Detroit police chief tests positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Stephanie Gallman
Detroit Police Chief James Craig has tested positive for coronavirus, Mayor Mike Duggan said during a news conference Friday.
Duggan also said 39 Detroit police officers have tested positive for the virus, and 468 are in quarantine. Duggan said Craig is at home and has not been hospitalized.
San Francisco’s early restrictions seem to be helping hospitals avoid coronavirus overload — so far
In San Francisco, once feared to be a hotbed for the coronavirus, doctors are not yet seeing the dire overcrowding of hospitals that other areas like New York are are experiencing.
“I was on campus today, and it’s actually quite mellow,” said Dr. Bob Watcher, UC San Francisco’s Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine told CNBC on Thursday. “Because we’re not doing elective procedures that can be pushed back, it’s even quieter than usual.”
For now, UCSF clinicians are managing a steady trickle of patients entering into the emergency rooms with COVID-19 symptoms. while still bracing for a possible flood. As of Friday, San Francisco has 279 confirmed cases and the city saw its largest increase of COVID-19 diagnoses on Thursday. California now has more than 4,000 known COVID-19 cases.
Walmart, Kroger have already hired thousands of new employees
Thousands of new Walmart and Kroger employees are already restocking shelves, checking out customers and working at distribution centers across the country.
Kroger is the parent company of grocery chains, including Fred Meyer and Harris Teeter. It has hired more than 23,500 employees so far, and it plans to hire an additional 20,000 for its stores, manufacturing plants and distribution centers in the coming weeks, according to a company news release.
Walmart hired 25,000 employees in less than a week, after it announced plans to add a total of 150,000 part-time and full-time workers through the end of May.
The major U.S. grocers have some of the most aggressive plans to staff up as boxes of pasta, canned goods, toilet paper and other essential items continue to fly off shelves during the coronavirus pandemic. They’ve expedited hiring and received numerous applications from people laid off or fuloughed by restaurants, hotels or other hard-hit industries.
GM to start producing critical-care ventilators
General Motors and Ventec Life Systems said they have agreed to build critical-care ventilators at one of the automaker’s components plants in Indiana.
GM and Washington-based Ventec said officials are “working around the clock to meet the urgent need for more ventilators,” citing efforts to begin production at the Kokomo plant “already underway.” GM, according to a release, is donating its resources at cost.
Google is offering $340 million in free ads for small businesses as part of coronavirus help package
Google is offering $340 million in ad credits to small and mid-size businesses with active Google ad accounts as part of an $800 million coronavirus response package, the company announced.
As part of the package, the company is also donating the following:
A $200 million investment fund that will help NGOs and financial institutions provide small businesses with capital
$250 million in advertising grants to help the World Health Organization and government agencies offer information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19
$20 million in Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and researchers
Unspecified financial support to help increase production capacity for life-saving equipment, including face masks and ventilators. —Jennifer Elias
Coronavirus relief bill gives small businesses more time to cover payroll taxes
Small businesses facing payroll tax payments are likely to get some relief from Congress – the option of deferring payment to Uncle Sam until next year.
In particular, the pending $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill will permit small businesses to defer their share of Social Security payroll taxes in 2020. Payroll taxes are shared by workers and their employers, so that each pays 6.2% toward Social Security and 1.45% toward Medicare.
Sole proprietorships would also qualify.
CNBC
And testing for anitbodies, too, please.
@doschicos - don’t mean to be disrespectful, but is it necessary to copy and paste on what’s in the news that we are all getting already. As far as daily stats, I am getting it on the Worldmeters. Maybe it is more efficient to show the link. Some of those posts are very long.
Someone seems to have a short memory. GM sold the Lordstown plant to Lordstown Motors …
… which someone happily tweeted about last year …
Bank of America CEO says struggling customers can defer loan payments online with ‘two-clicks’
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said that retail customers who are struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic can defer loan payments online with a simple two-click process.
“What we’ve told people is we’ll defer payments,” Moynihan told CNBC’s Jim Cramer. “If you have a cash flow interruption because of your employment and you need to defer your payments for 30, 60, 90 days, call us up.”
