GovWin SLED Weekly Coronavirus Recon

General

• Apple, Google: Contact tracing to become standard smartphone feature
  • Apple and Google announced that future versions of their mobile phone operating systems will include their jointly developed COVID-19 contact tracing platform as a built-in feature that users can voluntarily turn on if their states are using it.
• Indiana Set To Launch New Map To Help Schools Make Decisions About COVID-19
  • Indiana Governor Holcomb provided updates on the new map of color-coded counties that is set to launch in an effort to provide more information for schools and local officials to make decisions. The color levels range from Blue (minimal community spread), Yellow (moderate community spread), Orange (moderate to high community spread), and Red (high community spread).
• (Michigan) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extends coronavirus state of emergency through Oct. 1
  • Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday extended Michigan's state of emergency related to the coronavirus pandemic through Oct. 1.
• (Texas) For families without internet, Dallas libraries install outdoor Wi-Fi
  • Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson announced that four libraries will begin providing free public Wi-Fi during the day to support families and students who lack access at home.
  • The deployments will provide another necessary source of connectivity for 18,000 Dallas Independent School District families, 30% of which lack access to the internet at home
• How consolidated IT aided states’ pandemic responses
  • While it was a common problem for state governments about a decade ago, Minnesota CIO Tarek Tomes and Tennessee CIO Stephanie Dedmon said that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that recent consolidation efforts paid off in making it easier to react quickly to various agencies’ needs.

Funding & Economic Impact

• (California) San Diego County Adopts New Budget
  • The Board of Supervisors adopted a $6.5 billion revised budget for fiscal year 2020-21, with a $24 million increase for the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program to expand the program countywide. Another $5 million will provide testing, tracing, and treatment activities for K-12 schools.
• North Carolina Senate passes third COVID-19 relief package
  • The package sets aside $440 million for grants for parents to help offset unexpected costs related to school closures.
• Governor Ige explains how Hawaii is spending federal CARES Act money
  • $463 million has already been allocated for rental assistance, homeowners, evictions, and businesses impacted by the pandemic.
• Whitmer announces $5B banking investment in Michigan, and expanded COVID-19 testing
  • Huntington Bank has committed to a $5 billion, five-year investment to help small businesses and first-time home buyers struggling because of the pandemic.
• (Illinois) Local governments can seek COVID-19 expense reimbursements
  • The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) recently announced the amounts available to local units of government seeking reimbursement through the Local Coronavirus Urgent Remediation Emergency (CURE) funds. DCEO is administering the money that is provided to the state through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
• Political notebook: State lawmakers to reconvene this week, disperse remaining COVID-19 funds
  • The North Carolina General Assembly will reconvene in Raleigh Wednesday to disperse remaining COVID-19 funds, but legislators are concerned the federal government has yet to pass another round of funding.
• (Washington) Inslee announces additional federal funding to be distributed to local governments
  • Gov. Jay Inslee announced nearly $190 million will be awarded from the state’s federal stimulus funding to local governments that did not receive direct distributions under the CARES Act.
• FEMA Says It Will Stop Paying For Cloth Face Masks For Schools
  • Under the new guidance, FEMA will generally not reimburse states for the costs of cloth face coverings or personal protective equipment in nonemergency settings, including schools, public housing and courthouses. The policy goes into effect on Sept. 15.
• (New Mexico) Grant funding available for small businesses impacted by COVID-19 restrictions
  • Small businesses will soon be able to apply for grant funding that the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration awarded local governments, including San Juan County, Farmington, Aztec, Bloomfield and Kirtland.
• (Florida) Charlotte receives first Coronavirus Relief Fund allocation
  • Charlotte County got its first slice of funding from the state’s Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), which is a portion of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress and signed into law by the president in March.
• (North Carolina) COVID-19 relief bill contains earthquake recovery funds for four counties
  • The state legislature has approved providing up to $24 million toward aiding earthquake recovery efforts in Alleghany County and other affected areas.

Higher Education

• New York college sending students home for rest of fall semester amid rise in COVID cases
  • SUNY Oneonta is sending all students home for the rest of the fall semester after hundreds of coronavirus cases have been reported so far this school year. All in-person classes and activities for the rest of the semester are canceled after 389 students have tested positive for COVID since the semester started
• Chico State becomes first California university to close dorms after students move in
  • Chico State stands as a warning to college campuses across California that offer some classes in-person and open dorms to even a few students: despite all of their plans and significantly cutting back the number of people on campus, the coronavirus pandemic can still force universities to shut down and send students off campus. Other schools in the San Diego, CA area are considering the same action.
• Reopening Colleges Face Biggest Coronavirus Threat: Students
  • According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, more than a third of the country's 5,000 campuses are giving it a go despite a series of high-profile failures and despite the most obvious obstacle of all: counting on students to change their behavior.
  • On another note, the risk profile changes for smaller colleges that are located in remote parts of the country with few to no infections and that are prepared to test and trace.
• (Minnesota) Students at for-profit colleges more likely to benefit from federal coronavirus aid
  • Students at Minnesota’s for-profit colleges and universities were more likely to get a windfall from federal COVID-19 aid for students than those enrolled at the state’s public colleges and universities, according to an analysis of institutions’ spending reports. The formula used to determine how much funding colleges and universities got through the federal CARES Act this spring favored schools enrolling full-time, low-income students, which gave a boost to some small private programs.
  • The formula also showed that public institutions, especially community colleges, were short changed as a result; which in turn limited the funds colleges could give directly to students hit hardest by the pandemic.
• (Colorado) CU Boulder enrollment drops in face of COVID-19, administrators warn more budget cuts are looming
  • University of Colorado Boulder leaders expect decreased enrollment to exacerbate the steep budget cuts already levied upon the largest university in the state as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on higher education.

