BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 7, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
BG PODCAST EPISODE 81: Ilissa Nolan, Executive Director, Texas Hemp Coalition (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin Health Official Expects City's Face-Covering Guidance Will Become A Requirement (KUT)
The interim health authority for Austin-Travis County says he expects a recommendation for Austinites to wear fabric face coverings when they're outside the home to become a requirement.
Dr. Mark Escott said Monday the goal of people covering their faces when they're out for essential reasons would be to get people back to work and businesses open sooner by stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
He said masks must be used along with social distancing, not as a substitute. Evidence from the 1918 flu pandemic — believed to have infected one-third of the world's population — suggests cloth masks gave a false sense of security and people continued to interact with one another, he said.
Cotton is preferred for fabric face coverings, Escott said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Click here for the City of Austin Mask Guidance (City of Austin)
How Central Texas' community banks are handling the deluge of PPP loan applications (Austin Business Journal)
The new $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program could be be a lifeline for many small businesses across the country but, so far, implementing it has been a challenge for banks in Austin and beyond.
The travails of some of the biggest banks in the country have been widely documented: Wells Fargo announced April 5 that it had already exhausted its $10 billion lending capacity under the program, while Bank of America was receiving an average of 10,000 applications an hour April 3, the day the PPP launched.
Austin’s community banks are facing similar demand along with accompanying challenges, including trouble submitting loan applications and fears that the hundreds of billions of dollars allocated across the county could quickly be depleted… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
With Texas Workforce Commission overwhelmed by surging unemployment claims, Central Texas residents try to hang on (Community Impact)
On April 2, the U.S. Department of Labor announced staggering unemployment claims in its weekly report. In the week ending March 28, more than 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment—more than double the 3.3 million claims for the previous week—including 275,597 Texans.
According to Cisco Gamez, media and public relations specialist at the TWC, just over 700,000 Texans filed for unemployment benefits in all of 2019, a mark that will be surpassed in just over a month if this pace continues. On March 26, the TWC received 1.7 million calls in a 24-hour period.
“First and foremost, to those who have been laid off, are unsure about your employment situation or are worried for your business: we see you, we hear you and we are working around the clock to provide the resources and help that you need,” Gamez said in a written statement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ‘more confident than ever’ about supply of protective gear for the state (Dallas Morning News)
Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that he was bullish about the state’s ability to acquire and distribute much-needed personal protective equipment, like surgical masks and gowns, to healthcare workers and first responders. “I feel more confident now than I ever have with regard to access to PPE supplies,” Abbott said in a news conference Monday. Health care professionals have worried about the supply of personal protective equipment for their staff in recent weeks but Abbott said the state has “more than enough for now” and additional supplies are coming in.
In the past week, the state distributed more than 1.6 million masks, 209,000 masks, 2.7 million gloves, 169,000 gowns and 7,594 medical gowns. By the end of the week, the state will have acquired an additional 5 million masks to distribute. The state’s emergency support region covered by DFW got nearly 370,000 masks, 56,600 face shields, 681,00 gloves, 53,000 gowns and 1,900 coveralls. The state is prioritizing delivering the supplies to healthcare professionals treating those at high risk, workers at long-term care facilities and first responders. As of Monday, 85,357 Texans had been tested for COVID-19. Of those, 7,319 had tested positive and 1,153 of those had been hospitalized. Abbott, a Republican, said more than 100,000 Texans will have been tested by the end of the week. While sounding confident about the state’s ability to procure protective gears for those on the front line of the war against the virus, Abbott reminded the public that the most difficult times are still on the horizon… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Supreme Court extends halt on eviction proceedings until May 1 amid coronavirus (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
The Texas Supreme Court extended its original deadline and halted eviction proceedings in Texas through April 30 due to the novel coronavirus’ spread.
An emergency order issued Monday by Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht notes that while filings can still be submitted, no trial, hearing, or other eviction proceeding may be conducted until after April 30. And while a writ of possession may be issued, its posting and execution cannot occur until after May 7.
Exceptions will be made if the court determines that a tenant or occupant’s actions pose an imminent threat of physical harm to a landlord, their employees or other tenants, or if tenants are engaging in criminal activity, according to the order…
Mexico’s slow response to coronavirus has implications for Texas, US (San Antonio Express-News)
MEXICO CITY — As its neighbors close borders, shut down their economies and order millions of people to stay at home, Mexico has responded far more slowly to the coronavirus pandemic, its leaders reluctant to put economic constraints on a society in which nearly half the people live in poverty.
As recently as March 15, some 40,000 concert goers crowded into the Foro Sor venue for the popular Vive Latino music festival. Tourists from Europe and the United States were able to enter the country without any restrictions until late last week. Restaurants, airports, subways and grocery stores remain open in Mexico City, though churches and large markets have closed.… (LINK TO STORY)
Along the border, the population is high risk for coronavirus, but testing is in short supply (ProPublica)
On Monday afternoon, paramedic Theresa Fitzpatrick inched her Dodge Dart through a brand new drive-in testing center for COVID-19 in the small South Texas border city of Edinburg, a dozen miles from the Rio Grande. She had been wracked for a week with a dry, hacking cough ever since picking up a patient who had just crossed the international bridge with similar symptoms. But she hadn’t been able to get a test since seeing her doctor last week, until a local university opened up drive-thru testing sites in her home county on Monday. “They haven’t been testing people, that’s the problem,” said Fitzpatrick, a mother of four who earns $16 an hour as a paramedic for a private EMS company. “It just seems like the forgotten man down here.”
Hours earlier, Dr. Martin Garza, a pediatrician and former president of the Hidalgo-Starr County Medical Society, spent his lunch break drafting a plea to border-area lawmakers for help finding more testing kits. Garza noted that at-risk areas such as South Texas, with lower numbers of confirmed cases, are precisely where enhanced testing is needed to detect and prevent a fatal spread of the virus, as is unfolding in New York City, New Orleans and smaller cities like Athens, Georgia. “We have all heard, ‘If (only) we had been able to test sooner,’” he wrote. “Well the ‘sooner’ is still available in our community.” While many places across the country are struggling to get enough testing, the problems are magnified in the Rio Grande Valley. It has among the highest poverty rates in the state, nearly half of its residents don’t have health insurance and chronic health conditions are rife. Two weeks ago, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott promised that all those who need a coronavirus test “will get one,” but public health officials, politicians and doctors up and down the Rio Grande say that hasn’t happened and they are scrambling to assemble sufficient testing kits. Hidalgo County, the largest in the Valley, is only able to process 20 government tests a day, officials said this week…(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
TRump says ig report finding hospital shortages is ‘just wrong’ (the hill)
President Trump on Monday claimed that an inspector general report finding "severe" shortages of supplies at hospitals to fight the novel coronavirus is "just wrong."
Trump did not provide evidence for why the conclusions of the 34-page report are wrong.
He implied that he is mistrustful of inspectors general more broadly. He recently fired the inspector general of the intelligence community, which has drawn outrage from Democrats.
"Did I hear the word inspector general?" Trump said in response to the reporter's question about the findings.
"It's just wrong," Trump said of the report.
The inspector general report, released earlier Monday, was based on a survey of 323 randomly selected hospitals across the country.
It found "severe" shortages of tests and wait times as long as seven days for hospitals. It also found "widespread" shortfalls of protective equipment such as masks for health workers, something that doctors and nurses have also noted for weeks... (LINK TO FULL STORY)
The Bingham Group, LLC is an Austin-based full service lobbying firm representing and advising clients on municipal, legislative, and regulatory matters throughout Texas.
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