COVID-19 Monitor

Last Updated:October 15, 2020

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NBA coaches prepare for possible intriguing playoff matchups (Seattle Times) Published on: April 7, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business, Global Response

With NBA games indefinitely on hold, there has been a lot of discussion about postseason possibilities — including by coaches around the league.
They’re preparing for what a resumption of the season that was shut down March 11 could look like in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The ideas are many, from a shortened version of the remaining schedule played without fans to the very real possibility of jumping straight into the playoffs to ensure a season is completed before the end of summer.

Container Shipping Lines Cancel Sailings to Weather Coronavirus Storm (WSJ) Published on: April 6, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Global container shipping lines have canceled more than 160 sailings over the past week as they try to maintain freight rates in the face of billions of dollars in potential losses driven by falling trade demand.
Sea-Intelligence estimates the biggest international carriers will see combined losses ranging from $800 million to $23 billion this year, depending on how they manage the economic impact from widespread coronavirus-driven lockdowns.
He predicts the pandemic will cut demand for container shipping this year by about 10% overall, about the same decline as in 2009, when the financial crisis unfolded disrupting world trade.

Some Auto Insurers Are Sending Refunds To Customers As Crash Rate Falls (NPR) Published on: April 6, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

The pandemic has emptied out U.S. streets as Americans stay home to avoid spreading the coronavirus. Less driving means fewer car crashes.
And at least three companies have decided to pass those savings along to their customers.
Allstate is going to send out some $600 million in premium refunds. All 18 million drivers with Allstate auto policies will be receiving 15% of their premium, credited to their bank account, credit card or Allstate account.

Swiss lead way with crisis loans to small businesses (FT) Published on: April 6, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

It took Matthias Knaur only a minute or two to complete and scan the single-page form for a liquidity lifeline from the Swiss government.
About 30 minutes after sending it, the money was in his company’s account.
Switzerland unveiled its SFr20bn ($20bn) package of emergency loans to support small businesses on March 25. In its first week of operating, it disbursed more than SFr15bn to 76,034 businesses.

Health experts call for Roosevelt-style programs to kill virus, revive economy (The Hill) Published on: April 6, 2020 | Category: Global Response

A first-of-its-kind program that will deploy almost a thousand people across Massachusetts may be a small-scale test of what public health experts hope could eventually stamp out the coronavirus even before a vaccine becomes widely available.
Increasingly, those who have warned for months about the virus’s potential spread now say a mass-scale national program aimed at suppressing the virus at a community level through that sort of robust contact tracing is crucial to stopping its spread.
That, public health experts said, would be money well-spent to both get a handle on a virus that has infected more than 332,000 people and killed almost 9,500 as of Sunday afternoon.

What top CEOs fear telling America about the coronavirus shutdown (Axios) Published on: April 6, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Top CEOs, in private conversations and pleas to President Trump, are warning of economic catastrophe if America doesn’t begin planning for a phased return to work as soon as May, corporate leaders tell Axios.
Several of these leaders told us they want to have a hard national conversation about tradeoffs involved in any widespread lockdowns beyond the middle of next month.
Business owners are asking: ‘At what point do I just lay my people off and shut down and give the landlord the key?’

Cities with strong social distancing see stronger economic recoveries (MIT Sloan Management Review) Published on: April 6, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

Critics fear social distancing edicts hurt the economy, but research on the 1918 flu pandemic reveals an aggressive response can help spur economic recovery.
Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, we find that areas that acted early and aggressively with non- pharmaceutical interventions do not perform worse economically, at least in the medium term — if anything, they actually come out of the pandemic stronger.
Lifting restrictions too early could make the economy worse by leading to a resurgence of the virus in an even more destructive pandemic.

Bill Gates is funding new factories for potential coronavirus vaccines (World Economic Forum) Published on: April 6, 2020 | Category: Global Response

The Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates says his foundation is funding the construction of factories for seven coronavirus vaccine candidates.
Gates said the foundation would end up picking only one or two of the seven, meaning billions of dollars spent on manufacturing would be abandoned.
He said that in a situation where the world faces the loss of trillions of dollars to the economy, wasting a few billion to help is worth it.

Virtuous cycle (Reuters Breaking Views) Published on: April 6, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

China may be hoping an illusion of economic recovery will inspire the real thing.
To address this insecurity, officials are pushing an alternative line of statistics that imply prosperity is just around the corner. On March 25, for example, the official Xinhua News Service claimed 88% of key agricultural enterprises had “restarted business”, that construction on 89% of key infrastructure projects had resumed, and that electricity usage had revived to 90% of pre-outbreak levels for industries like electronics and pharmaceuticals.
Unfortunately “restarting business” is vaguely defined. Local business publication Caixin reported in early March that many companies, pushed to restart manufacturing by officials, have turned on lights and machinery to simulate resumption – which means signs of revived energy consumption may be unreliable.

Facebook’s Road to Redemption Runs Straight Down Main Street (WSJ) Published on: April 5, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response, Leadership

COO Sheryl Sandberg says past mistakes prepared social network for coronavirus response; company offers cash, tools to help mom-and-pops.
One-third of small businesses in America don’t have a formal web presence at all, according to Ms. Sandberg, but many of those businesses have long had a Facebook page.
The $100 million grant pales in comparison to a government stimulus plan, but dwarfs some of the relief efforts set up by other tech companies and many cities. Facebook will spend $40 million of that in the U.S., focused on small businesses located near 34 cities where it has operations.

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