I am living in the middle of the emergency over coronavirus in Finland. Due this reason the update cycle to make posting to this blog could be slowed down.
The Finnish government announced on Monday nationwide school closures in order to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. Read more on the following aricles:
Finland closes schools, declares state of emergency over coronavirus
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finland_closes_schools_declares_state_of_emergency_over_coronavirus/11260062
Daycare centres are to stay open but parents were asked to keep their kids home if possible. The government also published a 19-point list of emergency legislation that takes effect on 18 March.
Coronavirus latest: 359 cases confirmed in Finland, S-Group shuts its Helsinki eateries, bankruptcy fears mount
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/coronavirus_latest_359_cases_confirmed_in_finland_s-group_shuts_its_helsinki_eateries_bankruptcy_fears_mount/11249610
Here is a link to an earlier post related to Coronavirus:
https://www.epanorama.net/blog/2020/02/12/mobile-trends-2020-mwc-canceled/
1,657 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Staggering 64% Of New York Restaurants Could Shut For Good By 2021, Analysis Says
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/09/04/a-staggering-64-of-new-york-restaurants-could-shut-for-good-by-2021-analysis-says/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, the restaurant industry has found itself as one of the worst-affected sectors as people opt to stay home and social distancing measures limit the number of customers permissible to be served—a survey from the New York State Restaurant Association found nearly two-thirds of restaurants in the Empire State were likely to shut down before the year is out.
NYSRA’s survey of 1,042 New York restaurateurs during the last week of August found that 63.6% believed they were “likely or somewhat likely” to be forced to shutter before 2021.
Of those restaurants who reported being likely to close for good, more than half said they may not last past even November.
Only 36.4% of Empire State restaurants in the survey reported being “likely or somewhat likely” to stay open and serving customers for the foreseeable future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Koronavirus heikentynyt? Kriisien johtamisesta tunnettu ylilääkäri: “Olemme ihmetelleet pyöreää nollaa teho-osastolla päivästä toiseen”
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11527469
Muuttuneen tilanteen vuoksi Suomen kannattaisi laatia uusi koronastrategia, sanoo HUSin ylilääkäri Eero Hirvensalo.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lukuvuotta on takana vasta viikkoja, ja ainakin 1 700 on altistunut koronalle pääkaupunkiseudun oppilaitoksissa – uusia koulualtistumisia tulee päivittäin
Helsingin, Espoon ja Vantaan kouluissa on syyslukukauden aikana ollut parikymmentä koulukaranteenia.
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11527585
Tomi Engdahl says:
New York Times:
Nonparent staffers at companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Salesforce are increasingly voicing grievances over the extra benefits for parents working from home — Pandemic policies at tech companies have created a rift between parents offered more benefits and resentful workers who don’t have children.
Parents Got More Time Off. Then the Backlash Started.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/technology/parents-time-off-backlash.html
Pandemic policies at tech companies have created a rift between parents offered more benefits and resentful workers who don’t have children.
When the coronavirus closed schools and child care centers and turned American parenthood into a multitasking nightmare, many tech companies rushed to help their employees. They used their comfortable profit margins to extend workers new benefits, including extra time off for parents to help them care for their children.
It wasn’t long before employees without children started to ask: What about us?
At a recent companywide meeting, Facebook employees repeatedly argued that work policies created in response to Covid-19 “have primarily benefited parents.” At Twitter, a fight erupted on an internal message board after a worker who didn’t have children at home accused another employee, who was taking a leave to care for a child, of not pulling his weight.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Data used by algorithms shaping coronavirus vaccine and drug trials could lead to further discrimination in clinical decision making
CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
‘Encoding the same biases’: Artificial intelligence’s limitations in coronavirus response
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/encoding-same-biases-artificial-intelligence-s-limitations-coronavirus-response.html#utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=AI_biases
As the coronavirus pandemic endures, the socio-economic implications of race and gender in contracting Covid-19 and dying from it have been laid bare. Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a key role in the response, but it could also be exacerbating inequalities within our health systems – a critical concern that is dragging the technology’s limitations back into the spotlight.
Tomi Engdahl says:
I ate at Golden Corral to see how its ‘no touch’ all-you-can-eat buffet works and found a COVID-19 nightmare
https://www.businessinsider.com/i-ate-at-gold-corral-during-the-pandemic-review-photos-2020-9?r=US&IR=T
During COVID-19, restaurants have had to adapt to align with state guidelines.
I went to a Golden Corral in Iowa assuming it would be a “no-touch” buffet. But I was wrong.
The experience left me feeling uncomfortable about the number of diners and the lack of mitigation efforts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Security theater is the practice of investing in countermeasures intended to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little or nothing to achieve it.
Now we have entered to the era of Covid-19 safety theater in many places.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sanna Marin Iskee Tulta(Sata Salamaa cover)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=hHQYEnqfxIU
Tomi Engdahl says:
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Reed Hastings calls working from home “a pure negative” for employees and that the Netflix workforce will return to its offices once a vaccine is approved — Co-CEO of streaming giant discusses company’s culture of candor and how working from home is harder
Netflix’s Reed Hastings Deems Remote Work ‘a Pure Negative’
Co-CEO of streaming giant discusses company’s culture of candor and how working from home is harder
https://www.wsj.com/articles/netflixs-reed-hastings-deems-remote-work-a-pure-negative-11599487219?mod=djemalertNEWS
As a founder and co-chief executive of Netflix Inc., NFLX -1.84% Reed Hastings has reshaped both the way people watch television and how the entertainment industry operates.
