MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is warning that Filipinos who refuse to get vaccinated against the coronavirus will not be allowed to leave their homes as a safeguard against the more contagious delta variant.
Duterte said in televised remarks Wednesday night that there is no law mandating such a restriction but added he is ready to face lawsuits to keep people who are “throwing viruses left and right” off the streets.
The brash-talking president adds that for people who don’t want to be vaccinated, “well, for all I care, you can die anytime.”
However, more than public hesitance, the Philippines has been grappling with vaccine shortages.
Nearly 7 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated and more than 11 million others have received their first dose. That is a fraction of the government’s target of 60 million to 70 million people.
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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:
— U.S. states, businesses reconsider masks amid surge
ATLANTA — The mayor of Atlanta has decreed that face masks must be worn in all indoor public spaces including private businesses in Georgia’s largest city.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms also is ordering that city buildings remain closed to the public. Atlanta City Hall has been closed to non-employees since the start of the coronavirus pandemic but had been scheduled to fully reopen Aug. 9.
Bottoms says in a statement released Wednesday that “public health experts overwhelmingly agree, and data has proved, that wearing a face covering helps slow the spread of this deadly virus.”
The mayor’s move came hours after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp reiterated that he will not impose a statewide mask mandate or curb business and public activities.
The mayor of Savannah issued a looser mask order Monday. At least 15 Georgia public school districts are ordering students and staff to wear masks, covering more than 30% of students statewide.
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NEW YORK — New York Gov Andrew Cuomo says state employees must get vaccinated against the coronavirus by Labor Day or undergo weekly virus tests.
Cuomo said Wednesday that “it’s smart, it’s fair and it’s in everyone’s interest.”
The governor is following on the heels of California, New York City and other jurisdictions that have announced similar policies this week.
Cuomo is calling on local governments across New York to follow suit and mandate either shots or frequent testing for government workers,
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TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is imposing a mask mandate for state government workers and visitors to state buildings amid a surge in new coronavirus cases fueled by the more contagious delta variant.
Kelly’s announcement Wednesday came after a central Kansas school district ordered mask use in its building and public health officials in two of the state’s most populous counties recommended that even vaccinated people wear masks in at least some indoor public spaces.
Those moves were a day after the CDC recommended that even vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas where the coronavirus is surging. That would apply to 84 of Kansas’ 105 counties.
Kelly’s mask mandate takes effect Monday and applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. It covers almost 39,000 government workers, according to legislative researchers.
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ORLANDO, Fla. — All the 4,200 nonunion employees of Orange County in Florida will be required to get their first coronavirus vaccine shot by the end of August and the second by the end of September.
Mayor Jerry Demings issued the order Wednesday. He also ordered all county employees to wear masks at indoor county facilities when in the presence of others.
County officials are negotiating with unions to extend the vaccine requirement to the county’s more than 3,000 unionized workers.
The county is home to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort, and the mayor is urging all private employers in the county to require their employees to get vaccinated and to their workers and patrons customers masks indoors.
Demings acknowledged that he can’t mandate such things under laws passed by the Florida Legislature.
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JACKSON, MISS. — Mississippi health officials say a teenager in the state has died of complications related to the coronavirus, marking the fourth death of a child since the start of the pandemic.
The state health officer said Wednesday that the teen had a common underlying health condition. Dr. Thomas Dobbs noted COVID-19 deaths among children are unusual, saying: “It is a rare thing, but it’s a tragedy.”
The Department of Health is not releasing further information on the teen, citing privacy laws.
Gov. Tate Reeves says he does not plan to require the use of masks in schools though the coronavirus vaccination rate in Mississippi remains among the lowest in the nation. Health official say they will echo CDC guidance and recommend that all teachers, students and visitors at schools wear a mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
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MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota health and education officials are calling for all students, teachers and staff to wear masks in schools this fall regardless of whether or not they are vaccinated against the coronavirus, but they won’t require mask use.
