BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 23, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
BG PODCAST EPISODE 79- Texas Hemp Policy Update with Marissa Patton, Associate Legislative Director, Texas Farm Bureau (LINK TO SHOW)
BG BLOG: Austin's City Council Adapts to the New Normal (LINK TO BLOG POST)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Council widens scope of how to lessen COVID-19’s economic impact (Austin Monitor)
A City Council resolution intended to assist small businesses and employees impacted by the cancellation of South by Southwest has been expanded in recent days to include aid for child care services and health care providers for senior citizens, with more additions possible.
Council Member Jimmy Flannigan originally took up the measure following the cancellation of SXSW because of concerns that attendees from other countries could increase the spread of the COVID-19 virus locally. That cancellation meant the city’s music venues and entertainment businesses stood to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, with many of the hourly workers laid off or facing drastic pay cuts.
Ahead of Thursday’s Council meeting, other Council members have used Flannigan’s resolution as the vehicle for the city’s initial swing at assessing what budgetary dollars, programs and partnerships can be put into play to lessen the pandemic’s impact on the local economy.
Council Member Kathie Tovo has put forward amendments to provide resources for local child care businesses so they can continue to operate safely without contributing to the spread of the virus.
Tovo and Council Member Alison Alter are also scheduled to meet with local restaurateurs Monday to assess what forms of assistance may be needed to keep large numbers of local eateries from closing for good… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin housing market starting to feel coronavirus effects (Austin American-Statesman)
For Central Texas’ long-sizzling housing market, 2020 is the year the unexpected catastrophic global event -- the typical caveat in the region’s otherwise ongoing rosy market forecasts -- has actually come calling.
Just two months ago, local housing industry expert Eldon Rude, in delivering his annual housing outlook for the five-county Austin region, predicted that this year will be “a huge year” for housing, if there was no “unforeseen global or economic shock that would result in a sharp drop in consumer confidence.”
Otherwise, Rude said, “If job growth remains at levels we have seen in recent years, I don’t see anything on the horizon that will slow the robust demand we have seen for housing in the region in recent years.”
With the coronavirus pandemic, the unanticipated event has hit.
Some economists say the coronavirus crisis likely already has triggered a temporary global recession, ending a record 11 years of economic expansion. The downturn is expected to be “deep but short,” said Nigel Green, founder and chief executive of deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organizations.
“The slowdown will be temporary because it’s not caused by deep-rooted problems and imbalances in the economy, (but) rather by a wholly unexpected shock that’s gripped the world,” Green said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin may lend money to small businesses hurt by COVID-19 (Austin Business Journal)
With federal loans now available to small businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic, the city of Austin may soon offer loans as well.
Austin City Council on March 26 will consider creating a local economic injury disaster loan program, which could provide working capital loans of up to $35,000 to Austin businesses that qualify.
"We recognize that our small businesses are hurting at this time and we realize that there's more solutions that need to come," said Veronica Briseño, director of Austin's Economic Development Department. "We want to do our part and help provide those resources."
Briseño said a budget amendment could direct up to $6 million toward the program. Not every business will get the maximum loan size of $35,000, so hundreds of businesses could potentially get loans of varying size to stay afloat… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Dallas County orders residents to "shelter-in-place" as coronavirus cases there spread (Texas Tribune)
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins issued a countywide shelter-in-place order on Sunday, marking the most expansive action yet from a Texas official to combat the new coronavirus continuing to spread across the state.
The "Stay Home Stay Safe" order, effective as of 11:59 p.m. on March 23, will continue through April 3. And it comes hours after Gov. Greg Abbott declined to issue a statewide shelter-in-place, though the state's top elected official noted he would applaud local leaders if they decided to take more sweeping actions for their jurisdictions.
Jenkins said he expected his authority to keep the order in place would extend beyond April 3, if necessary. He said that if Abbott issues a statewide order, the number of deaths would be reduced from more than 400,000 to about 5,000 over a three month period.
Dallas County's order is intended to keep hospitals from exceeding their capacity of COVID-19 patients and to "minimize the catastrophic outcomes" seen in other countries, Jenkins said at a press conference Sunday... (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Gov. Abbott Issues Orders To Increase Hospital Capacity, But Passes On 'Shelter-In-Place' (KUT)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Sunday he is issuing orders to increase health care and hospital capacity as COVID-19 spreads throughout the state. He said he was not, however, going to issue a "shelter-in-place" order for Texas, as many other governors have done.Abbott is directing health care professionals to postpone all surgeries and procedures that are not necessary to correct a serious medical condition or to preserve the life of a patient. He said he is also suspending regulations that prevent doctors from treating more than one patient in a room.“Together these orders will free up countless hospital beds across the entire state of Texas to be able to treat the potential increase in COVID-19 patients,” the governor said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas' budget could take massive hit as coronavirus crisis continues unfolding, lawmakers learn (Texas Tribune)
Comptroller Glenn Hegar briefed Texas House members on the state's economy and budget Sunday night, saying that while it was too soon for specific forecasts, both are expected to take potentially massive hits in the wake of the new coronavirus pandemic, according to multiple people who were on the conference call.
The members-only call, led by House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, was one of state lawmakers' first glimpses of the impact the virus is expected to have on multiple industries, state finances and Texas' largely oil-fed savings account, known as the Economic Stabilization Fund or the rainy day fund.
Hegar, who referred to the state of the economy as "the current recession," according to multiple people on the roughly hourlong call, predicted both the general revenue for the state budget and the savings account balance will be drastically lower — possibly by billions of dollars — when he makes a revised fiscal forecast. He said that update could happen in July… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
FDA approves first rapid COVID-19 test (NPR)
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first rapid point-of-care COVID-19 test, that can deliver results in less than an hour. Cepheid, a Silicon Valley diagnostics company, made the announcement on Saturday, saying it has received emergency authorization from the government to use the test. While the agency has approved about a dozen other COVID-19 tests in response to the public health emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic, this is the first one that can be used at the point of care.
Cepheid said the test kits will be available by the end of the month. Until now, to get test result, a health care worker would take a swab from the back of a person's nose, and send it off to a public health, commercial or hospital lab, or to a lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The process can take days. The newly approved test kit still involves taking a nasal swab, but the test can be done in a doctor's office or clinic with a detection time of approximately 45 minutes, according to Cepheid. "During this time of increased demand for hospital services, Clinicians urgently need an on-demand diagnostic test for real-time management of patients being evaluated for admission to health-care facilities," said Dr. David Persing, chief medical and technology officer at Cepheid… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Jails release prisoners, fearing coronavirus outbreak (Wall Street Journal)
Local governments across the U.S. are releasing thousands of inmates in an unprecedented effort to prevent a coronavirus outbreak in crowded jails and prisons. Jails in California, New York, Ohio, Texas and at least a dozen other states are sending low-level offenders and elderly or sickly inmates home early due to coronavirus fears. At other jails and prisons around the country, officials are banning visitors, restricting inmates’ movement and screening staff.
The 2.2 million people behind bars in the country, and the guards who work with them, face unique risks due to the tight spaces in crowded conditions and strained health-care systems, according to experts. “We’re all headed for some dire consequences,” said Daniel Vasquez, a former warden of San Quentin and Soledad state prisons in California. “They’re in such close quarters—some double- and triple-celled—I think it’s going to be impossible to stop it from spreading.” Prison staff in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York and Washington state have tested positive for the virus, resulting in inmate quarantines. In Washington, D.C., a U.S. marshal who works in proximity to new arrestees tested positive for the virus, meaning dozens of defendants headed for jail could have been exposed. Two federal prison staffers have also tested positive… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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