716 lines
78 KiB
HTML
716 lines
78 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
|
||
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
|
||
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
|
||
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
|
||
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
|
||
<title>11 January, 2022</title>
|
||
<style type="text/css">
|
||
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
|
||
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
|
||
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
|
||
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
|
||
</style>
|
||
<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
|
||
<body>
|
||
<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>How Soon Will COVID Be “Normal”?</strong> - Even as the Omicron wave spikes, some outside experts believe that the time has come for Anthony Fauci and the White House to declare a new phase in the pandemic. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/how-soon-will-covid-be-normal">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Who Gets the Blame When Schools Shut Down</strong> - Somehow, it is teachers who are held responsible—more than government failures or even COVID-19 itself—for pandemic-era school closures. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/who-gets-the-blame-when-schools-shut-down">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Eric Adams Says He Has Swagger. What Else Does He Have?</strong> - How New York’s new Mayor spent his first week in office. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/eric-adams-says-he-has-swagger-what-else-does-he-have">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The World We Want to Live in After COVID</strong> - The pandemic offers lessons about our local, national, and global communities. Will we listen? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/the-world-we-want-to-live-in-after-covid">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Murder of Mexican Journalists Spreads to a Magical Town</strong> - A magazine editor in San Cristóbal de las Casas, a mecca for tourists and expats, falls victim to a relentless wave of violence against the press. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-murder-of-mexican-journalists-spreads-to-a-magical-town">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>What omicron means for the economy</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="People waiting in line on a crowded sidewalk for a Covid-19 test." src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/thumbor/hecoKbl4KbpnT-f0vVT--ws4fHc=/535x0:6082x4160/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70373681/1360054771.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
New Yorkers waiting in line for a Covid-19 test in Times Square on December 20, 2021. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
There is no “normal” economy until the pandemic is under control.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Amlcrr">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h47o1D">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2mUnLt">
|
||
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2022/1/4/22864934/covid-19-us-omicron-cases-
|
||
hospitalizations-deaths-2022">omicron variant</a> doesn’t spell complete disaster for the economy, but it’s not great, either. It reinforces what’s been true throughout the pandemic: What happens to the economy is contingent on what happens with the virus, and as long as the virus isn’t under control, neither is the country’s economic destiny, or the world’s.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kAPwn1">
|
||
The United States economy is in a better place than it was in the earlier days of the Covid-19 outbreak. Jobs are returning, though in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/business/economy/jobs-
|
||
report-december-2021.html">rockier fashion</a> than some optimists hoped for, and <a href="https://blog.dol.gov/2022/01/07/5-numbers-from-the-december-jobs-report">unequally</a> for subsets of workers. GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2021 <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/omicron-variant-is-expected-to-dent-global-
|
||
economy-in-early-2022-11640631554">is expected to be strong</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bodpGi">
|
||
It’s too early for the effects of omicron to start showing up in most economic data. Still, the variant is obviously making a difference and throwing a wrench into the recovery.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i8j186">
|
||
Millions of Covid-19 cases means millions of people <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/business/economy-omicron-slowing-jobs-closing-20220107.html">missing work</a> while in quarantine, and that means serious disruptions. Flights are canceled. Hospitals face staffing shortages. Businesses are shuttering and reopening. Shows and sporting events are shutting down, off and on. Schools have once again been <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22868641/chicago-school-closings-omicron-covid-remote-learning">thrown into chaos</a>. Amid fear of the virus, a subset of the public is choosing, once again, to stay home.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kqxfFT">
|
||
The question isn’t whether omicron will have an economic impact, it’s how big it will be and how long it will last. “We’re getting a sense that there are a lot of infections, but it’s not going to, in all likelihood, overwhelm us. But how long is it going to be around? Because that is disruptive,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wXBP8Y">
|
||
The effects won’t be experienced equally. The scenario for someone who has paid leave or can work from home is quite different from someone who doesn’t have paid leave and has to work in person. Disruptions for businesses will also depend on what happens to their workers and customer bases. What’s more, the government support that undergirded many in previous times during the pandemic — expanded unemployment insurance, the extended child tax credit, small- business loans — has disappeared.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lK9gs9">
|
||
“We are on our own, which to some degree may be a reason why we muscle through it, work through it,” Zandi said. “Buckle in, we’re going to make our way through this as best we can without checks and PPP money and rental assistance, we’re going to have to get through this and people are going to have to keep on working.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="Q2GWZn">
|
||
Not going out as much as you were in October? Me neither.
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ok2fXB">
|
||
There are two competing public health factors: The omicron variant is spreading very fast, and the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22851808/omicron-symptoms-covid-19-vaccine-mild-variant">risks associated with it</a> appear to be somewhat milder than with other variants, especially for people who are vaccinated and boosted. In terms of economic impact, these are offsetting factors; it’s not clear whether the spread of the virus or the mildness of it will weigh more heavily on people’s behavior.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JCRZyc">
|
||
Still, it’s impossible that omicron wouldn’t have some sort of effect. When I walk by a bar or restaurant in New York City right now, they are markedly less crowded than they were a few months ago (even considering the colder weather). Staff is out sick at many businesses. How many teachers and students are in and out of schools every day varies significantly. My office is once again closed.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cAOIv6">
|
||
Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, outlined in a recent <a href="https://www.grantthornton.com/-/media/content-page-files/economic-analysis/economic-update/economic-update-
|
||
january-2022/economiccurrentsjanuary20222.ashx?la=en&hash=6B1E9DF10B246579E562A241D672CEB2BA9DD510">note</a> what she believes are two scenarios for omicron and the economy. The sunnier version says that the virus surge is short-lived and ends quickly, as it did in South Africa. And while fear of getting sick and reduced work hours slows activity, it won’t really harm consumer spending. In that version, GDP slows in the first quarter, but it’s not catastrophic. The more dire version paints, of course, a more dire picture: Omicron collides with delta, and even though there isn’t a government-mandated lockdown, there’s an effective one as so many people get sick. What exactly will happen remains an open question.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G7yFQn">
|
||
“Forecasting during the pandemic has been akin to standing in quicksand,” Swonk wrote. “Every time it seems we have a tether to pull us out, the ground beneath us shifts again in response to a new wave of infections.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="989gcf">
