Editor's Note: Some linked articles may be behind subscription paywalls.

The governors of California and Illinois issued a state of emergency Monday to combat the monkeypox virus, The Washington Post reports. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, California had 827 recorded cases of the virus as of Monday while Illinois had 520 cases over the same time frame. New York, which had 1,390 recorded cases as of Monday, declared a public health emergency last week.

The emergency declaration signals attempts to increase state resources to fight the virus. In California, emergency medical services workers are now able to administer the monkeypox vaccine, which is in limited supply from the federal government, the newspaper reports.

“It is critical to maximize the number of personnel who can administer vaccines within this outreach effort,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said. “Expanding the pool of eligible vaccinations will substantially aid current efforts and support anticipated further vaccination efforts upon receipt of additional doses from the federal government.”

Job openings reached a record high 11.9 million in March, but that number has decreased slightly each consecutive month since then — a trend that continued when the Labor Department announced June’s numbers Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Labor Department announced there were 10.7 million job openings in June, marking the lowest number since September 2021 and the first time it fell below 11 million since November 2021, the newspaper reports. The number is down from 11.3 million in May.

“Demand for new workers is easing, but not rapidly,” said Nick Bunker, an economist at jobs site Indeed. “We’re not seeing a really sharp pullback in employer demand.”

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals, a hotel industry accounting and tech organization, announced the of end its partnership with the American Hotel & Lodging Association, HNN's Bryan Wroten reports. HFTP cited AHLA’s partnership with Questex to create an event that would compete with HFTP’s Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference.

The announcement comes as HFTP works to revise the 11th edition of the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry, which AHLA has played a role in developing over the years.

“HFTP wishes AHLA and their for-profit partner the best of luck in the new endeavor,” HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe said in a news release. “Competition always makes everyone in the comp set raise the bar a bit, and HITEC has had plenty of competition over the years."

In the airline’s latest efforts to stifle travel disruptions, British Airways announced Tuesday that it’s suspending sales of short-haul flights from Heathrow Airport in London for about a week, the Associated Press reports.

The airport previously set a limit of 100,000 passengers through Sept. 11 in July. An increased demand in flights coupled with staff shortages has led to widespread cancellations and delays.

“As a result of Heathrow’s request to limit new bookings, we’ve decided to take responsible action and limit the available fares on some Heathrow services to help maximize rebooking options for existing customers, given the restrictions imposed on us and the ongoing challenges facing the entire aviation industry,” British Airways said in a statement.

While prices for gas, lodging and flights are higher at this point of the year than in previous years, the rate at which those prices are declining from the summer months to the fall months is also higher than in previous years, the Washington Post reports.

Gas prices fell 63 cents from a month ago and lodging rates fell 3.3% in June compared to a month before, the newspaper reports. Hayley Berg, lead economist for travel-booking app Hopper, said the average percent price drop for airfare from May to the fall is about 10% to 15%, but this year it’s down about 25%.

“It really has more to do with how high prices were this summer and less to do with what’s going on this fall,” Berg said.

Return to the Hotel News Now homepage.