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Next Republican Culture War Attack: 'Anti- White' COVID-19 Drug Guidance
From the Document: "America's hospitals are filled with unvaccinated COVID [coronavirus disease] patients, many of whom have bought the dangerous narrative peddled by anti-vaxxers and Republican politicians who failed the nation when COVID first struck and continue to fail the nation today. To deflect from their failure, the newest Republican culture war attack, coming directly from former President Donald Trump [hyperlink] and Fox News' Tucker Carlson [hyperlink], accuses Democrats and the Administration of 'anti-white racism' when it comes to the use of the limited supply of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] treatments. Make no mistake. Republicans are desperate to try to shift blame by creating a culture war where there is none. And they are trying to divide Americans even further, for their own benefit. Let's examine the facts and address this attack head on."
Third Way
Ahmadi, Ladan
2022-02-01
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Metering Update: February 2022
From the Introduction: "In April 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leadership issued guidance that allowed officers to limit asylum seekers' access to ports of entry. This guidance permitted CBP officers stationed at the United States' international boundary with Mexico to inform arriving asylum seekers that U.S. ports of entry were full. Simultaneously, CBP officers also began accepting a specified number of asylum seekers each day, in a process that is known as metering. [...] As metering spread across the border and a subsequent backlog of asylum seekers grew in Mexico's border cities, Mexican authorities and civil society groups responded by providing humanitarian assistance and creating informal waitlists. Since November 2018, the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin--at times in collaboration with the Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies at the University of California San Diego and the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute--has documented these informal lists through quarterly updates. As the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic began in March 2020, CBP stopped processing asylum requests at ports of entry altogether. This change took place via a Center for Disease Control's (CDC) regulation based on Title 42 authority and an order that blocked entry for individuals--including asylum seekers--attempting to enter the United States through Mexico without valid travel documents. The use of Title 42 to restrict asylum seeker processing continues to be controversial and questioned by public health experts."
University of Texas at Austin. Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law
Leutert, Stephanie; Yates, Caitlyn
2022-02
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Working with Long COVID: Research Evidence to Inform Support
From the Introduction: "This report examines the latest evidence and the experiences of employees experiencing long COVID [coronavirus disease], and offers recommendations for organisations on how to effectively support those with long COVID to return to, and stay in, work. In order to provide timely and appropriate support it is necessary to develop a deeper insight into the experience of long COVID in the workplace. In this report, we integrate findings from three sources to understand long COVID and its impact on work: [1] a review of the evidence on long COVID and its impact on work[;] [2] interviews with workers with long COVID[;] [3] a series of roundtables with HR [human resources] professionals and allied health professionals involved in the support and rehabilitation of people with long COVID."
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Affinity Health at Work (Firm); University of Sheffield
2022-02
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Seattle/King County, Washington: Response to Homelessness During the COVID-19 Pandemic
From the Document: "The Seattle/King County Continuum of Care (CoC) spans the city of Seattle, its suburbs, and smaller rural communities. In 2015, the number of people experiencing homelessness at a single point in time passed ten thousand; since then, that number has not fallen below that point and at last count in 2020, 11,751 people were experiencing homelessness. Of note, unsheltered homelessness doubled in the past decade and now accounts for almost half of all people experiencing homelessness. Recent efforts sought to consolidate the funding, priorities, and management of the homelessness response system from city and county governments and nonprofit providers. This transition to the new King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) was underway prior to the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic; it faced delays during the crisis response, but now is ongoing. KCRHA will focus on improving racial equity across the system and expanding rapid rehousing and other permanent housing opportunities and developments. The Urban Institute spoke with representatives from four organizations that led the response in Seattle and King County to understand the core components, successes and challenges, and lessons learned for post-pandemic homeless services.Strong coordination between local government, public health services, and the homeless assistance system enabled a response that prioritized resources to those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and homelessness, and it kept people safe and supported in noncongregate spaces. The emergency shelter system transformed as part of this response, with demonstrable impact on the people using it. Federal resources and local initiatives--such as the Health through Housing initiative approved by the King County Council in fall 2020--are funding the acquisition of former hotels and nursing homes. These acquisitions will help maintain these changes in service delivery beyond the pandemic."
