constructive instances youthful than 10 years outdated. Of the practically 60,000 contacts that have been traced in that research, solely 237 have been from children under 10. The low charge of unfold amongst younger kids could not have been as a result of they’re much less probably to transmit the virus, however as a result of they’ve largely been residence over the previous few months, and had few contacts consequently.
As our kids develop into more and more cell, they may develop into half of a big nationwide experiment, and there may be little doubt the an infection charges will enhance. Simply over the previous 4 weeks, the variety of youngsters contaminated in the US has elevated by 90% to greater than 380,000 instances, in accordance to that same analysis by AAP and CHA. Whereas a few of that enhance could also be due to elevated testing, youthful kids beginning to emerge from their properties for the primary time additionally play a task. And, for a lot of the nation, colleges have not even but reopened.
It is usually necessary to keep in mind that a school group is made up of extra than simply younger college students. In accordance to one recent analysis, practically 1 / 4 of lecturers working in the US school system are at greater danger of significant sickness from Covid-19, both due to age or pre-existing situations. I was significantly struck by the tales of anxious lecturers across the nation who mentioned they have been writing out their wills in anticipation of returning to school.
My household additionally took a better take a look at the general charge of viral unfold in our personal space. Inside the Fulton County Schools system, the place we stay, the rules for colleges to return to full-time, face-to-face instruction requires the county charge of recent instances per 100,000 folks to be fewer than 100 for the final 14 days. Fulton County’s present charge? 316.2. Atlanta Public Faculties have determined to go all-virtual for the primary 9 weeks. Moreover, our county, which incorporates a part of Atlanta, does not meet the federal authorities’s standards for return to school both. In accordance to the gating criteria from the Coronavirus Job Power, we might have had to cross by two phases, every requiring a 14-day downward trajectory of documented instances and the power to deal with all sufferers with out disaster care. We’re merely not there but.
Lastly, the positivity rate in Georgia over the seven days (ending August 10) is 11.3%, based mostly on knowledge from the Covid Monitoring Challenge, which suggests we nonetheless aren’t doing sufficient testing in our space. Lately, the Surgeon Basic mentioned he would really like to see positivity charges at lower than 10% in communities earlier than colleges think about reopening. We’re shut, however it’s nonetheless worrisome to place college students back into an atmosphere with that a lot group viral unfold. It’s price noting that after we began pulling kids out of school round mid-March, there have been fewer than 5,000 identified instances folks identified to have been contaminated in the US and confirmed deaths have been within the double digits. Now, school districts are contemplating reopening as greater than 5 million folks have been contaminated and greater than 164,000 folks have died within the US, in accordance to Johns Hopkins College.
Simply over the previous few weeks, we have now been given a number of clues of what could occur as colleges begin to reopen. An overnight summer camp in North Georgia had practically 260 attendees develop into contaminated, although the CDC famous some may’ve contracted Covid-19 one other manner. A excessive school in Woodstock, Georgia, is quickly closed after a minimum of 14 constructive Covid-19 instances in its first week. Tons of are beneath quarantine within the county. One other school in Dallas, Georgia, opened after which closed its doorways after six students and three faculty became infected. Their plan is to reopen after disinfecting the school, although it’s not clear how a lot of a distinction that may make, as there is no such thing as a masks requirement — and a single sneeze or cough may as soon as once more contaminate a classroom.
It’s a lot to think about, however within the minds of our household, the proof is obvious. After contemplating all the target standards and assessing the scenario in our personal group, we have now made the choice to hold our women out of school in the intervening time. This was not a simple determination, however one which we consider finest respects the science, decreases the danger of additional unfold and follows the duty power standards. As a compromise, we are going to enable our youngsters to have a bodily distanced orientation assembly with their new lecturers to allow them to meet them in individual earlier than beginning to work together with them on a display. And, after two weeks, we are going to reassess. It can even be necessary for us to perceive what the triggers might be in our school, when it comes to newly recognized infections or diseases, that may require a return to digital studying. Full and sincere transparency from everybody might be extra mandatory than ever.
None of that is straightforward, and a few households could arrive at a distinct conclusion after trying on the identical knowledge. Within the age of Covid-19, it appears we’re all pressured to develop into beginner epidemiologists, whereas additionally being one of the best mother and father we may be.
Passionate news enthusiast with a flair for words. Our Editorial Team author brings you the latest updates, in-depth analysis, and engaging stories. Stay informed with their well-researched articles.
Joshua Dean, a Boeing whistleblower and former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, who alleged gross misconduct in quality management by the company, died after a short illness.
He is the second whistleblower to die this year. Joshua Dean had reported manufacturing defects in Boeing’s 737 Max.
Second Boeing Whistleblower, Joshua Dean, Passes Away
Joshua Dean was a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the fuselage of the 737 Max, had filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and charged the senior quality management of the 737 production line at Spirit of gross misconduct on adhering to security protocols by Boeing.
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Dean had also alleged that Spirit AeroSystems management had made false or misleading claims and when he reported the problem with the aft pressure bulkhead on the Boeing 737, a critical piece of the plane’s infrastructure he was ignored.
Two 737 Max aircraft were involved in fatal crashes, which killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019. Dean was fired from his post by Spirit last year and had filed a complaint with the Department of Labor alleging that his firing was a consequence of hum raising safety concerns.
Joshua Dean was hospitalized after he had breathing problems. He later became infected and developed pneumonia and a serious antibiotic-resistant infection called MRSA before dying two weeks later.
