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Puerto Rico: Perspectives on the Potential to Expand Air Cargo Operations, Report to Congressional Committees
From the GAO (Government Accountability Office) Highlights: "Puerto Rico's economy has been in decline for much of the last 15 years and was devastated by hurricanes in 2017. Puerto Rico has sought to increase air cargo and passenger traffic at its international airports as a means to bolster and diversify its economy. Specifically, Puerto Rico seeks to serve as a transshipment point for transferring cargo between air carriers flying from Europe to Latin America. Air cargo, whether carried in the holds of passenger aircraft or by cargo-only aircraft, is an important component of global trade. The FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] Reauthorization Act of 2018 includes a provision for GAO to study the international air cargo transportation services among the United States and the African, Latin American, and European regions and the potential expansion of air cargo operations in Puerto Rico. This report addresses (1) what is known about air cargo operations between these world regions; (2) factors affecting the development of air cargo markets; and (3) Puerto Rican officials' and selected industry stakeholders' views on the economic effect and potential of expanding air cargo operations in Puerto Rico. GAO analyzed DOT [Department of Transportation] and European air cargo data for flights between the U.S. and the selected regions for 2016 through 2018 (the latest available data). GAO also interviewed officials from DOT, and stakeholders from Puerto Rico and the air-cargo industry, selected based on prior GAO work and stakeholder mission."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-10
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TSA Acquisitions: TSA Needs to Establish Metrics and Evaluate Third Party Testing Outcomes for Screening Technologies, Report to Congressional Committees
From the GAO (Government Accountability Office) Highlights: "TSA relies on technologies like imaging systems and explosives detection systems to screen passengers and baggage to prevent prohibited items from getting on board commercial aircraft. As part of its process of acquiring these systems and deploying them to airports, TSA tests the systems to ensure they meet requirements. The 2018 TSA Modernization Act contained a provision for GAO to review the third party testing program. GAO assessed the extent to which TSA (1) used third party testing, and (2) articulated its goals and developed metrics to measure the effects of third party testing. GAO reviewed TSA's strategic plans, acquisition guidance, program documentation, and testing policies. GAO interviewed officials from TSA's Test and Evaluation Division and acquisition programs, as well as representatives of vendors producing security screening systems and companies providing third party testing services."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-10
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'Whoever Finds the Vaccine Must Share It': Strengthening Human Rights and Transparency Around Covid-19 Vaccines
From the Document: "Equitable access to a safe and effective Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] vaccine on a global scale could be critical to enable governments in all countries to prevent severe illness and death while protecting livelihoods, getting children back to school, and enabling economic recovery. 'Whoever Finds the Vaccine Must Share It' examines how governments are using public money to fund Covid-19 vaccines on an unprecedented scale, with some pre-booking vaccines in opaque deals with pharmaceutical companies, universities, or research institutes. This approach raises a number of questions and concerns: Will low- and middle-income countries get access to vaccines? How, when, and at what cost? This report outlines the human rights obligations of governments and urges them to maximize equitable access and affordability worldwide. To protect the global population's rights, including to life, health, and a decent standard of living, all governments should work together to ensure participation, transparency, and accountability in vaccine research, development, and manufacturing."
Human Rights Watch (Organization)
Kashyap, Aruna; Wurth, Margaret
2020-10
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'New Normal': The Future of Education After COVID-19
From the Summary: "The Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented disruption to schools and learners in England. Schools were closed from March 2020, with only the children of key workers and those identified as vulnerable being invited to attend. Most children in England were instead expected to learn remotely, with most schools providing learning materials for home use and/or digital lessons. External exams did not take place in the 2019/20 academic year and performance league tables for the year will not be published. Meanwhile, Ofsted inspections and reports were suspended throughout the pandemic. There has been significant focus on 'recovering' the existing system but there is also an opportunity to 'build back better'. There is a growing sense of urgency about the need to recover the education system and 'lost learning' among students after the pandemic. But less has been said about the pandemic as an opportunity for us to reimagine our education system going forward. England's education system undoubtedly has strengths that we must seek to retain in the future. But it also suffers from a number of longstanding weaknesses that pre-date the pandemic. The pandemic provides us with an opportunity to stand back and reflect on these weaknesses. How can we 'build back better'? What do we want the 'new normal' in schools to look like? And what do we need to do now to achieve that?"
