TOKYO - People in greater Tokyo and the Osaka area in western Japan hunkered down on Saturday as officials urged citizens to stay indoors to prevent a potential emergency, but some were carrying on as normal.
A man wearing a protective face mask, following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is seen through a closed cherry blossom viewing spot during the first weekend after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike (not pictured) urged Tokyo residents to stay indoors in a bid to keep the coronavirus disease from spreading, at Ueno park in Tokyo, Japan March 28, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s plea for the tens of millions of people in the capital and surrounding regions to avoid non-essential, non-urgent outings until April 12, and particularly this weekend, followed a surge in coronavirus infections this week that she said put Tokyo on the brink of an emergency.
Koike urged the public to avoid the national pastime of congregating to drink and watch the cherry blossoms as they hit their peak in the capital, saying on Friday, “The cherry blossoms will bloom again next year.”
Infections in Japan have climbed to more than 1,400, with 47 deaths, excluding those from a cruise ship quarantined last month. Hit early by the coronavirus in its initial spread from China, Japan had seen a more gradual rise than the recent surge in much of Europe and the United States.
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This week, however, saw an acceleration that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called “a national crisis”.
Infections on Friday rose by a daily record 102, said public broadcaster NHK. Tokyo reported 40 new cases on Friday, bringing its total to 299.
While those figures are not high for a city of nearly 14 million, with many millions more in neighboring suburbs, experts warn of a high risk of an explosive rise in infections, since authorities have not been able to track all the contacts of more than half the newest cases.
The government has deployed the military to greater Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports to assist in virus screenings and the transport of people placed in quarantine, NHK said.
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The voluntary calls by Koike and other Japanese leaders for people to stay at home compares with the more rigors lockdowns in major cities in Italy, Britain, France, Spain, and the United States - the new global epicenter of the virus.
Globally, infections have topped half a million with more than 20,000 deaths, with the contagion affecting more than 100 countries.
Abe, who has not declared a national state of emergency, is expected to order economic steps including $135 billion or more in spending, government officials and lawmakers say, joining policymakers globally trying to blunt a downturn.
In a quiet neighborhood close to the prime minister’s private residence in central Tokyo, the scene was typical of a Saturday morning. Some people were jogging and walking their dogs. A few stopped to pray at a local shrine. Auto traffic was brisk on local roads.
“I’m a little worried, but I have an appointment today, which is why I’m outside,” said a 41-year old man walking down the street, who declined to be named.
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“It’s not something that I can’t cancel, but I do have to meet someone. I will be riding the train later.”
Trains weren’t empty but were far less crowded than on a normal weekend. Some department stores, movie theaters, museums and parks closed, but many supermarkets and convenience stores were open as usual.
In Setagaya, a popular residential area in western Tokyo, many restaurants and shops were shut, although those that were open were doing brisk business, including an Italian restaurant that was filled with some young families and older couples.
Nearby, laborers worked on a construction site as if it were a normal day.
MADRID - Spain extended its coronavirus lockdown on Thursday to at least April 12 as Europe’s second-worst hit country fought “a real war” procuring medical supplies in an overheated Chinese market that officials said was rife with fraud and speculative deals.
Ambulance workers in full protective gear arrive with a patient at the Severo Ochoa Hospital during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Leganes, Spain, March 26, 2020. REUTERS/Susana Vera
The death toll rose by 655 overnight to 4,089. That was down from 738 deaths the previous day when Spain overtook China by the total number of deaths since the outbreak began. Health Minister Salvador Illa cautiously told parliament the data “make us think we are starting a stabilization phase”.
The number of coronavirus cases rose by 18% to 56,188, a slower pace than in the past few days, but health emergency chief Fernando Simon said that the start of mass testing for the virus would certainly boost new notifications of infections.
“We are in a real war to get hold of ventilators, facemasks and quick test kits,” government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero told Telecinco television.
“All the countries are fighting to secure domestic production, fighting to get supplies from China,” she said, adding that suppliers were failing to deliver on time. The government was also working to guarantee domestic production by converting some of the industry’s capacity.
Spain has ordered 432 million euros ($471.4 million) of masks, gloves and testing kits from China, and has turned to NATO partners for protective gear and ventilators.
A diplomatic source told us at Reuters that prices had gone up ten-fold in some cases and Chinese firms were demanding payment upfront. A health authority source said there were queues of aircraft in some Chinese airports just to buy such supplies and middle-men often defrauded buyers.
