Coronavirus Economic Weekly News 22August 2021

Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666

News posted last week about economic effects related to the coronavirus 2019-nCoV (aka SARS-CoV-2), which produces COVID-19 disease, has been surveyed and some articles are summarized here. We cover the latest economic data, especially the prospects for an infrastructure bill, stimulus checks, government funding, the Fed, the latest employment data, housing market reports, mortgage delinquencies & forbearance, travel, layoffs, lockdowns, and schools, as well as infrastructure and GDP. The bulk of the news is from the U.S., with a few more articles from overseas at the end. (Picture below is morning rush hour in downtown Chicago, 20 March 2020.) News items about epidemiology and other medical news for the virus are reported in a companion article.

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The infrastructure and budget bills are stalled in the House so I have very little on those. But there are now dozens of vaccination and/or mask mandates, and a number of large crowd events are being cancelled. Between that and the schools returning, there’s probably as much here as I’ve ever had in Part 2.

The news:

Fed officials signal move toward tapering bond purchases –Federal Reserve officials are moving toward reducing the pace of the central bank’s monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage bonds by the end of the year, according to minutes released Wednesday from a July meeting. A growing portion of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets Fed monetary policy, expressed support for paring down bond buying after several months of high inflation and accelerating job gains, the minutes showed. “Most participants noted that, provided that the economy were to evolve broadly as they anticipated, they judged that it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year,” the minutes read. “Various participants commented that economic and financial conditions would likely warrant a reduction in coming months.” The Fed began buying up to $120 billion in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities in March 2020 amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The asset purchases, coupled with a steep Fed rate cut, were meant to keep credit flowing through the economy as the financial sector worked through the shock of the coronavirus. Fifteen months later, an increasing number of Fed officials, lawmakers and investors are urging the bank to begin tapering its asset purchases. Those who support paring back bond purchases argue that the job market has recovered beyond the need for additional stimulus that could further fuel inflation, which reached an annualized rate of 5.4 percent in July. But some Fed officials argued at last month’s meeting that it’s too soon to pull back, pointing to the temporary forces pushing inflation higher and a lack of sufficient progress toward replacing jobs lost during the pandemic. “Several others indicated … that a reduction in the pace of asset purchases was more likely to become appropriate early next year because they saw prevailing conditions in the labor market as not being close to meeting the Committee’s ‘substantial further progress’ standard or because of uncertainty about the degree of progress toward the price-stability goal,” the minutes read. The FOMC has insisted for months that it will not raise interest rates or pare back bond purchases until it sees “substantial further progress” toward an annual inflation rate of 2 percent and full employment. Fed officials emphasized last month, however, that the tapering process wasn’t linked to an eventual interest rate hike. The Fed, led by Chairman Jerome Powell, is not expected to hike interest rates until the end of 2022 at the earliest, and many FOMC officials expressed support for ending bond purchases before the Fed increases its baseline interest rate range.The pace of the recovery will be a major test of President Biden’s economic agenda, and may play a key role in determining whether Biden nominates Powell for another four-year term as Fed chairman. His term is slated to expire in February. FOMC members also discussed in July’s meeting how the emergence of the delta variant of COVID-19 could complicate their efforts to guide the economy out of crisis-level stimulus without further disruptions. Many participants remarked that uncertainty was quite high, with slowing in progress on vaccinations and developments surrounding the delta variant posing downside risks to the economic outlook. A number of participants judged that the effects of supply chain disruptions and labor shortages would likely complicate the task of interpreting the incoming data and assessing “the speed at which these supply-side factors would dissipate,” the minutes read.

FOMC Minutes: “It could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year” — From the Fed: Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, July 27-28, 2021. Excerpt on asset purchases: Participants discussed aspects of the Federal Reserve’s asset purchases, including progress made toward the Committee’s maximum-employment and price-stability goals since the adoption of the asset purchase guidance in December 2020. They also considered the question of how asset purchases might be adjusted once economic conditions met the standards of that guidance. No decisions regarding future adjustments to asset purchases were made at this meeting….In their discussion of considerations related to asset purchases, various participants noted that these purchases were an important part of the monetary policy toolkit and a critical aspect of the Federal Reserve’s response to the economic effects of the pandemic, supporting smooth financial market functioning and accommodative financial conditions, which aided the flow of credit to households and businesses and supported the recovery. Participants discussed a broad range of labor market and inflation indicators. All participants assessed that the economy had made progress toward the Committee’s maximum-employment and price-stability goals since the adoption of the guidance on asset purchases in December. Most participants judged that the Committee’s standard of “substantial further progress” toward the maximum-employment goal had not yet been met. At the same time, most participants remarked that this standard had been achieved with respect to the price-stability goal… Looking ahead, most participants noted that, provided that the economy were to evolve broadly as they anticipated, they judged that it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year because they saw the Committee’s “substantial further progress” criterion as satisfied with respect to the price-stability goal and as close to being satisfied with respect to the maximum-employment goal. Various participants commented that economic and financial conditions would likely warrant a reduction in coming months. Several others indicated, however, that a reduction in the pace of asset purchases was more likely to become appropriate early next year because they saw prevailing conditions in the labor market as not being close to meeting the Committee’s “substantial further progress” standard or because of uncertainty about the degree of progress toward the price-stability goal. Participants expressed a range of views on the appropriate pace of tapering asset purchases once economic conditions satisfied the criterion laid out in the Committee’s guidance. Many participants saw potential benefits in a pace of tapering that would end net asset purchases before the conditions currently specified in the Committee’s forward guidance on the federal funds rate were likely to be met. At the same time, participants indicated that the standards for raising the target range for the federal funds rate were distinct from those associated with tapering asset purchases and remarked that the timing of those actions would depend on the course of the economy. Most participants remarked that they saw benefits in reducing the pace of net purchases of Treasury securities and agency MBS proportionally in order to end both sets of purchases at the same time. These participants observed that such an approach would be consistent with the Committee’s understanding that purchases of Treasury securities and agency MBS had similar effects on broader financial conditions and played similar roles in the transmission of monetary policy, or that these purchases were not intended as credit allocation. Some of these participants remarked, however, that they welcomed further discussion of the appropriate composition of asset purchases during the tapering process. Several participants commented on the benefits that they saw in reducing agency MBS purchases more quickly than Treasury securities purchases, noting that the housing sector was exceptionally strong and did not need either actual or perceived support from the Federal Reserve in the form of agency MBS purchases or that such purchases could be interpreted as a type of credit allocation.

FOMC Minutes Show “Most” Fed Members See Taper Starting This Year – Dovish Fed minutes note ‘substantial further progress’ not yet been made, but most see conditions being met later this year

• The FOMC July meeting minutes provided dovish offset from some of the hawkish Fedspeak that has been heard recently.
• The minutes suggested that participants generally judge that the standard of “substantial further progress” had not yet been met, particularly with respect to labor market conditions, and that risks to the economic outlook remained, although most judged that it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year becausethey saw the Committee’s “substantial further progress” criterion as satisfied with respect to the price-stability goal and as close to being satisfied with respect to the maximum-employment goal — all dependent on progress towards the Fed’s goals.
• There are still several participants that indicated that a taper was more likely to become appropriate early next year because they saw prevailing conditions in the labor market as not being close to meeting the Committee’s “substantial further progress” standard or because of uncertainty about the degree of progress toward the price-stability goal.
• It is noteworthy that the minutes from the meeting, which was framed by market participants as hawkish, is being interpreted as dovish, particularly since the Committee will not have seen the downside surprises in recent economic data metrics, which suggest some weakening economic momentum.
• The minutes do not do much to alter the narrative that the taper will still be announced in Q4. Several noted that an earlier start to tapering could be accompanied by more gradual reductions in the purchase pace and that such a combination could mitigate the risk of an excessive tightening in financial conditions in response to a tapering announcement.
• There was no explicit hint about how long the Fed sees the taper process lasting, although there was an allusion to policy being set based on how the economy progresses.
• In terms of the sequencing between tapering and asset purchases, participants indicated that the standards for raising the target range for the federal funds rate were distinct from those associated with tapering asset purchases, and remarked that the timing of those actions would depend on the course of the economy, and many noted that, when a reduction in the pace of asset purchases became appropriate, it would be important that the Committee clearly reaffirm the absence of any mechanical link between the timing of tapering and that of an eventual increase in the target range for the federal funds rate.
• The debate on whether to taper mortgage-backed securities faster or earlier than Treasuries seems to be over, and the FOMC seems inclined to instead reduce them proportionally at the same rate. “Most participants remarked that they saw benefits in reducing the pace of net purchases of Treasury securities and agency MBS proportionally in order to end both sets of purchases at the same time.”
• As a reminder, the FOMC took place before payrolls, crash in consumer sentiment and retail sales miss

Kansas City Fed shifts Jackson Hole symposium to virtual event -The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual Jackson Hole gathering, which was due to be held in person Aug. 26-28, is now shifting to a virtual format, the bank announced Friday.The regional Fed bank said it was making the move “due to the recently elevated COVID-19 health risk level in Teton County, Wyoming.” The symposium’s usual setting is in the Grand Teton National Park outside Jackson, Wyoming. The gathering of the world’s top central bankers and economists is traditionally scrutinized for hints on upcoming policy changes. Fed watchers will be looking for any signals about tapering its asset purchases and the outlook for the economy.

Powell: Delta variant’s impact on economy ‘not yet clear’ –Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday he’s unsure if the delta variant of the coronavirus will take a serious toll on the broader U.S. economy, citing the resilience of consumers and businesses throughout the pandemic. During a virtual question and answer session with students and teachers, Powell said “it’s not yet clear whether the delta strain will have important effects on the economy.” Powell said though “COVID is still with us … and that is likely to continue to be the case for a while,” the outbreak may not weigh heavily on the economy because “people and businesses have improvised and learned to adapt, to live their lives despite COVID.” Powell’s remarks come amid growing concern and uncertainty about the impact of surging COVID-19 cases on the country’s economic recovery. While states and cities have forgone lockdowns and business restrictions employed during the first wave of the pandemic, declining consumer confidence and school closures could weigh on further job gains and business activity. Like Powell, most economists say it’s still too soon to know how the delta variant will affect the economy as a whole. The July jobs report showed a stellar gain of 943,000 jobs last month, but the data was collected before federal health officials first urged all Americans to mask up indoors regardless of vaccination status. Economic data covering the second half of the month hasn’t shown clear signs of a slowdown yet either. Retail sales dropped by 1.1 percent in July, far steeper than economists had expected, according to data released Tuesday by the Commerce Department. It’s unclear, however, how much of the slowdown was driven by the delta variant versus the declining impact of fiscal stimulus and a shift away from goods purchased during the pandemic. At the same time, industrial production rose 0.9 percent and output increased 1.4 percent in July, according to Fed data released Tuesday, despite pre-delta supply chain snarls and shortages of crucial parts. The uncertainty poses a significant challenge for Powell and the Fed, which is facing intense pressure from both outside and within to begin cutting back on the $120 billion in monthly bond purchases it began during the outset of the pandemic in March 2020. Supporters of a quicker taper say doing so will give the Fed more room to avoid interest rate hikes while inflation remains high, but left-leaning economists and policymakers say it may be too soon to pull back.

Seven High Frequency Indicators for the Economy – These indicators are mostly for travel and entertainment. The TSA is providing daily travel numbers. This data shows the 7-day average of daily total traveler throughput from the TSA for 2019 (Light Blue), 2020 (Blue) and 2021 (Red). The 7-day average is down 21.5% from the same day in 2019 (78.5% of 2019). (Dashed line) There was a slow increase from the bottom starting in May 2020 – and then TSA data picked up in 2021 – but the dashed line has mostly sideways over the last seven weeks. The second graph shows the 7-day average of the year-over-year change in diners as tabulated by OpenTable for the US and several selected cities. This data is updated through August 14, 2021. This data is “a sample of restaurants on the OpenTable network across all channels: online reservations, phone reservations, and walk-ins. For year-over-year comparisons by day, we compare to the same day of the week from the same week in the previous year.” Dining picked up during the holidays, then slumped with the huge winter surge in cases. Dining was generally picking up, but has moved down recently. The 7-day average for the US is down 11% compared to 2019. — This data shows domestic box office for each week and the median for the years 2016 through 2019 (dashed light blue). The data is from BoxOfficeMojo through August 12th. Movie ticket sales were at $93 million last week, down about 56% from the median for the week. This graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average. The red line is for 2021, black is 2020, blue is the median, dashed purple is 2019, and dashed light blue is for 2009 (the worst year on record for hotels prior to 2020). Occupancy is well above the horrible 2009 levels. With solid leisure travel, the Summer months have had decent occupancy – but it is uncertain what will happen in the Fall with business travel. This data is through August 7th. The occupancy rate is down 8.3% compared to the same week in 2019. Note: Occupancy was up year-over-year, since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic. This graph, based on weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shows gasoline supplied compared to the same week of 2019. As of August 6th, gasoline supplied was down 5.1% compared to the same week in 2019. There have been four weeks so far this year when gasoline supplied was up compared to the same week in 2019. This graph is from Apple mobility. From Apple: “This data is generated by counting the number of requests made to Apple Maps for directions in select countries/regions, sub-regions, and cities.” There is also some great data on mobility from the Dallas Fed Mobility and Engagement Index.This data is through August 14th for the United States and several selected cities. The graph is the running 7-day average to remove the impact of weekends.According to the Apple data directions requests, public transit in the 7 day average for the US is at 101% of the January 2020 level. Strangely, New York City is doing well by this metric, but subway usage in NYC is down sharply (next graph). Here is some interesting data on New York subway usage). This graph is from Todd W Schneider. This is weekly data since 2015. Most weeks are between 30 and 35 million entries, and currently there are over 12 million subway turnstile entries per week – and generally increasing.This data is through Friday, August 13th. Schneider has graphs for each borough, and links to all the data sources.

Solid 20Y Treasury Auction Sees Highest Foreign Demand In 2021 – There was solid demand for today’s $27 billion in 20Y notes, which came in well stronger then the recent 30Y auction, a surprise to some with the Fed’s Minutes due in just an hour. Stopping at a high yield of 1.85%, the auction came on the screw with the When Issued which was also trading a 1.85% at 1pm; the high yield was a drop from last month’s 1.89% and the lowest since January’s 1.643%. The bid to cover of 2.44 was also an improvement from last month’s 2.33, and the highest since March’s 2.51. Finally, the internals is where today’s auction really shone because with an Indirect award of 62.3%, this was the highest demand among foreign buyers going all the way back to October 2020. And with Directs taking down 18.7%, in line with recent auction, Dealers were left holding 19.0% of the auction, below last month’s 20.9%, and below the six-auction average of 22.3%. Overall, a solid auction suggesting no nervous traders ahead of today’s FOMC Minutes.

