Public Policy and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has very quickly challenged the American people and our policy makers at every level in an almost unprecedented fashion. The public policy response to the crisis has been uneven across the states and the federal response is still unfolding through negotiations between Congress and the Trump Administration and is likely to continue in a developmental mode well into the future.

The COVID-19 pandemic has very quickly challenged the American people and our policy makers at every level in an almost unprecedented fashion. The public policy response to the crisis has been uneven across the states and the federal response is still unfolding through negotiations between Congress and the Trump Administration and is likely to continue in a developmental mode well into the future. We will be linking information about the policy implications of the pandemic and policy initiatives to contain and compensate victims of the pandemic to this section of our pandemic site. In this section we will house information about initiatives like the CARES act and other legislation and executive actions centered around the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in the United States. Responses by federal agencies, as well as state and local governments, centered on or resulting from the spreading pandemic will be included here.

This section on public policy amid COVID-19 is one of many sections the Claude Pepper Center has developed in response to the pandemic, and we are expanding our coverage daily. Other sections detail COVID-19’s impact on Long Term Care, the medical field, the economy, and many other aspects. The impact is likely to be felt both in this country and around the world for many years to come.

Reports:

• Strong Social Distancing Measures In The United States Reduced the COVID-19 Growth Rate (Health Affairs)
• Forecasting Estimates of Poverty during the COVID-19 Crisis (Columbia University)
• SARS-CoV-2 in environmental samples of quarantined households (University Bonn)
• The effect of large-scale anti-contagion policies on the COVID-19 pandemic (Nature)
• Estimating the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 in Europe (Nature)

