Current Events in October 2021

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) is recalling seven model year 2021 S580s.

The suction jet pump in the fuel tank may have a loose or missing nozzle, which can cause the pump to fail and result in an engine stall.

An engine stall increases the risk of a crash.

What to do

Dealers will inspect and replace the fuel tank, including the suction jet pump, as necessary at no cost to vehicle owners.

Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed on November 5, 2021.

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

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

Total‌ ‌U.S.‌ ‌confirmed‌ ‌cases:‌ 44,175,158 (44,096,019)‌

Total‌ ‌U.S.‌ ‌deaths:‌ 710,530 (708,434)

Total‌ ‌global‌ ‌cases:‌ 236,940,594 (236,742,215)

Total‌ ‌global‌ ‌deaths:‌ 4,837,772 (4,832,862)‌

COVID-19 cases are in decline

The number of new COVID-19 infections is falling nationwide, with the biggest decreases occurring in states that were ravaged by the virus over the summer. An analysis of Johns Hopkins University data published by Becker's Hospital Review shows that new daily infections fell this week by 6.22%.

There has been a marked improvement in southern states, where the virus surged in July and August. Daily case rates are down 50% in both Florida and Mississippi. When it comes to hospitalizations, Louisiana has shown the most improvement. COVID-19 hospitalization rates in the state are down 43% in two weeks.

While much of the nation has improved, virus hotspots have emerged in the northern tier of states, including Montana, Idaho, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Midwest has the highest average case number per capita, reporting 38 cases per 100,000 people as of Oct. 6.

More people are getting boosters than are getting vaccinated

Some Americans may be reluctant to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but people who are already vaccinated can’t wait to get a booster. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 2.6 million Americans got the Pfizer booster shot this week, more than those getting a first or second shot.

Older Americans appear to be the most eager to get the booster. There have been 6.4 million boosters administered so far, and 4 million have gone to seniors.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the only one being used for boosters, but Johnson & Johnson this week applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin giving booster shots. Moderna has yet to file data for its vaccine booster.

Economy produced fewer jobs than expected last month

The Labor Department reports that the economy produced 194,000 jobs last month, which was fewer than economists expected and less than the number of positions created in August. At the same time, the nation’s unemployment rate fell to 4.8%, the lowest level since the start of the pandemic.

In September, 13.2% of people with jobs continued to telework because of the coronavirus pandemic, little changed from the prior month. That doesn’t include people who worked virtually for other reasons.

Two sectors hit hard by the pandemic continued to slowly recover. Employment in leisure and hospitality increased by 74,000 in September. Employment in food services and drinking places changed little for the second consecutive month. 

Around the nation

• Missouri: A Springfield TV reporter says she has been fired for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Linda Simmons, a 14-year veteran at KY3, said she applied for a religious exemption to Gray Television’s vaccination mandate, but it was denied. 

• Maryland: Police have charged Jeffrey Allen Burnham with murdering three people, including his brother who was a Baltimore pharmacist. According to court documents, Burnham reportedly believed his brother was “killing people” by administering the COVID-19 vaccine.

• Ohio: If most other states have had the same experience as Ohio, the reopening of schools in August may have fed COVID-19’s latest surge. The state health department reports that half of Ohio’s schools have reported cases of the virus so far during the school year. Children under 12 are currently not eligible for vaccination.

• Minnesota: Severe cases of the coronavirus are rising in Minnesota. Health officials report that nearly 900 people are in hospitals being treated for COVID-19. Of those, 234 require intensive care, the largest number so far this year.

• Oregon: A judge has rejected an appeal by 33 Oregon State Police troopers asking for a temporary injunction to stop a vaccination mandate. The judge ruled that Gov. Kate Brown acted within her authority when she required all state employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 18.

The U.S. economy got another 11th-hour reprieve late Thursday. The U.S. Senate voted to raise the debt ceiling limit by $48 billion, avoiding the fate predicted by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that the U.S. would likely face a financial crisis if lawmakers did nothing. Yellen previously said not raising the debt ceiling could cause interest rates to rise quickly, leading to millions of lost jobs and a possible recession.

The Treasury Secretary wasn’t alone in her fears. The nation’s largest lender -- JPMorgan Chase -- had reportedly been working on plans for weeks that would have gone into effect if the U.S. economy fell into default mode. According to an exclusive report by Reuters, the bank was preparing to address everything possible -- the repo and money markets, client contracts, its capital ratios, and how ratings agencies would react.

"This is like the third time we've had to do this, it is a potentially catastrophic event," Chief Executive Jamie Dimon told Reuters. "Every single time this comes up, it gets fixed, but we should never even get this close. I just think this whole thing is mistaken and one day we should just have a bipartisan bill and get rid of the debt ceiling. It's all politics.”

