Coronavirus Roundup: White Home Asks for Extra COVID Funding, Once more

After issuing a co-working spaces contract to WeWork and several other companies last year, because the federal office tradition evolves in wake of the pandemic, this previous week, the Normal Providers Administration made out there free coworking areas for federal staff within the District of Columbia, Denver, and San Francisco to strive out The Yard, Expansive, and WeWork.

“Business coworking is certainly one of a set of choices that GSA is piloting to assist companies adapt to hybrid work, whereas persevering with to fulfill their mission and ship for his or her clients higher than ever earlier than,” a GSA spokesperson mentioned. That is additionally a part of the method to “proceed to proper measurement the federal actual property footprint below GSA’s jurisdiction, custody, or management.” 

Though this responds to the present scenario, the contract has been within the works since late 2019. Daniel Mathews, head of federal gross sales at WeWork who beforehand served as GSA’s Public Constructing Service commissioner, mentioned for the previous 20 years the federal authorities has been shopping for versatile workspace, however it’s been “sporadic and advert hoc.” 

The current indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract is an “further instrument within the authorities’s toolkit for realigning their workplace house portfolio,” he mentioned. “I believe it is actually encouraging that GSA is innovating and on the lookout for methods to assist present companies that there’s another resolution to fixing their issues and actually experiencing the worth propositions for companies, for his or her staff and taxpayers on a a lot sooner schedule than if they simply tried to do it with the traditional options.” Listed below are a number of the different current headlines you may need missed. 

In launching his third bid for the presidency on Tuesday night time, President Trump mentioned, “We’ll abolish each Biden COVID mandate and rehire each patriot who was fired from our army with an apology and full again then.” The Biden administration’s COVID vaccine mandate for federal staff and contractors are presently not being pressured as a result of authorized challenges, however the one for the army is. 

The bulk on the Home Choose Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Disaster recapped in a tweet on Wednesday its findings over the previous a number of months on the Trump administration’s “mishandling” of the pandemic. “Amongst [the] findings, Trump officers: superior a herd immunity by way of mass an infection technique earlier than a vaccine was out there; pressured [the Food and Drug Administration] to reauthorize [hydroxychloroquine] as therapy for COVID-19; [and] interfered in [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s] pandemic response and altered public well being steering.”

Home Republicans, who now management the Home, are contemplating shutting down the choose committee or making adjustments to its focus and construction, Politico reported on Friday. 

The three choices are to make use of it to analyze the Biden administration’s response to the pandemic, shut it down and transfer the work to the Home Oversight and Reform Committee or shut it down and begin a brand new one that’s centered on COVID-19’s origins, in line with the report. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Ailments and the president’s chief medical adviser, mentioned “I’ve nothing that I couldn’t clarify clearly to the nation and justify,” when requested concerning the deliberate investigations by Senate Republicans in the event that they took the bulk, The Hill reported on Tuesday. “I’ve nothing to cover in any respect, regardless of the accusations that I’m hiding one thing,” mentioned Fauci, who’s stepping down from his authorities roles subsequent month. 

On Wednesday, the White Home asked Congress for $10 billion in emergency supplemental funding for COVID-19 and different infectious illnesses in addition to $37.7 billion for Ukraine. “Whereas COVID-19 is now not the disruptive power it was when the president took workplace, we face the emergence of latest sub-variants in the US and around the globe which have the potential to trigger a surge of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths, significantly as we head into the winter months,” wrote Shalanda Younger, director of the Workplace of Administration and Price range. The White Home has made varied different requests for COVID funding during the last virtually yr, however to no avail. This funding can be used, “assist put together for a doable winter surge, clean the trail to commercialization for vaccines and therapeutics, speed up analysis and therapy for lengthy COVID, and develop next-generation vaccines and coverings,” wrote Younger. 

The Senate voted on Tuesday to finish the nationwide emergency for the pandemic, which President Trump first issued in March 2020, which the Biden administration strongly opposed. “The nationwide emergency allows the administration to extra successfully reply to COVID-19, together with making certain that mandatory provides are promptly out there to reply to the virus and facilitating the supply of well being care at a time when our well being system has been below large and extended stress,” mentioned a press release of administration coverage. 

Responding to public well being emergencies, comparable to COVID and monkeypox, continues to be a problem for the Well being and Human Providers Division, which “have an effect on[s] practically each facet of division operations, and associated challenges are addressed in different [top management challenges,” the HHS watchdog said in a new report about top challenges the department is facing.

There is “substantial uncertainty” about the post-pandemic work environment at the Federal Election Commission and how that will affect retention and recruitment, said the agency’s watchdog. The agency’s pilot program to offer more telework options will end in Marsh 2023 and “Significant disagreements remain among stakeholders, including the commissioners, FEC managers, and the FEC workforce, concerning the degree to which the FEC should permanently embrace telework and remote work,” said an inspector general report issued on Wednesday. “Moreover, if the commissioners themselves are unable to agree upon permanent changes to agency policies, it may result in much more limited telework and remote work options for FEC employees.”

Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the coronavirus? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.