The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviews data collection, equipment and testing supplies, and economic payouts, among other issues related to the pandemic and makes 16 recommendations to address them. Read more here.

Track the Pandemic with The Daily Yonder’s new Covid-19 Dashboard. The Daily Yonder is tracking the spread of Covid-19 across rural America. Their dashboard is updated weekly with the latest numbers, interactive maps and graphics, and related reporting.

By Tim Murphy and Tim Marema
The number of new cases climbed for the second week in a row. Since mid-September, the rate of new rural infections has increased 48%.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Tracker is a tool for sharing maps, charts, and data about COVID-19. COVID-19 Tracker now reports trends in COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates by 2013 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties. This scheme classifies all counties in the U.S. into one of six metropolitan categories (4 metropolitan, 1 micropolitan, 1 non-core). Users can focus on one or more of the urban-rural classes and compare them to the national-level rate. Users can also examine the urban-rural trends in incidence and mortality at the national-, state- or Health and Human Services region-level.

The CDC COVID-19 Tracker shows that the national level rates peaked in April, declined and plateaued for several weeks in May and June, and then began to rise again in late June. However, COVID-19 incidence rates among rural, micropolitan, and small metropolitan populations steadily increased since the beginning of the pandemic and surpassed the metropolitan rates in early August and now continues to rise at a faster pace.  Likewise, mortality rates in the more rural parts of the United States began low until mid-August when rates in the more rural areas began to surpass the rates in the more urban areas.

Access the Tracker at https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#pop-factors_newcases

Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Teresa Miller sent a letter to Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey and Senator Pat Toomey to urge them to grant DHS continued flexibility to manage changing needs during the COVID-19 health crisis, especially pertaining to Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) waivers.

“The economic impact of this crisis has not yet been fully mitigated and for that reason, we expect SNAP enrollment to continue to grow. We urge you to support the adoption and extension of these waiver flexibilities, which will be necessary to support the provision of critical benefits to Pennsylvania households in need,” wrote Secretary Miller. “Granting Pennsylvania the flexibility of these waivers will ensure that DHS can continue to effectively manage the COVID-19 public health emergency and its ensuing economic impact.”

DHS specifically requested that senators Casey and Toomey pass resolutions that would extend existing waivers DHS has found valuable in managing people’s changing needs during the health crisis, including:

• The ability to extend SNAP benefit certification periods and adjust periodic reporting requirements;
• The ability to allow household reporting through periodic reporting; and
• The ability to adjust interview requirements for SNAP.

Without the continuation of these waivers, DHS may need to authorize overtime or hire additional staff to keep pace with existing work due to an expected increase in need for assistance programs over the fall and winter months. Charitable food networks may also be further stressed, as they play an important intermediary role in keeping people fed as households await SNAP eligibility determinations.

SNAP helps more than 1.9 million Pennsylvanians expand purchasing power by providing money each month to spend on groceries, helping households have resources to purchase enough food to avoid going hungry. Inadequate food and chronic nutrient deficiencies have profound effects on a person’s life and health, including increased risks for chronic diseases, higher chances of hospitalization, poorer overall health, and increased health care costs. As the nation faces the COVID-19 pandemic, access to essential needs like food is more important than ever to help keep vulnerable populations healthy and mitigate co-occurring health risks.

Applications for SNAP and other public assistance programs can be submitted online at www.compass.state.pa.us. Those who prefer to submit paper documentation can print from the website or request an application by phone at 1-800-692-7462 and mail it to their local County Assistance Office (CAO) or place it in a CAO’s secure drop box, if available. While CAOs remain closed, work processing applications, determining eligibility, and issuing benefits continues. Clients should use COMPASS or the MyCOMPASS PA mobile app to submit necessary updates to their case files while CAOs are closed.

Pennsylvanians who need more immediate help feeding themselves or their family should find and contact their local food bank or pantry through Feeding Pennsylvania and Hunger-Free Pennsylvania.

Read a copy of Secretary Miller’s letter here.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that Pennsylvania is prepared with a stockpile of ​personal protective equipment (PPE​) now and should it be needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in the coming months.

