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Use of an Additional Updated 20232024 COVID-19 Vaccine Dose for Adults Aged 65 Years: Recommendations of … – CDC

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Summary

What is already known about this topic?

In September 2023, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended updated (20232024 Formula) COVID-19 vaccination for all persons aged 6 months.

What is added by this report?

On February 28, 2024, ACIP recommended that all persons aged 65 years receive 1 additional dose of any updated (20232024 Formula) COVID-19 vaccine (i.e., Moderna, Novavax, or Pfizer-BioNTech).

What are the implications for public health practice?

Adults aged 65 years should receive an additional dose of the updated (20232024 Formula) COVID-19 vaccine to enhance their immunity and decrease the risk for severe COVID-19associated illness.

COVID-19 remains an important public health threat, despite overall decreases in COVID-19related severe disease since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19associated hospitalization rates remain higher among adults aged 65 years relative to rates in younger adults, adolescents, and children; during October 2023January 2024, 67% of all COVID-19associated hospitalizations were among persons aged 65 years. On September 12, 2023, CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended updated (20232024 Formula) COVID-19 vaccination with a monovalent XBB.1.5-derived vaccine for all persons aged 6 months to protect against severe COVID-19associated illness and death. Because SARS-CoV-2 continues to circulate throughout the year, and because of the increased risk for COVID-19related severe illness in persons aged 65 years, the protection afforded by updated vaccines against JN.1 and other currently circulating variants, and the expected waning of vaccine-conferred protection against disease, on February 28, 2024, ACIP recommended all persons aged 65 years receive 1 additional dose of the updated (20232024 Formula) COVID-19 vaccine. Implementation of these recommendations is expected to enhance immunity that might have waned and decrease the risk for severe COVID-19associated outcomes, including death, among persons aged 65 years.

Since June 2020, CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has convened 39 public meetings to review data and consider recommendations related to the use of COVID-19 vaccines (1). On September 12, 2023, ACIP recommended that all persons aged 6 months receive updated (20232024 Formula) monovalent, XBB.1.5 component (updated) COVID-19 vaccination to protect against severe COVID-19associated illness and death (2).

As of February 3, 2024, approximately 6.7 million COVID-19associated hospitalizations and 1.1 million COVID-19associated deaths had occurred in the United States (3). Although the overall risk for COVID-19associated hospitalization and death has decreased, severe illness related to COVID-19 continues to be a public health problem, especially among older adults. COVID-19associated hospitalization rates remain higher among adults aged 65 years relative to rates among younger adults, adolescents, and children. During October 2023January 2024, 67% of all COVID-19associated hospitalizations were among persons aged 65 years (4). Further, COVID-19 death rates during January 1, 2023January 31, 2024, were highest among adults aged 75 years, followed by adults aged 6574 years (5,6). Whereas approximately 98%99% of the U.S. population has measurable antibody titers against SARS-CoV-2 from infection, vaccination, or both (hybrid immunity), adults aged 65 years are less likely to have immunity resulting from infection (including immunity from infection only or hybrid immunity), compared with adults aged 3049 years and 5064 years (7). In addition, immunosenescence, the age-related decline in the functioning of the immune system, results in a less complete immune response to novel antigens and a reduced ability to develop robust immunity after infections or vaccination (8). The pool of naive T-cells diminishes with age, and this insufficient naive T-cell pool affects the ability to generate neutralizing antibody responses and cytotoxic T-cells in response to SARS-CoV-2 (9).

Thus, adults aged 65 years are more likely than are younger adults, adolescents, and children to rely upon vaccination to increase immunity that might have waned and might need more frequent vaccine doses to maintain protection. Coverage with the updated COVID-19 vaccine among adults aged 65 years was 42% as of February 3, 2024 (10,11). Adults in this age group are more concerned about COVID-19 disease and had higher confidence in COVID-19 vaccine safety and vaccine importance than did younger adults (5). A nationally representative survey conducted during November 2023January 2024 indicated that 68.4% of adults aged 65 years who had received an updated COVID-19 vaccine dose definitely would get another updated vaccine if it were recommended, 27.2% probably would or are unsure if they would get another updated vaccine, and 4.4% said they probably or definitely would not. COVID-19 vaccines are currently on the commercial market, but access-related barriers and disparities in vaccine coverage remain (5); in the absence of any recommendations for an additional dose, access to vaccine would be limited among persons unable to pay out of pocket for the vaccine.*

On February 28, 2024, ACIP voted to recommend that all persons aged 65 years receive 1 additional dose of any updated COVID-19 vaccine (i.e., Moderna, Novavax, or Pfizer-BioNTech). This recommendation was based on continuing SARS-CoV-2 circulation throughout the year, increased risk for severe illness attributable to COVID-19 in adults aged 65 years, protection provided by the updated vaccines against JN.1 and other currently circulating variants, the expected waning of SARS-CoV-2 immunity, and additional implementation considerations, including facilitating clear communication and equitable access to vaccine (5).

In 2018, ACIP adopted the Evidence to Recommendations framework to guide the development of vaccine recommendations. Since November 2023, the ACIP COVID-19 work group met seven times to discuss the current policy question, i.e., whether adults aged 65 years should receive an additional dose of updated COVID-19 vaccine. Work group membership included ACIP voting members, representatives of ACIP ex officio and liaison organizations, and scientific consultants with expertise in public health, immunology, medical specialties, and immunization safety and effectiveness. Work group discussion topics included COVID-19 disease surveillance and epidemiology; COVID-19 vaccination coverage; and the safety, effectiveness, feasibility of implementation, and cost effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. This report summarizes the ACIP recommendation for an additional dose of the updated COVID-19 vaccine for persons aged 65 years and the rationale, including evidence reviewed by the work group and presented to ACIP (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/recs/grade/covid-19-additional-dose-adults-etr.html).

No clinical trial immunogenicity data on an additional dose of the updated COVID-19 vaccines exist; however, the initial dose elicits a robust neutralizing antibody response and provides protection against JN.1 and other circulating variants (12,13). Early vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates demonstrate that updated COVID-19 vaccination provided increased protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19associated emergency department and urgent care visits and hospitalization, compared with receipt of no updated vaccine dose (12,14). Although these early VE estimates show no substantial waning, based on data on effectiveness of original and bivalent COVID-19 vaccines, waning of vaccine-conferred immunity is expected. Effectiveness of an additional dose in older adults has been demonstrated for previously recommended additional original COVID-19 vaccine doses (15). Among adults aged 50 years who were eligible to receive a second original monovalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccine booster dose, VE against COVID-19associated emergency department and urgent care encounters during the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2/BA.2.12.1 period 120 days after the third dose was 32% but increased to 66% 7 days after the fourth dose. VE against COVID-19associated hospitalization 120 days after the third dose was 55% but increased to 80% 7 days after the fourth dose (15). In addition, in a large cohort of nursing home residents during circulation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants, receipt of a second original monovalent mRNA COVID-19 booster dose 60 days earlier was 74% effective against severe COVID-19related outcomes (including hospitalization or death) and 90% effective against death, compared with receipt of a single booster dose (16).

