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Updated Assessment on COVID-19 Origins
From the Document: "After examining all available intelligence reporting and other information, though, the IC [Intelligence Community] remains divided on the most likely origin of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]. All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident. [1] Four IC elements and the National Intelligence Council assess with low confidence that the initial SARS-CoV-2 [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2] infection was most likely caused by natural exposure to an animal infected with it or a close progenitor virus--a virus that probably would be more than 99 percent similar to SARS-CoV-2. These analysts give weight to China's officials' lack of foreknowledge, the numerous vectors for natural exposure, and other factors. [2] One IC element assesses with moderate confidence that the first human infection with SARS-CoV-2 most likely was the result of a laboratory-associated incident, probably involving experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. These analysts give weight to the inherently risky nature of work on coronaviruses. [3] Analysts at three IC elements remain unable to coalesce around either explanation without additional information, with some analysts favoring natural origin, others a laboratory origin, and some seeing the hypotheses as equally likely. [4] Variations in analytic views largely stem from differences in how agencies weigh intelligence reporting and scientific publications and intelligence and scientific gaps. The IC judges they will be unable to provide a more definitive explanation for the origin of COVID-19 unless new information allows them to determine the specific pathway for initial natural contact with an animal or to determine that a laboratory in Wuhan was handling SARS-CoV-2 or a close progenitor virus before COVID-19 emerged."
United States. Office of the Director of National Intelligence; National Intelligence Council (U.S.)
2021-10-29?
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Three New Estimates of India's All-Cause Excess Mortality During the COVID-19 Pandemic
From the Document: "India's official Covid [coronavirus disease] death count as of end-June 2021 is 400,000. The reality is, of course, catastrophically worse. A sense that the official estimates are under-counting deaths is suggested by simple cross-country comparisons. The end-June official death count implies deaths per capita of 0.3 for India, whereas the comparable numbers for large countries in Europe and the Americas are substantially greater (well in excess of 3 for Mexico and Peru and around 2 in Brazil, Italy, US, and UK) even though infection rates are lower. India is one of the few major economies that does not have estimates of excess deaths during the Covid pandemic, reflected for example, in its absence from global databases such as the Human Mortality Database [hyperlink] or the World Mortality Database [hyperlink] (Karlinsky and Kobak 2021) which underlie reporting by OurWorldinData.org and the Financial Times. The only all-India numbers we have are model-based estimates of all-cause excess mortality (for example, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and The Economist) and some data-based estimates for the first wave (Banaji, 2021a). A prominent set of estimates were published by the New York Times but they were based on hypothetical infection and infection fatality rates that were not linked to India data per se. But this picture is fast changing. And we are now, for the first time, getting data-based estimates of excess deaths at an all-India level."
Center for Global Development
Anand, Abhishek; Sandefur, Justin; Subramanian, Arvind
2021-07
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Driving Digital Acceleration: The 2021 State CIO Survey
From the Executive Summary: "2021 was a year that continued to be dominated by the response to the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic. In this twelfth annual state chief information officer (CIO) survey, we received the perspective of 49 state and territory CIOs on the short- and long-term impact of the pandemic for state CIO organizations. We also received updates from CIOs on many of the traditional topics covered by the survey, including digital transformation, adoption of cloud, emerging technologies and legacy modernization. A major theme of this year's survey is whether the accelerated pace of state technology and digital services transformation over the past eighteen months will persist beyond the pandemic."
National Association of State Chief Information Officers; Grant Thornton; Computing Technology Industry Association
2021-10
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Assessing Underlying State Conditions and Ramp-Up Challenges for the COVID-19 Response
From the Article: "An unprecedented pandemic has exploded within the U.S. COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] has now reached all 50 states and is disrupting life in large urban areas including Seattle, the Bay Area, and New York City. The rapid spread of a virus with an undefined risk of death has forced state and local governments and health systems to act urgently to mitigate the spread and respond to an increasing number of infected Americans. The speed of transmission threatens to strain health system capacity and presents a clear and present risk to health care workers. Mounting hospitalizations and intensive care needs appear to involve adults of all ages."
Commonwealth Fund
Baumgartner, Jesse C.; Radley, David C.; Collins, Sarah R. . . .
