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COVID-19 Coronavirus Update 4-19-2020-here is the latest information: grants, protocols, important links and more.

Final Round of COVID-19 Relief Grants from the State of California: The final round of the State of California's COVID-19 Relief Grant Program will open on April 28th and close on May 4th. This final round will accept new applications. Grant award amounts will be between $5,000 - $25,000. For more information and to apply, visit www.CAreliefgrant.com. 

Round 2 of 'Keep Our Shops on the Block' - Personal Care and Retail Recovery Grants Coming Soon! Retail & personal care service businesses are encouraged to apply for the LA Regional COVID-19 Fund grants. Brick and mortar businesses that meet minimum criteria may submit an application beginning April 26th and no later than May 2nd. Grants of $10,000 will be awarded through an online, random application system. For more information about the program and to apply, click here.   

Restaurants Care Resilience Fund- $3,500 Grants: Small restaurants are invited to apply for a grant of up to $3,500 from the recently launched Restaurants Care Resilience Fund. Funded by SoCal Gas in partnership with the California Restaurant Foundation, these grants are intended to support restaurants that have suffered losses related to COVID-19 and to pay for things like payroll and the hiring back of employees. The application deadline is Sunday, April 18th. For more information and to apply, visit www.restaurantscare.org/resilience/.

Property owners can now apply for the Mortgage Relief Program, a partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services of LA County and local HUD-approved housing counseling agencies. The $5.5 million initiative developed by the LA County Board of Supervisors will support property owners who have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mortgage Relief Program will include a relief fund which provides grants of up to $20,000 for qualified property owners, plus expanded foreclosure prevention counseling services. The program is structured to benefit single-family homeowners and property owners with four or fewer units living in communities highly impacted by COVID-19. To apply now for the Mortgage Relief Program, call (888) 895-2647 or visit nhslacounty.org/mortgagereliefprogram.

Virtual Forum: Bankruptcy Law for Small Businesses-Questions about bankruptcy law? Join the Los Angeles County Consumer & Business Affairs on Thursday, April 22 at 11:00 am to learn about its application to small businesses. RSVP Now

Globally: The global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million people Saturday amid repeated setbacks in the worldwide vaccination campaign and a deepening crisis in places such as Brazil, India and France.
The number of lives lost, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the population of Kyiv, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; or metropolitan Lisbon, Portugal. It is bigger than Chicago (2.7 million) and equivalent to Philadelphia and Dallas combined.
And the true number is believed to be significantly higher because of possible government concealment and the many cases overlooked in the early stages of the outbreak that began in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019.

Cases-the Numbers and More: Pasadena’s coronavirus infection rates held steady last week as of Thursday — though officials say they’d prefer if it was going down a little more. Meanwhile, the city’s vaccination rate accelerated with an 8 percentage point jump — an improvement over the past few weeks that have mostly seen 5 or 6 percentage point increases — as nearly 66% of all residents have now received at least one dose, city data shows. Four out of 10 residents have been fully vaccinated as everyone over the age of 16 is now eligible to get the jab, whether it’s from the city, county, local pharmacy or a medical network such as Kaiser Permanente.

Within the next day or so, the Pasadena Public Health Department will release an updated health order to align with recent guidance from the state around indoor live events, such as theaters, as well as private social gatherings of many types. Most of the guidance will be similar to existing rules, Dr. Ying-Ying Goh, the city’s health director and medical officer, said in a Thursday interview, though it will be more nuanced and complicated. There will be instructions for buildings’ ventilation systems and social distancing, while indoors; there will be protocols for using tests to keep folks safe and will say how the rules should change when the majority of folks have been vaccinated.

The biggest shift in guidance will be around indoor live events — something that still hasn’t returned in earnest after more than a year of closures — but the state has said could reopen as soon as June 15. Goh said the city’s soon-to-be-released guidance will require a worker testing program to be in place. It will bar patrons from eating in their seats, though it will allow for an indoor dining space that will be the only place one is allowed to take their mask off. It also will have instructions for how businesses can optimize their ventilation systems.
Goh said her department has been talking to Pasadena’s local venues, helping them figure out ways to get back up and running for the summer. Guidance and protocol information from the Pasadena Public Health Department can be found at: https://www.cityofpasadena.net/covid-19/#health-orders.