Everything could fall apart if a default happens for real

The Senate has had to keep the economy from going into freefall mode twice in the last month. But if it ever fails to catch another default in the nick of time, consumers need to hold on tight.

“This economic scenario is cataclysmic,” warned Moody’s Analytics in a new report. If it does happen, the firm stated that it could be comparable to the loss consumers suffered during the 2008 financial crisis.

At the top of that snowball effect would be the potential loss of nearly 6 million jobs, causing the unemployment rate to surge to close to 9%. The White House says even the possibility of a default is scary and would impact both markets and consumers. 

“Just the threat of one—would have a devastating impact on our economy,” White House advisors wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. They noted that if a default happens, one thing consumers could feel the sting of is mortgage rates. In the run-up to and aftermath of the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, mortgage rates rose by between 0.7 and 0.8 percentage points, causing a family who took out a $250,000 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to be on the hook for more than $30,000 in additional interest payments over the life of the loan. 

Rates for auto loans, personal loans, and other consumer financial products also rose in the wake of the 2011 crisis, and these increases often lasted for months. If another default acts anything like the Great Recession of 2008, it could take years for consumers to regain their financial footing. Nearly half of consumers who were adults in 2007 say their financial condition failed to improve for at least 10 years afterward. 

“That recession was marked by the collapse of the housing market, a wave of home foreclosures, and a financial crisis that nearly brought down the world economy,” said Investopedia’s Caleb Silver.

Consumers shopping for a used car last month encountered record high prices, according to the latest Manheim Market Report (MMR). Used car values increased each week throughout September. 

Three-year-old vehicles -- typically the cars and trucks that are most in-demand -- increased in value by 4.6%. Throughout the entire month, buyers paid more than the MMR values. Despite there being higher prices, 65% of shoppers ended up buying a vehicle, compared to 52% in 2019.

Every type of vehicle saw price increases in September, but some increased more than others. The price of a van rose nearly 41% from September 2020. Pickup trucks, already among the most expensive used vehicles, rose by another 17.8%. Overall, prices were up 27.1%.

Like many segments of the economy, supply chain issues have reduced automotive inventories and led to higher prices. Since early in the pandemic, there has been a shortage of new cars and trucks, mainly because of a shortage of computer chips. In recent months, supply chain bottlenecks have created shortages of other parts.

With fewer new cars, consumers in the market for a car or truck have turned to used car lots. Analysts say rising demand for used cars and trucks has increased the price dealers can get. Pablo, of Okeechobee, Fla., told ConsumerAffairs he paid top dollar for the vehicle he bought from Carvana last month.

“I read that Carvana is a bit higher priced and noticed the KBB for our car was approx $1000 less,” Pablo wrote in his review. “With used cars, it's difficult to gauge.”

Prices were up, sales were down

Dealers may have gotten top dollar for their inventory in September, but they sold fewer vehicles. Cox Automotive, the parent company of Manheim, reports that total used vehicle sales were down 13% year-over-year on a seasonally adjusted basis (SAAR).

“We estimate the September used SAAR to be 36 million, down from 40.9 million last September and down compared to August’s 36.5 million SAAR,” Cox Automotive said in a press release. “The September used retail SAAR estimate is 19.5 million, down from 21.7 million last year and flat month-over-month.”

Cox’s research suggests that consumers have been discouraged by an inability to find a new car and higher prices for used vehicles. It says plans to purchase a vehicle in the next six months declined to the lowest level in eight months and was much lower than a year ago. 

But for consumers who are able to find a new vehicle to their liking, there may have never been a better time to trade in a used car or truck.

Playing off of last year’s success with its 12 Days of Wine Advent Calendar, Sam’s Club has decided to try out wine delivery in advance of the holiday season.

Starting soon, Sam’s Club members in 16 states will have access to the delivery service. It will allow them to order the retailer’s private brand Member’s Mark wines online at SamsClub.com and have them shipped directly to their home. Additional states and wines will be added to the service early next year.

How good are Sam’s Club wines?

Banking on the success that Trader Joe’s had with its Two-Buck Chuck, larger retailers have gone all-in on private brand wines over the past few years. Target, Kroger, Walmart, and Costco all want a piece of the budget line action. For example, Sam’s Club’s big brother Walmart rolled out 10 private-label wines for $11 a bottle a few years ago in a line called the “Winemakers Selection,” featuring wine from California, France, and Italy. 

In a survey of how good Sam’s Club’s Member’s Mark wines were, ConsumerAffairs found lots of positives -- and a few sour grape reviews too. Its members seem to love its Old Vine Zinfandel -- 4.4 stars for a bottle retailing at around $7. But it’s the $9 Member's Mark Moscato d'Asti that appears to be the overall favorite, getting a near-flawless 4.9-star rating.