PPE includes protective clothing, helmets, gloves, face shields, goggles, facemasks and respirators or other equipment designed to protect the wearer from injury or the spread of infection or illness. It is not the same as cloth or paper masks that people are required to wear when they leave their homes to protect them and those they interact with.

“I want all Pennsylvanians to know that the commonwealth is prepared now for battling the ongoing pandemic that is COVID-19 and that preparedness extends to a possible resurgence this fall,” Gov. Wolf said. “There are still many unknowns with this virus, and we can’t control those, but we can control what we know and we know that by being ready with enough PPE, we can protect our health care workers, first responders and other essential workers and not overwhelm our health care system.”

To date, the state has distributed close to 5.4 million N95 masks, more than 736,000 gowns, more than 2.75 million procedure masks, close to 7.7 million gloves, close to 1.3 million face shields and a little less than 1 million bottles of hand sanitizer.

Last week the governor visited Americhem International, a Middletown-based wholesale distributor of janitorial and sanitizing products that serves a variety of industries, to thank businesses that worked to supply PPE during the pandemic and outlined the myriad efforts undertaken to ensure the commonwealth is and will be prepared for all PPE needs.

PPE is necessary to protect health care workers, first responders, those working in long-term living and correctional facilities, and those they care for. It is vital for facilities to have preparedness plans and for the state to assist when needed.

“The state, through procurement, sourcing and buying of PPE, is prepared for fall,” Gov. Wolf said. “We have significantly more PPE on hand to assist those who need it than we had prior to COVID-19. We continue to push PPE to those who need and request it and will work to ensure we keep our stockpile filled.

“In the early days of the pandemic, this administration took numerous steps to secure sources of PPE to ensure that Pennsylvanians were protected and that our health system was not overwhelmed. Our proactive and ongoing efforts to secure PPE, coupled with the flexibility and ingenuity displayed by Pennsylvania’s business community, helped us secure and allocate PPE. Because of the steps we took, our hospitals were not overburdened, and our medical system was not strained. Now, six months after the virus first appeared in the commonwealth, we can say with confidence that we are prepared to stay safe as we continue to fight this pandemic.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its previously revised guidance for coronavirus testing on Friday to say that testing asymptomatic people who were exposed to COVID-19 is recommended for treatment and contact tracing.

The CEAL Alliance is equipping community leaders with resources that can help them talk with their communities about COVID-19, the vaccines being developed, and the importance of participating in research studies. Examples of resources include fact sheets and videos.

• Fact Sheets

• • Minorities in Clinical Trials: Fact sheet from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Minority Health about the importance of minority participation
  • Minority Participation in Clinical Trials (in Spanish)

• Videos

• • Shirley’s Story: Diversity is Critical to Making Better Medical Products: Video on the importance of diversity when developing medical products, from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  • Latinos Can Make a Difference in Clinical Trials (in Spanish): Video on the importance of the Latino population in clinical trials from the FDA
  • Women Advancing Research Through Clinical Trials: Video from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) on encouraging women, including minority women, to participate in research trials

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a sharper focus on the need to support healthcare worker wellbeing. To support Pennsylvania’s healthcare workforce, The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) has developed a resource tool entitled, Resources for a Resilient Workforce. This resource tool provides an overview of the impact of burnout on healthcare workers, finances and patient safety. It also includes guidance to build resiliency and a compendium of resources and strategies to implement resiliency initiatives, as well as best practices from Pennsylvania hospitals.

The share of Americans who say they’ll try a first-generation coronavirus vaccine is dropping based on the new Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index and the trend is true among both Democrats and Republicans. The steep drop in those willing to take the vaccine illustrates the high risk of politicizing the virus and its treatments and the uphill battle health authorities will face in convincing enough Americans that a vaccine is safe and effective. Based on the national survey:

• Many respondents feel a vaccine will be risky.
• Only half are prepared to pay out of pocket for it.
• Just 13% say they would be willing to try it immediately.
• Men remain more likely than women to take the first-generation vaccine.
• Black Americans are about half as likely as Hispanics or whites to take it.

Read more.