The Federal Reserve unveiled an array of programs Thursday that it said would provide $2.3 trillion in loans, expanding the Fed’s operations to reach small and midsize businesses and U.S. cities and states.
The Fed also said it would expand previously announced corporate lending programs to include some classes of riskier debt that had been excluded, including allowing firms that until recently had been rated as investment-grade to participate in those facilities.
They take the Fed well beyond the lender-of-last-resort functions it played in 2008 to prevent a financial panic from deepening the economic downturn and rely on hundreds of billions of dollars in Treasury money that Congress made available in the recent $2 trillion economic-relief legislation.
“Our country’s highest priority must be to address this public-health crisis, providing care for the ill and limiting the further spread of the virus,” said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in a statement. “The Fed’s role is to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic activity, and our actions today will help ensure that the eventual recovery is as vigorous as possible.”
The Fed said it would allow new classes of debt in the previously announced Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility, or TALF, that were excluded from that facility when it was used after the 2008 financial crisis to support consumer and business credit markets.
The Fed will now accept triple-A rated tranches of existing commercial mortgage-backed securities and newly issued collateralized loan obligations. Under TALF, the Fed lends money to investors to buy securities backed by credit-card loans and other consumer debt. The Fed has made $100 billion available for that program and didn’t increase the amount Thursday.
As Detroit Nears Virus Peak, City’s Disadvantages May Fuel Crisis
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As Detroit Nears Virus Peak, City’s Disadvantages May Fuel Crisis
Coronavirus deaths in Detroit are among the highest in the country. As the city nears its projected peak in cases, health experts explain why the city’s underlying problems may cause worse outcomes. Photo: Asha Shajahan
The central bank also announced it would backstop some pieces of riskier corporate debt in two previously established facilities, and the Treasury increased to $75 billion from $20 billion the amount of money available to cover losses the Fed might sustain as a result.
One corporate credit backstop to support new debt issuance of highly rated firms will be expanded to include so-called “fallen angels” that were investment-grade in mid-March but have subsequently been downgraded one notch, from triple-B to double-B. A second corporate credit backstop will allow a limited amount of purchases of non-investment-grade debt in exchange-traded funds.
After firing its arsenal at funding markets last month to prevent a public-health crisis from morphing into a financial crisis, the Fed later said it would throw another kitchen sink at credit markets that have broken down.
On Thursday, the central bank expanded those efforts and further unveiled a new generation of lending facilities to prevent a liquidity crunch from turning into a solvency crisis for American businesses, states and cities.
The Fed said it would offer through banks four-year loans in which payments can be deferred for one year to businesses with up to 10,000 employees or revenues of less than $2.5 billion. Loans through this Main Street Lending Program, which will initially fund up to $600 billion in loans, will be subject to restrictions on stock buybacks, dividends and executive compensation. Firms that have received separate forgivable loans for payroll costs from the Small Business Administration will be eligible to seek Main Street loans as well.
To ease funding strains for cities and states seeing large revenue drops and rising expenses from simultaneous economic and health crises, the Fed said it would purchase up to $500 billion in short-term debt directly from U.S. states, the District of Columbia, U.S. counties with at least two million residents, and U.S. cities with at least one million residents.
For many business leaders, the coronavirus pandemic has been a struggle to survive. For Eric Yuan, chief executive of Zoom Video Communications Inc.,ZM +2.01%the challenge has been how to manage breakneck growth. And lately, it hasn’t been going well.
In the space of a month, the Silicon Valley videoconferencing business he founded nine years ago has gone from an enterprise-software provider little known outside the business world to a near-ubiquitous social lifeline for homebound Americans and, most recently, the subject of complaints about privacy problems and harassment on its platform.
The whiplash has left Mr. Yuan trying to appease upset users and figure out what went wrong—and rethinking a company culture that for nearly a decade was focused on ease of use.
“‘If we mess up again, it’s done,’ I thought a lot last night,” he told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Friday, after what he said was a sleepless night.
Among the privacy features Mr. Yuan now promises is an option for end-to-end encryption to safeguard conversations, he told the Journal. Zoom had previously advertised such a feature, but security experts discovered the underlying technology provided a lesser level of data protection. The full-encryption feature won’t be ready for a few months, Mr. Yuan said.
He has faced adversity before. His first several applications to move to the U.S. from his native China were rejected, before he was finally able to make the leap in 1997. He worked at a videoconferencing company that was acquired in 2007 by Cisco Systems Inc., leaving in 2011 to found San Jose, Calif.-based Zoom. His priority, he says, was a frictionless user experience for business customers. But that left holes in security settings.
Use of Zoom exploded as the coronavirus pandemic has forced more people to stay home. Where once it enabled client conferences or training webinars, it is now also a venue for virtual cocktail hours, Zumba classes and children’s birthday parties. It became the most downloaded free app on Apple’s iOS App Store, leapfrogging bigger names like TikTok, DoorDash, and Disney+.
The number of daily meeting participants across Zoom’s paid and free services has gone from around 10 million at the end of last year to 200 million now, the company says. Most of those people are using its free service.
Zoom’s initial public offering just under a year ago was one of 2019’s most successful, making Mr. Yuan a billionaire. While the stock market has taken historic tumbles over the past month, Zoom’s shares are up.
