And that, according to a recent study from the (GBTA), is good news. The report found that while the state of the economy continued to raise points of concern for travel bookers, it was not something that would necessarily stop them from setting up a business trip, unlike with COVID.

Business travel is slowly but surely bouncing back to levels seen in 2019, according to the study of nearly 600 business travel buyers. Per the survey, domestic business travel is, on average, at 63 percent of pre-pandemic totals, while international travel is at 50 percent at where it was before lockdowns severely hampered the travel landscape.

But the optimism going into the new year is strong, with more than three-fourths of travel managers (78 percent) expecting their companies to take more business trips, while 85 percent of business-travel bookers expect more bookings overall. And while economic concerns might suggest a coming downturn, three-quarters of travel buyers say there are no plans to immediately limit travel because of it.

Those trips, travel managers believe, won’t just be limited to meetings bringing together staff that now largely works remote. Around two-thirds of travel managers expect to increase both internal travel (e.g., meetings with colleagues at other company locations) and external travel (e.g., sales trips or conferences).

, GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang said that these indicators are signs that, going into 2023, there will be much potential to make back many of the losses of the past three years. She cited the fact that certain parts of the world, particularly Asia, were still opening back up, while mask restrictions ended only recently.

“We continue to see progress as business travel makes its way back to being a $1.4 trillion global industry, pre-pandemic. It is also important to understand the context of global business travel’s recovery,” she said.

Source:

Dr. Jennifer Avegno, the city’s health director, made the move official at an Ash Wednesday news conference. She added that the city’s vaccination-or-testing requirement for entry into places like bars and restaurants could also expire on March 21.

The mask mandate ends at 6 a.m. Thursday.

Coronavirus surge hits factory workforces just as they struggle with supply-chain issues and rising costs.

According to a Wall Street Journal article, the Omicron variant’s spread among U.S. factory workers is slowing operations and stretching staff for manufacturers, leading some to consider unconventional, and sometimes expensive, solutions to keep operating.

Executives told the WSJ that mounting absences among workers are bringing masks back to some factory floors, while manufacturers shuttle available workers to jobs and plants where they are most needed. Companies are also redoubling recruiting efforts to fortify workforces already worn thin by high turnover in a tight job market.

The speed at which the highly contagious variant is spreading has stunned some executives, who said they had grown increasingly confident over recent months that their companies had navigated the worst of the pandemic. The apparent decreasing severity of the variant is providing some hope that the number of cases will lighten and the effect on companies will abate in coming weeks. Some sidelined workers are quarantining at home as a precaution.

The surge in Covid-19 absenteeism threatens to deepen problems of supply-chain and transportation bottlenecks and delayed deliveries. A stretch of depleted workforces and lower production volumes also could fuel further cost increases and drive consumer inflation. Already, domestically made material input costs for manufacturers have grown at the fastest rate since the 1970s, up nearly 30% in November from a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Late last month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its voluntary recommendations that people isolate themselves for five days if they no longer show symptoms after being infected with Covid-19 and then wear a mask for the next five days, down from 10 days of isolation previously.

While the hope was that 2022 would get better, for some manufacturers it’s starting off in a mess.

The cost of food at home was up 4.6 percent in August compared to 2019, the biggest rise in almost a decade. In workplaces and school cafeterias, food was 3 percent cheaper.

Food prices move a lot, but the same pattern proves true for products related to our more domestic lifestyles. Few home workers need a new suit or dress (down 17 percent), makeup (down 3 percent), hotel room (down 13 percent) or air ticket (down 23 percent).

Beyond groceries, other prices on the rise are pajamas (men’s nightwear is up 4 percent), cycling (bikes up 6 percent), and reading for pleasure (books up 4 percent, newspapers 5 percent).

Higher education is less attractive. Tuition fees are up 1.3 percent—the lowest since data collection begain in the 1970s.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Beginning Sept. 1, employers could stop withholding the 6.2 percent employee share of Social Security taxes for workers earning under $104,000 a year. The IRS guidance said those taxes would have to be recouped from paychecks in the first four months of 2021.

That would put more money in workers’ pockets temporarily and give them a chance at keeping that money permanently if Congress later forgave the taxes.

But under IRS guidance, employers would be on the hook for money that did not get repaid. And they would face implementation costs and challenges in explaining changes to employees.

