Monica Schoch-Spana, Sanjana Ravi, AIshwarya Nagar, Christina Potter, and Tyrone Peterson

The Pandemic Recovery Metrics to Drive Equity – PanREMEDY project sought to give form to the least considered phase of a catastrophic outbreak of infectious disease, while applying an equity lens. The project inquired, “By what measures could local and state decision-makers know that efforts at holistic recovery were working, especially for the socially vulnerable individuals and communities hit hardest by COVID-19?”

To answer this question, the project team gathered and analyzed a wide range of evidence. They consulted disaster recovery and resilience experts, convened a scoping symposium, reviewed academic and gray literature on epidemic/pandemic recovery, and elicited input from diverse participants via listening sessions. Based upon thematic analyses of these inputs, the team generated an initial set of 44 indicators and distilled ethical and practical considerations concerning their implementation.

The PanREMEDY indicators were ordered into 2 categories—recovery system organization and operations and system outcomes, the latter of which could be thought of as community status:

Organization and Operations

• Governance and Leadership: political authority, collective action, financing structures, public face

• Planning: guiding framework, time horizons, technical expertise, aligned futures

• Data Management: actionable data, disaggregated data, extant data, community contextualization

• Public Involvement: representative bodies, feedback loops, community dashboards

Outcomes

• Human Health: epidemiological curve, disrupted care, disease sequelae, healthcare infrastructure, health insurance

• Human Development: healthy housing, adequate nutrition, safety/security, educational attainment, connectivity/mobility

• Economic Vitality: earning power, entrepreneurship, work protections, neighborhood pulse, thriving grassroots

• Political Integrity: power-sharing, equity structures, safety net, public trust, inventive policy

• Social Fabric: connectedness, collective impact, stigma repair, caretaking

• Emotional Wellbeing: truth-telling, public memorialization, psychological supports, self-medication, relief/resolution

Subsequently, a panel of practitioners, community advocates, subject matter experts, and local government leaders rated the indicators according to importance (ie, salience to holistic recovery) and feasibility (ie, ease of application).

Developed in the COVID-19 context, the PanREMEDY project’s findings can prompt further learning and actions specific to that pandemic. At the same time, the findings offer a more general framework with which to prepare communities for future pandemics. End-users are encouraged to tailor the indicators to their context, including local values, programmatic priorities, and political environments.

With the PanREMEDY indicators in hand, state and local leaders and other community members can better assess how well their jurisdictions are:

• Rebounding from the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

• Targeting support to COVID-19 survivors who still need help

• Engaging in pre-event planning for future post-pandemic recovery

• Strengthening resilience to the increasing likelihood of future pandemics

• Motivating non-traditional partners to join in pandemic preparedness efforts.

Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security; 2024.

By Matt Weidinger | Amy Simon

Key Points

• The nation’s unemployment benefits system, which was significantly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic, suffered unprecedented losses to fraud and improper payments.

• Official—and still partial—estimates of improper payments approach $200 billion, while unofficial estimates suggest $400 billion or more may have been lost.

• There are multiple causes of these record improper payments, including historically large benefits, poor program design including eligibility self-certification in new programs, and degraded administrative systems without adequate defenses against various fraudulent schemes.

• State and federal policymakers should review the causes and consequences of these unprecedented losses and take specific steps, such as those outlined in this report, to both prevent a recurrence of the record taxpayer losses experienced during the pandemic and better establish a proactive anti-fraud posture for the unemployment insurance system.

Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 2024. 45p.

By Susan McVie*, Kath Murray, Victoria Gorton, Ben Matthews

This report examines data on Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued in England and Wales under the Coronavirus Regulations between 27 March 2020 and 31 May 2021 in relation to illegal travel and movement, social gatherings, and failure to follow instructions. It focuses on who received fines, where and why they were issued, and how patterns of usage varied over time as the restrictions changed. It also examines how policing changed over time, looking at three distinct time-periods defined by patterns of enforcement during the pandemic and related policy and legislative change. Overall, the analysis in this report provides valuable insights into the profile and patterning of police enforcement during one of the most tumultuous periods in recent history. The report was commissioned by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) as part of its commitment to openness

Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Law School, 2023. 104p.