Launching Netflix in 1997 as a DVD-by-mail movie-rental service with Marc Randolph, Mr. Hastings grasped early that the internet was the future of distribution. First with old movies and TV shows that Hollywood studios and networks were more than happy to sell, then with original programming such as “House of Cards” and “Stranger Things,” the streaming giant has built a global subscriber base approaching 200 million households world-wide.
Along the way, Mr. Hastings has built a distinctive—and, to some, cutthroat—corporate culture. The Netflix way encourages staff to take big risks, typically without the need of approval from a chain of bosses, and to communicate with blunt candor. Leaders often practice what is called the “keeper test,” in which they ask themselves: If a staffer were offered a job elsewhere, would you fight to keep that employee? If the answer is no, the person is let go.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dawn Chmielewski / Forbes:
Profile of Reed Hastings as Netflix thrives during the pandemic, adding ~1M subscribers/month in the US and Canada and another 2M/month globally since March — The man responsible for keeping the world entertained does so, at least this day, alone in front of a computer screen, in his son’s largely unadorned childhood bedroom.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnchmielewski/2020/09/07/how-netflixs-reed-hastings-rewrote-the-hollywood-script/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Richard C. Paddock / New York Times:
As schooling moves online during the pandemic, rural students in Indonesia and other countries struggle to learn on smartphones and shared laptops
When Learning Is Really Remote: Students Climb Trees and Travel Miles for a Cell Signal
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/world/asia/coronavirus-indonesia-school-remote-learning.html
Schools are closed in Indonesia because of the pandemic, but for the rural poor who lack internet access and smartphones, online education is particularly difficult.
On school days, the three teenage students hop on a motorbike and ride to their personal study hall: a spot along a narrow road outside the Indonesian village of Kenalan where they can get a stable cellphone signal.
Sitting on the shoulder of the road, they do their lessons on smartphones and a single laptop as cars and motorbikes zip by. The three students — two sisters and their 15-year-old aunt — have been studying this way on the island of Java since March, when Indonesia closed its schools and universities to contain the coronavirus.
“When the school ordered us to study at home I was confused because we don’t have a signal at home,” said one of the girls, Siti Salma Putri Salsabila, 13.
The travails of these students, and others like them, have come to symbolize the hardships faced by millions of schoolchildren across the Indonesian archipelago. Officials have shuttered schools and implemented remote learning, but internet and cellphone service is limited and many students lack smartphones and computers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Play it down’: Trump admits to concealing the true threat of coronavirus in new Woodward book
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/09/politics/bob-woodward-rage-book-trump-coronavirus/index.html
President Donald Trump admitted he knew weeks before the first confirmed US coronavirus death that the virus was dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and “more deadly than even your strenuous flus,” and that he repeatedly played it down publicly, according to legendary journalist Bob Woodward in his new book “Rage.”
“This is deadly stuff,” Trump told Woodward on February 7.
In a series of interviews with Woodward, Trump revealed that he had a surprising level of detail about the threat of the virus earlier than previously known. “Pretty amazing,” Trump told Woodward, adding that the coronavirus was maybe five times “more deadly” than the flu.
Trump’s admissions are in stark contrast to his frequent public comments at the time insisting that the virus was “going to disappear” and “all work out fine.”
The book, using Trump’s own words, depicts a President who has betrayed the public trust and the most fundamental responsibilities of his office. In “Rage,” Trump says the job of a president is “to keep our country safe.” But in early February, Trump told Woodward he knew how deadly the virus was, and in March, admitted he kept that knowledge hidden from the public.
“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward on March 19, even as he had declared a national emergency over the virus days earlier. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kun ilmat kylmenevät, koronariski voi kasvaa moninkertaiseksi: 3 erityistä vaaran paikkaa
https://www.iltalehti.fi/terveysuutiset/a/30213de6-891e-4a38-9b6b-05593d479935
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trump knew Covid-19′s mortality rates and transmission mode in February when he was telling the public it was no worse than the flu.
Trump Admits He Knew How Deadly Covid-19 Was In February, While Lying About It Publicly
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/trump-admits-he-knew-how-deadly-covid19-was-in-february-while-lying-about-it-publicly/
Through February and March, President Donald Trump made one statement after another downplaying the seriousness of the new coronavirus, at the time ravaging parts of China, Italy, and Iran. Trump’s statements were not caused by ignorance, but involved a deliberate strategy of misleading the American public “because I didn’t want to create a panic,” according to acclaimed journalist Bob Woodward. Woodward has the recordings to prove it.
Woodward, one half of the team of investigative reporters who exposed the Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixon, interviewed Trump in February and March of this year.
In the lead-up to Rage’s release Woodward has revealed a tape discussing the coronavirus in which Trump told him, “You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus,” in a call the President initiated on February 7. “This is more deadly. This is 5 percent vs 1 percent and less than 1 percent [coronavirus mortality rate vs seasonal flu mortality rate]… this is deadly stuff,” he added.