In a taste test of seven of Sam's Club Member's Mark wines, BusinessInsider taste testers were split on the quality of the overall selection. The Moscato d’Asti got good reviews with that group too, but another white wine -- the $7.98 Prosecco -- was a good price in the testers’ opinion, calling it a "steal" and a "decent value." 

It was the red wines where the biggest dissension came into play. The Member's Mark Malbec appeared to be the most polarizing product. Descriptors that reviewers used included "fruity," "light," "watery," and "nutty." Two of the tasters labeled the wine as "bitter," while two others raised a glass and applauded it as very "drinkable."

The future looks good for private label wines

Even if you’re someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience with wine, taking advantage of the price points on some of the above retailers’ private brands is a low-risk way of raising your game.

“These days, you don't have to know a lot about wine to take home a good bottle,” ConsumerAffairs’ Mark Huffman wrote in an article about private label wines that big box stores and grocers are carrying. “If the supermarket chain carefully chooses the wine it sells under its own label, the consumer is assured of a good product without having to know much at all about wine.”

The numbers speak for themselves. The winner in the Product of the Year USA’s wine category in 2020 was not a brand name wine from one of the well-known vineyards, but rather a $10 Quarter Cut Bourbon Barrel-Aged Cabernet Sauvignon sold exclusively at Aldi.

“Many of our award-winning wines are less than $10, which proves quality doesn’t always mean expensive,” said Joan Kavanaugh, vice president of national buying services at Aldi U.S.

A new study conducted by researchers from the Institute for Operations and the Management Sciences explored the wide-ranging effects that come with raising the minimum wage. 

While a higher minimum wage is beneficial because it encourages stronger work performance from employees, the researchers found that it also changes how consumers view businesses. Overall, the researchers learned that customers had a more positive view of a business when its minimum wage is higher.

“Our primary question was to determine whether a minimum wage increase leads to an increase or decrease in consumer opinions of service quality,” said researcher Dinesh Puranam. “We found that generally, when workers are paid more, they deliver better service. Customers respond by reducing negative feedback on restaurant review platforms.” 

Benefits of higher minimum wage

For the study, the researchers analyzed nearly 100,000 online reviews that included opinions on over 1,700 restaurants in Santa Clara County in California. The study focused on this area because the minimum wage rose by 25% throughout the county in 2013. The researchers analyzed customers’ responses to restaurants, comparing how locally and nationally owned establishments stacked up against each other. 

Ultimately, the study showed that having a higher minimum wage changed how customers perceived restaurants. When the minimum wage was higher, consumers were less likely to leave bad reviews online. 

However, this wasn’t true for all businesses. Locally owned businesses experienced fewer negative reviews than nationally owned restaurants. Customers reported better service in these restaurants and better overall quality. 

“Locally-based independent restaurants have greater ability to monitor and manage individual employee performance when compared to national chains, where process-driven cultures allow little room for local variance in quality,” said researcher Vrinda Kadiyali. 

The researchers hope that independent restaurants use these findings to their advantage. Offering more than the minimum wage is likely to attract more employees and encourage them to work harder, which really pays off for customers. 

“Our research suggests that independents’ can improve their success by providing a better customer experience through improved service,” said researcher Vishal Narayan. 

Recent studies have found that employees are more likely to perform well at their jobs when employers have good listening skills. Now, a new study conducted by researchers from Penn State found that managers who have good listening skills may also be able to help lower their employees’ stress levels. 

The team’s findings showed that workers often feel less worried about their job security when their bosses are active listeners. 

“Our work suggests that employees are sensitive to even small changes in a manager’s listening when their job is potentially on the line,” said researcher Tiffany Kriz. “People tend to take note of what their managers do at any time, but in an environment of uncertainty they are paying even closer attention to what their managers do. A change in listening quality can send a powerful signal to the employees, while also helping them process the situation they find themselves in.” 

Easing employees’ stress levels

The researchers surveyed nearly 300 employees at a real estate firm that was planning on restructuring its employee base. Participants answered questions about their worries and stresses over job insecurity, as well as their typical conversation styles with their bosses and how that makes them feel. 

Ultimately, the researchers learned that employees are less likely to be stressed about losing their jobs when they feel they’re being listened to and their concerns are being heard by their managers. The researchers explained that active listening helps employees feel supported, which can make them feel hopeful about the future instead of insecure or stressed.

“Managers in organizations generally do not have control over whether layoffs occur or who will get laid off,” said researcher Phillip Jolly. “Unfortunately, when layoffs are imminent, managers often become withdrawn because they do not possess more information about the future than their employees. Fortunately, there is something managers can do to support their employees’ well-being. They can increase their active listening about employees’ concerns.” 

Attention, comprehension, and acceptance are key

In order for managers to achieve this with their employees, the team identified three major ways to engage in active listening: attention, comprehension, and acceptance. In a serious conversation, utilizing these skills can help employees feel valued in the workplace and reassure them that their concerns are being taken into consideration. 

