US: Over 29.8M Cases - 542K Dead - 20.6M Recovered
Worldwide: 118.7M Cases - 2.6M Dead - 94.3M Recovered

Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
Know of any fallen LP exec? Let's remember & recognize.

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 279   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 267
*Red indicates change in total deaths

One Year Ago Our Lives Changed - Forever
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus
a pandemic.
The empty shelves; the people in masks on the bus; the email saying the office would be closed. A year ago, we realized that everything was about to change.

For a brief moment, it felt like we were all in this together. What happened?

One in three Americans has lost someone to the coronavirus.
They have coped with sudden pain and immeasurable sorrow.
One out of 670 Americans has died of the virus. Millions of Americans are adjusting to a new reality without their loved ones that would have been unimaginable only a year ago.
For the bereaved, just as they are trapped in the pandemic, they are trapped in their grief.

The young have lost the old, parents and grandparents who could have lived for decades more.  nytimes.com

Hospitalizations Down 70% From Early January - Lowest Level Since Oct. 20
The country's vaccination effort, seen as key to ending the pandemic, has been accelerating. Newly reported coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, meanwhile, are falling, though they remain at high levels and public-health officials continue to warn against dropping Covid-19 restrictions too soon.

Vaccinations in the U.S. are rising, but hesitancy remains a potential challenge to achieving herd immunity. wsj.com

NRF Request 'Industry Specific Guidance' - Not One-Size-Fits-All
Retailers Express Concern About OSHA Emergency Regulation Regarding COVID
The National Retail Federation today expressed concern about a possible Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) emergency temporary standard regarding COVID-19. NRF urged OSHA to continue to issue industry-specific guidance concerning COVID-19. 

In January, President Biden issued an executive order directing OSHA, which is responsible for establishing workplace requirements, to issue emergency temporary standards for COVID-19 by March 15.

NRF is concerned about the possibly of OSHA issuing a rigid, one-size-fits-all emergency regulation, particularly during a global pandemic that has already imposed substantial economic hardship on businesses. An OSHA regulation - especially one promulgated without the benefit of the normal notice and comment process - could distract from retailers' existing safety efforts that are effectively protecting employees and customers from the dangers of COVID-19. 

NRF submitted a statement ahead of today's House Committee on Education and Labor hearing on "Clearing the Air: Science-Based Strategies to Protect Workers from COVID-19 Infections." nrf.com

Employers Need To Follow OSHA & Biden's Direct Order
States Rejecting COVID Rules Create Employer Problems

Federal mask and other mandates continue to remain in force.

The states of Texas, Wyoming and Mississippi have chosen to discard their legal and regulatory restraints on businesses that were instituted to control the spread of COVID-19, but employers need to keep in mind that federal legal requirements remain in force and need to communicate this fact to their employees.

There is no better example of this than the mask mandates, which these states have on their books but which they have chosen to eliminate.

Attorneys Daniel R. Stern and Elizabeth Voss of the Dykema Gossett law firm say the Texas governor's order may serve to encourage employees who were opposed to company safety protocols to resist them.

"As was the case before the executive order, and recognizing the possible need for religious or disability accommodation, employees who refuse to comply with any policy or requirement, including a requirement to wear a mask in common areas of the worksite, can be disciplined up to and including termination of employment," they point out.

Brittany Barrientos and Molly Walsh, attorneys with the law firm of Stinson LLP, tell businesses they should not be too quick to change their workplace policies because the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) still requires employers to provide a safe and healthful work environment.

Under a direct order signed by President Joe Biden on his first day in office, the federal agency has issued extensive new guidelines for employers who come under its jurisdiction. Employers should provide all workers with face coverings (that is, cloth face coverings or surgical masks), unless their work task requires a respirator. ehstoday.com

As Texas opens up 100%, the Dallas grocery scene stays 99.9% masked up
Shoppers went about their errands on Wednesday morning and continued to wear masks just as major retail companies asked them to do.

A sweep of several grocery stores in Dallas on Wednesday found that shoppers are abiding by individual retailers' rules to continue wearing masks.

Wednesday marks the first day that Texas is 100% open, based on Gov. Greg Abbott's order last week. Requirements that became routine in the past year and were designed to stop the spread of COVID-19, such as capacity limits and mask wearing, are lifted in Texas.

"He's left it up to the stores and the people. We're not children," Morgan said. "We're smart enough to handle this."

