US: 40.8M Cases - 666.5K Dead - 31.3M Recovered
Worldwide: 222.1M Cases - 4.5M Dead - 198.7M Recovered

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Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 306   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 374
*Red indicates change in total deaths

Are COVID Cases Starting to Level Off?

4 Million COVID Cases in Last 4 Weeks
US reaches 40 million recorded Covid-19 cases
The US has now tallied more than 40 million Covid-19 cases across the pandemic, with more than 4 million of them reported in the last four weeks alone, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The count comes with a caveat: 40 million represents just officially reported positive test results, and many experts believe the actual number of infections is much larger.

Covid-19 cases have nevertheless generally been on the rise in much of the country since early summer. And the country's seven-day average of new cases Monday (137,270 daily) was more than four times higher than Labor Day of last year (39,355 daily), according to Johns Hopkins data.

The jump in cases has translated into overcrowded hospitals and a rise in infections among children -- of particular concern as many students return to their classrooms. And experts fear that a holiday weekend could make matters worse. cnn.com

COVID Pushed Dozens of UK Stores Out of Business Each Day
50 shops a day closed in first half of 2021, and next 6 months will be 'make or break' for those still open

Fashion retailers were the worst affected, with 1,063 stores closing in the first half of the year, ahead of charity shops, car and motorbike outlets and betting shops.

Some 8,739 outlets went out of business across high streets, retail parks and shopping centres between January and June, figures from the Local Data Company suggest. But 3,488 opened during the same period, resulting a net decline of 5,251.

When compared with last year, the data suggests the rate of closures slowed down - with 11,120 shops shutting their doors in the first half of 2020 as the COVID pandemic hit, a net decrease of 6,001.

The research was conducted for accountancy firm PwC, which said government support during the pandemic - such as the furlough scheme, business rates relief and the rent moratorium - played major roles in helping operators stay afloat.

Despite this, the firm has warned the second half of the year will be "make or break" for many stores as government help is wound down.

City centres saw a 4.3% drop in the number of occupied retail outlets as people and businesses moved to suburban or out-of-town locations, reflecting the rise in people working from home. news.sky.com

Pharmacies Have Thrown Away Millions of Vaccine Doses
15 million Covid vaccine doses thrown away in the U.S. since March,
new data shows

As countries across the world clamor for vaccine doses, U.S. pharmacy chains and state health departments have thrown millions away.

Pharmacies and state governments in the United States have thrown away at least 15.1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since March 1, according to government data obtained by NBC News — a far larger number than previously known and still probably an undercount.

Four national pharmacy chains reported more than 1 million wasted doses each, according to data released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in response to a public records request. Walgreens reported the most waste of any pharmacy, state or other vaccine provider, with nearly 2.6 million wasted doses. CVS reported 2.3 million wasted doses, while Walmart reported 1.6 million and Rite Aid reported 1.1 million.

The data released by the CDC is self-reported by pharmacies, states and other vaccine providers. It is not comprehensive — missing some states and federal providers — and it does not include the reason doses had to be thrown away. In one example of missing data, the CDC lists just 12 wasted doses for Michigan since March, but Michigan's Department of Health and Human Services said on Wednesday that the state has thrown away 257,673 doses since December.

The number of discarded doses is still a small fraction of the total doses administered in the U.S. nbcnews.com

Vaccine Mandates & Incentives
Tyson Foods offers workers more paid time off — if they get vaccinated
Tyson Foods said it would provide 20 hours of paid sick time a year to fully vaccinated employees to enhance benefits for workers willing to receive coronavirus vaccinations.

The new benefit, announced on Friday, followed discussions with the United Food & Commercial Workers, which represents several thousand Tyson workers, over the company’s requirement that all its U.S. workers be vaccinated “as a condition of employment” by Nov. 1. The paid sick leave policy takes effect on Jan. 1, and also applies to all nonunion employees.

Tyson also said fully vaccinated employees could take up to two weeks of paid administrative leave if they tested positive for Covid-19 over the next six months. The company said it would compensate workers for time spent in “educational sessions about the benefits and risks of the Covid vaccines.”

The union initially expressed reservations when Tyson announced the vaccine mandate last month, but applauded the paid sick leave benefit on Friday, saying it was the first national agreement that provides such a benefit to meatpacking workers. Union officials have said providing paid sick time is important so workers can still be paid if they miss work or experience some of the vaccines’ common side effects. nytimes.com

Mask Mandate Breaking Point?
Restaurant staff at breaking point amid tough conditions, facing frequent abuse over mask mandate

A severe labor shortage, combined with the impact of enforcing COVID-19 restrictions, has left restaurant workers struggling to cope.

