Current Events in April 2020

With consumers being encouraged to stay at home to slow the spread of the coronavirus, ride-hailing drivers are seeing a dramatic drop in ride requests. To support drivers during the outbreak, Uber has launched a new tool with the aim of helping drivers find other jobs. 

The company announced Monday that its new Work Hub tool will help facilitate connections between Uber drivers and work opportunities on Uber’s other platforms, such as Uber Eats, Uber Works, and Uber Freight. 

"The most important thing we can do right now is support drivers," said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on the Work Hub homepage. "They're doing essential work to keep our communities moving as we fight this virus, but with fewer trips happening they need more ways to earn. With the Work Hub, we hope drivers can find more work opportunities, whether that's with another of Uber's businesses, or at another company."

Uber said it will soon help drivers find work at places outside of the Uber ecosystem, such as Target’s delivery service Shipt, CareGuide, and Domino’s. 

“We’re also including links to job postings for other companies,” Uber said. “We’ll continue to add new partnerships and listings to the Work Hub as we find more opportunities for you.” 

The tool is now available in the U.S. and can be found in the Uber Driver app. 

Supporting drivers during the crisis

Uber drivers have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and have seen their income drop by as much as 80 percent, according to Reuters. 

The ride-hailing giant has taken measures to support drivers during this time, including offering 14 days of financial assistance to drivers diagnosed with COVID-19 and calling on lawmakers to allow its workers to receive federal stimulus money. 

In a letter to President Trump, Khosrowshahi lobbied for financial support for Uber’s 1.3 million American workers. 

"My goal in writing to you is not to ask for a bailout for Uber, but rather for support for independent workers and, once we move past the immediate crisis, the opportunity to legally provide them with a real safety net going forward," Khosrowshahi said in the letter.

Countless Americans have no doubt been shocked and distressed to see the value of their stock portfolios and retirement accounts plunge in value over the last six weeks.

After hitting record highs in February, the major stock averages went into a nosedive as the coronavirus (COVID-19) began to spread across the U.S.  On March 11, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1,485 points, ending the longest bull-market run in history.

It’s not hard to figure out why. Consumers were suddenly avoiding cruise ships and airlines; they weren’t going to department stores or shopping malls; restaurants were closing and laying off their employees.

But new research suggests the market crash might have been worse than it should have been, that dire predictions for a COVID-19 pandemic – and its potential impact on the economy – may have been fed by the market decline itself thanks to the non-stop flow of news about the unfolding crisis.

Media influence

Harry Mamaysky, associate professor of Professional Practice at the Columbia University business school, has traced some of the market’s extreme gyrations to media influence, even on days when fundamental conditions did not significantly deteriorate.

"We're in the middle of what I would call a non-virtuous market cycle heightened by non-stop media reports," Manaysky said. "Sure stock prices should naturally be lower now than they were a month ago when we knew less about the virus, but the extreme swings we're seeing are tied to the ceaseless news stories covering the crisis, which in turn is causing hyper reaction in the market that we would not see otherwise.”

Mamaysky makes clear he isn’t faulting the media for its coverage -- he says it’s just doing its job. The problem, he says, is the market is hypersensitive to this information, often magnifying its effects and embracing worst-case scenarios.

Analyzed coronavirus news stories

To carry out his study, Mamaysky used natural language processing (NLP) – something he says can analyze text in real-time. It was used to analyze Reuters news articles mentioning "coronavirus" or "COVID-19." He was then able to compare the tone of those news articles with changes in the financial markets.

Mamaysky says his study identified a “significant correlation” between sentiment about the effects of the virus and market prices, suggesting that the coronavirus outbreak created a situation in which the market was particularly responsive to news.

Interestingly, the market rallied when the news began to become more hopeful. New York reported deaths from the virus had declined, at least for a day. Health officials expressed cautious optimism that mitigation measures implemented in the last three weeks were having a positive effect.

On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied, turning in a 1,600 point gain.

Grocery stores are one of the few categories of retailers allowed to stay open in states that have ordered coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns, but most are taking extra precautions to protect both employees and customers.

Kroger, which has seen its business surge in the wake of the pandemic, announced this week that it would start limiting the number of customers inside its stores. Starting today, no more than 50 percent of a store’s international building code capacity will be allowed inside at one time.

