The Singapore government is tired of footing the bill for unvaccinated COVID-19 patients, and will soon force them to pay their own medical bills.
Governments around the world are struggling to deal with the strain COVID patients put on available medical resources. There have been countless cases of patients seeking treatment for cancer, needing minor surgery, or dealing with any number of other conditions being sent home because of hospitals filled to the brim with COVID patients. Often, it is unvaccinated patients that cause the lion’s share of the burden.
It appears Singapore has had enough, and is preparing to take measures to ensure individuals that choose to remain unvaccinated, without a medically valid reason, will have to foot their own bill, according to NPR.
“Currently, unvaccinated persons make up a sizeable majority of those who require intensive inpatient care, and disproportionately contribute to the strain on our healthcare resources,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement when announcing the change.
The change will take effect on or after December 8. It’s a safe bet many other countries will eventually follow suit.
Brain-poking nasal swabs may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a team of scientists that have trained AI to recognize COVID by listening to coughs.
The most reliable way to detect the coronavirus is by using an invasive, eye-watering nasal swab test. Scientists have found that artificial intelligence can detect the virus simply by listening to an individual’s cough.
According to the University of Essex, the researchers used 8,380 clinically-validated samples from Spain and Mexico — including both positive and negative results — to test the DeepCough3D screening tool. The AI was found to be 98% accurate in identifying both positive and negative samples.
Most importantly, DeepCough3D was effective at recognizing both symptomatic and asymptomatic coughs. The algorithm could even detect different levels of infection, allowing the researchers to categorize the coughs into three levels of severity.
”We are delighted with the promising results of this novel screening tool, which could prove a real game-changer and essential addition to our arsenal of tools to combat the pandemic as it is far less invasive than most other COVID-19 tests and also offers rapid results, paving the way to point-of-need pre-screening testing solutions,” said lead researcher Dr Javier Andreu-Perez, of the Smart Health Technologies Group at the Centre for Computational Intelligence.
The researchers will look for health collaborations to test the AI in the field, as well as begin pursuing the necessary certifications to make it available for wider release.
T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom has submitted a bid to create a digital vaccination passport for the EU.
One of the biggest challenges countries face is managing travel during the pandemic. International travel helped the coronavirus spread at a record pace in the early days of the pandemic, and continues to be a major threat to containment efforts.
Some countries have made vaccination a requirement to cross their borders, but there is currently no good way to keep track of who has been vaccinated. The issue is especially a concern for the EU, where individuals are normally able to cross member state borders at will.
Deutsche Telekom is hoping to help address the problem, submitting a bid to the German government to create a digital vaccination passport. A vaccination passport would serve as proof the holder was vaccinated, and therefore relatively safe to travel.
If the EU’s efforts are successful, it’s a safe bet other countries will follow suit, implementing their own methods for keeping track of those vaccinated.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has indicated that updates to COVID vaccines aimed at virus variants will not need lengthy testing.
As governments around the world roll out COVID vaccines, a pressing concern is the emergence of variants, such as the UK strain and the South African strain. Experts are concerned that some strains may be more contagious and possibly resistant to existing vaccines.
To successfully combat existing and emerging strains, it will be important for vaccine manufacturers to be able to quickly bring updated versions of their vaccines, or boosters, to market. The FDA has removed a big hurdle, indicating that vaccine boosters will not require the same lengthy testing as the original vaccine. Instead, manufacturers will be able to adopt a similar approach as that used with flu vaccines.
“The FDA is committed to identifying efficient ways to modify medical products that either are in the pipeline or have been authorized for emergency use to address emerging variants,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. “We know the country is eager to return to a new normal and the emergence of the virus variants raises new concerns about the performance of these products. By issuing these guidances, we want the American public to know that we are using every tool in our toolbox to fight this pandemic, including pivoting as the virus adapts. We need to arm health care providers with the best available diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines to fight this virus. We remain committed to getting these life-saving products to the frontlines.”
The FDA’s new guidance is good news for vaccine manufacturers and citizens alike.
