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Daily smartphone tracking planned for first recipients of COVID-19 vaccine – U.S.

Daily smartphone tracking planned for first recipients of COVID-19 vaccine


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WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) — Americans that get the first COVID-19 vaccines will be closely monitored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through daily text messages and emails, according to a federal advisory group.


Essential workers who are expected to be the first recipients will get daily text messages on their smartphones asking about side effects in the first week after they get the shot, and then they’ll be contacted weekly for six weeks, said Tom Shimabukuro, a CDC immunization expert, at a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Those workers could total about

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UC San Diego to roll out smartphone pilot program for COVID-19 exposure alerts

University of California Health announced Monday UC San Diego will be one of two campuses to pilot a smartphone technology that notifies users if they have had a high-risk COVID-19 exposure.





© Provided by KFMB San Diego


The limited pilot program will roll out incrementally at UCSD later this month. UC San Francisco will start using the technology a few weeks later for students, faculty and staff participating in onsite activities at select locations.

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According to the university system, the technology does not collect location data from any device and will never share user identities.

“If the pilot is successful, it will set the foundation for the state to offer voluntary exposure notifications to all Californians using this free smartphone-based technology,” said Christopher Longhurst, chief information officer for UC San Diego Health. “The Google/Apple Exposure Notification Express tools offer a high-tech, privacy-preserving solution that automates the work of

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High-Flying COVID-19 Sectors May Be Setting Up For A Correction

Key Highlights:

  • COVID-19 has hit many retail and commercial sectors hard – but boosts Technology and Automobiles.
  • The NASDAQ 100 Technology Sector Index suggests the 100% Measured Move is complete. 
  • NASDAQ BNCHMK Computer Hardware Index has reached a lofty 150% upside Measured Move expansion. 
  • US Automobiles Index currently nearing a 135% upside Measured Move.
  • Will these trends continue, or are they a temporary “transitional process”?

As we’ve all been adjusting to the “work from home” transition that was forced upon us back in March/April 2020, a certain group of market sectors has really taken off and rallied into 100% and 100%+ Measured Moves.  One thing I can personally associate with the home office transition the need to upgrade various components of my home office as the COVID-19 lock-down initiated.  This has boosted the Technology sector. Another, less obvious, result of COVID revealed by our research showed what appears to be

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Technology
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De Blasio donor scored $120M in COVID-19 contracts, board seats

Give to Bill and ye shall receive.

A big-bucks donor to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s political campaigns not only scored $120 million in no-bid coronavirus contracts — he also won seats on two influential city boards.

Manhattan resident Charles Tebele, who owns the New Jersey-based computer business Digital Gadgets, has showered Hizzoner with at least $22,750 in political contributions since 2016 including $12,800 to de Blasio’s failed 2020 presidential bid, records show.

Those contributions to de Blasio were Tebele’s first to a federally regulated campaign since he gave to 2012 Connecticut congressional candidate, Dan Roberti, who lost the Democratic primary that year.

The technology entrepreneur garnered his first city contract through an emergency, no-bid procurement system set up by the mayor during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $19.8 million deal for N95 masks and surgical face coverings was made in March — a week before the mayor appointed

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Computer
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NHS contact tracing app ‘is unlikely to reduce the spread of Covid-19’

The new NHS Test and Trace app won’t work unless the vast majority of the country installs it and even then social distancing will still be required, a new study claims.

The NHS app launched in the Isle of Wight last week as a pilot scheme, with users urged to scan barcodes when they go out to create a ‘virtual diary’ of movements.

This is the second trial on the island by NHS following its disastrous first attempt, which was abandoned in June.    

A new study by University College London found that these types of tracking apps only work if the vast majority of a population install and actively use them. 

By reviewing 15 earlier scientific studies into the use of the apps, the team found that even if 80 per cent of a population install them other public health restrictions would still be needed to slow the spread of

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Missing movie theaters in COVID-19 quarantine? Fill up the car and head to these drive-ins

The country is starting to open up after months of lockdown, yet social distancing and sanitary precautions are still important as ever. And although theater chains like AMC are gearing up to return in August, taking in a drive-in movie may sound appealing, especially for families.

