Extra circumstances of recent variant Covid within the US threaten to worsen the nation’s outbreak

A man is given a COVID-19 nasal swab test at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) amid a coronavirus surge in southern California on December 22, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.

Mario Tama | Getty Images

Three US states have now identified cases of the new coronavirus strain in people with no travel history, a sign that the variant could already unwittingly spread among Americans.

Florida health officials announced Thursday that they had found the first case of Covid-19 in the state with the new, more contagious variant of the virus. The man, who lives in the county north of West Palm Beach, is in his twenties and has no travel history, the Florida Department of Health said in a Twitter post.

The Florida man was among the first to be diagnosed with the new variant B.1.1.7, which was first identified in the UK. California has now identified at least four cases of the new strain in San Diego County in men with no reported travel history. The cases came just days after Colorado health officials discovered the first cases in people who had not traveled.

“I’m not surprised you have a case and probably more cases in California,” said White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday after announcing that state health officials had found her first case. “We’ll likely see reports from other states.”

U.S. health officials have said the variant’s arrival in the nation comes as no surprise, although if it is allowed to spread uncontrollably it could make matters worse. While the evidence suggests that the new strain is easier and faster to transmit compared to previous versions of the virus, it is not believed to cause more serious diseases in infected people, and current vaccines should continue to work against it, according to the Officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held a conference call Wednesday.

Nevertheless, the new variant threatens to worsen the situation if more people are hospitalized due to its spread, according to experts. December was the deadliest month of the pandemic in the U.S. as hospitals reached capacity and the much-anticipated vaccine rollout ended slower than expected.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the nation reported more than 6.3 million new infections and more than 77,500 deaths in December. On the way into 2021, a little more than 125,000 people with Covid-19 are currently being hospitalized – more than twice as high as in mid-April last year. This comes from data from the COVID Tracking Project, which is carried out by journalists at The Atlantic.

Another cause for concern: The first cases of the new variant were found in the most populous states in the country amid a busy vacation travel season, Mercedes Carnethon, vice chairman of preventive medicine at Northwestern University, told MSNBC on Friday.

TSA officials said they screened 1.28 million passengers at US airports on the Sunday after Christmas. This is the highest number since Covid stopped traveling in mid-March.

“We can be sure that from the photos we all saw at TSA checkpoints on vacation, we have traveled millions of people between these destinations,” Carnethon said. “We can be pretty sure that this variant is everywhere now.”

The latest findings from Imperial College London also show that the new variant appears to affect people under the age of 20 more than older adults. Part of that shift, however, could be because schools stayed open during a period of lockdown orders, the study says.

The age gap could be an issue as younger people are more likely to be key workers in the community than the first to be vaccinated, Carnethon said.

“I think the priority, I think, needs to be to reinforce the basic messages we know about how to stop community transmission,” Carnethon said. “As we know, our vaccination strategy begins with strengthening our infrastructure for healthcare workers. However, this is not necessarily the population that is causing the coronavirus to spread to the community.”

Nicki Minaj reveals child with Kenneth Petty is a boy!

Nicki Minaj broke the internet when she announced she was pregnant in July and the barbz were begging for what her baby looks like. Nicki has annoyed us many times since we were born and even posted a voice memo about her bundle of joy on Twitter.

Well, the wait is over, all of you, because Nicki has just posted the most adorable photos of her son and you definitely want to see them. In an Instagram post, Nicki sends a sweet message to her and Kenneth’s son, whose name we don’t yet know, and thanks him for making her a mom.

“#PapaBear, thank you very much for choosing me as your mom. I wish you a happy and prosperous new year. Thank you for your love and support during this trip. It means so much to me, ”read the headline.

Nicki also sent a message of love to all of the mothers out there who killed her, even during this difficult time.

“Becoming a mother is by far the most fulfilling job I’ve ever done. Send love to all of the superhero moms out there. Big hugs to all women who were pregnant during these challenging times, ”she wrote.

Via InstagramNicki Minaj babyVia Instagram

Nicki recently took to Twitter to share details on how her journey as a mom has gone so far. She spoke to her fans about everything from the job, to her husband’s reaction to the whole process, to her experiences with breastfeeding.

