BG Reads | News You Need to Know (September 8, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
*NEW* BG Podcast Episode 106: 2020 Summer Closeout with Associate Intern Josh (SHOW LINK)
Note: Shows also available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Sound Cloud, and Stitcher
[AUSTIN METRO]
As students return to virtual class, Austin ISD superintendent says district will have to be nimble this fall (Community Impact)
Austin ISD students will head back to the virtual classroom Sept. 8 for the start of the 2020-21 school year, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to require local districts to take precautions.
New AISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde told Community Impact Newspaper that the district has been flexible in its preparation for the year, rolling out plans that could change as classes start up. Through her first month at AISD, she said the preparedness of the district’s staff has allowed her to hit the ground running and jump right into planning.
In August, AISD trustees delayed the start of the school year to Sept. 8, with fully virtual learning for the first month of the year. The district will begin a phase-in approach to in-person teaching in October. Pushing the district’s start date back was a move Elizalde said her former district, Dallas ISD, also made to give teachers and staff more time to prepare for teaching virtually and operating a district during a pandemic.
“There's no perfect plan [for reopening during COVID-19], but there are ways to improve and a little bit more time did give us opportunities to do a few things,” she said… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin Mayor Steve Adler talks potential State takeover of Austin Police Dept. (Fox 7)
Austin Mayor Steve Adler joined Good Day Austin’s Casey Claiborne this weekend to talk about Covid-19 concerns on Labor Day Weekend. He also talked about Governor Greg Abbott “considering” a State takeover of the Austin Police Department after Council cut their budget… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
What happened at the Trump Boat Parade in Austin? (KXAN)
It began with chants of “USA!” and the waving of ‘Make America Great Again’ flags, but ended with panicked calls and sinking boats. Now, more details are emerging about the boat parade in support of Pres. Donald Trump that turned disastrous on Saturday afternoon.
It began with chants of “USA!” and the waving of ‘Make America Great Again’ flags, but ended with panicked calls and sinking boats. Now, more details are emerging about the boat parade in support of Pres. Donald Trump that turned disastrous on Saturday afternoon.
TCSO says all of the distress calls were resolved and no one was injured.
The sheriff’s office says that conditions on Lake Travis were calm, but that the motion of the large number of boats generated large waves in areas where boats were dense… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Abbott extends state disaster declaration as COVID-19 lingers (Austin American-Statesman)
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday extended the state’s disaster declaration for all Texas counties in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Renewing this Disaster Declaration helps ensure that we have the resources and strategies in place to help communities across Texas respond to COVID-19,” Abbott said in a news release. “I urge Texans to take precautionary steps to protect their health by wearing a mask, social distancing, and sanitizing their hands. Working together, we will slow the spread and keep our communities safe.”
Abbott first issued the declaration March 13 as the pandemic began spreading through Texas. Under state law, the declarations expire in 30 days unless renewed by the governor, and Abbott has renewed it every month since.
At the time of his original emergency declaration, there were less than 50 confirmed cases in the state, not including military facilities. As of Monday, there are over 640,000 people with the virus, according to state health officials. Nearly 13,500 deaths have been recorded since the disaster declaration was put in place.
Renewing the declaration allows the state to continue to aid counties and local governments in their own fights against the virus… (LINK TO STORY)
Coronavirus cases postpone TCU-SMU game, the season's first college football matchup involving a Texas Big 12 team (Texas Tribune)
Plans to press forward with major college football in Texas have been dealt an early setback after Texas Christian University canceled its first football game due to COVID-19.
The game against Southern Methodist University, scheduled for Sept. 11, was canceled Friday after some TCU football athletes and support staff tested positive for the virus, said Jeremiah Donati, TCU’s director of intercollegiate athletics, in a statement. Donati did not indicate how many athletes or staff tested positive but said “no one is currently facing serious health issues.”
“In the course of following CDC guidelines and our aggressive testing and contact tracing strategy, we discovered that some student-athletes and support staff in our football program have tested positive for COVID-19,” Donati said. “Those individuals were notified immediately and are currently abiding by CDC protocols.”
The Big 12 Conference announced in August its football season would move forward as scheduled, with member schools agreeing to enhanced testing for athletes. The TCU-SMU game would have been the first involving a Big 12 team this season. Texas Tech University, Baylor University and the University of Texas at Austin all have games scheduled for Sept. 12… (LINK TO STORY)
Student athletes get COVID-19 tests three times a week, while experts say testing for other university students is lagging (Texas Tribune)
Athletics officials at Texas universities spent months planning for a fall football season during a pandemic. As conferences deliberated how teams could safely compete in the age of coronavirus, proponents hoped enhanced coronavirus testing for athletes would ease any lingering doubts.
It worked. Within the month, five major Texas football programs are slated to play. In football and other high contact sports like soccer and volleyball, athletes will be tested three times a week, according to directives from the Big 12 Conference and Southeastern Conference.