The recommendation issued Wednesday follows new guidance from the CDC that everyone including those vaccinated should use face coverings in indoor spaces if they are in areas where virus cases are rising.
Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm says the 625 newly confirmed virus cases tallied Wednesday is the highest since May 20. The state has recorded just under 2,800 new cases in the last week, — a 72% increase over the week before. Hospitalizations are also growing at concerning rates, she said.
The commissioner also recommends that everyone age 12 and older get vaccinated against the coronavirus before returning to in-person schooling, sports or other activities.
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MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Alabama public health officials are recommending that all students and teachers wear masks in the classroom because of a surge in coronavirus infections.
The Department of Public Health said Wednesday that schools can choose to follow the recommendation or not, but says that “these guidelines represent the best evidence available to protect students, teachers, and staff by reducing the transmission of COVID-19, along with disease, potential hospitalization, and risk of death from this virus.”
Some Alabama school systems have announced they will require students and teachers to wear masks indoors following new CDC recommendation that masks be worn by everyone in indoor spaces regardless of vaccination status.
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LANSING, Mich. — Two of Michigan’s largest health systems are requiring all employees, volunteers and medical providers at their hospitals to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Spectrum Health, a 14-hospital network in western Michigan, and eight-hospital Beaumont Health on the other side of the state announced the mandates Wednesday. At least four hospital systems in the state now have announced the requirement.
Grand Rapids-based Spectrum has 31,000 employees. Beaumont is headquartered in Royal Oak and has more than 33,000 employees. They join the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit and Livonia-based Trinity Health in requiring vaccinations.
A spokesperson says about 70% of Spectrum’s onsite staff are vaccinated.
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ANKARA, Turkey — The number of new coronavirus cases in Turkey climbed above the 20,000 mark Wednesday, reaching a level previously seen in early May.
The country reported 22,291 infections in the past 24 hours, according to Health Ministry figures. It also recorded 76 deaths — the highest number of daily fatalities since mid-June.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a televised address that 87% of all active cases and 95% of hospitalized patients consisted of people who were not fully vaccinated, and renewed a call for people to get their shots.
Only about 30 percent of the country’s 84 million people have been fully vaccinated, using China’s Sinovac and the Pfizer vaccines.
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CHICAGO — The hordes of people expected to descend on Chicago’s Grant Park for the Lollapalooza music festival this week will be required to show proof that they’ve been vaccinated for COVID-19 or tested negative for the disease within the last three days.
The four-day festival starts Thursday and is expected to be back at full capacity, with roughly 100,000 daily attendees. After missing last summer because of the threat of the coronavirus, it will easily be Chicago’s largest gathering since the pandemic started, and one of the country’s.
This year’s festival will look very different than in the past. To gain entry, attendees will have to present their vaccination cards or a printed copy of a negative COVID-19 test that is no more than 72 hours old. That means that anyone with a four-day pass who isn’t vaccinated will have to get tested twice. Furthermore, anyone who isn’t vaccinated will have to wear a mask.
Public health officials and others have raised concerns that such a large gathering, even outdoors, risks turning into a super-spreader event. Officials in the Netherlands were shocked after a much smaller music festival attended by 20,000 people over two days early this month led to nearly 1,000 cases of COVID-19, CNBC reported. That festival had similar safeguards to Lollapalooza’s.
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WASHINGTON – The State Department says Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met the head of the World Health Organization to press for additional studies into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic in China.
Blinken and WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus met Wednesday in Kuwait City, Kuwait, where Blinken is wrapping up an overseas trip.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken told Tedros that any follow-up probe into the COVID-19 outbreak must be “be timely, evidence-based, transparent, expert-led, and free from interference.”
Blinken also stressed the importance of international unity in order to understand the pandemic and to prevent future ones, Price said in a statement. He added that Blinken and Tedros had both committed to work together with all members of the WHO to “make meaningful, concrete progress in strengthening global health security to prevent, detect, and respond to future pandemics and health threats.”