Stores have already instituted social distancing policies, with lines on the floor to keep people in checkout lines at least six feet apart.

"Kroger's introduction of customer capacity limits is one more way we are doing our part to flatten the curve while operating as an essential business," said Mary Ellen Adcock, Kroger's senior vice president of operations. "During this national pandemic, we are committed to adopting preventive measures to help protect the safety and health of our associates, customers, and communities."

Using technology to count shoppers

The standard building capacity for a grocery store is one person per 60 square feet, but Kroger has doubled that for the duration of the pandemic, limiting shoppers to one per 120 square feet. The grocery chains said it will begin to monitor the number of customers per square foot in its stores using its QueVision technology, which has previously been used to count customers entering and exiting stores.

The move could be especially important this week as health officials expect the coronavirus to peak in many areas of the country. At a weekend press briefing, Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, suggested consumers avoid grocery stores altogether this week and next. 

"The next two weeks are extraordinarily important," Birx said. "This is the moment to do everything that you can on the president's guidelines. This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store and not be going to the pharmacy – but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe.”

Union input

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union says it has negotiated with Kroger for additional safeguards for associates and customers. Among them are additional cleaning and sanitizing protocols that allow associates to wash their hands and sanitize their registers every 30 minutes.

The company and the union also agreed on shortening store hours to allow time for restocking, cleaning, and to provide appropriate rest and relief for associates. 

Kroger also agreed to a $2 an hour pay increase for hourly frontline associates in retail stores, manufacturing plants, distribution centers, central fills, pharmacies, and contact call centers for at least the next three weeks.

Symptoms of the coronavirus include cough, shortness of breath, and high fever. However, many infected individuals are asymptomatic -- which means that they don’t appear to have any symptoms at all. Officials warn that these consumers are at risk of unknowingly transmitting the virus to others. 

The National Health Commission (NHC) reported on Monday that 78 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases had been identified as of Sunday evening in China. That figure was up from 47 just one day before. 

As global efforts to fight the virus continue, asymptomatic cases are being studied. Mainland China -- which only began reporting the tally of asymptomatic cases last week -- has reported that a total of 1,047 asymptomatic cases are under medical observation. 

The rise in asymptomatic cases could put residents of Wuhan (where the virus originated) at risk of a resurgence in cases, Reuters notes. Wuhan residents were permitted to leave their homes this week after having been put on lockdown in January. 

“Wuhan officials revoked the ‘epidemic-free’ status of 45 residential compounds due to the emergence of asymptomatic cases and for other unspecified reasons,” the publication said. 

Asymptomatic cases pose a serious risk

The latest figures from China were issued a day before a top official from the World Health Organization (WHO) warned about the dangers that asymptomatic people pose when it comes to spreading the coronavirus. 

“What we know from reports, what we know from published literature, is that the predominant way in which transmission is occurring is among symptomatic individuals,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove said at a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva.

“These are people who can be symptomatic early on in symptoms, even when they start to feel a little bit unwell,” she said. “We also know it’s possible that people can transmit in the few days before they become symptomatic in their presymptomatic phase.” 

Americans strongly encouraged to stay home

Health officials are urging Americans to stay home as much as possible. If it is necessary to go out to complete an essential task, the CDC recommends wearing a face covering and practicing social distancing. 

Consumers are also encouraged to wash their hands frequently for at least 20 seconds, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water aren’t available. 

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Sunday that the coronavirus pandemic will likely take a turn for the worse in the coming weeks. 

"This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localized, it's going to be happening all over the country and I want America to understand that," he said. 

The week prior, the official said: “We really, really need everyone to stay at home.” 

The Federal Reserve said Monday that it will create a new program to support the government’s $350 billion small business lending program, known as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). 

The program was established under the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package passed by Congress in March. 

The Fed said it will purchase loans that banks make to small businesses as part of the program, which should provide an incentive for banks to participate. 

“To facilitate lending to small businesses via the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Federal Reserve will establish a facility to provide term financing backed by PPP loans,” the Fed said in a brief statement. 

The central bank said additional details will be provided this week.

Helping small businesses

With the Fed’s support, loans can be wiped from the bank’s balance sheets if they are spent on payroll, to encourage businesses to continue paying their employees, or to rehire workers they may have had to lay off due to the coronavirus crisis.

With consumers being urged to stay home, scores of small businesses have been impacted.