K-12 Education

• DHEC Begins Providing K-12 Cases of COVID-19 by School; South Carolina Announces Latest COVID-19 Update
  • The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) will begin providing twice-weekly reports on the number COVID-19 cases associated with staff and students at public and private schools in the state.
  • This school reporting will include for every school both cumulative and rolling 30-day counts of confirmed cases among students, teachers and faculty members, and will be updated on DHEC’s COVID-19 webpage twice a week.
• (Louisiana) K-12 schools in La. now required to report daily COVID-19 cases to Dept. of Health
  • A new emergency order from the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) requires K-12 schools to report their COVID-19 cases daily. This includes public, private, and charter schools.
  • LDH has partnered with the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) to create a universal online reporting system for all schools across the state to use. As for universities, they will report their cases to LDH weekly. Those case numbers are available on each university’s website.
• Teachers to give COVID-19 case report separate from Texas count
  • The Texas Education Agency is helping the Texas Department of State Health Services conduct weekly data collection. They also want public schools to report enrollment numbers on campuses.
• Addressing Social and Emotional Needs During COVID-19: Emerging Themes in School Reopening Guides
  • AIR says schools with essential conditions for learning maintain environments that are physically and emotionally safe, supportive, challenging, and socially and emotionally nurturing. CCSSO created a framework to address and respond to COVID-19 impacts on the K-12 education system and included conditions for learning in its guidance.
  • Since the COVID-19 disruption, there has been further research on the importance of social and emotional skill-building to help students manage difficulty in their lives. Research identifies student anxiety and depression as the two most urgent mental health issues.
  • A growing body of research suggests that developing teachers’ social and emotional competencies improves teacher well-being, reduces stress and burnout, and can reduce teacher and principal turnover.
• (New York) Cuomo Warns of COVID Spike From In-Person K-12; NYC Teachers Union May Hold Strike Vote
  • Gov. Andrew Cuomo has raised a warning flag for schools that are expected to reopen in person in some capacity in less than two weeks, forewarning that clusters of COVID-19 cases that have been popping in colleges will inevitably happen to some degree when K-12 starts the new year. He also said that the state can come in and "override the locality" if they believe that the schools should close back down, or in the case of NYC, remain closed.
• (Ohio) Gov. DeWine Orders New COVID-19 Reporting Requirements For K-12 Schools
  • DeWine’s order requires three things: for parents to notify schools if their child tests positive for COVID-19; schools will be encouraged to notify parents if there is a positive case in their child’s school building; and third, DeWine says that information should be made available to the public on the state health department's coronavirus website.
• (Indiana) State board of education finds fix to fully fund schools, for now
  • The Indiana State Board of Education voted to change the definition of “virtual student” for the upcoming fall count of student enrollment, guaranteeing schools will receive full funding for most of their students, regardless of how instruction is delivered, for at least the next six months.
• (North Carolina) Legislature passes COVID-19 relief, holds districts harmless for budget reductions due to declines in enrollment
  • House Bill 1105 passed the General Assembly with a 104-10 concurrence vote by the North Carolina House of Representatives.
  • The State Board of Education is directed to not reduce the allotments of public school units based on differences in the anticipated and the actual daily student membership.
• Virginia schools set to lose another $95 million in funding
  • Virginia schools are set to lose another $95 million in funding this year due to revisions in the state budget related to declining sales tax revenue.
• Board adds $1M to help get more Utah students connected to internet
  • The Utah State Board of Education voted to add $1 million from the agency’s state Coronavirus Relief Funds to extend the reach of a competitive grant program to bring broadband access or hotspots to the households of K-12 students.
• Loeffler joins push to underwrite private school tuition as part of COVID-19 relief
  • Sen. Lamar Alexander is pushing Congress to underwrite private school tuition as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic — one of his final acts as the Tennessee Republican heads for retirement from Congress.
• (Washington) County to consider providing $3 million in COVID-19 aid funds to local school districts
  • Spokane County may soon award the region’s school districts an estimated $3 million in COVID-19 funds to help districts provide day camps and internet access for students.
• South Dakota schools to receive $75 million in additional coronavirus relief funding
  • Public and private schools in South Dakota will be receiving an additional $75 million from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, according to a news release from Gov. Kristi Noem’s office.

