🦸 Doing it Justice

📝 New CDC Student Guidelines

The CDC published new guidance on Friday recommending all K-12 students attending in-person instruction stay three feet apart, rather than six, as long as universal masking is maintained.

• The guidelines still recommend six feet of distance in all schools for staff, between staff and students, in common areas, and during activities like eating and exercising.
• The agency also said middle and high school aged students should remain six feet apart in areas with test positivity rates of 10% or higher where “cohorting” – keeping students in groups together with the same staff – is not available.

More: The decision was bolstered by this Massachusetts study involving 500,000+ students and 100,000 staff.

🦠 COVID Update

COVID-19 cases are rising in 21 states, according to a CNBC analysis of JHU data.

• Fifteen states have reported a more than 10% increase in the average daily number of cases over the past week, according to ABC News, despite an overall nationwide drop of 32.5% over the past month.

Image: CDC

• On Saturday, France reintroduced a partial lockdown affecting roughly one-third of its population, while Poland imposed a new three-week lockdown affecting non-essential shops, hotels, cultural and sporting facilities. (From the Left | From the Right)
• Miami Beach officials on Sunday voted to extend a mandatory 8 p.m. – 6 a.m. curfew for one week after declaring a state of emergency Saturday over fears a recent influx of visitors would lead to escalated violence and impede efforts to drive down virus cases. (From the Left | From the Right)

😊 World Happiness Report

Finland was named the happiest country in the world for the fourth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report published Friday. Denmark ranked second, then Switzerland, Iceland, and the Netherlands.

• New Zealand was the only non-European country in the top ten (9th), while the U.S. ranked 19th overall – down from 18th last year.

More: The report’s editors said they found that while emotions changed as the pandemic set in, longer-term satisfaction with life was less affected.

⏰ Catch Up Quick:

🇯🇵 The Olympic organizing committee ruled this year’s Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan, will take place without any international fans due to COVID-19 concerns.

🇹🇿 Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in as Tanzania’s first female president on Friday following the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli.

📸 Picture This

Images: Twitter, The Herald

The Fagradals Mountain volcano in southwestern Iceland, which had been dormant for 6,000 years, erupted on Friday night, lighting up the sky within a 20 mile radius.

• No evacuations were needed since the volcano is located in a remote area 1.5 miles from any road.

*Clarification: In Friday’s newsletter, we wrote that a peer-reviewed research study “found most people who have had COVID-19 are protected from catching it again for at least six months, though elderly patients are more prone to reinfection” – but didn’t include the ultimate conclusion.

• The study found protection against repeat infection was 80.5% (47.1% in those aged 65 and older), but ultimately concluded “natural protection, especially among older people, cannot be relied on.” – thanks to Nick M. from Austin for pointing this out.

🏀 March Madness

The First Round of the NCAA Tournament took place on Friday and Saturday, with the Second Round continuing Sunday and finishing later today. (Recaps: Day One | Day Two | Day Three.)

• Notable First Round upsets: 15-seed Oral Roberts’ defeated 2-seed Ohio State 75-72; 14-seed Abilene Christian beat 3-seed Texas 53-52.
• In the Second Round: Oral Roberts beat 7-seed Florida to become the second 15-seed in history to make the Sweet Sixteen; 8-seed Loyola Chicago – who, with the support of 101-year-old Sister Jean, made a Cinderella run during 2019’s tourney – clinched a berth in the Sweet Sixteen after defeating 1-seed Illinois 71-58. 

More: Tenth-seeded VCU’s First Round matchup against 7-seed Oregon was declared a no contest after multiple VCU positive COVID tests. Oregon advanced to the next round.

Even More: The women’s tournament kicked off yesterday, with all 16 higher-seeded teams notching a victory. It was the first time since 2010 no lower-seeded teams pulled an upset during a single day of the first round.

💰🚂 Railroad Tie-up

Canadian Pacific Railway agreed to buy Kansas City Southern in a cash-and-stock deal worth $25B.

• The acquisition, which faces lengthy regulatory review, marks the third major U.S. railroad Canadian Pacific has targeted in the past decade.

More: The deal would create the first railroad network to connect the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, but still requires approval from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. A decision is expected by mid-2022.

🔒 China Locks Out Tesla

Tesla vehicles are banned from entering Chinese military complexes and housing compounds over fears the vehicles’ cameras pose a security risk, according to multiple sources (Reuters, Bloomberg).

• The WSJ also reported China is restricting the use of Tesla’s among military staff and employees of key state-owned companies, citing concerns of national security leaks following a government security review of Tesla’s products.

More: In a virtual meeting on Saturday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told the government-backed China Development Forum that the company would never provide the U.S. government with data collected by its vehicles in China or other countries.

☝️ 1 Last Thing…

• Texas Roadhouse founder and CEO Kent Taylor died by suicide on Thursday after a battle with post-COVID-19 related symptoms, including severe tinnitus, his family said. (Read more about COVID “long-haulers.”)

🚙❤️ Lifesaver

“Thirty chest compressions and two rescue breaths, repeat…”

For students at St. Petersburg’s Lakewood High School, this is a common phrase heard in their junior-year CPR training.

• Sixteen-year-old Torri’ell Norwood had no clue she would be putting her new skills to the test just one day after the school’s lesson – or that she would be saving her best friend’s life.

Images: CNN

The high-schooler and three friends were driving home when they were t-boned by another driver, totaling the car and causing A’zarria Simmons to smash her head on the window and lose consciousness.

“That’s when I checked her pulse,” said Torri’ell, “I put my head against her chest, and I didn’t really hear nothing. That’s when I started doing CPR on her.“

• After 30 compressions and two rescue breaths, A’zarria regained consciousness and was rushed to the hospital.

A’zarria shared that Torri’ell has always been the type of person to “help anyway she can, to help anybody.” Both girls dream of pursuing careers in the medical field.

• “I know that if somebody was in need of help, I’d go to the rescue,” said Torri’ell.