COVID-19 vaccines have a favorable safety profile as demonstrated by robust safety surveillance during 3 years of COVID-19 vaccine use (17). Anaphylactic reactions have rarely been reported after receipt of COVID-19 vaccines (18). A rare risk for myocarditis and pericarditis exists, predominately in males aged 1239 years (19). No new safety concerns have been identified for the updated COVID-19 vaccine (5). Among adults aged 65 years, overall reactogenicity after COVID-19 vaccination is less frequent and less severe than among adolescents and younger adults (20). A statistical signal for ischemic stroke after Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was detected in the CDC Vaccine Safety Datalink among persons aged 65 years, and information about this detection has been presented at previous ACIP meetings. Ongoing efforts to evaluate the signal have not identified any clear and consistent evidence of a safety concern for ischemic stroke with bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines either when given alone or when given simultaneously with influenza vaccines (21). A recent VE study indicated that the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine was 47% effective in preventing COVID-19 related thromboembolic events (ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and deep vein thrombosis) among persons aged 65 years (22).

ACIP considered whether an additional dose of updated COVID-19 vaccine in persons aged 65 years is a reasonable and efficient allocation of resources. The societal incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine in persons aged 65 years was $255,122 per quality-adjusted life year saved for the base case estimate. ICER values were sensitive to probability of hospitalizations, costs, and seasonality assumptions. Estimates of ICER values that approximate cost effectiveness for those with higher risk for COVID-19associated hospitalization, such as persons with underlying conditions or those aged 75 years, were more favorable (23).

On February 28, 2024, ACIP recommended that all persons aged 65 years receive 1 additional dose of any updated COVID-19 vaccine (i.e., Moderna, Novavax, or Pfizer-BioNTech). This additional dose should be administered 4 months after the previous dose of updated COVID-19 vaccine. For initial vaccination with Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, the 2-dose series should be completed before administration of the additional dose. Because Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is currently authorized under Emergency Use Authorization, the recommendation for the updated Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is an interim recommendation.

Persons aged 65 years who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, have completed an initial series, and have received 1 updated COVID-19 vaccine dose should receive 1 additional updated COVID-19 vaccine dose 2 months after the last dose of updated vaccine. Further additional doses may be administered, guided by the clinical judgment of a health care provider and personal preference and circumstances. Any further additional doses should be administered 2 months after the last COVID-19 vaccine dose. Additional clinical considerations, including detailed schedules and tables by age for all age groups and vaccination history for those who are or are not moderately or severely immunocompromised, are available at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html.

Adverse events after vaccination should be reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). For licensed COVID-19 vaccines administered to persons aged 12 years, reporting is encouraged for any clinically significant adverse event even when whether the vaccine caused the event is uncertain, as well as for vaccination errors. For COVID-19 vaccines given under Emergency Use Authorization, vaccination providers are required to report certain adverse events to VAERS. Additional information is available at https://vaers.hhs.gov or by telephone at 1-800-822-7967.

Karen Broder, Mary Chamberland, Demetre Daskalakis, Susan Goldstein, Aron Hall, Elisha Hall, Fiona Havers, Andrew Leidner, Pedro Moro, Sara Oliver, Ismael Ortega-Sanchez, Kadam Patel, Manisha Patel, Amanda Payne, Huong Pham, Jamison Pike, Lauren Roper, Sierra Scarbrough, Tom Shimabukuro, Benjamin Silk, John Su, Evelyn Twentyman, Eric Weintraub, David Wentworth, Melinda Wharton, Michael Whitaker, JoEllen Wolicki, Fangjun Zhou, CDC. Voting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (in addition to listed authors): Wilbur Chen, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Sybil Cineas, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; Camille Kotton, Harvard Medical School; James Loehr, Cayuga Family Medicine; Sarah Long, Drexel University College of Medicine. Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices COVID-19 Vaccines Work Group: Beth P. Bell, University of Washington; Edward Belongia, Center for Clinical Epidemiology & Population Health, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute; Henry Bernstein, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell Cohen Childrens Medical Center; Uzo Chukwuma, Indian Health Service; Paul Cieslak, Christine Hahn, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists; Richard Dang, American Pharmacists Association; Jeffrey Duchin, Infectious Diseases Society of America; Kathy Edwards, Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Sandra Fryhofer, American Medical Association; Jason M. Goldman, American College of Physicians; Robert Hopkins, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; Michael Ison, Chris Roberts, National Institutes of Health; Lisa A. Jackson, Jennifer C. Nelson, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute; Denise Jamieson, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Jeffery Kelman, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Kathy Kinlaw, Center for Ethics, Emory University; Alan Lam, U.S. Department of Defense; Grace M. Lee, Stanford University School of Medicine; Lucia Lee, Anuga Rastogi, Adam Spanier, Rachel Zhang, Food and Drug Administration; Valerie Marshall, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Dayna Bowen Matthew, George Washington University Law School; Preeti Mehrotra, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America; Kathleen Neuzil, Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Sean OLeary, American Academy of Pediatrics; Christine Oshansky, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; Stanley Perlman, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Iowa; Marcus Plescia, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials; Rob Schechter, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases; Kenneth Schmader, American Geriatrics Society; Peter Szilagyi, University of California, Los Angeles; H. Keipp Talbot, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; Jonathan Temte, American Academy of Family Physicians; Matthew Tunis, National Advisory Committee on Immunization Secretariat, Public Health Agency of Canada; Matt Zahn, National Association of County and City Health Officials; Nicola P. Klein, Kaiser Permanente Northern California; Cara B. Janusz, Lisa Prosser, Angela Rose, University of Michigan.

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Use of an Additional Updated 20232024 COVID-19 Vaccine Dose for Adults Aged 65 Years: Recommendations of ... - CDC

COVID-19 hospitalizations hit record low, the CDC says – KAKE

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The news comes as the requirements for hospitals to report respiratory illness data, like COVID hospital admissions, expire at the end of April. Federal officials plan to use other data sources such as wastewater, laboratory tests and emergency department data to stay informed about the spread of illnesses.

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COVID-19 hospitalizations hit record low, the CDC says - KAKE

Hospitals no longer have to report COVID-19 hospitalization data, CDC says – 2 News Oklahoma KJRH Tulsa

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lifted the requirement for hospitals to report COVID-19 hospitalization data to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Effective May 1, the CDC says reporting by hospitals of COVID-19 hospital admissions, hospital capacity or hospital occupancy data is no longer a mandate.

The CDC does however still strongly recommend voluntary reporting of the data.

Any data voluntarily reported after the May 1 date will become available on May 10.

This comes as COVID hospitalizations hit a record low.

Weekly COVID hospitalizations dropped to an all-time low of 5,615 hospitalizations for the week of April 20, according to the CDC.

Comparatively, hospitalizations for coronavirus peaked during the week of Jan. 15, 2022, with 150,650 hospitalizations, CDC data shows. This came amid a surge of infections from the omicron variant.

Federal officials have been collecting COVID-19 data from hospitals since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Science and Tech

5:31 PM, Mar 15, 2024

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Hospitals no longer have to report COVID-19 hospitalization data, CDC says - 2 News Oklahoma KJRH Tulsa

Covid-19 | Families grappling with vaccine-related fatalities deserve answers and support – Deccan Herald

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The implications of such speculation are profound. If indeed these incidents are vaccine-related, who then bears the enduring burden of responsibility? Moreover, how can we trust the reliability and objectivity of those tasked with investigating these interconnections? These questions strike at the very core of the urgent need for thorough and transparent research, as well as accountability from all stakeholders involved in the development, distribution, and monitoring of vaccines.

