Coronavirus Update

Global cases rose above 2.08 million yesterday with more than 134,500 deaths. The number of confirmed U.S. cases rose to more than 644,000 with 28,518 confirmed deaths.

• NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday announced an executive order mandating that residents wear face masks in public areas, which will go into effect in three days.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel laid out plans to start reopening the country’s economy beginning Monday, April 20.
• The FDA on Wednesday authorized the University of Minnesota’s novel ‘Coventor’ ventilator design that costs up to 25 times less than existing devices.
• Several thousand cars gathered in Michigan’s capital, Lansing, in a protest against the governor’s stay-at-home order.
• A report from Iran’s parliament said the country’s death toll due to the virus is likely around double the official number of 4,777 due to undercounting.

Warren Endorses Biden

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren endorsed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Wednesday. Warren’s endorsement comes a day after Barack Obama officially backed his former VP, and two days after Biden’s main Democratic challenger, Bernie Sanders, did the same.

Israel’s Gantz Fails To Form Government

Israel opposition leader Benny Gantz failed to come to an agreement with incumbent PM Benjamin Netanyahu within the given deadline (midnight last night), sending the task of forming a government to Israel’s governing body - the Knesset - for a period of 21 days. If a majority cannot agree on a candidate, Israel will head to the polls for its record fourth general election in just over a year.

The Coronavirus Effect

• The stimulus package’s $350 billion small business loan program is reportedly set to run out of money by early Thursday morning, as Congress nears agreement on a $250 billion addition.
• J.C. Penney yesterday said it skipped a $12 million bond payment, triggering a 30-day grace period before the default becomes official.
• Best Buy will furlough roughly 51,000 hourly employees starting April 19, with the company pledging to cover health benefits for at least the next three months.
• Airbnb yesterday secured an additional $1 billion in debt (at 9% interest), one week after the company raised an initial $1 billion in debt and equity.
• Video chat platform Houseparty has gained 50 million sign ups over the past month, a figure CEO Sima Sistani said is around 70 times higher than normal.

Fresh Bite At The Apple

Yesterday, Apple announced a new, second-generation version of its cheaper iPhone SE model which will be available for purchase starting April 24. The phone, which will debut at $399, contains many of the same internal components found in the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, which are built into a body practically identical to the iPhone 8.

No JEDI Mind Tricks, Says IG

The Defense Department’s inspector general on Wednesday released the findings of its investigation into the Pentagon’s decision to award the $10 billion JEDI contract to Microsoft over Amazon last October. In the report, the IG says the DoD’s decision did not appear to be influenced by the White House, as was alleged in a lawsuit filed by Amazon last November.

More: The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract puts a single cloud service provider in charge of hosting and distributing classified DoD information, and is worth up to $10 billion over the next ten years.

New Bus Route(r)

Thousands of school districts across the country have closed their doors and transitioned to online classes until the end of the school year, leaving students without internet access at a heavy learning disadvantage.

Beginning next week, an Austin, TX school district will deploy their fleet of 110 wifi-enabled school buses each day to neighborhoods and apartment complexes with the highest need for internet access.

Tom Terrific

Many people have launched fundraisers to help out local health care workers during the ongoing pandemic, including 99-year-old WWII veteran Tom Moore.

A former captain in the British Army, Tom set out to walk 100 laps in his backyard garden before he turned 100 on April 30, with the initial goal of raising $1,250. However, Tom’s mission has raised over $9 million to date for the UK’s National Health Service.

A Banner Year

With this year’s seniors likely to go without a graduation ceremony due to coronavirus, a local high school in Caseville, MI came up with a creative way to honor the graduating class of 2020 while maintaining social distancing.

School officials created 20 banners featuring the name and photo of each graduating student and hung them from lamp posts lining the town’s Main Street, much to the delight of the students themselves (video).

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