Institute for Public Policy Research (London, England)
Quilter-Pinner, Harry; Ambrose, Anna
2020-10
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NATO's Response to COVID-19: Lessons for Resilience and Readiness
From the Executive Summary: "With the outbreak of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, for the first time in its history NATO had to face an attack against each of its member states at once. Given the backdrop of political tensions within the alliance in the past few years, there were not many reasons to be optimistic about NATO's response, especially at a moment when trans-Atlantic allies were failing to coordinate on travel restrictions and competing over supplies of medical equipment. In spite of this, NATO was able to leverage its experience in crisis management and disaster relief to provide two kinds of responses. [...] From this experience NATO could draw important lessons, from improving resilience to external threats to investing in readiness for catastrophic scenarios like a global pandemic. The fact that COVID-19 will continue disrupting the global economy and supply chains will have a negative impact on countries' defense spending and defense industries. However, given the resilience the alliance has shown so far, COVID-19 will not be the determining factor for the future of NATO. Instead, the chances for NATO to operate efficiently vis-à-vis growing global challenges will ultimately depend on a relaunch of trans-Atlantic relations."
Brookings Institution
De Maio, Giovanna
2020-10
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Democracy Under Lockdown: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Struggle for Freedom
From the Introduction: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has fueled a crisis for democracy around the world. Since the coronavirus outbreak began, the condition of democracy and human rights has grown worse in 80 countries. Governments have responded by engaging in abuses of power, silencing their critics, and weakening or shuttering important institutions, often undermining the very systems of accountability needed to protect public health. This is the conclusion of new Freedom House research on the impact of COVID-19 on democracy and human rights. [...] The research strongly supports the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the 14 years of consecutive decline in freedom. Not only has democracy weakened in 80 countries, but the problem is particularly acute in struggling democracies and highly repressive states--in other words, settings that already had weak safeguards against abuse of power are suffering the most. The findings illustrate the breadth and depth of the assault on democracy. [...] The following report summarizes the results of Freedom House's research into the impact of COVID-19 on democracy and human rights from January to August 2020. It describes five aspects of accountability that have been weakened: checks against abuses of power, protection of vulnerable groups, transparency and anticorruption, free media and expression, and credible elections. It concludes with a summary of the reasons for hope and a set of recommendations, along with the report methodology."
Freedom House (U.S.)
Repucci, Sarah, 1976-; Slipowitz, Amy
2020-10
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Covid-19 Disinformation and Social Media Manipulation: Covid-19 and the Reach of Pro-Kremlin Messaging
From the Introduction: "This research investigation examines Russia's efforts to manipulate the information environment during the coronavirus crisis. It leverages data from the European External Action Service's East StratCom [Strategic Communications] Task Force, which, through its EUvsDisinfo [EU vs. Disinformation] project, tracks pro-Kremlin messages spreading in the EU and Eastern Partnership countries. The taskforce monitors media in those countries to identify and expose Russian disinformation, maintaining a regularly updated database of samples. [...] Using this open-source repository of pro-Kremlin disinformation in combination with OSINT [open-source intelligence] investigative techniques that track links between online entities, we analyse the narratives being seeded about coronavirus and map the social media accounts spreading those messages."
Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Serrato, Raymond; Wallis, Jacob
2020-10
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Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy
From the Purpose and Scope: "The purpose of the 2020 Department of Defense EMS [Electromagnetic Spectrum] Superiority Strategy is to align DoD EMS activities with the objectives of the 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS), the 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS), and national economic and technology policy goals. This Strategy embraces the enterprise approach required to ensure EMS superiority by integrating efforts to enhance near-term and long-term EMS capabilities, activities, and operations. The Strategy informs the Department's domestic EMS access policies and reinforces the need to develop cooperative frameworks with other EMS stakeholders in order to advance shared national policy goals. The traditional functions of Electromagnetic Spectrum Management (EMSM) and Electromagnetic Warfare (EW)--integrated as Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO)--are addressed within the document's strategic goals. This 2020 Strategy builds upon the successes of and supersedes both the DoD's 2013 EMS Strategy and 2017 EW Strategy."
