Covid-19 Vaccine and Cases Testing: Live Global Updates

This is what you need to know:.

World Health Organization experts at an airport in Wuhan, China, Thursday.Credit…Ng Han Guan/Associated Press

More than a year after the first appearance of a new coronavirus in China, a team of World Health Organization experts arrived in central Wuhan on Thursday to begin a search for the source.

But in a sign of Beijing’s ongoing efforts to control the research, a team of W.H.O. scientists and collaborators ran into obstacles almost immediately. Two scientists did not arrive in China at the last minute and stayed in Singapore because they tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus, Twitter reported.

Chinese authorities have requested that the remaining 13 experts be subjected to a two-week quarantine in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in late 2019.

The study to discover how the virus passed from animals to humans is an important step in preventing another pandemic. But it will probably be difficult to get answers.

Here’s what you need to know about the study.

China has erected barriers and exerted pressure to control them.

Apparently concerned about the country reviewing its initial mistakes in managing the pandemic, Chinese officials have used various tactics over the past year to obstruct the World Health Organization’s investigation.

China has resisted calls from other countries to allow independent researchers to study the origins of the pathogen and allowed two WHO experts to visit in July to lay the groundwork. They were not allowed to travel to Wuhan, where the virus first emerged.

For months, China has delayed approving a full team of experts, frustrating health officials. When the visit appeared to be about this month, it collapsed when Beijing refused to issue visas to visitors, the health agency said.

Now that the researchers have arrived, critics say Beijing’s desire for control means the research is likely to be more political than scientific.

Detecting the virus will be a difficult task.

The team that came to Wuhan is faced with a city that has changed radically since the virus appeared in late 2019. The city, which was founded on the 23rd. Closed in January last year and a symbol of the destruction of the virus, it has since been presented by Chinese officials as a success story in the fight against the virus.

W.H.O. experts have years of experience in virus detection, animal health and disease control. But the search for the source of the virus, which has killed nearly two million people worldwide and infected more than 92 million as of Thursday, will be difficult. While experts believe the virus is naturally born in animals, perhaps bats, little else is known.

According to health experts, the extent of the team’s access to China will be crucial.

The team will have to dodge attempts to politicize its investigation.

The pandemic has damaged China’s reputation and many foreign governments are still angry that Beijing did not do more to contain the crisis in its early stages. Therefore, Chinese propagandists are trying to use the WHO request to strengthen China’s image and present it as a mature superpower.

The reason could be the emergence of new viruses in recent weeks, which have led to new blockages in China. In all, more than 22 million people were invited to stay home, twice as many as a year ago in Wuhan. China’s National Health Commission reported Thursday the first coronavirus deaths on the mainland since May.

The main problem here is that the origin of the epidemic is so politicized, said Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. This has really reduced the U.H.O.’s room for maneuver to conduct an independent and objective scientific study.

United States ‘	United States 13January	Change of 14 days
New company	230,476	+34%
New Deaths	3,922	+45%

World ‘	World 13. 1 January	Change of 14 days
New company	751,664	+28%
New Deaths	16,354	+28%

When per capita is highest

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will outline the plans he and his economic team have been developing for weeks in an evening speech in Delaware. related to Kriston J Bethel credit for the New York Times.

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected on Thursday to submit proposals for multi-trillion-dollar government funding to combat the pandemic and its impact on the economy, initially focusing on a large-scale expansion of immunization and testing capacity for the virus.

The effort will focus on the pandemic, the economy, health care, education, climate change and other national priorities, the National Economic Council’s new director, Brian Deese, said Wednesday at the upcoming Reuters conference.

Biden will outline his plans, which he and his economic team have been working on for weeks, in an evening speech in Delaware. Leading Democrats in Congress have said in recent days that they are preparing for initiatives that include two bills.

At this point, the president-elect believes we need to be aggressive in both rescue and recovery, Dees said.

Funds to supplement the $2,000 in direct payments to individuals and assistance to small businesses and local and state governments, which Biden has emphasized in recent weeks, will be part of the first package, Dees said. Others who were aware of Biden’s thoughts said he would also ask that the first law extend additional federal unemployment benefits, which expire in March for many workers, and increase assistance to renters.

Plans for the first package also include a significant increase in the cost of providing vaccines, testing and contact tracing, Dees said, and Biden will seek enough money to open most schools.

