Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Daily Archives: March 3, 2021

CDC website has a trove of vaccine data, revealing progress and inequity

Mashable – “The stats on the CDC’s vaccine data website are cause for both hope, and — for Black and brown communities — sadness-tinged outrage.  The CDC added a vaccine stats section to its COVID data hub at the beginning of January. It includes counts of vaccine doses distributed to states, those administered to people in the states, and a color-coded map based on the percentage of vaccines administered per a state’s 100,000 residents. It also features numbers on the long term care facility vaccine partnership. Over the past two months, the CDC has made its data more granular. Visitors to the site can now see those numbers of doses distributed and administered for the general population versus the 18+ population. It also shows numbers for people who have had one shot versus two shots, since the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require two shots, spaced out four and three weeks, respectively. Both shots are required for full vaccination.  In the “vaccine trends” section, which users can reach by expanding the “vaccines” tab in the left hand sidebar, you can view the moving daily average of shots administered per day. It has been heartening to see vaccine numbers go up and up since the new year. Even with much more progress needed to reach herd immunity, those data points and percentages represent real people protecting themselves and their family members from COVID. As of this writing, over 80 million vaccine doses had been distributed to Americans. Unfortunately, the outlook is not as sunny if you dive deeper into some of the data.  In the sidebar, you can also click on “vaccination demographics.” This allows you to see vaccine breakdowns by age, sex, and race.  The CDC gives a big caveat: “these data are…not generalizable to the entire US population.” That’s because reporting from state to state is inconsistent, and because states are prioritizing different groups differently from each other…”

Study: Digital capabilities to manage information are still lacking

Tech Republic – Most knowledge workers would welcome more digital tools to improve information handling and collaboration with their peers. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic sent them home in droves over a year ago, most knowledge workers report they still do not have the digital capabilities they need. According to a new study released Thursday by iManage… Continue Reading

Freedom in the World 2021 Democracy under Siege

Freedom House – “As a lethal pandemic, economic and physical insecurity, and violent conflict ravaged the world, democracy’s defenders sustained heavy new losses in their struggle against authoritarian foes, shifting the international balance in favor of tyranny.As a lethal pandemic, economic and physical insecurity, and violent conflict ravaged the world in 2020, democracy’s defenders sustained… Continue Reading

Humans Have Completely Transformed How Water Is Stored on Earth

Earther: “Human fingerprints are all over the world’s freshwater. A new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature shows that while human-controlled freshwater sources make up a minimal portion of the world’s ponds, lakes, and rivers, they are responsible more than half of all changes to the Earth’s water system. The study used new satellite… Continue Reading

The Capitol Riot: Documents You Should Read

The National Security Archive – “The January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol is now the subject of systematic National Security Archive Freedom of Information Act campaign. The First installment and The Second Installment of new Document Sourcebook features a Pentagon timeline, State Department dissent, Homeland Security warning, FBI alert, and first court indictment… The January… Continue Reading

Interim National Security Strategic Guidance

On March 3, 2021 “the Administration released the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, attached. This interim guidance has been issued to convey President Biden’s vision for how America will engage with the world, and to provide guidance for departments and agencies to align their actions as the Administration begins work on a National Security Strategy.”… Continue Reading

The most engaging political news on Facebook? Far-right misinformation.

Protocol/Medium -“A new study shows that before and after the election, far-right misinformation pages drew more engagement than all other partisan news. In the months before and after the 2020 election, far-right pages that are known to spread misinformation consistently garnered more engagement on Facebook than any other partisan news, according to a New York… Continue Reading

GAO has issued the 2021 High-Risk List

GAO – “Every 2 years, we report on federal programs and operations that are vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, or that need broad reform—our High Risk List. Our 2021 report reviews the status of the 36 areas on the list and outlines steps to lasting solutions. We testified before the House that the… Continue Reading