US: 32M Cases - 577.1K Dead - 24.6M Recovered
Worldwide: 138.1M Cases - 2.9M Dead - 111.1M 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: 282
*Red indicates change in total deaths

Michigan is the Newest Hot Spot - And It's Getting Worse
Michigan could see its worst Covid-19 case surge yet, official warns
With an alarming rise in new Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, officials say Michigan is now a hotspot for the virus in the US. And it's on track to potentially see a surge in cases "that's even greater than the one we saw in the fall," Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state's chief medical executive, said in a Friday news conference.

Covid-19 cases per million people are four times higher what they were in mid-February. The percent of positive tests are also four times higher than the numbers then.

Virus-related hospitalizations are also climbing, including among patients younger than ever before. In one part of the state, emergency room physician Dr. Rob Davidson told CNN that hospitalizations have gone up "four fold in just the last two weeks." cnn.com

California's 'Stunning' Progress Continues
Only one county left in purple tier as California’s COVID-19 reopenings continue
Only one county remains in the strictest section of California’s reopening road map, a heartening sign of progress in the battle against the coronavirus as businesses and other public spaces continue wider reopenings.

The lone remaining denizen of the purple tier is Merced County, according to state data released Tuesday. Inyo County had been keeping it company but officially moved into the less-restrictive red tier.

The recent exodus from the purple tier has been stunning. Thirty-four of California’s 58 counties were in that category on March 9. The month before, all but five counties were in the tier. latimes.com

CNBC Article Looks at COVID's Impact on Grocery Workers Health & Coupled With The Grocers - The Trump Administration's & OSHA's Role

Grocery workers died feeding the nation.
Now, their families are left to pick up the pieces.
More than one year after the pandemic first swept across the country, the plight of grocery workers who risked death to keep the country fed has raised questions about retail labor conditions and the responsibility of corporations in worker deaths from the coronavirus.

At least 158 grocery workers have died from the virus, with at least 35,100 workers infected or exposed to the virus, according to data from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

Walmart has seen at least 22 store workers die from Covid-19, according to worker-sourced data provided to United For Respect, a nonprofit labor advocacy group. Walmart declined to comment to NBC News on the number of coronavirus cases among its 1.5 million U.S.-based workers.

No one collected real impact data or requested it. OSHA really didn't investigate thousands of complaints. Hazard pay was viewed as a carrot by a lot of the employees. And the Administration never pushed OSHA or the grocers. They were noticeably absent. cbnc.com

UK Trade Associations & Unions Continue Pounding Parliament on Protecting Retail Employees
Abuse towards shopworkers “worsening since Covid”, MPs hear

- A survey of 2700 retail workers found that 88% had been verbally abused last year
- 60% of shopworkers reported threats of physical violence
- 9% said they had been physically assaulted
- Violence and abuse towards shopworkers is “endemic” and has worsened

A survey of 2700 retail workers found that 88 per cent were verbally abused last year, Usdaw head of research and economics Joanne Cairns told the Commons Home Affairs Committee.

Cairns also told the committee that 60 per cent of shopworkers reported threats of physical violence, and nine per cent said they had been physically assaulted.

● “Reopening means respecting shopworkers”, BRC & Usdaw urge
● 65+ retail CEOs sign letter to PM demanding laws to better protect shopworkers
● Scotland passes law to protect shop workers from abuse & attacks

Cairns said the issue was a “major concern”. She said safety measures required as a result of the pandemic have overtaken the most common triggers in previous years, with some 85 per cent of incidents related to issues such as queueing, social distancing and the requirement for face masks.

James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, said Covid has become “another trigger” for shop violence.

Some 400,000 violent incidents were reported in convenience stores last year, with more than 10,000 of them involving a weapon.

Cairns said current legislation was “clearly not offering enough protection” to shop workers.

“It’s important to remember that we expect retail workers to enforce the law, but they are not being given adequate protection,” she said.

“They can lose their jobs if they don’t enforce the law so, in turn, we think they should be offered protection by the law.”

Iona Blake, security and incident manager at Boots, told MPs that spitting and the use of face coverings by offenders to avoid capture have become two Covid-related areas of concern.

