Bloomberg OpinionVerified account

The U.K. has come a long way, conducting more tests than most other EU countries. But it’s still not meeting demand, processing tests quickly enough or making them available where they are needed https://trib.al/nmrfZvr pic.twitter.com/WlGAG5kzO4

While economies in the Northeast and California may remain in a depression well into 2021, other parts of the country are transitioning into more of a modest recession. Geography has become just one more way in which we're experiencing a K-shaped recovery https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/z2uGx4O0g4

On the other hand, air travel in the U.S. is still only at 30% of normal levels. Business travel and major conferences remain dormant. No city or state will completely get back to normal until there's a vaccine https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/qdDQ44RLhp

Meanwhile, factory activity has improved lately as companies have sold down their inventories, creating shortages. Supply chains still have problems, but this trend is lifting the fortunes of communities tied to the production of goods https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/KIIKzsn2pe

The pandemic boom in e-commerce has been good news not only for companies such as Amazon and Shopify, but also for workers and communities. Driving jobs and loading and stocking jobs have actually shown year-over-year growth in help-wanted ads https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/PtSMuuuLi2

The recovery patterns we’ve seen nationally are playing out between different states and communities. The economies of Arizona and Texas, for example, have gotten a boost from housing construction, which has been among the first industries to recover https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/Qt0xiGxRzx

What do they have in common? Tourist destinations reliant on air travel: The theme parks of California The beaches of Hawaii The casinos of Las Vegas The major city of Chicago https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/XRJoQR0Ef8

How could this be? When looking at four of the other states with unemployment rates over 10% in August, there’s a mixed record on virus containment — California Hawaii Illinois Nevada https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/lH84yAHU6g

States in the Sun Belt did a poorer job of containing the virus. Despite experiencing a surge in cases in June and July, the August unemployment rate was only 5.9% in Arizona, 7.4% in Florida, 5.6% in Georgia, and 6.8% in Texas https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/Z6wD9Q50l4

States in the Northeast have consistently done the best job of containing the virus. Yet of the 10 states with unemployment north of 10% in August, half are in the Northeast — Massachusetts New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Rhode Island https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/mc7305tcYt

The best way to see this is to compare the unemployment rates of states that have done some of the best and worst jobs of containing the spread of the virus over the past couple of months https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/cE011ZCZEa

As we await a vaccine, we should expect better virus control to improve economic fortunes. But we should also expect states that rely on logistics, manufacturing and construction to outperform service economies, no matter what their health performance is https://trib.al/ZUGloSG pic.twitter.com/Nw2bzvrMU0

Can Peloton score big in a new product category, proving it is not destined to be a fitness fad, a super-expensive version of P90X or Tae Bo? https://trib.al/UWRvzVS pic.twitter.com/Cv390PJHgI

Boris Johnson promised this week that the government will be “creative” in supporting businesses and workers. It will need to be: The underlying rate of unemployment is probably much higher than the official 4.1% figure https://trib.al/u1jxaJT pic.twitter.com/xbz5PSJEuW

Smaller companies tend to do a little better during good times, only to give back all of their advantage in market breaks https://trib.al/4CPQnZq pic.twitter.com/Xfr5DAzOyP

Several big European countries have been behind the curve on Covid-19. They lack the pandemic muscle memory of Asia, and the natural defenses of low population density https://trib.al/73s4PAZ pic.twitter.com/IyLrz32ufT

All the familiar ingredients are there: Nativism Anti-Semitism A world controlled by secretive groups who are agents of secularism and Satan himself Can our political system tame this madness? If history is any guide, there’s reason for optimism http://trib.al/jv8J56V pic.twitter.com/Ig1Ut9Ym59

Forty years later, we are watching the demise of that incarnation of the Republican Party. As the two major political parties buckle under the strain of the latest realignment, conspiratorial thinking has re-emerged with the rise of QAnon http://trib.al/jv8J56V pic.twitter.com/NuPO9rOxlZ

Republicans had an uneasy relationship to the John Birch Society. Eventually it fell in the early 1960s, giving way to a larger rebranding of the party, which would ultimately propel Richard Nixon, and later, Ronald Regan, to the White House http://trib.al/jv8J56V pic.twitter.com/kf3RqUy57M

Rank-and-file Republicans flocked to Welch’s organization. At its peak, it had: At least 100,000 members 400 bookstores that sold Welch’s manifesto, The Blue Book, as well as the society’s other publications http://trib.al/jv8J56V pic.twitter.com/S0OUi2i6tQ