Tag Archives: Cornavirus

Florida, Nevada may be hit hardest by coronavirus economic shock: study

By Howard Schneider

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Florida beaches remained packed with partying college students as the coronavirus crisis gathered force, and the Republican governor was slow to impose social distancing in a tourist-dependent economy.

That may come back to haunt the U.S. state – and not just in the form of a sky-rocketing case load. According to a newly released study by Oxford Economics, Florida is among the states most vulnerable to the economic shock being caused by the pandemic. (https://reut.rs/34cmzs3)

Oxford ranked the 50 U.S states and Washington D.C. using 10 measures its economists felt could make a local economy more vulnerable, including the share of the population over 65, dependence on retail sales, and the importance of the tourist industry.

Maine, with its proportionately older population and comparatively large number of people who are self-employed or work in small businesses, is considered the most vulnerable state economy, according to Oxford. Nevada, with its massive casino-based tourism industry, was second, while rural Vermont was third.

Florida is the only heavily populated state near the top of the list, with a comparatively large share of its 21 million residents over the age of 65, and an economy that is relatively dependent on retail sales and tourism.

The state’s COVID-19 case load topped 10,000 last week and it is adding a thousand cases a day. Governor Ron DeSantis imposed a statewide “stay at home” order that took effect Friday, weeks after some U.S. states.

“We see what’s going on in New York now, we see that people are dying,” Rick Scott, the Florida senator, told Fox News Channel on Saturday. “People are taking this very seriously now.”

States such as New York and California that have so far had the heaviest COVID-19 case loads may actually be among the more economically resilient, the Oxford team found.

“Lockdown and containment measures are the key determinants of first-round economic impacts of the coronavirus, but structural economic vulnerabilities determine the severity of second-round impacts,” Oxford lead economist Oren Klachkin wrote. Long-term results could depend on the strength of local government budgets and health systems.

Economists are struggling to get a grip on the potential aftermath of the crisis as it continues to deepen. Companies cut more than 700,000 jobs from their payrolls in March, a likely understated measure of rapidly rising unemployment: More than 6 million people filed for unemployment benefits in the week ended March 28 alone.

President Donald Trump initially downplayed the dangers of the virus and did not quickly recommend nationwide health orders. Local governments, which vary widely in their finances and ability to cope, had different initial responses to the threat, a fact that could shape the ultimate outcome of the crisis nationally.

The situation has produced a quick flowering of research on pandemic economics, with most studies finding that stricter health measures taken early on lead to deeper, but shorter, economic downturns and faster recoveries.

There are political as well as economic implications.

Florida, for example, is an important battleground state in the U.S. electoral system, and the perceived success or failure of efforts to control the virus and support local businesses and households could influence Trump’s reelection chances.

IHS Markit U.S. regional economist Karl Kuykendall also ranked Florida among the more vulnerable states, using a different methodology focused on estimated declines in employment and economic output. The state may lose about 8% of its jobs by the end of the year, he calculated.

The manufacturing heavy “rust belt” states from Pennsylvania to Michigan, also politically important constituencies that swung the 2016 race for Trump, are in line to take similarly heavy hits to employment, Kuykendall estimated.

Personal finance site WalletHub.com used a broader set of metrics, including work from home capacity and local financial strength, for another ranking.

Florida is in the middle of that pack because of its comparatively few small businesses and stronger state finances, WalletHub found. It said Louisiana was most “exposed,” with Maine and Nevada also high on the list. Among the more populous states, Pennsylvania and Illinois were in WalletHub’s top 10.

None of the studies accounted for the help coming to households, businesses and local governments from the $2.3 trillion emergency rescue package approved by Congress in late March, or the wide set of programs established by the Federal Reserve.

The combined aim of those efforts is to offset the economic impact of the virus. Officials are focused now on whether the aid can reach where it is needed fast enough to matter.

(Reporting by Howard Schneider: Editing by Heather Timmons and Daniel Wallis)

On Oklahoma plains, an island of near normality in a pandemic

By Andrew Hay

GUYMON, Okla., March 28 (Reuters) – On red cobbled Main Street in Guymon, the biggest town in Oklahoma’s panhandle, Jesus Ruiz gives “high and tight” hair cuts as a red, white and blue barber’s pole turns lazily outside.

About half the customers in the barber shop work at the busy pork processing plant in Guymon, a majority Hispanic/Latino community which rises like an island in a sea of corn and grass. Ruiz hopes this remoteness protects it from the coronavirus encroaching on all sides.

“I love it that nobody knows we’re here,” says Ruiz, 33, a Mexican-American who said the crime rate in Riverside, California, prompted him to quit the city near Los Angeles two years ago and move to this close-knit town of 11,500, where people often leave their doors unlocked when they go out.