|
||
Many economists believe the impact of omicron will be significant, but the hope is that it will be quick. That’s what Wall Street appears to be betting on.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ARw05t">
|
||
“The stock market is at a record high because investors, I think, believe that this could be the tail end of the pandemic,” said Ed Yardeni, founder and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research. “It is just as disruptive as the delta was and the original variant, in some ways more so, because it’s spreading so rapidly. What’s different about this variant is it’s spreading like wildfire, and the hope is, like a wildfire, it burns itself out quickly.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9ZPcZh">
|
||
Many economists <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-04/goldman-cuts-u-s-gdp-forecast-saying-omicron-is-drag-on-
|
||
growth">have</a><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/20/economy/mark-zandi-omicron-us-economic-forecast/index.html"> cut</a> their forecasts for economic growth in 2022 due, in part, to the omicron variant. Zandi, from Moody’s, has cut his forecast for GDP growth in the first quarter of the year to 2 percent annualized compared to 5 percent.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qW0zTc">
|
||
It’s possible that omicron could fuel inflation, with central banks in the United States and around the world <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/central-banks-worry-omicron-could-sustain-inflation-11639909805">expressing such concerns</a>. If demand yet again heavily exceeds supply, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/05/omicron-variant-
|
||
likely-to-fuel-inflation-as-americans-keep-shopping-economist-says.html">it could continue to be a problem on prices</a>. However, Zandi says he expects the impact on inflation to be modest, partly because businesses and industries have had some time to work supply chain issues out. Still, there are risks around the supply chain reaction to omicron, and they stretch far beyond the borders of the US.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uAY5Kg">
|
||
“One thing that made delta so disruptive was that it really took out Asia, Southeast Asia, where a lot of the supply chains begin, and they take a different approach to responding to the pandemic,” Zandi said. “They tend to shut things down, and that is highly disruptive.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="7brHSz">
|
||
Omicron arrived in already choppy waters
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x6YE0h">
|
||
The economic recovery in the US has been uneven. <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-weeds/2021/10/22/22740372/inflation-increase-price-
|
||
hike">Inflation</a> has wound up being more of a problem than many economists, policymakers, and the White House had hoped. We talk more about the supply chain than anyone ever imagined. Jobs are coming back, but it’s inconsistent — the economy <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/07/hiring-falters-in-december-as-payrolls-rise-only-199000.html">added just under</a> 200,000 jobs in December, falling short of analysts’ expectations. That was recorded before the omicron wave really took hold.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9n3J2A">
|
||
Aaron Sojourner, a labor economist at the University of Minnesota and former senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers, said it’s unlikely businesses will lay off workers as they did early on in the pandemic. Many employers are having a very difficult time hiring right now, and they don’t want to lose people and then try to get them back again. Plus, the hope is that the variant won’t be as disruptive as variants past, especially with vaccines and better treatments available.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZR9EGE">
|
||
“My suspicion is that we’ll have temporary disruptions driven really by health challenges, but it won’t be so much layoffs, it won’t be job destruction, it will be more schedule unpredictability, staffing unpredictability,” Sojourner said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vkj9R3">
|
||
It appears to be the case that the unvaccinated will be the ones to cause more disruptions. Sojourner <a href="https://twitter.com/aaronsojourner/status/1479468820427325442?s=20">estimates</a> that people without at least two vaccine doses are 2.4 times likelier to miss a week of work because of Covid-19. Vaccination status aside, it’s low- income workers who are missing work more than high-income workers — and who are often also less likely to have paid leave.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="FhhpH9">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Every week, many Americans are missing work because they’re sick with COVID symptoms or they’re caring for someone sick.<br/><br/>Unvaccinated folks are 2.4X more likely to miss work.<br/><br/>Within vaccination status, this hits lower-income folks harder, tho they have less paid sick leave. <a href="https://t.co/DXBNFSKI0l">pic.twitter.com/DXBNFSKI0l</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Aaron Sojourner</blockquote></div></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<ol class="example" type="1">
|
||
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/aaronsojourner/status/1479444538217410566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2022</a>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jUUEFC">
|
||
Throughout the pandemic, there’s been a tension between public health interests and economic interests — despite the fact that there’s really no getting back to a normal economy until and unless the virus is under control. That tension has been on display, in part, with the CDC’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/12/27/1068358102/cdc-quarantine-covid">decision</a> to change its guidance on quarantine periods for Covid-19. It now says people who test positive for the virus but don’t have symptoms need to isolate for just five days and wear a good mask for five more. Previously, it recommended 10 days of isolation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UH0uWb">
|
||
The decision has come amid pressure from the business community, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/delta-ceo-asks-cdc-cut-quarantine-time-breakthrough-covid-
|
||
cases-2021-12-21/">such as the CEO of Delta</a>, which has pushed a change in guidelines in order to ease worker shortages and get sidelined employees back faster. Some critics have panned the CDC’s move as one that prioritizes corporate profits over public health. That may be true, but there’s also a tricky line for workers to walk — especially those without paid leave. For many people, missing 10 days of pay is an untenable proposition. If the US had paid leave for all workers, the scenario would be different — and brighter.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HNIqCJ">
|
||
“If people are contagious and infectious, they pay the cost of isolating. But everyone else gets the benefit, and that’s not fair, it’s not efficient,” Sojourner said. “It leads to bad decisions from a social perspective. That’s true for workers, and that’s true for firms.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="LwloJk">
|
||
There are ways to deal with the fallout, but the tools could be better
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bTYbDI">
|
||
The good news about omicron and the economy is that we have much better tools to deal with the situation than we have had at other moments in the pandemic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LhAsOd">
|
||
“There’s a bunch of low-cost, win-win strategies that can be used to protect health and promote livelihoods and keep the economy going, but they’re nothing new,” Sojourner said, citing vaccinations, boosters, and masks, among other measures. “They require work and resources to pull off, but to the extent you can pull them off, you improve health and the economy.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ERtgqr">
|
||
If people do lose jobs or are laid off, they still get unemployment insurance. Extra cash that went out from the federal government during the pandemic <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-finances-got-stronger-in-the-pandemicconfounding-
|
||
early-fears-11641736069">is still helping as well</a>. However,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/business/pandemic-savings.html"> that money will start to run out</a>, and more pandemic-related help from Washington, DC, is not on the way.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3JZoNG">
|
||
