Police say Melbourne anti-lockdown protest ‘most violent in nearly 20 years’

Saturday’s rally was the first time police used non-lethal weapons during a lockdown protest, with at least nine officers ending up in hospital

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An anti-lockdown protest held in Melbourne on Saturday was one of the most violent the city has seen in 20 years, Victoria’s top police officer says.

Chief commissioner Shane Patton said his officers had no choice but to use non-lethal weapons to defend themselves from an angry mob that came armed and appeared intent on attacking them.

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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/22/police-say-melbourne-anti-lockdown-protest-most-violent-in-nearly-20-years
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Australian Associated Press

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Manila in lockdown as Delta cases soar in Philippines

Covid death toll hits four-month high amid record case numbers in countries across south-east Asia

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The more aggressive Delta variant of Covid-19, detected in the Philippines in mid-July, has spread across much of the country, reaching 13 of 17 regions, health officials have said.

On Sunday, the Philippines reported a sharp rise in daily Covid fatalities, with 287 deaths, the highest daily increase in four months. A further 9,671 new infections were also confirmed.

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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/09/manila-covid-lockdown-delta-cases-philippines
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent

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Vietnam locks down capital Hanoi as COVID-19 infections soar

Fifteen-day lockdown order bans the gathering of more than two people in public in city of eight million.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/24/vietnam-locks-down-capital-hanoi-as-covid-19-infections-soar
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Argentina announces strict coronavirus lockdown amid case surge

Businesses, schools and social activities will be suspended from Saturday until May 31 as new COVID infections surge.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/21/argentina-announces-strict-pandemic-lockdown-after-case-surge
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Mumbai in lockdown as Indian vaccines run short

Drive to vaccinate country’s 1.3 billion people in jeopardy with just 94 million shots provided so far.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/10/mumbai-in-lockdown-as-indian-vaccines-run-short
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Five dorms at University of Connecticut under quarantine

The move comes after state police broke up a nearby party attended by about 100 people.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/five-dormitories-university-connecticut-under-quarantine-n1262983
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Philippines announces strict COVID lockdown in and around Manila

The measures will affect more than 24 million people, as more contagious COVID variants fuel a resurgence in cases.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/27/philippines-announces-strict-covid-lockdown-in-and-around-manila
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A lockdown silver lining for workers with disabilities

The pandemic normalized working from home, and that could open doors for America’s workers with disabilities.

The big picture: All sorts of hurdles — like getting to work if you’re in a wheelchair or adjusting to office environments if you’re a person with autism — are eliminated by remote work. This new future could be a more inclusive one for all Americans.

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The backdrop: Just four in ten working-age adults with one or more disabilities are employed, per Brookings.

• Education isn’t a factor. The employment rate among college-educated adults with disabilities is 59%, compared with 69% for college-educated adults without disabilities.

What’s happening: Drivers of this troubling trend include rampant discrimination in the hiring process as well as the fact that most cities’ central business districts – where all the jobs are — are very inaccessible.

• Everything from out-of-order elevators in the subway to closely-packed tables at coffee shops and uneven sidewalks can make cities unnavigable, the Guardian reports.
• But when remote work took off during the pandemic, a lot of these barriers melted away.

Case in point: Kristen Parisi, a writer in New York who uses a wheelchair, has always wanted a remote job so she can focus on her work and not worry about her commute. But “working from home was looked at as a privilege, and none of the really desirable jobs were remote,” she says. “Remote work was part of the discussion, but not a realistic part of the discussion.”

• The pandemic changed everything overnight. Now Parisi has a remote job and will never have to leave her home to go to work.

There are so many other examples of disabilities or chronic illnesses that can be addressed with telework, experts tell Axios.

• Blind and deaf workers can do their jobs within their own environments without stressing about getting to the office.
• Employees with autism can choose to stay home if they’d rather avoid difficult office spaces.
• Workers with conditions like Crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome can work from their own areas with reliable access to a bathroom.

The remote revolution could help college students with disabilities, too, says Michelle Nario-Redmond, a psychology professor at Hiram College and author of Ableism: The Causes and Consequences of Disability Prejudice.

• Too often, students with disabilities choose lectures and seminars based on whether or not they can access them instead of whether or not they’re interested in the course material. The inclusivity of virtual learning could fix that problem.

“It’s been so difficult for disabled people to get their employers to consider remote work,” Nario-Redmond says. “This is a silver lining. For so many disabled workers, you’re more efficient, you can attend more meetings and your home environment is already tailored to you.”

What to watch: Surveys show that most Americans want remote work to stick around after the pandemic is behind us.

• But “watching some companies call their employees back breaks my heart,” Parisi tells me. “My fear is that companies are going to have a very short memory and go back to the way things were.”

Source: https://www.axios.com/remote-workers-disabilities-office-0a1e5cb3-a4bc-4e2d-971f-16889d28f6b9.html
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America’s unequal return to classrooms

Most American kids have returned to some form of in-person school by now — but low-income school districts are paying a higher price for it.

The big picture: Preparing for testing, infrastructure improvements and distancing has cost school districts tens of millions of dollars. And poorer districts have had to freeze hiring and cut entire programs to make it work.