The researchers found that employees who felt stressed about their futures for long periods of time were affected both physically and mentally. Study findings showed that stressed employees didn’t perform as well in their positions, and the additional stress impacted their appetites, blood pressure, and overall job satisfaction. 

“The active listening described in this research can be applied in families or non-profit organizations or wherever groups face uncertainty,” Jolly said. “Listening is a powerful tool in every aspect of our lives. As we look forward to the post-pandemic world, we know that change and upheaval are inevitable in key industries like travel, hospitality, and retail. Hopefully, managers will learn the skills they need to support their employees during uncertain times.”

After being stable for more than two months, the price of gasoline moved sharply higher in the last week, hitting its highest level in seven years.

AAA’s daily price tracker shows that the national average price of regular gas is $2.26 a gallon, seven cents a gallon more than last Friday. It’s $1.09 a gallon more than a year ago. The average price of premium gas is $3.86 a gallon, five cents a gallon more than a week ago. The average price of diesel fuel is $3.43 a gallon, 10 cents a gallon more than last week.

Oil prices have moved higher in the last month as the world finds itself in a growing energy crunch. Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, notes that prices are moving higher despite relatively low demand. He predicts that the national average price of regular could hit $3.30 a gallon next week.

“Global economic uncertainty and supply chain concerns caused by the lingering COVID-19 pandemic could be playing a role in keeping crude oil prices elevated,” said Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson. “But, there may be some relief on the horizon due to the news that OPEC and its allies might ramp up production increases faster than previously agreed.” 

But there was no sign of that relief this week, as nearly every state saw price increases. The statewide average jumped 15 cents a gallon in Kentucky, nine cents in Tennessee, eight cents in Alabama, seven cents in Missouri, six cents in Arkansas, and five cents in Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Texas.

States with the most expensive gas

These states currently have the highest prices for regular gas, according to AAA:

• California ($4.43)

• Hawaii ($4.12)

• Nevada ($3.88)

• Washington ($3.85) 

• Oregon ($3.74) 

• Idaho ($3.73)

• Utah ($3.71)

• Alaska ($3.69) 

• Colorado ($3.53)  

• Wyoming ($3.51)

States with the cheapest gas

AAA reports these states currently have the lowest prices for regular gas:

• Mississippi ($2.87)  

• Texas ($2.87)  

• Arkansas ($2.90)  

• Oklahoma ($2.91)  

• Missouri ($2.94)  

• Alabama ($2.95) 

• Louisiana ($2.95)

• Kansas ($2.96)

• South Carolina ($2.97) 

• Tennessee ($2.98) 

ElliptiGO of Solana Beach, Calif., is recalling about 3,800 ElliptiGO Arc bicycles sold in the U.S. and Canada.

The bicycle frame can break while riding, posing fall and injury hazards to the user.

The firm has received 12 reports of broken frames and 11 reports of cracked frames. Six minor injuries resulting from falls have been reported, including lacerations, abrasions, road rash, and a broken helmet.

This recall involves the three models of ElliptiGO Arc bicycles: ElliptiGO Arc 3, ElliptiGO Arc 8, and ElliptiGO Arc 24.

The Arc 3 model has three gears, the Arc 8 model has eight gears, and the Arc 24 model has 24 gears.

ElliptiGO Arc bicycles are composed of an aluminum frame with the words “ElliptiGO” and “Arc” displayed on each side, a front fork, a steering column attached to handlebars, foot platforms situated on drive arms that are attached to swing arms, a front wheel and a rear wheel, front and rear brakes, and a variety of other components.

The bikes, manufactured in Taiwan, were sold at specialty bicycle and fitness stores nationwide and online at www.elliptigo.com and Amazon.com from November 2015, through December 2020, for between $500 and $1,500.

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled ElliptiGO Arc bicycles and contact ElliptiGO Inc. for a replacement bike, credit, or refund. The amount of credit or refund will be prorated based on the age of the bike.

Consumers may contact ElliptiGO toll-free at (888) 551-0117 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (PST) Monday through Friday, by email at info@elliptigo.com, or online at www.elliptigo.com. Consumers can click on “Arc Recall” at the bottom of the page for more information.

October is turning out to be a bad month for cryptocurrency lawbreakers. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it has created a special team of its own to keep criminal misuses of cryptocurrency to a minimum. 

In the agency’s announcement, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) will not only tackle thorny investigations and prosecutions of criminal misuses of cryptocurrency. She said it will also be especially vigilant regarding crimes committed by virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and money laundering. 

The new team will also assist in tracing and recovery of assets lost to fraud and extortion, including cryptocurrency payments to ransomware groups, such as the one involved in the Colonial Pipeline attack earlier this year.