2020-03-25
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US Emergency Food Aid Programs: In the Current COVID-19 Global Environment, Commonsense Reforms Are Overdue
From the Key Points: "[1] The United States international emergency food aid program has done a tremendous amount of good for people in dire need of help since it was first launched nearly 70 years ago in 1954. [2] However, mandates that forces the program to buy almost all US food aid at home and ship at least half of it on US-registered vessels are exceptionally costly in budgetary and humanitarian terms and are damaging to national security by limiting the exercise of soft power. [3] At the same time, the domestic policy rationales used to justify those mandates in 1954 have effectively disappeared over the past 30 or so years. [and 4] The rest of the world's emergency food aid donors have shed the shackles of procurement and shipping mandates. As commercial shipping freight rates and food prices continue to soar, severely constricting US Agency for International Development's ability to use the fixed budget allocated for the international food aid program, it is time for the US to follow suit."
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Barrett, Christopher B. (Christopher Brendan); Smith, Vincent H.
2021-11
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Ecology and Economics for Pandemic Prevention: Investments to Prevent Tropical Deforestation and to Limit Wildlife Trade Will Protect Against Future Zoonosis Outbreaks
From the Document: "For a century, two new viruses per year have spilled from their natural hosts into humans. The MERS [Middle East Respiratory Syndrome], SARS [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome], and 2009 H1N1 epidemics, and the HIV and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemics, testify to their damage. Zoonotic viruses infect people directly most often when they handle live primates, bats, and other wildlife (or their meat) or indirectly from farm animals such as chickens and pigs. The risks are higher than ever as increasingly intimate associations between humans and wildlife disease reservoirs accelerate the potential for viruses to spread glob-ally. Here, we assess the cost of monitoring and preventing disease spillover driven by the unprecedented loss and fragmentation of tropical forests and by the burgeoning wildlife trade. Currently, we invest relatively little toward preventing deforestation and regulating wildlife trade, despite well-researched plans that demonstrate a high return on their investment in limiting zoo-noses and conferring many other benefits. As public funding in response to COVID-19 continues to rise, our analysis suggests that the associated costs of these preventive efforts would be substantially less than the economic and mortality costs of responding to these pathogens once they have emerged."
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Dobson, Andrew P.; Pimm, Stuart L. (Stuart Leonard); Hannah, Lee Jay . . .
2020-07-24
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Health and Health Care Experiences of Hispanic Adults
From the Introduction: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has taken a stark disproportionate toll on people of color, including the Hispanic population. These disparate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed and exacerbated longstanding underlying disparities in health and health care facing Hispanic people. Prior to the pandemic, these disparities had already been compounded by immigration policies implemented during the Trump administration that increased fears among immigrant families and made some more reluctant to access programs and services, including health coverage and health care. Although the Biden administration has since reversed many of these policies, they likely continue to have lingering effects. This report provides insights into the health care experiences of Hispanic adults amid the current environment and examines how they vary by key factors, including insurance and immigration status. A prior report examined the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 for Hispanic adults and their attitudes, experiences with, and barriers to getting COVID-19 vaccinations."
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Artiga, Samantha; Hamel, Liz; Kearney, Audrey . . .
2021-07-14
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IMF's Growth Forecasts for Poor Countries Don't Match Its COVID Narrative
From the Abstract: "The International Monetary Fund's forecasts of GDP [gross domestic product] growth in 2020 suggest a substantially muted impact of the COVID [coronavirus disease 2019] crisis--about 3 percentage points smaller--for developing countries compared to advanced economies. Simple cross-country regressions show this discrepancy cannot be explained by external vulnerabilities to trade disruptions, financial crises, or commodity price shocks, which mostly suggest a more severe crisis in the developing world. It also cannot be explained by the domestic shock, because--while current case totals are greater in advanced economies--the policy responses of social distancing and lockdowns which will directly constrain economic activity have been similar across both groups of countries, and fiscal policy responses have been significantly weaker in developing countries. We hope that the relative optimism will not induce complacency and elicit a less-than-forceful response by countries themselves nor legitimize an ungenerous, conditionality-addled response on the part of the international community in the face of an unprecedented calamity."
Center for Global Development
Sandefur, Justin; Subramanian, Arvind
2020-05
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Impact in Africa [Updated August 4, 2021]
From the Document: "Sub-Saharan Africa has confirmed fewer COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] cases and deaths per capita than other regions, but many countries have faced a deadlier third wave of cases since mid-2021. As of July 2021, southern African countries had the highest per-capita caseloads (and had also administered the most tests). Public health experts have expressed acute concerns about the regional surge in both cases and deaths, which they attribute to the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant and public fatigue with infection control restrictions. Most governments in Africa have struggled to secure vaccines. Total cumulative confirmed cases and deaths remain concentrated in a handful of countries, led by South Africa. Studies suggest that case data may be underreported in many countries, and experts warn that asymptomatic transmission may have hidden the scope of the spread while allowing for potential virus mutation."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Arieff, Alexis; Blanchard, Lauren Ploch; Cook, Nicolas . . .