The city’s infection rate largely held steady past week, declining slightly from 2.7 cases per day on average to 2.4, measuring from April 8 to Thursday. It’s a bit higher than April 9, when cases dipped to 1.7 cases per day — a pandemic low — but these are typical fluctuations that are most noticeable when case counts are hovering so low. Since April 9, case counts have wavered between 2.9 and 2.4 cases per day on average, depending on the day.

On the vaccine front, the city saw big gains in two age groups: 45- to 64-year-olds as well as 18- to 44-year-olds.
The younger folks received about 4,000 doses last week; the older ones got about 3,500. Nearly half of all 18to 44-year-olds have now received at least one vaccination — 48.8% — while 72.7% of 45- to 64-year-olds have gotten the jab once. The vast majority of those older than these two groups have gotten at least one shot.

Meanwhile, about 1 in 5 of those younger than those two groups also has gotten a shot. That number is expected to rise in the coming weeks now that eligibility has expanded to everyone over age 16.

The city’s racial data was a little skewed last week, making it difficult to say how progress fared in that arena. The city found racial data for more than 4,200 patients, who already received a shot, city data shows, making it difficult to observe week-toweek progress.
However, at this point, communities of color are still lagging behind white and Asian residents.

• 62% of White residents have received at least one shot.
• 30.4% of Latino residents have received at least one shot.
• 42.3% of Black residents have received at least one shot.
• 59.1% of Asian/Pacific Islander residents have received at least one shot.

Los Angeles County reported 527 new cases of COVID-19 and 29 additional deaths Saturday and the county’s daily test positivity rate of 0.9% is the lowest it has been since the beginning of the pandemic. According to state figures — which are typically one day ahead of county figures — the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Los Angeles County dropped from 498 Friday to 486. That’s down from 512 Thursday and 518 Wednesday. There were 112 people in intensive care, down from 117 Friday. The latest numbers brought the county’s totals to 1,228,564 cases and 23,626 fatalities since the pandemic began, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

This week, the county will receive an allocation of 361,750 doses, a 12% increase from last week. That supply will be supplemented by direct allocations by the state and federal governments to specific providers such as major health systems, health care centers and pharmacies. With those allocations, more than 600,000 new doses will be available across the county this week, Simon said.

Vaccines: The State of California has expanded vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 years-old or older. 

Out of an abundance of caution, Los Angeles County is following the recommendation of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to pause the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine after reports that six women between the ages of 18 and 48 developed unusual types of blood clots 6 to 13 days after receiving the vaccine. This pause will last until the FDA and CDC complete their review, which is expected to take several days. Vaccine providers in LA County will contact patients about rescheduling or providing a new appointment for Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

These reactions are extremely rare, as nearly 7,000,000 people have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States to date. People who received the vaccine in the last 3 weeks should look for any symptoms of these unusual clots, including severe headaches, abdominal or leg pain, and shortness of breath, and contact their medical provider if symptoms develop. People who don't have a medical provider can call 2-1-1 to connect with a healthcare provider. To learn more, visit FAQ's: Johnson & Johnson Pause or VaccineLACounty.com.

The Economy: Pacific Theaters, which operates about 300 screens in California, including the ArcLight theaters and the historic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, said Monday that it will not be reopening.

Employment: From the LA Times: California’s economy is slowly picking up as businesses reopen and new unemployment claims fall, but stubborn joblessness persists as many simply stop looking for work. In March, employers added 119,600 positions, state officials reported Friday. The Golden State has yet to recover 56% of the 2.7 million jobs lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic last spring.

California’s unemployment rate dropped to 8.3% in March from 8.5% a month earlier but remained far higher than the 4.5% in March 2020, before the virus took hold. And last month’s slide was mainly caused by nearly 40,000 workers quitting the labor force, economists said.