Pelosi seeks to advance bipartisan infrastructure bill and $3.5 trillion budget plan at same time – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she is looking to advance the bipartisan infrastructure bill and a broader $3.5 trillion budget framework simultaneously, an effort to keep House Democrats united as the chamber prepares to take up the plans.Pelosi said in a letter to her Democratic colleagues on Sunday that she asked the House Rules Committee to “explore the possibility” of a rule, which governs floor debate, that moves forward the budget resolution and bipartisan infrastructure bill. Both measures passed the Senate last week. “This will put us on a path to advance the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation bill,” the California Democrat said.Pelosi said her plan is for the House to pass the $3.5 trillion budget resolution the week of August 23, which would then pave the way for the Democratic-controlled House to approve its sweeping reconciliation bill encompassing President Biden’s priorities for health care, child care and education “as soon as possible.” Pelosi’s plan to tie the bipartisan infrastructure bill with the budget resolution comes after a group of nine moderate Democrats told her last week they wouldn’t vote for a budget resolution until the bipartisan infrastructure plan passes the House and is signed into law. But her effort to move the two simultaneously has already fallen flat with the moderate Democratic lawmakers, who reiterated in a statement later Sunday that their view was unchanged: vote first on the bipartisan bill swiftly and then consider the budget resolution. The pushback from moderate Democrats over how to proceed with moving the two measures complicates Pelosi’s initial plan for the House not to vote on the bipartisan bill until the Senate passes the larger $3.5 trillion legislative package. Progressives, meanwhile, have said they won’t back the bipartisan infrastructure plan until the broader legislation addressing social programs clears the upper chamber. The Senate approved the infrastructure bill with bipartisan support, a major victory for Mr. Biden as he looks to enact his economic agenda. Its passage was the culmination of months of negotiations between the White House and a bipartisan group of senators. The plan includes $550 billion in new spending to revitalize the nation’s roads, bridges, railways and ports. The upper chamber then passed a budget resolution along party lines, which clears the way for it to craft its massive $3.5 trillion measure. Democrats are using a process called budget reconciliation to approve the sweeping plan, which allows the spending package to pass the Senate without GOP support. The budget resolution is the second plank of a two-track strategy employed by Democratic leaders to enact Mr. Biden’s economic priorities.

Democrats play game of chicken over Biden agenda — — Democratic leaders are doubling down on their strategy to advance President Biden’s domestic agenda next week, daring a bloc of centrists in their party to object and risk derailing trillions in federal spending on infrastructure projects and social programs. During a private conference call Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) strongly urged rank-and-file Democrats to vote on a rule Monday night that would allow Democrats to move forward on their $3.5 trillion budget resolution, the $1.2 trillion Senate-passed infrastructure package and a voting rights bill named for the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). However, the vote on the combined rule is only a procedural vote to greenlight the House floor process for considering those bills. While the House is expected to subsequently vote on adoption of the budget and passage of the voting rights bill, it could be months before the House votes on passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Democratic leaders made the case to their members during the Tuesday call that both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and budget resolution that kicks off the process for the $3.5 trillion spending package to expand social safety net programs need to move in tandem to accomplish the party’s agenda – not one at a time, as a handful of centrists are demanding. By next Tuesday evening, Hoyer said, the House could pass both the voting rights legislation and the budget plan that would pave the way for Democrats this fall to pass Biden’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation package without the need for any Republican votes. Yet it’s unclear how exactly Hoyer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plan to win over a band of nine moderate House Democrats, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who are vowing to defeat the budget resolution unless leadership immediately calls a vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that the Senate passed on a vote of 69-30 last week. Because of the narrow margin of her majority, Pelosi can only afford to lose three Democrats on the budget vote. But in this game of chicken, the Speaker is refusing to back down and betting that the moderates – or at least a handful of them – blink first and allow the budget to advance. In a brief exchange Tuesday, Gottheimer told The Hill his group is standing firm with its demand that Pelosi bring the infrastructure bill to the floor first, which would secure a quick, bipartisan victory for Biden. “We should immediately vote on infrastructure and then we should move to consideration of the budget resolution, just like in the Senate. Bernie Sanders, 50 Democrats in the Senate supported that approach. So we should take the same approach and get those shovels in the ground and get jobs,” Gottheimer said in a phone interview Tuesday. “The folks in my district, they’re pretty clear that we can’t afford to wait months for this and to risk this bipartisan, once-in-a-generation infrastructure legislation,” he said. The White House backed Democratic leadership’s strategy on Tuesday in a move that adds more pressure on centrists to fall in line. “The president strongly supports the rule, which provides the mechanism to bring the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the Build Back Better plan, and voting rights legislation to the floor. All three are critical elements of the president’s agenda, and we hope that every Democratic member supports this effort to advance these important legislative actions,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. Up to 40 House Republicans are prepared to vote for the infrastructure package, GOP sources said. And Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who serves as co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus alongside Gottheimer, said he believes those Republican votes would be enough to offset the number of progressives who have vowed to oppose the infrastructure package until Congress sends the $3.5 trillion package to Biden’s desk.

Yellen pushes ‘fiscally responsible’ Biden agenda ahead of planned House vote –Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday touted President Biden’s spending proposals, pushing back on criticisms about the big price tags on his infrastructure and social spending measures ahead of a key House vote next week.”We are now engaged in the most important economic project in recent history: Repairing the broken foundations of our economy, and on top of them, building something stronger and fairer than what came before,” Yellen wrote in a Yahoo Finance op-ed. Yellen’s op-ed comes after the Senate last week passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill, as well as a budget resolution that paves the way for a forthcoming Democratic-only social spending package focused on areas such as child care and education. Both packages are key priorities for the Biden administration.”The United States Senate began to turn the page on this unfortunate chapter in our economic history and, with two pieces of legislation, started building the economy that Americans should – and can – have,” Yellen wrote. The House is expected to return to Washington next week to take up the budget resolution, but there are some obstacles to passage. A group of moderate Democrats want the infrastructure bill to get a vote before the budget resolution is considered, while Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House progressives don’t want to vote on the infrastructure bill until after the Senate passes the social spending bill. Yellen said in her op-ed that the U.S. has long underinvested in things such as child care, education and infrastructure, which has contributed to “worrying trends” such as a decline in labor force participation. She said that Biden’s plans can help to reverse these trends. “The Build Back Better agenda, much of which is contained in the reconciliation bill expected to move through the Senate this fall, will increase labor force participation because it makes those long-overdue investments in families,” Yellen wrote. The Senate-passed budget resolution would allow Democrats to pass a bill with an additional $3.5 trillion in spending, but some moderate Democrats, such as Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), have already raised some concerns about the price tag. Yellen said there are several reasons why the amount of proposed investments isn’t too great. She said that “now is the right time” to make the investments because of low interest rates, and that the proposals are “fiscally responsible” because the spending would be spread out over time and their costs would be offset by tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations. Additionally, Yellen argued that the cost of not enacting Biden’s spending proposals is high. She questioned whether the U.S. can remain the greatest economic power in the world “if we remain a country where renting a home eats up the lion’s share of your paycheck, and owning one is out of the question; where young people can’t gain the skills to compete in the job market because they can’t afford the tuition bill; or where Americans must make a choice: have children or have a job.” “The Build Back Better agenda will address these challenges,” she added. “It will bolster our economic growth and productivity, while bringing down some of the largest cost drivers for American families.”

Pelosi presses moderate Democrats amid budget standoff – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday pressed members of her party to move forward on a $3.5 trillion budget bill amid a standoff with moderate Democrats who want to first vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure package. “Today, President Biden endorsed the House Rule which will allow us to consider the budget resolution, H.R. 4 and the bipartisan infrastructure bill next week,” Pelosi said at the beginning of the “dear colleague” letter written to Democrats. “The budget resolution is the key to unlocking the 51-vote privilege of the reconciliation path for our transformative Build Back Better bill,” she added. Nine moderate Democrats have banded together to go against Democratic leadership, threatening to block the budget resolution if the bipartisan infrastructure deal is not passed first. “With the livelihoods of hardworking American families at stake, we simply can’t afford months of unnecessary delays and risk squandering this once-in-a-century, bipartisan infrastructure package,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who is leading the group of moderates, told Pelosi last week. “It’s time to get shovels in the ground and people to work.” Pelosi wrote in her letter on Tuesday that “any delay in passing the budget resolution could threaten our ability to pass this essential legislation through reconciliation.” The Democrats need to move forward “united” to pass a motion to move the budget resolution forward on Aug. 23 so they can “deliver historic progress.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) pushed colleagues on a private call Tuesday to vote for the infrastructure deal, budget resolution and voting rights legislation to move forward, “My premise is, we’re going to do ‘all of the above.’ It’s clear from the Senate, the House and the White House that reconciliation would be part of that ‘all of the above’ to realize the ‘Build Back Better’ agenda. I hope all will vote for the rule on Monday night,” Hoyer said, a source on the call stated. Pelosi stressed all three bills not moving forward could threaten “the once-in-a-generation opportunity” to advance progressive legislation.

Manchin and Sinema lead the Democrat mutiny against Nancy Pelosi by telling moderates NOT to back the $3.2TRILLION budget until the $1.2trillion infrastructure deal is signed – Moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are reportedly throwing support behind nine House lawmakers threatening to derail President Biden’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure deal if Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn’t first schedule a vote on a smaller bipartisan compromise bill.The two senators are privately advising and encouraging the group of centrist Democrats, nicknamed the ‘unbreakable nine,’ on negotiations with Pelosi and White House officials.They’re supporting the group’s attempt to leverage passage of the Democrat-backed reconciliation bill by vowing to tank the measure in the House if a $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal that passed the Senate isn’t sent to Biden’s desk for a signature.Those conversations are emboldening the lawmakers to stand against the heftier bill,Axios reports. By joining forced with ideological counterparts in the lower chamber Manchin and Sinema, who both voted in favor of a fiscal blueprint of the $3.5 trillion bill earlier this month, are signaling that their priority is with them more modest measure. The House vote would be for advancing the hefty legislation through to committees, not final passage. Pelosi dismissed the holdouts’ threats as ‘amateur hour’ earlier this week, Politico reports. One source told the outlet that Pelosi is standing firm on the sequence of votes and will likely call moderates’ bluff. ‘For the first time, America’s children have leverage. I will not surrender that leverage,’ she said according to one Democrat. But the stand-off could also end with Pelosi promising the nine lawmakers a vote on the bipartisan deal by the end of next month. Pelosi scheduled a vote for the $3.5 trillion bill when the House returns from recess next week. After threats from progressive representatives to vote down the bipartisan bill, the speaker promised to bring the larger bill to a vote first. The White House issued a statement publicly supporting Pelosi’s plan of action on Tuesday. If passed the $3.5 trillion measure will allow Biden to reshape the federal government’s spending priorities in time for the 2022 election. White House officials have also reportedly been contacting lawmakers to ramp up pressure in favor of Pelosi’s timeline. Democrats can only afford to lose three votes in the House for any legislation to pass. Pelosi’s hands are tied by both factions having the ability to kill the bills.

Biden administration approves largest increase to food assistance benefits in SNAP program history – The Biden administration has approved the largest increase to food assistance benefits in the history of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a move that will substantially retool the program to provide the targeted assistance advocates have long argued is desperately needed by poor families.U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is expected to announce Monday morning that benefit amounts for the program, formerly known as food stamps, will rise an average of 25 percent above pre-pandemic levels. First reported by the New York Times and confirmed by a spokeswoman at the Agriculture Department, average monthly benefits, which were $121 per person before the pandemic, will rise by $36 under the new rules.The increase is based on an update to the algorithm that governs the Thrifty Food Plan, which tracks the cost of 58 different categories of groceries needed to provide a budget-conscious diet for a family of four. In response to the economic downturn and widespread unemployment due to the pandemic, many Americans have relied on coronavirus-relief legislation passed by Congress that temporarily increased unemployment benefits, halted evictions and suspended student loan payments.This aid represents a dramatic, but largely temporary, expansion of the social safety net – one that many advocates argue should be permanently enshrined. With many of these key provisions set to expire in September, federal lawmakers are under urgent deadlines to decide what policies might endure.

Biden’s Food Stamp Increase Means Higher Food Prices For All – With the stock market banging out new record highs each day and so many jobs available, it is odd the Biden Administration feels the need to boost the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP by 25 percent. This constitutes the largest single increase in the program’s history. This significant and permanent increase in benefits will be available indefinitely to all 42 million SNAP beneficiaries. The increase is projected to cost taxpayers an additional $20 billion per year. It coincides with the end of a 15 percent boost in SNAP benefits that was ordered as a “pandemic protection measure.” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the change means the U.S. “will do a better job of providing healthy food for low-income families.” It will move the amount of the average monthly per-person benefits for qualified recipients from $121 to $157. Never think for a moment this is all about feeding the poor, it is also about pumping up the GDP and profits of many big companies. Unfortunately, whenever the government increases its role in any sector of the economy history shows it generally has a profound effect on the prices charged to consumers. For proof, we only need to look at healthcare costs and college tuition. In this case, we should expect the same thing to occur to food prices. What does the big increase in the SNAP program mean to consumers both on this program and the rest of us? It means we should expect a big jump in prices in supermarkets across America. This is not about just simple supply and demand, it goes beyond hunger and directly towards what people “want to eat” which is not necessarily what is good for them. Of course, there are a lot more people concerned about raising the funding for this program than those that care about the needs of the poor and downtrodden. Some of the biggest supporters of SNAP are the companies selling food to those on the program. A person that has grown cynical about government spending might even go so far as to say SNAP is more about enriching food producers and grocers than feeding the hungry.

Democrat unveils bill to redirect Pentagon spending toward global vaccination efforts –Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) introduced legislation Wednesday that would shift about $9.6 billion in U.S. defense spending toward global COVID-19 vaccination efforts as much of the world’s population remains without access to vaccines.Pocan estimated that nearly $10 billion directed to the COVAX initiative, ajoint effort between the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other international organizations, could help vaccinate another 30 percent of the population in low-income countries based on an equivalent amount of funding already pledged.”Right now, COVID is the greatest risk to our national security as well as the world’s security. Shifting funds from weaponry and military contractors to producing COVID vaccines will save hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of lives around the world,” Pocan said in a statement.”At a time when America spends more on its military than the next 11 closest nations combined, we should be able to sacrifice a little over one percent of that to save lives, build global goodwill, and actually make the world a safer, healthier place,” he added.President Biden announced earlier this month that the U.S. has already donated and shipped more than 110 million doses of American-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines to more than 60 countries. The White House said that the majority of the vaccines were shipped through COVAX.While COVID-19 vaccines are widely available to anyone over the age of 12 in the U.S., and with about 51 percent of the population now fully vaccinated, vaccine access is far more limited in most other countries.About 24 percent of the world’s population is fully vaccinated, and just 1.3 percent of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is recommending vaccine booster doses for most Americans to address evidence of waning immunity over time and the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. Global health advocates pushed back on the administration’s recommendation for booster shots, arguing the move will exacerbate global inequalities if Americans start receiving boosters before people in other countries have yet to receive any shot of protection at all.

Biden to extend mask mandate for travelers until January -The Biden administration will extend the federal mask mandate for all transportation networks through January 18. “TSA will extend the directives through January 18, 2022. The purpose of TSA’s mask directive is to minimize the spread of COVID-19 on public transportation,” a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson told The Hill. TSA informed major U.S. airlines of the extension Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing three sources. The mask mandate for travel on airplanes, in airports, on buses and on rail systems is currently set to expire on Sept. 13. It initially went into effect with an expiration date of May 11, but the agency first extended it in April. President Biden signed an executive order on his first full day in office directing federal agencies to “immediately take action” to mandate the use of masks on trains, intercity buses, ferries and in airports. The federal rule allows TSA to fine passengers who refuse to wear a mask while traveling. The fine structure will also stay in place through September, which starts at $250 and can rise to $1,500 for repeat offenders. The new threat of the delta variant of the coronavirus led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last month to update federal guidance, recommending that vaccinated and unvaccinated people wear masks indoors in certain areas where there is a substantial rise in COVID-19 infections. The Biden administration has been under pressure from Republicans to end the mask mandate before the current September deadline. In July, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced legislation to repeal the mandate and prohibit the federal government from imposing a mandate when using any “conveyance” or “transportation hub.” In June, other Republicans, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), introduced a resolution calling for the CDC to lift the public transportation mask mandate.

