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Our briefing for Monday, January 31, 2022:
Jan 31, 2022 3:26:59 PM
- In the United States, a new bill has garnered bipartisan support in the Senate, as it would establish a commission to investigate the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The legislation, called the Prevent Pandemics Act, could allow federal health agencies to gain new powers and would help inform the country’s response to future outbreaks. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, who is co-sponsoring the bill with Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, first had the idea of establishing a Covid-19 commission back in March 2020. “Because even back then it was clear: we have to learn from this pandemic to make sure we are never in this situation again,” she said on Thursday.
- In Canada, thousands gathered in Ottawa’s city centre on Sunday, as groups of truckers and others opposed vaccine mandates and broader public health measures. The protests began as a way to voice concerns over the federal government’s vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers, but it has since expanded into a wider movement against all Covid-19 restrictions. Police say the protests have been mostly peaceful, with only one arrest being made by Sunday afternoon. There were however, several incidents that were widely regarded as disrespectful including protesters jumping on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and covering a Terry Fox statue with anti-vaccine materials. Police say criminal investigations related to the incidents are underway.
- In the United Kingdom, the government is considering making a U-turn on mandatory vaccines for healthcare workers. Ministers will meet today to discuss whether to scrap the vaccine mandate that is currently in place. As the rules stand right now, frontline healthcare workers must be fully vaccinated by April 1, which means they must have had their first dose by Thursday. As of today, around 77,000 have had no jab at all. The government has been under pressure by some within the healthcare service to scrap the mandate, saying it will lead to a staffing crisis. Health Secretary Sajid Javid says the policy is being kept under review, but that it is the “duty” of healthcare workers to get their shots.
- Austria is planning on easing Covid-19 restrictions in February after its national vaccine mandate takes effect on Tuesday. The mandate, which requires all adults to be fully vaccinated or face fines of up to 3,600 euros ($5,076), is the first of its kind in Europe. Officials say the mandate is needed to boost vaccination rates and protect the country’s hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. Starting February 5, restaurants will be allowed to stay open to midnight as opposed to 10 PM, and the rules that bar unvaccinated people from stores and restaurants will be phased out. The Omicron wave is supposed to peak in Austria in the first week of February, officials say.
- Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is pushing a mass inoculation drive for boosters at a temporary vaccination centre operated by the military, as case numbers in Tokyo soar. The government has been giving booster shots to healthcare workers since December, but so far only 2.7% of the population has had their third shot, according to the website of the prime minister’s office. The temporary vaccination center, run by the Self-Defense Force in downtown Tokyo, will be vaccinating about 720 people ages 18 and older per day, ramping up to 2,000 per day by next month. Another military-run centre in Osaka will begin booster shots next week.
- Australia’s schools have reopened amid a fall in case numbers and deaths. The country reported its lowest number for daily deaths in two weeks, as local authorities braced for staff shortages in schools. "There will be challenges and there will be bumps over these first few weeks," Victoria state Deputy Premier James Merlino said during a media briefing. Children are being asked to test twice a week for Covid-19, while the government plans to roll out the distribution of millions of at-home antigen tests to families free of cost. About 40% of children ages five to 11 in Australia have had their first vaccine dose.
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
Health Startup Athelas Hits $1.5 Billion Valuation After Pandemic Boom
Brief: Athelas Inc., a startup that builds remote patient monitoring technology, raised $132 million in new funding, bringing its valuation to $1.5 billion. Founded in 2016, Athelas experienced sharp growth last year, spurred in part by a shift to remote care during the Covid-19 pandemic. Athelas now has 20,000 patients, 10 times the number of patients it had in the beginning of 2021, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Tanay Tandon said. “The pandemic really showed folks that health care in the home has to be a thing and in a lot of ways is better than the traditional care model,” Tandon said. Athelas’ primary product is the Athelas One, an internet-connected device that uses a finger-prick to return blood diagnostics and shares that information with healthcare providers. The product, which has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration, is geared toward patients who are immunocompromised or have chronic conditions that need frequent monitoring. Tandon said remote monitoring allows doctors to address health issues earlier, potentially avoiding the pricier costs of more intensive treatment or hospitalization down the road.
Euro Area Scrapes By Second Winter of Pandemic With Mild Growth
Brief: The euro-area economy grew modestly in the fourth quarter amid another wave of surging coronavirus infections and curbs on activity. Gross domestic product rose 0.3%, slightly less than predicted, after a sharp contraction in output left Germany on the brink of recession. Meanwhile, a ramp-up in investment contributed to stronger-than-expected growth in France and Spain. Italy reported an expansion of 0.6% on Monday. The region’s economy is tackling headwinds better than earlier in the pandemic as businesses find ways to cope with restrictions and more people get vaccinated, but it’s still lagging recoveries in the U.S. and the U.K. Supply bottlenecks have weighed on manufacturing-heavy Germany for months, and coronavirus curbs are now disrupting all parts of the economy. Euro-area output increased 5.2% in 2021. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in December she expects economy to reach pre-crisis levels in the current quarter.
Morgan Stanley Lawyer Doubles Down on Wall Street Office Return
Brief: Morgan Stanley’s top lawyer said Friday that veteran outsiders who criticized his push to end remote work are missing an opportunity to connect with the next generation of leaders. “Two years of not being together is fraying those bonds,” Eric Grossman said in a Fordham Law School talk. Almost a fourth of Morgan Stanley’s workers started during the coronavirus pandemic, and “a bunch of them have never spent time in the office—they don’t know what we’re like,” he said. Much of the negative reaction to his call to return to the office came from “fully formed lawyers,” Grossman said. “‘I don’t need to be in the office, I’m super-efficient at home, I’m serving my clients, I’m getting everything done,’” he said, paraphrasing the criticisms. “But we are stewards for the next generation.” Grossman, Morgan Stanley’s longtime chief legal officer and one of the top paid lawyers on Wall Street, in a July memo to outside law firms and legal service providers said they should end remote work and bring lawyers back to the office.
Apollo Gives PE Staff a Work-From-Anywhere August in Nod to Flex Time
Brief: It’s time to stock up on the sunscreen at Apollo Global Management Inc. Come August, the private equity giant plans to allow staff in its buyout unit to work anywhere they would like for the month, said Matt Nord, one of the executives behind the decision. “We have seen over the last two years that we can give people more flexibility -- in how they manage, how they work -- and it doesn’t impact performance,” Nord, Apollo’s co-head of private equity, said in an interview. Private equity chiefs, like their peers across Wall Street, have taken an array of steps to provide employees flexibility as the pandemic persists. At Apollo, the August plan was also motivated by the desire to attract and retain talent in a cut-throat job market. That factor was in part what led companies including American Express Co. to offer hybrid work plans in recent months.
Hong Kong exodus could be largest ever says report as 21-day quarantine is cut
Brief: Hong Kong's city leader Carrie Lam announced on 27 January that the 21-day quarantine period most arrivals face, one of the world's most stringent timelines, would be cut to two weeks because the increasingly dominant Omicron variant has a shorter incubation period. This move to relax the rules comes against the backdrop of international businesses sounding alarm bells of a talent drain as rival financial hubs are reopening. In a draft report obtained this week by Bloomberg News, the European Chamber of Commerce warned businesses that the city could remain internationally isolated until 2024. "We anticipate an exodus of foreigners, probably the largest that Hong Kong has ever seen, and one of the largest in absolute terms from any city in the region," the draft report said. The Financial Times reported this week that Bank of America is the latest blue-chip firm to examine relocating staff to Singapore.
