Employment
Two Berkeley Professors: Targeted Intervention on COVID-19 Must Support Businesses, Workers
Absent government actions, and many businesses and workers do not have enough liquidity to weather dramatic shortfalls in demand causing mass redundancies. Keeping businesses alive through this crisis and making sure workers continue to receive their wages is essential. The most direct way to provide this insurance is to have governments act as payers of last resort, so that hibernating businesses can keep paying their workers (known in economic terms as idle workers) instead of laying them off, and can keep paying their necessary bills such as rent, utilities and interest instead of going bankrupt. more »
Weekly Legislative Update March 9-13, 2020: Bills For Paid Sick Leave, Perinatal Workforce, Public Health Emergency, Maternity Care Coordination by Dept of Veterans Affairs
A bill to establish the Leadership Institute for Transatlantic Engagement to develop a diverse community of transatlantic leaders at all levels of government, including emerging leaders, committed to democratic institutions; A bill to provide improved care and protection to incarcerated mothers, and for other purposes.; A bill to accept a statue depicting Harriet Tubman from the Harriet Tubman Statue Commission of Maryland and display the statue in a prominent location in the Capitol; A bill to end preventable maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity in the United States and close disparities in maternal health outcomes; A bill to provide grants to eligible local educational agencies to encourage female students to pursue studies and careers in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology.
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From the National Institutes of Health (NIH): New Coronavirus Stable for Hours on Surfaces Including Copper, Cardboard, Plastics and Stainless Steel
The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects. The study information was widely shared during the past two weeks after the researchers placed the contents on a preprint server to quickly share their data with colleagues. more »
Automatic Stabilizers: What Are They and Do They Help Workers Who Stay Home Due to the Corona Virus?
"The governments of most European countries are offsetting the cost of emergency sick leave for employers an aiding smaller companies that are scrambling to survive. Most European governments require business to grant employees some form of paid sick leave. Germany, France, Denmark and The Netherlands are among the countries where workers have a right to receive full pay, in some cases for at least six weeks, if they are ill, are quarantined or are told to stay home by their employers." more »