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<title>11 August, 2022</title>
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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>Inhaled Fluticasone for Outpatient Treatment of Covid-19: A Decentralized, Placebo-controlled, Randomized, Platform Clinical Trial</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The effectiveness of inhaled corticosteroids to shorten time to symptom resolution or prevent hospitalization or death among outpatients with mild-to-moderate coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) is unclear. Methods: ACTIV-6 is an ongoing, decentralized, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled platform trial testing repurposed medications in outpatients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Non-hospitalized adults aged &gt;=30 years, experiencing &gt;=2 symptoms of acute infection for &lt;=7 days were randomized to inhaled fluticasone furoate 200 mcg once daily for 14 days or placebo. The primary outcome was time to sustained recovery, defined as the third of 3 consecutive days without symptoms. Secondary outcomes included composites of hospitalization or death with or without urgent care or emergency department visit by day 28. Results: Of those eligible for the fluticasone arm, 656 were randomized to and received inhaled fluticasone; 621 received concurrent placebo. There was no evidence of improvement in time to recovery with fluticasone compared with placebo (hazard ratio [HR] 1.01, 95% credible interval [CrI] 0.91-1.12; posterior probability for benefit [HR&gt;1]=0.56). Twenty-four participants (3.7%) in the fluticasone arm had urgent care or emergency department visits or were hospitalized compared with 13 (2.1%) in the pooled, concurrent placebo arm (HR 1.9, 95% CrI 0.8-3.5; posterior probability for benefit [HR&lt;1]=0.03). Three participants in each arm were hospitalized, and no deaths occurred. Adverse events were uncommon in both arms. Conclusions: Treatment with inhaled fluticasone furoate for 14 days did not result in improved time to recovery among outpatients with Covid-19 in the United States during the delta and omicron variant surges.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.12.22277548v2" target="_blank">Inhaled Fluticasone for Outpatient Treatment of Covid-19: A Decentralized, Placebo-controlled, Randomized, Platform Clinical Trial</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Ivermectin for Treatment of Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19 in the Outpatient Setting: A Decentralized, Placebo-controlled, Randomized, Platform Clinical Trial</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The effectiveness of ivermectin to shorten symptom duration or prevent hospitalization among outpatients in the United States with mild-to-moderate symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is unknown. Objective: We evaluated the efficacy of ivermectin 400 mcg/kg daily for 3 days compared with placebo for the treatment of early mild-to-moderate COVID-19. Methods: ACTIV-6 is an ongoing, decentralized, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled platform trial to evaluate repurposed therapies in outpatients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19. Non-hospitalized adults age &gt;=30 years with confirmed COVID-19, experiencing 2 or more symptoms of acute infection for &lt;=7 days were randomized to receive ivermectin 400 mcg/kg daily for 3 days or placebo. The main outcome measure was time to sustained recovery, defined as achieving at least 3 consecutive days without symptoms. Secondary outcomes included a composite of hospitalization or death by day 28. Results: Of the 3457 participants who consented to be evaluated for inclusion in the ivermectin arm, 1591 were eligible for this study arm, randomized to receive ivermectin 400 mcg/kg (n=817) or placebo (n=774), and received study drug. Of those enrolled, 47% reported receiving at least 2 doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. The posterior probability for any improvement in time to recovery was 0.91 (hazard ratio 1.07, 95% credible interval 0.96 to 1.17). The posterior probability of this benefit exceeding 24 hours was less than 0.01, as measured by the difference in mean time unwell. Hospitalizations or deaths were uncommon (ivermectin [n=10]; placebo [n=9]). Ivermectin at 400 mcg/kg was safe and without serious adverse events as compared with placebo (ivermectin [n=10]; placebo [n=9]). Conclusions: Ivermectin dosed at 400 mcg/kg daily for 3 days resulted in less than one day of shortening of symptoms and did not lower incidence of hospitalization or death among outpatients with COVID-19 in the United States during the delta and omicron variant time periods. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04885530.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.10.22276252v2" target="_blank">Ivermectin for Treatment of Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19 in the Outpatient Setting: A Decentralized, Placebo-controlled, Randomized, Platform Clinical Trial</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Leveraging social network topology could improve the efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 epidemic control strategies in resource-limited contexts</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Targeted surveillance allows public health authorities to implement testing and isolation strategies when diagnostic resources are limited. When transmission patterns are determined by social contact rates, the consideration of social network topologies in testing schemes is one avenue for targeted surveillance, specifically by prioritizing those individuals likely to contribute disproportionately to onward transmission. Yet, it remains unclear how to implement such surveillance and control when network data is unavailable, as is often the case in resource-limited settings. We evaluated the efficiency of a testing strategy that targeted individuals based on their degree centrality on a social network compared to a random testing strategy in the context of low testing capacity. We simulated SARS-CoV-2 dynamics on two contact networks from rural Madagascar and measured the epidemic duration, infection burden, and tests needed to end the epidemics. In addition, we examined the robustness of this approach when individuals9 true degree centralities were unknown and were instead estimated via readily-available socio-demographic variables (age, gender, marital status, educational attainment, and household size). Targeted testing reduced the infection burden by between 5 - 50% at low testing capacities, while requiring up to 28% fewer tests than random testing. Further, targeted tested remained more efficient when the true network topology was unknown and prioritization was based on socio-demographic characteristics, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach under realistic conditions. Incorporating social network topology into epidemic control strategies is an effective public health strategy for health systems suffering from low testing capacity and can be implemented via socio-demographic proxies when social networks are unknown.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.20.22275359v2" target="_blank">Leveraging social network topology could improve the efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 epidemic control strategies in resource-limited contexts</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mental well-being during Covid-19 in adults, mothers and children: behavioral evidence and neural premarkers</strong> -
<div>
We describe data on an extensively characterized group of children and adults (N=69, 41♀, age range=7-51y, including 26 children and mothers) with a total of ~2500 tests conducted prior to and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our findings indicate significant effects of Covid-19-related restrictions on mental well-being and psychosocial functioning in children and adults, with changes associated with duration or easing of restrictions. Well-being in mother-child dyads was strongly correlated. For children, time spent outside and friends met were a significant predictor of mood. Additionally, neural correlates of mentalizing in prefrontal regions, assessed prior to Covid-19, preceded later development of fear of illnesses and viruses for all participants, while, among mothers, temporoparietal activation preceded higher perceived burden of care during restrictions.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/pdj7n/" target="_blank">Mental well-being during Covid-19 in adults, mothers and children: behavioral evidence and neural premarkers</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Direct and indirect effects of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and emotion regulation strategy use on mental health during Covid-19</strong> -
<div>
Background. Covid-19 and associated restrictions have been linked to negative mental health outcomes across the globe. Cognitive emotion regulation strategies constitute means to mitigating negative affect resulting from stressful life events, possibly offering an opportunity to change negative consequences associated with pandemics. Neuronally, emotion regulation is supported by prefrontal and limbic brain regions, but a direct investigation of brain structural characteristics in association with contextual emotion regulation during prolonged stressful events is yet missing. Methods. Variations in cognitive emotion regulation strategy use, anxiety and depression scores were assessed in 43 adults (31♀/12♂, age=35.14±9.20y) during the first months following Covid-19 onset and again at the end of 2020 (seven repeated measures assessments). Pre-pandemic behavioral and neuroimaging measures were available for all participants, allowing the investigation of mediating effects of pre-pandemic emotion regulatory brain structures and use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies during the pandemic on mental well-being at the beginning and end of the first pandemic year. Results. Heightened, but varying levels of anxiety and depression were observed across 2020. While adaptive emotion regulation strategies were most frequently employed, maladaptive strategies explained the highest variation in negative mental health outcomes (i.e., anxiety and depression scores). Adaptive strategies had a positive, maladaptive strategies a negative effect, however, this direction varied when considering long-term mental health effects. Emotion regulation strategy use mediated the association between pre-pandemic emotion regulatory brain structure (i.e., cortical thickness) in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and mental health, with prefrontal-amygdala coupling as a possible driving factor. Additionally, early mental health measures impacted later mental well-being. Conclusion. Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies have a negative effect on mental health during prolonged stress as induced by pandemics. Interventions targeting the reduction of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies may provide a way to counteract negative effects, thus offering a window of opportunity for action.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/bmgt9/" target="_blank">Direct and indirect effects of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and emotion regulation strategy use on mental health during Covid-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>An observational study on imported COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong during mandatory on-arrival hotel quarantine</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Hong Kong has enforced stringent travel restrictions particularly for inbound travellers since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2. Understanding the characteristics of imported COVID-19 cases is important for establishing evidence-based control measures. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to summarise the characteristics of cases classified as imported cases that were detected on or soon after arrival into Hong Kong from 13 November 2020 through to 31 January 2022, when all arriving persons were required to quarantine in a hotel or a designated quarantine facility. We analysed individual demographics, and clinical information including symptoms and disease severity, virus variants, and Ct values. Results: There were 2269 imported COVID-19 cases aged 0-85 years identified in Hong Kong. Almost half (48.6%) of the imported cases were detected on arrival. A shorter median delay from arrival to isolation was observed in Delta and Omicron cases (3 days) than cases infected with the ancestral strain and other variants (12 days; p&lt;0.001) while lower Ct values at isolation were observed in cases infected with Omicron than the ancestral strain or other variants. No Omicron cases were detected beyond 14 days after arrival, and the cases (n=58, 2.6%) detected after 14 days of quarantine more frequently presented without symptoms at isolation and had a higher RT-PCR Ct-value during isolation. At least some of these cases were post-arrival infections. Conclusions: Testing inbound travellers at arrival and during on-arrival quarantine can detect imported cases early although it may not be sufficient to prevent all introductions of COVID-19 into the community. Public health measures should be adjusted in responses to the emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 based on the epidemiologic evidence from continuous surveillance.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.22278572v1" target="_blank">An observational study on imported COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong during mandatory on-arrival hotel quarantine</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Stability of SARS-CoV-2 in cold-chain transportation environments and the efficacy of disinfection measures</strong> -
