Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the House of Representatives has been, since mid-March, trying to adapt to new ways of doing businessincluding the efforts by committees to oversee actions by the Trump administration. Weve been tracking oversight activity during this periodboth related to the pandemic itself and beyondusing the Brookings House Oversight Tracker, and heres what weve learned.
1. Many committees are involved in COVID-19-related oversight.
COVID-19 has greatly increased both the supply of and demand for oversight activity within the House Democratic caucus.
Unlike the impeachment inquiry, where six committees were given specific investigatory powers and the lions share of the work was done by two (Intelligence and Judiciary), COVID-19 investigations have been less coordinated. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, a creation of the CARES Act that was meant to play a central role in the House oversight efforts, was slow to start investigations.[1] While the subcommittees investigative work has since increased, the Democratic members also hold the gavels of separate committees or subcommittees, and many are continuing to pursue COVID-19-related investigations within their own jurisdictions.[2]
Demand for oversight activity is also high with members seeking opportunities to demonstrate to their constituents that they have taken deliberate action to combat the damaging effects of the virus. As of July 2, 34 committees and subcommittees had held an oversight hearing or sent an investigative letter on a topic related to COVID-19. The impressive number of committees participating in oversight activity can also be attributed to the wide scope of issues encompassed by the crisis.
2. Committees are continuing preexisting oversight investigations but using COVID-19 to frame requests.
House committees are also exploring the implications of COVID-19 for policy areas in which they were engaging in oversight before the pandemic. The Judiciary Committee, for example, has increased its scrutiny of the administrations family separation policy, arguing that the administration is exploiting the crisis to pursue unlawful and inhumane immigration policies. In a separate letter, the Committee also scrutinized the preparedness of detention sites for coronavirus outbreaks and their general sanitation. Similarly, the Committees on Homeland Security, Natural Resources, and Oversight and Reform have all sought answers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on its preparation for a threatening hurricane season. In their letters, the committees use COVID-19 as a reason to follow up on previous investigations into disaster preparedness.
3. Fewer hearings may be pushing rank-and-file House members, and Democratic Senators, to sign more letters.
Since March 13, the House has held 26 oversight hearings, a 76% reduction from the comparable period last year. As opportunities to participate in hearings have declined, rank-and-file members appear to be increasing their engagement with oversight letters in response. Although these additional signatures are not legally significant, they provide members with a way to signal their positions on issues. Prior to March 13, 2020, when representatives largely vacated the Hill over coronavirus concerns, 19% of oversight letters included signatures from members other than the relevant committee or subcommittee chair. Since that date, however, 29% of oversight letters have been signed by at least one rank-and-file member, and the average number of additional signatures per letter more than doubled from 1.29 to 2.63.
With Senate oversight at its weakest point in the last twelve years by one measure, senators have increased engagement with the House oversight letter process. The average number of Senators signatures on House oversight letters has jumped by 50% to 0.21 from 0.14 during the same time period last year. A May 27 letter from the Committee on Natural Resources to the FEMA Administrator regarding the preparedness of U.S. territories for both the hurricane season and coronavirus infections, for example, garnered 41 non-chair signatories, including 14 senators.
4. Letters are making fewer oversight requests.
Since vacating Capitol Hill in mid-March, committees have been more likely to send letters urging a change in administration policy, such as expanding authorities under the Defense Production Act for medical supplies, as opposed to making an oversight request.
Since March 13, only 51% of all letters sent by House committees involved oversight requests compared to 64% of letters prior to that date. Of letters addressed to executive branch officials specifically, that share only dropped slightly from 73% to 71%. While there are several potential explanations for this change, one involves legislators shifting their strategy for influencing the executive branch in a time of fewer hearings and less legislating.
With the House likely to continue a significant amount of remote operations in the coming months and emerging pressure to investigate issues like structural racism in police departments on the agenda, members will have to continue to adaptas they have so farto the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.
[1] The Select Subcommittee had only launched two formal oversight investigations as of June 19th into COVID-19 deaths in Nursing Homes and the Disbursement of PPP funds.