As if the pandemic is not bad enough, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is investigating a scam involving fake N95 masks.
Effective masks are one of the principle ways to combat the coronavirus and prevent its spread. While important for the population at large, masks are especially vital for front-line health workers who are exposed to the virus on a daily basis. N95 masks are particularly important to health workers, as they provide a higher level of protection than a basic face mask.
Unfortunately, companies are selling counterfeit N95 masks to hospitals and frontline workers. The counterfeits, purporting to be 3M masks, are becoming more difficult to detect, putting health and frontline workers at risk.
“They’re not coming from authorized distributors,” said Kevin Rhodes, 3M’s vice president and deputy general counsel, according to the Associated Press. “They’re coming from companies really just coming into existence.”
“These products are not tested to see if they make the N95 standards,” Rhodes added “They’re not interested in testing them. They’re interested in making as many as they can as cheaply as possible.”
To help combat the counterfeits, 3M has published guidelines to help individuals and companies identify fakes.
Gartner is predicting companies will spend some $332.9 billion on remote work IT in 2021 as the digital transformation continues.
The coronavirus pandemic has sparked an unprecedented digital transformation, as organizations have turned to remote work, schools have turned to remote learning and individuals have had to rely on videoconferencing to stay in touch.
That trend is expected to continue full force for the next several years. In fact, Gartner predicts businesses will have to accelerate their digital transformation by at least five years through 2024, as they continue to deal with a permanently altered workforce — one where remote work is part of the new reality.
“There are a combination of factors pushing the devices market higher,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice president at Gartner.. “As countries continue remote education through this year, there will be a demand for tablets and laptops for students. Likewise, enterprises are industrializing remote work for employees as quarantine measures keep employees at home and budget stabilization allows CIOs to reinvest in assets that were sweated in 2020.”
As a result, Gartner predicts remote work-related global IT spending will reach $332.9 billion in 2021, an increase of 4.9% from 2020.
“Digital business represents the dominant technology trend in late 2020 and early 2021 with areas such as cloud computing, core business applications, security and customer experience at the forefront. Optimization initiatives, such as hyperautomation, will continue and the focus of these projects will remain on returning cash and eliminating work from processes, not just tasks,” said Mr. Lovelock.
Gartner’s report is the latest evidence that remote work has become a permanent part of society, with workers continuing to demonstrate their preference for it.
Smartwatches can do much more than count steps, with research showing they can detect coronavirus infections days before diagnosis.
One of the keys to combatting coronavirus is early detection and diagnosis. The faster someone is diagnosed, the faster they can be quarantined and the less likely they are to spread the virus to others. Adequate testing has long been a major problem, making it difficult to get the pandemic under control. Adding to the challenge is COVID-19’s long incubation period, as well as the fact that patients can transmit the disease before they are visibly symptomatic.
According to CBS News, researchers at Mount Sinai Health System in New York and Stanford University in California have shown that wearable devices — such as the Apple Watch, Fitbit and Garmin — can detect coronavirus before symptoms appear and even before tests can detect it.
The key is in detecting minute changes in a wearer’s heart rate, skin temperature and other physiological markers. In particular, heart rate variability is a key factor. Heart rate variability measures the time between heartbeats, and is impacted by the state of a person’s immune system.
“We already knew that heart rate variability markers change as inflammation develops in the body, and Covid is an incredibly inflammatory event,” Rob Hirten, assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai told CBS MoneyWatch. “It allows us to predict that people are infected before they know it.”
The findings could be another important step in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, and will likely lead to a jump in wearables demand.
Amid a global pandemic, remote work has become so popular that 29% of professionals will quit rather than return to the office.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced record numbers of employees to work remotely. In many cases, companies have been surprised by the success of their remote work efforts and the corresponding productivity of their employees. A number of companies, including Twitter, Reddit, Dropbox, Microsoft, Facebook and others have committed to varying degrees of permanent remote work.
Companies that have yet to permanently embrace telecommuting should take LiveCareer’s latest study to heart.