Urban Institute
DuBois, Nicole; Batko, Samantha; Boshart, Abby
2022-02
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Audit of DoD Implementation of the DoD Coronavirus Disease-2019 Vaccine Distribution Plan
From the Objective: "Our objective was to determine whether DoD officials effectively distributed and administered the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccine to the DoD workforce in accordance with DoD guidance."
United States. Department of Defense. Office of the Inspector General
2022-02-01
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COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Rollout in Historical Perspective
From the Abstract: "At the start of 2022, profound inequities in the pace of access to COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] vaccines and the level of coverage of COVID-19 vaccination remain, especially with regard to the world's poorest countries. Yet despite this inequity, we find that global COVID-19 vaccine development and diffusion has been the most rapid in history, and this rapid scale-up is evident not only in high-income countries but also in upper- and lower-middle-income countries, home to the majority of the world's population. This paper explores the historical record in the development and deployment of vaccines globally and puts the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in that context. Although far more can be done and should be done to speed equitable access to vaccines in the COVID-19 response, it is worth noting the revolutionary speed of both the vaccine development and the diffusion process, and the potential good news that this signals for the future of pandemic preparedness and response."
Center for Global Development
Glassman, Amanda, 1970-; Kenny, Charles; Yang, George
2022-02
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Immunization Information Systems: Overview and Current Issues [February 1, 2022]
From the Document: "As defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), immunization information systems (IISs) are 'confidential, population-based, computerized databases that record all immunization doses administered by participating providers to persons residing within a given geopolitical area.' These systems--based at the state, local, and territorial level--have long recorded information on routine vaccinations, and are now being used for information on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccinations. This CRS [Congressional Research Service] report provides background on IISs, an overview of the role of IISs during the COVID-19 pandemic, an overview of data and technology challenges faced by IISs, a summary of legislative developments, and a discussion of further selected policy considerations."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Sekar, Kavya
2022-02-01
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Parents' Intentions to Vaccinate Children for COVID-19 by Child Age: Sociodemographic Factors and Reasons for Hesitancy
From the Key Points: "[1] According to the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] COVID [coronavirus disease] Data Tracker, as of January 30, 2022, 21.4 percent of children aged 5-11 and 55.9 percent of children aged 12-17 are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. [2] A larger percent of parents with children aged 5-11 are hesitant to vaccinate their children (34 percent) than parents of children aged 12-17 (21 percent). [3] Vaccinated parents tend to be less hesitant to vaccinate their children than unvaccinated parents, although hesitancy still varies by child age: among vaccinated parents, 21 percent were hesitant to vaccinate children aged 5-11, compared with 8 percent for children aged 12-17. [4] Hesitancy to vaccinate children varied by demographic characteristics and was highest among non-Hispanic White respondents and those without a college education. [5] The main reasons for hesitancy to vaccinate children were concerns about side effects, plans to wait and see, and distrust in vaccines or the government."
United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
2022-02
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MMWR Early Release: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, February 1, 2022: SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Hospitalization Among Adults Aged ≥18 Years, by Vaccination Status, Before and During SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron) Variant Predominance -- Los Angeles County, California, November 7, 2021-January 8, 2022
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Series is prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [It] is the agency's primary vehicle for scientific publication of timely, reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and useful public health information and recommendations. This early release issue of MMWR contains the following article: "SARS-CoV-2 [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2] Infection and Hospitalization Among Adults Aged ≥18 Years, by Vaccination Status, Before and During SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron) Variant Predominance -- Los Angeles County, California, November 7, 2021-January 8, 2022." Notifiable Diseases and Mortality Tables from MMWR can be accessed at the following link [http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index2022.html].