Later Wednesday afternoon at some of Dallas' popular shopping centers - NorthPark Center, The Shops at Park Lane, The Plaza at Preston Plaza and Preston Center - the scene was similar. Shoppers wearing masks.

People were mostly masked but some noses were hanging out. Only a handful of people were seen late Wednesday afternoon at NorthPark with no masks in hand or even hanging around their necks. dallasnews.com

L.A., Orange counties dramatically improve COVID rates, await word
on major reopenings
Some of California's biggest counties are now closer to a wider economic reopening than they've been in months, with only a smattering of strategically deployed COVID-19 vaccines standing between them and the ability to resume on-site dining and welcome additional students for on-campus learning.

According to new state data released Tuesday, Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties recorded coronavirus case rates low enough to enable them to escape the strictest, or purple, tier of California's four-tier reopening roadmap. The timing of when they officially land in a less restrictive category, however, hinges on how quickly vaccine can be administered to residents of some disadvantaged areas.

Under the existing criteria, none of L.A., Orange or San Bernardino counties would be in position to advance from the purple tier this week.

Though the red tier is the second-strictest of California's reopening plan, reaching that category still affords far wider opportunities for business and other activities to resume.

Counties in the red tier can allow indoor restaurant dining and movie theaters to reopen at 25% capacity or up to 100 people, whichever is less. In-person classes also would be allowed to resume for students in grades seven through 12

Indoor gyms and dance and yoga studios can open at 10% capacity. Museums, zoos and aquariums can open indoor activities at 25% capacity, and nonessential stores and libraries can open at 50% capacity, up from 25%. latimes.com

McKinsey & Company
COVID-19: Implications for business

COVID-19: Briefing note #45, March 10, 2021

After a year of COVID-19, women in the workplace want out, and companies seek growth in all directions. Here's one of the more intriguing statistics from last year's Women in the Workplace research: 77 percent of men think they share the load at home equally with their partners, while just 40 percent of women agree. Sounds like the guys have some "splainin" to do. Given that imbalance, and the enormous burden (three hours a day, or more) that COVID-19 has added to women's workload, it may be less surprising that one-quarter of women in corporate America are thinking about leaving. Senior partners Alexis Krivkovich and Lareina Yee dig into the details, in the latest edition of The McKinsey Podcast. And our salute to International Women's Day charts the impact to date and hints at the way forward. mckinsey.com

More Calls For Help Protecting Retail Workers in the UK
UK: Usdaw renews call for law to protect shopworkers
Retail trade union Usdaw has renewed its call for legislation to protect retail staff after its research reveals that 79% of shopworkers say abuse was worse last year.

The final results of Usdaw's 2020 survey of 2,729 shopworkers across the UK found that: 88% experienced verbal abuse, 60% were threatened by a customer, and 9% were assaulted.

Paddy Lillis, Usdaw general secretary, said: "Our latest survey results clearly show the scale of the appalling violence, threats and abuse faced by shopworkers and demonstrate the need for a 'protection of shopworkers' law. It has been a terrible year for our members, with almost 90% of shopworkers suffering abuse, two-thirds threatened and nearly one in ten assaulted. We are saying loud and clear that enough is enough, abuse should never be part of the job.

"The UK government has persistently opposed new legislation, offering little more than sympathy and objecting to the Alex Norris protection of shopworkers bill in the House of Commons. However, we had a great result for our members in Scotland, as MSPs voted through ground-breaking legislation to give shopworkers the protection they deserve. We are now looking for MPs to support key workers across the retail sector and help turn around the UK government's opposition."

Usdaw's research can be downloaded here. talkingretail.com

Just a Word About Safety
Never Before Has That Word Meant More than Now!
For decades it was relegated to the bottom of the stack of priorities and even then it was rarely invested in and over the last couple of decades we saw those functions become one-person jobs with third-party insurers and some LP folks auditing certain aspects of the store-level safety requirements. But it's never been a top of the list necessity like it is today. And quite frankly, we don't see it changing for some time.

While retailers may not go filing new safety positions, they'll never lose their focus on illness. Something that needed more attention for years and now we have it.

Now it's up to each executive to lead by example and adopt best practices about their own health and about the health of their co-workers. Do you have a formal program established?

