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June 2020
www.GlobeMiamiTimes.com
A Look at Covid-19 in MAY We will take a look at the pandemic as it unfolds each month and have divided our coverage into four categories: Pandemic Numbers, Economic Impacts, Healthcare Impacts and Personal Impacts. Each category is then broken down into world, USA, Arizona, and Globe-Miami news.
WORLD VIEW
WORLD VIEW
Pandemic by the Numbers WORLD VIEW
ARIZONA VIEW
✦ During the month of May, 3,039,713 people became infected and 153,272 people died worldwide as a result of COVID-19. As of May 31, the world had a total of 6,130,158 confirmed cases and 371,041 reported deaths.
ARIZONA VIEW
✦ In May, Arizona had a total of 14,130 confirmed cases, ending the month with a total 19,936 confirmed cases since the pandemic began. During May, 484 people died in Arizona as a result of COVID-19, bringing the total to 906 as of May 31. For Arizona, USA VIEW fatalities per 100,000 population was 12.6 and cases per 100,000 was 277.3.
✦ May 10, global confirmed cases passed 4 million. May 21, the world passed 5 million confirmed cases.
ARIZONA VIEW
USA VIEW
✦ May 14, global deaths attributed to COVID-19 passed 300,000.
GLOBE-MIAMI VIEW
✦ May 19, Brazil became the country with the third-largest number of confirmed infections, after the United States and Russia. ✦ BritainUSA is seeing high rates of infection and death. In terms of excess deaths per million VIEW of population, “Britain’s rate is not just three times America’s but possibly the worst in the world, at 890 against American’s roughly 250.” (Britain had locked down late, after initially WORLD VIEW embracing a “herd immunity” policy.) #1
GLOBE-MIAMI ✦ M ay 27, Spain began 10 days of nationwide mourning for victims of the coronavirus. VIEW
✦ During May, the pandemic’s main action shifted to Latin America and the Middle East. #2
ARIZONA VIEW
Healing people, not saving (money) to help the economy (is important), healing people, who are more important than the economy.”
USA VIEW
✦ May 4, the number of confirmed cases in Arizona passed 10,000. May 21, the number of confirmed cases in Arizona passed 15,000.
GLOBE-MIAMI VIEW
✦ Gila County began the month with 13 cases (7 in Globe, 5 in Payson, and 1 in Hayden). The county ended the month with 31 confirmed cases and two deaths. Most cases are divided between Globe and Payson.
✦ The first death from coronavirus in Gila County occurred on May 8, a Payson man in his 80s, and the second occurred on May 14, a Tonto Basin man in his 90s. #4 ✦ Hospital visits peaked in the first week of April and then declined during the rest of April and May, probably thanks to the lockdown reducing infection rates. #5
✦ During the month of May, 742,147 people became infected and 42,815 people died in the United States as a result of COVID-19. As of May 31, the United States had a total of 1,837,170 confirmed cases and 106,195 reported deaths.
✦ May 11, the US death toll passed 80,000. May 18, the USA passed 90,000 deaths and 1.5 million confirmed cases. May 26, the United States passed 100,000 confirmed deaths.
