News Roundup 11/28/20
Avoiding the crowds on black Friday
The holiday season is approaching and many people participate in Black Friday shopping every year but this season could be different. Black Friday has always been about in-person shopping to get the best deals. Due to Black Friday sales being extended all month many Americans have already started shopping. Macys for example, has turned two of its locations into fulfillment centers where customers can pick up their online purchases and employees process orders to ensure a faster delivery.
Source: The New York Times
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took place on Thursday Nov. 26 with marching bands and balloons in the sky, but Covid-19 restrictions meant people could not form a crowd to view the parade. This year’s parade was kept to the area in front of Macy’s flagship store instead of its typical path through Manhattan and aimed at a television audience instead of its usual live crowd. The people who typically handle the bigger balloons were replaced by vehicles in order to decrease the number of people. The fact that the parade took place made it a rare festivity in a city that has seen most of the major events cancelled over the last year due to the pandemic protocols.
Source: ABC News
Your phone can send an alert if near someone with Covid-19
As new Covid-19 cases rise nationwide, health officials are turning to cell phones to help slow the spread of infections. Technology has made it available on Apple and Google devices to now get pop-up notifications in some states if you were in contact or close to someone who later tested positive for Covid-19. The alerts come via state health department apps that use Bluetooth technology to detect when you have been in close contact with an infected person. Although these apps can not protect you from Covid, they can let you know if you’ve been exposed and could prevent others from getting infected. Health officials believe the alerts could be helpful in cases where an infected person has been in contact with strangers who wouldn’t know they were exposed.
Source: CNN
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama petition to unionize
An Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama workers have notified federal labor authorities of their agenda to hold a unionization vote, preparing for a potentially groundbreaking labor battle at the retail giant known for its opposition to unionizing. The National Labor Relations Board posted a filing that says Amazon workers at the fulfillment center outside of Birmingham want to form a bargaining unit of all 1,500 full- and part-time employees at the facility, to be represented by the retail, wholesale and department state union. Workers must sign paperwork to say they want a union and typically requires at least 30% of signatures. The NLRB plans to have a hearing December 11 to determine whether the petition meets the criteria to proceed to an election.
Source: NPR
National math and reading tests in U.S. postponed
National math and reading tests used to track U.S. student’s knowledge in these subjects are being postponed until 2022 due to the Covid-19 outbreak, says The National Center for education statistics. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as “The Nations report card”, previously had been planned to be held at the beginning of 2021 for hundreds of thousands of fourth thru eighth graders in the United States. Postponing the tests until 2022 will allow time for conditions to stabilize, says Woodworth. If the assessments were held in 2021, it would have cost tens of millions of dollars therefore adding the delay allows states time to conduct their own state tests in Spring of 2021.
Source: U.S. News