He said in the call SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted through the air, making it harder to control than many other viruses, something that was, at the time, still debated even within the scientific community. However, he didn’t publically acknowledge this until several weeks later.
For months, as the pandemic toll in deaths and illness has ticked steadily upwards, health experts have struggled to get people to take the disease seriously, while the figure with the world’s loudest megaphone contradicted them. “It’s like the flu,” Trump said in March, adding it was fine to go to work with a Covid-19 infection and that the disease would go away once April came, or could be easily treated with existing medicines. The mixed messages have undermined responses far beyond the USA’s borders.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.tiede.fi/blogit/kaiken-takana-loinen/koronavirus-ei-ole-muuntunut-vahemman-tappavaksi
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trump Claims He Downplayed Coronavirus To Keep Americans Calm. Here Are The Many Times He’s Tried To Incite Panic.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/09/10/trump-claims-he-downplayed-coronavirus-to-keep-americans-calm-here-are-the-many-times-hes-tried-to-incite-panic/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
The revelation that President Trump told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward this spring that he publicly downplayed the danger of the coronavirus “because I don’t want to create a panic” has ignited a firestorm of criticism, and during a press briefing on Wednesday, the president doubled down on the issue, saying, “I don’t want people to be frightened,” however, since the very start of his campaign four years ago, Trump has repeatedly sought to stoke fear on a wide array of issues to win elections and maintain power. Here are some examples
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fauci Says It Will Be ‘Well Into 2021’ Before U.S. Returns To Normal From Coronavirus
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/09/11/fauci-says-it-will-be-well-into-2021-before-us-returns-to-normal-from-coronavirus/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease official, told MSNBC on Friday that because of the timeline for manufacturing and distributing a coronavirus vaccine, it will be well into next year before American life returns to normal.
President Trump suggested this week that a vaccine will be ready in time for November’s election, but Fauci has said such an accelerated timeline is not realistic.
Fauci said Friday it’s possible that a vaccine could be available by the end of this year or early 2021.
During a discussion with doctors from Harvard Medical School on Thursday, Fauci said the U.S. needs to prepare to “hunker down” this fall and winter and warned against looking only at the “rosy side of things,” CNBC reported.
“If you’re talking about getting back to a degree of normality, which resembles where we were prior to COVID, it’s gonna be well into 2021,” Fauci said. “Maybe even towards the end of 2021.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Vaccine nationalism” could become a big problem.
These Are The Biggest Threats That Hinder The Fight Against Covid-19, According To Experts
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/these-are-the-biggest-threats-that-hinder-the-fight-against-covid19-according-to-experts/
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world. It’s the biggest public health threat humanity is currently facing. Now, the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), a global network of science, engineering, and medical academies with over 30,000 members across 100 nations, has released what it believes are emerging public health threats related to the crisis.
In a communiqué, the organization warned cutting corners in the race to a vaccine, anti-vaxxers, and vaccine nationalism are all looming threats that could dramatically hinder our ability to fight against the pandemic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pandemic spawned trends caused by shifts in consumer behavior are disrupting marketplaces and creating opportunities for new startups.
The Pandemic Has Accelerated And Spawned Trends That Startups And Small Businesses Can Leverage
http://on.forbes.com/6189GtHvz
It’s very rare that markets and consumers are all shifted in real time together. Normally, trends begin slowly, starting in a few industries and in micro segments of the population and then they grow over time. With the pandemic, there have been wholesale shifts in consumer behavior, which are rapidly driving new trends across multiple industries. Not to make the pandemic sound like a good thing but this is a perfect storm for people who want to start companies or small businesses that can pivot to provide new products and services based on these accelerated trends.
In the 25 years of marketing and entrepreneurship, I have never seen this massive a shift in consumer behavior all at one time. It’s unprecedented. However, it does create opportunity for those who want to leverage these rapidly accelerated trends. While all trends are not equal, I believe most of these trends are here to stay. Here are several of them below that you might be able to leverage into a startup company.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maailman suurimmat risteilyvarustamot ovat syvissä vaikeuksissa koronapandemian pysäytettyä risteilyliikenteen käytännössä kokonaan. Kaksi suurinta varustamoa on ryhtynyt pienentämään risteilylaivastoaan siirtämällä vanhimpia loistoristeilijöitä romutettavaksi. Suomessa 1990-luvulla rakennetut Carnival Fantasy ja Carnival Inspiration on jo siirretty Turkkiin purkutelakalle.
https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/suomessa-rakennetut-loistoristeilijat-carnival-fantasy-ja-carnival-inspiration-makaavat-purkutelakalla-turkissa-miljoonatappioita-tekevat-varustamojatit-romuttavat-aluksiaan/7923980#gs.fzmbw1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wataru Suzuki / Nikkei Asian Review:
The public’s phobia of touching cash amid COVID-19 could help SoftBank popularize mobile payments in cash-addicted Japan; SoftBank has invested $1B+ in PayPay
SoftBank wants to burn money
Masayoshi Son zeros in on Japan, where he is ready to lose billions in a battle to conquer cash
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/SoftBank-wants-to-burn-money
TOKYO — In its most extreme form, a psychological condition known as chrometophobia — fear of money — can take over the lives of people who suffer from it. They recoil from the sight of cash, flinch when touching or coming into contact with paper bills and coins.
