US: 33.4M Cases - 595.8K Dead - 26.4M Recovered
Worldwide: 159M Cases - 3.3M Dead - 136.6M Recovered

Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
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Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 279  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 297
*Red indicates change in total deaths

Turning a Corner as Cases & Deaths Plummet
Covid cases down 30% over past 2 weeks as U.S. averages 2M shots per day
The rate of average daily new Covid cases in the U.S. fell to below 41,000 over the weekend, down 30% from two weeks ago and the lowest level since September, Johns Hopkins University data showed.

The country has reported an average of 2 million vaccinations per day over the past week, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, down 40% from peak levels.

U.S. Covid cases
The U.S. is reporting 40,800 daily new infections, based on a seven-day average of data compiled by Hopkins. That figure is down 30% over the past 14 days and 43% from the most recent high point, when the country was seeing about 71,000 daily cases in mid-April. It is also the lowest average since Sept. 19.

U.S. Covid deaths
The latest seven-day average of daily U.S. Covid deaths is 667, Hopkins data shows, far below the winter highs.

U.S. vaccine shots administered
Following 2.3 million vaccinations reported administered Sunday, the nationwide average over the past week is 2 million shots per day, according to the CDC. Though the daily rate has shown some signs of steadying in recent days, it is down significantly from the peak level of 3.4 million shots per day on April 13. cnbc.com

Relaxing Indoor Mask Measures?
Fauci says indoor mask guidance should ‘start being more liberal’
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said on Sunday that he was open to relaxing indoor masking rules as more Americans are vaccinated against the virus, just two days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention belatedly emphasized the danger of airborne transmission.

Dr. Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser for the pandemic, said that as vaccinations climb, “we do need to start being more liberal” in terms of rules for wearing masks indoors, though he noted that the nation was still averaging about 43,000 cases of the virus daily. “We’ve got to get it much, much lower than that,” he said.

Dr. Fauci’s comments on Sunday came in response to a question about comments that Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, made last week on CNBC. Dr. Gottlieb said that relaxing indoor mask mandates now — “especially if you’re in environments where you know you have a high level of vaccination” — would give public health officials “the credibility to implement them” again in the fall or winter if cases surge.

Dr. Fauci, asked by George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s Sunday program “This Week” whether he agreed, said: “I think so, and I think you’re going to probably be seeing that as we go along, and as more people get vaccinated.” nytimes.com

Counterfeit Vaccine Card Operation Busted
California Man Arrested In Suspected Fake COVID-19 Vaccine Card Operation
A California bar owner has been arrested for allegedly selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards in what's believed to be the first thwarted scheme of its kind.

Undercover agents with the state's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control bought the bogus cards for $20 each during multiple visits to the Old Corner Saloon in Clements, a small town in San Joaquin County.

The agents were told to write their names and birth dates on sticky notes and watched as employees cut the cards, added phony vaccination dates and laminated them, the Associated Press reported.

"On the back where they put the two dates when you were vaccinated, they used two different color pens to make it look like it was two different times," supervising agent Luke Blehm told the AP. "So they went to some effort to make it look authentic."

The owner, Todd Anderson, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with identity theft, forging government documents, falsifying medical records and having a loaded unregistered handgun, San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar said in a statement this week.

"It is disheartening to have members in our community show flagrant disregard for public health in the midst of a pandemic. Distributing, falsifying or purchasing fake COVID-19 vaccine cards is against the law and endangers yourself and those around you," Salazar said. npr.org

Up to 5 Years in Prison - $5,000 Fine
FBI warns of harsh penalty that comes with faking COVID vaccination cards
More people are getting vaccinated, but there is also a new problem. Some people are faking the proof of vaccine documentation. As governments, businesses, and sports teams offer incentives to get vaccinated, counterfeit COVID-19 vaccine cards are popping up. The FBI warns that it is a federal crime.

“That is misuse of a government seal, so that is actually a crime to do that. It comes with it for each offense, up to a $5,000 fine or five years in prison,” said Amy Alexander, a spokesperson with the FBI Seattle field office. The seal in question is the CDC logo on the cards.

The FBI says fake cards have already been showing up for sale online, “advertised on social media websites, as well as e-commerce platforms and blogs.” Alexander says the problem is likely to get worse with more incentives. kiro7.com

Retailers Continue to Expand Vaccine Access
Stop & Shop, Publix, Hy-Vee go chainwide with COVID-19 vaccines

Hy-Vee CEO Randy Edeker works with federal officials to expand access

Stop & Shop and Publix Super Markets have made COVID-19 vaccinations available across their market areas, and the head of Hy-Vee has given input to the Biden administration on ways to reach more communities with vaccines.