The approval of Covishield for emergency use in early 2021, coupled with the waiver of traditional vaccine trial protocols by drug regulators, has the potential to profoundly affect public confidence in the vaccine. Or for that matter, any vaccine or medicine in the future. Such expedited measures, while aimed at swiftly delivering vital vaccines to the populace during the pandemic, raise citizenry concerns regarding consumer recourse in the event of adverse effects.

During a pandemic, the prevailing sentiment of overwhelming gratitude towards vaccines probably inadvertently overshadowed the need to conduct a fair and comprehensive assessment of potential side effects. It is all too convenient for some to attribute medical conditions solely to familial medical history and genetic predispositions, while disregarding the potential impact of vaccinations.

Any scepticism regarding vaccine safety has been met with resistance or even disdain.While vaccines undoubtedly play a crucial role in mitigating the spread of infectious diseases, including Covid-19, it is essential to maintain a balanced perspective.Acknowledging and thoroughly investigating potential side effects is not an indictment of vaccines themselves but rather a fundamental aspect of ensuring public health and safety. But where does one even start with this fundamental task?

While governments acted out of necessity to address the urgent health crisis, the focus on vaccine deployment must not overshadow the plight of individuals suffering from various side effects.While it may be theoretically untenable to hold governments solely accountable, questions arise regarding the accountability of vaccine manufacturers and distributors, entities with decades of clinical expertise and responsibility in ensuring product safety.

In medico-legal contexts, it is often tempting to dismiss adverse events as isolated incidents. However, in the case of vaccine design, where meticulous testing is paramount, the impact of Covid-19 vaccines on individuals' lives, including ongoing health challenges, cannot be disregarded. Families grappling with potential vaccine-related fatalities deserve answers and support, as do those contending with the enduring consequences of vaccine-related health issues.

In a humanitarian plea, one may ask: Is it too much to expect vaccine makers to acknowledge that testing may have been insufficient? After all, each vial of vaccine, while undoubtedly saving countless lives, may also carry the weight of families mourning lost loved ones or individuals grappling with vaccine-related health issues. But vaccines, as much as any healthcare, is a hard-nosed business. Such an expectation is a flawed contradiction to the principles of justice. At the altar of a legal framework, such expectations would need time and financial resources.

The prospect of pursuing a medico-legal case can feel daunting for families already burdened by the consequences of vaccine-related adverse events. The pharmaceutical industry, with its considerable resources and legal expertise, may seem formidable in comparison. Yet, it is essential to remember that every individual impacted by vaccine-related issues deserves to have their concerns heard and addressed with empathy and fairness. Do we have such fairness in the Indian society?

(Srinath Sridharan is a policy researcher and corporate adviser. X: @ssmumbai.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.

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Covid-19 | Families grappling with vaccine-related fatalities deserve answers and support - Deccan Herald

What to Know About the ‘FLiRT’ Variants of COVID-19 – University of Nebraska Medical Center

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Time

The COVID-19 lull in the U.S. may soon come to an end, as a new family of SARS-CoV-2 variantsnicknamed FLiRT variantsbegins to spread nationwide.

These variants aredistant Omicron relativesthat spun out from JN.1, thevariant behind the surge in cases this past winter. Theyve been dubbed FLiRT variants based on the technical names for their mutations, one of which includes the letters F and L, and another of which includes the letters R and T. Within the FLiRT family, one variant in particular has risen to prominence: KP.2, which accounted for about 25% of new sequenced cases during the two weeks ending Apr. 27,according to datafrom the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other FLiRT variants, including KP.1.1, have not become as widespread in the U.S. yet.

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What to Know About the 'FLiRT' Variants of COVID-19 - University of Nebraska Medical Center

Hospitals no longer have to report COVID-19 hospitalization data, CDC says – Denver 7 Colorado News

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lifted the requirement for hospitals to report COVID-19 hospitalization data to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Effective May 1, the CDC says reporting by hospitals of COVID-19 hospital admissions, hospital capacity or hospital occupancy data is no longer a mandate.

The CDC does however still strongly recommend voluntary reporting of the data.

Any data voluntarily reported after the May 1 date will become available on May 10.

This comes as COVID hospitalizations hit a record low.

Weekly COVID hospitalizations dropped to an all-time low of 5,615 hospitalizations for the week of April 20, according to the CDC.

Comparatively, hospitalizations for coronavirus peaked during the week of Jan. 15, 2022, with 150,650 hospitalizations, CDC data shows. This came amid a surge of infections from the omicron variant.

Federal officials have been collecting COVID-19 data from hospitals since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Science and Tech

4:31 PM, Mar 15, 2024

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Hospitals no longer have to report COVID-19 hospitalization data, CDC says - Denver 7 Colorado News

Head Chinese COVID-19 Scientist Ousted Over Legal Violations – Kilgore News Herald

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China's top COVID-19 scientist, Yang Xiaoming, has been ousted from his position due to "serious discipline and law violations." Yang, who led the team behind China's first COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinopharm, is currently under investigation for corruption. Despite his pivotal role in developing the BBIBP-CorV vaccine, Yang's dismissal has sparked widespread speculation. Some speculated about potential connections between Yang's ousting and the Sinopharm vaccine. However, popular medical bloggers have urged caution, emphasizing that Yang's legal issues do not necessarily reflect the vaccine's quality. Yang's dismissal comes amid China's broader effort to crack down on corruption within the healthcare sector. Hundreds of investigations have already been launched against healthcare officials and industry stakeholders. This campaign, the most extensive in the sector's history, aims to address long-standing issues of commercial bribery and corruption.

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Head Chinese COVID-19 Scientist Ousted Over Legal Violations - Kilgore News Herald

Peer support valuable intervention for health worker stress during COVID-19, study shows – University of Minnesota Twin Cities

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With healthcare worker (HCW) burnout one of the most pressing issues facing US clinicians, a new study in JAMA Network Open indicates that Stress First Aid, a peer-to-peer support intervention, improved the well-being of HCWs compared with usual care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study is one of the only randomized clinical trials published on provider burnout interventions, and an editorial on the study in the same journal suggests the findings highlight that workplace interventions in health care have the potential to make meaningful reductions in burnout and potentially lead to more robust and resilient health care institutions.

The study enrolled 2,077 HCWs employed at 28 hospitals or clinics across the country from March 2021 through July 2022. Participants were divided into two groups, one that revived standard care and one that received a peer-to-peer support intervention from trained healthcare workers.

Recipients of the intervention were also taught to respond to their own and their peers stress reactions, the authors said, using seven core actions: check, coordinate, cover, calm, connect, competence, and confidence.

For every 50 HCWs trained, one "champion" at each site was selected to then learn the training and continue training new workers. The main outcomes of the study were rates of psychological distress and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In total, 862 participants (696 women [80.7%] and 159 men [18.4%]) were from sites randomly assigned to the intervention arm, with a baseline psychological distress score of 5.86 and a baseline PTSD score of 16.11.

A total of 1,215 study participants were not treated. That group had a baseline mean psychological distress score of 5.98 and a baseline PTSD score of 16.40.