The Seattle Times reported that many workers in the city's eateries are exhausted. They're taking on extra work to counteract staff shortages, but also have nobody to cover shifts when they want to take a day off.

Workers across the country have been leaving their jobs at high rates. About 75% of independent restaurants said they were struggling to attract staff. Some have had to temporarily close because of staff shortages, Insider's Kevin Shalvey reported.

The impact of the labor shortage has led to rude behaviour from customers in some cases. But customers are also lashing out over ongoing pandemic rules, including mask mandates.

Incidents in which customers refuse to wear face masks continue to make headlines, as the Delta variant surges. businessinsider.com

Delta Driving Retail Employment Slowdown
Employment in restaurants, bars, and cafes just fell for 1st time since April 2020

Experts said the Delta variant was largely to blame for August's disappointing payrolls report.

Employment in US restaurants, cafes, and bars fell in August for the first time since April 2020 as the Delta variant of the coronavirus spread across the country.

The number of people working in food services and drinking places dropped by 42,000 in August, to 11.34 million, according to preliminary data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), released Friday. This was the largest drop in employment across all nonfarm industries, including retail, healthcare, and manufacturing.

In April 2020, at the onset of the pandemic, restaurants and bars were forced to close their doors and lay off or furlough staff. Employment in the sector fell to just 6.33 million that month – but climbed every month from May 2020 to July 2021, BLS data show. businessinsider.com

Covid-19 Vaccine Booster Launch Could Be Delayed for Many

Over-the-counter COVID-19 rapid tests hard to find as cases surge

How to safely store your COVID vaccination card on your iPhone

4,844 Store Closures So Far in 2021
Dollar Store Chains Make Up Nearly A Third of All U.S. Store Openings in 2021

Retail closures may be plaguing department stores as of late, but discount chains are on the upswing, with plans to open hundreds of new locations this year.

According to a new report from Coresight Research, dollar store chains, including Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and Family Dollar, have announced that that they will open a collective 1,626 new stores. That’s out of a total 4,799 of announced store openings in 2021 so far, compared with the 3,597 announced in May.

Gas station chain Murphy USA, Five Below, Ace Hardware, Foot Locker, Aldi, and Burlington Stores also topped the list of the retailers planning to open the most stores this year. The results highlight a consumer attraction to discount and low-price stores, in part due to high levels of unemployment and a general spending hesitancy from the pandemic.

Dollar General announced that it would add 1,035 new stores in 2021. Dollar Tree, which also owns Family Dollar, plans to add 393 Dollar Tree stores and 198 Family Dollar stores this year.

On the other hand, the report also noted that major U.S. retailers have announced 4,844 store closures so far in 2021, compared to 2,191 closures last year. The list of closures in 2021 is topped by the bankrupt Christopher & Banks and Francesca’s, which plan to close 449 and 342 stores, respectively. Convenience store chain Alimentation Couche-Tard and 7-Eleven also topped the list of retailers with the most closures.In addition to their openings, each of the three dollar chain stores also announced store closures as well. Family Dollar said it would close 44 stores, Dollar General said it would close 31, and Dollar Tree said it would close 28. footwearnews.com

Food Giants Misleading Shoppers?
Lawsuits Over ‘Misleading’ Food Labels Surge as Groups Cite Lax U.S. Oversight

A flurry of litigation by advocacy groups seeks to combat what they say is a rise in deceptive marketing by food giants.

Shoppers drawn to sustainable, humanely raised meat and dairy products could be forgiven for thinking the nation’s big food companies have turned away from the industrial farming practices that have long dominated American agriculture.

But some claims may not be what they seem, according to a flurry of litigation by advocacy groups seeking to combat what they describe as a surge in deceptive marketing by food giants. The misleading labels, the plaintiffs say, seek to profit off consumers’ growing interest in clean eating, animal welfare and environmentally friendly agriculture — but without making meaningful changes to their farming and production practices.

Class-action litigation against food and beverage companies hit a record high last year, with 220 lawsuits filed in 2020, up from 45 a decade ago, according to a tally by the law firm Perkins Coie.