On Friday morning, mere hours after the emergency relief program for businesses went into effect, the number of loans processed hit 700. By Friday evening, more than 10,000 small businesses had applied to receive a total of $3.2 billion in loans under the program, according to the New York Times. 

Ford Motor Company is recalling about 55,000 model year 2020 Rangers, F-150s with 10-speed automatic transmission and Expeditions with the police package and 10-speed automatic transmission sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

A clip that locks the gearshift cable to the transmission may not be fully seated. Over time, a partially seated clip may allow the transmission to be in a gear state different from the gearshift position selected by the driver.

This could allow the driver to move the shifter to “Park” and remove the ignition key, without the transmission gear actually being in “Park.”

If the parking brake is not applied in those cases, the vehicle could move unintentionally, increasing the risk of injury or crash.

There are no reports of accidents or injuries.

What to do

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the shift cable locking clip and properly seat it as needed.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at (866) 436-7332. Ford's reference number for this recall is 20S18.

VP Components of Taiwan is recalling about 2,700 pairs of VP Harrier and Giant Pinner DH bicycle pedals.

The pedal body can separate from the pedal spindle resulting in a loss of balance, posing fall and injury hazards for the rider.

The company has received 79 reports of broken spindles and one report of a rider injured in a fall, after the spindle of a Giant Pinner DH model pedal separated from the body of the pedal.

This recall involves VP Components Harrier and Giant Pinner DH bicycle pedals sold separately from bicycles.

A spindle extends through the pedal body. One end of the spindle is attached to the end of the crank arm of the bicycle. The other end of the spindle is secured to the pedal body with a fastener.

The pedals are red, silver or black-colored with Harrier or Giant printed on the pedal body.

The pedals, manufactured in Taiwan, were sold at bicycle stores nationwide and online at various websites from approximately May 2017, through December 2017, for between $113 and $116 each.

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled bicycle pedals and contact the bike shop or online retailer where the pedals were originally purchased to arrange for free replacement pedals.

Consumers may contact VP Components toll-free at (844) 698-8883 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (PT), Monday through Friday, by email at inquiry@vpcomponents.com, or online at www.vpcomponents.com (for Harrier pedals) and click on “Product Recall” at the top of the page, or www.giant-bicycles.com/us (for Giant Pinner DH pedals) and click on “Recall Information” at the bottom of the page.

Fromagerie Blackburn is recalling Le Mont-Jacob semi-soft cheese that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

There are no reports of any illnesses.

The following cheese wheels of Le Mont-Jacob semi-soft cheese, sold cut up and re-packaged in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, are being recalled:

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products should not consume them, but discard or return them to the place of purchase:

Consumers with questions may contact the company at (418) 547-4153 or by email at info@fromagerieblackburn.com.

People generally don't know how important a good mattress can be. Without the right mattress, you're susceptible to poor sleep, which, in turn, affects your daily life. You are risking the health of your spine, your immune system, your mental wellbeing and it may even increase weight gain. So, how can you tell if your mattress has some life left, or if it's time to "spring" for a new one?

It’s uncomfortable

The most obvious sign that it’s time to look into a new mattress is whether or not your mattress is actually comfortable. When you lie down, how do you feel? An uncomfortable mattress should be immediately apparent to you.

You wake up in pain

Another glaring reason to replace your mattress is that you wake up with aches and pains. Sleep is supposed to help your body recover from the wears and tears of a rigorous day of activity, not make it worse! When you routinely wake up in pain after sleeping, there is generally only one common denominator — your mattress.

You're tired throughout the day

Are you still excessively tired when you wake up? How about in the afternoon? While there are dozens of potential factors that contribute to a miserable night's sleep, you cannot overlook your mattress as a factor. If you are waking up and making your way through the day feeling drowsy, you may need to get a new mattress.

It’s dirty

Maybe your mattress has held up well over the past 20 years, and you see no apparent reason to invest in a new one. However, mattresses tend to absorb a lot of dirty things — from your sweat to dust mites and dead skin cells. Be aware that dirty beds cause breathing problems or a flare-up with allergies. Unless you are up for a rigorous DIY cleaning, a full replacement may be your best bet.

The mattress is deformed

The Simpsons fans probably remember the episode where the indentation of Homer's body on his mattress is so profound that Marge rolls over and falls into it. While the cartoon certainly exaggerated the effect, indentations of bodies really happen. If you and your partners' body imprints are highly defined, and there is a visible peak in between the two sides, your mattress is no longer able to function as intended!