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
2022-02-01
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COVID-19: Federal Telework Increased During the Pandemic, but More Reliable Data Are Needed to Support Oversight, Report to Congressional Addressees
From the Highlights: "Federal agencies use telework to help accomplish their missions and maintain operations, especially during emergencies, such as the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic. In March 2020, the Office of Management and Budget instructed agencies to maximize the use of telework to allow federal employees to remain safe while working from alternative locations and maintaining mission critical workforce needs. The CARES Act [Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act] includes a provision for GAO [Government Accountability Office] to report on ongoing COVID19 monitoring and oversight efforts. In this report, GAO (1) assesses OPM's [Office of Personnel Management's] progress in addressing telework data limitations and describes federal agencies' use of telework during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) describes actions agencies have taken to address telework-related challenges identified during the COVID-19 pandemic and considerations for future operating postures. For this report, GAO collected and analyzed telework data and related documents from 24 major federal agencies from selected time periods before and during the pandemic. GAO also interviewed OPM and selected agencies' officials. [...] Congress should consider requiring OPM to set a deadline to develop an implementation plan to improve the reliability of information in its federal payroll data system, Enterprise Human Resources Integration, including telework information. Nine of the 24 agencies provided technical comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2022-02
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COVID-19 Pandemic Further Strains Public Health Workforce
From the Introduction: "Prior to the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, investment in public health was declining nationwide. ASTHO's [Association of State and Territorial Health Officials] 2020 Profile of State and Territorial Public Health--the only comprehensive source on public health agency resources and infrastructure trends--showed a nearly 10% reduction in public health workforce between 2019 and 2021 and a 10.3% decrease in state and federal public health funding between 2010 and 2018. Although public health agencies maintained core services despite the reduction in funding, the underinvestment left a tenuous and fragile public health system to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The public health workforce weathered extraordinary conditions in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including long shifts, potential exposure to the disease, and abuse and threats from the public. These intense conditions negatively impacted the mental and emotional health of the workforce, with 52.8% of public health workers reporting symptoms of anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or suicidal ideation in Spring 2021."
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (U.S.)
2022-02-01?
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COVID-19 Response: Living with COVID-19
From the Introduction: "The Government's aim throughout the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has been to protect the lives and livelihoods of citizens across the United Kingdom (UK). This document sets out how the Government has and will continue to protect and support citizens by: enabling society and the economy to open up more quickly than many comparable countries; using vaccines; and supporting the National Health Service (NHS) and social care sector. It also sets out how England will move into a new phase of managing COVID-19. The Devolved Administrations will each set out how they will manage this transition in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The global pandemic is not yet over and the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is clear there is considerable uncertainty about the path that the pandemic will now take in the UK. This document therefore also sets out how the Government will ensure resilience, maintaining contingency capabilities to deal with a range of possible scenarios."
Great Britain. HM Government
2022-02
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Social Protection in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from South Africa
From the Abstract: "South Africa responded to the stresses of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic and lockdown using a combination of existing social protection programmes, unemployment insurance, and additional measures to support those most affected. This paper reviews policies and implementation with the objective of highlighting lessons for the global community, including on the use of digital mechanisms. The government adopted a two-pronged and largely cash-based approach: unemployment benefits for formal sector workers and cash transfers to vulnerable individuals, informal workers, and beneficiaries of existing grants. Top-up payments for existing grants were rolled out efficiently; the new Special Relief of Distress (SRD) grant posed challenges but ultimately succeeded in reaching over six million previously uncovered beneficiaries. It may even become a permanent feature of South Africa's social protection system. Overall, the government reached over 30 million South Africans with cash-based relief measures. A distinctive feature of cash-based emergency relief was the use of digital technologies, especially in the application and verification process for the new SRD grant. The payment system, however, relied heavily on manual cash disbursements, thus failing to reflect the adoption of innovative digital technologies observed in many other African countries."
Center for Global Development
Gronbach, Lena; Seekings, Jeremy; Megannon, Vayda
2022-02
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Impact of the Pandemic on New York City's Municipal Workforce
From the Document: "New York City employs the largest municipal workforce in the United States. [...] The City government, like other public employers, was quickly confronted with a number of challenges after the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic took hold in March 2020, including a decline in anticipated resources and a substantial change in the demand for certain municipal services. Largely in response to fiscal challenges, the City's workforce has decreased (through attrition) to 283,809 through November 2021 (5.5 percent), but some agencies and occupations experienced a sharper decline, which may have led to service disruptions in the past and could pose service challenges as normal activity resumes. Overtime has also increased sharply in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. Only a few days into the new administation [sic], the Mayor directed his agency heads to identify ways to achieve annual savings of 3 percent of City-funded spending beginning in FY 2022, exempting public health agencies and the Department of Correction. The decline in staffing presents an opportunity for the City to re-examine its workforce and to restructure how its programs and services are delivered, in order to achieve efficiencies without the need for layoffs or service cuts."