[2] Chairwoman Maxine Waters (Committee on Financial Services), Chairwoman Carolyn (Committee on Oversight and Reform), Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez (Committee on Small Business) and Chairman Jamie Raskin (Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties) have all overseen COVID-19 related oversight actions within their own committees.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) The Pennsylvania Department of Health says the spike in COVID-19 cases is mainly related to younger people traveling and socializing. The spike prompted the department to send out an emergency warning.
COVID-19 infections are going up in Pennsylvania because of a significant increase in cases among younger people.
The concerning new trend prompted the Department of Health to send out alerts over the weekend.
The alert, titled Changing Epidemiology of COVID-19 Case Demographics, was sent to health care providers over the weekend.
The new trend is a significant increase in cases among younger people, mainly between the ages of 19 to 24.
Driven by scenes like this from Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, where people are crowded together and not following safety precautions.
(credit: CBS3)
Statewide, we have been seeing increases in the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said.
Nearly half of the positive cases in the state are in people under 50 years old which could trigger more infections and deaths among the elderly again.
At the start of the pandemic we saw a higher number of cases, right at the beginning, in people ages 19 to 49 before it spread to seniors age 65 and older, said Dr. Levine.
The state health alert said the increased cases among young adults is associated with social gatherings at parties, restaurants and bars, plus travel to other affected parts of the country.
Were concerned of course about that rapid increases that we have seen in those other states, were concerned about traveling and were concerned that one state will lead to next continuous state and head north and head east, Dr. Levine said. So those are all things that we watch really carefully.
New research also shows one-third of young people may be at risk of getting seriously sick, even dying from COVID-19, if they smoke or vape. Smoking, which has recently increased among young adults, was the most common risk factor for severe complications.
There are now more than 95,000 cases of coronavirus in Pennsylvania. The state has expanded its travel advisory list to include people traveling from Delaware who are being advised to self-quarantine for two weeks.
Washington reports over 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for third time in last week KOMO News
Eight hundred fifty. Thats the number of major procedures general surgery residents need to perform before graduating from residency.
As Covid-19 continues to spread across the United States, this requirement and those of other residencies become more difficult to achieve.
In mid-March, as the pandemic loomed in the U.S., the Accredited Council for Graduate Medical Education the organization responsible for setting minimum case requirements for residencies announced it would allow hospitals to redeploy residents to other specialties and suspend educational requirements for residency training programs.
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As a yearlong patchwork pandemic becomes reality, with hot spots popping up across the country, more residents will leave the curricula of their chosen specialty education to become Covid-19 physicians. For residents in disciplines like general surgery, that could mean not meeting minimum case requirements. And that could mean not being able to competently perform some common procedures. In other words, inadequately trained doctors.
From March 2 to April 12, at the peak of the pandemic in New York state, 75% of residency programs in the New York metropolitan area deployed residents to Covid-19 units. Residents in specialties like dermatology, plastic surgery, and psychiatry were plucked from their curricula and placed in emergency departments and intensive care units to function as medical interns, stopping work in their specialties. For example, chief orthopedic surgery residents stopped operating, their educational lectures were cancelled, and they received pulmonary critical care training instead of orthopedic training.
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Even residents who werent redeployed to other specialties, like my colleagues and I in radiology, saw dramatic shifts in their education. Imaging of the heart and chest is playing a bigger role in our education during the pandemic, for example, with a corresponding decrease in other types, like mammography, which is an essential component of residents training.
Many hospital departments have been operating on skeleton crews of a few residents assigned to hospital duties, such as covering urgent services and doing direct patient care, while nonessential residents have been quarantined at home, missing out on learning opportunities in the hospital.
For residents in areas that have (so far) been relatively spared by Covid-19, state lockdowns prevented many hospital departments from seeing patients. Some ENT surgery departments, for example, are resuming procedures this month. As a result, many residents are now struggling to demonstrate competence in some procedures they will likely have to perform after they graduate. Some general surgery residents lack the number of procedures needed to determine competence in some areas. Many of these procedures are the same ones with the lowest levels of reported operative confidence among chief residents, typically chosen as the programs most talented trainees.
