Daily Briefing – 298
Who Would Pay Biden’s Corporate Tax Increase Is Key Question in Policy Debate
The Biden administration says the greater tax burden would fall largely on high-income shareholders of profitable companies that wouldn’t reduce investments even if taxes rose. “In the short run, it’s just shareholders, shareholders, shareholders,” said Steve Rosenthal of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, who described Republicans’ 2017 corporate tax cuts as an enormous giveaway to foreign investors. “The corporate tax is like the best way to collect revenue from foreigners and rich guys,” he said.
However, even models that show most of the corporate tax burden falling on capital affect middle-income households with retirement funds. They also show a modest longer-term effect on workers. The bottom 80% of households pay more than one-quarter of corporate taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center.
NYS Vaccine Update
As of Tuesday morning 9,356,263 (plus 48,608 from a day earlier) New Yorkers have received at least one vaccine dose and 7,123,483 are fully vaccinated (Plus 103,889). In the Hudson Valley 990,921 (plus 5,819) have at least one dose and 725,759 (plus 13,772) are fully vaccinated.
NYS COVID Update – Improving Numbers
The Governor updated COVID data through Monday May 3rd. There were 39 COVID related deaths for a total of 42,129. Hospitalization tracking data for the Mid-Hudson region and the rest of the State are below.
Hospitalizations
- Patients Currently in Hospital statewide: 2,573
- Hospitalizations Mid-Hudson Region: 253
ICU Beds In Use (All Uses)
- Occupied ICU Beds Statewide: 3,927
- Occupied ICU Beds Mid-Hudson Region: 398
Seven Day Average Positivity Rate:
- Statewide 1.76%
- Mid-Hudson: 1.77%
Useful Websites:
- Read the press release
- See the School Districts Dashboard
- See the SUNY Dashboard
- State Vaccine Information Site
US Vaccine Rollout – Daily Doses Administered Continues to Decrease
The US has distributed 313 million doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and administered 247 million doses. Daily doses administered* continues to decrease, down from a high of 3.3 million (April 11) to 2.3 million. Approximately 1.3 million people are achieving fully vaccinated status per day.
A total of 148 million individuals have received at least 1 dose of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, equivalent to 44% of the entire US population and 56% of all adults. Of those, 106 million are fully vaccinated, which corresponds to 32% of the total population and 41% of adults. Among adults aged 65 years and older, progress has largely stalled at 83% with at least 1 dose and 70% fully vaccinated. In terms of full vaccination, 54 million individuals have received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 44 million have received the Moderna vaccine, and 8.3 million have received the J&J-Janssen vaccine.
Read More at Johns Hopkins Center For Health Security
First Doses Declining at a more Rapid Rate Than Overall Doses
As daily vaccinations continue to decline in the US, the impact is not distributed equally between first and second doses. At the national level, the total doses administered has decreased from a high of 3.26 million doses per day on April 11 to 2.30 million on April 28, a 29% decline over that period. In terms of full vaccination, the average fell 24% from the peak on April 12—1.77 million doses per day to 1.35 million. In contrast, the average for first doses decreased by half from its peak on April 11—from 1.93 million doses per day down to 965,421.
The steep decline in first doses is being masked in the overall national data due to the continued progress by those obtaining their second dose. As we reach 3-4 weeks past the peak in first doses—when those individuals will receive their second doses—we can expect a sharper decline in the number of fully vaccinated individuals each day.
Read More at Johns Hopkins Center For Health Security
White House to Shift how Vaccines are Allocated to States
The federal government plans to make a shift in the way vaccine doses are allocated amongst states, allowing some governors to turn down doses they don’t need or want, as President Joe Biden is expected to lay out plans to get at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to 70 percent of adults by July 4.
Administration officials told governors on Tuesday that if a state doesn’t want all of its allocation, then the vaccines will go into a pool and be redistributed to other states in more need of additional doses, a senior administration official said. The move comes as Biden is also aiming to have 160 million Americans vaccinated with both doses by Independence Day.
Pfizer’s Vaccine Drove a Big Earnings Beat
The drug giant beat earnings expectations and raised its full-year outlook, as revenue expectations for its COVID-19 vaccine jumped 73%. Net income rose to $4.88 billion, or 86 cents a share, from $3.36 billion, or 60 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share increased to 93 cents from 63 cents, and beat the FactSet consensus of 77 cents. Revenue grew 45% to $14.58 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $13.54 billion.
Vaccine revenue tripled, to $4.89 billion from $1.61 billion, while oncology revenue rose 18% to $2.86 billion and internal medicine revenue grew 11% to $2.59 billion.
SUNY New Paltz 2021 Virtual Engineering Design Expo
Their students have worked for years to plan, design and build these Senior Design projects, and today they are sharing them with the world. Click the link below to see the culmination of their efforts, including brief video presentations and full abstracts describing each team’s design processes.
Please feel free to leave words of encouragement and professional feedback in the YouTube comments sections – Also take a moment to acknowledge the terrific sponsors of this program.
Employees Need Help with Mental Health
Even after so many years of public declarations by well-known people who have dealt with mental health issues, there is still a stigma associated with this range of diseases. “The stigma of mental illness, therapy and mental health at work can keep many employees from using resources,” said Dr. George James, a licensed marriage and family therapist and member of the CNBC Financial Wellness Council. “So it has to be driven, encouraged and supported from the top down.”
And that’s where EHS professionals can step in. Unfortunately, they have a strong case to make in creating a workplace program since almost half of the American workers are suffering from mental health issues due to COVID-19, according to a report, 2020 Behavioral Health Impact Update.
2.1 Million Manufacturing Jobs Could Go Unfilled by 2030
The manufacturing skills gap in the U.S. could result in 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030, according to a new study by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, the workforce development and education partner of the NAM. The cost of those missing jobs could potentially total $1 trillion in 2030 alone.
The study’s dramatic findings come from online surveys of more than 800 U.S.-based manufacturing leaders, as well as interviews with executives across the industry and economic analyses. All told, they paint a worrying picture of manufacturing’s labor shortage. : Manufacturers surveyed reported that finding the right talent is now 36% harder than it was in 2018, even though the unemployment rate has nearly doubled the supply of available workers.
EPA Proposes Emissions Rule
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking a major step to battle climate change with the formal proposal of a rule phasing down the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are used as refrigerants, the agency announced Monday. The agency said it will create an allocation and trading program under which it will issue an allowance for how much of the gases can be used for 2022 by Oct. 1.
The reduction will decrease HFC production and use in the U.S. by 85 percent over the next 15 years. The rule is being issued under a law passed last year by Congress. The EPA said that phasing down the use of the gases globally would avoid up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by 2100.
What’s in Biden’s paid family leave proposal?
The Biden administration’s family and medical leave proposal would require employers to provide 12 weeks of paid leave by year 10 of the initiative. The proposal appears to list additional reasons for taking FMLA leave and would be funded by tax increases.
TSA Extends Mask Mandate Aboard Flights Through Summer
The federal mask mandate, which was set to expire on May 11, will remain in effect through Sept. 13, according to updated guidance issued by the Transportation Security Administration on Friday. The rule, which also applies to buses and rail systems, was first put in place by President Biden shortly after he took office in January.
For about a year, major U.S. commercial airlines have required all passengers who are older than 2 to wear face masks on flights. The policy has sparked some backlash from people refusing to keep their masks on, often delaying flights. The TSA’s extension comes as the average number of confirmed U.S. cases of COVID-19 and deaths as a result of the coronavirus continue to decline.
