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Florida Reports Smallest Batch Of New COVID-19 Cases In 2 Weeks As Pence Heads To Miami: Live Updates

Florida Reports Smallest Batch Of New COVID-19 Cases In 2 Weeks As Pence Heads To Miami: Live Updates

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Florida Reports Smallest Batch Of New COVID-19 Cases In 2 Weeks As Pence Heads To Miami: Live Updates Tyler Durden Mon, 07/27/2020 - 11:28

Summary:

  • Arizona reports just a single death on Monday
  • Florida sees smallest number of new cases since July 9
  • Google says it won't reopen offices until summer 2021
  • Bolton's replacement tests positive for COVID; highest ranking US official to test positive
  • European stocks slide, shaken by travel restrictions on Spain
  • Merkel's chief of staff says rise in COVID-19 cases is "cause for concern"
  • US CDC reported 64,582 cases yesterday
  • Australia's Victoria State reported another 532 new cases
  • Hong Kong suffers biggest daily jump in domestically transmitted cases
  • Vietnam evacuates tourists after COVID-19 cluster discovered
  • China reports another 61 cases on the mainland
  • Hong Kong imposes new restrictions
  • Masks must be worn indoors and outside when in public
  • 2 new deaths seen over the weekend
  • Moderna gets another ~$470 in US government funding; enters late-stage trail
  • More than 150 vaccine candidates are in trials around the world

* * *

Update (1115ET): Arizona just reported another 1,813 new cases on Monday, and only 1 death, as the number of new cases reported in the state continues to trend lower. With Monday's numbers added, there have now been 163,827 confirmed cases of the virus in Arizona and 3,304 coronavirus-related deaths, according to the state's latest numbers.

The state's positivity rate ticked higher to 12.7% on Monday.

ICU hospitalizations were unchanged at 86%. The state ran just 12,135 new tests, bringing the total tests run since the outbreak began to 1,099,682.

* * *

Update (1030ET): As Vice President Mike Pence heads to Miami on Monday to discuss a phase three coronavirus vaccine trial at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he will hold a press briefing later in the day. Meanwhile, as the Miami Marlins cancel Monday's game due to a COVID-19 outbreak, state public health officials have reported 8,892 new COVID-19 cases Monday, the lowest daily total since July 9.

That's the 34th consecutive day the state has recorded more than 5,000 new cases. Florida has a total of 432,747 cases since the pandemic began, the second-biggest outbreak in the country after California.

The state also reported 77 new deaths, increasing the state's cumulative total to 5,931. Florida's 7-day rolling average for deaths declined slightly to 122.7. The number of Florida residents hospitalized with COVID-19 increased to 24,332 since the pandemic began. The Department of Health notes the total figure is cumulative and does not reflect the number of patients currently hospitalized.

Of these, 268 patients were hospitalized over the last 24 hours.

The state's percentage positive tumbled to 12.59%.

Source: TC Palm

Google set a new precedent on Monday by announcing its plans to extend its work-from-home policy until at least July 2021, according to media reports citing company insiders. Google had previously said most employees will be working remotely through the end of 2020, with some employees being allowed back into the office sooner.

As the first Phase 3 clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine in the US is underway, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said there will be dozens of sites nationwide where volunteers will participate in the study. As far as concerns about safety that have been voiced by skeptics, Dr. Fauci said he wasn't too worried.

"There are 89 sites distributed throughout the country," Fauci said Monday during a call with reporters.

He added that we won't know until November at the earliest whether the vaccine works.

* * *

Update (0900ET): John Bolton's replacement as the Trump Administration's National Security Advisor has reportedly tested positive for the virus, according to Bloomberg.

In other news, Hong Kong officials have just decided to postpone all driving tests being offered in the city.

  • HONG KONG TO SUSPEND DRIVING TESTS FROM WEDNESDAY DUE TO VIRUS

The AP reports that two business associations for nightclubs and bars in Spain are planning to take the separatist-run Catalan government to court to try and block a decision to close nightclubs and bars at night for at least two weeks.

* * *

Update (0805ET): Here's a rundown of all the big COVID-19 news from yesterday (much of which we initially reported here) and the overnight session.

The CDC reported 64,582 new cases (vs.+74,818 a day earlier) and 929 deaths (vs. +1,145 a day earlier) on July 26 (remember, these numbers are reported with a 24-hour delay).