We need to open schools, Mr. Dees said, so that parents and especially women, who are disproportionately affected in this economy, can get back to work.

The transition team will not say Wednesday how much Biden’s proposals will cost, nor whether he will release a cost estimate Thursday. Last week, Mr. Biden expected his entire program to be trillions of dollars.

Vaccinations in Napa County, California, Wednesday. linked to Max Whittaker’s credit for the New York Times.

Coronavirus deaths are rising to unprecedented levels in the United States, largely due to ongoing epidemics in California and Arizona.

As the death toll approaches 400,000 nationwide, weekly deaths in Maricopa County, Arizona, and Los Angeles and Fresno, California, have reached new highs, according to data compiled by the New York Times.

The virus has plagued California for weeks – particularly in Los Angeles County, where Covid-19 kills one person every eight minutes or so – although authorities said Wednesday they were seeing encouraging signs.

In Arizona last week, the state recorded the highest number of new coronavirus cases per capita in the country.

Dr. Marjorie Bessel, clinical director of Banner Health Hospitals in Arizona, warned Wednesday that if elected officials and residents don’t do more to stop the spread of the virus, five major health care systems risk being overwhelmed by patients. More than two-thirds of the state’s intensive care units were full on Monday, and hospitals were preparing for an increase of 25 to 50 percent.

We hope it doesn’t come to that, Dr. Bessel said, adding: We ask you – we beg you – to help us today to prevent this from happening.

He called on authorities to enact a national law on masks and ban indoor eating. Some cities and counties, such as Maricopa and Pima, have full mask mandates, but Republican Governor Doug Ducey has resisted calls for a state mandate.

Statewide, numbers remained dismal especially on Wednesday, although cases in the Northern Plains this week were about a quarter of their peak in mid-November, when the region was one of the hardest hit in the country. At least 3,900 deaths from the virus were reported in the United States on Wednesday, a day after the country set a daily record of more than 4,400 people.

At the beginning of the pandemic, cities were the most affected by the virus. But today it is not only metropolitan areas that are suffering, but also rural communities. Data compiled by the Times show that the deaths occurred in less populated areas, which include Butler County, Kan.; Sevier County, Tenn. and Itowah County, Ala.

It has taken a long time, but now this highly contagious virus has spread not only to the suburbs, but also to the countryside, says Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University. We have very rural counties in Tennessee, and there is no county that is not affected.

According to Dr. Schaffner, the geographic diversity of the deaths is evidence that the virus has decimated the state’s health care system. On Monday, nearly 90% of Tennessee’s ICUs were full.

However, large crowds, often without masks, are still common in many rural areas. Some end up in the hospital.

Under normal circumstances, rural patients who need more complex care – such as critically ill Covid-19 patients – are referred to larger hospitals in urban areas. But not all of these transfers are possible today.

Now we can’t accept referrals because we’re full, Dr. Schaffner says. Not surprisingly, the mortality rate is rising.

Restaurant Closed in Santa Barbara, California…. Brian Denton for The New York Times.

New U.S. unemployment claims rose last week as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the economy.

In the first full week of the new year, a total of 1.15 million workers applied for unemployment benefits for the first time, the Labor Department said. Another 284,000 claims were filed under Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federal emergency program for out-of-state workers, part-time workers and others not normally eligible for state unemployment benefits. None of these indicators are seasonal. On a seasonally adjusted basis, new government claims totaled 965,000.

Economists were preparing for another wave of damage when the coronavirus bombers hit the service sector. The government reported last week that the economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, the first drop in employment since heavy losses in restaurants, bars and hotels last spring.

We know the pandemic is getting worse, and based on last Friday’s employment report, we see that we are in a deep economic hole and digging in the wrong direction, said Daniel Zhao, chief economist of the Glassdoor career website.

The labour market recovered somewhat after the first wave of the coronavirus in spring. But of the 22 million jobs lost, nearly 10 million are still lost.

Compared to this period, we’re doing better, says AnnElizabeth Konkel, professional economist at Indeed, speaking of spring. But compared to the pre-Columbian era, we still have a long way to go.

Yet economists and analysts predict better times ahead. If more people are vaccinated, the number of cases will decrease, which will ease the burden on business and may lead to a recovery in consumer spending, which in turn will help to revitalize the service sector.

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. promised to push through Congress an economic stimulus package that would help individuals, small businesses, students, schools and local communities.

