Unemployment Assistance Claims Drop Below 1 Million For First Time Since March

The United States has been facing a serious health crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic for months. The country has detected more than 5,200,000 confirmed infections and has registered more than 166,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to the most recent statistics.

These are the main news for this Thursday, August 13, 2020:

• Unemployment Assistance Claims Drop Below 1 Million For First Time Since March
• Florida sheriff bans face masks from his officers
• Mexico and Argentina will produce the AstraZeneca and Oxford vaccine
• The White House recommends the use of a mask in schools, although it does not require the use of them

Unemployment Assistance Claims Drop Below 1 Million For First Time Since March

Applications for unemployment assistance in the past week were less than experts predicted and show a clear decline in the number of people who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As reported by the Labor Department, 963,000 people filled out state forms requesting benefits in the week ending August 8. The figure is less than the forecast that would be 1.25 million, and is 228,000 less than the unemployed of the previous week.

It is the first time since March that the number has fallen below 1 million, after hitting 6.8 million earlier that month.

Graphic with applications for unemployment assistance.Felipe Gálvez, Telemundo

The drop in requests for help suggests that layoffs have slowed, although the number of jobs lost is still 700,000 higher than it was before the pandemic.

The pandemic, closures and quarantines, in addition to the reluctance of many people to return to buy, travel or go out to eat, have weakened the economy and forced many employers to reduce their workers or close.

The rise in infections that took place in June and July also led 23 states to pause or go back in their reopening and economic reactivation phases.

Unemployment fell to 10.2% in July, down from 11.1% in June. But this incipient economic recovery has been uneven, there has been an increase in hiring in some industries and a stagnation in others.

Florida sheriff bans face masks from his officers

A sheriff in central Florida says his deputies will not be allowed to wear masks except under certain conditions, nor will visitors to the office.

Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods assured staff in an email that he had weighed both sides of the issue amid the current coronavirus pandemic.

"I can already hear the whining and to let you know that I did not make this decision easily and have weighed it over the past two weeks," Woods said in the message earlier this week.

"We can debate and argue all day about why and why not. The fact is, the number of professionals who say why we should, I can find exactly the same number of professionals who say why we shouldn't." added.

But in July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised Americans to wear face masks.

On Wednesday, Florida reported 213 new deaths from coronavirus. That brought the total death toll to 8,898 and the average daily death rate in the past week to 164. That's less than the state's maximum daily death rate of 185 a week ago. The peak rate for New York, a state with a comparable population, was more than 760 in mid-April.

Also Wednesday, more than 8,100 new infections were reported in Florida, for a total of about 550,000 known cases in the state since the start of the pandemic.

The number of people treated in Florida hospitals for the virus continued a three-week downward trend, standing at 6,538 as of late Wednesday morning, down from highs of more than 9,500. .

Woods, the Marion County Sheriff, added that exceptions will be made to his ban on the use of masks for deputies in jails, schools, courthouses, hospitals, nursing homes and when it comes to someone who is older or has COVID- 19. In these situations, the mask must be removed when orders or commands are given to comply.

With information from AP.

Mexico and Argentina will produce the AstraZeneca and Oxford vaccine

The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, announced this Wednesday that his country, together with Mexico, will produce for Latin America the coronavirus vaccine developed by the AstraZeneca laboratory in collaboration with the British University of Oxford.

"We hope as soon as possible to start the production process," said Fernández at a press conference, who minutes later contacted his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Latino volunteers participate in the testing of an experimental vaccine against COVID-19

The Argentine president stressed that this step will allow Latin American countries to access the vaccine at affordable prices, at a cost of between $ 3 and $ 4 per dose.

"It is great news that Mexico and Argentina are the benchmarks for the production of the vaccine and that we can thus bring a solution to the continent," stressed the Argentine president.

The Mexican Slim Foundation will finance part of the production to produce between 150 and 250 million doses destined for all Latin American countries, with the exception of Brazil.

The vaccine, which is currently in phase 3 of development, will be available for the first half of 2021 and will be distributed "equitably" among Latin American countries whose governments demand it.

"Latin American production will be in charge of Argentina and Mexico and that will allow timely and sufficient access to the potential vaccine for all countries in the region," said Fernández.

With information from Efe.

The White House recommends the use of a mask in schools, although it does not require the use of them

President Donald Trump announced eight new recommendations for schools on Wednesday. It is not clear who developed the guidelines - the seal in the graphic is the presidential seal; he referred to them as his Administration, not the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The White House list of recommendations are basic hygiene tips, they do not indicate what to do in the event of new cases of coronavirus in schools. Although it echoes what the CDC included in its guidelines for reopening schools.

The recommendations encourage the use of face masks, but do not require it. They also "require students, teachers and staff to socially distance themselves from high-risk individuals," although it is unclear how schools will do this.

Advisor to President Kellyanne Conway assured that despite the resources the federal government will provide, the decision to reopen schools will still have to be made at the local level.

"We are the federal government. We do not tell school districts what to do. We are providing guidance and resources," Conway said.

The president also assured that his government will provide schools "up to 125 million reusable masks to various school districts across the country."

With information from CNN.