The mounting wave of legal activism in part reflects the frustration of advocates who have made little headway in recent years convincing federal regulators to increase their oversight of the nation’s food supply — or even to provide definitions for words like “healthy” or “all natural.” Big Food, advocates say, has eagerly exploited the regulatory vacuum. nytimes.com

Sharp Pullback in Consumer Spending Coming?
Millions in U.S. lose jobless benefits as federal aid expires, thrusting families and economy onto uncertain path
More than 7 million out-of-work people across the United States are set to lose all of their jobless benefits this week as three federal programs expire on Monday, in what several experts described as one of the largest and most abrupt ends to government aid in U.S. history.

In addition to the more than 7 million people who will lose all their benefits, nearly 3 million more people will lose a $300 weekly boost to their state unemployment benefits.

The cessation of this jobless aid, first put in place by Congress nearly 18 months ago, could upend the lives of millions of Americans still struggling to find work at a time when the pandemic’s delta variant is wreaking fresh havoc across a number of states. It could also lead to a sharp pullback in spending, particularly in certain areas of the country, impacting a wide range of restaurants and other businesses that rely on consumer dollars.

The White House has wrestled with how to deal with these expiring benefits, an internal debate that exposes the fraught political and economic consequences of inaction. President Biden said in June that it “makes sense” for one of the programs, which boosted unemployment checks by $300 each week, to lapse in September, but senior aides have also called on states to reallocate other money in a way that would continue offering some support. No states appear inclined to take action, though, leading to this week’s sudden cutoff. washingtonpost.com

565,000 Walmart Store Associates Get Raises
Walmart bumps up hourly pay by $1 for over 500K workers
As retailers battle for labor ahead of the hectic holiday shopping season, Walmart is raising hourly wages for 565,000 associates by at least $1.

Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner told associates in a memo obtained by Retail Dive that workers in front-end, food and consumable, and general merchandise work groups will get the pay raise effective Sept. 25. The average hourly pay for the company's U.S. associates is now $16.40.

Walmart's minimum wage will be up from the $11 per hour rate it set previously. As of last year, deli, bakery and some auto workers start at $15 per hour. The recent announcement marks Walmart's third wage investment for store associates in the past year, Furner said. retaildive.com

Hurricane Ida Causes Grocery Store Shortages
South Mississippi grocery stores struggling to keep shelves stocked
Businesses across South Mississippi are finding it hard to stay fully stocked after Hurricane Ida devastated Louisiana this week. With residents coming across the state line in search of necessities and delivery trucks unable to get through, the shelves are empty in some stores.

Keeping grocery stores stocked was a challenge before the hurricane due to the pandemic. Now, with the shelves bare at many stores throughout Hancock and Harrison counties, it is even more of an issue.

For shoppers, the grocery shortage is making it difficult to obtain items they need, causing them to have to go to multiple businesses to check the items off their list. Overall, though, most customers understand and are making do the best they can.

“It’s sad because people down there in Louisiana right now - as hot as it is from the storm - and people not being able to get in stores because they got to wait outside for hours. Plus, they have babies, no one should go through that,” said Rouses customer Rhiannon Penton. wdam.com

LPF Announces LPC & LPQ Professionals for August
The Loss Prevention Foundation would like to recognize and congratulate the following individuals who successfully completed all of the requirements set forth by the board of directors to be LPQualified (LPQ) and/or LPCertified (LPC). View Full List Here


Back-to-school may lift U.S. retail shares after recent lull

Kroger eyes potential entry into Southwest Florida marketplace

California Seeks Gender Neutral Displays in Large Stores


Last week's #1 article --

Cash for Criminals?
A local solution for gun violence? Pay people $300 a month

'We are trying to address the root causes of what's happened'

San Francisco thinks it may have an answer for its rising gun violence problem: Paying people to not pull the trigger.

The idea is to provide the small number of San Franciscans who authorities believe are most at risk of shooting someone - or being shot - with an incentive to get help and stay out of trouble. It's a solution that proponents say already has shown promise preventing gun crimes in other parts of California.

At worst, the program could be called "cash for criminals," like its predecessors in cities around the Bay Area. At best, it could save lives and tax dollars otherwise spent on incarceration.

The program, which will launch as a pilot in October, is called the Dream Keeper Fellowship. It's San Francisco's latest iteration of a guaranteed-income program that will provide high-risk individuals with $300 a month as a start.  sfexaminer.com