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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>A mechanism that transduces lysosomal damage signals to stress granule formation for cell survival</strong> -
<div>
Lysosomal damage poses a significant threat to cell survival. Our previous work has reported that lysosomal damage induces stress granule (SG) formation. However, the importance of SG formation in determining cell fate and the precise mechanisms through which lysosomal damage triggers SG formation remains unclear. Here, we show that SG formation is initiated via a novel calcium-dependent pathway and plays a protective role in promoting cell survival in response to lysosomal damage. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that during lysosomal damage, ALIX, a calcium-activated protein, transduces lysosomal damage signals by sensing calcium leakage to induce SG formation by controlling the phosphorylation of eIF2. ALIX modulates eIF2 phosphorylation by regulating the association between PKR and its activator PACT, with galectin-3 exerting a negative effect on this process. We also found this regulatory event of SG formation occur on damaged lysosomes. Collectively, these investigations reveal novel insights into the precise regulation of SG formation triggered by lysosomal damage, and shed light on the interaction between damaged lysosomes and SGs. Importantly, SG formation is significant for promoting cell survival in the physiological context of lysosomal damage inflicted by SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a, adenovirus infection, Malaria hemozoin, proteopathic tau as well as environmental hazard silica.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.29.587368v1" target="_blank">A mechanism that transduces lysosomal damage signals to stress granule formation for cell survival</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Aversive personality and COVID-19: A first review and meta-analysis</strong> -
<div>
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has strongly affected individuals and societies worldwide. In this review and meta-analysis, we investigated how aversive personality traits—i.e., relatively stable antisocial personality characteristics—related to how individuals perceived, evaluated, and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 34 studies with overall 26,780 participants, we found that people with higher scores in aversive personality traits were less likely to perceive guidelines and restrictions to curb the spread of the virus as protective (p̂ = -.11), to engage in health behaviors related to COVID-19 (p̂ = -.16), and to engage in non-health related prosocial behavior related to COVID-19 (p̂ = -.14). We found no consistent relation between aversive personality and negative affect regarding the pandemic. The results thus indicate the importance of aversive personality traits in understanding individual differences with regard to COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/vg465/" target="_blank">Aversive personality and COVID-19: A first review and meta-analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Information about herd immunity through vaccination and empathy promote COVID-19 vaccination intentions</strong> -
<div>
Objective: An effective vaccine against COVID-19 is a desired solution to curb the spread of the disease. However, vaccine hesitancy might hinder high uptake rates and thus undermine efforts to eliminate COVID-19 once an effective vaccine became available. The present contribution addresses this issue by examining two ways of increasing the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Methods: Two pre-registered online studies were conducted (N = 2,315 participants from the UK) in which knowledge about and beliefs in herd immunity through vaccination, as well as empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus, were either measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Study 2). As a dependent variable, individuals’ self-reported vaccination intention once a vaccine against COVID-19 became available was assessed. Results: In Study 1 (N = 310), the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 was correlated with knowledge about and belief in herd immunity (r = .58, p &lt; .001), as well as with empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus (r = .26, p &lt; .001). In Study 2 (N = 2,005), information about herd immunity (Cohen’s d = 0.13, p = .003) and empathy (Cohen’s d = 0.22, p &lt; .001) independently promoted vaccination intention. Conclusions: The motivation to get vaccinated against COVID-19 was related to and could be causally promoted by both mere information about herd immunity and by empathy. As such, the present research provides a better understanding of the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/wzu6k/" target="_blank">Information about herd immunity through vaccination and empathy promote COVID-19 vaccination intentions</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The emotional path to action: Empathy promotes physical distancing and wearing of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic presents a major challenge to societies all over the globe. To curb the spread of the disease, two measures implemented in many countries are minimizing close contact between people (“physical distancing”) and wearing face masks. In the present research, we tested the idea that physical distancing and wearing face masks can be the result of a genuine prosocial emotion—empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus. In four pre-registered studies (total N = 3,718‬, Western population), we show that (i) empathy is indeed a basic motivation for physical distancing and wearing face masks, and (ii) inducing empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus promotes the motivation to adhere to these measures (whereas providing mere information about its importance is not). In sum, the present research provides a better understanding of the promoting factors underlying the willingness to follow two important measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/y2cg5/" target="_blank">The emotional path to action: Empathy promotes physical distancing and wearing of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Abolished frameshifting for predicted structure-stabilizing SARS-CoV-2 mutants: Implications to alternative conformations and their statistical structural analyses</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 frameshifting element (FSE) has been intensely studied and explored as a therapeutic target for coronavirus diseases including COVID-19. Besides the intriguing virology, this small RNA is known to adopt many length-dependent conformations, as verified by multiple experimental and computational approaches. However, the role these alternative conformations play in the frameshifting mechanism and how to quantify this structural abundance has been an ongoing challenge. Here, we show by DMS and dual-luciferase functional assays that previously predicted FSE mutants (using the RAG graph theory approach) suppress structural transitions and abolish frameshifting. Furthermore, correlated mutation analysis of DMS data by three programs (DREEM, DRACO, and DANCE-MaP) reveals important differences in their estimation of specific RNA conformations, suggesting caution in the interpretation of such complex conformational landscapes. Overall, the abolished frameshifting in three different mutants confirms that all alternative conformations play a role in the pathways of ribosomal transition.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.28.586935v1" target="_blank">Abolished frameshifting for predicted structure-stabilizing SARS-CoV-2 mutants: Implications to alternative conformations and their statistical structural analyses</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Broad-Spectrum Coronavirus Inhibitors Discovered by Modeling Viral Fusion Dynamics</strong> -
<div>
Broad-spectrum therapeutics capable of inhibiting SARS-CoV-2, its variants, and related coronaviruses hold promise in curbing the spread of COVID-19 and averting future pandemics. Here, we employed a multidisciplinary approach that included molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) and artificial intelligence (AI)-based docking predictions to identify potent inhibitors that target a conserved region within the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that mediates membrane fusion by undergoing large-scale mechanical rearrangements. In silico binding screens honed in on this region, leading to the discovery of FDA-approved drugs and novel molecules predicted to disrupt spike protein conformational changes. These compounds significantly inhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection and blocked the entry of spike protein-bearing pseudotyped , {beta}, {gamma}, {delta} variants as well as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV in cultured human ACE2-expressing cells. The optimized lead compound significantly inhibited SARS-CoV2 infection in mice when administered orally.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.28.587229v1" target="_blank">Broad-Spectrum Coronavirus Inhibitors Discovered by Modeling Viral Fusion Dynamics</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Enhanced mucosal B- and T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 after heterologous intramuscular mRNA prime/intranasal protein boost vaccination with a combination adjuvant.</strong> -
<div>
Current COVID-19 mRNA vaccines delivered intramuscularly (IM) induce effective systemic immunity, but with suboptimal immunity at mucosal sites, limiting their ability to impart sterilizing immunity. There is strong interest in rerouting immune responses induced in the periphery by parenteral vaccination to the portal entry site of respiratory viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, by mucosal vaccination. We previously demonstrated the combination adjuvant, NE/IVT, consisting of a nanoemulsion (NE) and an RNA-based RIG-I agonist (IVT) induces potent systemic and mucosal immune responses in protein-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines administered intranasally (IN). Herein, we demonstrate priming IM with mRNA followed by heterologous IN boosting with NE/IVT adjuvanted recombinant antigen induces strong mucosal and systemic antibody responses and enhances antigen-specific T cell responses in mucosa-draining lymph nodes compared to IM/IM and IN/IN prime/boost regimens. While all regimens induced cross-neutralizing antibodies against divergent variants and sterilizing immunity in the lungs of challenged mice, mucosal vaccination, either as homologous prime/boost or heterologous IN boost after IM mRNA prime was required to impart sterilizing immunity in the upper respiratory tract. Our data demonstrate the benefit of hybrid regimens whereby strong immune responses primed via IM vaccination are rerouted by IN vaccination to mucosal sites to provide optimal protection to SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.28.587260v1" target="_blank">Enhanced mucosal B- and T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 after heterologous intramuscular mRNA prime/intranasal protein boost vaccination with a combination adjuvant.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Development and Application of Decontamination Methods for the Re-Use of Laboratory Grade Plastic Pipette Tips</strong> -
<div>
During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a need for methods to decontaminate and reuse personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical plastics became a priority. In this investigation we aimed to develop a contamination evaluation protocol for laboratory pipette tips, after decontamination. Decontamination methods tested in this study included cleaning with a common laboratory detergent (2.5% Alconox(R) solution followed with steam decontamination), exposure of ozone vapor at 250 and 14400 PPM * minute, and exposure to cold atmospheric plasma (CAP). All tips (control and experimental groups) were introduced to the methods described, while tips exposed to DNA extracts of Aeromonas hydrophila (ATCC-23211) were assessed for experimental groups. Decontamination was determined by turnover ratio and log reduction in detectable genomic material on the contaminated products using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay. Our results showed, cleaning tips with lab detergents along with steam decontamination removed genetic material, resulting in the highest log reduction, compared with ozone or CAP treatments. Detergent/washing methods showed the highest turnover ratio (95.9 %) and log reduction (5.943). However, the excessive residue (post- cleaning) on the plastic, within inner filters, and tip boxes suggested that washing with lab detergents was not favorable for reuse. Ozone vapor at 14400 PPM * minutes showed the second highest turnover ratio (98.4 %) and log reduction (4.511). CAP exposure with tips inverted (the tip end exposed closer to the plasma flame) for 1 minute showed a turnover ratio of (68.3 %) and log reduction (4.002). Relatively, lower turnover ratio and log reduction of CAP could be attributed to development/optimization of treatment conditions, including increases in exposure time and relative to tip positioning.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.27.587071v1" target="_blank">Development and Application of Decontamination Methods for the Re-Use of Laboratory Grade Plastic Pipette Tips</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Human long noncoding RNA, VILMIR, is induced by major respiratory viral infections and modulates the host interferon response</strong> -
<div>