A caregiver is inoculated Wednesday in Santa Rosa, Calif. linked to the Jim Wilson/New York Times credit report.

This week, faced with an inevitable increase in the number of cases of Covida 19 disease, the US government issued guidelines on who in the country should be vaccinated as a priority. Here you will find answers to some frequently asked questions.

Who can currently be vaccinated according to federal guidelines?

On Tuesday, Health Minister Alex M. Azar II to all states to make all persons 65 and older and adults of any age with conditions that place them at high risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19 eligible.

In total, more than 150 million people are affected, almost half of the population. They are now joined by millions of formerly qualified caregivers and residents of long-term care facilities.

Mr. Azar did not specify the conditions under which someone is now eligible for vaccination; presumably the decision rests with the governors, as does the question of what documentation is required. However, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published a list of high-risk diseases, including cancer, diabetes and obesity.

How and why does eligibility vary from state to state?

Although the CDC made recommendations last month on which groups of states should provide the first vaccinations, the priorities are not binding and each state has developed its own groupings while vaccine supplies are still relatively small.

The federal government may not require states to change their previously announced priority plans, though new pressure from Azar, as well as growing public impatience as deaths from the virus continue to rise to new heights, could tip many of them over the edge.

In determining the priority groups, government officials took into account criteria such as the likelihood of dying in a Covid 19 contract – including people of color, the elderly, and people with related diseases – as well as occupations critical to a full economic recovery. The demographics of the state also played a role.

I am now qualified. How do I register?

It depends on the state or even the county you live in.

Some local health departments have set up portals where people can book appointments. Others conduct mass vaccinations and vaccinate people on a first-come, first-served basis.

In general, doctors’ offices and pharmacies ask patients and clients not to call to make appointments for vaccinations, but to wait until they are contacted.

Most pharmacies do not yet offer the vaccine, but CVS, Walgreens and a number of other pharmacy chains, including some in supermarkets and chain stores, will soon do so in cooperation with the federal government.

Given that the federal government says seniors and people with related diseases should be vaccinated after the fact, what happens to essential workers whose jobs require them to come into contact with other people? Do they have the right now?

In some states, yes.

Health workers in each state were the first to receive the vaccine. And even before Mr. Azar’s directive this week, a number of states had opened up vaccination to certain categories of first responders, including B. Police officers, firefighters, teachers, child care workers and public transportation workers.

But other states that had planned to offer the vaccine to some key workers in the coming weeks may now change their priorities, based on Mr. Azar’s new guidance.

There is nothing to prevent states from opening up vaccination to a new priority group before all members of the previous group have been reached, but this suggestion is important.

How many doses of vaccine are available to the United States?

Pfizer and Moderna, two companies whose vaccines are approved for emergency use in the United States, have jointly committed to providing 400 million doses over the next seven months.

Both vaccines require two doses, so they would be sufficient for 200 million of the approximately 260 million people currently eligible for vaccination. Children younger than 16 are not yet eligible for Pfizer vaccines and children younger than 18 are not yet eligible for Moderna vaccines.

Johnson & Johnson, whose vaccine candidate is in late-stage clinical trials, has contracted with the US government to supply 12 million doses by the end of February and a total of 100 million doses by the end of June. But the company has fallen behind on its production schedule.

How many people have been vaccinated so far?

The publicly available data is at least a few days old, so it’s hard to be sure. But the CDC said Wednesday that about 10.3 million people have received the first dose of the 29.4 million doses distributed in the country so far.

This includes nearly 1.1 million doses administered to residents and staff of retirement homes and other long-term care facilities.

Residents of a retirement home in Reims, France, received the Covid-19 vaccine last week. The World Health Organization is concerned about the spread of this new variant in Europe. linked to the Andrea Mantovani credit for the New York Times.

Europe has reached a turning point in the fight against the spread of new variants of the coronavirus, a senior World Health Organization official in the region said Thursday, calling for tighter public health controls to slow its transmission.

New opportunities have been identified in 25 of the 53 countries in the European region, the W.H.O. regional director said at a virtual press conference. Hans Kluge.

We were prepared for tough times in 2021, and that’s it, he said.

He said there were 26 million confirmed coronavirus infections and more than 580,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the region last year, with 1.8 million new cases last week alone.

He said health officials have not yet been able to gauge the full extent of the spike in infections caused by the increase in public gatherings and the loosening of precautions during the holiday season, as the number of tests and reports has also declined.

