Current Events in January 2021

Ford Motor Company is recalling about 1,470 model year 2020-21 Ford Explorers and Lincoln Aviators

The motor mount fasteners may become loose over time and disconnect from the engine, which could result in loss of power, posing the risk of a crash.

What to do

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the right-hand motor mount fasteners.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at (866) 436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 20S72.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 23,103,550 (22,864,103)

Total U.S. deaths: 385,503 (381,513)

Total global cases: 92,563,274 (91,838,572)

Total global deaths: 1,983,691 (1,968,343)

New jobless claims spike

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is taking an ever-increasing toll on the job market because businesses are shutting down or limiting operations in the face of rising cases. The Labor Department reports that new claims of unemployment benefits surged last week, rising to 965,000.

That’s the largest number since mid-August, when the second wave of coronavirus cases began to take hold in wide areas of the country. After peaking at nearly 7 million in March, jobless claims have mostly remained under 1 million per week.

In last week’s report, the largest increase in new claims occurred in Florida and Illinois, with both states reporting more than 50,000 new claims.

China records another death

The pandemic began in Wuhan, China but was quickly brought under control. In fact, there had not been a reported death from the virus in China for six months.

That changed when Chinese officials reported that a woman in Hebei died Wednesday afternoon. While her death was attributed to COVID-19, state media noted that she had a severe case and pre-existing health conditions.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is on track for its deadliest month since the pandemic began. China’s total death toll since March is about the same as the number of people who die each day of COVID-19 in the U.S.

Third COVID-19 vaccine could roll out soon

Researchers at Johnson & Johnson have reported that the company’s single-dose vaccine is safe and produces promising results. Researchers say it has shown that it produces antibodies to protect against the virus and appears to work in both young and old subjects.

Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers say 90 percent of the volunteers who received the vaccine instead of the placebo developed “detectable antibodies” 28 days after getting the shot. By day 57, they say 100 percent of the subjects had the antibodies.

It should be noted that there were only 850 people in the trial. The company said it expects to report the results from its trial of 45,000 subjects by the end of the month. 

CDC: New limits on travel from outside the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has adopted a new rule requiring all airline passengers entering the U.S. to test negative for the coronavirus (COVID-19) before traveling. The rule takes effect on Jan. 26.

The agency first suggested that protocol in late November after cases in the U.S. surged and a new strain of the virus was found in the U.K. It has become a requirement, the agency says, because of the huge spike in new cases and concerns about possible new variants of the virus.

The rule requires all passengers to get a COVID-19 test no more than three days before their departure. The airlines will require further proof of negative test results as part of the boarding process. 

Already planning celebrations

With the vaccine rollout underway, a lot of people are looking forward to the end of the pandemic. And a new survey from LendingTree suggests they’re planning one heck of a celebration.

Eight in 10 Americans questioned in the survey who also plan to get vaccinated say they're planning a celebratory splurge for sometime in 2021. On the downside, 15 percent of those in the survey said they might not feel financially secure enough to spend on a big celebration.

The survey authors say that split represents the pandemic's economic impact in a microcosm. Many Americans are thriving financially, having benefited from staying at home, reducing their spending, and paying down debts while maintaining their jobs and their incomes. Millions of others, however, have been devastated financially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and are struggling just to keep the lights on. 

Around the nation

• Florida: Florida Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees felt some heat this week from legislators over the state’s vaccine rollout. Democratic state senators questioned Rivkees about the state’s alleged lack of planning and reports that the rich are skipping the vaccine lines.

• Pennsylvania: Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has launched a new website to publicize which restaurants have violated the state’s COVID-19 guidelines. Wolf said consumers can find out if restaurants are enforcing social distancing and other mitigation measures.

• Iowa: Cases of the coronavirus are still increasing statewide, but the number of people requiring treatment in hospitals is trending in the right direction, officials say. The Iowa Department of Public Health reports that hospitalizations and ventilator usage have dropped significantly since peaking in mid-November.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has asked Tesla to recall 158,716 of its Model S and Model X vehicles manufactured before 2019, Reuters reports. 