It is unlikely that specialties that are primarily outpatient, such as dermatology, will rebound to their pre-pandemic volume for some time. Once the scheduling of nonemergency procedures ramps back up, cases will need to be more widely spaced out in time to allow hospitals to perform new decontamination protocols. Social distancing guidelines may also limit the number of trainees permitted in operating or procedure rooms. For academic urban programs with a large number of residents, this means fewer cases per resident.
The response to this may be to cut training spots.
The Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan has already notified applicants to one of its fellowship training programs that it had to decrease the number of spots for the 2021-2022 application cycle. Residency spots could also be cut in certain regions, as they are funded by Medicare, which has the right to reduce the number of full-time residents at hospitals.
A recent analysis of rural hospitals spanning 40 states showed that almost 354 could close as a result of the lockdown, and with them their training opportunities for residents. The disruption a hospital closure has on resident education was evident when bankrupt Hanhnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia closed and its more than 550 residency spots were auctioned off to other hospital systems. Some of the residents went to smaller rural hospitals, which may now close, turning graduate medical education into a turbulent game of musical chairs that may worsen a parallel epidemic: the doctor shortage.
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), more than 3,000 medical school graduates did not match into residency positions this year. The increase in the number of medical school graduates has far outpaced the increase in residency training programs. The AAMC projects a shortage of as many as 43,000 doctors this year and 121,000 by 2030.
While the pandemic will most certainly worsen the doctor shortage, it may also prevent medical boards from testing doctors-in-training altogether.
As the pandemic forces standardized tests like the SAT to migrate to the web, board certification exams for residents are almost all still to be conducted in person. Many medical boards have had difficulty pivoting to online formats, delaying their exams until 2021. This could potentially put board eligibility for candidates in jeopardy and may unnecessarily prolong residency training for some new physicians.
As the pandemic continues to unfold, more residents will join the all-hands-on-deck response. The long-term effect of this on the training of young doctors who will soon be out of residency and independently performing knee replacements on 65-year-old grandmothers or reading pediatric brain MRIs is yet to be seen.
Corbin Pomeranz is a physician and chief radiology resident at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced a statewide ban on indoor dining at bars and restaurants at a press conference in Portland on March 16. Nearly four months later, with COVID-19 cases on the rise after a phased-in economic reopening, she announced new restrictions including a 10-person limit on social gatherings. Gillian Flaccus/AP hide caption
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced a statewide ban on indoor dining at bars and restaurants at a press conference in Portland on March 16. Nearly four months later, with COVID-19 cases on the rise after a phased-in economic reopening, she announced new restrictions including a 10-person limit on social gatherings.
As coronavirus cases continue to climb in the U.S., two governors on opposite sides of the country took a similar step on Monday: reducing the number of people allowed at social gatherings, among other restrictions.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced that indoor social get-togethers of more than 10 people will be prohibited starting Wednesday.
Gatherings of up to 25 people were allowed in Phase One of the state's reopening plan, and indoor limits increased to 50 for counties that reached Phase Two.
Brown also extended the statewide face covering requirement, which took effect earlier this month, to outdoor public spaces where six feet of distance cannot be maintained.
Oregon recorded 332 new cases on Sunday, bringing its cumulative total to 12,170. Brown said on Monday the state reported more cases in the past week than the entire month of May.
"Today we are sounding the alarm because we are at risk of letting the virus spiral out of control," she said. "The question now is whether Oregon will be the next New York or the next Texas."
In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice imposed several new statewide restrictions, including reducing the social gathering limit from 100 to 25 people, effective Tuesday. The same executive order also closes all fairs, festivals and similar events, and prohibits both indoor and outdoor concerts.
Justice also ordered all bars closed for ten days in Monongalia County, which has seen a significant uptick in infections and had 340 active cases as of Monday.
"We want everyone to know this is not playtime stuff," Justice told viewers at a daily briefing. "We now, in West Virginia, have 1,338 active cases. We have grown 206 active cases since I saw you the last time on Friday."
