COVID-19 Resources
Deteriorating US infrastructure is impeding our ability to compete in the global economy. Each state's infrastructure conditions and needs are graded in this interactive map. These “Report Cards” includes insights and recommendations for each state, courtesy of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The Infrastructure Futures report (pdf) offers insights into the “megatrends” shaping the future of infrastructure, including top risks that disrupt development and top opportunities for growth. The report, a collaboration of Global Infrastructure Hub, the World Economic Forum, and Boston Consulting Group, offers thought-provoking exercises based on scenario planning.
As Congress debates President Biden’s infrastructure investment proposal, transportation, water, and other systems are facing major shortfalls, causing the U.S. to fall behind global competitors. Analysts predict a total “infrastructure gap” of more than $2 trillion needed by 2025 that — if unaddressed — would result in almost $4 trillion of GDP lost. This Council on Foreign Relations report, The State of U.S. Infrastructure, reviews the major infrastructure challenges and potential strategies to close the gap.
With states shifting their focus to economic recovery, MultiState provides a regularly updated guide to understand how states compare in terms of being open for business. “Openness” factors include mandatory curfews, definitions of “non-essential” businesses, and whether restaurants are open for in-person service.
Following passage of the American Rescue Plan Act into law, the Rockefeller Institute of Government published this helpful piece parsing all COVID-19 federal relief allocations to date, with interactive graphics including distributions by state, county and city, plus allocations per capita.
In this report commissioned by QuickBooks, economist Susan Woodward analyzed the pandemic‘s financial impact on 1 million small businesses, including an analysis of revenue impact by city, state and industry sector. Small business revenues dropped by 22% or $4.6 billion nationwide in April 2020. However, since that low point, 61% of industries have seen a largely sustained recovery.
The CDC releases regularly updated advisories on what is safe for people to do once they are fully vaccinated, including a printable chart of recommendations concerning visits and travel.Chart: What You Can Do Once You Have Been Fully Vaccinated
How much of the $168 billion for K-12 and higher education allocated by American Rescue Plan (ARP) will your state receive? Learn here (pdf). How can these funds be spent? Georgetown University’s FutureEd explains that states must subgrant not less than 90% of the total allocation to local educational agencies to fund interventions that respond to students’ academic, social, and emotional needs and address the needs of underrepresented student subgroups. Districts must spend at least 20% of the money addressing learning loss. They can also fund facility upgrades, such as ventilation, sanitization, and broadband access.
Lack of access to sufficient food has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. According to an updated analysis by Feeding America, 42 million Americans (1 in 8), including 13 million children (1 in 6), may experience food insecurity in 2021. Many were food insecure or at risk of food insecurity before COVID-19 and are facing greater hardship since unemployment skyrocketed. Significant racial disparities in food insecurity remain in the wake of the pandemic, as 21% of Black individuals may experience food insecurity this year compared to 11% of white individuals.
How much will your state receive from the American Rescue Plan's nearly $130 billion for elementary and secondary education? EducationWeek provides an overview of K-12 funding, including “maintenance of equity’ requirements for allocating funds to address learning loss, summer enrichment and after school programs. See the dropdown menu for state-by-state data.
A state-by-state table from the Congressional Research Service reports estimated FY2021 state grant amounts (pdf) under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund including state grants, estimated reservations of funds to address learning loss, summer enrichment and after-school programs, and the minimum amount that Local Education Agencies (LEAs) would receive.
As strategies such as mask-wearing, social distancing, and vaccinating all teachers are adopted across the country, more schools are re-opening. Updated school re-opening data are available at Burbio, which actively monitors 1,200 districts, including the 200 largest school districts in the US. See Trends and Observations as well as maps showing in-person schooling percentages by state and county.
The CDC’s COVID Data Tracker ranks states by the percentage of COVID vaccine doses received that have been administered. As of this writing, 54% of doses distributed nationwide have been administered, with fewer than 3.5 million people having received both required doses. The Dakotas and New Mexico lead the nation in percent of doses administered.
Who serves in a state or local government until election results are known?What "holdover provisions” are in place when a winner cannot be determined in time to assume office on the standard date? How close does an election have to be to trigger an automatic recount?Does your state require automatic recounts? Where are the state government trifectas?In which states does one party hold the governorship plus majorities in both the senate and house? Updated with 2020 election results as they become available.
This fascinating map contrasts the wide disparity in the number of voters represented by each vote in the Electoral College. Florida has the least power with 536,000 per electoral vote, while Wyoming has 144 people per Electoral Vote.
With most state legislatures reconvening in a few short months and COVID cases on the rise, many legislatures are determining how to meet safely (link courtesy Pew/Stateline). Options include meeting in person, moving to a new location, going virtual, and opting for a hybrid plan. At least 162 state legislators nationwide have tested positive for the virus to date, and three have died.
Following several years of declining or flat enrollment growth, states expect Medicaid enrollment and spending each to jump by more than 8 percent in FY 2021, chiefly due to a slumping economy amid the pandemic and federal conditions to maintain coverage to access enhanced federal matching funds, according to a new Medicaid budget survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
As the wave of COVID-induced layoffs continues, many states are grappling with evaporating funds for unemployment benefits that could force cuts to payments or hikes in business taxes. The Pew Trust reports that 31 states already are using federal CARES Act dollars or seeking federal loans to keep unemployment coffers funded.
This resource from the National Governors’ Association details a range of actions taken by governors and state officials in economic development organizations to support small businesses and regional economies in the wake of COVID-19. Also accessible is the entire archive of NGA Policy Memos.
