The End of Key Lifelines for Millions of Americans
After a year-and-a-half of emergency federal support for many Americans who took a financial hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of workers are now on their own. An estimated 8.9 million Americans lost all of their unemployment benefits yesterday, per the Associated Press, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an extension of the federal eviction moratorium. Despite signs that the Delta variant is dimming hopes for a major economic recovery this fall, the Biden Administration has signaled that it's not planning to push for further federal unemployment benefits.
The loss of extended unemployment benefits and eviction protection is likely to be particularly painful for the country's most vulnerable workers. As my colleague Abby Vesoulis reports, between February 2020 and February 2021, employment of low-wage workers (those making less than $15 an hour on average) dropped 11.7%, compared to a 5.4% decrease among middle-income ($15 to $45 an hour) and a 1% drop among high-income workers (more than $45), according to the Pew Research Center.
However, even as existing economic lifelines expire, the White House is pushing for new, permanent programs to boost working class Americans. President Joe Biden's new labor secretary, former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, believes the pandemic is a rare chance to massively rethink the American social safety net. "It's a once-in-a-generation opportunity that’s in front of us," he told reporters during a recent trip to Dayton, Ohio.
Abby joined Walsh on that trip, during which he promoted ideas including 12-week paid family leave, apprenticeship programs to create new pathways to the middle class, and a sliding-scale childcare system that would help families spend less than the 7% of their income that they currently expend on care. Still, the Administration's proposals face an uphill political climb: with a 50-50 split Senate, Democrats can't lose a single vote to pass their initiatives through the process of budget reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority. Negotiations for such a package are ongoing. For Americans in crisis, however, reform cannot come too soon.
About 450.1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this morning, of which more than 374.4 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 53% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
More than 221.1 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and nearly 4.6 million people have died. On September 6, there were 414,872 new cases and 7,645 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 4 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded over 40 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. Nearly 649,000 people have died. On September 6, there were 73,331 new cases and 530 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Sept. 7, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here. Note: the Labor Day holiday has likely resulted in interruptions or delays in the latest U.S. pandemic data.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The U.S. has surpassed 40 million total COVID-19 cases after reporting more than 73,000 new infections yesterday, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University. Although more than half of the country's population is fully vaccinated, the highly contagious Delta variant has driven a surge of new cases this summer, especially among unvaccinated people. The U.S. has reported nearly 4.3 million new cases and more than 32,000 deaths in the last month.
Pfizer-BioNTech booster shots are on track to be rolled out during the week of Sept. 20 in the U.S., White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday, but third doses for Moderna recipients may take longer. Speaking on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Fauci explained that the White House is waiting to get regulators' approval on the extra doses. The Biden Administration said Aug. 18 that all Americans who received Pfizer or Moderna shots would be eligible for a booster eight months after their second dose beginning this month, but federal regulators have warned that they may not have enough data to recommend booster shots within that timeframe.
The Philippines, where less than 14% of the 108-million person population is fully vaccinated, is tracking a record-breaking surge of new cases. It reported 22,345 new cases yesterday—a single-day record— and has reported 453,990 new cases over the last month, also a record. Despite the surge, the country is planning to relax restrictions tomorrow to mitigate the pandemic's economic impact. Among the changes: businesses will be allowed to reopen except in certain neighborhoods with high levels of viral spread, Al Jazeera reports.
A Vietnamese man who violated a COVID-19 quarantine mandate and spread the virus was sentenced today to five years in prison, the New York Times reports, citing local media. The man, 28-year-old Le Van Tri, rode a motorcycle between Ca Mau and Ho Chi Minh City in July and spread the virus to eight people, one of whom died from related complications. Vietnam is in the grips of a major surge—it has reported more than 331,000 new cases and 10,000 deaths over the last month, both of which are records.
Police and firefighter associations and employees in Oregon are suing governor Katherine Brown over a vaccine mandate. The suit, filed Sept. 3, argues that the workers' resistance to getting vaccinated constitutes a form of constitutionally-protected speech. Brown spokesperson Liz Merah said in a statement that the seriousness of the crisis has necessitated vaccine requirements, per the AP.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Tara Law and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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