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Lessons Learnt from the COVID-19 Pandemic from a Financial Stability Perspective: Final Report
From the Introduction: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic is the first major test of the global financial system after the financial crisis of 2008. While the core of the financial system - including major banks and financial market infrastructures (FMIs) - proved resilient, the macroeconomic shock led initially to severe liquidity stress in some other parts of the system. In particular, the stress in key funding markets highlighted financial vulnerabilities in parts of the NBFI [non-bank financial intermediation] sector and prompted unprecedented central bank intervention. While significantly different in nature from the 2008 crisis, this real-life test holds important lessons for financial policy, especially on the functioning of the G20 [Group of 20] financial regulatory reforms. Against this background, the Italian G20 Presidency asked the FSB [Financial Stability Board] to identify preliminary lessons for financial stability from the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this request, the FSB, in collaboration with SSBs, prepared an interim report on lessons learnt. [...] This final report updates the assessment provided in the July interim report and outlines actions by the FSB and SSBs [standard-setting bodies] in response to lessons learnt. The update reflects feedback from external stakeholders and the FSB RCGs [Regional Consultative Groups], obtained through outreach events. It also takes into account recent studies in this area and progress made in relevant international initiatives."
Financial Stability Board
2021-10-28
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Synergistic Interventions to Control COVID-19: Mass Testing and Isolation Mitigates Reliance on Distancing
From the Author Summary: "The global spread of SARS-CoV-2 [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2] and the strategies used to manage it have come at significant societal costs. We analyze how mixed control strategies, which utilize interventions that prevent new infections from occurring (e.g., distancing or shut-downs) and others that actively search for and isolate existing infections (here, mass testing), can achieve improved public health outcomes while avoiding severe socio-economic burdens. Our results suggest that increasing testing capacity, including the number of tests available and the speed at which test results are provided, can reduce reliance on costly preventative interventions. Such reduction is possible with more isolation of active infections, including those without reported symptoms. However, failing to maintain preventative interventions without sufficient testing capacity can lead to large increases in infection burdens. By defining the combined effect of these interventions through mathematical models, this study provides insight into relaxation of distancing measures, and lays the groundwork for future public health economics analyses on the cost-effectiveness of combined management strategies."
Public Library of Science
Howerton, Emily; Ferrari, Matthew J.; Bjornstad, Ottar N. . . .
2021-10-28
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Operation Warp Speed: The Interagency and Public-Private Collaborations that Drove It [video]
From the video description: "In this webinar from the Council on Strategic Risks, Christine Parthemore and Andy Weber host Dr. Matt Hepburn and Dr. Monique K. Mansoura to discuss Operation Warp Speed and how [to] build on its success in the future." Operation Warp Speed is a program funded by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and originally launched by the U.S. government (as a public-private partnership) to oversee and speed up the development and distribution of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines and treatments. The duration of this video is 58 minutes and 47 seconds. Closed captioning and an auto-generated transcript are available for use.
Council on Strategic Risks
Parthemore, Christine; Weber, Andy; Hepburn, Matthew J. . . .
2021-10-27
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Pandemic Surveillance Discrimination
From the Webpage Abstract: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has laid bare the abiding tension between surveillance and privacy. Public health epidemiology has long utilized a variety of surveillance methods--such as contact tracing, quarantines, and mandatory reporting laws--to control the spread of disease during past epidemics and pandemics. Officials have typically justified the resulting intrusions on privacy as necessary for the greater public good by helping to stave off larger health crisis. The nature and scope of public health surveillance in the battle against COVID-19, however, has significantly changed with the advent of new technologies. [...] This Essay examines the discord between public health surveillance and privacy rights and argues that the bio-surveillance technologies being used to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic--such as contact tracing apps, GPS [Global Positioning System] ankle monitors and other wearables, the collection of cell phone location data, genomic testing, and targeted quarantines--can potentially exacerbate discrimination against racial minorities and immigrants. The Essay concludes with legal and policy solutions on how to utilize public health surveillance tools to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while guarding against privacy violations and racial bias."