But the platform’s surging popularity has attracted trolls and hackers, as well as scrutiny from privacy advocates. The practice of “Zoombombing”—where people gain unauthorized access to a meeting and share hate-speech or pornographic images—entered the popular vernacular almost overnight. Security experts found publicly highlighted problems with Zoom’s technology could leave user data vulnerable to outsiders’ exploitation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warning Monday about videoconference hijacking, spurred in part by Zoombombing incidents. In the U.S., 27 attorney general’s offices have raised questions about privacy issues, Zoom said, adding it is cooperating with authorities.
On April 1, Mr. Yuan issued a lengthy blog post on Zoom’s website vowing to devote all his engineers to fixing trust, safety and privacy issues.
“I thought I was letting our users down,” he told the Journal on a video call, using a Zoom virtual background depicting the Golden Gate Bridge. He hasn’t had more than 4½ hours of sleep a night in the past month, he said. “I feel an obligation to win the users’ trust back.”
To some extent, Mr. Yuan is paying the price for well-meaning decisions he made early during the coronavirus crisis. When it hit China late last year, he quickly moved to make Zoom more widely accessible for free so medical professionals and others could remain in touch. When financial analysts in early March asked him how Zoom would stand to benefit from its sudden popularity—then still mainly overseas—he said “support for each other is more important than revenue.”
Though he gives no hint of regretting that choice, Mr. Yuan now says “sometimes you have a good intention, and sometimes you get punished,” adding “we need to slow down and think about privacy and security first. That’s our new culture.”
Security researchers also have scrutinized Zoom’s links to China. Researchers at the Citizen Lab, a security research group affiliated with the University of Toronto, on Friday said Zoom used an encryption technology that is considered substandard, and that in certain circumstances the company stored encryption keys—long strings of numbers and characters that can be used to access encoded communications—on servers based in China.
Brendan Ittelson, head of technical support at Zoom, said because of the distributed nature of the company’s infrastructure, meeting data can be routed through different data centers around the world. Zoom’s system first tries to send this data locally, but if the connections fail, the backup route might send it elsewhere.
The encryption setup could give sophisticated hackers—those working for a government, for example—a way of listening into Zoom conferences, said Bill Marczak, a research fellow at Citizen Lab.
“We’re not claiming that this is evidence that you should forever delete the app,” he said. “If you’re having a virtual hangout with our friends, you’re probably fine. If you’re discussing classified information, you should maybe think twice.”
Zoom had created a system to prevent this data from being sent through China when calls originate in the U.S. But when traffic surged starting in February, some data was mistakenly routed that way, the company said, adding that it has remedied the problem.
Critics also have questioned whether Zoom’s heavy reliance on China-based engineering could pose a security risk.
“Zoom’s operations in China were always a concern, but less of a priority when highly sensitive conversations about company or government secrets—or about people’s private medical health information—primarily took place offline in an office,” said Jacob Helberg, a senior adviser of Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center and formerly a policy adviser at Google. “Now a significant portion of these conversations have moved to Zoom.”
Mr. Yuan said the Chinese government has never asked for information on traffic from foreign users. Zoom was banned inside China for two months last year because it was a U.S.-based company that wasn’t formally registered in the country, Mr. Yuan said. Zoom formally registered within China last year and, Mr. Yuan, said authorities there care only about local meetings.
The backlash against Zoom hasn’t come just from security professions. Some corporate users have dropped the platform, including Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Mr. Yuan said.
“I really messed up as CEO, and we need to win their trust back. This kind of thing shouldn’t have happened,” he said.
Tesla and SpaceX didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The barrage of criticism has left Mr. Yuan feeling like someone has put his company in their crosshairs.
“Every day has felt like something is behind this trying to destroy us,” Mr. Yuan said. But he is too busy right now to spend time on such suspicions.
At this point, Zoom’s mass popularity is something Mr. Yuan suggests he would rather not have had. “Hopefully we can go back to business customers after this,” he said. “But the good news—if we can learn the hard lessons and become better and stronger and we can win users back, in one or two or three years, it may have been worth it.”
He added: “But the journey is so painful.”
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are closed to the public, including entertainment venues, fitness centers, salons, nail parlors and certain retailers. (Order)
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Beaches closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work. (Order)
Quarantines: Travelers from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Unless locally restricted, open with social distancing.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: All mass gatherings of 10 or more people must be canceled or postponed.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Unless locally restricted, open with social distancing.
Travel outside home: The governor hasn’t issued a stay-at-home order.
Gatherings: 10-person limit; doesn’t apply to unenclosed outdoor spaces or places of worship.
Businesses: Gym and entertainment venues are closed. Hotels, motels and vacation rentals are restricted to authorized guests.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks remain operational during the daytime.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Gatherings in a single room or place are prohibited. Visitation to hospitals, nursing homes and other residential care facilities is restricted.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are closed.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Some parks are fully closed. Local jurisdictions have closed some beaches.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Public and private gatherings of any number are prohibited with limited exceptions.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks remain open, but playgrounds, picnic areas and campgrounds are closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Five-person limit for social and recreational gatherings; 50-person limit for religious services.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses must suspend all in-person operations.
