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Online school? In-person? How parents are making their own fall 2020 decisions as COVID-19 squabbles continue

John A. Ratliff

As officials play political football with K-12 school reopenings, parents such as Johanne Davis are formulating their own game plans for the fall.

“To exercise an abundance of caution, I’d like to keep my kids home with me where they’ll study online,” says Davis, a mother of three from Indian Land, South Carolina, one of countless states where COVID-19 cases have spiked in recent weeks.

“Health is the issue, not just for my children, but also school workers,” Davis says. “Teachers shouldn’t have to be front-line soldiers in this pandemic.”

Families across the nation are busy making their own calculations about whether to send children back to school. While Davis seems resolved, many parents are still mulling.

Johanne Davis, left, in a photo with her three children. Davis and her husband say they're both fortunate enough to work from home and can manage the children if they have to spend a lot of next year studying remotely. But she acknowledges that hers is a privileged position not afforded to lower-income parents grappling with child care in order to go off to work.
Johanne Davis, left, in a photo with her three children. Davis and her husband say they’re both fortunate enough to work from home and can manage the children if they have to
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Indian startups diversify their businesses to offset COVID-19 induced losses – TechCrunch

John A. Ratliff

E-commerce giant Flipkart is planning to launch a hyperlocal service that would enable customers to buy items from local stores and have those delivered to them in an hour and a half or less. Yatra, an online travel and hotel ticketing service, is exploring a new business line altogether: supplying office accessories.

Flipkart and Yatra are not the only firms eyeing new business categories. Dozens of firms in the country have branched out by launching new services in recent weeks, in part to offset the disruption to their core offerings caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.

Swiggy and Zomato, the nation’s largest food delivery startups, began delivering alcohol in select parts of the country last month. The move came weeks after the two firms, both of which are seeing fewer orders and had to let go of hundreds of employees, started accepting orders for grocery items in a move that

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Internet-Software & Services Outlook: Things Look Good

John A. Ratliff

The Internet Software & Services industry is a relatively small industry primarily involved in enabling platforms, networks, solutions and services for online businesses and facilitating customer interaction and use of Internet based services.   

Here are three major themes in the industry:

  • The overall impact of COVID has been positive for the industry. Although it necessitated work from home for employees, the industry, being by nature tech-centric, had relatively fewer issues with this. On the other hand, business continuity concerns accelerated the shift to cloud-based working for many, while service providers, both work-related and otherwise, also moved to Internet-based channels. Another big segment that did humongous amounts of business online was retail. All of these moves were positive for the industry and offset any negative impact of declining business at brick-and-mortar players. At least some of these trends will outlive the pandemic. In other cases, the return to physical operations will
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Online shoppers have lost millions to fraud during lockdown

John A. Ratliff

Yahoo Life is committed to finding you the best products at the best prices. We may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change.

Make online shopping a safe experience for the whole family. (Photo: Getty Images)
Make online shopping a safe experience for the whole family. (Photo: Getty Images)

It’s another Saturday afternoon during lockdown, and you’re back on Amazon, filling your cart with household items and groceries. You haven’t been able to make your typical Target and Walmart runs lately, so you’re stocking up virtually instead.

Online shopping: everyone does it so it’s pretty harmless, right? Well, not always. Fraud is a possibility any time you shop online, according to Experian. And during a worldwide pandemic or even the holiday season, you’re especially vulnerable to hackers, phishers, and identity thieves. Covid-related fraud has already robbed a cumulative $13.4 million from unsuspecting Americans, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

That’s

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