For teams competing on a Saturday, that might mean a test Sunday, another Wednesday, and a final, rapid-results test Friday, said Kenny Boyd, a Baylor University senior associate athletic director. Non-conference opponents must also adhere to testing protocols that match conference standards… (LINK TO STORY)
With coronavirus likely to still be in San Antonio in 2021, questions arise on who’s going to pay to continue the battle (San Antonio Express-News)
With experts fearing that the coronavirus will continue to plague San Antonio and Bexar County well into 2021, a crucial question remains unanswered: Who’s going to pay for what the Metropolitan Health District needs to fight the virus? So far, the city and county have relied on federal dollars to cover most costs stemming from COVID-19, including testing, case investigations and contact tracing. But the $57 million in federal stimulus money that Metro Health has received must be spent by the end of the year — a mandate set out in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill intended to provide economic and financial relief from the pandemic.
That also goes for $135.8 million the city was allotted in federal dollars to pay for personal protective equipment and to cover payroll for firefighters and Metro Health employees working on coronavirus response. “The big question in our minds right now is, ‘Do we have enough funding to go from Jan. 1 through the end of this pandemic?’” Colleen Bridger, assistant city manager and interim director of Metro Health, said last month. “I think the answer to that is ‘no.’” City officials are banking on another injection of federal money to bolster Metro Health’s pandemic response. But congressional leaders and the White House have yet to come to terms over a new round of stimulus funding, raising the possibility that the city will have to dip into its own pockets if the feds don’t come through. Adding to the uncertainty is how the still-novel virus will behave in the coming months — especially as schools reopen — and whether residents continue to take precautions necessary to keep the virus contained, such as wearing masks and keeping social distance from others. Also in play is the development and possible success — or failure — of a vaccine. Ultimately, whether the virus surges again will shape the city’s response efforts and whether officials need to find more money to pay for them… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Discord over state and local funds plagues coronavirus talks (The Hill)
Negotiators seeking to strike a deal on a stalled coronavirus relief bill risk additional economic bruising unless they come to agreement on providing fiscal aid to state and local governments, which remains the largest stumbling block in talks between Democrats and the White House.
Republicans insist that $150 billion in additional aid will be enough to help state and local governments fill in their budgetary shortfall, and have railed against what they call a "blue state bailout" for governments they say were already fiscally irresponsible before the pandemic.
Democrats, meanwhile, are pushing for $900 billion in aid — a figure Republicans call outlandish — saying that without it the country faces a longer and weaker comeback. Some economists say scant federal aid to state and local governments in 2009 hampered the last recovery.
How the government ultimately responds to the partisan impasse — or fails to respond — will be critical for the economy, and could have significant implications for November’s election.
Without federal aid, states could resort to cutting back employment and services in education, transportation, infrastructure and other key fields.
“The actions state governments take affect the lives of Americans in huge ways,” said Josh Goodman of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ state fiscal health project.
“When they’re in difficult budget positions, they’re either cutting services when people can least afford it or raising taxes when people can least afford it.” … (LINK TO STORY)
Experts project autumn surge in coronavirus cases, with a peak after Election Day (Washington Post)
Infectious-disease experts are warning of a potential cold-weather surge of coronavirus cases — a long-feared “second wave” of infections and deaths, possibly at a catastrophic scale. It could begin well before Election Day, Nov. 3, although researchers assume the crest would come weeks later, closer to when fall gives way to winter. An autumn surge in covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, would not be an October surprise: It has been hypothesized since early in the pandemic because of the patterns of other respiratory viruses. “My feeling is that there is a wave coming, and it’s not so much whether it’s coming but how big is it going to be,” said Eili Klein, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The pandemic is already a dominant campaign issue, and it’s not clear that even a spike in deaths would apply much torque to the presidential race. Outbreaks in some states could also bring pressure further down the ballot and conceivably affect turnout if there is so much community spread that voters who planned to cast ballots in person feel unsafe going to the polls. The warnings from researchers come at a moment when, despite a rise in cases in the Upper Midwest, national numbers have been trending downward at a slow pace for several weeks following the early-summer surges in the Sun Belt. Respiratory viruses typically begin spreading more easily a couple of weeks after schools resume classes. Although the pandemic has driven many school districts to remote learning, there is a broad push across the country to return to something like normal life. The Labor Day holiday weekend is a traditional time of travel and group activities, and, like Independence Day and Memorial Day, could seed transmission of the virus if people fail to take precautions. And viruses tend to spread more easily in cooler, less humid weather, which allows them to remain viable longer. As the weather cools, people tend to congregate more indoors. The coronavirus has a relatively long incubation period, and the disease progression in patients with severe illnesses also tends to be drawn out over several weeks. As a result, any spike in deaths will lag weeks behind a spike in infections. And the infection surges have consistently followed the loosening of shutdown orders and other restrictions… (LINK TO STORY)