Current Events in June 2020

The price of gasoline has risen over the last two weeks after states started to lift stay-at-home restrictions, but industry data suggests that prices at the pump won’t go much higher.

If you enjoy low gasoline prices where you live, there’s a good chance you’ll continue to do that for the rest of the year. While fuel demand has begun to rise, it may not be enough to cause much of an increase in prices. That’s because there were massive amounts of crude oil and refined gasoline on hand before the coronavirus (COVID-19) brought world economies to a halt.

Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, has been following the gasoline supply numbers closely. Over the weekend, he reported on Twitter that GasBuddy’s gasoline demand numbers showed a 5 percent drop from the previous Friday, when demand for fuel should have been rising.

“While gasoline demand has rebounded off lows, yesterday's U.S. demand was down 29.25 percent from a year ago,” he tweeted on Saturday.

Gas price freefall

Gasoline prices went into a freefall in late March, precisely at the time when wholesalers have traditionally charged more for fuel. In a normal year, the price rises until around Memorial Day before beginning to drift lower throughout the summer.

Not only has the coronavirus lockdown reversed that price trend, it has created huge stockpiles of both crude oil and gasoline. Industry experts say it will take a while to work through that surplus and, with about 40 million people out of work and others still limiting their activities, it might take much longer than usual.

CSP, a convenience store trade publication, reports that convenience stores have seen a huge drop in gasoline sales. It quotes Joe Petrowski -- senior adviser for Yesway, West Des Moines, Iowa, and former CEO of Cumberland Gulf Group -- who predicts that the average retailer could face a 23,000 gallon per week decline in gasoline sales in the near term.

Work-at-home trend

If the work-at-home trend takes hold, even after restrictions are lifted, it will likely depress consumer demand for gasoline even more. IHS Markit has predicted that U.S. gasoline demand could plunge by 50 percent until things start getting back to normal.

However, the gasoline futures market is telling a different story. Gasoline futures prices have tripled off their lows and appear to be going higher, even as the industry is confronted with a supply glut that should suggest falling prices.

As a result, consumers may see wide variations in gas prices in the weeks ahead, as some stations try to maintain their profit margins and make up for lost revenue. For that reason, consumers may find the lowest prices at big-box retailers that use gasoline as a loss-leader to get customers in the store. 

A security researcher from Delhi discovered a vulnerability in Apple’s “Sign in with Apple” feature, first introduced in June 2019. The flaw could have allowed a malicious party to take over an account with only an email ID. 

Apple paid the person who discovered the vulnerability 100,000 through its bug bounty program. Now that the bug has been fixed by Apple, the person who discovered it -- Bhavuk Jain -- published a disclosure about it. 

“In the month of April, I found a zero-day in Sign in with Apple that affected third-party applications which were using it and didn’t implement their own additional security measures,” Jain wrote. “This bug could have resulted in a full account takeover of user accounts on that third party application irrespective of a victim having a valid Apple ID or not.” 

Vulnerability patched

When Apple introduced its “Sign in with Apple” feature in 2019, it touted it as a "more private way to simply and quickly sign into apps and websites." A user could sign up with third-party apps and services without needing to provide their Apple ID email address.

The vulnerability reported on May 30 was eye-opening because it could have allowed an attacker to take over users’ accounts regardless of whether the victim used a valid Apple ID email or not. Forbes noted that the flaw was also a shocker because Apple didn’t discover it during development. 

Jain said he found that he could request authentication tokens for any Email ID from Apple and “when the signature of these tokens was verified using Apple’s public key, they showed as valid.” 

“This means an attacker could forge a JWT by linking any Email ID to it and gaining access to the victim’s account,” he wrote. 

Jain noted that an internal investigation carried out by Apple concluded that no account compromises or misuse had occurred before the vulnerability was patched.

On Friday, a lawsuit was filed against Lyft that accused the ride-hailing firm of failing to provide required paid sick leave to drivers in Washington, D.C. Plaintiff Cassandra Osvatics said the policy could promote the spread of COVID-19. 

The Bowie, Maryland-based driver argued that Lyft was forcing drivers to make the “Hobbesian choice” of risking their livelihoods by staying home when sick or risking their lives by working through their illnesses.

Lyft has previously argued that its employees are independent contractors, but workers and activists have pushed back against that claim, arguing that the drivers should be classified as employees who receive benefits. 

Lyft and Uber have each argued that their drivers are independent contractors and therefore not eligible to receive benefits such as sick leave. 

Fight for sick leave

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, claims Lyft is putting both passengers and drivers at risk of getting sick by not providing paid sick leave to drivers who feel ill. 

Lyft said it’s financially supporting drivers who contract COVID-19 and helping drivers obtain federal relief for the time they were out of work. The company said recassifying drivers at this time would “jeopardize access to thousands of dollars in federal funds at the worst possible time.” 

Not providing paid sick leave could potentially increase the spread of illnesses, said Christopher McNerney, a lawyer for Osvatics. 

“This is a national issue, because ride-share companies are not providing sick leave anywhere,” McNerney said. “You want drivers to stay home when they’re sick, so when you hop in a Lyft car you won’t get sick.”

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts have been warning consumers about groups who could be at the greatest risk of infection, which includes smokers, those in older age, and those with compromised immune systems, among others. 

Now, researchers from Georgia State University have found that although older men are among one of the more at-risk groups, their concern for contracting the disease is lower than most. 

“In normal circumstances, not worrying as much is a good thing,” said researcher Sarah Barber. “Everyday life is probably happier if we worry less. However, where COVID-19 is concerned, we expected that lower amounts of worry would translate into fewer protective COVID-19 behaviour changes.”  

Low levels of worry

The researchers began this work in mid-March, and their goal was to understand consumers’ attitudes about the pandemic and how those attitudes had shaped their behavior, if at all. 

Participants completed online questionnaires that gauged whether reactions to the pandemic had gone overboard, the worry that the virus would affect them personally, and what precautions they had taken to protect themselves and loved ones, among several other measures. The group was split nearly evenly between those aged 18-35 and those aged 65-81. 

The researchers learned that the majority of participants expressed similar levels of concern regarding coronavirus, and many of them had adopted habits like wearing masks in public and increasing their hand-washing regimen. Over 60 percent of participants said they had ceased social gatherings, while over 80 percent were actively avoiding crowded places and handshaking. However, these actions were seen much less frequently among older men.

This information was concerning to the researchers because this group is more at risk than younger people when it comes to contracting the virus. Moving forward, the researchers don’t recommend that officials and consumers highlight the importance of taking necessary precautions, especially when out in public. 

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) is recalling 747 model year 2012 C250, C250 Coupe, C300, C350, C350 Coupe, C63 AMG, and C63 AMG Coupe vehicles with a front passenger airbag assembly replaced under a prior recall.

An incorrect replacement front passenger air bag may have been installed.

An incorrect passenger air bag may not provide adequate protection, increasing the risk of injury in a crash.

What to do

MBUSA will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger air bag module free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin June 26, 2020.

Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at (800) 367-6372.

Ford Motor Company is recalling about 1,700 model year 2016-17 Ford Transit Connect vehicles.

The driver and/or front passenger seat belt pretensioners may not deploy in a crash event in which the front seat belt pretensioners are activated.

Even with the primary seat belt locking function operating properly, if the front seat belt pretensioner fails to deploy during a crash, it may increase the risk of injury to a front occupant.

What to do

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the driver and front passenger seat belt assemblies and replace those that were produced during the suspected date range.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at (866) 436-7332. Ford's reference number for this recall is 20S25.