The state’s economy is recovering more slowly than the nation’s as officials have been more cautious in lifting restrictions on businesses than in other states. After New York and Hawaii, California unemployment was the third-highest in the nation, tied with New Mexico. The U.S. jobless rate stood at 6% in March. “California is clawing back some of the huge job losses suffered during the pandemic, but much progress remains to be achieved,” said Lynn Reaser, an economist at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego.

Payrolls nationally were 5.5% below pre-pandemic levels, compared with California’s 8.6% drop.

Along with its more restrictive policies to contain the virus, the state’s greater dependence on tourism has devastated its hotel, convention, restaurant and live entertainment industries and accounts for much of the difference with the broader U.S. recovery, Reaser said. Many people have either quit their jobs or stopped looking for work,” she said. “Some needed to care for children and for parents. Some feared becoming infected at work. Some despaired at finding a job and opted for unemployment benefits. Still others have simply burned out.”

Although the entertainment industry is recovering more slowly than several other sectors, the state’s overall economy is showing encouraging signs since the March jobs numbers, which are collected mid-month.

Since early April, with the pace of vaccinations accelerating, many California counties have emerged from the most restrictive tiers that regulate business closures, and the number of newly unemployed workers filing for benefits is dropping sharply.
For the week ending April 10, new jobless claims totaled 91,756, the lowest level since the pre-pandemic week ending March 14, 2020, and a sharp decrease from the previous week’s total of 169,902.

“That’s the strongest sign so far of the start of an employment recovery,” said Michael Bernick, a former director of the state’s Employment Development Department. “It’s rooted in the combination of widespread vaccinations, schools reopening and the economic lockdowns being lifted.”

The March report showed a broad recovery with payrolls expanding across 10 of the state’s 11 industry sectors. Leisure and hospitality businesses such as restaurants, bars, entertainment and hotels accounted for 42,400 new jobs, more than a third of last month’s gains.
Trade, transportation and utilities, which include retail stores and e-commerce warehouses, saw the second-highest jump with 32,200 new jobs.

Other recovering sectors: professional and business services, which include jobs ranging from low-wage office clerks to well-paid lawyers and executives (22,000); the “other services” sector such as hair salons and auto repair shops (7,300); and construction (6,000).
The only sector to shrink in March was financial activities, which lost 600 jobs.

Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state can expect to fully reopen its economy by June 15 assuming Californians continue to wear masks, hospitalizations diminish, more Californians are vaccinated and contagious variants of the coronavirus are controlled.

“Stars are aligned right for a strong job recovery in the state,” said Sung Won Sohn, a business economist at Loyola Marymount University. Yet it could take years for employment to return to peak levels before the pandemic, he said: “Many of the jobs won’t come back at all. Many small businesses have closed permanently.”

In Los Angeles County, the unemployment rate remained high in March, at 11.3%, a slight drop from February’s 11.5%, due in part to 12,000 workers who stopped looking for work. Countywide, 579,000 workers were counted as unemployed. L.A. County added 34,200 jobs in March for a total of about 4.1 million, with leisure and hospitality posting the largest gain of 13,300 positions.

In Orange County, the March unemployment rate was 6.4%, down from 6.7% in February. The county gained 17,800 jobs for a total of about 1.52 million. Leisure and hospitality businesses added 9,800 positions, the most of any sector.

In the Inland Empire, which encompasses Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the March unemployment rate was 7.7%, down from 8.1% in February. The region added 12,500 jobs, with leisure and hospitality, up by 4,900, accounting for the largest increase.
In Northern California, buoyed by a tech economy in which many were able to work from home, unemployment stood at 5.4% in San Francisco County, 5.1% in Santa Clara County and 5% in San Mateo County.

Now that Gov. Gavin Newsom is letting more businesses reopen as coronavirus cases decline, the California Legislature on Thursday passed a bill requiring some hotels and other hospitality companies to offer laid-off workers their jobs back.

