Hello Readers,
A most critical point of our lives is going on right now. So many viruses came and gone by, but they did not disrupt society as a whole. However, this virus that shares a name with a beer of all things – Corona – has disrupted the planet. As of July 1, 2020, there are over 10.5 million cases and 512,000 deaths, but we have over 5.7 million recoveries. That means the medical professionals has cured around 11 persons for every 1 death.
Compared to the rest of the world, the US is slower in recovery. Its recovery to death ratio is 8.7 to 1. On June 29th, the deaths were low at 346. The highest death count was on April 21, with 2,749 deaths. New Jersey has 423 new positive cases as of July 1. It is a good achievement, and I give credit to Governor Phil Murphy. On June 29th, he postponed opening up indoor dining at restaurants.
Indoor dining is not advisable right now. Georgia, which opened indoor dining in the middle of June, and Texas, whose governor allowed 75% capacity of indoor dining, have seen spikes in positive cases. The same thing happened to California, which has about 223,000 cases. So, I agree with Governor Murphy that slowly and gradually, things should reopen.
The lockdown became problematic for many businesses, especially small businesses. They received some help from the PPP (Payroll Protection Program), but that was for 8 weeks only. What about after 8 weeks? Also, the government made a huge mistake giving the unemployed $600 per week until July 31, 2020. The majority of them were receiving more money without working, so why should they make a huge effort to look for a job? So, many businesses received PPP loans, but could not find employees. Plus, the government changes the rules every now and then. It is hurting people. It is their livelihood. We are not saying that lawmakers should not make policies, but we are asking them that once you make the policy, do not change it.
Only 4 months are left until the big election for the presidency. Listen to both sides of the news. We have a limited choice, so pick the best in your opinion. I am waiting for the August vice presidential pick from Joe Biden. It is a very important pick, as if something happens to Joe Biden, the vice president pick would become president, and that person must be capable of handling the situation and making important decisions.
Finally, Local Talk has returned to the printing press. For the past three months, we have been exclusively online due to the pandemic. We always intended to resume the print edition, because the community needs this format, as not everyone is great with technology. Also, reading something besides a screen is very important for our younger readers.
Last but not least, we decided that when we resumed printing, we would not just simply come back; we would come back better than ever. As you can see, the paper is in a new format, with improvements as you can see throughout. Going on 20 years, our mission has not changed. We seek to uplift the community and quality of life through the power of media.
Have a wonderful week.
I’ll talk to you next week.