University of Pittsburgh. School of Law
Sundquist, Christian Powell
2021-10-27?
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Memorandum from Majority Staff to Members, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Regarding Coronavirus Infections and Deaths Among Meatpacking Workers at Top Five Companies Were Nearly Three Times Higher Than Previous Estimates, October 27, 2021
From the Executive Summary: "As the coronavirus spread rapidly through the United States in the spring of 2020, meatpacking facilities became hotspots for outbreaks that sickened and killed meatpacking workers and likely caused significant spread in surrounding communities. Following multiple reports of widescale coronavirus outbreaks within and around meatpacking facilities, the Select Subcommittee initiated an investigation into coronavirus infections and deaths in meatpacking plants, and failures by meatpacking companies and the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to safeguard workers against workplace coronavirus outbreaks in the first year of the pandemic. This investigation has revealed that the impact of the coronavirus on meatpacking workers' health and safety was significantly worse than previously estimated. 'Newly obtained documents from five of the largest meatpacking conglomerates, which represent over 80 percent of the market for beef and over 60 percent of the market for pork in the United States--JBS USA Food Company (JBS), Tyson Foods, Inc. (Tyson), Smithfield Foods (Smithfield), Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation (Cargill), and National Beef Packing Company, LLC (National Beef)--reveal that coronavirus infections and deaths among their meatpacking workers were substantially higher than previously estimated.'"
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Reform. Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis
2021-10-27
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Assessment of the COVID-19 Pandemic's Impact on the 2020 ACS 1-Year Data
From the Introduction: "In 2020, the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic caused disruptions in the daily lives of people in the United States and around the world. Policies meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus (such as community-level stay-at-home orders) forced organizations to change how they operate. The pandemic complicated the operations of the American Community Survey (ACS) in a variety of ways. Throughout the year, the survey adapted to the circumstances by changing operations to protect the health and safety of Census Bureau staff and the public. [...] This report describes the elements of the survey that were affected by the pandemic. The information is presented in order of survey processes."
U.S. Census Bureau; United States. Department of Commerce
Baumgardner, Stephanie; Raglin, David; Asiala, Mark . . .
2021-10-27
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Executive Education Program: The Next Season of Pandemic Response: What Leaders Need to Know This Fall and Winter [Video]
From the Video Description: "In this webinar, national experts discuss what local and state leaders might expect next in the U.S. response to COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]. Panelists address the latest developments in vaccine expansion for youth populations, challenges in maintaining a resilient healthcare workforce, and endgame strategies for the pandemic. Dr. Nesbitt references the COVID-19 Pandemic Health and Healthcare Recovery Report, which addresses potential population health concerns as a result of the pandemic in Washington D.C. Please join us as we explore collaboration opportunities for homeland security, emergency management, public health and public safety officials in the months to come. Read an overview of the session."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Gary, Allen J.; Reykdal, Chris; Nesbitt, LaQuandra . . .
2021-10-27
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Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Meeting: EUA Amendment Request for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for Use in Children 5 Through 11 Years of Age
From the Executive Summary: "On October 6, 2021, Pfizer submitted a request to FDA to amend its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to expand use of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] Vaccine (BNT162b2) for prevention of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2] in individuals 5 through 11 years of age (hereafter 5-11 years of age). The proposed dosing regimen is a 2-dose primary series, 10 µg mRNA/per dose, administered 3 weeks apart. This EUA request initially included safety data from 1,518 BNT162b2 recipients and 750 placebo (saline) recipients 5-11 years of age who are enrolled in the Phase 2/3 portion (Cohort 1) of an ongoing randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial, C4591007. [...] This October 26, 2021 VRPBAC [sic] [Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee] meeting is being held to discuss whether, based on the totality of scientific evidence available, the benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine when administered as a 2-dose series (10 µg each dose, 3 weeks apart) outweigh its risks for use in children 5-11 years of age."