<div>
Cold-chain environment could extend the survival duration of SARS-CoV-2 and increases the risk of transmission. However, the effect of clod-chain environmental factors and packaging materials on SARS-CoV-2 stability and the efficacy of intervention measures to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 under cold-chain environment remains uncertain. This study aimed to unravel cold-chain environmental factors that preserved the stability of SARS-CoV-2 and disinfection measures against SARS-CoV-2 under the cold-chain environment. The spike gene of SARS-CoV-2 isolated from Wuhan hu-1 was used to construct the SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus and used as model of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The decay rate of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus in the cold-chain environment, various types of packaging material surfaces i.e., PE plastic, stainless steel, Teflon and cardboard, and in frozen seawater was investigated. The influence of LED visible light(wavelength 450 nm-780 nm) and airflow movement on the stability of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus at -18{degrees}C were subsequently assessed. The results show that SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus decayed more rapidly on porous cardboard surface compared with the non-porous surfaces including PE plastic, stainless steel and Teflon. Compared with 25{degrees}C, the decay rate of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus was significantly lower at low temperature. Seawater preserved viral stability both at -18{degrees}C and repeated freeze-thawing cycles compared with deionized water. LED visible light illumination and airflow movement environment at -18{degrees}C reduced the SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus stability. In conclusion, our results indicate cold-chain temperature and seawater as risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 transmission and LED visible light illumination and airflow movement as possible disinfection measures of SARS-CoV-2 under the cold-chain environment.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.503429v1" target="_blank">Stability of SARS-CoV-2 in cold-chain transportation environments and the efficacy of disinfection measures</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Function and Cryo-EM structures of broadly potent bispecific antibodies against multiple SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 variant, Omicron (B.1.1.529), rapidly swept the world since its emergence. Compared with previous variants, Omicron has a high number of mutations, especially those in its spike glycoprotein that drastically dampen or abolish the efficacy of currently available vaccines and therapeutic antibodies. Several major sublineages of Omicron involved, including BA.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.3 and BA.4 BA.5, rapidly changing the global and regional landscape of the pandemic. Although vaccines are available, therapeutic antibodies remain critical for infected and especially hospitalized patients. To address this, we have designed and generated a panel of human/humanized therapeutic bispecific antibodies against Omicron and its sub-lineage variants, with activity spectrum against other lineages. Among these, the top clone CoV2-0213 has broadly potent activities against multiple SARS-CoV-2 ancestral and Omicron lineages, including BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.3 and BA.4 BA.5. We have solved the cryo-EM structure of the lead bi-specific antibody CoV-0213 and its major Fab arm MB.02. Three-dimensional structural analysis shows distinct epitope of antibody : spike receptor binding domain (RBD) interactions, and demonstrates that both Fab fragments of the same molecule of CoV2-0213 can target the same spike trimer simultaneously, further corroborating its mechanism of action. CoV2-0213 represents a unique and potent broad-spectrum SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing bispecific antibody (nbsAb) against the currently circulating major Omicron variants (BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.3 and BA.4/BA.5), while maintaining activity against certain ancestral lineages (WT/WA-1, Delta), and to some degree other beta-coronavirus species (SARS-CoV). CoV2-0213 is primarily human and ready for translational testing as a countermeasure against the ever-evolving pathogen.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.503414v1" target="_blank">Function and Cryo-EM structures of broadly potent bispecific antibodies against multiple SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Computational pipeline provides mechanistic understanding of Omicron variant of concern neutralizing engineered ACE2 receptor traps</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, with 15 mutations in Spike receptor binding domain (Spike-RBD), renders virtually all clinical monoclonal antibodies against WT SARS-CoV-2 ineffective. We recently engineered the SARS-CoV-2 host entry receptor, ACE2, to tightly bind WT-Spike-RBD and prevent viral entry into host cells (receptor traps). Here we determine cryo-EM structures of our receptor traps in complex with full length Spike. We develop a multi-model pipeline combining Rosetta protein modeling software and cryo-EM to allow interface energy calculations even at limited resolution and identify interface side chains that allow for high affinity interactions between our ACE2 receptor traps and Spike-RBD. Our structural analysis provides a mechanistic rationale for the high affinity (0.53 - 4.2nM) binding of our ACE2 receptor traps to Omicron-RBD confirmed with biolayer interferometry measurements. Finally, we show that ACE2 receptor traps potently neutralize Omicron- and Delta- pseudotyped viruses, providing alternative therapeutic routes to combat this evolving virus.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.503400v1" target="_blank">Computational pipeline provides mechanistic understanding of Omicron variant of concern neutralizing engineered ACE2 receptor traps</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 genomic diversity in households highlights the challenges of sequence-based transmission inference</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The reliability of sequence-based inference of SARS-CoV-2 transmission is not clear. Sequence data from infections among household members can define the expected genomic diversity of a virus along a defined transmission chain. Methods: SARS-CoV-2 cases were identified prospectively among 2,369 participants in 706 households. Specimens with an RT-PCR cycle threshold less than or equal to 30 underwent whole genome sequencing. Intrahost single nucleotide variants (iSNV) were identified at greater than 5% frequency. Phylogenetic trees were used to evaluate the relationship of household and community sequences. Results: There were 178 SARS-CoV-2 cases in 706 households. Among 147 specimens sequenced, 106 yielded a whole genome consensus with coverage suitable for identifying iSNV. Twenty-six households had sequences from multiple cases within 14 days. Consensus sequences were indistinguishable among cases in 15 households, while 11 had greater than 1 consensus that differed by 1-2 mutations. Sequences from households and the community were often interspersed on phylogenetic trees. Identification of iSNV improved inference in 2 of 15 households with indistinguishable consensus sequences and 6 of 11 with distinct ones. Conclusions: In multiple infection households, whole genome consensus sequences differed by 0-1 mutations. Identification of shared iSNV occasionally resolved linkage, but the low genomic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 limits the utility of sequence-only transmission inference.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.22278452v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 genomic diversity in households highlights the challenges of sequence-based transmission inference</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Comparing the evolutionary dynamics of predominant SARS-CoV-2 virus lineages co-circulating in Mexico</strong> -
<div>
Up to November 2021, over 200 different SARS-CoV-2 lineages circulated in Mexico. To investigate lineage replacement dynamics, we applied a phylodynamic approach to explore the evolutionary trajectories of five dominant lineages that circulated during the first year of the local epidemic. For most lineages, peaks in sampling frequencies coincided with different epidemiological waves of infection in the country. Lineages B.1.1.222 and B.1.1.519 showed comparable dynamics, represented by clades likely originating in Mexico and persisting for over a year. Lineages B.1.1.7, P.1 and B.1.617.2 also displayed similar dynamics, characterized by multiple introduction events leading to a few successful extended local transmission chains that persisted for several months. We further explored viral movements across the country, applied within the largest clades identified (belonging to lineage B.1.617.2). Many clades were located within the south region of the country, suggesting that this area played a key role in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Mexico.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.05.498834v2" target="_blank">Comparing the evolutionary dynamics of predominant SARS-CoV-2 virus lineages co-circulating in Mexico</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>How consistent are smartphone application preferences? A descriptive study of mobile application repertoires using behavioral data</strong> -
<div>
Smartphones afford users the ability to select their own mobile application repertoires through the installation of various applications. We report a quantitative descriptive study of the types of applications that people commonly use, the amount of time they spend with these applications, the application combinations that they construct, the consistency of these combinations over time, and the differences in these outcomes by demographic characteristics. Using a longitudinal dataset collected from a U.S. adult sample during the COVID-19 pandemic, the study leverages behavioral data collected via data donations to identify key application adoption patterns and shows that peoples mobile application repertoires are concentrated around a set of popular applications that is relatively consistent over time. However, within this set there is considerable diversity between individuals and applications, suggesting that quantifying smartphone usage with a single metric— screentime —is unlikely to capture the full extent of media that users engage with.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/jzxun/" target="_blank">How consistent are smartphone application preferences? A descriptive study of mobile application repertoires using behavioral data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 viral clearance and viral load kinetics in young children (1-6 years) compared to adults: Results of a longitudinal study in Germany</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: To investigate SARS-COV-2 viral clearance and viral load kinetics in the course of infection in children aged 1-6 years in comparison with adults. Methods: Prospective cohort study of infected daycare children and staff and their close contacts in households from 11/2020-06/2021, comprising serial (self) sampling of upper respiratory tract specimen and testing for SARS-CoV-2 via PCR. Data on symptoms and exposure were used to determine the date of probable infection for each participant. We determined (a) viral clearance, and (b) viral load dynamics over time. Samples were taken from day 4-6 to day 16-18 after diagnosis of the index case in the respective daycare group (5 samples per participant). Results: We included 40 children (1-6 years) and 67 adults (18-77 years) with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Samples were available at a mean of 4.3 points of time per participant. Among the participants, the 12-day study period fell in different periods within the individual course of infection, ranging from day 5-17 to day 15-26 after assumed infection. Children reached viral clearance at a median of 20 days after assumed infection (95% CI 17-21 days, Kaplan Meier Analysis), adults at 23 days (95% CI 20-25 days, difference not significant). In both children and adults, viral load decreased over time with trajectories of the mean viral load not being statistically different between groups. Only small proportions of those tested positive had a viral load of &gt;1 million copies/ml, which is considered the threshold for infectivity. Kaplan-Meier calculations show that from day 15 (95% CI 13-15), 50% of all participants that had a viral load no longer infectious or were negative. Conclusion: Children aged 1-6 and adults infected with SARS-CoV-2 (wild type and Alpha variant) did not differ significantly in terms of viral load kinetics and time needed to clear the virus. Therefore, containment measures are important also in the daycare settings as long as the pandemic continues.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.22278540v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 viral clearance and viral load kinetics in young children (1-6 years) compared to adults: Results of a longitudinal study in Germany</a>