United States. Department of Defense
2020-10
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Re-Shaping of the Political Discourse in Times of Crises: The Italian Laboratory
From the Summary: "During the last decade, European party systems have experienced a profound overhaul. The emergence of new populist parties - in both the right and leftwing side of the political spectrum, the increasing salience of new issues and the reliance on new modes of communication have radically transformed mainstream political discourse. The Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has likewise reshuffled all previous political priorities and compelled officeholders and party leaders to calibrate their political discourse accordingly. [...] The authors present an appraisal of the discursive stance of Italy ' s main political parties through three different lenses: i) representative institutions, ii) notions of citizenship and iii) foreign policy. Crucially, this FEPS [Foundation for European Progressive Studies] Covid Response Paper elucidates how the Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted the sovereignist and nationalist discourse of populist forces in Italy at a time when issues of health and the strengthening of the state have gained prominent importance. The paper yields findings useful for the management of political communication by progressive forces across Europe. It offers recommendations on what Italy's main progressive party, the Partito Democratico, should do in order to increase its ability to determine Italy's political agenda: a better use of digital platforms, replacing neutral language with political-charged vocabulary, and the embracement of consistent frames and narratives."
Foundation for European Progressive Studies
Bottos, Giacomo; Desiata, Eleonora; Pareschi, Andrea
2020-10
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Recovering from the Pandemic: An Appraisal of Lessons Learned
From the Summary: "The coronavirus pandemic has taken an enormous toll on lives, health, and the economy. Even though it continues, countries around the world are planning for the post-pandemic recovery. This FEPS [Foundation for European Progressive Studies] Covid [coronavirus disease 2019] Response Paper provides observations from the failures and successes around the world in dealing with Covid-19 and its economic aftermath. Professor Stiglitz explains why, even with the best policies, the economic fall-out from Covid-19 is likely to be severe: there will not be a V-shaped recovery, but rather a U-shaped one. The real question is how deep the U will be, and how long it will take before a robust recovery. The author reviews the priorities for the recovery packages and highlights the areas in which government intervention is crucial. Lastly, Professor Stiglitz examines the latest developments of the European response to the pandemic and puts forward a set of recommendations to complete the recovery package."
Foundation for European Progressive Studies
Stiglitz, Joseph E.
2020-10
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Face Masks, Public Policies and Slowing the Spread of COVID-19: Evidence from Canada
From the Abstract: "We estimate the impact of mask mandates and other non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) on COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] case growth in Canada, including regulations on businesses and gatherings, school closures, travel and self-isolation, and long-term care homes. We partially account for behavioral responses using Google mobility data. Our identification approach exploits variation in the timing of indoor face mask mandates staggered over two months in the 34 public health regions in Ontario, Canada's most populous province. We find that, in the first few weeks after implementation, mask mandates are associated with a reduction of 25 percent in the weekly number of new COVID-19 cases. Additional analysis with province-level data provides corroborating evidence. Counterfactual policy simulations suggest that mandating indoor masks nationwide in early July could have reduced the weekly number of new cases in Canada by 25 to 40 percent in mid-August, which translates into 700 to 1,100 fewer cases per week."
National Bureau of Economic Research
Karaivanov, Alexander; En Lu, Shih; Shigeoka, Hitoshi . . .
2020-10
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National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
From the Executive Summary: "The National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (CARB), 2020-2025, presents coordinated, strategic actions that the United States Government will take in the next five years to improve the health and wellbeing of all Americans by changing the course of antibiotic resistance. This Plan is based on the U.S. Government's 2014 National Strategy for CARB, and builds on the first National Action Plan released in 2015 by expanding evidence-based activities that have already been shown to reduce antibiotic resistance, such as optimizing the use of antibiotics in human and animal health settings. This Plan continues to prioritize infection prevention and control to slow the spread of resistant infections and reduce the need for antibiotic use. To ensure that patients receive the right antibiotic care, the Plan supports innovative approaches to developing and deploying diagnostic tests and treatment strategies. A One Health approach, which recognizes the relationships between the health of humans, animals, plants, and the environment, is integrated throughout the Plan, with an expanded effort to understand antibiotic resistance in the environment. The Plan also focuses on collecting and using data to better understand where resistance is occurring, support the development of new diagnostics and treatment options, and advance international coordination."
