“Authoritarianism, Disinformation, and Good Governance During COVID-19”
Quelle: U.S. House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee (May 8, 2020)
The Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Representative Eliot L. Engel, led a bipartisan Committee virtual briefing. Among the witnesses were former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; Derek Mitchell, President of National Democratic Institute (NDI); and Daniel Twining, President of International Republican Institute (IRI). Beyond the official statements by each witness, Members of the Committee inquired on how to strengthen democracies, how to deal with China, the role of NGOs in safeguarding democracies worldwide along with the US role in the upcoming G7 meeting.
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“Covid-19: Global Implications and Responses”
Quelle: Congressional Research Service (CRS, May 8, 2020)
Sara M Tharakan, Coordinator, Analyst in Global
Health and International Development; et.al.
The CRS briefing paper provides a sobering snapshot of Covid-19’s spread and its effect in the U.S. and globally, as well as policy action taken by different stakeholders. To date there are over 50 pieces of related legislation introduced in the 116th Congress. Further the report outlines a timeline of action taken by the WHO, including the EU led Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator ($7.4 billion), which the U.S. has not joined. Instead, the report lists the different sources of funding and agencies that oversee U.S. global engagement regarding the pandemic.
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“What Is the World Doing to Create a COVID-19 Vaccine?”
Council on Foreign Relations (May 13, 2020)
Claire Felter, Writer
This background report highlights what governments and researchers are doing in the race to produce a Covid-19 vaccine in sufficient quantities. Key questions addressed by Felter include: What is the status of a COVID-19 vaccine? What research is being done on COVID-19 treatments? Who is involved? How does a vaccine work? How is a vaccine developed? Can vaccine development be sped up? Can a vaccine end the coronavirus pandemic?
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„How to deal with the coming pandemic debt crisis“
Quelle: Atlantic Council (May 11, 2020)
Hung Tran, nonresident Sr. fellow
According to Hung Tran's analysis, massive government fiscal stimulus packages, while needed to cushion the devastating impact of the pandemic recession, will boost public sector indebtedness sky high this year. “It is important to have a public debate about post-pandemic fiscal strategy which is effective and equitable to deal with the aftermath of the crisis," says the author, a former executive managing director at the Institute of International Finance. His study puts an emphasis on low income countries. As a result, more action would be needed by World Bank and IMF.
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„U.S.-India Economic Ties: Opportunity through Crisis“
Quelle: Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS, May 13, 2020)
Richard M. Rossow, Senior Adviser and Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies
Leading up to the Covid-19 crisis, the Indian economy and U.S.-India economic relations were on a downward spiral. India’s growth rate was dropping, trade protectionism on both sides was causing friction, and real goods trade plummeted in the latter half of 2019. The author argues in his analysis that the Covid-19 crisis may cause both sides to take additional shortsighted steps on trade. "But our respective leaders should take the time to see what we have learned about what is going right with our economic relationship, see the new opportunities for positive cooperation, and take steps to protect economic linkages from further crises", says the author, who has a strong background in public and private sector work between U.S. and India.
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“Millions of Workers Have Lost Their Jobs, and Some Are Never Coming Back. An Ambitious Approach Is Needed.”
Quelle: Aspen Institute (May 11, 2020)
Alastair Fitzpayne, Executive Director, Future of Work Initiative, and Ethan Pollack, Associate Director, Policy, Future of Work Initiative
COVID-19 has disrupted major traditional industry sectors and displaced millions of American workers. Even as the economy reopens, many will not be able to return to their previous jobs. Fitzpayne and Pollack's article addresses what policy makers will need to do to meet this challenge in a climate where the American workers will have to become more agile and transition into new opportunities. The key to this: Lifelong learning and training.
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“Holding the Chinese Communist Party Accountable for Its Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak”
Quelle: Heritage Foundation (May 12, 2020)
Olivia Enos, Senior Policy Analyst, Asian Studies Center
According to Olivia Enos, “the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has obfuscated important facts and information about COVID-19.” From her point of view, the “CCP’s decision to limit knowledge about the novel coronavirus significantly hampered other countries’ abilities to respond to their own domestic outbreaks.” Enos calls on the U.S. to take up the banner in creating an international investigative mechanism responsible for identifying individuals and entities within the Chinese government, of whom she claims are “culpable for suppressing information, misleading the public, and repressing freedom during COVID-19.” Her analysis lays out what the U.S. government response to China has been so far and recommends which further actions must be taken to hold China accountable.
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“Bank Capital and the Coronavirus Crisis”
Quelle: Center for American Progress (CAP, May 12, 2020)
Gregg Gelzinis, Senior Policy Analyst
In his analysis for the Center for American Progress, the author warns of a possible banking crisis in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and gives policy recommendations to the Federal Reserve on how to avoid it. Gelzinis analyzes “capital errors” by federal banking officials before and during the pandemic and outlines four concrete measures to take now.