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<li><strong>Brief Report: Impact of age and SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection on humoral immune responses after three doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Longitudinal immune response data following three-dose COVID-19 mRNA vaccination remain limited, particularly in older adults and those experiencing their first SARS-CoV-2 infection. We quantified wild-type- and Omicron-specific antibody concentrations and virus neutralization activity up to six months post-third-dose in COVID-19-naive adults aged 24-98 years. Among participants who remained COVID-19-naive, antibody concentrations were comparable between age groups over time. Omicron-specific neutralization declined more rapidly in older adults, and at six months was undetectable in 56% and 96% of COVID-19-naive younger and older adults, respectively. Post-vaccine SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections increased wild-type- and Omicron-specific responses above three-dose vaccination alone, illustrating beneficial hybrid immunity.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.08.22278494v1" target="_blank">Brief Report: Impact of age and SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection on humoral immune responses after three doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine</a>
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<li><strong>Correcting prevalence estimation for biased sampling with testing errors</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sampling for prevalence estimation of infection is subject to bias by both oversampling of symptomatic individuals and error-prone tests. This results in na"ive estimators that can be very far from the truth. In this work, we present a method of prevalence estimation that removes the effect of testing errors and reduces the effect of oversampling symptomatic individuals. Moreover, this procedure considers stratified errors in which tests have different error rate profiles for symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. The result is an easily implementable algorithm (for which code is provided) that produces better prevalence estimates than other methods, as demonstrated by simulation and on Covid-19 data from the Israeli Ministry of Health.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.12.21266254v2" target="_blank">Correcting prevalence estimation for biased sampling with testing errors</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>A Study to Measure the Amount of Study Medicine in Blood in Adult Participants With COVID-19 and Severe Kidney Disease</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: PF-07321332 (nirmatrelvir)/ritonavir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Pfizer<br/><b>Not yet 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>Cognitive Rehabilitation in Post-COVID-19 Condition</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Goal Management Training (GMT)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Lovisenberg Diakonale Hospital;   University of Oslo;   Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai;   University of Toronto;   UiT The Arctic University of Norway;   Oslo University Hospital<br/><b>Not yet 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>EFFECTS OF INSPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING IN POST-COVID-19 PATIENTS</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: TREATMENT GROUP (TG);   Other: CONTROL GROUP (CG)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University Vila Velha<br/><b>Completed</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>Long-term Effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the Central Nervous System and One-year Follow-up of “Long COVID-19” Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Long Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: Perfusion brain scintigraphy imaging<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Brugmann University Hospital<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>Temelimab as a Disease Modifying Therapy in Patients With Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Post-COVID 19 or PASC Syndrome</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Temelimab 54mg/kg;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   GeNeuro SA<br/><b>Not yet 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>Physiotherapy in Post COVID-19 Syndrome Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Cognitive behavioral principles-based treatment program;   Other: Control intervention<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Universidad de Granada<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>Active Cycle Of Breathing Technique Verses Breathing Exercises In Post ICU COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post Covid-19 Patients<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Chest physiotherapy with breathing exercises and ACBT;   Other: Chest physiotherapy with breathing exercises<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Riphah International University<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>Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy and Increasing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African American Young Adults in the South</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Vaccine Uptake<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Tough Talks COVID<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill;   University of Alabama at Birmingham;   National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)<br/><b>Not yet 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>rSIFN-co Among Healthy Subjects and Subjects With Mild or Asymptomatic COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: rSIFN-co Nasal Spray;   Drug: Placebo Nasal Spray<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sichuan Huiyang Life Science and Technology Corporation<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>Evaluation of Safety and Immunogenicity of the Recombinant ZR202-CoV and ZR202a-CoV Vaccines in Adults.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: ZR202-CoV;   Biological: ZR202a-CoV;   Biological: Comirnaty®<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Shanghai Zerun Biotechnology Co.,Ltd<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>The Effect of Pilates on Biopsychosocial Characteristics in the Covid-19 Pandemic</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Healthy;   Sedentary;   Exercise;   Pilates<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Sedantary;   Behavioral: Exercise therapy<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Medipol University<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>Immunogenicity and Safety of BBIBP-Corv Coadministered With PPV23 and IIV4 in Hemodialysis Population</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Hemolysis;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: coadministration;   Biological: COVID-19 vaccine;   Biological: IIV4+PPV23<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   China National Biotec Group Company Limited;   Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention;   Sichuan Center for Disease Control and Prevention;   Guizhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention;   Xiangya Hospital of Central South University;   Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd.;   Chengdu Institute of Biological Products Co.,Ltd.;   Shanghai Institute Of Biological Products<br/><b>Not yet 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>Safety and Immunogenicity Study of a Booster Dose of the Investigational CV0501 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Adults at Least 18 Years Old</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: CV0501 (3 μg);   Biological: CV0501 (6 μg);   Biological: CV0501 (12 μg);   Biological: CV0501 (25 μg);   Biological: CV0501 (50 μg);   Biological: CV0501 (75 μg);   Biological: CV0501 (100 μg);   Biological: CV0501 (150 μg);   Biological: CV0501 (200 μg)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   GlaxoSmithKline<br/><b>Not yet 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>This Trial is a Clinical Performance Validation Study That Will Evaluate the Clinical Agreement of the Sky Medical™ Rapid Antigen Test Comparing the Antigen Rapid Test to RT-PCR</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Sars-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: Sky Medical™ Rapid Antigen Test<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sky Medical Supplies &amp; Equipments, LLC<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>The Effect Of Distraction Methods On Fear And Anxiety In Children Before The Covid 19 Test</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Anxiety;   Fear<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: The Kaleidescope;   Behavioral: The visual illusion cards<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Ondokuz Mayıs University<br/><b>Completed</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>Author Correction: Structure basis for inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 by the feline drug GC376</strong> - No abstract</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>Single-injection COVID-19 subunit vaccine elicits potent immune responses</strong> - Current vaccination schedules, including COVID-19 vaccines, require multiple doses to be administered. Single injection vaccines eliciting equivalent immune response are highly desirable. Unfortunately because unconventional release kinetics are difficult to achieve it still remains a huge challenge. Herein a single-injection COVID-19 vaccine was designed using a highly programmable release system based on dynamic layer-by-layer (LBL) films. The antigen, S1 subunit of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein,…</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>An Exploration of Resiliency Among Nurse Educators During the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> - CONCLUSION: Resilience and related characteristics have the potential to assist nurse educators in adapting successfully to stressful circumstances. It is crucial that schools of nursing develop programs to enhance or develop resilience among nurse educators. Support and training in the area of online education are also of paramount importance.</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 long term vaccine-induced anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune response is impaired in quantity and quality under TNFα blockade</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: We show a reduced SARS-CoV-2 neutralising capacity in patients under TNFα blockade. In this cohort, the plasma cell response appears to be less specific and show stronger bystander activation. While these effects were observable after the first two vaccinations and with older VOC, the differences in responses to BA.2 were enhanced. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.</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>Efficacy and safety of the investigational complement C5 inhibitor zilucoplan in patients hospitalized with COVID-19: an open-label randomized controlled trial</strong> - CONCLUSION: Administration of zilucoplan to COVID-19 patients in this proof-of-concept randomized trial was well tolerated under antibiotic prophylaxis. While not reaching statistical significance, indicators of respiratory function (PaO(2)/FiO(2)) and clinical outcome (mortality and 6-min walk test) suggest that C5 inhibition might be beneficial, although this requires further research in larger randomized studies.</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>Targeting autophagy regulation in NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated lung inflammation in COVID-19</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Emerging evidence indicates that the NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is activated, which results in a cytokine storm at the late stage of COVID-19. Autophagy regulation is involved in the infection and replication of SARS-CoV-2 at the early stage and the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated lung inflammation at the late…</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>Therapeutic drug monitoring and dosage adjustments of immunosuppressive drugs when combined with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in patients with COVID-19</strong> - Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid®) consists of a peptidomimetic inhibitor (Nirmatrelvir) of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease and a pharmacokinetic enhancer (Ritonavir). It is approved for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19. This combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir can mediate significant and complex drug-drug interactions (DDIs), primarily due to the ritonavir component. Indeed, ritonavir inhibits the metabolism of nirmatrelvir through cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) leading to higher…</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>Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants reduce COVID-19 infection: prospects for use</strong> - CONCLUSION: If successful, these drugs can substantially reduce hospitalization and mortality rates, as well as allow for fully outpatient treatment for mild-to-moderate infections. Thus, repositioning SSRIs can provide benefits when faced with a rapidly evolving pandemic such as COVID-19.