United States. Food and Drug Administration
2021-10-26
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Delayed Epidemic Peak Caused by Infection and Recovery Rate Fluctuations
From the Abstract: "Forecasting epidemic scenarios has been critical to many decision-makers in imposing various public health interventions. Despite progresses in determining the magnitude and timing of epidemics, epidemic peak time predictions for H1N1 and COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] were inaccurate, with the peaks delayed with respect to predictions. Here, we show that infection and recovery rate fluctuations play a critical role in peak timing. Using a susceptible-infected-recovered model with daily fluctuations on control parameters, we show that infection counts follow a lognormal distribution at the beginning of an epidemic wave, similar to price distributions for financial assets. The epidemic peak time of the stochastic solution exhibits an inverse Gaussian probability distribution, fitting the spread of the epidemic peak times observed across Italian regions. We also show that, for a given basic reproduction number R0, the deterministic model anticipates the peak with respect to the most probable and average peak time of the stochastic model. The epidemic peak time distribution allows one for a robust estimation of the epidemic evolution. Considering these results, we believe that the parameters' dynamical fluctuations are paramount to accurately predict the epidemic peak time and should be introduced in epidemiological models."
American Institute of Physics
Arutkin, Maxence; Faranda, Davide; Alberti, Tommaso . . .
2021-10-26
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Reopening California: Seeking Robust, Nondominated COVID-19 Exit Strategies
From the Abstract: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic required significant public health interventions from local governments. Although nonpharmaceutical interventions often were implemented as decision rules, few studies evaluated the robustness of those reopening plans under a wide range of uncertainties. This paper uses the Robust Decision Making approach to stress-test 78 alternative reopening strategies, using California as an example. This study uniquely considers a wide range of uncertainties and demonstrates that seemingly sensible reopening plans can lead to both unnecessary COVID-19 deaths and days of interventions. We find that plans using fixed COVID-19 case thresholds might be less effective than strategies with time-varying reopening thresholds. While we use California as an example, our results are particularly relevant for jurisdictions where vaccination roll-out has been slower. The approach used in this paper could also prove useful for other public health policy problems in which policymakers need to make robust decisions in the face of deep uncertainty."
PLoS ONE
Nascimento de Lima, Pedro; Lempert, Robert J.; Vardavas, Raffaele . . .
2021-10-26
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Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending [Updated October 26, 2021]
From the Summary: "Congress has responded to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with supplemental appropriations measures providing relief and assistance to individuals and families, state and local governments, businesses, health care providers, and other entities. For more information, see CRS [Congressional Research Service] Report R46474, 'Laws Enacted in Response to COVID-19: Resources for Congressional Offices', by Meredith Sund. This report provides selected sources for tracking COVID-19 relief and assistance spending. It contains links to and information on government sources detailing spending amounts at various levels, including consolidated spending by multiple government agencies, spending by individual government agencies, and spending for specific recipients and geographies. The sources themselves are large government databases, individual agencies, oversight entities, and selected non governmental entities that attempt to repackage information on spending amounts obtained from available government sources."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Teefy, Jennifer; Kreiser, Maria
2021-10-26
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Social Security Administration (SSA): COVID-19 Workplace Safety Plan
From the Document: "In accordance with the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Safer Federal Workplace: Agency Model Safety Principles memorandum (M-21-15) [hyperlink] on the President's Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing [hyperlink], we have created a Workplace Safety Plan. The safety protocols we put in place in July 2020 and outlined in this plan address the model safety principles in OMB Memorandum M-21-15. This plan is a living document. We will update it to incorporate guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and OMB. We manage a network of about 1,500 offices nationwide. About 1,200 of these offices provide a wide-range of direct services to local communities. Prior to the pandemic, these offices served over 800,000 visitors a week, many of whom arrived at our offices without an appointment. Since March 2020, most employees have worked remotely to serve the public primarily through our online services or over the phone. Currently, we welcome over 10,000 visitors a week to our offices by appointment only for a critical issue that we are unable to address over the phone. We took this step to protect our employees and the public we serve, many of whom--given the nature of our programs--are aged or have disabilities placing them at increased risk for serious COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] outcomes. In addition to serving a limited number of customers onsite, a minimum number of staff report onsite when necessary to handle non-portable work including opening and scanning mail, which provides work for our remote employees."
