Economy
Several other major pieces of legislation are in the works, including an expansion of the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides forgivable loans to small businesses, and several different bills that would provide a second stimulus payment.
One of these proposals is the Automatic BOOST to Communities (ABC) Act, which was introduced by Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).
When Denver backed off social distancing in the 1918 pandemic, the results were deadly (Adam)
It was 1918 and Denver Mayor William Fitz Randolph Mills bowed to business leaders and decided to back off social distancing. Armistice Day seemed like a perfect day to do it. The city had been all but locked down for five weeks and now there was something worth celebrating — the end of the First World War. Grateful citizens streamed into the streets of the city on November 11, 1918, soon after Denver’s Manager of Health William H. Sharpley declared the “plague under control!”
The Epicenter: A week inside New York’s public hospitals (JK)
Screening tents have been erected on the grounds outside some hospitals. To conserve protective foot coverings, some workers have started cutting up hospital gowns to make their own. This is what the municipal hospitals do: They figure things out as best they can, because they have no other choice.
U.S. coronavirus deaths top 49,000, averaging 2,000 lives lost a day: Reuters tally (Sparky1)
Over 26.5 million Americans have sought unemployment benefits over the last five weeks, confirming that all the jobs gained during the longest employment boom in U.S. history have been wiped out as the novel coronavirus savages the economy.
We Are Living in a Failed State (blackeagle)
The crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational, and collective. The United States reacted instead like Pakistan or Belarus—like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering. The administration squandered two irretrievable months to prepare. From the president came willful blindness, scapegoating, boasts, and lies. From his mouthpieces, conspiracy theories and miracle cures. A few senators and corporate executives acted quickly—not to prevent the coming disaster, but to profit from it. When a government doctor tried to warn the public of the danger, the White House took the mic and politicized the message.
Airline passenger describes packed flight to NYC surrounded by people not wearing masks (Adam, RacMar3460)
Wong said social distancing rules were strictly enforced at Miami’s airport, but that passengers were crammed together on her flight — about half without masks, though a couple of people wore full hazmat suits.
She shared several photos she snapped of the cramped cabin, showing some passengers with masks and gloves while others dispensed with the protective measures.
House Republicans anger Democrats by refusing to wear protective masks (RacMar3460)
House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) lashed into his Republican colleagues who chose not to cover up after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) spoke. Jordan, who coughed repeatedly while awaiting his turn to speak, did not wear a mask while seated on the floor, or at the lectern.
A Covid-infected attendee emerges from CES, a massive tech conference in January (cjrorwick)
While millions of people worldwide will likely have antibody tests that return positive results, Webber’s outcome offers new insight into how the virus may have begun to spread. He was among more than 170,000 people who attended the Consumer Electronics Show between Jan. 7 and 10 in Las Vegas, a four-day event that attracted technology professionals from around the world.
Gilead Analysts Spar Over Leaked Chinese Data Claiming Drug Flop (Loppy68)
Mizuho analyst Salim Syed was quick to point out that there are “limitations” and negatives from the leaked results, though there are “no real positives at this stage.” He is looking forward to data from Gilead’s trial in severe Covid-19 patients, which are expected soon.
Oh my: Michigan legislature calls special session– to strip Whitmer of emergency powers (thc0655)
Anyway, at least this is how laws and regulations should get put into place. That structure prevents the kind of nonsensical diktats that Whitmer has issued over the past few weeks, such as prohibiting people from gardening or planting on their own property and moving back and forth between their own houses.
Trump claims controversial comment about injecting disinfectants was ‘sarcastic’ (Sparky1)
“My concern is that people will die. People will think this is a good idea,” Craig Spencer, the director of global health in emergency medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, told The Washington Post. “This is not willy-nilly, off-the-cuff, maybe-this-will-work advice. This is dangerous.”
In a statement Friday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not say the president had been joking, but rather she defended that Trump had said Americans should consult with their doctors about treatment. U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams released a statement reiterating that advice on Friday morning.
Opinion: Did you see the jobs report? Social Security’s future just got darker (Sparky1)
Last year, the government overlords who supervise Social Security (their official title is “Trustees”) estimated that the Trust Fund would run out in 2035. After that, based on its estimate of payroll taxes which finance the system, the Trustees (Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is the head Trustee) said there would only be enough money to pay 76% of scheduled benefits.