A senior White House official told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/05/politics/omicron-covid-relief-package/index.html">CNN</a> that beyond maybe “something small” for restaurants, economic supports such as expanded unemployment insurance just aren’t on the table because the economy is strong. That may be true, but the burden is not shared equally — people who can’t work from home are being pushed out to put themselves at a health risk to keep their households afloat and the economy running. And if they do get sick and have to miss work, that comes at an economic cost to them and to businesses as well.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M4iKvy">
|
||
“Fundamentally, we’re still in a world where people think the economy is made up of profits and corporate interests, and as long as we think about our economy in that way, we’re never going to get to a point where we’re actually providing the public health resources [along with] the big investments and labor market supports that actually help people thrive. And until we do that, we’re never going to get out of this situation in a healthy way,” said Rakeen Mabud, chief economist and managing director of policy and research at the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive think tank. “We’re really seeing how public health decisions that prioritize profits over people are stacking the deck against people and their families.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CUmsPQ">
|
||
For the time being, the country seems to be hoping omicron is a temporary danger for people’s health and the economy. We’re basically white-knuckling through it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>Omicron is exploding. Here’s what to do if you’ve been exposed.</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/thumbor/U82Z8F0RBoWfbDT_ts5xKDRkjjY=/0x0:4011x3008/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70373624/GettyImages_1237550312.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
People line up for a Covid-19 test in Los Angeles on January 5, 2022, as the omicron variant continues to spread at a blistering pace. | Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
How to handle quarantining, testing, and masking after a Covid-19 exposure.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QyrrQ1">
|
||
If you find out you’ve been exposed to someone who’s tested positive for Covid-19, a rush of questions might come to mind: Do I have to quarantine? What if I can’t find a good mask or a test? Even if I test negative, can I be certain that I’m not contagious?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3bs47B">
|
||
With omicron causing <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home">record-shattering case growth</a> over the past few weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation-quarantine-guidance.html">guidelines</a> about what to do after exposure<strong> </strong>have shifted, and they remain frustratingly unclear. The last thing anyone wants to do when they’ve just learned they’ve been exposed is to<strong> </strong>dig through a bunch of confusing guidelines.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rhy7sb">
|
||
Yet we all need to know what to do in this situation. Even if you’re not worried about omicron’s effects on you personally — maybe because it <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22849891/omicron-pandemic-
|
||
endemic">appears to be milder</a>, because you’re in a low-risk group,<strong> </strong>or because you think Covid-19 is inescapable at this point — it’s crucial to do all you reasonably can to<strong> </strong>avoid spreading it to others right now, especially anyone who might be elderly, immunocompromised, or unvaccinated. Testing capacity is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/17/us/politics/us-covid-tests-omicron.html">currently very strained</a> and some hospitals are already running out of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/09/health/us-coronavirus-
|
||
sunday/index.html">staffing</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/01/omicron-mild-hospital-
|
||
strain-health-care-workers/621193/">beds</a>. It’s really important that we not contribute to that crunch.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZGGlYq">
|
||
Experts aren’t suggesting Americans have to go back to a March 2020-style lockdown. Unlike at the start of the pandemic, we have vaccines and boosters that are <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/31/omicron-hospitalization-
|
||
risk-upside-vaccine-protection-good-uk-study-.html">highly effective</a> at preventing serious illness and death. But they are advising people to be thoughtful about risk right now — both in terms of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22849891/omicron-pandemic-endemic">precautions we take to avoid being exposed to omicron</a>, and in terms of what we do if we have been exposed.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D9XEYj">
|
||
So, to get some clarity on what we should do in the immediate aftermath of an exposure, I asked three epidemiologists what they themselves would do. As you’ll see, there’s a spectrum of views here; within this spectrum, you can decide where you fall depending on your own risk calculus, the people you come in contact with, and the community spread in your area.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="gBcBp6">
|
||
<ol type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">I just found out I’ve been exposed to someone who tested positive — what’s the first thing I should do?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bSa4rO">
|
||
There’s broad unanimity on this front. “Don’t run to get tested. And don’t panic,” said David Dowdy, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KkAefV">
|
||
If you spent time indoors with someone and then find out they’ve tested positive, it’s possible you might get Covid-19 from the exposure, but you won’t test positive immediately after it. So if it’s only been a day or two since your exposure, the thing to focus on first is not testing, but the possibility of needing to quarantine — and the certainty of needing a good mask.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mdslAk">
|
||
If you’re unvaccinated, or are vaccinated with two doses but not yet boosted, you should quarantine for five days and continue to wear a mask around others for five more days after that.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ViAAz7">
|
||
If you’re boosted, then you don’t need to quarantine, according to the CDC guidelines. But you should still wear a mask around others for 10 days after the exposure.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1Aqm4p">
|
||
And yes, “wear a mask around others” includes others in your home — like children or roommates — if possible. Dowdy acknowledged that’s hard to do, but said his family did it when one of them recently had Covid-19: They opened the windows in the house, wore N95s, and slept in different rooms. “Not everyone will be able to do this,” he said, “but for those who can, it’s the ideal way to halt transmission.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8c5qwf">
|
||
All that said, the CDC guidance has also led to other questions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="TlJIsV">
|
||
<ol start="2" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">The CDC says I don’t need to quarantine if I’m vaccinated and boosted. Is that really<strong> </strong>sound guidance?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="acM41R">
|
||
When I asked the epidemiologists whether they agreed with the CDC on this point, they expressed a range of opinion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a73PrJ">
|
||
“I think this is a safe bet. Boosters prevent infection from omicron very well,” <a href="https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/">Katelyn Jetelina</a>, an infectious diseases epidemiologist with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, told me by email. In other words, if you’re boosted, the chance that you’ll spread the omicron variant is significantly lowered because there’s a lower chance of you becoming infected with it in the first place.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Juy20g">
|
||
Dowdy, for his part, said of the CDC guidance, “I think this is reasonable, depending on the level of transmission in your area. If you’re in the midst of a hot spot, it probably makes sense to quarantine even if you are vaccinated. But if transmission levels are low, this is reasonable advice.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qBZFQE">
|
||
He added that it’s important to consider a couple of other factors in making your personal decision: first, whether you frequently come into contact with other people who could get really sick if they got infected, and second, if it’s been more than a few months since your last vaccine dose. “In either of these cases, it makes sense to quarantine, even if you are vaccinated,” he said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mPzuUS">
|
||
Tara Smith, an epidemiologist at Kent State University, told me she doesn’t think we have enough data about omicron to know if the CDC’s advice is solid. “If you can quarantine, I would still recommend it,” she said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="keUsYL">