2021-08-04
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Animal Origin of SARS-CoV-2
From the Document: "Although first detected in December 2019, COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] was inferred to be present in Hubei province, China, for about a month before. Where did this new human disease come from? To understand the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to go back to 2002. At that time a novel respiratory coronavirus appeared in Foshan, Guangdong province, China, and spread to 29 countries. Altogether ∼8000 people were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) before public health measures controlled its spread in 2003. The zoonotic origin of SARS-CoV was subsequently linked to live animals available at markets. Further sporadic spill-over events of SARS-CoV from animals took place in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and some researchers working with cultured virus were infected in laboratory accidents, but ultimately SARS-CoV was removed from the human population. Trading of susceptible host animals is an important common theme in the emergence of SARS and COVID-19."
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Lytras, Spyros; Xia, Wei; Hughes, Joseph, 1977- . . .
2021-08-17
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Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force: Final Report and Recommendations
From the Letter from the Chair: "President Biden charged this Task Force with recommending actions to mitigate health inequities caused or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and to prevent such inequities in the future. [...] This report presents a case for change, proposed actions for the Biden-Harris administration to prioritize, and outcomes to set the vision for what the country can achieve. And, of course, this report holds the specific recommendations the Task Force has generated throughout many months--recommendations intended to disrupt the predictability of who is harmed first, and harmed worst in times of national crisis."
Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force
2021-10
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Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force: Proposed Implementation Plan and Accountability Framework
From the Introduction: "As part of the administration's response to the devastating COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, President Joseph R. Biden issued Executive Order 13995, which established the Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force (The 'Task Force'). Following guidance from this executive order, the Task Force convened to recommend actions against long-standing and emerging health inequities exacerbated by the pandemic. [...1] 'Section One' of this document is a proposed implementation plan. It includes overarching implementation guidance and the 55 prioritized recommendations with action steps. [2] 'Section Two' of this document is a proposed accountability framework. It includes an evaluation framework with a logic model approach. It suggests establishing and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs). This report references various populations and settings of interest as communities of color and other underserved populations, considering where people live, work, and learn."
Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force
2021-10
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Collateral Damage from COVID
From the Introduction: "We are flooded with data and stories on infections, hospitalizations, and deaths attributed to COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]. At nearly 650,000 U.S. deaths as of the beginning of September 2021, those numbers are very large, and the immediate day-to-day impact of the pandemic has tended to dominate the news. But there is also a great deal of underreported collateral damage, costing many lives while shattering hopes and dreams, especially among the working poor. [...] This collateral damage--unintended consequences--of our personal and policy responses to the virus is immense. Excess deaths from causes other than COVID have been sharply higher than normal during the pandemic. These consequences can be extreme, such as violence and deaths of despair, but many other all-too-human costs--divorces, alcoholism, drug abuse, and derailed careers--have yet to be measured. It will be some time before all the costs can be tallied, but we can start to see and quantify many of them, and also highlight others that need to be investigated. Understanding the full scope of the damage will help close gaps between conventional wisdom and reality. Ideally, it should also inform our future personal and policy responses to pandemics and other emergencies. We owe it to ourselves to dispassionately study policy choices that were made, so that we can respond faster and better in the future. It will be invaluable if we can also recognize that scientific method does not mean seeking out evidence that supports one's personal opinion, but involves actively seeking to test our hypotheses, and openly exploring alternative perspectives."
Reason Foundation
Arnott, Robert D.; Kalesnik, Vitali; Wu, Lillian
2021-10
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State Cross-Agency Collaboration During the COVID-19 Pandemic Response
From the Introduction and Background: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has offered major challenges and opportunities for state policymakers. Due to strained resources and rapidly changing circumstances, states have had to adapt quickly as they plan, coordinate, and manage services for residents. Several states established strong inter-agency partnerships to collectively facilitate cross-sector solutions in the immediate crisis. Public health, social service and other public sectors engaged in new ways with the health sector to address the range of health and social challenges and to strengthen the safety net. Some of this engagement leveraged cross-sector strategies already proliferating across the country to advance whole person health (including in rural communities) and spurred efforts to address long-standing health inequities, especially in communities of color. This brief highlights Illinois, Indiana, and Rhode Island's cross-agency strategies during COVID-19, and it draws out themes, lessons, and best practices for states to consider during recovery and when preparing for future public health emergencies."