In contrast to shuttered businesses and tens of millions of people confined to their homes across America, life seems fairly normal in Guymon, the closest case of coronavirus still more than 100 miles (160 km) away. There is nevertheless fear that COVID-19 may already be here, or will find its way in as workers from Texas, Kansas and other areas of the state commute to jobs in meat processing, feedlots and farms.

Guymon has not been spared the panic buying seen elsewhere and its library and recreation center are closed. All Oklahoma schools are shut for the remainder of their year.

But locally-owned small businesses and restaurants remain open, albeit limiting customers, many owners more fearful of the economic impact of the virus than the virus itself.

Unlike in neighboring New Mexico and Colorado, most Oklahomans do not face a stay-at-home order, but adults over 65 and people with underlying conditions are asked not to go out.

City Manager Joe Dunham said, under an order by Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, it will take just one COVID-19 case in Guymon’s Texas County for non-essential businesses to close.

“I was hoping to keep restaurants open as long as possible just to create a sense of normalcy and not have panic,” said Dunham, who is still getting used to not shaking hands with visitors to city hall. “It’s a little bit quieter, the highway still seems pretty busy though.”

CRITICAL FOOD BUSINESS

There is nothing quiet about the Seaboard Foods SEB.A pork processing plant three miles up U.S. Highway 64. It is operating at full capacity with nearly 2,600 workers, more than 80 percent of whom live in Guymon or the county.

People from at least four continents speaking about 19 languages and dialects process more than 20,000 hogs a day. This “critical” food operation, by far Guymon’s biggest employer, has been ordered to stay open.

As hundreds of workers change shifts, four Spanish speaking employees pile out of a Chevy Caprice after car-pooling the 40-miles from Liberal, Kansas. One has worked at the plant for a week, another several months, two of them for years.

“Of course we’re scared of coronavirus,” said a 61-year-old woman from Mexico, who asked that her name not be used. “It’s really cold in there and there are a lot of people with flu.”

Plant employees are asked to stay home if they feel sick and Seaboard is offering two weeks paid leave to any worker told to self-quarantine or isolate due to COVID-19, said spokesman David Eaheart. The company is giving extra pay to employees who meet attendance requirements in the busy weeks ahead.

Thirteen coronavirus tests have come back negative in the county, with zero positive and 10 results pending, Texas County Memorial Hospital reported.

‘DETACHED FROM REALITY’

Back on Main Street, Kalye Griffin, 42, arranges shirts at her Top Hand western store and trusts in God to safeguard families in this county where eight in ten voters backed President Donald Trump in 2016.

Services have not stopped at Griffin’s Victory Center Church and other houses of worship.

“We are very grounded in our faith and know we are protected,” said Griffin, who has seen sales dwindle as rodeos and dances are canceled. “The fear is doing more damage than the virus.”

A few blocks north, hairdresser Rick French, 66, is skeptical about shutting businesses to fight a virus he believes may only be as deadly as the flu.

At the same time, he says there is some denial in Guymon that anything as nasty as coronavirus could ever come to town.

“It’s almost like we’re detached from reality. Nobody can believe it is going to happen here,” said French, who plans to vote for Trump again this year. He said his business has dropped off as older female customers stay home. “We watch it on TV and just hope it doesn’t come here.”

(Reporting By Andrew Hay in Guymon, Oklahoma; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Daniel Wallis)

Chinese capital battles jump in virus cases as infections ease elsewhere

BEIJING (Reuters) – The number of people who have contracted the coronavirus in the Chinese capital has jumped sharply, including more than 30 in an outbreak at a major hospital, while many other parts of the country are reporting fewer or no new infections.

Officials on Friday reported one new case in Beijing as of Feb. 20, bringing the total in the city to 396, with four dead.

Twenty-three cases were recorded the previous day.

The new cases largely stemmed from a major hospital about 6 k, (3.7 miles) west of Tiananmen Square, and come as China’s leaders decide whether to postpone their annual gathering of parliament, the year’s most important political event, originally set for early March.

Eight health workers, nine care workers and cleaners, and 19 patients and their family members were among the 36 cases confirmed at Fuxing Hospital thus far, Pang Xinghuo, vice head of Beijing’s disease control centre, told reporters on Thursday.

The hospital only had nine cases as of Feb. 3.

“I feel deeply guilty and distressed by the cluster case incident at Fuxing Hospital,” Li Dongxia, the hospital’s director, told the same briefing.

The infections also caught the attention of the Global Times, a tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, which ran a story under the headline: “Whopping rise in infection at Beijing hospital puts capital on alert.”

The city’s total cases now rank 13th among provincial-level jurisdictions.

To control the spread of the virus, Beijing and other cities have ordered measures including reduced opening hours at shopping malls, temperature checks in public spaces, and disinfection at residential compounds.

Beijing also requires that people arriving from elsewhere in China quarantine at home for 14 days. Migrant workers are steadily returning to the city of more than 20 million after a long Lunar New Year break, which was extended to give authorities more time to try to contain the virus.