Coming to grips with the fact that you need a new mattress may be met with some feelings of dread — a mattress is a significant investment. The good news is that many online-based mattress companies let consumers try a mattress for a trial period and return it for a money-back guarantee. Some such brands include: Casper, Awara, DreamCloud, Level Sleep, Purple and Tuft & Needle. Those in need of a new mattress can also utilize ConsumerAffairs’ Buyers Guide to compare great brands and read verified customer reviews.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Sunday issued a bleak outlook for the week ahead, predicting that the coming week will be the “hardest and saddest” of “most Americans’ lives.” 

Towards the end of March, Adams implored Americans to stay home ahead of what he cautioned would be a bad period in the coronavirus pandemic. 

“It's going to get bad," he said at the time. "We really, really need everyone to stay at home.” 

During an interview on “Fox New Sunday,” he said the weeks ahead are poised to be even worse, but it won’t be this grim forever. 

"This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localized, it's going to be happening all over the country and I want America to understand that," he said. "I want Americans to understand that as hard as this week is going to be, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.” 

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CBS' Face the Nation that the next week is "going to be shocking to some, but that's what is going to happen before it turns around."

‘A lot of death’

The weeks ahead are expected to bring a surge in the number of deaths caused by the coronavirus. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University puts the number of people infected nationwide at more than 337,000 as of Monday morning. 

At Saturday’s coronavirus task force briefing, Trump said “there will be a lot of death” this week and next. 

"This will be probably the toughest week between this week and next week, and there will be a lot of death, unfortunately, but a lot less death than if this wasn't done but there will be death," Trump said at the White House over the weekend. 

At this point, most U.S. governors have issued stay-at-home orders. But Adams said it would be appreciated if the eight governors who haven’t yet given the order to their residents would consider issuing even just a temporary order. 

"If you can't give us a month, give us a week ... give us what you can," Adams said.

In addition to frequent hand washing and staying home as much as possible, the White House is recommending that people wear a face covering when out completing an essential task. However, health officials have stressed that wearing a face mask isn’t a substitute for practicing social distancing measures. 

"We don't want people to feel like, 'Oh, I'm wearing a mask, I'm protected and I'm protecting others,' " Dr. Deborah Birx said Friday at a White House briefing. "You may be protecting others. But don't get a false sense of security that that mask is protecting you exclusively from getting infected, because there are other ways that you can get infected, because of the number of asymptomatic and mild cases that are out there."

Food spoils. No surprise there.

However, the surprise emergence of the coronavirus has left both chefs and farmers sitting on tons of produce and meat that they need to get rid of while it’s still edible. Rather than just tossing the food out, FoodMarket reports that some upscale restaurants are trying to sell beef, pork, and seafood directly to consumers. 

In San Francisco, Harris' steakhouse is selling complete ready-to-prepare meals of steak and vegetables to the public. And, in a gesture of goodwill, Chicago-area restaurant Acadia is giving away food that would otherwise spoil to restaurant industry employees every Saturday -- including seafood, proteins, produce, and dry goods. 

"We were busting at the seams with food," Mr. McCaskey told FoodMarket. He said Acadia has handed out everything from 700 oysters to toilet paper.

Fruit and veggies take a hit

On the other end of the food list, farmers and processors are also trying to find a way to make the most out of fruit and vegetables. California-based HMC Farms has been donating 100 tons of grapes a week to local food banks since many restaurants have closed down due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Another California-based produce supplier, GreenGate Fresh LLP, saw the market demand on produce fade away by nearly 70 percent. Robby Barkley, GreenGate's owner, told FoodMarket he was left with little choice but to destroy nearly 250 acres of lettuce and broccoli and bear the brunt of the $1.3 million it cost to grow those items.

"We're leaving perfectly good product in the field," Mr. Barkley said. "It's a complete and total loss." 

GreenGate and other growers have their fingers crossed for the pandemic to end soon because losing the spring and summer growing seasons could prove to be another unplanned -- and possibly larger -- hit.

Asking for help

FoodMarket reported that several agriculture trade groups have approached the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) about guaranteeing that produce suppliers will get paid in full by leveraging a federal regulation that helps suppliers when their buyers can't pay their bills. 