When looking at self-reported symptoms, researchers found a 4.6-point reduction (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.1 to 1.0) on the 0- to 24-point psychological distress score and a 6.8-point reduction (95% CI, 13.2 to 0.3) on the 0- to 80-point PTSD symptom score, which were clinically meaningful effect sizes, the authors said.

But an intent-to-treat analyses revealed no overall treatment effect of the intervention. Furthermore, the treatment effect was seen most strongly in HCWs 30 years and younger.

"Given that we found a significant effect in younger HCWs," they wrote. "It could be helpful to focus future studies of this peer-to-peer support intervention on trainees (eg, residents and nursing trainees) to capture HCWs at a critical point in their early professional development, as the intervention was originally implemented in its first military setting to create culture change within a large system."

It could be helpful to focus future studies of this peer-to-peer support intervention on trainees .

In a commentary on the study, Anna OKelly, MD, from Harvard Medical School, and colleagues wrote that the study highlights the "importance of collegiality and mutual support in a cataclysmic crisis. On the basis of the results of their study, this may be especially meaningful for young health care workers who have yet to develop the most personally meaningful coping strategies, clinical confidence, and workplace community and networks that a longer career in health care may afford."

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Peer support valuable intervention for health worker stress during COVID-19, study shows - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Post Pandemic Emergency COVID-19 Guidelines and Protocols – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Newsroom

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On May 11, 2023, ICE released the Post Pandemic Emergency COVID-19 Guidelines and Protocols, which supersedes the Pandemic Response Requirements (PRR) 10.0 released on November 1, 2022.

On November 1, 2022, ICE released a revised version of the PRR, which includes several updates and points of clarification to the previous version of the PRR released on June 13, 2022.

On June 13, 2022, ICE released a revised version of the PRR, which includes several updates and points of clarification to the previous version of the PRR released on April 4, 2022.

On April 4, 2022, ICE released a revised version of the PRR, which includes several updates and points of clarification to the previous version of the PRR released on Oct. 19, 2021.

On October 19, 2021, ICE released a revised version of the PRR, which includes several updates and points of clarification to the previous version of the PRR released on March 18, 2021.

On March 16, 2021, ICE released a revised version of the PRR, which includes several updates and points of clarification to the previous version of the PRR released on October 27, 2020.

On October 27, 2020, ICE released a revised version of the PRR, which updated the definition of and procedures surrounding severe psychiatric illness in ICEs identification of aliens at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19; adjusted ICE procedures in notifying the detainee and his or her legal counsel within 12 hours that the detainee falls within the populations identified as potentially being at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and/or subclasses certified in Fraihat v. ICE; added a requirement for non-dedicated ICE detention facilities to evaluate new admissions within five days of entering custody to determine if the detainee falls within the population identified as potentially at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19; added a section on ICE procedures for handling vulnerable populations at high risk, to include performance standards for screening, testing and custody determinations, to include requiring all new arrivals into ICE detention be tested for COVID-19 within 12 hours of arrival (collection timeframe may extend to 24 hours if facility collection logistics require additional time); included updated procedures for the use of safe cleaning products, as well as reporting requirements and ICE investigations if adverse reactions to cleaning products are experienced by detainees; amended detainee transfers by discontinuing the transfer of ICE detainees except in certain circumstances, with transfers required to clear quarantine protocols and ICE Health Services Corps, and transfers for any other reasons requiring pre-approval by the local ERO Field Office Director; highlighted that extended lockdowns must not be used as a means of COVID-19 prevention practice; and established that medical isolation is operationally distinct from administrative or disciplinary segregation, or any punitive form of housing.

On September 4, 2020, ICE released a revised version of the PRR, a dynamic document that was developed in consultation with the CDC and is updated as new information becomes available and best practices emerge. This version of the PRR updates the list of COVID-19 symptoms recognized by the CDC; provides additional guidance on protocols for asymptomatic staff who have been identified as close contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 case; clarifies that whenever possible, ICE will limit transfers of both ICE detainees and non-ICE detained populations to and from other jurisdictions and facilities unless necessary for medical evaluation, medical isolation/quarantine, clinical care, extenuating security concerns, to facilitate release or removal, or to prevent overcrowding; updates isolation protocols for COVID-19 cases to incorporate the latest CDC guidance on discontinuing transmission-based precautions using a symptom-based or time-based strategy rather than a testing-based strategy; and provides additional information on testing for asymptomatic individuals with known or suspected recent exposure.

On July 28, 2020, ICE released a newly revised version of the PRR, which identifies additional populations potentially at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19; provides updated guidance on personal protective equipment (PPE); updated guidance on hygiene practices; offers additional guidance when transporting a detainee with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19; includes direct reference to CDC guidance for individuals in medical isolation in detention facilities; and includes an updated testing section based on recently released CDC guidance.

On June 22, 2020, ICE ERO released a revised version of the PRR, which expanded the list of COVID-19 symptoms; identified additional vulnerable populations potentially at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19; provided that if single isolation rooms are unavailable, individuals with confirmed COVID-19 should be isolated together as a cohort separate from other detainees, including those with pending test results and that suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases maintain separation of groups by common criteria; and added facility compliance measures and updated visitation protocols.

On April 10, 2020, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) released the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Requirements (PRR), a guidance document developed in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that builds upon previously issued guidance. Specifically, the PRR sets forth specific mandatory requirements expected to be adopted by all detention facilities housing ICE detainees, as well as best practices for such facilities, to ensure that detainees are appropriately housed and that available mitigation measures are implemented during this unprecedented public health crisis.

Originally posted here:

ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations Post Pandemic Emergency COVID-19 Guidelines and Protocols - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Newsroom

Census Bureau Releases 2022 Annual Capital Expenditures Survey: Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Business … – U.S. Census Bureau

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MAY 1, 2024 The U.S. Census Bureau today releasedadditional data from the 2022 Annual Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES) about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. businesses; if/when they returned to normal levels of operation; and the impact on planned spending of assetsto restore normal operations. Normal levels of operations are based on sales, revenue, shipments, profits and employment before the pandemic hit the U.S. in March 2020.

All data are available at the national level by 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 2-digit industry sectors.

No news release associated with this product. Tip sheet only.

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Census Bureau Releases 2022 Annual Capital Expenditures Survey: Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Business ... - U.S. Census Bureau

GRAPHIC: Food recalls on the rise post-COVID-19 – The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

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The number of food recalls issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has increased in recent years, after a sharp decline during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each year, the Food Safety and Service Inspection division of the USDA issues recalls for food products when problems such as foreign material, undeclared allergens and pathogens are found.

The agency only issued 31 recalls in 2020, which was a 75% decline from the previous year.

In 2023, there were 65 food recalls issued, a 40% increase from the previous year.

2015 had the most food recalls in a single year, at 150 recalls. That was the most in a single year in the past dozen years.

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John McCracken covers the industrial agriculture meat industry for Investigate Midwest. He has experience reporting at the intersection of agriculture, environmental pollution and climate change. He... More by John McCracken, Investigate Midwest

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GRAPHIC: Food recalls on the rise post-COVID-19 - The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

COVID-19 Photo Contest Winners Capture Moments of Joy, Sorrow, Meaning in Crisis – Boston University

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Back in those first days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020when flour was a hot commodity, hand sanitizer the new goldregistered nurse Jennifer Atkins headed to her local store to findnothing. The shelves had been stripped bare. She and one of her kids immortalized the moment with a lighthearted photoan image thats been named the winner of the Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases (CEID) Life in the Age of a Pandemic photo contest.