United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
2020-10
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Open Data: Agencies Need Guidance to Establish Comprehensive Data Inventories; Information on Their Progress is Limited, Report to Congressional Addresses
From the GAO (Government Accountability Office) Highlights: "Federal agencies create and collect large amounts of data in support of fulfilling their missions. Public access to open data--data that are free to use, modify, and share--holds great promise for promoting government transparency and engendering public trust. Access to open data is particularly important in the current pandemic environment as government agencies, scientists, and the public work to understand and respond to COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] using data-focused approaches. The OPEN [Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary] Government Data Act includes a provision for GAO to report on federal agencies' comprehensive data inventories. This report examines the extent to which 1) OMB [Office of Management and Budget], GSA [General Services Administration], and NARA [National Archives and Records Administration] met their statutory requirements to facilitate the establishment of federal agencies' comprehensive data inventories; and 2) CFO [Chief Financial Officer] Act agencies developed data inventories in accordance with OMB guidance. GAO reviewed agencies' websites and related documentation, and interviewed OMB staff and GSA and NARA officials."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-10
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DOD Financial Management: Continued Efforts Needed to Correct Material Weaknesses Identified in Financial Statement Audits, Report to Congressional Committees
From the Document: "DOD is responsible for about half of the federal government's discretionary spending, yet it remains the only major federal agency that has been unable to receive a clean audit opinion on its financial statements. After years of working toward financial statement audit readiness, DOD underwent full financial statement audits in fiscal years 2018 and 2019. This report, developed in connection with fulfilling GAO's [Government Accountability Office] mandate to audit the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements, examines the (1) actions taken by DOD and the military services to prioritize financial statement audit findings; (2) extent to which DOD and its components developed CAPs [corrective action plans] to address audit findings in accordance with OMB [Office of Management and Budget], DOD, and other guidance; and (3) extent to which DOD improved its ability to monitor and report on audit remediation efforts."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-10
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Aviation Consumer Protection: Increased Transparency Could Help Build Confidence in DOT's Enforcement Approach, Report to Congressional Committees
From the GAO (Government Accountability Office) Highlights: "The Department of Transportation's (DOT) enforcement approach generally uses a range of methods to encourage compliance with consumer protection regulations, including conducting outreach and information-sharing, issuing guidance, and sending non-punitive warning letters for those violations that do not rise to the level that warrants a consent order. DOT usually enters into consent orders when it has evidence of systematic or egregious violations. Such orders are negotiated between DOT and violators (e.g., airlines) and typically include civil penalties. DOT officials see benefits from using consent orders, which can include credits for actions taken to benefit consumers or to improve the travel environment. Annual consent orders increased from 20 in 2008 to 62 in 2012, but then generally declined to a low of eight in 2019. GAO's analysis showed that the decline in consent orders was most marked among those issued against non-air carrier entities (e.g., travel agents), those addressing certain types of violations such as advertising, and orders containing smaller civil penalty amounts. DOT officials said that the agency did not change its enforcement practices during this time."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-10
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Fighting Inequality in the Time of COVID-19: The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2020
From the Summary: "This is the third edition of the CRI [Commitment to Reducing Inequality] Index, which ranks 158 governments across the world on their commitment to reducing inequality. It measures government policies and actions in three areas that are proven to be directly related to reducing inequality: 1. Public services (health, education and social protection); 2. Taxation ;3. Workers' rights. While these three thematic pillars remain unchanged, the 2020 CRI Index has seen significant changes in methodology from 2018. Each pillar now contains three levels of indicator: 1. Policy commitment indicators: these measure the commitment of governments through their policies (which may not always be implemented in practice); 2. Coverage or implementation indicators: these look at who is covered (or not) as a result of policy actions, or how well a government puts policies on paper into practice; 3. Impact indicators: these measure the impact of policy actions on levels of inequality. These changes to the index's methodology mean that a straight comparison between the scores of a country in the 2020 index and those for 2018 may not give an accurate picture of that country's performance. For this reason, our analysis of change focuses on concrete policy changes since the 2018 index."
