Current Events in April 2021

A hack of 533,000,000 global Facebook users that went up for sale on messaging app Telegram in January has now spiraled out of control. 

Over the weekend, security researcher Alon Gal tweeted out that every single one of those half-billion Facebook records were just leaked for free. “This means that if you have a Facebook account, it is extremely likely the phone number used for the account was leaked,” Gal wrote.

Telephone numbers were just the top layer of what was stolen. Gal detailed that a person’s Facebook ID, full name, location, past location, birthdate, email address, account creation date, relationship status, and bio were also possibly purloined. Users from 106 countries are affected, including 32 million people in the U.S.

“Bad actors will certainly use the information for social engineering, scamming, hacking and marketing,” Gal said.

As of mid-morning on Monday, neither Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Security, or Facebook’s Privacy blog had acknowledged the issue. 

Brace yourself for more

When ConsumerAffairs reached out for comment from Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN, he said that people should buckle up for a large wave of personalized phishing or social engineering attacks. In a hacker’s way of thinking, why not? There’s no monetary risk since the personal data was free. “It means that anyone with shady intentions was able to get their hands on it,” Markuson said.

“This leak raises huge concerns, especially now. Cybercriminals exploit fears or feed on the need for urgency. We have already seen a surge in pandemic-related cybercrimes, and this trend continues. Now, as countries all over the world are starting to roll out vaccination programs, there is another opportunity for cybercriminals.”

Markuson said that vaccine-related searches in the U.S. have grown by 1,900 percent since January. This shows that Americans are becoming increasingly anxious to get their COVID-19 vaccine and might be an easy target for hackers. 

Protecting yourself

Protecting yourself against a phishing email or malicious message isn’t complicated, but it does take some vigilance. When ConsumerAffairs asked Markuson what advice he would give to unsuspecting people, he gave us six things to watch out for.

• Check the sender’s email address or telephone number. Don’t just trust the display name – pay attention to the email address, telephone number, and other sender credentials,” he said.

• Look for spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, and design issues. Serious companies and institutions don’t usually send out emails with bad grammar; email design is usually lean and precise.

• Don’t click on links or download attachments. If that’s an email - hover your mouse over the link to see the destination link. Check if it looks legitimate and, especially, if it contains the “https” part to indicate a secure connection. For other types of messages, it’s generally safer to search for the website yourself.

• Consider context. Were you expecting such an email or message? If not, it is probably suspicious, especially if the offer seems too good to be true.  

• Contact the company yourself. When in doubt, contact the company or institution over the phone or by using an alternative email address to confirm if the email is legitimate.

• Report the incident to the authorities. If you notice something unusual, raising the alarm can help not only you, but others affected by the leak as well.

“Everyone can become a victim of phishing scams,” Markuson said. “Although some of them are pretty obvious, others can be challenging to spot. As a prevention measure, use cyber security software such as VPNs, antiviruses, spam filters, and firewalls.”

ConsumerAffairs has a guide on data protection. It covers rates, reviews, and other information about companies that offer data protection services. It’s available here.

It should be noted that Facebook Security extended support for mobile security keys for Facebook iOS/ Android users on March 18. The team suggested that users employ security keys to help ensure that passwords aren’t the last line of defense between an attacker and a user’s account.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the results of a study suggesting that only one dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines confers 80 percent immunity against COVID-19. While the findings should give consumers confidence in the efficacy of those treatments, health officials say it’s still important to get the second planned shot to provide more protection. 

In a White House press briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci said relying solely on the first shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may not provide the level of protection some people think.

“We have been concerned, and still are, that when you look at the level of protection after one dose, you can say it’s 80 percent, but it is somewhat of a tenuous 80 percent,” he said.

Fauci explained that many of the COVID-19 variants circulating around the world may not be completely neutralized by only one shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. He advised consumers to continue following the advice of public health officials when it comes to vaccination guidelines.

“Given the number of vaccines we’re able to give every day, literally every day that goes by we get closer and closer to where we want to be. And for that reason, although we always continue to keep an open mind, we consider the route that we’re on now is the best route,” he stated.

Positive vaccine news keeps coming

There have been several positive updates on the COVID-19 vaccine front over the last week. In addition to the aforementioned study, the CDC also found that it is “highly unlikely” that people who are fully vaccinated against the virus can spread it to others who are not vaccinated.

“Vaccinated people do not carry the virus, they don’t get sick. That’s not just in the clinical trials, but it’s also in real-world data,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. 