Health Care

• Healthcare execs say telehealth is their No. 1 pandemic tech problem
  • A new report from research firm KLAS found that nearly half of the 19 healthcare executives surveyed say that either telehealth functionality or capacity has been their primary problem to solve during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis.
• CMS' requirement of a positive COVID-19 test for 20% bonus may be burdensome for hospitals
  • Failing to initially show a positive test result for a coronavirus patient could lead to appeals and administrative headaches.
• Missouri Medicaid rolls grow in pandemic
  • The number of people on Medicaid in Missouri has jumped by nearly 100,000 people since the pandemic hit the United States.
• Healthcare Still Waiting on $121B in COVID-19 Financial Relief
  • So far, about $291 billion of COVID-19 financial relief for the healthcare industry has been disbursed or committed, leaving about $121 billion still up for grabs, the Committee for a Responsible Budget recently reported.
• (Hawaii) Thousands Participate In Free ‘Surge’ Coronavirus Testing Site On H-3 Freeway
  •  In efforts to maximize testing operations, Hawaii officials opted to perform a second mass testing for COVID-10 on the H-3 Freeway. The Honolulu Fire Department reported more than 5,000 people had registered for the free COVID-19 test, a 2,000 increase from the first mass testing on the H-3 Freeway.
• Alabama Making Plans To Distribute Vaccine
  • Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris has announced that state officials are working to set up a vaccine distribution system, acknowledging this vaccine distribution to be unlike any similar efforts from before.
• State launches no-cost COVID-19 testing program for uninsured North Carolinians
  • The Department of Health and Human Services has launched the NC Medicaid Optional COVID-19 Testing program, which will reimburse Medicaid providers for costs associated with COVID-19 testing of people without insurance.
• Multiple U.S. Decision-Making Entities Complicate Task Of Allocating Coronavirus Vaccines
  • In the case of Covid-19, multiple, sometimes competing, decision-making entities at the federal, state, and local levels may complicate the task of allocating coronavirus vaccines once they become available.

Social Services 

• California unemployment agency investigating potential widespread fraud
  • California lawmakers said that there is growing evidence of possible widespread fraud in the state’s unemployment benefits system, and the agency in charge confirmed it is investigating whether people have filed dozens of bogus claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Alabama To Begin Additional $300 In Weekly Unemployment Benefits
  • Alabama will began paying an additional $300 per week in unemployment benefits to those who qualify. The funding comes from FEMA disaster relief funds with the acknowledgement the money could run out at any time. Those who are eligible will be notified by the Alabama Department of Labor.
• (New Mexico) New supplemental SNAP increases also being issued in September
  • New Mexico households receiving SNAP benefits will receive the maximum amount for their household size in September
• (New Jersey) Murphy Announces Child Care Initiative from Coronavirus Relief Fund
  • With the school year starting in New Jersey amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Phil Murphy Aug. 28 announced plans to dedicate $250 million in funding from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund, which will provide additional support to children and their families, as well as for thousands of child care providers with resources.
• Florida to Receive Grant to Supplement COVID-Related Unemployment Assistance
  • The state of Florida has been approved for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that will supplement the state’s unemployment benefit for workers whose job was lost as a result of economic conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor announced Saturday.
• (Hawaii) State secures an additional week of federal unemployment assistance
  • State officials announced that Hawai?i was approved for an additional week of the Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) program, which would add one additional week of a $300 plus-up for various types of unemployment benefits.

Transportation

• (Michigan) U.P. airports to receive funds from CARES Act
  • U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters on Wednesday announced the Department of Transportation will award more than $8.7 million to airports across the Upper Peninsula.
• A week after restoring nearly full service, Metro faces possibility of budget cuts
  • Barely a week after Metro restored nearly normal service for both bus and rail, transit officials say they could be forced to consider severe cuts unless the system receives more federal money.

Public Utilities

• Covid-19 Shut-Off Moratoriums Set to Expire, with Possibly Millions Facing No Electricity
  • Across the county, moratoriums on gas, electricity, and water shut-offs put in place in the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic are about to expire, and by Oct. 1, 36 states may not have utility shut-off moratoriums, according to data from Carbon Switch.

Community Development/Housing

• (Oklahoma) Tulsa will use $1.5 million in CARES Act funds for homeless response
  • The City Council on Wednesday approved the allocation of $2 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding, which includes $1.5 million to shelter and serve people without homes.
• Massachusetts launches new support for communities hardest hit by COVID-19
  • Lawrence and other cities who've experienced persistently high COVID-19 transmission will receive new enforcement, education and public health assistance from the state government.