Open to all BU community members, the competition invited entries that caught the essence of what we have all gone through or [exemplify] your own unique experience from the last four years as it relates to the pandemic. Atkins phototitled, No toilet paper?!won her an iPad mini.

We were stunned to see completely empty shelves where there had once been abundant supplies of paper goods (toilet paper, facial tissues, and paper towels), wrote Atkins, who works at Boston Medical Centers Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, in her entry submission. This photo is my very flexible son Shay showing off the empty aisle (and nearly empty store).

While we may all be eager to consign the pandemic to history, Nahid Bhadelia, CEIDs founding director, says the photo contest was designed to help us recognizeand memorializehow it changed our world.

We tend to want to collectively forget when we have a traumatic event like the COVID-19 pandemic, says Bhadelia, a BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine associate professor of medicine who recently served on the White House COVID-19 Response Team. We wanted to capture these moments while theyre still fresh in our memories. Looking back now allows us to realize how much life has changed since the beginning of the pandemic.

The second-place entry was BU masters student Raina Levins (SPH25) photo of her socially distanced Northeastern University undergraduate graduation at Fenway Park. In May 2021, I felt very lucky to have a college graduation at all, Levin wrote in her submission. Students were spaced apart and each allowed only one guest. My aunt, who lives locally, was my guest of honor. While subdued, my graduation still felt festive, a reminder that we could still be together while physically distant.

As one of the judges, Bhadelia says she was struck by how personal many of the photos were and how people found joy or meaning in their everyday lives during a crisis.

The competition also had a popular choice category, with a vote open to BU faculty, staff, and students. The two winners were both PhD students: Aubrey Odom (CDS27, ENG27), for a snapshot of an isolated performer in New Yorks Central Park, and Stephanie Loo (SPH23), for a photo of a discarded mask encrusted with shells.

CEID brings experts together from a range of disciplines to help anticipate and take on global pandemicsleading research, hosting multidisciplinary events and webinars (its next one, on the H5N1 strain of avian flu, is happening on May 9), and partnering with government agencies and community organizations. But Bhadelia says the photo contest reinforces an important lesson for researchers who want to translate their work into action.

Pandemic policies need to start with individuals and communities, she says. People experience crises at a personal level. Policies that dont take that into consideration wont be effective long term.

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COVID-19 Photo Contest Winners Capture Moments of Joy, Sorrow, Meaning in Crisis - Boston University

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Business Operations (2022) – U.S. Census Bureau

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As part of the 2022 Annual Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES), questions were asked to gather information measuring the effect of changing business conditions since the Coronavirus Pandemic began in 2020. The tables provide an indication of if/when businesses returned to normal levels of operations after the pandemic began in 2020 and the changes made to budgeted capital expenditures to return to normal level of operations for U.S. companies with employees. Normal level of operations are based on sales, revenue, shipments, profit, or employment before the Coronavirus pandemic. All data are available at the national level by 2-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry sector.

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Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Business Operations (2022) - U.S. Census Bureau

Restoring Waveland| Housing Finance Magazine – Apartment Finance Today

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WAVELAND, MISS.Karen Ladner knew there was plenty of demand for affordable housing in this city hard hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Every time she went to the grocery store, people would stop and tell her about their grandmother or uncle who needed a place to live.

It just went on and on," says Ladner, executive director of the Bay Waveland Housing Authority and a longtime resident of the region.

Quick trips to the store turned into long conversations with locals trying to get back on their feet after the 2005 storms battered the Gulf Coast, including destroying all of Hancock County's public housing.

Ladner patiently listened and worked for five years.

The result is Oak Haven Apartments, a new 80-unit seniors housing community and the first public housing project rebuilt in the county since the storms. Although the housing need cut across the entire population, developers decided to take care of the seniors first.

The elderly needed to be settled," says Ladner, explaining that many seniors wanted to remain in the Bay St. Louis and Waveland area but were the least equipped to rebuild their homes.

Oak Haven sits on a site once occupied by 13 single-family homes operated by the housing authority. The property then housed 50 Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers for about a year following the hurricane.

The housing authority, with partner Centerpointe Regional Housing Development, endured the tough economic crisis to develop the project.

The team lost its initial low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) syndicator in 2008, says Ladner, whose agency was formed when the Bay and Waveland housing authorities consolidated after the storms.

Developers eventually closed on the financing in 2010 with the help of Enterprise Community Partners and American Express Center for Community Development.

The $15.8 million community is fi- nanced with Gulf Opportunity Zone housing tax credits from the Mississippi Home Corp. The tax credits provided roughly $7 million in equity from investor American Express through Enterprise.

Enterprise hopes Oak Haven will be the first of many LIHTC investments in Mississippi, said President and CEO Terri Ludwig when the development celebrated its opening earlier this year. The project is part of the organization's commitment to invest $200 million with its partners to rebuild the Gulf Coast.

Additional financing for Oak Haven included $8.5 million in Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery funds from the Mississippi Development Authority, which Gov. Haley Barbour helped secure as part of his $100 million commitment to rebuild public housing on the coast. The development also received $500,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas' Affordable Housing Program through member Hancock Bank.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development's field office in Jackson, Miss., also provided key support.

Oak Haven is made up of single-story duplex homes.

We spent a lot of time on the design," says Michael Bowen, director of development at Centerpointe, a firm that works with many small and midsize housing authorities. The project is built to be hurricane resistant, with concrete- filled insulated form wall systems that will withstand 130 mph winds.

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Restoring Waveland| Housing Finance Magazine - Apartment Finance Today

Artificial Intelligence Has Come for Our…Beauty Pageants? – Glamour

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First, artificial intelligence (AI) came for our jobs. Now, its coming for beauty standards by way of AI content creators."

Solely digital renderings and not real people, AI-generated influencers have become brand ambassadors and digital creators, amassing thousands of dollars in revenue through subscription-based content. Apparently, the natural next step was to have them compete in a beauty pageant.

Creator platform Fanvue, whose user base includes both real creators and AI ones, recently announced the Fanvue World AI Creator Awards (WAICAs): the worlds first ever beauty pageant for AI-generated influencers. According to the brand, they've seen exponential growth in AI-generated creators joining its platform since the end of 2023, with digital superstars garnering millions of followers on their platform, Instagram, and elsewhere.

It's true. Digital models Emily Pellegrini and Aitana Lopez, who are AI and not real people, have a combined 591 million followers on Instagram, real-life brand deals, and thousands of loyal subscribers who pay for exclusive content. FanVue says that Lopez earns over $10,000 monthly, and she's far from the only one: their Instagram comments are inundated with thousands of fellow AI-generated content creators promoting access to their private pages for a price.

Remarkably, it's paying off. FanVue expects the AI creator economy, which theyve helped pioneer, to exceed the $1 billion mark this year. This hasnt been possible until recently, the technology simply wasnt there, a FanVue spokesperson tells Glamour. With the help of monetization platforms such as Fanvue, theres been exponential growth in AI creators entering the space, growing their fanbases, and monetizing the connections theyre building with their audiences.

