From Politico: Here’s How the Pandemic Finally Ends. A vaccine by early 2021, a steady decline in cases by next fall and back to normal in a few years—11 top experts look into the future.

COVID-19: A Potential Hazard to Democracy. https://www.hsdl.org/c/covid-19-a-potential/

The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) maintains a collection of documents that address the negative effects a pandemic like COVID-19 (coronavirus 2019) can have on democracies.

IFES has identified seven elements that are at risk of exploitation due to the global crisis:
– Chaotic elections and a decline in trust in electoral outcomes
– Disruption in the rule of law
– Erosion of information integrity
– Looming barriers to political access
– Explosion in technology reliance and exploitation
– Abuses of public sector trust and resources
– Declines in transparency and accountability

[Sorry for the confusion. The new editor on this site still eludes me]

The Road to Recovery; Natural Disaster Recovery Experts on the Pandemic and the Path Forward. Source is the Lincoln Institute.

“OVID-19 has presented new challenges for leaders at all levels, forcing many to reconsider their emergency management processes. What are the impacts of the current public health crisis on disaster preparedness and community planning, and what will it take to build a more equitable and resilient future? We sat down with Laurie Johnson and Robert Olshansky, authors of the Lincoln Institute book After Great Disasters: An In-Depth Analysis of How Six Countries Managed Community Recovery and companion Policy Focus Report to discuss the pandemic and the path forward.”

The pandemic proves we all should know ‘psychological first aid.’ Here are the basics.

COVID-19: Federal Efforts Could Be Strengthened by Timely and Concerted Actions . GAO-20-701: Published: Sep 21, 2020.

From the GAO Blog: How Can the Federal Government Strengthen Its Response to COVID-19?

Weary Gulf Coast mayors say hurricane season has changed for the worse, which many attribute to climate shifts.

“The storms that have reached the Gulf of Mexico have had some things in common: amazingly fast intensification, late shifts in path that have taken some communities off-guard, and massive storm surge and torrential rains that have inundated coastal towns with record flooding.”

From Scientific American: Hurricane Sally’s Major Flooding Exposes Flaws in FEMA Maps. Tens of thousands of homeowners face financial losses because they were not considered to be in a flood zone and were not required to have insurance

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is so intense, it just ran out of storm names – and then two more storms formed

The Department of Homeland Security’s plan to bring the leadership of component agencies under one roof and manage a sprawling network of office buildings in the Washington D.C. metro area has hit another snag.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is looking to stay in its leased office space for up to another 20 years, and expand its square footage by nearly 20%, effectively walking away from plans to relocate its headquarter to the DHS St. Elizabeths campus in Southeast D.C.

From Politico: 25 years wiped out in 25 weeks: Pandemic sets the world back decades, Progress on global health and the economy has regressed, Gates Foundation report finds.