New York (State). Office of the State Comptroller
Lotridge, Christopher
2022-02
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State of Innovation in Antibacterial Therapeutics
From the Introduction: "Antibacterial drug discovery and development during the 20th century yielded one of the greatest armaments available to physicians, with more than 90% of all antibacterial drugs discovered during this period. Since the introduction of numerous antibiotic classes during the 1940s, deaths from bacterial infections have been reduced significantly. However, this next century is already presenting challenges that may render these older antibiotics obsolete. The COVID [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, which exposed multiple preparedness shortcomings, has elevated attention to the increasing threat of drug-resistant strains of bacteria. More than 1.2 million people worldwide are dying each year from antibiotic resistant infections and it is estimated this number will grow to 10 million per year by 2050. In the U.S. alone, more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur each year, with more than 35,000 people dying as a result. The CDC, EMEA [European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products], WHO [World Health Organization], IDSA [Infectious Diseases Society of America], Pew, and other groups have issued warnings to public policymakers for more than a decade about the reduced effectiveness of last century's antibiotic arsenal."
Biotechnology Innovation Organization
Thomas, David; Wessel, Chad
2022-02
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COVID-19 Related State of Emergency Measures: Impact and Responses
From the Executive Summary: "The American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Human Rights (CHR) undertook this report to analyze the impact of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] emergency measures on HRDs [human rights defenders] and explore the responses of HRDs through the use of strategic litigation and other actions to push back against disproportional restrictions related to COVID-19 states of emergency. This report captures the successes and challenges of such strategies. It examines the viability of such approaches to effectively push back against attempts to normalize restrictive measures that do not meet public health goals and maintain civic space for HRDs and other civil society actors. The report finds that the success of challenges largely hinged on the nature of the authorizing statute and scope of its enforcement. Successful legal efforts challenged the repurposing of statutes originally meant to target activity 'unrelated to public health or public safety.' Further, in cases where litigants focused on separation of powers, courts seemed more receptive to challenges to executive measures without legislative oversight. As the viability and success of strategic litigation largely depends on the degree of respect for rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, the report also examines non-litigation approaches adopted by civil society actors to challenge 'de facto' measures and practices, including the deployment of military forces to enforce lockdown measures, selective or disproportionate enforcement, and police brutality. Through the formation of new coalitions, enhanced coordination with other actors, and pressure on government agencies, civil society actors successfully challenged 'de facto' measures. Finally, the report concludes with a set of recommendations for all stakeholders to help ensure that, in the future, governments effectively respond to public health crises while protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms."
ABA Center for Human Rights
McCourt, Kersty; Nyaundi, Ken; Ndiku, Shalom M. . . .
2022-02
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Understanding the Threat of Biological Weapons in a World with COVID-19
From the Introduction: "Threats posed by biological weapons have been evolving for nearly a century. However, the pace of change has been accelerating in recent years due to several intersecting trends, including the accessibility of sophisticated biotechnology tools, plunging costs of sequencing and synthesis, and the convergence of new technology areas (e.g., synthetic biology, AI [Artificial Intelligence]/machine learning, and robotics). In 2020, a new set of dynamics around biological weapons emerged as a result of widespread failures of many nations around the world to effectively respond to the global spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 [Coronavirus Disease 2019]. After more than two years of global efforts to contain the spread of this highly transmissible disease, world leaders are still unable to discern the threat parameters of a COVID-19 era. However, one thing remains clear: the ongoing crisis could profoundly alter how countries perceive biological weapons and how these weapons may advance their security interests. For the hopefully-small number of nations that may consider biological weapons, the human, security, and economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to shape their views regarding the deliberate use of disease to cause disruption and destruction. [...] In this paper, we present findings from our 'futures research' in which we investigated 1) the incentives and disincentives for the development of biological weapons; 2) historical signals related to biological weapons; and 3) other trends, issues, and problems."
Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons
Bajema, Natasha E.; Parthemore, Christine; Rezzonico, Andrea . . .
