Social Media Buzz: Taliban Advances, CDC Document, Haiti Quake

(Bloomberg) -- What’s trending on social media this morning:

Taliban fighters have captured half of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals, including Kandahar and Herat, the country’s second- and third-largest cities.

• The U.S. embassy staff in the capital of Kabul has been told to start destroying sensitive material, preparing for the possibility that the embassy will be overrun by the Taliban.
• Most foreign troops have already left and the remainder are set to exit by Aug. 31, as President Joe Biden follows through on former President Donald Trump’s promise to wind down America’s longest war.

A document by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was circulating on social media after some online users misinterpreted it as a plan to put high-risk people into camps.

• The document, last updated in July 2020, details proposals for distancing and protecting high-risk individuals who are already in settings such as refugee camps.

#WaysToSaveFlorida is trending on Twitter. Florida set a record for weekly cases, and the new hospitalization among seniors in the state is as high as it was in January.

• Governor Ron DeSantis, who has defended his ban on mask mandates in schools, tweeted on Thursday that Florida is increasing access to monoclonal antibody therapies, such as Regeneron, to vulnerable populations.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Saturday, according to U.S. Geological Survey. There was a tsunami threat.

• People in the capital of Port-au-Prince felt the shake and rushed into the streets in fear, according to the AP.

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With assistance from Bloomberg