In a letter to Al Prescott, Tesla’s vice president of legal, the NHTSA said owners have complained of touchscreen glitches that affected the safety of their vehicle. 

The agency said it’s investigating “a potential safety-related defect concerning incidents of media control unit (‘MCU’) failures resulting in loss of rearview camera and other safety-related vehicle functions.” The affected vehicles include Tesla Model S sedans made between 2012 and 2018 and Model X SUVs in model years from 2016 to 2018.

If Tesla opts not to voluntarily recall the vehicles with the alleged glitches, the automaker would have to provide the NHTSA with “a full explanation of its decision, including any additional analysis of the problem beyond Tesla’s past presentations.”

Owners have previously complained that their touchscreen media control units would sometimes go either partially or completely blank. The glitch compromised drivers’ ability to use the car’s heating and air conditioning, defrost and defogging systems, rearview cameras, and Tesla’s Autopilot features. 

Compromises vehicle safety

The NHTSA said the MCU issue raises the risk of crashing due to the “possible loss of audible chimes, driver sensing, and alerts” that are part of Tesla Autopilot. 

The letter said failure rates were as high as 17 percent in older Tesla Model S vehicles and as high as 4 percent in Tesla cars made between 2016 and 2018. The agency said it believes MCU failure rates “will continue to accelerate” over time. 

“We attribute the differences in failure rates between the model years to the respective time in service for the subject vehicles, in addition to some variances in memory demand from driver to driver based on vehicle functions performed,” the letter said. “As the vehicles continue to in use, more memory blocks are subsequently consumed, shortening the life of the 8GB eMMC device leading to inevitable failure of the MCU.” 

“Given Tesla’s projects of MCU repairs, even MY [model year] 2018 subject vehicles will experience 100% failure of the MCU within approximately 10 years,” NHTSA investigators wrote.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will require all airline passengers entering the U.S. to test negative for the coronavirus (COVID-19) before traveling. The rule takes effect on Jan. 26.

The agency said testing before and after travel is a “critical layer” that can help slow the spread of COVID-19. This strategy is consistent with the current phase of the pandemic and more efficiently protects the health of Americans, the CDC said in a statement.

The rule requires all passengers to get a COVID-19 test no more than three days before their departure, and airlines will require further proof of negative test results as part of the boarding process. Travelers who were previously infected with the virus can substitute documentation of their recovery instead of taking a test. Other than that, the CDC says airlines will make no exceptions.

A mix of precautions

The CDC cites the dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in the last six weeks, as well as the additional variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that continue to emerge in countries around the world. Of special concern is evidence that the variants spread between people more easily.

“Testing does not eliminate all risk,” said CDC Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield. “But when combined with a period of staying at home and everyday precautions like wearing masks and social distancing, it can make travel safer, healthier, and more responsible by reducing spread on planes, in airports, and at destinations.”

Once people arrive at destinations within the U.S., the CDC recommends that they get tested again within three to five days. They are also advised to quarantine for seven days.

The requirement was first floated in late November when the CDC updated its travel guidelines and suggested that travelers get tested one to three days before their flight and three to five days after travel, plus stay isolated for an additional 7 days.

Officials said they saw the need to make the suggestion a requirement because of the increasing spread of the virus. The situation is nearing the breaking point in Los Angeles, with area hospitals operating at near capacity.

A third vaccine could be soon added to America’s health arsenal in the battle to conquer the coronavirus (COVID-19).

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine is safe and so far has yielded promising results. Researchers say it has shown that it produces antibodies to protect against the virus and appears to work in both young and old subjects.

A large majority of the volunteers in the study who received the vaccine instead of the placebo produced detectable antibodies 28 days after receiving the shot. By the 57th day, 100 percent of the volunteers have produced detectable antibodies.

That suggests that everyone who gets the vaccine would be protected against the virus within two months of receiving the shot. They would still need to practice mitigation measures during that time.