At this point, we wanted to roll the dice and ask the respondents if they’d quit their job if not allowed to continue working remotely with their current employer—as many as 29% said, ‘YES.” That’s somewhat in line with Owl Labs’ 2020 report on the state of remote work that claims one in two people won’t return to jobs that don’t offer remote work after COVID-19.
On top of that, a full 62% of remote staff also agree or strongly agree with the following statement: “In the future, I’ll give preference to employers that offer remote work.”
These survey results should be a sobering wakeup call to companies insisting on resuming the status quo once the pandemic is over.
The upcoming coronavirus relief package Congress has been working on includes $7 billion for broadband at a time when it’s needed most.
As a result of the pandemic, record numbers of people are working from home, relying on broadband internet more than ever before. Unfortunately, many families are struggling with reduced or lost work, making it hard to pay for the very internet access they need for work, school and socializing.
According to Senator Ron Wyden, the $7 billion includes $3.2 billion set aside to help keep families connected, via $50 a month broadband fund for anyone who has been laid off or furloughed.
Broadband connections are essential for Americans seeking to get new jobs, and to access school, health care and other government services. Ensuring working families can stay online will pay massive dividends for kids’ education, helping people find jobs and jump starting the economic recovery next year.
The provision should help families struggling with staying connected, and will no doubt assist in the ongoing digital transformation.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released a report demonstrating how much COVID-19 has impacted advertising.
As the coronavirus pandemic began impacting businesses, advertising was one of the areas hardest hit. The IAB conducted a survey of 242 companies to see how the pandemic has changed advertising, and how it will continue to do so going into 2021.
In a bit of good news for the industry, the IAB projects that digital advertising will see an overall increase of 6% in 2020, compared to 2019. That’s where the good news ends, however, as overall advertising across all mediums is expected to drop by 8%. Traditional media advertising is to blame for the drop, experiencing as much as a 30% decline.
Looking ahead to 2021, as much as 70% of businesses have ballpark estimates of their budget at best, are not clear or have no idea how much they plan to spend. Those buyers that do have some idea of their 2021 budget, plan to spend 5.3% more than in 2020.
While the pandemic continues to take an obvious toll, one thing is clear: digital advertising is coming into its own as a result.
Some 76% of US CEOs plan on reducing their office space footprint as a result of the ongoing transition to remote work amid the pandemic.
As the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe, countless companies sent their employees home to work remotely. In many cases, the transition to remote work was far more successful than anticipated, leading some companies to make it a permanent part of their corporate culture. Even companies that plan on eventually returning to the office have had to push those plans back as COVID-19 has resurged.
It appears the trend toward remote work is now impacting long-term decisions regarding corporate office space. Fortune, in collaboration with Deloitte, conducted a poll of 171 CEOs. The poll found that some 76% said they will need less office space moving forward, with 28% saying they would need a lot less space.
Even more telling, 40% of the CEOs polled said that remote work had led to increased productivity, indicating their employees were likely happier working remotely. Conversely, 31% reported decreased productivity.
The mixed results may be an indication that companies need to adopt multiple approaches moving forward, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Doing so could ensure maximum productivity from all workers.
Amazon is the latest company to extend work from home policies amid a resurgence of COVID-19.
With a record-breaking number of daily coronavirus cases, now topping 83,000, companies are having to make tough choices regarding a return to the office. Most recently, Microsoft announced it was pushing back a return to the office until July 2021, at the earliest.
Now Amazon has made a similar decision, announcing that workers whose jobs permit will be able to continue working from home through June 30, 2021. In an update on the company’s blog, Amazon highlighted its commitment to employee safety:
The health and safety of our employees is our top priority, and it will be some time before things return to normal. Accordingly, work that can effectively be done from home can continue to be done from home through June 30, 2021.
The White House recently admitted that “we are not going to control the pandemic.” Instead, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows made it clear that vaccines and treatment options would be the focus moving forward. If the virus is truly out of control, and hope lies in a successful vaccine, it’s a safe bet many other companies will soon be pushing back their return-to-office targets as well.