|
||
“We did when we had an exposure just before Christmas. We all ended up negative but did not want to take the chance of spreading virus, and were off work and school with the holiday so that was easy for us,” she said. “Understandably, not everyone can do that, especially as many employers will no longer allow such measures. That’s why it’s important to be diligent about masking.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="QHGxt3">
|
||
<ol start="3" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">When should I take a test? What should I do if I have difficulty getting a test?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KyiqyP">
|
||
The best time to get tested seems to be about five days after exposure (or at any time after a fever develops). Just remember that tests — especially <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22870328/how-to-use-rapid-tests-omicron">rapid antigen tests</a> —<strong> </strong>are not foolproof. “Testing negative doesn’t mean you can go mask-free. You should still mask around others in public” until it’s been 10 days since the exposure, Smith said. “Even with a negative test, if you have exposure and symptoms, it’s best to assume you are Covid-positive and act as such.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XkYQU8">
|
||
What about if you can’t get access to a test?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LPIUpP">
|
||
In that case, Dowdy said, “The best thing to do is continue quarantine for 10 days after any exposure. If you haven’t developed symptoms within 10 days, it’s reasonable to end quarantine at that time.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NjuhRr">
|
||
With all of this, he said, there is a balance of risks and benefits — as well as personal circumstances — that must be assessed on an individual level. “What I’m describing is the ideal situation — for example, someone who can easily quarantine and continue working at home,” he said. “But most of us don’t live in those ideal situations, and it’s important for all of us to be understanding of others who may not have the same support systems that we have.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="imiwKA">
|
||
Jetelina agrees that if you have difficulty getting a test, you should assume that you are positive and isolate until you can get your hands on one. “If you’re still asymptomatic after five days (and still can’t get a test), you can stop isolation as long as you can wear a good mask for five more days,” she wrote, noting N95s are the best option.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="0kx3KB">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<h3 id="cNH80r">
|
||
<ol start="4" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">The CDC says I’m supposed to mask up for 10 days after exposure. Is that really necessary?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WxSV9p">
|
||
Both Jetelina and Smith were crystal-clear on this one: Yes!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tmeMPM">
|
||
“This is incredibly important as you can still be infectious after five days,” Jetelina said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hPnZxf">
|
||
We’re still learning about the transmission dynamics of omicron, and although many people will probably stop being infectious before 10 days have passed, “wearing a mask during that period will help to reduce any chance of spreading the virus,” Smith explained.
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CLAM9P">
|
||
Dowdy noted that compared to other measures that could be enacted (like lockdowns), wearing a mask in public places is arguably not the hardest thing to do. So wearing a mask for 10 days is “the ideal,” he said, though he reemphasized the caveat that “we have to be understanding of people for whom this might not be possible.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="oMcGeY">
|
||
<ol start="5" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">What kind of mask should I wear? What should I do if I can’t get an N95?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lQ6oav">
|
||
The best bet is an N95. KN95 masks work great, too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RfO4X1">
|
||
Even though these masks are in high demand right now, you can still order them from mass suppliers like Walmart or Amazon, or from retailers like <a href="https://wellbefore.com/">WellBefore</a>, <a href="https://bonafidemasks.com/">Bona Fide Masks</a>, <a href="https://www.demetech.us/">DemeTECH</a>, and <a href="https://n95maskco.com/pages/shop-all-collections">N95 Mask Co</a>. (There may be a shipping lag for some of these masks, so even if you haven’t been exposed, it’s a good idea to stock up now so you’ll be prepared.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CPjtlc">
|
||
“Remember that the fit of the mask is just as important as the type of mask,” Dowdy said. “Wearing an N95 without fitting it to your face is defeating the purpose of wearing an N95 in the first place.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AMihVj">
|
||
If you can’t get an N95 or a KN95, the next-best option is a tight-fitting surgical mask (see <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=450766222891597">this CDC video</a> on how to adjust a surgical mask to improve fit). Adding a cloth mask on top of your surgical mask will further help eliminate gaps around your face.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1CS8F8">
|
||
If you’ve been exposed or tested positive, do not rely on a cloth mask alone to prevent you from spreading the virus to others.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="kJU9Mi">
|
||
<ol start="6" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">If I get a negative rapid test result, can I trust the result enough to go see, say, my elderly parents?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="In0kkn">
|
||
It’s important to remember that rapid tests aren’t perfect — and even with <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22790673/home-covid-tests-molecular-antigen-winter-
|
||
holidays">more sensitive tests</a> like PCR, being negative one day doesn’t mean you won’t be positive in another day or two.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TsTbBi">
|
||
“If you have symptoms or a close contact [with an infected person], I would not trust one negative test,” Jetelina said, adding that it’s a good idea to retest at least 24 hours later.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PK6ic6">
|
||
Likewise, Smith said, “I would still try to mask around others if you have been exposed, when possible, especially if individuals you may spend time with are in high-risk categories.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0RiVhR">
|
||
She noted that there have been <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/medrxiv/early/2021/12/24/2021.12.22.21268246.full.pdf">some</a> <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.04.22268770v1.full.pdf">reports</a> recently that sampling the nose isn’t sensitive enough early on to detect omicron infection, and that samples from the throat or saliva may detect it earlier. (Note that these reports are not yet peer-reviewed.) However, we don’t yet know if those early throat or saliva samples mean infected individuals are already spreading virus to others.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="10lgUI">
|
||
According to Dowdy, it’s “really a judgment call at this point” whether you should feel comfortable visiting parents after one negative rapid test result. You have to consider your level of exposure, your parents’ health, how long and in what setting you’ll be seeing each other, and how both you and your parents weigh the value of seeing each other against the risk of them getting sick.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5unUa6">
|
||
“If your parents are relatively healthy and you haven’t been closely exposed (and are feeling well), it’s probably reasonable to trust that negative test result,” he said. “If your parents are much more frail and you’re living with someone who has Covid in your house, I’d wait.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>A new era for the American worker</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="Protesters walking down a city street carry signs that read “Teamsters,” “Support Amazon
|
||
workers,” and “Amazon has no excuse.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/09okxTES-
|
||
ODbruQuKmMz7ysNXQw=/0x0:3556x2667/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70373561/GettyImages_1231889284.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Members of Teamsters Local 63 join union workers to rally in downtown Los Angeles, in support of unionizing Alabama Amazon workers, on March 22, 2021. | Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
American workers have power. That won’t last forever.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uswG66">
|
||
