Economy
Layoffs intensify, leading to soaring unemployment claims as coronavirus closures continue (Sparky1)
Pennsylvania experienced more than 50,000 on Monday and more than that on Tuesday, according to a tally from economist Jacob Robbins and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Minnesota officials saw more than 31,000 applications on Monday and Tuesday, the Star Tribune reported. In New Jersey, 15,000 applications arrived on Monday, causing the state’s website to crash, local affiliate WHYY reported.
NYSE to temporarily close floor, move to electronic trading after positive coronavirus tests (Sparky1)
“We implemented a number a number of safety precautions over the past couple of weeks, and starting on Monday this week we started pre-emptive testing of employees and screening of anyone who came into the building,” Cunningham said on “Closing Bell.” “If that screening warranted additional testing, we tested people and they were sent home and not given access to the building. A couple of those test cases have come back positive.”
Drive-thru coronavirus test sites popping up slowly across America (Sparky1)
The public health commission was “really pushing equipment” to 47 centers in a dozen states, after doing a trial run on Monday with public health staff in protective gear, Giroir said. About 140 U.S. public health staff would be deployed to the sites along with state health workers, he said.
Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler will close all factories amid coronavirus outbreak (thc0655)
The company released the following statement: “Working with the UAW and listening to the concerns of our people, we have agreed to cease production at our plants across North America, starting progressively from today through the end of March. While production is paused, the Company will put actions into place to facilitate the steps agreed to through the joint task-force set up between the UAW and the automakers. Through this period, which we will re-evaluate at the end of this month, FCA will work to enhance its manufacturing operations to facilitate the changes agreed with the UAW including shift timings, structures and enhanced cleaning protocols.
In an article published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Wang credited the government’s early and swift action: It took advantage of public-health infrastructure and data analytics, affordable healthcare, and extensive educational outreach.
U.S. Navy Hospital Ships To Deploy To New York, West Coast (Sparky1)
He said the ship’s presence will help take pressure off facilities and staff in New York state, which is expecting to need more than 50,000 new hospital beds and more than 30,000 new intensive care units as the coronavirus spreads. New York has reported more than 2,300 confirmed cases across the state and expects that number to spike significantly in the coming days.
However, in this case, there are some limits to what the government can get from tech companies. America has rules when it comes to what it can force businesses and individuals to give up and how it can force them to do it. Cellphone location data is seen as particularly sensitive because of the immense amount of personal information that can be gleaned from it. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently moved to issue massive fines to cellular phone carriers that were accused of selling individual location data; in 2018, the US Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement must obtain a search warrant to access an individual’s cellphone location data.
5.7 magnitude earthquake hits Salt Lake City, area, unnerving residents (TS)
The quake’s epicenter was located near Magna, Utah, which is just southwest of Salt Lake City, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake hit a little after 7 a.m. local time. An estimated 2.76 million people likely felt the quake, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Most residents felt their homes shaking for 10 to 15 seconds.
COVID-19 Data Study: Ammunition Sales Continue to Soar in Response to Coronavirus Panic (Alex)
It’s also evident that sales are impacted by the proximity of the virus. Most of the top 10 states with the highest increases in ammo sales are either states with some of the greatest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases or neighboring states.
The Internet Book Of Critical Care: EMCOV-19 (Rob B.)
It’s controversial whether COVID19 can be transmitted via an airborne route (small particles which remain aloft in the air for longer periods of time). Airborne transmission would imply the need for N95 masks (“FFP2” in Europe), rather than surgical masks.
Standing at the Precipice of a Financial Collapse: Time for a 21st Century Pecora Commission (thc0655)
By 1932, when Senators Peter Norbeck (R-SD) and George Norris (R-NB) spearheaded the establishment of the U.S. Committee on Banking and Currency, the American economy was on life support and the people were so desperate that a fascist dictatorship in America would have been welcomed with open arms if only bread could be put on the table. Unemployment had reached 25%, while over 40% of banks had gone bankrupt and 25% of the population had lost their savings. Thousands of tent cities called ‘Hoovervilles’ were spread across the USA and over 50% of America’s industrial capacity had shut down. Thousands of farms had been foreclosed and the engines of American industry had grinded to a screeching halt.
The Geeks (oups! sorry, I meant Greeks) in the… (Jesper A.)
I find it beyond mathematical certainty that no man can sway the other to his side entirely that the Greek inheritance was munificently important or even good, or even ours whatnot. Remember cultures exchange ideas, the notion that we ransacked Greece I think rings so much more true, consider it My Dear Reader as mere thought-experiment then…
April Could Be Worst Month Ever For Oil (Michael S.)
In the short run, the oil market surplus could reach a peak of 13.7 mb/d in April, Standard Chartered said, with an average surplus of 12.9 mb/d for the second quarter. The inventory buildup could reach a gargantuan 2.1 billion barrels by the end of the year, “stretching the midstream of the industry to its limits,” the bank wrote. That figure represents an upward revision of 50 percent from the 1.4-billion-barrel inventory surplus the bank predicted…just a week ago.
COVID-19 And Truck Driver Shortage May Threaten Food Supply Chain (Sparky1)
At the same time, Novakovic points to a number of weak spots in the food transportation system that could be aggravated by the increased demand for food. Transportation is the one thing that connects all stages of the the supply chain, he says, from farm to food processing to warehouse to grocery store. That’s why any labor shortage in the food system, but especially a shortage of truck drivers, could pose a serious threat to the food supply chain if the high demand for groceries continues unabated.
COVID-19 Threatens Food Supply Chain As Farms Worry About Workers Falling Ill (Sparky1)
“I spoke with people going to North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi,” says Justin Flores, vice president of the AFL-CIO’s Farm Labor Organizing Committee, who was in Monterrey for meetings. “[They were] headed to destinations all over the country to provide really important labor that supports the backbone of our economy, which is the agricultural industry.”
Regime shifts occur disproportionately faster in larger ecosystems (Bill M.)
Anthropogenic activities are dependent upon the persistence of various biophysical conditions, such as soil fertility, freshwater availability and stable fish populations. However, regime shifts can cause significant negative impacts on Earth’s contemporary social–ecological systems. For example, marine fishery collapses over the past 50 years have degraded continental-scale food securities and economic opportunities. Such shifts also exist at local scales, with coastal lagoons, estuaries and freshwater environments susceptible to significant declines in ecosystem conditions and socioeconomic productivity.
Investing in Amazon Crude (Bill M.)
The Amazon rainforest is essential in mitigating climate change. It absorbs approximately 2 billion tons of CO2 per year (5 percent of global emissions), and although it covers only 4 percent of the Earth’s surface, it contains 33 percent of the world’s plant and animal biodiversity. The rainforest is a part of the Earth’s natural thermostat, driving weather patterns and regulating global climate temperatures. Making up 1/5 of the rainforest, the western Amazon region spans Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and is home to almost 1/2 of the Amazon’s indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples protect this ecological abundance, which boasts the highest concentration of biodiversity found anywhere in the Amazon. The western Amazon also contains oil and gas deposits, many of which sit below ancestral indigenous territories.
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