Microsoft has once again pushed back its timetable for returning to the office, saying remote work will continue till July 2021 at the earliest.
Like most companies, and especially those in the tech industry, Microsoft sent its employees home as the coronavirus swept the globe. As many other companies did, Microsoft has been moving its return-to-office date back as the situation has developed.
Most recently, Microsoft planned on re-opening offices in January of 2021 but, according to ZDNet, the company has now pushed that back to July. Leadership informed employees in an October 21 email:
“Returning to the worksite remains optional until we get to Stage 6. This stage represents a time when COVID-19 is no longer a significant burden on a country/region and most health and safety restrictions at our worksites are removed,” according to Microsoft’s Kurt Delbene, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy, Core Services Engineering and Operations, the author of the latest email.
While some employees are already working onsite to some extent, Microsoft “strongly encouraged” all employees whose job permits to continue working remotely.
Microsoft is joining the list of companies that is making remote work a permanent part of its corporate culture.
As the coronavirus pandemic forced companies to send their employees home and adopt remote workflows, many companies were surprised at how smooth the transition went. As a result, companies began to announce permeant adjustments to their corporate policies, making remote work a permanent option.
Microsoft is now the latest to join this trend. According to a blog post, the company will allow employees to work remotely for less than 50% of their schedule. According to The Verge, Microsoft will also allow employees to transition to permanent remote work with manager approval. Those employees that choose to do so will lose their office space, but will be able to use “touchdown” space for those times they need to be in the office.
“Flexibility can mean different things to each of us, and we recognize there is no one-size-fits-all solution given the variety of roles, work requirements and business needs we have at Microsoft,” wrote Kathleen Hogan – Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer.
Microsoft’s announcement is just the lastest indication that remote work is here to stay. While some jobs require in-person attendance, the pandemic has shown that the vast majority of traditional office jobs can just as easily be performed remotely.
“There’s a real recognition that digitization and transformation are not doing what you used to do in the physical world,” says Publicis Sapient CEO Nigel Vaz. “Digitizing that and translating that is essentially the journey of going from being a caterpillar to a butterfly. Real transformation. How do you reimagine yourself in the context of a world that now is entirely digital? Customers are thinking very actively about how they actually create products and services that essentially create value for customers entirely digitally.”
Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient, discusses how the current pandemic has forced organizations to reimagine their businesses digitally. Nigel works closely with clients such as McDonald’s, Nationwide, and Unilever to deliver transformative experiences and business models:
https://youtu.be/VOKcTLcxHXw
Businesses Being Reimagined In A World That Is Now Entirely Digital
Digitization Has Become Existential For Business
I think Digital has always been important for business. Now more than ever what’s becoming very clear is this has gone from being something that’s important to something that’s existential. How do you support customers to make orders entirely online when your stores are closed? How do you create mashups with other partners to be able to facilitate deliveries when your own deliveries don’t suffice? How do you try to create experiences online through self-service that minimize the impact of people calling your call centers?
All of these things are things clients are facing on a regular basis. Most CEOs I’m in conversation with are acknowledging the fact that this has now got to be a priority, that they have to be ready more so than they’ve ever thought before.
3 Key Things Happening With the Transformation
There are three things happening here in terms of transformation. The first is the change in human behavior where I think there’s a recognizable shift now. We’re seeing significant accounts of over-70s, for example, ordering from retail and ramping that up. We’re seeing a big shift in institutions like schools and educational institutions, which historically had not thought about transformation as particularly applicable to them.
We’re also seeing a shift in industries like leisure looking at creating virtual experiences since physical experiences are essentially restricted and people can’t use them. The human behavior shift is translating to big investments in technology and technology platforms that enable this.
Businesses Being Reimagined In A World That Is Now Entirely Digital
Then lastly, new business models. There’s a real recognition that digitization and transformation are not doing what you used to do in the physical world. Digitizing that and translating that is essentially the journey of going from being a caterpillar to a butterfly. Real transformation. How do you reimagine yourself in the context of a world that now is entirely digital?
