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Michigan Executive and State DepartmentsGov. Whitmer announced further re-opening of the state today:
- Regions 6 and 8 will move to Phase 5 of the MI Safe Start plan beginning June 10. This includes:
- Re-opening of movie theaters.
- Indoor gatherings of 50 people indoors and 250 outdoors.
- Outdoor performance and sporting venues will be open with a capacity of 500.
- Re-opening personal care facilities (i.e. hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors, tanning salons, and exercise facilities)
Additionally, personal care facilities such as hair and nail salons, massage facilities, and tattoo parlors will re-open statewide on June 15th. The governor also indicated that she anticipates the entire state to transition to Phase 5 in a couple weeks. In conjunction with re-opening, the governor also issued an updated worker safety order. All orders are attached.
Federal
Our colleagues at Cornerstone Government Affairs in Washington, D.C. have highlighted some updates on the federal level:
- HHS announced new guidance that specifies what additional data must be reported to HHS by laboratories along with COVID-19 test results. The guidance standardizes reporting to ensure that public health officials have access to comprehensive and nearly real-time data to inform decision making in their response to COVID-19. The requirements including reporting based on race, ethnicity, age, and sex of individuals tested for the virus. The announcement acknowledges that, as the country begins to reopen, access to clear and accurate data is essential to communities and leadership for making decisions critical to a phased reopening.
- Agriculture Sec. Sonny Perdue yesterday announced the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) has approved more than $545 million in payments to producers who have applied for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. FSA began taking applications May 26th, and the agency has received over 86,000 applications for the program.
- CMS posted the first set of underlying COVID-19 nursing home data. On April 19th, the agency announced the requirement that nursing homes must inform residents, their families, and their representatives of COVID-19 cases in their facilities. Also, nursing homes are required to report COVID-19 cases and deaths directly to the CDC. Today CMS made this data publicly available. As part of yesterday’s announcement, CMS is also posting the results from the targeted inspections announced on March 4th to allow inspectors to focus on the most serious health and safety threats like infectious diseases and abuse during the pandemic. Links to all of the data can be found in the agency's announcement.
- NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and the director of NIH's National Cancer Institute, Dr. Ned Sharpless, recently had a discussion about the importance of reliable antibody testing for COVID-19. A condensed transcript, which was published in the NIH Director's Blog, is available here.
- A new U.S. GAO report analyzes how federal agencies use infectious disease modeling to help guide decisions to fight outbreaks and how these models can be improved. The report was requested by Energy and Commerce Committee leaders in 2017 after learning about challenges with infectious disease modeling during the Zika outbreak at a hearing.
- Please continue to check the CDC dashboard where they post updated guidance daily. Yesterday, the agency posted multiple updates to their contact tracing resources page. In the House Appropriations Committee hearing this morning, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said that the U.S. needs to increase its number of contact tracers to at least 100,000.
- Tuesday (6/9) 10 AM Senate Homeland Security: Hearings to examine the Federal government's procurement and distribution strategies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Tuesday (6/9) 12 PM House Energy and Commerce: Pollution and Pandemics: COVID-19’s Disproportionate Impact on Environmental Justice Communities.
- Tuesday (6/9) 2:30 PM Senate Finance: Hearings to examine unemployment insurance during COVID-19, focusing on The CARES Act and the roles of unemployment insurance during the pandemic.
- Wednesday (6/10) 10 AM Senate HELP: Hearings to examine COVID-19, focusing on going back to school safely.
- Wednesday (6/10) 12 PM House Financial Services: The Rent Is Still Due: America's Renters, COVID-19 and an Unprecedented Eviction Crisis.
- Wednesday (6/10) 12 PM House Oversight: No Worker Left Behind: Supporting Essential Workers.
- Thursday (6/11) 1 PM House Administration: The Impact of COVID-19 on Voting Rights and Election Administration: Ensuring Safe and Fair Elections.
- Thursday (6/11) 1 PM House Appropriations: Indian Health Service Covid-19 Response.
- Thursday (6/11) 2 PM House VA: Assessing VA's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: 90 Days Later.
- President Trump ultimately signed the PPP bill that was passed out of the Senate last night. The Senate, however, does not plan to bring another COVID supplemental to the floor until at least mid-July.
