GovWin SLED Weekly Coronavirus Recon

General

• State agency is investigating Texas’ spike in COVID positivity rate, Abbott says
  • Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that the state is investigating Texas’ positivity rate that has skyrocketed in recent weeks. While hospitalizations and daily new cases of the novel coronavirus have declined from record highs, the state’s positivity rate — the number of positive cases out of the total tested — has exceeded 20% in recent days.
• 5 new insights into Gov. Jared Polis’ coronavirus response and how COVID-19 is affecting Colorado
  • Specifically, Polis’ surrogates outlined how Colorado has spent billions in federal aid and the ways in which the governor has used his executive authority to prevent COVID-19 from spreading out of control.
  • The day-long hearing was a result of a bill passed by state lawmakers in recent months in an effort to provide them with more oversight over and insight into how the governor has handled the pandemic.
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Warns ‘Covid Fatigue’ Could Lead To Rapid Spread Of Virus
  • While visiting West Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott warned Texans about succumbing to “Covid fatigue” as it could potentially lead to another rapid spread of the virus.
• Private NYC coalition to share data with city for pandemic recovery
  • Eleven technology companies, nonprofits and community organizations have joined a coalition to share their proprietary data — such as where people are visiting, shopping, eating and conducting real estate transactions — in an effort to help New York City officials better understand the needs of residents during the coronavirus pandemic.
• For public health and economy, states are turning to data
  • As health officials and governors seek data to aid their grapples with the pandemic, which has brought 5.1 million COVID-19 cases to the United States and 165,500 deaths, state leaders are turning to data to get a handle on what their economies might look like in a few months without additional federal aid.
• Gov. Ducey Says Arizona Continues To See Progress With Downward Trajectory Of COVID-19
  • According to Johns Hopkins University data analyzed by The Associated Press, the 7-day rolling average of daily new cases in Arizona dropped over the past two weeks, going from 2,523 new cases per day on July 29 to 1,034 new cases per day on Aug. 12.
  • The 7-day rolling average of daily deaths in Arizona also declined over the past two weeks, going from 80 deaths per day on July 29 to 59 deaths per day on Aug. 12.