US extending travel restrictions with Mexico, Canada – The U.S. is extending the nonessential closure of its borders with Canada and Mexico to at least Sept. 21 due to the delta variant of the coronavirus, the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday. “In coordination with public health and medical experts, DHS continues working closely with its partners across the United States and internationally to determine how to safely and sustainably resume normal travel,” the agency tweeted. The extraordinary closures have been extended monthly since they were put in place at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Canada began letting fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents into the country on Aug. 9, but Canadians still can’t travel into the U.S. unless it is for an essential purpose. The current rules have prompted backlash from the travel and tourism industry, as well as from lawmakers in border states who claim the rules are inconsistently applied. Biden administration officials in June formed working groups with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and the United Kingdom to weigh when to lift international travel restrictions, but so far nothing has come from the effort. The administration has not said when it plans to loosen restrictions on international travel. Earlier this month, the White House hinted that the U.S. would require foreign visitors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but a final decision has not been adopted. Former President Trump moved to lift restrictions on Europe and Brazil in the waning days of his term, but President Biden kept them in place once he took office. Biden also added restrictions on India amid a surge of COVID-19 infections there. But experts have said picking and choosing countries based off of COVID-19 infections is arbitrary because the disease is already entrenched in the U.S.

Biden administration to require COVID-19 vaccination of all nursing home staff –President Biden on Wednesday said his administration will require nursing home staff across the country to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and will withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding from those facilities that don’t comply. The new regulations would apply to over 15,000 nursing home facilities, which employ approximately 1.3 million workers and serve approximately 1.6 million nursing home residents. “More than 130,000 residents of nursing homes have sadly, sadly, over the period of this virus, passed away. At the same time, vaccination rates among nursing home staff significantly trail the rest of the country,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “With this announcement, I’m using the power of the federal government as a payer of health care costs to make sure we reduce those risks to our most vulnerable seniors. These steps are all about keeping people safe and out of harm’s way.” Vaccination rates among nursing home staff are lagging, threatening the progress the nation has made in protecting the vulnerable elderly. More than seven months after becoming eligible, only about 60 percent of staff in nursing homes and long-term care facilities nationwide are partially or fully vaccinated, according to federal data compiled by CMS. Only about one-quarter of nursing homes had at least 75 percent of staff vaccinated, which is the benchmark goal the industry has set for vaccinations in facilities. Nursing homes have been devastated by COVID-19. Residents make up only about 1 percent of the U.S. population, but account for more than 20 percent of all deaths nationwide. According to Medicare data, the disease has killed more than 133,000 residents and nearly 2,000 staff members. That’s also likely an undercounted figure, since facilities only began reporting at the end of May 2020. The authorized vaccines have been shown to greatly reduce serious illness and death in elderly people, but the delta variant is fueling new concerns, and infections are rising among residents. According to CMS, cases spiked from a low of 319 on June 27, to nearly 2,700 cases on August 8, with many of the recent outbreaks occurring in facilities located in areas of the United States with the lowest staff vaccination rates. A study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday showed vaccine effectiveness is waning in nursing home residents as the variant spreads. The announcement is part of the administration’s increasingly firm approach to increasing vaccination rates in the country.

Biden Administration to Withhold Medicare and Medicaid $ from Nursing Homes Not Having Fully Vaxxed Staff —Yves Smith -The Biden Adminstration’s latest gambit to combat Covid by increasing vaccination levels among nursing homes’ staffers via coercion shows a lack of appreciation of what is at stake. If this works at all, it will be in the nature of “Burn the village to save it” in too many instances.As I wrote to or Covid brain trust:Oh, this is going to work well. All stick no carrot.94% of facilities already have staff shortages.Of the 40% not vaccinated, not a hard guesstimate that at least 10% will quit. Can they take another 4% staff loss?IM Doc replied: “Put simply – no”Now let’s go through this situation in more detail. First, the Biden policy, according to the Associated Press:President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced that his administration will require that nursing home staff be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding.Biden unveiled the new policy Wednesday afternoon in a White House address as the administration continues to look for ways to use mandates to encourage vaccine holdouts to get shots.“If you visit, live or work in a nursing home, you should not be at a high risk for contracting COVID from unvaccinated employees,” Biden said.Let us put aside for the moment that Biden is not “following the science” in the framing of this policy. The reason to get vaccinated is to lower the odds of getting a bad case of Covid. It would be perfectly reasonable to push for higher levels of vaccination in any workplace where employees are in close physical proximity with each other and with patients/customers, to keep them from getting sick and overloading hospitals. Covid-jammed hospitals have all sorts of bad knock-on effects, like delays in administering ER care, staff Covid cases, burnout and resignations, postponement of elective surgeries, and higher medical system costs due to all of us indirectly paying for Covid care costs via medical system costs (the piper has to be paid somehow). The evidence is not as strong as vaccine proponents would like to believe that the current vaccines prevent the transmission of the Delta variant, as a new UK study suggests, confirming the CDC finding in Provincetown of similar levels of Covid virus in the nasal passages of the vaxxed and unvaxxed in Provincetown:

Three fully vaccinated US Senators have COVID –Three fully vaccinated senators have been infected with COVID-19 and are experiencing mild symptoms, becoming the latest members of the chamber to contract breakthrough infections. Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) announced Thursday they tested positive for the coronavirus. King said despite taking precautions to protect himself, such as wearing face masks and practicing social distancing, he still contracted the virus. He praised the vaccine for preventing a possibly worse outcome. “Despite all my efforts, when I began feeling mildly feverish yesterday, I took a test this morning at my doctor’s suggestion, and it came back positive. While I am not feeling great, I’m definitely feeling much better than I would have without the vaccine,” King said in a statement, adding that he’s now quarantining at home. Wicker tested positive Thursday as well and his office said in a statement he is in good health and in isolation. “Everyone with whom Senator Wicker has come in close contact recently has been notified,” his office said in a release. Hickenlooper said he’s feeling better and thanked researchers who developed the crucial vaccine. He encouraged Americans to get vaccinated. “I’m grateful for the vaccine (and the scientists behind it) for limiting my symptoms and allowing us to continue our work for Colorado. If you haven’t been vaccinated, don’t wait for the virus – get the shot doay, and a booster when it’s available too!” he said in a statement. The breakthrough infections come as the Biden administration is recommending booster doses for individuals who were fully vaccinated early on in the vaccination rollout due to the prevalence of the highly infectious delta variant. Those groups include health care workers, nursing home residents and other vulnerable populations, including those over 60.

Social Media, the CDC and COVID-19 Collaboration — During the pandemic, it has become increasingly clear that the main players along with social media platforms are “singing from the same hymn book”. Thanks to Judicial Watch, we now have some idea why at least two of the biggest players are hand-in-hand when it comes to the COVID-19 narrative. In this case, Judicial Watch launched legal actions against the United States Department of Health and Human Services to force compliance with the Freedom of Information Act after Judicial Watch sent an FOIA request to the Centers for Disease Control on September 15, 2020, asking for access to: “Any and all records of communication between CDC officials and/or employees and employees, agents, and/or representatives of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube concerning, regarding, or relating to COVID-19 related content on company platforms. Such records include, but are not limited to, any advice or instructions issued on disinformation re COVID-19.” Since the first request was not fulfilled, Judicial Watch filed a second FOIA request on March 9, 2021 as shown here: In response, Judicial Watch received 2,469 pages of documents from the CDC which clearly reveal close cooperation between the CDC and Facebook about the COVID-19 narrative and so-called “misinformation”. Let’s look at some of the more interesting documents which show links between Big Tech and the CDC. Here is a document from Google showing the launching of a COVID-19 alert on its products which provides consumers with the CDC’s latest recommendations with most of the information redacted (pages 4 to 8 inclusive with pages 6, 7 and 8 being completely redacted): Here is another email showing the link between Google’s YouTube and the CDC (pages 14 to 16): Here is an email showing the link between LinkedIn and the CDC (pages 27 to 35): Here is an email showing how Facebook supplied the CDC with $2 million worth of advertising credits (second round) dated March 8, 2020, very early in the pandemic (page 36): According to Judicial Watch, there is another email from mid-2020 showing additional funding from Facebook to the CDC for another $1 million worth of advertising. Here is another email from the CDC to Facebook wondering if Facebook needed any assistance in providing credible content for coronavirus searches on Facebook dated January 31, 2020: (page 39) Here is an email from Facebook and Instagram to the CDC regarding a product solution to support the CDC’s efforts to get targeted information to specific populations (page 40): Here is an email exchange between WhatsApp and the CDC offering support for the CDC’s narrative on the COVID-19 issue (page 172 – 173): I believe that is enough for this posting. As you can see, right from the very beginning of the pandemic (and even before it was officially proclaimed by the WHO), the world’s most influential social media companies picked their narrative which was in sharp contrast to the narrative of the Trump Administration and worked hand-in-hand with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure that the CDC’s narrative on COVID-19 remained dominant in their online ecosystem. This goes a long way to explaining why there has been so little long-lasting coverage of dissenting views (i.e. the heavy-handed use of censorship) on the science of the pandemic from the other side of the narrative and why all of the social media outlets seem to be using the same playbook.

Lenders are quick to adopt SBA’s faster PPP forgiveness option | American BankerThe Small Business Administration appears to have made significant headway streamlining its process for Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness, which drew complaints through last year and early 2021.Previously, the process worked best for large PPP lenders with the resources to create in-house portals. However, as many as 1,500 small lenders had made little or no investment in a technology platform to support forgiveness, the SBA estimates. For them, loan forgiveness risked becoming “a national paperwork exercise,” that a new SBA portal, launched Aug. 4, aimed to resolve, Patrick Kelley, the SBA’s associate administrator for the Office of Capital Access, said in an interview.In just two weeks, the direct borrower forgiveness portal has received more than 340,000 submissions, and about half of those have already been fully forgiven and paid out, Kelley said.

Morgan Stanley tells staff they must provide proof of vaccination – American investment bank Morgan Stanley is telling its staff it must provide proof of vaccination to enter buildings and return to the office.The internal memo says documentation must be provided by Oct. 1 as the confirmation is meant to “provide greater comfort for those working in the office,” Bloomberg reported.The company not set a deadline for all employees to go back to the office due to cases recently rising from the delta variant, the company said.”In the coming weeks, we will continue to evaluate the best and safest way to get the majority of our employees working in the office, recognizing that this step may take longer than we originally anticipated,” the memo said.Before, employees only had to say they were vaccinated and did not have to provide proof of it. The company says 95 percent of its New York employees have claimed they are fully vaccinated along with 90 percent of the company’s overall employees, according to Bloomberg.Employees were told in June they would not be allowed into the New York offices if they were not vaccinated against the coronavirus.Many companies have added vaccine and mask requirements since the delta variant has caused cases and hospitalization rates to rise across the country.

Fintechs found to be much likelier to OK suspicious PPP loans –Fintechs were almost five times more likely than traditional lenders to be involved with suspicious loans issued through the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program, according to a new study.Nine of the 10 lenders with the highest rates of suspicious loans were financial-technology firms, according to the study released Tuesday by the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. The program, aimed at keeping businesses afloat and helping employers hold on to workers during the pandemic, allowed lenders to drop some standard underwriting practices in the interest of speed. But that might have encouraged fraud. The new report said there could be roughly 1.8 million questionable loans with a total value of $76 billion.

MBA: “Mortgage Delinquencies Decrease in the Second Quarter of 2021” – From the MBA: Mortgage Delinquencies Decrease in the Second Quarter of 2021 – The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties decreased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.47 percent of all loans outstanding at the end of the second quarter of 2021, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey. For the purposes of the survey, MBA asks servicers to report loans in forbearance as delinquent if the payment was not made based on the original terms of the mortgage. The delinquency rate was down 91 basis points from the first quarter of 2021 and down 275 basis points from one year ago. “Mortgage delinquencies across all loan types – conventional, FHA, and VA – reached their lowest levels since the first quarter of 2020,” said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s Vice President of Industry Analysis. “The drop in the delinquency rate for FHA loans and VA loans was the largest quarterly decline for both in the history of MBA’s survey dating back to 1979.” “Much of the second-quarter improvement can be traced to later-stage delinquent loans – those 90 days or past due, but not in foreclosure. In fact, the 90-day delinquency rate dropped by 72 basis points, which is another record decline in the survey. It appears that borrowers in later stages of delinquency are recovering due to several factors, including improved employment and other economic conditions, the availability of home retention workout options after forbearance, and a strong housing market that is bringing additional alternatives to distressed homeowners.” Walsh noted that foreclosure moratoria were still in place through the second quarter, resulting in the lowest foreclosure inventory recorded since 1981. . This graph shows the percent of loans delinquent by days past due. Overall delinquencies decreased in Q2. From the MBA: Compared to the first quarter of 2021, the seasonally adjusted mortgage delinquency rate decreased for all loans outstanding. By stage, the 30-day delinquency rate decreased 5 basis points to 1.41 percent and the 60-day delinquency rate decreased 15 basis points to 0.52 percent, both at their lowest levels in the history of the survey. The 90-day delinquency bucket decreased 72 basis points to 3.53 percent. … The delinquency rate includes loans that are at least one payment past due but does not include loans in the process of foreclosure. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the second quarter was 0.51 percent, down 3 basis points from the first quarter of 2021 and 17 basis points lower than one year ago. This is the lowest foreclosure inventory rate since the fourth quarter of 1981. The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started in the second quarter remained unchanged from last quarter at 0.04 percent. This sharp increase last year in the 90-day bucket was due to loans in forbearance (included as delinquent, but not reported to the credit bureaus). The percent of loans in the foreclosure process declined further, and was at the lowest level since 1981.

MBA Survey: “Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 3.26%” – Note: This is as of August 8th.From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 3.26%: The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 14 basis points from 3.40% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.26% as of August 8, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 1.6 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 5 basis points to 1.69%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 23 basis points to 3.95%, while the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) decreased 32 basis points to 7.05%. The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers decreased 17 basis points to 3.46%, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers decreased 13 basis points to 3.36%.”The largest decrease in a month in the share of loans in forbearance came from a jump in forbearance exits, as many homeowners are nearing the end of their forbearance terms. The forbearance share declined for all investor and servicer categories,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “New forbearance requests picked up slightly this week, particularly for Ginnie Mae loans, but overall trends remain positive. Incoming data continues to support our forecast of an improving job market in the months ahead.” This graph shows the percent of portfolio in forbearance by investor type over time. Most of the increase was in late March and early April 2020, and has trended down since then. The MBA notes: “Total weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) increased relative to the prior week: from 0.04% to 0.06%”

New York landlords and tenants square off over evictions after Supreme Court ruling. – A Supreme Court ruling last week blocking part of an eviction moratorium in New York State has given a glimmer of hope to struggling landlords, but has fanned fears among financially unstable tenants.The ruling means that landlords will be able to bring tenants to court and allow a judge to decide whether an eviction is warranted. It took aim at a provision of the New York State moratorium, which was enacted last year and is set to expire on Aug. 31, that barred evictions of tenants who file a form declaring economic hardship, rather than providing evidence in court.There is speculation that Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is set to become New York’s next governor after Gov. Andrew Cuomo leaves office amid a sexual harassment scandal, may push for new protections. In a statement on Thursday, she promised to “strengthen the eviction moratorium legislation.”More than 830,000 households in New York State, a majority of them in New York City, are behind on rent, according to an analysis of census data by the National Equity Atlas, a research group associated with the University of Southern California. But a $2 billion rental assistance program aimed at helping tenants pay their landlords has given funds to fewer than 5 percent of applicants since its start in June.

