COVID-19 Monitor

Last Updated:October 15, 2020

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Forty percent of U.S. Covid-19 tests come back too late to be clinically meaningful, data show (CNBC) Published on: August 15, 2020 | Category: Global Response

CNBC and Dynata ran a survey of more than 9,400 Americans in all 50 states to get a sense of testing turnaround times for Covid-19.
Experts say results need to be returned in less than three days, optimally two, to be clinically meaningful.
The results showed almost 40% of tests take longer than that.

How the Pandemic Has Changed Us Already (The Atlantic) Published on: August 15, 2020 | Category: Global Response

The Great Depression permanently altered many people’s behavior. Could COVID-19 do the same?
Others foresaw themselves avoiding many activities that are currently risky, possibly for the rest of their life. “I’ve heard wonderful things about Alaskan cruises and had always hoped to go on one someday. No more.”
The seriousness with which someone treated the pandemic might become one more trait that Americans use to size up new acquaintances.

India to invest $1.46 trillion to lift virus-hit economy (AP News) Published on: August 15, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

India’s prime minister said Saturday his country has done well in containing the coronavirus pandemic and announced $1.46 trillion in infrastructure projects to boost the sagging economy.
The key lesson India learned from the pandemic is to become self-reliant in manufacturing and developing itself as a key supply chain destination for international companies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
Modi also announced a national digital heath plan under which every Indian will get an identity card containing all health-related information.

LA mayor embraces shift in COVID-19 testing strategy: simplicity and speed (Reuters) Published on: August 15, 2020 | Category: Global Response

The mayor of the second-largest U.S. city has joined a growing clamor among health experts and politicians for a radical shift in the nation’s coronavirus testing strategy – from an emphasis on the utmost accuracy to a focus on speed and simplicity.
The concept envisions mass production and distribution of low-cost, do-it-yourself diagnostic kits based on paper-strip designs that can be used frequently and produce results in minutes, similar to home pregnancy tests. No lab equipment or special instruments would be required.
Proponents say that rapid, at-home COVID-19 testing would allow for real-time detection of new clusters of cases, including asymptomatic individuals – before they can spread.

Credit card and loan borrowing is predicted to fall by a record amount (This is Money UK) Published on: August 14, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Consumer debt has fallen by record amounts over the last few months as billions has been repaid on credit cards and loans, but banks are less likely to hand it out in the near future.
The forecasters also said they expected mortgage lending to grow just 2.6 per cent this year, the slowest rise in half a decade.
Dan Cooper, UK head of banking at EY, said: “Even assuming the economy bounces back in the short term, we’re likely to see very weak growth in loans to home buyers and consumers for some time to come.”

U.S. retail sales slow in July; obstacles mount for nascent economic recovery (The Globe and Mail) Published on: August 14, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

U.S. retail sales increased less than expected in July as consumers cut back on purchases of motor vehicles, and could slow further in the months ahead amid spiralling new COVID-19 infections and a reduction in unemployment benefit checks.
The report from the Commerce Department on Friday, however, did not change expectations that consumer spending will rebound this quarter after a record collapse in the second quarter.
Consumers also cut back spending at hobby, musical instrument and book stores as well as at building materials outlets.

Untested for Covid-19, Nursing-Home Inspectors Move Through Facilities (WSJ) Published on: August 14, 2020 | Category: Global Response

More than half the states, including Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio, don’t require their own inspectors to be tested for Covid-19 before going inside nursing homes, despite concerns that asymptomatic visitors could pose a risk to residents.
Nursing homes have been locked down since March to most visitors to keep the new coronavirus out. That generally includes residents’ family members, though some states are beginning to allow limited access, often in outdoor settings once a nursing home has met certain requirements.
Since much of the country began to reopen at the end of May, nursing homes reported an additional 82,209 Covid-19 cases, according to a Journal analysis of CMS’ most recent weekly data.

A quarter of young adults have contemplated suicide during the pandemic, CDC says (The Week) Published on: August 14, 2020 | Category: Global Response

Just over 40 per cent of respondents in a June 24-30 survey reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition, ranging from anxiety disorder to increased substance use to cope with the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For example, 25.5 per cent of young adults age 18 to 24 said they had considered suicide in June, versus 16 per cent of respondents age 25-44 and 3.8 per cent of those 45 to 64.
Other groups with high rates of suicidal ideation included essential workers (21.7 per cent), people with less than a high school diploma (30 per cent), Black (15.1 per cent) and Hispanic (18.6 per cent) respondents — 7.9 per cent of white respondents said they had considered suicide — and unpaid adult caregivers (32.9 per cent).

Taking Stock of the Covid-19 Recession (HBR) Published on: August 14, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

As the crisis unfolded in February and March of this year, business leaders were forced to rapidly shift their expectations for the future. While expectations varied, we identified five disparities between common assumptions at the time and our current realities.
Economic forecasts gyrated wildly at the start of the crisis. For example, the median broker forecast for 2Q U.S. growth was still around 0% in mid-March, before collapsing 30 percentage points over the next 20 days. Over the following months the forecast settled around -35% (annualized – not to be confused with, but equivalent to, -10% quarter on quarter growth).
The severe intensity of the crisis fueled fears of systemic meltdown, driven by liquidity and solvency problems cascading through the real and financial economy.
While all economic downturns have their own idiosyncrasies, the underlying dynamics of this pandemic-induced recession were similar across the world: A health emergency requiring restrictive public health interventions creates a severe economic disruption, which must be bridged by economic policy.

The recession is over for the rich, but the working class is far from recovered (Washington Post) Published on: August 13, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

U.S. stocks are hovering near a record high, a stunning comeback since March that underscores the new phase the economy has entered: The wealthy have mostly recovered. The bottom half remain far from it.
Jobs are fully back for the highest wage earners, but fewer than half the jobs lost this spring have returned for those making less than $20 an hour, according to a new labor data analysis by John Friedman, an economics professor at Brown University and co-director of Opportunity Insights.
Some economists have started to call this a “K-shaped” recovery because of the diverging prospects for the rich and poor, and they say policy failures in Washington are exacerbating the problems.

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