SoftBank Group, Japan’s most aggressive venture capital investor, thinks they might be onto something. Its latest multibillion-dollar technology bet is being marketed on a simple proposition: In the age of the coronavirus, cash is immensely dangerous.
“Many people don’t want to touch paper bills and coins that may have been touched by someone else,” said Ichiro Nakayama, CEO of the new SoftBank-created digital payment app PayPay, in a livestreamed news conference in July. “Cashless is the way to enable touchless and contactless.”
“COVID is a gift to cashless payment providers,” said Michael Causton, a retail analyst writes on research platform Smartkarma. “Retailers want to protect staff from unnecessary contact with customers and contactless payments help this tremendously. Consumers, too, of course, want to avoid handling cash from stores to reduce the chances of contamination.”
“Curing Japan of its cash addiction would be incredibly lucrative; bringing [it] on par with China would create a $1.3 trillion industry”
Tomi Engdahl says:
An Infectious Disease Doctor Explains Why Striving For Herd Immunity From Covid-19 Is A Bad Idea
http://on.forbes.com/6187GtC15
Dr. Mark Kortepeter, a physician and biodefense expert who formerly worked at the U.S. Army “hot zone” research lab, explains why a policy of pursuing “herd immunity” for Covid-19 is a bad idea, unless it comes from a vaccine.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The pharmaceutical company said its drug baricitinib, combined with remdesivir, reduces median hospital stays by one day compared to remdesivir alone, and is pursuing an emergency use authorization with the FDA.
Lilly’s Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Shortens Covid-19 Hospitalization When Combined With Antiviral Med
http://on.forbes.com/6185GtCKd
Eli Lilly and Company announced Monday morning that a study conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of hospitalized Covid-19 patients found that its rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib, in combination with Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir, reduces the median hospital stay of patients by one day compared to treatment with remdesivir alone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Singapore to test compulsory COVID-tracker usage as condition of entry to some venues
Wearable tracker now being distributed for those who don’t fancy smartphone surveillance
https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/15/singapore_testing_compulsory_contact_tracing/
Singapore test compulsory use of COVID-tracking tech as a condition of entry to some venues.
The city-state was among the first to introduce a contact-tracing smartphone app and later introduced a dumb device for those who don’t fancy, or don’t own, a smartphone. Both are branded “TraceTogether”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
At JPMorgan, Productivity Falls For Younger Employees At Home
https://it.slashdot.org/story/20/09/15/0450254/at-jpmorgan-productivity-falls-for-younger-employees-at-home?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
A troubling pattern emerged as most of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s employees worked from home to stem the spread of Covid-19: productivity slipped. Work output by younger employees was particularly affected on Mondays and Fridays, according to findings discussed by Chief Executive Office Jamie Dimon in a private meeting with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts. That, along with worries that remote work is no substitute for organic interaction, are part of why the biggest U.S. bank is urging more workers to return to offices over the coming weeks. “The WFH lifestyle seems to have impacted younger employees, and overall productivity and ‘creative combustion’ has taken a hit,” KBW’s Brian Kleinhanzl wrote in a Sept. 13 note to clients, citing an earlier meeting with Dimon. “Overall, Jamie thinks a shift back to the office will be good for the young employees and to foster creative ideas,” Kleinhanzl wrote.
At JPMorgan, Productivity Falls for Staff Working at Home
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-14/at-jpmorgan-productivity-falls-for-younger-employees-at-home
A troubling pattern emerged as most of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s employees worked from home to stem the spread of Covid-19: productivity slipped.
Work output was particularly affected on Mondays and Fridays, according to findings discussed by Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon in a private meeting with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts. That, along with worries that remote work is no substitute for organic interaction, is part of why the biggest U.S. bank is urging more workers to return to offices over the coming weeks.
“The WFH lifestyle seems to have impacted younger employees, and overall productivity and ‘creative combustion’ has taken a hit,”
The bank has noticed the productivity decline among “employees in general, not just younger employees,” JPMorgan spokesman Michael Fusco clarified in an emailed statement, adding that younger workers “could be disadvantaged by missed learning opportunities” by not being in offices.
JPMorgan’s findings provide a data point in the debate over whether employees perform as well at the kitchen table as they do in the workplace, showing extended remote work may not be all it’s cracked up to be, at least for some job functions. While pre-pandemic studies found remote workers were just as efficient as those in offices, there were questions about how employees would perform under compulsory lockdowns.
JPMorgan last week told its most senior sales and trading employees that they would be required to return to their offices by Sept. 21, the strongest move yet by a U.S. bank to restaff its workplaces. Workers in other functions are also being encouraged to return, up to a maximum building capacity of 50% in New York.
