[ad_1] Virginia Department of Health If an app user tests positive for COVID-19, a VDH official will give them a personal identification number that will be used to report the positive result to the app. Each day, phones with the app download a list of all the anonymous beacons associated with positive COVID-19 cases, and […]
Category: Public Health
Pepper the robot can politely suggest you wear a damn mask
[ad_1] Using an image recognition AI and Single Shot Detector, Pepper can scan the faces of up to five people at once. On Pepper’s tablet, a green circle will appear around an image of anyone wearing a mask, and a red circle will appear around the image of anyone without a mask. Pepper can thank […]
FBI accuses China of attempting to steal US COVID-19 research
[ad_1] Today, the FBI warned that China-backed hackers are attempting to steal COVID-19 research from organizations in the US. In a joint statement, the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced that they have observed state-backed hackers attempting to obtain intellectual property, data and research related to vaccines, treatments and testing. “The potential […]
Facebook and Google are fighting coronavirus misinformation
[ad_1] Facebook’s third-party fact-checkers are reviewing content related to the virus, now deemed a public health emergency by the World Health Organization. When the fact-checkers rate something as false, Facebook will limit its spread and send a notification to people who have shared or are attempting to share that content. Facebook is also removing content […]
The EU just approved a vaccine to prevent Ebola
[ad_1] Ervebo was first engineered by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the US Army more than a decade ago. In 2014, following the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Merck acquired the rights to develop the vaccine. The “conditional marketing authorization” is a type of approval reserved for medicine that addresses unmet medical needs. […]
Millions of Americans’ medical records are out in the open on the internet
[ad_1] The publication identified at least 187 medical servers across the US that weren’t protected by a password, let alone other modern cybersecurity measures. Moreover, many of those same servers were running outdated software, making them vulnerable to a variety of known exploits. In all, ProPublica estimates that some 13.7 million medical tests and 400,000 […]
CDC warns against vaping until it figures out what’s making people sick
[ad_1] There are a lot of rumors and unsubstantiated chatter around the risks of vaping, and the CDC admits it has plenty of questions. It says it’s too early to pinpoint a single product or substance common to all cases. It’s also unclear what role THC-containing products play in the illness, as many patients report […]
The FTC is reportedly investigating Juul’s teen marketing tactics
[ad_1] Critics have said the company’s marketing campaigns make the brand attractive to teens. According to federal data, vaping among teens jumped 78 percent from 2017 to 2018. But the company says it has never marketed to youth and that its target market is existing adult smokers. The company previously came under fire for ads […]
Twitter will direct vaccine-related searches to ‘a credible’ source
[ad_1] “We’re committed to protecting the health of the public conversation on Twitter — ensuring individuals can find information from authoritative sources is a key part of that mission,” the company said. Twitter will also block auto-suggestions for queries that might lead to anti-vax commentary and information. For now, the new search prompt can be […]