Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Covid-19 by the numbers March 10th - March 31th

OUTBREAK

Tuesday March 10, 2020                              
Worldwide cases            Deaths                     
116, 800                        4,104                        
United States                                                  
761                                27
                              
Wednesday March 11, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
126,314                          4,654
United States
1,311                               38

Thursday March 12, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
134,673                          4,985
United States
1,716                              41

Friday March 13, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
146,656                          5,413
United States
2,285                              48

Saturday March 14, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
156,369                          5,808
United States
2,628                              50

Sunday March 15, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
169,641                          6,495
United States
3,783                              65

Monday March 16, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
182,632                          7,126
United States
4,667                              87

Tuesday March 17, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
198,283                          7,970
United States
6,456                              109

Wednesday March 18, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
218,444                          8,953
United States
9,249                              149

Thursday March 19, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
244,998                          10,042
United States
14,202                             208          108 Recovered U.S.


Friday March 20, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
275,604                          11,396
United States
19,671                             263          147 Recovered U.S.

Saturday March 21, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
307,773                          13,055
United States
27,111                             340           176 Recovered U.S.

Sunday March 22, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
342,360                          14,700
United States
35,813                             470           179 Recovered U.S.

Monday March 23, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
381,573                          16,586
United States
46,440                             610           314 Recovered U.S.

Tuesday March 24, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
423,193                          18,927
United States
55,200                             796           379 Recovered U.S.

Wednesday March 25, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
471,602                           21,411
United States
69,047                             1,046         616 Recovered U.S.

Thursday March 26, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
535,098                           24,069
United States
85,476                             1,297         1,864 Recovered U.S.

Friday March 27, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
600,869                           27,380
United States
105,240                           1,711         2,525 Recovered U.S.

Saturday March 28, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
665,918                           30,964
United States
124,592                           2,227         3,231 Recovered U.S.

Sunday March 29, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
722,184                           34,004
United States
142,537                           2,510         4,767 Recovered U.S.

Monday March 30, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
785,454                           37,851
United States
164,253                           3,166         5,604 Recovered U.S.

Tuesday March 31, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
861,455                           42,200
United States
188,578                           3,890         7,251 Recovered U.S.

Recovered from virus world wide
178,511

NOTE: Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands are considered U.S.

Source: World Stats

Vendors, orgs provide COVID-19 updates


Vendors and advocacy organizations serving the newspaper and print industries have released updates on their status during the COVID-19 crisis. Here are some of the updates that reflect moves across the industries.
• Facebook on March 30 announced an additional $100 million investment to support the news industry — $25 million in emergency grant funding for local news through the Facebook Journalism Project, and $75 million in additional marketing spend to move money over to news organizations around the world.
• The News Media Alliance and America’s Newspapers put out a joint letter on “the role the federal government can play in ensuring the survival of the vital services that local news publishers like you provide for our nation.” The letter is addressed to President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Access it here.

 • The News Media Alliance has a running update on news publishers being deemed “essential” businesses as states announce public orders.

• In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Rayonier Advanced Materials announced curtailed production at seven Canadian locations. Starting this week, the company will cease or reduce operations at all softwood sawmills located in Ontario and Quebec as well as halt production at the company’s newsprint plant in Kapuskasing, Ontario. These curtailments will last at least two weeks and may go longer. Existing sales orders will continue to be fulfilled from current inventory and reduced production at the Kapuskasing sawmill. All other facilities are expected to operate at normal levels.
• Fujifilm’s business units focused on the commercial, sign and display, packaging and industrial print segments remain committed to continuing support of these businesses, in accordance with government directives, said an update from Fujifilm.“We have implemented necessary steps to support our employees who can work from home and have instituted additional safety protections for those employees whose work must be performed on-site.”
• technotrans America (tta) says it’s conducting business normally regarding equipment sales, parts sales, equipment repair and hotline support. However, “our capacity to conduct field work has been reduced. We will try to minimize any disruption to our customer's schedules. We ask for your patience in this rapidly-developing situation,” said a note from tta.
  A note to customers fromThe Siebold Company said, “To ensure the safety of our parts customers, we sanitize all parts and components prior to shipment. We suggest when you receive shipments from us, your receiving personnel use best practices to sanitize all incoming shipments including hand washing  before and after unpacking the shipment.  We have adopted this same procedure for all incoming deliveries received at our facilities.”
News and Tech