“Today we are launching the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team to draw on the Department’s cyber and money laundering expertise to strengthen our capacity to dismantle the financial entities that enable criminal actors to flourish — and quite frankly to profit — from abusing cryptocurrency platforms” said Monaco. “As the technology advances, so too must the Department evolve with it so that we’re poised to root out abuse on these platforms and ensure user confidence in these systems.”

Diving deep to find crypto criminals

The NCET realizes that the people behind cryptocurrency crimes can be sneaky, often doing their deeds in what the agency called “dark markets” -- the underbelly of the internet where illegal drugs, weapons, hacking tools, and malware are sold. To get to those people, the DOJ will use the expertise of the Criminal Division to “deter, disrupt, investigate, and prosecute criminal misuse of cryptocurrency, as well as to recover the illicit proceeds of those crimes whenever possible.”

Because those dark markets and bad actors are difficult to find and bring to justice, the NCET said it will foster the development of a higher level of expertise in cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies across all aspects of the Department’s work. 

The DOJ said it isn’t just doing this on a national scale. The new group said it will be providing support to international, federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement authorities that are grappling with these new technologies and new forms of criminal tradecraft.

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

Total‌ ‌U.S.‌ ‌confirmed‌ ‌cases:‌ 44,096,019 (43,990,314)‌

Total‌ ‌U.S.‌ ‌deaths:‌ 708,434 (706,522)

Total‌ ‌global‌ ‌cases:‌ 236,742,215 (236,044,100)

Total‌ ‌global‌ ‌deaths:‌ 4,832,862 (4,820,945)‌

Pfizer seeks to vaccinate children five to 11

Pfizer has filed papers with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval to use its vaccine to inoculate children between the ages of five and 11. Currently, the vaccine is only approved for individuals 12 and older.

If the FDA agrees, young children would receive two injections of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with the second shot coming three weeks after the first. Before a decision is made, the clinical trial data will be reviewed by an FDA advisory committee.

A number of states have traced the rise in COVID-19 cases to various school districts, whose officials have urged regulators to approve vaccinations for children. Schools have emerged as a likely venue for vaccinations, much the way they were for the polio vaccine 60 years ago.

Unvaccinated people with COVID-19 are more likely to be reinfected

If you get COVID-19 and recover, you are likely to gain some immunity from future infection, at least for a while. Researchers at Yale University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte have found that the protection unvaccinated people get from the infection doesn’t last very long.

“Reinfection can reasonably happen in three months or less,” said lead study author Jeffrey Townsend. “Therefore, those who have been naturally infected should get vaccinated. Previous infection alone can offer very little long-term protection against subsequent infections.”

The researchers came to that conclusion by analyzing reinfection and immunological data. They believe they were able to accurately model COVID-19 reinfection risk over time.

Employees more stressed by work than COVID-19, survey finds

Much has been made about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Americans’ mental health. The isolation and disruption to daily routines are often cited as major factors.

But a new survey by The Conference Board shows that 57% of workers who cited mental health issues didn’t trace their problems to worry about the pandemic; they blamed it on their mounting workload. Women are disproportionately suffering from work-related pressures -- at more than 1.5 times the rate of their male counterparts. 

Half of the respondents reported that pressure related to their workloads harmed their mental health. Many businesses in a variety of industries have struggled to maintain pre-pandemic workforces, requiring more work from the remaining staff.

Around the nation

• New Jersey: State health officials say school-based outbreaks are on the rise in New Jersey. The state has experienced at least 69 outbreaks in schools that have infected 319 students and 60 staff members. Overall, Gov. Phil Murphy says the state’s numbers are “going in the right direction.”

• Nebraska: On a statewide basis, the COVID-19 case numbers in Nebraska are falling. Federal health officials say new cases in the state dropped nearly 17% over the past week. As of last Thursday, the 7-day average of cases stood at 670. The numbers are still rising in some rural areas of the state.

• Colorado: The number of COVID-19 patients in Colorado hospitals hit its highest level this week since January, before the vaccine rollout. A frustrated Gov. Jared Polis said reversing the trend would be easy if more state residents would get a vaccination.

• Texas: Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered school districts across the state not to impose mask mandates, but 102 school districts have done it anyway. An analysis by KXAN-TV in Austin shows that districts that have imposed mask mandates have reported fewer cases of COVID-19.

• Illinois: The City of Chicago has fined six more businesses for violations of the city’s mask mandate. Inspectors issued citations to 12 businesses last week. Under the mandate, places of business must require any individual, regardless of vaccination status, age two or older, to wear a mask when indoors in any public place. 

If travel insurance purchases are an indicator of how secure people are feeling about travel during the pandemic, then things are looking good for the travel industry.

According to a study conducted by travel insurance aggregator Squaremouth, travel insurance sales have surpassed pre-pandemic numbers for the first time since the onset of COVID-19. As travel rebounds, the researchers say four new trends have emerged that suggest things are still far from “normal.” 