National Academy for State Health Policy (U.S.)
Higgins, Elinor; Cooper, Rebecca
2021-10
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Current Responses to Housing Insecurity: A Focus on Vulnerable Residential Renters and Landlords
From the Document: "On July 31, 2021, the federal eviction moratorium that kept an estimated 30 million people in their homes at the height of the pandemic officially expired. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a subsequent order on August 3, 2021 to temporarily halt evictions in counties where COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] is spreading rapidly, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled later that month that the CDC exceeded its statutory authority by imposing the nationwide eviction moratorium, effectively ending it. The ruling means that eviction proceedings can resume where state or local moratoriums are not currently in place. [...] Although certain state and local governments extended their eviction moratoriums, housing experts still expect a wave of evictions this year, prompting an immediate need to alleviate the pressures on renters and landlords. In response, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (New York Fed), in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (Philadelphia Fed), the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and the Housing Initiative at Penn (HIP), convened a roundtable of housing practitioners, policymakers, and funders to identify solutions. This roundtable discussion is part of the New York Fed's broader body of work seeking to enable economic mobility for low- and moderate-income households, especially those facing poverty or structural disparities related to race or ethnicity. Below are key takeaways that we heard from experts on the experiences of renters and landlords."
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Body, Dyvonne; Landau, Rebecca; Reyes, Edison . . .
2021-09-23?
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Pandemic, Social Unrest, and Crime in U.S. Cities (September 2021 Update)
From the Introduction: "This report updates our previous studies of crime changes during the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, extending the data through the first three quarters (January-September) of 2021. The results are generally consistent with those of our earlier work and our conclusions have not changed: as the pandemic subsides, long lasting reductions in violence and crime will require cities to adopt evidence-based crime-control strategies and long-needed reforms to policing. [...] For this report, we assessed weekly changes over time in the following ten crimes: homicide, aggravated assault, gun assault, domestic violence, robbery, residential burglary, nonresidential burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and drug offenses, with a special emphasis on homicides. The crime data were obtained from online portals of city police departments that provided weekly data for the period between January 2018 and September 2021. Offense counts were converted to weekly crime rates per 100,000 city residents for analysis. The crime data are subject to revision, and offense classifications varied somewhat across the cities. Not all of the cities reported data for each of the crimes or for each week. The total number of cities reporting crimes ranged from 24 for robbery and motor vehicle theft to 13 for gun assault and domestic violence. Homicide data were available for 22 cities."
Council on Criminal Justice
Rosenfeld, Richard; Lopez, Ernesto
2021-09
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COVID-19 and World Peace: An Overture to a New Era or Business as Usual?
From the Introduction: "The outbreak of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019], which began at the end 2019 in China and led to more than two million infected by April 2020, is now recognized as an inflection point to longstanding international tensions, political relations, and even the conduct of war. Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres called for a 'global ceasefire'; a cessation of hostilities to free people, money and capabilities to fight COVID-19. Additional issues, such as climate change, economic cooperation, and social interaction during this crisis at this moment, are now recognized as being at a watershed moment. This snapshot investigates how the call by Secretary-General Guterres was answered, and how far and in what capacity the results of this response will impact upon the future."
Hague Centre for Strategic Studies
Bolder, Patrick
2020-04-21?
