8/02/2020 0700 HST
Global Covid Cases: 18,134,406
Global Covid Deaths: 690,787
New Deaths: 40,065 average of 5724 per day – this is down slightly from last week’s 6235
US Covid Cases: 4,783,757
US Covid Deaths: 158,094
New Deaths: 8537 average of 1,220 per day, up significantly from last week’s 947
Hawaii Covid Cases: 2197
Hawaii Covid Deaths: 26
Oahu Covid Cases: 1842
577 new cases last week. Average of 82 per day. Currently 902 active cases up from 427 last week.
Other Covid News: Several members of congress were diagnosed with Covid-19. Herman Cain, a prominent former presidential candidate who attended Trump’s rally in Tulsa died of Covid-19. The virus continues to spread in the US at a faster pace. Hundreds of children at a camp in Georgia were diagnosed with Covid but schools continue to rush headlong into opening. Hawaii pushed back the start date. In Indiana on the first day of school, at least one student tested positive – which is a nice catch but how many are missed? Major League Baseball began again and quickly had to shut down games due to many players testing positive. A cruise ship returned to sea and immediately had 36 crew members test positive. Trump administration says to expect about 30,000 deaths in the next month in the USA. Internationally, Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa appear to be turning into virus hotspots. Just about everything is Covid news right now, but let’s move on.
BLM and Civil Liberties Protests: The Federal Government agreed to remove Trumps CBP/ICE stormtroopers from Portland and big surprise, the demonstrations once again turned peaceful. The protests are reaching a point where people are losing interest from what I can see. The Federal crackdown re-enlivened them but with that stopping, I suspect that they will dwindle.
Economic News: The $600 supplement was not replaced and nothing has been agreed on to replace the now expired CARES act which boosted unemployment, put moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures, and gave other assitance. The titans of tech were called before congress for a video conference (which lacks all the impact of an actual sitting at those tables) and were grilled for monopoly and exploitation. Then they announced earnings and all earned billions of more dollars. Markets continue to be blown up larger than seems possible. Gold reached an all time new high. Silver is climbing but still sits far below its all time high. Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrency were on a massive tear with Bitcoin passing $12k but then bringing down the entire crypto market in a minutes long flash crash that dropped the price to $10.5k before recovering to about $11.3k. The craziest market on the planet but in the long term, the one that I think will be the most important. Kodak made a deal with Trump to make chemicals for Covid testing and jumped from $3 per share to $36 per share. U.S. GDP lost 31% in the first quarter- far more than during the Great Depression. Unemployment numbers remain in the tens of millions and no relief is in sight. Bankruptcies and permanent closures appear to have accelerated.
Political News: China called out the USA for owing more than a billion dollars to the UN. Trump (after his humiliating Tampa rally where he was trolled by Tik-Tok users and K-pop fans) has said he is going to ban Tik-Tok because it is a national security risk. The RNC has barred the media from the Republican Convention. Trump floated the idea of delaying the election – which it seems certain he would do if he had the power, but we can expcet disruptions even if it does happen.
Severe Weather:
Hurricane Douglas missed the entire Hawaiian Island Chain last week, but it’s early in Hurricane Season. Hurricane I-whatever hit Puerto Rico and the Caribbean but didn’t do enough damage to merit Trump going on a paper-towel throwing mission. It’s lost power and become a tropical storm and will mostly miss Florida. Mother Nature is showing some mercy.
I’m going to take a one week break from Facebook starting now. Why not join me for a Facebook detox?
As always, please comment with any stories I may have missed.