United States. Social Security Administration
2021-10-26
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COVID-19 State of Vaccine Confidence Insights Report 17 (October 12 - 26, 2021)
From the Summary: "Employees, employers, and consumers continue to struggle with the implementation and enforcement of President Biden's vaccination requirements. Protests and legal challenges persist among those opposed to the requirements, including the use of religious exemptions for the express purpose of circumventing compliance with requirements. On October 7, 2021, Pfizer-BioNTech [Biopharmaceutical New Technologies] submitted initial data from their COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] vaccine trial in children ages 5 to 11 years old to the FDA. The anticipation of the vaccine's emergency use authorization has generated mixed feelings among social media users who question the safety and need to vaccinate this population, given the relatively lower rate of severe disease, compared to older age groups. Concern about potential vaccine side effects continues to fuel the spread of misinformation, from misconstruing medical journal reports, to the purported superiority of natural immunity. However, reports, news articles, and social media conversation indicate that, despite the opposition, there are still many people who are in favor of COVID-19 vaccination and vaccination requirements for both children and adults."
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
2021-10-26
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Tropical Infectious Diseases: Still Here, Still Raging, Still Killing
From the Document: "In our time of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019], practically every public health agency--from local and state health departments, to the U.S. CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], to the WHO [World Health Organization]--has concentrated its efforts on slowing SARS-2 [severe acute respiratory syndrome-2] coronavirus transmission. This occurred initially through nonpharmaceutical interventions and then, in the second year of the pandemic, through administering vaccinations. Despite these efforts, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019-2021 have been devastating. The most recent estimates from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington indicate that up to 6.5 million people will have lost their lives from COVID-19 by the end of 2021. Tragically, the deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost over this period will extend beyond the direct effects of SARS-2 coronavirus. For instance, in the United States and globally, the ensuing social disruptions slowed or even halted childhood vaccination programs. Although childhood vaccinations are rebounding as waves of the COVID-19 epidemic pass, one worry is that all of the antivaccine aggression now directed at COVID-19 vaccines may spill over to other programs. In such a case, we might not achieve pre-pandemic immunization levels for many months or even years; we might experience resurgence of measles and other vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. Another concern is the diversion of global health programs toward COVID-19 at the expense of tropical infectious diseases such as the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and malaria."
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Hotez, Peter J.
2021-10-25
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Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate: S. 316, Fly Safe and Healthy Act of 2021
This is the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Cost Estimate as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on May 12, 2021. From the Document: "S. 316 would require the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to establish a 180-day pilot program to conduct temperature checks for passengers, crew members, and other people who pass through security checkpoints at airports. Anyone with a fever would be subject to secondary medical screening for COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]. Passengers with a fever who do not pass the secondary screening would be prohibited from flying but would be allowed to reschedule or to receive a voucher or a refund. Employees with a fever who do not pass the secondary screening would be prohibited from entering airport areas beyond the checkpoint and would be covered by their employer's current leave policies. Finally, the bill would require TSA to alert passengers to the program and to report to the Congress on the program's implementation. CBO assumes that the bill will be enacted by the end of calendar year 2021. Using information from TSA about similar programs, and assuming that the pilot program would be conducted at one large, one medium, and one small airport, CBO estimates that it would cost $18 million to implement S. 316; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds."
United States. Congressional Budget Office
2021-10-25
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Levelling Up Health Care: Build the NHS Back Better
From the Foreword: "The Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has pushed every health-care system in the world to its limits. The NHS [National Health Service] is no exception. The acute short-term pressures it faces when combined with longer-term challenges like an ageing population are threatening to overwhelm the system. There is much talk of the NHS facing a 'winter crisis', but the truth is that we face a crisis that has been getting worse for years, not just over one season. [...] The care system's immediate and deeper challenges must be dealt with in tandem. A long-term plan is needed to address both. This paper sets out important recommendations on how this can be done. It argues that simply doing more of the same will get the same result: waiting times, for example, had been rising for years before the pandemic hit. The lesson from the 2000s is that only when far-reaching reforms were put in place - alongside the right level of resources - did services improve and waiting times fall. The paper rightly argues that by fully embracing the possibilities of technology, the care system can meet the challenges it faces. It is easy in the midst of day-to-day pressures to lose sight of the fact that the alignment between genomic science and data analytics is opening up the possibility of a system that is better able to prevent disease, personalise care and empower patients. The key job of the system's leaders is to have the courage to harness these technologies so that outcomes improve and inequalities narrow."