2022-02
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COVID-19, Mortality, and Nursing Homes: A Literature and Data Review and Policy Discussion
From the Abstract: "It is well established from research studies and basic data analysis that there is an exponential relationship between age and the infection to fatality ratio for COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]. Hence, the high mortality of the pandemic has been concentrated among the elderly. The close living arrangements of nursing homes exacerbated that tendency, and mortality from COVID was initially very high there. The vector of infection often came from staff. In the absence of vaccines and effective medical treatment and natural immunity, various nonpharmaceutical interventions were imposed by governments on general society and nursing homes. The evidence on their effectiveness is modest and mixed, although they seemed to have had at least temporary reducing effects. But the price of these socially isolating interventions was high on other causes of death, including in nursing homes. Hence, with the availability of effective vaccines, and more recently boosters, it was essential to the reduction of national mortality that quick and complete treatment focus be on the elderly, nursing home residents, and their caregivers. Although there has been substantial progress here, especially seen with reduced mortality at nursing homes, spikes still occur, and vaccine hesitancy gaps remain. So more needs to be done, especially for boosters and especially for staff, as the US now discusses and implements the return to normalcy. A targeted mix of mandates and incentives and culturally aware effective outreach are appropriate for these groups."
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Warshawsky, Mark
2022-02
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Rethinking the Police Response to Mass Demonstrations: '9 Recommendations'
From the Document: "Police agencies' management of protests and demonstrations is not a new issue. PERF [Police Executive Research Forum] produced major reports on this topic in 2006, 2011, and 2018 (see pp. 15-17). And yet, the demonstrations of 2020 required PERF to throw out those playbooks and realize that we had to look at demonstrations very differently. 'Police simply did not expect and were not prepared for the level and extent of violence they encountered. It was unlike anything they had seen in 20 years.' Police actually faced three major crises in 2020: 'Crisis 1:' The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, 'Crisis 2:' Thousands of demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd, and 'Crisis 3:' A spike in homicides and shootings. 'This report is mainly about Crisis 2, demonstrations. But I want to briefly discuss all three crises, because each one posed difficult, sometimes unprecedented challenges to law enforcement agencies, and the three crises compounded each other, creating a synergy that made all of the problems worse.' [...] This report is about the second crisis described above: the demonstrations that continued through the summer and into the fall of 2020, and the unprecedented violence that occurred in many cities. This report provides 35 recommendations for actions that law enforcement agencies can take to improve their planning for, and response to, demonstrations in their communities."
Police Executive Research Forum
2022-02
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Assessments of Revenues and Expenses Associated with the City's COVID-19 Response -- Report No. 4
From the Document: "The City of Sacramento will be subject to future audits of State and Federal funds, such as the Coronavirus Relief Fund or the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund. These audits would likely be conducted by an Inspector General's Office or the Government Accountability Office. The key to successfully withstanding any future audit will be the City's ability to provide sufficient and appropriate documentation supporting the use of these funds. [...] The objective of these assessments is to help the City prepare for State and Federal audits of the City's use of emergency funding. This includes pro-active and real-time assistance in complying with regulatory requirements, securing reimbursements, tracking disaster recovery costs, and evaluating whether funds are being used efficiently and effectively."
Sacramento (Calif.). Office of the City Auditor
Oseguera, Jorge; Bashaw, Lynn; Sweeney, Jordan . . .
2022-02
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US-China Vaccine Diplomacy: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean
From the Introduction: "COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] has laid bare the competing strategies and practices of the United States and China to amass further clout in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In many ways, the pandemic is quickly accelerating a regional trend seen over the last decade: China uses its growing economic and diplomatic muscle to provide an alternative to US activities and interests. [...] Vaccine-related diplomacy also contributes to an evolving discussion about the different ways China and the United States more broadly engage the region--and vice versa. [...] Overall, the region's proximity, shared peoples, history, and borders with the United States provide greater depth and multidimensionality to the relationship. Consequently, vaccine diplomacy represents a greater marginal opportunity for China to broaden and deepen regional ties."
Atlantic Council of the United States. Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center
de Ávila, María Eugenia Brizuela; Insanally, Riyad; Trevisan, Claudia . . .