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„Reopening the coronavirus-closed economy“
Quelle: Brookings Institution (May 12, 2020)
James Stock, Professor of Political Economy, Harvard University
The author argues in this briefing paper that the partial economic shutdown that began in mid-March 2020, along with additional non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as social distancing, are “flattening the curve” of measured infections and deaths, but at a tremendous economic cost. This briefing paper, published at Brookings as an excerpt with a link to the full paper, makes four key points: (1) Non-economic NPIs play a critical role in getting people back to work: (2) Low-contact, high-value workplaces should be reopened quickly, and returning workers must feel safe; (3) Some high-contact activities might need to be suspended indefinitely, for example, live fans at professional sports; (4) Avoid a second dip that could induce severe long-term damage to workers and the economy.
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“Johns Hopkins launches online course to train army of contact tracers to slow spread of COVID-19”
Quelle: Johns Hopkins University (May 11, 2020)
Katie Pearce, Writer
To help address the corona pandemic, the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, together with Bloomberg Philanthropies have developed an online training course for individuals preparing to become contact tracers. A long-used public health strategy, contact tracing aims to break the chain of transmission of infectious diseases. Large scale contact tracing efforts are underway in the State of New York and according to a recent report by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, across the United States, an estimated 100,000 contact tracers could be required to help limit the spread of COVID-19 and safely reopen the economy. The free course is available to anyone in the world.
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„For Renaissance Italians, combating black plague was as much about politics as it was science“
Quelle: Stanford University (May 12, 2020)
Paula Findlen, Professor of Early Modern Europe and History of Science
According to this interview with Stanford's historian Paula Findlen, the inability of 14th-century medicine to stop the plague from destroying societies throughout Europe and Asia helped advance scientific discovery and transformed politics and health policy. “The history of pandemics – and not only plague – puts our fears about COVID-19 in perspective. Earlier societies repeatedly found ways to recover from the impact of disease, with far fewer resources than we have today. I hope this reminds us to be creative and resilient with our own challenges,” says Findlen. In her research, she identifies lessons for today's pandemics.
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Weitere Kurzbeiträge:
“State Data and Policy Actions to Address Coronavirus”
Quelle: Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF, May 12, 2020)
To date, U.S. states have taken several actions to mitigate the spread of the virus and reduce barriers to testing and treatment for those affected. This data tool provides state-level information on social distancing measures, health policy actions to reduce barriers to COVID-19 testing and treatment, and additional state-level data related to COVID-19, including testing and provider capacity. These data will be updated regularly, and new information will be added in response to the evolving situation.
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„Where Low-Income Jobs Are Being Lost to COVID-19“
Quelle: The Urban Institute (May 8, 2020 - monthly updated tool)
According to this data set, the neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID-19 job losses are home to workers in industries like tourism and transportation, which are bearing the brunt of the economic shutdown. To identify which neighborhoods are most at risk, the Urban Institute estimates how many low-income jobs have been lost by residents in each census tract or are at risk when stay-at-home orders are in place. Low-income jobs are defined here as jobs with annual earnings below $40,000. The authors hope “that this tool can help nonprofits, foundations, and government target support where it’s most needed.”
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“Turn Contract Tracing Apps On By Default. Americans Shouldn’t Need to Opt-In”
Quelle: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF, May 11, 2020)
Daniel Castro, Vice President
In this commentary, Daniel Castro says that a key part of any strategy aiming to ease various lockdown restrictions were so-called contact-tracing applications for cell-phones, using Bluetooth and/or GPS location data in order to establish who infected individuals came in contact with. The author recommends that contact tracing legislation debated in Congress should not require users actively opting in, because, Castro argues, at least 60% of the population had to use this app to be effective. This adoption level was already hard to reach, also taking into consideration that only 81% of American adults owned cellphones – and only half of which enabled Bluetooth.
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“Needed: A Blueprint for a Post-Vaccine World”
Quelle: RAND Corporation (May 11, 2020)
Krishna B. Kumar, Director RAND International Research, et al.
In their blog for the RAND Corporation, the authors say, although a vaccine against COVID-19 may be months away, that “the time to plan for a post-vaccine world is now”. They call for a “global blueprint” to plan for financing, property rights, production and strategies for dispensation worldwide, making sure that poor populations are not left out. The authors lay out possible plans to account for the high cost of research and development of a vaccine.
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Für die aktuellen Zahlen zur Corona-Krise in den USA:
The Centers for Disease Control:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The Johns Hopkins University:
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
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