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Immigration Detention: Ice Efforts to Address COVID-19 in Detention Facilities, Report to Congressional Committees
From the Highlights: "Detention facilities can present a challenging environment to manage the risk of transmission of infectious diseases, including COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]. ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], within the Department of Homeland Security, is the lead federal agency responsible for providing safe, secure, and humane confinement for detained individuals of foreign nationality while they wait for resolution of their immigration cases, or removal from the United States. As of March 2021, ICE confirmed over 10,000 cases of COVID-19 among detainees within its detention facilities nationwide and recorded eight deaths. This report examines: (1) ICE's policies and procedures for responding to COVID-19 in immigration detention facilities and how they were implemented at select facilities; (2) ICE's mechanisms for conducting oversight of COVID-19 related health and safety measures; and (3) ICE's data on COVID-19 cases and identified high-risk health factors among detainees."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2021-06
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Antisemitism Within Anti-Vaccination Conspiracy Theories
From the Document: "Moonshot has conducted an initial investigation into the presence of antisemitism within discourses surrounding anti-vaccination conspiracy theories. The first section of this report provides an overview of the key narratives identified, based on data collected since the onset of the pandemic in January 2020. Moonshot's custom suite of open source intelligence tools and techniques were used to quantify and catalogue instances of antisemitic language used in conjunction with discussions of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] vaccines. We analysed relevant global English language posts from 4chan, BitChute and Twitter, along with UK-specific English language content on Gab and Telegram. Dates for data collection differed by platform, but all data was gathered between 1 January 2020 and 31 March 2021."
Moonshot
2021-06
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Planning for the Future of Work Amid a Global Pandemic
From the Document: "The global COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has enhanced the uncertainty around the Future of Work. The plans county officials had prepared or implemented in January 2020 were, in many cases, put on hold or abandoned altogether as county governments became frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19. As 2021 continues to unfold, county leaders are balancing a need to address urgent pandemic-related economic hardship, plan for economic recovery and consider the implications of the Future of Work for local economies. Just as the impacts of COVID-19 have been felt more profoundly in some communities than others, the Future of Work will have differential impacts. Workers of color, already disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, are at particular risk for displacement by automation due to overrepresentation in impacted jobs. This reality existed prior to the onset of COVID-19, and it is likely to be even more pronounced as these hard-hit communities face an uphill battle to economic recovery. Such inequities are just one challenge county leaders face when planning for the Future of Work and an equitable economic recovery in the coming years."
National Association of Counties
2021-06
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Rural Older Volunteers & the COVID-19 Pandemic: Report for Community Participants
From the Executive Summary: "During large-scale global crises, such as the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, there is an urgent need to understand the experiences of those living and working within it. A study from Trent University's Rural Aging Research Program, 'Rural Older Volunteers and the COVID-19 Pandemic' examined the experiences of older volunteers from three volunteer-based programs in Selwyn Township, representing a diverse set of rural services (Abbeyfield House Society of Lakefield, Selwyn Fire Department and Selwyn Public Library). Between June and September 2020, the study conducted telephone and/or Zoom interviews with 34 volunteers and administrators across the three programs to determine what it was like to volunteer during the first wave of the pandemic. Our key findings revealed 1) the vulnerability and resiliency of older volunteers, and 2) the adaptability and uncertainty of volunteer programs. Insights from this project provided a way to understand how to establish personal, program and community dimensions of sustainable rural aging during the COVID-19 pandemic."
