The following is the latest information from federal regulators and others as of 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 2.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Department of Health and Human Services

The department’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will be spending $7.5 million to evaluate health system response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The money is divided into two pools:  $5 million to evaluate innovations and challenges in rapidly expanding telehealth in response to COVID-19 and $2.5 million to active agency grant recipients and cooperative agreements.

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Food and Drug Administration

For researchers, the FDA has developed quality-controlled reference sequence data for the SARS-CoV-2 reference strain in the U.S.

Department of Labor

The Department of Labor has published a temporary rule describing the benefits under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act, both of which were part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which was signed into law on March 18.  The law reimburses private employers with fewer than 500 employees with tax credits for the cost of providing employees with paid leave for specific reasons related to COVID-19.  The law enables employers to keep their workers on their payrolls while also ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and public health measures.  For more, see a Department of Labor news release describing the new temporary rule and view the rule itself here.

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