“Overall, Jamie thinks a shift back to the office will be good for the young employees and to foster creative ideas,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
EXCLUSIVE: CDC’s Confession That America’s Covid-19 Tracking Failed
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/09/15/exclusive-cdcs-confession-that-americas-covid-19-tracking-failed/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#4b5ab3906992
The Trump administration has been pushing on with the reopening of America even though the CDC didn’t have the data it needed to properly track the disease.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trump Says Vaccine Will Be Ready In As Little As ‘Four Weeks’ — Scientists Say That’s Aggressive
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/09/15/trump-says-vaccine-will-be-ready-in-as-little-as-four-weeks—scientists-say-thats-aggressive/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
As concerns grow about the politicization of U.S. health agencies under the Trump administration ahead of the November election, President Trump offered up an aggressive prediction about the timeline for a Covid-19 vaccine during an interview Tuesday, claiming a vaccine could be ready in as little as “four weeks.”
In an interview with Fox & Friends Tuesday, Trump said he believes the U.S. will have a vaccine in “a matter of weeks,” before laying out a more specific timeline, predicting a vaccine could come in as little as “four,” or “eight” weeks.
Trump also claimed that if Biden were president, the U.S. would not have a vaccine “for years” because of all the red tape.
Concerns that the Trump administration will try to play politics with a Covid-19 vaccine have grown since the Centers for Disease Control recently notified states to be ready to distribute a vaccine by November 1, just two days before the election.
Trump administration officials have since worked to downplay those concerns — and last week, nine major drug companies signed a pledge to “stand with science” — not politics — when it comes to a vaccine.
Scientists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said it’s unlikely a vaccine will be ready before the election.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Koronaviruksen yllättävä seuraus: rikollisuuden määrä romahti Yhdysvalloissa
Koronavirus pakotti rikollisetkin pysyttelemään omassa kodissaan.
https://www.iltalehti.fi/koronavirus/a/bae20c8a-4f0a-44e8-a4aa-e82726d650d5
. Yhdysvaltojen keskusrikospoliisi FBI kertoi tiistaina, että vuoden ensimmäisellä puoliskolla tehtiin 14,8 prosenttia vähemmän murhia kuin 2019. Raiskauksia ilmoitettiin peräti 17,8 prosenttia vähemmän kuin vuotta aiemmin.
Myös ryöstöjen määrä oli selvästi laskussa.
Ainoa “suosiotaan” kasvattanut rikollisuuden muoto oli tuhopoltto
Tomi Engdahl says:
Koronan supertartuttaja osallistui häihin USA:ssa – nyt jo seitsemän kuollutta ja 175 tartunnan saanutta
https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/d88c3298-e774-46ef-8614-854d353a4897
Ainakin seitsemän ihmistä on jo kuollut ja 175 saanut tartunnan hääjuhlien yhteydessä levinneen COVID-19:n takia. Yhdysvaltain tautikeskus CDC pelkää tartuntoja ilmaantuvan lisää.
Hääjuhlaa vietettiin elokuun alussa Millinocketissa Mainen osavaltiossa. Big Moose Inn -ravintolassa järjestettyyn häävastaanottoon osallistui 65 vierasta.
Häiden vierasmäärä ylitti viranomaisten maksimimäärän 50, eikä juhlassa muutenkaan noudatettu ohjeita. Turvavälit unohtuivat, samoin desinfiointi. Seuraukset olivat katastrofaaliset.
Tomi Engdahl says:
US retailers roll out foreign toilet paper amid COVID-19 pandemic
https://nypost.com/2020/09/15/us-retailers-roll-out-foreign-toilet-paper-amid-covid-19/?utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site+buttons&utm_campaign=site+buttons
Toilet paper is back on store shelves. But you may not recognize some of the brands.
Demand for toilet paper has been so high during the pandemic that in order to keep their shelves stocked, retailers are buying up foreign toilet paper brands, mostly from Mexico. Major chains, across the country, including CVS, Piggly Wiggly, Safeway, 7-Eleven and others, are carrying the international brands.
The stores said they needed to get creative during the pandemic and started working with new suppliers to get shoppers what they needed. But don’t worry about popular US brands like Charmin — they aren’t going to disappear. Supply chain experts expect the Mexican and other foreign-made rolls to be on store shelves only temporarily, until US manufacturers catch up with demand.
Americans use much more toilet paper than other countries, according to Patrick Penfield, a supply chain professor at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University — which is why Mexico can handle shipping more rolls to the United States. Stores have done this with other products during the pandemic, he said, bringing Mexican-made hand sanitizer to the US when there was a shortage.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘We Just Keep Reopening’: White House Plans To Stay The Course With No Vaccine
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/09/16/we-just-keep-reopening-white-house-plans-to-stay-the-course-with-no-vaccine/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
Asked by reporters on Wednesday what the administration’s plan is to combat unemployment if a vaccine is not available for another 6 to 9 months, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said “we just keep reopening,” as the administration sticks to its approach of hoping the virus will end quickly despite guidance from experts.
Trump has been sternly optimistic about a vaccine timeline, telling supporters at a tele-rally earlier this month, “It’ll be delivered, the vaccine, before the end of the year and frankly, maybe even during the month of October,” and later asserting “we will very easily defeat the China virus” and “we’re making that round beautiful last turn” in the outbreak.
