Whether they realize it or not, about 200 million people in the United States now likely have access to a COVID-19 digital vaccine card.

The digital pass known as the SMART Health Card is voluntary and minimal by design to protect personal information. It has a person’s name, date of birth and the dates and brands of vaccination doses, all contained within a type of scannable bar code known as a QR code.

And after a relatively quiet start, it has built momentum in recent months as more states and companies have signed on, making it something of a de facto national digital vaccine card.

“The beautiful thing about this is that this multistate coalition is a coalition of the willing,” said Dr. Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician at MITRE, a research nonprofit, and an architect of the health cards.

Any such card seemed like a remote possibility a year ago, when people first began receiving paper cards as proof of their COVID vaccinations. The Biden administration said in March that it would not take the lead on any national health pass and instead defer to the private sector, and the idea of a vaccine “passport” has faced opposition and even bans, especially in Republican-led states such as Alabama and Texas.

Rather than a single app, the SMART Health Card is open-source computer code that anyone can use to ping a verified source of health data and produce the unique QR code. The digital cards are now widely available from more than 400 sources including states, pharmacies and health care organizations.

The fact that the system exists in any form is a triumph for a loose coalition of technologists, nonprofit groups and mostly Democratic states that championed the development of a digital vaccine card even before the first coronavirus shots were administered.

“This is a de facto standard,” said Rick Klau, California’s chief technology innovation officer. “This is essentially the one common way for residents to secure that digital copy and then use it.”

The digital card offers a few benefits beyond a paper card. QR codes can’t be forged in the way a paper card could be, because a restaurant or a music venue can use a scanner app to verify that it’s legitimate. People can also download the QR code again if they lose it, adding a convenience factor.

People can get the QR code from their state health authority if they’ve been vaccinated in one of the 13 states now participating, but they may also be able to get them from a hospital or from a national pharmacy chain, such as Albertsons, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens or stores like Walmart if they’ve been vaccinated at any of their locations.

Vaccine QR codes are also spreading internationally. Japan launched a similar system last month, and Ontario, Canada, is requiring people to have scannable proof of vaccination to eat inside restaurants or go inside certain other businesses. QR codes are increasingly required as part of international airline travel.

Within the U.S., the QR codes are still voluntary. California and Louisiana became the first states to roll out the SMART Health Card last June, and the number of issuers grew slowly at first before picking up pace over time.

Colorado signed on in November, followed by Connecticut and Illinois in December. On Monday, Massachusetts became the 13th state to voluntarily embrace the system, and another 10 or so states are privately exploring the possibility, Anderson said.

Washington has issued about 840,000 QR codes, according to the state’s health department. That’s equivalent to about 11 percent of the state’s population. The numbers in Colorado and New Jersey are similar.

The QR codes work on paper, too, if people would rather print them out than keep them on a phone.

Klau, a former manager at Google, has advised other states as they put the system in place. In California alone, 7 million individuals have downloaded their QR code, and he estimated that about 80 percent of the vaccinated U.S. population of 247 million people have access to a SMART Health Card if they want one through either their state health authority or the site where they were vaccinated, such as a pharmacy or a hospital.

“It’s inspiring to see what has largely been a grassroots effort not only take hold, but develop so completely,” he said. “It has certainly not been mandated.”

A critical feature is that the QR codes are standardized and interoperable, so they work across state lines. A resident of New Jersey visiting San Francisco can use the same system to prove vaccination as a Californian.

And they can work internationally. Countries including the United Kingdom, Israel and Singapore have said they’ll recognize the QR codes if Americans present them abroad, Klau said.

It’s not clear if the Biden administration will ever endorse the project. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not respond to requests for comment.

But people involved in the project said it may have gone more smoothly if President Joe Biden had agreed to coordinate it.

“It has forced many states to take leadership roles in implementing and coordinating around multistate coalitions,” said Anderson, who is also co-lead of the Vaccine Credential Initiative, or VCI.

Anderson said other countries haven’t always known whom to speak with in the U.S. to plan cross-border systems. “They’re turning to the states, they’re turning to VCI, and it’s a challenge for a state to conduct foreign diplomacy,” he said.

One barrier to creating a truly national digital vaccine card is that there’s no federal database of vaccination records. Each state maintains its own registry of vaccination records, so either the states or the health care providers need to be the ones to issue verified copies or credentials.