</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>Targeting Doublecortin-Like Kinase 1 (DCLK1)-Regulated SARS-CoV-2 Pathogenesis in COVID-19</strong> - Host factors play critical roles in SARS-CoV-2 infection-associated pathology and the severity of COVID-19. In this study, we systematically analyzed the roles of SARS-CoV-2-induced host factors, doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1), and S100A9 in viral pathogenesis. In autopsied subjects with COVID-19 and pre-existing chronic liver disease, we observed high levels of DCLK1 and S100A9 expression and immunosuppressive (DCLK1<sup>(+)S100A9</sup>(+)CD206^(+)) M2-like macrophages and N2-like neutrophils 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>Broad-spectrum antiviral activity of Spatholobus suberectus Dunn against SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, H5N1, and other enveloped viruses</strong> - The current COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-Cov-2 is responsible for more than 6 million deaths globally. The development of broad-spectrum and cost-effective antivirals is urgently needed. Medicinal plants are renowned as a complementary approach in which antiviral natural products have been established as safe and effective drugs. Here, we report that the percolation extract of Spatholobus suberectus Dunn (SSP) is a broad-spectrum viral entry inhibitor against SARS-CoV-1/2 and other enveloped…</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>Zinc pyrithione is a potent inhibitor of PL<sup>Pro</sup> and cathepsin L enzymes with <em>ex vivo</em> inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 entry and replication</strong> - Zinc pyrithione (1a), together with its analogues 1b-h and ruthenium pyrithione complex 2a, were synthesised and evaluated for the stability in biologically relevant media and anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. Zinc pyrithione revealed potent in vitro inhibition of cathepsin L (IC(50)=1.88 ± 0.49 µM) and PL^(Pro) (IC(50)=0.50 ± 0.07 µM), enzymes involved in SARS-CoV-2 entry and replication, respectively, as well as antiviral entry and replication properties in an ex vivo system derived from primary human…</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>Not “My” crisis: Social identity and followers crisis responses to COVID-19</strong> - Operationalizing social group identification as political partisanship, we examine followers (i.e., US residents) affective experiences and behavioral responses during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the United States (March to May 2020). In Study 1, we conducted content analyses on major news outlets coverage of COVID-19 (N = 4319) to examine media polarization and how it plays a role in shaping followers perceptions of the pandemic and leadership. News outlets trusted by Republicans…</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>Oridonin Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 by Targeting Its 3C-Like Protease</strong> - Oridonin Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Oridonin, a natural product extracted from Rabdosia rubescens, possesses a wide range of pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-microbial, neuroprotection, immunoregulation, etc. In article number 2100124, Baisen Zhong, Litao Sun, and co-workers demonstrate that Oridonin targets the SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease by covalently binding to cysteine145 in its active pocket to exert an anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect, which provides a novel candidate…</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 most supermarkets food does not cost £3 per day …’ The impact of the school food voucher scheme during COVID-19</strong> - Households with children eligible for Free School Meals are at risk of food insecurity. This paper reports on a rapid-response study that investigated the impact of the school food voucher scheme during the COVID-19 crisis on young people, families and schools. It pays close attention to the reliance of the state on the goodwill of society and its citizens in feeding those most in need. The Capabilities Approach is used to highlight factors that inhibited and restricted the use of the vouchers…</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>Synthesis, crystal structure elucidation, DFT analysis, drug-likeness and ADMET evaluation and molecular docking studies of triazole derivatives: Binary inhibition of spike protein and ACE2 receptor protein of COVID-19</strong> - The recent incidence of terrible acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) has presently experienced some noteworthy mutations since its discovery in 2019 in Wuhan, China. The present research work focuses on the synthesis of three triazole derivatives (BMTPP, BMTTP, and BMTIP) and their inhibition activities against SARS-Cov-2 spike and ACE2 receptor proteins. The crystal structure for BMTTP was determined by the SCXRD method and optimized geometrical parameters for the three…</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>What the F.B.I.s Raid of Mar-a-Lago Could Mean for Trump</strong> - A former federal prosecutor and general counsel for the F.B.I. explains the process and implications of obtaining a search warrant on the home of a former President. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/what-the-fbis-raid-of-mar-a-lago-could-mean-for-trump">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Democrats Finally Deliver</strong> - The Senates passage of a sweeping, if imperfect, climate-change-and-health-care bill is a landmark moment in U.S. policymaking. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-democrats-finally-deliver">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Hurricanes Get Their Names</strong> - In an age of more intense storms, forecasters explain their aims. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-hurricanes-get-their-names">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Googles Caste-Bias Problem</strong> - A talk about bigotry was cancelled amid accusations of reverse discrimination. Whom was the company trying to protect? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/googles-caste-bias-problem">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Liz Cheneys Kamikaze Campaign</strong> - Unlike most of her Republican colleagues, the Wyoming representative is willing to lose her seat to take down Donald Trump. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/liz-cheneys-kamikaze-campaign">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Buy now, pay later often means you just pay more</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A calendar and piles of money." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zP4c2yVYjIwfuDVVe9XOswva7OU=/0x13:1983x1500/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71231798/GettyImages_1175268602.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
When it comes to buy now, pay layer, $100 in four installments is still $100. | Getty Images/iStockphoto
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Buy now, pay later sounds too good to be true because it is.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZCFpaU">
The thing about buy now, pay later is that the later part always comes. Sometimes, the pay ends up being more than you think youre signing up for, and often for stuff you shouldnt have bought in the first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bEv0by">
The buy now, pay later — or BNPL — trend <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/14/18178772/afterpay-stores-installment-urban-outfitters">has been on the rise for years</a>, driven by companies such as Afterpay, Klarna, and Affirm. Practically every time you go to buy something online lately, theres an offer to pay in installments. It seems simple enough on its face: You make a purchase, and instead of paying for the whole thing upfront, its split up into four interest-free payments, usually every two weeks. TikTokers <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2021/5/11/22429014/buy-now-pay-later-pandemic-expansion">pitch it</a> as a savvy way to buy on a budget, an option for getting the things you want and need even if you dont quite have enough to foot the entire bill right now. Plus, hey, youre not dealing with the evil credit card companies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="USYwNS">
If this all sounds a little bit too good to be true, its because it is. That overpriced dress you just bought is still overpriced, but the smaller payments make you feel more compelled to splurge on it. You are still walking around in pants that arent technically paid off.
</p>
<aside id="vJb5xL">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DLo7jS">
“It is marketed as interest-free, but consumers can find that they end up being charged more than they think they will,” said Nadine Chabrier, senior policy and litigation counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending. “Should they lose track of their payments or have multiple buy now, pay later purchases, they can get return payment fees, missed payment fees, account reactivation, rescheduling, all kinds of hidden fees that they werent aware of at the outset.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PKry02">
BNPL companies often dont do in-depth checks of consumers credit, meaning people wind up getting into debt they cant pay. If someone screws up, they can be hit with <a href="https://www.klarna.com/us/customer-service/why-was-i-charged-a-late-fee/">late fees</a> and see their <a href="https://helpcenter.affirm.com/s/article/late-and-accidental-payments#:~:text=We%20don't%20charge%20late,receive%20calls%20about%20your%20loan.">credit scores dinged</a>. And screwing up is easy to do if people are taking out multiple loans or just arent accustomed to paying on a bimonthly basis, unlike other bills. If a consumer buys something on BNPL and the product isnt what its cracked up to be, theres a mistake, or they need to return it, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/07/21/buy-now-pay-later-refund/10007992002/?gnt-cfr=1">getting their money back</a> can be more complicated than with other forms of payment. The opportunity to pay in installments encourages consumers to buy more than they would otherwise.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LzJovA">
At the moment, many BNPL companies exist in a sort of regulatory gray area and skirt laws that apply to more traditional lenders. Theres a push among <a href="https://www.responsiblelending.org/research-publication/77-groups-urge-cfpb-supervise-buy-now-pay-later-market">consumer advocates</a> and in states such as <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/dfpi-reports-increase-consumer-loans-under-2500-decrease-consumer-loans-between-2500">California</a> and <a href="https://www.mass.gov/news/ag-healey-calls-on-cfpb-to-protect-consumers-from-deceptive-buy-now-pay-later-lenders">Massachusetts</a> to increase scrutiny on BNPL companies and get them in line, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-opens-inquiry-into-buy-now-pay-later-credit/">is looking into them</a>, too. Its just one industry hoping to sneak in a win at regulatory whack-a-mole.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3hj9sP">
“You always have these new companies that say, Were different, were new, were quick, and the regulators dont know how to regulate us because were so new and fast and techy or whatever,’” said Chi Chi Wu, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “And you know what? No.”
</p>
<h3 id="wx7KIJ">
The cost of putting off paying
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="POXkIJ">
Buy now, pay later companies make much of their money through merchant fees, meaning they take certain cuts of purchases — say, <a href="https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/buy-now-pay-later">2 to 8 percent</a>. Thats more than credit cards take, but as Chabrier explained, merchants are willing to pay up because the ability to pay in installments increases cart sizes. “They do, in fact, induce people to buy more than they normally would because theyre splitting it up,” she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bmlJtx">
You might pause more at spending $100 on the spot than you would at spending $200 split up into four $50 payments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1xhZUt">
These companies can also wind up making money when consumers who use them make mistakes, Chabrier noted. “If you have, as many people do, five buy now pay later purchases and you make one false move, then youre going to get hit with these unexpected fees,” she said, such as late fees if you miss a payment, “and maybe an overdraft fee from your bank.”