<br/><br/><br/><br/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iT9hOt">
|
||
More than any other time in recent memory, the present moment offers many Americans a chance to make work better.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mr2lhX">
|
||
American employees in 2022 have more leverage over their employers than they have had since the 1970s, the result of a confluence of factors. The pandemic that began in 2020 has prompted a widespread reevaluation about what place work should have in the lives of many Americans, who are known for <a href="https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm">putting in more hours</a> than people in most other industrialized nations. There’s also been a groundswell of labor organizing that began building momentum in the last decade, due to larger trends like an aging population and growing income inequality. This movement has accelerated in the past two years as the pandemic has brought labor issues to the fore.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cwj5jZ">
|
||
“I feel like there’s a change in the culture of Americans” to become more pro-labor, said Catherine Creighton, director of the Co-Lab at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations school.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tNdxpq">
|
||
“The pandemic created a huge shift where people can take the time to say, ‘What’s going on in my life?’ And it just stopped the clock for a moment, for people to say what’s important and not important,” she said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="psXf3A">
|
||
Huge numbers of <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22776112/quit-jobs-great-resignation-workers-union">US workers have been quitting their jobs</a> or leaving the workforce entirely, as a booming economy has created more demand for workers. This so-called Great Resignation, or Great Reshuffle, has continued even as expanded state and national unemployment benefits have run out. The ensuing labor shortages have shifted the balance of power from employers to employees — at least for those with in-demand skills or in in-demand industries.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i7yJY7">
|
||
These conditions create a fertile ground for Americans to seek higher wages, better benefits, and improved working conditions. But that leverage will only last as long as the worker shortage. Whether these improvements continue into the future for all workers will require a mix of policy change and union growth. Considering that lawmakers are currently at a <a href="https://www.vox.com/22864859/democrats-filibuster-voting-rights-build-back-better">standstill</a> in the Senate over everything from the infrastructure bill to voting rights, union organizing seems like the most promising way to push these kinds of changes forward.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xxQoIe">
|
||
“I’ve been working for the union for 40 years and there’s never been a better time to organize than right now,” D. Taylor, international president of the hotel and food service worker union Unite Here, told Recode, citing a pro-labor administration, labor shortages, and growing economic inequality.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="CqwPnA">
|
||
<q>“I’ve been working for the union for 40 years and there’s never been a better time to organize than right now”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rhCRbQ">
|
||
He said that while workers are using the current situation to eke out better pay and benefits, those gains are temporary and could be wiped out in coming years by <a href="https://www.vox.com/22811903/inflation-rate-2021-christmas-holidays-report-cpi">inflation</a> and layoffs.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G6N8eq">
|
||
“The only fundamental way to change the economic livelihood and the rights of workers is through the union movement,” he said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="QOSmjw">
|
||
Why now is the time
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r1Tv9u">
|
||
Of the many effects Covid-19 has had on America, how it’s changed the way we think about work might be among the most indelible.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Health care workers outside a care facility hold signs
|
||
that read, “Quality care and good jobs for all. We are essential and united. 1199 SEIU.”" src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/thumbor/eYU7Xjx_Ld1C9n-kd0WmojRwB5U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23159287/GettyImages_1253093495.jpg"/> <cite>Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Employees at Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation in New Hyde Park, New York, attend a vigil May 28, 2020, to protest their working conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lH4aoM">
|
||
The pandemic made work harder for many people and highlighted the longstanding struggles of workers across many industries. The ongoing public health emergency and its ensuing repercussions for health care workers finally shined a light on the industry’s long-ignored concerns: lengthy hours, incommensurate pay for health care workers like nurses, and the dangerous but crucial nature of their work. People who serve food and sell groceries for wages that are often too low to live on sustainably suddenly became inadvertent front- line workers, heralded for their bravery in the first waves of the pandemic (but largely forgotten in the subsequent ones). And workers who toil in e-commerce warehouses or offer delivery services became integral cogs to the US economy in an extreme way, as their existing complaints about inhumane treatment in the workplace went uncorrected.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gWRJ2A">
|
||
Even white-collar workers, whose labor is often higher paid and objectively safer than many blue-collar employees, are experiencing high rates of burnout and mental health issues, prompting them to question work’s meaning in their lives and whether it was ever necessary that they commute daily from their homes to work on computers somewhere else.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w8lVFZ">
|
||
And now, a <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22776112/quit-jobs-great-resignation-workers-
|
||
union">record number</a> of Americans have been quitting their jobs — <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm">4.5 million in November</a> alone, representing 3 percent of all employment.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="1A9z1y">
|
||
<div id="datawrapper-WlAXj">
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D3zFGr">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qh0HvQ">
|
||
There are also millions more open jobs than there are Americans willing to fill them. That’s partly because<strong> </strong>there are <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001&output_view=net_1mth">3.6 million</a> fewer people on payrolls than there had been pre-pandemic. Labor force participation rates — the share of the population that’s working or looking for work — are far below pre-pandemic levels.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="lPlntf">
|
||
<div id="datawrapper-
|
||
rIvZ9">
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wzh52c">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3tONoK">
|
||
The reasons for the decline are myriad. Older Americans — who were already on track to depart the workforce as they age — <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-pushed-many-
|
||
americans-to-retire-the-economy-needs-them-back-11635691340">are retiring early</a>, with people over the age of 55 <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/12/14/labor-market-exits-and-entrances-are-elevated-who-is-coming-
|
||
back/">accounting for about half of the decline</a> in the labor force participation rate since February 2020. <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22605612/working-mothers-pandemic-childcare-ideal-parent-worker-remote">Many women</a> have left jobs to stay home to watch children, and as the omicron variant continues to <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-
|
||
goods/22868641/chicago-school-closings-omicron-covid-remote-learning">close schools</a> and quarantine students, it’s <a href="https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Nov-Jobs-Day.pdf">keeping many of these women from returning</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3LygZP">
|
||
Some people are making ends meet by doing <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22651953/americans-gig-
|
||