Some of the most thorny political questions remain up in the air nationally, including: Should a business have the right to turn away someone without a vaccine QR code? Or in a pandemic, should a city or state even require businesses to turn people away, as in Canada? What about people who, for health reasons, can’t get a vaccine?

“We won’t be safe until venues are able to *require* SMART Health QR codes and stop accepting paper cards, or photos of cards. And that won’t happen until state or local governments mandate that,” said Jamie Zawinski, a software developer who also owns a night club, DNA Lounge, in San Francisco. He requires customers to have the QR code or, for now, their paper CDC card.

DNA Lounge not only requires people to display the QR code, but it also scans the code using a smartphone app to verify that the codes are authentic — making the club one of the few businesses anywhere in the U.S. to take that extra step.

The primary scanning app available, the SMART Health Card Verifier App, has been used about 750,000 times this month, and the trend line indicates usage is doubling month over month, Anderson said. He said he doesn’t know where the scanning is happening, because by design neither the health card’s creators nor the states have the ability to collect that data.

Only a few places in the U.S. require proof of vaccination to enter indoor businesses, and that list is growing slowly. A mandate in Boston is scheduled to take effect Saturday, even as Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, has pushed to keep the state system voluntary.

“The Administration is not requiring residents to show proof of vaccination to enter any venue, but this tool will help residents who would like to access and produce a digital copy of their record,” his office said in a statement.

The idea that airlines or even local businesses could attempt to collect data from digital health cards remains a chief concern for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group in San Francisco that advocates for privacy online and that criticized the health cards last June soon after California adopted them.

“The scanning of your health information at the door of any business still worries me because generally we do not have a federal data privacy law,” said Alexis Hancock, EFF’s director of engineering. She pointed to software, unrelated to vaccines, that venues can use to scan driver’s licenses.

That danger could be lessened, she said, if Congress or state legislators pass new consumer protections. A bill pending in the New York state Legislature would create new safeguards for medical immunity information.

But Hancock also said the SMART Health Cards have alleviated at least some of EFF’s concerns about digital vaccine records by making the computer code behind the cards open-source, which allows others to inspect it, and nonproprietary.

“Obviously, a lot has happened since last year,” she said.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/national-covid-vaccine-card-quietly-emerged-rcna11678

The post Quietly and over some objections, a national digital vaccine card has emerged first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Gov. Reynolds declines request to house migrant children in Iowa first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported more than 172,000 immigrants seeking entry to the country in March alone, up 71% from the prior month, according to USA TODAY. That includes 18,890 unaccompanied children from Central America — double what the agency reported in February.

Many of the children have been housed in temporary housing facilities. Photos from the federal agency show a temporary processing facility in Donna, Texas, where the children rested on mats on the floor with foil blankets.

Reynolds was asked Thursday morning by WHO Radio host Jeff Angelo if any of the migrants or migrant children are being moved to Iowa. She said the state was asked to do so, but said no.

“We don’t have the facilities. We are not set up to do that,” Reynolds said. “This is not our problem. This is the president’s problem. He is the one that opened the borders. He needs to be responsible for this, and he needs to stop it.”

Iowa already has issues with trying to place current foster children into homes, Reynolds said.

More: Migrant encounters up 71% in March as Biden administration grapples with border

Republicans nationally have blamed President Joe Biden, a Democrat, for causing the surge in Central American immigrants seeking to cross the border. The Biden administration has denied responsibility but has said it would treat unaccompanied immigrant children more humanely than they were treated under the Trump administration.

On March 31, an official with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Darlene Taylor, asked an Iowa administrator how many residential child care beds and how many home-based child care beds were available to help with the placement and care of unaccompanied children. Taylor wrote that she was asking all of the states in her region: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.

Iowa Department of Human Services Director Kelly Garcia responded that “Iowa is not in a position to take unaccompanied minors at this time,” according to emails provided by the department to the Des Moines Register.

Iowa Department of Human Services spokesman Matt Highland wrote in an email to the Register that the decision was due to the state’s limited resources and administrative concerns while acknowledging it “is an incredibly saddening and difficult situation.”

“We have an obligation to take care of our children first and absent the resources or a clear and comprehensive plan for federal support, we were unable to accommodate the request,” Highland wrote.

House Minority Leader Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, said Thursday he was disappointed in the governor’s stance.