She shared that she actually had a natural birth and says Ciara was one of the celebrity mothers who helped her on her journey.

“Yes, natural magical birth with epidural,” she said. “I pushed for two and a half hours. Just b / c first, the epidural wasn’t slacking enough for me to feel pushing. When I could feel the pain, I pushed it out. ”

Nicki Minaj wants another child still.. Who do you think the baby is more like, roomies? Team Nicki or Team Kenneth ?! Let us know in the comments!

Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn on the three most vital existential dangers

Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn

Center for the Investigation of Existential Risk

LONDON – Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn has figured out what he believes are the top three threats to human existence this century.

While the climate emergency and coronavirus pandemic are viewed as issues that urgently require global solutions, Tallinn told CNBC that artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and so-called unknown unknowns each pose an existential risk through 2100.

Synthetic biology is the design and construction of new biological parts, devices and systems, while unknown unknowns, according to Tallinn, are “things we may not be able to think about right now”.

The Estonian computer programmer, who helped set up the Kazaa file-sharing platform in the 1990s and the Skype video call service in the 00s, has become increasingly concerned about AI in recent years.

“Climate change will not be an existential risk unless there is an out of control scenario,” he told CNBC over Skype.

Of course, the United Nations has recognized the climate crisis as the “defining issue of our time” and recognized its impact as global and unprecedented. The international group has also warned that there is alarming evidence that “critical turning points leading to irreversible changes in key ecosystems and the planetary climate system may have already been reached or passed”.

Of the three threats Tallinn is most concerned about, AI is at the center and it spends millions of dollars making sure the technology is developed safely. This includes investing early in AI labs like DeepMind (partly so he can keep an eye on their activities) and funding AI security research at universities like Oxford and Cambridge.

Referring to a book by Oxford Professor Toby Ord, Tallinn said there was a one-in-six chance people will not survive this century. One of the biggest potential threats in the short term is AI, according to the book, while the likelihood that climate change will cause human extinction is less than 1%.

Predicting the future of AI

When it comes to AI, nobody knows how smart machines get, and it’s basically impossible to guess how advanced AI will be in the next 10, 20 or 100 years.

Trying to predict the future of AI is made even more difficult by the fact that AI systems are starting to create other AI systems without human input.

“There is a very important parameter in predicting AI and the future,” Tallinn said. “How much and how exactly will AI development give feedback on AI development? We know that AI is currently being used to search for AI architectures.”

If AI turns out to be not good at building other AIs, we needn’t be unduly concerned as there is time to “dissipate and deploy” AI skill gains, Tallinn said. However, if AI is able to create other AIs, it is “very legitimate to be concerned … about what will happen next,” he said.

Tallinn explained how there are two main scenarios that AI security researchers are looking at.

The first is a laboratory accident in which a research team leaves an AI system in the evening to train on some computer servers and “the world is no longer there in the morning”. The second is where the research team produces a prototechnology which is then adopted and applied to different areas “where it has an unfortunate effect”.

Tallinn said it is focusing more on the former as fewer people think about this scenario.

When asked if he’s more or less concerned about the idea of ​​superintelligence (the hypothetical point where machines reach and then quickly surpass human-level intelligence) than three years ago, Tallinn says his point of view is “muddier” or less has become more “nuanced”. “”

“If you say that it will happen tomorrow or that it won’t happen in the next 50 years, I would say that both of them are cocky,” he said.

Open and closed laboratories

The world’s largest tech companies are investing billions of dollars in advancing the state of AI. While some of their research is openly published, many are not, and this has raised alarm bells in some corners.

“The question of transparency is not at all obvious,” says Tallinn, claiming that it is not necessarily a good idea to reveal the details of a very powerful technology.

Tallinn says some companies take AI security seriously than others. For example, DeepMind is in regular contact with AI security researchers at places like the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford. It also employs dozens of people who focus on AI security.

At the other end of the scale, business centers like Google Brain and Facebook AI Research are less connected to the AI ​​security community, according to Tallinn. Google Brain and Facebook did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

If the AI ​​becomes an “arms race,” it will be better with fewer participants in the game, according to Tallinn, who recently listened to the audiobook for “Making the Atomic Bomb,” which had major concerns about the number of research groups were working on Science. “I think it’s a similar situation,” he said.

