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Mo News: Should We Be Worried About Monkeypox?
Mosheh Oinounou
May 23, 2022
Hi everyone,
Hope you all had a great weekend. Here's what we're watching this week:
There are nearly 100 confirmed Monkeypox cases around the world. We'll get a reality check on the virus.
With inflation soaring and a volatile stock market, Americans are feeling uneasy about the economy. What to expect this week on Wall Street.
The first batch of overseas baby formula has arrived in the US.
The Taliban strikes again, forcing female news anchors to cover their faces on air.
Check your cupboards: There is a Jif Peanut Butter Recall. We'll you which numbers to look out for.
A look at which cast members are leaving SNL this season.
And as always, let's start this week on the right foot with Good Mood Monday.
** Mosh and Alex will see you tonight at 9pmET on their regular Mondays with Mosh Instagram Live, where they'll take all your questions.**
🎙 And we've got some exciting podcast news... stay tuned for a big announcement in the next few days!
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🤒 MONKEYPOX: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Reality Check: To start with, Monkeypox is NOT Coronavirus Part II. Biden administration health official Ashish Jha told ABC News he does not believe it will have a widespread impact in the United States. ~ Politico
Covid vs. Monkeypox: Jha says Monkeypox is a "virus we understand." It's not new and there are vaccines and treatments for it. Note that the Smallpox vaccine is 85% effective against it. Plus, it's not airborne and not nearly as contagious as Covid. Experts think the current monkeypox outbreak is being spread through close, intimate skin on skin contact. Many of the most recent cases have been in gay and bisexual men, according to health officials, though it can impact anyone. ~ BBC"What seems to be happening now is that it has got into the population as a sexual form, as a genital form, and is being spread as are sexually transmitted infections, which has amplified its transmission around the world." -- WHO official David Heymann, an infectious disease specialist. ~ ReutersStatus Update: Belgium has become the first country to institute a mandatory 21-day quarantine for monkeypox patients with four cases of the disease. The World Health Organization says there are now 92 confirmed cases in 12 different countries-- including the US, UK, Portugal, Sweden, Italy, Israel, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, and Australia-- and more under investigation.
What is Monkeypox? Monkeypox is in the same family as smallpox but less deadly. Symptoms include a distinctive rash, fever, sore muscles and a headache. The West African strain that was identified in the US has a fatality rate of around 1%. Most people fully recover in two to four weeks.
Why are officials worried? Right now there's spread of the disease beyond Africa, where it usually circulates. So far the outbreaks are "atypical." Scientists are trying to figure out if the virus has changed.
Previous US Outbreak: In July 2003, there were 71 cases of monkeypox reported to the CDC in the US from several midwest states. The majority of patients at the time were exposed to prairie dogs that originally came from Africa. Some patients were exposed in premises where prairie dogs were kept, and others were exposed to persons with monkeypox," according to the archived CDC website.
💰 INCREASING ECONOMIC CONCERNS
Via CBS NEWS
Americans are increasingly "worried" and "uneasy" about the economy, as inflation is soaring and the stock market is plunging. In a new CBS poll, 69% of those surveyed say the economy is bad, 77% say they're pessimistic about the cost of goods and services in the next few months, and 57% are pessimistic about their plans for retirement. ~ CBS News
🚨 Increasing Concerns: Something for the White House to be watching going into midterm elections this fall: A significant reason for the increasingly negative ratings is loss of confidence by Democrats (blue line above). Overall, only 21% of all Americans see the country going in the "right direction." ~AP
Still, Some bright spots: More than half feel optimistic about the local job market and efforts against Coronavirus in that CBS poll.