Top Democrat unveils bill aimed at making housing more affordable – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Wednesday rolled out legislation aimed at making housing more affordable for Americans. “It’s time America’s lawmakers get with the program and enact 21st century housing policies that adequately address 21st century challenges,” Wyden said in a statement. According to a summary of the bill from Wyden’s office, the legislation seeks to house everyone experiencing homelessness within five years through housing vouchers. The bill would also strengthen the low-income housing tax credit, which is provided to developers of housing for low-income tenants, and it would create new tax credits for developers who house middle-income tenants and for property owners who rent to low-income tenants. Additionally, it would establish a tax credit for first-time homebuyers. Wyden unveiled his legislation one week after the Senate passed a budget resolution that will allow Democrats to pass a wide-ranging spending bill later this year without any Republican votes. Housing is expected to be one of the areas of focus of that bill, and Wyden will play a key role in crafting the legislation because he leads the Senate committee with jurisdiction over tax policy. On The Money: Fed officials signal move toward tapering bond… Democrat unveils bill to redirect Pentagon spending toward global… Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, praised some parts of Wyden’s bill on Twitter but criticized the senator’s proposal for a tax credit for developers of middle-income housing. “There is no sound rationale for investing billions of dollars of scarce federal resources targeted toward the development of market-rate housing, when changes to local zoning laws would have largely the same impact,” she said. A spokesperson for Wyden noted that the bill also includes a provision focused on zoning changes.

Housing Starts increased to 1.534 Million Annual Rate in July –From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions Privatelyâ€owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,534,000. This is 7.0 percent below the revised June estimate of 1,650,000, but is 2.5 percent above the July 2020 rate of 1,497,000. Singleâ€family housing starts in July were at a rate of 1,111,000; this is 4.5 percent below the revised June figure of 1,163,000. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 412,000.Privatelyâ€owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,635,000. This is 2.6 percent above the revised June rate of 1,594,000 and is 6.0 percent above the July 2020 rate of 1,542,000. Singleâ€family authorizations in July were at a rate of 1,048,000; this is 1.7 percent below the revised June figure of 1,066,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 532,000 in July The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) decreased in July compared to June. Multi-family starts were down 16% year-over-year in July. Single-family starts (blue) decreased in July, and were up 12% year-over-year (starts slumped at the beginning of the pandemic, but picked up in July 2020). The second graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968. The second graph shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then the eventual recovery (but still not historically high).Total housing starts in July were well below expectations, however starts in May and June were revised up slightly.

Comments on July Housing Starts –Earlier: Housing Starts decreased to 1.534 Million Annual Rate in July. Total housing starts in July were above expectations, however starts in May and June were revised up slightly. Single family starts increased in July, and were up 12% year-over-year. Starts declined at the beginning of the pandemic, and then increased due to strong demand.The volatile multi-family sector is down 16% year-over-year. The housing starts report showed total starts were down 7.0% in July compared to the previous month, and total starts were up 2.5% year-over-year compared to July 2020.The first graph shows the month to month comparison for total starts between 2020 (blue) and 2021 (red). Starts were up 2.5% in July compared to July 2020. The year-over-year comparison are more difficult starting in the second half of 2021. In 2020, starts were off to a strong start before the pandemic, and with low interest rates, and little competing existing home inventory, starts finished 2020 strong. Starts were solid in the first half of 2021.The second graph shows starts under construction, Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA).Red is single family units. Currently there are 711 thousand single family units under construction (NSA). This is the highest level since 2006. Blue is for 2+ units. Currently there are 686 thousand multi-family units under construction. Last month, at 691 thousand units, was the most since 1974. Combined, there are 1.397 million units under construction. This is the most since July 2006.

AIA: “Demand for design activity continues to expand” in July — Note: This index is a leading indicator primarily for new Commercial Real Estate (CRE) investment. From the AIA: Demand for design activity continues to expand: The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) recorded its sixth consecutive positive month, according to a new report today from The American Institute of Architects (AIA). The ABI score for July was 54.6. While this was down slightly from June’s score of 57.1, it still indicates very strong business conditions overall (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings from the prior month). Scoring for new project inquiries also declined in July but remained near its all-time high at 65.0. The score for new design contracts was essentially unchanged from June to July with a score of 58.0.”In prior business cycles, architecture firms generally saw their project work soften quickly and then recover slowly,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, PhD. “So the strength of this recovery is unprecedented. Firm leaders who have leaned into this economic upturn by reinvesting in their firms by hiring staff and upgrading their technology, will likely have a better year than those that anticipated a slower recovery.”…

Regional averages: Midwest (58.3); West (56.0); South (54.6); Northeast (54.1)

Sector index breakdown: commercial/industrial (58.4); institutional (55.4); multi-family residential (54.7); mixed practice (54.4)

This graph shows the Architecture Billings Index since 1996. The index was at 54.6 in July, down from 57.1 in June. Anything above 50 indicates expansion in demand for architects’ services. This includes commercial and industrial facilities like hotels and office buildings, multi-family residential, as well as schools, hospitals and other institutions. This index had been below 50 for eleven consecutive months, but has been solidly positive for the last six months. The eleven months of decline represented a significant decrease in design services, and suggests a decline in CRE investment through most of 2021 (This usually leads CRE investment by 9 to 12 months), however we might see a pickup in CRE investment towards the end of the 2021 and into 2022.

Hotels: Occupancy Rate Down 8% Compared to Same Week in 2019; “Leisure demand wanes” – Note: The year-over-year occupancy comparisons are easy, since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic. So STR is comparing to the same week in 2019. The occupancy rate is down 8.3% compared to the same week in 2019.From CoStar: STR: Seasonal Demand Trends Weigh Down Weekly US Hotel Occupancy: U.S. hotel occupancy and average daily rate (ADR) dipped from previous weeks, according to STR’s latest data through August 14.August 8-14, 2021 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019*):

Occupancy: 65.7% (-8.4%)

Average daily rate (ADR): $139.18 (+5.9%)

Revenue per available room (RevPAR): $91.45 (-3.0%)

While the metrics were down week over week, comparisons with 2019 remained consistent, which is further evidence of seasonality in the data as more schools return to class and leisure demand wanes. Concern around COVID-19 cases also persists.*Due to the steep, pandemic-driven performance declines of 2020, STR is measuring recovery against comparable time periods from 2019.

The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average. The red line is for 2021, black is 2020, blue is the median, dashed purple is 2019, and dashed light blue is for 2009 (the worst year on record for hotels prior to 2020). Occupancy is well above the horrible 2009 levels and weekend occupancy (leisure) has been solid – but, according to STR, is starting to “wane” seasonally.With solid leisure travel, the Summer months had decent occupancy – but it is uncertain what will happen in the Fall with business travel – especially with the sharp increase in COVID pandemic cases and hospitalizations.

Retail Sales Decreased 1.1% in July – On a monthly basis, retail sales were decreased 1.1% from June to July (seasonally adjusted), and sales were up 15.8 percent from July 2020. From the Census Bureau report:Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for July 2021, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $617.7 billion,a decrease of 1.1 percent from the previous month, but 15.8 percent above July 2020. … The May 2021 to June 2021 percent change was revised from up 0.6 percent to up 0.7 percent. This graph shows retail sales since 1992. This is monthly retail sales and food service, seasonally adjusted (total and ex-gasoline). Retail sales ex-gasoline were down 1.4% in July. The stimulus checks boosted retail sales significantly in March and April. The second graph shows the year-over-year change in retail sales and food service (ex-gasoline) since 1993. Retail and Food service sales, ex-gasoline, increased by 14.2% on a YoY basis. Sales in July were below expectations, however sales in May and June were revised up.

LA Area Port Traffic: Solid Imports, Weak Exports in July –Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported – and usually some hints about the trade report since LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation’s container port traffic.The following graphs are for inbound and outbound traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container).To remove the strong seasonal component for inbound traffic, the first graph shows the rolling 12 month average.On a rolling 12 month basis, inbound traffic was up 0.2% in July compared to the rolling 12 months ending in June. Outbound traffic was down 2.2% compared to the rolling 12 months ending the previous month.The 2nd graph is the monthly data (with a strong seasonal pattern for imports). Usually imports peak in the July to October period as retailers import goods for the Christmas holiday, and then decline sharply and bottom in February or March depending on the timing of the Chinese New Year. 2021 started off incredibly strong for imports. Imports were up 2% YoY in July (recovered last year in July following the early months of the pandemic), and exports were down 24.0% YoY.

Industrial Production Increased 0.9 Percent in July — From the Fed: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Industrial production increased 0.9 percent in July after moving up 0.2 percent in June. In July, manufacturing output rose 1.4 percent. About half of the gain in factory output is attributable to a jump of 11.2 percent for motor vehicles and parts, as a number of vehicle manufacturers trimmed or canceled their typical July shutdowns. Despite the large increase last month, vehicle assemblies continued to be constrained by a persistent shortage of semiconductors; the production of motor vehicles and parts in July was about 3-1/2 percent below its recent peak in January 2021. The output of utilities decreased 2.1 percent in July, while the index for mining rose 1.2 percent.At 101.1 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in July was 6.6 percent above its year-earlier level but 0.2 percent below its pre-pandemic (February 2020) level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector rose 0.7 percentage point in July to 76.1 percent, a rate that is 3.5 percentage points below its long-run (1972 – 2020) average.This graph shows Capacity Utilization. This series is up from the record low set in April 2020, but still below the level in February 2020. Capacity utilization at 76.1% is 3.5% below the average from 1972 to 2020.The second graph shows industrial production since 1967. Industrial production increased in July to 101.1. This is 0.2% below the February 2020 level.The change in industrial production was above consensus expectations, probably due to vehicle manufacturers not shutting down in July.

Just when you thought the chip shortage was over . . . The semiconductor shortage, and its effects on the production of everything from high-end graphics cards to fridges, has been one of the most surprising outcomes from the Covid crisis. The pain has been so sharp for so many businesses that it has prompted Western governments to start considering whether to bring production onshore, given Taiwan controls an estimated two-thirds of global output. Yet, as the Northern Hemisphere’s summer rolled in, there seemed to be somewhat of a relief on global semiconductor supply chains. General Motors raised guidance in early June on better chip supply, and of late, it’s been fairly trivial to purchase a Playstation 5 in the UK. Fortune even went as far as to publish an article with the headline Now there’s worry the chip shortage will turn into a chip glut just two short weeks ago.The price action suggested as much, with some semiconductor stocks — such as TSMC — beginning to roll off from their February highs: But, it seems like we’re not out of the woods quite yet. A few hours ago, the FT’s sister publication Nikkei Asia came out with what seems a seismic story for the global economy, on Toyota. Here’s Reuters’ summation: Toyota Motor Corp will reduce global production for September by 40% from its previous plan, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday, the last major automaker to cut production due to critical shortages of semiconductors.Toyota has fared better than rivals, having built a larger stockpile of chips due to a business continuity plan revamped in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima earthquake. But a resurgence in COVID-19 cases across Asia has compounded the semiconductor crunch.Toyota had been aiming to make a little under 900,000 vehicles in September, but has reduced that to about 500,000, according to the Nikkei here Global production reduced by 40 per cent! We’re not talking about some two-bit EV start-up either, but the world’s largest car manufacturer by volume. If it can’t secure semiconductors from its suppliers, then what hope does the rest of the industry have? Much has been made of the sell-off in global stocks this morning, with reasons given for the slump ranging from China’s new focus on wealth redistribution, to talk the Fed might begin to scale back its $120bn in monthly asset purchases. Of course, the delta variant’s spread in Asia isn’t helping much either. But if you dare to rub FT Alphaville’s crystal ball, it’ll tell you this Toyota headline iz wot’s done it.Toyota: record profits presage a downhill path.

Empire State Mfg Survey: Slower Growth in August – This morning we got the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The diffusion index for General Business Conditions at 18.3 was a decrease of 24.7 from the previous month’s 43. The Investing.com forecast was for a reading of 29.The Empire State Manufacturing Index rates the relative level of general business conditions in New York state. A level above 0.0 indicates improving conditions, below indicates worsening conditions. The reading is compiled from a survey of about 200 manufacturers in New York state.Here is the opening paragraph from the report.Business activity continued to expand in New York State, according to firms responding to the August 2021 Empire State Manufacturing Survey, though growth was significantly slower than last month’s record-setting pace. The headline general business conditions index fell twenty-five points to 18.3. New orders increased modestly, and shipments grew slightly. Delivery times continued to lengthen substantially, and inventories were somewhat higher. Employment and the average workweek increased modestly. Input prices continued to rise sharply, and the pace of selling price increases set another record. Looking ahead, firms remained optimistic that conditions would improve over the next six months, with substantial increases in employment and prices expected. [Full report] Here is a chart of the current conditions and its 3-month moving average, which helps clarify the trend for this extremely volatile indicator:

Philly Fed Mfg Index: “Current Indicators Remain Positive” — The Philly Fed’s Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey is a monthly report for the Third Federal Reserve District, covers eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. While it focuses exclusively on business in this district, this regional survey gives a generally reliable clue as to the direction of the broader Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index.The latest Manufacturing Index came in at 19.4, down 2.5 from last month’s 21.9. The 3-month moving average came in at 24.0, down from last month. Since this is a diffusion index, negative readings indicate contraction, positive ones indicate expansion. The Six-Month Outlook came in at 33.7, down 14.9 from the previous month’s 48.6.The 19.4 headline number came in below the 23.0 forecast at Investing.com.Here is the introduction from the survey:Manufacturing activity in the region continued to grow, according to the firms responding to the August Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey. The survey’s current indicators for general activity and shipments declined from July’s readings but remained elevated, while the new orders indicator rose. Additionally, employment increases were more widespread this month, and both price indexes remained elevated. Most future indexes moderated this month but continue to indicate that the firms expect growth over the next six months. (Full Report)The first chart below gives us a look at this diffusion index since 2000, which shows us how it has behaved in proximity to the two 21st century recessions. The red dots show the indicator itself, which is quite noisy, and the 3-month moving average, which is more useful as an indicator of coincident economic activity. We can see periods of contraction in 2011, 2012, and 2015, and a shallower contraction in 2013. The contraction due to COVID-19 is clear in 2020.

Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decrease to 348,000 – The DOL reported: In the week ending August 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 348,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week’s level was revised up by 2,000 from 375,000 to 377,000. The 4-week moving average was 377,750, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500 from 396,250 to 396,750. This does not include the 109,379 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that was up from 103,847 the previous week. The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971. The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased to 377,750. The previous week was revised up. Regular state continued claims decreased to 2,820,000 (SA) from 2,899,000 (SA) the previous week. Note: There are an additional 4,877,668 receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that increased from 4,820,787 the previous week (there are questions about these numbers). This is a special program for business owners, self-employed, independent contractors or gig workers not receiving other unemployment insurance. And an additional 3,786,488 receiving Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) down from 3,852,569. Weekly claims were below the consensus forecast.

Employment: Preliminary annual benchmark revision shows downward adjustment of 166,000 jobs -The BLS released the preliminary annual benchmark revision showing 166,000 fewer payroll jobs as of March 2021. The final revision will be published when the January 2022 employment report is released in February 2022. Usually the preliminary estimate is pretty close to the final benchmark estimate.The annual revision is benchmarked to state tax records. From the BLS: In accordance with usual practice, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is announcing the preliminary estimate of the upcoming annual benchmark revision to the establishment survey employment series. The final benchmark revision will be issued in February 2022 with the publication of the January 2022 Employment Situation news release.Each year, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey employment estimates are benchmarked to comprehensive counts of employment for the month of March. These counts are derived from state unemployment insurance (UI) tax records that nearly all employers are required to file. For National CES employment series, the annual benchmark revisions over the last 10 years have averaged plus or minus one-tenth of one percent of total nonfarm employment. The preliminary estimate of the benchmark revision indicates a downward adjustment to March 2021 total nonfarm employment of -166,000 (-0.1 percent).Using the preliminary benchmark estimate, this means that payroll employment in March 2021 was 166,000 lower than originally estimated. In February 2022, the payroll numbers will be revised down to reflect the final estimate. The number is then “wedged back” to the previous revision (March 2020).Construction was revised down by 44,000 jobs, and manufacturing revised down by 39,000 jobs.This preliminary estimate showed 421,000 fewer private sector jobs, and 255,000 more government jobs (as of March 2021).