Hospitality companies were some of the hardest hit by the state’s stay-at-home order, with no people to stay in hotels while empty office buildings and deserted airports needed fewer janitors and food service workers.

Newsom has been relaxing coronavirus restrictions as more people are getting vaccinated and the number of new cases declines. If things continue to improve, Newsom said he will lift all restrictions on June 15.

With companies preparing to resume normal operations, Democrats who control the state Legislature said they wanted to make sure laid-off hospitality workers are first in line to get their old jobs back. The bill requires hotels, private clubs and janitorial service companies to let their former employees know when their jobs are available again and give them five days to decide on whether they want to come back.

 

Complimentary Presentation for Pasadena Chamber Members: Fixing California: What's Wrong and How We Can Change It-New Online Presentation by Dr. Ian Oxnevad April 28th

Ian Oxnevad, Ph.D., presents Fixing California: What's Wrong and How We Can Change It On Wednesday, April 28, 2021, at 2pm. 

Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsceivqj0iHtSK5gb47_V-l4xEEF1CNQA_ 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

This event is FREE.

Ian Oxnevad, Ph.D., will discuss how California has evolved into a one-party autocracy and what could be done to curb Sacramento's power and return decision-making to localities. 

Topics will include: 

1. World political and economic pressures and how they enable California's autocracy.

2. Why small businesses are more greatly affected by California's economic policies. 

3. How the pandemic impact falls mainly on small businesses because California policies promote inequity.   

4. Can California's business environment be fixed? 

5. How you can use world political and economic events to predict impacts on your business. 

Ian Oxnevad, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in Political Science from the University of California in 2019. He earned an M.A. in National Security Studies, with a Dual Emphasis on Middle East Security andTerrorism from California State University, San Bernardino in 2011. He holds a B.A. in Arabic Language and a B.A. in English Literature. 

Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsceivqj0iHtSK5gb47_V-l4xEEF1CNQA_ 

Remind Your Customers You Are Still Here-2021 Pasadena Chamber Business Directory, Visitor and Community Guide Publishes in JuneAdvertising Opportunities for Your Business

Promote your business by advertising in the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce Business Directory, Visitor and Community Guide 2021

Tell your customers you are still open and ready to serve their needs.

Special Sections. Special Pricing.

Pasadena's Only B2B Directory.

Act Now While Premium Ad Spaces Are Still Available

 

Put your business, product or service front and center among Pasadena area businesses.

We have kept ad costs at the low 2020 rates.

Download the flyer and ad rates here:

Directory distribution to local banks and realtors, all Pasadena Chamber members, city and community leaders, public libraries, senior living complexes and more.

Visitor and Community Guide distribution to Pasadena Tournament of Roses guests and visitors, Convention and Visitors Bureau, local hotels and motels and more.

Support the Chamber as you promote your business!

For information call Debra Wells at 949-322-4765 or email pasadenachamberguide@gmail.com.

 

 

New Outlook, Habits Emerge Post-Pandemic - From the Wall Street Journal

Many contemplate life or career changes after a year of quarantining; ‘It gave me that nudge’

BY JENNIFER LEVITZ

Sarah Smalls is tiptoeing back into her old routine, now that she is fully vaccinated against Covid-19. She hosted Easter dinner. Her adult son now stops over for indoor visits. She and her husband plan to travel again.

But like many other newly vaccinated Americans, Ms. Smalls, who is 74 and lives in Lorton, Va., isn’t seeking to merely unfreeze and restart her pre-pandemic life.

Ms. Smalls says the person who went into the pandemic isn’t the same person coming out. She is emerging with new goals, priorities and concerns. The long pause that forced both isolation and introspection has been a catalyst to change course.

Ms. Smalls intends to finally learn how to swim. She wants to take weekend trips with her best friends. And most notably, she won’t go back to the frenetic pace she kept for years while raising three grandchildren and working at a nonprofit.