Quarantines: No statewide directive. Out-of-state visitors are strongly urged to self-quarantine.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Trails and grounds of state parks and forests are open with social distancing.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: Visitors from out of state who aren’t just passing through must self-quarantine for 14 days.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Beaches are closed except for exercise or dog walking. State parks remain open with restricted activity.
Travel outside home: Senior citizens and those with significant medical conditions may not leave home unless for essential needs or to go to an essential job. (Order)
Gatherings: No social gatherings in a public space with religious exemptions.
Businesses: Nonessential services are closed to the public. Gun stores remain open.
Quarantines: Visitors from outbreak hot spots, such as the New York tri-state area, must self-quarantine for 14 days.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks remain open with limited hours and reduced capacity. Miami-Dade County has closed beaches and parks.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Open, with social-distancing requirements.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work. Essential services must implement separate operating hours for high-risk populations.
Quarantines: Travelers from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Most state parks and public beaches are closed. All camping and lodging at parks is suspended.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Nonessential gatherings are prohibited. Visits to hospitals, nursing homes and residential-care facilities are restricted.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work. Drive-in theaters and churches are permitted.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: No camping in state parks.
Long Road Ahead for Covid-19 Patient Back Home From ICU
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Long Road Ahead for Covid-19 Patient Back Home From ICU
Maury Hanks was in intensive care and on a ventilator. He survived, but like many Covid-19 patients returning from the ICU, he could face cognitive, emotional and physical challenges. Photo: Gabe Johnson/The Wall Street Journal
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks, fish and wildlife areas, recreational areas and historic sites are closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Hiking, biking, fishing, boating, birding, hunting and camping are allowed with social distancing.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit, exempting funerals and religious services with social distancing.
Businesses: Residents may not leave home to patronize nonessential businesses, such as hair salons.
Quarantines: Kansas residents who traveled to California, Florida, New York or Washington state after March 14—or visited Illinois or New Jersey after March 22—must self-quarantine for 14 days. The same applies to anybody who had close contact with a Covid-19 patient.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out or curbside service only.
Beaches/parks: Most parks are open.
Global Spread
Locations ordered by total reported infections
New daily confirmed cases
Total Cases010k20k30kMarch 20March 27April 3United StatesSpainItalyGermanyFranceMainland ChinaIranUnited KingdomTurkeyBelgiumSwitzerlandNetherlandsCanadaBrazilPortugalAustriaSouth KoreaRussiaIsraelSwedenIndiaAustraliaIrelandNorwayDenmarkChilePolandCzech RepublicRomaniaJapanEcuadorPakistanPeruMalaysiaPhilippinesIndonesiaMexicoLuxembourgSaudi ArabiaSerbiaU.A.E.FinlandPanamaThailandQatarDominican RepublicColombiaUkraineGreeceSouth AfricaArgentinaSingaporeIcelandAlgeriaEgyptCroatiaMoroccoNew ZealandEstoniaIraqMoldovaSloveniaBelarusHungaryHong KongLithuaniaArmeniaKuwaitBahrainBosnia and HerzegovinaAzerbaijanKazakhstanCameroonSlovakiaNorth MacedoniaTunisiaPuerto RicoBulgariaLatviaLebanonAndorraUzbekistanCyprusCosta RicaAfghanistanOmanCubaUruguayBurkina FasoAlbaniaIvory CoastTaiwanReunionJordanChannel IslandsHondurasNigerMaltaBangladeshGhanaSan MarinoKyrgyzstanNigeriaMauritiusBoliviaWest Bank and GazaVietnamMontenegroSenegalGeorgiaSri LankaSt. MartinFaroe IslandsMayotteKosovoCongoKenyaVenezuelaGuineaGuadeloupeBruneiDjiboutiGuamParaguayGibraltarCambodiaRwandaTrinidad and TobagoEl SalvadorMadagascarGuatemalaFrench GuianaMonacoLiechtensteinArubaTogoJamaicaBarbadosMaliEthiopiaUgandaFrench PolynesiaMacauCayman IslandsCongo RepublicBahamasZambiaGuyanaGabonEritreaGuinea-BissauLiberiaHaitiBeninPalestineTanzaniaMyanmarLibyaMaldivesAntigua and BarbudaAngolaSyriaEquatorial GuineaMozambiqueMongoliaNamibiaLaosFijiDominicaSudanCuracaoSaint LuciaBotswanaEswatiniSomaliaGrenadaSeychellesGreenlandZimbabweSaint Kitts and NevisSurinameChadNepalMS ZaandamVatican CitySaint Vincent and the GrenadinesCentral African RepublicBelizeMalawiMauritaniaCabo VerdeSierra LeoneSaint BarthelemyNicaraguaBhutanThe BahamasGambiaWestern SaharaSao Tome and PrincipeBurundiJerseyPapua New GuineaSouth SudanGuernseyThe GambiaEast TimorTimor-Leste431,541152,446139,422113,29682,06781,86564,58660,97138,22624,98323,61221,80719,27716,23813,14113,10510,42310,1319,7559,1416,2376,1086,0746,0425,6355,5465,3415,3355,2024,6674,4504,4144,3424,2284,0763,2933,1813,0342,9322,6662,6592,6052,5282,4232,3762,1112,0541,8921,8841,8451,7951,6231,6161,5721,5601,4071,3461,2391,2071,2021,1741,1241,06698097395592191085584182276473070166362862061158958256455552650248445745745641440938438036235835134334233733031330828027627326426325525224421418918618418418418017916716414113513512512412011711010710393878381787770636359565351454545403937343333313026252522211919191918171616161515141414131212121111111110109988888777665444432221111
Sources: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, the Lancet, Associated Press
Travel outside home: Travel outside the state is restricted to essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Mass gatherings prohibited; smaller gatherings are allowed with social distancing.
