FDA approves at-home COVID-19 test
An at-home test for coronavirus won emergency use approval Monday from the federal Food and Drug Administration.
The Quidel QuickVue test got the green light as the government seeks to make it easier for Americans to determine if they have been infected with the deadly virus.
“The FDA continues to prioritize the availability of more at-home testing options in response to the pandemic,” said Dr. Jeff Shuren, an FDA official.
The nasal swab test can be self-administered by anyone over 14 years old or performed by a parent on anyone over 8 years old.
It’s designed for use by patients whose health care providers believe have been infected.
The FDA said it can detect the presence or absence of COVID-19 within the first six days of when the patient experiences symptoms.
It’s the second approval for tests outside of hospitals by Quidel.
The company won approval for their QuickVue SARS Antigen Test which is designed for use in laboratories as well as for point-of-care testing.
Some public health experts are concerned that fewer COVID tests are being administered as infection rates decline after a major holiday surge.
— New York Daily News
YouTube suspends Rudy Giuliani again for election fraud claims
YouTube said it suspended Rudy Giuliani for the second time in two months after the former New York City mayor lied again in videos that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Giuliani, who sought to overturn November’s results as Trump’s attorney, will not be allowed to upload new videos for two weeks. YouTube also cited Giuliani’s promotion of nicotine for the action.
“We removed content from the Rudy W. Giuliani channel for violating our sale of regulated goods policy, which prohibits content facilitating the use of nicotine, and our presidential election integrity policy,” a YouTube spokeswoman said in a statement. “Additionally, in accordance with our long standing strikes system, we issued a strike against the Rudy W. Giuliani channel, which temporarily restricts uploading or live-streaming.”
YouTube’s strikes system revokes a user’s uploading privileges for two weeks if they violate the company’s content policies for the second time within a 90-day period. If Giuliani runs afoul of the video site’s rules again in the same timespan, his channel will be permanently shut down. The former mayor was previously suspended in January for election misinformation, and YouTube temporarily prevented him from making money from ads that run with his videos.
The former politician has accused YouTube of bias against conservatives and also posts his videos to the website Rumble, which has looser content-moderation policies.
— Bloomberg News
Elizabeth Warren, other progressives propose ‘ultra-millionaire’ tax
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, joined by Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Brendan Boyle, proposed a new wealth tax on households with a net worth of more than $50 million.
The lawmakers said Monday the new tax, dubbed the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, would create a “fairer” economy with a 2% annual tax on households and trusts valued at between $50 million and $1 billion. All net worth over $1 billion would be taxed at 3%.
“The ultra-rich and powerful have rigged the rules in their favor so much that the top 0.1% pay a lower effective tax rate than the bottom 99%, and billionaire wealth is 40% higher than before the COVID crisis began,” Warren said in a statement. “A wealth tax is popular among voters on both sides for good reason: because they understand the system is rigged to benefit the wealthy and large corporations.”
A wealth tax would be difficult to pass in the current U.S. Senate, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats control the agenda, since Vice President Kamala Harris can break ties, but most bills require support from 60 senators to advance.
And Democrats have been unable to muster even 50 votes from some administration proposals, including a $15 hourly minimum wage. A wealth tax likely would be even more divisive.
However, Democrats are planning to use special budget reconciliation procedures to pass a bill with a simple majority later in the year that will include parts of a massive infrastructure package. At that point, taxes to pay for the build out would be on the table. And under Senate rules, tax increases generally are allowed in budget bills.
The bill’s co-sponsors include Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.
— Bloomberg News
Baltimore-area students return to classrooms
BALTIMORE – Students around the Baltimore region headed back to school buildings Monday, many for the first time in a year since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered Maryland public schools.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has urged school leaders to start bringing students back for in-person classes this month. Maryland school districts have reopened more slowly than other states.
Kindergartners through second graders braved some light rain with their parents to walk to Stoneleigh Elementary School in Towson Monday morning. A neighbor, who had ventured out to collect several newspapers from his front yard, asked a passerby which grades were returning to the building.
— The Baltimore Sun
Former French president Sarkozy sentenced to three years for bribery
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years on charges of bribery and influence peddling, a court in Paris ruled in an historic sentence on Monday.
The sentence includes one year in prison and two years of suspended sentence, according to a report by the press agency AFP and other French media.
Sarkozy was accused of trying, with the help of his legal adviser in 2014, to learn investigative secrets from Gilbert Azibert, then an advocate general at the Court of Cassation, regarding a separate investigation concerning campaign financing.
In return, the ex-president is said to have offered to support the lawyer in applying for a post in Monaco.
The accusations were based on evidence from wiretaps.
Sarkozy's lawyer, Thierry Herzog, and lawyer Azibert were also sentenced to three years each, both also including two years of suspended sentence.
The trial is unique, as there have not been any allegations of corruption levelled against an ex-head of state in the Fifth Republic of France, which was founded by Charles de Gaulle in 1958.
Sarkozy is likely to appeal the verdict.
The 66-year-old, who ruled as president between 2007 and 2012, is not the first former head of state to be sentenced in France. Jacques Chirac received a two-year suspended sentence for embezzlement and breach of trust during his time as mayor of Paris.
— dpa