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COVID-19: HHS Agencies' Planned Reviews of Vaccine Distribution and Communication Efforts Should Include Stakeholder Perspectives, Report to Congressional Committees
From the Highlights: "Vaccination remains critical in the federal response to the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic. Vaccine implementation-- prioritizing, allocating, distributing, and administering doses--requires coordination among federal, state, and local levels and other stakeholders. HHS agencies--including CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and HRSA [Health Resources and Services Administration]--set up federal vaccine distribution programs, such as CDC's retail pharmacy program that sends doses directly to pharmacies. The federal government also sends vaccine doses to states for further distribution. The CARES [Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security] Act includes a provision for GAO [U.S. Government Accountability Office] to report on its ongoing monitoring and oversight efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This report examines (1) stakeholder perspectives on federal programs to distribute and administer COVID-19 vaccines, (2) efforts to inform health officials, providers, and the public about vaccination, and (3) actions HHS [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] agencies are taking to evaluate their vaccine implementation efforts. GAO reviewed data and documents from HHS, CDC, and HRSA, and reviewed information from and interviewed state and local health officials in four states and one city selected, in part, for geographic variation. GAO also interviewed other stakeholders, including 12 national associations representing health care providers and others."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2021-11
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Dose of Dignity: Equitable Vaccination Policies for Incarcerated People and Correctional Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic
From the Abstract: "Since its emergence in early 2020, the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has altered the lives of millions of Americans. As it so often is during times of crisis, our most vulnerable communities have disproportionately suffered and were overlooked. Among these myriad communities, incarcerated people became a particularly potent symbol of our failure to handle the spread of the virus. In December 2020, a beacon of hope emerged with the introduction of new cutting-edge vaccines which promised to bring the world back to where it was just a year-and-a-half ago. Here again, however, policy and politics have led states to adopt different distribution plans that, broadly speaking, deprioritized incarcerated populations and in some cases correctional staff as well. [...] Our findings show that vaccination policies tended to systematically ignore or disadvantage incarcerated individuals. We argue that by adopting such policies, states have neglected to comply with their legal obligations, grounded in existing and emerging Eighth Amendment jurisprudence and long-standing ethical responsibilities to proactively vaccinate this population. This is particularly true given that prisons are among the high-risk 'congregate settings' that are widely recognized by health experts, and often by the states themselves, as deserving of immediate distribution of vaccines. Based on these obligations, and given recent new virus outbreaks and the realization that some form of COVID-19 is here to stay (and other pandemics may be around the corner), this Essay concludes with recommendations for the future."
Southern California Law Review
Ravid, Itay; Hyatt, Jordan M.; Chanenson, Steven L.
2021-09-20
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COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by Vaccination Status
From the Background: "Vaccination is a critical tool to help stop the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic. All authorized COVID-19 vaccines in the US are highly effective at protecting people from getting sick or severely ill with COVID-19, including those infected with Delta and other known variants. COVID-19 vaccination can also reduce the spread of disease overall, helping to keep communities safe. Because no vaccines are 100 percent effective, it is expected that some fully vaccinated people will get sick with COVID-19, and that number will increase as more people get vaccinated. Vaccine effectiveness can also be affected by an individual's own immune system, like how well they respond to the vaccine when it is given and how much their immunity wanes over time. Real world, state-specific data showing the impact of vaccination on outcomes, including infection and death, can help illustrate these benefits, improve confidence in vaccines, and raise vaccination rates in Texas. This analysis will be updated periodically to include the most recent four-week span with complete data."
Texas. Department of State Health Services; Texas Health and Human Services Commission
2021-11-08
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Research Brief: Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Related Restrictions on Homicide and Property Crime
From the Introduction: "Over the course of just a few weeks during the first few months of 2020, the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic radically changed the nature of social interaction and economic activity in all regions across the world. By the first week of April 2020, 3.9 billion people - more than half the global population - were under some form of lockdown. In the months that followed, countries enforced a broad spectrum of restrictions, adjusting and readjusting their response in accordance with the course of the pandemic. These ongoing changes are affecting all aspects of life, with crime being no exception. This research brief is aimed at providing initial observations about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on four types of crime: homicide, robbery, theft and burglary. Based on ongoing data collection launched by UNODC [United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime] in March 2020, trends before and after lockdown measures were introduced are compared in order to assess whether the measures have had a significant impact on those crimes. The possible longer-term impact of the emerging global economic crisis on the same forms of crime is also discussed."
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
2020-12-10?
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Dangerous Link Between Social Media, Misinformation, and Vaccination Rates [infographic]
From the image: "A new study provides irrefutable evidence that people who rely on social media for information about COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] are much more likely to believe misinformation about the virus, and much less likely to be vaccinated. [...] Poll among a sample of 3,000 adults, conducted September 20-22, 2021 by Morning Consult on behalf of the de Beaumont Foundation and Dr. Frank Luntz. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points." For more information, visit changingthecovidconversation.org
de Beaumont Foundation
2021-09?
