Follow covid-19 through local coverage

This is our weekly newsletter, Hard Reset. Sign up here.

In December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would require adults without children or disabilities to work at least 20 hours a week to receive food stamps for more than three months. The policy would have caused an estimated 688,000 people to lose access to food stamps, but last week, a judge blocked the rule from going into effect.
Since 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Pentagon have spent almost $670 million to develop four medical manufacturing sites. The facilities, based in Florida, Maryland, North Carolina and Texas, are far from developing medicines to address to covid-19 pandemic, according to a Washington Post investigation.
A bill passed by the House of Representatives last week would give some people with full-time jobs up to 10 days of paid sick leave. But about 80 percent of the American workforce wouldn’t receive this protection, because the bill exempts companies with 500 or more employees and businesses with fewer than 50 workers. The Senate is expected to vote on this legislation today.
Three-fifths of the American workforce are hourly workers.

Last week, The Frontier’s Kassie McClung reported that an Oklahoma State Department of Health policy required doctors to get clearance from a state epidemiologist to test patients believed to have covid-19. Under this approach, which contradicted guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, samples sent without approval could be rejected for testing. As a result of McClung’s reporting, the health department revised its testing policy to fall in line with CDC guidelines.
The MinnPost wrote about what drives panic buying and how to fight the urge to stockpile things we don’t need. (The Texas Tribune urged people not to stockpile toilet paper and other household items for covid-19.)
As sports went on deep freeze, New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson pledged to cover the salaries for New Orleans’ stadium workers for a month.
How Kentucky parents are coping after Gov. Andy Beshear ordered child care centers to close their doors.

Thank you for reading Hard Reset. If you like what we do, consider supporting Big If True.

Send me feedback, questions and tips: bryant@bigiftrue.org and 405-990-0988.

– Mollie Bryant