The meeting, which had not been previously announced, came after China rejected WHO calls for a second investigation into the virus.
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s governor announced Wednesday that all public employees must be vaccinated against the coronavirus starting next month as the U.S. territory reports a new rise in cases.
The executive order goes into effect Aug. 16 with few exceptions. Those who refuse to get inoculated will be required to submit a negative virus test weekly. If an employee refuses to get tested, they will be forced to use their vacation days and eventually may not be paid, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said.
“To finish defeating the pandemic, this is the step to follow,” he said. “Vaccination is the solution.”
Some 27,000 government employees are affected by the order, which comes a day after Pierluisi ordered that masks once again be worn indoors.
The island of 3.3 million people has reported more than 124,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 2,500 deaths related to COVID-19. More than 76% of the population has received at least a first vaccine dose.
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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was defiant Wednesday as he criticized the new CDC guidance about mask-wearing indoors and in schools.
“I think it’s very important we say, unequivocally, ‘No to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions, no to mandates,’” he said in Salt Lake City during a gathering of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that pushes conservative policies in Republican-controlled state legislatures.
His address prompted enthusiastic applause from a mostly mask-less crowd of about 1,400.
Florida leads the nation in the rate of new COVID-19 cases and deaths over the past 14 days, driven by the delta variant and a full reopening of the state. Just 48 percent of the state’s population is fully vaccinated.
Health experts say masks are an important tool in reducing transmission of the virus, especially among children who are too young to be vaccinated.
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TOPEKA, Kan. — A central Kansas school district is requiring masks in its buildings and public health officials in two of the state’s most populous counties are recommending that even vaccinated residents wear masks in at least some indoor public spaces.
The developments in the Salina school district and Shawnee and Douglas counties in northeast Kansas came quickly after a surge in new COVID-19 cases tied to the faster-spreading delta variant prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change its guidance on masks.
The Salina school district appears to be the first in Kansas outside the Kansas City area to impose a mask mandate. Douglas and Shawnee counties are only recommending masks and not requiring them.
Skinstitut Holiday Gift Kits take the stress out of gifting
Toronto, October 31, 2024 – Beauty gifts are at the top of holiday wish lists this year, and Laser Clinics Canada, a leader in advanced beauty treatments and skincare, is taking the pressure out of seasonal shopping. Today, Laser Clincs Canada announces the arrival of its 2024 Holiday Gift Kits, courtesy of Skinstitut, the exclusive skincare line of Laser Clinics Group.
In time for the busy shopping season, the limited-edition Holiday Gifts Kits are available in Laser Clinics locations in the GTA and Ottawa. Clinics are conveniently located in popular shopping centers, including Hillcrest Mall, Square One, CF Sherway Gardens, Scarborough Town Centre, Rideau Centre, Union Station and CF Markville. These limited-edition Kits are available on a first come, first served basis.
“These kits combine our best-selling products, bundled to address the most relevant skin concerns we’re seeing among our clients,” says Christina Ho, Senior Brand & LAM Manager at Laser Clinics Canada. “With several price points available, the kits offer excellent value and suit a variety of gift-giving needs, from those new to cosmeceuticals to those looking to level up their skincare routine. What’s more, these kits are priced with a savings of up to 33 per cent so gift givers can save during the holiday season.
There are two kits to select from, each designed to address key skin concerns and each with a unique theme — Brightening Basics and Hydration Heroes.
Brightening Basics is a mix of everyday essentials for glowing skin for all skin types. The bundle comes in a sleek pink, reusable case and includes three full-sized products: 200ml gentle cleanser, 50ml Moisture Defence (normal skin) and 30ml1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum. The Brightening Basics kit is available at $129, a saving of 33 per cent.