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a newer class of noncoding transcripts identified as key regulators of biological processes. Here we aimed to identify novel lncRNA targets that play critical roles in major human respiratory viral infections by systematically mining large-scale transcriptomic datasets. Using bulk RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis, we identified a previously uncharacterized lncRNA, named virus inducible lncRNA modulator of interferon response (VILMIR), that was consistently upregulated after in vitro influenza infection across multiple human epithelial cell lines and influenza A virus subtypes. VILMIR was also upregulated after SARS-CoV-2 and RSV infections in vitro. We experimentally confirmed the response of VILMIR to influenza infection and interferon-beta (IFN-{beta}) treatment in the A549 human epithelial cell line and found the expression of VILMIR was robustly induced by IFN-{beta} treatment in a dose and time-specific manner. Single cell RNA-seq analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples from COVID-19 patients uncovered that VILMIR was upregulated across various cell types including at least five immune cells. The upregulation of VILMIR in immune cells was further confirmed in the human T cell and monocyte cell lines, SUP-T1 and THP-1, after IFN-{beta} treatment. Finally, we found that knockdown of VILMIR expression reduced the magnitude of host transcriptional responses to IFN-{beta} treatment in A549 cells. Together, our results show that VILMIR is a novel interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) that regulates the host interferon response and may be a potential therapeutic target for human respiratory viral infections upon further mechanistic investigation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.25.586578v1" target="_blank">Human long noncoding RNA, VILMIR, is induced by major respiratory viral infections and modulates the host interferon response</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Inference of epidemic dynamics in the COVID-19 era and beyond</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the key role that epidemiology and modelling play in analysing infectious threats and supporting decision making in real-time. Motivated by the unprecedented volume and breadth of data generated during the pandemic, we review new analytic opportunities and methodological developments available to address questions that emerge during a major modern epidemic. Following the broad chronology of insights required - from understanding initial dynamics to retrospective evaluation of interventions, we describe the theoretical foundations of each approach and the underlying intuition. Through a series of case studies, we illustrate real life applications, and discuss implications for future work.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/mg497/" target="_blank">Inference of epidemic dynamics in the COVID-19 era and beyond</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A qualitative exploration of triggers for alcohol use and access to alcohol services during the COVID-19 pandemic among people identifying as problem drinkers.</strong> -
<div>
Introduction A polarisation of drinking behaviour was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic with some people reported to be drinking more alcohol and others less. We aimed to understand how and why the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions impacted alcohol use and access to support and services during this time. Methods We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 27 participants, including 20 people identifying as problem drinkers and seven alcohol service providers. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results We identified two main triggers for alcohol use during the pandemic: i) loss of daily routine and activity resulted in drinking to cope with social isolation and boredom and ii) drinking alleviated feelings of fear, anxiety and anger over the imposition of pandemic restrictions. Regarding access to services, two main themes were generated: i) remote service provision was perceived as inferior to in-person services and ii) the need to offer choice and flexibility in how services were provided, with service providers reporting more positive experiences of online and telephone service delivery than service users. Discussion and Conclusions This study provides new insights into potential triggers for alcohol use among people identifying as problem drinkers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The acceptability of remote forms of service provision were dependent on service user access to and comfort with using technology. Hybrid delivery models may therefore be suitable in some but not all circumstances, and efforts should be made to promote equitable access to services.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/k67zs/" target="_blank">A qualitative exploration of triggers for alcohol use and access to alcohol services during the COVID-19 pandemic among people identifying as problem drinkers.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Does behavior mediate the effect of weather on SARS-CoV-2 transmission? Evidence from cell-phone data</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: There is growing evidence that weather alters SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but it remains unclear what drives the phenomenon. One prevailing hypothesis is that people spend more time indoors in cooler weather, leading to increased spread of SARS-CoV-2 related to time spent in confined spaces and close contact with others. However, the evidence in support of that hypothesis is limited and, at times, conflicting. Objectives: We aim to evaluate the extent to which weather impacts COVID-19 via time spent away-from-home in indoor spaces, as compared to a direct effect of weather on COVID-19 hospitalization, independent of mobility. Methods: We use a mediation framework, and combine daily weather, COVID-19 hospital surveillance, cellphone-based mobility data and building footprints to estimate the relationship between daily indoor and outdoor weather conditions, mobility, and COVID-19 hospitalizations. We quantify the direct health impacts of weather on COVID-19 hospitalizations and the indirect effects of weather via time spent indoors away-from-home on COVID-19 hospitalizations within five Colorado counties between March 4th 2020 and January 31st 2021. Results: We found evidence that changes in 12-day lagged hospital admissions were primarily via the direct effects of weather conditions, rather than via indirect effects by which weather changes time spent indoors away-from-home. Sensitivity analyses evaluating time at home as a mediator were consistent with these conclusions. Discussion: Our findings do not support the hypothesis that weather impacted SARS-CoV-2 transmission via changes in mobility patterns during the first year of the pandemic. Rather, weather appears to have impacted SARS-CoV-2 transmission primarily via mechanisms other than human movement. We recommend further analysis of this phenomenon to determine whether these findings generalize to current SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics and other seasonal respiratory pathogens.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.26.24304854v1" target="_blank">Does behavior mediate the effect of weather on SARS-CoV-2 transmission? Evidence from cell-phone data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Strengthening access to and confidence in COVID-19 vaccines among equity-deserving populations across Canada: An exploratory qualitative study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Introduction: There is a need to reflect on the COVID-19 vaccine distribution across Canada and the extent to which they considered equity-deserving populations. This paper examined and compared strategies implemented by six Canadian provinces to increase access and promote the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among selected priority populations. We also explored the factors that impacted the implementation of these strategies. Methods: In six provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec), we conducted an environmental scan of provincial rollout documents and media sources reporting vaccine distribution among selected priority populations:First Nations, Inuit, and Metis; Black communities; essential workers; people experiencing homelessness; and people with disabilities. We subsequently interviewed 39 key informants to validate the environmental scan results, identify additional strategies to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and uncover perceptions of the facilitators and challenges that influenced the strategies’ implementation. Results: Through the environmental scans and key informant interviews, we identified that provincial health authorities employed a panoply of strategies to overcome geographic, financial, and attitudinal barriers to COVID-19 vaccines experienced by the priority populations. Most provinces implemented walk-in, mobile, and pop-up vaccination clinics, mobilized public and private health workforce, and designed multilingual communication materials. Facilitators in implementing COVID-19 vaccination strategies included fostering inter-governmental cooperation, harmonizing communication efforts, leveraging existing relationships and networks, and ensuring representation and leadership of community partners. Challenges to implementing COVID-19 vaccination strategies included uncoordinated communication efforts, inadequate distribution of vaccines to areas with the greatest need, mistrust in the government and healthcare system, vaccine hesitancy, and lack of cultural competence by vaccine providers.   Conclusions: This study highlights the divide between well-intentioned strategies and interventions and the reality of on-the-ground implementation. The findings offer valuable insights and can inform the implementation of strategies to distribute vaccines equitably in future large-scale vaccination efforts in Canada and globally.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.27.24304984v1" target="_blank">Strengthening access to and confidence in COVID-19 vaccines among equity-deserving populations across Canada: An exploratory qualitative study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COHORT PROFILE: IMMUNE RESPONSES TO SARS-COV-2 VACCINATION AND INFECTION IN A LONGITUDINAL SAMPLING AMIDST THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (LONGTONG-SARS2) IN MALAYSIA</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Purpose: This prospective, longitudinal study aims to evaluate the durability and functionality of SARS-CoV-2 Ancestral strain (Wuhan-Hu-1)-specific immune responses induced by COVID-19 vaccination and natural infection over a 12-month period. This article reviews the study protocol, design, methodology, ongoing data collection, analysis procedures, and demographic characteristics of the cohort enrolled. Participants: Between March 2021 and May 2022, 400 participants were enrolled with a 12-month follow-up, concluding in May 2023. Two main groups of participants: (1) serologically SARS-CoV-2-naive individuals receiving the BNT162b2 primary series vaccination (referred to as VAC) and (2) those who recently recovered from COVID-19 infection within 30 days, regardless of vaccination history (referred to as COV). Additionally, a subset of 45 participants with selected COVID-19 exposure histories provided peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) for cross-sectional analysis six months after enrollment. Findings to date: Out of 400 participants, 66.8% (n=267) completed the follow-up. Among them, 52.8% (n=141) were in VAC, and 47.2% (n=126) were in COV. As the study progressed, we acknowledged cross-over between initial groups, leading to restructuring into five revised groups based on sequential exposure events. Sociodemographic factors revealed statistically significant age distribution differences (p=0.001) in both initial and revised groups, with no significant differences observed for sex. Future plans: LONGTONG-SARS2 assesses the host-pathogen interactions central to the development of COVID-19 immunity. With enrollment spanning two years of the pandemic, most participants exhibited mixed SARS-CoV-2 exposures-via vaccination and infection-resulting in diverse subgroups of interest. Notably, the inclusion of SARS-CoV-2-naive, pre-exposure serum samples allowed for robust comparator and reduced potential biases. Ongoing analyses will include serology kinetics, memory cells ELISpots, B cells repertoire analysis, cytokine/chemokine profiling, and proteomic pathway to comprehensively examine the immune response against the SARS-CoV-2, thus informing and potentially predicting dynamic longitudinal responses against new more transmissible, immune-evasive SARS-CoV-2 variants.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.26.24304850v1" target="_blank">COHORT PROFILE: IMMUNE RESPONSES TO SARS-COV-2 VACCINATION AND INFECTION IN A LONGITUDINAL SAMPLING AMIDST THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (LONGTONG-SARS2) IN MALAYSIA</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The 10-year health impact, economic impact, and return on investment of the South African molecular diagnostics programme for HIV, Tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To ensure there is adequate investment into diagnostics, an understanding of the magnitude of impact and return on investment is necessary. We therefore sought to understand the health and economic impacts of the molecular diagnostic programme in South Africa, to deepen the under-standing on the broad value of diagnostics and guide future healthcare investments. We calcu-lated the 10-year (where data were available) total cost and DALYs averted associated with molecular diagnosis of molecular TB testing (2013-2022), HIV viral load monitoring (2013-2022), early infant diagnosis of HIV infection (2013-2022), and SARS-CoV-2 testing (2020-2022). We then calculated the economic value associated with those health gains and subsequent return on investment. Since the inception of the molecular diagnostics programme in South Africa, 3,035,782 DALYs have been averted as a direct consequence of this pro-gramme. This has generated an estimated $20.5 billion in economic value due to these health gains. The return on investment varied by specific diagnostic test (19.0 for tuberculosis, 1.4 for HIV viral load testing, 64.8 for early infant diagnosis of HIV, and 2.5 for SARS-CoV-2), for an average of 9.9 for the entire molecular diagnostics programme between 2013 and 2022- or $9.9 of value for each $1 invested. The molecular diagnostics programme in South Africa gen-erated a significant amount of health gains and economic value associated with these health gains, and the return-on-investment rivals other high-impact public health interventions such as childhood vaccination. Consequently, the molecular diagnostics programme in South Africa is highly impactful, and will continue to be an excellent investment of South African public health expenditure.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.27.24304888v1" target="_blank">The 10-year health impact, economic impact, and return on investment of the South African molecular diagnostics programme for HIV, Tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2</a>
