PLUS: How workplace testing can get us back to work safely while mitigating the spread of COVID-19.

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** NEW REPORT: ([link removed]) Is Work-from-Home Really the Wave of the Future?
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by Jason Gold, Senior Fellow, and Alec Stapp, Director of Technology Policy

Zillow CEO Rich Barton recently tweeted ([link removed]) that he was giving all employees the option to work from home for the rest of 2020. “My personal opinions about WFH (work from home) have been turned upside down over the past 2 months. I expect this will have a lasting influence on the future of work … and home.”

Barton’s epiphany about working from home — echoed by other U.S. business leaders — may mark a decisive shift toward pervasive telework in the post-pandemic economy. Before COVID-19 appeared, just five percent ([link removed]) of the U.S. workforce worked remotely full-time. Now, thanks to America’s extensive digital infrastructure, two-thirds ([link removed]) of employees are working from home.

Some companies say they have witnessed an immediate bump in productivity as workers save time on commuting and have fewer in-office distractions. The temporary switch to remote work has gone so well at Twitter that the company has decided to make it the permanent default for most employees. Other tech companies may soon follow suit.

But before too many companies go all in on work from home, there is an important reason for caution: the current increase in productivity may be an illusion.
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Dealing with Zoom Fatigue: Using Project-Based Learning to End the School Year on a High Note
by Bruce Aaro, Spring Intern

As schools wind down from a, hopefully, once-in-a-lifetime shutdown, many students and teachers find their motivation also winding down. Educators are calling this “zoom fatigue ([link removed]) ,” referring to the commonly used teleconference platform.

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State and Local Budget Cuts Jeopardize U.S. Recovery
by Brendan McDermott, Center for Funding America's Future

As the coronavirus crisis grinds on, state and local leaders are warning of a looming fiscal meltdown. Unlike the federal government, most state and local governments are required to balance their budgets, so they may need to implement painful budget cuts ([link removed]) as unemployment soars and as tax collections dry up.

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We can contain the spread of COVID-19 — but the federal government must step up before it’s too late
by Arielle Kane, Director of Health Care

States and localities are proceeding with “opening” their economies despite the fact that most states have not met the re-opening criteria ([link removed]) put forward by the White House. In order to head off spikes in cases, states and localities will need aggressive testing, contact tracing, and isolation programs.

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How a New Wave of Digital Platforms can Lift Growth
by Michael Mandel, Chief Economic Strategist

Getting the economy back on its feet again isn’t going to be easy. New types of digital platforms can help. A well-functioning business is like a table with four legs: Customers, capital, workers, and suppliers. The pandemic knocked out all four legs simultaneously, with terrible consequences. When and if the health impacts of the pandemic are mitigated, the big question is: How fast can we stand all four legs back up again?

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How Workplace Testing Can Get Us Back to Work
by Michael Mandel, Chief Economic Strategist

We’re used to thinking of COVID-19 testing as an activity that is led by government public health agencies, supported by private testing laboratories such as Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp.

But American businesses have a broader role to play. Workplace-based testing for COVID-19 infections is shaping up to be a crucial component of managing the virus and getting the economy restarted again.

In mid-April Scott Gottlieb, former head of the FDA, wrote a op-ed for the Wall Street Journal where he argued that:
"As employees return to work, perhaps as early as May, employers can offer screening at their place of business. Rapid diagnosis and containment will be a critical part of limiting spread."

Government policy can encourage employer-based testing in two ways. First, without cutting corners, federal and state regulatory agencies should be open to approving employer-based testing laboratories that will add significantly more national testing capacity. Second, the U.S. should consider subsidizing sick leave for workers that test positive, in order to encourage more companies to do testing.

Oddly enough, the CDC is still treating testing as a scarce resource, as it has since the beginning of the pandemic, and actively discouraging employer use of tests. The current CDC guidelines for employers suggest checking workers for virus symptoms or elevated temperatures, but goes on say: “[e]mployers should not require a COVID-19 test result ….to return to work.”

But to be polite, that attitude from the CDC misses the point. President Donald Trump has explicitly made testing the responsibility of state governments, in conjunction with the leading private labs, and they simply don’t have the resources to carry the whole load. It’s time to harness the financial heft of the business sector to pick up some of the testing burden.
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