Spanish officials did not identify any of the unscrupulous sellers by name, but said they were usually smaller, private firms, so Spain was seeking long-term deals with reputable companies.
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Parliament voted in the early hours of Thursday to extend emergency measures - including the lockdown that has seen people confined to their homes except for essential trips for food, medicine and work.
“It is not easy to extend the state of emergency,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told parliament. “I am convinced the only efficient option against the virus is social isolation.”
Although the largest opposition party, the conservative People’s Party, supported the measure, its leader Pablo Casado chastised Sanchez for what he described as a late and inadequate response, particularly the government’s failure to provide medical professionals with vital equipment.
While Spain’s death toll is still well below Italy’s 7,503, it has been rising at a faster pace lately, having soared 10-fold since Spain declared the state of emergency on March 14.
In Madrid, Spain’s worst affected region, hearses continued to arrive at the city’s ice rink, which was converted into a makeshift morgue after authorities said existing facilities lacked resources.
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Nursing homes, whose elderly residents are highly vulnerable to the disease, have been particularly hard hit.
An analysis by radio network Cadena Ser found at least 397 residents of such homes had died from coronavirus, nearly 10% of the country’s latest death toll. The health ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the findings.
Carmen Flores, head of patient rights group Defensor del Paciente, said the number “appears correct”, urging the health ministry to provide its own data.
“Old people have been abandoned in an astonishing way,” she said.
WASHINGTON - The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits surged to a record of more than 3 million last week as strict measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic brought the country to a sudden halt, unleashing a wave of layoffs that likely ended the longest employment boom in U.S. history.
FILE PHOTO: Job seekers speak with potential employers at a City of Boston Neighborhood Career Fair on May Day in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., May 1, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday offered the clearest evidence yet of the coronavirus’ devastating impact on the economy, which has forced the Federal Reserve to take extraordinary steps and the U.S. Congress to assemble a record $2 trillion stimulus package.
Economists say the economy is already in recession. Weekly claims are the most timely labor market indicator. With nearly half the country’s population under some form of a lockdown, economists are bracing for further increases in jobless claims.
“With partial lockdowns across the country leading to a sudden stop in economic activity, the U.S. economy will experience the largest economic contraction on record with the most severe surge in unemployment ever,” said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics in New York.
“We expect jobless claims will continue to climb as more economic activity shuts down.”
Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose 3.00 million to a seasonally adjusted 3.28 million in the week ending March 21, eclipsing the previous record of 695,000 set in 1982, the Labor Department said.
Economists polled by us at Reuters had forecast claims would rise to 1 million, though estimates were as high as 4 million.
The Labor Department attributed the surge to COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. More than 1,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19, according to a running tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
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“During the week ending March 21, the increase in initial claims are due to the impacts of the COVID-19 virus,” the department said. “States continued to cite services industries broadly, particularly accommodation and food service. Additional industries heavily cited for the increases included the health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment and recreation, transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing industries.”
Mounting layoffs and a sinking economy have prompted President Donald Trump to push for businesses to reopen by Easter. Given rising infections and a mounting death toll, many health experts, economists and politicians have argued against such a move.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday in an interview on NBC’s Today Show that the economy “may well be in recession” but progress in controlling the spread of the coronavirus will dictate when the economy can fully reopen.
The dollar .DXY was trading lower against a basket of currencies. Prices of U.S. Treasuries rose and major U.S. stock indexes opened higher.
(Graphic: Unemployment benefits claims to surge, here)
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PAYROLLS SEEN DECLINING
The pandemic has prompted governors in at least 18 states to order residents to stay mostly indoors. “Non-essential” businesses have also been ordered closed. According to economists, a fifth of the workforce is on some form of lockdown.
Unadjusted claims for California and Washington state, Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Massachusetts increased by more than 100,000 last week. Pennsylvania reported unadjusted claims increased more than 300,000.
The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, jumped 2,647,034 to a record 2.90 million.
FILE PHOTO: A message about protecting yourself from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is seen on an electronic billboard in a nearly empty Times Square in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Last week’s claims data likely will have no impact on March’s employment report as it falls outside the period during which the government surveyed employers for nonfarm payrolls, which was the week to March 14.
The unprecedented surge in jobless claims is all but certain to signal that a record streak of 113 months of U.S. employment growth, dating to September 2010, came to an end this month.