Trump acted on his own to order the payroll tax deferral while Congress was deadlocked over economic relief. He used a law that lets the government delay tax deadlines during disasters and has asked Congress to forgive the taxes and use general-fund money to fill any gap that it creates in Social Security funding.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Reiterates Warning About Dangerous Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers Containing Methanol, Takes Additional Action to Address Concerning Products Agency Urges Consumers, Health Care Professionals Not to Use Certain Products, Citing Serious Adverse Events and Death

For Immediate Release: July 27, 2020

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration continues to warn consumers and health care professionals not to use certain alcohol-based hand sanitizers due to the dangerous presence of methanol, or wood alcohol – a substance often used to create fuel and antifreeze that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin as well as life-threatening when ingested. The agency has also taken additional action to help prevent certain hand sanitizers from entering the United States by placing them on an import alert. The FDA is proactively working with manufacturers to recall products and is encouraging retailers to remove products from store shelves and online marketplaces. As part of these actions, a warning letter has been issued to Eskbiochem S.A. de C.V. regarding the distribution of products labeled as manufactured at its facilities with undeclared methanol, misleading claims –including incorrectly stating that FDA approved these products—and improper manufacturing practices.

The FDA first warned about some of the methanol-containing hand sanitizers being sold in retail stores and online in June. The agency issued a further warning earlier this month about an increasing number of adverse events, including blindness, cardiac effects, effects on the central nervous system, and hospitalizations and death, primarily reported to poison control centers and state departments of health. The agency continues to see these figures rise.

“Practicing good hand hygiene, which includes using alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not readily available, is an important public health tool for all Americans to employ. Consumers must also be vigilant about which hand sanitizers they use, and for their health and safety we urge consumers to immediately stop using all hand sanitizers on the FDA’s list of dangerous hand sanitizer products,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D. “We remain extremely concerned about the potential serious risks of alcohol-based hand sanitizers containing methanol. Producing, importing and distributing toxic hand sanitizers poses a serious threat to the public and will not be tolerated. The FDA will take additional action as necessary and will continue to provide the latest information on this issue for the health and safety of consumers.”

The agency has posted a  of dangerous hand sanitizer products, which is being updated regularly. In most cases, methanol does not appear on the product label. However, methanol is not an acceptable ingredient in any drug, including hand sanitizer, even if methanol is listed as an ingredient on the product label. The FDA’s ongoing testing has found methanol contamination in hand sanitizer products ranging from 1% to 80%.

Importantly, the FDA is urging consumers not to use any hand sanitizer products from the particular manufacturers on the list even if the product or particular lot number are not listed since some manufacturers are recalling only certain – but not all – of their hand sanitizer products. Manufacturers’ failure to immediately recall all potentially affected products is placing consumers in danger of methanol poisoning. One of the reported deaths is associated with Blumen Hand Sanitizer, distributed by 4e North America and manufactured by 4E Global in Mexico, who recently expanded its recall to include additional lots of its hand sanitizer products. Additionally, the FDA is strongly urging distributors and retailers to stop distributing and selling hand sanitizers manufactured by the firms on the list immediately, even if the particular product is not included in a recall, due to the risk of methanol poisoning.

When identifying hand sanitizers from the FDA’s , consumers should look for one or more identifiers from the list that match the product’s labeling, including:

• Manufacturer name
• Product name
• National Drug Code (NDC) number

If any of the identifiers (name, company, or NDC) match a product on the list, the FDA urges consumers to immediately stop using the hand sanitizer. Dispose of the hand sanitizer bottle in a hazardous waste container, if available, or dispose of as recommended by local waste management and recycling centers. Do not flush or pour these products down the drain or mix with other liquids.

Methanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death. Although people using these products on their hands are at risk for methanol poisoning, young children who ingest these products and adolescents and adults who drink these products as an alcohol (ethanol) substitute are most at risk. Consumers who have been exposed to hand sanitizer containing methanol and are experiencing symptoms should seek immediate medical treatment for potential reversal of the toxic effects of methanol poisoning.

The FDA encourages health care professionals, consumers and patients to report adverse events or quality problems experienced with the use of hand sanitizers to FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program (please provide the agency with as much information to identify the product as possible):

• Complete and submit the report online; or
• Download and complete the form, then submit it via fax at 1-800-FDA-0178

Consumers, manufacturers or distributors who have questions for the FDA regarding hand sanitizers should email COVID-19-Hand-Sanitizers@fda.hhs.gov.

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

Big Iron will continue and management expects the show to be full.