A separate study focusing on the vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech has also shown promise for protecting younger people. A Phase 3 clinical trial conducted on over 2,200 adolescents showed that none of the children who received the vaccine were infected by COVID-19; that stands in contrast to 18 participants who did become infected and only received a placebo. 

The U.S. Supreme Court took Google’s side in an exhaustive, 11-year copyright case against Oracle on Monday. The two tech giants were feuding over software used on the Android platform. 

Oracle claimed that Google unfairly used 11,500 lines of code it considered copyrighted. The company wanted $9 billion in compensation for Google using that code, but the tech giant pushed back and said its use of the code was covered under the fair use doctrine.

Fair use vs. copyright protection

Deciding which company was correct in its assessment has bounced all over the place. After a jury agreed with Google on the fair use defense, a Federal Circuit reversed that decision, concluding that Google’s copying was not a fair use as a matter of law. This most recent ruling that once again went in Google’s favor will no doubt have great implications for software developers down the road. 

“The long settled practice of reusing software interfaces is critical to modern software development,” Tom Goldstein, Google’s attorney, told the justices in his argument.

The SCOTUS justices apparently agreed. In the majority opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that the “doctrine of ‘fair use’ is flexible and takes account of changes in technology. Computer programs differ to some extent from many other copyrightable works because computer programs always serve a functional purpose.”

The court said fair use plays an essential role when computer programs are being developed. Google’s use of code was “only what was needed to allow users to put their accrued talents to work in a new and transformative program,” Breyer said.

“To the extent that Google used parts of the Sun Java API to create a new platform that could be readily used by programmers, its use was consistent with that creative ‘progress’ that is the basic constitutional objective of copyright itself.” 

For most of the packages in its new Application Programming Interface, Breyer noted that Google programmers did copy code from the Sun Java API, but they also wrote separate “declaring code” to make its Android software function correctly.

Breyer said the top court assumed “for argument’s sake” that the code was copyrightable in the first place, but it declined to issue a ruling on that question. He asserted that tying the ruling to fair use was enough to decide the case. 

The big get bigger

As you might expect, Oracle was anything but happy with the decision. 

“The Google platform just got bigger and market power greater. The barriers to entry higher and the ability to compete lower.” 

“They stole Java and spent a decade litigating as only a monopolist can. This behavior is exactly why regulatory authorities around the world and in the United States are examining Google’s business practices,” Oracle’s Dorian Daley, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, said in a statement.

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

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 30,708,630  (30,605,164)

Total U.S. deaths: 555,021 (554,246)

Total global cases: 131,435,555 (130,683,807)

Total global deaths: 2,854,911 (2,789,141)

Johnson & Johnson takes over vaccine plant

At the request of the federal government, Johnson & Johnson said it will take over the Baltimore plant producing its coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. The move comes after manufacturing issues at the plant resulted in the loss of 15 million doses.

In a statement, Johnson & Johnson said it is beefing up quality control at the Emergent BioSolutions’ Bayview facility. Specifically, the company is adding dedicated personnel for operations and quality while significantly increasing the number of manufacturing, quality, and technical operations personnel to work with the J&J specialists already at Emergent.

The company also said all Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine doses distributed to date have met rigorous internal and regulatory quality standards. It said it expects to deliver nearly 100 million single-shot doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. government by the end of May.

More states to open vaccinations to everyone

Since the beginning of the year, young people have watched, perhaps with some envy, as their parents and grandparents got COVID-19 vaccinations and began to resume a more normal life. Now, it’s their turn.

At least half of all U.S. states this week are putting eligibility rules in place that open vaccinations to everyone age 16 and older. It’s in keeping with President Biden’s request that states adopt universal eligibility by April 19.

Some states that are not ready to embrace universal eligibility are increasing the number of people who can get the vaccine. Today, Philadelphia added sanitation workers, janitorial staff, utility workers, and postal employees to the groups that have priority to sign up for appointments.

Airlines get ready to resume change fees

Getting back to normal may not be all that advantageous for airline passengers. Airlines have waived some fees since the start of the pandemic, but now those charges are starting to return.

Starting this week, American Airlines is doing away with travel vouchers that allow customers to change flight plans without rebooking fees. Delta Air Lines has said it will adopt the same position next month.

United Airlines is also resuming change fees in May, but it’s giving customers until April 2022 to use the ones they already have. By next month, all airlines will also be selling the middle seat again. 

CVS expands test availability at MinuteClinics

CVS Health says it is increasing the availability of COVID-19 antibody testing at its MinuteClinic locations. Company officials say the point-of-care test can help identify if a patient has previously been infected with COVID-19, and the results are available within 15 minutes.