Texas reported 5,810 new COVID-19 cases (vs.+8,112 a day earlier) and deaths rose by 153 (vs. +168 a day earlier), current hospitalization +248 (vs. -209 a day earlier). Florida reported 9,344 new COVID-19 cases (vs. +12,199 a day earlier) and deaths increased by 78 (vs. +126 a day earlier) while hospitalizations fell by 88 (vs -285 a day before) on Sunday.

Arizona reported 1,973 new COVID-19 cases (vs. +3,748 a day earlier) and deaths increased by 19 (vs. +144 the day before) on Sunday.

LA County reported 1,730 new COVID-19 cases (vs. +3,628 a day before) and deaths rose by 10 (vs. +53 a day earlier) on Sunday with hospitalizations at a record high (although the data is incomplete due to delays in State electronic lab reports, per the County Health Department).

California said current hospitalizations fell by 69, per the Cali Department of Health.

California coronavirus cases increased by at least 4,372 on Sunday, with deaths rising by at least 21.

Australia's Victoria State reported 532 new coronavirus cases (vs. 459 a day earlier) as the outbreak in the country's second-most-populous state continues to grow despite lockdown orders and other measures.

In another big story from last night, US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said the next COVID-19 relief package will be introduced on Monday. Mnuchin added that he and White House Chief of Staff Meadows worked on technical issues on Saturday and said the entire relief plan is ready and worth about $1 trillion. Mnuchin conceded that President Trump’s payroll tax cuts didn't make it into the final package, but stated the package will contain extended unemployment benefits with 70% "wage replacement".

As far as the economy goes, Mnuchin says he expects a big rebound in the second half of the year.

China reported 61 new COVID-19 cases in Mainland (vs. 46 a day earlier). These included 4 new imported cases (vs. 11) and 44 new asymptomatic cases (vs. 68).

Hong Kong reported 145 (vs. Sunday's 128) new cases Monday, of which 142 were likely locally transmitted. That's a new daily high for locally transmitted cases.

Vietnam has evacuated 80k tourists from the central city of Danang following a COVID-19 outbreak there that has ruptured a months-long streak of no new cases in the southeast Asian country.

Germany reported 340 new COVID-19 cases (vs. +305 the day before), while deaths rose by 0. Chief of Staff to Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that signs of rising daily cases are "a cause for concern" as officials keep a vigilant eye out for any signs of a resurgence following what many described as western Europe's best-managed outbreak.

* * *

Update (0800ET): Perhaps the biggest COVID-19 news (at least as far as Europe is concerned) over the weekend were the myriad travel restrictions and advisories adopted by the UK, France, Norway and others targeting Spain and specifically those living in parts of Catalonia, including a large swath of the suburbs of Barcelona, along with most of the city itself.

The first travel restrictions were announced on Friday and Saturday, but these decisions were blamed for rattling the Stoxx Europe 600, which struggled for traction as airlines stocks were hammered over the UK's decision to quarantine passengers returning from Spain.

* * *

Locally, officials have dubbed the current resurgence of SARS-CoV2-2 in Hong Kong the "third wave", following the initial outbreak, and another surge in cases. But as new confirmed cases, and even a few deaths, have trickled in, city public health officials have ratcheted up safety protocols to their most restrictive levels yet.

On Monday, Hong Kong's Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung announced that face masks would be mandatory in both indoor and outdoor public places from Wednesday, with offenders facing fines of up to HKD$5,000 ($645), although he didn't say exactly whether these new measures would be enforced.

Hong Kong is also imposing more restrictive social-distancing measures, including limiting the number of people in public gathering to two from four, and banning all dine-in services at restaurants and food courts (previously, it had only banned dine-in service in the evenings and early morning hours).

The new rules will take effect Wednesday, Cheung said.

People with "reasonable excuses" such as medical conditions or children under the age of two will be exempt, he added.

As Hong Kongers bristle about a new national security law, the government in Beijing just committed to building a Wuhan-style makeshift hospital near Hong Kong's airport with a capacity of around 2,000 hospital beds.

Local stock markets took a hit on the news, as Hong Kong developers extended declines, as the number of new virus cases rose by more than 100 daily in the past five consecutive days in the city.

The epidemic situation is critical," Cheung said. "We are facing a high risk of community outbreak."

The restrictions come as the city faces a coronavirus outbreak dubbed locally as its "third wave," with the origin of many infections still unknown. Hong Kong had been lauded for its relative success in curbing the spread of the coronavirus. However, on Monday, Hong Kong authorities reported more than 100 new cases for the sixth straight day, bringing the city's total to more than 2,700.