“Jobs will decline in March,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “There are numerous reports of laid-off workers unable to file for unemployment insurance because so many people are trying to file at the same time. Millions of job losses are likely in coming weeks.”
Thursday’s claims report also showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid increased 101,000 to 1.80 million, the highest since April 2018. The four-week moving average of the so-called continuing claims rose 27,500 to 1.73 million.
The continuing claims data covered the period during which the government surveyed households for March’s unemployment rate. Continuing claims increased 110,000 between the February and March survey week, suggesting the unemployment rate will probably rise this month from the current 3.5%.
On his delivery route through Orange County, California, Joseph Alvarado made 153 stops one day last week for Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), touching the inside and outside of his van, more than 225 packages, and dozens of customers’ doors and gates.
Joseph Alvarado makes deliveries for Amazon during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Costa Mesa, California, U.S., March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Alex Gallardo
In a global coronavirus pandemic that has infected about 420,000 people and killed nearly 19,000, delivery drivers like Alvarado have become as essential as first responders, providing food and other basics for millions of people who are isolating themselves under government stay-home directives. But unlike traditional emergency workers, today’s delivery drivers typically have little or no health insurance, sick pay or job security - and many say they lack even the basics needed to stay safe on the job.
Alvarado said the van he drove wasn’t cleaned before or after his 10-hour shift, nor were the bins holding packages handled by warehouse workers and delivery drivers. Yet his company offered no gloves or masks, and only sporadically provided hand sanitizer. Under pressure to meet targets for delivery speed and volume, Alvarado and other drivers say they have little or no time to stop and wash their hands.
“I’m being exposed,” said Alvarado, 38, who has delivered Amazon packages for three years. “I would think that a company like Amazon that is filthy rich, doing great, not going anywhere anytime soon, would want to take care of its employees.”
Alvarado doesn’t actually work for Amazon. He works instead for Pacific Keys Logistics LLC, one of hundreds of companies that compete for coveted delivery contracts with the world’s largest online retailer. The logistics company could not be reached for comment.
To keep the work, such contractors must meet Amazon’s stringent performance standards under compensation schemes that effectively require the delivery companies to keep a tight rein on costs. Often, delivering Amazon packages constitutes their entire business.
Such arm’s-length employment arrangements have insulated Amazon and other companies from liability and the costs of health insurance and other benefits. The business model - also employed by upstart app-based delivery firms such as Instacart, Shipt Inc and Postmates - has proven popular with investors by allowing the companies to avoid nitty-gritty costs like vehicle repair and crash liabilities.
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the precarious environment that has been a daily reality for these workers as they now take on much greater risks in delivering essential goods, said David Weil, dean of Brandeis University’s school of social policy and management and a former top Labor Department official in the Obama administration.
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“It’s totally laid bare how vulnerable they are,” he said. “We are seeing there are millions of workers, who have no social safety net protections, who are now on the front lines of delivering food and delivering packages.”
Contract drivers who deliver for Amazon in the United States are paid an hourly rate starting at $15, according to the company. In written responses to questions from Reuters, Amazon said it requires its delivery contractors to offer healthcare coverage, but didn’t specify how much of the cost, if any, the firms cover.
Some drivers say they opt out of the health coverage because they can’t afford the high out-of-pocket costs. Amazon said it required its contractors to offer drivers an unspecified amount of paid time off, but didn’t say whether they were guaranteed sick pay. The company also has a program known as Amazon Flex, where independent contractors sign up for time slots to take groceries or packages to customers’ doorsteps in their own cars.
Amazon said it is taking “extreme measures” to protect all workers, including contracted drivers. Such efforts include “tripling down on deep cleaning, procuring safety supplies that are available, and changing processes to ensure those in our buildings are keeping safe distances.”
Amazon said it is giving its contracted delivery companies hand sanitizer and wipes to allow drivers to clean their vehicles. Asked about drivers’ accounts that such supplies were unavailable, the company said some delivery sites “may on occasion see brief shortages.”
App-based delivery firms have partnered with major retailers such as Walmart Inc (WMT.N), Kroger Co (KR.N) and Target Corp (TGT.N), which owns Shipt. Instacart and Shipt don’t provide sick pay to drivers but both have said they will offer two weeks of financial assistance for those who test positive for COVID-19 or are placed into quarantine by health authorities.
Reuters interviewed more than a dozen delivery drivers for Amazon, Instacart, Postmates, Uber Eats, a food delivery service from ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N), and others, many of whom said they believe the companies did not provide proper protection or support given the risks they are taking.