Disempowered By Tyson: How Big Chicken Hurts Farmers, Workers, and Communities – Union Of Concerned Scientists -A few years back, the nation’s largest meat and poultry company used the slogan “Powered by Tyson” to sell its chicken, pork, and beef. Tyson Foods’ marketing language has since changed, but the notion of “power” is more apt than ever when it comes to the way this company operates. As a new joint investigation by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and The Guardian reveals, Tyson has aggressively consolidated its power in the chicken industry, particularly in its home state of Arkansas, while disempowering and exploiting its workers and farmers. The findings are disturbing, and they should raise new alarm bells for state and federal regulators and anyone who eats chicken. . Early in the pandemic, Tyson flexed its political muscles to keep plants across the country open even as its workers were contracting and dying from COVID-19 in alarming and tragic numbers. But long before the pandemic, farmers, workers, and commercial chicken buyers have been accusing Tyson of price fixing andwage suppression schemes that go back years. Some of these allegations have gone to court and ended in settlements, while others are still pending. As detailed in our report, Tyson Spells Trouble for Arkansas, we analyzed US Department of Agriculture data and sales data from the Arkansas poultry processing industry and found that:

• Tyson operates like a monopoly in the Arkansas chicken industry. It accounts for more than two-thirds of the state’s poultry processing. And in some parts of the state, Tyson really has the market cornered: In seven counties, Tyson was the single company controlling all broiler chicken production.
• Tyson has been aggressive in buying up companies and assets in its quest for poultry industry domination. Since 1990, it has made 47 acquisitions (far more than its leading competitors) up and down the supply chain, acquiring not just processing plants but also chicken breeders and even the mills that make chicken feed.
• Tyson’s increasing stranglehold on the industry since 1990 has coincided with a loss of half of the poultry farms in Arkansas. That has happened even as the number of chickens raised in the state every year has risen 1,000%.
• Finally, the concentration and scale of Tyson’s operation has also led to a concentration of chicken manure and other waste around the farms and plants clustered in Northwest Arkansas. That affects the people who live in the region. And the two most affected counties are counties with a large share of Arkansas’s Latino and Native American population, already disadvantaged communities who now also have to live with the air and water pollution that Tyson has created.

The Guardian reporting digs deeper into the effects of Tyson’s operation on its workers and their communities, unearthing personal stories of speed and output targets prioritized over worker safety, a points-based disciplinary system that pressures employees to work overtime and keeps many fearful employees working even when injured or sick, and noxious odors that harm Tyson’s neighbors. The company, not surprisingly, denies it all.

Bonnaroo music festival proceeds in the midst of surging COVID-19 infections in TennesseeIn little over a week, approximately 100,000 concertgoers from all around the country will descend on Manchester, Tennessee, located about an hour outside of Nashville, for the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. To put it bluntly: the event, taking place under conditions in which the US is in the midst of a devastating new wave of the coronavirus pandemic, driven in part by the highly infectious Delta variant, is a social crime whose logical outcome will be more deaths and the further spread of the virus in communities throughout the country. The perpetrators of this crime are not only the organizers behind the festival, but also local and state officials, and above all, the Biden administration itself, which is pursuing the homicidal policy of reopening schools and the economy, all the while refusing to take any serious measures to combat the virus. While the festival is scheduled to run from Thursday, September 2 through Sunday, September 5, guests are able to begin arriving as early as Tuesday of the same week. Bonnaroo is but one of a number of festivals and concerts being held this year as part of a continuous effort on the part of the ruling class to “normalize” the pandemic, i.e., to numb the public’s consciousness to mass death. Bonnaroo, which first took place in 2002, was forced to cancel altogether in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. It now follows in the wake of Chicago’s four-day Lollapalooza festival – correctly characterized as a superspreader event – which over 385,000 people attended. It was recently reported that there have been over 200 confirmed cases – an undercount to be sure – among attendees of Lollapalooza. Significantly, 127 of those cases are among vaccinated individuals, with 76 confirmed cases among unvaccinated individuals. Lollapalooza required its attendees to show proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID-19 test issued within 72 hours of entry. The predictable outcome of cases following the festival exposes the lie that these events, even with certain measures in place, can be conducted safely and responsibly. Taking cues from Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo issued an announcement on Twitter stating, “The safety of our patrons and staff is our number one priority. As such a full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 test will be required to attend Bonnaroo 2021.” Supposedly, masks will only be required for indoor spaces, although if Lollapalooza is any indication, any masking guidelines will quickly fall to the wayside. Notably, a Dutch electronic dance music festival called Verknipt, held last month in Utrecht, Netherlands, has been linked to over 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, despite having stricter requirements than what Bonnaroo is demanding. For instance, unvaccinated Verknipt attendees were required to show proof of negativity within 40 hours in order to gain entry. City officials have since revised this to 24 hours.

This is How Hundreds of Thousands of Americans Spent the Summer of 2021 – During the Worst Pandemic Since 1918 (pictures) The Lollapalooza Music Festival was held at Chicago’s Grant Park from Thursday, July 29 through Sunday, August 1. An estimated 100,000 people crowded into the event on each of its four days. A large segment of those attending were not wearing masks and social distancing averaged about 6 inches to zero. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally took place in Sturgis, South Dakota on August 6 through August 15. The South Dakota Department of Transportation reported that a total of 525,768 vehicles entered the rally, using nine locations, for the combined 10 days of the event. The majority of the attendees did not wear masks. Social distancing was not practiced on the streets, in bars or in restaurants.Even the former President of the United States, Barack Obama, threw himself a big birthday bash on Saturday evening, August 7, at his $12 million waterfront mansion on Martha’s Vineyard. A sprawling tent was set up for indoor dining. And elsewhere on beaches, in bars, restaurants, concerts, and house parties, there was little recognition that COVID-19 was still raging across the United States.

Raiders requiring fans to be vaccinated in first for NFL team — The Las Vegas Raiders this week announced that all fans attending home games will be required to provide proof of their vaccinations against the coronavirus.The team became the first in the NFL to require fans to be vaccinated, saying on Monday the new policy will go into effect Sept. 13, when the Raiders play their regular season home opener against the Baltimore Ravens.”Health and safety has always been our number one priority,” Raiders owner Mark Davis said in a statement. “After consultation with Governor [Steve] Sisolak and other community leaders, this policy ensures that we will be able to operate at full capacity without masks for fully vaccinated fans for the entire season.”The Raiders played their preseason opener on Saturday at Allegiant Stadium, with all attendees required to wear masks, the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted.Last month, officials in Las Vegas decided against implementing a mask mandate for tourists on the Las Vegas strip, opting instead to order employees to wear masks indoors.

Garth Brooks cancels five stadium concerts as Covid-19 cases rise. -The country superstar Garth Brooks has canceled his next five stadium tour dates, the latest and biggest concerts to be pulled as the touring industry scrambles in response to rising coronavirus infection rates.”In July, I sincerely thought the pandemic was falling behind us,” Brooks said in a statement on Wednesday, four days after performing for about 90,000 fans in Lincoln, Neb. “Now, watching this new wave, I realize we are still in the fight and I must do my part.”The tour, which had already played five cities over the last month, is canceling dates in Cincinnati, which had been scheduled for Sept. 18; Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 25; Baltimore, on Oct. 2; Foxborough, Mass., on Oct. 9; and one makeup date for a rained-out show in Nashville that had not been scheduled yet. Tickets will be refunded automatically, according to the statement. Brooks’s announcement came after a slew of cancellations by artists including Stevie Nicks, Limp Bizkit, Korn and Lynyrd Skynyrd; the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, planned for October, was also shut down. The Detroit Jazz Festival, planned as an in-person event from Sept. 3 to 6, announced this week that it would “pivot to a virtual format” of livestreams.

Orlando residents are asked to cut back on water usage as the virus surges in Florida. -Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and utility officials asked residents to conserve water Friday to preserve the city’s supply of liquid oxygen, which is being used to treat a surging number of Covid-19 patients.During a Friday afternoon news conference, Linda Ferrone of the Orlando Utilities Commission asked residents to refrain from using excess water and to be prepared to do so for at least several weeks.A Delta variant-driven surge has made Florida one of the nation’s worst-hit states, with new cases recently topping their winter peak. Hospitalizations in Orange County, where Orlando is, are up 58 percent over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. Deaths in the Orlando area have overwhelmed crematoriums, which are running out of room to store bodies, local media reported.The New York Times has previously reported on supply chain issues and oxygen s hortages during the pandemic in India,northern Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere.

New York City now requires proof of at least one vaccine dose for many public indoor activities. – Those who are 12 and older will be required to show proof of having received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in order to participate in New York City’s indoor dining, fitness or entertainment venues starting Tuesday. Enforcement will not start until Sept. 13.The requirement is intended to spur vaccinations, which have lagged in the city even as the extremely transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus has driven up new cases.”I am absolutely certain this is going to motivate a lot of people to get vaccinated,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday. Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York announced that starting Sept. 13 those who are 12 and older will be required to show proof of having received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in order to participate in indoor dining, fitness or entertainment.Businesses will be required to hang posters describing the mandate near their entrances and those that do not comply will be subject to fines. Customers are allowed to enter the premises for a few minutes to use the bathroom, or for other reasons, without proving that they have been vaccinated.The city has hired 570 people to go out and canvass small businesses in every ZIP code with information about the vaccination requirement, Mr. de Blasio said. The goal is to canvass all businesses across the city within the next three weeks. A $10 million advertising campaign will also spread the word about the new mandate.Starting Sept. 13, agencies such as the Department of Health will be able to start issuing fines and other penalties against indoor venues that do not check vaccination status. The sheriff’s office may also get involved if customers use fake vaccine cards, the mayor said. There are two official apps, NYC Covid Safe and the Excelsior Pass, but showing your paper vaccine card is fine too. For those who were vaccinated outside of the United States, paperwork from abroad showing that people received any of the eight vaccines cleared for emergency use by the World Health Organization is also acceptable.

New York’s ‘Excelsior Pass’ is likely to cost at least $27 million. – New York’s digital vaccine app, the Excelsior Pass, will likely cost far more than originally expected, with projected costs nearing $27 million, according to newly obtained documents shared with The New York Times.The pass is stepping into the spotlight this week as restaurants, museums, gyms and other indoor venues in New York City are asking customers – often for the first time – to show proof of at least one vaccine dose as part of a new city mandate.More than 3.5 million people have already retrieved an Excelsior Pass, which consists of a QR code that can be stored on a smartphone or printed out, the state said. The app verifies applications against city and state vaccination records, and the code is generated the day after someone is considered fully vaccinated, which is 15 days after the final shot.Through a Freedom of Information Request, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, an advocacy group that has expressed concern about the privacy and security implications of vaccine passports, received the latest contract between the state and I.B.M., which is developing the app.In June, the advocacy group provided The Times with the original version of the contract between the state and I.B.M., which estimated the total cost of the project would be $17 million over three years. Even that was far more than the $2.5 million in development costs that Mr. Cuomo and his staff had publicly mentioned when announcing the arrival of the nation’s first government-sponsored digital app that verifies proof of vaccination.The updated version of the contract, signed by the state’s Office of Information Technology Services in late June, adds up to another $10 million. New York, the contract states, had already incurred an extra $656,421 in charges for technical support and updates. And a Phase 2 of the project, which was mentioned but not described in detail in the original contract, ended up costing more than double than estimated, rising to $4.7 million from $2.2 million.”We always said that Excelsior Pass would be a high-tech distraction from real public health measures, but we had no idea the price would go up this high,” said Albert Fox Cahn, the advocacy group’s executive director. “Even as New Yorkers find themselves on the hook for millions more, the app still isn’t able to do a lot of the basics.” The governor’s office defended the contract, noting that it would only spend the full amount if the program continued to be successful. It said that so far the state had only spent a fraction of the total amount. “The state amended the upper limit of the contract so we have the option – only to be undertaken if the pass continues to be a success – to further expand the pass’s critical role in supporting New York State’s economic recovery, including the potential to connect with neighboring states whose residents travel in and out of New York routinely as they live, work, and play,”

City workers in Los Angeles will soon have to get vaccinated. -The Los Angeles City Council passed on Wednesday a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for nearly 60,000 city workers, including police officers and firefighters, that did not include an option for regular testing.Other major cities, states, companies, health care systems and the federal government have all passed different vaccine rules. But many, including New York City’s, allow people to skip the shots as long as they are regularly tested for the coronavirus.Los Angeles’s rule, and one recently announced for much ofSeattle‘s municipal workforce, removes that option. Los Angeles will only allow medical or religious exemptions.The vaccine mandate in Los Angeles reflects a broader trend toward harsher measures, from the White House down, to push the Americans who are still not vaccinated to get the shots as the Delta variant ravages the United States.In much of the country cases and hospitalizations have reached levels not seen since last winter, and only 51 percent of the population is vaccinated so far, according to federal data. Los Angeles, the second most populous U.S. city, was one of the hardest-hit parts of the country last winter, according to a New York Times database. Cases and hospitalizations have climbed sharply from their lows earlier this summer, but are still a fraction of their winter peaks.

Nevada governor says events requiring vaccinations don’t need masks – Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) said masks can be optional at events where attendees are required to be vaccinated.”If a large event venue chooses to require vaccination proof for all attendees, those that are FULLY vaccinated will be allowed to take their masks off. Partially vaccinated attendees may still attend, but they must wear their mask at the event,” Sisolak tweeted on Monday. Sisolak also wrote that the current option to go without masks for vaccinated events is available for venues that have a fixed capacity of 4,000 or more.The new rules come after cities such as San Francisco and New York have implemented requirements for customers show proof of vaccination cards when patronizing restaurants, gyms and other indoor settings.The Las Vegas Raiders announced Monday that they will require proof of vaccinations for fans who attend home games this season, with owner Mark Davis saying he consulted with Sisolak and other community leaders on this decision.Cities and businesses are imposing the new restrictions in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases from the highly contagious delta variant, with unvaccinated individuals accounting for the overwhelming number of recent hospitalizations and deaths from the virus.

Chicago, New Mexico and airports implement mask requirements.– As the highly contagious Delta variant fuels a rise in cases around the United States, more indoor mask mandates are returning or being extended: for Chicagoans, New Mexicans and, now until next year, anyone in the country using public transportation or visiting an airport.Chicago and New Mexico’s mandates, which apply regardless of vaccination status, begin on Friday.The new rules, announced on Tuesday, come after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last month thateveryone in communities with growing caseloads wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status.Officials said the mask requirements were needed to help stop the spread of the virus. Over the past week, the United States has been reporting about 139,800 new coronavirus cases each day on average, an increase of 52 percent from two weeks ago. The number of new deaths reported is up 87 percent, to an average of 696 deaths per day. Hawaii, Louisiana, Oregon and Puerto Rico have also implemented indoor mask mandates, as have San Francisco and Washington, D.C.Though cases have risen eightfold in Cook County, which includes Chicago, since early July, the outlook remains far better than in much of the rest of the country. On a per-capita basis, Cook County is averaging fewer than half as many new cases as the country as a whole. An average of 17 cases per 100,000 residents is emerging each day in Cook County, compared to 43 cases per 100,000 people nationally and 138 cases per 100,000 people in Florida. Chicago’s new mask mandate extends to bars and restaurants, clubs and common areas of residential buildings, according to the department of health.In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said on Tuesday that masks would be required in all public indoor places starting on Friday and continuing until at least Sept. 15.New Mexico had previously dropped its mask mandate for people who were fully vaccinated, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.”This surge is a terrifying indicator of moving absolutely in the wrong direction,” Ms. Lujan Grisham said at a news conference. “We’re in a terrible place for health care services and for protecting our health care workers.”

