„4 rules to stop governments misusing COVID-19 tech after the crisis”
Quelle: World Economic Forum (May 15, 2020)
Wafa Ben-Hassine, Consultant, International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group;
Philip Dawson, Lead, Public Policy, Element AI
In this article, the authors argue that public health currently trumps individual rights when it comes to the use of coronavirus data. However, they state that decisions around the use of such data and certain technologies ought to be reconsidered once the crisis recedes and conclude that technology-driven responses to crises ought to be underpinned by human rights. The authors also recommend that COVID-19 responses should draw on international best practices; that data collection should be minimized, and purposes limited; and that transparency standards were important in reporting and tracking.
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“The Rocky Road to a Mobile World after COVID-19”
Quelle: Migration Policy Institute (MPI, May 2020)
Meghan Benton, Director of Research
In this commentary for the Migration Policy Institute, the author looks at various travel restrictions that were imposed by countries around the world. She spotlights different strategies to manage mobility between countries with various levels of coronavirus cases. Benton shows “potential game changers” to reintroduce international travel again and looks ahead at how mobility might look like in the time after the pandemic subsides. She calls COVID-19 a “watershed moment”.
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„Coronavirus Crisis Update: Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Covid-19 and How to Move Forward “
Quelle: Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS, May 19, 2020)
What can the U.S. Congress do right now to re-spond to COVID-19, including ensuring access and affordability for new treatments and a vaccine, and building stimulus packages for every level of public administration? U.S. Senator Chris van Hollen (D-MD) shares his thoughts with Andrew Schwartz Chief Communications Officer, and J. Stephen Morrison, CSIS’ Senior Vice President and Director, Global Health Policy Center, on how expanding national service could help to ramp up testing and contact tracing and alleviate unemployment. The Senator also unpacks why American global leadership is crucial and how China, from his point of view, is taking advantage of this moment to gain strategic advantage. Listen to the podcast here and download the transcript here.
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“Don’t count on suing China for coronavirus compensation”
Quelle: The Brookings Institution (May 18, 2020)
Robert D. Williams, Nonresident Senior Fellow;
David Dollar, Senior Fellow,
During this podcast, two China experts delve into several questions pertaining to U.S.-China relations in the context of the coronavirus: Is suing China - through lawsuits filed in U.S. courts - for the human and economic costs of the coronavirus legally viable? How would it affect other American interests around the world and the U.S.-China economic relationship in particular? Is the weakening of the sovereign immunity principle in the U.S. interest? Read the transcript here or listen to the podcast here.
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“CDC Activities and Initiatives Supporting the COVID-19 Response”
Quelle: Centers for Disease Control (May 20, 2020)
This 60-page document summarizes CDC’s initiatives, activities, and tools in support of the “Whole-of-Government” response to COVID-19 and provides an overview of CDC’s surveillance and control goals and activities. Primary goals are to monitor the spread and intensity of the pandemic, to enable contact tracing to slow transmission, and to identify disease clusters requiring special intervention. According to the CDC, these indicators “can aid public health and government officials in their decisions when to reopen communities.”
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“Differential Effects of Intervention Timing on COVID-19 Spread in the United States”
Quelle: Columbia University (May 20, 2020)
Sen Pei, Associate research scientist, et al.
This - not yet peer-reviewed - scientific paper assesses the effects of early non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 spread in the United States and uses county-level observations of reported infections and deaths, in conjunction with human mobility data and a metapopulation transmission model to quantify changes of disease transmission rates in U.S. counties from March 15, 2020 to May 3, 2020. The study finds “significant reductions of (viral) reproductive numbers in major metropolitan areas in association with social distancing and other control measures.” The authors state that “had these same control measures been implemented just one to two weeks earlier, a substantial number of cases and deaths could have been averted.”
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“Fighting Coronavirus in Rural Com-munities by Protecting Incarcerated People”
Quelle: Brennan Center for Justice, (May 18, 2020)
Sunwoo Oh, Senior Research & Program Associate
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed that rural populations in the U.S. are especially vulnerable to virus outbreaks. One contributing factor: the large number of prisons in rural areas. The rate of spread is estimated to be more than 150% higher in prisons than in the general population. Moreover, correctional systems lack adequate treatment capabilities and overwhelmed the few, already overburdened, rural medical facilities. Sunwoo Oh's analysis concludes that the federal government must address this in its coronavirus relief efforts to stem future outbreaks.
