Month: July 2020

Ahead of tomorrow’s June non-farm payrolls, consensus expects an increase of 3.1 million jobs, however with great uncertainty across estimates. Here is the rest of consensus expectations from tomorrow’s report:

• Nonfarm Payrolls exp. 3mln (range 405k to +9mln, prev. +2.51mln);
• Unemployment rate exp. 12.3% (range: 10.1- 15.5%%), prev. 13.3%;
• U6 unemployment prev. 21.2%; Participation prev. 60.8%;
• Private payrolls exp. +2.9mln, prev. +3.01mln;
• Manufacturing payrolls exp. 311k, prev. 225kmln;
• Government payrolls prev. -585k;
• Average earnings M/M exp. -0.7%, prev. -1.0%;
• Average earnings Y/Y exp. +5.3%, prev. +6.7%;
• Average workweek hours exp. 34.5hrs, prev. 34.7hrs.

According to Standard Chartered’s Steven Englander, dropping the top and bottom 10% of payrolls forecasts still leaves a central range of 1.65-5.00mn jobs, an extremely wide band that reflects the multiplicity of shocks hitting US labor markets.

According to NewsSquawk, the March and April jobs reports saw a cumulative 22.1 million jobs shed from the US economy, and as such, analysts will be looking at the cumulative pace of recovery too; if the June consensus is realized, we will have seen around 5.5 million of those jobs return highlighting the uphill task the economy faces in ‘normalizing’.

Meanwhile, the jobless rate is seen falling to 12.3%; the Fed has projected that rate would fall to 9.3% by the end of this year, and fall further to 6.5% at the end of 2021. Analysts will pay particular attention to the participation rate, given the long-term impact participation can have on employment and wage growth levels. Heading into the data, we are deprived of some of the usual proxies we monitor to gauge the US labor market conditions; benchmark revisions diminishes the usefulness of the ADP survey, while we do not have a complete set of business surveys (notably, the services ISM will be released after the jobs report), leaving a degree of uncertainty around projections.

As Englander adds, the consensus for job gains reflects a drop in weekly initial unemployment claims and a clear but more modest drop in continuing unemployment claims, as well as less established mobility and restaurant reservation data. Even with COVID-19 resurgence fears, activity indicators were much higher in the June survey week than in May.

According to the strategist, given the multitude of stimulus programs in place, a weak number is unambiguously weak. The ambiguity lies in how much the job maintenance requirements of some programs induce temporary hiring. A strong number could reflect economic improvement or fiscal incentives to hire. Job losses have taken employment back to 2011 levels. The Fed worries that workers will be laid off if programs are scaled back, so it will likely maintain an aggressively stimulatory policy stance.  That said, once benefits start tapering out after the month of July, a second wave of mass layoffs is widely expected unless the imminent fiscal cliff is not refreshed with trillions in new stimulus.

In its preview of the payrolls, report, Goldman writes that the bank will again pay special attention to the number and share of workers on temporary layoff, which spiked to a record high 18.1mn in April and remained elevated at 15.3mn in May. Over the last 50 years, the three recessions with the highest share of temporary layoffs were followed by the fastest labor market recoveries (both absolutely and relative to consensus forecasts at the time). If year-to-date job losses remain concentrated in this segment, it would increase the scope for continued rapid payroll gains this summer.

On the other hand, if the BLS fixes the “survey error” its admitted to have made in previous months which reduced the unemployment rate by up to 3%, it is possible that a far worse number could be reported tomorrow.

To this effect, Goldman also expects that about half of the 4.9mn excess workers that were employed but not at work for “other reasons” in May will be reclassified as unemployed in the June household survey, applying upward pressure on the unemployment rate. Additionally, Goldman expects the labor force participation rate increased as business reopenings encouraged job searches. Correcting for misclassification of unemployed workers, the bank estimates the “true” unemployment rate declined more significantly, but to an even higher level (-2.4% to 14.0% in June from 16.4% in May).