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• “Whenever you have an event like the pandemic, poor communities always get hit first, they always get hit the hardest, and the impact always lasts the longest,” Arne Duncan, former education secretary under Barack Obama, told Axios.

What’s happening: To reopen safely, education officials say, schools need to be able to pay for measures like COVID testing, masks, new ventilation systems and additional staff and space to reduce class sizes and keep students safely apart.

• And while federal aid has helped, schools still have to make sacrifices and shoulder unexpected costs. It’s often worse in smaller, more rural districts, and in long underfunded urban districts.

“It’s been a combination of belt tightening and hard decisions,” says Christopher Doherty, the chief financial officer of Baltimore City Public Schools. “I don’t see how any districts can find the money without finding other costs to cut.”

Details: In Goreville, Illinois, restrictions on the number of kids on buses became a big problem because rural school bus routes are so long and adding more buses was too expensive.

• Thankfully, enough parents volunteered to drive kids to school so bus routes could stay the same, superintendent Steve Webb tells Axios.
• Winchendon, Massachusetts cut eight instructors who taught elective courses to make room in its budget for COVID safety measures, like storing excess furniture to allow for social distancing and updating air conditioning systems, USA Today’s Suzanne Hirt writes.
• Baltimore has frozen hiring and spending since the beginning of the pandemic.

“Concerns about equity are very real,” says Mike Magee, CEO of Chiefs for Change, a coalition of state and local education leaders.

• In urban — and often disadvantaged — school districts across the U.S., the effects of chronic underfunding are potentially making the costs of reopening higher, he says.
• “The people who have been able to get kids back more easily are private schools or charter schools,” giving an advantage to wealthy families. says Margaret Spellings, former education secretary under George W. Bush.
• And many schools are using a hybrid of remote and in-person learning, which can exacerbate inequality because remote instruction has proven inferior to in-person instruction.

What to watch: There’s a lot of money on the way. President Biden’s coronavirus relief package includes nearly $130 billion to help schools reopen, on top of the $13.2 billion in the original CARES Act and $54.3 billion in December’s COVID relief bill.

• School districts are supposed to use 20% of the money in the new bill to address learning loss, through measures like summer learning, longer school days and extended school years.
• Districts will receive money according to their Title I share, so funds are weighted towards districts with large numbers of low-income students. The bill also sets aside $30 billion to address learning loss among students disproportionately hurt by the pandemic, such as kids of color and English learners, a senior Biden administration official tells Axios.

But, but, but: Some damage has already been done. The last year of interrupted and remote school could cost the U.S. economy up to $28 trillion because of all the learning loss American kids have experienced.

• This experience will affect kids for years to come, Spellings said. Duncan said a national tutoring initiative may be needed to help them catch up.
• “It’s not just the academic loss — it’s the social/emotional impact. None of us have ever lived through anything like this,” said Duncan. “Of course the most vulnerable kids — the ones who were already behind — will now be even farther behind.”

The bottom line: “I think the main takeaway is, it’s all over the place,” Spellings tells Axios. “There is no best practice; there is no research; everyone is making it up as they go.”

Source: https://www.axios.com/school-reopenings-covid-inequality-ba27e214-0f5e-4e76-8847-bf5f151bcaad.html
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Spring breakers flock to Covid hotspot Florida to party like it’s 2019

A combination of students who feel they are at little risk and a governor who has lifted restrictions has experts worried, leading some schools to cancel spring break altogether

Covid-19 and spring break have never mixed well. Last March one young, shirtless man in Miami wearing a backwards-facing green cap went “viral” in the pre-pandemic sense when he told a reporter: “If I get corona, I get corona,” he said. “I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.”

A year later, even after Covid has killed over 500,000 Americans, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended against all travel, similar pictures and videos of spring breakers – no masks or social distancing in sight – are being seen again this year.

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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/12/spring-break-coronavirus-florida-universities
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Chicago will let baseball parks fill 20 percent capacity on opening day

Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot announced on Monday that the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox will be able to open their doors to fans for the first day of the baseball season, with capacity limited to 20 percent….

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/news/542138-chicago-to-open-mlb-ballparks-for-opening-day-at-20-percent-capacity
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Connecticut lifting coronavirus capacity limits on March 19

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) …

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/541705-connecticut-lifting-all-covid-19-capacity-limits-on-march-19
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New Zealand’s largest city goes into lockdown after 1 new Covid-19 case found

“We are in the unfortunate but necessary position to protect Aucklanders again,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/new-zealand-s-largest-city-auckland-goes-lockdown-after-1-n1259037
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Teachers back new CDC plan to reopen schools

The guidelines released Friday don’t require Covid-19 vaccinations for all educators before returning to classrooms.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teachers-give-thumbs-new-cdc-roadmap-reopening-schools-during-pandemic-n1257749
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‘We are desperate for human contact’: people breaking lockdown for sex

For nearly 12 months, single people have been unable to form new relationships. With their chances to start a family or find love slipping away, many are now ignoring the rules

Last summer, shortly after the first lockdown was relaxed enough to allow strangers to meet outdoors, Rosie, 35, an editor based in London, joined a man for a first date on Hampstead Heath. “He said: ‘I brought some wine with me, but the glasses are in my flat, round the corner.’ I’d only met him for an hour. Even in normal times, I wouldn’t be up for that.” She can’t be entirely sure if he was suggesting an illicit drink or a very quick-off-the-bat shag, but it wasn’t a dilemma, at least. “Maybe people’s pheromones have gone funny,” Rosie says, “or maybe I secretly have Covid and can’t smell anyone properly, but I’ve had more smouldering frisson at the supermarket than I have on a date. I’ve had sex just four times since March.”