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</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercises for Post-COVID-19 Diaphragmatic Dysfunction (DD)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Usual care of traditional treatment; Other: Specific DB program/Diaphragmatic manipulation program <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Minnesota <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Valacyclovir Plus Celecoxib for Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID; PASC Post Acute Sequelae of COVID 19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Valacyclovir celecoxib dose 1; Drug: Valacyclovir celecoxib dose 2; Drug: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Bateman Horne Center <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Supervised Computerized Active Program for People With Post-COVID Syndrome (SuperCAP Study)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-COVID Condition <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: SuperCAP Program <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Fundación FLS de Lucha Contra el Sida, las Enfermedades Infecciosas y la Promoción de la Salud y la Ciencia; Institut de Recerca de la SIDA IrsiCaixa; Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New conjugates based on N4-hydroxycytidine with more potent antiviral efficacy in vitro than EIDD-2801 against SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses</strong> - The spread of COVID-19 continues due to genetic variation in SARS-CoV-2. Highly mutated variants of SARS-CoV-2 have an increased transmissibility and immune evasion. Due to the emergence of various new variants of the virus, there is an urgent need to develop broadly effective specific drugs for therapeutic strategies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Molnupiravir (EIDD-2801, MK-4482), is an orally bioavailable ribonucleoside analogue of β-D-N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC), has demonstrated…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biological responses in Danio rerio by the disinfectant SDBS in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic</strong> - The use of disinfectants, such as Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonic acid salt (SDBS), has grown since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, with environmentally unknown consequences. The present study analyzed SDBS effects in the fish species Danio rerio, using a combination of biomarkers. Our data reported that larvae had their total locomotor activity increased when exposed to 1mg/L of SDBS, but this parameter was decreased in fish exposed to 5mg/L. A significant increment of erratic movements was reported in…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Preclinical evaluation of the SARS-CoV-2 M(pro) inhibitor RAY1216 shows improved pharmacokinetics compared with nirmatrelvir</strong> - Although vaccines are available for SARS-CoV-2, antiviral drugs such as nirmatrelvir are still needed, particularly for individuals in whom vaccines are less effective, such as the immunocompromised, to prevent severe COVID-19. Here we report an α-ketoamide-based peptidomimetic inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^(pro)), designated RAY1216. Enzyme inhibition kinetic analysis shows that RAY1216 has an inhibition constant of 8.4 nM and suggests that it dissociates about 12 times slower…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A new DNA aptamer which binds to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and reduces pro-inflammatory response</strong> - COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 spread rapidly around the world, endangering the health of people globally. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein initiates entry into target cells by binding to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). In this study, we developed DNA aptamers that specifically bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, thereby inhibiting its binding to ACE2. DNA aptamers are small nucleic acid fragments with random structures that selectively bind to various target molecules. We identified…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Protective mucosal SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the majority of the general population in the Netherlands</strong> - Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 at mucosal surfaces of the respiratory tract are understood to contribute to protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection. We aimed to describe the prevalence, levels and functionality of mucosal antibodies in the general Dutch population. Nasal samples were collected from 778 randomly selected participants, 1-90 years of age, nested within the nationwide prospective SARS-CoV-2 PIENTER corona serosurvey in the Netherlands. Spike-specific IgG was detected in nasal samples of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Intranasal boosting with RBD-HR protein vaccine elicits robust mucosal and systemic immune responses</strong> - The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants has decreased the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in containing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) over time, and booster vaccination strategies are urgently necessitated to achieve sufficient protection. Intranasal immunization can improve mucosal immunity, offering protection against the infection and sustaining the spread of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, an intranasal booster of the RBD-HR vaccine after two…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Investigation of phytochemicals isolated from selected Saudi medicinal plants as natural inhibitors of SARS CoV-2 main protease: In vitro, molecular docking and simulation analysis</strong> - The escalation of many coronavirus variants accompanied by the lack of an effective cure has motivated the hunt for effective antiviral medicines. In this regard, 18 Saudi Arabian medicinal plants were evaluated for SARS CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) inhibition activity. Among them, Terminalia brownii and Acacia asak alcoholic extracts exhibited significant Mpro inhibition, with inhibition rates of 95.3 % and 95.2 %, respectively, at a concentration of 100 µg/mL. Bioassay-guided phytochemical study…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety and immunogenicity of CoronaVac and ChAdOx1 heterologous prime-boost vaccines in an overweight population in Chiang Mai, Thailand</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: The heterologous CoronaVac-ChAdOx1vaccination was safe, well-tolerated and able to induce humoral immunity against wild-type and Delta variants but not against the Omicron variant in overweight population.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Design of a SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease inhibitor with antiviral efficacy in a mouse model</strong> - The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and drug-resistant mutants calls for additional oral antivirals. The SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PL^(pro)) is a promising but challenging drug target. We designed and synthesized 85 noncovalent PL^(pro) inhibitors that bind to a recently discovered ubiquitin binding site and the known BL2 groove pocket near the S4 subsite. Leads inhibited PL^(pro) with the inhibitory constant K(i) values from 13.2 to 88.2 nanomolar. The co-crystal structures of PL^(pro)…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>On parrots, delay of gratification, executive function, and how sometimes we do the best we can</strong> - Engaging executive functions provides an individual with the means to engage in cognitive control by adjusting to the environment and processing information in a way that leads to optimal outcomes. There are some claims that explicit training on certain executive functioning abilities provides benefits beyond the training tasks, but other studies indicate that this may not be true or may be limited based on age and other factors. This same mixed pattern has been reported with nonhuman species,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Role for CCN1 in lysophosphatidic acid response in PC-3 human prostate cancer cells</strong> - Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) are bioactive phospholipids that act as mitogens in various cancers. Both LPA and S1P activate G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). We examined the role of CCN1/CYR61, an inducible matricellular protein, in LPA-induced signal transduction in PC-3 human prostate cancer cells. We found that both LPA and S1P induced expression of CCN1 and CCN2 within 2-4 h. CCN1 was induced by 18:1-LPA, but not by 18:0-, 18:2-, or 18:3-LPAs. A free fatty…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fungal metabolite 6-pentyl-alpha-pyrone reduces canine coronavirus infection</strong> - Canine coronavirus (CCoV) can produce a self-limited enteric disease in dogs but, because of notable biological plasticity of coronaviruses (CoVs), numerous mutations as well as recombination events happen leading to the emergence of variants often more dangerous for both animals and humans. Indeed, the emergence of new canine-feline recombinant alphacoronaviruses, recently isolated from humans, highlight the cross-species transmission potential of CoVs. Consequently, new effective antiviral…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pilot Study on Evaluating the Impact of Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis (Tdap), Influenza, and COVID-19 Vaccinations on Antibody Responses in Pregnant Women</strong> - This study assessed IgG levels to influenza/pertussis and neutralizing antibody (Nab) responses of COVID-19 vaccines in blood of pregnant women following immunization with pertussis (Tdap), influenza, and COVID-19 vaccines. We prospectively collected 71 participants categorized by the following vaccine combinations: 3TI, 4TI, 3T, and 4T groups (three and four doses of COVID-19 vaccines plus Tdap/influenza or Tdap vaccines alone). Our findings have indicated that the 3TI group exhibited elevated…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Recent Advances on Targeting Proteases for Antiviral Development</strong> - Viral proteases are an important target for drug development, since they can modulate vital pathways in viral replication, maturation, assembly and cell entry. With the (re)appearance of several new viruses responsible for causing diseases in humans, like the West Nile virus (WNV) and the recent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), understanding the mechanisms behind blocking viral protease’s function is pivotal for the development of new antiviral drugs and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Pseudovirus-Based Neutralization Assay for SARS-CoV-2 Variants: A Rapid, Cost-Effective, BSL-2-Based High-Throughput Assay Useful for Vaccine Immunogenicity Evaluation</strong> - Neutralizing antibody responses from COVID-19 vaccines are pivotal in conferring protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Effective COVID-19 vaccines and assays measuring neutralizing antibodies against emerging variants (i.e., XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, and XBB.2.3) are needed. The use of biosafety level (BSL)-3 laboratories for live virus assays results in higher costs and a longer turnaround time; therefore, a BSL-2-based pseudovirus neutralization assay (PNT)…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Trump Stock Bubble: How Long Will It Last?</strong> - On paper, a Wall Street deal to take public the former President’s social-media company has given him a windfall of nearly $4.9 billion. But the stock is grossly overvalued and Trump can’t sell it immediately. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-trump-stock-bubble-how-long-will-it-last">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Have Fourteen Years of Conservative Rule Done to Britain?</strong> - Living standards have fallen. The country is exhausted by constant drama. But the U.K. can’t move on from the Tories without facing up to the damage that has occurred. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/01/what-have-fourteen-years-of-conservative-rule-done-to-britain">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lila Neugebauer Interrogates the Ghosts of “Uncle Vanya”</strong> - A director of the modern uncanny steers the first Broadway production of Chekhov’s masterpiece in twenty years. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/01/lila-neugebauer-profile-theatre">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bryan Stevenson Reclaims the Monument, in the Heart of the Deep South</strong> - The civil-rights attorney has created a museum, a memorial, and, now, a sculpture park, indicting the city of Montgomery—a former capital of the domestic slave trade and the cradle of the Confederacy. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/01/bryan-stevenson-reclaims-the-monument-in-the-heart-of-the-deep-south">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Dutch Architect’s Vision of Cities That Float on Water</strong> - What if building on the water could be safer and sturdier than building on flood-prone land? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/01/a-dutch-architects-vision-of-cities-that-float-on-water">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Want a 32-hour workweek? Give workers more power.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Senator Bernie Sanders raises a fist at a rally in support of United Auto Workers in front of a large banner that reads “UAW stand up.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2XmQf-lQp1Qj1Y_uxcB0_fEHsF0=/88x0:2887x2099/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73244959/Bernie_4.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and UAW President Shawn Fain, left, speak at a rally in support of United Auto Workers members as they strike the Big Three automakers on September 15, 2023, in Detroit, Michigan. | Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
German labor history has some tips on how the US could reduce its workweek.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lU9GZ5">
The 40-hour workweek in the US will turn 84 this June, making it older than most human beings alive today. But unlike humans, who are always changing and adapting, today’s standard workweek has spent its 84 years frozen in time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DtTXSo">
The last time federal law reduced the workweek was in 1940. An amendment to the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa">Fair Labor Standards Act</a> (FLSA) dropped the threshold of hours after which workers qualify for overtime pay from 44 to 40, capping off a steady decline in average working hours that began back <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/36392/chapter-abstract/320016496?redirectedFrom=fulltext">around 1830</a>. And then — nothing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MmeFDi">