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
Summers, Harry; Mant, Kitty; Ramli, Rania . . .
2021-10-22
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Association Between COVID-19 Relief Funds and Hospital Characteristics in the US
From the Abstract: "In response to financial stress created by the reduction in care during the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, hospitals received financial assistance through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act program. To date, the allocation of CARES Act funding is not well understood. [...] This cross-sectional analysis of US-based hospitals and health systems assesses the hospital characteristics associated with CARES Act funding with linear regression models using linked hospital and health system-level information on CARES Act funding with hospital characteristics from Hospital Cost Report data. [...] The analysis included 952 hospital-level entities with an average payment of $33.6 million, most of which was received during the first payment round. Wide ranges existed in CARES Act funding, with 24% of matched hospitals receiving less than $5 million in funding and 8% receiving more than $50 million. Academic-affiliated hospitals, hospitals with higher pre-COVID-19 assets and hospitals with higher COVID-19 cases received higher levels of funding, while critical access hospitals received lower levels of financial assistance. A 10% increase in hospital assets, endowment size, and COVID-19 cases was associated with 1.4% (95% CI, 0.8% to 2.0%; P = .003), 0.2% (95% CI, 0.1% to 0.3%; P < .001), and 3.5% (95% CI, 2.8% to 4.2%; P < .001) increases in CARES Act funding, respectively. [...] In this cross-sectional study of US hospitals and health systems, findings suggest that High-Impact Distribution CARES Act funds may have disproportionately gone to hospitals that were in a stronger financial situation prior to the pandemic compared with those that were not, but funds also went disproportionately to those that eventually had the most cases."
Journal of the American Medical Association (Firm)
Qureshi, Nabeel Shariq; Whaley, Christopher; Briscombe, Brian . . .
2021-10-22
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High Work-Related Stress and Anxiety as a Response to COVID-19 Among Health Care Workers in South Korea: Cross-Sectional Online Survey Study
From the Introduction: "COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] is a highly contagious respiratory disease first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China [...]. In Korea, the first patient was diagnosed on January 20, 2020, and the number of infections increased rapidly, exceeding 5000 infections within 6 weeks as people who participated in religious events were infected [...]. The Korean government raised the country's infectious disease alert level to the highest level on February 23, 2020 [...], set up and operated 638 screening clinics to quickly examine individuals with fever or respiratory symptoms, expanded specialized infectious disease hospitals nationwide to treat patients with severe symptoms, and allocated 10,000 beds for the treatment of patients with mild symptoms. People were obligated to follow strong social distancing measures, such as voluntarily refraining from going out and restricting movement set by the Korean government for at least 2 weeks. Two months after the government raised the alert to the highest level, the average daily number of new infections gradually decreased and remained under 20 from April 18, 2020, until July 2021, when the number of confirmed infections increased again, exceeding 1000 per day. As of July 9, 2021, Korea reported a total of 165,344 individuals with confirmed infections, of whom 15,462 were quarantined (152,498 completed quarantine; 10,810 quarantined) and 2036 were deceased[.]"
JMIR Publications
Ahn, Myung Hee; Shin, Yong-Wook; Suh, Sooyeon . . .
2021-10-22
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MMWR Early Release: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, October 22, 2021: Severity of Disease Among Adults Hospitalized with Laboratory-Confirmed COVID-19 Before and During the Period of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) Predominance -- COVID-NET, 14 States, January-August 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: "Severity of Disease Among Adults Hospitalized with Laboratory-Confirmed COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] Before and During the Period of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 delta variant] Predominance -- COVID-NET, 14 States, January-August 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.)
