Welcome to a regular snapshot-review of U.S. and international economic news that aims to 1) provide a window into the challenges and decisions facing businesses today, 2) determine the direction of economic policy — such as the speed at which central banks decide to raise interest rates, and 3) assess what the impact will be for consumers. — No, The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Not Over Globally, there have now been 463,891,646 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and the number of people killed by the coronavirus has crossed the 6 million mark to reach 6,058,277. The U.S. now has 79,631,708 confirmed cases, and there have been 968,663 fatalities.