Trent University
Colibaba, Amber; Russell, Elizabeth; Skinner, Mark
2021-06
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Impact of COVID-19 on Crime, Arrests, and Jail Populations: An Expansion on the Preliminary Assessment
From the Introduction: "Beginning in March 2020, local and state criminal justice agencies took several actions to mitigate the rising number of people being infected with the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] virus. There was considerable concern that people arrested and booked into local county jails would be unduly exposed to the virus, become infected, and then spread the virus to those also confined to jails, employees, and/or to others in the community once released from confinement. To address these concerns, a variety of policies were enacted to reduce the number of persons in held jails. These polices were designed to 1) mitigate the number of people being arrested and booked into local jails and 2) reduce the length of stay (LOS) for those admitted to jail. Concurrently, public safety concerns were raised that by lowering the jail populations, crime rates would increase. To address these concerns, the JFA Institute (JFA), through resources provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) initiative, began tracking and analyzing six SJC jurisdictions and their jail and crime data to monitor the impact of these mitigation activities. This culminated in a preliminary report issued in late 2020 with data and observations covering a time frame of January 2019 to June 20201. Results of this first-stage analysis found an emerging trend where jail populations declined, yet crime and arrests declined as well, giving indication that declining jail populations did not compromise public safety."
Safety and Justice Challenge Network; JFA Institute
2021-06?
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Positioning America's Public Health System for the Next Pandemic
From the Executive Summary: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has made clear that the nation's safety, health, and economic prosperity are dependent on a robust public health system. Federal public health agencies and state and local public health departments have long been severely underfunded. They have lacked the workforce and modern data systems to support surveillance, contact tracing, testing, guidance on mitigation measures, administration of vaccines, and clear communication that is needed to stop infectious diseases from spreading across the country. In the beginning of the current pandemic, the federal government did not provide effective testing kits or clear and timely guidance to states, localities, tribes, and territories on COVID-19 mitigation measures, resulting in a delayed and fragmented national response. In addition, many Americans have chronic underlying health conditions such as obesity and heart disease, leaving them more likely to develop severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19. Public health agencies and departments lack the resources to support prevention programs that might have reduced the prevalence of these conditions. Further, there are long-standing racial and socioeconomic inequities with respect to health and health care access. [...] Our recommendations focus on three areas: 1) creating clarity and accountability in federal leadership and operations during a pandemic; 2) improving public health information technology and data systems; and 3) committing the United States to more and consistent funding of public health to prepare for inevitable public health crises."
Bipartisan Policy Center
Daschle, Thomas; Frist, William H.; Wilensky, Gail R. . . .
2021-06
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Strategic Importance of Sending US Vaccines to the Caribbean
From the Introduction: "While the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has affected much of the world, it has had a disproportionate impact on members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)--a fifteen-member regional group that consists of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) who make up more than one-third of the Western Hemisphere's states. Small size, limited resources, and tourism-dependent economies have resulted in stunted growth and an inability of Caribbean nations to acquire the requisite COVID-19 vaccines. The United States and the Caribbean region have historically enjoyed close ties based on shared interests and values, making the two part of a mutually beneficial partnership. The US-Caribbean relationship is tied by a number of factors, including geography, with Caribbean states in close proximity to the United States, leading US officials to describe the region as a 'third border.' When global and regional events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recessions, or natural disasters reach the United States or the Caribbean, neither is spared from the consequences. This overarching relationship is one reason why it is imperative that the Biden administration support the Caribbean region's states in their efforts to acquire COVID-19 vaccines. Another reason more vaccines should be made available to the Caribbean, while simultaneously accelerating the prioritization of distribution to the broader hemisphere, is the need to protect the livelihoods of the American people."
Atlantic Council of the United States. Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center
Brewster, James W., Jr. (James Walter); Mowla, Wazim
2021-06
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California Urban Crime Declined in 2020 Amid Social and Economic Upheaval
From the Introduction: "In 2020, a year defined by the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, the crime rate in California's 72 largest cities declined by an average of 7 percent, falling to a historic low level. From 2019 to 2020, 48 cities showed declines in Part I violent and property felonies, while 24 showed increases. The 2020 urban crime decline follows a decade of generally falling property and violent crime rates. These declines coincided with monumental criminal justice reforms that have lessened penalties for low-level offenses and reduced prison and jail populations."
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (San Francisco, Calif.)
Males, Mike A.; Washburn, Maureen
2021-06
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COVID-19: The Impact on Terrorism & Extremism
From the Abstract: "With the onset of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, there has been a growing body of literature investigating its impact on violent extremism around the world. With the virus' spread, intense speculation surrounded the ways in which extremist and terrorist organisations sought to exploit the public health crisis for their own gains. Eighteen months into the global pandemic, this brief summary reviews what we know so far, drawing on analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and other organisations and researchers."