Customers are thinking very actively about how they actually create products and services that essentially create value for customers entirely digitally. There are plenty of examples in this from telemedicine and from the educational space with new courses coming online which can scale faster than traditional courses limited by a classroom and a professor.
“The (COVID-19 crisis) has really transformed what used to be a business platform primarily used for enterprises to now be used for all kinds of new consumer and small business use cases,” says Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg. “I don’t see everybody going back to the way that it was before. I don’t think that everybody that’s working from home today is going to go back to their office necessarily or that these small business owners are going to stop using it in the way that they’ve had.”
Kelly Steckelberg, Chief Financial Officer of Zoom, discusses how the COVID-19 crisis has transformed Zoom into a consumer platform with a 20-times increase in daily usage:
Zoom Has Transformed Into a Consumer Platform
We are proud that we’ve enabled over 90,000 schools in over 25 countries around the globe to use a Zoom. That along with many other use cases that we didn’t contemplate before this such as grandmother’s using Zoom to read bedtime stories to their grandchildren across the country. We are also seeing small businesses using it now to do tutoring or give yoga lessons. It has really transformed what used to be a business platform primarily used for enterprises to now be used for all kinds of new consumer and small business use cases.
That has caused a 20-times increase in our daily participants from just December through March. Yes, with that has come new opportunities and challenges as well including opportunities to educate and enable our users in a very different way than we needed to before. Coming into this pandemic and seeing the increase in demand we have been very focused on ensuring that the platform is stable and reliable and available for everybody who needs it.
When we had our earnings call on March 4th we did talk about this that we already had started to see the rise in demand. While I’m not confirming guidance today, we did indicate then that we expected to see an increase in our cost of goods sold that would have an impact on our gross margins. That is consistent with what we’ve continued to see.
I Don’t See Everybody Going Back To The Way It Was
In terms of what does this mean going forward and are we trying to convert some of these users, we have a freemium version of our product that many of these new users are using today. We are really focused on ensuring that everybody and anybody who needs Zoom or has a use for it today can get access to it. We really want to focus on minimizing the disruption and communication during this difficult time for everyone.
It’s too early to tell what comes next. Ideally, in a few months, we’re all back to a more normal state. I don’t see everybody going back to the way that it was before. I don’t think that everybody that’s working from home today is going to go back to their office necessarily or that these small business owners are going to stop using it in the way that they’ve had. So we’ll just see what that brings. it’s really too early to tell today.
Zoom Has Transformed Into a Consumer Platform, Says Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg
As companies look to save money, thanks to remote workers, Stripe is offering to pay employees $20,000 to relocate.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed how companies operate, with many making remote work a permanent part of their process. For many companies, however, that means they have unused office space costing money.
Stripe is one company trying to address the problem directly. According to CNN Business Stripe is offering employees $20,000 to relocate out of New York and San Francisco, two of the highest priced cities in the country.
The one major caveat, however, is that employees that take advantage of the offer will have to take a 10% pay cut. The arrangement could be a win-win. If a substantial number of employees take the offer, 10% per employee could represent a significant sum of money. Depending on where they opt to move, it may still end up being a bargain for the employees too.
Zoom reported its quarterly results, smashing expectations as the company’s revenue was up 355% year-over-year.
Zoom has become the de facto standard videoconferencing platform in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. It is widely used by businesses, government agencies, schools, churches and individuals. Despite some early security and privacy missteps, the company has continued to address concerns and win customers.
Based on its quarterly results, those efforts have paid off in spades. The company reported quarterly revenue of $663.5 million, well above a consensus of $500 million, representing a 355% year-over-year increase.
“Organizations are shifting from addressing their immediate business continuity needs to supporting a future of working anywhere, learning anywhere, and connecting anywhere on Zoom’s video-first platform. At Zoom, we strive to deliver a world-class, frictionless, and secure communication experience for our customers across locations, devices, and use cases,” said Zoom founder and CEO, Eric S. Yuan. “Our ability to keep people around the world connected, coupled with our strong execution, led to revenue growth of 355% year-over-year in Q2 and enabled us to increase our revenue outlook to approximately $2.37 billion to $2.39 billion for FY21, or 281% to 284% increase year-over-year.”