Garment workers suffer as fashion brands cancel orders (Sparky1)
It has created a devastating situation for garment workers, who are already notoriously underpaid for the long, gruelling hours they put in. It’s even worse in Bangladesh, where 80 percent of the country’s exports come from the garment industry. Bloomberg described a woman named Rozina whose sewing job in Dhaka has been suspended indefinitely. She said she was paid 8,000 taka ($94) for her salary in March, but that her rickshaw driver husband has had no customers due to the lockdown, and they’re running out of savings.
Australia’s coronavirus tracing app’s data storage contract goes offshore to Amazon (ezlxq1949)
Issuing the contract to Amazon may also mean the Australian data is obtainable by US law enforcement under a 2018 law that allows them to obtain information held by US-registered data companies no matter where in the world that information is held.
However, today the Prime Minister and a spokesman for Government Services Minister Stuart Robert rejected suggestions the US law would apply to the tracing app data.
Lets Hope the University System is a Casualty of the Pandemic (Jane Doe)
There are discussions in Washington that all of this might be extended past six months. This could save most of us from financial ruin—a reset. As of right now, student loans are the only debt that you can’t declare bankruptcy on. Now during this pandemic, every dollar counts, a considerable portion of where people’s income goes to student loan payments.
Trump owed tens of millions to Bank of China (Sparky1)
Trump’s ownership of the building received a smattering of attention before and after his 2016 campaign. But the arrangement with the Bank of China in 2012 has gone largely unnoticed. The questions surrounding Trump’s ties to the Bank of China come as his campaign is claiming that Biden would be a gift to the Communist country and America’s chief economic rival.
Tracking the True Toll of the Coronavirus Crisis (Jochen VH)
In the last month, far more people died in these countries than in previous years, The New York Times found. The totals include deaths from Covid-19 as well as those from other causes, likely including people who could not be treated as hospitals became overwhelmed.
A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale (Sparky1)
Many industries are wrestling with similar dilemmas about what to do with their excess supply while the global economy recedes and a deadly virus rages around the world. Farmers are dumping milk. Air carriers are looking for places to park all of their idled planes. Commodity traders are looking for floating supertankers to store an overabundance of crude oil.
Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research (newsbuoy)
Editors’ note, March 2020: We are aware that this story is being used as the basis for unverified theories that the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19 was engineered. There is no evidence that this is true; scientists believe that an animal is the most likely source of the coronavirus.
U.S. food banks run short on staples as hunger soars (Sparky1)
And yet farmers are destroying produce, dumping milk and culling livestock because the pandemic has upended supply chains, making it impossible for many to get crops to market. Grocery stores struggle to stock shelves because suppliers can’t adjust to the sudden shift of demand away from shuttered restaurants to retailers, which requires different packaging and distribution networks.
Here’s why you can’t find frozen fries, while U.S. farmers are sitting on tons of potatoes (Sparky1)
Their incongruent experiences underscore how America’s highly specialized and inflexible retail and foodservice supply chains are contributing to food shortages and waste in the wake of demand disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed almost 50,000 people in the United States.
Frozen french fry sales at grocery stores spiked 78.6% for the four-week period ended April 4, according to Nielsen data, resulting in shortages at many U.S. supermarkets.
W. Kamau Bell: What an Oklahoma rancher wants you to know about America’s broken food supply system (Holly P.)
In fact, his son Zane is preparing to take it over. But currently, it’s in Scott’s hands. Every early frost; every drop in price for his crops; every politician’s promise that doesn’t deliver; every stud bull that doesn’t want to stud … it’s all on him. Scott has the easy manner of a person who has the weight of the world on his shoulders but wouldn’t have it any other way.
Tyson to shutter beef facility as workers undergo coronavirus testing (Sparky1)
The unit, Tyson Fresh Meats, said it was working with local health officials to test more than 1,400 workers at the Pasco plant, which produces enough beef in one day to feed four million people.
The closures are adding to stress on farmers as lockdowns prevent them from getting their produce to consumers.
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