States and localities are being forced to balance a surge in demand for government expenditures with unprecedented funding shortfalls. McKinsey & Co.’s analysis Reimagining the Postpandemic Economic Future looks at what is required of cities, states, and the nation to come back from the pandemic even stronger by "deliberately addressing the vulnerabilities the crisis has exposed."
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Economic Recovery
States Beat Revenue Expectations in FY 2020
State tax collections declined 5.5% in FY 2020 according to new Census data, reports the Tax Foundation.
Restoring Your State's Economy
RestoreYourEconomy.org provides extensive resources and best practices for state leaders regarding the restoration of local economies.
COVID-19 Impact: $121 Billion Loss in State Revenues
A new analysis by the Tax Foundation of 12 states’ revenue forecasts indicates $121 billion two-year tax revenue losses compared to FY 2019.
Repurposing Incentives for Small Business Recovery
The Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) and Smart Incentives have collaborated on a guide for adjusting incentive programs to support small business recovery.
Evaluation Tax Incentives
The Pew Charitable Trusts have developed best practices for policymakers to evaluate their tax incentives regularly and rigorously.
COVID-19 Impact: $121 Billion Loss in State Revenues
A new analysis by the Tax Foundation of 12 states’ revenue forecasts indicates $121 billion two-year tax revenue losses compared to FY 2019.
Essential Reading: Economic Outlook from CBO
In a July 8 report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that GDP will be $3.9 trillion lower over 2020–2021 than in its January projections.
Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience
A bipartisan group of experts have developed a roadmap for how to safely reopen the economy (Roadmap to Panedemic Resilience).
COVID-19 Infection and Testing
Epidemiologists Endorse Requiring COVID-19 Vaccinations
The Society of Healthcare Epidemiologists — a major US infectious diseases medical society — outlined recommendations for requiring COVID-19 vaccinations.
PhRMA Tracks COVID-19 Trials
The PhRMA website tracks progress on 1449 current clinical trials, including trials of 477 unique therapies and unique 28 vaccines, and provides summaries of member companies activities to combat the pandemic.
Children and COVID-19 Risk
The CDC reports that children are at risk for severe COVID-19, with one in three hospitalized children being admitted to Intensive Care Units. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that there were 97,078 new child cases reported in the two weeks ending July 30 (241,904 to 338,982), a 40% increase.
Nursing Homes at Risk
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) compiled a state-by-state breakdown of facilities meeting this criterion and assessed their access to vital PPE, including N95 masks, surgical masks, and gowns.
COVID-19 Projections
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington provides state-by-state projections on Infections and Testing, Hospital Resource Use, and Social Distancing.
White House Issues Warning to 11 Cities
The White House Coronavirus Task Force, issued the warning during a July 22 call with state and local leaders.
COVID-19 Cases May Be Drastically Under-Reported
In some parts of the U.S., COVID-19 cases may be 6 to 24 times higher than reported figures, according to new antibody data from the CDC.
Troubling Trends for COVID-19 Infection Rates
Johns Hopkins University of Medicine is tracking and updating key metrics in a Testing Trends Tool to help leaders make informed decisions about lifting measures that control disease transmission.
How Risky Is Opening the Mail? Going to a Bar?
The riskiness of everyday activities during the pandemic, from Low Risk: “opening the mail” to High Risk: “Going to a bar,” was rated by physicians from the Texas Medical Association COVID-19 Task Force and the Committee on Infectious Diseases (BE INFORMED: Know Your Risk During COVID-19).
COVID-19 In U.S. Prisions
The Marshall Project site provides daily updates on the data for each state.
Speed of COVID-19 Contagion, by State
This site provides state-by-state values for Rt — a measure of how fast the COVID-19 virus is spreading or slowing.
Worldwide Tracker
This searchable snapshot of the COVID-19 crisis, updated daily, provides data down to the state or county level on COVID cases, deaths, and testing reports.
COVID-19 Projections
Analysis from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (COVID-19 Projections).
Federal Issues
Additional Aid to the States?
Stateside reports on how some states have had a windfall from the CARES Act, while others still face significant shortfalls.
Access to Federal Funds
For updates on States’ access to federal funds, see Federal Funds Information For States website and its section focused on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Note: Some pages require log-in).
Re-opening Schools
Safely Reopening the Schools
Two Johns Hopkins professors offer a framework of 6 components that policy makers should consider embracing in order to create the conditions for successful school reopening.
General
COVID-19 Disproportionately Affects Minorities
COVID-19 is affecting Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color the most, according to the COVID Racial Data Tracker, a collaboration between the COVID Tracking Project and the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research.
Women's Equality, State-by-State
To determine where women receive the most equal treatment, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 17 key indicators of gender equality.
Interstate Travel Restrictions
States seeking to impose interstate travel restrictions must navigate a very uncertain legal path, according to a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Mask Mandates, State by State
A newly published list of statewide orders regarding face coverings indicates that Minnesota, Ohio and Indiana are the latest states to issue mask mandates.
Social Bubble FAQ
Hawaii’s State Department of Health has published Social Bubble FAQ’s: Bubble Up Don’t Bubble Over as part of its COVID-19 guidance.
Re-opening Status of the States
A report tracking each state’s re-opening status, updated daily, is online now at The New York Times.
State Legislative Actions and Fiscal Projections
NCSL is providing state-by-state updates on operations of state legislatures, including remote sessions and adjournment or suspension of legislative sessions.
COVID-19 Policy Tracker
State-by-state updates on legislative sessions, travel restrictions, “stay-at-home” orders, and official declarations are tabulated in the COVID-19 Policy Tracker from MultiState Associates.
2020 Legislative Session Dates
Legislative session dates and deadlines are available on a downloadable chart provided by MultiState.
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