Aitana Lopez . Courtesy of FanVue.

Hence: the creation of the Miss AI pageant, in which AI-generated contestants will be judged on some of the classic aspects of pageantry and the the skill and implementation of AI tools used to create" the contestants. Also being considered is the AI creators social media clout"meaning theyre not just crowning the most beautiful" avatar, but also the most influential."

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Is artificial intelligence combat ready? – Washington Technology

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Human soldiers will increasingly share the battlespace with a range of robotic, autonomous, and artificial intelligence-enabled agents. Machine intelligence has the potential to be a decisive factor in future conflicts that the U.S. may face.

The pace of change will be faster than anything seen in many decades, driven by the advances in commercial AI technology and the pressure of a near-peer with formidable technological capabilities.

But are AI and machine learning combat-ready? Or, more precisely, is our military prepared to incorporate machine intelligence into combat effectively?

Creating an AI-Ready Force

The stakes of effective collaboration between AI and combatants are profound.

Human-machine teaming has the potential to reduce casualties dramatically by substituting robots and autonomous drones for human beings in the highest-risk front-line deployments.

It can dramatically enhance situational awareness by rapidly synthesizing data streams across multiple domains to generate a unified view of the battlespace. And it can overwhelm enemy defenses with the swarming of autonomous drones.

In our work with several of the Defense Department research labs working at the cutting edge of incorporating AI and machine learning into combat environments, we have seen that this technology has the potential to be a force multiplier on par with air power.

However, several technological and institutional obstacles must be overcome before AI agents can be widely deployed into combat environments.

Safety and Reliability

The most frequent concern about AI agents and uncrewed systems is whether they can be trusted to take actions with potentially lethal consequences. AI agents have an undeniable speed advantage in processing massive amounts of data to recognize targets of interest. However, there is an inherent tension between conducting war at machine speed and retaining accountability for the use of lethal force.

It only takes one incident of AI weapons systems subjecting their human counterparts to friendly fire to undermine the confidence of warfighters in this technology. Effective human-machine teaming is only possible when machines have earned the trust of their human allies.

Adapting Military Doctrine to AI Combatants

Uncrewed systems are being rapidly developed that will augment existing forces across multiple domains. Many of these systems incorporate AI at the edge to control navigation, surveillance, targeting, and weapons systems.

However, existing military doctrine and tactics have been optimized for a primarily human force. There is a temptation to view AI-enabled weapons as a new tool to be incorporated into existing combat approaches. But doctrine will be transformed by innovations such as the swarming of hundreds or thousands of disposable, intelligent drones capable of overwhelming strategic platforms.

Force structures may need to be reconfigured on the fly to deliver drones where there is the greatest potential impact. Human-centric command and control concepts will need to be modified to accommodate machines and build warfighter trust.

As autonomous agents proliferate and become more powerful, the battlespace will become more expansive, more transparent, and move exponentially faster. The decision on how and if to incorporate AI into the operational kill chain has profound ethical consequences.

An even more significant challenge will be how to balance the pace of action on the AI-enabled battlefield with the limits of human cognition. What are the tradeoffs between ceding a first-strike advantage measured in milliseconds with the loss of human oversight? The outcome of future conflicts may hinge on such questions.

Insatiable Hunger for Data

AI systems are notoriously data-hungry. There is not, and fortunately never will be, enough live operational data from live military conflicts to adequately train AI models to the point where they could be deployed on the battlefield. For this reason, simulations are essential to develop and test AI agents, and they require thousands or even millions of iterations using modern machine learning techniques.

The DoD has existing high-fidelity simulations, such as Joint Semi-Automated Forces (JSAF), but they run essentially in real-time. To unlock the full potential of AI-enabled warfare requires developing simulations with sufficient fidelity to accurately model potential outcomes but compatible with the speed requirements of digital agents.

Integration and Training

AI-enabled mission planning has the potential to vastly expand the situational awareness of combatants and generate novel multi-domain operation alternatives to overwhelm the enemy. Just as importantly, AI can anticipate and evaluate thousands of courses of action that the enemy might employ and suggest countermeasures in real time.

One reason Americas military is so effective is a relentless focus on training. But warfighters are unlikely to embrace tactical directives emanating from an unfamiliar black box when their lives hang in the balance.

As autonomous platforms move from research labs to the field, intensive warfighter training will be essential to create a cohesive, unified human-machine team. To be effective, AI course-of-action agents must be designed to align with existing mission planning practices.

By integrating such AI agents with the training for mission planning, we can build confidence among users while refining the algorithms using the principles of warfighter-centric design.

Making Human-Machine Teaming a Reality

While underlying AI technology has grown exponentially more powerful in the past few years, addressing the challenges posed by human-machine teaming will determine how rapidly these technologies can translate into practical military advantage.

From the level of the squad all the way to the joint command, it is essential that we test the limits of this technology and establish the confidence of decision-makers in its capabilities.

There are several vital initiatives the DoD should consider to accelerate this process.

Embrace the Chaos of War

Building trust in AI agents is the most essential step to effective human-machine teaming. Warfighters will rightly have a low level of confidence in systems that have only been tested under controlled laboratory conditions. The best experiments and training exercises replicate the chaos of war, including unpredictable events, jamming of communications and positioning systems, and mid-course changes to the course of action.

Human warfighters should be encouraged to push autonomous systems and AI agents to the breaking point to see how they perform under adverse conditions. This will result in iterative design improvements and build the confidence that these agents can contribute to mission success.

A tremendous strength of the U.S. military is the flexible command structure that empowers warfighters down to the squad level to rapidly adapt to changing conditions on the ground. AI systems have the potential to provide these units with a far more comprehensive view of the battlespace and generate tactical alternatives. But to be effective in wartime conditions, AI agents must be resilient enough to function under conditions of degraded communications and understand the overall intent of the mission.

Apply AI to Defense Acquisition Process

The rapid evolution of underlying AI and autonomous technologies means that traditional procurement processes developed for large cold-war platforms are doomed to fail. As an example, swarming tactics are only effective when using hundreds or thousands of individual systems capable of intelligent, coordinated action in a dynamic battlespace.

Acquiring such devices at scale will require leveraging a broad supplier base, moving rapidly down the cost curve, and enabling frequent open standards updates. Too often, we have seen weapons vendors using incompatible, proprietary communications standards that render systems unable to share data, much less engage in coordinated, intelligent maneuvers. One solution is to apply AI to revolutionize the acquisition process.

By creating a virtual environment to test systems designs, DoD customers can verify operational concepts and interoperability before a single device is acquired. This will help to reduce waste, promote shared knowledge across the services, and create a more level playing field for the supplier base.

Build Bridges from Labs to Deployment

While a tremendous amount of important work has been done by organizations such as the Navy Research Lab, the Army Research Lab, the Air Force Research Lab, and DARPA, the success of AI-enabled warfare will ultimately be determined by moving this technology from the laboratories and out into the commands. Human-machine teaming will be critical to the success of these efforts.

Just as important, the teaching of military doctrine at the service academies needs to be continuously updated as the technology frontier advances. Incorporating intelligent agents into practical military missions requires both profound changes in doctrine and reallocation of resources.