Travel trends are changing

International travel is approaching pre-pandemic levels. The Squaremouth study found that border closures in 2020 forced travelers to stay closer to home, with over 40% of travelers staying stateside. However, things are starting to loosen up for international travel. Squaremouth’s study showed that by the end of summer 2021, international travel sales had rebounded to roughly 80% of pre-pandemic levels.

Last-minute trips are becoming more and more popular. With international borders reopening, Squaremouth says consumers are changing how they plan their travel arrangements. Instead of planning well ahead of time, the company says travelers are booking last-minute trips abroad. In summer 2021, Squaremouth reported that travelers going abroad purchased insurance just 25 days before their trip.

Baby boomers are still holding back on travel. Prior to the pandemic, travelers in the Baby Boomer and Silent Generation (the one preceding Baby Boomers) comprised nearly half of all Squaremouth customers. Now, the average age of travel insurance consumers is well below historical averages. In summer 2021, only 25% of travelers came from the Baby Boomer and Silent generations combined, while millennial and Gen X travelers grew into the largest travel demographic, each eclipsing 25% of travelers.

The Caribbean is a popular destination. Over the summer, Caribbean destinations proved that they’re still the #1 magnet for U.S. travelers. Prior to the pandemic, Canada, Italy, France, and the U.K. were the most popular destinations among U.S. tourists. Squaremouth says Mexico, Turks and Caicos, and Costa Rica are now the most popular destinations.

How important is travel insurance?

With travel opening back up, ConsumerAffairs reviewers seem happy with the upside of buying travel insurance. For example, Aprell from Georgia recently purchased extra protection for her trip to the Caribbean because she said it made her feel more secure.

“Well, we were traveling outside of the country, and the COVID climate and whatnot, in case anything happens to us, I thought that would be important,” she wrote in her review of Generali Global Assistance. “We were traveling to Panama and so just wanted to make sure if anybody got sick on the trip, needed to be flown back to the US, we had coverage for that."

Nagging supply chain issues have limited imports of a wide range of products, forcing consumer goods to compete for space with industrial and commercial products in the nation’s ports.

Frustrated with backups that don’t seem to have an end, Walmart has begun chartering its own cargo ships. The first vessels are currently moving across the ocean with cargos of Paw Patrol Movie Towers, Batmobile Transformers, and Baby Alive Lulu Achoo dolls.

"Chartering vessels is just one example of investments we've made to move products as quickly as possible," Joe Metzger, U.S. executive vice president of supply-chain operations at Walmart, told Reuters.

Consumers struggle to find out-of-stock items

Supply chain issues have resulted in large gaps in store shelves as a wide variety of consumer products are in short supply. Some shortages are caused by a lack of raw materials that have limited production. Other shortages are the result of a product’s popularity.

Ed, of Moorpark, Calif., said he ordered a toy to be delivered to his grandson as a gift for starting kindergarten. He said the toy was available one day but not the next.

“I called Walmart the night before to make sure all okay,” Ed wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “Talked to Supv, he said all good. Ready to go. Got email at 2:01 am stating out of stock. What happened from the night before?”

Kev, of Port Richey, Fla., went from Walmart to Walmart in his area looking for controllers for his PS4 video game system. He said he found a store online that had a couple in stock, but they were gone by the time he got there. He said he thought he was having the same experience at the Spring Hill Walmart until Stephanie, the manager, intervened.

“After 15 min she came back with a whole cart fully stacked with new shipment boxes with all sorts of products but she thought she had seen the items I was looking for,” Kevin wrote in his review. “Yes she was right. Much appreciated to save me time and more hustle finding those **** PS4 controllers.”

Walmart looks to alleviate shortages

By enlisting its own fleet of ships, Walmart hopes to make it easier to alleviate shortages and to meet consumers’ needs. The challenge, however, may be finding places to unload. 

The Marine Exchange of Southern California reports that more than 60 container ships carrying a wide range of consumer products are stuck outside Los Angeles and Long Beach terminals and are waiting for space to unload.

Just a month after Impossible Foods announced the creation of a plant-based chicken nugget, Burger King has become the first fast-food chain to put it on the menu. At least, it’s going to give the nuggets a trial run.

Starting Oct. 11, Burger King outlets in Des Moines, Boston, and Miami will offer an eight-piece Impossible Nuggets order for a limited time to test the market. It did the same thing two years ago with the Impossible Whopper and enjoyed immediate success. Plant-based Whoppers are now available nationwide.

For the test, Burger King said the nuggets will be fried in oil used for meat and cheese products, conceding up front that the new product may not be suitable for vegans.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve teamed up with Impossible to make waves in the industry,” said Ellie Doty, head of marketing for Burger King North America. “In 2019, we became the first quick-service restaurant to serve the award-winning, plant-based Impossible patty and offer the iconic Impossible Whopper. So, it’s only fitting we’re the first global QSR to test the Impossible Nuggets. We’re excited to hear what our guests in the test markets think of this latest innovation.”

