Archive for category: COVID-19 Federal Government Updates

Democrats and White House Near Deal on New Relief Funding

Democrats and the Trump Administration are near an agreement for Congress to act this week on a deal as large as $500 billion to put more funding into a tapped-out small business aid program and provide money for coronavirus testing and overwhelmed hospitals. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday the two sides were close to a deal, though various details remained to be worked out and the entire package still has to be translated into legislative text.

While the Senate has a pro forma session scheduled for Monday, leaders of both parties first would have to ensure no senator would object to the agreement in order to pass it by unanimous consent. That typically requires circulating legislative text. The Senate’s next scheduled session is currently set for Thursday; Senate Republicans are still reviewing the deal outline.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer sent a notice to lawmakers Sunday that the lower chamber could meet as soon as Wednesday to consider the legislation. Because an objection to unanimous consent is likely, Hoyer said the House would probably have to convene for a recorded vote. House Republicans were told during a conference call Sunday to expect to vote on the package Wednesday in Washington, and that the Senate likely would act before then.

Negotiations are focused on adding an additional $310 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program, designed to help small businesses keep workers on their payrolls as much of the country remains under stay-at-home orders. A separate program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan, or EIDL, that provides financing and advances as grants of as much as $10,000 for businesses, would get $50-60 billion more. Both of those measures have wide bipartisan support.

The deal is also expected to include $75 billion of the $100 billion Democrats have demanded for hospitals, with a significant portion aimed at rural hospitals, as well as $25 billion for virus testing.

U.S. Not Testing Enough for States to Reopen

A gap is opening over how much daily Covid-19 testing is enough, with many public-health experts worrying that the current level could cost lives and even set back efforts to reopen. The Trump Administration says the U.S. is conducting 150,000 tests a day, the bulk of which are done by commercial labs and some by state public health labs. The president says that is enough for a phased re-opening, and over the weekend he praised states that have begun to do so.

However, experts say that number is low, obscuring the extent of the virus’s spread and leaving newly reopened states vulnerable to a new wave of infections. One estimate from the Yale School of Public Health says the U.S. would need the capacity of a million tests per day to be confident the outbreak is contained, roughly what the country now does in a week.

The administration addressed criticism about its approach to testing in an April 17 press conference, saying more than 1 million will be done a week and that it’s looking into helping labs address issues. “There is capacity out there,” said Deborah Birx, the U.S. State Department immunologist and one of the President’s top medical advisers. “It is our job working with the states” to make sure all the testing in the U.S. “is brought to bear.”

Drug Industry Coordinates Covid-19 Response with NIH

More than a dozen drug companies, including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Sanofi are coordinating their Covid-19 efforts with the National Institutes of Health to push out new treatments and vaccines. The public-private partnership plans to develop an international framework for prioritizing vaccine and drug candidates, streamlining clinical trials, coordinating regulatory processes across different countries, and using assets available among all collaborators to respond rapidly to both the current and future pandemics.

More than 300 clinical trials on Covid-19 are underway, and that number increases almost daily, a spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said last week. But more than 90% of drug candidates fail in the clinical trial stage, and there are concerns about manufacturers’ ability to scale up production to treat a worldwide pandemic once a vaccine or therapeutic becomes available.

NIH Director Francis S. Collins said the partnership aims to break down traditional boundaries in the biomedical research ecosystem to identify and prioritize the most promising therapies for clinical trials.

Nursing Homes Required to Report Cases, Hospitals Can Ease Services Back

Nursing homes will be required to report confirmed cases of Covid-19 to families, residents, and the CDC, according to a new directive issued yesterday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). These data aren’t currently collected by the CDC, CMS, or FEMA. “Nursing homes have been ground zero for COVID-19,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma in a press release.

Administrator Verma also announced new guidelines outlining how hospitals can gradually resume elective surgeries and other in-person services as social distancing measures ease. CMS officials said this transition should be done in coordination with local and state public health officials and while ensuring there is enough personal protective equipment and staff available.

FDA Encourages Recovered Covid-19 Patients to Donate Plasma

The Food and Drug Administration is encouraging recovered coronavirus patients to donate plasma to facilitate the development of and access to convalescent plasma, a treatment that the FDA says has the potential to lessen the severity or shorten the length of illness caused by Covid-19. The FDA says one donation has the potential to help as many as four patients.

Convalescent plasma is an antibody-rich product made from blood donated by people who have recovered from the disease caused by the virus. The FDA has launched a web page to guide recovered Covid-19 patients to local blood or plasma collection centers to discuss their eligibility and potentially schedule an appointment to donate.