Los Angeles will require masks at large outdoor concerts and sporting events. – Los Angeles County, where the coronavirus is surging, said Tuesday that it would require masks to be worn at large outdoor concerts and sporting events that attract more than 10,000 people.The new regulation, which takes effect at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, means that people attending the Hollywood Bowl and Dodger Stadium, as well as outdoor music festivals and what the county describes as “mega events,” will now have to wear masks. The rule will apply to people regardless of their vaccination status.The order came as cities around the nation have taken steps to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Chicago joined Los Angeles County, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and other areas to require masks in public indoor places. New York City is requiring proof of vaccination for dining and entertainment activities indoors. The new rules requiring masks at large outdoor events in Los Angeles came as the county reported that cases, hospitalizations and positivity rates have increased markedly. Los Angeles County has been averaging 3,361 new cases a day, an 18 percent increase over its average two weeks ago, according to data collected by The New York Times.

“The rebellion is spreading”: After local Texas officials defy his ban on mask mandates, Gov. Greg Abbott begins to clamp down -As Texas students too young to get vaccinated head back to school while the highly contagious delta variant threatens to overflow hospitals, a growing cadre of local government officials have mandated mask-wearing in bids to slow the spread of COVID-19 – defying Gov. Greg Abbott. This week, officials in Dallas and Bexar counties successfully sued for the right to again require masks in public schools and many government buildings – at least temporarily. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins went a step further Wednesday and mandated that child care centers and businesses must also require employees and customers to wear masks.”We are all team public health and the enemy is the virus,” Jenkins said. “Right now, the enemy is winning.”Other officials didn’t bother with a court battle. Travis County officials went ahead Wednesday afternoon with an order requiring mask-wearing in public schools. Some of the state’s largest school districts – Austin, Houston and Fort Worth – already plan to require students, teachers and staff to don masks.”The rebellion is spreading across the state,” Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.Abbott – under intense pressure from some on his right to hold the line against local officials who want to require masks – now is trying to quell that rebellion.Hours after Jenkins signed his mandate, Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxtonannounced they would go to court to block Dallas County’s top official, asking the 5th Court of Appeals to overturn the state district judge’s decision that allowed Jenkins to move forward. The two men threatened to sue any government official who defies Abbott’s order.

Texas school officials think they’ve found dress code loophole in Abbott ban – The board of trustees for a school district in Texas are amending their dress code for students to include masks in a bid to get around Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) executive order banning mask mandates in schools. The Paris Independent School District (PISD) announced the new changes to the dress code in a press release on Tuesday, weeks after Abbott issued an executive order banning schools from requiring face masks. “The Board of Trustees is concerned about the health and safety of its students and employees. The Board believes the dress code can be used to mitigate communicable health issues, and therefore has amended the PISD dress code to protect our students and employees,” the school district said in the release. The district went on to say that Abbott lacks the authority “to usurp” the board’s “exclusive power and duty to govern and oversee the management of the public schools of the district.” “Nothing in the Governor’s Executive Order 38 states he has suspended Chapter 11 of the Texas Education Code, and therefore the Board has elected to amend its dress code consistent with its statutory authority,” the district added. The Hill has reached out to Abbott’s office for comment. The move comes after another school district in Texas said recently that it will keep its mask mandate for students in place despite a recent ruling from the state’s high court upholding Abbott’s ban. School districts in Republican-led states including Florida, Oklahoma and Arizona have implemented similar polices in recent weeks, defying orders banning such measures by state leaders as the delta variant has fueled a surge in coronavirus cases in different parts of the nation. Health officials have urged the public to return to wearing masks in indoor spaces, even if the individual is vaccinated, to curb the rising number of infections, including “breakthrough cases” in fully vaccinated people.

School districts meet on mask mandate changes as kids head back to school – – As children across Texas head back to school, the fight in court over mask mandates rages on between state leaders and local governments.While the legal battle plays out over Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order which bans mask mandates by government entities – including public school districts – school boards are either choosing to defy the Governor’s executive order and require masks or keep masks optional for students and staff. Several districts have already changed their rules and requirements over the last few days.The Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked mask mandates in Dallas and Bexar counties, including their school districts, but their ruling doesn’t affect the Austin Independent School District mask mandate yet.On Monday night, several other school districts across Texas met to talk about mask requirements and other COVID-19 safety protocols.Elgin ISD was the first to take action and approve a mask mandate for students and staff starting on Tuesday. Officials said they made the decision after carefully considering the different local and state mask orders.The Round Rock Board of Trustees heard from at least a dozen students and dozens of parents, during a meeting that lasted late into Monday night. The meeting agenda noted they could take “possible action” on their COVID-19 safety protocols.”I’d like to urge you to issue a mask mandate to save our lives,” one middle school student told the Round Rock ISD board.An incoming senior student echoed the sentiment: “A mask isn’t just about you. A mask is to protect those around you.”Meanwhile, another student urged the board to comply with the Governor’s order and said they worried about the toll on the mental health of her classmates if masks or virtual learning persisted.”We should be able to see each other’s smiling faces and feel comfortable returning to our learning environment,” she said

Tennessee’s governor allows parents to opt out of mask mandates at school. –Gov. Bill Lee visited McConnell Elementary School in Hixson, Tenn., last week. He signed an executive order on Monday essentially gutting any school district’s effort to require its students to wear masks.Credit…Troy Stolt/Chattanooga Times Free Press, via Associated PressAs the Delta variant fuels a new coronavirus wave, particularly in areas with underwhelming vaccination rates, Tennessee on Monday became the latest state where a governor has undermined efforts by local school districts to require students to wear masks as the new school year approaches.Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed an executive order on Monday essentially gutting any school district’s effort to require its students to wear masks.According to the order, a student’s parent or guardian “shall have the right to opt out of any order or requirement” that the student “wear a face covering” at school, on school buses or at school functions.The number of new coronavirus cases in Tennessee has been steadily rising since July, according to a New York Times database. As of Sunday, Tennessee recorded its highest weekly average of coronavirus cases since late January.Mr. Lee’s executive order comes days after video surfaced last week showing anti-mask protesters threatening doctors who expressed support for requiring face coverings during a local school board meeting in Williamson County. Tennessee is one of several battlegrounds with a Republican governor who opposes mask mandates and local school officials who want them. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone in schools wears masks, regardless of vaccination status, so that schools can more safely resume in-person instruction.

13-year-old in Mississippi dies of COVID-19 days after school reopens – On Saturday, 13-year-old Mkayla Robinson died of COVID-19 in Raleigh, Mississippi, after testing positive for the virus the day before. Her death coincides with a record 1,900 children currently hospitalized with the disease in the United States. Mkayla was an eighth grader at Raleigh Junior High, part of the Smith County school district, which began the semester on August 6 with no mask requirement. On August 10, due to a rapid spread of the virus, the district announced a mask mandate. By Friday, the day Mkayla tested positive, the district reported 76 known cases among students and 11 among staff. Local news reports say Mkayla attended classes until at least Wednesday. Her death was announced on the Raleigh High School Lion Pride Band’s Facebook page. One comment read, “Kind of makes the Governor a murderer doesn’t it? These are our children’s lives these guys are playing politics with and killing … ” Mississippi Republican Governor Tate Reeves demonstrated the callousness of the ruling class at a Friday press conference, where he said COVID-19 in children amounted to “the sniffles” and could not recall how many children in the state have died from the disease. “Does it happen from time to time? Sure it does. I believe we have had one fatality of an individual, maybe it could’ve been two – I think there’s three under the age of 18 at this time? Two?” Behind him, Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs corrected him that four children had died. Mkayla became the fifth child in the state to die from the disease.

DeWine pleads with Ohio school officials to require masks – Gov. Mike DeWine returned to the podium Tuesday to beg Ohio schools to require masks. Two weeks ago, the Ohio Department of Health released back to school guidance recommending vaccinations for those eligible and mask-wearing for the unvaccinated. “If you’re not requiring masks, please, please, please think about this again,” DeWine said to school administrators. “Consider doing it for the next few weeks.” “This is the time to take precautions, not the time to take them away,” he said.

Ohio governor and top doctor make plea for masks in schools –(WJW) – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff held a news conference on the spread of COVID-19 and the impact on schools.The governor said he believes Ohioans are united in the hope children stay in class without interruption. He said the goal is being threatened, even with the school year just beginning for some.”Today in Ohio, we are facing a perfect storm. Just as our kids are back to school, the new delta variant is sweeping across the state, taking direct aim at all those who are unvaccinated,” DeWine said. “Sadly, things have worsened since our last news conference.”DeWine emphasized the Ohio Department of Health’s recommendations that children be vaccinated or wear a mask in the classroom. He acknowledged children under 12 cannot yet get the COVID-19 vaccine and of those 12 to 17, only 35 percent are vaccinated.He called on school districts to require masks, at least for the next few weeks, with virus level high. DeWine said now is the time to take precautions, not take them away.Vanderhoff said we know masks in schools work. He said masks helped ensure a safe environment in classes through last spring.”Vaccinations are our very best protection against COVID-19. In schools, we recommend that everyone who is eligible, students, staff, teachers, coaches, everyone, get vaccinated if you are eligible. For those who can’t get vaccinated, masks layered with other prevention strategies, including distancing, are part of our proven strategy for staying well, even in the face of COVID-19.” On Tuesday, the state health department reported 3,235 new cases, 220 hospitalizations, 18 intensive case admissions and 34 deaths. There have been three days with more than 3,000 cases in the last week. “Prior to this week, we haven’t had a single day with over 3,000 newly reported cases since February.”The 21-day average of new COVID cases in Ohio is 1,945, with an average of 90 hospitalizations and eight deaths. The latest CDC data shows nearly all of Ohio under a high transmission rate ofcoronavirus.

School boards in Miami and Tampa mandate masks in defiance of the state. -Florida’s state board of education threatened this week to penalize local school board members and superintendents in Broward and Alachua Counties because they were requiring students to wear masks at school. But those threats did not stop Florida’s largest school district, Miami-Dade, as well as the school districts in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, and Palm Beach County, from approving similarly strict mask mandates on Wednesday, in further defiance of the state board. “Yesterday, I spoke with a mother of a child who died,” Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, told the state board of education on Wednesday. “Over the week, I’ve spoken with employees and their relatives, begging me to do the right thing.” He said he would “wear proudly as a badge of honor” any consequences that may come from his recommendation to require masks, which the school board adopted with a 7-1 vote later on Wednesday. Lubby Navarro, a board member, cast the lone dissenting vote. “I am not going to sit here and violate state law,” she said. Battles over school mask policies have engulfed Florida as hospitals have filled with Covid-19 patients, many of them young people. In Broward County, local officials warned this week that only five beds remained available in pediatric intensive care units there. This month, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, ordered school districts to allow parents to opt out of mask requirements for their children. He also allowed parents whose children feel “bullied” by mask mandates to apply for a private-school voucher. The Hillsborough County Public Schools began the school year on Aug. 10 with parents allowed to opt out of its mask requirement. But the district quickly found so much virus in its schools that the board called a special meeting on Wednesday to consider stricter rules. They voted 5-2 to limit mask opt-outs to students with medical exemptions, in spite of a recommendation from Addison G. Davis, the superintendent, that the district keep its existing rules. “Right now, I think it’s really important to mask our children,” said Nadia T. Combs, one of the board members. She added that she’s “not here for the adults.” “I’m not here for politics,” she said. “I’m here to keep kids in school.”

The Biden administration will use a federal civil rights office to deter states from banning universal masking in classrooms. –President Biden, escalating his fight with Republican governors who are blocking local school districts from requiring masks to protect against the coronavirus, said Wednesday that his Education Department would use its broad powers – including taking possible legal action – to deter states from barring universal masking in classrooms. Mr. Biden said he had directed Miguel Cardona, his education secretary, “to take additional steps to protect our children,” including against governors who he said are “setting a dangerous tone” in issuing executive orders banning mask mandates and threatening to penalize school officials who defy them. “Unfortunately, as you’ve seen throughout this pandemic, some politicians are trying to turn public safety measures – that is, children wearing masks in school – into political disputes for their own political gain,” Mr. Biden said in remarks from the East Room of the White House, adding, “We are not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children.” The federal intervention comes as school districts face the monumental task of trying to get students back to in-person learning and reverse the devastating setbacks experienced by a range of students.. Mr. Biden’s move puts the federal government at the center of bitter local debates over how to mitigate against the virus in schools, just as the highly infectious Delta variant is fueling a spike in pediatric cases. In an interview on Wednesday, Dr. Cardona said that like the president, he was “appalled that there are adults who are blind to their blindness, that there are people who are putting policies in place that are putting students and staff at risk.” “At the end of the day,” he said, “we shouldn’t be having this conversation. What we’re dealing with now is negligence.” Dr. Cardona said he would deploy the Education Department’s civil rights enforcement arm to investigate states that block universal masking. The move marks a major turning point in the Biden administration’s effort to get as many students as possible back to in-person schooling this fall. The nation’s most vulnerable students, namely students with disabilities, low-income students and students of color, have suffered the deepest setbacks since districts pivoted to remote learning in March 2020, and their disproportionate disengagement has long drawn concern from education leaders and civil rights watchdogs.

Washington State is requiring all teachers and staff to be vaccinated. -All teachers and school personnel in Washington State – including coaches, bus drivers and volunteers – will need to be fully vaccinated as a condition of employment, under a new policy announced by Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday. The requirement applies to staff regardless of the type of school in which they work: public, charter or private.The policy is the strictest vaccine mandate imposed to date by any state for teachers and other staff members in schools, allowing for only a few exceptions. School staff must be vaccinated by Oct. 18 or face possible dismissal.”We are well past the point where testing is enough to keep people safe,” Mr. Inslee said at a news conference. “We’ve tried it. It has not been adequate for the task at hand.”He stressed that 95 percent of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 in Washington were unvaccinated, and reminded the public that children under 12 were not yet eligible for vaccines.”When you decide to get a vaccine, you’re protecting a kid out there who can’t get it,” he said.Vaccine mandates have been hotly debated across the country, with a quarter of states, generally those led by Republicans, banning vaccine requirements for public employees like school staff, according to the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education. But in recent days, some Democratic officials have moved to require the shots.Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has offered teachers in public and private schools the option of either vaccination or regular virus testing. City school systems in Los Angeles and Chicago havegone further, requiring staff vaccination, though there is an exemption process for those with disabling medical conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs.Washington’s policy goes further than California’s. There is no option to choose regular testing instead of vaccination. There are limited exceptions, however, including for legitimate medical reasons and sincerely held religious beliefs. Individuals who refuse to get vaccinated will be subject to dismissal. The state had already announced a mask mandate inside schools. It is experiencing a Covid-19 case surge that is straining its health care system.

Oregon’s governor sets a vaccine mandate for health workers and school employees.– With I.C.U. beds filling up and the Delta variant of the coronavirus fueling a surge in new cases, Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon announced on Thursday that all health care workers and school employees in the state will have to be fully vaccinated. The move tightens the policy that Governor Brown, a Democrat, announced on Aug. 10, which allowed health care workers to work without being vaccinated if they were tested regularly. Faced with a worsening surge, Ms. Brown’s new policy takes away that option. With an eye on the new academic year, Ms. Brown said all teachers, other staff members and volunteers in elementary and secondary schools must be fully vaccinated in order to protect young children and to prevent the mass student quarantines needed recently in the South. The requirements take effect Oct. 18, or six weeks after the vaccines are fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration, whichever comes first. “Our kids need to be protected, and they need to be in school,” Governor Brown said at a news conference, noting that children under 12 were not yet eligible for coronavirus vaccination. “And that’s why I’m willing to take the heat for this decision.” Vaccine mandates have become a tense political battleground across the country, with about one-quarter of states – generally those led by Republicans – banning vaccine requirements for public employees, according to the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education. In recent weeks, some Democratic officials have amped up pressure by requiring the shots for some workers.