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="fqvb3s">
<q>“They do, in fact, induce people to buy more than they normally would”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8IzazT">
Those false moves are common. One <a href="https://www.lendingtree.com/personal/bnpl-survey/">recent survey</a> from LendingTree found that 42 percent of Americans who have taken out a BNPL loan have made at least one late payment on it. According to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/missed-payments-rising-interest-rates-put-buy-now-pay-later-to-the-test-11654033930">the Wall Street Journal</a>, BNPL companies are seeing an increase in bad debt and late payments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9lDoqR">
Consumers who use BNPL services <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-03/millennials-and-gen-z-shoppers-are-addicted-to-46-billion-klarna">tend to be younger</a>, and many are <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2022/03/02/buy-now-pay-later-bnpl-overdraft-data/">people of color</a>. Some also <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/13/buy-now-pay-later-is-not-a-boom-its-a-bubble-harvard-fellow-says-.html">have subprime credit</a>, meaning they might struggle with accessing traditional forms of credit. BNPL businesses say theyre offering financial inclusion, that theyre extending credit to people who cant get it elsewhere. That may be true in many cases, but the line between predatory and progressive is blurry. One <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/now/consumers-point-sale-loans-generally-120000219.html">study</a> from TransUnion found that BNPL customers have more credit products, such as credit cards, retail cards, and installment loans, than the general “credit active” population. Lenders in the space often have no idea whether the consumers theyre working with actually have the ability to pay.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="81ZFp6">
“With buy now, pay later, youre not taking into account the other financial obligations consumers may have,” said Elyse Hicks, consumer policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform. You dont have to <a href="https://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/a40154656/gen-z-buy-now-pay-later-debt/">look far</a> on the internet to find <a href="https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/05/06/2242246/buy-now-pay-later-is-sending-the-tiktok-generation-spiraling-into-debt">stories</a> of millennials and Gen Z over their heads in debt because of BNPL, and with <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/23290799/inflation-price-increases-gas-grocery-store">inflation</a> and the current <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2022/6/8/23158436/economy-inflation-recession-odds-stock-market">precarious</a> state of the economy, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/06/economy/buy-now-pay-later-bnpl-inflation-data/index.html">the situation could become worse</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="TN50TQ">
We still dont really know how to deal with credit, or regulate it
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h3K3MC">
How to approach credit — who should get it, how much should be charged for it, what happens for people who are left out — <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22736387/how-credit-scores-work-equifax-experian-transunion">is a difficult issue</a>. We want people to be able to buy things, and credit is a central force of the economy. Millions of people in the country <a href="https://www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/">dont have access to banks</a> and <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/who-are-credit-invisible/">get shut out by the more conventional credit system</a>. We also dont want people to get hurt because of debts they cant get out of, or taken advantage of by lenders because they dont understand the terms.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MFjd31">
Consumer advocates dont necessarily argue that BNPL shouldnt exist, but they say it needs more scrutiny and regulatory oversight, and that people should be given a better idea of what theyre getting into. Consumer protection laws, such as the <a href="https://www.occ.treas.gov/topics/consumers-and-communities/consumer-protection/truth-in-lending/index-truth-in-lending.html#:~:text=The%20Truth%20in%20Lending%20Act,for%20certain%20types%20of%20loans.">Truth in Lending Act</a>, which protects consumers against inaccurate and unfair credit practices, arent yet being applied to BNPL. (Theres a reason BNPL companies do four payments — the 1968 law<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2018-title12-vol3/xml/CFR-2018-title12-vol3-part226.xml"> kicks in</a> on consumer loans once theyre split into five.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3DYx4z">
The “jurys still out” on exactly what BNPL implies for consumers, said Robert Lawless, a law professor at the University of Illinois who specializes in consumer finance. He gave the example of payday lenders and <a href="https://www.lendingtree.com/auto/avoiding-the-buy-here-pay-here-car-lots/">buy here, pay here car lots</a>, both of which at first glance appear to offer useful solutions for people with poor or invisible credit. “But we know the facts, that as applied, those are very abusive industries,” he said. Over the years, there have been many consumer finance innovations that have claimed to be in consumers interests. “I think we still dont have enough experience to know where buy now, pay later is going to go.”
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="qp9fF1">
<q>“If that sounds like bullshit, its because it is”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yasB7D">
He pointed out that the problem of businesses trying to skirt laws concerning credit and debt is hardly new. In the 20th century, lenders and stores tried to get around usury laws that dictate interest rates by claiming they werent charging interest but were instead basing prices on a “time-price differential,” Lawless said, meaning charging one price if a product is paid for upfront and another if its paid for in installments over time. “If that sounds like bullshit, its because it is. Its just interest by another name.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7QRGXJ">
There are countless examples of tactics and products that try to get around financial regulations and rules. There are so-called <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/rent-a-banks-defy-states-growing-efforts-to-curb-high-cost-lending-11583435510">rent-a-bank agreements</a>, where high-cost lenders try to get around state interest rate caps, and <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/banking-law/earned-wage-access-products-face-fresh-scrutiny-from-cfpb-states">earned wage access products</a> — basically, payday advances — that companies argue dont technically fall under the Truth in Lending Act because they dont have fees (instead, for example, some of those companies ask for tips). “It is all along this continuum of novel products and lack of regulation that needs to be addressed,” Chabrier said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cE8h2f">
Much of the time regulators catch up and these issues do get taken care of — but it takes time. In the meantime, on offers such as buy now, pay later, many consumers wind up losing their (only partially paid-off) shirts. Its worth noting <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/8/23157184/ugly-economics-behind-apple-buy-now-pay-later-system-bnpl">Apple</a> is about to start offering a BNPL product, too. “What happens when you convince a generation to spend more than it can afford?” Scott Galloway, an NYU marketing professor and co-host of the podcast <em>Pivot</em>, <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/05/buy-now-pay-later-is-coming-due-for-all-of-us.html">recently asked in New York magazine</a>. We may be about to find out.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="As0uZS">
As <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-07-28/klarna-affirm-afterpay-face-scrutiny-over-credit-business">Bloomberg</a> recently outlined, between the threat of regulation, economic uncertainty, and consumers floundering under debt, many companies in the space are already in trouble, and their <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/11/klarna-valuation-plunges-85percent-as-buy-now-pay-later-hype-fades.html#:~:text=Investing%20Club-,Klarna%20valuation%20plunges%2085%25%20to%20%246.7%20billion%20as%20'buy,now%2C%20pay%20later'%20hype%20fades&amp;text=Klarna%20said%20it%20raised%20%24800,the%20strength%20of%20Klarna's%20business.%E2%80%9D">values</a> are <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/affirm-in-control-despite-stock-price-plunge-affirm-cfo-191131590.html">plummeting</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u5pIxf">
BNPL companies may now be in a pickle, the way that so many of their customers already are.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aMNCG2">
<em>We live in a world thats constantly trying to sucker us and trick us, where were always surrounded by scams big and small. It can feel impossible to navigate. Every two weeks, join Emily Stewart to look at all the little ways our economic systems control and manipulate the average person. Welcome to </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/the-big-squeeze"><em><strong>The Big Squeeze</strong></em></a><em>.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NF25sR">
<a href="http://vox.com/big-squeeze-newsletter"><em><strong>Sign up to get this column in your inbox</strong></em></a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fEmYHz">
<em>Have ideas for a future column or thoughts on this one? Email </em><a href="mailto:emily.stewart@vox.com"><em><strong>emily.stewart@vox.com</strong></em></a>.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Why do wigs on TV look so awful?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Dominique McElligott as Queen Maeve on Amazon Primes “The Boys.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FgJ0G93MHOwn67ezk92qucMoEao=/40x0:661x466/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71231699/THBY_S3_UT_301_210225_THIJAN_00872_1__1__thumb.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Why are wigs on TV so … wig-looking all the time? | Amazon Prime
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A Hollywood hairstylist on why onscreen wigs dont look anything like they should.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ItqSAZ">
Reimagining regular, human actors and actresses as superheroes for the big screen usually requires a few things: a sense of otherworldly gravitas, an intense exercise regimen, and excellent costuming, which includes wigs. On this last point, Hollywood struggles. Even in 2022, wigs in movies and TV are still coming up short.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V1NYcK">
A perfect example of this is <a href="https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23150171/the-boys-season-3-review-amazon">the third season</a> of <em>The Boys</em> on Amazon Prime. Throughout the latter half of the season, viewers are face-to-screen with Queen Maeves awful, terrible wig. It was just so … wiggy. It didnt look too far off from an image that could be found in an Amazon wig review. But Queen Maeves wig wasnt a $30 wig received via two-day shipping. It was featured on a television show with special effects so high-tech that they recreated the inside of a mans penis. Yet they were unable to get me to believe that Queen Maeves tresses had actually grown from her head.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rA1mT4">
Theres no limit to the number of <a href="https://www.avclub.com/wigging-out-17-times-horrible-hairpieces-ruined-tv-sho-1798287048/slides/2">bad onscreen wigs</a> that weve seen over the years. Tyler Perry is often <a href="https://www.sis2sis.com/tyler-perry-addresses-rampant-use-of-bad-wigs-in-sistas/">asked</a> about the terrible wigs he allows on his productions, most notably Shemar Moores infamously horrific cornrow wig in <em>Madeas Family Reunion. </em>The <a href="https://twitter.com/Rocioceja_/status/1290829093114482688?s=20&amp;t=9gRgsrkRdsevGmHhbSIUwQ">wigs in<em> Twilight</em></a><em> </em>looked like cosplay at best. After dyeing her hair blonde and having to cut it off from the damage the hair dye caused, Jessica Alba donned a wig for the <em>Fantastic Four </em>sequel, and <a href="https://crustula.com/2012/03/31/fantastic-four-rise-of-the-silver-surfer-review/">one critic</a> described it as “a ridiculously bad wig that a neophyte drag queen from a small town in Nebraska would have turned her nose up at.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="onbv4j">
Whats particularly irksome about being forced to look at godawful wigs onscreen is that if you take a quick look around, you can find plenty of examples of properly applied wigs. Whether its women (especially Black and brown women) walking down the street or the YouTube and TikTok tutorials that you can watch by the dozen to learn how to properly put on your first lace front, wigs can look <em>good. </em>Knowing what Black women can do with some HD lace (the part of the wig that meets the skin) , literally blending hairlines into the skin, why on earth are wigs on TV so bad?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="spu4VB">
Camille Friend, a veteran hairstyling professional whos worked on films like <em>Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, </em>and <em>Captain America: Civil War</em>, says there are a few major reasons wigs end up looking so busted onscreen. One reason is the budget.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WBXH82">
“If all you have for a wig budget is $10,000, thats one wig,” she says. “Those are decisions people have to make. If youre doing bigger movies, your budget is $100,000; it gives you leeway, and you can buy better wigs and get better looks.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W0g75Y">
The second reason is skill. At the end of the day, it takes <em>a lot </em>of skill and time to make a cheap wig look good onscreen, but its possible. Friend runs <a href="https://www.hairscholars.com/">Hair Scholars</a>, which offers master classes and mentorship programs focused on specialty skills needed for the film and TV business. “There are so many tricks of the trade,” she says. “A lot of the time, people dont get the knowledge. Theres always little things you can do to take an inexpensive wig and make it look expensive.”
