Daily Briefing – 235

Post: Feb. 2, 2021

NYS Vaccine Update

As of noon today, New York’s health care distribution sites have received 1,554,450 first doses and already administered 91 percent or 1,414,241 first dose vaccinations and 76 percent of first and second doses. Delivery of the week 8 allocation from the federal government begins mid-week. Federal supply to the states will increase from 16 percent to about 20 percent as a direct allocation. The State will in turn increase supply 20 percent to local governments in the coming weeks.”

In the Mid-Hudson Region a cumulative total of 219,420 FIRST and SECOND doses have been distributed, 147,854 have been administered (67%).

COVID and “Winter Cluster Plan” Update

Governor Cuomo held a press briefing yesterday morning providing an overview of New York’s COVID-19 tracking data from Monday February 1st.

Hospitalization tracking data for the Mid-Hudson region and the rest of the State are below.

Hospitalizations Statewide:

Patients Currently in Hospital = 8,067
COVID Hospitalizations as Percent of Population = .004%
Percent of Hospital Beds Available = 34%

Hospitalizations Mid-Hudson Region:

Patients Currently in Hospital in Region = 930
COVID Hospitalizations as Percent of Region Population = .004%
Percent of Hospital Beds Available in Region = 42%

ICU Beds Statewide

Total ICU Beds = 5,892
Occupied ICU Beds = 4,277
Percent of ICU Beds Available = 26%

ICU Beds Mid-Hudson Region:

Total ICU Beds = 685
Occupied ICU Beds = 393
Percent of ICU Beds Available = 39%

Other Data

Statewide Transmission Rate (R0): .91
Statewide Positivity Rate: 5.47%
Mid-Hudson Positivity Rate: 5.80

Useful Websites:

US Vaccination Progress

The US CDC reported 49.94 million vaccine doses distributed and 32.22 million doses administered. The US has administered 64.5% of the distributed doses, which is an increase of more than 10 percentage points from Friday’s update (54.1%). In total, 26.02 million people (approximately 7.9% of the US population) have received at least 1 dose of the vaccine, and 5.93 million (1.8%) have received both doses. The US is now averaging 1.36 million doses administered per day, a 20% increase from the previous week. The breakdown of doses by manufacturer remains relatively even, with slightly more Pfizer/BioNTech doses administered (17.36 million; 54%) than Moderna (14.76 million; 46%).

Covid-19 Vaccine Supply to States to Rise Again, Biden Administration Says

White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said the Biden administration will increase its weekly vaccine supply to states by another 5% for three weeks, in addition to the 16% increase announced last week.

The total increase will bring the weekly vaccine supply for states to 10.5 million doses. Mr. Zients also announced the first phase of a federal program starting Feb. 11 that will deliver vaccines directly to certain pharmacies.

Vaccines to Stress-Test Grocery Stores and Pharmacies

Some of America’s biggest retailers are preparing to take a central role in administering Covid-19 shots, hoping to avoid logjams and other complications that have slowed the vaccine rollout’s early days.

The job of vaccinating large swaths of the population will fall largely on retail pharmacies, with companies such as CVS Health Corp., Walgreens, Boots Alliance Inc., Walmart Inc. and Kroger Co. saying they are prepared to give tens of millions of shots a month.

CBO Sees Rapid Growth Recovery

U.S. economic growth will recover “rapidly” and the labor market will return to full strength quicker than expected thanks to the vaccine rollout and a barrage of legislation enacted in 2020, according to a government forecast published Monday. Importantly, the CBO said its rosier projections do not assume any new stimulus, including President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan.

Gross domestic product, or GDP, is expected to return to its pre-pandemic size by mid-2021 and the labor force is forecast to rebound to its pre-pandemic level in 2022, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said.

ISM: U.S. Manufacturing Sector Slows; Prices Paid by Factories Highest Since 2011

U.S. manufacturing activity slowed slightly in January, while a measure of prices paid by factories for raw materials and other inputs jumped to its highest level in nearly 10 years, strengthening expectations inflation will perk up this year. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Monday its index of national factory activity fell to a reading of 58.7 last month from 60.5 in December.

The survey’s manufacturing employment gauge rose to 52.6 from 51.7 in December. That raises hope for a rebound in hiring this month. Bottlenecks in the supply chain continued driving up costs for manufacturers. The survey’s prices paid index jumped to a reading of 82.1 last month, the highest since April 2011, from 77.6 in December. That supports predictions of a pick-up in inflation in the coming months, though high unemployment could limit manufacturers’ ability to raise prices.

Meanwhile Across the Pond… UK Factory Growth Slows as COVID and Brexit Combine – IHS Markit

The final IHS Markit/CIPS manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 54.1, higher than a preliminary reading for January of 52.9 but down from a three-year high of 57.5 in December, when factories rushed to beat problems when Britain’s new trade relationship with the European Union began on Jan. 1. Smaller manufacturers were particularly hard-hit, the survey showed.

Input price inflation rose to a four-year high in January, reflecting raw material shortages and transport delays.

Can The US Rise to Challenge of Workforce Reskilling?

America’s low investment in workforce development and its piecemeal approach to reskilling programs will make it even more difficult to lift people out of pandemic-related unemployment, Caroline Preston writes. Preston examines how businesses, government and education groups are reassessing workforce training in light of the pandemic and technological change.

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