“These neutralizing antibodies remained stable through Day 71, currently the latest timepoint available in this ongoing study, in all participants aged 18-55 years,” the company reported in a press release. “Data on the durability of immune responses in trial participants aged over 65 years will be available in late January and longer-term follow-up to one year is planned.”

Some side effects

Like the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson candidate produced some side effects. They included headache, fatigue, sore muscles, and pain in the arm where subjects received the injection. Side effects were more common in young subjects than older ones.

It should be noted that these preliminary results included a relatively small number of subjects. There were only 805 volunteers included in this part of the trial. Johnson & Johnson is preparing to publish the results from its 45,000-person phase three trial before the end of the month. 

If the single-dose vaccine is shown to be safe and effective in that group, Johnson & Johnson said it expects to submit an application for emergency use authorization (EAU) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within days of that.

Logistically, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could also offer some advantages. In addition to only requiring a single injection, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has a longer shelf life and does not require extremely cold storage temperatures.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many consumers may have experienced having their temperature scanned before boarding an airplane or entering a public space. While a fever is one of the most common symptoms of COVID-19, a new study conducted by researchers at the Physiological Society suggests that temperature scanners may not be the most reliable way to detect the coronavirus. 

The team’s work revealed that temperature scanners can yield inaccurate results for several reasons, and it could be time to reevaluate this process to ensure optimal health and safety for consumers. 

“Using a surface temperature scanner to obtain a single surface temperature, usually the forehead, is an unreliable method to detect the fever associated with COVID-19,” said researcher Michael J. Tipton. “Too many factors make the measurement of a skin temperature a poor surrogate for deep body temperature; skin temperature can change independently of deep body temperature for lots of reasons. Even if such a single measure did reflect deep body temperature reliably, other things, such as exercise, can raise deep body temperature.” 

Flaws in the system

Because of how popular temperature scanners have become since the start of the pandemic, the researchers decided to see how effective they are. They also wanted to determine if there was a better system available that could make this process more accurate. 

Scanning for temperature turned out not to be the best way to detect a fever -- related to COVID-19 or otherwise. The researchers found that the surface of the skin may not feel hot, and it may not give off an abnormal temperature reading; however, the deep body temperature may still be elevated. 

It’s also important to note that skin temperature can be affected by a number of factors, including body fat composition, the air temperature in the room, or alcohol consumption. This becomes problematic for several reasons, especially when admittance onto an airplane or into a public place requires a temperature scan. 

“If scanners are not giving an accurate reading, we run the risk of falsely excluding people from places they may want, or need, to go, and we also risk allowing people with the virus to spread the undetected infection they have,” Tipton said. 

Additionally, running a fever isn’t always an indicator of having COVID-19. Though the majority of patients do experience an elevated temperature, many consumers with positive test results never develop a fever. 

Finding a more accurate temperature reading

To ensure health and safety for all consumers, the researchers recommend switching from a forehead scan to a temperature scan of the eyes and fingertips. They explained that many machines used for temperature scans can be repurposed for these types of tests, and they have the potential to be faster and more accurate than the systems currently in place. 

“We think we can improve the identification of the presence of fever using the same kit but looking at the difference between eye and finger temperature -- it’s not perfect, but it is potentially better and more reliable,” Tipton said. 

“The pandemic has had devastating global effects on all aspects of our lives, and unfortunately, it’s unlikely to be the last pandemic we face. It’s critical we develop a method of gauging if an individual has a fever that’s accurate and fast.”

With mortgage interest rates hitting a 30-year low -- falling to 2.86 percent -- many consumers are looking to secure a lower rate for themselves by refinancing. This has led to a 20 percent spike in refinancing applications in January.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS), low interest rates have also leveraged the number of applications to purchase a home, up 10 percent from a year ago. 

Piqued by hope for more stimulus checks

Many consumers are hoping that the change in administrations on Capitol Hill might bring them some additional funds that could help offset the cost of getting a better mortgage deal. 