Oxfam International; Development Finance International (Organization)
Martin, Matthew; Walker, Jo, 1976-; Lawson, Max (Policy scientist)
2020-10
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Aviation Cybersecurity: FAA Should Fully Implement Key Practices to Strengthen Its Oversight of Avionics Risks, Report to Congressional Requesters
From the GAO (Government Accountability Office) Highlights: "Modern airplanes are equipped with networks and systems that share data with the pilots, passengers, maintenance crews, other aircraft, and air-traffic controllers in ways that were not previously feasible (see fig. 1). As a result, if avionics systems are not properly protected, they could be at risk of a variety of potential cyberattacks. Vulnerabilities could occur due to (1) not applying modifications (patches) to commercial software, (2) insecure supply chains, (3) malicious software uploads, (4) outdated systems on legacy airplanes, and (5) flight data spoofing. To date, extensive cybersecurity controls have been implemented and there have not been any reports of successful cyberattacks on an airplane's avionics systems. However, the increasing connections between airplanes and other systems, combined with the evolving cyber threat landscape, could lead to increasing risks for future flight safety."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-10
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National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies
From the Introduction: "The National Security Strategy (NSS) lays out a vision for promoting American prosperity; protecting the American people, the homeland, and the American way of life; preserving peace through strength; and advancing American influence in an era of great power competition. It calls for the United States to lead in research, technology, invention, and innovation, referred to here generally as science and technology (S&T), by prioritizing emerging technologies critical to economic growth and security. The NSS also calls for the United States to promote and protect the United States National Security Innovation Base (NSIB), which it defines as the American network of knowledge, capabilities, and people - including academia, National Laboratories, and the private sector - that turns ideas into innovations, transforms discoveries into successful commercial products and companies, and protects and enhances the American way of life."
United States. White House Office
2020-10
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EMR-ISAC: InfoGram, Volume 20 Issue 40, October 1, 2020
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 sections: "White powder envelope sent to city council member contains fentanyl"; "Fire Adapted Communities can reduce firefighter fatalities and injuries"; "FEMA requests public feedback on NIMS [National Incident Management System] EMS [Emergency Medical Services] resources"; "Examining Housing and Shelter Systems in Disasters During COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]"; "FBI says hackers want to stoke doubt about the 2020 election"; "National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: #BeCyberSmart"; and "911 lines down in 14 states this week, technical cause unknown."
Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (U.S.)
2020-10-01
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Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate: H.R. 5619, Suicide Prevention Act
This is the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Cost Estimate as passed by the House of Representatives on September 21, 2020. From the Document: "H.R. 5619 would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to state, local, tribal, and territorial public health departments for the surveillance of self-harm. The act also would authorize the Secretary to award grants to hospital emergency departments to provide self-harm and suicide prevention services. CBO estimates that implementing this act would cost $197 million over the 2021 to 2025 period; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriations."
United States. Congressional Budget Office
2020-10-01
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Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate: H.R. 5821, Helping Our Senior Population in Comfort Environments Act
This is the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Cost Estimate as ordered reported by the House Committee on Ways and Means on February 12, 2020. From the Document: "H.R. 5821 would require hospice programs participating in Medicare to undergo periodic surveys to ensure they comply with federal standards. Under the bill, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) could collect civil monetary penalties from programs that fail to meet those standards. Under the bill, hospice providers that fail to report certain data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would be subject to a reduction in federal payments that is larger than the reduction applied under current law."