“I think it’s unfortunate that we’re not willing to help and to show that Iowa is a generous and welcoming state,” he told reporters. He said former Gov. Robert Ray, a Republican who welcomed refugees from Southeast Asia, “took the opposite approach. And the crisis at the border is a humanitarian crisis. Like so many things it wants to be played as a political football and … play the blame game, but I’m disappointed that we as Iowans aren’t standing up to help.”

Nick Coltrain is a politics and data reporter for the Register. Reach him at ncoltrain@registermedia.com or at 515-284-8361.

Source: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/08/biden-border-wall-child-migrants-migrant-children-iowa-kim-reynolds-not-state-problem/7144792002/

The post Reynolds says border surge is ‘not our problem,’ declines federal request for help with child migrants first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The catastrophic Camp Fire in Northern California’s Butte County that ignited on Nov. 8 and indiscriminately devoured thousands and thousands of homes and structures and claimed at least 85 lives was fully contained by firefighters Sunday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire.

The welcome news came just days after firefighters in Southern California reported that the Woolsey Fire — which started the same day as the Camp Fire, killed three people and destroyed 1,500 structures as it swept through Los Angeles and Ventura Counties — was 100 percent contained.

The Camp Fire has destroyed 13,972 residences and 528 commercial buildings as it burned 153,336 acres, according to the latest Cal Fire incident report. At least 296 people remain unaccounted for, according to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office.

At least three firefighters were injured battling the Camp Fire.

NASA Worldview/EPA via Shutterstock – Smoke from the Camp Fire spreading over Northern California towards the Pacific Ocean, Nov. 16, 2018.

The Woolsey Fire also injured three other firefighters and burned 96,949 acres as it swept through such celebrity enclaves as Malibu and Calabasas, according to Cal Fire.

Satellite image/DigitalGlobe via Reuters – A Sept. 10, 2018, image of the Kilcrease circle community in Paradise, Calif., compared to a Nov. 17, 2018 image this area was destroyed by the deadly Camp Fire.more +

In all, the pair of wildfires laid waste to a total area of nearly 400 square miles. Officials said the remains of at least 54 people have been positively identified so far.

Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/Polaris – A search and rescue team combs through the debris for possible human remains at Paradise Gardens, Nov. 16, 2018 in Paradise, Calif.more +

Search and rescue crews were continuing to comb through the rubble of the Camp Fire Sunday for remains specifically in the town of Paradise, which was almost completely destroyed by the blaze.

A multi-agency task force, at the request of the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, has captured detailed aerial imagery maps of damaged properties in most of the burn areas in the town of Paradise, as well as video surveys and 360-degree drone panoramas of all major roads in the area, according to the sheriff’s office.

Officials hope the maps will provide valuable information to the search and recovery teams on the ground and to the residents of the community impacted by the Camp Fire.

Gene Blevins/Reuters – A home is engulfed in flames during the Woolsey Fire in Malibu, Calif., Nov. 9, 2018.

“This has been a tough situation for all of us,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said in his video message Thursday. “We’re in this together. We are Butte County strong.”

Much-needed rain doused the scorched areas on Friday and Saturday, though the heavy rain did bring new dangers to the burn scar areas in the form of flash floods and mudslides.

The National Weather Service had issued a flash flood watch for the burn areas in Northern California.

Here is more about the fires that have been devastating Northern and Southern California.

The Camp Fire in Northern California

The Camp Fire ignited Nov. 8 near Pulga, a tiny community in Butte County nestled in the Plumas National Forest. The blaze exploded as strong winds fanned the flames southwest, enveloping Paradise, a bucolic community of 27,000 people in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The fire has virtually decimated the entire town.

Melissa Schuster, a Paradise town council member, said her house was among those leveled by the Camp Fire.

“Our entire five-member council is homeless,” Schuster said in a Nov. 13 interview on ABC News’ “Start Here” podcast. “All of our houses have been destroyed.”

The death toll from the Camp Fire increased to 85 on Saturday after officials found still more bodies in the burned-out rubble of homes and melted cars, according to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, which has warned that the remains of some of the missing may never be recovered due to the severity of the fire. Thom Porter, chief of strategic planning for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the body count is expected to climb higher as search crews continue sifting through the destruction.

“It is by far the most deadly single fire in California,” Porter has said of the Camp Fire.