Strong Cities Network; Institute for Strategic Dialogue
2021-06
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World Drug Report 2021, Booklet 5: COVID-19 and Drugs: Impact, Outlook
From the Scope of the Document: "Constituting the fifth part of the 'World Drug Report 2021', the present booklet contains an early assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic on drug markets, as the situation continues to evolve and more data become available. The aim is to paint a comprehensive picture of the measurable effects and potential impact of the COVID-19 crisis to assist Member States in anticipating and addressing challenges that may arise in the near future. The booklet contains an analysis of how the pandemic has affected drug production, manufacture and trafficking, according to region and drug type. This is followed by an analysis of the most recent trends and patterns in drug trafficking and the distribution of drugs at the retail level, including on the clear web and the dark web. The booklet also contains an analysis of how the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to contain it have affected drug use and patterns of drug use, possible health consequences for drug users and how the provision of treatment and services to people who use drugs has been affected; a number of innovations in this area, which stem from the reaction to the pandemic, are described. The booklet concludes with an overview of the potential for long-term changes to drug markets as a result of the pandemic."
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
2021-06
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Covid-19 Under Democracy and Autocracy
From the Document: "My suggestion was that each student would write a chapter-length study of Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] in one country under the general heading 'Covid-19 Under Democracy and Autocracy'. [...] Of the various approaches to studying a pandemic, being a political science class, the chosen approach was to ask how the pandemic was handled in democracies and autocracies. This question presented itself starkly from the very first months when China dealt successfully with community transmission through a sudden, rigid, and toughly-enforced shut down. Democratic nations like Italy and Spain were unable to replicate this feat. Government type was therefore a starting point for the enquiry, but it would not hold a monopoly on that enquiry. The students were asked to determine whether there were other features, historical, geographic, or social, that contributed to understanding how nations dealt with the pandemic."
Rutgers University
Rich, Roland
2021-06
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Thriving on Uncertainty: COVID-19-Related Opportunities for Terrorist Groups
From the Executive Summary: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has had a cataclysmic impact on all aspects of the functioning of our world. The relevance of the possibility of the spread of a global virus with the spread of terrorism is not immediately obvious as it is difficult for a direct causal link to be scientifically established. However, taking into consideration how state responses and pre-existing socioeconomic grievances can be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic can lead to innovative findings on how terrorist groups have adapted and conducted their activities during the pandemic. Analysing how the response of states impacts socioeconomic grievances and how it interacts with terrorist activities, the authors have found that the pandemic has impacted the operational and ideological frameworks of terrorist groups in multiple ways."
IEMed
Bassou, Abdelhak; Tobi, Youssef; Claes, Johannes . . .
2021-06
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Remote Working and (In)security: The Impact of Pandemic-Driven Remote Working on Employee Wellbeing, the Psychological Contract and Cyber Security
From the Executive Summary: "Remote working during the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has had, and continues to have, a great impact on the workforce. Through interviews with senior cyber security professionals, this research explored how the traditional dynamics between employees and leadership have adapted in such times, responding to a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape, as well as an unpredictable period for organisations and employees in terms of wellbeing and remote working culture."
Research Institute in Sociotechnical Cyber Security
Crossland, Georgia; Ertan, Amy
2021-06
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Framework for Nursing Home Reform Post COVID-19
From the Document: "To address the longstanding problems in the long-term care system, as well as those exposed by the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, we provide a baseline framework with recommendations in six critical areas that need reform: (1) staffing and workforce; (2) regulation and enforcement; (3) ownership and management standards, transparency, and accountability for quality; (4) government payment systems, financial transparency, and accountability; (5) structural changes in the long-term care delivery system; and (6) nursing home redesign and rebuilding."
California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform; Center for Medicare Advocacy; Justice in Aging . . .