She added that the retailer has been “well supported” by police in relation to spitting incidents but “sadly not as well supported by the justice system further down the line”. retailgazette.co.uk

Retailers Respond to Vaccine Hiccup
CVS, Walgreens, grocers halt Johnson & Johnson vaccines, scramble to reschedule appointments
Drugstores and grocers have played a crucial role in administering Covid-19 vaccines to Americans. Now, they are trying to figure out a path forward after the Food and Drug Administration asked states Tuesday morning to temporarily halt distribution of Johnson & Johnson shots.

CVS Health spokesman Mike DeAngelis said customers scheduled to receive a J&J vaccine this week will get an email to notify them that it is canceled. He said the company will follow up with those customers to reschedule, as it continues to offer shots developed by other manufacturers.

Walgreens said in a statement that it has paused J&J vaccines at its stores and offsite clinics, too. It said it would reach out to people with appointments and reschedule them with another shot, as supply allows.

Rite Aid said in a statement that it has cancelled J&J vaccines scheduled at its stores on Tuesday and Wednesday. Customers will be notified about how to reschedule their appointment for another Covid vaccine, the company said.

Wegmans also said it has canceled all J&J vaccine appointments in a statement on its website.

It is unclear how much of drugstores’ and grocery stores’ vaccine supply is from J&J versus other manufacturers — and what portion of their vaccine appointments the FDA request could disrupt. cnbc.com

35% Facilitating & 50% Considering it & 23% Are Vaccinating Employees
Many U.S. employers facilitating coronavirus vaccines, says survey
Employers are taking several steps to facilitate employee vaccination, according to the March 25 results of a survey by Willis Towers Watson. Researchers found that 60% of employers have communicated the value of vaccines to employees while 35% say they are planning or considering the same. More than a third (35%) said they created policies and procedures to facilitate worker vaccination, while another 50% are considering doing so. In addition, close to one quarter (23%) are obtaining vaccines to administer to employees or doing so via a third party.

Two in 10 survey respondents said they are offering vaccine incentives. Among those, 39% said they are providing extra leave to get vaccinated, while 27% are providing additional leave to employees who have negative reactions to one of the COVID-19 shots. One in 10 said they are offering cash incentives.

The survey also found that one in 10 employers are considering requiring proof of vaccination as a condition of employment; 23% are planning to make or considering making vaccination a prerequisite of returning to the work site.

Many employers have chosen to offer employees incentives to get vaccinated. hrdive.com

Survey: 1 in 3 remote workers would seek new job if asked to return to offices full time
Managers may be running into a common problem as employers advance their reopening plans: employees resisting transitioning back to working in an office full-time.

About one-third of workers currently working from home due to the pandemic said they would look for a new job if their employers required them to return to the office full-time, said Robert Half, which last month surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. workers ages 18 and older. Nearly half of respondents said they preferred a hybrid arrangement instead. hrdive.com

U.S. vaccination pace picks up as officials say J&J pause won’t slow rollout

Pa. sees most covid cases since January

Minn. Gov. not considering new restrictions as he extends emergency powers
 

Cartels in our Supply Chain - Delivering Goods & Cocaine to the U.S.
Update: Shipping’s billion-dollar coke bust: 8 plead guilty, sentencing begins
Former MSC engineer Vladimir Penda sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in US prison

Prosecutors called it “the largest cocaine seizure in the 230-year history of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” Twenty tons of cocaine worth $1 billion was found in seven containers aboard the MSC Gayane at the Philadelphia port on June 17, 2019. On Tuesday, the first of the conspirators — former MSC crewmember Vladimir Penda — was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison for his crime.

They disclosed that a total of eight MSC crewmembers aboard the ship have pleaded guilty — including the chief mate and second mate.

The MSC Gayane case is so striking because the drugs were not hidden in containers prior to loading at export terminals. Rather, they were brazenly loaded aboard at night in the open sea by MSC crewmembers. Speedboats met the ship off South America, and coke-brick-laden duffel bags were hoisted aboard by crew using the ship’s own crane.

Eight crewmembers — more than a third of the total contingent of 22 — participated in the smuggling operation, according to prosecutors. Four were recruited in their home country of Montenegro prior to boarding and coordinated the operation with their land-based associates using mobile “narco” phones. Four other crewmembers were recruited when the ship was at sea to help with the loading operation.