A perfect example of this is over at Chipotle, where employees are actually rewarded for notifying the corporate hotline when a co-worker reports to work ill. One of many practices they developed in response to the food poisoning deaths they experienced a couple of years ago. Please - Let's keep them all safe out there! Just a thought. -Gus Downing

Target Rolls-Out Hybrid "Flex for your Day" Work Approach
Target to give up one-third (1 million square feet) of its office space
in downtown Minneapolis
The largest employer in downtown Minneapolis doesn't need as much space because it will allow workers to work from home more often.

Target, the largest employer in downtown Minneapolis, announced this morning that it will move out of the City Center building. The company is the building's largest tenant, leasing nearly a million square feet of office space in the 51-story downtown skyscraper. In exiting City Center, Target will reduce its office space downtown by about one-third.

Target's City Center offices have been sitting mostly empty in the last year as the retailer, like many corporate employers, have transitioned to working from home. About 3,500 of Target's 8,500 downtown Minneapolis employees worked in City Center before the pandemic. Transferring to the other campuses.

Last month, Target told employees that it was postponing its return to the office to this fall, after previous expecting to come back in June.

The move is the first by a major Twin Cities employer to signal that office centers like downtown Minneapolis will be vastly different from what they were before the pandemic. It is likely to affect mass transit patterns, real estate values and the futures of other downtown businesses.

In an e-mail to Target employees, Melissa Kremer, Target's chief human resources officer, said that the company is reimagining the future of work at headquarters and will adopt a hybrid "Flex for your Day" approach in which employees will be able to work remotely as well as in person at the office as they "gradually return to headquarters" later this year. But the reality is that "Flex for Your Day" will require less office space, so we'll be ending our City Center operations in downtown Minneapolis." startribune.com

   Ripple Effect - Who's Next in Reducing Office Space?

From Hero to Zero When it Comes to Vaccines?
They were hailed as heroes. But food store workers still await vaccine
eligibility in many states
The country clapped for them on Friday evenings from their front doors, porches and open windows, vowing they'd never take an essential worker for granted again.

And yet, perhaps when it matters most, workers in grocery stores, convenience stores and bodegas still remain ineligible by occupation for the COVID-19 vaccine in Massachusetts and many other states - despite the hundreds, even thousands, of individuals they encounter during any given week.

Groups of public-facing workers are adrift in the vaccine frenzy in many states, as officials seek to prioritize older individuals with the highest rates of death from the coronavirus. But time and again, data shows that people of color and immigrants, who are disproportionately represented in these essential industries, are also disproportionately impacted by the virus.

Food store workers - who have manned cash registers and stocked shelves all pandemic without reprieve - have ultimately fallen by the wayside as Massachusetts shuffles around its vaccine phases and reprioritizes certain populations.

Higher rates of COVID-19 have been found in communities with greater percentages of workers in essential services, said a February data brief from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health focusing on food stores and urban transit employees. The same data shows people of color are overrepresented in both lines of work. telegram.com

NYC faces crisis of empty hotels amid COVID pandemic
Recently, seven hotels have been forced to go into foreclosure and were placed up for auction.
The seven hotels are from a variety of neighborhoods including Times Square, Chelsea, Herald Square and the Financial District, operating under the Holiday Inn, Hampton Inn and Candlewood Suites brands. Sold for 40% of value to one developer. nypost.com

NYC expands indoor dining to 50 percent capacity

RFID Enabling the Digital Transformation
How RFID Powers Retail: Past, Present and Future
The technology is a valuable tool supporting consumer-driven innovation, and it can help retailers and brands sell more products, whether during periods of economic prosperity or in times of crisis.

It has not always been announced with great fanfare, but the retail industry is increasingly turning to radio frequency identification (RFID) as more benefits are uncovered. With supply chain visibility and inventory accuracy continuing to grow in importance, RFID has gone from being "nice to have" to being foundational to the ecommerce models that are critical for the survival of retail companies today.

While the use of RFID in retail had a brief hiatus in the early 2000s, the industry has been encouraged by lower implementation costs. Early adopters have proven that the technology can provide a significant return on investment. In fact, according to a recent Accenture study, 92 percent of the 50 North American retailers surveyed said they are either piloting RFID or have reached full adoption, up from 34 percent in 2014.