But he said the availability of vaccines offered hope for the months ahead. 2021 will be another year with the virus, but it will be more manageable and predictable, Kluge said.

More than 280 million people in Europe were living in national isolation at the start of the year, and several countries are planning new measures in the hope of reducing new infections and relieving pressure on overstretched health facilities.

In Switzerland, where new cases of Covid-19 infection have declined in recent days, authorities have announced new restrictions that will take effect next week due to the threat of highly transmissible variants.

Restrictions on commercial and social life in the country are limited and ski resorts are allowed to remain open to minimize the impact on the economy.

Switzerland is also keeping its schools open. But starting Monday, all non-traditional businesses will have to close, the limit for private gatherings has been reduced from 10 to 5, and mandatory closures of bars, restaurants, cultural and sports centers have been extended until the end of February.

Coronavirus testing site in Flint…Credit…Brittany Greeson for the New York Times….

The last place Flint, Michael, wants to be is back on the front page of the newspapers.

From lead-contaminated water to coronavirus and Legionnaires’ disease, health problems have plagued the city’s morale in recent years.

Today, Rick Snyder, the former Michigan governor who controlled the state when the water crisis devastated the city of Flint, is charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty, according to court records.

Michigan prosecutors will announce their findings as part of a broad investigation into the water crisis on Thursday, officials said, a long-awaited announcement that should also include charges against several other high-level Snyder officials and consultants.

We are at a crossroads of crisis, says Flint Mayor Sheldon Neely in an interview. It’s hard to separate emotions. People are under general stress and trying to figure out how to improve their quality of life.

The pandemic seems to be winding down a bit in Genesee County, of which Flint is a part. The seven-day moving average for new cases in Genesee reached its highest level at 3. December peaked at 341 cases per day, but this figure dropped in the week before December 12. January at 130.

Still, Neely said the city struggles with the constant blows to public health.

Meanwhile, Flint officials are keeping a close eye on things in the county and the city.

We are moving forward with a proactive attitude, Neely said. With the addition of the vaccination, we hope to see really positive results on the horizon.

In 2015, Flint residents learned that the city water they were drinking was contaminated with lead. Around the same time, an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease broke out in the city, which some associate with a general water problem.

Last summer, some city officials said they believe lead exposure and outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease may have put city residents at an even greater risk of coronavirus complications, the Detroit News reported.

Mayor Neely called the impact of Flint’s water crisis, combined with the pandemic, a perfect storm.

He said that while the municipality does not have sufficient funds, no expense is being spared to combat the virus.

My position, he says: The one deficit we will never be able to eliminate is a fatal one.

Health officials prepare to vaccinate in Rockaway, N.J. Credit … Sarah Blaisener for the New York Times.

Many hospital and nursing home staff, fearful of the new vaccine and marked by years of abuse, do not want to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

But hospitals and nursing homes, concerned about the health of their patients and shaken by several thousand deaths last year, urgently need to vaccinate their staff.

These opposing forces have led to unusual measures: In addition to educating employees about the benefits of vaccination, employers offer incentives such as money, extra time off, and even vouchers to the Waffle House to those who get vaccinated, while at least in some cases threatening to fire those who refuse to vaccinate.

Two major long-term care chains in the United States – Juniper Communities and Atria Senior Living – have said they must have their employees vaccinated, with few exceptions, if they want to keep their jobs.

It wasn’t a difficult decision, says Lynn Katzmann, chief executive officer of Juniper. Our goal is to do everything we can to protect our residents, team members and their families.

Critics say it’s unethical to force low-wage workers to get vaccinated.

This is a population that has been neglected, abused and mistreated in the past, says Dr. Mike Wasserman, geriatrician and past president of the California Long Term Care Association. It’s laziness on everyone’s part to get these people vaccinated. I think we should put all of our energy into respecting, honoring and appreciating the work they do and educating them about the benefits of immunization for them and their loved ones.

A survey of 5,900 employees at Jackson Health System in Miami found that only half of them want the vaccine immediately, a hospital spokeswoman said. Others said they would consider it later.

Last month, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine reported that about 60 percent of workers in retirement homes refused to be vaccinated. In New York City, at least 30 percent of health care providers have refused initial admission, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.