Businesses: Nonessential retail must close.
Quarantines: Anybody coming in from out of state—including residents—must self-quarantine for 14 days upon return.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks closed for overnight stays.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Some state parks are open for fishing, hiking and biking during the day.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. No use of public transportation unless absolutely necessary. (Order).
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: Travelers arriving in Maine, regardless of their state of residency, must self-quarantine for 14 days.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Numerous parks and beaches closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work. Senior-citizen activities centers are closed.
Quarantines: People traveling into Maryland from anywhere outside Maryland are required to self-quarantine for 14 days with limited exceptions. (Guidance)
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State park beaches are closed. Some parks remain open.
Travel outside home: People and especially older adults are strongly advised to stay home as much as possible. (Advisory)
Gatherings: 10-person limit. Applies to confined spaces, not parks and other outdoor spaces.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses must close their physical workplaces and facilities to workers and customers. Groceries must reserve an hour in the morning for older customers.
Quarantines: Arriving travelers from out of state are instructed to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: No congregating on coastal beaches. State parks are open and campgrounds closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Public and private gatherings are prohibited, with religious exemptions. Visits to residential-care facilities are restricted.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks are open, but campgrounds, overnight lodging facilities and shelters are closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: No statewide directive.
Businesses: Entertainment and performance venues are closed.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Wildlife management areas, state forests and state parks remain open. Campgrounds are closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Public parks and beaches closed.
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses must enforce social distancing. Essential retailers must limit occupancy.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks and trails are open during the day.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Nonessential social and recreational gatherings are prohibited, if social distancing can’t be maintained.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: Nonwork travelers from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Open with social distancing.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: People may not congregate in groups of 10 or more.
Businesses: Recreational, entertainment and personal-care businesses are closed, including casinos.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Valley of Fire and Rye Patch are closed. Other parks open for day use only.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Nine-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only
Beaches/parks: Most park sites are open.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential retail businesses must close bricks-and-mortar premises. Recreational and entertainment businesses are closed to the public.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Some beach closures. Parks are open for passive recreation with social distancing.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Five-person limit in a single room or connected space outside residence.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses must suspend all in-person operations.
Quarantines: Arriving air travelers must self-quarantine for two weeks.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks are closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. Individuals age 70 and older and those with compromised immune systems must stay home and limit home-visitation to immediate family members or close friends.
Gatherings: Nonessential gatherings are prohibited.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work. (Guidance)
Quarantines: No mandatory quarantine for out-of-state travelers. Mandatory quarantines for people who’ve been in close contact with a Covid-19 patient.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Social distancing at state parks.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: People may go to public parks and outdoor recreation areas unless locally restricted.
Travel outside home: The governor hasn’t issued a stay-at-home order.
Gatherings: No statewide directive.
Businesses: Personal-care services and recreational facilities are closed. (Order)
Quarantines: Mandatory quarantine for international travelers returning to North Dakota and domestic travelers coming from places with widespread community infection.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: No statewide directive.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses and operations must cease all activities except minimum basic operations.
Quarantines: Travelers arriving in Ohio should self-quarantine for 14 days with limited exceptions.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Wildlife areas, forests and nature preserves remain open.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. Applies only to residents older than 65 and people or with underlying medical problems. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit. No visitors at nursing homes, retirement or long-term care facilities.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses must suspend services.
Quarantines: Travelers arriving tofrom the New York tri-state area, California, Louisiana and Washington should self-quarantine for 14 days with limited exceptions.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Hiking trails, picnic tables, fishing areas and boat ramps are available for outdoor recreation.
STAY INFORMED
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Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Gatherings over 25 people are canceled statewide. Oregonians are urged to avoid gatherings of 10 people.
Businesses: Nonessential business closures.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: No daytime or overnight visitors are permitted at any state park.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Gatherings are generally prohibited.
Businesses: Non-life-sustaining businesses must close or operate remotely.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Trails, lakes, roads and parking are limited to “passive and dispersed recreation.”
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Five-person limit.
Businesses: Noncritical retail businesses must cease operations.
Quarantines: Mandatory two-week quarantine for out-of-state visitors.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State beaches and parks are closed.
Travel outside home: The governor hasn’t issued a stay-at-home order.
Gatherings: Gatherings of three or more are prohibited if deemed a threat to public health.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work. (Order)
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Public beaches and access points to lakes, rivers and waterways are closed. Local restrictions on parks.