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How Conspiracists Exploited COVID-19 Science
From the Document: "Instead of envisioning an untidy world filled with randomness, unintended consequences, innocent action gone awry and new evidence, conspiracists envision one that is inhabited by powerful individuals who conceal malign activities and intent. The fluid nature of emergent science provides fuel for conspiracy theorists who offer certainty in place of the provisional, sometimes-updated statements of health experts. At the same time, conspiracy proponents question the trustworthiness and motives of those in the federal agencies, philanthropic institutions and pharmaceutical companies who fund basic research and develop, deliver and, in the case of some of the federal agencies, regulate public access to medical treatments, including vaccines. Filtering the world through these lenses, during the pandemic conspiracists have drawn on and manipulated statements and actions by public health experts, such as Dr Anthony Fauci (director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), on topics that range from mask wearing and COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] treatments to vaccine safety and the funding of coronavirus research. Understanding the susceptibilities that conspiracists exploit should help us to identify ways to better safeguard both the trustworthiness of health science and public trust in it."
Springer Nature (Firm)
Jamieson, Kathleen Hall
2021-11-01
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Preventing Violence in American Cities with Safer Alcohol Sales: Tools Cities Can Use to Address Increasing Alcohol Use and Violence Since the Onset of COVID-19
From the Issue: "Alcohol consumption has been rising in the U.S. since the turn of the century, along with alcohol-related harms. On average, alcohol use contributes to 104,000 deaths per year in the U.S., including 47% of homicides, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates. Alcohol problems cost the U.S. $249 billion in 2010, the last year for which an estimate is available. Alcohol is the number one drug used by young people, and every year approximately 3,500 people under 21 die because of alcohol use. Prior to the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, negative consequences of alcohol use were rising: Alcohol-specific death rates increased 55% from 2000 to 2016, emergency department visits involving alcohol consumption grew by 62% from 2006 to 2014, and the age-adjusted death rate for alcoholic liver disease, an indicator of excessive use, rose by 37.2% from 2000 to 2017. Newer data show that the rates of alcohol sales and binge drinking have increased sharply since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic."
CityHealth
2021-03-01?
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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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Assessment of COVID-19-Related Immigration Concerns Among Latinx Immigrants in the US
From the Key Points: "'Question'[:] What proportions of Latinx immigrants endorse statements about the immigration ramifications of engaging in COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]-related testing, treatment, and contact tracing? 'Findings'[:] In this survey study of 336 adult Latinx immigrants in the US, 89 participants (27%) believed that hospital emergency departments provided the only source for COVID-19-related testing or treatment for uninsured immigrants. A total of 106 participants (32%) agreed that using public COVID-19-related testing and treatment services could jeopardize an individual's immigration prospects; 96 participants (29%) and 114 participants (34%), respectively, would not identify an undocumented household member or coworker during contact tracing. 'Meaning'[:] These results suggest that substantial proportions of Latinx immigrants have immigration concerns about engaging in COVID-19-related testing, treatment, and contact tracing."
JAMA Network
Galletly, Carol L.; Lechuga, Julia; Dickson-Gomez, Julia, 1969- . . .
2021-07-19
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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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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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COVID-19 Policy Playbook: Legal Recommendations for a Safer, More Equitable Future
From the Document: "This report, including 39 chapters by more than 50 experts, updates and expands the initial rapid COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] legal assessment published in August 2020. The failures we noted in the first Report have only worsened, culminating in the sad moment in February when the country reached 500,000 deaths. For Volume II of the Report, our team has revisited the legal issues we first surveyed early in the pandemic, and have added new topics, including education, data systems, and the lessons of the 2020 pandemic election. Even for the subjects covered previously, this Report consists of largely new material, including new, post-election recommendations, which we highlight in this summary. Volume I confronted a historic failure of law and policy. Volume II points to a historic opportunity to remake our institutions, public and clinical health law and policy, and the social contract. Once again, we have asked our authors to focus on how law has served the nation's response to COVID-19, and to offer concrete suggestions for immediate and long-term changes to better serve the health of the nation."
Public Health Law Watch
Gable, Lance A.; Levin, Donna E.; Parmet, Wendy E. . . .
2021-03
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Women Peace and Security Index 2021/22
From the Overview: "Women's inclusion, justice, and security are more critical than ever in the midst of a pandemic that has wreaked havoc around the world. This year's global report, the third since the inaugural edition in 2017, finds a slowdown in the pace of improvement in the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Index and widening disparities across countries. The range of scores on the 2021 WPS Index is vast, with Norway at the top scoring more than three times better than Afghanistan at the bottom. The range of scores is much wider than in 2017, when the score of the top performer was about twice that of the worst performer. This widening gap reflects rising inequality in the status of women across countries: countries at the top continue to improve while those at the bottom get worse, mirroring global trends in wealth and income inequality."
Georgetown University. Institute for Women, Peace and Security; International Peace Research Institute
2021