independent-workers-benefits-vacation-health-care-inequality">gig work</a> or by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/workers-quit-jobs-in-droves-to-become-their-own-bosses-11638199199">starting their own businesses</a>, which doesn’t always show up on <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf">BLS employment situation data</a> geared to payrolls, and can lack safeguards offered by traditional jobs, such as health care. Others are living off investments in the stock market and alternative assets. People have rented out rooms in their homes or loaned their cars. They’re surviving<strong> </strong>off savings they built by staying home during the pandemic and by collecting government benefits. Many are getting by on a <a href="https://www.hiringlab.org/2022/01/04/2022-labor-market-outlook-and-review/">spouse’s income</a>, by <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/04/a-majority-of-young-adults-in-the-u-s-live-with-their-parents-
|
||
for-the-first-time-since-the-great-depression/">moving in with family</a>, or simply by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/business/financial-independence-retire-early-fire-retirement-
|
||
savings.html">making do with less</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rKv5nc">
|
||
At the same time, the economy is booming, meaning companies would need more workers even if they weren’t quitting in unprecedented numbers. This has given workers a lot more sway in the market.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gIJ9bj">
|
||
“Because of the extraordinary circumstances, we are seeing a transfer of power,” Heidi Shierholz, the president of the Economic Policy Institute, said. “We’re in a really abnormal situation.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kN45RW">
|
||
Businesses are having no choice but to adapt.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TcyYFP">
|
||
“When I talk to leaders of companies, they’re literally panicking because they can’t fulfill their services. They can’t deploy their product. They can’t meet their growth goals because they don’t have trained talent,” Tsedal Neeley, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, told Recode. She said companies that preemptively make work better for their employees — higher pay, remote flexibility, other financial and social incentives — will have a business advantage over those that wait for their workers to demand those benefits.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="GzzRWs">
|
||
<q>“We have not completely grasped the tsunami of changes that have fallen upon us and that will continue to fall upon us”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uoBOJg">
|
||
“We have not completely grasped the tsunami of changes that have fallen upon us and that will continue to fall upon us,” Neeley said. “Work has changed. Workers have changed.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CCcXlI">
|
||
Companies that can’t find enough workers have had to cut back hours and circumscribe their offerings because of worker shortages. Anecdotally, job listings on the hiring platform Indeed are increasingly urgent, using language like <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.hiringlab.org_2021_06_01_urgent-2Dhiring-2Djob-2Dpostings-2Don-2Drise_&d=DwMFaQ&c=7MSjEE-
|
||
cVgLCRHxk1P5PWg&r=Uk6826IZqJcZYCXQJMFvWKrQulJE4xeQAx0-MAaT4u8&m=xcnMLVQDIW3P7mvfYlSMuFZmAfU_WyY9WijD4vckYHLVlDUfqkg4ZusxJ16xzO9R&s=HqNY8PMLC-
|
||
abPvvpSqbE72uach0l2r-hCI_s21QC0ec&e=">“immediate start” or “start today.”</a> Employers are <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/help-really-wanted-no-degree-work-experience-or-background-
|
||
checks-11636196307">waiving requirements</a> they used to have for job candidates, like degrees, experience, and even background checks. Workers who play their cards right have the opportunity to get the jobs they actually want.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pzAOs5">
|
||
As this is all happening, Americans are increasingly interested in — <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22832030/2021-year-charts-botox-billionaires-crypto-antitrust-trends-inflation-meme-
|
||
stocks">and approving of</a> — unions, which will be able to fight for lasting change on behalf of workers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8O8oqj">
|
||
Kenneth Hagans, a catering employee at the Caesars Superdome stadium in New Orleans, is trying to form a union with his coworkers in order to improve pay (he makes $12.50 per hour) and to attain benefits (he doesn’t have any). Even though he said his employers are short-staffed, they have not raised pay, relying instead on temp workers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PzYTCZ">
|
||
Hagans, who is 60 years old, has health problems and works two jobs when he’d like to just work one. He believes now is the time to form a union due to the poor financial circumstances many Americans find themselves in.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BrOeEd">
|
||
“Look at what’s going on in America — it’s not just happening to me, it’s happening in this whole country — people are being paid low wages, and everything is going up,” he said. “You went to the grocery store — you see how high groceries are. You buy a car — you see it’s $5,000 or $10,000 more to buy a new car today. So the wages need to come up.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F0t7l5">
|
||
Unite Here’s Taylor believes that such factors could lead to an increase in union membership in coming years. <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">Membership rates</a> have been declining for decades, but ticked up slightly in 2020 — not because union membership increased but because union members were more likely to hold on to their jobs in the recession than non-union members. 2021 numbers come out later this month.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/thumbor/1Z3RI5WMkhmOBwbvpJrDL7loiVU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23159350/AP21343683114301.jpg"/> <cite>Joshua Bessex/AP</cite></p>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Starbucks employees and supporters react joyfully as votes are read during a viewing of their union election in Buffalo, New York, on December 9, 2021.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VHnpbX">
|
||
Recently, a company-owned Starbucks in the US <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22825850/starbucks-union-first-organizing-vote-nlrb">voted to unionize</a>, and more locations around the country <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/business/starbucks-
|
||
boston-union.html">have followed suit</a>. Other ongoing high-profile unionization efforts and actions by workers at companies as far afield as online retailer Amazon, tech review site <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/business/media/wirecutter-union-contract.html">Wirecutter</a>, and food manufacturing company <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/21/1066326419/kelloggs-union-members-ratify-a-new-contract-
|
||
ending-a-nearly-3-month-strike">Kellogg’s</a> could lead to even more momentum in union formation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QmNwhP">
|
||
“It lets people know, ‘Hey, wait, I can do something about this?” Cornell’s Creighton said. “Even though it’s a handful of people, it can create a spark.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EEcd9f">
|
||
That said, more robust union formation faces severe obstacles.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ro1opY">
|
||
“The way the law is written and has been interpreted over the last 86 years has made it so that it’s almost impossible, in the private sector in America, to form a union,” Creighton said. “Even with all of these labor shortages, which are helping give current workers more leverage, it’s still very difficult.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BGG3wi">
|
||
National <a href="https://www.vox.com/22319838/house-passes-pro-act-unions">legislation</a> that would make it easier to unionize is languishing in the Senate. Unite Here’s Taylor thinks strong union efforts will still prevail.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hm0SMb">
|
||
“If the labor movement, if unions aggressively organize [and] are prepared to have very difficult battles with corporate America — I do [think union membership will go up],” he said. “I think it really rests in our hands, even though all the factors are there to be successful.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="GIbTf5">
|
||
What the American worker stands to gain
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c02b4W">
|
||
So far, the labor shortfall in the past two years alone has already brought significant gains to many workers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DdoXiH">
|
||
From February 2020 to December 2021, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t24.htm">hourly pay for non-manager positions</a> rose 11 percent on average for all employees (about double the typical<strong> </strong>growth for the equivalent time period). Wages grew most swiftly in the lowest-paying fields, like leisure and hospitality, which has seen pay go up 14 percent over pre- pandemic levels, though it remains objectively relatively low. (Inflation has pretty much <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/realer.nr0.htm">wiped out these gains</a>.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PCCLoD">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="UZfWIO">
