Union says plan to use devices to keep workers 2 metres apart is intrusive and infantilising
An Essity factory in Mannheim, Germany
Kim Willsher in Paris
Thu 14 Jan 2021 11.44 EST
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Workers at a French factory manufacturing toilet paper and other hygiene products are opposing plans to introduce Covid-19 “social distancing” alarms.

Managers say the devices, which beep, vibrate, flash or emit an alarm of up to 83 decibels if the wearer is less than 2 metres from a colleague, are being tested to protect workers’ health.

However, union representatives have accused bosses of “particularly intrusive behaviour … that infantilises workers” and say the system is “comparable to those that try to dissuade dogs from barking”.

“Are they treating staff like dogs?” the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT) union asked.

A spokesperson for Essity, a Swedish company producing soap, tissues and sanitary products, told AFP the alarms were being tested among 2,800 workers at its factory at Gien, in the Loire Valley.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/14/treated-like-dogs-row-over-social-distancing-alarms-at-french-factory

Brew pub owners on Oahu say they were improperly shut down

By Lynn Kawano | August 10, 2020 at 5:19 PM HST - Updated August 10 at 9:11 PM

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Two brew pub owners are calling on the Honolulu Liquor Commission to review enforcement action against them over the weekend.
Police officers shut down Beer Lab Hawaii’s satellite location at Pearlridge Center, saying they were violating the city’s new COVID-19 order that put restrictions on alcohol sales.
But owner Nick Wong said they were given the green light by the Honolulu Liquor Commission to do take-out only and were operating within the rules.

“To have two enforcement agencies come down on us and one of them saying one thing and another saying another thing, it’s unbelievably frustrating,” Wong said.
Joe Lorenzen, of Waikiki Brewing Company in Kakaako, also said his business shouldn’t have been shut down Saturday because it meets the criteria of food versus alcohol sales.
Late Monday night, he said he did a walk through with the Liquor Commission, and they gave the business the green light to reopen.

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/08/10/brew-pub-owners-say-they-were-improperly-shut-down-want-liquor-commission-review/

Makes you wonder on who's (political) orders the police were acting on? Is this retaliation against businesses speaking out against the police state?

For months, health experts told Americans to stay home. Now, many are encouraging the public to join mass protests.

By DAN DIAMOND
06/04/2020 05:19 PM EDT

For months, public health experts have urged Americans to take every precaution to stop the spread of Covid-19—to stay at home, to steer clear of friends and extended family and to absolutely avoid large gatherings.

Now some of those experts are broadcasting a new message: It’s time to get out of the house and join the mass protests against racism.

“We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted on Tuesday. “In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.”

“The injustice that’s evident to everyone right now needs to be addressed,” Abraar Karan, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital physician who’s exhorted coronavirus experts to use their platforms to encourage the protests, told me.

It’s a message echoed by media outlets and some of the most prominent public health experts in America, like former Centers for Disease Control director Tom Frieden, who loudly warned against efforts to rush re-opening but is now supportive of mass protests. Their claim: If we don’t address racial inequality, it’ll be that much harder to fight Covid-19. There’s also evidence that the virus doesn’t spread easily outdoors, especially if people wear masks.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-health-protests-301534