The second-largest U.S. bank by assets has had 150,000 requests for payment deferrals since the coronavirus crisis began in earnest in the U.S. this month, Moynihan said. To streamline the process, which can tie up call center lines, the bank is ramping up a way to apply for relief online, he said.
Mnuchin says taxpayers will be ‘compensated’ for airline relief
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the coronavirus economic stimulus bill before Congress is not an airline bailout and that taxpayers will be compensated for relief given to companies hobbled by the global pandemic.
At the same time, Mnuchin said in an interview with Fox Business Network that plane-maker Boeing has not requested government help.
“I’ve been very clear this is not an airline bailout,” Mnuchin said. “And that taxpayers need to be compensated for relief they’re giving to airlines.”
U.S. airlines are preparing to tap the government for up to $25 billion in grants to cover payroll in a sharp travel downturn triggered by the coronavirus, even after the government warned it may take stakes in exchange for bailout funds, people familiar with the matter said. —Reuters
‘This will not be licked by Easter,’ doctor warns in call for two-week US lockdown
President Donald Trump wants the country to “open up,” but a growing number of health experts want a nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Those experts are saying the United States needs to impose a two-week or longer pause of non-essential activity before federal and state governments can even think about economic and social life starting to return to normal.
Far stricter restrictions on businesses and individuals need to be adopted - and not the loosening of restrictions called for by some, including Trump, the experts say.
“This will not be licked by Easter,” said Dr. Aaron Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, who is one of the loudest voices calling for a shutdown.
America’s department stores can make it as much as 8 months with closed stores, analyst says
With stores temporarily shut due to the coronavirus pandemic — and a slim-to-zero chance of opening in the near future — America’s department stores are facing a cash crunch.
Department store chains have enough liquidity to make it about five to eight months, with their stores sitting dark, in this coronavirus pandemic, according to an analysis by Cowen & Co. It says that is “better than feared” because the firm does not anticipate the temporary store closures will drag on for that long.
In making these assumptions, Cowen is measuring liquidity as cash plus revolvers, relative to key expenses such as rent, labor and promised dividend payments. Cowen said labor costs are about 10% of annual sales, while rent is about 3%, to give a sense of what some of these expenses look like.
Digital divide of US households without internet
Data from Pew Research Center shows large swaths of the U.S. are trying to cope without a household internet connection while much of the country hunkers down to work and shop from home.
Before coronavirus hit the U.S., about 7% of private-industry workers had access to a flexible workplace benefit, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those jobs tend to pay well, which helps explain why access to telework varies sharply by income, according to the Pew Research Center.
Lack of internet access has also left millions of households cut off from vital services and information during the pandemic.
CNBC
CEO behind Buffett, Bezos health venture says US ‘death toll curve’ worse than China
The CEO behind the joint health-care venture between JPMorgan, Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway is calling for a national “shelter-in-place” order as deaths from the coronavirus continue to rise in the U.S.
“Our death toll curve is now worse than when China was at the same stage,” Haven CEO Dr. Atul Gawande told CNBC. “We have 12 states with more than 1,500 cases. China had one province,” said Gawande, also a renowned surgeon, author and speaker.
Gawande said health officials are learning from Washington state, where the death toll there appears to be declining. “Shelter in place, which some states are doing,” he said. “We don’t have the others on board. We really need a national shelter in place.”
Build-A-Bear Workshop and The Cheesecake Factory announce furloughs
Mall staples Build-A-Bear Workshop and The Cheesecake Factory both announced they are furloughing workers. Build-A-Bear plans to furlough more than 90% of its workforce, and The Cheesecake Factory has furloughed 41,000 hourly restaurant workers, according to regulatory filings.
Furloughed employees for both companies will continue to be eligible for employee benefits, including insurance.
Citing the impact of government regulations and landlord decisions to close properties, Cheesecake Factory is not paying rent for the month of April.
CNBC
So, New York has ventilators in storage but governor Quomo is hounding the President about needing 30,000 ventilators. The governor says he is keeping many existing ventilators in storage until they are needed. Well perhaps the President is keeping the national stockpile of ventilators until the need arises in whatever area that is. Perhaps it will be NY, perhaps other places also. I’m so tired of the criticism of the President because he is not giving New York all the precious resources at the expense of everyone else’s needs.
From the New York Post:
Cuomo also shot down criticism by Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, about New York not using the ventilators they already have.
