Forbes - A Long Time Until Normal

Plus: Federal Reserve promises low interest rates until 2023

Today, the Trump administration released a plan for how it plans to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine when one becomes available. The plan, which aims to begin next year, calls for giving the vaccine first to healthcare workers and people who are more at risk for severe illness. But others are saying that even a push to vaccinate at the beginning of next year may be optimistic. CDC Director Robert Redfield told a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee today that he believes a Covid-19 vaccine won’t be available for most Americans until late summer or early fall of 2021. Even if a vaccine is rolled out as soon as possible, it will still be a long time until things return to our pre-pandemic version of normal. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, chief science officer at the World Health Organization, said this week that it will likely take until at least 2022 for enough people around the world to build immunity to Covid-19 through vaccination that we can resume our “normal life.”

BUSINESS

President Trump slammed Democrats on social media today for not making a deal with Republicans on a new coronavirus stimulus bill. 

Amazon plans to open 1,500 small delivery hubs in cities and suburbs to make online ordering and delivery faster. 

Southwest says it will continue to keep the middle seat open on flights to prevent overcrowding on its airplanes.

SCIENCE & HEALTH

Many nations in Africa have done a great job at controlling the Covid-19 pandemic; why is the Western media surprised at this?

A new UN report shows that school closures have caused some students to struggle to access hygiene products. 

ON THE UPSIDE

If You Want Something Done Right: NYC has decided to take Covid-19 testing into its own hands and stop relying on commercial labs. The city just opened a testing lab that hopes to process 40,000 to 60,000 samples a day.