Travel outside home: The governor hasn’t issued a stay-at-home order.
Gatherings: Unnecessary gatherings of 10 or more prohibited. (Order)
Businesses: No statewide directive.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: No statewide directive.
Beaches/parks: No statewide directive.
Can’t Unlock Your iPhone’s Face ID with a Mask On? There’s a Mask For That
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Can’t Unlock Your iPhone’s Face ID with a Mask On? There’s a Mask For That
The coronavirus pandemic means we must wear masks. It also means unlocking an iPhone with Face ID is a challenge. WSJ’s Joanna Stern tracked down a woman who created a mask to get around it.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Social gatherings of 10 or more people prohibited.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks/trails closed.
Travel outside home: Texans must minimize in-person contact with people who are not in the same household. (A number of major counties have more explicit stay-at-home orders.) No visits to nursing homes or long-term care facilities unless providing critical assistance. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: No eating or drinking at bars and restaurants or visits to gyms, massage establishments, tattoo studios, piercing studios and cosmetology salons.
Quarantines: Air travelers flying to Texas from California, Louisiana or Washington—or Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Miami—must self-quarantine for 14 days.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Many state parks remain open. Some beaches are closed or limited to restricted activities.
Travel outside home: High-risk individuals (older residents and those with serious underlying medical conditions) may leave only for essential needs/work. Others must stay home whenever possible. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Businesses must minimize face-to-face contact with high-risk employees.
Quarantines: Two-week quarantine after traveling out of state or exposed to a person with Covid-19 symptoms.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Residents may not travel across county lines to go to a state park.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Nonessential gatherings are limited to 10 people.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: Visitors must self-quarantine for two weeks unless traveling for an essential purpose.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: RV parks and campgrounds are closed with emergency shelter exceptions
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: 10-person limit.
Businesses: Recreation and entertainment businesses must close. (Order)
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Beaches are closed except for fishing and exercising. State parks are open for day-use activities. Campgrounds are closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: All gatherings of people for social, spiritual and recreational purposes are prohibited.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No statewide directive.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks and recreational fisheries are closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: Five-person limit with some exceptions.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: Two-week mandatory quarantines for people traveling into West Virginia from areas of substantial community spread of Covid-19.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: Park lodges, cabins and campgrounds are closed.
Travel outside home: Only for essential needs/work. (Order)
Gatherings: All public and private gatherings are prohibited with limited exceptions.
Businesses: Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work.
Quarantines: No mandatory quarantine for out-of-state travelers. Self-quarantine recommended for out-of-state travelers.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: State parks, trails and forests are open to the public. Campgrounds are closed.
Travel outside home: Residents urged but not required to stay home whenever possible.
Gatherings: Limited to nine people.
Businesses: Theaters, bars, museums, gyms, nightclubs and other public places are closed. (Order)
Quarantines: People traveling to Wyoming for nonwork purposes must self-quarantine for 14 days.
Bars/restaurants: Dine-out only.
Beaches/parks: No statewide directive.
WASHINGTON—A record 7.5 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits at the end of March as the coronavirus pandemic continued to hit the U.S. labor market.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that another 6.6 million had submitted claims in the week ended April 4 after reaching a record 6.9 million revised figure from a week earlier. Claims were hovering at just over 200,000 a week before the coronavirus-related shutdowns put millions of people out of work in mid-March.
Continuing claims, a figure that captures the number of people receiving benefits, grew by 4.4 million in the week ended March 28 to 7.5 million, eclipsing a record set in 2009 at the end of the financial crisis.
Jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, provide temporary financial assistance for workers who lose their jobs. The Labor Department releases a national compilation of weekly jobless claims on Thursdays.
Each additional week of historically high jobless claims dims the prospects for a rapid economic recovery once the new coronavirus is contained in the U.S. and businesses start reopening.
“The biggest direct impact of the loss of jobs is going to be the loss of income and therefore the loss of spending,” said Jacob Robbins, assistant professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
March Jobs Report Doesn't Tell the Full Story; Here's Why
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March Jobs Report Doesn't Tell the Full Story; Here's Why
U.S. employers shed 701,000 jobs in March, in the worst month for job losses since the 2007-2009 recession. But these losses still don't show the pandemic's full impact on the labor market. WSJ's Eric Morath explains. Photo: JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
It isn’t clear exactly when jobless claims will peak, but evidence suggests that they will continue to register high levels in the coming weeks. The federal rescue package signed into law in March increases the pool of workers who can tap benefits by making independent contractors and self-employed people eligible, at least in some cases.
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Have you or someone you know filed for unemployment since the crisis began? Share your story. Join the conversation below.
Perhaps more significantly, states are still addressing backlogs of claims. Many laid-off Americans have been unsuccessful in applying for unemployment insurance because state labor department websites are freezing and their phone lines are inundated with inquiries.
Corinne Chin, a 23-year-old of Brooklyn, New York, hasn’t been able to apply for unemployment benefits since she was furloughed from her creative-marketing agency in mid-March because of the coronavirus.
She said she sometimes calls New York’s labor department hundreds of times a day.
Continued jobless claimsSource: Labor DepartmentNote: Seasonally adjusted
“I’m stuck right now, and I haven’t been able to get through to any representatives,” she said.
