Good evening,
Please find today's Daily COVID-19 Update below and attached. Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.
Thank you,
Ashley Smith
INFORMS Members in the News
Member: Julie Swann
U.S. Federal Policy Update
- Key negotiators from Congress and the administration – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin – ended their discussions this afternoon without an agreement, with Speaker Pelosi publishing a Dear Colleague letter reporting that an array of key differences remain. These differences include state and local funding, the threat of evictions, food insecurity, childcare funding, safe reopening of schools, and funding for the Postal Service.
- Consequently, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stated after the discussions that "Chief of Staff Meadows and [he] recommended to the president that, based on [the] lack of activity today, to move forward with some executive orders." Thus, it is expected that President Trump will issue orders on unemployment insurance, an eviction moratorium, and a payroll tax cut – potentially later this evening, or sometime over the weekend.
- The White House published a release from the Council of Economic Advisers stating that "job numbers in July beat expectations for the third straight month." The report found that the unemployment rate fell from 11.1% to 10.2%, and 1.8 million jobs were created in the U.S. during the month of July.
State Update
- President Trump issued memoranda that requested the federal government to continue covering the full cost of National Guard efforts for coronavirus relief in Arizona, California, and Connecticut – through September 30th.
- Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has indefinitely postponed the state's reopening process, due to the state's recent "slight uptick in positive cases."
- Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced that he is issuing an executive order to allow people with certain COVID-related reasons to qualify for absentee/mail-in ballots in the November elections.
- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state's school districts are all authorized to reopen in the fall, as the "infection rates in all school districts are below the threshold that we established."
- Hawaiian officials announced that they are going to reimplement their inter-island quarantine – due to a spike in cases on the island of Oahu.
- Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that the state would implement new rules to mandate that the state's residents better comply with the mask requirement in place currently. At the announcement, he stated that "there's still an ever-greater need for people to wear masks."
- Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced late last night that he tested negative for coronavirus – thereby falsifying the results of a rapid test from earlier in the day, which had indicated that he was positive.
- Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa announced that restaurants in the city would be permitted to reopen their indoor operations at 25% capacity at 5 PM this evening. However, she warned that "it is not at all a time to stop being cautious and to lose your vigilance."
Global Update
- Ireland Prime Minister Micheál Martin announced that the government would be imposing county-specific coronavirus restrictions in the counties of Kildare, Laois, and Offaly.
- Pakistani officials announced that they will allow restaurants and movie theaters to reopen next week, due to a drop-in coronavirus cases.
- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged that if Australia is the first country to find a coronavirus vaccine, they "will share it," and cautioned countries that "if any country was to find the vaccine and not make it available around the world without restraint, they will be judged terribly by history."
- Hong Kong officials announced that the city is planning to offer universal testing for residents – on a voluntary basis.
Economic Update
- U.S. stocks were volatile today with the three major indices reporting mixed results. The Nasdaq Composite closed down by 0.87%, but the S&P 500 rose by 0.06% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 0.17%.
Latest Impact Data
- In the United States: Over 5,089,290 cases and 163,924 deaths in 50 states, 4 territories, and Washington, D.C.
- Worldwide: Over 19,508,507 and 722,639 deaths in at least 204 countries and territories.
In the News
------------------------------
Ashley Smith
Public Relations Specialist
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
------------------------------