In Texas, latest COVID-19 wave could cost 72,000 jobs, study finds
CBSN
The recent upsurge in COVID-19 cases in Texas is hitting the state economically as well as in terms of lives lost, a new study concludes.
The Perryman Group, an economic research and analysis firm in Waco, Texas, estimates that the state's failure to contain the disease has led to nearly 72,000 job losses and an annualized decline in output of more than $13 billion. On average, the state loses roughly $187,000 for every employee who is unable to return to work because of the pandemic, the firm found. "Despite these concerns, there has been massive resistance by policymakers to sensible and basic protective measures, such as appropriate masking requirements and measures to encourage higher vaccination rates," the firm said in the report. "In addition to these obvious consequences, this approach is also resulting in preventable losses to the economy through reduced employment and decreases in productivity."Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.