Below are some other considerations heading into tomorrow’s jobs report:

PARTICIPATION:

Analysts have suggested that in the current environment, the participation rate may hold more informational value than usual. That rate has declined sharply, and since March, there has been a surge in the number of people out of work but ‘not in the labor force’ (so are not looking for a job); UBS argues that they may not have looked because they believed they would be rehired; or they may not have looked because of mobility restrictions; their detachment from the labor force may prove to be temporary. “However, sustained lower-levels of labor force participation have long-running effects on employment probabilities and wages,” the bank writes, “the slow recovery in employment after the last recession was an example, and the path of labor force participation will be key to this recovery.”

INITIAL JOBLESS CLAIMS: In the week which corresponds with the BLS jobs report data, initial jobless claims again disappointed expectations. “It’s not clear why claims are still so high; is it the initial shock still working its way up through businesses away from the consumer-facing jobs lost in the first wave, or is it businesses which thought they could survive now throwing in the towel, or both?” Pantheon Macroeconomics says; either way, it argues that the numbers were disappointing, and serve to emphasize that a full recovery is going to take a long time. It is also worth noting that after the May jobs report confounded expectations, and some reason that the analyst community may have been wrong-footed by putting too much weight onto the weekly claims data, which have recently pointed at only limited improvement in labour market conditions.

ADP: The ADP’s gauge of payroll growth in June disappointed expectations, seeing 2.37mln jobs added versus the 3mln expected; the prior, however, was significantly revised up from -2.76mln to +3.07mln; Moody’s economists said that there is no information in the revisions, which was more a reflection of the benchmarking of ADP data to the official BLS data, adding that the May payrolls were significantly overstated. Indeed, other analysts explain that the ADP data is based on a model which includes lagged official BLS data, which diminishes the usefulness of the ADP data. However, there were some interesting details in the release: leisure and hospitality sectors added 961k jobs as restaurants reopened; health care added 246k jobs, and the housing sector added 394k jobs as demand firms within the market; meanwhile, manufacturing employment was subdued, adding 88k jobs, which might indicate factories are not opening up as quickly as had been hoped. Capital Economics said the data suggests some downside risk to its above-consensus forecast for a 5mln increase in nonfarm payrolls, but notes that a research paper from the Brookings Institute last week argued that the raw ADP microdata, rather than the model-based estimates the ADP publicly release, was consistent with the stronger 5mln rise.

BUSINESS SURVEYS: The ISM manufacturing report saw the employment sub-index jump 10 points to 42.1, the largest M/M increase since April 1961; it was however the eleventh straight month of employment contraction. Nevertheless, three of the six big industry sectors saw expansion as stay-athome orders were lifted, but long-term labor market growth remains uncertain, the report stated, though signs were positive given the moderately strong new order levels and a softening of backlog contraction were encouraging signs. The ISM non-manufacturing data has not been released yet (will be published on Monday), depriving us of glimpse at employment conditions in the non-manufacturing sectors of the US.

CHALLENGER JOB CUTS: Layoffs came in at 170k in June vs the prior 397k. Challenger noted the “job cuts are trending down, as expected, as businesses begin the difficult task of reopening. However, with a resurgence in cases, millions of Americans out of work, and enhanced unemployment benefits coming to an end soon, we may expect more companies to make cuts as consumer and business spending slows.” Of the job cuts this year, COVID has been the main cause, while market conditions and demand downturn have also been cited; both knock-on effects of COVID. The fall in oil prices was cited as the reason behind some of the job losses this year, it adds. The majority of the job cuts in June comes from Entertainment/Leisure companies, retailers were second, services sector third, followed by the automotive sector.