2021-10-22
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MMWR Early Release: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, October 22, 2021: COVID-19 Vaccination and Non-COVID-19 Mortality Risk -- Seven Integrated Health Care Organizations, United States, December 14, 2020-July 31, 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] Vaccination and Non-COVID-19 Mortality Risk -- Seven Integrated Health Care Organizations, United States, December 14, 2020-July 31, 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.)
2021-10-22
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Operational Analysis for Coronavirus Testing
From the Summary: "Testing will remain a key tool for those managing health care and making health policy for the current coronavirus pandemic, and testing will probably be an important tool in future pandemics. Because of test errors (false negative tests in which an infected individual tests as uninfected and false positive tests in which an uninfected individual tests as infected), the observed fraction of positive tests out of a total of 'T' tests, the surface positivity, is generally different from the underlying incidence rate of the disease. In a companion report, we describe a method for translating from the surface positivity to a point estimate for the incidence rate, then to an appropriate range of values for the incidence rate (the test range), and finally to the risk (the probability of including one infected individual) associated with groups of different sizes. Three key messages of that report are (1) surface positivity is not an accurate indicator of the incidence of coronavirus; (2) false negative tests lead to overestimation of the incidence rate, and false positive tests lead to underestimation of the incidence rate; and (3) the risk of groups of different sizes is not an either-or situation but can be graded according to the incidence rate, the size of the group, and the specified level of tolerance for risk."
Johns Hopkins University. Applied Physics Laboratory
Mangel, Marc; Brown, Alan L.
2021-10-22?
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Pacific Aftershocks: Unmasking the Impact of COVID-19 on Lives and Livelihoods in the Pacific and Timor-Leste
From the Executive Summary: "'The aftershocks of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] threaten to undo decades of development gains across the Pacific region'. World Vision surveyed 752 households in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu between July and December 2020 to gather first-hand accounts of the impacts of COVID-19 and its aftershocks on communities, families and their children. The findings highlight the human cost of the severe economic recession that has befallen the broader Pacific region since the pandemic, laying bare the region's vulnerability to future shocks, stresses, and uncertainties. The health impacts of COVID-19 are well known and are (rightly) front of mind for policymakers in Pacific national governments and donor governments such as Australia and New Zealand. However, our collective response to managing the health issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic must not be at the expense of addressing the secondary and ongoing impacts of the pandemic on lives and livelihoods. The physical isolation of the Pacific islands, coupled with their swift response in the early stages of the pandemic, means that they have been able to minimise COVID-19 infections and transmissions. However, the physical isolation of the Pacific islands has been a double-edged sword throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Limiting freedom of travel is undoubtedly an effective public health response, but the economic fallout from these measures has been severe. World Vision's rapid assessment, buttressed by secondary research, shows the pandemic's knock-on effects - its impacts on livelihoods, food security, and access to healthcare and safe water - are devastating communities just as much as the virus itself, and sometimes in greater measure."
World Vision International
2021-10-22
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Boosting the UK's Covid Measures: How to Go Further, Faster and Protect the NHS
From the Overview: "In this paper, we offer a series of recommendations that, if actioned now, will ensure that murmurs of a fourth wave are curbed well before they end up overwhelming the NHS [National Health Service] this winter. We draw on the success of the initial vaccine rollout to set out a booster campaign that will further protect the elderly and most vulnerable from Covid [coronavirus disease]-related hospitalisation. This means going much faster in administering boosters, at least doubling the rate we have today - a target that can be achieved by bringing certain vaccine infrastructure from early 2021 back online. Protecting the most vulnerable must be our priority, and it is why we encourage a concerted effort to vaccinate pregnant women, a group that now makes up 20 per cent of female Covid-19 patients in intensive-care (ICU) wards. It also means we must do all we can to keep cases to a manageable number and prevent transmission. As the UK sees daily case rates up to 20 times higher than some of its European neighbours, we propose measures that are proven to reduce the risk of infection. This includes going further on vaccinating those aged 12 to 15 - now the main carriers of the virus - and urgently considering the approval of vaccines for younger children. Another transmission-reducing measure - the effective, low-cost solution of face coverings - should be a key pillar of the government's winter Covid strategy, with masks mandated in indoor public spaces and on public transport. Not only do face coverings provide protection against transmission, but they also have the helpful dual purpose of signifying that vigilance is still important: that while progress has been made, we are not out of the woods."