Ahold Delhaize USA’s Stop & Shop yesterday announced that its more than 250 pharmacies in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey are now providing same-day coronavirus immunizations. The Quincy, Mass.-based retailer said customers can still schedule an appointment for a COVID shot on its website, but appointments are no longer required.

Stop & Shop pharmacies are offering either the two-dose Moderna or one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Walk-in vaccination availability will depend on supply levels in each store, the company said.

The chainwide expansion came after Stop & Shop announced the launch of walk-in COVID vaccines at 14 of its pharmacies in New York City (including in the boroughs of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island) and at 14 pharmacies in Rhode Island. supermarketnews.com

Pharmacy Vaccine Milestone & Locator Tool
Good Neighbor Pharmacy Surpasses 1M Vaccine Doses Allocated through Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, Launches COVID-19 Vaccines Locator Tool
Today, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, AmerisourceBergen’s network of independent community pharmacies, launched a COVID-19 Vaccines Pharmacy Locator Tool on MyGNP.com, a web-based platform designed to conveniently connect individuals with their local community pharmacy to receive COVID-19 vaccines. The tool becomes available as Good Neighbor Pharmacy surpasses 1 million doses allocated through its Federal Retail Pharmacy Program partnership to independent pharmacies nationwide.

With all adults and a portion of adolescents now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, independent pharmacies are in a unique position to take pressure off of health systems and physicians by administering to their region.

The COVID-19 Vaccines Pharmacy Locator Tool is aimed at promoting equitable vaccine access for all patients, particularly those in under-resourced communities, as the national inoculation movement continues across the country. Upon accessing the tool via the MyGNP.com COVID-19 landing page, users can enter their zip code and receive details on the community pharmacies in their area that are offering appointments for COVID-19 vaccines. businesswire.com

'Non-Existent' Flu Season
COVID measures bring flu cases to all-time low during 2020-2021 season
A year full of social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing and staying at home to prevent coronavirus spread rendered the 2020-2021 influenza season practically non-existent.

Public health and clinical laboratories reported 2,038 flu cases during the season from Sept. 27, 2020 to April 24, 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, the agency estimates about 38 million people were sick with the flu during the 2019-2020 season. usatoday.com

Trader Joe's drops senior hours at many stores

8 free perks you can get after getting vaccinated, from doughnuts to free CDC card lamination and beer

COVID-vaccine maker BioNTech reports $1.37B profit in Q1

New LP Device to Deter Theft & Robberies?
AirTag could become essential retail & business tool if Apple wants it to be one
AirTag is, first and foremost, marketed as a consumer product. It’s an affordable little tracker you can attach to keys, bags, clothing, cars, pets, you name it. But technically, AirTag has a ton of other potential applications.

A single AirTag includes a standard NFC chip currently used with lost mode. If you find a tag, just tap it to your phone to find out who owns it. But this little chip inside AirTag could be used in tons of other ways. In fact, we’ve already seen hackers reconfigure an AirTag with custom actions. Aside from opening up NFC, Apple could also enable more features for the Find My network.

The first really obvious application that I see is in retail. Retail stores have tried all different kinds of theft prevention products and techniques, from expensive security guards to messy ink-based tags that can damage inventory. AirTag could be a solution for this industry.

Inventory tracking & security

AirTag in retail could deter theft, help stop large scale robberies, and save businesses money. Heck, many retail stores already use Apple devices as point of sale tools. I’m sure you’ve seen at least one iPad at a checkout before. Some stores even use iPod Touches or iPhones on the floor for pulling inventory from the back.

AirTag could also be a really useful thing for corporate offices to track important items from video production rigs to movable furniture. It could be attached to really anything that gets moved around frequently. Sharing would be an important addition to Find My in this case; otherwise, employees would all need to be signed into the same account. 9to5mac.com

Dollar General Employees Walk Out, Citing Unsafe Environment & Low Pay
Dollar General at center of labor unrest controversy after frustrated workers walk off job in Maine citing low wages and understaffed stores
Dollar General employees quit in protest over understaffing and low pay at a store in Eliot, Maine. "They figured that they had me trapped in a job that I couldn't get out of. To some degree they were right," one worker told Insider. The walkout at the Dollar General follows much labor unrest in the state in recent months.

