China's Factory Activity Contracts Unexpectedly in July Amid COVID Flare-Ups

 China's factory activity contracted unexpectedly in July after bouncing back from COVID-19 lockdowns in the prior month, as fresh virus flare-ups and a darkening global outlook weighed on demand, an official survey showed on Sunday.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers' Index (PMI) stood at 49 in July, down from 50.2 in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sunday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected it to improve to 50.4, a marginal improvement but still above the 50-point mark that separates contraction from growth on a monthly basis.

The official non-manufacturing PMI in July fell to 53.8 from 54.7 in June. The official composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and services activity, was at 52.5 versus 54.1.

China's economy nearly contracted in the second quarter amid widespread lockdowns but top leaders recently signalled that a strict zero-COVID policy would remain a top priority.

Policymakers are prepared to miss their GDP target of "around 5.5%" for this year, state media reported after a high-level meeting of the ruling Communist Party.

Beijing's decision to drop mention of the growth target after the meeting has doused speculation it will roll out massive stimulus measures, as it often did in past downturns.

Capital Economics says that policy restraint, along with the constant threat of more lockdowns and weak consumer confidence, is likely to make China's economic recovery more drawn-out.

FALTERING RECOVERY

After a rebound in June, the recovery in the world's second-biggest economy has faltered as nascent COVID flare-ups led to tightening curbs on activity in some cities, while the once mighty property market lurches from crisis to crisis.

Chinese manufacturers are also still wrestling with high raw material prices which are squeezing profit margins, and the export outlook is being clouded by fears of a global recession.

China's southern megacity of Shenzhen has vowed to "mobilise all resources" to curb a slowly spreading COVID outbreak, ordering strict implementation of testing and temperature checks, and lockdowns for COVID-hit buildings.

Earlier this month, the port city of Tianjin, home to factories linked to Boeing and Volkswagen, and other areas tightened curbs to fight new outbreaks.

According to World Economics, the lockdown measures had some impact on 41% of Chinese companies in July, though its index of manufacturing business confidence rose significantly from 50.2 in June to 51.7 in July.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2022-07-30/chinas-factory-activity-contracts-unexpectedly-in-july-official-pmi

Is Pro-Life Now Hate Speech?

 by Jonathan Turley,

Below is my column in The Hill on a shift in the rhetoric in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. From politicians to pundits, pro-life positions are being treated as virtual hate speech.

The demonization of those with pro-life views is meant to cut off any debate on the basis or scope of abortion rights. It is the latest attack on free speech as critics seek to silence those with opposing views.

Here is the column:

With the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, it is no longer enough to be pro-choice. Indeed, the term “pro-choice” has been declared harmful by the now ironically named “Pro-Choice Caucus.” Today, it seems you must be anti-pro-life to be truly pro-choice — and, across the country, pro-life viewpoints are being declared virtual hate speech.

We have seen this pattern before.

With the rise of the racial justice movement on campuses across the country in 2020, a mantra emerged that it was no longer enough to not be a racist, you must be anti-racist. As National Public Radio’s media critic explained, “you’ve got to be continually working towards equality for all races, striving to undo racism in your mind, your personal environment and the wider world.”

Similarly, after the court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, it seems, you must be anti-pro-life and stop others from voicing their views.

On Sunday, almost half of the University of Michigan’s incoming medical school class walked out of a “White Coat Ceremony” to protest keynote speaker Dr. Kristin Collier. Collier was not planning to discuss abortion, but — because she holds pro-life views — students launched an unsuccessful campaign to block her from speaking.

The cancel-campaign petition had the usual nod to free speech before calling for it to be gutted. According to the Michigan Daily, the petition — signed by hundreds of incoming, current and past students — declared that “while we support the rights of freedom of speech and religion, an anti-choice speaker as a representative of the University of Michigan undermines the University’s position on abortion and supports the non-universal, theology-rooted platform to restrict abortion access, an essential part of medical care.” In other words: We support a diversity of viewpoints so long as we don’t have to hear any opposing views.

Ironically, until four years ago, Collier was “a pro-choice atheist” who admitted that she had “great animosity towards those who held either pro-life views or deeply held religious commitments.” When she held those views, she was a celebrated professor with a long line of publications in peer-reviewed journals. She then had a conversion on the issue after speaking with a senior faculty colleague, Dr. William Chavey, a professor of family medicine who was pro-life — and she quickly became persona non grata.

