Harris, Sanders and Markey want to give every American $2,000 per month
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two former Democratic presidential hopefuls and a Senate colleague have an aggressive new proposal to expand direct financial assistance to Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sens. Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Edward J. Markey are joining in draft legislation that was reviewed ahead of official release by CQ Roll Call that would provide $2,000 per month to all Americans, including children and others of those claimed as dependents.
Sanders, a Vermont independent and two-time presidential candidate who caucuses with the Democrats, said in an advance statement that the economic crisis brought on by coronavirus-related closures will require far more than the one-time $1,200 checks provided to many Americans already.
“During this unprecedented crisis, Congress has a responsibility to make sure that every working-class household in America receives a $2,000 emergency payment a month for each family member. I am proud to be introducing legislation with Senator Harris to do exactly that,” Sanders said. “If we can bail out large corporations, we can make sure that everyone in this country has enough income to pay for the basic necessities of life.”
“Bills will continue to come in every single month during the pandemic and so should help from government. The Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act will ensure families have the resources they need to make ends meet. I am eager to continue working with Sens. Sanders and Markey as we push to pass this bill immediately,” added Harris, a onetime rival to Sanders for the Democratic nomination for president.
Markey also highlighted the significance of recurring payments for workers in the gig economy. Many of those workers may be attempting to access the expanded unemployment insurance provided in a recent coronavirus response law.
Proposals similar to the one being announced Friday by Harris, Markey and Sanders are circulating.
In the House, Democratic Reps. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania and Don Beyer of Virginia have written to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on the same topic. In a letter dated Tuesday, they sought a $2,000 payment in the next round of assistance, with provisions for additional payments to be made at least once a quarter if circumstances warrant.
— CQ-Roll Call
White House aide tests positive for virus ahead of Pence trip
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mike Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, President Donald Trump said, delaying the vice president’s departure for a trip to Iowa.
She is the second person working at the executive residence to contract the virus this week.
The White House did not officially announce Miller’s positive test and she hadn’t been identified as the infected aide until a meeting between Trump and House Republicans. In answer to a question from a reporter about the infected aide, Trump said that Pence’s “press person,” whom he identified as “Katie,” had tested positive after a reporter asked him about it.
“I don’t know much about it,” Trump said. “She’s a wonderful young woman.”
She is the only member of Pence’s press staff named Katie.
Pence was delayed for more than an hour Friday morning as six staffers who had contact with Miller were removed from his plane, according to a senior administration official. They were asked to have themselves tested for infection and to go home, the official said. Miller was not aboard.
Miller has not recently had direct contact with Trump, according to a senior administration official, but she is married to one of Trump’s closest aides, Stephen Miller.
The official declined to discuss Miller’s recent contact with the vice president.
— Bloomberg News
The next COVID crisis could be a wave of suicides
NEW YORK — The isolation, grief and economic hardship related to COVID-19 are creating a mental health crisis in the U.S. that researchers warn could make the already-rising suicide rate worse.
A study released Friday tried to quantify the toll. The paper, which was not peer-reviewed, found that over the next decade as many as 75,000 additional people could die from “deaths of despair” as a result of the coronavirus crisis, a term that refers to suicides and substance-abuse-related deaths. The research was done by the Well Being Trust and researchers affiliated with the American Academy of Family Physicians.
“I hope in 10 years people look back and say, ‘Wow, they way overestimated it,’” said John Westfall, director of the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care, who co-wrote the report.
Even as the American economy rebounded after the last recession, suicides and overdoses cut into Americans’ life expectancy. Mental health experts worry that the economic uncertainty and social isolation of the pandemic will make things worse at a time when the healthcare system is already overwhelmed. The suicide rate in the U.S. has been rising for two decades, and in 2018 hit its highest level since 1941, according to a viewpoint piece in JAMA Psychiatry in April called “Suicide Mortality and Coronavirus Disease 2019 —A Perfect Storm?” Author Mark Reger argued social distancing could hamper suicide prevention efforts and said ensuring that doesn’t happen is a “national public health priority.”
“There’s a paradox,” said Jeffrey Reynolds, president of a Long Island-based nonprofit social services agency, the Family and Children’s Association. “Social isolation protects us from a contagious, life-threatening virus, but at the same time it puts people at risk for things that are the biggest killers in the United States: suicide, overdose and diseases related to alcohol abuse.”