Impossible Nuggets are already available in supermarkets. The company rolled out the new product in early September in hopes of building on the success of its meatless hamburger patty. At the time, the company released details of a blind taste test conducted among consumers in the Dallas area. It said seven out of 10 consumers, described as meat-eaters who also occasionally consumed plant-based meat, preferred the Impossible Nuggets.

Other restaurant deals

Impossible Foods already has deals with other restaurants outside the fast-food category. Among the restaurants that will soon be offering Impossible Chicken Nuggets are David Chang’s fried chicken concept Fuku in New York City; Marcus Samuelsson’s comfort food eatery Red Rooster in Harlem and Miami; Sean Brock’s fast-food tribute Joyland in Nashville; Tal Ronnen’s Los Angeles hotspot Crossroads Kitchen; and El Alto Jr., a new family-friendly pop-up from Traci Des Jardins at the new State Street Market in Los Altos, California.

At the same time it will test Impossible Nuggets, Burger King is also rolling out new Ghost Pepper Chicken Nuggets nationwide, but only for a limited time only. The product is made with white meat chicken and spiced with fiery ghost pepper.

A new study conducted by researchers from Children’s National Hospital explored what it’s like for kids to deal with food allergies. Their findings suggest that many kids who have food allergies face threats to their mental health because they tend to get teased or bullied.

“Food allergy-related bullying can have a negative impact on a child’s quality of life,” said researcher Linda Herbert, Ph.D. “By using a more comprehensive assessment, we found that children with food allergies were bullied more than originally reported and parents may be in the dark about it. 

“The results of this study demonstrate a need for greater food allergy education and awareness of food allergy-related bullying among communities and schools where food allergy-related bullying is most likely to occur.”

Bullies taunt and intimidate children with food allergies

The researchers came to their conclusions after analyzing questionnaire responses from over 120 parents and 120 children between the ages of 9 and 15 with a significant food allergy. The kids answered questions about their social-emotional experiences with food allergies, and their caregivers did the same. 

Ultimately, nearly 20% of the children reported that they had been bullied because of a food allergy. However, only 12% of parents knew this was an issue. 

Of the children who were bullied, verbal teasing was the most common way that the kids were affected. In these cases, bullies weren’t physical; instead, they tended to mock kids for their allergies and tried to intimidate them. In 55% of bullying cases, children were taunted with food items that they were allergic to. Bullies would throw the food at them, wave it in their faces, or bring it in or near their food. 

The researchers hope these findings highlight the ways that kids are impacted by their food allergies when they’re at school. Being aware of the issue is important for caregivers so they can try to provide the right support.

“It’s important to find ways for children to open up about food allergy-related bullying,” Dr. Herbert said. “Asking additional specific questions about peer experiences during clinic appointments will hopefully get children and caregivers the help and support they need.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard explored the medical benefits associated with massaging sore or injured muscles. 

After conducting a study on mice, the researchers learned that massage is helpful in both shortening recovery time and helping muscles become stronger. 

“Lots of people have been trying to study the beneficial effects of massage and other mechanotherapies on the body, but up to this point it hadn’t been done in a systemic, reproducible way,” said researcher Bo Ri Seo, Ph.D. “Our work shows a very clear connection between mechanical stimulation and immune function. This has promise for regenerating a wide variety of tissues including bone, tendon, hair, and skin, and can also be used in patients with diseases that prevent the use of drug-based interventions.” 

Reaping the benefits of massage

For the study, the researchers created a device that mimics a massage gun that they could use on mice. The team used the massage gun on the mice’s legs while simultaneously using an ultrasound to determine what the device was doing internally to the muscles. 

After using the device on the mice for two weeks straight, the researchers could see how effective the treatment was on the injured muscles. The results showed that using the massage gun was associated with less muscle fiber damage. In fact, the treatment helped a greater area of the muscle fiber heal faster when compared to untreated muscles. 

The researchers also learned that when greater pressure was applied on the massage gun, the muscles recovered stronger than before. 

How does recovery happen?

The team conducted another experiment to determine why the massage gun was so effective at improving muscle recovery. Ultimately, they learned that applying pressure with the massage gun to inflammatory markers on injured muscles worked to eliminate inflammation. 

“While the inflammatory response is important for regeneration in the initial stages of healing, it is equally important that inflammation is quickly resolved to enable the regenerative processes to run its full course,” said researcher Stephanie McNamara. 

The next time consumers are experiencing sore or injured muscles, the researchers hope these findings come to mind. They say getting a massage or using a massage gun can help reduce inflammation and speed up the recovery process. 

“This provides great motivation for the development of external, mechanical interventions to help accelerate and improve muscles and tissue healing that have the potential to be rapidly translated to the clinic,” said researcher Conor Walsh, Ph.D. 

