Good morning, Quartz readers!
Here’s what you need to know
Global stocks fell after the Fed’s announcements on monetary policy and jobs. Federal Reserve officials (paywall) plan to keep interest rates near zero for years, while chairman Jerome Powell said that millions could struggle to return to their own industries, and it “could be some years before we get back to those people finding jobs.”
The world’s richest soccer league could take a billion-dollar hit because of the pandemic. But according to Deloitte’s latest report about European soccer’s finances. the English Premier League, suspended since early April but due to resume next week, will bounce back next season and once again generate record revenues.
Amazon suspended the police’s use of its facial recognition technology. Following IBM’s decision to do the same—partly as a consequence of an influential MIT/Microsoft project—Amazon hopes that it “might give Congress enough time to put in place appropriate rules,” but the company did not specifically refer to the Black Lives Matter protests.
Data from the UK about lockdown could inform policymakers everywhere. Using Quartz’s tool, developed by Amanda Shendruk and based on information from the UK’s Office for National Statistics, we can compare how different groups of people spent their time during lockdown, and how that has changed.
How to build an anti-racist company
There’s still time to sign up for our Remote Control workshop on how to turn good intentions into meaningful action. It may seem daunting, but inaction will take a higher toll as companies start to bear more of the responsibility for structural change.
Join us today at 11am EDT for a free online workshop that will help point you in the right direction, featuring Melissa Theiss, vice president of operations at Quorum, Nadia Owusu, associate director at Living Cities and author of Aftershocks, and Steve Pemberton, chief human resources officer at Workhuman.
Charting quit rates in the US
It might seem counterintuitive, but a low quit rate is very bad news. Quit rates are a leading indicator of the health of the labor market, and when more people voluntarily leave their jobs, it means there is a general sense of optimism about the future of the economy.
Right now, most employees are just looking to hang on to the work they do have, rather than trying to find something better, and fewer people quitting their jobs also has the effect of dampening wages.
We’re obsessed with tear gas
It’s enough to make you cry. Though tear gas is banned from battlefields, the chemical is deployed domestically worldwide to put down protests and civil unrest. Recent calls for police reform have prompted some municipalities to stop the use of what’s termed a non-lethal weapon, but it’s not clear if the current moment will help widespread tear gas usage go up in smoke. How did we get here? Find out in the Quartz Weekly Obsession.
For members: China’s changing playbook in Africa
Africa’s relationship with China was already changing, but a full-blown global pandemic added new complications. To find out more, Quartz Africa spoke with Yunnan Chen, a senior researcher who specializes in China-Africa relations, as part of this week’s field guide about China’s changing influence.
Quartz: “What are the consequences for the global economy if economic relations between China and Africa were to shift significantly in the wake of this moment?”
Chen: “A hugely important aspect of the China-Africa relationship of the last decade is the economic and developmental potential that it brings to African economies and societies after some half-century of various shifts in World Bank ideologies, policy, structural adjustment programs. The attitude of the Western consciousness, particularly in the international development architecture, was to treat sub-Saharan Africa as sort of problematic.
“I think one important impact of this growing China-Africa relationship, nuances aside, is that it’s really brought Africa much more into the foreground as a potential site of growth, of opportunity, of investment and business and commercial opportunities in particular.”
Read the full interview, then check out the rest of this week’s field guide.
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You asked about masks
Masks protect others from the droplets in my coughs and from my talking. Why don’t masks protect me from the droplets in their coughs and from their talking?
You’ve probably heard by now about the importance of wearing masks to protect others from Covid-19 (or any droplet-spread infectious illness, for that matter). To the best of science’s knowledge, this is true!
Masks of any sort help to block the large droplets we expel when speaking, sneezing, or coughing. But large droplets aren’t the only things we expel through our noses and mouths. We also expel even smaller droplets, aerosols, that can contain SARS-CoV-2. These are airborne, and can float around through the air and perhaps make it in through those tiny gaps in your mask and loosely-woven cloth. Aerosols cannot make it through specially-designed N95 masks, which are reserved for healthcare settings.
Washing your hands, staying away from others, and making sure you self-isolate if you are sick are still important, even if everyone around you is wearing a mask.
✉️ Do you have a burning question about how coronavirus is changing the world?
Surprising discoveries
Astronomers reconnected to a black hole’s signal. The dead star’s “heartbeat” had been blocked by the sun since 2011, but it’s still going strong.
Humans only see colors when looking straight ahead. A new study found that our brains fill in the colors for what’s in our peripheral vision.
All back round to mine? Snap up Argus Brewery on Chicago’s Craigslist for $2.5 million and become the envy of all your drinking buddies.
British scientists may have solved the mystery of the Ordovician extinction. It happened 445 millions ago and killed off 85% of life on Earth.
A recently-discovered figurine might be the oldest Chinese work of art. It’s 2cm long and up to 13,000 years old.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, brewery deeds, and faux colors to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app on iOS or Android and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Hasit Shah, Susan Howson, Katherine Foley, Jackie Bischof, Dan Kopf, and Liz Webber.