Earlier this month, Sen. <a href="https://www.vox.com/bernie-sanders">Bernie Sanders</a> (I–VT) <a href="https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/WIL241041.pdf">introduced a bill</a> that would pick the trend back up, cutting the workweek down to 32 hours over the course of four years. The bill would use the same mechanism as the FLSA: lowering the overtime pay threshold to 32 hours, which would drive employers of hourly or <a href="https://www.nycbar.org/get-legal-help/article/employment-and-labor/exempt-employees/#:~:text=If%20you%20work%20a%20regular,you%20are%20probably%20non%2Dexempt.">non-exempt</a> salaried workers to treat 32 hours as “full-time.” To prevent wages from falling accordingly, the bill forbids employers from cutting pay to go along with the shorter hours.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DdYHDd">
For many white-collar workers shifting into a four-day, 32-hour week — say, journalists at Vox — the expectation would be that we produce roughly the same amount of work more <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/business/four-day-work-week-uk.html">efficiently</a> (by cutting out pointless meetings and benefiting from <a href="https://time.com/6256741/four-day-work-week-benefits/">less stress</a> and burnout). For workers who can’t just cut out meetings to become more efficient, like those doing physical labor, the bill would essentially grant them a 20 percent raise since they’d be doing eight hours of work less for the same pay.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OgQIwj">
During <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/workers-should-benefit-from-new-technology-and-increased-productivity-the-need-for-a-32-hour-work-week-with-no-loss-in-pay">a hearing</a> by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (which Sanders chairs), Sanders and Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers <a href="https://www.vox.com/unions">union</a>, pointed out that since 1940, worker productivity has risen more than <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OPHNFB">400 percent</a>, all while the standard workweek hasn’t budged. They argue that’s because the decline of workers’ bargaining power has left the gains in productivity to benefit the wealthy, not workers. Despite widespread support <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/america-ready-4-day-workweek-1788204">among employees</a> and even some growing interest <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/02/21/four-day-work-week-results-uk/">among employers</a>, the bill will <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/bernie-sanders-proposed-32-hour-workweek-pass-congress/story?id=108152411">almost certainly</a> not reach the Senate floor for a vote, let alone clear the Republican-led House and wind up on <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">President Biden</a>’s desk.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6v3puA">
Critics like Sen. Bill Cassidy (R–LA) argue that while a 32-hour week sounds nice on the surface, it would wind up hurting workers it’s meant to benefit by incentivizing employers to raise prices, automate jobs, or send them overseas, rather than dishing out 20 percent raises.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Na3qvC">
One of the biggest obstacles to making progress on shorter workweeks is that federal legislation can be a blunt tool, and a top-down approach could fail to allow for the fine-tuning that would make it fit across different industries and worker preferences. <a href="https://www.hrpolicy.org/biographies/authors/g-roger-king/">Roger King</a>, a labor relations attorney, commented during the committee <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/workers-should-benefit-from-new-technology-and-increased-productivity-the-need-for-a-32-hour-work-week-with-no-loss-in-pay">hearing</a> that suggests a way forward on delivering shorter weeks to workers who want them: “If Mr. Fain’s union can negotiate with the auto companies in this country to do a 32-hour workweek, so be it,” said King.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d62zL1">
Conservatives and progressives alike <a href="https://americancompass.org/conservatives-should-ensure-workers-a-seat-at-the-table/">can agree</a> that labor and industry representatives should be free to bargain with each other. That’s how some of the biggest changes to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a> have come in the past: Collective bargaining agreements between unions and bosses secured and adapted changes <a href="https://time.com/5663465/labor-day-union-history/">like the eight-hour day</a> to their particular industries, hashing out best practices on the ground and paving the way for federal legislation to spread them across the rest of the economy. Bills like Sanders’s can help ignite conversation and set agendas, but actual progress on achieving a shorter workweek is more likely to come from below.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G48t66">
To secure such a major change to economic life, American workers will need more bargaining power than they have today. While union activity seems to be coming <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/510281/unions-strengthening.aspx">back</a> after being <a href="https://www.epi.org/unequalpower/publications/private-sector-unions-corporate-legal-erosion/">dismantled</a> over decades, and wages are <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2023/">rising fastest</a> for workers who make the least, we’re still far from the kind of power needed to pick up the old thread of <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2023/10/10/23895776/four-day-workweek-leisure-progress-labor-economy-utopia-capitalism-burnout-worker-satisfaction">reducing the workweek</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p308D5">
History, though, offers an excellent example of how workers, once sufficiently empowered, can drive changes of that magnitude. Consider the rise of <a href="https://www.economicpossibility.org/reports/codetermination">codetermination</a> — a practice now common throughout Western Europe where workers have a voice in business decisions by holding voting seats on corporate boards — across Germany in the 20th century.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ykbE0s">
Codetermination was once seen as a major change that would chart a path toward a “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2518740">new economy</a>,” but it didn’t arise via federal law. At least, not at first. It took decades of unionized workers building enough leverage to negotiate for smaller codetermination arrangements in their own industries, from coal miners to electrical engineers, all before there was enough consensus to pass federal legislation that extended codetermination rights across the German economy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RJ0QVz">
“Federal legislation that sets minimum standards and collective bargaining are complementary,” said <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/ewan-mcgaughey">Ewan McGaughey</a>, a professor of law and economic history at King’s College in London. “You don’t want one without the other.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QoaTfP">
If shorter working weeks are going to return as a real possibility in the 21st century, the US will first need more than a couple advocates in the Senate, and the country will need a labor movement powerful enough to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/16/business/shawn-fain-4-day-work-week/index.html">bargain for them</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="ixAEsi">
How collective bargaining paved the way for national codetermination in Germany
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ANvmcD">
Codetermination in Germany began, believe it or not, with a benevolent boss.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4whfNF">
The basic idea behind codetermination is that employers should not have total control over the business — workers should have a voice in company decisions, too. As McGaughey explains in his 2015 paper on <a href="https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/61593/1/The%20codetermination%20bargains%20the%20history%20of%20german%20corporate%20and%20labour%20law.pdf"><em>The Codetermination Bargains</em></a>, the sentiment first arose among those sympathetic to the growing plight of workers <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23787024/power-progress-book-ai-history-future-economy-daron-acemoglu-simon-johnson">toiling in miserable conditions</a> stemming from the Industrial Revolution. If labor could “co-determine” the economy alongside bosses, they could help bend the arc of economic development toward their benefit, not just that of capital.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="38JWML">
In 1848, a Saxon textile factory owner named Carl Degenkolb was elected to the newly formed <a href="https://www.bundestag.de/en/parliament/history/parliamentarism/1848/1848-200350">Frankfurt Parliament</a>, which arose in response to the ongoing German Revolutions expressing discontent with autocratic rule. The parliament aimed to unify the German states into a single national government based on parliamentary democracy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tanNtr">
Ultimately, it failed. Degenkolb, however, had come to the belief that worker participation in guiding economic activity was as important as political participation. He pitched his belief to the rest of the parliament, proposing the idea of having councils in every business district. One-third of these councils would be elected by workers, the other two-thirds by employers, and the workers could reach binding decisions about the workplace, from drafting factory ordinances (including pension scheme administration) to <a href="https://www.vox.com/child-care">child care</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/health-care">health care</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A8bm7V">
While Degenkolb didn’t convince a majority of members, he released an unofficial draft of his ideas anyway. He convinced three fellow industrialists to implement the practices in their own factories. Historians could find no records of how the experiment played out but believe the practices remained in place until Degenkolb died in 1862.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F8pcJj">
The idea of worker participation then began to spread across Germany, garnering labor’s support — and capital’s ire. But it wasn’t until the end of World War I that the balance of bargaining power leaned far enough in workers’ favor to get federal laws passed in what had become the Weimar Republic. The costs of war and the sanctions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles decimated German business interests, leaving them uniquely vulnerable to labor demands.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZXYuC5">
In November 1918, Germany’s three largest unions met with the employers’ federations to negotiate the <a href="https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=4015">Stinnes-Legien Agreement</a>, a bargain that would set the course for the post-war economy. The agreement secured all workers the <a href="https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/61593/1/The%20codetermination%20bargains%20the%20history%20of%20german%20corporate%20and%20labour%20law.pdf">freedom to associate</a> (basically, to form bargaining organizations like unions), and guaranteed work councils in all companies with more than 50 employees. Workdays were capped at eight hours, and working conditions were regulated in each trade via collective agreements bargained by their relevant unions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vG9b4v">
After four years of these agreements spreading across industries, the Supervisory Council Act of 1922 codified them as national law. It also went one step further, requiring that all German corporations with supervisory boards grant employee representatives up to two seats on the board, giving workers direct voting rights on company decisions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="olRsFY">
That gave codetermination a foothold in the boardroom. At first, it was weak in practice. Worker representatives made up a minority of the board, meaning they could never win head-to-head votes against management. And businesses quickly adapted, curbing the influence of worker voice by reducing the number of decisions supervisory boards were tasked to make, having fewer meetings, and bypassing the boards altogether by having shareholders delegate tasks to sub-committees.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QNUqQO">
The aftermath of World War II opened another opportunity for bargaining power to secure stronger legislation. German businesses were decimated after the war. Their alignment with the Nazi regime had undermined their moral authority, and thus political power, in the nascent post-war order.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aUd2nT">
In response, unions pressed the advantage. In 1947, unions representing coal and steel workers <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2520095?read-now=1&amp;seq=11#page_scan_tab_contents">struck a deal through a series of conferences</a> with steel employers. Seats of the supervisory boards in their industries would be shared equally by workers and employers, effective immediately.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sHSFNk">
Movements for further codetermination spread across the four zones of Allied occupation in what then became West Germany, from the railways of the French-occupied zone to copper smelters in Duisburg. But as businesses began to recover from the economic ruins of the war, opposition to codetermination started to mount. Konrad Adenauer, the first elected chancellor of West Germany, responded by passing the <a href="https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/occupation-and-the-emergence-of-two-states-1945-1961/co-determination-law-mitbestimmungsgesetz-may-21-1951">Mining Codetermination Act of 1951</a>, securing the coal and steel workers’ agreement as federal law.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lW17I5">
A year later, Adenauer’s government passed the Work Constitution Act, spreading the right to one-third supervisory board representation to workers across all German industries. “The codetermination bargains forged a social consensus,” <a href="https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/61593/1/The%20codetermination%20bargains%20the%20history%20of%20german%20corporate%20and%20labour%20law.pdf">writes</a> McGaughey. And <a href="https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&amp;context=jil">in 1976, the commitment to codetermination was deepened</a> by raising worker representation to one-half of the board for all companies with more than 2,000 employees. “This consensus was codified into law.”