</p>
<div id="fDvRPM">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
some of my favorite bad wigs in movies/tv <a href="https://t.co/oXNBjT9Are">pic.twitter.com/oXNBjT9Are</a>
</p>
— chibodee crocket (<span class="citation" data-cites="de_avis_">@de_avis_</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/de_avis_/status/1049404882581630978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2018</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="swbfGI">
But there are also things that contribute to wigs looking fake onscreen that are out of a stylists control. Friend says this is when a good relationship with other production staff comes into play. “You want to have good relationships with your DP or gaffer. Im very vocal about good lighting, because lighting can make or break us.” Friend also stresses the importance of camera tests that play with color, which requires a set that is invested in the process.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yjSo3B">
Justin Dickson, a gaffer and lighting technician who has worked on the set of shows like <em>Insecure, Snowfall, </em>and<em> On My Block, </em>agrees that the relationship between hairstylists and other production staff is of the utmost importance. Dickson says its important to speak to stylists and get inside the hair and makeup trailer to make sure the lighting matches the color temperature of the lights on set. This requires a budget and schedule that prioritizes things like realistic hair and makeup — and, most important, hairstylists who know what theyre doing.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="rp663A">
<q>Actresses are not leaving sets with $10,000 on their heads</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2yoSCV">
Imani Bee, a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/itsimanibee/">wellness advocate </a>who acts, models, and works as a development executive at THORO Artists, says she has worked with stylists who seem to come from the Tyler Perry school of wig styling. When she works on sets, she usually brings her own wigs and extensions so that the stylists dont have to do anything. However, when she was working abroad on one set in South Korea, the stylists told Bee they would be doing her hair. “I was so nervous about the shoot itself and I wanted people to like me and to get more opportunities,” Bee says. She had brought a wig, and when the stylist was finished applying it, Bee found it sitting halfway off her head. She didnt end up saying anything because she was 19 at the time, and didnt want to ruffle any feathers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3SU2Ez">
Bee says these types of experiences are made worse when there are few or no Black stylists or actors on set. “If its an all-white cast, nine times out of 10, theyre not going to put the budget toward the one nonwhite cast member,” she says. At her most recent gig, Bee did her own hair on set because she was told there was no one on set who could do it. Friend stresses the importance of having Black hairstylists on all kinds of sets. Its one of her personal goals through her educational program Hair Scholars. Its important that Black stylists dont stay pigeonholed, only working on predominantly Black sets. Friend gives these stylists both the technical skills and the networking skills to make sure Black stylists are everywhere, from TV to million-dollar movie sets.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bd7Nol">
What about the countless hairstylists on social media who seem incredibly talented and know how to make a wig look good? According to entertainment professionals like Friend, the wigs on movie sets are for an entirely different purpose than the ones you see online. When hairstylists on social media apply wigs, they are usually using silicon glue to adhere their hair to a wig cap, so they can wear it overnight, or for a few days. And like Friend says, wigs on movie sets can cost upward of $10,000. A wig that a stylist like Friend works with on sets uses the finest lace, finer than any you can find on a wig ready to purchase. That, on top of the high-quality materials used in the rest of the wig, can contribute to a much more expensive product. Actresses are not leaving sets with $10,000 on their heads.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EhueaC">
The other thing to keep in mind is that sometimes its not necessarily a bad thing for a hairstyle to not look natural. “Theres overlap, but you have to know your medium. If Im going to do something on the red carpet or a photo shoot, I can come in there with big, bad [hair],” Friend says. This is different than when shes styling for someone whos supposed to look like a normal, run-of-the-mill person. Theres a difference between something looking like a good wig and something looking like natural hair. Bee points to all of the hairstyles featured on <em>Insecure</em> as an example of styles that are not designed to make the audience believe that the hair had grown from the actresss head. “It was one of the few projects I watched where I was looking at the hair and was impressed. … I wanted to achieve the styles that Issa [Rae] had on that show,” Bee says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LkjPPq">
Theres a difference between realistic hair and a good wig. For productions that feature Black actors, and Black women specifically, the purpose of the hairstyling isnt necessarily to be realistic as much as it is to reflect the reality of how a Black woman might actually do her hair.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ge6w5w">
On the other hand, for actors of any race, a wig can be an integral part of the storytelling process. For example, in <em>Stranger Things, </em>the character Elevens hair represented what she was going through on the show. In the beginning, Millie Bobbi Brown cut her hair into a buzzcut, which was narratively integral to the show. Years later, when the story again called for her characters hair to be buzzed, the show used a realistic, short-haired wig.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EQns8a">
Which brings us back to superhero movies. Friend, who has worked on seven Marvel movies, says, “When you go do a superhero movie, theres already a blueprint because you have a comic book, fans. Things have already been somewhat established. … [The look is] something thats already been talked about and set.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VhU6oB">
The base material for the HBO Max series <em>Titans </em>features an alien superhero named Starfire, known for bright green eyes and even brighter red hair. In <em>Titans</em>, Starfire is played by Anna Diop, a Black actress. In the first images released of Diop as Starfire, fans were startled by her hair. The costuming, the hair in particular, was shocking because of how bad it was. (Separately, Diop faced a heinous <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/27/17618954/teen-titans-starfire-racism-anna-diop">torrent of racist harassment</a>, based solely on the casting of a Black woman as Starfire. Well leave that aside, for now.) Fortunately, the second and third seasons saw vast improvements in her hair, which made for a better overall viewing experience.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="LgwRYC">
<q>“Someone can be taken out of the story by looking at a bad wig”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PgeTI5">
It may seem odd that something as seemingly innocuous as a wig can influence the success of storytelling, but its true.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tcQe5M">
“Someone can be taken out of the story by looking at a bad wig. They forget what the story is about and zero in on somethings not right, even if they dont know what it is,” Dickson says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pmGsIF">
And in the case of Black characters with bad hair, its … embarrassing. Like there wasnt enough care on set to make sure this person didnt show up on camera looking wild. This becomes particularly egregious when there are only one or two Black actors on set, as Bee has experienced. When this happens on sets with budgets of millions of dollars, what does that say about how much these sets value Black actors?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tTnZA3">
The sad fact of the matter is that in some cases, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kechsbigcomfycouch/video/7078432020292013358?_t=8U0oyI6jG94&amp;_r=1">white people just cant tell what a bad wig is</a>. If a stylist is on set and thinking about how an audience might react to hair, they might not be actively thinking about how it looks to an audience that knows how to clock a wig. Even if the stylist can see the flaws, they might think they can get away with it. Unfortunately, for viewers who can spot the difference, they cant help but notice. And if the wig is being applied on one of few Black actors on a cast, it can end up making them look like a joke. The lack of diversity and inclusion for Black actors is reflected in thousands of ways and sets, and wigs that are more like hats than hair are just one example.
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The disastrous wig situation onscreen seems to be due to a combination of failures — most often, it is likely the result of commonly low budgets and occasionally low efforts on the part of the production team. But from the silver screen to television, when bad wigs are applied to actors heads, we all suffer. Instead of being able to enjoy what were watching, were having to rip our eyes away from terrible hairlines, visible lace, and frizzy hair. Its fairly obvious that Hollywood has a wig problem. What remains to be seen is what productions are willing to invest to address it.
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<ul>
<li><strong>The rise of the side startup</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Cartoon illustration of a worker at a desk with a screen displaying a Zoom call. In the foreground is an inset showing that the person has a tablet in their lap out of sight of the work meeting." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/S2i66PIaIq4wI-lmkV6jAaxYD_M=/15x0:2682x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71231481/recode_edit02.0.jpg"/>
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Amanda Northrop/Vox
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Remote workers are starting new businesses behind their bosses backs.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vygewd">
Shari Rose is working on her own SEO company while doing SEO full time for someone else.
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Her full-time job involves helping dentists in California, but her new business, <a href="https://blurredbylines.com/">Blurred Bylines</a>, focuses on small firms and nonprofits in Michigan, where she lives and works remotely. Rose says her main job is still her main priority. She also says her job is aware of her startup and is okay with it.
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“They were very explicit in saying that they really needed me, and they really wanted me to stick around,” she said. “I get the impression that they are willing to make a couple of sacrifices.”