2021-06
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Protecting the Health of Our Nation's Essential Workers: Congress Must Lift the 'Five-Year Bar' on Medicaid and CHIP
From the Document: "As Congress continues to address the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, it is critical that they take immediate action to address a longstanding, unnecessary gap in health coverage by lifting the five-year bar that blocks lawfully present immigrant families from accessing insurance through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). [...] Twenty-five years ago, Congress passed legislation that created an arbitrary and dangerous five-year exclusion period and additional restrictions that prevented lawfully present immigrants from accessing health insurance programs as part of a 'welfare reform' effort. Today, the five-year bar prevents hundreds of thousands of people who are lawfully living, working, and paying taxes in the United States from accessing medical care and other basic needs. The hard-learned lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic have shown us the dangers of arbitrary policies that block access to basic medical care."
Families USA
Reavis, Bailey
2021-06
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US Macroeconomic Policy Response to COVID-19: Spillovers to the Euro Area
This document is a compilation of the following papers: "Looking Through and Past COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]: Do Spillovers Matter?" by Pierre L. Siklos; "Implications for the Euro Area of US Macroeconomic Policies" by Karl Whelan; "Monetary and Fiscal Spillovers Across the Atlantic: The Role of Financial Markets" by Luigi Bonatti, Andrea Fracasso, and Roberto Tamborini; "Could the Euro Area Benefit From the US Stimulus Packages?" by Chrisophe Blot, Caroline Bozou, and Jérôme Creel; and "Once More, the US Leads Europe" by Charles Wyplosz."
European Union; European Parliament
Siklos, Pierre L., 1955-; Whelan, Karl; Bonatti, Luigi . . .
2021-06
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MMWR Early Release: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 28, 2021: Patterns in COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage, by Social Vulnerability and Urbanicity -- United States, December 14, 2020-May 1, 2021
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: "Patterns in COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] Vaccination Coverage, by Social Vulnerability and Urbanicity -- United States, December 14, 2020-May 1, 2021." Notifiable Diseases and Mortality Tables from MMWR can be accessed at the following link [http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index2021.html].
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
2021-05-28
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Lessons for Africa from India's Deadly COVID Surge
From the Webpage: "India's COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] surge is a warning for Africa. Like India, Africa mostly avoided the worst of the pandemic last year. Many Sub-Saharan African countries share similar sociodemographic features as India: a youthful population, large rural populations that spend a significant portion of the day outdoors, large extended family structures, few old age homes, densely populated urban areas, and weak tertiary care health systems. As in India, many African countries have been loosening social distancing and other preventative measures. A recent survey by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) reveals that 56 percent of African states were 'actively loosening controls and removing the mandatory wearing of face-masks.' Moreover, parts of Africa have direct, longstanding ties to India, providing clear pathways for the new Indian variant to spread between the continents. So, what has been driving India's COVID-19 surge and what lessons might this hold for Africa?"
National Defense University. Africa Center for Strategic Studies
2021-05-28
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Turkey: How Not to Handle a Pandemic
From the Executive Summary: "Turkey's official COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] numbers reveal the government's efforts to combat the pandemic as worthy of a 'commedia all'Italiana'. As of mid-April, Turkey was the second-worst performer in the world, with 710.46 cases per million people. This is despite the country's possession of a strong health infrastructure."
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA Center)
Bekdil, Burak
2021-05-28
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COVID-19: States Struggled to Implement CARES Act Unemployment Insurance Programs
From the Document: "On March 27, 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act with the intent of providing expanded Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits to workers who were unable to work as a direct result of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic. The expanded UI benefits required the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to implement major changes to the existing UI system. This audit focused on the Department of Labor's (DOL) and states' implementation of the three key new UI programs that posed the greatest risk for fraud, waste, and abuse: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC). As of January 2, 2021, federal funding to states for these three UI programs was $392 billion."
