Commentary

Will there be an autumn or winter wave of covid? Right now, in the United States, daily cases and deaths are gradually declining off a still-high plateau. On the horizon, however, there are worrisome signals of a possible new wave. It is not too soon to grab protection with the bivalent booster. Europe is a telltale indicator. For the past few weeks, cases among people 65 years and older have been on the rise in 19 of the 26 countries reporting data to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Fifteen countries in the group reported rising hospitalizations. Germany, France and Italy have all seen growing caseloads, which often portend a similar jump in the United States a few weeks later.

Chuck Brown’s iconic “Bustin’ Loose” was blasting from the loudspeakers at the Newton White Mansion in Mitchellville as hundreds of cars snaked their way through the grassy parking lot. The event was vintage Prince George’s County — a historic site, but a modern vibe. Every year, the annual fall picnic for Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) gets bigger and bigger. This one, three weeks ago, drew at least 1,000 people. And it was also vintage Alsobrooks: the 51-year-old county leader moved through the crowd quickly, hugging everybody, doing “The Electric Slide” with the old ladies, inviting every local elected official to stand with her as she addressed the crowd, and talking boldly about the future. She was talking, of course, about the future of Prince George’s County.

I would be hard-pressed to find another time in our shared history when facts and the science behind those facts have been more critical to public policy making. The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 that became law this summer is remarkable in its scale of investment into public policy and, likewise, offers an ideal environment to demonstrate how successful data-driven decisions can be made. First, let’s be clear: public data exists for the public good. Data is a precious commodity that is agnostic to ideology, drives evidence-based conclusions, and is limitless in its application. Here at the Coleridge Initiative, we know that better data means better public policy.

President Biden’s historic pardon of thousands of Americans convicted of a federal crime for simple marijuana possession is a long overdue correction in the overheated war on drugs — a failed effort that has disproportionately affected Black and Brown people and wreaked havoc in communities of color. It’s hard to overstate the elation (and in some cases amazement) among civil rights leaders. Derrick Johnson of the NAACP tweeted: “We applaud President Biden for pardoning those who have been convicted for the simple possession of marijuana. Correcting unequal treatment — including marijuana reform — has been a priority issue for the NAACP for decades.” And for scores of other groups as well.

Anne Arundel County endorsements for: executive, select county council races and a key ballot question.Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman is a difficult politician to pigeonhole. The 61-year-old Davidsonville horse farmer, a Democrat, has demonstrated himself to be socially progressive but also fiscally prudent. His choice to raise taxes in his first year of office may have given fodder to his Republican opponent, County Councilmember Jessica Haire of Edgewater, but it also set the county on a path toward balanced budgets and much-needed school- and public- infrastructure improvements these past four years.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) lawyer admitted on Oct. 6 that Maryland intends to start demolition on Oct. 13 of the Historic Nice Bridge crossing the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia. This is after Mr. Hogan first announced to fanfare that the new bridge under construction would have bicycle and pedestrian facilities, only to do an about-face when construction was set to begin. The new bridge design is unsafe for cyclists and prohibits the use by walkers and hikers even though it can connect the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail on both sides of the Potomac.

Maybe it’s because Halloween is lurking, but I am scared that something creepy is going on in our public schools. I’m referring to the mission creep that is occurring as teachers are asked more and more to add mental health and social-emotional learning to their already grueling workloads. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore) recently identified school mental health as a priority in the wake of the pandemic. The U.S. surgeon general warns that “the challenges today’s generation of young people face are unprecedented and uniquely hard to navigate. And the effect these challenges have had on their mental health is devastating.” Students’ anxiety, depression and suicide symptoms doubled during the pandemic. The saving grace is the remarkable policy response.

A new study of commuting in this area revealed two conflicting trend lines — one encouraging and one distressing. The 2022 State of the Commute survey, done every three years by the Commuter Connections program of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, found that telecommuting exploded during the pandemic. The report stated that 66% of commuters in the Washington region telework occasionally, up from 35% in 2019, before COVID-19 transformed the world.  The survey also found that people telecommuted an average of 3.37 days per week in 2022, an increase from the 2019 average of 1.2 days per week.