Military commanders are unlikely to be dazzled by bright and shiny objects unless they see tangible benefits to deploying them. By starting with some easy wins, such as the enhancement of ISR capabilities and automation of logistics and maintenance, we can build early bridges that will instill confidence in the value of AI agents and autonomous systems.

Educating commands about the potential of human-machine teaming to enhance mission performance and then developing roadmaps to the highest potential applications will be essential. Commanders need to be comfortable with the parameters of human-in-the-loop and human-on-the-loop systems as they navigate how much autonomy to grant to AI-at-the-edge weapons systems. Retaining auditability as decision cycles accelerate will be critical to ensuring effective oversight of system development and evolving doctrine.

Summary

Rapid developments in AI and autonomous weapons systems have simultaneously accelerated and destabilized the ongoing quest for military superiority and effective deterrence. The United States has responded to this threat with a range of policies restricting the transfer of underlying technologies. However, the outcome of this competition will depend on the ability to convincingly transfer AI-enabled warfare from research labs to potential theaters of conflict.

Effective human-machine teaming will be critical to make the transition to a joint force that leverages the best capabilities of human warfighters and AI to ensure domination of the battlespace and deter adventurism by foreign actors.

Mike Colony leads Sercos Machine Learning Group, which has helped to support several Department of Defense clients in the area of AI and machine learning, including the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the U.S. Marine Corps, the Electronic Warfare and Countermeasures Office, and others.

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Is artificial intelligence combat ready? - Washington Technology

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7 Artificial Intelligence Impediments & Opportunities for the Channel – Channelnomics

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Channelnomics has identified seven significant challenges that will impede the adoption of artificial intelligence systems. The good news is that theyre also great opportunities for vendors and partners.

Market analyst firm IDC forecasts an impressive 55% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the artificial intelligence market from 2024 to 2027. However, its worth noting that this growth could be even more rapid if barriers to customer adoption and deployment werent hindering the pace of artificial intelligence uptake. This potential for accelerated growth should inspire optimism and excitement among vendors and partners alike.

Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) products such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini arent just tools; theyre catalysts sparking the imagination of businesses and individuals. These tools, by revolutionizing content creation, data analysis, and automated customer experiences, are making the seemingly impossible possible. However, its important to note that GPTs are just the tip of the iceberg in the artificial intelligence revolution.

In a survey by Channelnomics and channel marketplace Pax8 of end users worldwide, most businesses said they want AI tools that deliver better predictive analytics, machine learning in their automated processes, and richer communications tools. While its easy to rattle off a list of tools, making them an operational reality is much harder.

Through extensive research of vendors, channel partners, and end users, Channelnomics has pinpointed seven significant challenges currently impeding AI adoption and growth. However, these challenges, far from being roadblocks, present unique opportunities for the channel to leverage its expertise and resources, paving the way for success in the AI market. This understanding should empower vendors and partners, highlighting their potential to overcome these challenges and thrive in the AI landscape.

Lets dive into each.

Looking Forward As the artificial intelligence revolution continues to unfold, its clear that technologys transformative potential isnt without challenges. The road to widespread AI adoption is paved with obstacles, from technical hurdles to talent shortages and security concerns. However, these challenges also present a unique opportunity for the channel to step up and lead the way forward.

By leveraging their expertise and extensive resources, vendors and partners can become the driving force behind AI adoption, helping businesses navigate the complexities of this rapidly evolving landscape. Whether its through developing innovative AI solutions, providing expert guidance and support, or forming strategic partnerships, the channel has a critical role in shaping AIs future.

The AI market is poised for explosive growth as we look ahead to the coming years. But to truly harness the power of this transformative technology, vendors, partners, and customers must work together to overcome the obstacles to AI success. However, with the right strategies, partnerships, and mindset, theres no limit to what we can achieve.

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Liberty Hill ISD introduces artificial intelligence into the classroom – Community Impact

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Teachers and students in Liberty Hill ISD have been exploring new ways to learn through the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, this school year.

District teachers and staff said AI has enhanced students learning experience and prepared them for future careers as AI becomes increasingly prevalent in many industries.

We are trying to prepare students for jobs that don't even exist, LHISD instructional coach Jennifer Norris said. We don't want students to be thinking for today. We want students to be thinking for the future.

A closer look

This school year, LHISD launched a pilot program amongst a handful of teachers who have begun using AI in their classrooms, Chief of Schools Travis Motal said. Amy Rosser, an English teacher at Liberty Hill High School, has implemented AI programs to assist students in revising their essays and generating creative images, she said.

In one assignment, students were tasked with creatively rewriting the ending of "Romeo and Juliet" and producing an AI-generated image to accompany it. Students had to input their instructions into the image generator multiple times before seeing the desired results, which taught students the importance of using detailed, intentional language, Rosser said.

Norris has helped many teachers learn how to adopt AI into their instruction, she said. Some classrooms have used ChatGPT to generate poems in the voices of various historical figures and compare differences in the passages tone, Norris said.

Many Spanish teachers have taken up AI as a conversational partner for students to practice speaking Spanish with, Norris said. In social studies, students have used AI to generate images related to historical events and analyze the accuracy of the images and whether they include a bias, she said.

Khanmigo, an AI program by Khan Academy, walks students through the steps to complete math problems without solving it for them, Rosser said.

Also of note

Although some teachers have initially been hesitant to adopt AI, many programs have helped teachers work more efficiently, Rosser and Norris said. Rosser now uses AI platforms to produce rubrics and materials for students, and print out translated notes for her English-as-a-second-language students.

Teachers have used programs like Magic School AI to create different types of questions and ways to present information to their students, Norris said.

You can provide the student with the information that they still need, but in a way that's going to make it easier for them to access it, Norris said.

The takeaway

Instead of discouraging students from using popular AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, LHISD has chosen to embrace the new technology to ensure students are ready for the future ahead of them, Motal said.

We know its not going away, so how can I help teachers see what is available out there to be used as a tool, so we're not trying to catch up with the students, but we're right there alongside them leading the way, Norris said.

Before introducing AI programs to her students, Rosser said she taught a unit on how to use AI with academic integrity. From encyclopedias to the internet, teachers have long taught students how to responsibly synthesize information from new resources, and AI is next in line, she said.

I started to implement and teach them strategies of how to use [AI] as a resource and a tool, not a replacement for their thinking, Rosser said.

Rosser is continuing to explore new AI tools, including a platform that can transform pictures of notes into digital flashcards, she said.

I was thinking of all of our hours that we spent writing 3-by-5 cards, Rosser said. That AI is going to help [students] be more efficient, and they'll be more likely to study.

Whats next

At the end of this school year, the district plans to collect feedback from teachers using AI through the pilot program and may implement AI in some of its curriculum in future school years, Motal said.

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The EU’s approach to artificial intelligence centres on excellence and trust – EEAS

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The EUs Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act is the result of a reflection that started more than ten years ago to develop a strategy to boost AI research and industrial capacity while ensuring safety and fundamental rights. Weeks before the official publication which will mark the beginning of its applicability, the EU Delegation is hosting in London Roberto Viola, Director General of DG CONNECT for an in conversation event, moderated by Baroness Martha Lane Fox.

