COVID-19 Monitor

Last Updated:October 15, 2020

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Merck chief casts doubt on coronavirus vaccine timeframe (FT) Published on: May 26, 2020 | Category: Global Response

Merck chief executive Ken Frazier has cast doubt on the 12 to 18-month timeframe to develop an effective coronavirus vaccine, describing the widely mooted schedule as “very aggressive”.
“It is not something I would put out there that I would want to hold Merck to,” the US pharmaceutical group’s chief told the Financial Times, adding that vaccines should be tested in “very large” clinical trials that take several months if not years to complete.
Mr Frazier’s comments came as Merck announced it was acquiring Themis Bioscience, a privately held biotech company based in Vienna that has been developing a coronavirus vaccine.

Our Economy Was Just Blasted Years Into the Future (Medium) Published on: May 26, 2020 | Category: Global Response, Leadership

As a catastrophe, Covid-19 itself appears so far to be a hybrid in impact — vastly speeding up some potent trends while quickly dispelling others that people thought were happening but actually weren’t.
“There is pressure on all trends, and only the strongest, most vibrant continue to be underway,” said Cliff Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group. “Only the fittest survive. You have a Darwinian moment for trends.”
Ford has outright postponed the 2021 debut of robotaxis and driverless delivery vehicles, saying that the virus could have an unknown, long-term effect on consumer behavior.
According to a new paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 42% of those laid off won’t get their jobs back.

Furniture retailers tell customers it’s OK to touch, sit, lie down because they have coronavirus precautions in place (WRAL) Published on: May 25, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Memorial Day is traditionally a big day for retail shopping, but as stores only reopened two weeks ago ease pandemic-related restrictions were eased, business remains a bit slow as both retailers and customers continue to adjust to the new rules.
Kim Kyle, who run Steven Shell Furniture in Raleigh’s Cameron Village shopping center, said the store also is making its safety protocols known to make customers more comfortable.
“Every morning, we come in an hour early,” she said. “We wipe down every piece of furniture, especially paying attention to the handles. We are using Lysol to disinfect.”

The meat industry is trying to get back to normal. But workers are still getting sick — and shortages may get worse. (Washington Post) Published on: May 25, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Tyson Foods, the largest meat processor in the United States, has transformed its facilities across the country since legions of its workers started getting sick from the novel coronavirus.
It has set up on-site medical clinics, screened employees for fevers at the beginning of their shifts, required the use of face coverings, installed plastic dividers between stations and taken a host of other steps to slow the spread.
Despite those efforts, the number of Tyson employees with the coronavirus has exploded from less than 1,600 a month ago to more than 7,000 today, according to a Washington Post analysis of news reports and public records.

Trudeau will push provinces to give workers 10 days of paid sick leave as Canada grapples with COVID-19 (National Post) Published on: May 25, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business

That appears to meet a key demand from NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in exchange for the New Democrats’ support for a motion to limit sittings and votes in the House of Commons through the summer.
The debate will revolve around a Liberal proposal to waive “normal” House of Commons sittings in favour of expanding the special COVID-19 committee that has acted as a sort of stand-in for the past month.
“We’re suggesting the government can use something like the (Canada Emergency Response Benefit) or employment insurance to deliver that program federally immediately,” Singh said during a news conference on Parliament Hill.

Wuhan Tests Nine Million People for Coronavirus in 10 Days (WSJ) Published on: May 25, 2020 | Category: Global Response

The central Chinese city of Wuhan said early Monday that it had collected coronavirus swab tests from more than nine million of its 11 million people over the past 10 days, an ambitious response to the re-emergence of a handful of fresh cases this month at the initial center of the pandemic.
Most of those nine million samples have already been processed, according to a daily record of nucleic-acid tests by Wuhan health authorities.
On Friday alone, the city said it tested 1.47 million people—more than three times the number on the busiest day of testing in the U.S., according to data from the Atlantic’s Covid Tracking Project.

I’m a Chef in a Seaside Town. I’m Not an Epidemiologist. (The Atlantic) Published on: May 25, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Business owners like me face a summer of uncertainty, and I’m terrified.
Cooped up in large towns and cities, many people heading into their third month of quarantine have been trying to decide whether they should visit their favorite summer destinations this year. My answer is an unsatisfying maybe.
We returned later that night to an exhausted and shaken crew. In practice, the safety protocols we had agonized over had been hard for our team to enforce. While we had been away, the dining room filled with day-trippers, who crammed around our spaced-out tables.

Don’t blame those who gather in parks – blame the city (The Globe and Mail) Published on: May 24, 2020 | Category: Global Response

The sight of thousands of people gathered in a downtown Toronto park as the city and Ontario are still struggling to get the COVID-19 outbreak under control was disconcerting to say the least.
One of the many truisms this pandemic has exposed is that the cities we have are not the cities we need.
Public health is all about harm reduction – keeping people as safe as possible, while respecting their circumstances. Calling out people’s perceived moral failings doesn’t fit that philosophy.

Trudeau reaches out to bank CEOs for advice on economic recovery (The Globe and Mail) Published on: May 24, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reached out to the heads of Canada’s six big banks to get their reading on the state of the economy and how COVID-19 relief efforts are faring, banking sources and federal officials told The Globe and Mail.
They covered topics such as how relief efforts rolled out jointly by government and banks might need adjusting, where bank clients are feeling pressure most acutely, and which parts of the economy may need further support to recover.
The Trudeau government, federal officials say, has largely finished rolling out its emergency response to the pandemic and is now starting work on the “recovery” phase that will aim to salvage sectors of the economy that are most damaged by the crisis.

Europe’s luxury goods capitals reopen to new reality (FT) Published on: May 24, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Pandemic forces upmarket brands to rethink pricing, store locations and supply chains.
As the fashion capitals of Paris, Rome and Milan stir back to life, the luxury industry faces a stark reality: Chinese tourists, who accounted for two-thirds of the sector’s sales in Europe before Covid-19, are absent and unlikely to return any time soon.
“The fashion industry is very physical, we need designers, tailors, fittings, fabrics, not everything can be managed remotely.” To encourage staff back to the office in Milan, Moncler is offering them bicycles, free doctor consultations and Covid-19 antibody tests.

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