Category: COVID-19

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Race and COVID-19

  By COVID-19, PBPC Blog posts

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. Originally published by KRC-PBPC here By Marc Stier and Erica Freeman COVID-19 is like a chemical in which one dips a photographic print—it gradually reveals things you couldn’t see before. It is showing us deeply disturbing and unjust patterns of inequality in the life of our nation and state that too many of us ignore from day today. We have said from the beginning of the pandemic that we’re concerned that the impact of COVID-19 on our health, as well as the impact of the necessary steps to fight the spread of the virus on our economic well-being, would be borne disproportionately by those who have lower incomes, who are Black and brown, who are immigrants, who are seniors, and who are disabled. It’s becoming increasingly clear that COVID-19 is hitting Black and brown people harder than white people. We haven’t found good data for… Continue reading

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Choose Lives Not Money: On a Proposed Amendment A04895 to SB 327, PN 1436

  By COVID-19, PA Economy

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. Governor Wolf has ordered all Pennsylvanians to stay at home except when necessary to engage in “tasks essential to maintain…the health and safety of their family and household members;” to get “necessary services or supplies for themselves or their family or household members….or to those in need;” to engage in ”outdoor activities” or to “perform work providing essential products and services at life-sustaining businesses….” This order has required the closure of most businesses in the Commonwealth. And that has placed a great burden on the owners of businesses large and small as well as on the employees of those businesses. The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center has recommended, along with many others, that the Commonwealth and the federal government take many steps to help sustain businesses and their employees during this time. Both the federal and state governments have taken such steps. We will be making… Continue reading

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The Likely Impact of COVID-19 on Pennsylvania

  By COVID-19, PBPC Blog posts

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. A recent study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington projects the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the state between now and August 1, 2020. The study concludes that by then the virus will have killed more than 3,000 Pennsylvanians, and it will heavily stress our health care system in mid-April. But thanks to the social distancing and business closures required by the Wolf administration, our state will avoid the devastation that might occur if current COVID-19 trends—which are a product of our interaction before the policies went into effect—were to continue. The study projects that the peak need for hospital resources will occur in Pennsylvania on April 17 when 9,745 hospital beds will be required. That number is below the 14,395 hospital beds in the state. However, it also predicts that 1,417 beds will be needed… Continue reading

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What Not to Do in the Face of a COVID-19 Driven Recession: Lessons from the Corbett Years

  By COVID-19, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget

Originally published by KCR-PBPC here. By Marc Stier and Diana Polson As COVID-19 hurtles us towards a global recession, Pennsylvania will need to make difficult decisions about how to handle a possibly huge shortfall in state revenues as well as a mandated increase in state costs for such things as Medicaid. We are working to estimate how much state revenues will suffer due to the recession but there are many unknowns, especially because this is an unusual recession, one that is a product of deliberate and necessary policy choice. With no models for this kind of recession, we do not know how deep the recession will be, how long it will last, or how quickly the economy can recover. At this point, we can only give a wide range of possibilities. It is likely that state revenues will drop between $4.5 and $9 billion in the current fiscal year and… Continue reading

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Here Is What We Know About the COVID-19 Stimulus Bill

  By COVID-19, Economic Development, PBPC Blog posts, Politics

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. Here is what we think we know about the bipartisan COVID-19 stimulus / relief bill that we expect the Senate to pass today. Let me be clear that lawmakers reached a deal—but the legislative text is not yet complete. Legislative staff members are working to fill in all the blanks on the agreements in order to have a full bill to move to the floor today. Some of these details may change in the final version. We will be updating this blog post throughout the day as we receive more details. Cash payments: The bill provides a one-time stipend of about $1,200 per individual making up to $75,000, $2,400 for couples making $150,000 or less, and $500 per child. The payment will be reduced gradually as incomes rise. Individuals who make up to $99,000 and couples making up to $198,000 would receive less. Though still unsure, we believe… Continue reading

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Viruses, Health Care, and Communal Provision

  By COVID-19, Health Care, PBPC Blog posts

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. A few years ago, I wrote a piece that explained why health care has to be provided communally. I showed that without extensive communal provision through both direct investment and the subsidy of insurance that pays for medical care, we would have far fewer well-trained doctors, far fewer major medical centers, far less knowledge about and treatment for all but the most common illnesses, and most people with pre-existing conditions—that is pretty much all of us sixty years or older and many of us far younger—would not have affordable insurance for those conditions. We are now seeing one more reason why health care must be provided communally and why everyone must have not only health insurance but protection against the economic ravages of unemployment and underemployment. When we are fighting an infectious disease like COVID-19, one that spreads rapidly and is acutely dangerous, it is absolutely critical… Continue reading