* * *

Before Monday's numbers were announced, 1,163 new cases had been recorded over the past 14 days. The origins of 492 of these infections have not been traced.

Asked why the city stopped short of imposing a complete lockdown, Cheung said a lockdown would be "too inconvenient" and that these new measures would be "more appropriate."

Despite its proximity to China, Hong Kong has done an admirable job of keeping infection numbers low (evidenced by the relatively small numbers of patients who have had to seek medical treatment for the disease). Over the weekend, an elderly woman, 76, and an even older man, 92, succumbed to COVID-19. That raised the city's death toll to 20.

By comparison, Florida and Texas recently eclipsed 5,000 deaths.

Meanwhile, in the US, we saw some signs of a silver lining as more of the worst-hit Sun Belt states saw daily numbers for new cases decline.

Finally, Moderna shares are surging Monday morning in premarket trading on the news that the vaccine candidate would be proceeding to another government-backed late-stage trial. The trial is the first to be implemented under the US government's "Operation Warp Speed" - the Trump-approved quest to find a workable vaccine by the end of the year.

Moderna also revealed that the biotech darling had received another award from the US government for $472 million, taking Moderna's total government funding to just under $1 billion. Its shares were up 11% in premarket trading.

The trial will test the response to the vaccine in 30,000 adults who do not have the respiratory illness; more than 150 vaccine candidates are in various stages of development, with 23 prospects in human trials across the globe. Moderna and British firm AstraZeneca are leading the race with their candidates in late-stage studies.

During a morning interview with CNBC, Dr. Scott Gottlieb said the vaccines so far looked promising.

However, as Moderna executives sell more of their stock in "pre-planned sales", Gottlieb noted that he "wouldn't be trading in my stock right now" if he were in Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel's position. But then again, if Bancell had these sales set up prior to all of this happening, then it would also be wrong to change those plans.

We can't help but wonder...

...if that's accurate, then when were these stock sales scheduled, and why?

Moderna says it's on track to deliver about 500 million doses of its vaccine a year, and possibly up to 1 billion doses a year if the trials are successful beginning in 2021.

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Emmer Drops Out Of House Speaker Race After Trump Calls ‘RINO’, Supporters Bail

Emmer Drops Out Of House Speaker Race After Trump Calls ‘RINO’, Supporters Bail

Update (1640ET): House GOP chaos continues after Rep. Tim…

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October 24, 2023

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Emmer Drops Out Of House Speaker Race After Trump Calls 'RINO', Supporters Bail

Update (1640ET): House GOP chaos continues after Rep. Tim Emmer (R-MN) - who earlier in the day won an internal ballot for nominee - dropped out, CNBC reports.

As The Hill notes;

Emmer won the GOP nomination over House GOP Vice Chairman Mike Johnson (La.) in a secret ballot 117-97, but in a secondary roll call vote 26 Republicans voted present or for another person, according to House GOP Conference Secretary Lisa McClain (R-Mich.).

If all members vote present and for a specific candidate, Emmer could only afford to lose four Republicans and still win the Speakership on the House floor.

Emmer's withdrawal after a group of Republicans made clear they wouldn't back him on the House floor. The move also come after former President Trump called Emmer a "RINO," and said that voting for him "would be a tragic mistake."

*  *  *

After kicking Jim Jordan (R-OH) down an elevator shaft, House Republicans have elected majority whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) as the GOP speaker nominee on the fifth ballot in an internal race which drew nine Republican candidates.

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), right, on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Emmer's nomination now moves to the House floor, where he will need at least 217 votes to pass.

The other caandidates were Reps. Jack Bergman, Mich.; Byron Donalds, Fla.; Tom Emmer, Minn., Kevin Hern, Okla., Mike Johnson, La.; Gary Palmer, Ala.; Austin Scott, Ga.; and Pete Sessions, Texas.

As Just the News notes, Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) dropped out of the race Monday evening, while Palmer dropped out Tuesday.

Each candidate signed a unity pledge to support the speaker nominee on the House floor - however it doesn't appear that he'll have the votes needed at this stage.

According to the report, the top four candidates on the first, second and third ballot were reportedly Emmer, Johnson, Donalds and Hern.

The GOP-controlled lower chamber has been without a speaker for nearly three weeks after Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted after 8 GOP members joined with Democrats.

