The Looming Eviction Crisis
A federal eviction moratorium is ending, putting 12 million renters nationwide at risk of eviction. Indiana’s moratorium is scheduled to end on July 31, and the Indiana Housing Now program, which drew upon CARES Act dollars to offer rent relief to up to 12,000 in the state, has filled. The end of the moratorium also will have a devastating impact on the many Hoosiers who can no longer afford their mortgages or to pay their utilities.
As of this afternoon, the latest Senate relief proposal does not include extending protection. The first piece linked above, from the Washington Post, offers answers to Frequently Asked Questions concerning this looming national crisis-within-a-crisis. This piece from the Health Affairs Blog discusses the programs the New York City Health & Hospitals system used to address the primary social needs of housing, food, and income support for low income residents during the lockdown.
University & School Reopenings
As Covid-19 Resurges, More Colleges Revise Their Fall Plans. Here Are The Latest Changes.
The American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second largest teachers union, has indicated it will support strikes by their members against unsafe working conditions in schools this fall. Their Safely Reopening Schools Resolution outlines 6 conditions that should be met before schools are reopened for face-to-face instruction. Regarding the reopening of K-12 schools, bioethics experts at Johns Hopkins University recently released a white paper titled Ethics of K-12 School Reopening: Identifying and Addressing the Values at Stake.
Veterans and Covid-19
This brief from the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership discusses how legal assistance can aid Veterans in meeting their economic, social, and mental health needs during the pandemic.
Substance Use Disorder and Covid-19
As discussed in this excellent overview from the American Association of Medical Colleges, changes in law to support teletherapy and expanding avenues to access medications for opioid use disorder are two ways Covid-19-related policies have removed barriers to treatment for this vulnerable population during the pandemic.
Safety in Correctional Facilities
A California federal judge has ordered that their state prisons set aside isolation and quarantine space for those incarcerated who test positive for Covid-19 and those who have come in close contact with infectious individuals. An article in the Annals of Internal Medicine argues for using an Occupational Health approach to control Covid-19 in jails and prisons.
Health Equity & Justice during Covid-19: Shameless Self-Promotion
You can register here for free for the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities’ “Health Equity and Justice in the Covid-19 Pandemic” webinar taking place today (July 29) at 11am ET, featuring me, Prof. Seema Mohapatra of IU McKinney School of Law, and Prof. Ruqaiijah Yearby of St. Louis University School of Law. I’ll link to the YouTube version of the webinars in next week’s roundup.