2022-02
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United States Department of Labor: COVID-19 Workplace Safety Plan [February 2022]
From the Purpose and Scope: "The purpose of this document is to provide minimum mandatory safety guidance for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the DOL agencies. The health and safety of all DOL employees, onsite contractor employees, and individuals interacting with the DOL workforce is the Department's highest priority. DOL recognizes that COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] is a highly contagious infectious disease. This document is primarily focused on application of relevant guidelines at all DOL facilities to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. These guidelines apply to buildings wholly managed by DOL as well as those buildings (or areas within buildings) controlled by DOL, in combination referred to as 'DOL facilities.' These guidelines also apply to lands under DOL control."
United States. Department of Labor
2022-02
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Plan to Advance Data Innovation
From the Executive Summary: "Executive Order 13994 on Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19 [Coronavirus Disease 2019] and Future High-Consequence Public Health Threats calls for development of an improved public health infrastructure to effectively prevent, detect, and respond to future biological threats. Section 4 of the Executive order tasks the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to 'develop a plan for advancing innovation in public health data and analytics in the United States.' The Office of Science and Technology Policy formed a National Science and Technology Council Fast Track Action Committee to develop this plan to enhance data innovation and to ensure that epidemiological modeling and forecasting can support preparedness for and response to high-consequence biological threats, in particular respiratory pathogens. This plan also encourages the development of new and innovative thinking about data sources and their applications, and identifies mechanisms for data innovation that should be applied to public health data needs outside of epidemiological modeling, such as needs in maternal health, mental health, veterans health, and other areas. The objectives and policy recommendations in this plan were designed to guide the new National Center for Epidemic Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics and support contributors and users of robust data sources across multiple sectors. The plan is structured around a four-element data life cycle framework composed of data inputs and acquisition, data management, data use and analysis, and data outputs, including interpretation and communication."
National Science and Technology Council (U.S.); United States. Executive Office of the President
2022-02
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United States-India Strategic Dialogue on Biosecurity: Report from the Eighth Dialogue Session, Focused on the Second Year of COVID-19 Responses in India and the United States and the Pandemic's Impact on Global Biosecurity
From the Executive Summary: "On February 8 and 9, 2022, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security co-hosted a virtual dialogue session with the Regional Centre for Biotechnology of the Department of Biotechnology in the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology. The meeting focused on successes, challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned in the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] responses in India and the United States, and how COVID-19 responses can continue while also preparing for future health security crises. The dialogue focused on COVID-19 developments that occurred since the last meeting in January 2021. Discussions centered around national response efforts, mass vaccination, surveillance approaches, causes and biosecurity implications of COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation, synthetic biological risks, global biosecurity governance, and the need for future collaboration among countries and within the scientific community. The meeting convened senior thought leaders, scientists, public health practitioners, and medical experts from the United States and India. In accordance with the dialogue format, participants offered insights based on personal expertise and did not represent the government of either country in an official capacity."
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Center for Health Security
Gronvall, Gigi Kwik; Trotochaud, Marc; Cicero, Anita
2022-02
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Home Visitors and Community Health Workers COVID-19 Vaccination Messaging Guide
From the Document: "We suggest you use this guide to promote COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] vaccines with people in the communities that we serve. In the first half of this guide, we will explain some important things to keep in mind before you start counselling people on vaccines. Then, in the remainder of this guide, we have provided some questions and answers (messages) that you should use depending on the responses from the people or groups you contact. There are many reasons that people are choosing not to get a COVID-19 vaccine, and you should be ready to talk to them about all six of these barriers."
World Vision International
Davis, Tom; Branaman, Micah
2022-02
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COVID-19 Travel Restrictions Installation Status Update [As of January 31, 2022]
From the Document: "Travel Restrictions LIFTED at 185 of 230 Installations (80%) (Met: Step 1 & Step 2)[.] Of the 185 installations with lifted travel restrictions this week, 1 reinstated travel restrictions while 0 lifted restrictions."
United States. Department of Defense
2022-01-31
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Has Omicron Changed the Evolution of the Pandemic?