Interestingly, Zoom reported it has 988 customers that are paying more than $100,000 each, a 112% increase from the year-ago quarter.
Mozilla has announced it is laying off approximately 250 employees, as a result of the effect of the pandemic on the company’s revenue.
Mozilla laid off 70 employees back in January in an effort to help fund further innovation. At the time, CEO Mitchell Baker indicated there could be more layoffs in the future. At the time, however, no one could have predicted a worldwide pandemic, or the impact it would have on Mozilla’s business.
“Today we announced a significant restructuring of Mozilla Corporation,” writes Baker. “This will strengthen our ability to build and invest in products and services that will give people alternatives to conventional Big Tech. Sadly, the changes also include a significant reduction in our workforce by approximately 250 people. These are individuals of exceptional professional and personal caliber who have made outstanding contributions to who we are today. To each of them, I extend my heartfelt thanks and deepest regrets that we have come to this point. This is a humbling recognition of the realities we face, and what is needed to overcome them.”
While a difficult decision, Baker says it will help Mozilla be more nimble and competitive in the new tech climate.
“So going forward we will be smaller.,” continues Baker. “We’ll also be organizing ourselves very differently, acting more quickly and nimbly. We’ll experiment more. We’ll adjust more quickly. We’ll join with allies outside of our organization more often and more effectively. We’ll meet people where they are. We’ll become great at expressing and building our core values into products and programs that speak to today’s issues. We’ll join and build with all those who seek openness, decency, empowerment and common good in online life.”
The coronavirus pandemic has led to a stellar quarter for Zillow, as potential homebuyers looked online.
The pandemic has forced many individuals to take a second look at their housing situation. With people spending unprecedented amounts of time at home during lockdown and quarantine orders, many are looking to upgrade their homes with more room and features conducive to telecommuting. Others are looking to take advantage of work from home trends, and move out of expensive neighborhoods or cities to more scenic and affordable locales.
These factors led to a stellar quarter for the company, reporting that revenue grew 28% year over year to $768 million. This was up from industry estimates of $618 million.
“Zillow’s second quarter results are even better than we had hoped, and firm up our belief that powerful tailwinds in both real estate and technology are rapidly converging, with Zillow at the nexus,” said Zillow Group co-founder and CEO Rich Barton. “I believe we are at the dawn of a Great Reshuffling, as COVID and work-from-home policies are inspiring people to rethink their homes and consider moving. In addition, real estate, like other industries, is experiencing an acceleration in technology adoption, as people move their shopping habits from offline to online. We’re lucky to be in a position to serve our customers no matter how they want to move, whether through a seamless Zillow Offers transaction or in partnership with our best-in-class Premier Agents.
“Even more important than the business results is the way our team has responded over the past several months, as we all grapple with fear, loss, protest, and anger through a health crisis and social reckoning. We’ve managed through all of this with a strong commitment that we can and will do more to support our communities and address systemic barriers in real estate.”
Barton’s comments that he believes this is the beginning of a “Great Reshuffling” are significant and should give many industry leaders pause.
Facebook joins the growing list of companies extending work from home policies amid the coronavirus pandemic.
As the pandemic forced companies to send employees home to telecommute, the tech industry led the way in adapting to the new situation. Twitter was one of the first companies to change its policies to allow employees to work from home forever. At the time, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated his belief that within five to 10 years, Facebook could see half of its positions become permanently remote.
Now Facebook how joined Google in extending work from home policies well into next year. Whereas Google has said employees could work from home through June 2021, Facebook is extending their policy through July 2021.
According to The Verge, Facebook spokesperson Nneka Norville said: “Based on guidance from health and government experts, as well as decisions drawn from our internal discussions about these matters, we are allowing employees to continue voluntarily working from home until July 2021. In addition, we are giving employees an additional $1,000 for home office needs.”
At some point, as more and more companies continue to extend work from home policies, it’s only a matter of time before remote work becomes the new standard.