"The expectation of additional fiscal stimulus from the incoming administration, and the rollout of vaccines improving the outlook, drove Treasury yields and rates higher,” claimed Joel Kan, MBA's Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. 

Kan went on to note that many consumers are ditching the idea of once-loved adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM) due to the possibility of being able to lock in a good rate. The ARM share of activity has pretty much bottomed out, decreasing to 1.6 percent of total applications. 

Make sure you understand interest rates

While a fat stimulus check sounds like a great way to help buy or refinance a home, one analyst says consumers need to understand how the whole interest game plays out before they get too far ahead of themselves. 

“Covid-relief stimulus may do great things for people in the short term and for the economy in the longer term, but it does bad things for interest rates (assuming you like low rates, that is),” commented Mortgage News Daily’s Matthew Graham. “Reason being: the government issues/creates/sells U.S. Treasuries to finance the additional spending. More Treasuries issued = higher yields/rates, all other things being equal, and Treasuries correlate significantly with mortgage rates.”

Graham went on to say that the recent low rates were likely a normal correction to the short-term oversold momentum. “That said, there are logical reasons for rates to continue higher in the longer term. As such, there's no guarantee about how much additional improvement we might see this week,” he said.

Researchers from the University of Warwick believe they have found the best way to predict when pregnancy sickness will start -- and they say it is closely tied to ovulation cycles. The team explained that most doctors use the date of women’s last menstrual cycle to determine the start of the pregnancy; however, this isn't always the most accurate measure because cycles can change from month to month. 

According to their findings, pregnancy sickness starts much earlier in pregnancy when looking at the date of ovulation rather than the date of the last menstrual cycle.

“In the past, women suffering with nausea and vomiting in pregnancy have had their symptoms trivialized and overlooked because it was thought there was a psychological basis for the symptoms,” said researcher Roger Gadsby. “This research further enforces that nothing could be further from the truth, that this is a biological problem related to the development of the early fetus.”   

Knowing when to expect pregnancy sickness

To come to their conclusions, the researchers had 256 pregnant women report on the dates of their last menstrual cycles and ovulation; the participants also kept diaries throughout their pregnancies to record their symptoms. 

The researchers found that nearly 95 percent of the women experienced sickness during their pregnancy, but the dates of their ovulation and menstrual cycles revealed very different experiences. When using the date of the participants’ last menstrual cycles as the start of the pregnancy, nausea and vomiting began nearly a month into pregnancy. However, using the ovulation date as the start of pregnancy pushed those symptoms up to just over a week into pregnancy. 

“The precise course of pregnancy sickness is unknown, but this research shows that it occurs at a specific developmental stage, in a specific time slot,” said Gadsby. “For researchers, it narrows our focus in terms of where we look for the cause. If we know that symptoms occur in a very narrow 8-10 days after ovulation, researchers can concentrate their efforts on that particular stage of development to find the cause of the condition, both anatomically and biochemically.” 

These findings are significant because the date of ovulation provides a much smaller window of when pregnancy sickness symptoms should appear. As Gadsby said, the women reported experiencing nausea and vomiting eight to 10 days post-ovulation; however, when looking at the date of the menstrual cycles, the window of symptoms appearing widened to 20 to 30 days. 

The researchers hope these findings can be beneficial from a research standpoint and help women better understand their bodies and know what to expect during pregnancy. 

Google announced on Thursday that it has completed its $2.1 billion acquisition of wearables maker Fitbit. 

The deal was first announced in November of 2019 and spurred an investigation into what Google planned to do with Fitbit users’ data. Fitbit has health data on more than 28 million users, and European regulators were concerned that the tech giant could use that data to help personalize ads. 

However, Google assured regulators that the deal was “about devices, not data” and promised not to use Fitbit data if the deal was approved. 

“This deal has always been about devices, not data, and we’ve been clear since the beginning that we will protect Fitbit users’ privacy,” Rick Osterloh, Google’s Senior Vice President of devices and services, said in a statement.

