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Hopes for a new stimulus package to help ease the economic stress of the pandemic before the November election waned Thursday after Democrats blocked a slimmed-down coronavirus relief bill put forward by GOP leaders. Many of the benefits created in the Cares Act passed by Congress in March have already expired, and about 29 million Americans drew jobless aid last week, according to Labor Department data.
Here are some significant developments:
- A new research letter from Harvard University researchers suggests the risk to young people has been undersold, after a study of 3,222 hospitalized patients aged 18 to 34 found that one in five required intensive care, 10 percent needed a ventilator and 2.7 percent died. Another 3 percent required ongoing medical care even after clearing the virus.
- U.S. airports will stop checking international travelers for fevers before allowing them to enter the country after a review of the procedure found only 15 coronavirus cases were detected among 675,000 people screened.
- An unusually large number of patients in Los Angeles complained about coughs between December and February, according to a new report published Thursday in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, raising the possibility that the novel coronavirus may have been spreading in the United States earlier than previously thought.
- Regulators fined two food-processing plants Thursday for failing to adequately protect workers from coronavirus risks, leveling penalties ranging from $13,494 to $200,000 following employee deaths.
- U.S. stocks fell abruptly on Thursday, continuing a days-long sell-off that has hurt companies in every sector as new unemployment claims increased for the fourth consecutive week.
September 11, 2020 at 1:54 AM EDT
Pandemic bankruptcies: A running list of retailers that have filed for Chapter 11
The retail industry, in turmoil for years, is facing its biggest test yet as the coronavirus crisis pushes some of the nation’s most vulnerable brands to the economic brink.
Pandemic-motivated closures and stalling demand left many prominent retailers looking for ways to preserve cash. Some stopped paying rent. Others furloughed workers, cut executive pay and canceled orders for new inventory. But as the economy begins sputtering back to life, bankruptcy attorneys and analysts say a growing number of companies will find they just don’t have enough cash to keep going.
By Abha Bhattarai
September 11, 2020 at 1:10 AM EDT
Museums are reopening to a new audience: Locals eager to ‘travel’
As cooler weather approaches, many grounded travelers will not be able to escape to the outdoors as they did during the summer. Beyond staying at home amid the expected winter rise in covid-19 cases and braving the cold outdoors, however, there is a middle ground: the cavernous museum.
Museums now virtually guarantee visitors six feet of space for social distancing, thanks to new capacity limits and required time slots. What is a better window to far-off continents and subcultures than a gilded art gallery, a towering artifacts hall or even an ancient Egyptian temple plucked from a desert and re-erected indoors?
By Shannon McMahon
September 11, 2020 at 12:22 AM EDT
Analysis: Is the 9/11 era over?
It’s been almost two decades since the events of 9/11, yet we still live in their shadow. That era-defining terrorist assault on the United States prefigured a new age of military interventions abroad and surveillance powers and security protocols at home. The advent of the “war on terror” saw U.S. forces deployed across a wide arc of the planet, from West Africa to the Middle East, in an avowed worldwide campaign against Islamist militancy.
But in many ways, 9/11 — and the epochal conflagration that followed — feels distant.
By Ishaan Tharoor
September 11, 2020 at 12:21 AM EDT
NFL’s uncertain season gets underway with Chiefs knocking off Texans
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The NFL launched its season here Thursday night at the intersection of an ongoing global pandemic and the nation’s social justice reckoning. The country’s most popular and prosperous sports league trudged onward as the Kansas City Chiefs welcomed some fans and began the defense of their Super Bowl title secured last season behind star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The season-opening game between the Chiefs and Houston Texans kicked off with the Arrowhead Stadium stands partially filled and strict protocols in effect for the novel coronavirus. The Chiefs, one of a handful of NFL teams permitting fans in attendance at the outset of the season, were operating with the stadium at 22 percent capacity and had an announced crowd of 15,895.
By Mark Maske and Des Bieler
September 11, 2020 at 12:21 AM EDT
Democrats block slimmed-down GOP coronavirus relief bill as hopes fade for any more congressional support
Democrats blocked a pared-down GOP coronavirus relief bill in a bitterly disputed Senate vote Thursday, leaving the two parties without a clear path forward to approve new economic stimulus before the November elections.
The vote was 52-47, far short of the 60 votes that would have been needed for the measure to advance. Democrats were united in opposing the legislation; all Republicans voted in favor except Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
For Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), wrangling a majority of the Senate behind the legislation constituted a measure of success, after months when Senate Republicans have been hopelessly divided. But next steps — if any — toward the kind of bipartisan deal that would be needed to actually pass a bill to provide new assistance were unclear.
By Erica Werner, Seung Min Kim and Tony Romm