|
||
<div id="datawrapper-HEwOA">
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="litZdg">
|
||
Some workers in <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22748448/service-food-hotel-workers-pay-raise-resignation-jobs-wages-benefits">leisure and hospitality</a>, which is known for often having bad conditions in addition to low pay, are getting more regular schedules and a clearer path to advancement because employers are eager to fill empty positions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R6siXr">
|
||
The specter of unionization has also forced changes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lcqlwT">
|
||
Michelle Eisen, a barista at the first unionized company-owned Starbucks, in Buffalo, New York, said that when her store filed a petition to organize a union back in August, the company began answering some of their demands by solving supply chain issues, hiring more people, and offering seniority pay.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q7b4Ek">
|
||
Eisen, who spoke to me while taking a break from picketing outside her store on Friday, January 7, says there’s still a lot of work to be done. Foremost is worker health and safety: She and other workers at her store walked out earlier that week because they had been exposed to Covid-19 by a colleague and weren’t allowed to quarantine with pay if they didn’t show symptoms. Starbucks corporate <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/unionized-starbucks-workers-walk-citing-health-concerns-82095908">has disputed this</a> claim, saying they did offer isolation pay.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mEXEPx">
|
||
Eisen and her colleagues have been contacted by hundreds of other Starbucks employees at locations around the country, leading her to believe her store’s unionization will lead to others.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O0abiX">
|
||
Of her own decision to form a union, she said that poor<strong> </strong>working conditions had brought her to her limit last year. “I had two options: It was to either leave a company that I’d spent 10 years with — with people that I liked, in a store that I liked, with a customer base that I really enjoyed and cared about — or we can try to make some changes from the inside,” Eisen told Recode.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/thumbor/EyIFnrtIisxi4fZ5F_EC5MpP7zc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23159477/GettyImages_1357001924.jpg"/> <cite>Joe Raedle/Getty Images</cite></p>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A KFC employee hangs a sign touting a sign-on bonus for new hires at the restaurant in Miami, Florida, on December 3, 2021.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q3FIHz">
|
||
These kinds of positive changes for workers aren’t limited to the service industry. Hiring bonuses and incentives have become <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.hiringlab.org_2021_06_24_employer-2Duse-2Dof-2Dhiring-2Dincentives-2Dgrows_&d=DwMFaQ&c=7MSjEE-
|
||
cVgLCRHxk1P5PWg&r=Uk6826IZqJcZYCXQJMFvWKrQulJE4xeQAx0-MAaT4u8&m=xcnMLVQDIW3P7mvfYlSMuFZmAfU_WyY9WijD4vckYHLVlDUfqkg4ZusxJ16xzO9R&s=iqfMsimLxBNpemyMqyjyLKG2RMdgJCEvSsyn8yW8EnA&e=">increasingly popular</a>. Some more progressive employers are seriously entertaining ideas about offering time off for mental health issues, shifting to <a href="https://www.vox.com/22568452/work-workweek-five-day-four-jobs-pandemic">four-day workweeks</a>, and whether we should be <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/12/16/22837830/covid-pandemic-climate-change-
|
||
great-resignation-2021">working at all during the apocalypse</a>. A college in Buffalo, New York, just <a href="https://wyrk.com/dyouville-college-32-hour-work-week/">moved to a 32-hour workweek</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GJQeP4">
|
||
Still, there is a long way to go and a lot more improvements to be made.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="VOnaAB">
|
||
<q>“It’s very important we do something now. Because if not now, when?”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L27ftk">
|
||
As long as the shortfall of employees continues — which experts told us could last at least a year, but likely longer — workers have a chance to make their jobs better, either by quitting and finding more suitable work or by joining a union.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NPLrfY">
|
||
It’s possible that US policy will change the future of work as well. Some politicians are floating ideas of offering universal basic income, which would set a basic standard of living for all Americans, regardless of their work status. There could be a future in which all Americans have access to parental leave and paid time off — not just those lucky enough to have jobs that provide those benefits.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xrjzrv">
|
||
Neeley, however, has little faith that policy will change. But right now, that might not matter. She said work is getting better because employers have no choice.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VzGCm5">
|
||
“Organizations have to respond or react to market forces or these exogenous shocks that started with Covid,” Neeley said. “If you want to hire, if you want to retain, if you want to meet your basic objectives in your organization, whether it’s a small business or these large enterprises, you need people.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pUKcru">
|
||
For some white-collar workers, that’s meant they’ve been able to attain long-sought-after perks like remote work, which enables them to save time commuting and have a better work-life balance.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1lLRC6">
|
||
At the height of the pandemic, more than half the workforce exclusively worked from home, according to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/355907/remote-work-persisting-trending-permanent.aspx">survey data from Gallup</a>. Now, approximately a quarter of employed people are doing so, while another 20 percent are working from home some of the time, in what’s called a hybrid model. We’ve learned from the pandemic that many more could work remotely — and the current situation is primed for workers to demand it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cJ29NC">
|
||
But the unique advantages of this time won’t necessarily last. Depending on what workers, organizers, and politicians<strong> </strong>do with this moment, we could end up with a culture of work that’s better, or not.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vNNF89">
|
||
“Now is the time where people are realizing, due to labor shortages and what they’ve been through in the last few years, that they could have momentum to change their working lives,” Creighton said. “It’s very important we do something now. Because if not now, when?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<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>IPL | Lucknow and Ahmedabad franchises formally inducted; will get 10-14 days to pick players</strong> - The LOI got delayed after it emerged that private investment firm CVC had links with betting companies outside India</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>Coach Dennerby announces 23-member Indian team for Asian Cup</strong> - Four youngsters from the team that finished runners-up in the U-19 SAFF Championships in Dhaka last month included</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>Washington Sundar tests positive for COVID-19, in doubt for ODI series in South Africa</strong> - It is learnt that Washington will not be able to travel in the chartered flight along with the other selected players and it is not yet clear if he would be individually flown to South Africa</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>‘Cricket 22’ game review: A bowling diamond in the rough</strong> - ‘Official Game of The Ashes: Cricket 22’ brings the sport into a much-awaited big-budget video game; but this one has a long way to go to get close to the real thing</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>Tata group to replace Vivo as IPL title sponsors from this year</strong> - IPL chairman Brijesh Patel confirmed the development</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>Covid-19 third wave impacts passenger occupancy in flights, trains to Mysuru</strong> - Plans to seek additional flights to Mysuru put on hold</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>Plans afoot to control crowd for Makaravilakku</strong> - Curbs likely on entry of pilgrims to Sabarimala as COVID-19 cases rise</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>Goa Assembly elections | Talks on with ‘like-minded’ parties to fight BJP: Sharad Pawar</strong> - “NCP leader Praful Patel and Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut are talking with the local Congress leaders there,” Mr. Pawar said.