CDC issues new Coronavirus guidance
On Friday, June 12, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over despite states easing restrictions originally meant to curb the spread, according to U.S. News. Redfield stated, “I know that people are eager to return to normal activities and ways of life. However, it’s important that we remember the situation is unprecedented, and the pandemic has not ended.” The new guidance emphasizes washing your hands regularly, staying at least six feet apart from people outside your household and wearing a mask in public.
Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ+ rights
On Monday, June 15, the Supreme Court delivered the ruling that, according to federal civil rights law, LGBTQ+ workers are protected from discrimination in the workplace. The decision was based on a 6-3 opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s four liberal justices. According to the opinion, “There is simply no escaping the role intent plays here: Just as sex is necessarily a but-for cause when an employer discriminates against homosexual or transgender employees, an employer who discriminates on these grounds inescapably intends to rely on sex in its decisionmaking.”
Atlanta police chief resigns after fatal shooting
On Saturday, June 13, Keisha Lance Bottoms, the mayor of Atlanta, announced Atlanta’s police chief Erika Shields resignation after Rayshard Brooks, a black man, was fatally shot by police officers. According to authorities, the slain man had grabbed one of the officer’s taser guns, but was running away when he was shot. Bottoms has stated, “I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer,” and has also ordered the unidentified officer who fired at Brooks to be immediately fired.
New Zealand eradicates Coronavirus
With 40,000 people tested, 12 days of no one entering hospitals, 40 days since the last community transmission and 22 days since that person finished their self-isolation, New Zealand has become the first country to eradicate the disease, according to The Good News Network. Given these predicaments, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her cabinet have decided to remove almost all restrictions in place due to COVID-19.