“As the kids say, ‘I’m gonna do me,’ ” Ms. Smalls says. “It took a pandemic to come along and show me that you don’t have a whole lot of time to do what you want to do. It gave me that nudge, and it was a hard nudge.”

Millions of Americans are now deciding what they will consider normal life as the country’s massive inoculation campaign picks up pace. The ranks of the newly vaccinated are facing decisions about where to go, whom to see, which plans to dust off and which to scrap. Some are moving quickly to book trips or sit in movie theaters again, while others are proceeding more cautiously.

In Boise, Idaho, Rick Halstead, a 54-year-old project manager for Boeing Co., says that after getting his second vaccine recently, “everything feels attainable once again.”

But he says it feels a bit strange that he isn’t interested in pivoting back to some of his pre-pandemic interests, such as a tradition he and his wife, Julie, had of traveling to a different ballpark every year. This summer, they would rather plan long weekends with extended family. “It feels like we’ve been so starved to see friends and family—that is what feels more important now,” he says.

Karestan Koenen, a professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, expects a range of reactions as the public transitions into regular life. On the one hand are predictions of another Roaring ’20s, which might be true for some, she says.

Yet she believes many will shed the pandemic gradually. “First you have to recover from being burned out,” she says. “It’s almost like you have to find that joy again.”

Emilie Krasnow, who is 35 and lives in South Burlington, Vt., says she is starting to find joy as she emerges from an exhausting year, in which her unabating worry was to keep her mother, Susan, a cancer patient, from getting the virus. She isn’t only picking up the many things that fell to the wayside, such as exercise and dating, but also adjusting her professional focus.

Ms. Krasnow, a political campaign strategist and volunteer community organizer, has

Sarah Smalls, center, with, clockwise from left, her grandchildren and her husband, Curtis, at home last week. DEE DWYER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

tackled problems that take years to solve, like the need for affordable housing. Now she has shifted her volunteer work to helping people with immediate needs, such as food and small-business loans.

“I will continue to do that,” she says. “We are not over the pandemic. A lot of people act like we are. Even if we’re vaccinated, that doesn’t help people who have been out of work for months.”

Older adults, who were prioritized for inoculation, are among the first to navigate post-vaccine life.

“It’s like stepping out of a cocoon,” says Bonnie Sumner, 76, who lives in Woodland Park, Colo.

Ms. Sumner says she has sworn off her old habit of hyperplanning the schedule at every family get-together. “Chill, Mom,” her sons would tell her.

She says the pandemic, with all its sadness, put things in perspective. “It’s been a very transformative year,” she says. “I don’t want to care anymore about everything being perfect.”

Ms. Sumner tried out her new persona when she and her husband visited their sons in Milwaukee for Passover. At the Seder meal, hosted by a son and daughter-in-law, Ms. Sumner got out of the way; the old her, she says, would have taken charge and wound up “exhausted and crabby.”

“I just sat back, and I’m very proud of myself,” she says.

In Flagstaff, Ariz., Emily Luna, who is 27, says even after getting the vaccine, the switch won’t flip easily for her. Ms. Luna, a nanny, works for doctors’ families and heard firsthand about the dangers of the virus. Her boyfriend, a hotel worker, was in a high-risk category. “Our whole life has been keeping indoors for the past year.” she says.

Ms. Luna describes the pandemic as a “looking-inward moment” that is prompting her to finally finish online credits for a college degree, take better care of herself and reach out to friends.

“Even pre-pandemic I was a little bit of a hermit, but I will try to be more social,” she says. “Life is so short, right? You never really know what could happen.”

COVID-19 Update fo April 12, 2021-Economic Indicators, Reopening News, Grants and more

The California Restaurant Foundation launched a new Restaurant Resilience Grant Program.  SoCalGas, PG&E and SDG&E all contributed (and our goal is to find more donors so we can help more restaurants/in other areas).  But for now, small, independently owned restaurants in LA County may qualify for a $3,500 grant.  