She is not alone at the university.

A week earlier, a campaign was launched to fire football head coach Jim Harbaugh after he declared, “I believe in having the courage to let the unborn be born.”

Harbaugh is accustomed to penalty calls for unnecessary roughness on the field, but nothing likely prepared him for what came next. While he is widely known to be a devout Catholic, his public statement of his values was considered an outrage by some and made his continuation as coach unacceptable to them, even though he just signed a five-year, $36.7 million contract.

In addition to calls for his termination, Harbaugh was accused of being “full of deep seething hatred of women” and “publicly expressing his distaste for women’s rights.” The liberal Palmer Report posted (with thousands of “likes”) that “no one who actively attempts to deny women their most basic rights should ever be allowed to hold a position of influence at a public university … He’s a public employee. Fire his ass.”

Actually, being a public employee is one reason Harbaugh was not fired. As a public university, Michigan is subject to the full weight of the First Amendment.

Many others are not protected like Harbaugh, however. Some pro-life workers face long, hard fights against companies eager to satisfy pro-choose advocates. In 2017, Charlene Carter, a former Southwest Airlines flight attendant, was fired for posting criticism of the Transportation Workers Union of America (TWU) and its president, Audrey Stone, for their pro-choice positions. Southwest allegedly told Carter that Stone and the union contacted the company and cited her comments as threatening or harassing; Southwest then fired her. Five years later, this month, she was awarded more than $5 million for her wrongful termination.

There is an obvious effort to portray pro-life views as inherently threatening, making most any countermeasures justified. Recently, some pro-life centers and churches have been attacked. Even some crisis pregnancy centers, offering support to pregnant women and alternatives to abortion, have been denounced as a threat to women. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has declared that “crisis pregnancy centers … are there to fool people who are looking for pregnancy termination help. … We need to shut them down here in Massachusetts, and we need to shut them down all around the country. You should not be able to torture a pregnant person like that.”

Sen. Warren, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and other Democrats in Congress have sponsored a bill that would shut such centers and hit charities with fines of $100,000 or “50 percent of the revenues earned by the ultimate parent entity” for violating the act’s “prohibition on disinformation” related to abortion.

Similar crackdowns are being pushed by some Democratic governors. Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) vetoed $20 million in funding for groups and advertising offering non-abortion resources and counseling. Such counseling efforts were denounced as “deceptive” attempts to “prey” on women.

While some activists have previously argued that pro-life views or advertisements like “abortion hurts women” constitute “hate speech,” the Supreme Court has refused to allow such laws as the Ku Klux Klan Act to be used against abortion protesters as being motivated by a “class-based, invidiously discriminatory animus.”

Demonizing pro-life viewpoints avoids the need to deal with abortion’s details. While a majority today support Roe, an even greater number support limits on abortion. A recent poll conducted by Harvard found that 72 percent of Americans would allow abortion only until the 15th week of pregnancy or support an even more restrictive law. That view transcends party affiliation; even 60 percent of Democrats believe abortion should be prohibited after the 15th week or a more restrictive limit.

Yet, clearly, some do not want to have a debate of the issue while pushing virtually absolute rights to abortion. It is far easier to attack those who voice pro-life views as monolithic, “theology-rooted” extremists. One benefit in being anti-pro-life is that you can be anti-free-speech — all in the name of being pro-choice.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pro-life-now-hate-speech

Monkeypox Outbreak May Boost the Shares of These Companies

 As health authorities all over the globe search for ways to stop the monkeypox outbreak, investors are snapping up shares of companies that could benefit from the race to quell the disease.

Shares of vaccine producers, antiviral drug makers and protective equipment manufacturers are in demand as investors tap a strategy that delivered gains during the coronavirus pandemic. Biotechnological company Bavarian Nordic A/S and pharmaceutical firm Siga Technologies Inc. are among the stocks in focus as well as medical tools supplier Precision System Science Co.

While nowhere as severe as the Covid-19 outbreak, the spread of monkeypox infections across more than 70 countries in just a few months has prompted the World Health Organization to declare it as a global emergency. This pronouncement may give the trade an extra tailwind.

