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:

The past six weeks of Massachusetts unemployment claims total 24.0 percent of civilian workforce

0 Comments
/
The U.S. Department of Labor released its weekly report on jobless claims this morning at 8:30 a.m., reporting that Massachusetts received 70,714 initial unemployment insurance (UI) claims during the week ended April 25. This brings the total of unemployment claims filed in Massachusetts since March 14, the beginning of the unemployment surge, to 725,018. 

Re-opening for business: What should employers and commercial real estate managers do to prepare?

0 Comments
/
Weeks away from re-opening, now is a time when employers and real estate managers must act. To assist our community in doing a great job of preparing, Pioneer Institute, in partnership with the law firm of Verrill, is sharing two checklists that will help you keep your employees safe, anticipate challenges, and develop feasible and useful methods to successfully deal with those challenges when they do.

Report Finds “Reopening Day” in the Commonwealth Will Likely Include Phasing in Businesses and Contact Tracing

New study compares the reopening of three European countries – Austria, Denmark, and Germany – to highlight approaches that could inform the Commonwealth’s reopening strategy.

To Read or Not to Read Shakespeare? 12 Great Ways to Get to Know The Bard During COVID-19

0 Comments
/
With school closures impacting 50 million children across America, and a challenging transition to remote learning,  many parents are seeking supplementary material to enrich their children's academic experience during COVID-19.  Fortunately, there is a wealth of information available to introduce children of all ages to, arguably, the greatest literary figure in the English-speaking world, William Shakespeare.

States across the country have enacted eviction moratoriums. What does this mean for the housing market in the long-term?

Last week, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill…

A Tipping Point for Telehealth – Bringing Healthcare into Your Home

0 Comments
/
This week on "Hubwonk," Joe Selvaggi and Josh Archambault talk with Dr. Roy Schoenberg, Chief Executive of Amwell, a global telehealth technology company headquartered in Boston, about the promise of telemedicine and how the COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed broader adoption.

COVID-19 Roundup from Pioneer: 90-day prescription refills?; Who has the power to re-open the economy?; Grading the Bay State in Online Learning; The T & COVID prevention; & more!

0 Comments
/
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.

Ashley Berner of Johns Hopkins on Academic Quality, Educational Pluralism, & the Providence Public Schools

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard continue coverage of COVID-19’s impact on K-12 education, joined by Ashley Berner, Deputy Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy. 

New jobless claims data shows that Massachusetts unemployment has grown from 2.8% to at least 20.4% in five weeks

0 Comments
/
Based on today’s jobless claims report, Pioneer Institute projects that the current unemployment rate in Massachusetts is at least 20.4 percent, with a minimum of 762,299 currently unemployed individuals.

Study Highlights Transit Agency Best Practices in Response to COVID-19

The MBTA is taking a number of important steps to mitigate risks associated with the coronavirus, but some transit agencies around the country - from Philadelphia to San Francisco - have done significantly more, according to a new study that highlights the best practices of U.S. transit systems in response to COVID-19.