Cities are remaking themselves for pedestrians and bikes, while hospitals are shape-shifting to handle the tide of Covid-19 patients.
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Sunday, April 19, 2020
U.S. Economy Breaking Records (The Bad Kind) During Coronavirus Outbreak
The U.S. economy is setting records as Americans are forced to stay home due to the coronavirus outbreak, as millions are filing for unemployment and the Paycheck Protection Program is out of money.
As The New York Times reported Wednesday, the Commerce Department announced retail sales dropped nationwide by 8.7%—the largest drop since the government began tracking the data nearly three decades ago. The numbers also don’t capture the full impact of the coronavirus on the retail industry because most states didn’t shut down until late March or early April, meaning the numbers are probably worse than being reported.
“It was a pretty catastrophic drop-off in that back half of the month,” Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at Forrester Research, told the Times, adding that April “may be one of the worst months ever.”
Additionally, the $349 billion lending program for small businesses has run out of funds. Small businesses across the country were seeking funds from the program in order to pay bills and employees through the crisis. Economists and analysts warned when the bill was being debated that more than $1 trillion would be needed for the program.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said Wednesday that “by law, the Small Business Administration would be unable to issue new loan approvals once the programs experience a lapse in appropriations.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum say more money needs to be added to the fund. Mnuchin is expected to resume negotiations to add $250 billion to the fund. However, talks have broken down in recent days about whether to refill the fund as Republicans propose, or make changes to how the money is allocated to businesses as Democrats want.
Democrats want to attach new restrictions to ensure the money goes to minority-owned businesses and other companies that are disadvantaged in the lending market. According to Natalie Cofield, founder of the NMC Consulting Group, black and minority-owned businesses haven’t had the same opportunities as white-owned businesses and that may be a good thing right now.
“Because of the fact that access to credit and the ability to repurchase credit has been something that has been kept from black businesses, we have seen a lot more businesses advertise and work around those issues,” Cofield said. “So you might see a black business using a food truck as opposed to a restaurant or operating a pop-up store, so they may not have the same overhead expenses weighing on them right now.”
Unemployment is also skyrocketing by the week during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 22 million people have signed up for benefits in the last month—another record. And in some places, the number may be higher. In Florida, people have had so much trouble signing up that paper forms were being handed out at a Miami unemployment office and Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced the head of the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity.
DeSantis was reportedly becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of response from the unemployment office, but according to The Huffington Post, former Gov. Rick Scott made the site almost impossible to navigate on purpose.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham Outraised By Democratic Challenger Jaime Harrison
Sen. Lindsey Graham is in for a tougher fight than he expected in the race for his South Carolina Senate seat as Democratic challenger Jamie Harrison has outraised him.
According to CNN, Harrison’s campaign brought in a total of $7.2 million in the first three months of 2020, while Graham brought in nearly $5.6 million. Harrison’s fundraising shows the high-profile nature of the race. Harrison, the former chairman of the state’s Democratic Party has received early support from prominent party leaders, including presidential candidate Joe Biden.
“We’re so grateful for this outpouring of support from everyday people who are looking for leadership that puts them first,” Guy King, communications director for the Harrison campaign, told CNN.
Harrison still has a lot of work to do and the odds are still against him. Graham, a three-term senator, is close with President Donald Trump, and the Cook Political Report rates the race as “solid” Republican.
Additionally, although Harrison’s numbers for the first quarter outpace Graham’s, the senator has raised more since the beginning of the cycle, raising $6 million more than Harrison. Graham’s campaign also has more than $4.8 million more cash on hand than Harrison.
Graham’s campaign blamed the lower total on the senator being forced to cancel fundraising events do to the coronavirus.
“It’s truly humbling to see the tremendous support and momentum continue to grow for Senator Graham,” said campaign manager Scott Farmer in a press release. “Even after canceling numerous events and suspending our fundraising efforts for part of the quarter, Senator Graham still shattered personal and state fundraising records.”
Graham, a staunch champion of the right, ran for president in 2016 but dropped out in late 2015.
Harrison joins a growing list of Democratic challengers in U.S. Senate races who have outraised their Republican opponents. Democratic challengers have quickly adapted to using social media to their benefit in a time when most of the country is stuck at home.
Graham has recently been in the news for opposing the widespread student loan forgiveness Democrats have been pushing for during the coronavirus outbreak.
“Democrats are trying to reduce student loans by $10,000. What the hell has that got to do with the virus?” Graham (R-S.C.) told Fox News. “I’m sure everybody could use more money, but I don’t want to give money to people who have a paycheck. I want to give money to people who have lost their jobs.”
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Saturday, April 18, 2020
Diddy Launches New Platform Called “Black News”
In light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which is disproportionately affecting the African American community, Sean “Diddy” Combs announced that he is launching a new platform called “Black News” that promises to report news and issues impacting the black people. He added that the series will also focus on providing solutions.
“It’s time for us to be solution-based,” said the Revolt chairman in an Instagram post on Saturday. He also noted that he will “put together a collective of individuals that are experts in their field.”
Combs said he came up with the idea after he hosted “State of Emergency,” an online townhall about the coronavirus and state of black America.
