Plan B Forum

Scooter wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 30, 2020 2:33 am

California has experienced one of its toughest weeks yet in the battle against coronavirus, with the state chalking up its two deadliest days since the start of the pandemic as cases continue to rise.

On Wednesday the state topped its previous single day death toll, reporting 149 fatalities. That was followed a day later by the second-deadliest day, when the state tallied 137 fatalities.

California has now reported 296,500 coronavirus cases and 6,700 deaths, according to public health data. The governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Thursday the state’s seven-day average had topped 8,000 new cases a day, its highest yet.

Meanwhile, new infections, hospitalizations and admissions to ICUs have all increased steadily, landing half of California’s 58 counties on the state’s “watchlist”, where public health officials closely monitor metrics such as infections, deaths and hospital capacity.

Reopening has also been stalled on several fronts. Counties on the state’s watchlist for three consecutive days are required to close bars and dine-in restaurants for at least three weeks. On Friday, San Francisco announced it would not be opening many businesses on Monday as planned – including barber shops, hair salons and gyms – on account of the surge.

Infections and hospitalizations ballooned after Memorial Day weekend, when thousands of residents marched in protest of police brutality; outbreaks emerged from family gatherings and as loosened restrictions in counties saw the openings of bars and dine-in restaurants.

Since the holiday weekend, hospitalizations more than doubled in southern California’s Riverside, Ventura and Orange counties. Orange county has emerged as a seat of organized resistance to mandatory mask orders.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... oll-record

The US economy shrank by an annual rate of 32.9% between April and June, its sharpest contraction since the second world war, government figures revealed on Thursday, as more signs emerged of the coronavirus pandemic’s heavy toll on the country’s economy.

The record-setting quarterly fall in economic growth compared to the same time last year came as another 1.43 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, a second week of rises after a four-month decline.


The annualized figure is the largest drop in quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) – the broadest measure of the economy – since records began in 1945. Economists expect the rate to improve sharply later this year but the outlook has been clouded by the recent rise in infections across the US.

During the last financial crisis GDP shrank 8.4% in the worst quarter of 2008, according to Credit Suisse. The previous record came in 1958 when economic growth fell 10% during the Eisenhower recession.

The fall came as large parts of the US economy shutdown in March in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus across the US. The closures led to a historic number of layoffs and sent unemployment soaring to levels unseen since the 1930s Great Depression.


All states have now begun to open up to some extent but the virus keeps spreading – more than 150,000 people have now died of Covid-19. As cases rise in California, Florida, Texas and elsewhere, some states have moved to restrict businesses again to stop the spread, renewing pressure on the US economy.

“This is something we have never seen before,” said Jason Reed, assistant chair of finance at the University of Notre Dame. “At first I felt it was like a natural disaster that had hit the entire country at the same time. Now it is evolving into something worse than that.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... employment