“So disappointed! I was brought up in the district and thought it’s the safest bastion because it’s the heart of the country,” one person wrote on the Twitter-like Weibo.

Nationwide, more than 75,400 people have been confirmed infected with the coronavirus and 2,236 have died, mostly in central Hubei province and its capital of Wuhan where the virus emerged in a wildlife market in December.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Lusha Zhang; Additional reporting by Yan Zhang, Yawen Chen and Cheng Leng in Beijing; Editing by Tony Munroe and Kim Coghill)

Factbox: Airlines suspend China flights due to coronavirus outbreak

(Reuters) – Airlines are suspending flights to China in the wake of the new coronavirus outbreak.

Below are details (in alphabetical order):

AIRLINES THAT HAVE CANCELED ALL CHINA FLIGHTS

*American Airlines – Jan. 31-March 27. Hong Kong service suspended Feb. 8-March 27.

*Air France – Said on Feb.6 it would suspend flights to and from mainland China for much of March

*Air Seoul – The South Korean budget carrier suspended China flights from Jan. 28 until further notice.

*Air Tanzania – Tanzania’s state-owned carrier, which had planned to begin charter flights to China in February, postponed its maiden flights.

*Austrian Airlines – until end February.

*British Airways – Jan. 29-March 31.

*Delta Airlines – Feb. 2-April 30

*Egyptair – Feb. 1 until further notice.

*El Al Israel Airlines – Jan. 30-March 25 following a health ministry directive.

*Finnair – Suspended all flights to China between Feb. 6-29, to Guangzhou between Feb. 5-March 29.

*Iberia Airlines – The Spanish carrier extended its suspension of flights from Madrid to Shanghai, its only route, from Feb. 29 until the end of April.

*Kenya Airways – Jan. 31 until further notice.

*KLM – Will extend its ban up to March 15

*Lion Air – All of February.

*Oman and Saudia, Saudi Arabia’s state airline, both suspended flights on Feb. 2 until further notice.

*Qatar Airways – Feb. 1 until further notice.

*Rwandair – Jan. 31 until further notice.

*Nordic airline SAS – Feb. 4-29.

*Scoot, Singapore Airlines’ low-cost carrier – Feb. 8 until further notice.

*United Airlines – Feb. 5-March 28. Service to Hong Kong suspended Feb. 8-20.

*Vietjet and Vietnam Airlines – Suspended flights to the mainland as well as Hong Kong and Macau Feb. 1-April 30, in line with its aviation authority’s directive.

AIRLINES THAT HAVE CANCELED SOME CHINA FLIGHTS/ROUTES

*Air Canada- Canceled direct flights to Beijing and Shanghai Jan. 30-Feb 29.

*Air China – State carrier said on Feb. 9 it will “adjust” flights between China and the United States.

*Air New Zealand – Suspended Auckland-Shanghai service Feb. 9-March 29.

*ANA Holdings – Suspended routes including Shanghai and Hong Kong from Feb. 10 until further notice.

*Cathay Pacific Airways – Plans to cut a third of its capacity over the next two months, including 90% of flights to mainland China. It has encouraged its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave in a bid to preserve cash.

*Emirates and Etihad – The United Arab Emirates, a major international transit hub, suspended flights to and from China, except for Beijing.

*Hainan Airlines – Suspended flights between Budapest, Hungary, and Chongqing Feb. 7-March 27.

*Philippine Airlines – Cut the number of flights between Manila and China by over half.

*Qantas Airways – Suspended direct flights to China from Feb. 1. The Australian national carrier halted flights from Sydney to Beijing and Sydney to Shanghai between Feb. 9-March 29.

*Royal Air Maroc – The Moroccan airline suspended direct flights to China Jan. 31-Feb. 29. On Jan. 16, it had launched a direct air route with three flights weekly between its Casablanca hub and Beijing.

*Russia – All Russian airlines, with the exception of national airline Aeroflot, stopped flying to China from Jan. 31. Small airline Ikar will also continue flights between Moscow and China. All planes arriving from China will be sent to a separate terminal in the Moscow Sheremetyevo airport.

*Singapore Airlines – Suspended or cut capacity on flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xiamen and Chongqing, some of which are flown by regional arm SilkAir.

*UPS – Canceled 22 flights to China because of the virus and normal manufacturing closures due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

*Virgin Atlantic – Extended its suspension of daily operations to Shanghai until March 28.

*Virgin Australia – Said it will withdraw from the Sydney-Hong Kong route from March 2 because it was “no longer a viable commercial route” due to growing concerns over the virus and civil unrest in Hong Kong.

(Compiled by Jagoda Darlak, Tommy Lund and Aditya Soni, editing by Barbara Lewis and Uttaresh.V)