The grants are open to restaurants in Los Angeles County with fewer than 50 employees and priority will be given to restaurants owned by women and people of color. Applications will be accepted from April 11- April 18, 2021. The organization is also offering Zoom webinars which will cover details regarding eligibility, applications and additional questions. For additional information, visit Resilience Fund - Restaurants Care. Download the flyer here: 

Shuttered Venue Operators Grant: Small Business Administration Now Open
The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program was established by the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act, and amended by the American Rescue Plan Act. The program includes over $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues, to be administered by SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance. Eligible applicants may qualify for grants equal to 45% of their gross earned revenue, with the maximum amount available for a single grant award of $10 million. $2 billion is reserved for eligible applications with up to 50 full-time employees. Click Here to Learn More

LA County Mortgage Relief: The Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) is pleased to announce the new LA County Mortgage Relief Program, a partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services of LA County (NHS) and local HUD-approved housing counseling agencies. The $5.5 million initiative developed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will support property owners who have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Mortgage Relief Program will include a relief fund which provides grants of up to $20,000 for qualified property owners, plus expanded foreclosure prevention counseling services. The program is structured to benefit single-family homeowners and property owners with four or fewer units living in communities highly impacted by COVID-19. This includes low- and moderate-income communities and those who have suffered a higher percentage of significant health impacts during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Properties must be owner occupied.

California Rent Relief for Tenants and Landlords: The state recently introduced the CA COVID-19 Rent Relief program that offers income-qualified renters financial assistance to help pay for past due and future rent and utilities. This program applies to Pasadena renters who meet the qualifying income levels and landlords who rent to eligible tenants.

Under the program, an eligible renter can receive up to 25% ofunpaid rent that was accrued between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, as well as receive additional financial assistance to pay for future rent, which is equal to 25% ofthe monthly amount. Renters can also be granted up to 100% of up to 12 months ofunpaid or future utility bills. This combined offering is intended to support qualified renters to stay housed when California's eviction protections expire on June 30, 2021.

Pasadena landlords can also qualify to receive reimbursement from this program for up to 80% of unpaid rent from "eligible" renters accrued between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021. The California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency is administering the program. Interested tenants and landlords can apply for rent and utility bills payment relief at https://housing.ca.gov or by calling 833.430.2121.

California Re-opening: As California COVID-19 metrics improve — the state now has the lowest positivity rate in the country — Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday announced plans to reopen the economy on June 15 if there is sufficient vaccine supply for residents 16 years and older and if hospitalization rates are stable and low.

The date is not set in stone as the state will monitor hospitalization rates, vaccine access and vaccine efficacy against variants to determine whether the goal needs to be changed.

The Numbers: Pasadena reported six new cases on Friday with no new fatalities. The city ahs seen 11,169 total cases to date with 339 deaths. The city remains in Phase 1B but businesses are being allowed to reopen at a faster pace due to rapidly declining case rates. Pasadena Public Health has received 22,730 vaccine doses and administered 19, 409. In total, 71, 890 doses have been allocated to Pasadena providers with 49, 160 adminstered by PPHD and other partners. 

LA County reported an additional 753 new cases on Saturday, April 10th with 36 additional deaths. California saw an additional 2,977 cases with 89 new fatalities. 

The past 12 months have been challenging for every Californian. In keeping with the focus of putting the health and safety of Californians first, the California Franchise Tax Board has joined with the Internal Revenue Service to extend their tax filing deadlines to May 17! For more information, visit the Internal Revenue Service and the California Franchise Tax Board websites. Internal Revenue Service and CA Franchise Tax Board

Virus: When the coronavirus began to spread in the United States last spring, many experts warned of the danger posed by surfaces. Researchers reported that the virus could survive for days on plastic or stainless steel, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised that if someone touched one of these contaminated surfaces and then touched their eyes, nose or mouth, they could become infected. Americans responded in kind, wiping down groceries, quarantining mail and clearing drugstore shelves of Clorox wipes. Facebook closed two of its offices for a “deep cleaning.” New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority began disinfecting subway cars every night. Reversing some of those concerns, the CDC updated its surface cleaning guidelines and noted that the risk of contracting the virus from touching a contaminated surface was less than 1 in 10,000.