Governors in both states stressed that the new limits apply only to social gatherings.
Justice said the new order does not cover any activity, business or entity designated as essential, such as religious services or group conferences. Attendees of such events must practice social distancing based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, he said.
And Brown said Oregon's new rule would not change the operation of businesses or churches "at this time." She added failure to comply will lead to more outbreaks, as well as more restrictive closures.
"We need to do absolutely everything we can to reduce transmission in ways that do not require us to close down businesses again," Brown said. "The proof here will be in the numbers. Either people will adhere to this requirement and be a positive force for stopping COVID-19, or I will be forced to take more restrictive measures."
Governors across the country are reimposing certain restrictions to combat the spread of the virus, though few have officially rolled back limits on social gatherings.
Many of the latest measures have been aimed at bars and other indoor establishments.
On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the statewide closure of all bars and indoor operations of several types of businesses. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott closed bars and tightened business restrictions in June, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also previously ordered bars to close. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster imposed an 11 p.m. curfew on bars and restaurants last week.
The COVID-19 coronavirus crisis has wrought economic disruption on a monumental scale, contributing to a dangerous and volatile global upheaval politically, socially and geopolitically while raising deep concerns about the environment and the extending reach of technology into our lives.
World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret, Co-Founder of Monthly Barometer, explore these themes in their new book, COVID-19: The Great Reset.
The books main objective is to help us understand whats coming: it has three main chapters, offering a panoramic overview of the future landscape. The first assesses what the impact of the pandemic will be on five key macro categories: the economic, societal, geopolitical, environmental and technological factors. The second considers the effects in micro terms, on specific industries and companies. The third hypothesizes about the nature of the possible consequences at the individual level.
Last month, the World Economic Forum launched the Great Reset initiative: a commitment to jointly and urgently build the foundations of our economic and social system for a fairer, sustainable and more resilient post-COVID future. Find out more here.
Tune in at 14:00 CET later today to join in a virtual briefing about COVID-19: The Great Reset.
Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum
Dr. Thierry Malleret, Co-Founder, Monthly Barometer
Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director, World Economic Forum
Adrian Monck, Managing Director, World Economic Forum
The book can be ordered here, and you can leave a review here.
Editors note: The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to critical stories about the coronavirus. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every weekday morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.
The death of another younger adult from COVID-19 in Utah was reported on Monday, bringing the states death toll to 216.
The woman who died was between the ages of 25 and 44 and lived in a long-term care facility in Weber County, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Of the 10 deaths reported so far in that age group, eight have occurred in the past two weeks, according to UDOH data.
The seven-day average for new cases rose slightly from 647 on Sunday to 656 on Monday, UDOH reported; Sundays average previously was misreported as higher due to a typo, UDOH officials confirmed.
However, the rate of tests with positive results held at 10.1% as of July 7, the most recent date for which the state has complete data, given reporting lags.
And hospitalizations remained high, with 207 patients currently receiving hospital care just two less than Sundays all-time high of 209. There were 26 new hospital admissions reported on Monday, bringing the 14-day total to 433, the highest of any two-week period since the beginning of the pandemic.
The most recent data from five other counties also showed averages of more than 20 new daily cases per 100,000 residents: Juab, Millard, Salt Lake, Washington and Weber.
Of the 30,030 Utah patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, 17,728 are considered recovered that is, they have survived for at least three weeks after being diagnosed.
More than 40 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Washtenaw County have been traced to an early Julyhouse party inSaline, according to the county's health department on Monday.
The health department said a large uptick in the area's overall cases includes a majority of people between 15 and 25 and is believed to beassociated with the July 2-3 house party in the Saline area.
So far, health department officials have traced 43 cases and 66 exposed close contacts outside the family members of those who tested positive.
The health department believes at least 50 people were in attendance at the house party, said Susan Ringler-Cerniglia, a spokeswoman for the health department. Ringler-Cerniglia declined to disclose the location of the house party since it was a private residence.
The health department is defining a close contact as an individual who hadface-to-face contact for at least 15 minuteswith someone who later tested positive.The department is attempting to reach all those believed to have had close contact.