“At the moment, the world is relying on one manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic, for the monkeypox vaccine,” said Manish Bhargava, a fund manager at Straits Investment Holdings Pte in Singapore. “To keep up with demand, we can expect other biotech firms to ramp up research and production. It’s starting to reflect in the strong stock price performance for the sector.”

Here are some sectors and companies that have been active:

Vaccines and Antivirals

Shares of Bavarian Nordic have more than tripled from a low in May after governments began ordering the Danish company’s monkeypox vaccine -- the only one approved specifically to ward off the infection. The firm has raised its revenue guidance several times this year.

Analysts are taking note, with Citigroup Inc. increasing its target price for the company’s stock by 20% and flagging that there may be further upside if more orders come through.

Shares of other companies making vaccines or antivirals for monkeypox have also caught the attention of US retail traders. The stock of Siga Technologies, which manufactures a treatment called Tpoxx, has doubled this year. The therapy is approved to treat smallpox in the US, and monkeypox and other viruses in the European Union and the UK.

Chimerix Inc.’s Tembexa is a countermeasure that is used to treat smallpox, and the firm said in May it would sell the drug to Emergent BioSolutions Inc. On the vaccine side, Emergent’s ACAM2000 is a smallpox vaccine that can be utilized in some cases against monkeypox.

Siga, Chimerix and Emergent are the “key beneficiaries” of the WHO’s declaration that the monkeypox outbreak is a global emergency, according to Cowen Inc. analyst Boris Peaker.

“With increased resources allocated to contact tracing and testing in EU and US, we anticipate the case count to rise significantly over the next few months, potentially leading to more procurement of countermeasures,” Peaker wrote in a note.

Japan has also started studying smallpox vaccines as a way to prevent the spread of the outbreak, and this may ignite interest in Meiji Holdings Co. as its unit KM Biologics produces a smallpox vaccine. Meiji Holdings has jumped 12% from June low.

The Asian nation has a stockpile of smallpox vaccines but the amount has not been disclosed while preparations for administration of Tpoxx are progressing, Citigroup analyst Hidemaru Yamaguchi wrote in a note.

Virus Detection

Companies that provide virus testing kits and tools are also in focus.

In Japan, shares of Precision System, which makes medical testing equipment, have almost doubled since late June. Switzerland’s Roche said in May it had developed three test kits to help scientists trace monkeypox.

More than 30 companies in China have obtained EU certification for their monkeypox virus detection products, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. analysts including Christopher Lui wrote in a July 25 note. These include early movers such as Autobio Diagnostics Co., Shanghai ZJ Bio-Tech Co. and Daan Gene Co. Shanghai ZJ has climbed almost 40% in July.

Makers of antigen and antibody test kits such as Zhejiang Orient Gene Biotech Co. and Assure Tech (Hangzhou) Co. are the other potential beneficiaries.

https://news.yahoo.com/monkeypox-outbreak-may-boost-shares-000000476.html

Fun apocalypse: After nuclear alert, city suggests packing toys, Nintendo in ‘go bags’

 Who says the end of the world won’t be all fun and games?

Two weeks after releasing a bizarre public service announcement about what to do if a nuke falls on Gotham — offered little advice beyond “get inside” and “stay inside” — New York City’s Emergency Management agency tweeted about what to pack in a “go bag” in the event of a mass evacuation.

The tweet featured a cartoon of children’s backpacks filled with homework, toys and Nintendo Switch and Game Boy consoles. A puzzle, a teddy bear, a rubber duck, video game controllers, rulers and a scarf were also shown.

The post links to Emergency Management’s webpage with a list of bug out bag essentials, including food, water, first aid kits and copies of personal documents.

But fallout to the cartoonish guidance came swiftly after Tuesday’s tweet.

“It is just a friendly reminder not to forget your game consoles in case of emergency. You’ll need something to do until the nuclear winter passes,” cracked one Reddit user.

The City Emergency Management agency tweeted a list of items recommended for “A Go Bag,” in case of evacuation.

Twitter

The City Emergency Management’s agency tweeted a photo full of video game consoles and school supplies in its tweet about evacuations.

Twitter

“There’s not enough room for my Funko Pops or Lego sets,” another user joked.