New York City imposes vaccine mandate for many high school athletes and coaches.– New York City’s high school student athletes and coaches participating in high-risk sports will have to be vaccinated in order to play, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday. The announcement represents the first student vaccine mandate in New York City, and could set the stage for broader mandates for the city’s roughly 1 million public school students later this year.About 20,000 students and staff – about half of the total Public School Athletic League – will have to receive at least one vaccine dose by the first day of competitive play. That means students with fall seasons, including football and volleyball players, will have to be at least partially vaccinated by the first few weeks of school.But students who play winter and spring sports like basketball, ice hockey and lacrosse, along with wrestlers, have several months before they have to start the vaccination process. And more than 20,000 students and staff who participate in sports considered low-risk, including baseball, soccer, tennis, track and gymnastics, will not have to be vaccinated.Private schools can determine their own mandates for student athletes.The first day of school for all students is Sept. 13, which means eligible students who are still unvaccinated will not be fully protected by the start of school, even if they begin their vaccination process immediately. Just under 60 percent of all eligible New Yorkers ages 12 to 17 have received at least one dose, according to the city, but it’s not clear how many of those children are public school students. The mandate follows guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that students playing contact sports should be vaccinated to prevent canceled or virtual sports seasons. Last year, some districts across the country saw higher transmission among high-risk sports teams than in classrooms.

Chicago Public Schools prepares deadly reopening of schools with sanction of Chicago Teachers Union – Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is preparing to send over 340,000 mostly unvaccinated students back into classrooms on August 30, in spite of the massive surge of the delta variant underway across both the country and the state of Illinois. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has endorsed the city’s reopening and agrees in principle that teachers should go into the unsafe schools, although the city and the union have not yet reached a final agreement on the terms of reopening. The current plan for in-person classes walks back a significant number of already-insufficient restrictions put in place when schools first reopened last spring. Social distancing recommendations are being reduced from six to three feet, even then to be observed only “when possible.” Only unvaccinated students will be required to quarantine if they become exposed to someone who is infected, and there has been no indication from CPS of any criteria, either total cases, test positivity rates or other metrics, which would require the closure of schools. At the time of this writing, the seven-day average of new reported infections in Cook County, which includes Chicago and its closest suburbs, is nearly 900 per day, a 25-fold increase from early July. Earlier this week the city announced that it is re-instating an indoor mask mandate. While the limited measure is totally inadequate for combating the pandemic, it is a backhanded admission that conditions are rapidly worsening. Despite this, the CTU is supporting the CPS reopening plans and says it hopes to form a “partnership” with the city for this purpose. In the past week the CTU has held press conferences to announce that they are in the process of negotiating with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office on a handful of supposed safety measures.

Back-to-school shortages: Bus drivers, counselors, computers, even dry erase markers, are in short supply this fall – Bus drivers are in such short supply that EastSide Charter School in Wilmington, Del., is offering parents $700 to drop off and pick up their children for the school year. Pittsburgh Public Schools, which needsmore than 400 drivers, is delaying the return to classrooms by two weeks.And in Montgomery County, Maryland’s largest district, Montgomery County Public Schools is being walloped on both ends: by delayed deliveries of new buses due to a lack of computer chips for the buses’ air-conditioning systems and a shortage of people to drive them.For months, the economy has been rattled by labor shortages and supply chain shocks slowing the delivery of goods around the world. As schools reopen under the shadow of a worsening coronaviruspandemic, they are being squeezed by both – facing shortages of bus drivers, substitute teachers, computers, even ketchup packets and dry-erase markers.The irony, administrators say, is that many school districts are unusually flush with cash from pandemic stimulus funds, but they are struggling to find staffers and supplies. It shows how money alone isn’t solving schools’ needs as they try to return to normal. Superintendents said they were prepared for a rocky start to the new school year but were caught off guard by how directly economic disruptions, such as higher prices and fewer available workers, are colliding in schools. The hiring challenge, economists and school administrators say, is twofold: Many schools are adding more janitors, teachers, school nurses and bus drivers to accommodate smaller and more socially distant groups of students. At the same time, many of those workers are in high demand in other – often higher-paying – industries.

No bus driver? Schools are paying parents to drive their own kids as economic disruptions hit classrooms. – Bus drivers are in such short supply that EastSide Charter School in Wilmington, Del., is offering parents $700 to drop off and pick up their children for the school year. Pittsburgh Public Schools, which needs more than 400 drivers, is delaying the return to classrooms by two weeks. And in Montgomery County, Md., the state’s largest district, Montgomery County Public Schools is being walloped on both ends: by delayed deliveries of new buses due to a lack of computer chips for the buses’ air-conditioning systems and a shortage of people to drive the them. For months, the economy has been rattled by labor shortages and supply chain shocks slowing the delivery of goods around the world. As schools reopen under the shadow of a worsening coronavirus pandemic, they are being squeezed by both – facing shortages of bus drivers, substitute teachers, computers, even ketchup packets and dry erase markers. The irony, administrators say, is that many school districts are unusually flush with cash from pandemic stimulus funds, but they are struggling to find staffers and supplies. It shows how money alone isn’t solving schools’ needs as they try to return to normal. Superintendents said they were prepared for a rocky start to the new school year but were caught off guard by how directly economic disruptions, such as higher prices and fewer available workers, are colliding in schools. “There’s a labor and inventory shortage at the same time we’re increasing enrollment and hiring,” said Aaron Bass, chief executive of EastSide. “We’ve been looking like crazy for everybody you can think of: janitors, cafeteria workers, psychologists, counselors, bus drivers. Even if you have all the money in the world, you can’t get what you need.”Many of the country’s public schools, experts say, are better-positioned to serve their students than they were last year. They’ve had time to think through pandemic-related protocols and have received nearly $200 billion in federal aid during the pandemic. But even with extra money in their budgets, the schools are running up against many of the same challenges as other employers around the country. “Schools have the funds to provide more services, but now they’re having to figure out how to get the people and supplies they need to do that,” Administrators say a nationwide shortage of bus drivers is among their most pressing concerns this fall, particularly as many schools reopen for in-person learning for the first time in over a year. Many districts say they have twice as many vacancies as usual because of fundamental shifts in the economy, including a rise in online shopping that has led trucking companies and carriers like UPS and FedEx to add tens of thousands of commercial drivers to their ranks to keep up with ballooning demand.

White House doubles down on reopening schools as COVID-19 cases surge -The Biden administration doubled down Wednesday on its efforts to force schools to resume in-person education amid a surge of COVID-19 cases, with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona declaring “our priority must be” to “return to school in person.” The White House’s statement came as COVID-19 cases continued to surge nationwide, with 155,000 cases reported Thursday, a more than ten-fold increase in the span of just two months. In states throughout the country, hospitals were filled to capacity as the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients hit 85,000, a six-fold increase since June. And most troubling of all, 967 people died Thursday, representing a quadrupling of the daily deaths compared to two months ago. Cardona opened his statement Wednesday by boasting that “more than 62 percent of students across the country will complete their first day of school” this week. “As educators, we know in our hearts how important in-person learning is for student success,” Cardona said, adding, “The truth is that we know what works to keep students and educators safe: following the science-based strategies for preventing the spread of COVID-19 recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).” In reality, the CDC, under political pressure from a White House determined to reopen schools at any cost, is directly contradicting public health guidance that has been used to successfully control the spread of COVID-19 in China.

On first day back to school, five Fayette County, West Virginia students test positive for COVID-19 –Within hours of opening for the school year this past Tuesday, Fayette County Schools identified five positive COVID-19 cases among its student body. The cases are spread across grade levels, with two at Oak Hill High School, one at New River Intermediate School, one at Oak Hill Middle, and one at the PreK-8 elementary school in Fayetteville, a small town of 2,800 people about an hour south of the state capital, Charleston. All of the schools remain open Wednesday and county superintendent Gary Hough suggested none of the students in proximity to those who tested positive will need to quarantine. Hough told local news station WOAY Channel 4 on Tuesday evening that all five cases were “athletic related” but “diagnosed very early.” Contact sports have involved vaccinated and unvaccinated children alike in training practices ahead of the school year. The widespread nature of the cases suggests transmission throughout the community rather than an isolated cluster. The situation also portends a massive spread of the virus in Fayette County and in every other county in the state as schools reopen. In fact, Fayette County was already the site of a Delta outbreak, in the Hilltop nursing home where all residents have been vaccinated. As of August 13, 38 residents tested positive along with 17 staff members. Four residents have died of the virus. In addition, Fayette County is the location of the state’s only maximum security prison, the Mount Olive Correctional Complex, where an unknown number of inmates have contracted coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic. The state Division of Health and Human Resources reports dozens of deaths at the penitentiary, where inmates were still waiting on vaccinations in late March. With high rates of COVID-19 “comorbidities” like obesity, smoking, and diabetes, the population of West Virginia, one of the poorest states in the union, is exceedingly vulnerable to complications from the disease.

COVID-19 cases skyrocket in Los Angeles schools, exposing pretense of “safe reopening”In the four days since the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest district in the US with over 600,000 students, reopened on Monday, multiple positive infections have been detected in various school sites. The mitigation measures touted by the district in advance of reopening, while wholly inadequate to stop the spread of the virus, have not even been systematically implemented across the district, and the dilapidated infrastructure of many of the district’s over 1,000 schools is proving to be an insurmountable barrier in providing necessary ventilation to limit the spread of the airborne virus. Interim LAUSD Superintendent Megan Reilly spent opening day running from campus to campus telling everyone that schools were safe, and that “everyone needs to understand the many layers and how our safety protocol works.” According to Reilly, “We’ve created here at Los Angeles Unified some of the safest environments. It’s a controlled environment. It’s safer in many of our schools than it is out in the public.” According to data released Thursday by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH), 118 students and staff tested positive in the 24 hours from Tuesday to Wednesday morning. 107 of those cases were K-12 students who were on campuses during that time. Ten outbreaks and nine clusters have been reported associated with the positive cases and 56 of those cases were reportedly isolated cases. Only positive cases and close contacts, or people who were within 3 feet of the infected individual for longer than 15 minutes, have been notified and asked to quarantine. On Wednesday, the LACDPH recorded 34 new deaths and 4,046 new infections, with 1,790 people in local hospitals with the virus and 406 people in intensive care units. Hospitalizations increased by more than 100 over the previous day. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 1.36 million cases in Los Angeles County with 24,952 deaths. LAUSD has implemented a program to test all students and staff once per week regardless of vaccination status. On Monday night, LAUSD released their baseline COVID-19 results from tests of students and staff during the two weeks prior to the first day of school, which found 3,255 positive cases among students and 399 cases among school employees. However, 19 percent of students did not get tested through the district during this period. LAUSD asks that students not participating in the school testing program get tested through an outside site, but will not include these results in its overall data reports. With 451,026 students returning to in-person schooling, that would mean about 85,694 of those students were not included in the reported baseline test results.

School or ‘Russian Roulette’? Amid Delta Variant and Lax Mask Rules, Some Parents See No Difference – The child had just started kindergarten. Or, as her mother called it, “Russian roulette.” That’s because her school district in Grand Junction, Colorado, experienced one of the nation’s first delta-variant outbreaks last spring, and now school officials have loosened the rules meant to protect against covid-19.The mother, Venessa, who asked not to be named in full for fear of repercussions for her family, is part of a group of parents, grandparents, medical professionals and community members who assembled in the past few weeks to push back.The group calls itself “S.O.S.,” which stands for “Supporters for Open and Safe Schools,” while nodding to the international signal for urgent help. It’s made up of Republicans and Democrats, Christians and atheists, and its main request: Require masks.Venessa said the concept is not complicated for her 5-year-old. “She just puts it on, like her shoes.”But just two weeks into this school year, 30 classrooms already have reports of exposure to covid-positive students, district spokesperson Emily Shockley said. And three more classrooms were quarantined because they’d had at least three students in them test positive. Masks are still not universally required.Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends “universal indoor masking” in schools regardless of vaccination status, schools across the country are not embracing mask requirements, including for students under 12 who aren’t yet eligible for protective vaccines.Mesa County, where Venessa lives, was one of the places where the variant arrived before school let out for summer. A report published in early August by the CDC found that from late April through late June, as the delta variant spread there, schools were the most common setting for outbreaks aside from residential care facilities, even though masks were required in schools for students age 11 and older. Schools were bigger virus hubs than correctional facilities.Susan Hassig, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Tulane University in New Orleans, views the report on Mesa County as a warning shot of what’s to come, showing high spread of the variant among schoolchildren.Prior assumptions that kids weren’t likely to get or spread the virus no longer apply, she said: Kids are back to their regular in-person activities, and with a highly transmissible variant circulating to boot. “We’ve got a lot more kids that are getting exposed, and with delta, a lot more kids getting infected,” Hassig said this month. “And now we’ve got full children’s hospitals here in Louisiana.”Politicians in eight states, including Texas and Florida, have prohibited mask mandates in public schools, but some school districts – including in big cities such as Dallas, Houston, Austin and Fort Lauderdale and small ones such as Paris, Texas – are rebelling against those orders and mandating masks anyway, despite the threat of fines.

Texas drops enforcement of its governor’s ban on mask mandates. – The Texas Education Agency said it would temporarily stop enforcing Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates and the State Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing school districts to require face-coverings. Both decisions are temporary.The agency said in new guidance on Thursday that it would immediately stop enforcing the ban on mask mandates until litigations were resolved.In a reversal, the agency’s new guidance requires schools to notify their local health department if a student tests positive. The school must also notify students in the same classroom as well as those who share extracurricular activities.As coronavirus hospitalizations have again surged in the state, nearing last year’s peaks, Mr. Abbott has resisted calls for new mandates and doubled down on his ban.The governor’s mask mandate ban has been making its way through the courts as school districts and parents have continued to challenge it. Seven counties and 48 school districts have defied the governor by ordering mask mandates, The Associated Press reported. Several large cities, including Dallas, San Antonio and Houston, have bucked the governor’s ban.School districts say they need mask mandates to combat a spike in pediatric cases, just as they face the monumental task of trying to restore in-person learning and reverse the devastating setbacks experienced by a range of students. A confluence of factors – including the Delta virus variant’s contagiousness and the fact that people under 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated – is sendingmore children to hospitals, especially in areas of the country where the virus is surging, like Texas.New daily cases in Texas have increased by 37 percent over the past two weeks, approaching the peak levels of winter, according to a New York Times database, as the virus stretches hospitals in hot spots to their limits. According to the most recent data from the Texas Department of State Health Services, 829 students and 872 school staff members had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Aug. 8, The Associated Press reported.

A California school district will require older students to be vaccinated. -A small school district in Los Angeles County will require older students to be vaccinated for Covid-19 if they’re eligible, the district’s superintendent said in a letter to families this week.Although California educators have already been ordered to be vaccinated or else face regular testing, the Culver City Unified School District is believed to be the first in the state – and possibly the nation – to require students 12 and older to be inoculated.More mandates could be on the way after the Food and Drug Administration grants full approval to the vaccine and allows children under 12 to get it. Both decisions are expected in the coming weeks.The district also expanded masking requirements for some students and staff members and will require weekly Covid testing for both students and employees, regardless of their vaccine status.The announcement came just before the start of the district’s school year on Thursday and in the midst of nationwide tumultover how to safely bring children – including millions who are too young to be eligible for vaccines – back to classrooms as the Delta variant of the coronavirus rages.New cases and rising hospitalizations across the country have thrown into disarray what many hoped would be a fresh start, particularly in California, where many students had spent more than a year learning from home.

