News Room

During the coronavirus pandemic, the world has become reliant on personal protective equipment, or PPE. Most of this essential gear, from masks to gowns to goggles, comes from China -- and experts in the U.S. say this foreign dependence is problematic. Bur for now, the country where the virus originated is producing much of what's needed to fight it off. Special correspondent Patrick Fok reports.

States have been working hard on developing COVID-19 vaccine distribution plans. By the time the vaccine becomes available, about 1 in 4 people in the country may have recovered from COVID-19 and therefore be partially immune, and others who need the vaccine most may avoid it. The distribution plans should therefore address both possible immunity and vaccine reluctance as demand-side issues.

The long-anticipated 2020 General Election, which was already going to be a show of the ages, is coupled with a global outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. When voter turnout is as high as it is expected to be this year, the lines, or queues in the data science world, can become long — sometimes very long. The spring Presidential primary election in my home state of Wisconsin occurred during the statewide “stay-at-home” order associated with the pandemic, and many polling locations experienced long queues. Election officials are bracing for these queues to be even longer on November 3 when voter turnout will be much higher than it was for the primaries.

Hospitalisations of Covid-19 patients are surging across the US, leading to a shortage of medical staff and threatening to force state governors to make difficult decisions about rationing access to intensive care. New field hospitals were being opened from the Wisconsin state fair grounds to the El Paso Convention Center in Texas, as US Covid-19 cases surged to an all-time high a week before the presidential election.

One of the biggest challenges for shoppers this holiday season could be getting gifts to their destinations on time. In fact, there's already a lot of nervousness in the retail industry about whether their deliveries can keep up with demand. As we found out, they aren't the only ones who are nervous. Donna Bachmann counts herself as among the nervous ones. She says Federal Express lost five quilts she made last holiday season as gifts.