“We worked with global regulators on an approach which safeguards consumers’ privacy expectations, including a series of binding commitments that confirm Fitbit users’ health and wellness data won’t be used for Google ads and this data will be separated from other Google ads data,” he added.

Privacy commitments secured

European regulators investigating the deal gave it the green light last month after receiving commitments from Google regarding data privacy. 

"Google will continue to protect Fitbit users' privacy and has made a series of binding commitments with global regulators, confirming that Fitbit users' health and wellness data won't be used for Google ads and this data will be kept separate from other Google ad data," Chief Executive James Park said in a letter to Fitbit users Thursday.

Park said the acquisition will enable Fitbit to “do even more to inspire and motivate you on your journey to better health.” 

“We’ll be able to innovate faster, provide more choices, and make even better products to support your health and wellness needs. On our own, we pushed the bounds of what was possible from the wrist, pioneering step, heart rate, sleep and stress tracking. With access to Google’s incredible resources, knowledge and global platform, the possibilities are truly limitless.” 

With vaccine availability starting to grow and new vaccines entering the market, hope for an exit from the funk COVID-19 has put us all in is starting to grow. But will the places we shop do their part and make sure all their employees are vaccinated and virus-free? 

Headlining this puzzle are grocery chains where employees mingle with customers more than most other retail environments. Kroger, the country’s largest grocery company with 11 million customers a day roaming its aisles, stepped up to the mic on Wednesday to offer its position -- kind of. While Kroger says it’s encouraging its workers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, it’s waffling on whether it will require the shots once they are widely available.

"At this time, we're strongly encouraging our shoppers and associates to get vaccinated," Tim Massa, Kroger's senior vice president of human resources and labor relations, told The Enquirer.

When The Enquirer pushed for a more definitive answer about mandating employee vaccination in the future, Massa didn’t give a direct yes or no and simply repeated his previous answer. Kroger executives were also mum on how they might reassure worried customers who might be unhappy that store associates weren't required to be vaccinated.

Can retailers force employees to get vaccinated?

It’s possible that Kroger is straddling the fence in hopes of a legal dust-up from both anti-vaxxers and vaccine skeptics. As companies weigh their vaccine policies, the Employment Opportunity Commission (EOC) decided to establish its position before the situation goes off the rails. 

The EOC’s bottom line is that, yes, employers can mandate that employees have to get immunized with the coronavirus vaccine -- with some exceptions. 

In new guidance, the EOC said employers can require that employees get vaccinated as a condition of going to work. The exceptions are employees who are either pregnant, have a  disability, or object to being vaccinated on the basis of religion. In those situations, the employer has to find a way to accommodate the employee -- such as working remotely or being reassigned -- “unless it would pose an undue hardship, meaning significant difficulty or expense.”

“They have to check with their state and deal with the accommodation issues, but in broad terms, yes, employers can mandate it,” Shannon Farmer, a labor and employment lawyer at Philadelphia-based Ballard Spahr, told Human Resource Executive.

“If employees can’t work remotely, they need to do everything possible to get them back and get customers back in the door,” Farmer says. “If you’re in hospitality or the entertainment industry, if this is the way to get your business open again when you’ve had to be closed, you’re going to do everything you can to get it open.” There may also be an appeal for patrons if a company says it mandated vaccines for all of its workers, she adds.

Costco has announced that it’s shutting down all of its photo centers on February 14.

In an email to customers, the company cited "the continued decline of prints" brought on by the widespread use of high-quality cameras on smartphones and consumers’ use of social media as a tool for photo-sharing as key reasons for the closures.

“Since the introduction of camera phones and social media, the need for printing photos has steeply declined, even though the number of pictures taken continues to grow,” the company wrote. “After careful consideration, we have determined the continued decline of prints no longer requires on-site photo printing.”

The retailer’s photo centers previously offered services like ink refills, the ability to take passport photos, photo restoration, and a service that converted home videos from VHS tapes to DVDs or USB devices. Costco is urging all members to pick up any remaining orders by March 28.

