INFORMS Open Forum

Good evening,

Please find today's Daily COVID-19 Update below and attached. Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.

Thank you,

Ashley Smith

INFORMS Members in the News

• Who is at risk if college football is played this fall? (The Hill)

          Member: Sheldon Jacobson

• Who should get the COVID vaccine first? It's more complicated than you think (NY Daily News)

          Member: Sheldon Jacobson

• Government should prioritize critical supply chains to apply stress-test (Times of India)

          Member: David Simchi-Levi

• Electric cooker an easy way to sanitize N95 masks: Study (The Shillong Times)

          Member: Julie Swann

• 'Safety' Is the New Selling Point To Run A Store (Drew Reports News)

          Member: Julie Swann

• COVID crisis amid election season: 3 threats to consider before making a very important decision (The Hill)

          Member: Natalie Scala

• Covid-19 Created an Elective Surgery Backlog. How Can Hospitals Get Back on Track? (Harvard Business Review)

          Member: Tinglong Dai

• New study suggests clinics dedicated to treating flu could help lessen impact of ongoing pandemic (Reports Watch)

          Member: Julie Swann

U.S. Federal Policy Update  

• Over the weekend, President Trump issued unilateral executive measures on the following four issue areas for COVID-19 relief: Unemployment Insurance, Continued Student Loan Payment Relief, Renter and Homeowner Assistance, and Payroll Tax Deferrals.
• Lawmakers from Congress and the Trump administration are reconvening this week to resume their negotiations for a legislative relief package. This afternoon, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin signaled that the administration is open to further negotiations, stating that they're "prepared to put more money on the table" and "are not stuck at the $1 trillion."
• The White House published a fact sheet on "President Trump's historic coronavirus response."
• S. Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Taiwanese Health & Welfare Minister Chen Shih-Chung signed a memorandum of understanding on health cooperation between the two countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published their coronavirus testing plans for all 50 states and U.S. territories, for July through December.  
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency extended a temporary final rule through December 31^st, which authorizes FEMA to allocate certain personal protective equipment (PPE) materials solely for domestic use and to not be exported from the U.S. without approval from FEMA.
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell confirmed this afternoon that the Senate would be in session all week.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that the agency had awarded $472 million in CARES Act funds to Public Housing Authorities assisting low-income families impacted by the pandemic.

Global Response

• President Trump announced that he has requested the G7 meeting to be postponed until after the November elections.
• World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that there are "two essential elements to effectively addressing the pandemic," which are that "leaders must step up to take action and citizens need to embrace new measures."
• United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged schools in England that they have a "moral duty" to reopen their schools full-time for in-person education.
• The Hong Kong government announced that they would extend their current social distancing measures through August 18^th, with a ban on public gatherings of more than two people.

 

State Update 

• California Governor Gavin Newsom stated that President Trump's aforementioned unemployment insurance executive order – which would require the state to cover $100 of the $400 unemployment benefit – was unfeasible to implement. Governor Newsom cautioned that "the money simply does not exist," adding that the state "simply does not have the capacity" and they "are simply not in that position." The order was met with similar reactions from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
• Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that he would be allocating $96 million in grants to small businesses in the state that have been impacted by COVID-19.
• Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced that the state government has opened a COVID-19 "mega-testing site," which will operate from today through August 26^th in Atlanta.

 

Economic Update

• U.S. stocks were on the rise today, with all three indices closing the day with minor increases. The Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.2%, the S&P 500 by 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 0.4%.

  

Latest Impact Data

• In the United States: Over 5,246,197 cases and 166,090 deaths in 50 states, 4 territories, and Washington, D.C.
• Worldwide: Over 20,232,415 and 737,786 deaths in at least 204 countries and territories.

 

In the News

• Blame game in high gear as COVID relief talks stall (Politico)
• Nation's governors raise concerns about implementing Trump executive moves, call on Congress to act (Washington Post)
• Federal Government Sent Workers Nearly $250 Billion in $600-a-Week Jobless Aid (The Wall Street Journal)
• State aid emerges as major hurdle to reviving COVID-19 talks (The Hill)

------------------------------
Ashley Smith
Public Relations Specialist
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
------------------------------