GENEVA — Four times as many jobs were lost last year due to the coronavirus pandemic as during the worst part of the global financial crisis in 2009, a U.N. report said Monday. The International Labor Organization estimated that the restrictions on businesses and public life destroyed 8.8% of all...
California Lifts COVID Stay-at-Home Orders Statewide
Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted regional stay-at-home orders on Monday and announced the state is returning to a system of county-by-county restrictions intended to stem the spread of the coronavirus, two administration officials with knowledge said. The decision comes with improving trends in the rate of infections, hospitalizations and intensive care unit...
What Does the Economy Need Now? 3 Suggestions for Biden’s Coronavirus Relief Bill
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) By Steven Pressman, Colorado State University; Melanie G. Long, The College of Wooster, and Veronika Dolar, SUNY Old Westbury Editor’s note: The Biden administration has made it clear it wants to inject more money into the U.S. economy and...
What Happens ‘Behind the Curtain’? California Keeps Key Virus Data Under Wraps
Gov. Gavin Newsom has from the start said his coronavirus policy decisions would be driven by data shared with the public to provide maximum transparency. But with the state starting to emerge from its worst surge, his administration won’t disclose key information that will help determine when his latest stay-at-home...
Biden to Sign Virus Measures, Requires Mask Use to Travel
WASHINGTON — Deep in the deadliest coronavirus wave and facing worrisome new mutations, President Joe Biden will kick off his national COVID-19 strategy to ramp up vaccinations and testing, reopen schools and businesses and increase the use of masks — including a requirement that Americans mask up for travel. Biden also will address inequities...
California Says COVID Vaccine Batch OK to Use Despite Illness Cluster
SACRAMENTO — California said it's safe to immediately begin using a batch of coronavirus vaccine doses after health officials urged a halt to injections and held a review because several people fell ill. Wednesday's decision frees up more than 300,000 doses to counties, cities and hospitals struggling to obtain supplies....
California Pins Vaccine Hopes on Biden Administration
SACRAMENTO — California officials are pinning their hopes on President-elect Joe Biden as they struggle to obtain coronavirus vaccines to curb a coronavirus surge that has packed hospitals and morgues. Doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been arriving haphazardly as they make their way from the federal government through the state...
Capitol Photos, Videos Lead to California Doctor’s Arrest
LOS ANGELES — A Beverly Hills doctor who has criticized the coronavirus vaccine was arrested Monday in connection with her alleged role storming the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, authorities said. Simone Gold, 55, is facing charges of entering a restricted building or grounds, violent entry and disorderly conduct, records show....
Vaccine Chaos: Californians Scramble for Shots Amid Mixed Messaging
The chaos and confusion many Californians experienced this week in their search for a COVID-19 vaccine only intensified today as Gov. Gavin Newsom revealed that the state would not receive an additional supply of doses it was counting on to accelerate vaccination. Newsom said he, like other governors, expected about...
AP-NORC Poll: Virus, Economy Swamp Other Priorities for US
WASHINGTON — Containing the coronavirus outbreak and repairing the economic damage it has inflicted are the top priorities for Americans as Joe Biden prepares to become the 46th president of the United States, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Overall, 53% of Americans...