"After successfully piloting the antibody test offering at more than 100 MinuteClinic locations earlier this year, and recently launching the service at all of our clinic locations in Massachusetts and Texas, we have seen steady interest in affordable COVID-19 antibody testing," said Sharon Vitti, president of MinuteClinic. 

A COVID-19 antibody test is not intended to diagnose a current infection. During the test, a member of the MinuteClinic team will perform the antibody test, which includes the collection of a finger stick blood sample. After the analysis is complete, they review the results with the patient. The COVID-19 antibody test looks for the presence of antibodies generated by a previous infection with the virus.

Some Americans are getting extra stimulus payments

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says it is sending out another batch of $1,400 stimulus checks. The third round of checks includes so-called “plus-up” payments for people who are eligible for more cash, based on their 2020 tax returns.

The extra money is going to people whose first payments were formulated using their 2019 tax returns. In many cases, these taxpayers lost significant income in 2020 during the pandemic.

Recipients also include people who aren’t legally required to file a tax return but did so for 2020 in order to qualify for the payments. The extra payments were authorized last month under the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan passed by Congress.

Around the nation

• Florida: As the state opens up vaccination eligibility to all adults, health agencies are looking for larger venues to hold mass vaccinations. Since college students can now get the shots, the University of Florida is using its football stadium as a mass vaccination site.

• Tennessee: The state of Tennessee has passed a vaccination milestone, with 1 million state residents now inoculated against COVID-19. ‘’We celebrate this milestone and expect to see this number increase as the vaccine is more widely available,” said Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey.  “The hard work and dedication of our local health departments and statewide vaccine partners have helped us reach this significant moment in our fight against COVID-19.”

• Illinois: State health officials say they are troubled by Illinois’ coronavirus positivity rate, which stubbornly held at a two-month high on Sunday. The state reported 2,449 new and probable COVID-19 cases that were detected among 64,116 tests processed in the last 24 hours.

Consumers’ choices among Android smartphones are about to get smaller. LG, which has been making mobile phones since 1995, has announced that it will get out of the smartphone business July 31.

Once a major player in the industry, the Korean electronics giant has consistently lost market share over the last decade to the likes of Apple, Samsung, and many other small manufacturers.

LG has steadily lost out to both high-end producers as well as the smaller companies. According to Statista, LG’s smartphone sales declined from 15.4 million units in the first quarter of 2015 to 11.4 million in the first quarter of 2018.

The company said getting out of the smartphone business will allow it to focus on more lucrative business lines, such as making parts for electric vehicles and robots. Its home appliance division, which boomed during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, will also get more attention.

In addition to smartphones, the company’s consumer products include washers, dryers, and television sets. LG recently introduced its flagship mobile device, the WING 5G, featuring “pro-quality video recording, triple rear cameras, and 5G connectivity.”

The WING 5G carries a retail price of just under $1,000. Meanwhile, competitors like Samsung and Apple are selling their top-of-the-line handsets for $1,100 or more. LG’s low-end smartphones, such as the KG K51, retail for less than $200, making it a low-margin product.

A move to outsourcing

Some industry analysts have pointed out that LG had already begun moving away from smartphones and outsourcing more and more of the production to subcontractors -- squeezing profit margins even thinner.

“The big bosses start to think, ‘Why are we in this business?’ if all we are doing is putting our brand on it,” Tom Kang, a researcher at Counterpoint Research, told The Wall Street Journal.

Other former industry leaders now exist largely in name only. In the early 2000s, Nokia and Blackberry were market leaders. Other manufacturers now make products for both brands.

Earlier this year, a United Airlines executive stated that the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was even worse than the worst estimates anyone at the company thought possible. But it seems like those dark and troubled times may be coming to an end soon. 

Late last week, company officials reportedly told employees in a memo that the carrier would be hiring hundreds of pilots to keep up with demand for domestic air travel. The message was a sharp turnaround from last year when the company told tens of thousands of employees that furloughs would be likely in 2021.

“I’m excited to share that United will resume the pilot hiring process that was halted last year. We’ll restart with approximately 300 pilots who either had a new hire class date that was canceled or who had a 2020 conditional job offer,” said Bryan Quigley, United’s Senior Vice President of Flight Operations, in the memo.

Travelers are already returning to the air

There have already been signs that the airline industry is starting to return to “normal” after over a year in the pandemic doldrums. Last month, several airlines announced they were bringing back in-flight food and beverage services for select flights and customers.

