2020
May
04
Monday

Monitor Daily Podcast

May 04, 2020
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Clayton Collins
Director of Editorial Innovation

Today we look at Americans’ shifting perspectives on China, the line between expressions of freedom and intimidation, today’s Supreme Court precedent, and concerns and options for people who like cruises – or safaris. First, a quick look at innovation and COVID-19.

As some areas ease out of lockdown, big public- and private-sector players keep trying to engineer (and scale up) ways of easing life amid coronavirus.

Meanwhile, grassroots efforts are thriving.  

Face coverings, worn out of respect for those who don’t have the luxury of physical distancing, get a lot of creative attention. It’s more than pretty patterns. Tokujin Yoshioka, the Japanese designer behind the 2020 Olympic torch, just developed a free template for a plastic full-face shield. In Vermont, a sewing machine wizard keeps old machines running for fabric mask DIYers. 

And then there’s Eric Kim. The Oregon high schooler, who has partial hearing loss, was concerned about how mask requirements would affect those who count on being able to read lips. Empathy pushed him toward a niche. He had inspiration: the work of a Kentucky college student he’d seen on CNN. 

So he called her for tips. Then he bought out the clear fabric at his local Dollar Tree and set about learning to sew. 

“It was a lot harder than I thought,” he told the Portland Oregonian: hours at the machine, a pipe-cleaner insert to ensure a snug fit. As of today, he has supplied about 70 free masks, he says in an email, and is answering hundreds of calls from around the country. He’s got a funding effort, and he’s got a plan: to keep going for “as long as people keep requesting.”


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Many Americans see China as both a political rival and an important source of goods. How might U.S.-China tension over Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus influence how they rank those perceptions?

Seth Herald/Reuters
A militia group stands in front of the governor’s office after protesters occupied the state capitol building during a vote to approve the extension of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order due to the coronavirus outbreak, in Lansing, Michigan, April 30, 2020.

Here’s another perspectives story. Bringing assault weapons to a statehouse to protest coronavirus restrictions is, to one group, exercising the Second Amendment. To many others, it’s unfathomable.

The Explainer

To the list of pandemic firsts, add this: Supreme Court oral arguments, live by conference call. We wanted to look at what finally moved a body that does not adopt change lightly.

Dean Lewins/AAP/Reuters
The Ruby Princess cruise ship, the subject of a criminal investigation with Australian authorities after allowing passengers infected with COVID-19 to disembark in Sydney in March, departs Port Kembla in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, April 23, 2020.

Cruise lines face a perfect storm of problems in the pandemic. To some loyal clients – eager to sail but also to stay safe – it’s a test of patience and prudence.

Courtesy of WildEarth
WildEarth, an organization based in South Africa, streams live game drives twice daily from a private reserve near the country's Kruger National Park. The organization has seen its viewership skyrocket since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another kind of traveler favors elephants and high adventure. If you think that those two options are locked out by lockdowns, let this story show you a short-term workaround.


The Monitor's View

One flip side of the COVID-19 emergency has been an intense scrutiny by investors on private companies doing good deeds. Is a company paying extra to employees required to work on-site or with the public (“hazard pay”)? Is it providing enough protective gear for workers or time off to take care of children at home?  

Beyond this concern for the treatment of workers, investors are eyeing the long-term value in a firm’s response to the larger social needs of the coronavirus crisis. Are executives trying to keep their suppliers afloat? Did a manufacturer offer to make protective equipment? Have big companies resisted taking rescue money from government? Did a corporation cancel dividends and cut executive pay?

And as public debt rises with massive government spending, the financial firm Morgan Stanley offers this prediction: “We expect investors to require [corporations] to demonstrate they are paying their fair share of taxes.”

The public health crisis has “upended how companies operate,” writes Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, in a letter to the investment firm’s shareholders. “In my 44 years in finance, I have never experienced anything like this.” 

One indicator of the shift is that both corporations and public institutions are issuing more “social bonds” to raise money in the struggle against COVID-19. The Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs has led more than $15 billion of COVID-related bonds globally. Such capital will be used to help countries recover from the loss of business, build hospitals, and address other needs.

According to Bloomberg News, “green bonds” that support business practices curbing climate change have dipped while social bonds are increasing. More social bonds have been issued so far in 2020 than in all of 2019. “The stage is now set for social bonds to move from a niche solution to a mainstream one,” according to Foreign Policy magazine.

Private firms have long provided goods and services to the public while creating jobs, but usually to deliver a profit. Yet financial markets are now savvier in seeing whether a company’s response to societal needs, such as a health crisis or global warming, can add to the bottom line. With each crisis, concepts of what is the public good are expanding. Private capital is catching up. 


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

If we’re feeling as if bad is eclipsing the good in the world, or as if goodness has been put on hold, it’s worth considering the biblical promise of God’s unending goodness for all His children, at every moment.


A message of love

Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters
Performers wearing protective face shields perform at the Erawan Shrine, after the government started opening some restaurants outside shopping malls, parks, and barbershops during the COVID-19 outbreak, in Bangkok, May 4, 2020.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Come back tomorrow. Ryan Lenora Brown is looking into what West Africa’s experiences fighting Ebola can teach the world about fighting COVID-19. One lesson: the power of compassion.

More issues

2020
May
04
Monday
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