Prosecutors called for a prison sentence of 135-168 months. Penda’s attorney argued for 60. The judge gave him 70.

Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said on Tuesday, “It has been nearly two years since federal agents conducted one of the largest drug seizures in U.S. history. The follow-up investigation uncovered dark-of-night, clandestine drug trafficking conduct which read like a movie plot, and prosecutors in our office have been working nonstop since then to pursue justice in this case. With Mr. Penda’s just sentence being handed down today, this chapter of the MSC Gayane saga is now coming to a close.” freightwaves.com

Editor's Note: The ships company ultimately owned by JP Morgan.

Facial Recognition Technology Leads to Wrongful Shoplifting Arrest
Man suffered 'great harm' after wrongful arrest based on Detroit's facial recognition technology

The case could fuel criticism of police investigators’ use of a controversial technology that has been shown to perform worse on people of color

Attorneys representing a Farmington Hills man filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking undisclosed damages from the city, its police chief and a Detroit police detective for "the grave harm caused by the misuse of, and reliance upon, facial recognition technology."

The 75-page suit was filed on behalf of Robert Williams in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by the University of Michigan Law School’s Civil Rights Litigation Initiative, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Michigan.

An ACLU press release Tuesday claimed: "Mr. Williams’ experience was the first case of wrongful arrest due to facial recognition technology to come to light in the United States."

The suit says Williams' Fourth Amendment rights were violated and that his arrest violated the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

Williams' case attracted national attention when it was first made public last year, and it's served as a rallying cry for critics of facial recognition technology, who point to studies suggesting the software systems return an inordinate number of false hits against Black people. Williams is Black.

The city of Detroit, Police Chief James Craig and Detroit police Detective Donald Bussa are named as defendants in the lawsuit, which blames the police department's facial recognition program for Williams' wrongful shoplifting arrest on Jan. 9, 2020, stemming from an October 2019 theft at a Detroit Shinola store.

"New protocols are in place to prevent similar events," Garcia said. "The Law Department will seek to achieve resolution of Mr. Williams' claims." detroitnews.com washingtonpost.com

A Red Flag for Dollar General?
Dollar General's lacking e-commerce presence may be its undoing in topping big-box rivals, even as it grows store offerings, experts say
Dollar General — and other dollar stores — normally thrive during uncertain economic times. And the retailer's soaring sales during the pandemic seem to bolster analysts' theory that Americans are spending their income and stimulus checks at Dollar General in search of deals.

But it's precisely that success that has given analysts at Zacks pause about what's to come in the retailer's future.

Spieckerman also noted that Dollar General is unusual in the retail space, in that it has not prioritized e-commerce. Given the chain's dollar store origins, she said that there could be a financial reason for Dollar General neglecting digital.

"Some people say it just doesn't work with a dollar store model," she said. "But if they're going to stick to their guns and not go after e-commerce, they certainly could partner with some digitally native brands." businessinsider.com

Burlington's 'Totally Insane Decision' Paid Off
How Burlington Powered Through 2020 Without A Website
Burlington seemed to have made a totally insane decision right as the pandemic began. On March 5th, 2020, it announced that it was shutting down its online store, just weeks before COVID-induced lockdowns would cause retail sales to plummet across the country. But a year later, Burlington stock prices have hit an all time high.

How did Burlington power through the pandemic, especially without an online store?

Formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, the retail chain sells a similar selection that you might find at a department store, but at a discount. Off-price brands like Burlington — and its bigger rivals T.J.Maxx and Ross — are known for their seemingly random selection: think a bedazzled Michael Kors belt next to some children's pajamas. The idea is to draw people in with this promise of a "treasure hunt," a business model that's central to both the story of Burlington success in the pandemic and its decision to shut down the website. npr.org

Bernie Madoff, mastermind of largest Ponzi scheme in history, dies in prison at 82

Taco Bell opens its first digital-only U.S. store in New York City

Hundreds of American companies, including retailers, sign new statement opposing voting-restriction laws

Video: The rise and fall of the American mall


Quarterly Results
Bed Bath & Beyond Q4 comp's up 4% total enterprise, up 6% at BBB, digital up 86%, net sales down 16%