Funding & Economic Impact

• COVID-19 Complicates Tax Collection And Local Government Revenue
  • Local governments are trying to balance how to collect taxes during COVID-19 while also taking into account what can be paid.
• (Vermont) Tax Dept offers grants for local government COVID expense reimbursement
  • Vermont's units of local government, including counties, cities, towns, and various service districts, can now apply for reimbursement of COVID-19 eligible expenses through a grant program created under Act 137 of 2020.
• City Budgets Taking Historic Sales Tax Hit, NLC Data Shows
  • As government faces an ominous financial future, it is already dealing with what is likely the sharpest drop in sales tax revenue in at least 24 years, according to new estimates from the National League of Cities.
• Gov. Beshear Announces $6 Million In CARES Act Funding For Kentucky Area Development Districts
  • Gov. Andy Beshear announced today the Department for Local Government (DLG) has been awarded an additional $6 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act through the Economic Development Association (EDA). Funding will reimburse Kentucky’s 15 Area Development Districts (ADDs) for costs associated with the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19).
• Oregon cities, counties urge lawmakers to distribute promised COVID-19 funds
  • The League of Oregon Cities and the Association of Oregon Counties on Saturday called on state lawmakers to do as federal Treasury officials directed and allocate more Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities (CARES) Act Coronavirus Relief Fund dollars to local governments.
• (Kansas) Governor Laura Kelly Announces Second Round of CARES Act Funding Applications to Open Aug. 19
  • Governor Laura Kelly has announced businesses will soon be able to apply for a total of more than $130 million in grants to serve those most affected by the pandemic and for companies that can expand broadband access in the state.
• State and Local Budget Pain Looms Over Economy’s Future
  • The same dynamic poses one of the biggest threats to America’s recovery from the pandemic downturn. State governments are again experiencing extreme budget problems as they pay out increasing sums to cover unemployment and health costs caused by the coronavirus crisis while revenues from sales taxes and corporate and personal income tax payments plummet. States could face a gap of at least $555 billion through the 2022 fiscal year, according to one estimate.
• Murphy can borrow up to $9.9B during pandemic, New Jersey Supreme Court rules
  • The state Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration can borrow billions of dollars to offset state revenue losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
• New York cuts spending projections by $4 billion
  • The state has cut spending projections by $4 billion thanks to freezes on hiring, new contracts and pay raises.
• North Dakota approves $320M for pandemic relief; state's CARES Act funding nearly all allocated
  • $100 million will go to restore its unemployment insurance fund to pre-pandemic levels. The state Department of Health will get a $20 million allocation for testing within the North Dakota University System and $10 million for testing in the K-12 system. Another $7.5 million would go to contract tracing.
• (Wisconsin) Want to know how the state is spending COVID-19 funds? Here's a dashboard
  • Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced the launch of a dashboard that lays out where federal funding for COVID-19 has gone.
• (Washington) Gov. Inslee allocates $43 million to help protect undocumented, agricultural workers during COVID-19 pandemic
  • Gov. Jay Inslee announced $43 million will be distributed to help undocumented and agricultural workers in central and eastern Washington handle the coronavirus pandemic. The National Guard will also be deployed to that same area to help with coronavirus testing.
• (Kansas) Gov. Kelly opens second round of CARES Act funding applications
  • Governor Laura Kelly has announced the opening of the second round of CARES Act funding applications.
• (Maine) $4 million approved in second round of state funding for local COVID-19 prevention efforts
  • The Gov. Janet Mills Administration announced a second round of state funding to local COVID-19 public health, education, and prevention efforts. The state will provide $4 million to more than 80 Maine municipalities and Tribal governments as they continue to respond to the pandemic.
•  North Dakota approves $320M for pandemic relief; state's CARES Act funding nearly all allocated
  • The federal funds, which must be spent on pandemic-adjacent cost by the end of the year, have now been almost entirely allocated. However, more than $70 million of unspent funds could be doled out at future meetings of the Emergency Commission and Budget Section.
• (Connecticut) State Officials Push for More COVID-19 Funding for Small Businesses Amid Pandemic
  • Conn. Gov. Ned Lamont and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal are pushing for more COVID-19 funding for small businesses from the federal Payment Protection Program.
• Governor Whitmer requests full funding of the Michigan National Guard from president
  • Governor Gretchen Whitmer sent a letter to President Trump requesting that he fully fund the Michigan National Guard forces during their COVID-19 response through December 31, 2020.
• (New York) Governor Cuomo Announces $15.1 Million in Federal Funding to Support Emergency Planning and Response
  • Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced $15.1 million in federal funding is being made available to New York State and county emergency management agencies to support planning and operational readiness for any type of disaster New York may experience.

Procurement

• Global consulting firm McKinsey lands $5 million in coronavirus-related, no-bid contracts in Washington state
  • But the contracts — two of which are funded by those federal dollars — show how a global consulting firm has gotten into the coronavirus response business while government agencies at every level spend billions in a scramble to contain and adapt to the pandemic.
  • Typically, no-bid contracts are prohibited by state law. But after Inslee declared a state of emergency in early March, the director of Washington’s Department of Enterprise Services waived the competitive solicitation requirement “for goods and services that are directly related to the state’s response to the coronavirus.”

Higher Education

• College towns fear super-spreader semester as students descend
  • Local officials are bracing for a virus explosion triggered by young people living in tight quarters who disregard social distancing rules.
• Kansas Board of Regents approves CARES Act funding     
  • Millions of dollars of federal funding is heading to public colleges across Kansas.
  • The Board of Regents approved 91 million dollars of CARES Act funding.
• 'We have to do things differently': Tennessee colleges prepare for students' arrival
  • The Tennessee Higher Education Commission has worked over the summer to provide training opportunities for colleges and universities to prepare for the fall semester. Access to testing is also key to returning to campus, and over 30,000 COVID-19 tests have been secured for colleges and universities in the state, Krause said.
• University of Maryland to start fall classes online, asks students to stay inside, citing coronavirus risks
  • The state flagship school had planned to hold in-person classes in the fall. But Darryll J. Pines, the new president of U-Md., announced Monday that undergraduate classes would be held virtually until mid-September because of the prevalence of the coronavirus in Maryland and Prince George’s County, where the College Park campus is located.
• Maine’s universities will cancel fall and spring breaks to reduce COVID-19 risk
  • Maine’s public universities are canceling fall and spring breaks this academic year and restricting out-of-state travel for students as part of an effort to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading on campus. They’ll also reduce fall room and board costs for students living in university residence halls.
• Iowa universities waive ACT, SAT mandate for applicants during 'unprecedented time'
  • Standardized testing, while always a challenge for some, has become historically — and in some cases insurmountably — difficult for many during this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, prompting Iowa’s Board of Regents on Thursday to temporarily nix ACT and SAT scores from its application requirements.
  • The board’s emergency waiver of standardized test scores pertains to students applying to University of Iowa, Iowa State University, or University or Northern Iowa for the 2021-22 academic year.