If the recent holiday weekend is any indication, more passengers could soon be taking to the air to enjoy these amenities. The Transportation Security Administration reports that over 1.5 million travelers went through security checkpoints on Thursday and Friday leading into Easter weekend, and there were similar numbers reported for Sunday. For each of these days in 2020, when the pandemic first began, checkpoint visits were below 130,000 per day. 

A company that sells fish oil supplements and a lab that prepared advertisements for those products have caught the ire of the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly making false and misleading claims.

Regulators say BASF SE and DIEM Labs violated the FTC Act by using deceptive marketing practices to sell Hepaxa and Hepaxa PD supplements. In materials prepared by DIEM and approved by BASF, the companies said the products were “clinically proven” to reduce liver fat in adults and children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; they also claimed that consumers would see health improvements within six months of taking the products. 

In actuality, the FTC says trials involving the supplements showed that they performed no better than a placebo.

“BASF and DIEM couldn’t back up serious claims about how Hepaxa capsules would help adults and kids with liver disease,” said Daniel Kaufman, the FTC’s Acting Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Companies can’t cherry-pick data and need to be upfront about the science behind -- or not behind -- their products.”

BASF and DIEM will pay over $416,000 to the FTC under the terms of the settlement, and those funds will be distributed to all customers who bought either Hepaxa or Hepaxa PD. The companies are also barred from using misleading advertising and must show proper scientific evidence to support any health claims in the future.

Consumers can learn more about the case by contacting the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection online or by phone at 202-326-2125.

If you spent the weekend looking for a house to buy, you may be stunned by the low number of homes for sale and what they cost. The first number is going down while the second is skyrocketing.

In a new report, real estate broker Redfin put the median home price over the last four weeks at an all-time high -- $335,613; that’s 17 percent higher than the same period a year ago. Asking prices are up 14 percent to $353,500 -- another all-time high.

Active listings -- the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period -- fell by 42 percent from the same period in 2020 to a new all-time low. Redfin says it’s the largest decrease on record in this data, which goes back through 2016.

The lack of inventory has created intense competition among buyers. Realtors report receiving offers from buyers who haven’t even seen the property. Redfin reports that 59 percent of listings go under contract within two weeks.

Not enough houses for sale

It was also this lack of available homes for sale that caused pending home sales to plunge 10.6 percent in February, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). There were plenty of potential buyers, just not enough houses.

"The demand for a home purchase is widespread, multiple offers are prevalent, and days-on-market are swift but contracts are not clicking due to record-low inventory," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist.

Yun said more expensive homes are selling because there are a lot more of them than homes in the middle to lower price range. Increased sales of more expensive homes are likely responsible for driving up the median home price. Yun says there are plenty of buyers whenever a new listing appears.

"Demand, interestingly, does not yet appear to be impacted by recent modest rises in mortgage rates," Yun said.

Carry-over from the summer

S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) reports that the home price escalation in 2021 is a carry-over from last summer when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic triggered a mass migration from urban apartments to suburban homes. 

"The strong price gains that we observed in the last half of 2020 continued into the first month of the new year. In January 2021, the National Composite Index rose by 11.2 percent compared to its year-ago levels," says Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of Index Investment Strategy at S&P DJI. "The trend of accelerating prices that began in June 2020 has now reached its eighth month and is also reflected in the 10- and 20-City Composites that are up 10.9 percent and 11.1 percent, respectively.”

The 11.2 percent price gain in January is the highest since February 2006, at the height of the housing bubble. Phoenix led the nation with a 15.8 percent increase in the median home price. Yun said escalating home prices will continue to pose challenges for buyers.

"Potential buyers may have to enlarge their geographic search areas, given the current tight market," he stated. "If there were a larger pool of inventory to select from – ideally a five- or a six-month supply – then more buyers would be able to purchase properties at an affordable price."

While many parents are concerned about letting their toddlers spend too much time in front of screens, a new study conducted by researchers from the Association for Psychological Science explored what role TV plays in toddlers’ development. 

Their findings showed that watching TV isn’t likely to be the culprit for toddlers’ attention issues. However, these results are different from several other studies that have looked at toddlers and screen time. 

“The findings from the original study, upon further scrutiny, are not borne out,” said researcher Wallace E. Dixon, Jr. “We found that there is still no evidence that TV, by itself, causes ADHD or any kind of attention problems in young children. Our research also tells us that it’s important to be skeptical of earth-shattering findings that come in the form of ‘something that everybody is doing harms our children.’ Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” 

TV alone isn’t to blame for attention issues

The researchers analyzed data from more than 2,000 participants who were enrolled in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth to determine what effect watching TV had on toddlers’ attention spans. They applied a research technique that explores this association from hundreds of different angles and compared them to results from an earlier study. 