Important Links

• ‘We want them infected’: Trump appointee demanded ‘herd immunity’ strategy, emails reveal (Politico)
• The Logic of Pandemic Restrictions Is Falling Apart (The Atlantic)
• Blue states are blowing the Covid-19 response, too. We need a national response (CNN)
• What Biden Can Do to Combat COVID Right Now (KHN)
• As Broad Shutdowns Return, Weary Californians Ask ‘Is This the Best We Can Do?’ (KHN)
• The coronavirus emergency is worsening by the second. We must take immediate action. (The Washington Post)
• US health official says pandemic clearly can be controlled (AP News)
• White House signals defeat in pandemic as coronavirus outbreak roils Pence’s office (The Washington Post)
• ‘We’re not going to control the pandemic’: White House chief’s comments undermine Trump’s message (Politico)
• America and the Virus: ‘A Colossal Failure of Leadership’ (The New York Times)
• Ex-FDA head: White House coronavirus strategy of waiting for vaccine is “problematic” (Axios)
• WHO is right: lockdowns should be short and sharp. Here are 4 other essential COVID-19 strategies (The Conversation)
• I thought Trump couldn’t handle the virus any worse than he already had. I was wrong. (The Washington Post)
• The Health 202: Health officials call an anti-lockdown paper ‘dangerous.’ Its authors say they just want the idea debated. (The Washington Post)
• Protecting the profits of a few could prevent vaccine access for all (The Hill)
• A Dose of Optimism, as the Pandemic Rages On (The New York Times)
• Proposal to hasten herd immunity to the coronavirus grabs White House attention but appalls top scientists (The Washington Post)
• Dying in a Leadership Vacuum (New England Journal of Medicine)
• In the U.S., states — not science — decide what counts as a coronavirus outbreak (The Washington Post)
• Preventing next pandemic requires new bill’s global solutions (The Hill)
• The Mask Hypocrisy: How COVID Memos Contradict the White House’s Public Face (KHN)
• This Overlooked Variable Is the Key to the Pandemic (The Atlantic)
• How America Lost 200,000 Lives to Covid-19 (The New York Times)
• Let’s not lose our 3rd chance to contain COVID-19: OPINION (ABC News)
• We’ve reached 200,000 deaths. Our response has gotten even worse than it was at 100,000. (The Washington Post)
• Despite Claims, Trump Rarely Uses Wartime Law in Battle Against Covid (The New York Times)
• A ‘distressed’ Birx questions how long she can remain on White House task force, sources say (CNN)
• Trump says he might reject stricter FDA vaccine guidelines (Politico)
• FDA to soon issue tougher emergency vaccine standards: report (The Hill)
• 200,000 American lives lost from COVID-19: Here’s what we’ve learned (ABC News)
• CDC retraction shows chaos of Trump’s Covid response (CNN)
• Signs of an ‘October Vaccine Surprise’ Alarm Career Scientists (KHN)
• What sets apart countries that successfully handled the pandemic? Failure. (The Washington Post)
• Trump’s attacks highlight CDC’s stumbles on public health messaging (STAT)
• Stop Expecting Life to Go Back to Normal Next Year (The New York Times)
• Pandemic preparedness panel slams collective failure to heed warnings (Reuters)
• America Is Trapped in a Pandemic Spiral (The Atlantic)
• The Unique U.S. Failure to Control the Virus (The New York Times)
• Dear Commissioner Hahn: Tell the Truth or Resign (Medscape)
• Trump’s disastrous virus response is veering toward another terrible turn (The Washington Post)
• Op-Ed: How politics and muddled CDC messaging helped doom U.S. efforts to fight coronavirus (Los Angeles Times)
• White House privately warned states of Covid-19 ‘red zone’ threat, records show (Politico)
• Controversial doctor gives Trump highly dubious advice on pandemic (MSNBC)
• Opening up without control of COVID-19 is recipe for disaster, says WHO (Reuters)
• To improve our dismal Covid-19 performance, establish common ground between lockdown and open economy (STAT)
• Coronavirus is spreading in schools, but the federal government isn’t keeping count (NBC News)
• Politics Slows Flow of US Pandemic Relief Funds to Public Health Agencies (KHN)
• New York Has Tamed the Virus. Can It Hold Off a Second Wave? (The New York Times)
• Winter is coming: Why America’s window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 is closing (STAT)
• As a grim fall approaches, Trump team feels increasingly confident (Politico)
• The Great Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020—7 Critical Lessons (JAMA)
• Businesses Want a Shield Against COVID-19 Lawsuits. But What About Customer Safety? (PEW)
• America’s uniquely bad Covid-19 epidemic, explained in 18 maps and charts (Vox)
• 26 states will soon face shortage of ICU doctors (ABC News)
• ‘If I Hadn’t Been Transferred, I Would Have Died’ (The New York Times)
• Here’s How to Crush the Virus Until Vaccines Arrive (The New York Times)
• The problem with holding up Sweden as an example for coronavirus response (The Hill)
• 5 former CDC directors on where US went wrong in its COVID-19 response (ABC News)
• Virus keeps spreading as schools begin to open, frightening parents and alarming public health officials (The Washington Post)
• The Unique U.S. Failure to Control the Virus (The New York Times)
• The world has shown it’s possible to avert Covid-caused election meltdowns. But the U.S. is unique. (Politico)
• ‘Too many are selfish’: US nears 5 million virus cases (AP News)
• 50,000 more people are dead, and there’s no end in sight. It didn’t have to be this way. (The Washington Post)
• Coronavirus threat rises across U.S.: ‘We just have to assume the monster is everywhere’ (The Washington Post)
• A variety of responses by US states hurt the country’s ability to contain the coronavirus pandemic, Fauci says (CNN)
• A Viral Epidemic Splintering Into Deadly Pieces (The New York Times)
• World Health Organization: Coronavirus pandemic is ‘one big wave’ (The Hill)
• Let’s throw the kitchen sink at covid-19 and get back to normal by October (The Washington Post)
• US gets reality checks on Covid-19 vaccine, duration of symptoms (CNN)
• The key lesson from school openings abroad: Contain the virus (Vox)
• How California went from coronavirus success story to disaster — and how it can regain control (The Washington Post)
• As shutdowns loom, report says poor COVID-19 data hampered US response (CIDRAP)
• How New York has been able to keep coronavirus at bay while other states see surges (ABC News)
• Why We’re Losing the Battle With Covid-19 (The New York Times Magazine)
• Public’s disconnect from COVID-19 reality worries experts (The Hill)
• ‘From worst to first’: These states have tamed coronavirus, even after reopening. Here’s how they’re doing it, and why they can’t let up (CNN)
• America Should Prepare for a Double Pandemic (The Atlantic)
• The Pandemic Could Get Much, Much Worse. We Must Act Now. (The New York Times)
• How I changed my mind on ‘Medicare For All’ (The Hill)
• The U.S. is the accidental Sweden, which could make the fall ‘catastrophic’ for Covid-19 (STAT)
• How McKinsey Is Making $100 Million (and Counting) Advising on the Government’s Bumbling Coronavirus Response (ProPublica)
• Profile of a killer: Unraveling the deadly new coronavirus (AP News)
• Trump administration’s delayed use of 1950s law leads to critical supplies shortages (CNN)
• America Drank Away Its Children’s Future (The New York Times)
• Fauci blames virus surge on U.S. not shutting down completely (Reuters)
• States that reopened too quickly amid coronavirus are facing a problem: Getting the genie back in the bottle (ABC News)
• Smart countries have the edge in fighting covid-19. The United States isn’t one of them. (The Washington Post)
• Those right-wingers who praised Sweden’s response to COVID-19 are looking pretty stupid now (AlterNet)
• Americans made ‘tremendous sacrifices.’ The great reopening of the pandemic summer still got derailed (CNN)
• When It Comes To Reopening Schools, ‘The Devil’s In The Details,’ Educators Say (npr)
• Trump trashes CDC school-reopening guidelines — then CDC updates them (CNN)
• The Pandemic Experts Are Not Okay (The Atlantic)
• Analysis: How A COVID-19 Vaccine Could Cost Americans Dearly (KHN)
• The Daily 202: Some U.S. health officials lament a coronavirus crisis that didn’t need to happen (The Washington Post)
• How America Lost the War on Covid-19 (The New York Times)
• New rules: Foreign pupils must leave US if classes go online (AP News)
• Situation ‘really not good’ as new COVID-19 cases break records: Fauci (ABC News)
• To save lives, get partisanship out of public health science (STAT)
• Americans sacrificed to flatten the curve. Their leaders have let them down. (The Washington Post)
• Hospitals must treat infection control as a priority, not a profit center (STAT)
• Six Takeaways Of The KHN-AP Investigation Into The Erosion Of Public Health (KHN)
• Hollowed-Out Public Health System Faces More Cuts Amid Virus (KHN)

Image courtesy of Patrick Semansky / AP