Month: March 2020

Macy’s said on Monday that it will stop paying tens of thousands of employees who were put of work when the chain closed its stores in response to collapsing sales due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The majority of its 130,000, including stock people and sales clerks, will still collect health benefits but the company said that it is transitioning to an “absolute minimum workforce” needed to maintain basic operations. Macy’s has lost the bulk of its sales due to the temporarily closing of its stores starting March 18.

The move is a dramatic sign that big name retailers are seeing their sales plummeting, and that the $2 trillion rescue package passed by Congress last week may come too late to help out retailers. Nordstrom said last week it was furloughing a portion of its corporate staff.

More than 190,000 stores, including J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus, have temporarily closed, accounting for nearly 50% of the U.S. retail square footage Macy’s said those who are enrolled in health benefits will continue to receive coverage with the company covering 100% of the premium. “We expect to bring colleagues back on a staggered basis as business resumes,” the company said.

Amid Coronavirus Closures, Macy’s Furloughs Majority of Its 130,000 Workers

Via time.com

The majority of its 130,000, including stock … said they would keep paying their workers. But…

03/30/2020 12:53 PM

 

Editorial credit: NYC Russ / Shutterstock.com

President Donald Trump and members of his administration have discussed whether to impose a nationwide stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but added that option is “pretty unlikely” for now.

Trump made the comments at a White House press briefing on Monday. when asked if he is considering a national quarantine order, he said, “well, we’ve talked about it. Obviously there are some parts of the country that are in far deeper trouble than others. There are other parts that are frankly not in trouble at all. So hopefully we’ll be able to keep it that way by doing what we’re doing.” 

“We talked about quarantine,” Trump continued. “A group came to me and said, ‘We want to do the quarantine.’ I said, ‘Let’s think about it.’ And by the end of the evening, it was tough to enforce, and something we didn’t want to do.”

Trump’s remarks came a day after the White House extended its “social distancing” guidelines through April 30 – weeks after he had previously suggested businesses might be able to reopen.

Trump says nationwide stay-at-home order is “pretty unlikely” at this point

Via www.cbsnews.com

The president also introduced a new coronavirus test from Abbott that takes five minutes to process.

03/30/2020 7:13 PM

 

Editorial credit: Michael Candelori / Shutterstock.com

President Trump officially reversed his call to reopen businesses by Easter, saying he will extend the nation’s coronavirus social distancing guidelines to April 30.

At his daily briefing at the White House, Trump said: “the modeling estimates that the peak in death rate is likely to hit in two weeks. Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won.” The guidelines cover work from home directives, travel limitations, business closures and other efforts to combat the virus. 

The President said that his office will give more details about the new plans on Tuesday, adding, “we can expect that by June 1st, we will be well on our way to recovery. We think by June 1st, a lot of great things will be happening.” The announcement came just days after the president said he hoped that Easter things would be back to normal. In the interim, Trump said that his public health advisers recommended against loosening social distancing restrictions in states or regions that haven’t been as hard hit by the virus, as had previously been discussed.

Coronavirus updates: Trump extends social distancing guidelines until April 30

Via www.cbsnews.com

The number of cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. continued to rise Sunday, with over 137,200 total…

03/29/2020 9:32 PM

 

Editorial credit: Michael Candelori / Shutterstock.com

On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that he anticipates the coronavirus could kill 100,000 to 200,000 Americans while infecting “millions” of others.

However Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that he does not want to be held to that prediction because the outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is “such a moving target.” Fauci’s comments come as the much of the nation is shut down to contain the spread of the disease, which first appeared in China late last year. As of Sunday evening, about 139,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S., the highest total of any nation, with at least 2,400 deaths

U.S. could face 200,000 coronavirus deaths, millions of cases, Fauci warns

Via feeds.reuters.com

03/29/2020 1:24 PM

 

The U.S. has more confirmed cases of the coronavirus than any country in the world, surpassing China, where the pandemic began. According to a running tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. had 82,404 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday evening. China had 81,782 and Italy had 80,589.

The news comes as the global infection count passed the half-a-million threshold Thursday, according to the Johns Hopkins. U.S. deaths from the pandemic have now topped 1,000. Worldwide, the death toll climbed past 23,000.

Amid a widespread shutdown caused by the virus, nearly 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, almost five times the previous record set in 1982. Layoffs are sure to accelerate as the U.S. economy sinks into a recession with restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, gyms and airlines all losing profits due to restrictions and shutdowns.

United States Now Has the Most Cases of Coronavirus in the World

Via people.com

The United States has now surpassed both China and Italy in confirmed cases of novel coronavirus…

03/26/2020 7:11 PM

 

A 5.0 magnitude earthquake rattled West Texas on Thursday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake epicenter was about 27 miles west of Mentone, Texas, and was located 3 miles below the surface. 

Residents of El Paso, about 175 miles west of the reported epicenter, felt the quake, which was originally rated at 4.7 magnitude. An emergency alert sent by USGS said there were no reports of damage or injuries in the El Paso region.

The U.S. Geological Survey said “earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over a much broader region than earthquakes of similar magnitude in the West.”

2 earthquakes rattle West Texas; largest is magnitude 5.0

Via abcnews.go.com

Two earthquakes centered near the same remote area of West Texas have rattled the region

03/26/2020 4:30 PM