Local leaders are delivering America's communities through this crisis. That's why Bloomberg Philanthropies created the City Hall COVID-19 Update, to elevate the critical information city leaders need to respond to and recover from the challenges at hand.
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For mayors, advice on leadership and reopening schools
Mayors may not control schools in every city, but most still feel the political heat of one of the most complex decisions related to COVID-19: whether, when, and how to bring students back for in-person instruction. This question, along with a discussion around the pivotal role every mayor can play in finding solutions, was a theme of the latest in a series of COVID-19-focused virtual sessions for city leaders hosted by former New York City Mayor and Bloomberg Philanthropies founder Michael Bloomberg and his guest, former U.S. Secretary of State and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell.
Whether on schools or other COVID-related challenges, Bloomberg told mayors to stay focused on the data. “Access to accurate data is absolutely necessary—essential—to managing through a crisis,” he said. And Powell reminded city leaders to enlist the insight of others. “When you’re facing a problem, the way to go about it is, first and foremost, get all the information you can about the problem and make sure you talk to anybody and everybody who might have some insight into that problem.”
Building upon Bloomberg’s and Powell’s advice, Dr. Josh Sharfstein of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health then discussed the road to reopening schools, and the role that mayors play in getting there, which starts by first getting a handle on infections. “There’s a reason to believe there’s a pathway here,” he said. “You wait for the community spread to come down and then you open with precautions.”
More from yesterday's session:
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DATA TRACKER
Johns Hopkins' confirmed U.S. COVID-19 cases as of 8 a.m. EDT on July 24.
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TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES
4,038,864
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How cities can better reach
non-English speakers
About 25 million U.S. residents are not fluid English speakers. During a public-health emergency in which clear communication is critical, cities are having a hard time reaching them with critical information—and having an even harder time hearing back from these residents about their own needs. Here’s how city leaders can overcome cultural barriers, build trust, and learn to speak and listen in languages other than English.
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CITY ACTIONS
A roundup of responses to the coronavirus crisis. See the
COVID-19: Local Action Tracker for more.
REIMPOSING RESTRICTIONS
As infections rise, mayors look for new ways to “tighten the faucet.”
- As Anchorage, Alaska, sees an acceleration in cases that is poised to outpace hospital capacity, Mayor Ethan Berkowitz signs emergency order placing new restrictions on bars, restaurants, and gatherings.
- After a video surfaces of people not adhering to mandatory mask mandates, Nashville, Tenn., Mayor John Cooper is preparing a new order requiring businesses that sell alcohol to close at 10 p.m.
- Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young halts indoor dining after a rise in cases.
- Just three weeks after reopening them, Chattanooga, Tenn., recloses the public’s access to City Hall and other city facilities.
- Los Angeles launches the L.A. Mask Project, a campaign to encourage residents to wear masks.
- As Meridian, Miss., begins seeing double-digit case numbers, Mayor Percy Bland mandates people wear masks when in public, while also recommending businesses have plans in place for testing large amounts of employees.
- Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser extends mask mandate to outside the home, including enforcement language detailing possible fines for violations.
CALLS FOR NEW SUPPORTS
As mayors lead the response to the pandemic, restrictions on power and resources are pushing some to seek additional support from their respective state government and the federal government.
GLOBAL OUTLOOK
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Mayor Ethan Berkowitz: In his own words
“We’re at a time where the status quo has been disrupted and broken,” says Anchorage, Alaska, Mayor Ethan Berkowitz. “In order to get through a period like that, you need innovators. You need people who are willing to think in a new way.” That’s why, when Berkowitz was looking to access critical supplies to keep his city’s essential workers safe, he looked to the city’s innovation team for help. The i-team, in turn, used 3D printing technology to produce N95-quality masks and worked with a local university to stand up and improve testing. “The challenge that the coronavirus brought to us was compounded because we’re so far away from the rest of the country,” Berkowitz says in this video. “We had to do things for ourselves because we couldn’t count on people to do things for us… At the local level, we’re the ones having to step up and perform.”
How has your city pivoted in response to the COVID-19 crisis? We’d love to know. Post a selfie video like Mayor Berkowitz’s and tag @BloombergCities.
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CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
Find more COVID-19 resources for city leaders here. Please suggest new resources to include here.
RESOURCES
CDC'S LATEST GUIDANCE FOR:
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