By Brian Skinner, Esq. Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the use of vaccines critical to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. After determining the vaccines met applicable statutory standards and the agency’s specific safety and efficacy standards, the FDA issued Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for the vaccines under Section …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. State governments, including West Virginia, are beginning to receive the first allocations from $193.5 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The ARPA, signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021, establishes the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund. The Fiscal Recovery Funds are intended to provide support to …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. As expected, one of the priorities of the Legislature going into the 2021 regular session was addressing the concerns of businesses and health care providers that they were likely to beset by a wave of pandemic-related lawsuits seeking to blame them for customer, patient, or employee exposure to COVID-19. In response …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. A new report from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers recommendations aimed at federal, state, and local policymakers to address the opioid epidemic during the pandemic, which has seen sharp increases in fatal and nonfatal overdoses. The report “Saving Lives From Overdose During a Pandemic” draws from …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. Many West Virginia families face difficult choices due to the health and economic pressures created by the pandemic. The isolation, loss of employment and impact to everyday activities has been overwhelming for many, and for families who have suffered the death of a family member during this pandemic, the impact is even greater. …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. A story in today’s Washington Post reports that landlords, apartment owners and housing industry groups have unleashed a barrage of legal challenges against the Trump administration’s order protecting renters from eviction, leaving millions of families once again facing the risk of homelessness in the middle of a deadly pandemic. On a …Read More
The Lilly — Soo Youn — October 7, 2020 Jenai A. Rossow was working full time at a county clinic near Ithaca, N.Y., when shelter-in-place orders forced the first overhaul of her work life. The mother of two and social worker was able to use paid emergency leave as schools and day cares shut down. …Read More
Kaiser Health News — By Julie Appleby — October 5, 2020 President Donald Trump makes no secret he would like a Covid-19 vaccine to be available before the election. But it’s doubtful that will happen and, even after a vaccine wins FDA approval, there would be a long wait before it’s time to declare victory …Read More
Route Fifty — By Aaron Boyd, Senior Editor, Nextgov — October 5, 2020 The mass teleworking required by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is creating new cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exacerbating old ones. In response, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a quick guide to help organizations address these issues at every level. The guide is broken into …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. We are all now acutely aware that COVID-19 is a highly contagious and potentially fatal virus that disproportionately impacts persons, and particularly older adults, with preexisting conditions and weakened immune systems. As businesses begin to reopen, both employers and their employees have concerns about the potential risks involved in returning …Read More