For nearly a year, give or take the odd month, the rules introduced to fight the spread of coronavirus mean that, in England, sex between single people, or established couples who don’t cohabit, has in effect been either illegal, or against regulations, or only allowed outdoors. To give that a sense of scale, 40% of people – rising to 71% among 16- to 29-year-olds – don’t live in a couple.

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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/feb/11/we-are-desperate-for-human-contact-the-people-breaking-lockdown-to-have-sex
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What’s driving the recent COVID lockdown protests?

Financial hardship and uncertainty over the COVID pandemic fuelling anti-lockdown demonstrations, experts say.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/7/protests-over-new-covid-19-measures-whats-behind-them
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Connecticut governor mulls easing restrictions following coronavirus case drop

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) says he’s mulling easing coronavirus restrictions following a drop in infections. Speaking at a …

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/536462-connecticut-governor-mulls-easing-restrictions-following-coronavirus
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Newsom lifts stay-at-home orders across California

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted stay-at-home orders statewide Monday, allowing restaurants to reopen for outdoor dining and salons to resume appointments indoors.

The change will enable those sectors to reopen in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley and Southern California for the first time since early December. Restaurateurs have been particularly vocal about their frustration with the regional dining ban after purchasing heat lamps and other equipment to get through the winter months.

The shift comes as California has seen a steady decrease in new infections over the past week, as well as a reduction in hospitalizations and intensive care unit use. Newsom earlier this month lifted the stay-at-home order in the greater Sacramento region after projecting that it would have at least 15 percent ICU capacity within four weeks.

While the California Department of Public Health gave the green light to restaurants and salons statewide, county health officials could still try to impose their own restrictions.

The governor has allowed local leaders to enact stricter rules than the state, and some counties may attempt to keep prohibitions in place. Some residents questioned on social media why the state would lift orders after POLITICO and other outlets reported the governor’s plans Sunday night.

CDPH said it released the rest of the state from stay-at-home orders based on a determination there will be at least 15 percent ICU capacity within four weeks. The state has not fully explained how it calculates that projection.

While hospitals in California remain stretched thin — particularly in hardest-hit Southern California — state health officials said residents were seeing the fruits of taking precautions.

“Californians heard the urgent message to stay home as much as possible and accepted that challenge to slow the surge and save lives,” said Tomás Aragón, CDPH director and state public health officer, in a statement. “Together, we changed our activities knowing our short-term sacrifices would lead to longer-term gains. COVID-19 is still here and still deadly, so our work is not over, but it’s important to recognize our collective actions saved lives and we are turning a critical corner.”

That makes California’s color-based Blueprint for a Safer Economy the operative rulebook for determining when and how sectors can reopen.

All but four of California’s 58 counties remain in the state’s most restrictive purple tier status and are expected to remain there for weeks, albeit without the same prohibitions that come with stay-at-home orders. Most non-retail indoor activities will remain banned, including religious services.

The governor has faced litigation over the stay-at-home restrictions on dining. Restaurateurs have argued that outdoor dining doesn’t lead to an increase in coronavirus cases. And state health chief Mark Ghaly indicated in December he ban was intended mostly to deter residents from venturing outside their homes.

“Late this evening, senior officials in the Newsom administration informed us that the governor will announce tomorrow that the stay-at-home order will be lifted in all regions of the state,” the California Restaurant Association told members in an email Sunday night.

The state hasn’t made public the exact formula to determine its ICU projections, and the Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions remain below the 15 percent capacity threshold.

In early December, the California Department of Public Health divided the state into five regions, and only a rural swath at the northern end of the state never had stay-at-home orders in effect.

While the average daily case rate has fallen, it remains high. The 14-day-rolling average is still 31,299 cases a day, more than three times what it was during the summer surge. But the state is also testing more than at any point of the pandemic.

The state’s seven-day positivity rate has fallen to 8.1 percent, the lowest it has been in weeks.

Source: https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/01/25/newsom-lifts-stay-at-home-orders-across-california-1359910
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Covid-19 prompts National Mall indoor closure

The Washington Monument and other parts of the park are now off-limits.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/indoor-portions-national-mall-closed-prevent-spread-covid-19-n1255443
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Capitol put on lockdown after fire reported several blocks away

The Capitol complex was briefly locked down on Monday due to an “external security threat,” U.S. Capitol Police said, after a fire was reported several blocks away under a nearby bridge.An email alert sent out to l…

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/534683-capitol-on-lock-down-due-to-security-threat
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