According to Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), there's a "level of exhaustion setting in" the GOP conference.

"I think there’s like, maybe more accurately, a sense of gravity given the many things we have to get done over the next two months, ranging from defense appropriations to dealing with a supplemental FISA reform and the Farm Bill," he said, referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) - who refused to back Jim Jordan, said that after the nominee is chosen, "Then we got to figure out will people consolidate behind the leader, and they should. I hope they do."

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/24/2023 - 16:40

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Employment By Race: The Employment-to-Population Ratio For Blacks vs. Whites Has Changed

In the over 50 years that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has been keeping track, the share of Black Americans who are employed has consistently been…

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October 24, 2023

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In the over 50 years that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has been keeping track, the share of Black Americans who are employed has consistently been lower than the share of white Americans with paid jobs. This changed briefly for the first time ever in March of 2023. That month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded a greater percentage of Black Americans employed than white Americans. What explains this reversal and what, if anything, does it say about changes in access to employment by race?

The following article by  Valerie Wilson and Aaron Sojourner has been edited ([ ]) and abridged (…) by Lorimer Wilson, Managing Editor of munKNEE.com – Your KEY To Making Money! – for the sake of clarity and brevity to provide a faster and easier read.

The Facts:

  • The employment to population ratio (EPOP) is a core measure of labor market and economic strength. The measure expresses the share of a population employed instead of being not employed — which includes people searching for a job as well as many who are not, such as retirees, homemakers, and college students. In contrast, the unemployment rate looks only at those who are actively seeking work for pay and measures the share of people who have not found employment. The unemployment rate completely ignores retirees, homemakers, college students, and others who are not seeking paid work. Many economists consider the EPOP to be a more consistent or less ambiguous measure of labor market health than the unemployment rate.
  • Since significant changes in the population occur infrequently, a higher EPOP is likely to reflect an actual increase in the level of employment. In contrast, a decline in the unemployment rate does not always signal an improvement in employment conditions as it can occur when people who have not found employment stop seeking work, even if there is not a significant increase in the level of employment. Americans under age 16 and those who are in the military or imprisoned are excluded from calculation of both the unemployment rate and the employment population ratio. Differences in employment population ratios by race can reflect many factors, such as differences in ages, geographies, health, employer discrimination, occupational segregation, prior convictions, and many other factors.
  • In March 2023, Black Americans’ employment to population ratio exceeded that of white Americans for the first time in U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics records that started in 1972. This sparked speculation about whether this signaled a meaningful shift toward greater racial equity in the labor force. Subsequent data suggest that was something of a blip in the series — monthly labor market statistics for Black Americans are notoriously volatile – rather than a new normal in racial employment trends (see chart). However, Black and white EPOPs coming close enough to even tease the possibility that a higher percentage of the Black population was employed relative to whites is noteworthy. The difference in employment to population ratios between Black and white Americans has narrowed over time. In the last ten years (2014-2023), Black EPOP has averaged 3.1 percentage points lower than white EPOP. The average difference was twice that (6.5 percentage points) in prior decades (1972-2013).
  • The convergence of Black and white EPOPs is partly the result of differences in the age demographics of the two populations. Since the Black population is younger than the white population, a larger share of the working age Black population is under age 50 when people are more likely to work. A larger share of the white population is older and more likely to have stopped working. This racial difference in population age demographics tends to raise Black EPOP and lower white EPOP. If you separate out different age groups, white EPOP is higher than Black EPOP at each age level, suggesting that the narrowing of the gap may not signal as large an increase in employment equity as the shrinkage of the raw EPOP gap might suggest, according to a recent analysis. If each age-by-race group’s employment rate is kept fixed at its observed level but the age distribution of Black Americans is shifted to match whites’ age distribution, then Black Americans would have an employment to population ratio about 8 percent lower than white Americans.
  • However, the dramatic jobs recovery since the pandemic recession has been especially favorable to Black workers and this has contributed to the most recent narrowing in the employment to population ratios. The difference in employment to population ratios between Black and white Americans has averaged only 1 percentage point over the most recent 12 months. An important contributing factor is that the current economic recovery has been particularly beneficial to Black men. Black men have historically had a much lower employment to population ratio than white men, averaging 10.6 percentage points lower since 1972. What’s noteworthy about the current narrowing of the Black-white EPOP gap is that faster EPOP growth for Black men relative to white men has significantly narrowed the difference among men to an average of 4.5 percentage points in the last year and a half. (The Black-white EPOP difference among women is much smaller, and Black women’s EPOP often exceeds that of white women in tight labor markets.) While these gains represent positive improvements, they must also be weighed against the issue of undercounting of the Black population and the disproportionate share of incarcerated Black men who are excluded from the BLS survey data sample of the “civilian, non-institutionalized population.”
  • So what, if anything, do these observations say about racial equity and the persistence of labor market discrimination? While Black workers made notable gains and narrowed differences in employment with white workers during the pandemic recovery, there is consistent and persistent evidence that Black job seekers encounter greater difficulties in being hired than white job seekers. The unemployment rate tells us about the difficulty finding employment among those in the labor force, including the employed and those actively seeking work. The unemployment rate for Black workers tends to be twice that of white workers and this is true throughout the business cycle, at nearly every level of education, across age cohorts and for women and men. In other words, Black workers are twice as likely as white workers to be stuck in job search mode rather than earning at any point in time. Black and white Americans differ in many ways besides race. However, the gap between unemployment rates is not much explained by differences in age, education, marital status, or state of residence. Experiments show that potential employers are less likely to call back Black applicants who have the same or better credentials as white applicants (see here and here).
  • In addition to differences in hiring, the burden of job loss and unemployment also falls disproportionately on Black workers. A new crop of studies that follow workers over time reveal vast inequality in workers’ labor market experiences over their careers (see here and here). About 4 in 5 workers enjoy very stable employment over decades rarely getting laid off or being trapped in unemployment. In contrast, a small group suffers very unstable employment and suffers most of the economy’s unemployment, with 6 times higher job turnover rates and 10 times more months spent unemployed. White Americans disproportionately belong to the first group and Black Americans to the second (see here).