Ms. Chin has savings but is worried about her financial situation in a couple of months if she still doesn’t have any income. Most of the companies in her industry have implemented hiring freezes. She said she is hesitant to seek a job where work is available, such as at a grocery store, because of the possibility she could be exposed to the coronavirus.
States are adapting to address an unprecedented rise in applications for unemployment benefits. Many have reallocated or added staff to handle calls and claims audits.
Subrina Norton, 50, is one American drawing on jobless benefits. She applied for unemployment insurance immediately after getting laid off from her Oklahoma City waitressing job in March. Her online application kept getting rejected, prompting her to try calling.
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She was able to receive her unemployment benefits after she contacted the office of one of her U.S. senators, James Inhofe. The senator’s office put her in touch with a state official who was able to help her fill out the application forms.
“It was just a blessing because I was really getting stressed out,” Ms. Norton said.
Her checks, for $150, started arriving less than two weeks after she was laid off from her $7.25 -an-hour job. She is still waiting for the additional $600 payments that were included as part of the federal rescue package.
The Labor Department told states on Tuesday night that they could draw on federal funds to disburse additional unemployment payments of $600 to jobless Americans who are eligible for benefits. Residents in New York and Illinois have started receiving these payments, but the majority of unemployed Americans are still waiting for the expanded checks.
Layoffs are hitting a widening array of industries, state-level data suggest.
Take Oregon as an example. In the week ended March 21, slightly more than 30% of the state’s jobless claims were from laid-off workers in the restaurant industry. In the week after, the share of claims from restaurant employees remained roughly the same, but the portion of claims coming from health-care and retail workers rose.
“There’s still a lot of these sectors for this virus to go through,” Mr. Robbins said. “This is what’s really concerning me right now.”
The steep rise in joblessness is keeping job-training centers like Goodwill in Fort Worth, Texas, busy.
“People are calling in, and they’re like, ‘I need a job. I need it right now. I’ve got to feed my kids,’” said Romney Guy, vice president of workforce development at Goodwill in Fort Worth.
The Goodwill location is now offering virtual job training to help people develop resumes, as well as interviewing and computer skills. Ms. Guy said the job-training center is seeing an increase in upper-middle-income people seeking assistance.
A man speaking with a library worker after receiving an unemployment form in Hialeah, Fla.
Being a normal boy is a serious liability in today’s classroom. Boys tend to be disorganized and restless. Some have even been known to be noisy and hard to manage. Sound like any boy you know?
But increasingly, our schools have little patience for what only a couple of decades ago would have been described as “boyishness.” As psychologist Michael Thompson has aptly observed: “Girls behavior is the gold standard in schools. Boys are treated like defective girls.”
As a result, these “defective girls” are not faring well academically. Compared with girls, boys earn lower grades, win fewer honors they’re are far less likely to go to college. Boys are languishing academically, while girls are prospering. In an ever more knowledge-based economy, this is not a recipe for a successful society.
We need to start thinking about how we can make our grade school classrooms more boy-friendly. Well, here are four reforms that would make a very good start.
1. Turn boys into readers.
In all age groups, across all ethnic lines, boys score lower than girls on national reading tests. Good reading skills -- need I say? -- are critical to academic and workplace success. A major study in the UK discovered, not surprisingly, that girls prefer fiction, magazines, and poetry while boys prefer comics and non-fiction. Boys whose eyes glaze over if forced to read Little House on the Prairie may be riveted by the Guinness Book of Records. Boys will read if given materials that interest them. If you’re looking for suggestions for books that have proved irresistible to boys go to guysread.com.
2. Inspire the male imagination.
Celebrated writing instructor Ralph Fletcher contends that too many teachers take what is called “the confessional poet” as the classroom ideal. Personal narratives full of emotions and self-disclosure -- these are stories girls commonly write -- and these are prized; whereas action stories describing, say, a skateboard competition or a monster devouring a city, these are not. I recently read about a third-grader in Southern California named Justin who loved science-fiction, pirates, and battles.
An alarmed teacher summoned his parents to school to discuss the picture the 8-year-old had drawn of a sword fight -- which included several decapitated heads. The teacher expressed grave “concern” about Justin’s “values.” The boy’s father was astonished, not by his son’s drawing which to him was typical boy stuff, but by the teacher’s overwrought -- and female-centered -- reaction.
If boys are constantly subject to disapproval for their interests and enthusiasms they are likely to become disengaged and lag further behind. Our schools need to work with, not against, the kinetic imaginations of boys.
3. Zero out zero-tolerance.
Boys are nearly five times more likely to be expelled from preschool than girls. And in grades K-12, boys account for nearly 70% of suspensions, now this is often for minor acts of insubordination and sometimes for entirely innocent behavior. Hardly a week goes by without a news story about a young boy running afoul of a school’s zero-tolerance policy.
Josh Welch, age 7, was recently sent home from his Maryland school for nibbling off the corners of a strawberry Pop-Tart into shape it into a gun. Josh -- like many other boys punished for violating zero-tolerance policies -- was guilty of nothing more than being a typical 7-year old boy.