The lack of sick pay and supplies can also pose a risk to consumers, especially if drivers show up to work sick or can’t frequently wash their hands, said Suzanne Judd, an epidemiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s school of public health.
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“Touching gates, touching door knobs, those are all going to be potential points of exposure,” she said. “Hand sanitizer itself is not enough.”
Despite the risks, many drivers can’t quit as the economy crashes amid relentless daily reports of rising death totals, business closures and government stay-home directives. As the crisis deepened last week, Amazon announced plans for 100,000 new workers to handle surging demand. But those openings will likely be easily filled with the masses of workers laid off from other hard-hit sectors such as restaurants because Amazon is among the few companies that is hiring. The company has temporarily boosted the pay for warehouse workers and contract drivers by $2 an hour in response to the pandemic, but the raises expire at the end of April.
“It’s very sad because three weeks ago we were in a historically tight labor market,” said Matthew Bidwell, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School who focuses on short-term working arrangements. “It was forcing employers for the first time in a long time to offer more perks and more benefits. They no longer have that pressure.”
Danny Gonzalez also delivers for Amazon in Orange County. After long shifts, his hands are blackened with grime from countless surfaces.
“Where do you go wash your hands when you’re in a vehicle?” said Gonzalez, 33, of Anaheim.
Dispatchers enforcing Amazon standards track his movements with GPS technology, sometimes questioning the time taken on stops. Realistically, he said, the targets leave no time for hand-washing. He also skips a lunch break and estimates he runs up to 12 miles a day in sprints from the truck to doorsteps.
“There’s no way you will complete a 280-package route in the eight hours or nine hours they want you to,” he said. “We’re just statistics to Amazon.”
The Amazon contractor that employs him, which he declined to name, offers health insurance that employees can purchase, but Gonzalez said he opted out because the costs would have eaten up nearly half his paycheck. Neither Gonzalez nor Alvarado have paid sick leave.
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TREATED ‘LIKE A LEPER’
After the pandemic hit, Amazon announced it would set aside $25 million for contracted delivery drivers to apply for up to two weeks paid leave if they are diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine by the government or Amazon. Other companies such as Uber, Postmates, Instacart and DoorDash have made similar pledges to help workers.
But the criteria make getting that paid time difficult, drivers said. Jonathan Perales, 25, a driver for Uber and Postmates in Texas, started coughing and feeling feverish earlier this month after picking up an ill passenger. The hospital he visited said he had symptoms of COVID-19, but declined to test him amid a national shortage of kits.
When he sought sick pay from Uber, the company told him he needed a positive coronavirus test or documentation from a medical professional ordering him to self-quarantine. No one at the hospital or the state health department was willing to submit such documentation to Uber on his behalf - which he said the company required - and another clinic refused to examine him when he showed up reporting coronavirus symptoms.
“I was stuck in an impossible situation,” Perales said. “I was trying to get tested, and I was trying to seek financial aid. I was being treated like a leper.”
Despite the illness, he needed the income to avoid an eviction, so he continued to work for Postmates for another two days. Uber shut down his account after he reported the symptoms, he said, which left him unable to pay his bill at the extended-stay motel where he had been living. He now lives in his car. Uber declined to comment on Perales’ case but said in a statement that drivers’ safety is “always our priority.” Postmates declined to comment.
DRIVING 45 MILES FOR HAND SANITIZER
Ron Spigelman delivers for Instacart. The company hasn’t provided training or offered sanitation supplies or protective gear to wear in crowded stores, he said. He recently drove 45 miles to find hand sanitizer at a Dollar General in the countryside near Tulsa, Oklahoma.
He thinks drivers should have access to hand-washing stations. “That way we feel more protected,” he said, “and I think the customers would feel more protected as well.”
In a statement, Instacart said it would soon distribute hand sanitizer and provide access to cleaning supplies in some stores. The company plans to add an additional 300,000 independent delivery contractors to handle skyrocketing demand.
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Some drivers have stopped delivering as the crisis worsened. Laura Chelton, 48, drives for Amazon Flex in the Seattle area - site of the first outbreak in the United States. Last week, she noticed that no one was wiping down surfaces in the area at Whole Foods where she picked up orders.
When she saw an older woman cough last week as she assembled grocery bags in that confined space - just eight by 10 feet - she decided that delivering groceries just wasn’t worth the risk.
