*By Conor White*
In the wake of a data breach at MyHeritage that affected more than 90 million users, other DNA-testing services are trying to assure customers their personal information is secure.
"Ultimately, the amount of care that companies go to is really important," explained David Nicholson, co-founder and managing director of Living DNA, which provides customers information on where their ancestors come from. "But you should always look at the company you're going to test your DNA with, or store your DNA with, and decide where you're going to put that information."
The recent furor over security comes after MyHeritage disclosed last week it learned that the email addresses and encrypted passwords of 92.3 million users had been leaked to a private server last October. In an interview Monday on Cheddar, Nicholson said accessing an individual's actual DNA would be much more difficult.
"Any of these firms don't actually store your DNA data, which you could use to identify you publicly on a website. That's all kept securely on encrypted servers way behind the scenes."
While Living DNA is doing its best to protect user data from malicious actors, Nicholson also reassured customers that their data would never be willingly given to anyone looking to profit off of it.
"We will absolutely never sell data, never pass it on," he said. "We are custodians of your data, and therefore it's kept secure, safe, and encrypted for you, never to be sold."
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-safe-is-your-information-with-a-dna-testing-service).
Experts say that at some point next year, the pandemic will officially drop its pandemic status, becoming endemic. While this is a milestone to acknowledge, it does not mean we're free of infections, illnesses, and deaths. Dr. Rajeev Fernando, infectious disease specialist, Beth Israel Hospital and fellow, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Chicago-based Internist Dr. Vivek Cherian joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down the unprecedented surge in U.S. COVID-19 as many prepare to celebrate the new year.
Dr. Soumi Eachempati, co-founder and CEO of Cleared4 and former professor of surgery and public health at Weill Cornell Medical College, joined Cheddar to breakdown what people should know about the recently FDA-approved emergency use of Merck and Pfizer's COVID-19 treatment pills. He noted that not only do people need to be aware of other medications they are taking that could cause adverse effects if coupled with COVID-19 pill treatments, he also talked about the intense in-take regiment. "The Merck pills are actually about 40 pills over five days. The Pfizer ones are three pills over five days, so people have to be prepared for that because it is a lot of pills you'll have to take to get full value from these drugs," Eachempati told Cheddar.
Twitter is exploding with a new meme after the CDC revised its Covid-19 guidelines, shortening the recommended isolation period to five days instead of 10 for when you test positive and are asymptomatic. The change came amid a skyrocketing surge of new cases is the U.S. due to the Omicron variant, drawing criticism from experts and Twitter --with users claiming the government agency is giving funny advise on a variety of issues. But what does the meme say about the public’s trust in the agency? Cheddar News speaks with political strategist Hastie Afkhami.
The list of questions should be getting shorter as we enter the pandemic's third year, but that isn't the case. There's another question to add to that list: is the U.S. doing enough to track the virus and its variants? Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of the O'Neill Institute for national and global health law at Georgetown University, joins Cheddar News.
As we prepare to ring in the new year, COVID cases are hitting an all-time high. Dr. Anthony Fauci has said the safest way to celebrate would be a small gathering with vaccinated family members only... far from the large, flashy parties from a few years ago. Dr. Christina Johns, senior medical advisor at PM Pediatrics, joins Cheddar News to discuss how to celebrate safely.
