Feb 22, 2019

Judge won't block ex-UnitedHealth exec from going to Amazon venture

Bob Herman

Optum's headquarters in Minnesota. Photo: UnitedHealth Group

A federal judge on Friday denied a temporary restraining order that would have prevented a former employee of Optum, which is part of UnitedHealth Group, from joining the new health venture started by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase.

The bottom line: It's still unclear what the so-called ABC company will do. But UnitedHealth does not want the ex-employee, David Smith, to work for it because UnitedHealth views the company as a competitor, and it believes Smith could divulge trade secrets. The next step is arbitration.

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  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 3:30 a.m. ET: 1,203,923 — Total deaths: 64,795 — Total recoveries: 247,273 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 3:30 a.m. ET: 312,237 — Total deaths: 8,502 — Total recoveries: 14,997 — Map.
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World coronavirus updates: Confirmed cases top 1.2 million

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens and confirmed plus presumptive cases from the CDC

The number of novel coronavirus cases surpassed 1.2 million worldwide Saturday night, as Spain overtook Italy as the country with the most infections outside the U.S.

The big picture: About half the planet's population is now on lockdown and the global death toll was nearing 64,800, by Sunday morning, per Johns Hopkins data.

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U.S. coronavirus updates: Death toll surpasses 8,500

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Recorded deaths from the novel coronavirus surpassed 8,500 in the U.S. early Sunday, per Johns Hopkins data. The death toll in the U.S. has risen over 1,000 every day for the past four days, since April 1.

The big picture: President Trump said Saturday America's is facing its "toughest" time "between this week and next week." Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said U.S. deaths are expected to continue to rise during this period.

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