‘So where did Covid come from?’
We know one thing for sure: this pandemic did not emerge from the Wuhan wild animal market instantly identified as the source by Beijing. Did the novel coronavirus leak from a Wuhan lab? Award-winning foreign reporter and columnist Ian Birrell discusses. Unherd
Chinese army major arrested at LAX, accused of stealing medical research from UCSF
A major in China’s People’s Liberation Army has been arrested at Los Angeles International Airport, telling federal authorities that he has been stealing secrets from the medical researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and sending them to a military lab in China, officials announced Thursday. Federal prosecutors allege he entered the US on a fake passport in March 2019 posing as medical researcher interested in doing work at UCSF, joined the lab and begun accessing medical research. Federal officials also say some of the work of the UCSF lab was funded by grants from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. KPIX (San Francisco)
Heightened safety concerns as Nebraska reopens
A Nebraska Chamber of Commerce says that as businesses in the state reopen, they are adapting their hygiene, employee training and workplace responses to the pandemic, but the future of workplaces and remote capability is going to remain a challenge for many Nebraska businesses. Lincoln Journal Star
Attorneys discuss navigating FDA policies for PPE, and liability protections
The Food and Drug Administration, during COVID-19 pandemic, has articulated its guidelines for personal protective equipment in one of two ways: (1) through guidance documents and (2) through issuance of “umbrella” Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) that cover certain product types. Here, two attorneys with Sheppard Mullin provide below a brief overview of FDA’s current policies for PPE, and the liability protections potentially available for each. National Law Review
House pushes inspectors general to investigate federal agency reopenings
U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., chair of the House subcommittee on Government Operations, sent letters to 24 federal inspectors general Monday requesting they investigate agency reopening plans as some agencies begin calling employees back to work. The letters ask IGs to review “whether your department and its managers are employing best practices and existing guidance when deciding whether or when to require federal employees and contractors to return to federal office buildings.” Nextgov
South Carolina shipyard cited following fatal struck-by incident
Fed-OSHA has fined a North Charleston, South Carolina shipyard more than $37,000 for allegedly failing to protect employees from struck-by and fall hazards, after a shackle fatally struck an employee during a lifting operation. WCIV
Habitat for Humanity incorporates safety precautions into house construction amid pandemic
The nonprofit Habitat for Humanity in Indiana has had to go back to the drawing board due to the pandemic, including masks, taking temperatures, buying new ladders allowing people to stay further apart and a system to clean equipment. WSBT [with video]