Arguing for a better-than-consensus report:

• Big Data. Alternative datasets generally validate this message, with sizeable increases in mobility data from Google and Homebase and an 8% increase in the employment ratio in the Dallas Fed’s Real Time Population Survey.
• Seasonality. There should be a seasonal bias in education categories to boost job growth by roughly 0.5mn, as some of the janitors and other school staff who normally finish the school year in May and June stopped work in April.
• Job availability. The Conference Board labor differential—the difference between the percent of respondents saying jobs are plentiful and those saying jobs are hard to get—rebounded meaningfully to -3.0 from -12.7 in May and -15.7 in April (but remains in contractionary territory).
• Employer surveys. Business activity surveys improved on net in June but generally remained in near contractionary territory, and the employment components of Goldman’s survey trackers rebounded somewhat less sharply (non-manufacturing +5.2 to 37.6; manufacturing +5.1 to 43.8).

Arguing for a worse-than-consensus report:

• Jobless claims. While initial jobless claims indicate that layoffs proceeded at an elevated pace (averaging 1.8mn per week), continued claims declined by 1.3mn from survey week to survey week. Furthermore, the decline in continuing claims likely understates the pace of job growth because underemployed part-time workers are still generally eligible for benefits (and the $600 benefit top-up increases the incentive to continue to file).
• Census hiring. Census temporary workers are set to decline by 4k in June due to the coronavirus.

Neutral factors:

• ADP. Private sector employment in the ADP report rose by 2,369k in June. While below expectations, the implications of the miss for are clouded by large swings in the statistical inputs to the ADP model this month, in our view. Our main takeaway from the report was the upbeat remarks in the report itself, which presumably is a reflection of the underlying ADP data.
• Job cuts. Announced layoffs reported by Challenger, Gray & Christmas pulled back 51% in June to 182k after falling 45% in May and rising 266% in April. Despite the decline, they remain 304% above their June 2019 levels.

Authored by Jennie Taer via SaraACarter.com,

U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Port of New York/Newark seized a shipment of human hair from China suspected of being “forced labor products,” according to a press release.

The packages weighed nearly 13 tons and have an estimated value of over $800,000.

“It is absolutely essential that American importers ensure that the integrity of their supply chain meets the humane and ethical standards expected by the American government and by American consumers,” said Brenda Smith, Executive Assistant Commissioner of the CBP Office of Trade.

Smith added,

“The production of these goods constitutes a very serious human rights violation, and the detention order is intended to send a clear and direct message to all entities seeking to do business with the United States that illicit and inhumane practices will not be tolerated in U.S. supply chains.”

The hair came from Lop County Meixin Hair Product Co. Ltd., which is located in China’s Xinjiang region, an area where the Chinese government has imprisoned Uighurs, a Turkic-ethnic minority.

The PRC’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang put businesses at risk of exposing their supply chains to forced labor and other abuses. Businesses must do their due diligence to avoid reputational, economic, and legal risks. Don’t be complicit.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) July 1, 2020

In recent days, the Trump administration has expressed condemnation over reports indicating that Beijing is attempting to control the Uighur population through mass forced sterilization, Intrauterine Contraceptive Devices, and abortions.

According to the AP’s extensive investigation into what some are calling the Chinese government’s genocidal campaign, birth rates among the majority-Muslim group have dramatically dropped to unprecedented numbers in recent years.

Rushan Abbas, a Uighur activist living in America who spoke to the Associated Press, warned of China’s human rights abuses in detention camps where she suspects her missing sister is right now.

“This is so heartbreaking for us,” Abbas said.

“I want people to think about the slavery people are experiencing today. My sister is sitting somewhere being forced to make what, hair pieces?”

In May, CBP made a similar detainment of hair, that time synthetic hair weaves, from a company called Hetian Haolin Hair Accessories Co. Ltd. That company is also located in Xinjiang.

Moreover, the two hair companies have both been placed under CBP Withhold Release Orders, meaning CBP can seize the products for suspected ties to forced labor allowing the producer an opportunity to make their case.

Wall Street opened higher on Wednesday as optimism flourished following a positive COVID-19 vaccine headline (one of many we’ve seen in the last several months). It appears the hope and hype of vaccine headlines and President Trump’s pumping of a V-shaped economic recovery could be in the latter innings as confirmed cases surged across the country as governors are pausing reopenings. 