World Cycle

A normally busy highway near the Lebanese capital Beirut on Thursday, as the country begins the first day of austerity measures.Credit…Joseph Id/Agence France-Presse – Getty Images

On Thursday, Lebanon began its most severe shutdown since the pandemic began, imposing a 24-hour curfew, closing nearly all shops and restricting food deliveries.

The lockout, which lasts until the 25th. The new programme, which runs until 1 January, aims to stem the wave of infection that overwhelmed the health sector in this small Mediterranean country after the holidays.

Thirty-five people died Wednesday after Covid-19, a new daily record, and nearly 5,000 new cases were reported. According to the New York Times database, Lebanon, with a population of nearly six million, has recorded more than 231,000 infections and 1,740 deaths since the pandemic began.

Acting Health Minister Hamad Hassan tested positive on Wednesday and was hospitalized. State media reported that his health was good.

Lebanon’s ability to cope with the pandemic was undermined by an acute economic crisis that resulted in the country’s currency losing about two-thirds of its value, and by a massive explosion at the port of Beirut in August that killed about 200 people, destroyed four hospitals and damaged much of the city.

During a closure, people must be able to leave the building within an hour – even to buy bread or medicine or to go to the airport, hospital or doctor’s office – under penalty of a fine. The Prime Minister’s companion, Hassan Diab, called on the security forces to deal with the perpetrators of violence.

At other events around the world:

• The Philippine Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday that it had granted emergency approval for Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine. This makes Pfizer the first foreign company to get permission to sell its Covid-19 vaccine in the country.
• The Vatican said Thursday that Popes Francis, 84, and Benedict XVI, 93, have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine as part of the Vatican’s vaccination program. Francis called vaccination an ethical act.
• New Zealand, which has tightly controlled its borders and largely defeated the coronavirus, will allow 1,000 foreign students to enter the country from April, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced Thursday. This measure applies to students already enrolled in undergraduate or postgraduate programs who were deported from New Zealand when the border restrictions were imposed.
• Former top tennis player Andy Murray has reportedly tested positive for the virus, casting doubt on his participation in next month’s Australian Open. He was scheduled to fly to Melbourne this week to begin the two-week quarantine required for the tournament, which begins on the 8th. February starts three weeks later than usual because of the pandemic.

Technology companies are working on a digital version of the Covid 19 vaccination card that can be used to track vaccination appointments. Credit… Tim Gruber for the New York Times.

Airlines, workplaces and sports stadiums may soon require people to show their coronavirus vaccination status on their smartphones before they can enter.

A coalition of leading technology companies, health organizations and nonprofit associations, including Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, Cerner, Epic Systems and the Mayo Clinic, announced Thursday that they are developing technology standards that will allow people to access and share their immunization data through health passport applications.

For a while, most of us will have to prove a negative Covid 19 test or our current immunization status to live a normal life, says Dr. Brad Perkins, Medical Director of the Commons Project Foundation, a Geneva-based nonprofit and member of the Vaccine Certification Initiative.

It will happen, Dr. Perkins added, whether flying to another country, going to work, going to school, going to the grocery store, going to concerts or sporting events.

Passport applications can meet an important need of airlines, employers and other businesses.

In the United States, the federal government has developed paper cards that remind people vaccinated against coronavirus of the vaccine manufacturer’s name, lot number, and date of vaccination. But there is no federal system that allows people to easily access their immunization records online and determine their immunization status for work or travel.

Several airlines, including United Airlines and JetBlue, are testing the Common Pass application, a health passport from the Commons project. The application allows passengers to obtain the results of their coronavirus tests from medical professionals and then receive a confirmation code to board certain international flights. The immunization card system will work in the same way.

Students at a school near Paris in September. France is stepping up efforts to test schoolchildren to stop the spread of the variant coronavirus…Credit…Marten Bureau/Agence France-Presse – Getty Images

France said Thursday it plans to test up to one million schoolchildren and teachers each month for Covid-19, amid growing concern about the spread of the variant coronavirus in schools, which was first discovered in Britain.

Olivier Veran, France’s health minister, said the tests would be carried out where necessary and would cover schoolchildren as young as 6.

At this stage, we know that the virus seems to be more contagious among children, Veran told reporters in Metz, eastern France. Veran said the government is closely monitoring the spread of the variant, which was reported in about 1% of all positive Covid-19 tests in France over two days last week, according to health authorities.

