INFORMS Open Forum

  • 1.  5-29 Daily COVID-19 Update

    Posted 05-29-2020 20:35
      |   view attached
    Good evening,

    Please find today's Daily COVID-19 Update for May 29th. Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.

    Thank you, and have a great and safe weekend.

    Jeff Cohen


    INFORMS Members in the News

    Member: Sheldon Jacobson

    Member: Laura Albert, David Banks, and Jonathan Caulkins

    Member: Pinar Keskinocak and Julie Swann

    Member: Laura Albert

    U.S. Federal Policy Update

    • President Trump announced that his administration would officially be withdrawing U.S. participation in the World Health Organization, stating that the U.S. would be "redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs."
    • House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) released the House legislative calendar for this summer, stating in the announcement that the updated plan is for the House to "confront the COVID-19 crisis and other critical, time-sensitive matters of legislative business."
    • The Bureau of Economic Analysis released their monthly report, showing that American consumer spending dropped by 13.6% in the month of April. 
    • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released projections that the coronavirus will result in anywhere between 115,400 to 134,800 total deaths by June 20th – with an average projection of 123,200.
    • Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) have announced that they've tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.

     

    Global Response

    • Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that they're considering "a slight modification" of the nonessential travel agreement between the U.S. and Canada, in order to allow "families to be able to reunite under strict conditions." The U.S.-Canada border has been closed for nonessential travel ever since March. 
    • The South Korean government announced that they would mandate schools, parks, and museums be closed again, as coronavirus cases have reemerged. 
    • The COP26 global climate conference has officially been rescheduled for November 2021.
    • The Spanish government approved a nationwide minimum income plan worth 3 billion euros – setting a minimum monthly income between 462 and 1,015 euros depending on the status of individual households.
    • Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte announced that some of the country's businesses and public transportation services can begin to resume their operations, at least partially.

     

    State Update 

    • Mississippi, Utah, Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Arizona all witnessed record highs in COVID-19 cases today, although it remains unclear whether this is due to increased spread of the virus or increased testing measures.
    • New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York City is scheduled to begin reopening the week of June 8th.
    • New Jersey Governor Chris Murphy announced that the state would be creating an assistance program for short-term rentals for low-income families – with at least $100 million in funding.
    • Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announced new guidance for social gatherings, places of worship, and casinos – mandating masks, no out-of-state guests at hotels, and more. 
    • California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state plans to have approximately 10,000 workers trained specifically to contact trace COVID-19 cases by July 1st. 

     

    Economic Update (as of close of the markets)

    • U.S. stocks vacillated throughout the day, ending the day with a variety of changes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed by 1.3%, and the S&P 500 rose by 0.5%.

    Latest Impact Data 

    • In the United States: Over 1,789,256 cases and 104,407 deaths in 50 states, 4 territories, and Washington, D.C.
    • Worldwide: Over 6,009,072 million cases and 366,029 deaths in at least 204 countries and territories.

     

    In the News



    ------------------------------
    Jeffrey M. Cohen, MBA
    Director, Public Affairs & Marketing
    INFORMS
    jeff.cohen@informs.org
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    Attachment(s)

    pdf
    5-29 update.pdf   100 KB 1 version


  • 2.  RE: 5-29 Daily COVID-19 Update

    Posted 06-01-2020 05:17
    Thanks for the link to "A Conversation about COVID-19 with Economists, Sociologists, Statisticians, and Operations Researchers" (HDSR). There's another article there, "A Conversation about COVID-19 with Biostatisticians and Epidemiologists", that points to a gap in modeling:
    DB:  Do such models of all-cause mortality during an epidemic already exist?
    EH:  I don't know. It wouldn't be hard to build that kind of model.

    Is this a real gap, or a lack of communication? This paper from Prof Krass ref https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340265058_Why_are_We_Emulating_Italy_Instead_of_South_Korea pointed to this gap back in March.

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    Rahul Saxena
    Founder
    CoBot Systems
    Bangalore
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