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Here’s what you need to know about the impact of Covid-19 to navigate the markets today.
The state of Covid-19 testing in the United States is breathtaking, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates said on Sunday in an interview on CNN. You are paying billions of dollars in this very unfair way to get the most unnecessary test results from any country in the world, Gates said. No other country has this testing madness. He blamed the US testing regime’s problems on early errors followed by a reluctance on the part of the federal government to improve testing because they just want to say how great everything is. Gates said he suggested the disrespectful federal government deny reimbursement to any test provider that takes more than 3 days to return results to a patient. Right now, he pointed out, there is an incentive for commercial testing companies to test as many people as they can regardless of how quickly they can get results because they are reimbursed by the government based on the number of tests they perform, even if the results are not timely and therefore not useful to the people who receive them.
The United States surpassed 5 million reported Covid-19 cases on Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. There are nearly 20 million reported cases worldwide, with the United States leading the world, followed by Brazil with just over three million cases. India has more than two million confirmed cases. Health officials estimate the actual number of Covid-19 cases in the United States to be up to 10 times the number of reported cases due to infected Americans not showing symptoms and the limited number of tests available. The United States also has the highest number of Covid-19-related deaths in the world, with a toll of more than 162,000.
TikTok and Twitter discussed acquisition, The Wall Street Journal reports. It’s unclear whether Twitter will move forward with a deal to buy the popular video-formatting apps from U.S. operations, which President Donald Trump has called a national security risk and threatened to shut down, reported the. WSJ. Microsoft said earlier this month that it was in talks to buy TikToks operations in the United States, as well as those in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It’s unclear how Twitter would pay for a potential acquisition, while Microsoft has enough cash to close the deal without needing funding if it wants to.
Vacant department store space in shopping malls could be converted to Amazon fulfillment centers, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mall operator Simon Property Group is in talks to turn the closed JC Penney and Sears stores into distribution centers for the online retailer, the Journal said, citing anonymous sources. Amazon already has a foothold in some shopping centers, which have rented out their parking lots for delivery vans. The prime location of shopping centers near highways and homes makes them ideal locations for distribution centers. Rents generally range between $ 4 and $ 19 per square foot.
US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar became the highest U.S. government official to visit Taiwan in four decades on Sunday, when he landed on the island that China rightly claims to be his. The move is another escalation in US-China relations and the Chinese government has said it will retaliate, although it has not said specifically what steps it may take. China regards Taiwan as a separatist province and does not recognize it as a sovereign nation. The United States has not had official ties with Taiwan since 1979. Secretary Azars’ arrival was broadcast live on Taiwanese television and the nominal focus of his trip is public health cooperation between the United States. United States and Taiwan, which has recorded fewer than 500 Covid-19 infections in total. and only 7 deaths from the virus.
President Donald Trump signed decrees on unemployment benefits and payroll tax deferrals on Saturday. The orders call for expired federal unemployment benefits to be paid at a reduced level after Democrats and Republicans were unable to reach agreement on a broad coronavirus relief program. Americans will receive an additional $ 400 per week in extended benefits, President Trump said, compared to $ 600 per week in additional payments Americans received and which expired on Aug. 1.
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Write to Ben Walsh at [email protected] and Connor Smith at [email protected]