COVID-19 AMA: CDC Panel To Decide Who Should Get Boosters, Pressure on U.S. To Share Vaccine Tech And More
In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with Dr. Timothy Brewer, epidemiologist and professor of medicine at UCLA’s school of public health.
Topics today include:
- City of Pasadena says it will administer 3rd doses of Pfizer, Moderna to immunocompromised people
- CDC panelmeets Wednesday to decide who should get Pfizer boosters
- Pressure grows on U.S. companies to share vaccine tech
- Who’s dying from COVID in CA?
- COVID positivity rate in Orange County drops again, signaling good news
- U.S. COVID deaths are topping 1,900 a day
- COVID vaccination timeline for kids under 12
- SFO to mandate coronavirus vaccinations for all its workers
- Modelers predict a steady decline in COVID cases through March
- Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccination trials for pregnant women delayed
- Will masks protect you if no one else is wearing one?
- Germany ending sick pay for unvaccinated and those needing to quarantine
Rikki, Please Lose That Number: New Report Finds Phone Companies Failing To Comply With Federal Robocall Mandate
Today on AirTalk, we’re joined by Sander Kushen, an advocate for the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) Education Fund who has worked on the issue.
Most of us are, unfortunately, familiar with the persistent robocalls trying to get you to update your car’s warranty, service your student loans or otherwise separate you from your money and/or obtain your personal information. A new report from CALPIRG finds that despite a federal law requiring phone service providers to implement anti-robocall technology, a majority of them have done little to nothing to meet industry standards to combat robocalls. Only 17% of the more than 3,000 service providers have reported fully implementing anti-robocall technology.
California Firefighters Keep Getting Injured During Training. Some Have Died.
Over the past 18 months, more than 150 firefighters were sickened by heat exposure while working for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection - known as Cal Fire. More than a quarter of heat-related incidents - the largest category - involve firefighters who fell ill during routine training exercises, according to an investigation by KPCC, LAist, and Columbia Journalism Investigations. An analysis of internal Cal Fire reports on employee training injuries and other state records show at least 14 other incidents since 2001 that bear what some experts say are hallmarks of heat-related illness. In five of those incidents, the firefighters died. Today on AirTalk, KPCC and LAist science reporter Jacob Margolis and Columbia University investigative fellow Brian Edwards join Larry to talk about their reporting and the issues
Read the full LAist story here.
As Students Return To Campus, Advocates Predict An Increase In Partying And Sexual Assaults.
This fall, as students flood back onto college campuses after a year away due to the Pandemic, advocates and residential staff are looking towards potential increases in sexual assaults on campus. The period between August and November is known as the ‘red zone,’ a time on college campuses when nearly 60% of all sexual assaults take place. This year, advocates are warning of a potential ‘double red zone’ as campuses welcome not only new and naive freshmen but sophomores as well, who spent their first year of college studying remotely. Today on AirTalk, we talk to Briana Miller, director of CARE (Campus Advocacy, Resources & Education) at UC Santa Barbara and Alexandra Brodsky, a staff attorney at Public Justice who litigates sexual assault and civil rights abuses in schools.
Has the Supreme Court Failed to Police the Police?
The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020 focused the nation’s attention on problems of police violence and racism within law enforcement. In a new book, constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky traces a current lack of accountability for police misconduct back to a decades-old Supreme Court decision, with roots in Los Angeles, that restricts federal lawsuits challenging illegal police behavior. Chemerinsky argues the Supreme Court for the past few decades has been hollowing out protections for the rights of the accused, established by the Warren court. Today on AirTalk, we speak with Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, about his new book “Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights.” Do you have questions for Dean Chemerinsky about his findings? Give us a call at 866-893-5722 or send an email to atcomments@kpcc.org.