Tuesday Morning in the Blogosphere

Volunteers needed today (March 31st) to fill bags with food.
1350 Arrow Highway, La Verne, CA. 91750
8AM to noon




Our media is on the brink of mass failure - The Star

What Will Happen to Independent Bookstores? - Slate

Daily Herald cuts salaries 15 percent in wake of pandemic - Robert Feder

Covid-19, Mexico: Covering the best and worst in people - Editors Weblog

Why The New York Times bought a text-to-audio app - What's new in Publishing

Maven to Lay Off 9% of Staff, Revenue Reduced $30 Million From Pandemic - The Street

Vice Cuts Pay for Top Earners, Halts 401K Matching, and Freezes Promotions - Daily Beast

Q and A with Tampa Bay Times chairman Paul Tash about the Times’ print reduction - Poynter

As publisher traffic continues to surge, local news sees an 89% boost - What's new in Publishing

Newspapers Should Improve Obituaries Before Another Revenue Stream Dies - Editor and Publisher

TownNews, Piano report jump in traffic


Traffic across the TownNews customer network — made up of more than 2,000 newspaper, TV, radio, and web-native news sites — has spiked sharply, the company reports
TownNews customer sites are on pace to deliver one billion unique pageviews in March. From March 1 to March 22, the digital service provider’s media clients saw a massive influx compared to the previous 22-day period. Visitor sessions jumped 48%, unique visitors have increased 40% and unique pageviews are up 44%.
The escalation began on March 9 and continued at a steep double-digit rate as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an impact.
The increase in pageviews has led to a similar increase in ad impressions. Daily global programmatic advertising revenue has seen big gainswith ad requests up 42% for the week ending March 20, according to TownNews.


Any increase in programmatic revenue will not make up for steep advertising losses both in-paper (ROP) and preprint inserts, TownNews notes. Broadcasters will also see steep declines in spot advertising, especially from local small businesses, due to ordered closures from local, state and national governments, the company says.
Piano’s global data across hundreds of major news publishers also shows surging demand for news. “This bump is not evenly distributed. The subscription spike is most pronounced in Europe, particularly among European newspapers and digital natives that are keeping their paywalls intact. For European newspapers, subscriptions rose 267% last week. In the U.S., where many news publishers are putting COVID-19 coverage outside the paywall in service of the public health, digital subscriptions rose 63% in the past week,” according to Piano.
News and Tech

Today in Labor History March 31, 2020

Cesar Chavez

U.S. President Martin Van Buren issued an Executive Order, “finding that different rules prevail at different places as well in respect to the hours of labor by persons employed on the public works under the immediate authority of himself and the Departments as also in relation to the different classes of workmen…hereby directs that all such persons, whether laborers or mechanics, be required to work only the number of hours prescribed by the ten-hour system.” – 1840
300+ cowboys went on strike at five large ranches in Texas, Cesar Chavez was born, today is Cesar Chavez day, FDR established the Civilian Conservation Corps, and more.CLICK TO TWEET
The new closed-range cattle ranching industry that became dominant after the Civil War denied cowboys the right to be paid in cattle, start their own herds, or have access to open land.  Ranchers insisted that cowboys work exclusively for wages (which averaged only $40/month), and the cowboys responded by going on strike. – 1883
Cesar Chavez was born on this day in Yuma, Arizona.- 1927
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps to help alleviate suffering during the Depression. By the time the program ended after the start of World War II, it had provided jobs for more than six million men and boys. The average enrollee gained 11 pounds in his first three months. – 1933
Wisconsin state troopers failed to get scabs across the picket line to break a 76-day Allis-Chalmers strike in Milwaukee led by UAW Local 248. The plant remained closed until the government negotiated a compromise. – 1941
Federal judge Sonia Sotomayor, later to become a Supreme Court justice, issued an injunction against baseball team owners to end a 232-day work stoppage. – 1995
Today Cesar Chavez Day was celebrated as an official state holiday in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Texas and unofficially throughout the United States. The day honors the life and work of farmworkers’ advocate, union activist, and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez. – 2013