Although the physical photo locations will be closing down, Costco says customers can still access the services on its website. 

At the Costco Photo Center website, customers can order photo prints, enlargements and posters, stationery, photo greeting cards, canvas, metal and acrylic prints, photo books, calendars, photo blankets, and other gifts. Printing for businesses is also available. 

General Motors is recalling 3,203 model year 2021 Cadillac Escalades and Escalade ESVs.

The front passenger seat belt and airbag status telltale lights in the overhead console may be set to "night mode" when the vehicle is started using remote start or when the vehicle is turned off and re-started after approximately ten minutes without opening the door.

In daytime, if night mode is active, the telltale lights may not be visible.

If the telltale lights are not visible, the driver and front passenger may not know that the front passenger is unbuckled or has a deactivated airbag, increasing the risk of passenger injury.

What to do

GM will notify owners, and dealers will update the software free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin February 1, 2021.

Owners may contact Cadillac customer service at (800) 458-8006. GM's number for this recall is N202319980.

Courage Production of Fairfield, Calif., is recalling approximately 1,645 pounds of ready-to-eat, fully cooked Polish sausage.

The product contains milk (mozzarella cheese), an allergen not declared on the label.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions.

The following item, produced on October 9, 2020, is being recalled:

• 10-oz. vacuum packed packages of four “TETON WATERS RANCH POLISH SAUSAGE” with lot code “202831,” “Use or Freeze By: JAN/8/21” date and bear establishment number “Est. 6024” on the side of the packaging label.

The recalled product was shipped to retail locations in California, Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Maine, New York and Oregon.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled product should not consume it, but discard or return it to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions may contact Shane Osterthaler at (707) 422-6300.

Massimo Motor Sports of Garland, Texas, is recalling about 12,630 massage guns.

The lithium-ion battery system can overheat, posing a fire hazard.

The firm has received three reports of fires with the recalled massage guns that resulted in over $15,000 in property damage. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves all models of the Massimo Percussion Massage Gun.

The massage guns have 20 speed levels and came with six massage heads and a built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery. They were sold in black, silver, gold, and blue; all were model number EM003.

Model numbers can be found on the Product information card in the package.

The massage guns, manufactured in China, were sold exclusively online at Costco.com from April 2020, through May 2020, for about $60.

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled massage guns and contact Massimo for a full refund.

Consumers may contact Massimo Motor Sports toll-free at (877) 881-6376 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (CT) Monday through Friday, or online at www.massimomotor.com and click on “Product Recall” at the top of the page for more information.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 22,864,103 (22,645,344)

Total U.S. deaths: 381,513 (377,616)

Total global cases: 91,838,572 (91,087,170)

Total global deaths: 1,968,343 (1,950,190)

Tuesday’s death toll was the pandemic’s highest

The U.S. suffered its worst day of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic Tuesday, with 4,320 deaths attributed to the virus. The death toll has risen along with the surge in new cases.

The COVID-19 infection rate gained momentum last week, averaging 3,300 cases a day over the seven-day period. That’s an increase of 217 percent from mid-November.

In another grim development, the number of people being treated in hospitals is straining capacity. Arizona had a record-high 5,082 people in the hospital on Tuesday, with nearly 1,200 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICU).

Feds buy 1.25 million antibody doses

Regeneron has announced that the U.S. government has purchased an additional 1.25 million doses of its antibody drug to treat COVID-19 patients. 

The antibody cocktail is for use in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients to meet the federal government's Operation Warp Speed goals. The government has said it will provide these doses at no cost to patients, though health care facilities may charge fees related to administration.

"COVID-19 continues to sicken hundreds of thousands of Americans every day and the people of Regeneron are committed to help," said Dr. Leonard S. Schleifer, Regeneron’s CEO. "Tackling the COVID-19 pandemic will require a combination of public health measures, vaccines, and therapeutics. We are pleased to work with the U.S. government to supply our antibody cocktail as an important weapon in this fight."