Ultimately, they learned that watching TV didn’t have a direct impact on toddlers’ attention issues. Though many parents are worried about how much time their young kids are spending in front of screens, and several studies have drawn links between screen time and attention, the findings from this study showed that exposure to TV alone during the toddler years isn’t likely to lead to attention issues during childhood and beyond. 

The researchers hope that parents and caregivers find solace in these findings and aren’t so hard on themselves for what activities they permit their kids to participate in moving forward. 

“What excites us about this research is that we can ease up on blaming parents or making them feel guilty for letting their children watch television when they are very young,” Dixon said. 

General Motors is recalling 94,641 model year 2021 Cadillac Escalades & Escalade ESVs, GMC Yukons & Yukon XLs, and Chevrolet Suburbans & Tahoes with third-row seating.

The third-row outboard seat belts may have been trapped or misrouted behind the outboard seat-folding mechanism, which could result in damaged seat belts.

A damaged seat belt can break during a crash, increasing the risk of injury to the occupant.

What to do

GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the third-row outboard seat belts, replacing any damaged seat belts, and rerouting them -- if necessary -- free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin May 3, 2021.

Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at (800) 222-1020, GMC customer service at (800)462-8782 and Cadillac customer service at (800) 458-8006. GM's number for this recall is N202313000.

BC Food LA of South El Monte, Calif., is recalling approximately 1,643 pounds of Chinese style hot pot base products containing beef tallow.

The products were imported from the People’s Republic of China, which is ineligible to export beef to the U.S.

There are no confirmed reports of adverse reactions.

The Chinese style hot pot base products were imported on or around June 24, 2020. The following products, imported on or around June 24, 2020, are being recalled.

• 10.5-oz. (300 g) Plastic vacuum wrapped packages containing a “Lee’s 52° Da Zhuang” Hot Pot Base.
• 10.5-oz. (300 g) Plastic vacuum wrapped packages containing a “Lee’s 45° Da Zhuang” Hot Pot Base.
• 10.5-oz. (300 g) Plastic vacuum wrapped packages containing a “Lee’s 36° Da Zhuang” Hot Pot Base.

The recalled products, which do not bear an establishment number or a USDA mark of inspection, were shipped to retail locations in California, Nevada and Oklahoma.

What to do

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

Consumers with questions may contact Allen Pung at (213) 422-7473.

General Motors is recalling eight model year 2021 Chevrolet Camaros.

The left or right axle shaft may be missing a retaining ring, which could allow the axle shaft to separate while the vehicle is being driven.

A separated axle shaft can cause a loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash.

What to do

GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the left or right axle shaft -- as necessary -- free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin May 3, 2021.

Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at (800) 222-1020. GM's number for this recall is N212331000.

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

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 30,548,745 (30,467,164)

Total U.S. deaths: 553,241 (552,246)

Total global cases: 129,803,473 (129,083,807)

Total global deaths: 2,830,518 (2,819,141)

FDA authorizes new over-the-counter COVID-19 tests

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the sale of the first over-the-counter fast-results coronavirus (COVID-19) tests that consumers with no symptoms can take at home on an ongoing basis.

The FDA authorized BinaxNOW, a COVID-19 antigen self-test produced by Abbott Labs. It also authorized the Quick Vue test by Quidel, a diagnostic health care product manufacturer.

Previous at-home tests required a prescription and were supervised by a virtual proctor. A spokesperson for Abbott told ABC News that the tests are expected to be sold in packs of two and will cost under $10 dollars.

Feds will investigate J&J vaccine fail

The FDA plans to launch an investigation into the manufacturing issue that caused the loss of 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to The Wall Street Journal. The vaccine doses were tossed out after they failed to meet quality standards.

According to the report, the agency is expected to dispatch an inspection team to assess the situation at the Baltimore plant operated by a J&J contractor, Emergent BioSolutions Inc.

The batch of suspect vaccine doses never reached the vial-filling and finishing stage, and the company says no doses from it were distributed to vaccination centers.

Unvaccinated people urged to remain cautious

Millions of Americans have now been vaccinated against COVID-19, but many millions more have not. Health experts are pleading with the unvaccinated population to wait before trying to resume normal activities.

"Please wait until you're fully vaccinated before you're traveling, before you're engaging in high-risk activities," said CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen. "No doubt when you become vaccinated, the activities that were once higher risk are now going to be lower risk and so just wait until then."

