Editorial Staff

COVID-19 Roundup from Pioneer: Tracking COVID-19 in MA, unemployment tsunami, cancel MCAS?, cell phone hygiene, salute to James Taylor, state tax filing & more!

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Pioneer staff share their top picks for COVID-19 stories highlighting useful resources, best practices, and questions we should be asking our public and private sector leaders. We hope you are staying safe, and we welcome your thoughts; you can always reach out to us via email:  pioneer@pioneerinstitute.org.

Our Top Picks for COVID-19 Pandemic News:

William Smith, Visiting Fellow in Life Sciences: This Harvard paper models that if coronavirus has the Spanish flu’s death rate – 2 percent – that means 150 million worldwide deaths in 2020 and a GDP loss of 6 percent in a typical country with consumption declines of 8 percent.

Micaela Dawson, Communications Director: Where are the COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts? WCVB-TV has some excellent charts showing the location of those testing positive, the number tested, quarantined, hospitalized, and much more.

Our Picks for Public & Private Sector Best Practices:

Greg Sullivan, Research Director, is quoted extensively in this news story on the state’s unemployment tsunami, and what the federal government can do to assist.

Jamie Gass, Education Policy Director, is quoted in today’s Boston Globe story on calls for Massachusetts to cancel MCAS testing:
“The MCAS is a central element of the law that has driven the state’s historic success on every measure of the national and international student achievement. But given the serious realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools being closed across Massachusetts, and the logistics of testing protocols, the state should explore postponing MCAS until this national emergency has subsided and schooling in the Commonwealth resumes.”

Jamie also offers “7 Tools to Keep Your Child Engaged in Math During COVID-19.”

Barbara Anthony, Senior Fellow in Healthcare: State Insurance Commissioner Gary Anderson urges all insurers to be flexible regarding payments of premiums and cost sharing for small businesses and individuals.

Mary Connaughton, Director of Government Transparency: My house has never been cleaner. All high-touch surfaces are cleaned with reckless abandon. But how important is it to clean our cell phones? Here’s some guidance from the Wall Street Journal, well, sort of… Shout out to the State House News Service (SHNS) for making their informative Coronavirus Tracker free to the public. And “we’ve got a friend” in singer James Taylor – he donated $1 million to Mass General Hospital to fight COVID-19.

Questions for Our Public & Private Sector Leaders:

In our last roundup we asked you to take our poll: Should MA Governor Baker issue a shelter-in-place order? Among respondents, here are the results: 42% Yes, 51% No, 7% Undecided.

Read our Public Statement on the Governor’s emergency order.

Barbara Anthony: Only those with symptoms can receive tests, but we know that many people are asymptomatic and continue to spread unknowingly. So why are we limiting testing to only those with symptoms?  Also, can Massachusetts officials provide guidance on the state tax filing deadline? It would be helpful to clarify this, since most people can’t file state taxes without figuring out federal taxes. But stay tuned – looks like DOR is working on it.

Do YOU have interesting articles to share with us? Please email us, or message us through our social media channels below!

Share our COVID-19 roundups: bit.ly/covid19pio

Join us on social media!

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Related Content:

Patient-centered Model Outshines Insurance-centered Healthcare during Pandemic

0 Comments
/
Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute Senior Fellow Josh Archambault about his newest research paper entitled, "Direct Health Care Agreements: A New Option For Patient-Centered Care That Costs Less and Reduces Provider Burn-out" and how this emerging service model provided its patients with comprehensive health service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

WSJ Drama Editor Terry Teachout on Jazz Greats Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington

This week on “The Learning Curve," Gerard and guest co-host Kerry McDonald continue our celebration of Black achievements with Terry Teachout, drama critic at The Wall Street Journal, and author of such books as Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong and Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington.

Wealth Migration Trends: Remote Work Technology Empowers Workers to Live Anywhere

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute’s Andrew Mikula about his recent research into migration trends of high-income individuals, how pandemic-related technologies may accelerate that movement, and what challenges these changes present for policy makers.

UGA Prof. Valerie Boyd on Zora Neale Hurston, the Harlem Renaissance, & Black History Month

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard celebrate Black History Month with Professor Valerie Boyd, the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer in Residence and Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Georgia, and the definitive biographer of Zora Neale Hurston. Boyd discusses why Hurston is such an important novelist and cultural figure, and the influence of Hurston’s 1937 classic novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, on American literature.

New Study Finds Pandemic-Spurred Technologies Lowered Barriers to Exit in High-Cost States

Both employers and households will find it easier to leave major job centers as technologies made commonplace by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a rethinking of the geography of work, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Interstate Legal Skirmish: New Hampshire Takes Massachusetts Telecommuter Tax to the Supreme Court

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with legal scholar and George Mason University Law Professor Ilya Somin about the details, the merits, and the likely implications of the Supreme Court case, New Hampshire v. Massachusetts, on state taxation power, federalism, and the power to vote with one’s feet.

Boston Catholic Schools Supt. Tom Carroll on National Catholic Schools Week

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard celebrate National Catholic Schools Week with Tom Carroll, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Boston. He shares his view of the value that Catholic schools add; the reasons for their success at improving student outcomes and creating a sense of community; and their commitment to serving children from underprivileged backgrounds, regardless of religious affiliation. 

Connecticut’s Painful Journey: Wealth Squandered, Lessons Learned, Promise Explored

0 Comments
/
Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Connecticut Business and Industry Association’s President and CEO, Chris DiPentima, about what policy makers can learn from Connecticut’s journey from the wealthiest state in the nation, to one with more than a decade of negative job growth.

New Study Shows Significant Wealth Migration from Massachusetts to Florida, New Hampshire

Over the last 25 years, Massachusetts has consistently lost taxable income, especially to Florida and New Hampshire, via out-migration of the wealthy, according to a new Pioneer Institute study. In “Do The Wealthy Migrate Away From High-Tax States? A Comparison of Adjusted Gross Income Changes in Massachusetts and Florida,” Pioneer Institute Research Director Greg Sullivan and Research Assistant Andrew Mikula draw on IRS data showing aggregate migration flows by amount of adjusted gross income (AGI). The data show a persistent trend of wealth leaving high-tax states for low-tax ones, especially in the Sun Belt.

Never Forgetting – Holocaust Remembrance Day – 25 Resources for K-12 Students

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs here, on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Memorializing International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th and learning about the tragedy of the Holocaust during WWII.