But Trump’s own health officials cast doubt on that optimistic timeline on Wednesday, with CDC Director Robert Redfield saying that a vaccine likely won’t be “generally available” until “late second quarter, third quarter 2021,” and HHS official Paul Mango predicting only 20 million doses of a vaccine would be immediately available if it was approved in October.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trump Says His CDC Director Is ‘Confused’ And ‘Incorrect’ On Vaccine, Masks
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/09/16/trump-says-his-cdc-director-is-confused-and-incorrect-on-vaccine-masks/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
President Trump repeatedly cast Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield as out-of-the-loop and generally under-informed on Wednesday for stating that a vaccine likely wouldn’t be widely available until mid-to-late 2021, with the president claiming a vaccine will be widely distributed before the end of the year and calling Redfield “confused” and “incorrect.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Publishers Are Taking the Internet to Court
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/publishers-are-taking-the-internet-to-court/
In a lawsuit against the Internet Archive, the largest corporations in publishing want to change what it means to own a book.
When Covid-19 struck, hundreds of millions of students were suddenly stranded at home without access to teachers or libraries. UNESCO reported that in April, 90 percent of the world’s enrolled students had been adversely affected by the pandemic. In response, the Internet Archive’s Open Library announced the National Emergency Library, a temporary program suspending limits on the number of patrons who could borrow its digital books simultaneously. The Open Library lends at no charge about 4 million digital books, 2.5 million of which are in the public domain, and 1.4 million of which may be under copyright and subject to lending restrictions. (This is roughly equivalent to a medium-sized city library; the New York Public Library, by comparison, holds 21.9 million books and printed materials and 1.78 million e-books, according to 2016 figures from the American Library Association.) But the National Emergency Library wound up creating an emergency of its own—for the future of libraries.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Barr Labels Stay-At-Home Orders The ‘Greatest Intrusion’ On Civil Liberties Since Slavery
https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/09/17/barr-labels-stay-at-home-orders-the-greatest-intrusion-on-civil-liberties-since-slavery/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#3721deb46c8f
U.S. Attorney General William Barr launched a scathing attack on state governors’ decision to impose lockdowns designed to stop the spread of coronavirus, during an event at Hillsdale College Wednesday, going as far as to call stay at home orders the “greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history” other than slavery.
Barr said during the Constitution Day celebration: “You know, putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest. Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history,” to a round of applause.
Barr’s comments follow months of discord between President Donald Trump and Democrat governors, such as New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo, over state lockdowns, with the President exerting pressure on states to reopen.
Barr has been one of the most vocal supporters of Trump, and his administration’s opposition, to lockdown measures that have shuttered swathes of businesses and triggered record levels of unemployment. As early as April, as the pandemic worsened in the U.S., Barr went up against governors and threatened to take legal action against them if their coronavirus restrictions “impinge on either civil rights or on national commerce.” He went on to call shelter in place orders “very burdensome”, despite experts recommending restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.
Tomi Engdahl says:
WHO Warns Of ‘Alarming’ Coronavirus Growth Rate In Europe
https://www.forbes.com/sites/karenrobinsonjacobs/2020/09/17/who-warns-of-alarming-coronavirus-growth-rate-in-europe/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#1681aa6446e8
The World Health Organization’s Regional Director for Europe Thursday warned of “alarming rates” of coronavirus transmission across the region with the greatest proportion of new cases coming among young and middle-aged adults, according to media reports.
Weekly cases in Europe have “have now exceeded those reported when the pandemic first peaked in Europe in March,” Dr. Hans Kluge said, according to CNN.
More than half of European nations have reported an increase of more than 10% in new cases in the past two weeks, according to CNN and “of those, seven countries have seen newly reported cases increase more than two-fold in the same period,” Kluge added.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nearly 60 percent of COVID-19 business closures are permanent: report
https://nypost.com/2020/09/17/majority-of-covid-19-business-closures-are-permanent-report/?utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site+buttons&utm_campaign=site+buttons
Nearly 60 percent of businesses that closed nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic are never reopening again, according to a report.
The vast majority of those businesses are restaurants and gift stores, according to Yelp’s Local Economic Impact Report, a monthly survey of business listings.
As of Aug. 31, 163,735 businesses were listed as closed, with 97,966 of them permanent closures — a 23 percent increase from July 10, the report said.
Meanwhile, some businesses have actually thrived during the pandemic, according to the report.
Home improvement businesses, including contractors and plumbers as well as auto-related businesses like towing companies have been spared the brunt of the pandemic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
France Sets New Daily Coronavirus Record—13,000 Cases—As Other Countries Lock Down
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/09/18/france-sets-new-daily-coronavirus-record-13000-cases-as-other-countries-lock-down/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
France has stumbled over a menacing new hurdle in their battle to beat coronavirus as the country counted upwards of 13,000 new coronavirus cases Friday, an all-time daily high including even before the French lockdown in spring, as other countries like the U.K., Israel and Spain grapple to regain control of the virus’ spread.