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

Total‌ ‌U.S.‌ ‌confirmed‌ ‌cases:‌ 43,990,314 (43,867,314)‌

Total‌ ‌U.S.‌ ‌deaths:‌ 706,522 (703,742)

Total‌ ‌global‌ ‌cases:‌ 236,044,100 (235,598,854)

Total‌ ‌global‌ ‌deaths:‌ 4,820,945 (4,812,498)‌

Johnson & Johnson seeks booster shot approval

Johnson & Johnson says it has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization (EUA) for booster shots of its COVID-19 vaccine. The boosters would be given to consumers aged 18 and older who had previously received the company’s vaccine.

The drug company submitted data from clinical trials showing that when a booster was given six months after the single shot, antibody levels increased nine-fold one week after the booster and continued to climb to 12-fold higher four weeks after the booster. The company said the vaccine was generally well-tolerated when given as a booster or primary dose.

"Our clinical program has found that a booster of our COVID-19 vaccine increases levels of protection for those who have received our single-shot vaccine to 94 percent,” said Dr. Mathai Mammen, a top executive at J&J subsidiary Janssen Research & Development.

At-home test kits recalled

Ellume, an Australian company that produces at-home COVID-19 test kits, is recalling thousands of the kits because some have been shown to render false positives. The company said the recall involves 43 lots of the product.

Ellume CEO Dr. Sean Parsons said an internal investigation isolated the cause of the defect and confirmed that this incidence of false positives is limited to specific lots.

“In response, we worked with the FDA to voluntarily remove affected Ellume tests from the market,” Parsons said. “Importantly, the reliability of negative results is unaffected by this issue.” 

Scientists trace COVID-19 link to diabetes

It’s well established that diabetes is one of the underlying health conditions that make COVID-19 symptoms more serious. But researchers now think that one of the lingering effects of having COVID-19 is a higher risk of developing diabetes.

Scientists are trying to determine whether the coronavirus somehow attacks important cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. At the moment, the researchers say the relationship isn’t well understood. However, they say the idea warrants investigation.

"Clearly there's a link, there's some sort of mechanism that makes the diseases fuel one another," Francesco Rubino, chair of metabolic surgery at King's College London, told Yahoo News. "The question is whether new-onset diabetes could be caused by this virus."

Around the nation

• New York: Gov. Kathy Hochul has renewed a push for New Yorkers to be vaccinated, saying it’s the best way to keep kids in schools and people back at work. “We all know the best way to ensure our continued progress is to get more shots in arms,” Hochul said. “If you are still unvaccinated, you are far more vulnerable.”

• Georgia: A federal report credits an increase in vaccinations across the state with slowing the spread of the virus and reducing deaths among seniors. The report said COVID-19 vaccinations may have helped prevent roughly 5,100 new COVID-19 infections and 700 deaths among seniors in Georgia during the first five months of this year.

• New Hampshire: Gov. Chris Sununu is calling for Rep. Ken Weyler, a fellow Republican, to be removed as the House’s top budget writer due to his spread of COVID-19 misinformation. Sununu said Weyler has sent out emails packed with conspiracy theories about the pandemic and the vaccines used to contain it.

• California: New cases of the coronavirus have declined across the state, prompting some local officials to consider easing restrictions. San Francisco officials say they may ease the city’s indoor mask mandate. In a statement, the city's Health Department says it would likely consider settings that are low-risk with low contact rates, as well as places where people are fully vaccinated.

• Tennessee: A new federal study shows that Tennessee has had the most coronavirus-related school closures so far this school year. More than 400 schools in the state have closed for at least one day due to the virus since reopening in August. Tennessee does not allow school districts to enforce mask mandates.

Twitch -- Amazon’s streaming service that’s focused on live video game broadcasts -- has experienced a massive data breach. The hacker responsible for the act says they have taken all the information they found on Twitch, including source code and user payout data, and leaked it online.

The anonymous hacker went further, posting a link to its bounty to 4chan on Wednesday and stating that their reason for leaking their stolen goods was to “foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space” because Twitch’s “community is a disgusting toxic cesspool.”

VideoGamesConsole (VGC), which first reported the hack, verified the leak as legitimate and that the files mentioned on 4chan are publicly available to download.

What to do

VGC advises anyone who uses Twitch to change their password and turn on two-factor authentication immediately. To change your password on Twitch, users can do the following::

• Go to Twitch and log on with your existing username and password.

• Click on your avatar in the top-right corner and choose Settings.

• Go to the Security and Privacy option, locate the option that says “change password,” and complete the prompts to do so. 

VGC recommends that users opt for a longer password when making the change because they tend to be safer. Adding both uppercase and lowercase characters, numbers, and a special symbol or two (like $ or &) can make them even stronger.