After borrowing billions from the federal government to pay for unemployment during the pandemic, the state’s debt now stands at about $21 billion and growing. The state also currently accounts for about 20 percent of the nation’s unemployment.
Only 92 percent of U.S. adolescents are vaccinated against measles and a 95 percent vaccination rate is needed to create herd immunity. So far in 2024, the CDC has reported 35 cases in 15 jurisdictions.
Last May, Oregon became the first state to veer away from the CDC’s COVID-positive recommendations to stay home for five days and wear a mask for another five. Now, the CDC is considering revising its policy to follow Oregon’s.
Companies are still trying to get their workers back into offices across the nation, while the percentage of San Antonians working from home continues to decline. By comparison, more than twice the share of workers are still remote in Austin.
Washington provided $800 billion in pandemic relief. With most of that money spent, states now face major funding gaps for Medicaid, while school districts, child care providers and transit agencies are also struggling.
The state has settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of low-income students of color from Oakland and L.A. They claimed the state offered insufficient support for remote learning.
A report found that one-third of parents are concerned about the COVID-19 shutdown’s long-term impact on their child’s education, both academically and socially.
We’re now experiencing the second-biggest wave of infections since omicron. Yet we cling to complacency and the false belief that the virus will burn out and go away.
More than $5.8 billion of the $7.8 billion in federal funds awarded to Illinois schools since March 2020 has been spent. In Chicago, the school system faces a $391 million shortfall for the 2024-25 school year.
The latest data from HUD shows a 12 percent increase in the homeless population. After declines over the last decade, current trends are troubling, but it's not clear how long the upward swing will last.
New York City schools have received more than $7 billion in federal aid to help students recover academically after the pandemic. But 36 percent of students were still “chronically” absent last year. Those in poverty were gone 45 percent of the year.
In 2021, the state’s surplus was $3.7 billion and a year later it had grown by nearly another $3 billion. Now with $16 billion reserved, it’s likely that increased spending will occur in next year’s session.
Since the end of the pandemic-era continuous Medicaid renewals, 1.4 million Texans have been dropped from the federal health insurance program and 58 percent of them have been children.
Interest in leasing new office space was at just 21 percent of pre-pandemic levels for the third quarter of 2023. However, there was a slight increase in tenants looking for mid-sized office space.
City officials have successfully shut down the lime-green tents that were advertising “Free COVID Testing” and were offering $5 cash to individuals in exchange for personal information and test samples.
The question is whether this is a one-year blip or part of a more concerning shift, but it reflects hard truths about the state of our infant and maternal health care.
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