During the early days of the pandemic, many experts believed that the virus spread primarily through large respiratory droplets. These droplets are too heavy to travel long distances through the air but can fall onto objects and surfaces. In this context, a focus on scrubbing down every surface seemed to make sense.

But over the last year, it has become increasingly clear that the virus spreads primarily through the air — in both large and small droplets, which can remain aloft longer — and that scouring door handles and subway seats does little to keep people safe.

Catching the virus from surfaces remains theoretically possible, but it requires many things to go wrong: a lot of fresh, infectious viral particles to be deposited on a surface, and then for a relatively large quantity of them to be quickly transferred to someone’s hand and then to their face. In most cases, cleaning with simple soap and water — in addition to hand-washing and mask-wearing — is enough to keep the odds of surface transmission low, the C.D.C.’s updated cleaning guidelines say. In most everyday scenarios and environments, people do not need to use chemical disinfectants, the agency notes.

City of Hope infectious disease and medical oncology experts offer the latest Covid advice and recommendations for cancer patients, caregivers and survivors.

The Economy: Unemployment claims in California shot to their highest level in three months, topping 145,000 filings last week, the government reported Thursday. California workers filed 145,400 initial claims for unemployment during the week that ended April 3, an increase of 39,000 from the 106,400 claims filed the prior week, the U.S. Labor Department said. Nationwide, jobless claims totaled 744,000 during the week ending April 3, up 16,000 from the week before. California now accounts for 19.6% — about one out of every five — of the jobless claims being filed in the United States, Labor Department data shows. The current weekly claims totals in California are the highest they’ve been since the week ending Jan. 9, when workers filed 182,600 initial jobless claims.

For the week ending March 27, more than 3.7 million people in the U.S. were receiving traditional state unemployment benefits, the government said. If you include supplemental federal programs that were established last year to help the unemployed endure the health crisis, a total of 18.2 million are receiving some form of jobless aid the week of March 20.

Fed Chair Powell says a new normal is near: The U.S. economy, boosted by quickening vaccinations and signs of rapid hiring, is headed toward a strong recovery, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday. But he cautioned that not all will immediately benefit. “There are a number of factors that are coming together to support a brighter outlook for the U.S. economy,” Powell said during the virtual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Those factors are putting the nation “on track to allow a full reopening of the economy fairly soon.”

Still, Powell said many Americans who are out of work will struggle to find new jobs because some industries will likely be smaller than they were before the pandemic. In other cases, employers are seeking to use technology instead of workers where possible, he said. “It’s important to remember we’re not going back to the same economy,” Powell said. “This will be a different economy.”

Powell stressed on Thursday that even as economic prospects look brighter in the United States, getting the world vaccinated and controlling the coronavirus pandemic remain critical to the global outlook. While some advanced economies, including the United States, are moving quickly toward widespread vaccination, many emerging market countries lag far behind: Some have administered as little as one dose per 1,000 residents.

Mr. Powell joined a chorus of global policy officials in emphasizing how important it is that all nations — not just the richest ones — are able to widely protect against the coronavirus. Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said policymakers needed to remain focused on public health as the key policy priority.

From the New York Times: As office vacancies climb to their highest levels in decades with businesses giving up office space and embracing remote work, the real estate industry in many American cities faces a potentially grave threat. Businesses have discovered during the pandemic that they can function with nearly all of their workers out of the office, an arrangement many intend to continue in some form. That could wallop the big property companies that build and own office buildings — and lead to a sharp pullback in construction, steep drops in office rents, fewer people frequenting restaurants and stores, and potentially perilous declines in the tax revenue of city governments and school districts.

In only a year, the market value of office towers in Manhattan, home to the country’s two largest central business districts, has plummeted 25 percent, according to city projections released on Wednesday, contributing to an estimated $1 billion drop-off in property tax revenue.

