COVID-19 Monitor

Last Updated:October 15, 2020

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Measuring the pandemic: How Statistics Canada kept the data flowing amid COVID-19 (The Logic) Published on: September 11, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business

During the pandemic, StatCan has released flash estimates of measures like GDP and manufacturing sales, for which full reports typically take a few months.
The agency has been “obsessed” with improving the timeliness of its indicators over the last three years, and has increased the turnaround period for several, said Anil Arora, Chief Statistician. StatCan will continue producing flash estimates, which have earned “a lot of kudos” from policymakers and businesses.
Private-sector data has filled some of the gap. Banks have begun releasing weekly analysis of their customers’ debit- and credit-card aggregated use, while open source information like mobility trends from Google and restaurant reservations from OpenTable have attracted coverage.

Ministers okay full lockdown as virus deaths, infections reach new highs (The Times of Israel) Published on: September 10, 2020 | Category: Global Response

Israeli ministers voted Thursday to impose a full lockdown nationwide starting next week, as the country appeared to notch new daily highs of coronavirus infections and deaths Thursday.
Over 4,000 new infections were also recorded for the first time.
Under the scheme, for the first stage will see people confined to within 500 meters of their home, with all schools (except special education) and non-essential businesses closed and all non-essential workers told to stay home. Restaurants will only be allowed to operate delivery service.

Tory urges province, feds to do more to protect city’s downtown core from ‘ravaging economic impacts’ of COVID-19 (CP24) Published on: September 10, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business, Economic Impact

In a letter to Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips and federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Tory said there is “increasing concern” among business leaders and civic associations about the future of downtown cores in major cities in Canada and around the world.
The mayor noted that approximately 90 per cent of the city’s 400,000 office workers are not coming into the downtown core every day and with the exception of a small number of professional hockey teams occupying hotels as part of the NHL bubble, most of the 17,000 hotel rooms in Toronto remain empty.
Post-secondary campuses in the city’s core are also down about 100,000 students and professors this fall, Tory said, and tens of thousands of hospitality workers have been laid off.

Covid-19 has forced a radical shift in working habits (The Economist) Published on: September 10, 2020 | Category: Global Response

The preliminary results are now in: yes, a lot of work can be done at home; and what is more, many people seem to prefer doing it there.
On August 28th Pinterest, a social-media firm, paid $90m to end a new lease obligation on office space near its headquarters in San Francisco to create a “more distributed workforce”.
The latest data suggest that only 50% of people in five big European countries spend every work-day in the office (see chart 1). A quarter remain at home full-time.

London Offices Aren’t Refilling Fast Enough for Shops Relying on Them (NY Times) Published on: September 10, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

The British government and business lobby want workers to return to support surrounding businesses, but some city offices are only 15 percent full.
In a country that relies on consumer spending to fuel economic growth, the government and business lobby are urging people to return to their offices, pressuring civil servants to set an example, and in turn spend more money on food and travel and in city center shops.
But the companies charged with responding to this call have discovered that they can function productively with their staff working at home, and many aren’t in the mood to ask employees to risk getting on crowded trains or buses to return to the office.

Late-stage COVID-19 vaccine trial on pause due to possible serious side effect. Here’s what that means (CBC) Published on: September 10, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business, Global Response

A front-running team in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine has put its late-stage trial on hold after a reported “unexplained illness” in one of the trial volunteers.
The trial was a Phase 3 clinical trial for a vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
The federal government reported on Aug. 31 that it was close to a deal to secure doses of this particular vaccine for Canadians.

How Covid-19 sparked a dividend drought for investors (FT) Published on: September 9, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Companies across the world have been forced to cut or suspend their dividend payments to conserve cash in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
Globally, dividends — a vital source of income for pension funds, charities and foundations — fell by over a fifth to $382.2bn in the second quarter of 2020, according to Janus Henderson.
The $108bn fall is the biggest since the investment group began its global dividend index in 2009.
Corporate share repurchases have slid even more precipitously — nearly halving in the US in the second quarter.

Do Jobless Benefits Deter Workers? Some Employers Say Yes. Studies Don’t. (NY Times) Published on: September 9, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

The $600-a-week jobless benefit supplement that Congress approved in March as part of the CARES Act has been widely credited by economists with keeping the economy functioning through the coronavirus pandemic.
With the supplement, which ended in July, most unemployed workers got more than they had earned in wages; without it, they fell short of their previous income.
There has been striking agreement among conservative and liberal economists who have studied the issue that the $600 supplement has deterred few workers from accepting a job.

Dr. Fauci says pause on trial is ‘not uncommon at all’ after major coronavirus vaccine trial placed on hold (CNBC) Published on: September 9, 2020 | Category: Global Response

On Tuesday, AstraZeneca said it paused its phase three trial for a potential Covid-19 vaccine, called AZD1222, due to safety concerns.
“It’s not uncommon at all,” White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
He added that the adverse event could be unrelated to the vaccine and might have just occurred at the same time as the trial, “but you can’t presume that.”

The surprising traits of good remote leaders (BBC) Published on: September 9, 2020 | Category: Leadership

Strong in-person leadership skills don’t necessarily translate to being a good virtual leader. Instead, organization and competency reign supreme.
The study shows that, instead of those with the most dynamic voices in the room, virtual teams informally anoint leaders who actually do the work of getting projects done.
“Virtually, we are less swayed by someone’s personality and can more accurately assess whether or not they are actually engaging in important leadership behaviours. People are more likely to be seen based on what they actually do, not based on who they are” said Steven Charlier, chair of management at Georgia Southern University.

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