On Tuesday, more than 48,000 confirmed virus cases were reported across the US. Most of the cases were centered in these states – Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress on Tuesday that confirmed virus cases could spike to 100,000 – now resulting in some states to press the pause button or even reversing reopenings.

Many of the states pausing or reversing reopenings are across the Sun Belt region. The emergence of the virus is due to Memorial Day parties. 

Bloomberg notes reversing of planned reopenings could spark the next wave of layoffs, adding that newly hired workers are getting the ax once again. 

Jeffrey Bank, who heads Alicart Restaurant Group, was in the process of reopening his restaurant based inside the Tropicana casino in Atlantic City last week but was greeted by new communication from Governor Phil Murphy that a delayed restart of indoor dining will be seen due to a recent surge in virus cases. 

Bank said he’ll lose $100,000 on the false restart and will layoff 100 people whom he’d just recently rehired.

The surge in cases could derail nationwide reopenings – along with President Trump’s economic V-shaped recovery that he routinely touts on Twitter. Data this week shows Florida’s Miami-Dade County reported its highest numbers of hospitalizations and Houston, intensive-care units soared to 97% of capacity. 

In recent days, Arizona, Florida, Colorado, and Texas closed bars and nightclubs to contain the spread – while Arizona shutdown gyms, water parks, and movie theaters. 

Bahram Akradi, a gym owner in Arizona, said he was furious when the governor’s office told him his facilities had to close for a second time.

“No grocery store has taken our measures,” Akradi said. “No Home Depot has taken our measures. No business has taken the measures we have.”

Ron Smith owns 13 McDonald’s stores in the Las Vegas area, said his dining rooms are closing again due to the emergence of the virus. 

“We were incorrect, meaning the country,” he said, on opening up certain areas this spring. “It’s disappointing,” said Smith. 

He was not hopeful about reopening dining rooms until the spring of 2021. 

It seems a lot of the progress made during the initial lockdowns to flatten the curve are reversing: Lakeland, a Florida city, east of Tampa, has about a dozen restaurants and six bars that fear lockdowns are imminent. 

Jack McHugh, a manger of Lakeland’s mainstays, Molly McHugh’s Irish pub, worries that curfews are coming to the downtown district. 

Bloomberg notes that in states where virus cases are surging, the economy is starting to relapse as consumption plunges. 

Customer transactions at major restaurant chains had been increasing in recent weeks, even if they were still down when compared with last year. However, that momentum reversed itself in the week ended June 21 after infections rose in much of the South and West, according to market researcher NPD Group.

In Arizona, transactions at major chains had roared back and were down only 1% in mid-June from a year ago, but now they’re down 7%, NPD data show. Transactions slipped by five percentage points in both North Carolina and Nevada. – Bloomberg

Teddy Vallee, CIO of Pervalle Global, a global macro research fund, tweeted a chart of confirmed virus cases rising in California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Arizona, and said these states equate to 34% of US GDP.

Goldman Sachs provides some more color via its state-level coronavirus tracker that calculates 40% of the US has now reversed or placed reopening on hold.  

The economic recovery of the US is rapidly changing before our eyes – the overhyped “V” is now transforming to a “U” or “L” or even a Nike Swoosh.  

Authored by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

As the Impeachment Farce neared its pathetic denouement, an optimist might have expected that the virulent Trump Derangement Syndrome infecting the MSM, the Dems and the Washington ruling class would finally die out.

Not at all. It’s back with a vengeance, lurking in the subtext and sotto voce of virtually every headline and utterance from the above precincts with respect to the Covid-19.

Indeed, the entire Covid narrative is so hideously distorted, exaggerated, mendacious and risible as to finally confirm what’s actually been at bottom of the successive waves of RussiaGate, UkraineGate, the Impeachment Farce, the Covid-Hysteria and now the Summer of Race Huckstering, too.

Namely: Orange Man Bad!