What this Means:

Tight labor markets are important because they tend to draw in more marginally attached workers. In tight labor markets when labor supply is limited, employers have less discretion to discriminate. Ensuring that the Fed takes its responsibility to ensure full employment seriously alongside its responsibility to ensure price and financial stability will go a long way to promoting the tight labor markets that pressure employers to equalize opportunities. Innovation and additional investment in enforcing American workers’ rights to freedom from employers’ racial discrimination could help equalize opportunity. During the first two years of the Biden administration, the federal government made large, long-term commitments to invest in American transportation and energy infrastructure and in our manufacturing sector through the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the CHIPS & Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. These investments are expected to support nearly 3 million jobs annually over the next 10 years, according to White House estimates. This boom in demand for American workers especially benefits those with less formal education who had been losing ground in the economy for decades.

 

 

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U.S. National Pension System Ranks 22nd Out Of 47 Countries; Canada Ranks 12th

The three highest-ranking countries on the list for retirees are the Netherlands (85.0), Iceland (83.5) and Denmark (81.3). Australia came in fifth (77.3),…

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The U.S. may be the richest country in the world, but its retirement system sure doesn’t show it. Once again, the United States earns an embarrassingly low overall score (63.0), ranking No. 22 out of 47 national pension systems, covering 64% of the world’s population according to Mercer’s retirement research. The three highest-ranking countries on the list for retirees are the Netherlands (85.0), Iceland (83.5) and Denmark (81.3). Australia came in fifth (77.3), the UK 10th (73.0) and Canada 12th (70.2). Argentina had the lowest index value (42.3). The information for this original article by Lorimer Wilson, Managing Editor of munKNEE.com – Your KEY To Making Money! – was sourced from an article by Pete Grieve and Julia Glum. The United States now lands outside the top 20 countries in a new ranking of 47 national pension systems in the 2023 edition of the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index, which analyzes countries based on more than 50 indicators in three categories: adequacy, sustainability and integrity.

The U.S. scored its highest rank (16th) in the sustainability category, which measures the likelihood of a country’s pension system being able to provide strong benefits in the future. This sub-index includes contribution rates, coverage of the private pension system and government debt, among other factors. The U.S. ranked 24th in the adequacy category which judges the extent to which pension systems provide sufficient retirement income. This category includes taxation incentives and vesting rules for retirement income programs. The integrity sub-index is about the regulation of retirement income programs, especially private-sector pensions and the laws that govern them and the U.S. ranks 41st here. The report provides several recommendations it says could help the U.S. increase its scores, including improving retirement income for lower-income people and limiting access to funds before retirement.

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