</p>
<h3 id="zIdc7t">
The Goldilocks conditions for big policy change
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9a4MwD">
Codetermination represented a major change to the German economy. It restructured the power dynamics that decide how the economy directs and invests its resources.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zKpWzw">
McGaughey believes it was only possible thanks to what he calls the two Goldilocks conditions: rare moments of organized labor experiencing relatively equal bargaining power to employers, and a labor movement united around a shared objective.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a4E484">
Imagining a similar Goldilocks-style bargaining-first approach to shorter workweeks today doesn’t require all that much of an imaginative leap, at least in theory. It’s how we got the workweek down to 40 hours in the first place here in the States.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KwNT3k">
The <a href="https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/flsa1938">Fair Labor Standards Act</a>, which gave us the 40-hour week in 1940, was itself built upon existing collective bargaining agreements that organized workers won for eight-hour days.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CrAxDu">
Whether it’s the International Typographical Union that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1906/01/01/archives/1000-printers-to-strike-typographical-union-no-6-formally-opens.html">went on strike</a> before securing eight-hour days in 1906, or the railroad industry unions threatening a nationwide strike that won the same rights through <a href="https://www.nelp.org/blog/this-week-in-labor-history-remembering-the-adamson-act/">the Adamson Act</a> in 1916, this basic pattern was behind both codetermination’s rise in Germany and the eight-hour day in the US: First, collective bargaining paves the way, then federal legislation codifies it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kgW1aH">
Today, while the labor movement has seen some of its <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/8/2/23815980/hot-strike-summer-labor-union-actors-writers-drivers">first signs of a return to power</a> in decades, union membership is still hovering around 10 percent, the lowest since the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> started collecting this data in 1983. The US is a long way from that first Goldilocks condition of equal bargaining power with employers, but some unions are making strides. A <a href="https://www.afscme.org/">municipal employees union</a> in San Juan County, Washington, <a href="https://engage.sanjuancountywa.gov/san-juan-county-s-32-hour-work-week/news_feed/early-announcement-pr">secured a 32-hour week</a> last August, joining other unions that have bargained for 32-hour weeks at companies like <a href="https://www.opeiu.org/Home/NewsandMedia/TabId/2838/ArtMID/4815/ArticleID/2670/Kickstarter-United-Wins-Historic-First-Contract.aspx">Kickstarter</a> and organizations like <a href="https://wbng.org/unit/local-progress/">Local Progress</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PfN2KN">
Just last month, the largest union at Boeing (representing over 32,000 factory workers in the state of Washington) <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a8bfd0a3-2904-4b7e-a8e0-b5e04567c980">announced</a> that they’re seeking a seat on the company board — that’s codetermination — after <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/faa-halts-boeing-737-max-9-aircraft-alaska-airlines-door-midflight/">doors</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tire-flies-united-boeing-plane-shortly-takeoff-rcna142366">wheels</a> have been <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/24052245/boeing-corporate-culture-737-airplane-safety-door-plug">flying off their airplanes</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sDBJ8J">
To change the structure of an entire economy, though, you need more than isolated unions bargaining with individual employers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FwKLKN">
McGaughey explained that ideally, you want mandates from federal law, states, collective bargaining agreements, and individual workplace contracts all stacked like a pyramid, each building on the last to fine-tune policy to better fit with industry contexts and worker preferences.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q0bl74">
Federal mandates should set the basic parameters, like minimum wages or maximum workweeks, which act as the baseline of what’s considered acceptable no matter one’s industry or preferences. States can go further, like setting higher minimum wages than what comes from the federal level. “Louis Brandeis, who became a US <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus">Supreme Court</a> Justice [he served from 1916 to 1939], talks about states being the laboratories of democracy,” said McGaughey. “There’s no reason you couldn’t have a working time act in every Democratic legislature, starting with Vermont.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aUO0K0">
Next, collective bargaining agreements can set standards across industries. Here, the US labor movement lags far behind peer countries in Western Europe, where sectoral bargaining is <a href="https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/instemplrighj.3.1.0024">common</a>. But again, there are glimmers of progress emerging. The idea of sectoral bargaining has been <a href="https://www.americanprogressaction.org/article/promote-sectoral-bargaining-united-states/">gaining traction</a> for years in the US. In 2016, <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-future-of-worker-voice-and-power/">a report from the Center for American Progress</a> argued that the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/2/20838782/unions-for-all-seiu-sectoral-bargaining-labor-unions">future of worker voice and power</a> lies in “transforming unions from individual firm-level bargaining units into organizations or structures … that negotiate for higher wages and benefits across an entire industry or sector.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qyr1i7">
And in September, California was home to one of the US’s first <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-09-11/labor-business-strike-deal-to-end-referendum-over-landmark-california-fast-food-law">sectoral bargaining agreements</a> in decades. Labor unions secured a deal with fast food companies to establish a $20 minimum wage across the industry. The bill also established a form of codetermination, creating a nine-member council split between representatives for workers and employers. The council will vote on minimum standards across the industry moving forward, including wages, hours, and conditions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ndltVz">
The question that remains is whether any of these efforts will reach the top of the pyramid and drive higher-level legislation. In addition to Sanders’s federal 32-hour bill, states like <a href="https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/H3849">Massachusetts</a>, <a href="https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2023rs/bills_noln/hb/fhb0181.pdf">Maryland</a>, and <a href="https://takano.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rep-takano-introduces-legislation-to-reduce-the-standard-workweek-to-32-hours">California</a> have 32-hour bills floating around. Both <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/corporate-accountability-and-democracy/">Sanders</a> and <a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Accountable%20Capitalism%20Act%20One-Pager.pdf">Elizabeth Warren</a> have their own codetermination bills out, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8QHcdG">
But if any bills are actually going to gain ground on making shorter weeks a reality for those who want them, it’s probably going to be ones like <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/842">the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act</a>, which could <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/pro-act-problem-solution-chart/">restore and protect</a> workers’ right to organize and make it easier to form <a href="https://www.americanprogressaction.org/article/promote-sectoral-bargaining-united-states/">larger and larger bargaining units</a>. Or more worker-friendly social policies like the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23965898/child-poverty-expanded-child-tax-credit-economy-welfare-phase-ins">fully refundable child tax credit</a>, portable benefits (like health insurance and retirement accounts) that <a href="https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/37/shared-security-shared-growth/">employees can transfer between employers</a>, beefed-up <a href="https://www.niskanencenter.org/an-unemployment-insurance-system-that-works-2/">unemployment insurance</a>, or the Ghent System of running <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1680900">unemployment through unions</a> (which helps to build membership).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qSTWQK">
These, in turn, would send more power back down to workers and bargaining units on the ground, feeding efforts that could send pressure upward while smoothing the way for federal legislation to codify whatever objectives empowered workers are already negotiating with industry representatives.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3zFgfa">
During the UAW union’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/10/26/23933553/ford-uaw-tentative-agreement-2023-contract-highlights-gm-stellantis">high-profile, strike-driven negotiation</a> with auto manufacturers last year, a 32-hour week began as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/16/business/shawn-fain-4-day-work-week/index.html">one of their demands</a>. It was quickly shot down by automakers over the same concerns heard at Sanders’s recent hearing (instead, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/11/20/uaw-contract-ford-general-motors-stellantis/">they won 25 percent wage increases</a> over four and a half years). Fain’s appearance alongside Sanders indicates that more unions could be returning to the demand for shorter weeks, which served as the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt14bt9mb">historical foundation</a> for the American labor movement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8AHo5p">
“A number of unions that represent low-wage workers are becoming interested in this,” said Vishal Reddy, executive director of the four-day-focused nonprofit, <a href="https://workfour.org/">WorkFour</a>. Now, as we’re beginning to navigate a century of adaptation to <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24108787/ai-economic-growth-explosive-automation">AI</a>, shifting <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=37259">geopolitical landscapes</a>, and everything else on the growing list of world-shaping forces, the question is whether workers might gain enough power to make shorter hours not just a <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/24065976/economists-post-scarcity-abundance-industrial-revolution-socialism-capitalism">utopian longing of the past</a>, but a part of our future, too.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The harrowing “Quiet on Set” allegations, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="The Nickelodeon logo displayed on a phone screen and a laptop keyboard." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2H2b1dFBgU4-h3lySqF2_lELi2I=/198x0:3347x2362/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73244903/1246669629.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The documentary details the abuse of Nickelodeon’s child actors in the ’90s and aughts. It’s a far bigger problem.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WW44Xz">
<a href="https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/show/quiet-on-set-the-dark-side-of-kids-tv-investigation-discovery-atve-us"><em>Quiet on Set</em></a>, a new docuseries from Investigation Discovery, tells the harrowing story of sexual assault and toxic behavior that took place behind the scenes on some of Nickelodeon’s most popular shows.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e52Cw3">
“I will warn you, if you were a child of the ’90s, this is going to ruin that for you,” a commenter notes grimly in the series opening.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LTjc3I">
Indeed, the documentary will make it impossible to look at many of the network’s beloved programs — from <em>All That </em>to <em>Zoey 101</em> to <em>The Amanda Show</em> — in the same way.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rcgXxn">
Across four episodes, which are now available to stream on Max, the documentary details the horrific sexual assault Nickelodeon star Drake Bell endured at the hands of a crew member, and the hostile and sexist work environment that showrunner Dan Schneider oversaw. A fifth episode, which will include more interviews with former child stars, airs on April 7.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YxPfp9">
In chronicling these allegations, the docuseries makes clear how vulnerable child actors are to abuse, and how powerful Hollywood creators can normalize harassment. Currently, there is <a href="https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/child-actor-laws-76778/">no federal law</a> that protects child actors, so labor <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy">policies</a> and safeguards against sexual predators are <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ban-child-acting-child-stars_l_6324c7f7e4b000d9885b8b44">inconsistent across states</a>. On top of that, there are also gaps in how state laws are enforced, diluting what limited impact they have.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dGRXv2">
Nickelodeon has said it “investigates all formal complaints” and has “adopted numerous safeguards over the years,” in response to the allegations in the documentary. Schneider, who was <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nickelodeon-drops-dan-schneider-creator-231025223.html">dropped by Nickelodeon in 2018</a> after some of these allegations initially came to light, has also expressed regret about aspects of his past behavior. “I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology,” Schneider said in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX9pLTuGX_M">interview with BooG!e,</a> an actor from the show <em>iCarly</em>. (Former child actors have critiqued Nickelodeon and Schneider’s responses <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/drake-bell-nickelodeon-quiet-on-set-b2518538.html">as “empty”</a> and a failure to take <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/alexa-nikolas-dan-schneider-apology-zoey-101-nickelodeon-1235857345/">real responsibility for the harm caused</a>.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nSFa2o">
Beyond calling out the specific issues on Nickelodeon programs, the series also highlights how these problems are systemic, and how they go beyond any one show, any one director, or even any one studio.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VXxr6X">
“It shows that there are not enough protections in place to keep even convicted sexual predators off of kids’ TV shows,” Kate Taylor, a Business Insider reporter whose <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dan-schneider-nickelodeon-empire-massages-hostile-workplace-allegations-inappropriate-costumes-2022-8">investigation of the network</a> inspired the documentary, says in one clip.