It’s as simple and primitive as that. In the present instance, only the filter of Orange Man Bad can possibly explain each new twist and turn of the MSM’s Covid narrative, which has essentially degenerated into a running show trial-like prosecution.

But finally they have gotten so desperate and hysterical that they are just flat-out fabricating, censoring and falsifying the evidence with respect to the so-called second wave allegedly hitting the Sun Belt states.

Their true purpose however, is nakedly evident. They are so infuriated about the Donald’s claims that the virus is abating (it is) and that it’s time to reopen America and get back to business (it really is!) that they are literally attempting to tag him with de facto genocide.

Needless to say, whatever is going on in Texas, Florida and Arizona, it isn’t an eruption of the Black Plague, even if you extrapolate the current elevated level of “positives” for several months into the future.

So let us go back to the basics. Even in the worst hit precincts of New York City, there never was a random sample Grim Reaper marauding through the general population. The very bad numbers of cases and deaths coming from the five boroughs were overwhelmingly the product of a catastrophic mismanagement of nursing and other long-term care homes and other abandoned elderly already afflicted with life-threatening morbidities.

But even then, when you compare the case and death rates per 100,000 for NYC’s three most rotten boroughs – the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn – with what is happening in the major Texas cities, for instance, it’s not the same zip code or even the same planet.

Covid Cases/Deaths Per 100,000 Persons as of June 27:

• Bronx: 3,346/234;

• Queens: 2,867/222;

• Brooklyn: 2,345/198;

• Houston: 567/7.;

• Dallas: 696/13;

• Fort Worth: 500/10;

• San Antonio: 423/5;

• Austin: 549/9;

The media drumbeat in recent days has especially focused on the alleged surge of new cases in Houston/Harris County, featuring the same old hoary prediction of overflowing hospitals and ICUs that turned out not to be true even in NYC – except for a few hospitals at the epicenter of the pandemic in the Bronx for a few peak weeks in March/April.

Yet just like in the case of the flooded NYC hospitals myth, the readily accessible facts with respect to Texas and Houston refute this weekend’s media blitz entirely.

And they also underscore the everlasting laziness and servility of the MSM. After all, if you start with a positive case rate per 100,000 in Houston that is currently only 17 percent of that recorded for the Bronx and a death rate that is only 3 percent of what occurred in the Bronx, why in the world would you even think that Houston is teetering on the edge of a medical calamity?

That’s especially the case if you happen to have the basic knowledge that Houston sports one of the great medical complexes of the entire world. That is, it’s a health care rich community experiencing only a tiny fraction of the Covid case load that happened in NYC.

Beyond that, we are no longer in the horse and buggy age, obviously. Given that patients can be reallocated to other communities if need be, the relevant hospital capacity is not just Houston’s, but capacity in other places around the state that are not experiencing the same level of Covid case increases now occurring in Houston.

So here are the statewide facts: As of June 25, Texas had 54,700 staffed acute care hospital beds, but only 41,950 were being used, implying a occupancy rate of just 76.7 percent and 12,750 empty beds still available.

Moreover, only about 5,000 beds representing 12 percent of the current census were occupied by confirmed or suspected Covid patients. So as of June 25 the state had nearly 2.5X more empty hospital beds than it had Covid patients, notwithstanding the surge of new cases and hospitalizations during the month of June.

In fact, that’s not the half of it. Owing to seasonal factors, the number of empty hospital beds has actually been rising during the spring months even in the face of the soaring Covid caseload.

That’s right. On March 18, Texas had 46,550 occupied hospital beds, reflecting an occupancy rate of 85 percent or well above the 76.7 percent level as of June 25.

But back in March virtually none of these occupied beds were attributable to Covid patients. That’s because at that point there had been only be 83 confirmed Covid cases and 2 deaths reported for the entire state!

By then what happened over the next three months, as the Covid caseload built up from zero to the present 5,000, is that even more beds emptied out due to:

– state orders prohibiting elective surgeries and other treatments;

– normal seasonal declines in occupancy; and

– aggressive reclassification of patients admitted for other reasons as Covid patients.