4. Bring back recess.
Believe it or not, recess may soon be a thing of the past. According to research summarized by Science Daily, since the 1970s, schoolchildren have lost close to 50% of their unstructured outdoor playtime. And much-loved games have vanished from school yards. In schools throughout the country, games like dodge ball, red rover, even tag have all but disappeared; too damaging to self-esteem or too “violent” being the usual excuse. One popular classroom guide suggests tug-of-war be replaced with “tug of peace.” Boys need to work off their energy. They need to be free to play games they enjoy. And keeping them cooped up inside all day will not help them learn.
As our schools become more feelings centered, more competition-free, more sedentary, they move further away from the needs of boys. We need to reverse the boy-averse trends. Male underachievement is everyone’s concern. These are our sons. These are the young men with whom our daughters will build a future. If boys are in trouble, so are we all.
https://www.prageru.com/video/war-on-boys/
Why didn't the Founders just make it easy, and let the Presidential candidate with the most votes claim victory? Why did they create, and why do we continue to need, this Electoral College?
The answer is critical to understanding not only the Electoral College, but also America.
The Founders had no intention of creating a pure majority-rule democracy. They knew from careful study of history what most have forgotten today, or never learned: pure democracies do not work.
They implode.
Democracy has been colorfully described as two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner. In a pure democracy, bare majorities can easily tyrannize the rest of a country. The Founders wanted to avoid this at all costs.
This is why we have three branches of government -- Executive, Legislative and Judicial. It's why each state has two Senators no matter what its population, but also different numbers of Representatives based entirely on population. It's why it takes a supermajority in Congress and three-quarters of the states to change the Constitution.
And, it's why we have the Electoral College.
Here's how the Electoral College works.
The Presidential election happens in two phases. The first phase is purely democratic. We hold 51 popular elections every presidential election year: one in each state and one in D.C.
On Election Day in 2012, you may have thought you were voting for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, but you were really voting for a slate of presidential electors. In Rhode Island, for example, if you voted for Barack Obama, you voted for the state's four Democratic electors; if you voted for Mitt Romney you were really voting for the state's four Republican electors.
Part Two of the election is held in December. And it is this December election among the states' 538 electors, not the November election, which officially determines the identity of the next President. At least 270 votes are needed to win.
Why is this so important?
Because the system encourages coalition-building and national campaigning. In order to win, a candidate must have the support of many different types of voters, from various parts of the country.
Winning only the South or the Midwest is not good enough. You cannot win 270 electoral votes if only one part of the country is supporting you.
But if winning were only about getting the most votes, a candidate might concentrate all of his efforts in the biggest cities or the biggest states. Why would that candidate care about what people in West Virginia or Iowa or Montana think?
But, you might ask, isn't the election really only about the so-called swing states?
Actually, no. If nothing else, safe and swing states are constantly changing.
California voted safely Republican as recently as 1988. Texas used to vote Democrat. Neither New Hampshire nor Virginia used to be swing states.
Most people think that George W. Bush won the 2000 election because of Florida. Well, sort of. But he really won the election because he managed to flip one state which the Democrats thought was safe: West Virginia. Its 4 electoral votes turned out to be decisive.
No political party can ignore any state for too long without suffering the consequences. Every state, and therefore every voter in every state, is important.
The Electoral College also makes it harder to steal elections. Votes must be stolen in the right state in order to change the outcome of the Electoral College. With so many swing states, this is hard to predict and hard to do.
But without the Electoral College, any vote stolen in any precinct in the country could affect the national outcome -- even if that vote was easily stolen in the bluest California precinct or the reddest Texas one.
The Electoral College is an ingenious method of selecting a President for a great, diverse republic such as our own -- it protects against the tyranny of the majority, encourages coalition building and discourages voter fraud. Our Founders were proud of it! We can be too.
https://www.prageru.com/video/do-you-understand-the-electoral-college/
Leah Pritchett’s love for drag racing started at a young age—thanks to her father who was a land speed racer and dreamt of racing with his family. What started as a hobby when Pritchett was eight years old later became Pritchett’s passion that she turned into a career.
Now, Pritchett—who won her first career national event in 2016—has risen to the top of a male-dominated sport. But as women become more successful in the racing world, she’s optimistic that it’ll inspire others to go after new and bigger opportunities.
In this feature―part of Forbes and Cole Haan’s Changemakers program―the video explores Pritchett’s views on success and her career. Then, in a Q+A, Pritchett discusses how she’s learned to handle the pressure of her profession.
https://www.forbes.com/video/6136505477001/#1a5cff053099
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vUJz6tOVzU
Mike Steadman is the Founder of IRONBOUND Boxing and oversees all aspects of the brand. Mike is also a three-time National Collegiate Boxing Champion from the United States Naval Academy and Marine Corps Infantry Officer, with deployments to Afghanistan and Japan/Philippines. IRONBOUND Boxing’s clients include Newark Venture Partners, WeWork, and Spotify. IRONBOUND Boxing is a hybrid organization, with a for-profit and non-profit arm.
AT&T Inc.T 5.57% launched a satellite into orbit last summer for its DirecTV service. It would be the telecom and media giant’s last.