United States. Department of Labor. Office of the Inspector General
2021-05-28
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MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 28, 2021
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 issue of MMWR contains the following: "Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Breastfeeding Initiation -- United States, 2019"; "HIV Viral Load Monitoring Among Patients Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy -- Eight Sub-Saharan Africa Countries, 2013-2018"; "Mask Use and Ventilation Improvements to Reduce COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] Incidence in Elementary Schools -- Georgia, November 16-December 11, 2020"; "COVID-19 Testing to Sustain In-Person Instruction and Extracurricular Activities in High Schools -- Utah, November 2020-March 2021"; "COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections Reported to CDC -- United States, January 1-April 30, 2021"; "'Notes from the Field': Impact of the COVID-19 Response on Scale-Up of HIV Viral Load Testing -- PEPFAR [U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief]-Supported Countries, January-June 2020"; and "'QuickStats': Percentage of Adults Aged 18-26 Years Who Ever Received a Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, by Race and Hispanic Origin and Sex -- National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2019." Notifiable Diseases and Mortality Tables from this issue can be accessed at the following link [http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index2021.html].
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
2021-05-28
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EMR-ISAC: InfoGram, Volume 21 Issue 21, May 27, 2021
The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center's (EMR-ISAC) InfoGram is a weekly publication of information concerning the protection of critical infrastructures relevant to members of the Emergency Services Sector. This issue includes the following articles: "Minimizing smoke exposure and protecting the wildland firefighting workforce during the 2021 wildfire season"; "FEMA releases COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] Pandemic Operational Guidance: All-Hazards Incident Response and Recovery, webinars in June"; "Microchip shortages impacting auto industry lead to shortages in ambulance production, supply chain disruptions"; "NIST [National Institute for Standards and Technology] Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) 2021 free virtual event, June 21-24"; and "Cyber Threats."
Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (U.S.)
2021-05-27
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Results of the OIG Survey on Returning to the Workplace
From the Background: "[O]n February 23, 2021, the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) OIG [Office of Inspector General] launched a survey to gauge employee concerns about a potential return to their regularly assigned duty stations (RDS) after teleworking during the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic. At the time of this survey, some staff had reported already returning to their RDS and some individual offices reported holding staff meetings to discuss returning staff to their RDS. In the world at large, infection rates were dropping and vaccination rates were ramping up. Therefore, the OIG wanted to understand employee concerns regarding vaccinations, returning to their RDS, messaging from management regarding returning to a RDS, and views on employee schedule preferences once the agency returns to more in-person work. This survey asked employees to respond to questions related to the following topics: [1] Vaccines; [2] Desired safety measures upon return to RDS; [3] Experiences of employees that have already returned to their RDS; [4] Communications from management regarding a return to RDS; [5] Preferred work arrangements post mandatory fulltime telework."
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Office of Inspector General
2021-05-27
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COVID-19 Resources for India: Be a Part of the Solution, A Communication Toolkit
From the Document: "India is amid its worst health crisis in recent history, with the unprecedented second wave of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] leaving millions of citizens infected and many still who have lost their lives. A decrease in the daily number of cases earlier this year led to a sense of complacency among citizens, with a decreased compliance to healthy behaviors such as wearing masks, hand washing and physical distancing among others, which have been shown to be effective at preventing COVID-19 transmission. This, in addition to sociopolitical factors, contributed to an increase in the number of daily infections in March 2021 and pushed the health system to the brink of collapse, causing a dearth of medical supplies and hospital beds and a constant state of uncertainty and panic. [...] [This toolkit aims] to provide partners, affiliates, and citizens with shareable easy-to-understand facts, mythbusters, and guidelines on COVID-19 prevention and mitigation and on maintaining physical and emotional wellbeing. Our hope is that this toolkit serves as a useful resource for all and allows users to access and disseminate 'evidence-based' accurate information."
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Viswanathan, Kristin
2021-05-26
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MMWR Early Release: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 25, 2021: COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections Reported to CDC -- United States, January 1-April 30, 2021
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: "COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] Vaccine Breakthrough Infections Reported to CDC -- United States, January 1-April 30, 2021." Notifiable Diseases and Mortality Tables from MMWR can be accessed at the following link [http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index2021.html].
