US: 31M Cases - 564.1K Dead - 23.5M Recovered
Worldwide: 128.9M Cases - 2.8M Dead - 104M 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: 275
*Red indicates change in total deaths


Who Is Eligible for Vaccines in Each State

Cases Continue to Climb - But Vaccines Could Limit Death Toll
U.S. Covid cases are on the rise as vaccination pace picks up amid expanded eligibility guidelines
The United States’ Covid-19 cases are trending upward again, with nationwide infection levels far below January’s peak of about 250,000 new cases per day but approaching numbers seen during the summer surge when average daily case counts reached nearly 70,000.

In an effort to speed up the vaccination campaign, many states are expanding eligibility guidelines for who qualifies to get a shot.

About 66,800 daily new coronavirus cases are being reported in the U.S., based on a seven-day average of data from Johns Hopkins University. That figure has been trending upward, raising concerns about a potential “fourth wave” of infections.

The daily death toll has fallen significantly from its winter peak but remains elevated at nearly 1,000 deaths per day, based on a weekly average of Hopkins data.

The vaccine rollout may be a reason for optimism on this front. If the most vulnerable populations of Americans are protected, the death toll may not rise as significantly as it has during prior periods of case count increases. cnbc.com

Covid-19 was third leading cause of death last year, CDC confirms


Retail America Continues to Step Up
Meijer expands COVID-19 vaccinations to all 256 stores

Additional vaccine sites come with expansion of Federal Retail Pharmacy Program

Supercenter retailer Meijer can now provide COVID-19 vaccines at all of its 256 stores in its six-state Midwestern trade area.

Meijer said Monday that it has become a national partner in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 Vaccination in Wisconsin, Illinois and Kentucky. In February, when President Joe Biden announced the program — which distributes coronavirus immunizations directly to pharmacies — Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Meijer was a partner only in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

With the expansion, Meijer said it will be able to administer 150,000 doses this week through clinics held at each of its stores and at off-site clinics. This week alone, the retailer will conduct more than 950 clinics — large and small scale — at its stores, in addition to supporting FEMA in mass vaccination clinics at Ford Field in Detroit and at numerous off-site clinics with other partners, the company reported.

“Our stores and pharmacies continue playing an integral role in supporting their communities across the Midwest during this challenging time,” Meijer President and CEO Rick Keyes said in a statement. “Whether our team members and pharmacists are working with local organizations, coordinating off-site events or hosting large in-store clinics, we’re proud to continue our efforts as a federal retail pharmacy partner in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois and Kentucky as we expand access to these critical vaccines and defeat this pandemic.” supermarketnews.com

Stores Grapple with Vaccination Process
COVID shot scheduling complicates drugstore operations
While millions of coronavirus vaccine doses are available, it could be months until anyone can just walk into their local pharmacy for a dose, a frustrating situation for big chains like Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and CVS Health Corp., as well as their customers.

People still need to make appointments online or over the phone to get vaccinated at drugstores, a policy designed to prevent crowds from forming and help pharmacists manage scarce supplies. The system isn't working optimally and is unlikely to change anytime soon, said Rina Shah, Walgreens vice president of pharmacy operations.

That could hold back sales for drugstores that rely on back-of-the-store pharmacy purchases to drive front-of-store sales of higher-margin items, like beauty products. Masking and social-distancing measures have already hurt the market for cold and flu products, and shots would be another way to get customers in the door. detroitnews.com

61% Have Received 1st Dose or Plan To
Confidence in Covid-19 vaccination keeps rising significantly in the U.S., but pockets of resistance remain, a survey shows.
As eligibility for Covid-19 vaccination rapidly expands to all adults in many states over the next month, a new poll shows a continuing increase in the number of Americans, particularly Black adults, who want to get vaccinated. But it also found that vaccine skepticism remains stubbornly persistent, particularly among Republicans and white evangelical Christians, an issue that the Biden administration has flagged as an impediment to achieving herd immunity and a return to normal life.