</p>
<h3 id="BIW2hY">
The allegations detailed in the docuseries, explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x1TNij">
The allegations described in <em>Quiet on Set</em> include harrowing instances of sexual misconduct, pervasive harassment, and troubling plotlines that sexualize children:
</p>
<h4 id="iMXiwF">
Sexual assault
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iPFF1r">
On repeated occasions, sexual predators at Nickelodeon capitalized on their roles to abuse kids.
</p>
<ul>
<li id="29fwLp">
<a href="https://people.com/where-is-brian-peck-now-8612338"><strong>Brian Peck</strong></a><strong>: </strong>Peck, a dialogue coach on shows including <em>The Amanda Show </em>and <em>All That</em>, was convicted of sexually abusing a minor in 2004. At the time, the child’s identity was kept private and records were sealed. In this documentary, Nickelodeon actor Drake Bell speaks publicly about the assault, and his experience enduring it, for the first time.
</li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2p5BY5">
Peck was charged with 11 counts of abuse, and convicted of engaging in a lewd act with a minor and of oral copulation with a minor. Following this conviction, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison and forced to register as a sex offender.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZNDvRV">
Bell, who was roughly 15 at the time of the abuse, describes the trauma of Peck’s actions, and how he used his position on set to embed himself in Bell’s life. Because Peck lived closer to the set than Bell’s mother, he’d often drive the actor to work and let him crash at his place. Bell says the first instance of assault occurred when he was sleeping on Peck’s couch and woke up to being violated. “The abuse was extensive and it got pretty brutal,” Bell said in the documentary, noting that he was afraid to speak out due to Peck’s position and fears of endangering his own job.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZM2xVg">
After Bell told his mother about the assaults, Peck eventually confessed to his actions, which led to his arrest. A number of powerful figures in Hollywood including actors James Marsden and Alan Thicke, as well as Nickelodeon directors Beth and Rich Correll,<strong> </strong>wrote character letters in support of Peck. (<a href="https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/nickelodeon-directors-apologize-drake-bell-brian-peck-1235951790/">The Corrells have since apologized</a>.) Many of these letters vouched for Peck, and some suggested that Bell acted as a temptation to him. In another shocking turn, Peck was <a href="https://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/what-happened-to-brian-peck-life-after-firing-sexual-abuse-case/">hired to do voiceover work</a> on the <a href="https://www.vox.com/disney">Disney</a> show <em>The Suite Life of Zack and Cody</em><strong> </strong>after he got out of prison and was already a convicted sex offender.
</p>
<ul>
<li id="m1klRE">
<strong>Jason Handy: </strong>Handy, a production assistant on shows like <em>All That </em>and <em>The Amanda Show</em> pleaded “no contest” to lewd acts on a child and the distribution of sexually explicit material in 2004, <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/quiet-set-nickelodeon-jason-handy-115119306.html">both counts</a> tied to his <a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/documentaries/news/1608493-quiet-on-set-who-is-nickelodeon-jason-handy-what-was-he-accused-of#:~:text=In%202004%2C%20Jason%20Handy%20pleaded,Amanda%20Show%20and%20Cousin%20Skeeter.">actions toward girls on Nickelodeon shows</a>. Handy served six years in prison, registered as a convicted sex offender, and was charged again with new offenses a few years after his release.
</li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ATjrsk">
In the documentary, a mother named MJ describes how Handy sent a photo of himself masturbating to her 11-year-old daughter Brandi, whom he met on a Nickelodeon set. Handy <a href="https://ew.com/quiet-on-set-dark-side-of-kids-tv-docuseries-everything-said-about-nickelodeon-8610143">also assaulted</a> another girl he met at Nickelodeon who was acting on the show <em>Cousin Skeeter</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iXQ99z">
In a raid of Handy’s home, law enforcement found hundreds of sexually explicit photos of <a href="https://ew.com/quiet-on-set-dark-side-of-kids-tv-docuseries-everything-said-about-nickelodeon-8610143">young girls</a>, as well as ziplock bags with different girls’ names on them that included individual mementos. In his journal, Handy also described himself as a “<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/quiet-set-nickelodeon-jason-handy-115119306.html">pedophile</a>” and said he had difficulty controlling his urges around kids.
</p>
<ul>
<li id="WbEIfd">
<strong>Ezel Channel: </strong>Channel, a freelance animator at Nickelodeon, was accused of bringing multiple teenage boys to his workplace, molesting them, and showing them pornography<a href="https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/news/tn-blr-xpm-2009-05-09-blr-channel09-story.html">. He was convicted of lewd acts on a minor</a> and of showing a minor pornography in 2009 and had already been a convicted sex offender when he began work at Nickelodeon, a sign of how little scrutiny there was on people’s records.
</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="or3HWh">
A hostile work environment
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bBZqaK">
Schneider, a producer on multiple Nickelodeon juggernauts, including <em>All That, The Amanda Show, Drake and Josh, Sam &amp; Cat, </em>and<em> iCarly</em>, is also accused of creating a hostile work environment that was rampant with <a href="https://www.vox.com/sexual-harassment">sexual harassment</a> and racism.
</p>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ks74M2">
<strong>Sexism: </strong>Multiple women who worked on these shows, including two writers and a costumer, described a pattern of sexist behavior on set.
</li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gaf0oz">
Schneider would regularly demand that women give him massages and show pornography to the staff, they said. Two of the early women writers hired for <em>The Amanda Show — </em>Christy Stratton and Jenny Kilgen — also said they were asked to split a salary, and that they were the subject of inappropriate jokes and scenarios in a predominantly male writer’s room. In one instance, one of the writers was asked if she had ever done phone sex for work, and in another, a writer was asked to pitch an idea while acting like she was being sodomized.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LEB1Hg">
Schneider has denied underpaying women writers and apologized for his inappropriate comments to writers. “It was wrong that I put anybody in that position,” he said, regarding the massages he requested.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e0baI8">
The documentary also scrutinizes how close Schneider was to young girls on set, including his frequent massaging of child actors, and the revealing wardrobe he often had them wear for shows. Jennette McCurdy, a former child actor on the Nickelodeon shows <em>iCarly</em> and <em>Sam &amp; Cat</em>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23306836/jennette-mccurdy-book-im-glad-my-mom-died-memoir-child-acting-star-icarly-sam-and-cat">previously wrote</a> about an anonymous showrunner, nicknamed The Creator, who is thought to be Schneider, engaging in similar acts.
</p>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DJiM0V">
<strong>Racism: </strong>Two Black actors noted that they were tokenized on the shows that they were on and subject to plotlines that relied on racial profiling. Actor Bryan Hearne also expressed concerns about retaliation because his mom spoke up against the racism he experienced.
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2cAysH">
<strong>Abuse and berating: </strong>A number of people interviewed in the documentary note that Schneider could be unpredictable and temperamental, including berating and undermining people for their work. Following a Nickelodeon investigation, which did not find evidence of sexual misconduct, but did find proof of abusive behavior, Schneider was dropped by the network in 2018.
</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="Bhdlxy">
Inappropriate, sexualized plot points
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qAPTP1">
Another chief issue in the documentary is how Schneider repeatedly sexualized kids, putting them in scenarios and making them do jokes that were completely inappropriate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f2JmTp">
Some of the examples it highlights include a scene in <em>Zoey 101</em> when a tube of goo squirts all over Jamie Lynn Spears’s face. “We heard the boys saying, ‘It’s a cum shot,’” says Alexa Nikolas, a fellow actor on the show. Other disturbing scenes include ones in <em>Victorious </em>that show Ariana Grande massaging a potato, sucking on her toes, and pouring water all over herself. Jokes that involved a girl asking another if she wanted to get hit in the face with a sausage and frequent zoom-ins on kids’ feet were troubling, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pcLO2e">
In addition to putting child actors in uncomfortable situations, these scenes also exposed millions of kids who watched them to sexual scenarios and innuendos in a problematic way. “This is a show for kids, so who is sexual innuendo <em>for</em> on a kids show?” asked Scaachi Koul, a former<strong> </strong>BuzzFeed News culture writer and consultant for the docuseries.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0rY7lL">
Schneider has said that executives at the company broadly approved these scenes and that he’d be open to removing offensive ones from streaming versions.