More recently, as the industry reels from the impact of coronavirus and social distancing, the digitization of the supply chain, including the use of RFID, could help those companies utilizing the technology to emerge from the crisis with greater efficiency. RFID is also being extended for item-level identification as part of future-forward innovation plans, such as the adoption of blockchain for increased transparency

Let's take a closer look at the reasons why RFID has been thriving-past, present and future-including how it will continue to play a supporting role in a post-COVID-19 world, and how it shows promising signs of supporting and integrating with emerging technology. rfidjournal.com

These Businesses Thrived in Lockdown. Can They Keep It Up Now?

As the economy starts to return to normal, companies that prospered during lockdowns brace for a shift in spending

Businesses from DoorDash and Etsy to Lowe's Cos. and Kellogg said they are bracing for the prospect that spending will shift again as people indulge pent-up demand for eating out, traveling, attending concerts and other activities that have been heavily limited.

Sales at home-improvement retailer Lowe's rose 24% last year, the fastest pace in two decades, as homeowners remodeled bathrooms, built decks and completed other improvements to the houses they spent so much time in. For this year, Lowe's has laid out three projections for the coming year. All anticipate a decline in revenue, ranging from 2% to 7%. Chief Executive Officer Marvin Ellison has said the company will emphasize gaining market share and improving profit margins. "2021, to state the obvious, is a very difficult environment to forecast," he said late last month. wsj.com

Editor's Note: The only constant will be the continued growth of online sales and home delivery. Those two channels will continue to thrive if not continue exploding even at a faster pace.

Opioid Overdose Deaths Becoming Common Place at Workplace
Addressing Opioid Overdose Deaths in the Workplace
On average, 115 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, according to 2017 data from Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Since then, the United States has experienced a surge of overdose deaths during the 2019 novel coronavirus disease pandemic, according to a CDC health advisory issued in December of 2020. Some states have reported an increase in opioid deaths as high as 98%.

Overdoses are becoming increasingly common in the workplace. Naloxone can reverse many of the potentially fatal side effects of an opioid overdose. Having naloxone on hand can provide a tool that a workplace can use while waiting on first responders to arrive on the scene.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed this video based on our fact sheet (https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2019-101/default.html) to help employers decide if having naloxone available is right for their workplace. It provides a series of steps for employers to consider when deciding whether their workplaces should make the overdose reversal medication available on-site in the event of an overdose. It also gives employers and workers information on how to implement and maintain a workplace naloxone program. news-journal.com

Using Naloxone to Reverse Opioid Overdose in the Workplace: Information for Employers and Workers | This video can also be viewed here

Retailers Will See An Immediate Impact
Covid-19 Stimulus Package Is a Boon for Business
Legislation gives consumers more money to spend but doesn't force companies to raise workers' wages

Executives and economists said that unlike the last round of stimulus payments, which came in the midst of lockdowns and heightened economic uncertainty, these checks are more likely to flow into the economy as families face fewer financial constraints, more people are vaccinated and restrictions on travel, dining and other activity are lifted.

"All this money is coming in, and a lot of it is going to get spent," said Jeff Aronson, co-founder and managing principal of investment firm Centerbridge Partners. "Obviously that has huge implications" that are good for the economy, businesses and consumers, he said.

The Business Roundtable, which counts the chief executive officers of dozens of the biggest U.S. companies as members, said Wednesday, "While we advocated for a more targeted approach, enactment of this package will help deliver urgent resources to strengthen the public health response and provide assistance for individuals and small businesses hardest hit by the pandemic."

Companies that have been hurt by the pandemic or rely directly on robust consumer spending for sales, such as small restaurants and retailers, cheered the bill's passage. The National Retail Federation, Consumer Brands Association, National Restaurant Association and Independent Restaurant Coalition supported the bill.

The bill includes $28.6 billion in potential grants to small restaurant companies.

Past pandemic stimulus packages have led to higher spending, boosting retailers and other companies. Visa CFO said "when stimulus checks hit, you immediately get the impact." In January, the checks led to a big surge "in our debit business in the first couple of weeks," he said. wsj.com

ReposiTrak Announces Food Traceability Leadership Consortium (FTLC) to Address Proposed FDA Regulations
Forming the Food Traceability Leadership Consortium (FTLC) to help food retail industry leaders collaborate on the development of open, low cost, easy to use food tracing technology. The consortium is an invitation-only group of food retailers, wholesalers and select suppliers. businesswire.com

St. Patrick's Day spending to total $5.1 billion nationwide


Quarterly Results
Build-A-Bear Q4 e-commerce sales up 104%, total sales down 10.4%, FY 2020 e-commerce sales up 133%, net retail sales down 23%