By now, roughly 61 percent of adults have either received their first dose or are eager for one, up from 47 percent in January, according to the latest monthly survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Despite the progress, one in five adults (20 percent) said they would either definitely refuse the shot or be vaccinated only if required by their job or school. nytimes.com

Oregon OSHA fines Kevista Coffee $27,470 for COVID-19 violations

No new restrictions in Michigan as COVID cases rise

Targeted frontline workers, first responders eligible to receive vaccine in Pa

How to Do Employer-Operated Vaccinations

Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine protects younger teens

Don’t laminate your COVID vaccination card before doing these 5 things


Unintended Consequences of Remote Work in the COVID Era
Remote Work Is Leading To More Gender And Racial Harassment
Tech workers say they have experienced more harassment based on gender, age and race or ethnicity while working remotely during the pandemic, according to a survey from a nonprofit group that advocates for diversity in Silicon Valley.

The increases were highest among women, transgender and nonbinary people, and Asian, Black, Latinx and Indigenous people.

For example, more than 1 in 4 respondents said they experienced more gender-based harassment. That figure increased, when race and gender identity were accounted for, to 39% of Asian woman and nonbinary people; 38% of Latinx woman and nonbinary people; and 42% of transgender people.

"There's the assumption that once everybody went separately and you were protected in your own home, that you wouldn't see the same level of harassment," she said. "It turned out that actually wasn't the case."

Workers surveyed also reported increases in workplace hostility, defined as behavior that is less abusive than harassment and may not break company rules, but still creates a harmful environment. npr.org

Post-Vaccine Workplace Takes Shape
The hybrid office is here to stay. The shift could be more disruptive than the move to all-remote work.

Citigroup, Ford, TIAA, Target: A growing number of bellwether companies are outlining their hybrid return-to-work plans

The post-vaccine workplace is taking shape, and for many it’s going to be a hybrid model, allowing more remote work but with clear expectations that some days a week will be in the office.

Workforce experts are bracing for a whole new set of post-pandemic upheavals, in some instances more transformative than the unplanned move to working from home last March, with some making efforts to avoid pre-pandemic remote-work mistakes.

“In a lot of ways it’s going to be more disruptive than when we went all remote,” said Brian Kropp, vice president of research at Gartner.

New videoconferencing technology will be added to help in-person and remote workers feel as if they’re on a level playing field. Managers will undergo extensive training to fight against the instinct to give workers in the office preferential treatment. Logistics will be coordinated to ensure those who go into the office don’t get there and find the building empty, perhaps by setting core hours or days for on-site work. washingtonpost.com

Gen X adapts especially well to remote work: report

Wells Fargo, S.F.'s second-largest employer, extends remote work until Sept.
 

Home Depot Fighting ORC with New Technology
Home Depot testing technology to combat organized retail theft as state, federal lawmakers propose laws

The National Retail Federation reports 31 percent of retailers surveyed spotted a significant increase of organized retail crime in 2020.

To combat such organized retail theft some power tools at Home Depot are kept on locked shelves, some are wrapped with security devices around the boxes, and security cameras keep watch on the aisles.

Those tactics, though, haven't stopped organized theft.

"We are working on a very strong strategy to, what we like to refer to as harden the target against these types of folks," explained Scott Glenn, The Home Depot's vice president of asset protection.

An evolving anti-theft strategy the company is now using, Glenn described, is a chip being inserted into power tools from DeWalt and Milwaukee brand tools.  Similar to how gift cards need to be scanned and paid for at a store to activate, the power tools need to be paid for, and then - using Bluetooth technology - the tool is activated.

Tools that haven't been activated won't turn on, according to The Home Depot.

Staff recently showed 11Alive the process of activation, and it only added a few seconds to a typical transaction. The technology is currently part of a pilot program in select Atlanta area stores and in other Home Depot markets.

Glenn added that often power tools stolen from The Home Depot end up in a few different places. One such place is pawn shops. Another place the power tools can end up is online marketplaces - from eBay to Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and a growing list of others.

