COVID-19 Wrap: Broadway returns, Putin in isolation, poverty report released

COVID-19 can be felt here and abroad in various stages of impact. Here are a few making news today.

BROADWAY RETURNS

Multiple news outlets reported the return of Broadway Tuesday after a year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 forced all 41 Broadway theaters to go dark. If all goes as planned, 39 shows will be running by the end of the year according to the New York Times. The reopening of theaters in Australia and Britain have not been smooth sailing so far. And with the spread of the delta variant throughout much of the U.S., the reopening of Broadway is a gamble.

However, officials hope the success from four productions that started performances this summer carries over. Those shows are the concert show “Springsteen on Broadway,” the new play “Pass Over,” and the musicals “Waitress” and “Hadestown”. None have yet to miss a performance.

PUTIN IN ISOLATION

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin is quarantining after people in his inner circle tested positive for COVID-19.

During a videoconference with government officials and members of the ruling United Russia party, Putin said one of the infected was a staff member who he was in close contact with throughout Monday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not say who among the president’s contacts was infected, or how long he will stay in self-isolation. However, Peskov did say Putin has tested negative, and that he is “absolutely healthy”.

POVERTY REPORT

A new Census Bureau report shows the effect of the pandemic and the subsequent relief payments on poverty.

The official poverty measure shows an increase of 1 percentage point in 2020. 11.4 percent of Americans were living in poverty.

However, the Bureau also said the massive relief payments pumped out by Congress actually caused the percentage of people in poverty to dip once the payments were considered.

Congress passed five bipartisan COVID-19 response bills worth close to $3.5 trillion last year. Those bills were all signed by then-President Donald Trump.

This year, Democrats pushed through President Joe Biden’s nearly $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan along party lines. The rescue plan’s effects are not reflected in the Census report.