K-12 Education

• Georgia schools move forward with reopening despite COVID-19 outbreaks
  • Georgia has moved forward with an in-person start to the academic year despite some schools opening then quickly closing because of COVID-19 outbreaks.
• South Carolina schools to receive $10 million worth of PPE from state
  • The money will buy hundreds of thousands of masks, gloves, nursing gowns, cases of disinfecting wipes, and hand sanitizer.
• (North Carolina) Gov. Cooper directs $95.6 million to support students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Governor Roy Cooper directed $95.6 million in new funding to help support K-12 and postsecondary students most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic who can benefit from support during the upcoming school year.
• Maryland school district reveals plan to let go of bus drivers, cafeteria workers over COVID-19
  • One local school district has plans to reduce its staff as it prepares for a semester of virtual learning.
  • Frederick County Public Schools, in Frederick County, Maryland, issued a 30-day notice to staffers working in its Food and Nutrition Services and Transportation departments Wednesday that some of their positions could go away by Sept.15.
• Data glitches delay whether California districts can seek waiver for in-person instruction
  • The data problems had resulted in an undercounting of the rate of Covid-19 infection and has led to the freezing on July 31 of a monitoring list that the state uses to tell localities whether they were ready to open schools or businesses. Without an updated list, districts have been unable to seek waivers in order to offer in-person instruction for elementary school students.

Health Care

• (California) Kaiser Permanente donates $63M to state Covid-19 contact tracing efforts
  • The grant will be used to hire and train up to 500 full-time contact tracers.
• (Hawaii) Governor Orders More Contact-Tracing As Cases Outpace Capacity
  • Governor Ige has directed the Department of Health to accelerate plans to ramp up training and staffing of people to work on Hawaii’s contact tracing efforts as initial push fell to understaffed employees.

Social Services 

• Montana will continue pause on work-search requirement for unemployment payments
  • The state department of labor said that it is extending a waiver to the suspension of the work search requirement for those who receive unemployment payments.
• $40 Billion in Unemployment Paid to 3.3 Million New Yorkers as Pandemic Devastates New York Workforce
  • As a new report indicates unemployment in New York City may be as high as 33%, the state’s labor commissioner testified at a Thursday legislative hearing that since early March, the New York Department of Labor (DOL) has paid almost $40 billion in unemployment benefits
• Proposed $300 Unemployment Benefit ‘Inadequate,’ Newsom Says California Working On Solutions
  • Governor Gavin Newsom provided an update on the state's economic recovery plan and said the state is still organizing the backlogged cases as a result of the recent data glitch. Newsom’s message to the business community recommended the most urgent economic recovery tool would be to stabilize the virus, to bend the curve and to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Justice/Public Safety

• (Massachusetts) Police working to educate, enforce Baker's COVID-19 regulations
  • State and local police are working to enforce Governor Charlie Baker's COVID-19 orders that limits the size of outdoor gatherings and fines those who are not wearing a face mask.
• Maryland senators make 19 recommendations to protect prisoners from COVID-19
  • The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee’s Courts & Criminal Justice Workgroup published a report Tuesday with 19 recommendations to help the state’s correctional and judiciary systems navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transportation

• (Minnesota) MnDOT Announces COVID-19 Research Funding
  • To proactively respond and inform future decision-making related to COVID-19’s impact on the transportation sector, MnDOT is investing in research to answer questions specific to the impact of the COVID crisis on Minnesota’s transportation system.
• Kentucky Gov. Beshear announces $6.4M in CARES funding for public transit
  • Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced Wednesday that his state’s Transportation Cabinet was awarded more than $6.4 million in CARES Act funding for public transit agencies.

Community Development/Housing

• For New Yorkers at risk of eviction, the city launched a new service
  • To help New York City renters avoid or navigate evictions as a result of the pandemic-driven economic downturn, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new online portal that centralizes virtually all of the city’s tenant-protection services.