JPMorgan Chase, Ford Motor, Salesforce, Target and more are giving up expensive office space, and others are considering doing so. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, the largest private-sector employer in New York City, wrote in a letter to shareholders this week that remote work would “significantly reduce our need for real estate.” For every 100 employees, he said, his bank “may need seats for only 60 on average.”

Across the country, the vacancy rate for office buildings in city centers has steadily climbed over the past year to reach 16.4 percent, according to Cushman & Wakefield, the highest in about a decade. That number could climb further, even as vaccinations allow some people to go back to work, if companies keep giving up office space because of hybrid or fully remote work.

So far, landlords like Boston Properties and SL Green have not suffered huge financial losses, having survived the past year by collecting rent from tenants locked into long leases — the average contract for office space runs about seven years.

But as leases slowly come up for renewal, property owners could be left with scores of empty floors. At the same time, many new office buildings are under construction — 124 million square feet nationwide, or enough for roughly 700,000 workers. Those changes could drive down rents, which were touching new highs before the pandemic. And rents help determine assessments that are the basis for property tax bills.

From the New York Times:

The Biden administration has unveiled its corporate tax overhaul, intended to raise $2.5 trillion over 15 years to pay for an infrastructure program. “Debate is welcome. Compromise is inevitable. Changes are certain,” President Biden said, but he stressed that “inaction is not an option.”

“America’s corporate tax system has long been broken,” the Treasury secretary Janet Yellen wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed coinciding with the plan’s release. In addition to raising the headline corporate tax rate, the administration’s proposal takes aim at companies that shift profits abroad, especially to low-tax havens like Bermuda or Ireland. Some of the changes could be enacted by regulation, but things like raising the corporate tax rate will need the approval of Congress.

What’s in the plan? Here are the main provisions:
  • Raise the corporate tax rate to 28 percent. The increase from 21 percent would put the U.S. more in line with other big countries and, the administration says, lift corporate tax receipts that have fallen to their lowest levels as a share of the economy since World War II.
  • Ensure big companies pay at least 15 percent in taxes. A minimum tax on book income for companies with annual profits of $2 billion or more would mean firms that use deductions, exemptions and other methods to reduce their liability wouldn’t be able to go lower than a certain level. If this had been in place in recent years, 45 companies would have faced the tax.
  • Strengthen the global minimum tax to end profit shifting. This would double the rate on foreign intangible assets introduced by the Trump administration in 2017. The Biden administration also says it will push for global agreement on common rates, to discourage companies from shopping around for tax jurisdictions. Finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations said yesterday that they hoped to agree on a global minimum tax rate by midyear, but previous efforts have faltered when it came to nailing down the details.
  • Punish companies that headquarter in low-tax countries. A provision in the plan would target “inversions,” where American companies merge with a foreign entity in order to move headquarters to a low-tax country.
  • Replace fossil-fuel tax subsidies with clean-energy incentives. Previous attempts to eliminate subsidies on oil and gas met with stiff industry and congressional opposition.
  • Beef up the I.R.S. The agency’s enforcement budget has fallen by 25 percent over the past decade, and the proposal would bolster the budget for experts in complex corporate litigation.

What effect would it have? A Wharton School budget model concluded that the corporate tax rate increase would “not meaningfully affect the normal return on investment,” but when combined with the proposed minimum tax on book income, business investment would fall somewhat. All told, by 2050 the tax provisions would reduce government debt by more than 11 percent from the current baseline, but also reduce G.D.P. by 0.5 percent over that period.

Looking Ahead: U.S. intelligence officials are painting a dark picture of the world’s future, writing in a report released Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic has deepened economic inequality, strained government resources and fanned nationalist sentiments.
Those assessments are included in a Global Trends report by the government’s National Intelligence Council, a document produced every four years. This year’s report is designed to help policymakers and citizens anticipate the economic, environmental, technological and demographic forces likely to shape the world through the next 20 years.
The document focuses heavily on the impact of the pandemic, calling
it the “most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come.”

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