As to the latter point, it seems that Texas health officials started logging every single COVID-19-positive patient in the state as a COVID-19 hospitalization, even if the patients themselves were admitted seeking treatment for something other than the coronavirus.

As Lindsey Rosales, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Health Services, confirmed recently to an independent investigator:

‘The number of hospitalized patients includes patients with a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 even if the person is admitted to the hospital for a different reason,’ Rosales said.

Moreover, nearly everyone admitted for some other medical condition – and presumably asymptomatic for Covid – gets tested for Covid-19 before other treatments or surgeries are permitted:

Texas Health Resources, one of the state’s largest hospital systems, says on its website that its ‘patients [are] tested before most procedures.’ Elective surgeries and other medical procedures in Texas have gone up in recent weeks as the state has gradually re-opened following its lockdown.

In other words, the first wave of Lockdowns created a huge backlog of demand for elective surgeries and other discretionary treatments, which were banned by state authorities. But once those bans were lifted and people got in the hospital for deferred treatments, they were tested for Covid and became the statistical gruel for the so-called second wave.

But even then, the Texas hospital statistics over the last three months make mincemeat out of the national media’s weekend narrative that Texas hospitals will soon be overflowing into the hallways. To wit, here is the trend of unused acute care beds in the Texas hospital system:

• – 3/18: 8,155;

• – 4/1: 18,411;

• – 4/15: 21,489;

• – 4/29: 19,432;

• – 5/20: 16,035;

• – 5/27: 15,315;

• – 6/3: 15,219;

• – 6/10: 13,271;

• – 6/17: 14,993;

• – 6/25: 12,571

In short, Texas had gone from virtually no Covid cases or deaths on March 18 to 131,917 cases and 2,296 deaths by June 25, but it actually had 56 percent more empty hospital beds on the latter date!

You can’t make this stuff up. The MSM is so intoxicated by Orange Man Bad that it has essentially turned journalism into a kangaroo court of juvenile imprecations.

Nor are we attempting to deceptively drown the case in statewide averages. As of last week, the Houston area alone had 12,458 staffed acute care beds (23 percent of the statewide total), but 2,675 or 21 percent of these were empty; and on top of that they had an additional surge capacity of another 925 beds.

That’s especially salient because the rise in cases in Texas and Houston has generally been among a much younger population than earlier in the pandemic, and the need has been for exactly these kinds of general beds, not ICU beds.

So the fact is, as of last week the Houston area hospitals had just 795 lab confirmed Covid patients, representing just 8 percent of their 9,785 daily census. That also means that given Houston’s 3,600 beds of remaining surge capacity, they could actually accommodate a 4X increase in their current Covid caseload.

As it happened, even the leadership of the Houston health care community finally had enough from CNN, NBC, and the rest of the Covid Calamity Howlers, and struck back this weekend with a resounding denial of this spurious crisis narrative.

For instance, the CEO of one Houston’s leading hospitals, Memorial Hermann, pulled no punches:

We actually still think we have plenty of capacity to meet the demand for Covid, as well as non-Covid patients. We’re always busy in the summertime, and what we’re seeing now is a typical summer for us.

Callender, whose not-for-profit health system has 17 hospitals in the Houston area, stressed that the medical network’s capacity is ‘constantly in flux’ and needing to be managed. ‘But right now, we’re able to do that very well,’ he said.

‘Across our system, we have about 4,000 beds that we can bring into play’ for intensive care, he said. ‘Right now, only about 30 percent are being utilized for Covid care, so we still have plenty of capacity for Covid patients as well as patients who need hospitalization for other illnesses.’

Doctors and nurses also have learned how to better treat Covid-19 patients after three months of its presence, said Callender, who joined Memorial Hermann in 2019.

‘We’re seeing a slightly lower rate in terms of the number of typical hospital bed patients who convert to a need for ICU hospitalization. We’re also using ventilators less frequently,’ he said. ‘We have more drugs at our disposable that we know help limit the severity and duration of the illness. So overall we’re faring better than we did just a couple months ago.’