Tomi Engdahl says:
With all of the uncertainty surrounding Covid-19, also known as coronavirus, travel companies have to adapt their policies to fit the times. Here are how the leading loyalty programs are providing flexibility to their best customers. Via Forbes Advisor
How Airline And Hotel Loyalty Programs Are Responding To Coronavirus
http://on.forbes.com/6187GvXR7
With all of the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, also known as coronavirus, travel companies have to adapt their policies to fit the times. Here are how the leading hotel loyalty programs are providing flexibility to their best customers. As the situation is fluid, to say the least, this post will be updated as changes arise.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Disrupt 2020
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston says the pandemic forced the company to reevaluate what work means
https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/15/dropbox-ceo-drew-houston-says-the-pandemic-forced-the-company-to-reevaluate-the-product-roadmap/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Fauci interview: How to ‘keep your immune system working optimally,’ gather safely, and get by until summer 2022
https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-interview-how-to-stay-healhy-get-by-until-2022-2020-9
Still, he’s pretty confident that by 2022, Americans should be able to resume most aspects of life as we knew it before the pandemic — “if we deploy a vaccine and we implement public-health measures.”
It’s been feeling like everyone is kind of banking on spring 2022 being the end of the coronavirus crisis. People are planning weddings, trips, and belated birthday celebrations. Will we be safe to go party in those ways by summer 2022?
Yeah, I think so. But again, these are all conjectures and guesses.
I believe that by the end of 2021, if we get — and I feel cautiously optimistic that we will have — a safe and effective vaccine by the end of this calendar year. I said November-December, others say October. I think it’s unlikely in October, but maybe, you never know. But let’s say a safe bet will be the end of this calendar year.
By the time you deploy the vaccines effectively to the hundreds of millions of people in the United States that will need it. And it’s not only in the United States. Hopefully there’ll be enough vaccines and enough supply in the tune of billions of doses to be able to give equitable distribution of vaccines throughout the world.
I believe that by the time we get to the end of 2021, if everyone gets vaccinated and we continue to implement the public-health measures that I have been talking about incessantly over the last several months — they’re not universally adhered to — if we do that, plus the vaccine, we’ll get to the point where the level of virus will be so low, and maybe even, you know, close to absent.
I don’t think we’re going to eradicate it.
We may not completely eliminate it, but if you get it down to such a very low level, and enough of the population is protected — either by a vaccine or by previously having been infected — then you’ll develop a degree of herd immunity that you won’t have an outbreak.
So when people say spring of 2022, I think that’s quite reasonable, because I think that if we deploy a vaccine and we implement public health measures, I think it might even be sooner than that. But 2022 I think is a pretty good bet.
So how long do you think we will need the vaccine to exist before we can stand shoulder to shoulder with strangers again? How long will it need to be available before we can crowd into bars like the old days?
Well, you know, I don’t think you should crowd into bars under any circumstances. [Laughs.] Just joking.
But I just think you have to get it so that most everybody in the population gets vaccinated. Once you’ve got that, like I said, that gets back to the first question that I answered for you. I think that could be accomplished by the end of 2021.
Yeah. I was thinking in terms of, even this week, for example, CDC Director Robert Redfield was saying that if a vaccine’s immunogenicity is, like, 70%, then you might still want to wear a mask.
Sure. Yeah. Like I said — you have my words recorded.
I said a combination of an effective vaccine and adherence to certain public-health principles will get us to the point where we want to be, by the end of 2021.
I never said just the vaccine.
You never should abandon the public-health measures. And the intensity of the public-health measures would depend on the level of infection in the community.
If there’s almost no infection in the community, together with the vaccine, you might want to be able to say “I can safely congregate with people.”
You may want to do it with a mask, or without a mask.
It’s all going to depend on the level of infection in the community, and how low you got it down with your vaccine.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bill Gates: U.S. Needs To ‘Own Up To The Fact That We Didn’t Do A Good Job’
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/09/20/bill-gates-us-needs-to-own-up-to-the-fact-that-we-didnt-do-a-good-job/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
The United States needs to “own up to the fact that we didn’t do a good job” up until this point of the Covid-19 pandemic, billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates said during a Fox News Sunday interview, adding that the slow turnaround for testing results remains “outrageous.”
“Unfortunately we did a very poor job and you can just see that in the numbers,” Gates said.
Despite having around 4% of the world’s population, the U.S. has around 22% of all cases with 6,782,083 and about 21% of all reported deaths with 199,411.
The inability to create a testing structure as seen in countries like South Korea “led to us having not just a bad spring, we’ve had a pretty tough summer and sadly because of the seasonality, until we get these new tools, the fall is looking to shape up as pretty tough as well,” Gates said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Total retail sales have recently picked up, but restaurants remain hard hit during the pandemic.
Even As Cities Reopen, Restaurants Are Being Hammered By The Coronavirus
http://on.forbes.com/6184GvW6u
Over the weekend in New York’s Koreatown, near the Empire State Building in Midtown, throngs of diners packed the area, where some streets were closed to accommodate outdoor seating. Just a short block away from the revelry, however, the silence was palpable as restaurants, large and small, sat darkened. The same eerie contrast can be seen across the city.
New York isn’t alone, either. In the Commerce Department’s latest report on Wednesday on how American consumers are spending, August sales at food service and drinking places, while improving by 4.7% from July, slumped 15% from a year earlier. In comparison, total retail sales rose 2.6% from a year earlier, led by demand online and for home-improvement supplies, grocery and sporting goods gear.
For the first eight months of this year, restaurant sales fell 21%, with the decline outpaced only by a 35% slide from clothing and accessories retailers, a segment that was struggling even before the coronavirus pandemic upended how and where people shop.