More than five million U.S. households cut the pay-television cord in 2019 in search of cheaper and more flexible entertainment. Most of those declines came from DirecTV viewers dropping the dish.
On Monday, the company released its answer to that trend: AT&T TV, a Google assistant-equipped set-top box that streams live TV channels over the internet. The service, which like DirecTV offers more than 100 channels through its basic package, is available nationwide for $49.99 a month. The company spent several months testing it in a few local markets.
“Consumers are going to go where they want to go and where they have choice they are going with something over the top,” said Jeff McElfresh, chief of AT&T’s communications division, which houses broadband, TV and wireless service.
TV GUIDE
Keeping up with all of AT&T’s many video-service brands.
U-verse: First launched in 2005, the U-verse brand originally covered broadband and internet-based television from AT&T Inc. Its video service runs over a dedicated private network, much like cable.
DirecTV: AT&T bought the country’s largest satellite-TV provider in 2015. It remains an important pay-TV competitor, though AT&T is steering more new customers toward AT&T TV, which features most of the same channels without a satellite dish.
AT&T TV Now: Launched in 2016 as DirecTV Now, this service offers what is known as a skinny bundle of live TV channels through smartphones, web browsers and third-party devices such as Roku. Its customer base shrank in 2019 as its price and channel count grew.
AT&T WatchTV: An app launched in 2018 with an extra-skinny lineup of TV channels. It is offered free to subscribers with AT&T’s premium unlimited wireless plans. The company hasn’t said how many customers use it.
AT&T TV: The company’s main brand for live channels streamed over the internet to cellphones and TVs. Its bundles are similar to DirecTV’s satellite packages, but lack NFL Sunday Ticket.
HBO Go: A “TV Everywhere” service launched in 2008, HBO Go allowed subscribers to watch the premium channel’s shows over the internet after proving they had already paid through a cable or satellite-TV bundle.
HBO Now: HBO’s first true “over the top” version of the channel. Its app lets subscribers watch shows on-demand for $15 a month.
HBO Max: The flagship brand for movies and TV series that AT&T controls the rights to through its WarnerMedia division. HBO Max will make its debut in May. The streaming service is an expanded version of HBO, though executives say it will grow to include live sports and ad-supported programming.
AT&T TV adds another wrinkle to an already chaotic video market, where new streaming services are competing for consumer budgets and time. Walt Disney Co.DIS 1.98% and Apple Inc.AAPL 9.31% have entered the market with new video offerings, and AT&T is preparing to launch its own in May called HBO Max.
Services offering live TV have suffered the brunt of this competition, no matter which technology they use. Sony Corp.SNE 3.15% last year discontinued its rival PlayStation Vue service, citing rising costs. DirecTV rival Dish Network Corp. posted its first quarterly decline in subscribers for its Sling TV streaming service.
AT&T didn’t design the new TV box to replace any other product it already offers, Mr. McElfresh said. But it differs from the company’s existing satellite and fiber-optic TV services that use closed networks and have about 19 million video customers. AT&T TV rides over the public internet, making it available to anyone with a suitable broadband connection.
“This is where the market is headed,” he said.
The new box offers the company another advantage: It costs less to install. AT&T plans to ship new customers its AT&T TV hardware with self-install instructions, avoiding the need for expensive technician visits to homes.
Satellite TV has some of the highest subscriber acquisition costs—the combined expense of marketing to, signing up and installing gear for each new customer—in the telecom business. Dish Network said it spent about $800 for each new satellite customer it gained last year.
AT&T didn’t provide an estimate of its satellite-subscriber acquisition costs, though Mr. McElfresh said the company expects to spend roughly half as much money gaining new AT&T TV customers as it has adding traditional pay-TV subscribers.
New satellite-dish installations add about $150 to $200 to AT&T’s expenses, according to Craig Moffett, an analyst for boutique telecom research firm MoffettNathanson.
Engineers started working on the product more than a year ago, but the project suffered several delays. Executives say the service is better for it. The box now acts something like a Roku or Apple TV device, combining third-party services such as NetflixNFLX 3.26% and YouTube with content offered through AT&T’s channels. Its remote control includes a voice-activated Google assistant.
AT&T plans heavy promotions to get its new streaming portal into customers’ hands. The box works with any broadband connection, so Comcast Corp.CMCSA 5.17% and Charter Communications Inc.CHTR 0.80% cable customers could subscribe. Mr. Moffett said the service could boost AT&T’s numbers in some areas.
“For example, satellite TV has always under-indexed in urban apartment buildings, where a look angle to the southern horizon often isn’t possible,” he said. “On the other hand, it won’t be much help in the core rural markets, where a reliable broadband connection often isn’t available.”
Many rural customers with dial-up internet speeds won’t be able to use the streaming box and still need DirecTV satellite dishes to receive the same channels. The NFL Sunday Ticket subscription package is also unavailable over AT&T TV because of license restrictions.
The deepest discounts are geared toward AT&T’s fiber-optic internet base, where growth slowed in recent months. The company drops the channel package price to $39.99 a month when bundled with its 1-gigabit broadband service for another $39.99 a month. That promotion also includes a contract, which many consumers have avoided.
As Detroit Nears Virus Peak, City’s Disadvantages May Fuel Crisis
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