</p>
<h3 id="7Y1bOr">
The documentary stresses how vulnerable child actors are — and how they need more protections
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="If8aol">
Notably, <em>Quiet on Set </em>raises issues that have plagued the industry for some time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yfYNfi">
While Nickelodeon is its focal point, the problems it describes are far from limited to one network. “I know a lot of kids that grew up in the industry,” Evan Rachel Wood, a former child actor, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/showbiz-kids-exposes-hollywoods-pedophilia-epidemic">says in a 2020 documentary called <em>Showbiz Kids</em></a>. “And what surprised me when I got older was finding out that pretty much all of the young men were abused in some way sexually.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hmBEXe">
Child actors are omitted from federal laws overseeing issues like hours and overtime because acting was not viewed as “oppressive child labor” when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ban-child-acting-child-stars_l_6324c7f7e4b000d9885b8b44">HuffPost reported</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1ztUfm">
As a result, any labor protections for child actors are left up to the states, 17 of which have opted not to implement any at all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AO5HJY">
Even when states do have laws, however, they continue to struggle with proper enforcement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d5Yjkg">
Take California: Overall, the state’s <a href="https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/child-actor-laws-76778/#:~:text=However%2C%20as%20a%20result%20of,until%20the%20actor%20turns%2018.">laws on child actors</a> are seen as some of the strongest in the country, and they include limits on the hours a kid can work each day, the need to obtain a permit to become a child actor, and mandatory meals and rest breaks. These policies also require a parent to be on set, and within sightline of a child under 16. And they set aside mandatory time each day for schooling, and call on the on-set teacher to serve as another guardian for a child’s well-being and safety.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8kw49Z">
Two other California laws are also dedicated to protecting children’s earnings, and screening people who work with child actors. The latter, AB 1660, requires certain professionals who work with children to pass an FBI background check and obtain a permit.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VIgcJt">
These laws have limited utility if not properly enforced, however. “Whatever laws you have, they have to be enforced, and whoever has to enforce them has to have the resources to do it,” New York University adjunct law professor <a href="https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.biography&amp;personid=20503">Day Krolik</a>, who previously worked in the entertainment industry, told Vox. Such enforcement could come from state Labor Departments and take the form of financial penalties or other ramifications if a network violates these laws.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e6GSRn">
<a href="https://deadline.com/2018/04/hollywood-child-labor-law-california-permit-database-ignored-1202379257/">As Deadline found in a 2018 investigation,</a> for example, AB 1660 was rarely enforced, meaning there were few, if any, consequences if a professional it applied to hadn’t gotten a background check.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8z4p9m">
Many former child actors and parents are now calling for new laws that fill in current gaps and bolster protections for kids.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QUDr7y">
Krolik notes that a federal law standardizing labor policy could help address inconsistencies across states and guarantee these protections no matter where a child works. Advocates have called, too, for laws that bar the use of nondisclosure agreements in instances of sexual misconduct or harassment. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alyson-stoner-child-star-speaks-out-2021-4">And Alyson Stoner</a>, a former Disney Channel star, is among those who have emphasized the importance of a law requiring a <a href="https://www.vox.com/mental-health">mental health</a> professional to be present on set, so children have someone to talk to if they’re struggling.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xZoRpy">
With kids increasingly being used to help parents generate income in social media content and <a href="https://www.vox.com/youtube">YouTube</a> videos, advocates note that existing laws should also be expanded to include and shield these young creators as well.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wI7upR">
As <em>Quiet on Set </em>makes evident, stricter policies and follow-through are vital to ensure that the issues it documents don’t continue.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The chaplain who doesn’t believe in God</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A prison fence with thick rows of barbed wire. The sky surrounding is a deep blue with light streaming in from the right side." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/plyD_PZmHOxJ-8fXGrxIshsoLZk=/107x0:1814x1280/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73243457/DevinMoss_Vox_LedeArt.0.png"/>
<figcaption>
Paige Vickers/Vox; AP Photo
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A spiritual atheist’s journey to helping death row inmates.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MgrE85">
When you hear the word “chaplain,” you probably think of a priest or an Imam or some other kind of traditional clergyperson — that’s what springs to my mind in any case. Which is why I was surprised when I stumbled upon an article in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/us/an-atheist-chaplain-and-a-death-row-inmates-final-hours.html">New York Times magazine</a> from earlier this year about an “atheist chaplain” working on death row in an Oklahoma prison.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0UamuU">
The piece is about a convicted killer, Phillip Hancock, who didn’t believe in God but wanted a spiritual adviser with him as he approached his execution. The chaplain is a man named Devin Moss, who spent a year in daily conversation with Hancock and eventually traveled from Brooklyn to Oklahoma to be with him in his final hours.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ejajie">
The whole notion of an atheist chaplain is interesting, of course, but even more interesting are the deeper questions here about what spiritual care looks like without <a href="https://www.vox.com/religion">religion</a> and what it means to confront our death without God or a belief in the afterlife.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2KPt06">
I wouldn’t call myself a religious person, but I do take the spiritual life seriously and, whether you’re a believer or a non-believer, it seems important to understand what religion offers to people and what it would mean to offer something similar in a secular context.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5HGhrq">
Which is why I invited Moss onto <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-gray-area"><em>The Gray Area</em></a> to talk about what being a humanist chaplain (he prefers that term over “atheist”) means to him and what his experience on death row taught him about religion and the universal struggle to face death with dignity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jHaTlz">
Below is an excerpt of our conversation, edited for length and clarity. As always, there’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to and follow <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-gray-area"><em>The Gray Area</em></a> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-gray-area-with-sean-illing/id1081584611">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6NOJ6IkTb2GWMj1RpmtnxP">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/vox-conversations">Stitcher</a>, or wherever you find podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.
</p>
<div id="eeJhgc">
</div>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="6BN4Us"/>
<h4 id="OflXU1">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E18grL">
You did your residency as a chaplain at Bellevue Hospital in New York City during the pandemic. What was that like?
</p>
<h4 id="x7Nign">
Devin Moss
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="owfhAq">
It was intense and full of people in acute moments of crisis, at that hospital in particular. But I cannot imagine a better place to learn what it means to be spiritual. Because I came into this incredibly insecure about spirituality in general and what kind of spiritual care I can provide to people when I’m a non-theist. How can I do this without God? It was scary as hell and it was profound as hell at the same time.
</p>
<h4 id="A2SI0z">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Evval9">
Were you a different person coming out of that?
</p>
<h4 id="2RVP1m">
Devin Moss
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o6ZaOk">
Absolutely. And even on a daily basis, my shift hours were from 2 to 8 or 9, and around 1 I’d be like, <em>Ugh, I can’t believe I got to go back and do this today</em>, but when I’d leave at night, I’d be like, <em>Wow, I could never have imagined that would happen today, I learned so much! </em>I felt like a different person leaving at night than when I got there in the morning and that was a repetitive cycle over and over again.
</p>
<h4 id="ytxG2T">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9iKGzg">
We’re talking because I happened upon <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/us/an-atheist-chaplain-and-a-death-row-inmates-final-hours.html">this article</a> about your experience on death row. I guess I’m curious how you found yourself there in the first place. How does a humanist chaplain from Brooklyn end up on death row in Oklahoma?
</p>
<h4 id="mQmACz">
Devin Moss
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kORYNM">
Soon after I finished my residency at Bellevue, the American Humanist Association sent me an email saying that there are some attorneys that represent this man on death row named Phillip Hancock in Oklahoma, and he’s looking for a non-theist chaplain and they wanted to know if I was interested. I said I was absolutely interested. And on reflection, to be candid, I felt called to do that from a spiritual care perspective, but I also was very much intrigued by the story.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2R1cib">
So I wrote Phil a letter, introduced myself, left my phone number in it and said, <em>If you find that I am the right person to represent you or be by your side in such a important time, I would love to do so,</em> and then we talked and hit it off and started a journey of almost a year.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="3tycRp">
<q>“How a culture dies is a direct reflection of how they live and we do not die well in modern America”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<h4 id="rwSnJR">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ERbHv4">
Did you have strong feelings about the death penalty before you went to Oklahoma? Did the experience change your views one way or the other?
</p>
<h4 id="owiOIB">
Devin Moss
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wgET6X">
I did not have strong opinions. I’d describe my views going in this way: If there was a chance for anybody innocent to be executed, then I’m not for it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CQrHjN">
And yet, knowing that there are monsters among us, I still had this hypothetical scenario in my head, and it’s the one that everybody who’s pro-capital punishment will use: If it was your daughter (and it’s always the daughter, no one says if it were your son), and she was murdered and raped, that should be the litmus test of how we think of capital punishment. That’s the argument that the state legislators in Oklahoma use and I don’t know where I got it, but that was also in my head prior to working with Phil. And in the case of such a heinous violent crime, then yeah, I would be okay with capital punishment. That’s how I came into it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pUlGOi">
Those are real feelings. If a parent had to go through that horrible, horrible scenario, they have every right to feel that. And I’m not advocating that anybody can’t feel those very strong and real emotions but what I didn’t realize until I was actually in the soup is that there are a lot of externalities. The ripples of who it affects, they’re significant.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1Xm0hM">
The legislators make the laws, the judicial branch of the state does the sentencing, but guess who does the executions? None of them are doing the executions, none of the family of the victims are doing the executions, it is everyday people. It’s people like me, it is the corrections officers in the small towns where this is more than likely the only employment opportunity they have and we are the ones that are doing this.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O8kwk1">
I spoke with a man named Adam Luck, who was the former chair of the Oklahoma<strong> </strong>Pardon and Parole Board before the execution, and he said, <em>Everybody that has a hand in doing the execution itself, part of them dies in some way.</em> Although that sounds like a dramatic statement, it’s absolutely 100 percent true. The warden isn’t for it, the corrections officers aren’t for it, and so with all of the externalities and all the pain, it creates a karmic ripple that is multigenerational.
</p>
<h4 id="5qk8SI">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ggaPtZ">
The last words Phillip heard were yours — what did you say?
</p>
<h4 id="Uz7n0Z">
Devin Moss
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1pDLCn">
The whole thing was surreal. The whole day was surreal. Even that morning, the morning of the execution, the governor still hadn’t made a decision whether to grant clemency. The execution was scheduled for 10 am, so it was postponed an hour and a half and Phil is strapped to the gurney for an extra hour-plus, which is horrible to think about. And the night before, they messed up his last meal, I can’t even express to this day how angry that makes me and I can imagine what it does to the spirit of someone that just cannot get any demonstration of humanity on any level.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0LVCWE">
Normally, the spiritual care adviser generally gets 30 to 45 minutes with the person that’s going to be executed, but because the governor had delayed, the press corps had already made it through security, and I was just trying to maintain my poise and not get frazzled. And we went through this maze where the head chaplain then left me in this sally port and the corrections officers escorted me up to the front door of the execution chamber.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zb1uCm">
It was there that the masked corrections officer who would be in the room with us greeted me because the corrections officers that are in the room need to be anonymous. And then I could see in his face that he was nervous and that he was scared and that he was also affected by this moment. It was in that moment that I realized that part of my role is just to bring as much calmness and peace into that space as I possibly could.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vRYqAu">
Earlier that morning, I had written an invocation, a prayer of sorts, that I knew needed to be said and I did it immediately because I wanted to claim that space for Phil so that we could make it sacred and not let any time go by without making sure that he felt that this was his time.
</p>
<h4 id="1bg69p">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y2V2ot">
Do you remember the prayer that you wrote?