A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that people who have been fully vaccinated are highly unlikely to become infected or pass the virus on to those who haven’t been vaccinated.

Employment surge in March suggests the pandemic is fading fast

The COVID-19 pandemic hit with full force in March 2020, forcing a shutdown of much of the economy for several weeks and eliminating more than 700,000 jobs. In a sign that the pandemic has begun to fade, the Labor Department reports that the economy added 916,000 jobs last month.

“These improvements in the labor market reflect the continued resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,” said William Beach, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Job growth was widespread, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, public and private education, and construction.”

The nation’s unemployment rate dropped to 6 percent in March, considerably lower than its recent high in April 2020. However, it is 2.5 percentage points higher than its pre-pandemic level in February 2020. 

Working from home ending soon for some

Some employees have enjoyed working remotely for the last 12 months, but those Zoom meetings while wearing pajama bottoms and afternoon naps may be coming to an end. Increasingly, major employers are stepping up their timelines for reopening their offices.

LaSalle Network, a staffing firm, recently reported that 70 percent of corporate respondents in its survey said they plan to phase employees back in by this fall. 

Even though surveys have shown that remote work has largely been a success, with little decline in productivity, sentiment appears to be shifting to returning employees to a central workspace. In a memo to employees, leaked to Business Insider, Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg said he expects employees to return to the office as soon as they receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Around the nation

• New York: New York has lifted its mandatory two-week quarantine for people coming from out of state, a sign that things are starting to return to normal. But state health officials still recommend people entering the state voluntarily isolate for 14 days.

• Oregon: State officials have stepped up the expansion of vaccination eligibility. Frontline workers -- those working around people outside of their household -- are now eligible to get the vaccine in 20 Oregon counties, putting them five days ahead of the original schedule.

• Wisconsin: While overall cases of COVID-19 held steady this week, health officials are reporting a spike in cases involving highly contagious variants. The Department of Health Services reported 139 cases of variant B.1.1.7 on Thursday, which is the variant that was originally discovered circulating in England.

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania explored the unique ways that mothers’ lives have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Their findings showed that the switch to remote work has led many women to take on even more responsibilities around the home; the same wasn’t true of fathers who worked from home. 

“It turns out that when a mother is working remotely and her partner isn’t, she ends up taking on a ton more responsibilities,” said researcher Jerry Jacobs. “When a father is working remotely and his partner isn’t, somehow he doesn’t take on as much extra work. This seems to be a deeply gendered issue.” 

Dividing domestic duties isn’t always fair

To determine how mothers and fathers divided household responsibilities in the early days of the pandemic, the researchers analyzed data from 2,200 people who participated in a New York Times survey last April. Respondents answered questions about their working situations and how they split up domestic duties with their partners, including remote schooling, household chores, and child care. 

Having a higher demand for childcare responsibilities was consistent among all the participants; this is to be expected considering that this survey was conducted one month into the COVID-19 pandemic when schools had shifted to remote learning. However, when breaking down the results based on which partners were able to work from home, the researchers noticed a trend emerging among mothers’ and fathers’ household responsibilities. 

Across the board, mothers reported a significant increase in both household chores and child care responsibilities during the pandemic. This was true for mothers who were the remote workers in their partnerships, for mothers who left the house for work each day, and in situations where both partners worked outside of the home. 

“The disparity, how this affected remote dads versus remote moms, was just so stark,” said Jacobs. “Even for a hard-boiled, data-driven sociologist like me, I was surprised.” 

When both mothers and fathers weren’t able to work from home, mothers were seven times more likely to carry the brunt of the responsibility for child care and remote learning. When fathers were the sole parent working from home, their household duties remained the same; however, women reported picking up more of the responsibilities in this situation. Fathers were more likely to pitch in when both partners worked from home, but women still carried the majority of the domestic duties. 

Single parents fared similarly 

The researchers found that a similar trend emerged among single parents who participated in the survey. While this group of mothers was better able to divide up remote schooling responsibilities, more of the general child care responsibilities fell to single mothers as opposed to single fathers. 

Because this survey was conducted at the beginning of the pandemic, the researchers hope that recent changes to school protocols have changed parenting dynamics for the better. However, it’s important for consumers to understand how the domestic burden has primarily been mothers’ to carry over this last year of the pandemic. 

LinkedIn has announced that it’s introducing “stay-at-home mom” to its list of job titles. The Microsoft-owned social network said the move is intended, in part, to help parents impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic reenter the workforce. 

