Vox Profile picture
30 Apr, 7 tweets, 3 min read
1/ Jasmine Holloway, a mom of three, is one of millions of Americans who lost their job during the pandemic.

But thanks to the US economic response to Covid-19, Jasmine is financially better off now than before the pandemic started. bit.ly/3eYMzNx Image
2/ From a lack of social distancing to inadequate contact tracing and scarce testing, the US failed to contain its early outbreak.

But the decision to ramp up spending to support families and businesses was a key factor in saving the economy from a 2008-like collapse.
3/ Expanded unemployment benefits and stimulus checks allowed Jasmine to take care of her family and create a previously unattainable financial safety net.

She knows it’s temporary, but says the support “has enabled me to do things I’ve only dreamed about doing for my family.” Image
4/ And Jasmine isn’t alone. The US was one of three large countries to provide its citizens with stimulus checks.

It also offered the most generous unemployment payments globally, allowing unemployed Americans to have as much as 145% of their wages replaced. Image
5/ Many have criticized the big spending, but data shows the pandemic relief didn't just offer immediate support: It also reduced poverty.

“The US will come out of this economically better than any country that was similarly affected by the virus,” says economist @jasonfurman. Image
6/ Yes, America’s initial public health response to Covid-19 was deeply botched.

But its robust economic response – one of the strongest in the world – could inform policy changes to improve American lives long term. bit.ly/3ud13Q4
7/ To learn more about the US response to Covid-19 and the successes and failures of five other countries’ virus response, check out Vox’s Pandemic Playbook series: bit.ly/3vAx4BI

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Vox

Vox Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @voxdotcom

30 Apr
1/ This April, our podcasts teamed up to cover some of the most important issues threatening life on Earth.

Here are some of the highlights from the 28 episodes published in the series 🎧 vox.com/earthmonth Image
2/ Norway has lapped the world in adopting electric vehicles.

On @today_explained, Vox’s @umairfan explains how the US might catch up.

pod.link/todayexplained…
3/ An untold number of organisms rise daily from the middle of the ocean to its surface.

They may be playing a crucial role in slowing climate change, so scientists are racing to study this migration before it’s too late.

Learn more on Unexplainable: pod.link/unexplainable/…
Read 7 tweets
16 Mar
1/ Eight films are nominated for Best Picture at the 2021 #Oscars.

Vox’s @alissamarie breaks down how to watch them — and why. bit.ly/3lkT9kb
2/ Judas and the Black Messiah has six Oscar nods. The electrifying film is based on the true story of Illinois Black Panther Party chair Fred Hampton’s assassination in 1969 and the FBI informant who infiltrated the organization to enable it. bit.ly/3rUtL79
3/ David Fincher's Mank raked in the most Oscar nominations of any movie. It's a classic Oscar movie with an edge, the tale of the man who wrote Citizen Kane and the dawn of a new Hollywood era. bit.ly/38JZvUV
Read 8 tweets
10 Mar
1/ What we don’t know is awesome.

Unexplainable is our new science podcast about the most fascinating unanswered questions in science and the mind-bending ways scientists are trying to answer them.

Listen now to the first two episodes.

vox.com/science-and-he…
2/ First up: Scientists all over the world are searching for dark matter: an invisible, untouchable substance that holds our universe together. But they haven’t found it. Are they chasing a ghost?

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mos…
3/ Next: Scientists still don't understand exactly how the human nose works.

But this mystery isn't holding researchers back from building a robot nose with artificial intelligence. The hope is that the robot nose can eventually detect diseases.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-…
Read 5 tweets
4 Mar
1/ This is a chart of severe weather events in the US over the last 40 years. These costly disasters are becoming more frequent.

And the fact is: The US power grid is just not prepared for them.
2/ Most of the US power grid was brought online 60-70 years ago but was built to last 50 years, warns the American Society of Civil Engineers.

That means rolling blackouts and power grid failures, like the ones we saw in Texas in February, could become the norm across the US.
3/ Take this map, for example.

Nearly 100 facilities, including power plants, are in immediate danger of flooding and storm surges, according to @UCSUSA studies.
Read 4 tweets
26 Feb
1/ Sharon Lavigne lives in St. James Parish, Louisiana, a predominantly Black town with one of the highest cancer risk levels from air pollution in the US.

Years of pollution from nearby chemical plants has affected residents’ health — including hers. bit.ly/3dLQwpG
2/ After being diagnosed with pollution-linked autoimmune hepatitis and seeing neighbors die from other illnesses, she started RISE St. James, a faith-based environmental justice group that aims to prevent more industrial developments in their neighborhood.
3/ RISE St. James is trying to prevent the construction of a $9.4 billion plastic plant that could double the amount of toxic chemicals already in the area.

It’s just one example of how Black neighborhoods in the US have been fighting back against industrial pollution.
Read 5 tweets
26 Feb
EXCLUSIVE: More than a dozen current and former Amazon corporate employees told @delrey that they saw a pattern of systemic racial bias at the company, which affected Black employees’ career growth and personal lives. vox.com/recode/2021/2/…
Chanin Kelly-Rae, a former diversity leader at Amazon, quit her job there after 10 months.

“Amazon was not doing things in a way that represents best practices that would advance diversity and inclusion in any way that is meaningful and thoughtful,” Kelly-Rae told @Recode.
Several Black Amazon women employees say they and their peers faced microaggressions from coworkers and managers.

One white male manager told a Black female colleague, “My ancestors owned slaves, but I’m pretty sure they were good to their slaves.”
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!