“Farm loans are critical for annual operating and family living expenses, emergency needs, and cash flow in challenging times like now,” the USDA said. “(We are) relaxing the loan-making process and adding flexibilities for servicing direct and guaranteed loans to provide credit to producers in need.”

Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Friday’s numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 347,003 (257,773)

Total U.S. deaths: 9,683 (6,586)

Total global cases: 1,292,565  (1,056,777)

Total global deaths: 70,798 (55,781)

This is war

The doctors and nurses on the front lines of treating the coronavirus (COVID-19), as well as the first responders getting sick people to the hospital, are comparing their fight to a war -- a war against an unrelenting disease.

Dr. Craig Smith, chief surgeon at New York’s Presbyterian Hospital, put the comparison eloquently in a memo to his staff. This is “our Gettysburg, our Somme, our Iwo Jima, our Khe Sanh, our Fallujah,” he wrote, calling to mind some of America’s most desperate military battles.

“We yearn to find our invincible spring, but we are hurtling into weeks predicted to be our worst,”  he told his staff at the start of the week. “The steadily positive slope we’ve watched for a month is grinding and relentless.”

That said, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sounded a more hopeful note, saying the death toll in the state -- the highest in the nations -- saw a one-day drop. Cuomo said there are so few non-coronavirus hospitalizations in New York that he’s asking the White House to convert the Navy hospital ship in New York Harbor to a facility to treat the coronavirus.

Louisiana braces for the worst

The situation could get worse in Louisiana this week as coronavirus cases threaten to overwhelm hospitals in the state. Louisiana Gov. John Bell Edwards told CNN that hospitals are in danger of running out of ventilators this week.

“We now think it's probably around the 9th of April before we exceed our ventilator capacity based on the current number on hand and that we're a couple of days behind that on ICU bed capacity being exceeded," Edwards told the network.

New Orleans has emerged as a new U.S. epicenter of the pandemic. Health officials believe the virus was spread widely during Mardi Gras celebrations that drew huge crowds in late February.

CVS deploys drive-up testing in Georgia and Rhode Island

CVS Health has announced that it will provide drive-up coronavirus testing locations at its stores in Georgia and Rhode Island. The company said it will utilize licensed health care providers from MinuteClinic, CVS’ retail medical clinic, to oversee the testing, which is currently available at no cost to patients. 

Unlike the first tests, which often took more than a week to see the results, CVS said its drive-up locations will use the new rapid-results tests. 

"Thanks to our partnerships with state officials and the utilization of advanced technology, our providers will be able to test large numbers of people in these states and make real-time decisions about treatment and appropriate next steps," said Dr. Troyen Brennan, CVS Health’s chief medical officer. 

Other brands step up

From the start of the coronavirus crisis, major brands have stepped up to help out, often without being asked. From major lenders like Bank of America announcing a moratorium on home foreclosures to Apple donating 20 million masks, companies large and small have stepped in to help.

This week, Dominos announced that it would begin working with its franchised and company-owned stores to donate 10 million slices of pizza to local communities. The free pizzas will go to people and organizations that are meaningful to their communities, and all 6,126 Dominoes stores are expected to take part.

“We have a long history of feeding people during times of crisis and uncertainty,” said Russell Weiner, Domino's chief operating officer. “When we were looking at how we could help, we knew we could use the reach of our national brand to make a difference in thousands of local neighborhoods."

Weiner said individual Dominos stores have already been sending out free pizzas to first responders and health care workers. He said this company-wide project marks a major expansion of those local efforts.

Around the nation

• Alabama: Rural Lee County has 105 illnesses and three deaths linked to the coronavirus, and officials at the East Alabama Medical Center say the unusually-high number is due to church gatherings. In that part of the state, many churches have resisted stay-at-home orders.

• Maine: Working from home is causing infrastructure problems for the state’s internet providers. Officials at the University of Maine say the extra strain on systems has caused slowdowns and, in a few cases, brief outages.

• Colorado: National health officials have identified Colorado, along with Pennsylvania and Washington, DC, as the next potential coronavirus hotspots. The state has 4,174 cases and 105 deaths.

Millions of Americans have found themselves unemployed in the last two weeks as the coronavirus (COVID-19) has shut down businesses across the country.