“If it turns out that AI isn’t going to be very disruptive in the near future, it would certainly be useful for companies to actually try to solve some of the problems in a more distributed manner,” he said.

The Mega Thousands and thousands jackpot jumps to $ 432 million. What to do in case you win

mphillips007 | iStock unpublished | Getty Images

The Mega Millions jackpot has risen.

After no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Friday, the grand prize is now $ 432 million for the next Tuesday night drawing. Powerball’s jackpot is $ 384 million for the Saturday night draw.

While the chance that a single ticket will match all six numbers in both games is tiny – 1 in 302 million for Mega Millions and 1 in 292 million for Powerball – it is still worth pondering how to deal with such a godsend would if you beat the odds of winning.

The after-tax amount would change your life. Experts say big lottery winners should assemble a team of seasoned professionals – a lawyer, tax advisor, and financial advisor – to handle the windfall.

Here are some things winners should consider before going to the lottery headquarters to receive their prize.

Who can i tell

The general advice is to tell as few people as possible about it. Due to the predilection of scammers and strangers to track down lottery winners, it’s best to keep the exciting news close by.

Depending on what state you are in, you may be able to protect your identity from the public.

Only a handful allow the winners to remain completely anonymous. In other cases, you may be able to claim the award through a trust or limited liability company or LLC that does not have your name on it. However, you need to plan for this.

You should really never take the money on your own behalf if you can.

Kurt Panouses

Founder of the Panouses Law Group

“If possible, never take the money on your own behalf,” said Kurt Panouses, founder of Panouses Law Group in Indialantic, Florida and an expert in helping lottery winners.

Lump sum or pension?

You can choose whether you want to receive your winnings as a lump sum or as a pension over three decades. Either way, the money will be taxed when you receive it.

Right now, federal income taxes are historically low – and it’s impossible to know where they could be in years. This means that from a tax perspective, it could cost more to withdraw the pension, as future tax rates will rise rather than fall, experts say.

“So the question is, do you want to pay all this income tax this year or keep the money going for many years without knowing where we might be income tax in 10 or 15 years,” Panouses said.

What is the tax rate?

Before the gust of wind hits you, 24% is withheld for federal taxes. However, since the top marginal rate is 37%, you can be confident that you owe more at tax time – that would be April 2022 for prices claimed in 2021.

The flat-rate option for the 432 million Mega Millions jackpot is $ 329.7 million. The 24% withhold would mean $ 79.1 million go to Uncle Sam and you would receive $ 250.6 million.

More from Personal Finance:
Workers left vacation days on the table almost all of 2020
Avoid these mistakes when splitting assets in a divorce
Not all end-of-life decisions are made in a will

Suppose you didn’t have a reduction in your taxable income – such as For example, a large charitable donation would have an additional 13%, or approximately $ 42.8 million, due at tax time. That would be a total of $ 121.9 million going to the IRS.

The $ 384 million cash option for the Powerball jackpot draw on Saturday night is $ 295.4 million. The 24% withholding tax would reduce this by $ 70.9 million with an additional 13% or $ 38.4 million due at tax time. In total, that would be $ 109.3 million for federal coffers.

And then there are state taxes. They range from zero to more than 8%, depending on where the ticket was purchased and where the winner lives. In other words, you could end up paying more than 45% tax.

Hurry up, Nordstrom Racks Clear the Rack Sale is ending quickly!

We love these products and hope you do too. E! has affiliate relationships so we may earn a small portion of the revenue from your purchases. Items are sold by the retailer, not E !.

Nordstrom Rack already has great deals, but the Clear the Rack sale only gets steeper discounts. From December 25th to January 3rd you will receive a 25% discount on all releases and save up to 90% on more than 20,000 articles. The sale brings up amazing deals Fashion, jewelry, handbags, beauty and home. And brands? We’re talking Madewell, Free People, Michael Kors, Sam Edelman, Ugg, Topshop, Nike, as you call it. Plus, get free shipping on orders over $ 89.

Shop now for some of the highlights from this sale, including bike shorts, boot socks and more.