Anna Bounds, a professor of sociology at Queens College with expertise on the urban “prepper” subculture, said there’s a jarring disconnect between the tweet’s intent and the cartoon, describing it as cavalier.

“This isn’t as serious as it should be,” she said. “It does act as a reminder to bring some of your children’s favorite things, but electronic devices won’t last you very long. The image looks like clip art for a back-to school-post — a real mismatch.”

Retired FDNY firefighter and head of New York City’s Prepper’s Network Jason Charles said the cartoon was laughable— and irresponsible.

“The Emergency Management team, I would say they’re not the sharpest tools in the shed,” he told The Post. “You don’t want your bag to be bogged down with crap. And if your kids are old enough, you’re not going to put teddy bears, dolls and video games in there. You’re going to fill it up with food, water, their shelter and a sleeping bag. You want them to be responsible during an emergency.”

Charles, who’s been featured on National Geographic’s “Doomsday Preppers,” shared his go-to bag with The Post — a tactical GORUCK-brand knapsack which he’s loaded with freeze dried food, a sleeping bag, knives, canteens, small cooking pots, rope, a headlamp and combustion kit to start fires.

He said there’s no need for New Yorkers to duck and cover just yet and the odd timing of the go-bag post so soon after the nuclear attack PSA was a lazy coincidence on Emergency Management’s part.

“There’s no connection between the two,” Charles said. “That office just has a budget they need to spend, so you’ll see them advising people about hurricanes in January and it will make no sense.”

Emergency Management said the Tweet was an element of its Ready New York educational program and the upcoming National Preparedness Month in September. They said they go bags post was to get people prepared for a variety of emergencies including fires, power outages, blizzards and major floods.

In addition to important personal documents, “New Yorkers are also encouraged to add personalized items that match their family’s needs (coloring books, video games, etc),” agency spokeswoman Ines Bebea said.

https://nypost.com/2022/07/30/after-nuclear-alert-nyc-suggests-packing-toys-in-go-bags/

Florida teen battling deadly brain-eating amoeba

The Florida teen fighting for his life after being infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba has already beaten the odds by surviving for a month.

The median time for survival with an infection with Naegleria fowleri, the scientific name for the amoeba, is just five days, and the disease it causes, primary amebic meningoencephalitis, is fatal 97 percent of the time, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control.

“Only four people out of 154 known infected individuals in the United States from 1962 to 2021 have survived,” the agency says.

It’s believed Caleb Ziegelbauer, 13, was infected with the amoeba when he went swimming July 1 at Port Charlotte Beach about 100 miles south of Tampa, Florida.

Caleb Ziegelbauer has survived for a month battling the Naegleria fowleri infection.

GoFundMe

The amoeba is found worldwide but the CDC says it thrives in higher water temperatures and lower water levels. While still a rare infection, those are exactly the conditions found across the US this summer, with heat waves and droughts hitting many states.

It is found in warm fresh water, like lakes and rivers and hot springs, and can even show up in poorly maintained swimming pools. It cannot survive in salt water and cannot spread from one person to another.

Infections mainly occur in July, August and September, and while more likely in the South — Florida saw 36 cases between 1962 and 2021 and Texas 40 —  some northern states have seen them, notably Minnesota, famous for its lakes, which has had two reported cases. No cases have been reported in New York or surrounding states in the Northeast.

Caleb has been taken off of blood pressure medication and other drugs and while still on a ventilator, his breathing is gaining strength, his aunt Katie Chiet posted on a GoFundMe page raising money for the teen’s treatment.

Initial samples of his spinal fluid sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control were negative for Naegleria fowleri, but doctors at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Fort Myers, where he is being treated said, that was the likely cause of his infection, according to local reports.

Caleb’s progress came as a second person, a Missouri resident who was infected after swimming at an Iowa lake, died from the bug earlier this month. Last year, at least two children in the US died from these infections, one in North Carolina and one in Texas.

The amoeba supposedly thrives during heat waves.

CDC

A big challenge in amoeba cases is getting the right diagnosis – it can take weeks before the amoeba is identified, and that’s often too late for the victim who’s infected. But even then, there’s no specific treatment for the infection, according to the CDC.

https://nypost.com/2022/07/30/floridas-caleb-ziegelbauer-battling-deadly-brain-eating-amoeba/

NY nonprofit hospitals garnish patient wages to right medical debts

 Tens of thousands of working New Yorkers had their wages garnished for medical debt by nonprofit hospitals in the state from 2015 to 2020, a new report says.