Hydration Heroes is a mix of hydration essentials and active heroes that cater to a wide variety of clients. A perfect stocking stuffer, this bundle includes four deluxe products: Moisture 15 15 ml Defence for normal skin, 10 ml 1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum, 10 ml Retinol Serum and 50 ml Expert Squalane Cleansing Oil. The kit retails at $59.
In addition to the 2024 Holiday Gifts Kits, gift givers can easily add a Laser Clinic Canada gift card to the mix. Offering flexibility, recipients can choose from a wide range of treatments offered by Laser Clinics Canada, or they can expand their collection of exclusive Skinstitut products.
Brightening Basics 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut, available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.
Hydration Heroes 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut – available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
The Canadian Paediatric Society says doctors should regularly screen children for reading difficulties and dyslexia, calling low literacy a “serious public health concern” that can increase the risk of other problems including anxiety, low self-esteem and behavioural issues, with lifelong consequences.
New guidance issued Wednesday says family doctors, nurses, pediatricians and other medical professionals who care for school-aged kids are in a unique position to help struggling readers access educational and specialty supports, noting that identifying problems early couldhelp kids sooner — when it’s more effective — as well as reveal other possible learning or developmental issues.
The 10 recommendations include regular screening for kids aged four to seven, especially if they belong to groups at higher risk of low literacy, including newcomers to Canada, racialized Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. The society says this can be done in a two-to-three-minute office-based assessment.
Other tips encourage doctors to look for conditions often seen among poor readers such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; to advocate for early literacy training for pediatric and family medicine residents; to liaise with schools on behalf of families seeking help; and to push provincial and territorial education ministries to integrate evidence-based phonics instruction into curriculums, starting in kindergarten.
Dr. Scott McLeod, one of the authors and chair of the society’s mental health and developmental disabilities committee, said a key goal is to catch kids who may be falling through the cracks and to better connect families to resources, including quicker targeted help from schools.
“Collaboration in this area is so key because we need to move away from the silos of: everything educational must exist within the educational portfolio,” McLeod said in an interview from Calgary, where he is a developmental pediatrician at Alberta Children’s Hospital.
“Reading, yes, it’s education, but it’s also health because we know that literacy impacts health. So I think that a statement like this opens the window to say: Yes, parents can come to their health-care provider to get advice, get recommendations, hopefully start a collaboration with school teachers.”
McLeod noted that pediatricians already look for signs of low literacy in young children by way of a commonly used tool known as the Rourke Baby Record, which offers a checklist of key topics, such as nutrition and developmental benchmarks, to cover in a well-child appointment.
But he said questions about reading could be “a standing item” in checkups and he hoped the society’s statement to medical professionals who care for children “enhances their confidence in being a strong advocate for the child” while spurring partnerships with others involved in a child’s life such as teachers and psychologists.
The guidance said pediatricians also play a key role in detecting and monitoring conditions that often coexist with difficulty reading such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but McLeod noted that getting such specific diagnoses typically involves a referral to a specialist, during which time a child continues to struggle.
He also acknowledged that some schools can be slow to act without a specific diagnosis from a specialist, and even then a child may end up on a wait list for school interventions.
“Evidence-based reading instruction shouldn’t have to wait for some of that access to specialized assessments to occur,” he said.
“My hope is that (by) having an existing statement or document written by the Canadian Paediatric Society … we’re able to skip a few steps or have some of the early interventions present,” he said.
McLeod added that obtaining specific assessments from medical specialists is “definitely beneficial and advantageous” to know where a child is at, “but having that sort of clear, thorough assessment shouldn’t be a barrier to intervention starting.”
McLeod said the society was partly spurred to act by 2022’s “Right to Read Inquiry Report” from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which made 157 recommendations to address inequities related to reading instruction in that province.
He called the new guidelines “a big reminder” to pediatric providers, family doctors, school teachers and psychologists of the importance of literacy.
“Early identification of reading difficulty can truly change the trajectory of a child’s life.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