Drive-in movie theaters have the advantages of in-person viewing while staying in the comfort, privacy and safety of your own vehicle. Social distancing is built-in, as cars are often parked six or more feet away from each other, and proper COVID-19 protocols make it easier to have fun yet stay safe.

We’ve put together a list of old and newly converted drive-ins across the country for you to check out. Scroll through to see if there’s one near you:

A user’s guide to drive-in movie theaters:  Staying safe and having fun

East Coast

Fingerlakes Drive-In, Auburn, New York

Fingerlakes Drive-In in Auburn, New York, promotes hand hygiene right at the entrance.
Fingerlakes Drive-In in Auburn, New York,
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Programming
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An Unexpected Casualty of COVID-19? The Quality of Sound in Livestream Performances

When the MTV Video Music Awards announced its nominations last week, it added a new category that’s fitting for the times: best quarantine performance. Those competing for a Moonman include Lady Gaga’s performance of “Smile” from Global Citizen’s “One World: Together At Home” concert, CNCO’s “Unplugged At Home” and Post Malone’s Nirvana tribute. Several of the nominees doubled as fundraisers for COVID relief.

The popularity of live streams comes more as a necessity than a choice as the coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of waning and live concerts, even when enforcing social distancing, have proven to be more problematic than anticipated. Even live music trade Pollstar has launched a chart to monitor audience size for these online events. And so, massive pop icons and unestablished artists alike are finding themselves challenged by the limitations of remote live sound, and the results are often less than stellar and, at times, downright

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Internet
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Businesses pivot to meet the demand for COVID-19 disinfection

Jeffery B. Hardy Sr., left, owns Sanitation & Disinfecting Service in Milwaukee. His crew gets ready to do a Covid19-type cleaning at Community of Grace Baptist Church in Milwaukee.
Jeffery B. Hardy Sr., left, owns Sanitation & Disinfecting Service in Milwaukee. His crew gets ready to do a Covid19-type cleaning at Community of Grace Baptist Church in Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE – As more people are allowed back into offices, restaurants and hotels under the City of Milwaukee’s re-opening plans, the need for disinfection is greater than ever.

Pest 2 Rest Pest Control, a family-owned extermination company, is one of the many businesses that now specialize in COVID-19 disinfection.

“There is a 0.1% difference between sanitizing and disinfecting,” said Jeffery Hardy Sr., the co-owner of Pest 2 Rest. “So, sanitizing, you’re cleaning; disinfecting, you’re killing the virus. And that’s what we’re encouraging people to do.”

He also encourages clients to have a plan of action after his job is done.

Hardy’s business, as its name would suggest, started out killing bed bugs, roaches, rodents and other critters. Since March, Hardy chose

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Technology
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Motorists in a jam as Covid-19 leaves them waiting months for DVLA documents

<span>Photograph: John Stillwell/PA</span>
Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

Frustrated car owners have been waiting months for vital documents and left unclear about whether they can legally drive their vehicles because of a backlog of applications caused by the coronavirus crisis.

In the past few months, licence renewals and changes to vehicle registration (V5C) documents have been backing up at the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency’s Swansea offices, leaving thousands of people waiting months to get them back.

Since Guardian Money wrote about the case of a driver struggling to get hold of a car logbook, readers have swamped our Consumer Champions’ inbox with reports of long delays and how impossible it has become to contact the UK government agency.

Those sending off their driving licence or V5C document for routine changes of address report waiting months. Some, with more complex cases, say they have been waiting since January for applications to be dealt with.

While many

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Application
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Online education was a mess in the spring. As COVID-19 prompts schools to stay virtual, will it get better this fall?

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Chicago Public Schools to make a hurried switch to remote instruction earlier this year, Lidia Muro said it didn’t work out so well for her 5-year-old stepson Elijah, then a kindergartner at Marvin Camras Elementary.

Some of the schoolwork he was given required logins and passwords his parents didn’t receive, she said. Communication with his teacher was lacking. And while it took Elijah a single day to finish math lessons that were supposed to stretch over months, he fell behind in reading.

“The program was mostly games, I think,” Muro said. “Educational games are good, but (children) can only do games for so long.”

Contrast that with the experience of Wauconda High School junior-to-be Tori Mraz. She found her school’s online classes to be rigorous but flexible, and while a lack of face-to-face instruction created challenges, she gave virtual education high marks.

“I did really

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Internet