Congress has passed the CARES Act, providing cash payments to individuals and increasing the amount and duration of unemployment benefits. But many families and individuals may need help in adjusting to their new circumstances, and a non-profit credit counselor may be able to provide some of this assistance for a very small fee.

Bruce McClary, vice president of marketing at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), reports that his member agencies have already seen a large increase in the number of consumers turning to them in the last two weeks.

Member agencies in Florida, for example, have pulled people off the marketing side and deployed them to support service delivery -- and every situation is different.

“Many of these people who’ve been laid off or had their hours cut back will be able to return to full-time employment down the road,” McClary told ConsumerAffairs. “So it’s just a matter of having the kind of structure in place to support them through this period of time which will certainly be temporary.”

Familiar with forbearance plans

If you’re a homeowner who is suddenly unemployed, you may be wondering how you’re going to pay your mortgage. McClary says non-profit credit counselors are up-to-date on what specific lenders are providing in the way of forbearance.

Since many credit card companies have had to shut down their call centers in other countries because of the virus, many consumers have found it difficult to talk to someone about their account. McClary says NFCC can handle a lot of those inquiries if consumers call a credit counselor or call NHCC’s toll-free number, 1-800-388-2227.

“Our infrastructure, which is already in place and based entirely inside the United States, is not impacted by the effects of the coronavirus,” McClary said. “So we are able to handle the volume that’s coming in.”

Services offered

Even before the new social distancing protocol, credit counseling agencies were set up to handle many of their clients online and over the phone. The initial session with a credit counselor is free, and McClary says consumers can get a lot of helpful guidance in that hour to 90-minute session.

“Our counseling agencies are helping people create an emergency budget that’s realistic and based on their circumstances, and then to create an action plan to address the challenges they have with their obligations like their credit card companies and their mortgage, and then assisting them through those challenges,” he said.

The cash payments going out to all Americans this month can help meet short-term essential expenses for the newly unemployed. For everyone else, McClary suggests a prudent approach.

“If things are fine for you and you haven’t lost income, but you don’t have an emergency fund, the best thing you can do with that check at that moment is take it all and put it straight into your emergency savings,” he said.

Apple is taking a break from producing its normal electronics products to lend a hand in the effort to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19). The company has sourced 20 million face masks and has designed and built face shields.

In a video released on Twitter over the weekend, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the products will be donated to health workers trying to deal with the virus in various “hot spot” cities.

“The number of masks we’ve been able to source through our supply chain has risen to over 20 million,” Cook said. “This is truly a global effort and we’re working continuously and closely with governments at all levels to make sure these are donated to places of greatest need.”

Cook also reported that the company’s engineers have designed a clear, plastic face shield to be worn by front-line health care personnel. It was designed so that it packs flat to make it easier to ship in large quantities. Cook said Apple will ship more than 1 million of the shields before the end of the week.

“We’ve launched a company-wide effort, bringing together product designers, engineering, operations, and packaging teams and our suppliers to design, produce, and ship face shields for health workers,” Cook said.

First shipment went out last week

Cook says the face shields are already making their way to hospitals. He said the first shipment was sent to Kaiser Health facilities in Santa Clara, Calif., late last week.

While Apple is not necessarily a health products company, it has been leaning in that direction. The Apple Watch has been praised by some physicians as a tool that consumers can use to accurately monitor vital signs. 

Apple joins other U.S.-based corporations that have shifted their operations in recent days to produce products that help hospitals cope with the effects of the virus. Carmakers Ford, GM, and Tesla have retooled to begin turning out ventilators and ventilator parts to meet anticipated shortages.

Ford has reopened an assembly plant in Michigan to help GE Health Care produce ventilators for hospitals. The company announced plans to produce 50,000 of the vitally needed units within 100 days and up to 30,000 a month after that if needed. 

With health officials ordering against social gatherings and allowing people into your home, rabbis in New York are using Zoom video calls ahead of Passover. The calls are intended to help people prepare for hosting a modernized Seder -- a traditionally family-oriented event -- while under quarantine.  

Passover begins on Wednesday, April 8, and is celebrated through Thursday, April 16.

“Passover is generally a holiday people celebrate with family and their community,” Rabbi Moshe Hecht, who is from Windsor Terrace and part of a network of rabbis within the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, told the New York Post. “At our Seder alone, we usually host 50 people. This year we’re going to have only my wife and four children.”