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Rose is one of an increasing number of remote workers who are using the freedom, flexibility, and time saved by working remotely to start their own businesses, without sacrificing their steady paychecks. These founders say the ability to work on their businesses during lunch breaks and lulls at their jobs has enabled them to pursue something more meaningful than their day job. Theyre also motivated by many of the same forces driving the so-called Great Resignation, namely how the pandemic caused people to reassess whats important in their lives. But instead of quitting or finding another job, this cohort is taking advantage of a tight labor market to pursue new ventures and hold on to their jobs, just in case.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jUFdnx">
Enter the side startup.
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Last year, <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22884040/more-americans-starting-own-business-entrepreneur">more Americans than ever</a> started their own businesses, and 2022 is <a href="https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/inspiration/new-business-insights-dec-2021/">projected</a> to set another record. At the same time, the national unemployment rate is at a <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE">50-year low</a>. According to research shared with Recode, the share of small business and startup founders who work for someone else has ticked up from 38 percent before the pandemic to 42 percent since the pandemic began, according to a survey of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2022/01/04/microbusinesses-flourished-during-the-pandemic-now-we-must-tap-into-their-full-potential/">microbusinesses</a> by Venture Forward, a research initiative by GoDaddy. Early-stage investor <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tdelvecchio/">Thomas DelVecchio</a> told Recode that a majority of the funding requests hes getting these days are from startup founders with full-time jobs, which was rarely the case pre-pandemic. At the same time, venture capital funding is <a href="https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/global-venture-capital-funding-data-monthly-recap-may-2022/">drying up</a>, so founders are less likely to get checks that would relieve them from their day jobs.
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The rise in side startups coincides with remote work becoming more mainstream during the pandemic. Even though many offices have opened back up, 30 percent of all American workers have hybrid arrangements that allow them to work from home some of the time, while another 15 percent work from home full time, according to June data from <a href="https://wfhresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/WFHResearch_updates_July2022.pdf">WFH Research</a>. Stanford professor and WFH Research co-founder Nicholas Bloom, who is constantly in conversation with corporations about their future of work plans, estimates levels of remote work to <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23205039/future-remote-work-experts-promotion-recession">stick around present levels</a> of 45 percent working from home at least some of the time.
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Some employers sanction their employees startups, or theyre at least willing to look the other way. Others worry that side projects like these could eat into the employees productivity or that employees extra energy could have gone to their full-time jobs. The situation also brings up thornier questions like who owns a workers time and intellectual property. Still, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/02/business/economy/job-openings-june.html">tight labor market</a> means employers dont want to lose their highest performers — and ambitious startup founders often fit this description — by being too strict.
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At face value, this trend might look like the latest version of side hustles, which have been a thing forever. People have been picking up freelance projects, driving Ubers, or selling crafts on Etsy as a way to make extra cash and nurse their creativity for years. But having a side startup is different because people are creating full-fledged businesses that are meant to supplant their main job. The current trend is also distinct from being over-employed, a situation in which <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/these-people-who-work-from-home-have-a-secret-they-have-two-jobs-11628866529">remote workers secretly take on two full-time jobs for someone else</a>. Their goal is two paychecks for one 40-hour work week and to get back at what they think is an unfair system.
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Recode recently spoke to 10 founders who are starting startups while working remotely full time to learn how theyre doing it and why. A number of them asked to keep their names, employers, and startups anonymous in order to avoid endangering their jobs.
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To many of the people we spoke with, a side startup isnt just about earning extra cash. Its about pursuing something theyre passionate about, doing it their own way, and eventually leaving their bosses to become the boss themselves. And while people have always worked nights and weekends to start their own businesses, remote work gives them more time and flexibility to do so and a better hedge against failure.
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Remote work makes side startups much more possible
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Starting your own business while working full time was certainly possible before the pandemic, but the rise of remote work has made this scenario more attainable for more people. Importantly, remote work provides workers some distance from their managers.
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<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Collage illustration of a hand, a Zoom meeting on a screen, an analog clock, and a tablet computer." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WNJZAvaPLN_F45fUljofViJkCWk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23936568/tablet02.jpg"/> <cite>Amanda Northrop/Vox</cite>
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“Its logical that people would be exploring ideas that maybe they couldnt explore when they thought that their boss was standing over their shoulder,” a person working remotely at a startup accelerator told Recode. During the hours formerly spent commuting, getting lunch, and killing time, this year he and a co-founder have also been working on building a sports app. They both have full-time jobs that are their main priority, but if it works out, the accelerator manager would love to work on the startup exclusively.
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He, like many of the people we spoke with, believes remote work has given him and his co-founder time and space to do both their day jobs and their side startups — and they believe theyre doing so without sacrificing the quality and quantity of work theyre doing for their employer. Indeed, a number of people said theyve been promoted <em>while</em> working on both.
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Doing both, they reason, can be a win-win situation because the employer gets to keep their hardworking employees while the employees get to work on their dreams without forfeiting economic security.
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That outlook makes more sense now than it did a few years ago. If a pandemic in which millions of people have died has done one thing, its made people reconsider their lives. Founders have been able to redirect the extra time remote work affords toward their startups, which they often consider to be a passion project.
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From nine to five, Kaitlyn Borysiewicz is a communications manager at a nonprofit, which offers her financial security. But otherwise, she spends her time on <a href="https://www.themelanincollective.org/">The Melanin Collective</a>, a diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting firm that aims to help improve the workplace for women and gender-non-conforming people of color.
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“This is the work that I love to do,” Borysiewicz said. “The community-building aspect of this work is what I live and breathe for.”
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She added that she has approval from her employer and only works on the side startup outside of work hours. In some ways, Borysiewicz sees the situation of working a job and starting a new business as a way for someone in her age group to make up for what they dont have in other areas of their lives.
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“With the confluence of the pandemic, the lack of affordable housing, inflation, global crises, people, particularly people in my generation, millennials, we arent guaranteed the same things that our parents had anymore,” Borysiewicz said. “So we kind of demand more of our workplaces.”
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That includes wanting equality at work for women and people of color, better health care, and benefits, as well as more latitude from employers for employees to bring their whole selves to work. Women and people of color are <a href="https://slack.com/intl/pt-br/blog/news/winning-the-war-for-talent-in-the-post-pandemic-world">more likely</a> to want to work remotely than their white male counterparts because it allows them to do their <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22568635/women-remote-work-home">outsized share of home labor</a> and frees them from many office microaggressions. Now, remote work is enabling them to start their own businesses.
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<h3 id="P730P9">
Renegotiating an unfair transaction
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bpGyh8">
For some, working remotely has pointed out huge problems with<strong> </strong>traditional office work. Many workers, especially those who are able to work well quickly, have had to justify being in an office for 40-plus hours a week, which is not the same as working 40 hours. The physical and psychological distance from the office in remote work arrangements has helped clarify the transactional nature of employment: Youre paid a certain amount to do a certain amount of work, not spend a certain amount of time sitting in an office.
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Rather than waiting out the clock pretending to work, side startup founders say theyre using their days more efficiently by working remotely.
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<aside id="0uTGhC">
<q>“For years, I had to spend hours every day coming up with extra stuff to do”</q>
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A director at a pharmaceutical company said that since working remotely, hes been able to do better work at his normal job, spend more time with his family, and help secretly found a <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22907072/web3-crypto-nft-bitcoin-metaverse">Web3</a> consulting company.
</p>
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“My day starts at 6 am. Technically, if Ive been on the computer for eight hours, Im done by 2 pm — and that assumes I have enough work to fill the full eight hours,” he said. “For years, I had to spend hours every day coming up with extra stuff to do, just to keep busy.”
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The pharmaceutical director sees the extra time as his to spend. To him, the idea that an employer owns your eight hours is disingenuous. That employer decided what was enough work for an eight-hour day and what that was worth in terms of salary. He added that when he goes above and beyond whats asked of him and puts in extra hours, that doesnt come with extra pay.
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An unsettling example of the transactional nature of work, the pharmaceutical director explained, came around the birth of each of his three children. Each time, he said that he was in line for a promotion that he was sure hed get, and his employer used that as a bargaining chip.
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“Every time, the first question they ask you is, So I know the kid is coming soon, how much time are you planning to take off? I go, I dont know, a week I guess? when my answer should be a month at least, and they go, Great, wed love to offer you the role. You can tell its contingent,” he said.
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This is one of countless examples of employers squeezing as much labor out of employees as possible, without consideration for their well-being. Its also why many founders dont feel bad about taking back some of their time to pursue their side startups.
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If its going to be a transaction, they figure, it may as well be a fair one.
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To tell the boss or not to tell
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While some people told us theyve been open with their employers about their startups, others said they either minimized the extent to which they worked on them or were too afraid to tell their bosses anything.
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For those who chose not to tell their employers, it was typically out of a sense of self-preservation rather than feeling like theyre doing something wrong. A marketing director at an e-commerce company whos been working on an HR company on the side told us he cant count the number of times he Googled questions like, Should you be honest with your current employer? or, How long should you stick with your full-time job until you can go full time with the startup?
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<aside id="ueurwu">
<q>“To work on a startup without a steady income is just batshit crazy”</q>
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In the end, the marketing director opted not to tell his employer, fearing his employer would wrongfully doubt his focus and productivity. Hes now been working on his startup for two years and even switched full-time jobs earlier this year hoping to have marginally more free time to work on his own company. And because he doesnt have savings from a giant tech salary or family wealth behind him, he sees continuing to work full-time as the only way to build his business.