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
Browne, James; Miller, Brianna; Wain, Ryan . . .
2021-10-21
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Willingness to Receive COVID-19 Vaccination Among People Living with HIV and Aids in China: Nationwide Cross-Sectional Online Survey
From the Introduction: "The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that HIV infection is a significant independent risk factor for both severe COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] presentation at hospital admission and in-hospital mortality [...]. It is essential to take additional measures to prevent people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) from contracting COVID-19. The COVID-19 vaccine offers the best hope for ending the pandemic. Simulation experiments showed that when vaccine efficacy was 80%, 75% coverage could end the COVID-19 pandemic without any other control measures [...]. A relatively small number of PLWHA were involved in phase III COVID-19 vaccine trials. The Pfizer study and the Oxford/AstraZeneca study recruited 196 and 157 PLWHA, respectively; however, the data on vaccine efficacy for PLWHA was not included in the publications that led to their approval in the United States and the United Kingdom [3,4]. The Moderna study included 176 PLWHA [...]. Of the PLWHA in the Moderna study, one person who received the placebo and none who received the vaccine developed COVID-19. The Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) study included 1218 PLWHA [...]. Two PLWHA who received the vaccine and four who received the placebo developed COVID-19. There were 201 PLWHA in the Novavax study; the overall vaccine efficacy was 49.4%, with a higher efficacy when PLWHA were excluded from the analysis (60%) [...]."
JMIR Publications
Huang, Xiaojie; Yu, Maohe; Fu, Gengfeng . . .
2021-10-21
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Pandemic Relief: The Emergency Rental Assistance Program [Updated October 21, 2021]
From the Introduction: "The Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program was created to help cover the unmet rent and utility expenses of low-income households affected by the economic consequences of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic. It has received two rounds of funding. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. [Public Law] 116-260) initially funded the ERA program with an appropriation of $25 billion. The ERA program was funded through the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), a program created as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L. 116-136), and administered by the Department of the Treasury, to assist state, local, territorial, and tribal governments. While the CARES Act CRF [Coronavirus Relief Fund] appropriation could be used for multiple purposes, the ERA appropriation in P.L. 116-260 was directed only to rent and utility assistance and related housing stability services. A second appropriation--of $21.550 billion--for ERA was included in Section 3201 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2). This report briefly describes the need for rental assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, provides information about the allocation of ERA funds, describes the parameters of the ERA program, and discusses outstanding questions about the program and renter needs."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Driessen, Grant A.; McCarty, Maggie; Perl, Libby
2021-10-21
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Understanding the Correlation Between Climate Change and the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis
From the Introduction: "Despite the development and distribution of vaccines, the spread of novel coronavirus infections (COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2) is still raging across the globe with the emergence of variants. When the first case of COVID-19 infection appeared in South Korea in January 2020, the emerging infectious disease (EID) was compared to the previous cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-1) in 2003 or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015 and so many people expected that the spread would end within a short period of time. However, as of October 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic still continues with approximately 230 million infectees and more than 4.8 million deaths worldwide. Facing the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change is also drawing attention as a major variable that affects the outbreak and spread of infectious diseases. In particular, after the introduction of empirical studies on the correlation between the emergence of COVID-19 and climate change, the public's interest is growing even more. It may be desirable that public attention to climate change, which could be more serious than any other global crises, is raised even through the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. However, media reports or environmental activists' hasty conclusion based on insufficient evidence and limited empirical studies that climate change is the major cause of the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic is worrisome in that it could reduce the nature of complex correlation between the two threats to simple and direct causal relations. [...] Climate change is a megatrend-type threat that occurs everywhere and affects everything in the atmosphere and the surface of the earth, in which humans and ecosystems live. Climate change poses various unprecedented environmental crises to human living conditions such as sea level rise and extreme weather events. In addition, it has been perceived as a 'threat multiplier' that directly or indirectly affects other global threats, including infectious disease outbreaks, food and water insecurity, biodiversity loss, and involuntary displacement. [...] While overcoming the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a top priority for all of us, we must build national capacity to respond more quickly and effectively to new infectious diseases that will emerge from their coevolution with humanity."