Trump reveals a powerful connection between authoritarianism and anti-abortion insurance policies

Over the past four years, Americans have received a heavy dose of autocracy as they witnessed Trump’s repeated violations of basic democratic norms, culminating in his ongoing conspiracy to overthrow the presidential election last November.

And we have to emphasize that the autocratic urge in US society is not Trump’s solo effort. The attack on democracy has been frank and bold, and has been passionate and proud of major sectors of the Republican Party, right-wing coalitions and far too many Americans, who have promoted voter suppression and still support Trump’s rally carried out crying that the election was stolen.

However, these autocratic tendencies have deeper historical roots in right-wing politics. Those roots were exposed last October when the Trump administration signed a global declaration with 32 United Nations member states against abortion, many of which are authoritarian regimes or are viewed as strictly flawed democracies. The declaration was jointly sponsored by the United States, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Brazil and Uganda. Other nations that signed up included Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all of which are ranked authoritarian regimes in The Economist’s 2019 Democracy Index. Aside from the US, none of the signatories ranked higher than 95 on Georgetown University’s Women, Peace and Safety Index.

While there are undoubtedly several autocratic encumbrances woven into the US political fabric, if we actively work against the ideals of the nation and actively seek to deny the people’s rights to full participation in US democracy – racism is one more importantly, we must recognize this anti-abortion policy. Trying to deny women full control over their bodies is contrary to democracy.

Indeed, anti-abortion policy enables and normalizes largely autocratic behavior by denying women the status of personality and thus equality.

The opposition to the change on equality was fueled significantly by fears that the clear assertion in the Constitution that women have equal rights under the law would provide a firmer legal basis for a woman’s right to abortion.

So anti-abortion policy in the US was precisely about denying women constitutional rights.

Here is the statement in the ERA that this nation is trembling to confirm:

“Equality under the law cannot be denied or curtailed by the United States or any state on the basis of gender.”

In other words, opponents of the ERA fundamentally believe that women are human beings and are therefore converged by the 14th Amendment, which includes the following clause:

“Also, no state may deprive a person of life, liberty or property without this being required by law. not deny anyone in their jurisdiction the same protection of the law. “

Former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia believed, for one thing, that women’s equality is not enshrined in the constitution, which means that he doesn’t believe that a woman is a person, plain and simple.

It is important that we recognize and shape the efforts to deny women the right to vote and the right to control their bodies as anti-democratic and indeed autocratic, precisely because they are so open and acceptable in US politics.

Supreme Court judges are appointed based on their perceived support in prohibiting abortion – denying women personality and equality under the law.

Many citizens are proud individual voters when it comes to banning abortion and denying women equal rights under the law.

Although the majority of Americans support a woman’s right to vote in some form, this minority position of denying her personality to women still has a significant impact on major political decisions that distribute real power over our lives in US society like the US and consolidate the selection of the nine chief judges who have an incredible say in the interpretation of our country’s constitution and laws that govern our lives.

While racism is alive and well, while it is openly and deadly practiced, it is still much less acceptable to attend clan rallies or to declare yourself a racist. It would be unthinkable to argue against granting African American equality under the law, even if we testify every day that black lives do not matter in the eyes of the law.

The shamelessness with which one can openly and hypocritically deny equal rights for women in acceptable legal and political discourse should signal to us, and signal us all the time, that the strong countercurrents are undermining democracy in America.

Trump’s signing of the Global Anti-Abortion Declaration highlights the authoritarian skills in US culture and politics.

And it also explains the strong affinity between anti-abortion politics or anti-women politics and authoritarianism.

We know that Trump has no moral bone in his body that does not endorse or uphold a code of values ​​other than promoting his own very narrow self-interests and satisfying his basic appetite and aggressions and sensitive ego. This is not a secret or earth-shattering statement.

Protestant law, however, pretends to be characterized by its deeply Christian moral attitude.

What drives the evangelicals to Trump despite his bidding? While on one level they may seem like strange political bedfellows, they actually share a deep commitment and attraction to the autocracy.