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 | Necessary arrangements being made for Budget session: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla</strong> - He also asserted that the “situation is under control” and all steps are being taken to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.</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>Delhi riots: Police opposes Umar Khalid’s bail, says ‘idea was to bring govt to knees, destabilise democracy’</strong> - SPP Amit Prasad also contested claims of former JNU student leader Umar Khalid that the investigating agency was communal and the charge sheet in the riots conspiracy case was a “figment of imagination”</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>David Sassoli: European Parliament president dies aged 65</strong> - The Italian was admitted to hospital last month due to a serious complication with his immune system.</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>Danish spy chief Lars Findsen named as mystery leak suspect</strong> - Lars Findsen has been in custody for a month, since he was arrested for allegedly leaking secrets.</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>Covid-19: India lab investigated over 298 positive tests on flights from Italy</strong> - Officials investigate a laboratory after 298 passengers on two flights tested positive for Covid.</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>Russia downplays threat to Ukraine in talks with US</strong> - Russian officials downplay the threat to neighbouring Ukraine during high-stakes talks in Geneva.</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>Djokovic saga damaging, says tennis governing body</strong> - The controversy over Novak Djokovic’s visa to enter Australia has been “damaging on all fronts”, says the ATP.</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>“Aw, screw it”: LAPD cops hunted Pokémon instead of responding to robbery</strong> - Officers’ 2017 hunt for Snorlax recorded by in-car system—court upholds firings. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1824942">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful</strong> - Google failed to compete with iMessage for years. Now it wants Apple to play nice. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1824725">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Doctors fear health care collapse amid omicron surge</strong> - Many hospitals across the country are in crisis as cases surge and staffing is at critical lows. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1824924">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Maserati will race in Formula E next year</strong> - Formula E really wants Ferrari, but this is the next-best thing. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1824881">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why is Zynga worth a whopping $12.7 billion? (Hint: It’s not FarmVille)</strong> - Record acquisition price offers instant entry into the massive mobile game market. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1824871">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>A couple is taking a tour through the Natural History Museum. They ask the tour guide: “How old is this dinosaur skeleton?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He replies: “It is sixty five million and fourteen years and three months old.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Wow! It’s amazing that you can tell this precise. How do you do that? Is it with carbon dating?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“I don’t know” says the guide. “But when I first came here they told me it was sixty five million years old. And I started here fourteen years and three months ago.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/GrubeMessel"> /u/GrubeMessel </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s13u5z/a_couple_is_taking_a_tour_through_the_natural/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s13u5z/a_couple_is_taking_a_tour_through_the_natural/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>How does every racist joke start?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
By looking over both shoulders.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/CleverSpaceMonkey"> /u/CleverSpaceMonkey </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s0ubyj/how_does_every_racist_joke_start/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s0ubyj/how_does_every_racist_joke_start/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>A Man Notices his Co-Worker Wearing an Earring One Day</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A man is at work one day when he notices that his co-worker is wearing an earring.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man knows his co-worker to be a normally conservative fellow, and is curious about his sudden change in “fashion sense”.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man walks up to him and says, “I didn’t know you were into earrings.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Don’t make such a big deal, it’s only an earring,” he replies sheepishly.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
His friend falls silent for a few minutes, but then his curiosity prods him to ask, “So, how long have you been wearing one?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Ever since my wife found it in my truck.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/petedacook2"> /u/petedacook2 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s0nxhf/a_man_notices_his_coworker_wearing_an_earring_one/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s0nxhf/a_man_notices_his_coworker_wearing_an_earring_one/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Pick a super power</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A guy walks into a bar and orders a beer and starts chatting the bartender up. “If you could have any superpower which one would you want?” he asks the bartender. “Cold war Russia, I guess,” the bartender replies.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Firegoat1"> /u/Firegoat1 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s16ge8/pick_a_super_power/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s16ge8/pick_a_super_power/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Mr. Johnson boarded a plane to New York City. He was about to sit down in the aisle seat he had booked when he saw a blonde woman sitting in his seat.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Wh-what are you doing?!” sputtered Mr. Johnson. “I specifically booked this seat! Why aren’t you sitting in your seat?!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The blonde woman replied, “I’m blonde, I’m smart, and I’m sitting in this aisle seat until this plane lands in New York City.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Angrily, Mr. Johnson snatched the blonde’s ticket out of her hand. It was for the middle seat. “Your ticket says you’re supposed to be sitting in this middle seat!” he shouted. “I specifically booked this aisle seat because I’m six-foot-five and I hate the cramped spaces of airplane seats! Meanwhile, you don’t seem to be any taller than five-foot-one. You should be able to handle the middle seat just fine!” He showed the blonde his ticket to prove that he had, indeed, booked the aisle seat.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Again, the blonde woman replied, “I’m blonde, I’m smart, and I’m sitting in this aisle seat until this plane lands in New York City.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“You’d better listen to that guy,” said the woman sitting in the window seat. “I once dated a guy who was six-foot-one, four inches shorter than that guy, and he always sat in the aisle seat because he hated the cramped spaces.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
For the third time, the blonde woman replied, “I’m blonde, I’m smart, and I’m sitting in this aisle seat until this plane lands in New York City.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Mr. Johnson was now furious. He told a nearby flight attendant about the blonde in his seat. The flight attendant whispered something in the blonde’s ear, and the blonde sheepishly moved into the middle seat. A relieved Mr. Johnson sat in the aisle seat.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
As soon as the plane had landed, Mr. Johnson asked the flight attendant, “What did you tell that woman?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“I told her that the aisle seat wasn’t going to New York City.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/wimpykidfan37"> /u/wimpykidfan37 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s0tfm8/mr_johnson_boarded_a_plane_to_new_york_city_he/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s0tfm8/mr_johnson_boarded_a_plane_to_new_york_city_he/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html> |