GLOBE-MIAMI
✦ During this month, surges occurred in rural areas, particularly in areas with meat-packing plants or prisons, “where the virus took hold VIEW and spread with abandon, then leaped into the community when workers took it home.” Surges occurred in Nashville, Tennessee; Des Moines, Iowa; Amarillo, Texas; Racine, Wisconsin; Garden City, Kansas; and Central City, Kentucky, among other places.#3
– Pope Francis
WORLD VIEW
ECONOMIC IMPACTS WORLD VIEW
✦ According to the Guardian, “Surveys of business activity show the world economy continued to shrink at a record pace this month, albeit at a slower pace than in April when most major countries’ lockdown measures were toughest. After imposing tight controls on business and social life later than other European countries, Britain’s economy appears to be underperforming many other wealthy nations. China, as the first country struck by Covid-19, is gradually recovering as lockdown controls are lifted.” #6
VIEW ✦ PARIZONA reliminary numbers suggested that the pandemic crisis has reduced global trade by 3%, and by March, global industrial production had fallen by about 4.6% compared to 2019. However, globally, workers were getting back to work in May. The share of workers affected by temporary workplace closures decreased from 81% to 68% over the second half of May. At the end of May, experts were predicting that global economic growth could contract by as much as 8.8% because of the pandemic. The most optimistic predictions went as high as 1% growth. USAonly VIEW ✦ However, on May 27 the Guardian reported: “Global financial markets have risen in the past month amid hopes for a vaccine and that the economic fallout from Covid-19 can be contained. Some analysts warn that markets are failing to reflect the scale of the international recession and risk that no vaccine is found. The FTSE 100 has risen 3% in the past month.” (By the end of the month, the stock markets had turned lower GLOBE-MIAMI again because of tensions over Hong Kong.) VIEW ✦ Oil output by OPEC members fell to its lowest level since 2002 in May. #8
WORLD VIEWcut interest rates to a record low 0.1% and injected an additional £200 ✦ In England, the Bank of England billion into the financial system, taking its stimulus programme to £645 billion. About a third of the British workforce are receiving wage subsidies from the Treasury. #9 ✦ In Spain, economic instability worsened by the pandemic led the government to approve a nationwide VIEWto reach 850,000 households. #10 minimum ARIZONA income plan designed
USA VIEW
✦ During May, Gov. Ducey’s office announced allocations of funds from the AZ Coronavirus ARIZONA VIEW Relief Fund to various programs and organizations, including: $500,000 for Arizona food banks to help fight hunger; $100,000 to programs across the state supporting Arizona kids with special needs who have been impacted by COVID-19; $300,000 to organizations across the state that USA VIEW support senior citizens, the homebound and those who are medically fragile; $100,000 to organizations that support foster families; $300,000 to organizations providing Arizonans in need with rental assistance, telehealth and transportation to health services; and $500,000 to organizations that provide out-of-school child care in the state. #12 GLOBE-MIAMI
VIEW
✦ Gov. Ducey’s office also announced that it will provide nearly $600 million in coronavirus relief and recovery dollars for local Arizona governments and nonprofits. The plan includes $441 million in direct, flexible funding to local cities, towns and counties that did not receive direct funding earlier this year from the federal government. In addition, local governments, tribal communities, schools and more will be eligible for expedited reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) for coronavirus-related expenses, including purchases of testing supplies, PPE and more. #13 ✦ Ducey’s office also announced that the Arizona Enrichment Centers Program will expand to offer prioritized child care for the children of grocery store employees and food bank workers. Enrichment Centers have already been providing child care for first responders, critical health care workers and essential public sector workers serving others as Arizona works to slow the spread of COVID-19. The program will also continue to offer prioritized care and scholarships to eligible families through the end of July. #14
✦ In May, US job losses exceeded 40 million. By the middle of the month, 100,000 small businesses had gone under. (Washington Post)
✦ Beginning in late April and continuing through May, U.S. farmers culled millions of hens and pigs due to the closure of meat-processing plants.
The world has seen many crises over the past 30 years, including the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09. Each has hit human development hard but, overall, development gains accrued globally year-on-year. COVID-19 – with its triple hit to health, education, and income – may change this trend.”
✦ J.Crew, Neiman Marcus, and JCPenney filed for bankruptcy. Pier One announced that it would close.
– Achim Steiner, UN Development Programs Administrator
✦ Mid-May, essential workers were striking across the country for better pay and safer working conditions in food service, meat processing, retail, manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare. Workers said employers were prioritizing profits over GLOBE-MIAMI workers’ VIEWhealth. #11 ✦ May 27, the New York Stock Exchange reopened after two months of closure. ✦ May 28, AP reported that the US economy shrank at a 5% rate in the first quarter of 2020, even worse than first thought, with much bigger fall expected in Q2. A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released in May shows that grocery prices jumped by 4.3% in April, their highest monthly increase in nearly 50 years.