For them, power cannot be evenly distributed over a democratic community. There should be those who rule and those who are governed. Those who are allowed to impose their ideology and values ​​on others and those who simply have to accept that imposition without saying anything on the matter. Those who are considered to be people whose lives matter and those who have been denied personality whose lives don’t matter.

If President-elect Joe Biden wants to take strong action against the burgeoning autocracy in the United States, he can begin by removing the nation’s signature from the Global Declaration against Abortion, which violates the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which the United Nations signs Nation back to the Paris climate agreement.

And let us all realize that denying a woman a woman’s right to have an abortion, denying her personality, is incompatible with democracy and enables autocracy in America.

Tim Libretti is a professor of American literature and culture at a state university in Chicago. A longtime progressive voice, he has published numerous academic and journalistic articles on culture, class, race, gender, and politics, for which he has received awards from the Working Class Studies Association, the International Labor Communications Association, and the National Federation of Press Women and the Illinois Woman’s Press Association.

Trendy Well being’s CEO urged staff to deal with their very own psychological well being

Alyson Watson, Founder and CEO of Modern Health

Modern health

Alyson Watson had an important message for her team. It was May 1, six weeks after the coronavirus pandemic forced employees to isolate themselves. Your Modern Health company was busier than ever.

30-year-old Watson started Modern Health three years earlier to expand the availability of mental health services through virtual and web-based programs that companies can offer their employees. While demand rose steadily before 2020, there was a rush in March and April as companies saw the early strains of the Covid-19 crisis on their workers.

Initially, Watson tried to rally her staff, suggesting that this was her time to shine and that “we have to go 110%,” she told CNBC in a recent interview. Given the fear she was personally beginning to experience with the new distant reality and the fact that times were even more difficult for people with children, Watson realized that she needed to convey to employees that their own mental health was paramount .

In a company-wide Slack message in early May, she admitted that the Zoom calls “wore me out” and said she is finding ways to take care of her mental and physical health.

“Whether it’s eating healthy, exercising, turning off the technology for some time during the day, meditating, spending time with your children, significant other, or family – now is the time,” she wrote. “Make a commitment. The team needs you to make a commitment. For themselves and for each other.”

Watson said it was like flight attendants reminding passengers that in an emergency, they must put on their own oxygen mask before they can help their children. For Modern Health, the emergency had only just begun.

As weeks turned into months, Modern Health employees as well as the growing number of customers were faced with an extensive list of health, money, family, and school-related issues. Watson went so far as to tell them that she was seeing a trainer, therapist, and couples therapist on a regular basis.

“For the first time, it became a central issue for us that we need our own mental health in order to have a successful mental health experience,” she said in an interview.

Modern Health, based in San Francisco, combines virtual personal access to therapists and trainers with digital content such as guided meditations. In mid-December, the start-up raised $ 51 million in a round valued at over $ 500 million. The number of employees tripled in 2020 to more than 140 employees, sales have multiplied 25 times in 18 months and the customer base has doubled since March.

Customers like Electronic Arts, Pixar and Lyft pay a monthly fee per employee.

Throughout 2020, the pandemic was the top source of employee anxiety, Watson said. But it was far from the only thing. Racial injustice issues took center stage in June after the killing of George Floyd by a police officer sparked protests across the country. And the November presidential election caused a lot of stress and anxiety.

‘Highest priority’

“One of the things we’ve seen over the past year is that mental health is a top priority for every employer in all industries,” said Watson. She added that the average user spends 50% more time on the app than before the pandemic.

Even before Covid-19, Modern Health and other digital mental health companies such as Lyra Health, Talkspace, and Ginger were gaining traction as traditional counseling is expensive and there is a nationwide shortage of trained therapists.

While Telehealth has soared during the lockdown for obvious reasons, there are greater numbers of people who have benefited from mental health trainers on issues such as loneliness, relationship issues, and work-related stress. They don’t all require hours of sessions. Sometimes a quick text chat is enough.

“There aren’t enough therapists on planet earth to meet the demand we’re seeing,” said Watson.

Between talking to new clients like Clif Bar, Zendesk and TripActions, recruiting talent and working on new products and partnerships, Watson said her focus was on exercise and good food. She told staff that she would carve at least 15 to 30 minutes for the workout five days a week, along with her therapy and coaching sessions.