This is a very clear example of how quickly this virus spreads and how many people can be impacted in a very short amount of time, Washtenaw County health officer Jimena Loveluck said.
We cannot hope to accomplish our goal of containing COVID-19 and preventing additional cases, hospitalizations and deaths without full community support and cooperation.
The health department has seen a steady increase in confirmed cases last week, reaching a peak of 28 new cases on Wednesday, according to county data. The last time a higher number of new daily cases were recorded in Washtenaw County was May 5, when the county reported 30 cases.
Overall, the county has reported a total of 1,647 confirmed cases, 1,348 of which, or about 82%, are considered recovered. The county has reported 107 deaths linked tothe virus.
Related: Several test positive for virus after Torch Lake Fourth of July celebration
Among those exposed after the event by people who attended the party are employees or clients at area restaurants, clubs, camps, sports teams, retail stores, canoe liveries and a retirement community, according to the health department. People from the party have exposed others in other counties and one other state.
People who attended the party are being encouraged to quarantine and monitor for symptoms for 14 days.
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
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Colorado recorded 2,743 new cases of the coronavirus in the second week of July, reaching a level not seen since early May.
Sunday capped the fourth week of rising infection numbers in the state following a decline since April, reaching a level of new COVID-19 cases not seen since the week ending May 10.
While Colorado is still below the late-April peak of 3,761 new infections in one week, its much closer than it was in early June, when the state recorded 1,135 new cases.
Some of the rise in cases is due to increased testing: the positivity rate on Sunday was about half of what it was on May 10.
But testing isnt the only factor, and not all new cases are mild. The Colorado Hospital Association reported 220 people were hospitalized as of Monday afternoon. Thats the highest number of patients needing hospital-level care for the virus since June 4, though its only about one-fourth of the number of people hospitalized at the peak in early April.
State officials attributed at least some of the increase in COVID-19 cases to people mixing more with others outside their households.
Early data also suggests deaths rose compared to the previous week for the first time since early April.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 15 deaths between July 6 and 12, compared to 11 deaths the week before. Both totals are likely to be revised, however, because reports of deaths can sometimes lag by weeks.
A total of 37,242 people have tested positive since March, and 5,941 had to be hospitalized. So far, 1,589 people in Colorado have died directly from the virus, and 138 others had it when they died, but it wasnt confirmed as the cause.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said that he could roll back business reopenings if 7% of tests in the city come back positive and hospitals hit 90% of capacity.The Colorado Hospital Association reported only one hospital was concerned about running out of intensive-care beds in the next week, but didnt specify which hospital or what county it was in.
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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) The Minnesota National Guard says a handful of their soldiers have tested positive for COVID-19.
All of them are part of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, which is stationed at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California in preparation for a 2021 deployment to the Middle East.
READ MORE: Neighbors Help Take Care Of Deployed National Guard Soldiers Homes During Unrest
Guard officials say all of its soldiers were screened, tested and isolated before heading to training. They are also screened daily at Fort Irwin for symptoms and temperature.
Here is the Minnesota National Guards full statement:
A handful of Minnesota National Guard Soldiers have tested positive for COVID-19 during a training rotation at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California.
Soldiers attending this NTC rotation have undergone a deliberate process to mitigate a potential spread of the coronavirus including screening, testing and isolation in their home state prior to departure and daily symptom and temperature checks while training.
Were learning to operate in a new environment and to mitigate health risks while continuing to answer our state and nations call. We remain committed to the safety and wellbeing of our Minnesota National Guard Soldiers, as we take part in this important training, said Col. Tim Kemp, Commander 1/34th Armored Brigade Combat Team.
Soldiers are participating in a decisive action training exercise in the desert environment to ensure units remain versatile, responsive and consistently available for current and future contingencies. The exercise, directed by U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) is crucial and will serve as the final, major training event ahead of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Divisions 2021 deployment to the Middle East.
For operational security reasons and the privacy, health, and safety of all involved, NTC and Fort Irwin will not post, release, or discuss numbers or circumstances of positive COVID-19 cases.
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