Likewise, chimed in Dr. Marc Boom, President and CEO of another leading institution, Houston Methodist:

The number of hospitalizations are ‘being misinterpreted,’ said Houston Methodist CEO Marc Boom, ‘and, quite frankly, we’re concerned that there is a level of alarm in the community that is unwarranted right now.’

‘We do have the capacity to care for many more patients, and have lots of fluidity and ability to manage,’ Boom said.

Boom pointed out that his hospital one year ago was also at 95 percent ICU capacity – long before Covid was a thing!

That’s right. Apparently, 95 percent utilization of the ICU is a typical June condition, not the sign of the Covid Apocalypse. And contrary to the heated headlines on the MSM, only about 25 percent of Houston’s fully occupied ICU’s are accounted for by Covid patients.

Again from Boom:

‘It is completely normal for us to have ICU capacities that run in the 80s and 90s,’ he said. ‘That’s how all hospitals operate.’

…the hospital ‘[has] many levers in our ability to adjust our ICU,’ he said, claiming that the hospital capacity regularly reported by the media is ‘base’ capacity rather than surge capacity.

Boom also alluded to hospitals’ ability to turn regular beds into ICU beds as well as to turn recovery, and pre- and post surgical areas into ICU areas if needed as a kind of coronavirus ‘flex area.’

Specifically, there are about 2,200 ICU beds in the Houston service area, but another 500 beds could be added to this after such planned for conversions and re-purposings. And Boom also pointed out an even more salient point:

Boom said overall, hospitals are seeing younger COVID-19 patients, who stay for a shorter period of time, and fewer deaths. Houston Methodist CEO Dr. Marc Boom told CNBC on Monday that the demographics of the outbreak have ‘flipped’ and that the mostly-younger people arriving in the state’s hospitals often don’t require ICU beds, even though many do get very sick.

Finally, there was this rebuke to the smirking CNN anchor, who on Saturday had been bemoaning that the situation was allegedly so desperate that a Houston children’s hospital had been drafted into Covid service at great risk to the children.

Not at all, according to Mark Wallace, Texas Children’s Hospital president and CEO. Actually, this was just part of the systems’ surge plan:

Texas Children’s started accepting adult COVID-19 positive patients this week and is currently operating at a 74 percent ICU occupancy, Wallace said.

‘We have the ability to take care of all of the Houstonians that need a critical care environment, that need to be operated on, or acute care,’ Wallace said.

As we said, the MSM, the Dems and the Washington ruling class are literally rabid with Orange Mad Bad.

The recent ballyhooed Covid surge and hospital capacity crisis in Texas is just one more case in point.

Here we go again: the Taiwan Navy is conducing a show of force live-fire drill Wednesday which involves a fleet of F-16 fighter jets simulating attacks on enemy ships off Taiwan’s eastern coast, according to the country’s national news agency CNA.

Crucially the exercises involve the live deployment of multiple MK-84 general purpose bombs, which are large American-made “heavy unguided bombs” which weigh about 2,000 pounds.

CNA describes of the bomb in what’s no doubt a hugely provocative signal to Beijing: “On impact, the MK-84 can blow apart buildings and other structures. It can penetrate metal up to 38 centimeters and concrete up to 3.4 meters, depending on the height from which it is dropped, and it causes lethal fragmentation across a radius of 370m.”

The free-fall released MK-84 was used widely by the United States in Vietnam and is nicknamed “the Hammer” – given its significant destructive power and blast radius. As it’s unguided it’s also deemed among an arsenal of “dumb bombs”.

Torpedo drills were also said to be part of these newest exercises, though there were no reported live torpedo firings. 

But the Taiwan Navy is expected to carry out its first torpedo live-fire since 2007 on July 15, according to military sources cited in CNA.

Even throughout the pandemic China has of late made multiple intrusions in Taiwan via fighter jets and warships, also during provocative war games meant to answer Taipei and its US backers.