While most discussions have focused on countries’ use of surveillance technology, contact tracing is actually a fairly manual process. After interviewing contact tracing experts and taking an online course, ProPublica health reporter Caroline Chen presents her takeaways.

A disinformation campaign aimed to justify the assassination of Qassem Soleimani by painting him and Iran as willing enablers of al-Qaeda. The propaganda operation relied heavily on a shoddily sourced book, “The Exile.”

The Vermont Department of Public Service is proposing a plan to provide broadband internet service to everyone in the state.

About 23% of the state, or 70,000 homes and businesses, doesn’t have access to high-speed internet services. That’s defined as speeds of 25 megabits per second for download and 3 megabits per second for upload.

The economic downturn caused by the current COVID-19 outbreak has substantial implications for gender equality, both during the downturn and the subsequent recovery. Compared to “regular” recessions, which affect men’s employment more severely than women’s employment, the employment drop related to social distancing measures has a large impact on sectors with high female employment shares. In addition, closures of schools and daycare centers have massively increased child care needs, which has a particularly large impact on working mothers. The effects of the crisis on working mothers are likely to be persistent, due to high returns to experience in the labor market. Beyond the immediate crisis, there are opposing forces which may ultimately promote gender equality in the labor market. First, businesses are rapidly adopting flexible work arrangements, which are likely to persist. Second, there are also many fathers who now have to take primary responsibility for child care, which may erode social norms that currently lead to a lopsided distribution of the division of labor in house work and child care.

Closure of meat plants due to coronavirus means ‘depopulation’ of hens and pigs with methods experts say are inhumane, despite unprecedented demand at food banks

Today, CUPE and other health unions are working closely with the Saskatchewan Health Authority to ensure we focus on keeping our seniors out of harm’s way by reducing the risk of infection. This includes restricting health care workers to only one facility, mandatory wearing of masks and temperature checks prior to starting shifts. Health care unions continue to press for sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment and training for all front-line health workers.

Our leaders ought to learn from these mistakes and take steps to prevent the next pandemic, instead of diverting our attention to unsupported sensationalist theories spread by cable TV and talk radio.

Crippling US sanctions have caused severe fuel shortages in the Caribbean nation.

"Health experts say the government did not heed the warnings about easing restrictions too soon. Cases spike in eight provinces."