Monday, March 30, 2020

Covid-19 in context



Covid-19 by the numbers March 10th - March 30th

OUTBREAK

Tuesday March 10, 2020                              
Worldwide cases            Deaths                     
116, 800                        4,104                        
United States                                                  
761                                27
                              
Wednesday March 11, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
126,314                          4,654
United States
1,311                               38

Thursday March 12, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
134,673                          4,985
United States
1,716                              41

Friday March 13, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
146,656                          5,413
United States
2,285                              48

Saturday March 14, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
156,369                          5,808
United States
2,628                              50

Sunday March 15, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
169,641                          6,495
United States
3,783                              65

Monday March 16, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
182,632                          7,126
United States
4,667                              87

Tuesday March 17, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
198,283                          7,970
United States
6,456                              109

Wednesday March 18, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
218,444                          8,953
United States
9,249                              149

Thursday March 19, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
244,998                          10,042
United States
14,202                             208          108 Recovered U.S.


Friday March 20, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
275,604                          11,396
United States
19,671                             263          147 Recovered U.S.

Saturday March 21, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
307,773                          13,055
United States
27,111                             340           176 Recovered U.S.

Sunday March 22, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
342,360                          14,700
United States
35,813                             470           179 Recovered U.S.

Monday March 23, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
381,573                          16,586
United States
46,440                             610           314 Recovered U.S.

Tuesday March 24, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
423,193                          18,927
United States
55,200                             796           379 Recovered U.S.

Wednesday March 25, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
471,602                           21,411
United States
69,047                             1,046         616 Recovered U.S.

Thursday March 26, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
535,098                           24,069
United States
85,476                             1,297         1,864 Recovered U.S.

Friday March 27, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
600,869                           27,380
United States
105,240                           1,711         2,525 Recovered U.S.

Saturday March 28, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
665,918                           30,964
United States
124,592                           2,227         3,231 Recovered U.S.

Sunday March 29, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
722,184                           34,004
United States
142,537                           2,510         4,767 Recovered U.S.

Monday March 30, 2020
Worldwide cases            Deaths
785,454                           37,851
United States
164,253                           3,166         5,604 Recovered U.S.

Recovered from virus world wide
166,376

NOTE: Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands are considered U.S.

Source: World Stats

Changes for the Los Angeles Times Print Edition


Dear Reader,

The Los Angeles Times continues to operate as an essential business during the stay-at-home order.

We are taking additional precautions to support the health and safety of our workforce, and that of the community, while we maintain your home-delivery service. In particular, we are adjusting the work schedules at our printing and distribution facilities.

As a result, we have made temporary changes to the print sections:

Monday-Friday: Main News and Business sections combined; California and Sports combined; and Calendar.

Saturdays: Main News and Business combined; California; Sports; and the Saturday section with our lifestyle coverage.

Sundays: Main News and Business; California and Sports; Food; and Calendar and Arts & Books combined.

Through our coverage, we’ve brought you voices from around the world and reported the news as it breaks to put this pandemic into context for the communities we serve. As a print subscriber, you are entitled to unlimited access to our website and mobile app. If you haven’t already activated your digital access, we encourage you to do so to ensure that you’ll have uninterrupted and complete access to all of our coverage: .latimes.com/activate

We are proud of the work being done by the Los Angeles Times’ talented, dedicated and indefatigable staff– from the pressroom to the newsroom. People throughout our organization are working under challenging conditions to deliver this vital news,24hours a day.

With so many businesses in the region and around the world dealing with this crisis, most of our advertisers are unable to continue advertising, which makes your subscription and support of our journalism more important than ever.

Thank you.

Chris Argentieri

President & COO

Norman Pearlstine

Executive Editor

Judge approves funding for McClatchy


McClatchy won a number of court decisions in a hearing March 25. The decisions “cleared the way for short-term financing and kept alive the local news organization’s hope for a fast exit from bankruptcy,” said a story from the company’ s Washington bureau.
Judge Michael E. Wiles approved $50 million for McClatchy to turn to during the bankruptcy.
The hearing also zeroed in on an investigation into transactions between McClatchy and its top creditor, as a government lawyer claimed that the case likely depends on the matter, the story reported.
Wiles ruled against two motions: one aimed at removing McClatchy’s outside legal counsel and another to stop a second law firm from looking into the transactions.
The hearing took place by telephone.
News and Tech