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“To work on a startup without a steady income is just batshit crazy, honestly,” he said. “The pandemic has shown that you cant put all your eggs in one basket or rely on your corporate employers to provide for you.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="84Dh9q">
Many side startup founders were quick to point out that their jobs could fire them at any point, regardless of how loyal theyve been or how much work theyve put in.
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“I dont feel bad at all because I give my full-time job eight or nine or sometimes more hours of work a day,” said one software engineer whos building his own subscription financial metrics and visualization website for retail investors. Thats been especially possible as a global pandemic has curtailed some of his other pastimes like playing sports and poker. “Theres no guilt there.”
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Instead, the 46-year-old views his side startup as a “ticket out of the hourly grind” and a way to hedge in an industry he fears will try to outsource his work or give it to someone younger and less expensive.
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Other side startup founders expressed a similar sentiment. Developing their own business allows them to be self-sufficient. And if it takes a steady paycheck to get there, so be it.
</p>
<h3 id="Lza0cF">
How the other side feels
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AQhbi2">
Of course, theres a reason why most of the founders we spoke to have kept their startups secret: Their potential investors and bosses arent necessarily going to be as happy about their multitasking as they are.
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For some employers, the idea of an employee having a side startup is especially troubling since they already have so many fears about keeping tabs on employees in a remote environment.
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A person who works in leadership at a software company said that, since the advent of remote work, hes seen both an employee and another person in leadership working on their own businesses on the side. He asked to be anonymous because he isnt authorized to speak for his company and didnt want to upset his co-workers. When he approached the employees manager about why it was taking so long for the normally very talented person to finish a project, he found out the person was also running a clothing company and a popular food Instagram account.
</p>
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“As a manager, it sucks. As someone whos a proponent of people being on their career journeys and really discovering who they are and what they want to be, I applaud it,” he said. “But at the same time, Im like, Ive got shit to do.’”
</p>
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Managers fear that the trend writ large could have far-reaching effects on productivity and innovation at companies generally, and that they may have to hire two people to do the same job one used to do.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="4bDgaX">
<q>“As a manager, it sucks”</q>
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</div>
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So why not just fire employees running side startups? Some of these startup founders are also very good at their full-time jobs, even when distracted. Additionally, amid the Great Resignation, it has been harder and harder to fill jobs when people leave. And having to find a replacement or operating with fewer workers is expensive and time-consuming for the company. Many bosses are loath to let these founders go, especially if theyre high performers.
</p>
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Chinwe Onyeagoro, CEO and founder of <a href="https://pocketsuite.io/">PocketSuite</a>, sees working on a startup as a good thing for her employees and for her business. PocketSuite is a business app for solo entrepreneurs and small business owners, many of whom also have their own full-time employment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TnjVED">
“If you think about the Michelangelos of the world, they were not single-function players,” she said. “Somebody whos a founder and innovator has a lot of ideas and wants to apply themselves in a few different ways. Your best people are going to show up that way.”
</p>
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As a way of attracting and retaining such people, Onyeagoro is encouraging her own workers to follow their entrepreneurial dreams and hiring people who are already doing so. She doesnt see it as losing time, especially since the company has gone fully remote and her employees have flexibility on when to work. As long as theyre hitting their deadlines, keeping these people is a no-brainer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1IhNlf">
In some ways, this wave of remote entrepreneurs is taking advantage of a singular opportunity. Theyre using employment to write employment out of the equation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vnaCJv">
As offices reopen and the worst pandemic restrictions subside — and as fears of a recession rise — this window for entrepreneurs will grow smaller, but its unlikely to close. Many of the underlying reasons for the tight labor market, like an aging workforce and poor child care infrastructure, arent going away.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a0FgNq">
Remote work also is not going away. Firms are offering remote work as a way to make up for wages that <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22933594/pay-raise-price-inflation-employers-great-resignation">arent rising as fast as inflation</a> and are having to continue to do so to stay competitive with their competitors.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZqiE0G">
So far, there doesnt appear to be a recession in hiring. Even if there is a recession, that does not necessarily mean companies will revoke remote work. Experts <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23205039/future-remote-work-experts-promotion-recession">we spoke with</a> thought it was possible a recession could lead to more remote work as companies downsize office leases to save money. More remote work could lead to more employees finding new uses for their extra time. And that might mean happier workers all around.
</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>I am ready to clash with Nikhat Zareen for a spot in 50kg boxing at Paris Olympics, says Nitu Ghanghas</strong> - On her Birmingham showing, Nitu said, “Winning the gold medal on my Commonwealth Games debut was special.”</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>Arjun Tendulkar seeks NoC from Mumbai, likely to play for Goa next season</strong> - Arjun Tendulkar has recently been a part of Mumbai Indians' developmental squad that played a lot of T20 games in England.</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>Trevalius, Peridot and Absara Star shine</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>Jayawardene picks Babar Azam as player who can dethrone Joe Root as top Test batter</strong> - Jayawardene said he was most impressed by the amount of time Babar Azam has spent while at the crease.</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>Morning Digest | Centre releases ₹1.16 lakh crore to States to boost spending; Last-minute flights likely to get cheaper, and more</strong> - A select list of stories to read before you start your day</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>Panchayat to correct dangerous curve at Puthiyapuram in Kozhikode</strong> - Local body makes an effort following SHRC rap</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>Coffee plantations covered by heaps of soil at Donigal</strong> - Negligence of road construction company on NH 75 blamed for the incident</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>Yadgir farmers shift pump sets to safer places as KBJNL increases discharge of water from Basavasagar reservoir to Krishna river in north Karnataka</strong> - Agriculture fields downstream of the reservoir in Yadgir district are facing a flood-like situation</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>Andhra Pradesh: Bhoomi puja for Venkateswara temple at Navi Mumbai on August 21</strong> - Maharashtra government has allotted 10 acres for the shrine at Ulwe</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>Income tax payers barred from enrolling in Atal Pension Yojana from Oct 1</strong> - The government introduced APY on June 1, 2015, to provide social security to workers mainly in the unorganised sector</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>France firefighters battle monster wildfire near Bordeaux</strong> - The blaze in Frances south-west has gutted a number of homes and forced some 10,000 people to flee.</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>Ukraine war: Crimea airbase badly damaged, satellite images show</strong> - New pictures show extensive damage to buildings and warplanes after explosions hit the Russian base.</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>Zaporizhzhia: Russia must exit Ukraine nuclear plant, says G7</strong> - Moscows occupation of the Zaporizhzhia site puts the entire region in danger, say foreign ministers.</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>Ryanair boss OLeary says the era of €10 flights is over</strong> - Flights will be more expensive because war in Ukraine has pushed up oil prices, Michael OLeary tells the BBC.</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>Ex-inmates reveal details of Russia prison rape scandal</strong> - Former prisoners expose how and why rape is being used as a weapon inside Russian jails.</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>New tragic details of US child who died from tropical bacteria in room spray</strong> - The healthy boy died a week after falling ill with the tricky-to-diagnose infection. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1873050">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PlayStation Plus highest tier slams to an apparent halt on classic games</strong> - After services June revision, we review how poorly its “classic” library is going. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1872971">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Amazon begins large-scale rollout of palm print-based payments</strong> - The technology has drawn scrutiny from privacy activists and politicians. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1872964">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Were bones of Waterloo soldiers sold as fertilizer? Its not yet case closed</strong> - Visitor accounts, artwork describe exact locations of three mass graves - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1861820">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FCC cancels Starlinks $886 million grant from Ajit Pais mismanaged auction</strong> - FCC: “Nascent” Starlink tech has capacity limits, may not deliver required speed. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1872985">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<li><strong>My 12 year old just told me a joke</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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He said “Ive been trying to cut down the amount of video games I play, Im only playing for 30 minutes before I go to bed. Last night I went to bed 8 times.”
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HMWWaWChChIaWChCChW"> /u/HMWWaWChChIaWChCChW </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wlealb/my_12_year_old_just_told_me_a_joke/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wlealb/my_12_year_old_just_told_me_a_joke/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A taxi passenger tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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The driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, went up on the footpath, and stopped inches from a shop window.
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For a second, everything was quiet in the cab. Then the driver said, “Look, mate, dont ever do that again. You scared the living daylights out of me!”
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The passenger apologized and said, “I didnt realize that a little tap would scare you so much.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The driver replied, “Sorry, its not really your fault. Today is my first day as a cab driver — Ive been driving a funeral van for the last 25 years.”
</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/soveranol"> /u/soveranol </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wlnav4/a_taxi_passenger_tapped_the_driver_on_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wlnav4/a_taxi_passenger_tapped_the_driver_on_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I taught my kids about democracy tonight by having them vote on what movie to watch and pizza to order</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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And then I picked the movie and pizza I wanted because Im the one with the money.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/lardparty"> /u/lardparty </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wl2sbl/i_taught_my_kids_about_democracy_tonight_by/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wl2sbl/i_taught_my_kids_about_democracy_tonight_by/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Why are diversity officers in progressive companies always women?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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Because it is cheaper.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MrDagon007"> /u/MrDagon007 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wlj5eb/why_are_diversity_officers_in_progressive/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wlj5eb/why_are_diversity_officers_in_progressive/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A man walks into a Mexican book store and asks, “Do you have the book on Donald Trumps foreign policies with Mexico?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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The clerk replies, “Fuck you, get out of here, and stay out!”
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The man replies, “Yeah, thats the one!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ChampionOfChaos"> /u/ChampionOfChaos </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wleqip/a_man_walks_into_a_mexican_book_store_and_asks_do/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wleqip/a_man_walks_into_a_mexican_book_store_and_asks_do/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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