Erikson and his fellow employees walked out of the store that day, leaving signs on the windows highlighting what they say were unacceptable working conditions at the retailer.

He said that understaffing, low wages, and frustration over a lack of communication from the company's district management ultimately led to his decision to move on. In total, two employees and a manager quit the store, leaving one sole staffer remaining.

Keeping lean store staffs is a part of Dollar General's business model, and one of the reasons the chain has been able to expand its footprint at such a rapid rate. In 1992, the company operated 1,522 stores in the US. As of February 26, 2021, Dollar General has a fleet of 17,266 stores across 46 states.

However, critics say that having so few employees to man the stores creates an unsafe environment, leaving workers as targets for robberies and violence. In Erikson's case, he said that anti-maskers and anti-vax customers often screamed at employees, adding further tension to an already-difficult work environment. Meanwhile, requests by store managers that he receive a raise for his work were often ignored.

The walkout at the Dollar General in Eliot isn't the only flicker of labor unrest to occur in the state in recent months. According to O'Brien, "the pandemic and the sacrifices frontline workers have had to make" have sparked a recent victory for striking shipyard workers, an ongoing strike by delivery drivers and mechanics, and successful union drives among nurses and museum workers in the state. businessinsider.com

Food Retailers vs. Suppliers
Grocers, Restaurants to Suppliers: Hurry Up, Make More

Walmart, Sysco and others implement penalties for late or incomplete orders, adding pressure to food makers dealing with labor and ingredient shortages

Friction between food retailers and their suppliers is adding costs across the food chain.

Big buyers including Walmart Inc. and Sysco Corp. are fining suppliers over infractions like late or incomplete orders. Retailers excused such penalties for months during the pandemic when surging demand led to widespread shortages.

Meanwhile, many food makers and distributors say labor shortages, supply constraints and high freight costs are making it difficult to deliver complete, timely orders for goods from cake mix to ramen noodles. Similar tensions are mounting throughout the U.S. economy, as industries contend with shortages of supplies and complications of reopening businesses in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Prices for many foods, consumer products and other goods are rising as a result.

Walmart told suppliers last fall that it would require orders to be 98% full and on time. Suppliers that didn’t comply would be charged 3% of the cost of missing items, according to a September letter from the retail giant viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The shift in tone comes as companies are trying to get back to business as usual amid a reopening economy. Restaurants are adding back more seats in dining rooms, grocers are resuming service at salad and hot-food bars, and companies are bringing back more people to the office.

Retailers including Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Cos. said they are struggling to secure some goods such as spices and cleaning products like detergent. Albertsons, which operates supermarket chains including Safeway and Jewel-Osco, has brought back fees in some categories, CEO Vivek Sankaran said. wsj.com

Chipotle Seeking 20K Workers
Chipotle Mexican Grill is raising wages to an average of $15 an hour by June
The hiring crunch is forcing restaurant companies to raise wages to get applicants in the door even though many of these chains lobbied against raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour during Congressional stimulus plan talks earlier this year.

On Monday, the Newport Beach, California, based chain announced plans to increase hourly wages for hundreds of employees, bringing the average pay to about $15 an hour. That's $2 more an hour than the chain's current average of $13 an hour, Chipotle told Insider.

Chipotle seeks to hire 20,000 employees across the US to fill stores experiencing peak traffic, as well as to fill jobs for 200 new restaurants expected to open this year. Chipotle said hourly pay now ranges from $11 to $18 an hour for US crew members, as well as hourly and salaried managers. businessinsider.com

Have home retailers peaked?
The category was on the rise, but the pandemic drove exponential growth. Retailers must now navigate how to sustain momentum in the years ahead.

Authentic Brands, Simon to buy Eddie Bauer


Last week's #1 article --

Shocking video shows random stabbing of two Asian women in San Francisco
Video published on Thursday shows the random stabbing of two elderly Asian women in San Francisco - including one who was attacked so brutally that the blade broke off in her body, according to a local report.

The chilling footage, obtained by KGO-TV, shows the attacker creeping up behind one of the women at a bus stop in the California city, around 7 p.m. Tuesday. He stabs her in the back - before calmly approaching the second victim and knifing her, too.

A bystander rushes over to help and cradles the woman, who had fallen backward onto the ground, according to the shocking clip. nypost.com