Appearing on Good Morning America Thursday, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. is facing a cycle of new variants that are able to evade the current vaccines if the country does not get community spread of the Delta variant under control. “That will happen, George, if we don’t get good control over the community spread which is the reason why I and my colleagues keep saying and over again, it is very important to get as many people vaccinated as we possibly can,” Fauci said to GMA anchor George Stephanopoulos. Fauci then went on to address vaccine hesitant Americans. “People who say, ‘I don’t want to get vaccinated because it’s me and I’ll worry about me, I’m not having any impact on anybody else,’ that’s just not the case,” he said. In fact, Fauci warned that those people may be making the situation worse for everyone else by providing a vulnerable population in which new mutations can arise. “And …
CNN Fires Three Employees For Going Into Office Without Covid Vaccinations
CNN head Jeff Zucker said that the network has fired three employees for going into the office without being vaccinated against Covid -19, and that parent WarnerMedia may ultimately require proof of the shots. Zucker, CNN’s president and chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports, also said that the network would postpone a planned Sept. 7 return date for most U.S. employees going to the office. The locations have been open, on a voluntary basis, to employees who have been fully vaccinated. “In the past week, we have been made aware of three employees who were coming to the office unvaccinated,” Zucker wrote in an email to staff. “All three have been terminated. Let me be clear — we have a zero-tolerance policy on this. You need to be vaccinated to come to the office. And you need to be vaccinated to work in the field, with other employees, regardless of whether you enter an office or not. Period. We expect that in the weeks ahead, showing proof of vaccination may become a formal …
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“Cases May Have Begun To Level Off,” Says Top Los Angeles Health Official; Covid Numbers Rising More Slowly
Los Angeles reported the second-highest number of new Covid cases — 3672 — since February 2 of this year, but public health officials expressed optimism on Thursday that the county may be seeing a plateau. The 7-day test positivity rate — seen as an important measure of infection spread — actually fell considerably in the past week, dropping from 5.4 last week to 4.73%. The other key metric for infection spread, the 7 day average of cases per 100,000 people, fell about 12% to 21 cases per 100,000 on Thursday from 24 per 100,000 last week. L.A. County health director said she suspects the decrease may be due in part to the indoor mask mandate the county implemented just over two weeks ago. “We’re not seeing the exponential growth in cases we saw earlier. We look different in terms of the rate of increase compared to other counties. We were the only county at the end of July that’d that mandate,” said Ferrer before noting that L.A.’s 22% daily cases increase over the …
HFPA Plan To Send Members On Pricey Trip To Venice Film Festival Scuttled By Covid Restrictions
EXCLUSIVE: A deep-pocketed effort to send members of the addled and reform-promising Hollywood Foreign Press Association to the Venice Film Festival this year has been kiboshed due to a resurgence of the coronavirus. Expected to cost tens of thousands of dollars out of diminishing HFPA coffers, the Golden Globes group’s decision to not fork out travel for what one insider called “a vacation by any other name” was made in the past 24 hours, I’ve learned. Unlikely to change, the verdict comes as voting results on further bylaw and board changes by the fractured HFPA are expected to be made public today. (UPDATE: The bylaws passed; read the story here .) Before events seemingly shut down the trips, the HFPA was intent on paying up to $5,000 apiece for around at least a dozen members accredited at the September 1-11 festival to attend screenings and have sit-downs with participants. Providing some cover for the HFPA, the plan was actually signed off on by …
Lionsgate Latest To Delay Return-To-Office Date Amid Delta Surge, Will Require Vaccines Upon Return
Lionsgate is the latest Hollywood studio to press pause on reopening its offices as the U.S. experiences a rise in the Covid Delta variant. We’re hearing that the company is pushing its return-to-work date for employees at its Santa Monica HQ from a previously announced September 7 date to October 4. All employees returning to the office will be required to be fully vaccinated. That policy applies to full-time, part-time and temporary employees as well as independent contractors and visitors, we’re hearing. The news comes as several Hollywood companies spanning studios, agencies, management and PR firms and law offices hit the brakes on plans to a full return to offices. Most like Lionsgate have scrapped September dates and are hoping to reassemble their troops sometime the following month, while they’re also having to make a call on vaccination requirements. On Wednesday, Netflix confirmed it is now requiring Covid-19 vaccines of its staffers and those visiting its offices. …
Nine Pandemic-Era E-Commerce Trends That Need to Stick Around a Bit Longer
Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of Rolling Stone editors or publishers. While the Covid-19 pandemic has had its fair share of negative effects, it has also been responsible for a number of positive cultural shifts, especially in the e-commerce space. Stay-at-home orders and social distancing forced consumers online and caused companies to pivot, adapt or fail — and that meant major digital changes were made to the traditional shopping experience. But while many business owners (and customers) are ready to get back to normal, nine leaders from Rolling Stone Culture Council list some of the pandemic-era e-commerce trends they think will stick around for the foreseeable future and why they’ve been such valuable changes to the retail status quo. QR Codes It’s been a big trend lately in Western economies for direct-to-consumer brands to utilize this technology in a smart way. QR codes have been around for a while, but were …
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Spike Lee To Receive Chaplin Award At In-Person Lincoln Center Gala
EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off presiding over the Cannes Film Festival jury, Spike Lee will receive the 46th annual Chaplin Award from Film at Lincoln Center during an in-person gala next month. The event on September 9 will be held at Alice Tully Hall, the main venue for FLC’s New York Film Festival, which will be back there next month for its 59th edition. It will adhere to “a comprehensive series of health and safety policies in coordination with state and city medical experts,” according to a press release. New York City this week became the first U.S. city to implement a Covid -19 vaccine mandate, though it won’t take full effect until September 13. Much like Lee’s appointment as head of the Cannes jury in 2020, which was postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic, his Chaplin honor was also previously announced. The evening is the most important fundraiser of the year for Film at Lincoln Center, which has been hit hard by Covid, as have all arts and culture …
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Republican Senator Endorses Getting Vaccinated, Also Endorses Not Getting Vaccinated
Sen. John Kennedy went on Fox News on Thursday to make it perfectly clear that he knows how effective and important the covid-19 vaccines are. He also made it perfectly clear that that knowledge won’t stop him from cravenly caving to his party’s anti-vax fanaticism. Asked about rising Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and death rates nationwide, the Louisiana Republican said the best thing we can do to conquer the virus is getting people vaccinated. “Don’t get distracted,” he said. “The issue is the vaccine . We need to spend all of our efforts trying to convince folks that the costs of the vaccine are substantially less than the benefit.” And then, in an extraordinary pivot, he undermined his own message. “Let me say it again. If you don’t want to take the vaccine, don’t take it,” the senator said. pic.twitter.com/kFr980VtOj — PoliticsVideo23 (@politicsvideo23) August 5, 2021 Kennedy’s overall message during the interview was pro-vaccine. “If they told me to …
N95 Masks vs. KN95 Masks: Experts Weigh In On Which Masks Are Best for Travel
Products featured are independently selected by our editorial team and we may earn a commission from purchases made from our links; the retailer may also receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Though Covid vaccinations are currently taking place across the country (and around the world), officials say you shouldn’t be taking off your masks just yet – especially if you’re in crowded places or starting to travel. Even if you have received your vaccine, medical experts continue to promote the wearing of face coverings as an effective way to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and other potentially harmful viruses in the air. Airlines are also still requiring the use of masks when traveling, with FAA guidelines mandating the wearing of face masks in-flight, except for brief periods when eating or drinking. While there are a number of good face mask options for traveling , the most effective face masks according to researchers continues to be a protective N95 mask …
SundanceTV Launches ‘True Crime Story’ Franchise With Doc Series From Hilarie Burton Morgan & Jena Friedman
EXCLUSIVE : SundanceTV is investigating the true-crime genre with a new franchise. The AMC Networks-owned cabler is launching True Crime Story , which will kick off with two documentary series – It Couldn’t Happen Here and Indefensible . The move comes on the back of a slew of true-crime docs for the network including The Preppy Murder: Death In Central Park, No One Saw A Thing and Jonestown: Terror In the Jungle. The strand will focus on telling a wide variety of true crime stories from unique perspectives. It Couldn’t Happen Here is hosted by One Tree Hill star Hilarie Burton Morgan (left). It will put a spotlight on small-town American crime stories that demonstrate how crime impacts these tight-knit communities in unique and surprising ways. Featuring six, one-hour episodes, the series, which premieres on September 9, will see Burton Morgan travel to small towns to hear the facts of the case from family members and local insiders in an attempt …