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s not just the risk of death that you need to worry about.
Study Finds Half Of Covid-19 Patients Suffer Lingering Fatigue Following Recovery
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/study-finds-half-of-covid19-patients-suffer-lingering-fatigue-following-recovery/
A new study published in the journal medRxiv has investigated the prevalence of lingering and extreme tiredness in patients who have recovered from Covid-19. More than half of those studied suffered significant fatigue following their recovery from the illness, irrespective of the severity of their disease. The findings highlight the need for sufficient follow up for recovering patients and further investigation for those suffering from severe post-Covid-19 lethargy to better understand the origins of this developing syndrome.
“Whilst the presenting features of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been well-characterised, the medium and long-term consequences of infection remain unexplored,”
“Our findings demonstrate a significant burden of post-viral fatigue in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection after the acute phase of COVID-19 illness,” the study authors wrote. “This study highlights the importance of assessing those recovering from COVID-19 for symptoms of severe fatigue, irrespective of severity of initial illness, and may identify a group worthy of further study and early intervention.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
CDC Quietly Revises Coronavirus Guidance Again—This Time For Aerosol Transmission
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/09/21/cdc-quietly-revises-coronavirus-guidance-again-this-time-for-aerosol-transmission/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
The Centers for Disease Control quietly updated its guidance on Friday for coronavirus transmission—now saying that the virus can be transmitted via aerosols as well as larger droplets—and is the agency’s latest update for managing the virus, among earlier controversial reversals on the wearing of masks, who can get tested and the reopening of businesses.
“There is growing evidence that droplets and airborne particles can remain suspended in the air and be breathed in by others, and travel distances beyond six feet,” the CDC now advises.
Poorly ventilated indoor spaces, like choir practices or fitness classes, can be particularly risky for virus transmission, the CDC’s guidance adds.
Scientists say the new CDC guidance is important because cloth masks aren’t designed to protect the wearer from aerosols.
The World Health Organization publicly addressed the threat of aerosols in July at the urging of hundreds of scientists, and according to the Post, it’s unclear why the CDC is following suit months later.
Tomi Engdahl says:
During Estonia’s pandemic lock-down, the country’s online government services continued to be readily available, its schools experienced little difficulty supporting digital learning, remote working seems to have been a non-issue, and its health information systems were able to be quickly reconfigured to provide information about newly diagnosed Covid-19 cases in near real-time. Here’s what Estonia can teach the world about managing legacy IT systems.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/computing/it/estonia-manages-legacy-it
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK Considers Another Lockdown As Cases Projected To Hit 50,000 Per Day
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/09/21/uk-europe-considers-another-lockdown-as-cases-projected-to-hit-50000-per-day/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
England’s chief medical official warned the country is currently on track to hit 50,000 Covid-19 cases per day by mid-October if the spread of coronavirus continues at its current pace, as countries across Europe reckon with an alarming surge in coronavirus cases and move toward imposing new restrictions to stave off a likely second wave.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How these new trends are reshaping people, data, and goods in the post-COVID world
We asked 3 CEOs what tech trends will dominate post-COVID
https://thenextweb.com/dutch-disruptors/2020/09/01/we-asked-3-ceos-what-tech-trends-will-dominate-post-covid/
In a globalized world, we’ve become accustomed to doing business, buying products, and traveling across the globe at lightning speed.
But the introduction of social distancing measures this year suddenly placed major barriers on movement. This caused a rapid acceleration in the transition to digital and the adoption of emerging tech, as society quickly adapted to this new reality.
1. Moving goods
While social distancing stopped us from physically going out to shop, it certainly didn’t stop us from moving our shopping habits online. During the lockdown period, there was a major spike in ecommerce — COVID-19 actually accelerated ecommerce’s growth by four to six years
2. Moving data
During the lockdown, the WHO teamed up with tech giants like Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM to create a blockchain-backed platform that will help detect COVID-19 carriers and potential hotspots. Why blockchain you may ask?
3. Moving ourselves
Last but certainly not least, after months of lockdown, all most of us want to do is hit the road and go on a trip. After months of scrolling through travel photos on Instagram, people are getting the itch to get out and move. But how will travel change in the post-COVID world?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dow Falls 500 Points Amid Resurgence In Coronavirus Cases
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/09/21/dow-falls-600-points-amid-resurgence-in-coronavirus-cases/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
The market fell sharply on Monday, extending its three-week losing streak as stocks took a hit from an uptick in new coronavirus cases, declining tech shares and deadlocked stimulus talks in Congress.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/huippututkija-varoittaa-suomea-koronaryopsahdyksesta-nama-kolme-toimenpidetta-tarvitaan-se-on-valtettavissa-jos-toimitaan-nyt/7930812#gs.g9hdqk
Tomi Engdahl says:
Airbus, The World’s Largest Planemaker, Warns Of More Job Cuts Because Of The Pandemic
https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/09/22/airbus-the-worlds-largest-planemaker-warns-of-more-job-cuts-because-of-the-pandemic/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
Airbus SE, now the world’s largest planemaker, could take more strict measures to cut more jobs because of a continued fall in demand for travel fuelled by the coronavirus pandemic, CEO Guillaume Faury told French radio station RTL Tuesday morning.