“The Big Iron Farm Show is on as scheduled for September 15-17 at the fairgrounds,” said Breann Lenzmeier, the show’s marketing and sponsorship coordinator. “We have 70 exhibitors on the waiting list and receive multiple applications each day.”

Deere spokeswoman Laurel Caes said the decision to not exhibit “aligns with local guidelines and recommendations from health care professionals to maintain social distancing and to avoid large group gatherings.”

She said the “decision was made to help safeguard the John Deere and dealer employees working the show, their families and their customers and communities.”

Cody Cashman, general manager for Red River Valley Fair Association, said Big Iron will follow the ND Smart Restart guidelines, encouraging people to social distance and wear masks. He said the show also will take steps such as making hand sanitizer available and keeping doors open to minimize contact.

Source: Inforum

Until Monday, the Farm Progress Show was scheduled to be an in-person event in Boone, Iowa, the first three days of September. Husker Harvest Days was in Grand Island, Neb., Sept. 14 to 16.

The decision to cancel the shows is in response to risks associated with the spread of the coronavirus. Show organizers just days ago reported on their extensive work to reduce the risk of exposure among exhibitors and attendees, but the national situation changed quickly.

“Within days of our commitment to hold both farm shows, more than half the United States saw a significant spike in new cases of COVID-19,” said Matt Jungmann, event manager for the Farm Progress Show. “We have a multi-generational audience that travels from all across the country and around the world to attend the shows, and based on that, we felt it better to reconsider the traditional show for 2020 to prioritize the safety of all.”

Details will continue to take shape about a virtual farm show. It was not clear on Monday whether virtual content would run during Husker Harvest Days.

Jungmann said that while a virtual event will not give growers the true “tire kicking” experience of being at the show, the events team is gearing up to deliver a dynamic digital experience.

Sunbelt Ag Expo is ON for 2020! 

Over the years, the Sunbelt Ag Expo has opened in the wake of 9/11, severe weather in 2011 and 2014, in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in 2018. Now, this  year, despite the pandemic, organizers are planning on the 43rd edition in Moultrie to be an in-person Expo. “Of the utmost importance while planning this year’s show is the safety of our attendees and our exhibitors,” said Expo Executive Director Chip Blalock.  “We will abide by the safety protocols offered by the CDC with regard to Covid-19.  We will continue to utilize ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking to blend safety and commerce. Our exhibitors have expressed a desire for the show to go on as it is truly a business event for them. Our attendees are ready to come to the show and do business with our exhibitors.”

Source: Farm Progress Show – Sunbelt Ag Expo

The EEOC’s guidance follows interim guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that say antibody test results “should not be used to make decisions about returning persons to the workplace.”

The CDC based its recommendations on the current accuracy of antibody testing as well as uncertainty about the level of potential immunity antibodies may provide. Therefore, antibody testing would not be “job related and consistent with business necessity” as required by the ADA for medical exams of current employees, and thus it is unlawful.

If an employer cannot require antibody testing, what alternatives are there for obtaining documentation that an employee is fit to return to work?

In the same guidance document, the EEOC has already approved mandatory COVID-19 testing to verify if an employee is infected with COVID-19. This is “job related and consistent with business necessity,” as employees with COVID-19 pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others. Moreover, an employer can require that an employee obtain a doctor’s note certifying the employee’s fitness for duty.

Source: Barnes & Thornburg LLP

A reported commissioned by the California Farm Bureau Federation and others took a look at 15 different parts of the agriculture industry, using data through early May.

Dairy is expected to see the largest total loss—somewhere between $1.4 billion and $2.3 billion—as it accounts for nearly one-fifth of the state’s $50 billion ag industry.

Grapes are second on the list. Growers could see more than a $1.5 billion loss, followed by flowers at more than $660 million.

Jamie Johansson is the president of the federation and a citrus and olive grower in Northern California. He said he called on the state to stop writing new regulations that further stress the economics of farming.

“California farmers, ranchers and their employees have continued the essential work needed to keep American families fed, but that work has come with sacrifice,” Johansson said. “The impact is being felt in rural communities throughout the state that rely on agriculture for their residents’ livelihoods.”

The report, produced by ERA Economics, pointed to unstable markets and rapidly shifting purchasing behaviors as the main drivers behind the loss in farm revenue. In the case of some products like pork, virus outbreaks in packing plants created bottlenecks in the supply chain, forcing farmers to kill, disk or otherwise destroy their animals and crops.

Source: Palm Springs Desert Sun