Currently, lawmakers in Washington D.C. and at the Georgia State Capitol are considering legislation to target high-volume sellers of stolen retail items.

The INFORM Consumers Act introduced this month in the U.S. Senate aims to "prevent organized retail crime rings from stealing items from stores to resell those items in bulk online," according to a release from Republican U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. 11alive.com

The Fifth Avenue Battleground
Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue Mired in $200 Million Retail Rent Fight
Not long ago, major fashion brands were willing to pay ballooning rents just to have a store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. Now the world-famous shopping strip has transformed into a battleground between landlords and tenants seeking a way out of pricey leases.

It’s a side effect of the pandemic that’s plagued New York for more than a year. The foreign tourists who were Fifth Avenue’s lifeblood before the lockdown are gone. So, for the most part, are the office workers who might have stopped at a store while hustling by. Boarded-up spaces and “For Rent” signs are multiplying.

The few merchants looking to sign new leases are demanding deep discounts. Some that have been there all along -- such as the National Basketball Association, Valentino and Marc Fisher -- are embroiled in legal battles with their landlords over unpaid rent.

Along a roughly 20-block stretch of Fifth Avenue, the handful of landlords involved in legal disputes are owed about $200 million. If those tenants walk away, it would mean more vacancies on a corridor that was starting to struggle even before the pandemic.

“The numbers are big,” said Tom Mullaney, a managing director at brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. “If some of the tenants are financially stressed and they lose, it’ll be very painful. Conversely, if some of the landlords are overleveraged and have cash flow issues, it can be traumatic for them too.”

The outcome of these dragged out disputes may have a lingering impact on Fifth Avenue. The corridor is typically a prized and pricey spot to locate a shop alongside the longtime homes of famed luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman, jeweler Tiffany & Co. and the Plaza Hotel. The economic fallout from the pandemic has made that arithmetic more complicated. bloomberg.com

H&M Wiped Off the Map in China - Literally
H&M was wiped from the internet in China, sending a chilling warning to other retailers
H&M's online presence has all but disappeared in China amid a widespread boycott of the Swedish retailer after the recirculation of comments about forced labor made by the company last year.

The company's items were scrubbed from Alibaba, the e-commerce behemoth founded by Jack Ma, and JD.com, one of China's largest online retailers, according to The Associated Press. China's Google Maps-like Baidu Maps platform, as well as Alibaba's map service, also removed the locations of H&M's 500 Chinese stores. Those stores weren't appearing in the Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing either, according to the report, and the H&M app was also absent from app stores.

The disappearance of H&M's online presence represents the power that China can wield over foreign retailers as Chinese companies and consumers boycott the brand and others that are criticizing the government. H&M counts China as its fourth-largest market, according to Reuters, and many in China have taken issue the retailer's comments.

H&M isn't the only international brand to receive backlash for taking such a public stance against Xinjiang-sourced cotton. At least 11 US and European brands, including Burberry, Nike, and Adidas, are also facing fallout. Tencent said it was scrubbing costumes designed by Burberry that were worn by characters in a popular online game, according to the AP. businessinsider.com

Activists pressure Atlanta-based companies like Coca-Cola and Delta to take action against Georgia voting law
Georgia just passed a law with new voting restrictions, and activists opposing the new measures are not satisfied by the broad statements made by companies based in the state.

Activists have criticized the companies for not doing enough to speak out against the bill. "#BoycottDelta" and "#BoycottCocaCola" were each used in tens of thousands of tweets since March 23, The Atlanta-Journal-Constitution reported. "Do not fly Delta. Do not spend money with Delta. Boycott Delta. Ruin Delta," commentator Keith Olbermann tweeted. businessinsider.com

Target to close two stores in the Bay Area

Millions More to Get Stimulus Payments Next Week, I.R.S. Says

End of a Covid era: Delta to stop blocking middle seats on May 1