Ahead of Passover, Hecht and other rabbis have been teaching online classes several nights a week on subjects related to hosting a Seder meal. He said the live-streamed classes are particularly useful to young people who have never hosted their own Seder. 

“There are young people in our community who have never hosted their own Seder in their lives, who always go to their parents, their grandparents,” Hecht said.

In New Jersey, a number of temples are offering a virtual Passover Seder. Other rabbis are offering tips for hosting a virtual passover Seder. 

Hosting a virtual Seder

Although the coronavirus outbreak has given way to a significant amount of disruption, a virtual Passover Seder is an option for marking the holiday. Rabbi Charlie Schwartz, the director of content development for Hillel International’s Center for Jewish and Israel Education, recommends starting the process by appointing a leader.  

“This designated person figures out the plan in advance, invites people, makes sure the Seder flows, and most importantly, makes sure the Seder ends on time,” he wrote in an op-ed for USA Today. “You don’t have to be the leader, but the leader needs to know in advance that they are leading!” 

Next, the host and guests should come together and make a plan to “divide and conquer.” The leader should task others with taking care of different parts of the event, as much in advance as possible. 

Those attending should be encouraged to use the same Haggadah, and etiquette should be encouraged when video conferencing. For example, the mute button should be used when music is involved in video conferencing.

“Music is an integral part of most Seders, but so challenging when video conferencing,” Schwartz said. “For those comfortable using technology on the holiday, have one person sing and everyone else mute but sing along. This will help everyone stay together due to the technical limitations of most video conferencing platforms.” 

Schwartz added that this Seder will undoubtedly be different, but connection should remain the focus of the holiday. 

“As the mah nishtanah, the four questions, remind us, this night will most likely be different than all other nights, and in fact all other Seders,” he said. “Just as Jewish tradition asks us to use the differences of the Seder night as entry points into the story of the Jewish people, my hope is that we all will find ways to use the difference of this Seder to connect deeply with those and that which we hold dear.” 

Schools are banning use of the video conferencing application Zoom amid mounting privacy concerns. 

In recent months, the app’s use has skyrocketed as a result of the spike in people working from home due to the coronavirus crisis. At the end of March, the app had 200 million daily meeting participants -- up from 10 million in December. 

But the platform’s founder and CEO, Eric Yuan, has admitted that the app has shortcomings in the area of security. Incidents of harassment known as “Zoombombing” -- where a hacker disrupts a meeting with racist remarks, aggressive language, pornographic content or even death threats -- have taken place recently, prompting schools to discontinue using the app. 

Schools banning Zoom use

On Friday, New York City’s Department of Education asked NYC schools to cease use of Zoom immediately and instead transition to alternative platforms for conducting virtual classes, such as Microsoft Teams. 

“In the course of its credentialing process, the DOE has received various reports documenting issues that impact the security and privacy of the Zoom platform. Based on the DOE’s review of these documented concerns, the DOE will no longer permit the use of Zoom at this time," the Department said in a memo seen by ChalkBeat. 

“Schools should move away from using Zoom as soon as possible. We will support staff and students in transitioning to different platforms such as Microsoft Teams that have the same capabilities with appropriate security measures in place,” the DOE said. 

DOE officials say Microsoft Teams complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, making it a safer video meeting app than Zoom is currently. 

Security concerns under investigation

A few weeks ago, New York Attorney General Letitia James sent a letter to Zoom demanding to know what measures Zoom has put in place to handle the dramatic increase in traffic on its network. 

James described the platform as “an essential and valuable communications” tool. However, she expressed concern that the company has been slow to address security flaws such as vulnerabilities “that could enable malicious third parties to, among other things, gain surreptitious access to consumer webcams.”

Zoom steps up security  

In a blog post last Wednesday, Yuan outlined a number of steps Zoom’s team has taken to improve security. At the end of March, Zoom launched a guide for administrators on how to set up a virtual classroom and how to better secure those classrooms. 

Additionally, Yuan said Zoom established a dedicated K-12 privacy policy and modified the settings for education users enrolled in the K-12 program so that virtual waiting rooms are on by default and teachers are the only ones who can share content in class.

“Transparency has always been a core part of our culture,” Yuan wrote. “I am committed to being open and honest with you about areas where we are strengthening our platform and areas where users can take steps of their own to best use and protect themselves on the platform.”