COVID-19 Monitor

Last Updated:October 15, 2020

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Days after reopening, France shuts 22 schools after Covid-19 outbreaks (France24) Published on: September 4, 2020 | Category: Global Response

Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said on Friday that 22 schools had so far been closed across France and in French territories due to cases of Covid-19, just days after some 12 million students returned to school on Tuesday.
Up to 130 classes have also been halted and the minister said the authorities were investigating around 250 incidents related to Covid-19 in schools each day.
If a school reports more than three coronavirus cases the school is temporarily shut, Blanquer said.

Why the US federal budget deficit could reach $3.3 trillion (Christian Science Monitor) Published on: September 4, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Pandemic aid efforts have increased the federal budget deficit to levels not seen since after World War II.
The recession has caused a drop in tax revenues have fallen, but the changes are not as dramatic as seen on the spending side, with individual income tax collections running 11% behind last year. Corporate tax collections are down 34%.
Deficit scolds have long warned that rising levels of debt will serve as a drag on the economy in the coming years. If interest rates rise too high, servicing the debt will put significant strain on the budget.

Labor Day weekend sparks fears of new coronavirus outbreaks in California (LA Times) Published on: September 4, 2020 | Category: Global Response

The next big test of whether Californians can slow the spread of the coronavirus will come this holiday weekend, with officials hoping the public will refrain from the large gatherings and risky behavior that contributed to a spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths after a disastrous Memorial Day weekend.
California spent much of the summer paying the price for a rapid reopening of the economy in late May and early June, with a coronavirus surge from mid-June through the weeks after the Fourth of July that led to record deaths and new concerns about the virus spreading among young people and essential workers.
Health officials are hoping the shock of the summer will prompt people to play it safe this weekend, in part because so much is riding on keeping numbers down and to prevent history from repeating itself.

How Boards Can Plan for the Disasters That No One Wants to Think About (HBR) Published on: September 4, 2020 | Category: Leadership

It’s tempting to call the Covid-19 pandemic a black swan — an event so unexpected and devastating that companies could not have prepared for it.
But experts have been predicting global pandemics for years, and in January 2020, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report cited infectious diseases as a potential threat. Yet very few companies included a global pandemic in their highest risk categories.
Boards have a special responsibility for building the necessary resilience in this environment. They have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the business is sustainable.

Tracing apps may stem COVID-19 spread even when only a few use them: study (Reuters) Published on: September 3, 2020 | Category: Global Response

Contact tracing apps can sharply reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus even when only a few people use them, a study published on Thursday by researchers at Google and Oxford University showed.
With a 15% uptake of contact tracing apps alone, the researchers calculated an 8% reduction in infections and 6% reduction in deaths.

Fears for US recovery grow as virtual schooling continues (FT) Published on: September 3, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Fears about the prospects for US economic recovery have grown in recent weeks as school districts across the country have decided to begin the academic year with remote learning in response to the coronavirus crisis.
Economists say the decisions could cause hits to employment, productivity and consumption that would stunt the US recovery — and could lead to more lasting damage in the form of curtailed educational achievement and greater inequality.
What worries economists is that the US experience stands in contrast to the widespread return of in-person education in many other advanced economies hit hard by Covid-19.
This is causing a loss of opportunity and productivity for parents, which is disproportionately affecting women.

Overworked and exhausted, warehouse workers brace for a frenzied holiday rush (Washington Post) Published on: September 3, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

Holiday sales are beginning earlier than ever, as retailers race to accommodate a surge in online demand.
Warehouse workers across the country say they’ve been under enormous pressure for months, working extended hours to fulfill a crush of pandemic orders.
Working conditions, they say, have steadily deteriorated during the crisis, leaving many distribution centers understaffed and ill-equipped to accommodate frequent hand-washing and other safety protocols.

In Order to Defeat COVID-19, the Federal Government Must Modernize Its Public Health Data (Heritage Foundation) Published on: September 3, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the disastrous public health consequences of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) failure to follow multiple congressional mandates to modernize its data infrastructure.
Almost 90 percent of the COVID-19 cases included in the CDC’s March report “lacked any data about underlying health conditions such as diabetes or chronic lung disease, and 75 percent lacked information about hospitalization.”
Because the case report is not automatically transmitted from an electronic health record or pharmacy management system, busy frontline workers fill out CDC forms by hand and submit them by phone, fax, or e-mail.
The CDC recently testified that states “have improved the completeness of their reporting in the past two months; in particular, the percentage of reports that include race/ethnicity data has increased from 18 percent in April to 43 percent in early June.” This means that more than half of reports still lack the minimum information required by the CDC.

The $600 per week boom (and bust) – how the unemployment stimulus affected consumer spend (Cardify) Published on: September 2, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Consumers who received the $600 weekly unemployment benefit between mid-April to the end of July, increased their spend significantly more than those who did not receive this benefit.
Now that these benefits have expired, those who received the benefit are reducing their expenditures once again.
Those who received unemployment benefits spent significantly more on car rentals, apparel and accessories, and education than those who did not receive the $600 weekly supplement.

Federal Reserve survey finds widespread pessimism about US economic future (Chicago Tribune) Published on: September 2, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

The Fed report made public Wednesday said that a theme echoed across the country is the continued uncertainty stemming from the pandemic and its negative effect on consumer and business activity.
The Fed report said that consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of economic activity, had increased, pushed higher by strong auto sales and some improvements in tourism and retail sales.
But in a potentially troubling sign, the report noted a recent slowdown in consumer spending.

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