Herd immunity is unlikely

As the coronavirus evolves and the vaccine rate slips, the US may never reach the threshold for “herd immunity,” public health experts say — at least not in the foreseeable future, and perhaps not ever. Early in the pandemic, when vaccines for the coronavirus were still just a glimmer on the horizon, the term “herd immunity” came to signify the endgame: the point when enough Americans would be protected from the virus so we could be rid of the pathogen and reclaim our lives. Now, more than half of adults in the US have been inoculated with at least one dose of a vaccine. But daily vaccination rates are slipping, and there is widespread consensus among scientists and public health experts that the herd immunity threshold is not attainable. Instead, their consensus is that rather than making a long-promised exit, the virus will most likely become a manageable threat that will continue to circulate in the US for years to come, still causing hospitalisations and deaths but in much smaller numbers.

(Adapted from “Reaching Herd Immunity Is Unlikely in the US Experts Now Believe,” By Apoorva Mandavilli, published on May 3, 2021, by The New York Times)

The cost of protecting Zuckerberg

Covid-19 hasn’t stopped the corporate-perk parade, and Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg are proof. In 2020 alone, their safety cost Facebook $24m and $7.6m, respectively. The company said that the expenses were elevated in 2020 due to “costs relating to security protocols during the Covid-19 pandemic, increased security coverage during the 2020 US elections and market increases in the cost of security personnel.” A spokesman for Facebook added that “Mr Zuckerberg is one of the most recognised executives in the world in large part as a result of the size of our user base and our continued exposure to global media, legislative and regulatory attention.” So who pays for all that security? Shareholders do. All of these disclosures are theoretically visible to the shareholders who are paying for the perquisites, but one must be willing to pore over proxy statements. However, its non-disclosure disclosure: there, but accessible only to the determined.

(Adapted from “Who Pays $24 Million to Protect Mark Zuckerberg?” by Michelle Leder, published on 3 May 2021, by Bloomberg Opinion)

Putting groceries directly in the fridge

Covid-19 upended Walmart’s InHome service. Now it’s being revived, but still faces scepticism. In the fall of 2019, Walmart Inc. started testing a service to deliver groceries right into fridges while customers were out. Then the pandemic kept Americans at home, making Walmart’s InHome business largely unnecessary. But it’s not dead. With online grocery booming during Covid-19 and vaccinations rising, the world’s largest retailer is expanding the service. It still faces a hurdle, though: Do Americans trust Walmart traipsing through their kitchens? After debuting in Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Vero Beach, Florida, Walmart recently brought InHome to its home turf of Northwest Arkansas, expanded in Southeast Florida and in July will add Atlanta. Grocers gained millions of online customers last year, and now the challenge is keeping them. While Walmart’s low prices usually give it an edge, convenience and speed are crucial on the web.

(Adapted from “Walmart Expands Delivery to Your Fridge, Pandemic Be Damned,” by Matthew Boyle, published on April 28, 2021, by Businessweek)

The kinnow king

Pakistan produces more than 30 types of different fruits amongst which citrus leads the table with a share of about 30pc of total fruit production of the country. Citrus is cultivated predominantly in Sargodha, Bhalwal, Toba Tek Singh, Khanewal, Multan, Layyah and Fateh Jhang of Punjab province (above 90pc) and smaller quantities in Swat, Swabi, Khanpur and Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to International Trade Centre trade data, Pakistan ranked 18th in the world among top exporters of citrus in 2019. Pakistan exports annually about 0.44m tonnes of citrus valuing around $166m. Pakistan is also the largest producer of the ‘Citrus Reticula’ variety (kinnow), a unique variety of citrus that is indigenous to this part of the world. A subform of oranges, kinnow is a cross between the ‘King’ & ‘Willow-leaf’ species of citrus fruits, created after successful experimentation at the Citrus Research Centre, University of California, USA. Both of these parent breeds have Indo-China origins.

(Adapted from “Citrus Brochure,” published by the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, May 17th, 2021