“When I started @REVOLTTV I always wanted to develop a platform to report the news from our perspective, for our people, so I decided to launch #BLACKNEWS,” reads his caption. “This platform is for solutions. We’ve already heard about what we can’t do, but this is about what we CAN do. This is all happening in real time, it’s not perfect, but each week we will get better and better.”
The announcement comes almost a week after he hosted a celebrity dance-a-thon on Instagram live on April 12 to raise money for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was joined by Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriquez, Aubrey “Drake” Graham, Will Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, Snoop Dogg, and Jessica Alba. He reportedly raised $4 million for the non-profit Team Love and Direct Relief, dedicated to humanitarian aid in the coronavirus pandemic.
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Only Two States Released Full Stats on Race-Based COVID-19 Data, Says Johns Hopkins University
While the U.S. economy and entire industries have been completely upended by the global coronavirus crisis, research shows that the pandemic is disproportionately affecting African American communities around the country. In places like Chicago and Louisiana, black people make up 70% of the cases and fatalities despite being the minority in both areas. Meanwhile, in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, blacks make up about 27% of the population but comprised almost half of all COVID-19 infections and 71% of all fatalities.
Despite the racial disparities, a new study from Johns Hopkins University revealed that just two states, Kansas and Illinois, have released a full report of racial demographic data related to COVID-19 cases. The report comes as experts are calling for racial data transparency related to COVID-19 infections in order to protect vulnerable communities.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is exposing deep structural disparities in the U.S. healthcare system and is hitting some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged populations the hardest. These tragic disparities are crying out for urgent attention from policymakers and the media,” reads a statement from Johns Hopkins University sent to BLACK ENTERPRISE. “Although racial and ethnic information is currently available for only about 35% of the COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., it is clear that Black Americans and racial minorities experience infection and death rates that are disproportionately high for their share of the total population.”
To pressure states to become more transparent, Johns Hopkins University launched a new tracking map on Friday highlighting which states are releasing critically important race-based COVID-19 data – and which are not. According to the map, only Kansas and Illinois have released racial breakdowns of their COVID-19 data pertaining to confirmed cases, deaths, and testing. Thirty-four states have released racial data about the number of confirmed cases and 26 have publicized the number of deaths broken down by race. A few states have not released any racial data at all.
Lisa A. Cooper, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, says this information is critical for governments and public health departments as they distribute resources to combat the spread of the virus.
“Having the information can help our policymakers, our administrators and our employers determine how to best use the resources that we have in our country,” Cooper said, according to The Hill.
She added that a number of environmental and social conditions place people of color at greater risk of exposure to the virus in addition to an increased risk of suffering from serious complications from COVID-19, which has led to higher death rates.
“These disparities in health are not new, they’ve existed for some time and they’re due to a variety of different factors ranging all the way from the social and environmental issues to health care access issues,” she said.
Such conditions include high rates of homelessness, housing insecurity, and food insecurity, which can prevent people from practicing social distancing. On top of that, black and Hispanic workers are more likely to commute to their jobs.
“You layer those other social barriers on top of health care, it really sets up folks to be at a disadvantage,” Cooper said. “A lot of people tend to think health as being primarily caused by individual behaviors. It’s also a result of environmental factors and the choices people have.”
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Black Momma Vodka’s Vanessa Braxton Changes Focus from Vodka to Hand Sanitizer
The coronavirus has forced people to change the thoughts and daily routines of life. Due to the national shortage of hand sanitizers, Black Momma Vodka’s owner Vanessa Braxton has decided to actively produce thousands of bottles of sanitizers out of the alcohol she has on hand according to BlackNews.
“We are changing with the times and we have to be ready to shift how we are serving our community and consumers in the midst of this crisis,” said Braxton. “If I didn’t own a distillery and manufacturing facility I would not have been able to pivot so quickly from producing vodka to making hand sanitizer. We are ready to evolve and reinvent our business to work with government agencies and hospitals, to protect those on the frontlines of fighting this pandemic.”
Vanessa Braxton is putting her manufacturing and distilling expertise to better use in these trying times. She is producing urgently needed hand sanitizer for healthcare workers, first responders, patients, and community members who are out fighting the deadly coronavirus. Due to the COVID-19, hand sanitizers have been selling out nationwide and continues to be a much-needed item in the fight to flatten the curve.
“In challenging times like these it is important as a business owner who makes products to have control over your manufacturing and equipment,” said Braxton. “If I didn’t own and operate a distillery, I would not have been able to take the reins in this time of need so quickly.”
Braxton, 50, of Dix Hills, New York, began making her very own Black Momma vodkas in 2013, and in 2016 she opened a manufacturing facility in Wyandanch. She also began making teas, followed by flavored agaves, and now has 33,000 online and wholesale customers and has made $2.9 million in sales. She has plans to open distribution centers in several states, while the Wheatley Heights building will serve as the company’s headquarters and training facility for the nearly 300 franchisees interested in being in business with her.
She is also the first African American woman distiller, master blender, and operator of a nationally distributed vodka in the country, and the owner of the only black-owned tea and beverage manufacturing facility. She is expanding her burgeoning empire as she is planning to open a 4,600-square-foot cafe and bar in Wheatley Heights, New York, this year.
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