Employees call for right to ask about vaccination status of quarantined workers

Jan 8 2022

Employees want the right to request vaccine certificates from their employees, the Chamber of Commerce revealed on quarantine letters obliging them to be aware of an employee’s vaccination status.

Public health authorities have announced that a quarantine release letter will no longer be issued and that a positive COVID test result will include a quarantine order for the entire household.

The duration of quarantine for every household member is dependent, under current measures, on the vaccination status of the positive person and one’s vaccination status in the case of household contacts.

However, the Chamber of Commerce has pointed out it would not be possible for employers to able to deduce the length of quarantine of an employee unless they are shown a positive test result of those who may not even be within their employ of be aware of the vaccination status of their employees and of the household member who is positive.

The call for employers to have the right to request information about the vaccination status of employees has long been made by the Chamber. It is now requesting the government to adopt a pragmatic approach to limit duration of quarantine solely to the status of individual employer. Otherwise, it would be impossible for employers to manage any abuse of the current system.

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CD sales increase for the first time since 2004 with Adele at the top

Jan 8 2022

Could physical music libraries be making a comeback after all these years? Billboard reported that compact discs experienced a notable spike in sales throughout last year.

Just weeks after vinyl record sales hit a 30-year high, the news portal reported that sales for Compact Disks (CDs) jumped from 40.16 million unites in 2020 to 40.59 million units in 2021.

The actually marks the first year gain for CD sales in a whopping 17 years. The spike was seemingly driven by a handful of top-selling artists.

These include Adele, who’s album ’30’ sold 898,000 CDs in 2021, followed by Taylor Swift, whose projects ‘Fearless’ and ‘Red’ sold 263,000 and 237,000 respectively.

Carrie Underwood, BTS, and Olivia Rodrigo also had some of the top 10 selling CD albums of 2021 in the US> Underwood’s ‘My Savior’ sold 217,000 copies, whilst BTS’ Map of the Soul: 7 and ‘Be’ sold 210,000 and 187,000 respectively.

To put this into perspective, the last time compact disk sales went up, Blink-182 didn’t break up and you were probably reading this report in a print magazine. Could 2022 be the year we experience a CD renaissance?

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Woman marries herself but divorces 90 days later after finding someone else

Jan 8 2022

A Brazilian model by the name of Cris Galera made a bit of a news buzz when she announced that she would be divorcing herself after she admitted she found someone else.

The story kicked off last September when Galera decided to marry herself after she said that she was fed up with depending on men. She went on to marry herself in a proper, formal wedding, donning a dress, flowers and everything.

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A post shared by Cris Galêra Oficial 💋 (@cristianegaleraoficial)

According to newsroom the Daily Star during the time of her wedding, the 33-year-old claimed that she was not at all disappointed for not having a groom. Rather, she looked forward to living alone. Fast forward 3 months later…

The model, from the Brazilian city of São Paulo, revealed that she has now found someone special and started to fall in love. Speaking about her marriage to herself, she said that she was happy while it lasted.

However, she started to believe in love the moment she met someone else special. When asked about marrying herself in September, she pointed out how she reached a point where she matured and realised that she is a strong and determined woman.

She admitted that she was always afraid of being alone, but she ‘realised that I needed to learn to feel good about myself. When that happened, I decided to celebrate it.’

Uploading her wedding photographs on Instagram, she said that she is celebrating her ‘Self Love’ and that she wants to inspire other women to boost their self esteem. She even pin-pointed to the term ‘Sologamy’, which is marriage to oneself.

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School attendance will remain obligatory despite COVID spike

Jan 8 2022

Despite the new wave of COVID-19 infections, school attendance will be remaining obligatory during the new term which starts on Friday with online lessons.

Students will however be returning to their physical desks on Monday, and kids will not be allowed to miss school unless a valid medical reason backed up by a doctor’s certificate is provided.

Parents who do not send their children to school will still face a fine for every single day missed. An education ministry spokesperson told newsroom Times of Malta that school attendance is obligatory as this is a crucial part of children’s educational experience.

School attendance was not mandatory during the 2020/21 scholastic year after the first wave of the pandemic hit. Parents and guardians were free to decide whether or not their children would attend.

This resulted in soaring absenteeism, wherein attendance dropped from 90% to 75%. However, just ahead of the 2021/22 scholastic year, the policy was reversed due to a good number of teachers and students being vaccinated.

The spokesperson also confirmed, along with the teacher’s union, that plans to reopen schools on Monday were still in place. Education authorities alongside unions and representatives announced Monday’s reopening on New Year’s Eve.

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Photo Source: Clifton Grima FB