COVID-19 Monitor

Last Updated:October 15, 2020

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China goes back to work (The Economist) Published on: March 26, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

Measures aimed at preventing another surge of covid-19 have added to the complexities of manufacturing in China. The German manager of an optical-wire factory in Jiangsu province has divided his workers into ten separate units to minimise the risk of cross-infections. The units are kept apart from each other in the factory, the canteen and their dormitories.
Nevertheless, on the supply side, the overall picture is encouraging. Large companies report that they are fully operational.
Resuscitating demand is proving more difficult. It involves two things that are harder for the government to manage: global growth and public anxiety about the disease.
State-owned firms account for about three-quarters of corporate debt in China. The government need not spell out that it stands behind them. Investors know that.

Anthony Fauci Shows Us the Right Way to Be an Expert (Scientific American) Published on: March 26, 2020 | Category: Leadership

Anthony Fauci has been an extraordinary presence during the COVID-19 crisis: calm yet urgent, informative yet plain-spoken.
This is where Fauci shines. He’s showing us how to be not just trustworthy but actually trusted.
He is grounded in humility and humanity: he uses plain language; he admits uncertainties and failings; he seems to be at pains to say that he has a special perspective, “as a scientist,” rather than the only possibly useful view; he refuses to make the science overtly political; he is gracious and cautious when offering corrections.

The Coronavirus War Economy Will Change the World (Foreign Policy) Published on: March 26, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

There are models less reliant on the private sector than the DPA; one important peacetime predecessor is the New Deal-era Works Progress Administration. This sort of public scheme would be able to put to work the large numbers of workers who are facing unemployment in the coming weeks and months.
As one financial analyst pointed out, “lockdown economics” is in many ways the exact opposite of the wartime economics of total mobilization.
But this is not a problem of prioritizing expenditures or limited resources. The issue is sustaining circulation. In the short run, the demands of disease prevention (quarantine measures) and care (hospitalization) will put the livelihood of those dependent on other forms of capitalist production at risk. Only massive government intervention to protect the channels of economic circulation can resolve this tension in a way that does not sacrifice the former for the latter.
Despite being framed as exceptional wartime or postwar measures, many provisions rapidly became entrenched.
There is no precedent for the asymmetric mix of mobilization and demobilization of labor that we are witnessing right now.

Cohen: Why Canada’s response to COVID-19 is so different from that of the U.S. (Ottawa Citizen) Published on: March 26, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business, Global Response

The prime minister appears in public every day, alone, outside his residence. He speaks sensibly, with authority, without hyperbole. This has been his finest hour.
Nor do we question the competence of his ministers who are the other faces of the crisis – Chrystia Freeland, Marc Garneau, Patty Hajdu, Bill Blair. All are calm, competent and professional. This is what we want.
Canadians accept big government, which is how we built the social welfare state. Two-thirds of us voted for progressives last year. We defer to authority.

Canada doubles value of coronavirus stimulus package, promises cash, loan delays (Reuters) Published on: March 26, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business, Economic Impact

Canada has almost doubled the value of an aid package to help people and businesses deal with losses from the coronavirus outbreak, with Ottawa handing out more money than forecast, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said on Wednesday.
A portal will be set up by April 6 for people who have lost jobs or are unable to work to apply for monthly payments, which will run for four months.
Sports equipment maker Bauer Hockey plans to modify its hockey visors into face shields for healthcare workers, while retailers Canada Goose Holdings, and Gap Inc said they would produce medical gear.

Coronavirus’ low mutation rate suggests yearly vaccine unnecessary (Becker's Hospital Review) Published on: March 25, 2020 | Category: Global Response

The number of mutations suggests that a vaccine developed to prevent the virus would be a single vaccine with a long-lasting effect, as opposed to the flu vaccine, which needs to be developed every year.
The race to create a vaccine is on, but it will take at least a year or 18 months for one to be developed and available for use.

MPs suspend Parliament for hours after opposition rejects proposed new government powers (The Globe and Mail) Published on: March 25, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business, Economic Impact

Opposition parties vowed to reject Liberal government plans to authorize months of unlimited spending without Parliamentary approval, derailing efforts for quick approval of billions in support for workers and businesses.
The Prime Minister did not provide any specific details as to how the draft bill might be changed.
“We want to build in some measures that ensure that parliamentary oversight is going forward, that there are some mechanisms for Parliament to do its job,” Andrew Scheer told CTV’s Power Play early Tuesday evening as negotiations continued. “We have to be able to know there are some safety measures there on behalf of the Canadian people.”

The West Is Misinterpreting Wuhan’s Coronavirus Progress—and Drawing the Wrong Lessons (WSJ) Published on: March 24, 2020 | Category: Global Response

The cordon sanitaire that began around Wuhan and two nearby cities on Jan. 23 helped slow the virus’s transmission to other parts of China, but didn’t really stop it in Wuhan itself, experts say.
What really turned the tide in Wuhan was a shift after Feb. 2 to a more aggressive and systematic quarantine regime whereby suspected or mild cases—and even healthy close contacts of confirmed cases—were sent to makeshift hospitals and temporary quarantine centers.
The tactics required turning hundreds of hotels, schools and other places into quarantine centers, as well as building two new hospitals and creating 14 temporary ones in public buildings.
It also underscored the importance of coronavirus testing capacity, which local authorities say was expanded from 200 tests a day in late January to 7,000 daily by mid-February.

Private hospitals will be made public for duration of coronavirus pandemic (TheJournal.ie) Published on: March 24, 2020 | Category: Global Response, Leadership

Some 2,000 beds, nine laboratories and thousands of staff have been drafted into the public system, Leo Varadkar said at a press conference today.
We must of course have equality of treatment, patients with this virus will be treated for free, and they’ll be treated as part of a single, national hospital service.

‘Your NHS Needs You’ – NHS Call For Volunteer Army (NHS) Published on: March 24, 2020 | Category: Global Response, Leadership

NHS England has posted a call for up to 250,000 volunteers to help up to 1.5 million people who have been asked to shield themselves from coronavirus because of underlying health conditions.
NHS Volunteer Responders is not intended to replace local groups helping their vulnerable neighbours but is an additional service provided by the NHS.

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