The aim of the EUs policies on AI is to help it enhance its competitiveness in strategic sectors and to broaden citizens access to information. One cornerstone of this two-pillar approach boosting innovation, while safeguarding human rights was the creation six years ago, on 9 March 2018, the expert group on artificial intelligence to gather expert input and rally a broad alliance of diverse stakeholders. Moreover, to boost research and industrial capacity the EU is maximising resources and coordinating investments. For example, through the Horizon Europeandthe Digital Europeprogramme, the European Commission will jointly invest in AI 1 billion per year. The European Commission will mobilise additional investments from the private sector and the Member States, bringing an annual investment volume of 20 billion over the course of the digital decade. The Recovery and Resilience Facility makes 134 billion available for digital. In addition to the necessary investments, to build trust the Commission has also committed to create a safe and innovation-friendly AI environment for developers, for those companies that embed their products and for end users. The Artificial Intelligence Act is at the core of this endeavour. It aims to protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI, while boosting innovation in Europe. Taking into account the degree of potential risks and level of impact, the regulation establishes obligations for AI, which are based on a proportionality approach. It flags certain areas as entailing an unacceptable risk. For these areas, the Act bans the use of certain AI applications, which pose substantial threat to citizens rights, like social scoring or emotion recognition in schools. The AI Act then goes on to impose obligations for high-risk applications, e.g. in healthcare and banking, and introduces transparency obligations for medium risk applications, like general-purpose AI systems. These provisions are complemented by regulatory sandboxes and real-world testing that will have to be established at national level and made accessible to SMEs and start-ups to develop and train innovative AI before its placement on the market.

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Gaza war: artificial intelligence is changing the speed of targeting and scale of civilian harm in unprecedented ways – The Conversation

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As Israels air campaign in Gaza enters its sixth month after Hamass terrorist attacks on October 7, it has been described by experts as one of the most relentless and deadliest campaigns in recent history. It is also one of the first being coordinated, in part, by algorithms.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to assist with everything from identifying and prioritising targets to assigning the weapons to be used against those targets.

Academic commentators have long focused on the potential of algorithms in war to highlight how they will increase the speed and scale of fighting. But as recent revelations show, algorithms are now being employed at a large scale and in densely populated urban contexts.

This includes the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, but also in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, where the US is experimenting with algorithms to target potential terrorists through Project Maven.

Amid this acceleration, it is crucial to take a careful look at what the use of AI in warfare actually means. It is important to do so, not from the perspective of those in power, but from those officers executing it, and those civilians undergoing its violent effects in Gaza.

This focus highlights the limits of keeping a human in the loop as a failsafe and central response to the use of AI in war. As AI-enabled targeting becomes increasingly computerised, the speed of targeting accelerates, human oversight diminishes and the scale of civilian harm increases.

Reports by Israeli publications +927 Magazine and Local Call give us a glimpse into the experience of 13 Israeli officials working with three AI-enabled decision-making systems in Gaza called Gospel, Lavender and Wheres Daddy?.

These systems are reportedly trained to recognise features that are believed to characterise people associated with the military arm of Hamas. These features include membership of the same WhatsApp group as a known militant, changing cell phones every few months, or changing addresses frequently.

The systems are then supposedly tasked with analysing data collected on Gazas 2.3 million residents through mass surveillance. Based on the predetermined features, the systems predict the likelihood that a person is a member of Hamas (Lavender), that a building houses such a person (Gospel), or that such a person has entered their home (Wheres Daddy?).

In the investigative reports named above, intelligence officers explained how Gospel helped them go from 50 targets per year to 100 targets in one day and that, at its peak, Lavender managed to generate 37,000 people as potential human targets. They also reflected on how using AI cuts down deliberation time: I would invest 20 seconds for each target at this stage I had zero added value as a human it saved a lot of time.

They justified this lack of human oversight in light of a manual check the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ran on a sample of several hundred targets generated by Lavender in the first weeks of the Gaza conflict, through which a 90% accuracy rate was reportedly established. While details of this manual check are likely to remain classified, a 10% inaccuracy rate for a system used to make 37,000 life-and-death decisions will inherently result in devastatingly destructive realities.

But importantly, any accuracy rate number that sounds reasonably high makes it more likely that algorithmic targeting will be relied on as it allows trust to be delegated to the AI system. As one IDF officer told +927 magazine: Because of the scope and magnitude, the protocol was that even if you dont know for sure that the machine is right, you know that statistically its fine. So you go for it.

The IDF denied these revelations in an official statement to The Guardian. A spokesperson said that while the IDF does use information management tools [] in order to help intelligence analysts to gather and optimally analyse the intelligence, obtained from a variety of sources, it does not use an AI system that identifies terrorist operatives.

The Guardian has since, however, published a video of a senior official of the Israeli elite intelligence Unit 8200 talking last year about the use of machine learning magic powder to help identify Hamas targets in Gaza. The newspaper has also confirmed that the commander of the same unit wrote in 2021, under a pseudonym, that such AI technologies would resolve the human bottleneck for both locating the new targets and decision-making to approve the targets.

AI accelerates the speed of warfare in terms of the number of targets produced and the time to decide on them. While these systems inherently decrease the ability of humans to control the validity of computer-generated targets, they simultaneously make these decisions appear more objective and statistically correct due to the value that we generally ascribe to computer-based systems and their outcome.

This allows for the further normalisation of machine-directed killing, amounting to more violence, not less.

While media reports often focus on the number of casualties, body counts similar to computer-generated targets have the tendency to present victims as objects that can be counted. This reinforces a very sterile image of war. It glosses over the reality of more than 34,000 people dead, 766,000 injured and the destruction of or damage to 60% of Gazas buildings and the displaced persons, the lack of access to electricity, food, water and medicine.

It fails to emphasise the horrific stories of how these things tend to compound each other. For example, one civilian, Shorouk al-Rantisi, was reportedly found under the rubble after an airstrike on Jabalia refugee camp and had to wait 12 days to be operated on without painkillers and now resides in another refugee camp with no running water to tend to her wounds.

Aside from increasing the speed of targeting and therefore exacerbating the predictable patterns of civilian harm in urban warfare, algorithmic warfare is likely to compound harm in new and under-researched ways. First, as civilians flee their destroyed homes, they frequently change addresses or give their phones to loved ones.

Such survival behaviour corresponds to what the reports on Lavender say the AI system has been programmed to identify as likely association with Hamas. These civilians, thereby unknowingly, make themselves suspect for lethal targeting.

Beyond targeting, these AI-enabled systems also inform additional forms of violence. An illustrative story is that of the fleeing poet Mosab Abu Toha, who was allegedly arrested and tortured at a military checkpoint. It was ultimately reported by the New York Times that he, along with hundreds of other Palestinians, was wrongfully identified as Hamas by the IDFs use of AI facial recognition and Google photos.

Over and beyond the deaths, injuries and destruction, these are the compounding effects of algorithmic warfare. It becomes a psychic imprisonment where people know they are under constant surveillance, yet do not know which behavioural or physical features will be acted on by the machine.

From our work as analysts of the use of AI in warfare, it is apparent that our focus should not solely be on the technical prowess of AI systems or the figure of the human-in-the-loop as a failsafe. We must also consider these systems ability to alter the human-machine-human interactions, where those executing algorithmic violence are merely rubber stamping the output generated by the AI system, and those undergoing the violence are dehumanised in unprecedented ways.

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