Ohio researchers find two new strains of the virus

Ohio State University scientists say they have discovered a new variant of SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. They say the new variant carries a mutation that’s identical to the U.K. strain, but they say it probably stemmed from a virus strain that was already in the U.S.

The researchers also report that there has been an evolution of another U.S. strain that acquired three other gene mutations not previously seen together in SARS-CoV2.

“This new Columbus strain has the same genetic backbone as earlier cases we’ve studied, but these three mutations represent a significant evolution,” said study leader Dr. Dan Jones, vice chair of the division of molecular pathology. “We know this shift didn’t come from the U.K. or South African branches of the virus.”

Disneyland now a vaccination venue

The Disneyland theme park is reopening its doors this week, but not to provide entertainment. Rather, it’s becoming the latest mass vaccination venue. 

"Residents in my district have been highly impacted by COVID-19. These Super PODs are absolutely critical in stopping this deadly virus," said Orange County Supervisor Doug Chaffee.

Around the country, other large spaces, including closed department stores in shopping malls, are being repurposed as vaccination centers. In the Boston area, Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, is also opening its gates for people in search of a vaccination.

Dollar General will pay employees to get vaccinated

Retailer Dollar General said it will pay its frontline hourly employees to get the vaccination as soon as it is available. The company said it lacks onsite facilities to administer the vaccine to employees, so it will provide paid time off and transportation costs for them to travel to a vaccination center.

“We do not want our employees to have to choose between receiving a vaccine or coming to work, so we are working to remove barriers (e.g., travel time, mileage, child care needs, etc.) by providing frontline hourly team members with a one-time payment equivalent of four (4) hours of regular pay after receiving a completed COVID-19 vaccination and salaried team members with additional store labor hours to accommodate their time away from the store,” the company said in a press release.

Dollar General said it is also working with its distribution and transportation teams to make similar accommodations for those employees.

Around the nation

• Massachusetts: A COVID-19 data tracker has raised Massachusetts’ outbreak level to the highest risk category. The state now has more than 90,000 active cases of COVID-19, a large increase that moved the state up to the “severe outbreak” category.

• Missouri: The state has recorded 200 deaths in a single day for the fourth time during the pandemic. State health officials say all four of those 200-death days have occurred in the last 30 days.

• Nevada: Gov. Steve Sisolak has announced that gaming floors, bars, and restaurants must adhere to a 25 percent occupancy limit for another 30 days due to coronavirus risk. State officials expressed concern that large New Year’s Eve gatherings in Las Vegas would lead to a spike in new cases of the virus.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has broadened a recall of Sportmix pet foods following reports of dozens of additional canine deaths.

Last week, the agency recalled certain lots of Sportmix pet food after finding that the pet food contained high levels of aflatoxin, which is toxic to pets. The agency said 28 dogs had died in connection to the product, and eight others became ill. 

On Tuesday, the FDA issued an updated advisory saying that 70 dogs have died and over 80 others have gotten sick after consuming Sportmix pet food. 

Sportmix products, which are manufactured by Midwestern Pet Foods, were recalled on December 30. The manufacturer has now expanded the recall to include additional products that contain corn and were made in the same manufacturing facility. 

The affected products have an expiration date on or before July 9, 2022 and have "05" in the date or lot code.

Products contain high levels of aflatoxin

Aflatoxin is a toxin produced by the mold Aspergillus flavus. It can grow on corn and other grains used to make pet food and potentially cause pets to die or become ill when consumed in high levels. 

FDA officials said symptoms of aflatoxin poisoning include sluggishness, loss of appetite, vomiting, jaundice (yellowish tint to the eyes or gums due to liver damage), and/or diarrhea. 

“In severe cases, this toxicity can be fatal. In some cases, pets may suffer liver damage but not show any symptoms,” according to the agency. 

The FDA recommends that owners of pets who have eaten the products involved in the recall contact their veterinarian even if they’re not showing symptoms, but especially if they are showing symptoms. 