🐻 WALL STREET: The bears are calling. This will likely be another volatile week on Wall Street. The S&P 500 has now fallen for seven straight weeks, the longest losing streak since 2001. During trading on Friday, the S&P fell to bear market levels-- which means it traded more than 20% below its record high in January-- but then reversed and finished the day higher. ~ CNBCThe big question now is whether this is the bottom of the market with stocks set to rally higher, or if this is the beginning of a prolonged bear market and we stocks will be 'hibernating' for a while."The whole thing comes down to whether or not there’s going to be a recession. In the last three bear markets, where there was no recession, the decline was 21.3% and we’re basically there," Julian Emanuel, head of equity, derivatives and quantitative strategy at Evercore ISI, told CNBC.He said the last three bear markets when there WAS a recession, the average decline was 47.9%.Those bear markets were in 2000, 2008 and 2020.Here is a breakdown by the AP on what a bear market means for your portfolio. (BTW: A bear market ends when the market rises 20% from whatever is the market's lowest point).As for this week, a lot could hinge on retail earnings from big names like Costco and Best Buy. Last week, Walmart and Target said they took massive hits to their profits with customers starting to cut back, buy fewer products and go for less expensive items. That sparked another market selloff.
** In Wednesday's Premium Newsletter Edition we'll be talking to Peter Tuchman, aka Einstein of Wall Street, all about the stock market, how long this turmoil could last, and get some practical advice for investors and our 401K plans. Email us your questions. And SIGN UP for the premium editions here. **
🍼 OH BABY! SOME PROGRESS ON FORMULA
Courtesy: @POTUS on Twitter
That ^^📸^^ is a C-17 plane loaded up with 70,000 pounds of infant formula, which landed in Indiana on Sunday after departing from Germany. It's the first batch of imported formula-- part of the Biden Administration's Operation Fly Formula-- meant to help alleviate the formula shortage in the US. The aircraft is carrying the equivalent of up to 500,000 8-ounce bottles. ~ ABC News
Biden says the US has now secured a second flight to transport Nestle specialty infant formula to Pennsylvania. The flight and trucking will take place in the coming days.
Abbott Mea Culpa: Meanwhile, the CEO of Abbott--the company that controls 40% of the US formula market, makes Similac and other popular baby food, and which issued a voluntary recall back in February-- is apologizing for the crisis. In an op-ed in the Washington Post, CEO Robert Ford said he's sorry about the formula shortage and laid out what the company is doing to fix it.Timeline: Ford says he expects to have the Abbott plant up and running in the first week of June. It will then take 6-8 weeks to get formula on store shelves.But he says: "When we are operating our Michigan facility at full capacity, we will more than double our current production of powdered infant formula for the United States... By the end of June, we will be supplying more formula to Americans than we were in January before the recall."
🗞 THE SPEED READ
Jif’s creamy, crunchy, natural and reduced fat peanut butters among other varieties of the product have been linked to a salmonella outbreak across 12 states that has left 14 sick, including two who were hospitalized. The J.M. Smucker Co. announced a voluntary recall of more than 50 Jif peanut butter products. Jars with lot codes 1274425 through 2140425 have been recalled and should be thrown away. (NY Post)
via TOLO News
Women presenters on Afghanistan's leading news channels went on air Sunday with their faces covered, a day after defying a Taliban order to conceal their appearance on television. Since seizing power last year, the Taliban have imposed a slew of restrictions on civil society, many focused on reining in the rights of women and girls. (France 24)
Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations, according to a scathing 288-page investigative report issued Sunday. (AP News)
Musk said Twitter refuses to explain how they calculate bots and called it 'very suspicious'. Elon Musk suggested Saturday that his agreement to purchase Twitter for $44 billion and take it private should be cut proportionate to the number of bots on the platform. (Fox Business)
via AP
McKinnon, Bryant, Davidson and Mooney are leading members of the SNL generation that succeeded Jason Sudeikis, Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig. McKinnon has been on the show for 11 seasons (this weekend marked her 211th episode, more than any woman in SNL history), Bryant has been on for 10, Mooney for 9, Davidson for 8. (Deadline)
☀️ GOOD MOOD MONDAY
A KFC employee saved a kidnapped woman who had slipped him a note asking for help. On May 15th, the woman entered the Memphis KFC with a man, and slipped a note to an unidentified employee begging for help. The employee immediately called the cops who chased down the kidnapper. The victim said that she had been in a relationship with the man. He had taken her phone, held her against her will with physical assaults, threats and a handgun. The employee is being called a hero.
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[Top Monkeypox Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images]