Kids Can Recover From Missing Even Quite A Lot Of School – Back when the public schools were closed or online, someone I know burned themselves out working overtime to get the money to send their kid to a private school. They figured that all the other parents would do it, their kid would fall hopelessly behind, and then they’d be doomed to whatever sort of horrible fate awaits people who don’t get into the right colleges.I hear this is happening again now, with more school closures, more frantic parents, and more people asking awful questions like “should I accept the risk of sending my immunocompromised kid to school, or should I accept him falling behind and never amounting to anything?” (see also this story) You can probably predict what side I’m on here. Like everyone else, I took a year of Spanish in middle school; like everyone else who did that, the sum total of what I remember is “no hablo Espanol” – and even there I’m pretty sure I forgot a curly thing over at least one of the letters. Like everyone else, I learned advanced math in high school; like everyone else, I can do up to basic algebra, the specific math I need for my job, and nothing else (my entire memory of Algebra II is that there is a thing called “Gaussian Elimination”, and even there, I’m not sure this wasn’t just the name of a video game). Like everyone else, I once knew the names and dates of many important Civil War battles; like everyone else – okay, fine, I remember all of these, but only because the Civil War is objectively fascinating. And I think that’s the whole point. We learn lots of things in school. Then we forget everything except the things that our interests, jobs, and society give us constant exposure/practice to. So my prediction is that an average student could miss a year or two of school without major long-term effects. Their standardized test score would be lower at the end of the two years they missed than some other student who had been in school the whole time. But after a short period they would equalize again. I don’t think you need to burn yourself out working overtime to send your kid to a private school, I don’t think you need to risk your immunocompromised kid’s health to send her to the classroom, I think you can just chill. I want to present some of the evidence that makes me think this.

Teacher fined after quitting over mask mandates, critical race theory –A 6th-grade math teacher in Kansas got hit with a $1,000 fine after quitting his job over mask mandates and critical race theory training in his school district.”That was my final straw,” Josiah Enyart said after the Shawnee Mission School District sent an email on July 25 renewing its mask mandate for all students and unvaccinated teachers, Fox News reported Saturday.When Enyart gave notice to the Comanche Elementary School in Overland Park, school district officials said he’d have to pay a $1,000 “liquidation penalty” for resigning after a specific deadline in his contract. “I will be bringing my stuff, but I don’t plan on bringing a check,” Enyart told the Sentinel, a local nonprofit news outlet. A GoFundMe page has been established to help him pay the $1,000 penalty to the district, which was already over $7,500.

Rice University temporarily turns to online classes as the virus surges across Texas.– Rice University, a private institution in Houston, has done its best to build a wall against the Delta variant engulfing the state of Texas by imposing stringent requirements for being on campus.Unlike the state’s public universities, which cannot mandate vaccines or masks, Rice requires student and faculty members to wear masks and has testing protocols for all visitors. And while Rice has not risked running afoul of Texas law by requiring vaccines, it has told students they are expected to be vaccinated.Still, the virus has surged in Houston, and on Thursday, Rice became the second university in the state to shift classes online, dampening hopes for a return to normal college life this fall. Ricedelayed the start of school by two days until Aug. 25 and said that classes would remain online through Sept. 3.It also said that members of the Rice community had tested positive for Covid despite the high vaccination rates – 98.5 percent – among the student body.”I’ll be blunt: the level of breakthrough cases (positive testing among vaccinated persons) is much higher than anticipated,” Bridget Gorman, the dean of undergraduates, wrote in a letter to the school’s 8,000 graduate and undergraduate students. The university didn’t specify how many breakthrough cases there were.More than 12,000 people are hospitalized with the coronavirus in Texas, where officials have prohibited both masks and vaccine mandates, and where Gov. Greg Abbott recently tested positive.

Faculty members and supporters at Youngstown State University protest to demand CDC protocols be implemented – On August 13, about 50 faculty and their supporters gathered to protest the unsafe reopening of Youngstown State University (YSU) in Ohio. The protest was held as it became apparent that the administration would not require the roughly 11,000 students returning to campus on August 30 to follow basic COVID-19 safety measures, such as mandatory vaccinations, social distancing or masking. The demonstrators gathered in front Todd Hall on YSU’s campus and chanted “Mandate masks in your class!” Many in attendance also held signs expressing their support for masking and a scientific approach to the pandemic. The protest took place amid the rapid reopening of schools and universities across the United States, even as the more contagious and deadly Delta variant of COVID-19 has continued to spread. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 82 out of 88 counties in Ohio are currently experiencing high levels of COVID-19 transmission. In Mahoning County, where YSU is located, less than half the residents have even received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and throughout Ohio less than half the population is fully vaccinated. Last month Republican Governor Mike DeWine specified that he would not issue a mandate to require students to wear masks. The failure by the governor to issue a mask mandate, which alone is inadequate to stop the spread of COVID-19 within schools, will allow for the virus to spread freely throughout the population after many schools reopen later this month. Given the relative low-level of vaccinations and reports of vaccinated individuals being able to spread COVID-19 to unvaccinated people, the reopening of Ohio universities poses a definite danger even with public health guidelines being enforced. However, YSU has opted to pursue a particularly egregious policy even compared to other schools within the University System of Ohio. Kent State University and Ohio State University both announced that students would be required to wear masks indoors.

Maker of popular Covid test told factory to destroy inventory.For weeks in June and July, workers at a Maine factory making one of America’s most popular rapid tests for Covid-19 were given a task that shocked them: take apart millions of the products they had worked so hard to create and stuff them into garbage bags. Soon afterward, the manufacturer, Abbott Laboratories, announced layoffs, canceled contracts with suppliers and shuttered the only other plant making the test, in Illinois, dismissing a work force of 2,000. “This is all about money,” Andy Wilkinson, a site manager, told the workers in Maine.As virus cases in the U.S. plummeted this spring, so did Abbott’s Covid-testing sales. But now, amid a new surge in infections, steps the company took to eliminate stock and wind down manufacturing are hobbling efforts to expand screening as the highly contagious Delta strain rages across the country. Demand for its 15-minuteantigen test, is soaring again as people return to schools and offices.Yet Abbott has reportedly told thousands of newly interested companies that it cannot equip their testing programs in the near future. CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens locations have been selling out of the at-home version, and Amazon shows shipping delays of up to three weeks. Abbott is scrambling to hire back hundreds of workers.

Egypt’s Bread Subsidies May Bring Millions To The Brink Of Starvation – In Egypt, the recent announcement that bread prices, long subsidized for much of the population, would likely have to rise was met with cries of despair. Indeed, over two-thirds of the population of Egypt depend on inexpensive bread for daily sustenance.In order to understand the current situation in Egypt, it’s imperative to learn how the current situation was created in the first place. First, the word used for bread in Egypt is different from the word common to other Arab countries, and is intertwined with the word meaning “to live.” Also, the most common type of bread in Egypt, consumed by 85 percent of people there, uses a word that means “traditional” or “my country.” Perhaps this sort of nationalism via food is why bread production has been subsidized in Egypt since 1941.With state reliance for this long, the provision of low-cost bread is “an expected part of the state’s social contract with its public … . Within most people’s lifetimes, they remember cheap bread being available … . It’s something that has always been there.” Egyptian government owes the International Monetary Fund billions of dollars, and a condition of these loans was that food subsidies should only reach those who need it most. Also, prices for fuel and electricity must be higher as well. Finally, the currency has been devalued as part of the IMF “reforms” in an attempt to curtail black market activity (i.e., voluntary trade). This also increased the prices of ordinary goods for Egyptians. The basic underlying problem here is that the state has inserted itself between producer and consumer. In order to “help” the poor, central planners in Egypt have been running this “bread for all” program, which may now make it very hard for the poor to get bread.The retail price for a loaf of bread in Egypt is currently 0.05 Egyptian pounds ($0.0032), and it has remained at this level for decades. Meanwhile, the cost to produce one loaf is currently greater than ten times the retail price. In the typical style of central planners, in an effort to make the system more efficient, the quota of subsidized bread loaves has remained the same, but the weight of a loaf of bread has gradually been reduced over time. Perhaps this has something to do with the ineptness of the centrally planned scheme of wheat purchasing in order to supply flour for bread making. The government set a wheat price assumption in their budget of $255 per ton but recently was forced to pay $293.74 per ton on the open market. And this is also related to the fact that many Egyptians live in poverty and have poor indicators of health – 21 percent of children under age five exhibit stunted growth and 27 percent have signs of anemia, along with 25 percent of women of childbearing age. I guess the whole nationalistic bread idea isn’t such a good plan after all.

New Zealand begins a three-day lockdown after a single case is reported. –New Zealand began a three-day nationwide lockdown after reporting its first coronavirus case in six months. The snap lockdown, which started at 11:59 p.m. local time on Tuesday, was set off by the discovery of an infection in Auckland, New Zealand’s most populous city, that was believed to be the country’s first case of the more contagious Delta variant outside its strict quarantine system. Auckland and the nearby Coromandel Peninsula, which the infected person recently visited, entered a longer, seven-day lockdown. A day later, the number of cases had risen to seven, one of whom involved a nurse at the country’s largest hospital. Genomic testing by health officials revealed a link to cases in the Australian state of New South Wales, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. It was not yet known how the man who tested positive had contracted the virus. He had not recently visited Australia and did not have any links to the country’s quarantine facilities at the border. Early modeling suggests the cluster could grow to as many as 120 people, health officials said on Wednesday. Under the lockdown rules, New Zealand’s toughest, residents must stay at home and all schools, public facilities and nonessential businesses are closed. Ahead of the lockdown announcement, New Zealanders flocked to supermarkets to stock up, leaving toilet paper aisles bare, in scenes reminiscent of the earliest days of the pandemic. Roads out of Auckland were packed as people left the city for holiday homes in other parts of the country. “I want to assure New Zealand that we have planned for this eventuality and that we will now be putting in place that plan to contain and stamp out Covid-19 once again,” Ms. Ardern said at a news conference. “Going hard and early has worked for us before,” she added. Ms. Ardern warned that if New Zealand failed to act swiftly, it could end up in the same situation as New South Wales, which is reporting hundreds of new cases each day, more than at any other time during the pandemic. A lockdown now in its eighth week in Sydney, where the Delta-driven outbreak began, was extended to the entire state on Saturday.

Germany Makes Rapid Virus Tests a Key to Everyday Freedoms NYT – Want to go out for a meal indoors in Germany? Get a test. Want to stay at a hotel as a tourist or work out at the gym? Same answer. For the many Germans who have not yet been vaccinated, the key to Covid freedom has come from the end of a nasal swab, and rapid-test centers have multiplied at a speed usually reserved for the country’s autobahn. Abandoned cafes and nightclubs have been converted. Wedding tents have been repurposed. Even the back seats of bicycle taxis have a new use, as tourists have been replaced by Germans being swabbed by testers in full protective gear.Germany is one of a handful of countries betting heavily on testing – as well as vaccines – to beat the pandemic. The idea is to find potentially infectious people before they can join crowds in concert halls and restaurants and spread the virus.The testing system is a far cry from much of the United States, where in many places, people began dining indoors or sweating together in gyms with few if any requirements. Even in Britain, where the government gives out free rapid tests and schoolchildren have taken more than 50 million since January, they are not part of everyday life for most adults.But in Germany, people who want to participate in various types of indoor social activity or personal care need a negative rapid test that is no more than 24 hours old.There are now 15,000 pop-up testing centers across the country – more than 1,300 in Berlin alone. The centers are funded by the government, which has spent hundreds of millions of euros on the ad hoc network. And a task force led by two cabinet ministers is ensuring that schools and day care centers have enough of these rapid antigen tests to administer to children at least twice a week.Separately, do-it-yourself kits have been become ubiquitous at supermarket check out stands, pharmacies and even gas stations since they first came on the market earlier this year. Experts in Germany say that they believe the testing is helping to lower virus case numbers, though proof is elusive. Almost 23 percent of Germans are fully vaccinated, meaning that they don’t have to present test results. Another 24 percent who have received only one dose of the vaccine and those unvaccinated still do, even though as of Tuesday, there have been only 20.8 infections per 100,000 people in a week, a number not seen since early October, before a second wave started spreading.Throughout the pandemic, Germany has been a world leader when it comes to widespread testing. It was one of the first countries todevelop a test to detect the coronavirus and relied on testing to help identify and break down chains of infection. By last summer, everyone coming home to Germany from vacation in countries with high rates of infection was being tested. The current testing has been considered especially important because of the relatively slow start of Germany’s vaccine campaign. The country stuck with the European Union in making vaccine purchases as one unit, and found itself stymied as Brussels faltered in securing shots quickly enough. The United States has fully vaccinated almost twice as large a slice of its population.

UK teachers fight against attacks on pay, conditions and pensions – UK teachers face an acceleration of attacks on pay, conditions and pensions. This led to an upsurge of strike activity during the summer term. Teachers have experienced an academic year like no other. After the reckless reopening of schools in March by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government, schools proved to be major vectors for spreading coronavirus. Children as well as adults caught the virus, and some became seriously ill. Children, like adults, can develop Long COVID and the disease has in some cases caused devastating neurological damage. Though the virus poses a great danger to children’s health, governments worldwide have already begun reopening schools and more will do so next month. They do so with the backing of the education unions, so that parents can go to work and profit-making can continue. When the autumn term begins, educators and parents face a looming health catastrophe as children are herded into classrooms without any protection against the Delta variant. They do so amid an escalating struggle over pay, pensions and victimisations. In a number of schools in the private sector, ongoing disputes over pay and pensions remain unresolved. At the end of June, teachers at Tring Park School for Performing Arts took part in five days of strike action. Teachers at Southend’s Alleyn Court Preparatory School walked out for six days throughout July. The trusts at both schools removed access to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), and pay was frozen. These schools are in addition to the 114 which withdrew from the TPS after the government increased the employer’s contribution from 16.48 percent to 23.68 percent in September 2019 – an increase which also applies to public sector pensions. The contribution by employees is 9.6 percent. The government is currently consulting with independent schools on a phased withdrawal from the TPS. Instead of a well-earned summer break, teachers at Alleyn Court Preparatory School were threatened with “fire and rehire” if they did not accept an inferior pension. Staff are waiting to be told whether they have a job in September.

In England, summer vacations look different in a pandemic. – For the second year running, a hallowed rite for millions of people in Britain – decamping to the warmer climate of the Mediterranean – has been disrupted by the pandemic. The number of flights in and out of Britain are half their 2019 levels.Instead, they are taking vacations closer to home.This year, the Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England, has lured even more visitors to its sandy beaches, coastal walks and arcades. But pandemic restrictions, staff shortages and the often uncooperative British weather have presented challenges to visitors and business owners this season.Like many popular British vacation spots, such as Cornwall and the Lake District National Park, the Isle of Wight is suffering froma shortage of workers, especially in hotels and restaurants. One problem is that many have had to self-isolate for 10 days after being pinged on the country’s coronavirus tracing app.And many workers, seeking more secure work, have taken jobs in other sectors. Brexit hasn’t helped – the pool of European Union nationals working in Britain has shrunk by hundreds of thousands.As a result, small businesses on the island are unable to fully benefit from the rise in visitors. They are wary of overextending and not having enough workers to meet demand. Instead, they are restricting how many people they serve and limiting the hours they are open.

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