The French government is expected to announce new restrictions on Thursday evening to control the outbreak, including a possible curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. across the country. But authorities have ruled out closing schools, preferring to strengthen health measures and speed up testing.

Jean-François Delfraissi, who heads the government’s scientific advisory board on Covid-19, said in an interview this week that British data on the spread of the variant among schoolchildren was not clear enough to justify closing schools.

The average number of infections per day in France is still well over 5,000, a target set by the government to ease restrictions. Hospitals have stabilized at a high level with approximately 25,000 patients with Covid disease 19. Nearly 70,000 people died in France.

Veran also said that starting Friday morning, people aged 75 and above will be able to make immunization appointments over the phone or online as the government seeks to expand the distribution of vaccines.

Nearly 250,000 people have been vaccinated in France, where authorities are giving priority to residents of retirement homes, people over 75 and key workers such as firefighters or health workers over 50.

Prime Minister Jean Castex told reporters in Metz that the deployment went smoothly, but added that people should be patient once the appointment system is in place, as it would obviously lead to unrest.

Students in Murphy, Texas. Young children are less likely to become infected with the coronavirus, according to a new study…LM Otero/Associated Press.

After a decline in the summer, the number of coronavirus infections in children, adolescents and young adults rose steadily from September to mid-December, following the virus’ trend in the older U.S. population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

Of the 2.8 million coronavirus infections that occurred between 1 and 2 years ago. March and 12. Of the cases diagnosed last December in children and young adults under the age of 25, children 10 years and younger had the lowest incidence rate at 18%. Most infections occur before the age of 25. According to the study, there are nearly 60% of young people between the ages of 18 and 24.

The authors stated that the results support the argument that nurseries and elementary schools can operate safely if transmission rates in the community are low and protective measures are taken.

We recommend that daycares and schools, especially elementary schools, be the last to close after all other resources have been deployed and the former have reopened, said Erin C. Sauber-Schatz, an epidemiologist with the CDC.

This study is one of two released this week that also look at hospitalization rates for children.

In the D.C. study, which used data from 44 states, the District of Columbia, two territories and a related state, 2.5% of infected children and adolescents under age 25 were hospitalized, compared with 16.6% of sick adults, and only 0.8% were admitted to the intensive care unit.

Children under 5 years of age represent the highest rate of hospitalization in this group. About 650 patients under the age of 25 died, or about 0.1%.

But another study on children, adolescents and young adults, published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, came to a very different conclusion. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found an alarming increase in hospitalizations among infected children and adolescents.

The study was based on data from 5,364 patients under the age of 19 who were treated between 15 and 18 years. May and the 15th. November last year, 22 states were hospitalized. The cumulative average increased from 2 per 100,000 children in May to 17.2 hospitalizations per 100,000 children in November.

This increase is not surprising in itself, simply because more and more children become infected over time. But the percentage increase was more than double the increase in adult hospitalization rates over the same period, said Pinar Karaka-Mandich, a health economics expert at the University of Minnesota who was a lead author of the research report.

GrubHub waives payment for cookie orders and offers free shipping for anyone who spends more than $15…Girl Scout of the USA

Inspired by the difficulties the hospitality industry faced during the pandemic, Girl Scouts USA announced this week that they will offer contactless delivery and pickup of their cookies via Grubhub.

This is the first time Scouts, who have been selling cookies for more than a century, have partnered with a national delivery service, the organization said.

For decades, Samoan, Fine Mint and Clover cookie stands have been ubiquitous outside supermarkets and other crowded places. This also applies to direct sales by Scout parents to their employees.

But then the pandemic hit, severely limiting direct contact. The Scouts were creative.

We are proud of the creative ways Scouts safely run their cookie business and use the recipes to make the world a better place, said Judith Batty, acting executive director of Scouts. This season, our girls will continue to showcase what the Cookie program has taught them: how to think like an entrepreneur, use innovative sales tactics, and innovate when things don’t go as planned.

Cookie sales had already begun last year when the pandemic was announced, which the organization says prompted many scouts to adjust their strategies. Some set up virtual social media kiosks with cookies, others send orders by mail or set up disk download sites.

Scouts reported that the online order was placed on the 1st. February, when Grubhub will deliver to selected markets. Other markets are introduced during the cookie season, which generally lasts from January to April.

Scouts said Grubhub has agreed to waive its fees and that competitors such as Uber Eats and DoorDash typically charge restaurants. Royalties have become a source of complaint in the industry.

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