Tag: COVD-19

U.S. sets covid-19 death record as researchers point to asymptomatic cases as a major source of infections

Washington Post logo

As the United States marked another grim milestone Thursday with more than 4,000 covid-19 deaths reported in a single day, federal disease trackers said research suggests that people without symptoms transmit more than half of all cases of the novel coronavirus.

The findings, which came from a model developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, demonstrate the importance of following the agency’s guidelines about wearing a mask and maintaining social distance, officials said. The emergence of a more contagious variant of the virus, first detected in the United Kingdom and discovered in eight U.S. states by Thursday, places the federal agency’s conclusion about how the virus is spreading in even starker relief.

“Those findings are now in bold, italics and underlined,” said Jay C. Butler, the CDC deputy director for infectious diseases and a co-author of the study published in the journal JAMA Network Open. Continue reading.

Trump’s executive orders spark confusion among businesses and state officials as Democrats assail them as ‘unworkable’

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s new executive actions to disburse coronavirus relief without congressional approval sparked confusion and frustration on Sunday among businesses, Democrats and state officials, some of whom lamented the moves would not deliver the necessary relief to cash-strapped Americans.

Trump’s directives were aimed at offering new unemployment benefits, protecting renters from eviction and postponing the payment of a federal tax. But some economists and experts faulted these policies as incomplete or legally questionable — raising the prospect that the president’s attempt to boost the economy may have only a muted impact.

One of the orders allows employees making less than $104,000 to delay until January payment of a payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare. Trump added he would try to change federal rules next year to make the deferred payments into a permanent tax cut — but only if he is reelected. Continue reading.

Minnesota House Transportation Finance Committee Holds Remote Hearing

House DFL logoSAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the Minnesota House Transportation Finance Committee held a remote hearing to discuss proposed legislation to address various transportation-oriented topics that are related to the COVID-19 disease. Provisions included extending out-of-state commercial driver’s licenses, extending some vehicle registrations, providing for the issuing commercial driver’s licenses, requiring agency reports to the legislature, and specifying allowable uses of federal aid.

“Minnesotans are encountering challenging times with disruptions to their daily lives during the COVID-19 pandemic,” remarked Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis) Chair of the Transportation Finance Committee. “We’re working on bipartisan basis to address these difficulties, especially with vehicle registrations and driver’s licenses, and we’re doing so in a way that ensures the public has the opportunity to weigh in.”

“It’s important that an adaptive and functioning government continues during this pandemic, and updating our requirements in relation to transportation needs to be a part of that,” said Rep. Brad Tabke (DFL – Shakopee) Vice Chair of the Transportation Finance Committee and author of the proposed language. “Things are quickly changing for Minnesotans, and this proposed legislation would provide clarity when it comes to commercial driver’s licenses and vehicle registration, while also ensuring the legislature remains informed.”

Testimony was given by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Minnesota Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Council, and Sam Rockwell of Move Minnesota. The committee advanced the legislation to the Ways and Means Committee.

Supporting documents can be found on the committee’s website, and a video recording of the hearing can be found on the House Public Information’s YouTube channel.

 

To Respond to the Coronavirus, Trump Should Take 6 Immediate Steps on the Defense Production Act

Center for American Progress logoThis week, President Donald Trump announced that he was invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA) to leverage domestic private industry to generate much-needed medical equipment and supplies that are essential to an effective national COVID-19 response. Unfortunately, he walked it back on Twitter fewer than 24 hours later. Trump is now emphasizing that states need to figure out how to find these supplies on their own. This is a mistake. The Trump administration needs to implement the DPA immediately to avoid the worst-case scenario of massive shortages of critical medical supplies across the country.

Below are six steps that President Trump should be taking now on the DPA:

  1. Stand up a management structure for effective and efficient DPA implementation. This structure will need to bring together state, federal, and other authorities involved in dealing with the coronavirus crisis to ensure that the movement and distribution of needed supplies and equipment can be expedited to those areas most in need. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Response Coordination Center (NRCC), which has representatives from all federal departments and agencies, should take the lead, working in close coordination with the Defense Logistics Agency on logistics and national distribution. Continue reading.

How Trump’s response to coronavirus matches up with what experts say government should do

Washington Post logoThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that the spread of the novel coronavirus within the United States is “inevitable.” On Wednesday evening, amid criticism from Congress and 2020 Democratic candidates, as well as alarm among some conservatives, President Trump held a news conference to try to assure Americans this virus wasn’t amounting to much and that the government is doing all it can to stop its spread.

So what are the steps the government can take, and why are there bipartisan concerns that the Trump administration is ill-prepared to protect us? Let’s walk through this.

What the government should do, in three steps, according to health officials

Step 1: Figure out who is infected and where they are. We don’t have a complete picture right now, but developing a quick test that can be performed at the doctor’s office for anyone who comes in sick should be the top priority for health officials, said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University who specializes in pandemics. From there, every other decision will flow. Continue reading.