3 Stories You Should Read 4/15/2014: DV Funding, Afghanistan, Deathtoll

May 14, 2020 Confluence

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In the category of: Keep counting

Coronavirus global death toll passes 300,000 as countries wait in lockdown

More than 300,000 people around the world have now died globally from the coronavirus, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, as the pandemic passed yet another bleak milestone on Thursday.

More than 4.4 million cases have also been recorded, according to the university’s count. Given the varied ways in which different countries report Covid-19 figures and the vast societal impact of the pandemic, the true number of infections and fatalities could be far higher.

The towering death toll nonetheless captures a world slowed to a standstill by the virus, with governments just beginning to creep out of crippling lockdowns and powerhouses like the United States and United Kingdom still struggling to get a handle on their outbreaks.

It comes as a World Health Organization official warned that the virus “may never go away.”

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In the category of: Pathway to peace

Coronavirus can still be an opportunity for peace in Afghanistan

Despite the recent attacks, the Taliban and the Afghan government should continue their cooperation efforts.

The coronavirus pandemic is swiftly rearranging global priorities. The contagion, which has killed more than 288,000 people globally, gave rise to some new rivalries, but it also forced old foes in several parts of the world to pause their conflicts. In March, responding to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s appeal for a global ceasefire, conflicting parties in Colombia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen have expressed their willingness to pause hostilities.

Like all global crises, COVID-19 also created challenges and opportunities for local and international stakeholders in Afghanistan.

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In the category of: Find the fix

Domestic Violence Programs Can’t Get Funds Quickly During COVID-19. This Bill Can Fix That.

Sens. Bob Casey and Lisa Murkowski introduced a bill on Thursday that would temporarily waive matching requirements for federal funding.

The new bill, shared with HuffPost before its release, will be introduced on Thursday. It is spearheaded by Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and, through a temporary technical change, would allow domestic violence-related organizations to use federal funding they would otherwise be unable to access unless they matched it with their own fundraising.

Typically, organizations are required by the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act to match a percentage of the funds they receive from the federal government. But many organizations are not able to meet the matching requirement these days because they’ve had to cancel fundraising campaigns and events due to the coronavirus pandemic. The new bill, called the POWER Act — an acronym for Protect Our Women and Waive Emergency Requirements Act — would waive this requirement.

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