United States. Congressional Budget Office
2020-10-01
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What Can the United States Do to Prevent Another Pandemic? Commit to Modernizing Influenza Vaccines
From the Issue: "The Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has laid bare the acute vulnerabilities in the United States' health security policies and capacities. While the Covid-19 crisis is far from over, we cannot afford to be complacent about what has long been understood to be a principal health security threat: influenza viruses. [...] To address this threat, there are concrete steps the United States should take to combat chronic challenges with influenza vaccines. The United States should strongly support universal influenza vaccine (UIV) development. Until UIV is achieved, the United States should take specific steps to embrace the modernization of seasonal influenza vaccine production, boost vaccine demand and confidence, and ensure close collaboration with partners in the global influenza system."
Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington, D.C.)
Hayes, Madison
2020-10
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Nuclear Weapons: NNSA Plans to Modernize Critical Depleted Uranium Capabilities and Improve Program Management, Report to the Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate
From the Document: "High-purity DU [depleted uranium] is an important strategic material for ongoing and planned modernizations of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. However, according to NNSA [National Nuclear Security Administration] estimates, NNSA has a very limited supply of DU feedstock, and its current supply of DU metal will be exhausted in the late 2020s. NNSA also does not have the full range of capabilities needed to manufacture DU into weapon components needed for modernizing the stockpile. GAO [Government Accountability Office] has previously reported that NNSA has experienced challenges in restarting some technical manufacturing processes. A Senate committee report accompanying a bill for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 included a provision for GAO to examine NNSA's management of DU for nuclear stockpile modernization. GAO's report examines (1) the status of NNSA's efforts to obtain the necessary quantities of DU to meet stockpile modernization requirements; (2) the status of NNSA efforts to develop DU component manufacturing capabilities to meet stockpile modernization requirements; and (3) the extent to which NNSA is managing DU activities as a program, consistent with agency policy."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-10
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Hydra: The Strategic Paradox of Human Security in Mexico
From the Abstract: "Cartels in Mexico produce significant levels of violence and criminality in Mexico through their illicit narcotics trade. The effects of cartel activity spill over into the United States through immigration issues and narcotics deaths. In 2006, the Mexican government applied a counternetwork decapitation strategy to eliminate cartel leadership and thereby reduce criminality in an attempt to ease pressure from both sides of the border. The US supported the Mexican strategy through the Mérida Initiative to build security capacity. However, from 2006 to 2018 homicide rates per 100,000 residents increased in Mexico by 248 percent, while illicit narcotics trafficking and indicators of corruption, extortion, kidnapping, and human trafficking rose. I have shown, using secondary source material and analytical and qualitative methods, the nature of the illicit-narcotics problem and explain why past strategies failed. The problem facing the US and Mexico consists of deficient human security fueled by an illicit narcotics supply-demand dynamic rooted in societal issues and economic underdevelopment. Cartels take advantage of this shortfall. Because the Mexican government misdiagnosed the threat, it applied incoherent and unproductive measures more suited for a Clausewitzian war paradigm strategy. Finally, I identify a paradox in the narcotics legalization argument that harbors significant challenges to successful implementation and holds the potential for transforming a human security problem into an insurgency."
Air University (U.S.). Air Command and Staff College; Air University (U.S.). Press
Martin, Zachary
2020-10
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Race, Health, and COVID-19: The Views and Experiences of Black Americans
From the Introduction: "Racial disparities in health and health care have been longstanding and persistent in the United States. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, African Americans were experiencing lower rates of health insurance coverage, increased barriers to accessing health care, and worse health outcomes compared to their White counterparts. Black adults in the U.S. also face social and economic inequities, including higher rates of unemployment, that play a major role in shaping health. Beyond these factors, research shows that historic abuse and mistreatment of communities of color by the medical system and ongoing racism and discrimination drive disparities in health, contributing to lower quality of care, distrust of the health care system, and stress and trauma. Reflecting these experiences, KFF [Kaiser Family Foundation] surveys dating back to 1999 have documented a gap in trust of health care providers between Black and White Americans. The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has drawn new attention to and compounded these existing disparities in health and health care. [...] This work builds on KFF's long history of documenting racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care, as well as our history of using surveys to document the views and experiences of African Americans on broader issues of race, culture, and discrimination in partnership with media organizations like CNN [Cable News Network] and The Washington Post."