The pandemic led to a dramatic surge in the number of mothers who were forced to exit the labor market in order to stay home to raise children -- but women’s unpaid work in raising children has long gone largely unrecognized by society. 

In a Medium post that went viral last month, Heather Bolen called out LinkedIn for its “implicit bias against women” and said a simple change to its drop-down menu options could help millions of women reenter the workforce in the wake of the pandemic year. 

“By simply modernizing its profile editing options, LinkedIn holds the key to encouraging transparent dialogue about employment gaps,” Bolen wrote. “These conversations could help set the stage for improvements in company leave policies and work arrangements that better support primary caregivers.”

Caregiver options lacking

Bolen said that the only “viable” option LinkedIn previously offered to describe her years as a stay-at-home mom was “self-employed” or “freelance.” 

“Neither of which adequately represents my unpaid work stint,” she wrote in the article. “I would also argue that being a SAHM is full-time, but of course, LinkedIn intends to describe paid work only.”

LinkedIn previously had “zero pre-populated options to identify maternity leave, parental leave, adoption leave, sick leave, bereavement leave, elderly care leave, or for long term injury/illness, education/re-training, volunteering, long term travel, a gap year, a sabbatical — or for a pandemic,” Bolen wrote.

LinkedIn making changes

Now, on the heels of a year that forced more than 2.3 million women out of the workforce, LinkedIn has recognized the need for better options for those who took a caregiving hiatus. 

The social network announced Tuesday that it would add stay-at-home mom” as a job description. LinkedIn executives told Fortune that they “wholeheartedly” agreed with Bolen’s critiques. 

“We need to normalize employment gaps on the profile to help reframe hiring conversations,” Bef Ayenew, director of engineering at LinkedIn, told Fortune. Ayenew added that the changes are “a stopgap solution” while LinkedIn works on a larger revamp of its digital resumes over the next few months. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided in favor of Facebook in a lawsuit over unwanted text notifications the social platform sent. The ruling refutes a claim by the plaintiff, Noah Duguid, that the messages violated the federal ban on robocalls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA).

Duguid tried to convince the Court that what Facebook was doing was similar to robocalls. He stated that Facebook essentially had the “capacity to dial numbers without human intervention.” Furthering his argument, he said that accepting Facebook’s interpretation would “unleash” a “torrent of robocalls.” However, SCOTUS judges weren’t buying what Duguid was pitching.

“To begin with, Duguid greatly overstates the effects of accepting Facebook’s interpretation. The statute separately prohibits calls using ‘an artificial or prerecorded voice’ to various types of phone lines, including home phones and cell phones, unless an exception applies,” the Court stated in its opinion.

The Court said its decision does not affect that prohibition and that Duguid’s quarrel is with Congress because legislators didn’t define an autodialer as “malleably” as he would have liked. 

Facebook is happy, but lawmakers aren’t

Facebook was happy about the ruling and what it means for its ability to continue sending notifications to users going forward. 

“As the Court recognized, the law’s provisions were never intended to prohibit companies from sending targeted security notifications, and the court’s decision will allow companies to continue working to keep the accounts of their users safe,” Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone said in an emailed statement.

However, lawmakers were less than pleased by the decision. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MASS) and Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) called out the Supreme Court for misinterpreting the TCPA. 

They -- and 19 other lawmakers -- sensed that the Court might lean this way months ago and tried to convince officials to be as consumer-sensitive as possible. When their fears came true on Thursday, Markey and Eshoo castigated the Court for abandoning consumers and making it possible for a limitless number of new robocalls to enter people’s lives.

“Today, the Supreme Court tossed aside years of precedent, clear legislative history, and essential consumer protection to issue a ruling that is disastrous for everyone who has a mobile phone in the United States,” said the lawmakers in a joint statement. 

“It was clear when the TCPA was introduced that Congress wanted to ban dialing from a database. By narrowing the scope of the TCPA, the Court is allowing companies the ability to assault the public with a non-stop wave of unwanted calls and texts, around the clock.”

Legislation may be coming

Markey and Eshoo are not giving up on this issue. They say they’ll “act to make right what the Supreme Court got wrong” by introducing legislation to “amend the TCPA, fix the Court’s error, and protect consumers.”

“If the Justices find their private mobile phones ringing non-stop from now until our legislation becomes law, they’ll only have themselves to blame,” Markey and Eshoo added.

In updated guidance issued Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk to themselves as long as they practice the usual COVID-19 precautions. 

The updated guidance eliminates some of the agency’s previous testing and quarantine recommendations. Health officials said the new guidance is based on the latest evidence, science, and the current state of the pandemic. 