“Pet owners should stop feeding their pets the recalled products listed below and consult their veterinarian, especially if the pet is showing signs of illness,” the FDA said in December. “The pet owner should remove the food and make sure no other animals have access to the recalled product.” 

Here we go again. Lyft and Uber drivers in California have filed a lawsuit to try to overturn Prop 22, a ballot measure passed in November that allowed ride-hailing companies to avoid classifying drivers as employees. 

Under the new law, benefits given to drivers for ride-sharing companies would be less than those afforded to real “employees.” Opponents say it also strips the state legislature’s ability to empower workers to organize a union and “illegally” cuts ride-hailing drivers from California’s state workers’ compensation program.

“Every day, rideshare drivers like me struggle to make ends meet because companies like Uber and Lyft prioritize corporate profits over our wellbeing,” plaintiff Saori Okawa said in a statement. “With Prop 22, they’re not just ignoring our health and safety — they’re discarding our state’s constitution.”

Uphill battle

As it is with many ballot initiatives, getting the word out can produce yays or nays at the polls. Companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash poured over $200 million into the “Yes on 22” campaign, claiming that Prop 22 would strip the flexibility of gig drivers, increase consumer prices, and extend wait times. 

Unfortunately for Prop 22 opponents, they simply didn’t have the campaign funds to compete and sell their side of the story to the public.

Overturning Prop 22 is an uphill battle. In reviewing the lawsuit, The Verge’s Andrew J. Hawkins says the measure was written in such a way that it could withstand challenges down the road -- one of the more problematic ones being a provision that requires a seven-eighths majority of the state legislature for any modification.

Hawkins says that gig drivers are trying to argue that Prop 22 was illegal from its get-go. And while other groups have been lucky enough to get certain California ballot measures repealed in the past, they’ve achieved that through additional ballot measures -- a step that drivers and supportive unions are going to have to take if the lawsuit fails.

Climate change is a source of stress for many consumers, and findings from a new study conducted by researchers from Stanford University may just add to that stress. 

Because climate change has led to more frequent weather events and more severe periods of precipitation, flooding has become a much more serious issue for many consumers. According to the researchers’ findings, flooding due to climate change has led to billions of dollars in damages in the last 30 years. 

“The fact that extreme precipitation has been increasing and will likely increase in the future is well known, but what effect that has had on financial damages has been uncertain,” said researcher Frances Davenport. “Our analysis allows us to isolate how much of those changes in precipitation translate to changes in the cost of flooding, both now and in the future.” 

Flood damage on the rise

The researchers’ goal was to determine whether rising flood damages were related to climate change or if there were other overriding socioeconomic factors that have come into play in recent years. They used existing economic models to compare climate change data, flood damages, and weather patterns between 1988 and 2017. 

“By bringing all those pieces together, this framework provides a novel quantification not only of how much historical changes in precipitation have contributed to the costs of flooding, but also how greenhouse gases influence the kind of precipitation events that cause the most damaging flood events,” said researcher Noah Diffenbaugh. 

The researchers found that over the last 30 years, flooding has yielded nearly $200 billion in related damages across the United States. They learned that climate change was directly linked to more than 35 percent of those costs, or roughly $75 billion in damages. The team explained that the severity of extreme weather events is mostly to blame in these cases, as flooding has only worsened as the weather has changed. 

“What we find is that, even in states where the long-term mean precipitation hasn’t changed, in most cases, the wettest events have intensified, increasing the financial damages relative to what would have occurred without the changes in precipitation,” said Davenport. 

This study points to just one area of significant cost that stems from climate change. Moving forward, the researchers hope that legislators can utilize these findings as the basis for serious climate-related policy change. Without changes, they believe flood damages will only surge higher as time goes on. 

“Accurately and comprehensively tallying the past and future costs of climate change is key to making good policy decisions,” said researcher Marshall Burke. “This work shows that past climate change has already cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars, just due to flood damages alone.”