Asian Institute for Policy Studies
Hyeonjung, Choi
2021-10-21
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Enough to Eat: The Impact of COVID-19 on Food Insecurity and the Food Environment in L. A. County April 2020 -September 2021
From the Introduction: "The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 posed unique and significant challenges for urban areas. The high concentrations of economic activity and population density made these regions hotspots for infections. With nearly 10 million residents accounting for 27% of California's population, Los Angeles County was no exception. [...] 'Food insecurity' refers to disruptions in food access and regular eating because of limited money or other resources. Although food insecurity often results in hunger, it is also linked to a host of negative physical and mental health outcomes for children and adults, including poor nutrition, problems with mental health, cognition, and sleep, and greater risk for diet-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. [...] '[T]his final report summarizes the current state of food insecurity in L.A. County'. We find that rates of food insecurity have declined since the onset of the pandemic, but 1 in 10 households remained food insecure in the first half of 2021. This report also 'describes access to food outlets and food assistance during the pandemic, and variability and vulnerability in food access', using innovative data and analytics to understand the complexity of the L.A. County food environment. We conclude with recommendations based on this analysis and our 16 months of research."
University of Southern California. Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; Keck School of Medicine; Los Angeles County (Calif.) . . .
de la Haye, Kayla; Wilson, John P. (John Peter), 1955-; Bruine de Bruin, Wändi . . .
2021-10-20?
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Increasing Transparency into COVID-19 Spending
From the Background: "In March 2020 the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act created the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) to promote transparency and conduct and support oversight of pandemic-related funds and the response to the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The objective of this review was to identify specific gaps in transparency in award data for federal assistance spending in response to COVID-19. We conducted the review in accordance with the Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation issued by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE)."
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
2021-10-20
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DoD OIG COVID-19 Oversight Plan: 2021 Q4 Update
This is the 2021 fourth quarter (Q4) update of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Oversight Plan. From the Introduction: "Since the start of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the DoD has supported the Nation's efforts to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the challenges during these uncertain times. The DoD has coordinated closely with other Federal agencies and provided medical, logistical, and humanitarian assistance in the United States and across the globe. In response to an executive order issued by President Joe Biden, the Secretary of Defense mandated COVID-19 vaccinations of all Service members at the end of August 2021. On October 1, 2021, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a separate memorandum mandating that DoD civilian employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 22, 2021. In a recent message to the force, the Secretary of Defense reiterated the importance of the vaccines, stating, 'All FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and highly effective. They will protect you and your family. They will protect your unit, your ship, and your co-workers. And they will ensure we remain the most lethal and ready force in the world.' The DoD Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) released its initial COVID-19 Pandemic Oversight Plan in May 2020 and continues to publish regular updates listing DoD OIG pandemic-related projects and published reports."
United States. Department of Defense. Office of the Inspector General
2021-10-20?
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Taxpayer Advocate Service Assisted Thousands of Taxpayers with CARES Act Issues but Faced Challenges in Identifying and Tracking Applicable Cases
From the Highlights: "This audit is one in a series being conducted by TIGTA [Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration] as part of our oversight role of the IRS's [Internal Revenue Service's] response to the coronavirus pandemic, including implementation of the applicable Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provisions. Our overall objective was to assess the Taxpayer Advocate Service's (TAS) actions to assist taxpayers in response to the implementation of the CARES Act. TIGTA previously issued an interim report describing the actions TAS has taken to assist taxpayers in response to the enactment of the CARES Act."
United States. Department of the Treasury. Office of Inspector General
2021-10-20
