The Daily Valet. - 8/4/21, Wednesday

✔️ Will We Need Proof?

August 04, 2021

Wednesday, August 4th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Can I see some kind of ID?

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

Will We Need Proof?

Are vaccination passports going to be the future?

New York City will require workers and patrons at indoor businesses to show proof of COVID vaccination starting on Sept. 13, becoming the first major U.S. city to take such action amid a surge of new cases nationwide driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

According to NPR, the new mandate announced Tuesday, dubbed the “Key to NYC Pass,” will apply to indoor dining, gyms and entertainment venues. And it’s reignited the discussion around vaxx passports again.

How is everyone feeling about them? Because it appears to be the way cities and states are going in order to safely keep places open—the kind of places where you’d ideally want to feel comfortable being around groups of strangers.

Proving that you’ve been poked can come in handy, and those white paper cards we got as proof of vaccination don’t easily fit unfolded inside the average wallet—and “that’s only one of many reasons digital credentials are needed now more than ever,” writes the Washington Post's editorial board.

Los Angeles County, where I live, currently has a digital card I can access from my phone, which has been helpful on a few occasions. But these digital passport platforms are notoriously loose with your personal information.

The topic also raises a lot of legal questions, along with their potential to exacerbate racial and socioeconomic inequities, according to the Brookings Institute. And the simplest question of all: If we start requiring proof in more and more places, when will we know when to stop requiring verification?

↦ FYI: One-third of all COVID-19 cases nationwide last week occurred in just two states, according to the White House's COVID-19 response coordinator.

CDC Issues New Eviction Ban

The move will run through Oct. 3rd and comes after a liberal backlash

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new eviction moratorium that would last until Oct. 3—a move that bent to intense pressure from progressive House Democrats but that President Joe Biden acknowledged may not prove constitutional.

The ban announced Tuesday could help keep millions in their homes as the coronavirus’ delta variant has spread and states have been slow to release federal rental aid. It would temporarily halt evictions in counties with “substantial and high levels” of virus transmissions and would cover areas where 90% of the U.S. population lives.

The decision to impose a new and targeted moratorium, rather than extending the previous national ban, is aimed at sidestepping a Supreme Court ruling from late June that seemed to limit the administration's ability to enact such policies.

Congress previously allocated $46.5 billion in rental assistance in two coronavirus relief packages, but only about $3 billion had been delivered to eligible households through June, according to Treasury Department data.

↦ Dig Deeper: For Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, this fight is a personal one ... because she was once homeless after getting evicted from a rental.

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Household Debt Jumps to $15T

It’s the biggest jump since 2007

Household debt rose by its highest dollar amount in 14 years during the second quarter, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday. Bloomberg says this is due mostly to a surge in the housing market that brought the collective American IOU to just shy of $15 trillion.

According to CNN Business, a whopping 44% of these outstanding balances were originated over the past year, accounting for both new mortgages and refinancings.

But the swelling debt numbers weren't just about mortgages. Credit card balances rose by $17 billion in the second quarter—but they still remain $140 billion below levels at the end of 2019. Car loan balances increased by $33 billion.

However, despite all of the money being borrowed, the median credit score for newly originated mortgages was 760, with 71% of all borrowers having a score of over 760, reports CNBC. And the share of mortgages moving to delinquency totaled just 0.4%—which is a new record low.

Teen Designs a New Fire Extinguisher

And it will protect homes against wildfires

The Bootleg Fire in Oregon was up to 84% contained earlier this week as firefighters made progress over the weekend battling the blaze, but elsewhere wildfires rage in Northern California and on Hawaii's Big Island.

Which is to say, that wildfires will continue to be a danger to our communities—and likely even more in the future. Which is why a lot of people are talking about this clever high school student who invented a fire extinguisher designed to protect homes from those dangerous spreading flames.

“Over the past three years, there have been almost 7,500,000 acres of wildfire in California alone, destroying nearly 50,000 structures,” says 11th grader Arul Mathur, inventor of the Fire-Activated-Canister-Extinguisher, or F.A.C.E.

After all, most of us can't afford homes with fire-extinguishing sprinklers built into the ceiling … and that's where F.A.C.E. is designed to come in. It's a self-contained, heat-activated fire suppression device that's mounted in the user's home, wherever it's most likely to be needed.

↦ Meanwhile: Other kids are surreptitiously using sodas to fake positive COVID tests to get out of school.

In Other News

↦ New York Governor Cuomo Urged to Resign After Probe Finds He Harassed 11 Women

↦ Check Out This Pro-Drunk Driving Opinion Piece the NYT Published in 1984

↦ Stolen Mascots, Vomit and Holes in Walls: Aussie Athletes Party Their Way Out of Tokyo

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Collab fatigue

This chaotic flight

Olympians’ shoes

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Wine Access is now the official wine provider of the Michelin Guide. It's essentially a cheat sheet to the world's best wine lists. Each shipment is curated in partnership with the sommelier or beverage director at a Michelin-starred restaurant (think Thomas Keller's famed three-star restaurant Per Se).

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6 Deeply Discounted Slip-Ons

↑ Perhaps you're aware that we are currently witnessing what can only be described as a “loafer renaissance”. Don't let the moment pass you by—instead, pick up these handsome shoes from heritage makers G.H. Bass. Handcrafted and stitched in El Salvador with genuine leather, a soft rubber sole, and easy-on design, these horse-bit loafers ($110 / $89.99) are undoubtedly one of the shoes of the season.

↦ Want more? 6 deeply discounted slip-ons