Delegation Members Urge Disaster Declaration for Minnesota

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN), and Representatives Angie Craig (D-MN-02), Dean Phillips (D-MN-03), Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), Tom Emmer (R-MN-06), and Pete Stauber (R-MN-08) urged the Trump Administration to approve Minnesota’s request for a major disaster declaration due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The letter, sent to the White House yesterday, can be read in full here.

“All of Minnesota’s 87 counties and 11 tribes have been affected by the spread of the pandemic,” the lawmakers wrote. “As of April 5, the State had 935 positive cases and 29 deaths, with those affected ranging in age from 4 months to 104 years old. Minnesota’s health care facilities are confronting a lack of needed supplies and limited capacity, which will be exacerbated by a limited number of qualified medical staff that is expected to decrease further as the pandemic continues to spread.”

Fourth Relief Package in Flux as Leaders Triangulate

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has scaled back her ambitions for Congress‘s next coronavirus stimulus package to focus on additional direct payments to individuals and expanded loans to businesses, possibly leaving an $800 billion infrastructure plan and other priorities for a later bill. Speaker Pelosi released a statement on Friday saying that Congress will need to build on the last relief package, the CARES Act.

Even amid the urgency of the virus response, Pelosi promised to continue working “on an infrastructure package for recovery that addresses some of the critical impacts and vulnerabilities in America that have been laid bare by the coronavirus.” In a letter to House lawmakers this weekend, the Speaker said communities in the U.S. “cannot afford to wait” for the next coronavirus stimulus.

Yet there is not consensus on what the next stimulus should look like. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the Associated Press in a recent interview that there will be a fourth virus-related bill, but said he and Speaker Pelosi have a “different point of view” about the timing of the next package and what should be included. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has said he did not think a fourth tranche of aid “is appropriate at this time,” adding that a “tweak” to the most recent legislation might be better.

Community Health Centers Outline Multi-Billion Dollar Needs

House Democrats want to inject an emergency $10 billion into the federal community health center (CHC) program, reflecting the growing demand for money from clinics and hospitals as the coronavirus spreads across the U.S. CHC costs are mounting as hundreds of thousands of Americans are confirmed to have contracted Covid-19. Community health centers, like hospitals, are forgoing more lucrative services such as dental care to take care of Covid-19 patients.

The National Association for Community Health Centers (NACHC) originally asked Congress for $3.2 billion and received $1.3 billion as part of the $2 trillion economic rescue package signed into law in late March. NACHC leaders have said health center needs have grown significantly in recent weeks and will be asking for more in the next expected coronavirus package.

The group is now asking for a total of $77.3 billion, which would include a five-year extension for the program. House Democrats are saying that the $10 billion they are proposing for community health centers would be targeted to capital costs and improvements for the centers.

HHS Secretary: Hospitals Cannot Charge Uninsured Patients Treated for Virus

Hospitals and health care providers that accept federal money provided through the $2 trillion coronavirus spending package are not allowed to bill uninsured patients treated for Covid-19, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said last week. The providers will be reimbursed at Medicare rates, Azar said, which will be carved out of a $100 billion slice of last month’s CARES Act.

When probed about re-opening enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans or potentially expanding Medicaid, Secretary Azar demurred. Those who have recently lost their employer-provided health insurance can enroll through the ACA’s exchanges under the law’s special enrollment rules, he said. President Trump also announced Friday that Blue Cross and Blue Shield agreed to waive cost-sharing for Covid-19 treatment for their customers, matching promises from other insurers.

House Virus Committee Would Add New Layer of Oversight

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her chamber will create a special committee to oversee the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, including how the $2.2 trillion from last month’s stimulus plan is spent. The Speaker said that the bipartisan committee, to be led by third-ranking Democrat James Clyburn, will also seek to ensure that steps are taken based on science and to protect against price gouging of essential materials in the broader economy.

This House committee would be separate from the layers of oversight included in the stimulus bill Congress passed last week. That law mandates a special inspector general, an accountability committee of relevant government departments and a five-person panel appointed by Congress to oversee part of the federal aid for companies.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and top Energy and Commerce Republican Greg Walden said in a telephone news conference that an additional House panel to oversee the coronavirus response is unnecessary.

Trump Says CDC Suggests Use of Cloth Masks to Prevent Virus

President Trump said late last week that top U.S. health officials are recommending the use of non-surgical grade cloth masks as a voluntary measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but that he did not plan to wear on himself. “It’s only a recommendation,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “You don’t have to do it.”

The announcement marks a reversal for health officials, who have previously said that those without symptoms did not need to wear a mask. Trump said the advice on masks, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, does not alter guidelines calling for social distancing. The President emphasized that the CDC is not recommending the use of commercial medical-grade masks, which are in short supply at hospitals.