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“Reducing Future Risks of Pandemics”
Quelle: Heritage Foundation, National Coronavirus Recovery Commission (May 19, 2020)
The National Coronavirus Recovery Commission, consisting of 17 experts and think tankers in consultation with the Heritage Foundation, has newly released its updated list of 264 recommendations for policy makers and the private sector for preventing future pandemics. The recommendations highlight steps on all levels of government and the public should take to prevent and prepare the country against possible future virus outbreaks. The current report over-view as well as the list of recommendations can be found here.
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“Unvetted scientific research about COVID-19 is becoming a partisan weapon”
Nieman Lab at Harvard University (May 15, 2020)
Laura Hazard Owen, Deputy Editor
Harvard University’s Nieman Lab latest weekly article about data and reporting on misinformation and “fake news” points to the dangers of the release or “pre-printing” of scientific research before it is peer-reviewed. By widely reporting on unvetted COVID-19 related research, news media run the risk of disseminating unproven theories. According to the author this can “lead to misin-formation”. Researchers also looked at the number of coronavirus videos that contain “misleading information” on video sharing sites.
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“Election 2020 and the COVID-19-Pandemic: Legal Issues in Absentee and All-Mail Voting”
Quelle: Congressional Research Service (CRS, May 15, 2020)
L. Paige Whitaker, Legislative Attorney
The briefing outlines the legal landscape for state and federal election laws, examines recent challenges to state laws in response to the pandemic, and briefly discusses select legislation introduced in the 116th Congress. With the outbreak of Covid-19, there have been concerns about the potential impact on the 2020 federal election cycle. Some U.S. states have delayed primary elections, and, in other jurisdictions, officials have moved polling places away from high-risk populations.
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Weitere Kurzbeiträge:
“Here’s how to use tech to turn COVID-19 tragedy into ‘a global immune system’”
Quelle: Atlantic Council (May 16, 2020)
Frederick Kempe, president
Frederick Kempe strikes an optimistic tone in his analysis for the Atlantic Council and focuses on the capabilities of US tech companies to “leverage the coronavirus tragedy into a historic opportunity” by “building a global immune system”. The author also looks back at historic events and urges multilateral collaboration and vision among political leaders.
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“From robots to 3D printing, how coronavirus can inspire waves of innovation”
Quelle: American Enterprise Institute (AEI, May 18, 2020)
Ryan Streeter, Director, Domestic Policy Studies
In this article, Streeter argues that we had to plan now for a dynamic post-pandemic world and suggests that Congress ought to create an “independent commission to study how laws and regulations inhibited or facilitated innovation and adaptation during the crisis.” In his view, the commission should focus on four “innovation drivers”: speed (especially in drug development), distance (telehealth and distance learning), health (detecting and dealing with health threats), and business (adaptability and flexibility, especially among SMEs).
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“Decentralize The COVID-19 Response”
Quelle: Hoover Institution (May 18, 2020) Richard A. Epstein, Senior Fellow The dilemma for policy makers, as described in the article, is when and how to restart the economy while reducing the spread of COVID-19. The author criticizes the legislations, i.e., HEROES and CARES Act, as an expansion of transfer programs and doubts if they are achieving their objectives. Instead he argues that “privatizing” decisions puts individuals and companies in the “primary line of defense against the virus.” The author concludes that the real discussion is about “scarcity of resources that drives the need for tradeoffs.”
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„Majority of Americans who lost a job or wages due to COVID-19 concerned states will reopen too quickly“
Quelle: Pew Research Center (May 15, 2020)
Ruth Igielnik, Senior Researcher, Demographics and Social Trends
According to a recent Pew Research survey, nearly one in five Americans have lost their job due to the coronavirus outbreak and among respondents, minorities were more acutely affected. However, as many states now discuss lifting restrictions and opening up their economies, most Americans, even “those who have lost their jobs or taken a cut in pay due to the coronavirus out-break – are concerned that state governments will lift restrictions too quickly.” Once more this survey finds that these concerns are divisive among partisan lines in so far as democrats and democrat leaners are more concerned than republicans that state governments will loosen restrictions too quickly.
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