Up to nine million people may be eligible for a federal stimulus check but have yet to claim the relief payment.
This group of people are primarily those who don’t usually file a federal income tax return, mainly senior citizens and low-income households, the agency said earlier this week. Individuals will have until October 15 to register for IRS.gov’s non-filer tool to receive their payments by the end of the year. If eligible individuals do not register by the October 15 deadline and haven’t yet received a check, they will have to file a federal income tax return in order to claim a stimulus check.
The stimulus checks provide $1,200 for single taxpayers, $2,400 for married couples and $500 per child under 17 years old.
The IRS says it will begin mailing the letters informing citizens of their eligibility on September 24.
MORE ON THE PANDEMIC
After thriving during the pandemic and bringing in record revenue and profits, Amazon announces it is seeking to hire 33,000 people for corporate and tech roles in the next few months.
It’s the largest number of job openings it’s had at one time. Amazon said the jobs will be located around its offices in Denver, New York, Phoenix and Seattle. New hires will work from home initially then return to the office at a later date.
To fill the 33,000 jobs, Amazon said it will hold an online career fair Sept. 16 to collect resumes and give people a chance to talk to a recruiter. The average salary of a corporate or tech job at Amazon is $150,000, a company spokesperson said. [READ MORE]
According to a tally by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, over half a million children in the U.S. have contracted Covid-19.
“A disproportionate number of cases are reported in Black and Hispanic children and in places where there is high poverty. We must work harder to address societal inequities that contribute to these disparities,” American Academy of Pediatrics President Dr. Sally Goza said in a news release.
More than 70,000 new child coronavirus cases were reported from August 20 through September 3. Children represent nearly 10% of all reported cases in the U.S.
Researchers at AstraZeneca who are in the late-stage studies of its COVID-19 vaccine are pausing the study after a shot recipient’s “potentially unexplained” illness.
AstraZeneca didn’t reveal any information about the possible side effect.
Last month, the pharmaceutical company began recruiting 30,000 people in the U.S. for its study of the Covid-19 vaccine.
A new survey conducted by Morning Consult found that more than half of the U.S. workers looking for employment say their job search is due to the coronavirus pandemic. Twenty-seven percent of respondents say that at least some of their skills won’t be of use in the job market in the next five years.
Among workers, 36% say they are not working as many hours as they want to or are taking on tasks that don’t use their primary skills.
As Halloween approaches, health officials in Los Angeles County are prohibiting door-to-door trick-or-treating due to the risk of spreading the coronavirus. Carnivals, festivals, haunted houses and “Trunk or treating”, events where children trick-or-treat from cars, are also not allowed.
