The Four Seasons

COVID-19 Hospitalization Snapshot

As cases ratchet up, we’ll be turning a lot of our focus to COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU capacity to monitor how the healthcare system is coping.

• Across the U.S., ICU bed capacity currently sits at ~62%. For context, average U.S. ICU bed capacity was estimated at 68% from 2005 to 2007 (the most recent data we could find).
• The Texas Medical Center (containing 54 medical institutions) is at 93% ICU bed capacity, with 31% of those identified as COVID-19 patients.
• See the current inpatient COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU capacity in your state.

Coronavirus Updates

• Harvard University on Monday said only 40% of students can return to campus this fall, including all freshmen. All courses will be taught virtually for students both on and off-campus.
• The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Monday that foreign students cannot take all online classes in the fall, and will either have to return home or transfer to another university offering in-person classes.
• COVID-19 has been shown to affect some races more than others. Go deeper.
• Australia closed the border between Victoria and New South Wales (the country’s two most populous states) for the first time in 100 years.

Supreme Court Decisions

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld state laws that remove or punish Electoral College delegates who refuse to cast their vote for the presidential candidate they were pledged to support. The court ruled that these “faithless electors” had no ground for reversing statewide popular vote, and could be removed or otherwise punished accordingly.

More: Also on Monday, the Supreme Court upheld a 1991 law that bans automated calls to cellphones, despite allowing their use for the collection of government debt.

Even More: A federal judge on Monday ordered a temporary shutdown of the Dakota Access pipeline pending an environmental review.

‘Central Park Karen’ Facing Charges

Amy Cooper, a white NYC resident, was charged on Monday with filing a false report after she called the police on a Black birdwatcher in Central Park in late May. The charges stem from a viral video in which Cooper can be seen telling the birdwatcher she plans to call the cops and “tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life” after he requested she put her dog on a leash.

Protests & The Coronavirus Effect

• The Treasury Dept. & SBA disclosed the names of businesses that received more than $150,000 from the PPP.
• Disney announced an exclusive documentary series featuring Colin Kaepernick on Monday as part of a larger deal with his production company, RA Vision Media.
• Regeneron Pharmaceuticals started late-stage clinical trials to gauge the effectiveness of its antibody cocktail in preventing and treating COVID-19.

Data Dump

Google, Facebook, and Twitter suspended processing user data requests from Hong Kong law-enforcement agencies in response to China’s newly imposed national security law. In recent days, a number of HK activists have scrubbed or deleted their social media accounts - on which they frequently expressed political opinions - for fear of running afoul of the authorities.

Eating Their Lunch

Uber announced a deal to acquire Postmates for $2.65 billion in stock on Monday. The combined food delivery company would increase Uber’s market share from 23% to ~30%, second only to Doordash’s 45%. Uber’s original plan to acquire GrubHub (23% market share) fell through last month due to regulatory concerns, and GrubHub was snapped up by Takeaway.com soon after.

Role Model

From movies to television to advertisements, audiences naturally internalize beauty standards based on the media images they consume. Thus, when media depictions of beauty underrepresent a portion of the population, members of that group can negatively impact their self-images. Such is the case for people with disabilities, who appear in just .02% of fashion and beauty advertisements.

Elle Goldstein of Sussex, England, is trailblazing within the fashion industry as the first model with Down syndrome to work for Gucci and Italian Vogue. The 18-year-old, who has become one of Gucci’s most popular models, is signed with Zebedee Management, a talent agency for models with disabilities.

Genetic Code

When the COVID-19 lockdown began in March, software developers Sri and Akhilesh of London started working from home, while also attempting to entertain their four-year-old daughter, Anshi. It did not take long for the tireless toddler to lose interest in her toys during the extended isolation – and for her parents’ work to capture her attention instead.

Although she cannot fully read or write, Anshi spent the last three months learning to code. Anshi’s father, who taught the petite programmer how to navigate software by inputting images of her favorite cartoon characters, hopes to help his daughter develop her app before starting elementary school in the fall.

Coloring Book

Madison Wilson, a second-grader in Solvang, CA, was perplexed when she realized that people of color (like herself) were not featured in most of the books in her school district’s classrooms. Drawing with crayons at her table one morning, the seven-year-old asked her mother about the lack of Black characters in the books she read, initiating a conversation about race and equality.

Determined to support the representation of people of color in her community, Madison launched “Help Fill Madi’s Treasure Box” - a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for new books and boxes of crayons for her school district that include a broader range of skin tones. So far, Madison’s fundraiser has received $6,880, including a donation from her town’s mayor.

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