Workers wearing personal protective equipment perform Covid-19 tests in Drive in Winnetka, California (Photo by Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
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Here’s what you need to know about the impact of Covid-19 to navigate the markets today.
• Joe Biden kicks in for a national mask mandate, saying setting one up could save more than 40,000 lives in the next three months. Whereas Biden had previously said he would make masks mandatory if elected president, he is now calling on board members to run for office. ‘Every American should wear a mask when they are at least outside for the next three months. “Every governor has a mandate … a mandatory mask,” he said. he said.
• Amazon fired more than 1,200 delivery drivers as it has slashed contracts with small logistics companies in the U.S. in recent months, a spokesman for the company told CNBC on Thursday. The redundancies come as Amazon‘s
home delivery business is booming during the coronavirus pandemic. The contracts with which the company ended were part of its Delivery Service Partner program that Amazon has helped to increase its own delivery capacity faster, making it less dependent on carriers such as the US Postal Service, UPS,
and FedEx.
“We have ended relationships with some partners and Amazon is working closely with all affected drivers to ensure that they find opportunities to deliver Amazon packages with other local Delivery Service Partners with little to no payment restrictions,” he said. company spokesman CNBC.
The Department of Justice announced its largest ever seizure of cryptocurrency in a context of terrorism.
•Germany serves with a rise in cases of coronavirus, as the country of 83 million reported 1,226 new cases on Wednesday, the highest number since May. The increase comes after what is seen as a largely successful attempt by the German government to contain the virus. Health officials in the country are concerned that students returned to school on Wednesday in North Rhine-Westphalia, the country’s most populous state and at home in the city of Cologne. Ministry of Health Jens Spahn said the uptick in cases was largely due to people returning from international holidays in Eastern and Southern Europe or attending parties or large family events. “This is without a doubt,” Spahn said in a radio interview. “And it can, of course, lead to a new dynamic, if we do not all exercise caution now.” While German health officials are sounding the alarm, the country’s level of cases remains very low compared to the US, with Wednesday’s new case count coming in at less than half the current New York State case count on a per basis basis.
• The accuracy of the US coronavirus data is being questioned due to a constant drop in the daily number of tests performed, reports CNBC. The daily number of new cases has recently decreased in southern and western states that have been hit hard, but that drop has coincided with fewer tests done, which raises the question of whether the virus is actually in decline or if fewer people are positive test because fewer people are tested. The seven-day average for the number of tests performed across the country has dropped 12% in the past two weeks, while the seven-day average of new daily cases has dropped 19% in the same period, based on data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project. Making matters worse, states with large, recent outbreaks have seen the biggest dips in testing.
• Refugee admissions in the US have been restored, the State Department confirmed Wednesday, after being put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic in March. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved the restart of permits on July 29 and arrivals have been allowed since July 30. Refugees coming to the U.S. will be subject to additional health measures because of Covid-19, although the State Department did not elaborate on what those measures were when requested by CNN. Overall, the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. has increased compared to last year, with 7,905 refugees arriving so far this fiscal year compared to about 3,400 in the same period last year, according to CNN.
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Write to Ben Walsh at [email protected]
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