Since the middle of March, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits has reached around 33 million. Americans’ life satisfaction has eroded rapidly throughout that same period, according to a poll released Friday by Gallup. The percentage of U.S. adults who are very content with their current lives and optimistic about their future outlook has dropped to a low not seen since November 2008 during the Great Recession, showed the analysis of more than 4,000 surveys.
“One of the main things people should take away from this paper is that employment matters,” said Benjamin Miller, chief strategy officer at the Well Being Trust and a clinical psychologist who worked on the paper. “It matters for our economic livelihood, and for our mental and emotional health.”
The financial uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with the pervasive sense of isolation exacerbated by stay-at-home orders, makes this moment unprecedented — different from any other economic downturn in recent history — and thus, potentially difficult to model based on past events.
“It’s useful to have a wake-up call,” said Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “Unemployment is going to have a very important impact on deaths of despair.”
Already data are showing lower-income Americans are more affected by coronavirus-related stress than their wealthier counterparts: A Kaiser Family Foundation study that showed 26% of people making less than $40,000 a year said the virus had a “major negative impact” on their mental health; only 14% of people making $90,000 or more a year said the same held true for them.
— Bloomberg News
Trump-touted malaria drug fails in COVID-19 study
A malaria drug that was touted by U.S. President Donald Trump and widely used as a potential treatment for patients with COVID-19 failed to help those with infections stay off ventilators or live longer, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City evaluated 1,376 consecutive patients who showed up at the emergency room with symptoms of coronavirus, comparing the fate of those who received the medication, hydroxychloroquine, to those who didn’t. Nearly 60% of the patients were given the drug, typically within 48 hours, and they were more sick on average.
There were no significant differences between the groups in the number of patients who needed to be put on a ventilator or who died, even after taking into account the differences between them, the researchers said.
Additional study, including more scientifically rigorous trials that randomly assign patients to treatment groups, is needed to confirm the findings, they said.
The results shouldn’t be used to rule out either a potential benefit or harm from the drug, though they don’t support use of the medication outside of clinical trials, the researchers said. The medical center updated its clinical guidance to remove the suggestion that patients with COVID-19 should receive it.
When Trump began touting the drug as a “game changer” for COVID-19 in March, a frenzy ensued as hospitals, patients and doctors raced to secure supplies. The president has stopped talking about hydroxychloroquine as the tide has now turned against the drug, with regulators and scientists raising concerns about potentially serious side effects.
— Bloomberg News
A convention during a pandemic: RNC hires health expert to advise on 2020 event
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With the coronavirus pandemic expected to linger through the summer, Republican National Convention officials announced Thursday the hiring of a veteran health expert with national security experience to help ensure convention safety.
Dr. Jeffrey Runge, a former medical director for the Department of Homeland Security and one-time clinical research director at Carolinas Medical Center, was named the convention’s Senior Adviser for Health and Safety Planning. The convention, scheduled to begin Aug. 24, is expected to bring 50,000 people to Charlotte.
“We’ve said from the start that we are committed to hosting a safe and successful 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, and Dr. Runge’s background and expertise will be instrumental as we continue to map out our plans that ensure the health safety of all convention participants and the Charlotte community,” convention President and CEO Marcia Lee Kelly said in a statement.
“We recognize this hasn’t been done before, but we remain committed to leading the path forward so that we can safely reopen America and create a five-star event for attendees and guests this August.”
Many North Carolina businesses are expected to begin a slow reopening on Friday, though restaurants and bars could remain closed for most business for weeks.
Kelly told reporters last month that “public safety is paramount,” even if delegates have to wear masks and social distance in the arena. Organizers are flexible, she said, but forging ahead.
“Four months from now is like a world, a universe, away,” she said. “We are moving full steam ahead to … a historic convention.”
Runge has a long resume.
He’s co-founder of Biospatial, a company that provides “operational intelligence and situational awareness of threats to health and safety at the local, state and federal levels.” The company was an offshoot of his work with the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
He’s also an adviser to the Chertoff Group, a consulting company headed by former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Runge, in addition to being the department’s former Chief Medical Officer, was the Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs in the Bush administration.
“We think that his role will naturally evolve,” said convention spokeswoman Tatum Gibson. “But we feel confident that it’ll allow us to make the convention as safe as possible for all attendees.”
