The Glass Half-Full – Part II

COVID-19

• The UK Imperial College’s Neil Ferguson whose March 16^th COVID-19 model shocked the world with estimates of up to 2 million American casualties and 500,000 UK casualties has “dramatically” decreased his forecast. This new research is showing that the virus is “much faster moving” and “vastly-under-reported”.
• Elon Musk has acquired 1,255 ventilators and will be donating to the US effort. He also joined other large American car manufacturers in proclaiming Tesla will manufacture ventilators soon, likely in their Buffalo, NY “Giga Factory”.

• Scientists are readying antibody tests for people to see if they may have already been exposed to COVID-19. Because they feel the actual number of cases may be 10 to 12 times higher than the reported cases, this will help calculate a better mortality rate and provide hope that future recurrences won’t be as extreme while we wait for a vaccine to be mass-produced.

• Multiple existing anti-viral drugs in use are being fast-tracked in European clinical trials such as Remdesivir (used to treat Ebola), Lopinavir/Ritonavir (used to treat HIV/AIDS) and hydroxychloroquine (used to treat malaria) to combat the symptoms of COVID-19.

Economic

• The stock market entered a new “Bull Period” just 3 days after dipping to a four-year low at 18,591. The Dow closed at 22,552, up 6.38% for the day on Thursday, March 26^th.
• Massachusetts pushed the tax filing deadline to July 15 to match the IRS as well as the state of New York.
• The Senate and House of Representatives have formally approved the $2 trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill.
• Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, echoed former Fed Chief Ben Bernanke’s comments from earlier this week by saying, “We may very well already be in a recession, but there can be a good rebound on the other side of this.”

Thrive Customer Testimonials

“We appreciate all the Thrive team has done for us during this difficult time. It’s been very challenging to transition to a fully remote workforce and I know we have hit you guys with a lot of requests, but it’s all gone incredibly well in my opinion.”  COO, FinTech Wealth Management

“At this time, the help Wayne and your team and have provided since we began working remote has been fantastic.”  Technology Manager, Electrical Distribution

“Thank you for all the support from you and your team.  We appreciate everything that Thrive is doing for us.  It’s very reassuring in a tough time.”, CTO, Private Equity Firm