Good evening,
Please find today's Daily COVID-19 Update for April 21st. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Thank you,
Jeff Cohen
INFORMS Members In The News
Member: Tinglong Dai
Member: Julie Swann
Member: Saed Alizamir
Webinar Alert: On April 29th Dimitris Bertsimas (MIT, Cambridge) will present the ongoing work of his group of 20+ PhD and Master students and colleagues at MIT on a variety of aspects of COVID-19 as part of a new webinar series "Analytics for a Better World Webinars (ABW-W)". Visit https://bit.ly/3bnEBug for more information.
U.S. Federal Policy Update
- The Senate passed the much-anticipated interim emergency coronavirus relief bill by unanimous consent this afternoon. The $484 billion legislation will now proceed to the House, where House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has stated that the package should be voted on by this Thursday. This package – the result of negotiations between congressional leadership and Trump administration officials – includes: $310 billion in additional lending authority for the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses, $60 billion for small business disaster loans and grants, $75 billion for hospitals, and $25 billion for testing.
- After having passed the aforementioned package, lawmakers are already gearing towards working on a broader "CARES 2" package. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement saying that as soon as the interim deal passes, they will begin work to "advance CARES 2, which must be transformative and far-reaching." President Trump also tweeted this afternoon that after he signs the bill, the negotiations will commence and should include relief for "State/Local Governments, much needed Infrastructure Investments for Bridges, Tunnels, Broadband, Tax Incentives for Restaurants, Entertainment, Sports, and Payroll Tax Cuts to increase Economic Growth."
- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer sent a letter to House Administration Committee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Rules Committee Chair Jim McGovern (D-MA), "urging them to consider a set of recommendations to enable remote voting and committee work, and that also prepare Congress to work remotely even when back in Washington to comply with social distancing guidelines."
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield warned Americans that "there's a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult" than this first wave of the virus.
- President Trump tweeted late last night that he is planning to sign an executive order "to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States."
Global Response
- World Health Organization Emergencies Programme Executive Director Michael Ryan stated that making a COVID-19 vaccine available widely will "require one of the greatest scientific, one of the greatest political, one of the greatest financial, one of the greatest public health operations in a generation."
- Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that the country will slowly begin to lift their lockdown protocols beginning on May 4th.
- Authorities from Belgium and the Czech Republic announced that their countries would individually be launching blanket testing initiatives to study the extent of the pandemic's spread across their respective populations.
- The Saudi Arabian government announced that it will ease restrictions in certain areas in order to allow for greater movement during Ramadan.
- Australia announced that its doctors will be permitted to resume certain non-emergency elective surgeries.
State Update
- President Trump authorized Alabama, Alaska, and Delaware to receive maximum assistance from the National Guard in their response to the pandemic.
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that he has convened a "Re-Open Florida Task Force," to come up with a strategic plan for reopening Florida's businesses.
- Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced that the state will allow retail curbside delivery on April 27th, with other retail being allowed to open on May 1st with restrictions. There are several other measures that the state will be putting in place to ensure social distancing is maximized, even though the statewide stay-at-home order will be lifted as scheduled on April 26th.
Economic Update (as of close of the markets)
- Stocks declined more today, with all three indices reporting losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 2.67%, the S&P 500 by 3.07%, and the Nasdaq Composite by 3.48%. This was the worst day for each index in the past three weeks – since their performances on April 1st.
Latest Impact Data
- In the United States: Over 819,866 cases and 44,768 deaths in 50 states, 4 territories, and Washington, D.C.
- Worldwide: Over 2,546,527 cases and 175,621 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------------------------------