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Hamel, Liz; Muñana, Cailey; Artiga, Samantha . . .
2020-10
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FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin: October 2020
This October 2020 edition of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin contains the following articles: "National Park Service"; "Claremore, Oklahoma, Police Department"; "Mission Command in Policing"; "Bulletin Notes"; "Leadership Spotlight: Prompting Reflection"; "Perspective: Winning the War Within-An Effective Approach"; and "Suicidal Behavior in Preteens."
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
2020-10
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Our Vote 2020: 20 Ways to Secure a Full and Fair Election During the Coronavirus Pandemic
From the Summary: "The 2020 General Election is just over a month away. As the ongoing coronavirus pandemic jeopardizes the safety of in-person voting and President Trump raises unfounded objections to absentee voting, the American promise of free and fair elections is under threat. This report outlines 20 things that individual voters, employers, local governments, and state governments can still do now to secure the upcoming election."
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Reform. Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
2020-10
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Effective Resilience and National Strategy: Lessons from the Pandemic and Requirements for Key Critical Infrastructures
From the Executive Summary: "The coronavirus pandemic has generated enormous health and economic costs to the United States and exposed significant security vulnerabilities, particularly in the cyber and biological arenas. The resilient capabilities of the health, economic, and security sectors have been inadequate to the challenges. American deaths from the pandemic have far exceeded the combined total of lives lost in the conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The economy has suffered the greatest reverses since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The long-standing US strategies of overseas engagement and forward defense have had little relevance to a pandemic that is here in the United States affecting individuals, businesses, and governance. While the National Security Strategy identifies combating pandemics and promoting resilience as strategic objectives, the costs from the coronavirus have been far higher than the United States would have expected or should tolerate. The enormous challenges presented by the virus are reflective of a broader spectrum of resilience risks facing the United States. Since the turn of the century, three converging factors--the ever-increasing reliance on information and communications technology, the globalization of supply chains, and the rise of China as a competitor--have created vulnerabilities that have put the United States at increasing risk. Along with the biological and health risks that the pandemic has exposed, these vulnerabilities call for an expanded focus on resilience as a key element of US strategy."
Atlantic Council of the United States
Kramer, Franklin D., 1945-
2020-10
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COVID-19 and the Future of US Fertility: What Can We Learn from Google?
From the Abstract: "We use data from Google Trends to predict the effect of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic on future births in the United States. First, we show that periods of above-normal search volume for Google keywords relating to conception and pregnancy in US states are associated with higher numbers of births in the following months. Excess searches for unemployment keywords have the opposite effect. Second, by employing simple statistical learning techniques, we demonstrate that including information on keyword search volumes in prediction models significantly improves forecast accuracy over a number of cross-validation criteria. Third, we use data on Google searches during the COVID-19 pandemic to predict changes in aggregate fertility rates in the United States at the state level through February 2021. Our analysis suggests that between November 2020 and February 2021, monthly US births will drop sharply by approximately 15%. For context, this would be a 50% larger decline than that following the Great Recession of 2008-2009, and similar in magnitude to the declines following the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919 and the Great Depression."
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Wilde, Joshua; Chen, Wei; Lohmann, Sophie
2020-10
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Gender Gap in Aversion to COVID-19 Exposure: Evidence from Professional Tennis
From the Abstract: "We study the gender differences in aversion to COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] exposure. We use a natural experiment of the 2020 US Open, which was organized in the country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, and was the first major professional tennis tournament that was held after the season had been paused for six months. We analyze the gender gap in the propensity to voluntarily withdraw because of COVID-19 concerns among players who were eligible and fit to play. We find that female players were significantly more likely than male players to have withdrawn from the 2020 US Open. While players from countries characterized by relatively high levels of trust and patience and relatively low levels of risk-taking were more likely to have withdrawn than their counterparts from other countries, female players exhibited significantly higher levels of aversion to pandemic exposure than male players even after cross-country differences in preferences are accounted for. About 15% of the probability of withdrawing that is explained by our model can be attributed to gender."
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Lewandowski, Piotr; Kowalik, Zuzanna
2020-10