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Dean’s aunt, Carol Dean Parsons, said via Facebook,
“He passed away yesterday morning, and his absence will be deeply felt. We will always love you, Josh.”
Another Boeing whistleblower John “Mitch” Barnett was found dead in March with gunshot wounds in what appeared to be a suicide. Barnett was represented by the same law firm which was also representing Dean.
Barnett, who worked for three decades at Boeing, stated in 2019 that he had uncovered instances where he found “clusters of metal slivers” hanging over the wiring of flight controls, which could have precipitated “catastrophic” damage if they had penetrated the wires. Barnett alleged that his complaints were ignored by Boeing management, and later he was transferred to another section of the plant.
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Another Boeing whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, told Congress that there was no safety culture at the Boeing plant. He also alleged that any worker who raised these safety issues was overlooked, marginalized, made vulnerable, sidelined, and worse, threatened with physical violence if they went public with their concerns. U.S. regulators have now opened an inquiry after an incident of a mid-air door-panel blowout in January on a Boeing 737 Max 9.
According to a report by Reuters, the Justice Department is now contemplating whether Boeing had violated an agreement that protected it from criminal prosecution over the fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Trouble for Microsoft and OpenAI over copyright infringement is not coming to an end, as they face several lawsuits for violating copyrights.
On Tuesday, eight US newspaper publishers sued Microsoft for illegally reusing articles in AI products.
The 98-page long lawsuit further accused the tech companies of attributing erroneous information to the publishers.
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The eight newspapers that have filed the lawsuits include the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune.
They allege that OpenAI’s ChatGPT used their copyrighted articles to perfect its language models without permission.
The lawsuit was filed in a New York federal court on Tuesday. The publishers claim that OpenAI’s large language models, GPT-2 and GPT-3, were perfected using datasets containing text from their newspapers.
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The language models are designed to produce text based on human inputs and reproduce copies of the publishers’ works. Microsoft has been indicted for using newspapers for its Bing search index but seldom provided links to the original articles. Four months ago, The New York Times also filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the tech giant of using data from its past content. It also asked for consent for usage, criticizing the use of full article excerpts in chatbot responses.
The latest lawsuit filed by the eight news outlets also demanded consent and fair value for using their content to perfect the AI language models. The lawsuit alleged that the AI tools literally regurgitate their content without directing users to the content source.
The lawsuit filings stated, “This lawsuit arises from defendants purloining millions of the publishers’ copyrighted articles without permission and without payment to fuel the commercialization of their generative artificial intelligence products, including ChatGPT and (Microsoft’s) Copilot.”
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The eight newspapers that instituted the lawsuits are as follows:
The New York Daily News and The Chicago Tribune, both owned by Alden Global Capital
The Orlando Sentinel
The Sun Sentinel
The San Jose Mercury News
The Denver Post
The Orange County Register
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
OpenAI’s Response
OpenAI did not directly respond to the accusations but stated that it takes great care to support the news and media outlets. It also stated it is in continuous partnerships and conversations with various news outlets around the world to explore new opportunities, discuss problems, and seek out solutions.
Microsoft also stated that OpenAI has entered into fruitful partnerships with a number of publishers, which includes The Financial Times, The Associated Press, Spanish conglomerate Prisa Media, and Germany’s Axel Springer.
Heather Pressdee, the Pennsylvania nurse connected to the deaths of 17 patients will be spending the rest of her life in prison. The 41 year old nurse had pleaded guilty for three counts of 1st-degree murder and other charges and this helped her avoid the death sentence.
Heather Pressdee while working as a nurse had administered lethal doses of insulin leading to the death of 17 patients had pleaded guilty in a Butler County courtroom to three counts of first-degree murder and 19 counts of criminal attempt to commit murder. Heather Pressdee was working as a nurse at Quality Life Services before her arrest in May 2023.
Investigations revealed that Pressdee’s killing spree began in 2020 when she started administering “lethal and potentially lethal doses of insulin” to at least 22 patients at facilities in Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler and Westmoreland counties. Of these 17 patients died soon or after some time after receiving the insulin doses according to prosecution.
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Heather Pressdee will be serving three consecutive life sentences after pleading to the three counts of first-degree murder. She is also sentenced an additional 380 to 760 years of consecutive jail terms after being found guilty for 19 counts of criminal attempt to commit murder, according to prosecutors.
Attorney General Michelle Henry said, “The defendant used her position of trust as a means to poison patients who depended on her for care. This plea and life sentence will not bring back the lives lost, but it will ensure Heather Pressdee never has another opportunity to inflict further harm. I offer my sincere sympathy to all who have suffered at this defendant’s hands.”
Kings of Pressdee’s victims who were present at the nurse’s sentencing hearing recounted the “pain and anguish caused by learning their loved one’s death was not natural, but was caused by a criminal act,”
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Sister of one of the victims, Nicholas Cymbol, Melinda Brown said that the nurse was pure evil. She added that this is not complete justice and justice will be delivered when she meets her maker. Daughter of another victim Irene Simons said that she will never forgive Pressdee. She added that she is angry because Pressdee disguised herself as a caring nurse and she tried to play God and take the life of someone from the world that she had no right to take.
Attorney General Michelle Henry first became aware of Pressdee’s crimes when her office received a referral in late 2022 regarding a patient under the nurse’s care. A thorough investigation was launched which revealed the full extent of Pressdee’s horrific actions.
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