The report was the last in a series put together by Community Service Society (CSS), a nonprofit working on urban poverty. It aimed to understand how pervasive "predatory" debt collection practices are in the state. According to court records the nonprofit surveyed, about half of nonprofit hospitals sued more than 53,100 patients. Twenty hospitals were responsible for 80% of the cases. 

Some of the wealthiest hospital systems sued the most, including Northwell Health, New York University and New York Presbyterian. The vast majority of cases were won by default by hospitals, and about a quarter of hospitals also placed liens on patients’ homes during the period. Cases primarily seemed to involve patients who work for low-wage employers, and many live in communities where the median income qualifies for financial assistance under state law.

“Our analysis found that the typical wages paid by the employers bringing wage garnishment cases verge on poverty-level wages, or just above,” CSS Vice President Elisabeth Benjamin said in a press release. “That means most of the patients whose wages are being garnished were probably eligible for the state Hospital Financial Assistance law and should not have been sued in the first place.”

The average outstanding medical debt that triggered a lawsuit was $1,900. Medical debt disproportionately affects Black, Latino and low-income patients, according to federal data the report cited. Among five hospitals responsible for nearly a quarter of all lawsuits filed during the period, their reported hospital financial assistance was $6 million, though they received $19 million from the state for financial aid.

The New York State Senate and Assembly recently passed bills that would ban these collection practices, and are currently awaiting the governor’s signature. The report advocated for the ban of wage garnishments for medical debt and expanding income eligibility for financial assistance under state law.

“These hospitals receive millions of taxpayer dollars intended to offset the cost of serving poor families” Richard Buery, CEO of the Robin Hood, New York City's largest anti-poverty philanthropy and a funder of the report, said in a press release. “So, when they sue those families and use wage garnishment as a debt collection tool on them, we need the state to step in and say enough is enough. This practice must stop.”  

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/nonprofit-hospitals-garnished-wages-thousands-new-york-report-finds

Major payers Aetna, UHC sign on to California primary care initiative

 Major payers and providers are joining forces in California to back advanced primary care. 

Six organizations in the state have signed a memorandum of understanding, agreeing to invest in boosting access to advanced primary care, a model that emphasizes whole-person care for high-quality outcomes. The goal is to strengthen primary care access in the Golden State by making it easier for practices to switch to a high-performing, value-based model.

The California Advanced Primary Care Initiative is jointly backed by the California Quality Collaborative, an arm of the Purchaser Business Group on Health, and the Integrated Healthcare Association. Aetna, Aledade, Blue Shield of California, Health Net, Oscar Health and UnitedHealthcare signed on to the MOU.

“This initiative reflects our understanding that the impact of any one payer alone is limited,” said Peter Long, executive vice president of strategy and health Solutions at Blue Shield, in a statement. “That’s why Blue Shield is committed to partnering with our peer payers and providers to scale delivery of high-quality primary care across the state. Ultimately, we know this is what is best for our members, and we all must work together to make this vision a reality.”As part of the MOU, the six insurers agree to pursue several goals, including:

• Transparency: The partners will report investment in primary care as well as adoption of value-based payment models, based on a measure set developed by CQC and IHA. These metrics will allow purchasers, insurers and providers to identify PCPs that are delivering the best results.
• Payment: Agree to a value-based payment model in primary care that enables team-based care, flexibility and the right care at the right time.
• Investment: Collaborate to set quantitative goals to increase investment in primary care without driving up the total cost of care.
• Practice transformation: Offer assistance to primary care providers, allowing them to roll out the models necessary for value-based care, integrated behavioral healthcare and to reduce disparities.

CQC and IHA have been working together since 2019 to develop shared metrics and standards for tracking advanced primary care.

“Primary care is the heart of all health care,” says Jeff Hermosillo, California market president at Aetna, in a statement. “This innovative initiative will help ensure accessible, affordable and high-quality primary care to improve the well-being of all Californians."

"Working together with our peers, providers, plan sponsors and members, we are committed to primary care that makes a difference in people’s lives," Hemosillo said.

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/major-payers-including-aetna-uhc-sign-california-primary-care-initiative