From the Abstract: "Variants of the SARS-CoV-2 [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2] virus carry differential risks to public health. The Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant, first identified in Botswana on November 11, 2021, has spread globally faster than any previous variant of concern. Understanding the transmissibility of Omicron is vital in the development of public health policy. [...] The aim of this study is to compare SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks driven by Omicron to those driven by prior variants of concern in terms of both the speed and magnitude of an outbreak. [...] The observed Omicron outbreaks in this study reach the outbreak threshold within 5-10 days after first detection, whereas other variants of concern have taken at least 14 days and up to as many as 35 days. The Omicron outbreaks also reach peak rates of new cases that are roughly 1.5-2 times those of prior variants of concern. Dynamic panel regression estimates confirm Omicron has created a statistically significant shift in viral spread. [...] The transmissibility of Omicron is markedly higher than prior variants of concern. At the population level, the Omicron outbreaks occurred more quickly and with larger magnitude, despite substantial increases in vaccinations and prior infections, which should have otherwise reduced susceptibility to new infections. Unless public health policies are substantially altered, Omicron outbreaks in other countries are likely to occur with little warning."
JMIR Publications
Lundberg, Alexander L.; Lorenzo-Redondo, Ramon; Ozer, Egon A. . . .
2022-01-31
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Unemployment Insurance (U) Benefits: Permanent-Law Programs and the COVID-19 Pandemic Response [Updated January 31, 2022]
From the Summary: "The Unemployment Insurance (UI) system is constructed as a joint federal-state partnership, in which the Unemployment Compensation (UC) program and the UC benefit are the foundation of the UI system. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) provides oversight of state UC programs and the state administration of federal UI benefits. Although there are broad requirements under federal law regarding UC benefits and financing, the specifics are set out under each state's laws, resulting in 53 different UC programs operated in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. States operate their own UC programs and administer any temporary, federal UI benefits. Each state's UC laws determine the weekly benefit amount and the number of weeks of UC available to unemployed workers. Most states provide up to 26 weeks of UC to eligible individuals who become involuntarily unemployed for economic reasons and meet state-established eligibility rules. The UI system's two main objectives are to provide temporary and partial wage replacement to involuntarily unemployed workers and to stabilize the economy during recessions. The two permanent-law UI benefits--UC and Extended Benefits (EB)--are countercyclical, with spending and weekly benefit payments that increase automatically during a recession. Congress often supplements these permanently authorized economic stabilization measures by enacting temporary UI benefit expansions during recessions. In response to the recent recession caused by the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, Congress created several temporary, now-expired UI programs through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act[.]"
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Whittaker, Julie M.; Isaacs, Katelin P., 1980-
2022-01-31
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NIH RECOVER: A Multi-Site Observational Study of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Adults
From the Brief Summary: "This is a combined retrospective and prospective, longitudinal, observational meta-cohort of individuals who will enter the cohort with and without SARS-CoV-2 [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2] infection and at varying stages before and after infection. Individuals with and without SARS-CoV2 infection and with or without PASC [post-acute sequelae SARS-CoV-2 infection] symptoms will be followed to identify risk factors and occurrence of PASC. This study will be conducted in the United States and subjects will be recruited through inpatient, outpatient, and community-based settings. Study data including age, demographics, social determinants of health, medical history, vaccination history, details of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, overall health and physical function, and PASC symptom screen will be reported by subjects or collected from the electronic health record using a case report form at specified intervals. Biologic specimens will be collected at specified intervals, with some tests performed in local clinical laboratories and others performed by centralized research centers or banked in the Biospecimen Repository. Advanced clinical examinations and radiologic examinations will be performed at local study sites with cross-site standardization."
NYU Langone Health
2022-01-28?
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COVID States Project: A 50-State COVID-19 Survey Report #80: Americans' Views on Violence Against the Government
From the Document: "Recent years have seen armed protests, threats, and violence against government officials following mask mandates, COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] related closures [hyperlink], and the 2020 election [hyperlink] (including, most notably, the deadly January 6, 2021 attack on the US capitol). These events have sparked concern about the state of American democracy and the safety of government officials. In this report, we examine Americans' attitudes toward the acceptability of violent protest against the government."
Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.); Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy; Harvard Medical School . . .
Safarpour, Alauna; Santillana, Mauricio; Druckman, James N., 1971- . . .
2022-01-28
