Good evening,
Please find today's Daily COVID-19 Update for September 8th below and attached. Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.
Thank you,
Jeff Cohen
INFORMS Members in the News
Member: Sheldon Jacobson
Members: Tinglong Dai
Members: Tinglong Dai
Members: Julie Swann and Tinglong Dai
Members: Anna Nagurney
U.S. Federal Policy Update
- Senate Republicans introduced their highly-anticipated "skinny" coronavirus relief bill along with a summary of the measure, which is estimated to be valued at between $500 - $700 million. The bill – the Delivering Immediate Relief to America's Families, Schools, and Small Businesses Act – authorizes a $258 billion extension of the Paycheck Protection Program, includes liability protections for businesses, allocates $31 billion towards federal and state government vaccine production, and more. Furthermore, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that the Senate would vote on the bill this Thursday.
- In response to the bill from Senate Republicans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) published a statement criticizing the legislation. They wrote in the statement that "Democrats want to work on bipartisan legislation that will meet the urgent needs of the American people but Republicans continue to move in the wrong direction."
- Nine pharmaceutical companies – AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer, and Sanofi – signed a pledge that they will follow due process in receiving approval for their respective coronavirus vaccines. They've pledged to ensure that "the safety and efficacy of vaccines, including any potential vaccine for COVID-19, is reviewed and determined by expert regulatory agencies around the world, such as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)."
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an Agency Order to implement an eviction moratorium at residential properties in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- The Defense Department awarded a $125 million contract to Goldbelt Security for the procurement of 530 million syringes and needles to support Operation Warp Speed, the administration's plan to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. DOD previously awarded a contract in August for syringes and safety needles. Both contracts will provide over one billion needles and syringes in support of the COVID-19 vaccination initiative.
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci announced that it doesn't seem likely that a vaccine will be ready for distribution by the end of the year, stating that "the only way that scenario can come true is if there are so many infections in the clinical trial sites that [they] get an efficacy answer sooner than [they] would have projected."
State Update
- The Federal Emergency Management Agency authorized a grant through their Lost Wages Assistance program to the state of Kansas, thereby allowing the state to provide $300 per week to those unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) announced that the state will enter a partnership with Apple and Google to allow COVID-19 exposure updates to be enabled as notifications on all cellphones – as an effort "to use every tool in the toolbox to contain the virus and limit community spread."
- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that the state would publish a "COVID-19 report card" for every school in New York, which will require every school district "to report every day to the state Department of Health as to how many tests were taken, what type of test, and what was the result."
- Vermont Governor Phil Scott (R) emphasized the importance of keeping schools and businesses open, while encouraging ongoing testing and contact tracing efforts – stating that the state will continue "to respond to and contain cases just as [they] have done throughout this pandemic."
- Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) signed an order that restaurants in the state can increase their indoor seating capacity to 50% starting on September 21st.
- Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) signed an extension of the state's COVID-19 disaster declaration.
- Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) announced that the state is planning to enter a $4 million multi-state purchasing agreement to procure 120,000 COVID-19 antigen tests.
Global Response
- Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the nation today, issuing a statement that the government acted in "an open transparent, and responsible manner" in handling the pandemic and that they "actively fulfilled [their] international obligations. He emphasized that the government "quickly established a national epidemic information release mechanism, seeking truth from facts, and publishing epidemic information in an open and transparent manner."
- United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he is planning to decrease the number of people allowed to congregate in social gatherings from 30 people to 6 people, in order to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Hong Kong Commerce & Economic Development Secretary Edward Yau stated that officials are in conversation with 11 various countries on forming a potential travel bubble – with 5-6 nations having indicated interest in the proposal.
- The South African government announced that their economy contracted by 17.1% in Q2 of this year, largely due to ramifications of the pandemic.
Economic Update
- U.S. stocks fell drastically again today, with all three indices closing the day with declines. The Nasdaq Composite dropped by 4.11%, the S&P 500 by 2.78%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 2.25%.
Latest Impact Data
- In the United States: Over 6,509,287 cases and 193,919 deaths in 50 states, 4 territories, and Washington, D.C.
- Worldwide: Over 27,710,400 and 900,619 deaths in at least 204 countries and territories.
In the News
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Jeffrey M. Cohen, MBA
Director, Public Affairs & Marketing
INFORMS
jeff.cohen@informs.org------------------------------