“While I’m nervous to share all of this, I feel compelled to feel vulnerable knowing my team has my back,” she wrote.

It’s a piece of news that she has returned to repeatedly over the months that have followed.

“Being a mental health company doesn’t mean it isn’t really hard,” she told CNBC. “You’re still a start-up. There’s a lot of stress and burnout that comes with the territory.”

CLOCK: Covid has resulted in a “dramatic increase” in global mental health problems

Producer Mike Will Made-It reveals that he and Swae Lee A survived

Today Grammy winner Mike Will Made-It announced on social media that he and rapper Swae Lee, one half of rap duo Rae Sremmurd, survived a near-fatal car accident. It seemed the two had just celebrated the New Year from Swae’s Instagram story a few hours earlier. Swae shared a message, “Happy New Year. I hope you get everything you deserve. “

However, 5 hours ago, Mike Will posted a series of photos of his white Ferrari 812 Superfast that he and Swae were believed to have driven in. Although the damage was severe, Mike said he and Swae walked away with small bruises. He posted a photo on Instagram with the caption “ME & SWAE WILLY MADE IT LIVE OF THIS MF, JUST A PAIR OF BRUISES. THANK GOD, I pay attention to all signs. 2021 WE TURN LEMONS FOR LEMON ALL YEAR ROUND … WE MIGHT BE DEAD, BUT WE ONLY DID IT WITH A PAIR OF BRUISES. We’re here for a reason. GOD BODY # rip812SUPERFAST 2021NOMOREHOLDBACKS. ”

He had many people in the mail who showed love. Comedian and former “Wild N Out” star DC Young Fly left a comment saying, “I’m glad you guys are good.” Also, producer London On Da Track wrote, “I’m glad you’re a good family.” Even Swae commented on the post, saying, “It’s not our time.”

Swae also shared two graphic photos on his Instagram story. He appeared to have an injury around his eye because the photo showed he was bleeding. He also posted a message saying “Could have been” and we can only assume that by the picture of the car he meant death.

The men did not state what caused the accident, but they are all grateful that they are still alive and healthy.

Would you like updates directly in your text inbox? Visit us at 917-722-8057 or click here to join!

I

How Joe Biden can speed up the transition to scrub vitality

US President-elect Joe Biden speaks about the latest massive cyber attack against the US and other targets of the Biden administration in Wilmington, Delaware, December 22, 2020.

Leah Millis | Reuters

As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, we are facing a green industrial revolution. Now is the time for President-elect Joe Biden and his brilliant team of scientific, economic and national security experts to work with the private sector to accelerate this historic transition to a low-carbon world.

With an ambitious $ 2 trillion plan to address the climate change threat more broadly than any other government, the Biden presidency could mark a turning point in federal government policy and usher in a new era for clean energy.

And the newly announced Biden environmental team will find a receptive business community to work with. In recent years, efforts to combat climate change in the United States have not been led by the federal government and federal politics – although many states and cities have continued to act independently – but by corporations and financial markets.

The private sector has increasingly focused on sustainability and climate risks, not only due to heightened climate change awareness and accountability to stakeholders, but also due to dramatic innovations that have significantly lowered the price of clean energy and catalyzed a shift in creating markets, Create financial incentives and motivate companies and institutional investors to benefit from these trends.

In fact, renewable energy is cheaper than traditional electricity generation for more than two thirds of the world. It was only last year that electricity generation from renewable sources surpassed coal in the US for the first time in modern times.

It was also a turning point for corporate climate announcements as more companies set goals for zero net emissions with clear timelines and actions.

Meanwhile, more and more investors are refusing to invest in conventional energy sources as economics become less attractive and they focus instead on clean technologies. The value of private equity investments in renewable energy projects has doubled in the past year, and in the past year and a half, venture finance for climate tech companies has increased from $ 418 million in 2013 to $ 16.1 billion -Dollar.

It was also a turning point for corporate climate announcements as more companies set goals for zero net emissions with clear timelines and actions. A number of tech companies announced significant decarbonization goals, including Google, which is committed to offsetting all the carbon it has ever emitted and being 100% renewable by 2030.