Many of the deaths occurred in Paradise.

“The entire community of Paradise is a toxic wasteland right now,” Schuster said on Nov. 13, holding back tears.

“In addition to that, and this is the hardest part for me to even talk about, the number of fatalities is [among] things that we don’t know at this moment and that’s something that has to be determined before people can move back in,” she said.

Two prison inmate firefighters were among a total of three firefighters who have been injured while battling the Camp Fire, officials told ABC News.

Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown toured the devastation caused by the Camp Fire along with Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as well as U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

“This is one of the worst disasters I’ve ever seen in my career, hands down,” Long told reporters at the scene Nov. 14.

The Woolsey Fire in Southern California

The Woolsey Fire also ignited Nov. 8 near the city of Simi Valley in Ventura County and rapidly spread south to Los Angeles County. The wind-driven flames jumped the 101 Freeway before sweeping through the celebrity enclaves of Malibu and Calabasas.

The entire city of Malibu and a sprawling naval base near the seaside city of Oxnard were among the areas under mandatory evacuation orders, as officials warned the blaze could potentially spread all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Evacuation orders have since been lifted for some areas, including parts of Malibu, as firefighters successfully stretched containment levels.

The Woolsey Fire, which torched a total of 96,949 acres in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, was fully contained by Wednesday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

In addition to the 1,500 structures that were destroyed, another 341 were damaged.

The blaze burned down a portion of Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills known as “Western Town,” where hundreds of movies and television shows, including HBO’s “Westworld,” have been filmed.

The Woolsey Fire has been blamed for the deaths of at least three people and three firefighters sustained injuries while battling the flames, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

A public health emergency

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has declared a public health emergency in California, where the wildfires forced the evacuation of at least two hospitals and eight other health facilities.

Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images – Firefighters knock down flames in the Point Dume neighborhood of Malibu, Calif., on Nov. 10, 2018, after the Woolsey Fire tore through the neighborhood overnight.more +

“We are working closely with state health authorities and monitoring the needs of healthcare facilities to provide whatever they may need to save lives and protect health,” Azar said in a Nov. 14 statement. “This declaration will help ensure that Americans who are threatened by these dangerous wildfires and who rely on Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program have continuous access to the care they need.”

The smoke from the flames descended across the Golden State and choked the air in major cities.

Smoke advisories were issued for the affected region amid concerns that smoke from the fires could present a “significant health threat” for people with asthma and other lung conditions, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Residents were advised to stay indoors as much as possible and to wear a protective mask when venturing outside.

Berkeley Earth, a California-based nonprofit that analyzes air quality in real-time, ranked San Francisco, Stockton and Sacramento as the world’s three “most polluted cities” on Nov. 16.

David Mcnew/AFP/Getty Images – The Santa Monica Mountains are seen left blackened by the Woolsey Fire near Malibu, Calif., Nov. 14, 2018.

Meanwhile, there has been an outbreak of norovirus at a shelter in Butte County housing evacuees, according to Lisa Almaguer, public information officer for Butte County Public Health.

Almaguer said the presence of the contagious virus is “not uncommon” especially at this time of year and “with hundreds of people living in close quarters.”

Soel Loeb/AFP/Getty Images – President Donald Trump greets California Governor Jerry Brown and Governor-elect Gavin Newsom, left, as he arrives at Beale Air Force Base in California, Nov. 17, 2018.more +

President Trump tours unprecedented devastation

President Donald Trump arrived in California on Nov. 17 to survey the scene of surreal devastation and meet with firefighters, alongside Gov. Brown and the state’s governor-elect, Gavin Newsom.

The president stopped first in the town of Paradise, where he called the damage “total devastation.”

“We’ve never seen anything like this in California, we’ve never seen anything like this yet. It’s like total devastation,” Trump told reporters. “I think people have to see this really to understand it.”

The president later visited Malibu to tour the destruction from the Woolsey Fire.

Trump pledged federal assistance to California following his visit, just days after he threatened to withhold funds from the state due to what he described as “gross mismanagement of forests.”

ABC News’ Karine Hafuta, Marilyn Heck, Julia Jacobo and Bonnie McLean contributed to this report.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/californias-camp-fire-now-completely-contained-officials/story?id=59397260

The post California’s Camp Fire now 100 percent contained, officials say first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.