Coronavirus Roundup: Election Day Brings Referendum on the Pandemic 

Election Day is finally here. Many have already voted by mail due to the pandemic, but for those who haven’t, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a guide on how to vote safely. The presidential election is largely seen as a referendum on the Trump administration’s management of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has killed 231,566 individuals in the United States to date, according to Johns Hopkins University’s data. Stat News compiled a list of eight questions about scientists and scientific institutions that are “on the line” on Tuesday. Here are some of the other recent headlines you might have missed. 

The Food and Drug Administration is grappling with how to handle President Trump’s recent executive order that created a new “Schedule F” for “policy making” federal employees, Politico reported on Tuesday. Those moved to the new schedule would lose their civil service protections. “Multiple top FDA officials have raised concerns about the executive order directly to Commissioner Stephen Hahn in recent weeks, voicing sharp opposition to the prospect of determining which employees would be eligible,” to be moved to the new schedule, according to the report. “Hahn, meanwhile, has told officials that if the agency is forced to comply with the order, he’ll rely solely on his six center directors to determine which career civil servants are covered by it — a move seen within the FDA as a tacit endorsement of keeping the agency’s list as short as possible.” 

The Health and Human Services Department directed the FDA to relax its oversight of coronavirus tests over the summer, despite knowing that there could be problems with their accuracy, according to an investigation by Stat News published on Monday. 

Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, issued an internal report on Monday that said, “We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic” and asked top Trump administration officials for “much more aggressive action,” The Washington Post reported. The report, which came the day before the presidential election, contradicted the president on many points.

The American Federation of Government Employees chapter that represents Environmental Protection Agency employees reiterated on Monday that “science — and scientists — [are] on the ballot” during the presidential election. “The Trump administration [has taken] relentless attacks against both science and scientists at EPA — silencing researchers, erasing years of scientific advancement, cutting agency staffing to the lowest levels since 1985, unilaterally disposing of collective bargaining contracts, and more,” said the union. This has “only intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, with agency leadership threatening to bring federal workers into unsafe offices amid the pandemic, putting their lives at risk and undermining basic science.” 

The Labor Department inspector general released its work plan for fiscal 2021 on Monday, which includes many coronavirus-related reviews. For the Occupational Safety and Health Administration––which many have criticized for not doing enough to protect workers during the pandemic––the IG will review the department’s decrease in inspections and increase in complaints during the pandemic, collaboration with other federal agencies and use of complainant interviews for COVID inspections, among other things. 

The House Education and Labor Committee published a report on Monday about how the Trump administration (specifically the Agriculture, Education, HHS and Labor departments and National Labor Relations Board) has put “politics over people” over the last four years and especially during the pandemic. For example, the Education Department didn’t initially implement the CARES Act as intended by only “halting collections on federal student loans and quickly distributing billions of relief dollars to students with the greatest needs” after receiving “pushback from both Congress and the courts,” said the report. In another instance, the “administration pushed the [CDC] to water down important COVID-19 safety recommendations for a major meatpacking plant,” which is one of the types of settings hit particularly hard with outbreaks.  

The Veterans Affairs Department said on Monday that five VA telehealth services access points (all located in Walmarts in Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina) reopened after closing in April to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “The [sites] initiative provides timely and convenient care to veterans living in rural areas or with limited internet access,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “Telehealth innovations are critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual appointments protect the safety and well-being of both our veterans and providers.” Related, on Tuesday, the VA awarded Dr. Leonie Heyworth, director of Synchronous Telehealth at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, the 2020 Robert L. Jesse Award for Excellence in Innovation for his work on expanding telehealth services for veterans in rural areas. 

The FDA is seeking public comment on a proposal about “exceptions or alternatives to labeling requirements for products held by the strategic national stockpile,” which is used for national public health emergencies, such as the coronavirus pandemic, according to a notice in the Federal Register on Tuesday. 

Upcoming: Polls will start closing at 6 p.m. (Indiana and Kentucky), but final results are expected to take several days and possibly weeks to be finalized. 

Today’s GovExec Daily podcast episode is about the top congressional races for federal employees to watch. 

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.