In the transportation sector, JetBlue was the first US airline to achieve CO2 neutrality for all domestic flights. In the telecommunications sector, AT&T has pledged net carbon neutrality by 2035 and introduced a new climate change analysis tool to quantify climate risks across the network. In particular, several major oil and gas companies have pledged to decarbonize their businesses significantly this year, including BP, Shell and, just last month, Equinor.

According to a recent report that analyzes progress under the Paris Agreement and finds significant private sector momentum, over 1,500 companies, with combined sales of $ 12.5 trillion, have now set net zero emissions targets.

Throughout modern history, there have been a number of turning points in the energy sector that have brought about transformative change: the industrial revolution in the 1750s and 1760s, which ushered in the rise of coal power and the use of steam; the invention of the first widespread light bulb in the 1870s, which extended the working day and improved the quality of life; and the rise of oil, which in 1964 overtook coal as the main global energy source and ushered in a new era of mass production and global transportation.

Today we are at a different turning point as we continue on the path towards a clean world. But we have to accelerate the pace and act faster and more comprehensively in order to counter the existential risks and costs of climate change.

In 2020 the private sector led the way, but the federal government still has an opportunity to get involved again. The future Biden administration should set up a Sustainable Recovery Task Force composed of business and labor leaders who can offer climate and economic policy a private sector perspective, and call a summit on better reconstruction within the first 100 days. Participate in the private sector representative. Advance a detailed climate agenda.

We believe this moment represents a historic opportunity for our new national leadership to join forces with corporations and institutional investors to take bold climate action to accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon economy.

Laura Tyson, a former chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration, is a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and a member of the Board of Advisors for Angeleno Group, LLC, an energy and climate solutions investment firm . Daniel Weiss is co-founder and managing partner of the Angeleno Group.

5 issues you must know earlier than the inventory market opens on Wednesday

Here are the top news, trends, and analysis investors need to get their trading day started:

1. McConnell blocks $ 2,000 stimulus checks

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks with fellow Senate Republicans at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on December 15, 2020.

Tom Brenner-Pool / Getty Images

Majority leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked efforts by minority leader Chuck Schumer to unanimously approve a parliament-passed bill to increase direct payments in the coronavirus aid package from $ 600 to $ 2,000.

The Kentucky Republican then introduced a new bill linking the increase with the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The law would meet all of President Donald Trump’s recent demands that have nothing to do with one another but that would not receive democratic support and would become law.

2. The US confirms the first case of the new strain of Covid discovered in the UK

An ambulance crew waits with a patient outside the Coast Plaza Hospital emergency room during a surge in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Los Angeles, California on December 26, 2020.

David Swanson | Reuters

The first case of a new Covid-19 strain has been confirmed in the United States, Colorado health officials said Tuesday.

The infected person, a man in his twenties, has no travel history and is in isolation in Elbert County, about an hour and a half south of Denver. Preliminary analysis of the mutant strain, first identified in the UK, suggests it could be up to 70% more transmissible.

3. Bitcoin rises above $ 28,000 for the first time

studioEAST | Getty Images

4. Stock futures rise as Wall Street tries to build on its strong 2020 earnings

Traders work on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

NYSE

US stock futures rose Wednesday morning as the market tried to recover from a slight decline in the previous session and added to its already strong 2020 performance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 73 points, or 0.2%. The futures on S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 gained 0.4% each.

At the start of the session, the Dow and S&P 500 were up 6.3% and 15.4%, respectively, over the year. The Nasdaq Composite is up more than 40% since the beginning of the year.

5. Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, approved in the UK for emergency use

CSL staff will be working in the laboratory in Melbourne, Australia on November 8th. CSL will start manufacturing the AstraZeneca-Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine from Monday.

Darrian Traynor | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca was approved for emergency use in the UK on Wednesday. The vaccine is expected to be launched next week. Unlike vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna, it does not need to be stored at extremely low temperatures.

AstraZeneca said in a statement that it “plans to ship millions of cans in the first quarter” as part of its agreement with the UK government to provide up to 100 million cans in total.

– Follow all developments on Wall Street in real time with CNBC Pro’s live market blog. Find out about the latest pandemics on our coronavirus blog.