Coronavirus Update

Global cases rose above 2.18 million yesterday with more than 145,500 deaths. The number of confirmed U.S. cases rose to more than 677,000 with 34,617 confirmed deaths.

• President Trump yesterday released a set of guidelines that recommend states follow a three-phase plan for reopening parts of the country.
• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the recently formed coalition of Eastern states - NJ, PA, RI, CT, MA, DE, & NY - have extended their lockdown until May 15.
• Seven Midwestern governors - from MI, OH, WI, MN, IL, IN, & KY - announced the formation of a regional coalition to plan for the reopening of their respective economies.
• The IMF on Thursday said five countries - the UK, Canada, France, Australia, and Japan - pledged a total of $11.7 billion in aid towards the world’s poorest countries.
• China on Friday reported a 6.8% year-over-year contraction in GDP for the first quarter of 2020, its first drop since the country began disclosing quarterly GDP in 1992.

Refugees Rescued From Indian Ocean

Nearly 400 Rohingya Muslim refugees were rescued off the coast of Bangladesh on Thursday after spending two months adrift at sea. A survivor told reporters that at least 28 others had died of starvation during the refugees’ failed attempt at reaching Malaysia.

N. Korean Defector Elected In S. Korea

Thae Yong-ho on Thursday became the first North Korean defector to be elected to South Korea’s government. Yong-ho previously served as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the UK, but defected in 2016 with his family, becoming the highest ranking official ever to do so.

The Coronavirus Effect

• The Labor Department on Thursday said about 5.2 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, bringing the total up to 22 million over the past month.
• The Small Business Administration’s $350 billion rescue loan program reached the end of its funds Thursday morning, with new applications no longer accepted.
• U.S. stock indexes closed Thursday slightly up, with futures trading significantly up. Share prices of Amazon and Netflix both closed at all-time high.
• General Electric and Ford have agreed to a contract with the U.S. government under the DPA to produce 50,000 ventilators for $336 million.
• Digital payment platform Stripe has raised $600 million in new funding at a valuation of $36 billion, a reflection of the economy’s virus-induced shift towards e-commerce.
• Facebook announced Thursday that it will begin to alert users who have engaged with COVID-19 misinformation on its platform and direct them to resources from the WHO.

Mission: Impossible

On Thursday, Impossible Foods announced that their plant-based meat substitute will be available today at 777 additional supermarkets across the country. Since debuting in September, Impossible Foods said their product is the number one selling item at each store where it has been made available.

Wrong Turn

As part of a recent settlement, self-driving startup Zoox admitted that four of its employees took confidential documents from their previous employer, Tesla, and agreed to pay the EV manufacturer an undisclosed amount. Zoox must also undergo an audit to ensure none of its employees are still using Tesla’s proprietary information.

Live From New York

Earlier this month, Saturday Night Live star Michael Che revealed that his grandmother had passed away from the novel coronavirus, leaving him devastated and looking for a way to make a difference in her name.

On Wednesday, Michael announced that he would be honoring his grandmother’s memory by paying one month’s rent for each one of the 160 apartments in the NYC Housing Authority building where she lived.

Hit The Road (For) Jack

Four-year-old Jack Winter of Newfields, NH completed his final round of oral chemotherapy on Monday, signaling the end to a three-year battle with leukemia - a milestone his mother, Rebecca, asked the local community to help them celebrate.

Rebecca posted on Facebook asking the residents of the small town for a special favor, and they came through in a big way. The next day, more than one hundred cars paraded past the family’s home, honking their horns and waving homemade signs congratulating Jack.

Girl On Fire

In October 2019, the Cincinnati Fire Department hosted their first story time at a local school, which was a rousing success. Unfortunately, due to the recent coronavirus outbreak, plans for a follow-up gathering had to be put on hold.

When two little girls wrote in to the department asking to meet some female firefighters, the department seized the opportunity and responded with a video of several female first responders reading the storybook Girls Can Do Anything.

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