“Somebody said one of the cable news shows, the ventilators that New York needed aren’t even being deployed — they’re in a stockpile,” Cuomo said, paraphrasing Birx’s comments without naming her.
“Yes they’re in a stockpile because that’s where they’re supposed to be because we don’t need them yet. We need them for the apex. The apex isn’t here so we’re gathering them in the stockpile so when we need them they will be there,” Cuomo said
Totally agree.
In addition, there are selective inclusions and omissions and unless you agree with CNN…
Cuomo is right. Trump should do all he can to help all states based on need.
Other parts of the NE certainly have fewer cases than NYC based on hospitalization rate.
There are many accusations on this thread which feel personal to me. The majority of people I know and love either live in NYC or the metro NYC area, or are from here. All of us know someone who has the virus, and all of us are fighting it on all fronts (scientists, healthcare providers, humanitarians, educators). Except for essentials, we have been locked down since March 12. No one is hoping that potential treatments fail, and none of us believe that NYC is somehow more worthy of help than the rest of our state or our country. I would like to ask people to please consider your audience before slinging blame and generalizing.
I think the comment extended to people who will not support the use of Plaquenil/Zithromax for severely ill patients until they see the data from clinical trials. My first post about this was #7681. There are many good reasons for advocating for caution which have nothing to do with politics.
Tucker Carlson had a good segment last night about just how foolish NYC leaders were in the runup to the current situation.
The NYC Health Commissioner, Oxiris Barbot, M.D., a doctor and “expert,” was particularly silly in urging New Yorkers to ride crowded subways, go to restaurants, and attend the Chinatown parade. Just one example of why supposed experts working in government are themselves politicians as well.
Check out the segment starting here: https://youtu.be/xuPFHuRvCdc?t=64
I greatly appreciate doschicos ’ curation and posting of news. It is extremely helpful to me.
I vote she continues.
Doschicos… Thank you. A million.
@oldfort it is much easier to read how @doschicos is doing it. Right now reading what they post is the only way I get info.
There is a huge difference in the outbreak in China and the subsequent outbreak in other countries including the US.
In China, the outbreak started in one city and spread out from that epicenter. Ultimately there was one single point that could be isolated and tracked from.
The rest of the world, especially the US, was infected by travellers. In the US we have seen cases come in from all over the world to multiple cities. Every international flight was another potential entry route for the virus. Lord knows how many cases came in and spread across this country. Then of course travel within this country has spread these cases to every single state.
In my opinion, China had it easy, they did not have to worry about every single entry route initially. Of course now they are starting to see the virus come back to them from other countries. In that way comparing China to other countries has limited value.
There have been many claims on this thread that feel personal to the people who don’t live in NY - that NY somehow deserves more based on high taxes they’ve paid, that NY is the “epicenter” (when many of us live in areas where there haven’t been enough tests to know what the infection rate even is) and deserves the most national assistance.
People keep repeating things they believe to be “facts” - like NY has more infections than anywhere else (when we don’t know that - nowhere else has had access to the tests NY has), that NY deserves to get more of the national stockpile of scarce resources. They should also consider their audience before posting those feelings, because that’s what they are, not facts.
It’s not about one state vs the other. It’s about pressing for a national strategy. There is no way to fairly develop or apply a national strategy without facts and tests will provide those facts. Until tests are widely available, all these decisions are being made on things other than facts.
@doschicos you are doing a great job, keep up the good work 
Nearly all 1,800 ICU beds in NYC are full. Hospitalization rate for doubling in NY State is now 4 days instead of two, while promising, the apex is not expected for another 21 days. Those that need ventilators usually crash quickly around the 4-5 day mark. Of course you want the ventilators available. The Governor also stated that once the need is less, the ventilators can be sent to other areas that will be approaching their apex.
A 50 State Survey: Temporary Medical Licensure Measure in Response to COVID-19
A number of states are easing licensure requirements to allow physicians with an OOS license to practice medicine with either a temporary emergency license of licensing waiver.
@doschicos - I appreciate all you’ve done to post relevant information. I don’t mind the quoted articles at all. I actually work in healthcare (administrative, and lucky enough to be able to work from home), so getting a snapshot of what is going on around the nation is very helpful for me. Thank you.