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
2021-05-25
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COVID-19 Vaccination: Selected U.S. Data Sources [Updated May 25, 2021]
From the Document: "The sources [in this document] can help congressional staff track the progress of the U.S. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination campaign at the national, state, and local levels. Sources were selected for having commonly cited and frequently requested data. This list is not intended to be comprehensive. Additional sources may be added in future updates. Because different resources use different methodologies, readers should check websites' notes, definitions, and caveats. Readers should also use caution when comparing data across sources or geographies."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Cornell, Ada S.; Napili, Angela
2021-05-25
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Pandemic-Related Provisions Expiring in the 117th Congress [Updated May 25, 2021]
From the Introduction: "Since March 2020, a number of laws have been enacted to provide relief to people and businesses affected by the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic. These include the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA; P.L. 116-127) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act; P.L. 116-136), both enacted in March 2020; the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260), enacted in December 2020; and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA; P.L. 117-2), enacted in March 2021. The laws enacted in response to the pandemic include a wide array of provisions, some of which are amendments to existing programs, benefits, and authorities, and others that are newly established. Many of these provisions were enacted on a temporary basis, where Congress specified an expiration date or a limited period during which they would remain in effect. Some provisions had been set to expire in 2020 or 2021 and were extended with the enactment of P.L. 116-260 or P.L. 117-2, both of which also established a number of additional pandemic relief provisions. For certain other provisions, Congress specified that availability would be tied to the duration of a declared emergency or disaster. This report identifies provisions enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that are set to expire during the 117th Congress (i.e., before January 3, 2023). These provisions are presented in a series of tables organized by subject matter. The expiring provisions that are within the scope of this report are primarily those that define the authority of government agencies or other entities to act, usually by authorizing a policy, project, or activity."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Scott, Andrew P.; Smole, David P.; Aussenberg, Randy Alison . . .
2021-05-25
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Virality Project Weekly Briefing #22: 'May 18, 2021 - May 25, 2021'
From the Key Takeaways: "[1] Discussions of the safety and necessity of 'vaccines for children' continue to gather speed after the FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine for 12-15-year-olds and Moderna's May 25 announcement [hyperlink] that its vaccine is safe and effective in 12-17-year-olds. Recent discussions revolve around the CDC's [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] current investigation of a 'possible but unproven link' between mRNA [messenger ribonucleuc acid] vaccines and heart inflammation in young people, as well as the ethics of 'school vaccination mandates'. [2] Public comments from celebrities and politicians spread within right-wing communities online this week. 'Senator Rand Paul's statement' that he did not need a vaccine after having had COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] and guitarist 'Eric Clapton's letter' detailing severe reactions to a vaccine drove concerns about both safety and efficacy. [3] A new conspiracy theory emerged this week about an 'ingredient in the Moderna vaccine, SM-102', while the 'development of the world's smallest microchip' fueled the ongoing conspiracy theory that vaccines contain microchips."
Virality Project
2021-05-25
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Implementation of Economic Impact Payments
From the Highlights: "This audit was initiated to assess the IRS's [Internal Revenue Service] Economic Impact Payment (EIP) outreach and assistance to individuals, accuracy of the computation, and adequacy of controls to prevent ineligible individuals from receiving a payment. This is a part of a series of audits to evaluate the IRS's implementation of the EIP and the Recovery Rebate Credit. TIGTA [Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration] is conducting a separate review of the IRS's processing of Recovery Rebate Credit claims."
United States. Office of the Inspector General for Tax Administration
2021-05-24
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States Opting Out of COVID-19 Unemployment Insurance (UI) Agreements [May 24, 2021]
From the Document: "In response to the recent recession [hyperlink] caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Congress created several temporary Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L. [Public Law] 116-136 [hyperlink]), and extended these programs through P.L. 116-260 [hyperlink] and P.L. 117-2 [hyperlink]. Recently, 23 states have announced their intention to terminate their agreements to pay COVID-19 UI benefits."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Whittaker, Julie M.; Isaacs, Katelin P., 1980-
2021-05-24
