As Arkansas and Missouri see an increase in COVID-19 circumstances, extra financial protections are wanted

The Institute for Economic Policy reports:

As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise again across the country, some states are more vulnerable than others. The neighboring states of Missouri and Arkansas, along with Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi, are in the middle of a serious COVID-19 surge. The number of cases per capita in the two states – about 52 new cases per 100,000 people in Arkansas and 40 per 100,000 people in Missouri – is more than double the national average of 19. The seven-day moving average of deaths in the United States in both states is rising rapidly and is three times the national average. Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, ran out of ventilators on the weekend of July 4th. Hospitals across the state of Arkansas are already at their maximum capacity – although a record number of COVID-19 hospital admissions are expected in the coming weeks.

The new Delta variant of COVID-19, which led to new lockdowns in Australia and Malaysia and caused some nations to restrict inbound flights from the UK, has spread to these two states and is now the most dominant strain of the virus in the United States.

Both Missouri and Arkansas are lagging the country on COVID-19 vaccinations, the main factor in reducing the risk of hospitalization. In the United States, 55% of the population has at least one chance, but 47% in Missouri and 45% in Arkansas. But even those numbers belittle the situation in the northern and southern counties of Arkansas – most are less than 30% fully vaccinated, and only 17% of Reynolds County, Missouri are fully vaccinated, with only one in three people over 65.

Politics in these states today are also undermining efforts to take the pandemic seriously and reduce the spread of COVID-19. Both states have abolished the mask requirement. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson lifted the state’s mandate to wear masks on March 31, 2021 on a health emergency. The directive also bans local governments from enforcing mask requirements, although private companies are allowed to require masks if they so choose.

Given the risks of the highly transmissible Delta variant and the low vaccination rates, these two states need to act quickly. While the risks for vaccinated people are lower, there are still populations that are not yet eligible for vaccines and vaccinated people – especially those with underlying diseases – remain at risk. People of color in Arkansas and Missouri are more likely to experience health problems and work in front line professions and industries in health care, childcare and social services, and food and grocery production due to professional segregation. Due to ongoing systemic racism, Black Indigenous Pacific Islanders and Latinx have experienced the highest death rates from COVID-19. This surge is occurring in rural parts of both states that had not fully recovered from the Great Recession of 2007-2009 when COVID first broke out, and this resurgence in cases, without immediate action, can contribute to longer-term economic problems across the region.

In addition to the public health measures recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other medical experts, Arkansas and Missouri policymakers should take a number of measures to deal with the rise in economic disruption and relocation that will cause this summer wave.

Expand Medicaid and remove barriers to performance

The Missouri Legislature should begin approving funding for the Medicaid expansion, which was approved by Missouri voters in the 2020 litigation. Medicaid’s expansion was only more critical during the public health and economic downturn, providing coverage for people who have lost their jobs along with their employer-provided health insurance.

As the Missouri Budget Project has shown, the uninsured rate for non-elderly workers in Missouri is highest in the same southern counties now affected by the new wave of COVID-19. In the first six months of the pandemic, a 10% increase in a county’s uninsured rate correlated with a 70% increase in COVID-19 cases and a 48% increase in deaths from COVID-19, according to Families USA. People without health insurance are more likely to delay care, and with COVID-19, the risk of the disease spreading increases every day. The addition of 275,000 new Missourians to Medicaid would have a significant impact on both the spread and treatment of COVID-19.

Across the southern Missouri border, the Arkansas General Assembly renewed its Medicaid expansion program thanks to advocacy and community-based organizations that assisted the program with a variety of legal challenges, as well as demonstrating the effects of harmful work reporting requirements. A 2020 report from Arkansas highlights how the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the expansion of Medicaid resulted in the third highest drop in the rate of uninsured people in the country. However, during the last legislature, Arkansas – the first state in the south to expand Medicaid – also became the first state in the country to adopt harmful measures that would make it easier to discriminate against LGBTQ + communities and deny health services. These measures should be reversed.

Restore federal pandemic unemployment insurance benefits

Missouri’s economic situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. Even if the state does not mandate lockdowns or similar measures, a resurgence of COVID-19 cases will slow economic activity in many ways. Among other things, this means ensuring that unemployment insurance is available to all those in need.

Unfortunately, the Missouri state government seems more interested in stigmatizing unemployment benefits than it is in helping needy workers. About 46,000 Missourians accidentally received unemployment insurance overpayments. The U.S. Department of Labor has advised the state that there is no need to request repayment of funds incorrectly paid, and the Missouri Department of Labor has announced a waiver of the federal dollars, but the situation is far less clear with overpayments of government funds. The Missouri House passed a debt relief bill by a resounding 157-3, but the Missouri Senate adjourned without a vote and abandoned thousands. The state budget has allocated $ 40 million for these repayments, but a waiver process has yet to be announced and it is not certain that there will be one.

While lawmakers failed to act, Missouri Governor Mike Parson ended the state’s involvement in federal pandemic unemployment benefits, including a $ 300 weekly benefit increase. Arkansas ended its participation shortly thereafter. As EPI has noted, such a decision is “dangerously myopic”. Around 120,000 fewer people are employed in Missouri than it was before the pandemic. Arkansas employs nearly 50,000 people less. Workers who are not dependent on unemployment benefits may be more reluctant to stay home from work to prevent the disease from spreading. Missouri and Arkansas should reassign themselves to state increases in unemployment benefits to cushion the economic damage as business disruptions increase.

Implement paid sick leave and paid family and sick leave

One final step that Arkansas and Missouri politicians should take is to introduce paid sick leave. Workers exposed to COVID shouldn’t have to choose whether they’re sick or unable to pay their bills. During the worst part of the 2020 pandemic, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) required some paid sick leave for workers in companies with fewer than 500 employees, but those provisions expired at the end of the year.

The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, part of the American Rescue Plan Act, enables state, local, and tribal governments to fund paid family and sick leave for public employees. Missouri and Arkansas can and should use this fund to extend paid vacation to government employees, but policy makers in these states should also take the next logical step and enact state-wide law on paid family and sick leave. The National Partnership for Women and Families estimates that at least 60% of working adults in Missouri and Arkansas are not eligible for unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). In addition, black and Latinx workers tend to be paid less, have less protection at work, and are less likely to receive paid sick leave to support themselves or their loved ones because of occupational segregation. Paid sick leave, as well as paid family and sick leave schemes, would allow workers to stay at home, reduce the spread of the disease and allow them to care for family members who may be sick. It is the economically wise decision for Missouri and Arkansas lawmakers, and the humane one too.

Federal funding is available for states and local communities to restore critical public services, expand water, sewer and broadband infrastructures, and provide much-needed economic assistance. State policymakers and local governments must seize this opportunity to prioritize relief and rehabilitation for the communities hardest hit by the pandemic and to promote equitable policies that strengthen public health for communities in Arkansas and Missouri over the long term.