News Room

PROPERTY INSURERS price policies today but face payouts a year from now. That makes their profits hostage to inflation. As swathes of America’s economy have begun rapidly reopening for business in recent weeks, thanks to falling rates of covid-19 infections and rising ones of vaccination, William Berkley has been paying close attention to prices of building materials and anything found inside homes, from lamps to laptops. The replacement value of a home in America may have leapt by 20%, year on year, Mr Berkley thinks. Since the eponymous founder of WR Berkley launched his firm over half a century ago, he has never witnessed a time like the past year—not even in the inflationary 1970s. 

In North Carolina, counties with higher education levels tend to have the best COVID-19 vaccination rates. That means reaching people in counties with lower income, education rates and internet access could be crucial in the next phase of vaccination, experts say.

The government may no longer require North Carolinians to wear masks in public, but putting them on could help prevent thousands of coronavirus cases and deaths by the end of the year, according to researchers at three of the state’s universities.

The researchers have created a computer model that predicts coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths under various scenarios. The variables include vaccination rates and effectiveness of the vaccines, as well as adherence to measures meant to prevent spread of the virus, such as closing schools and workplaces and wearing masks.

Experts say if the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we need to plan and prepare more.