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Unsanitized: The COVID-19 Report for Aug. 24, 2020

COVID Disaster Hurting Response to Other Disasters
Plus, will there be a relief bill?

 

Mike Bartholemey places extra blocks under his recently dry-docked
shrimp boat, in Empire, Louisiana on Sunday, in advance of Tropical
Storms Marco and Laura. (Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)

First Response

Hello and I am back for one day before we continue our convention
coverage with the Republicans. Harold Meyerson will be holding it down
for me for the remainder of the week with his thoughts on the Trump
show.

As for the coronavirus, it was a busy week, from the Postmaster General
blaming COVID for the mail slowdown when the virus started in March and
the slowdown didn't kick in until July
,
to weekly unemployment claims rising

for the first time in months, to Trump's executive measures on
coronavirus relief providing no relief
.
(I just wanted to use the John Oliver recap language.)

But our main story today is about disasters. We know about the one
disaster we've been living through for close to half a year. But on a
routine basis, Americans have become inured to the fact that we're
just going to experience disasters, many of them natural, many man-made
(or at least man-caused). Instead of stopping gun violence, we offer
thoughts and prayers. Instead of building barrier islands and fighting
climate change to mitigate extreme weather, we go to Home Depot for
lumber and sandbags. We know disasters come and we even have them marked
in our calendars; there's hurricane season and wildfire season. But
when it's pandemic season too, doing our normal work of cleaning up
disasters becomes that much more difficult.

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If the trajectories remain accurate, two tropical storms
are going
to hit the Gulf Coast in the same week, hitting land on opposite patches
of Louisana coastline. This could be a lot worse, as Marco has
downgraded

from a hurricane as it heads toward landfall sometime this afternoon.
Tropical Storm Laura, however, is gaining strength and could be a
hurricane by the time it reaches Louisiana on Thursday. This
double-storm type of event has not happened in at least 60 years.

It's impossible to rescue those who need to be rescued while
practicing social distancing. It's impossible to set up evacuation
shelters that don't put people in giant rec centers or big open rooms,
often with poor ventilation. The pandemic makes the normal disaster
response more difficult.

Because of Donald Trump's executive measure, the storms also directly
compete for funds with the money supplied for an extra $300 in
unemployment checks. That money comes out of the FEMA Disaster Relief
Fund (DRF), which will surely be tapped to handle these storms and the
terrible derecho in Iowa
.
Under the order, the DRF cannot drop below $25 billion. Before storm
season, that left $44 billion for unemployment benefits, already not
enough to cover more than a few weeks

of the slashed benefit. Whatever aid is drawn down for Laura and Marco
and the derecho reduces that even further. (Trump's derecho order did
not include aid

for farmers and homeowners, perhaps because of this problem.)

Meanwhile, in my home state, seven have died and 250,000 are under
evacuation order from wildfires that are burning throughout northern
California . Almost
a million acres

have burned. The same problem with evacuees applies here, with the added
issue of ash leading to bad air quality when there's a respiratory
disease about.

Moreover, progress has been slow and earlier last week was almost
non-existent, because of one of the glories of late capitalism.
California still uses inmate crews to battle wildfires, and thousands of
inmates have been released to prevent infections. One of the main
prisons where inmates train on fire control has been hit with a
coronavirus outbreak
. So
the prison slave labor was unavailable, and there isn't much of a
fallback option.

This is life in a nation of disasters. We can't respond to the ones we
tolerate because of the one we didn't prepare for. Disasters beget
disasters.

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Watch This

Lots of media appearances to tell you about. I was on The Last Word on
MSNBC with fill-in host Ali Velshi discussing the Postal Service. Watch
here . (Even got rated by Rate My Skype
Room .)

ABC News in Australia had me on their podcast to discuss the Postal
Service. Listen here
.

I was on The Discourse podcast talking about the stalled effort in
Congress on coronavirus relief. Listen here
.

If you're opening this after noon on Monday, it's probably too late
to check out our Prospect Zoom event

with Rick Perlstein, but we will put up video on the website.

I do have another Zoom event on Wednesday through Dissent magazine and
DSA about a different book, We Own the Future, to which I contributed a
chapter on public banking. That's Wednesday night at 7:30 ET, you can
register here
.

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**Housekeeping Note**

This week,

**Unsanitized** will be pre-empted for Unconventional, coverage of the
Republican convention written by our editor at large Harold Meyerson.
Enjoy the virtual spectacle.

Where We Are

Just a quick update on the legislative process or lack thereof. The
House returned to work on Saturday, but only to pass a Postal
Service-related bill. Speaker Pelosi rejected a call

for a standalone unemployment insurance boost, reflecting her rejection
throughout this recent negotiation of piecemeal relief measures.
However, the postal bill included $25 billion for USPS, which is... a
piecemeal measure.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans were busy finding the smallest possible
bill

that the entire caucus could agree upon. The most recent text would
renew the unemployment boost at $300 a week, forgive a $10 billion
Postal Service loan, add another round of PPP funding and some
additional money for education and testing. The McConnell corporate
immunity shield is in there too, of course. Keep in mind that most
testing money already appropriated hasn't been drawn down
,
the PPP closed up with $120 billion unspent, and the postal loan
hasn't been tapped. I think Republicans are trying to find a way to
"spend money" without spending any money.

Talks are... who am I kidding, there are no talks. Check back in a week.

Days Without a Bailout Oversight Chair

151
!

We Can't Do This Without You

Today I Learned

* Good Matthew Klein piece

on how the Fed might need to once again cover for failed fiscal policy,
and what they can do. (Barron's)

* The disturbing rise of COVID long-haulers
.
(The Atlantic)

* The FDA authorizes plasma

as a COVID treatment, despite skepticism about its effectiveness. (Stat
News)

* Businesses have no interest

in deferring employee payroll taxes, because they don't want to have
to take a whole paycheck from workers later to pay for it. (Politico)

* Back to Fear City with the worst New York City fiscal crisis

since the 1970s. (Wall Street Journal)

* Dean Baker sees the recovery stalling
. (CEPR)

* The NLRB dismissed a bunch

of COVID-related workplace cases, so do we really need a corporate
immunity shield? (UCommBlog)

* Much more than you need to know about paper towel supply chains

and why there are still shortages. (Wall Street Journal)

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