Day: May 17, 2022

U.S. authorities said Monday they stopped migrants more than 234,000 times in April, one of the highest marks in decades as the Biden administration prepares to lift pandemic-era restrictions on claiming asylum.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials made 234,088 stops on the Mexican border last month, a 5.8% increase from 221,303 in March, according to a Justice Department filing in a lawsuit filed by Texas and Missouri.

The April total would have been lower without more than 23,000 people — many of them Ukrainian refugees admitted on humanitarian parole — who went through a San Diego border crossing. The number of Ukrainians has dropped sharply since April 25, when the administration began directing those fleeing Russia’s invasion to U.S. airports from Europe, instead of through Mexico.

On May 23, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to end restrictions that have prevented migrants from seeking asylum under U.S. law and international treaty on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. Migrants have been expelled more than 1.9 million times since March 2020 under Title 42 authority, named for a 1944 public health law.

A federal judge in Louisiana is expected to rule in favor of 24 states seeking to keep Title 42 in effect while litigation proceeds. U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, has said he will rule before May 23.

Even if the judge allows Title 42 to end, Congress may try to keep it alive in an alliance between Republicans and some Democrats who worry that a widely anticipated increase in illegal crossings will put them on the defensive in an already difficult midterm election year.

Source: Voice of America

North Korea has mobilized its military to help stop the spread of COVID-19, state media said, as nearly 270,000 more people came down with fever in a single day.

Six people had died, state media added, bringing the official death toll to 56. Over 1,483,060 have become sick since monitoring began in late April, accounting for 5.7% of North Korea’s population.

Experts believe the actual impact of the suspected omicron variant transmission is substantially higher than the figures suggest. The isolated country has limited testing capability and has kept its borders shuttered since early 2020. It was unclear how many of the newly sickened had COVID-19.

‘Patriotic struggle’

One day after leader Kim Jong Un had chastised his officials for their “irresponsible executing ability” in stocking the state’s pharmacies of medicines, the state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, on Tuesday reported nationwide action in preparation for the struggle ahead.

Showing men in military fatigues, black masks and red cross armbands, KCNA reported that soldiers pledged their allegiance to “defuse the public health crisis prevailing over the capital city of Pyongyang.”

They declared the work of transporting and supplying medicines was more than practical work; it was “notable patriotic work for conveying the warm sincerity of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un to the people,” and that they would “surely emerge victorious in the anti-epidemic campaign.”

High-ranking officials of the politburo inspected pharmacies in multiple districts, as factories boosted their production of needed medicines and medical supplies, KCNA said. Some 11,000 medical teachers, students and officials canvassed the country on Monday in search of “fevered persons” to treat.

On hold

Even as North Korea reports high infection figures, it has yet to respond to South Korea’s offer to help.

Seoul’s unification ministry, in charge of inter-Korean affairs, on Monday had sent an invitation proposing working-level talks on how the South can assist in the North’s anti-epidemic efforts.

The message, signed by South Korea’s new Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, said Seoul stood ready to help with testing kits, medication, masks and vaccines, urging Pyongyang’s fast response to limit the damage done by the disease.

The omicron variant had driven up South Korea’s COVID-19 levels to a peak of more than 600,000 daily cases in mid-March, a spike from which the country says it is now making a “smooth landing,” as it removes the last of quarantine restrictions.

Source: Voice of America

As cases of coronavirus continue to decline in the United States, many businesses have told their employees it’s time to return to the office.

Some people are already doing the daily grind, while others are splitting their time between home and the office as part of a hybrid plan.

The office routine was normal for millions of Americans before the pandemic. Now, some two years later, it is regarded as a new normal, after those employees worked full-time from their residences.

Morning Consult, a global business intelligence company, has been polling U.S. consumers about returning to the workplace.

Charlotte Principato, a financial services analyst for the organization, said the latest poll showed 73% of remote workers felt comfortable returning to the office. The remaining 27% wanted to remain at home where, they said, they work more efficiently.

“The return to the office is experienced differently depending on each person’s situation,” and introverts may have a harder time getting used to it than extroverts, said Debra Kaplan, a therapist in Tucson, Arizona.

She told VOA many people will experience stress adjusting to an office environment after working from home.

Mark Gerald, a psychoanalyst in New York, likens it to a child going to school for the first time.

There’s almost childlike anxiety that’s related to change and fears of going into the world, he said.

The fears include contracting the coronavirus, as well as being away from family during the workday.

That’s true for Imani Harris, a federal government employee in Washington who has two young children.

“I wear a mask at work because I don’t feel safe being at the office,” she said. “I’d rather be at home because I accomplish more, and get to spend quality time with the kids — plus it’s harder financially since I have to spend money on child care.”

Another drawback is exhaustion.

“At first, returning to the office can be really draining because you haven’t seen the people you work with in person for a long time,” said Karestan Koenen, a psychiatric epidemiology professor at Harvard University’s School of Public Health.

“Psychologically and emotionally, the transition is not comfortable but should eventually become more comfortable as time goes on,” she added.

Still, many workers favor a hybrid approach in which they work more at home than in the office.

“We tend to see that younger folks are more likely to want a hybrid environment where they feel they’re more productive and have more flexibility and control,” Principato said.

They also don’t think their jobs need to be done in the office and want to work in a way that feels better for them, Kaplan said.

For Ethan Carson, who is in his 20s and works for a technology firm in Falls Church, Virginia, going to his office “is more of a bother” than working from home. “I don’t need to be in my building to do my job,” he said, “and the commute is difficult with the horrible traffic.”

Other employees, however, think it’s easier for them to get their job done around their peers than at home, where there may be more distractions.

For some, the office makes them feel they are part of a community again.

“There is a hunger for human connection and sometimes the human touch,” Gerald said.

“People have realized that socializing is helpful for their mental health,” Kaplan said. “They often feel positive about seeing their colleagues,” talking to them face-to-face, and not just on Zoom, she explained.

Angela Morgensen, a communications consultant in Bethesda, Maryland, is relieved to be back at the office.

“I’m enjoying talking to the people I work with and feel more like I’m part of the company again,” she said. “I used to hate meetings, but I’m finding it stimulating to share ideas.”

Gerald points out that the pandemic has made people think more about a better work-life balance, including how many hours they want to spend in the office.

“They are not returning as the same person they were before the pandemic happened. Some wonder, ‘Is this job fulfilling and the workplace a good environment for me?'”

And that’s reflected in seeing hybrid work becoming more of the norm, he said.

Source: Voice of America