“Fully vaccinated people can travel within the United States and COVID-19 testing or post-travel self-quarantine are not required as long as they continue to take COVID-19 precautions while traveling – wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, socially distancing, and washing hands frequently,” the CDC said. 

The agency noted that a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after they have received the last recommended dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Right now, approximately 20 percent of the adult population in the U.S. is vaccinated. 

International travel

Fully vaccinated people don't need a COVID-19 test before traveling internationally (unless their destination requires one). They also don’t need to self-quarantine upon returning to the U.S. (unless their state or local jurisdiction requires it). 

Due to the emergence of new COVID-19 variants and differences in vaccine coverage around the world, the CDC says fully vaccinated people should still have a negative COVID-19 test result before they board a flight to the United States. Travelers should also get a COVID-19 test 3 to 5 days after returning from international travel. 

Does not apply to unvaccinated people

People who haven’t gotten a vaccine are advised to continue following the agency’s existing guidance. For unvaccinated travelers, the CDC recommends: 

• Getting tested 1-3 days before domestic travel and again 3-5 days after travel;

• Staying home and self-quarantining for 7 days after travel, or 10 days if they don’t get tested at the conclusion of travel; and

• Avoiding non-essential domestic travel altogether.

At a press conference on Friday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said she still discourages Americans -- especially those who are unvaccinated -- from traveling for nonessential reasons. Walensky said recently that rising case numbers suggest another surge may be on the way, meaning Americans should hold off “a little while longer” before jumping back into their pre-pandemic lives.

"We haven't changed our guidance for nonessential travel at all. We are not recommending travel at this time, especially for unvaccinated people," Walensky said. “With millions of Americans getting vaccinated every day, it is important to update the public on the latest science about what fully vaccinated people can do safely, now including guidance on safe travel.”

Walensky said Americans are still encouraged to get vaccinated as soon as they have the opportunity so that we can all “begin to safely take steps back to our everyday lives.” 

A Southwest Airlines customer has been given the green light to continue his lawsuit against the carrier. Adrian Bombin leads a class action lawsuit asking for a refund instead of the airline credit that Southwest offered when his flight was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Bombin filed his lawsuit on February 27, 2020 – 12 days before the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. Bombin had scheduled a flight from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) to Havana (Cuba) Airport (HAV) using Southwest’s mobile app. When he checked in on his flight on March 23 -- post-WHO’s declaration -- he was surprised to find that his “travel itinerary had been interrupted” due to cancellations caused by the spread of COVID-19.

In the lawsuit, Bombin says the Southwest customer service representative he spoke to did not offer “any comparable accommodations on another flight.” Bombin said that when he asked for a refund, he was denied and “only offered a credit for use on a future flight.”

Southwest asks for a dismissal of the suit

Southwest asked the U.S. District Court to dismiss the lawsuit, but a judge denied the airline’s petition and allowed it to move forward. Bombin appears to have the Department of Transportation (DOT) in his corner. The agency’s rule in situations like this is that “a passenger is entitled to a refund if the airline cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the passenger chooses not to travel.”

The airline’s counterattack is based on its “Conditions of Carriage,” which the airline claims “does not provide for a right of a refund for a non-refundable ticket.” 

Companies can also fall back on the dreaded “terms and conditions” in situations like these. In this case, Southwest argued that anyone who books a flight on its website or its mobile app is required to click and accept its terms. However, Judge Gallagher said "there is no factual support for [Southwest’s] assertion that plaintiffs actually agreed to the terms and conditions when they purchased their tickets."

"In short, there is no proof (beyond the unsworn allegations of defense counsel) that users of the Southwest website and mobile application must click on an icon to accept the terms and conditions before purchasing airline tickets.”

This question has been raised before with Southwest

When questions arose regarding Southwest’s policy on ticket refunds early on in the pandemic, Brian Parrish of the Southwest Communications Team told ConsumerAffairs that the carrier fully complies with the directive from the DOT.

Parrish said travelers may change their travel plans up to 60 days from the original flight date if they want to rebook. Consumers looking to take that route can visit Southwest.com/rebook and view flights that have seats available. He noted that rebooking online is generally a traveler’s best option because call volumes are likely to be very high to reach a Southwest Representative. On the other hand, he said travelers do not need to take any action if they are unsure of their future travel plans.

When ConsumerAffairs asked Parrish what the airline would do if one of its options doesn’t make the consumer happy, he said travelers “may request a full refund to the original form of payment.”