</p>
<h4 id="dS7k4y">
Devin Moss
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RZfJL5">
When I originally wrote it, I wrote something about “I call into the space the spirit of the divine” and then I crossed that out and instead I just wrote “I call into the space the spirit of our humanity” because it was very clear to me that this was a human problem and not a theological issue. And I had the answer to the Philippians riddle, <em>Show me something real, tell me something true</em>. I seeded that within the prayer, I wanted him to know that he was loved and that I was a conduit to that love and that he was not alone. And then I also invoked the spirit of grace, of strength, of surrender, and, interestingly, I ended it with an amen just because it felt right.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="47LVpI">
I also understood too that there were other people in that room, besides Phil and I, that I think needed to hear these words and so I claimed that space for him. And then I followed it up with telling him how our relationship affected me and what it meant to me and that he is a loved human. He died well, with grace. I made sure that he knew that he was loved and he was not alone. And so, in this weird moment of an execution, which is weird to say, there was peace.
</p>
<h4 id="3yjpAM">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l74W0Y">
Part of what interests me about your story is this question about whether we need religion, or something like religion. The fact that you felt called to do this work speaks to this. Do you feel like there’s a God-shaped hole in the modern world that needs to be filled by something even if that’s something isn’t supernaturalism or religion in a conventional sense?
</p>
<h4 id="1KGtU2">
Devin Moss
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xZIMEm">
I do believe that. I do believe that there is a God-shaped hole in all of us and I do not feel that it needs to be filled with dogma. The question that I get asked a lot in this regard is, “How do you prepare someone who’s dying, who doesn’t believe that there’s something next?” The answer is in the reframing of the question.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s9wWP4">
If there is something next and if that’s what you believe, fine. And if we’re wrong, then great. But what’s more important is everything that you’re doing <em>before</em> that moment — that’s the most important, not after. What happens after is after, but it’s the transition that’s important and how you get there and all these micro-steps tracking back throughout your life.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yn5GRw">
So do we need spirituality as individuals? Yes, I think so. And I would also say, as a culture, whether it’s a collective consciousness or a resonance that connects us to each other and connects us out to something bigger, there’s something real there and we need to make sure those points are connected.
</p>
<h4 id="sIYVGv">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E27jVa">
I’ve really come to be annoyed with a certain kind of atheist that can only approach religion as a set of epistemological claims, as though scanning the Bible for bogus claims about biology or history will amount to some death blow for religion. And I understand where that comes from. This has always been tricky for me because I do think religion has done immense damage in the world. I think it has caused a lot of needless suffering in the world. I think it still causes a lot of needless suffering in the world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ogt41V">
There are people in this country who want to create a theocracy here, who want to chain women to their reproductive cycles because of their religious beliefs, and those people are enemies of liberal democracy in my opinion. It’s important to say all of that. But it’s also important to recognize that religion, at its best, is a near-universal expression of this human need for connection and ritual and meaning and it’s a mistake to not grapple seriously with the implications of that, especially if you’re a non-believer.
</p>
<h4 id="xS7pHe">
Devin Moss
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7smuvk">
I see spirituality and theology as two completely different animals. I see religion as an expression of the spiritualities. Because the way it works now is that spirituality is an expression of religion, but I say flip it. I’m a huge proponent of rites of passage rituals, I’m a huge proponent of even making rituals throughout your day and you can develop them for yourself, you can be as syncretic as you need to be just to make sure that it is bringing intention throughout your day.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M2epJW">
The expression of spirituality can be your lived religion and we can see what that looks like. Even if it’s Sunday mornings, we’re going to sweep up the sidewalks in Brooklyn and have coffee and cake, that’s an important spiritual expression and can be considered religion without the pomp and the history and all of those things.
</p>
<h4 id="zM8q92">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sW29Bo">
A humanist chaplain may not be able to offer the solace that comes with belief in the afterlife, but what kind of solace can you offer someone as they approach the end?
</p>
<h4 id="y9OobE">
Devin Moss
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dMJKNX">
Death is hard for everybody and it’s hard because we avoid it personally and we most definitely avoid it as a culture. How a culture dies is a direct reflection of how they live and we do not die well in modern America. I would probably take out the border between faith and non-faith when it comes to how to die well and I would just say that dying well requires work that is to be done while you’re still very much alive, whether you have faith in a supernatural power or not.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="szuoCF">
<em>To hear the rest of the conversation, </em><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chaplain-who-doesnt-believe-in-god/id1081584611?i=1000650344256"><em>click here</em></a><em>, and be sure to follow </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/thegrayarea">The Gray Area</a><em> on </em><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-gray-area-with-sean-illing/id1081584611"><em>Apple Podcasts</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://podcasts.google.com/search/vox%20conversations"><em>Google Podcasts</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6NOJ6IkTb2GWMj1RpmtnxP"><em>Spotify</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-gray-area-with-sean-illing/PC:30793"><em>Pandora</em></a><em>, or wherever you listen to podcasts.</em>
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Joaquin, Mojito and Desert Classic show out</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mirabai to return to competitive action after 6-month injury layoff with eye on Olympic berth</strong> - Under the 2024 Olympics qualification rules, the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 World Cup are compulsory events</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL-17: GT vs SRH: Mohit, Noor and Rashid restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad</strong> - While Sunrisers Hyderabad are playing an unchanged XI, Gujarat Titans made two changes to its side.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2024, MI vs RR | Struggling Mumbai Indians look for happy homecoming against Rajasthan Royals</strong> - Mumbai Indians led by Hardik Pandya face Rajasthan Royals in IPL clash at Wankhede Stadium on April 1</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bopanna-Ebden clinch Miami Open title, return to world No. 1 ranking</strong> - With the win, Bopanna surpassed his record created last year when he won the Indian Wells title at the age of 43, and also reclaimed the top spot in the doubles ranking</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PM Modi trying to do match-fixing in Lok Sabha polls: Rahul Gandhi</strong> - The BJP is raising the slogan of getting 400 seats, but without EVMs, match-fixing, pressure on opposition leaders and buying media, they will not be able to cross even 180 seats, he claimed.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UP court sentences three to life imprisonment in murder case</strong> - On January 18, 2018, Sarman Singh (63), the former head of Gauhari village in the Chhata area, was shot dead by motorcycle-borne assailants near Doutana turn on the Delhi-Agra highway, the prosecution advocate said.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Assam Congress chief appeals to people for funds to fight polls</strong> - Bhupen Kumar Borah claimed that the Congress was facing an “acute financial crisis” due to the sealing of its accounts allegedly at the behest of the BJP government.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Maharashtra Police bust Naxal camp on Chhattisgarh border</strong> - The Maoist camp’s suspected aim was to organise subversive activities ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha General Election</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Battle for Baramati a BJP ploy to ‘finish off’ Sharad Pawar: Supriya Sule</strong> - Supriya Sule said Sunetra Pawar is the wife of her “elder brother and the elder sister-in-law is considered as mother”.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Peace is not made with arms, says Pope in Easter plea</strong> - The 87-year-old pontiff presided over Easter mass despite concerns over his health.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In pictures: Easter celebrations around the world</strong> - Pope Francis leads festivities at the Vatican, a day after pulling out of a ceremony at short notice.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The FSB bicycle assassin Putin wants back in Russia</strong> - How Russia is weaponising the murky world of ‘hostage diplomacy’ and Germany is caught in the middle.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dutch nightclub hostage siege ends with man held</strong> - The motive of the man who held four people hostage inside a nightclub in the eastern town of Ede remains unclear.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>War a real threat and Europe not ready, warns Poland’s PM</strong> - Donald Tusk warns of a “pre-war era” as Russian attacks leave swathes of Ukraine without power.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The entire state of Illinois is going to be crawling with cicadas</strong> - And the land shall feast on their dead. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013710">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Proteins let cells remember how well their last division went</strong> - Scientists find a “mitotic stopwatch” that lets individual cells remember something. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013795">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Playboy image from 1972 gets ban from IEEE computer journals</strong> - Use of “Lenna” image in computer image processing research stretches back to the 1970s. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013640">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NYC’s government chatbot is lying about city laws and regulations</strong> - You can be evicted for not paying rent, despite what the “MyCity” chatbot says. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013719">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Backdoor found in widely used Linux utility breaks encrypted SSH connections</strong> - Malicious code planted in xz Utils has been circulating for more than a month. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013674">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man and his wife</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
are out walking one day when they spot a bloke sitting alone in a bus shelter on the other side of the road
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘That looks like the Archbishop of Canterbury over there," says the woman.’
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘Go and ask him if he is.’
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The husband crosses the road and asks the man if he is indeed the Archbishop of Canterbury.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘Fuck off,’ says the man.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The husband crosses back to his wife who asks: ‘What did he say? Is he the Archbishop of Canterbury?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘He told me to fuck off,’ says the husband.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘Oh no,’ replies the wife, ‘now we’ll never know.’
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/manstardog"> /u/manstardog </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bs710h/a_man_and_his_wife/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bs710h/a_man_and_his_wife/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s the difference between beer and liquor?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
You can’t make a girl moan if you beer.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/T0mmyChong"> /u/T0mmyChong </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bs26cx/whats_the_difference_between_beer_and_liquor/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bs26cx/whats_the_difference_between_beer_and_liquor/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two rabbis invite a priest to go fishing with them.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
They get to the middle of the lake and have a wonderful time. Soon Rabbi Isaac decided to switch to lures, but he’s left his box in the truck. He simply gets out of the boat and walks across the water to reach the shore and get his box. Father William is shocked.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sometimes passes and rabbi Ishmael finds his water bottle empty. He simply walks back over the water to the truck to refill his bottle and come back. Father William is astounded.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“My faith is as strong as yours!!” He declares and steps out of the boat, only to sink in the water like a stone. The rabbi fish him out. Rabbi Ishmael asks Rabbi Isaac: “Should we tell him where the stepping stones are?”
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mekkanik"> /u/mekkanik </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1brnadz/two_rabbis_invite_a_priest_to_go_fishing_with_them/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1brnadz/two_rabbis_invite_a_priest_to_go_fishing_with_them/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I remember the first time I made love to my wife and I asked her: “Am I the first one?” She said:</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Why does everyone always ask me that?”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SirFratlus"> /u/SirFratlus </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1brpnkr/i_remember_the_first_time_i_made_love_to_my_wife/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1brpnkr/i_remember_the_first_time_i_made_love_to_my_wife/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I met my wife at a singles night</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I was surprised as I thought she was at home with the kids
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Hamsternoir"> /u/Hamsternoir </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bs8neg/i_met_my_wife_at_a_singles_night/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bs8neg/i_met_my_wife_at_a_singles_night/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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