Research paper: RESPONSE OF THE TEXAS STATE GOVERNMENT TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS

Instructions for Mandatory Writing Assignment on

RESPONSE OF THE TEXAS STATE GOVERNMENT TO THE COVID-19

CRISIS

Professor Sutter

GOVT2306, Spring 2020

TOPIC AND ARTICLES TO USE

The coronavirus crisis (“COVID-19” for CORONAVIRUS DISEASE discovered in

2019) has changed the face of our nation, our state, and of much of the world.

When you started the semester, could you have imagined that all our HCC

campuses would be closed, all our classes converted to online…the same for

HISD, the University of Houston, and colleges, universities, public and private

schools across the state and nation. Businesses are closed. Public facilities

closes. Thousands of Americans have died. Thousands more have contracted

COVID-19. Our medical facilities and personnel are overwhelmed. Needed

equipment to save lives remains unavailable in much of the nation. The dead

are being buried in mass graves across the country. Scientists believe the

disease will continue to spread. There is no vaccine that can prevent or cure

the disease. Medical researchers believe a vaccine for COVID-19 will not be

developed, refined and ready until sometime next year.

Meanwhile, worldwide some 1.7 million people have contracted the virus. It

the United States almost 502,000 people have contracted COVID-19. Nineteen

thousand Americans have died here so far while nearly 103,000 people have

died as of early April. The predictions are that the virus will continue to spread

and many more deaths can be expected.

Your paper should use all the sources you have been provided to examine this

pandemic, how it started, what the disease is, its spread across the county,

and most importantly what the our Texas state government as well as the

federal government are doing to deal with the pandemic and how effective

government on the state and national level has been in the attempts to stop

the spread of the disease, reduce the number of deaths, find a vaccine to halt

the spread and to cure the virus. What are they doing and how effective has it

been in protecting the lives and welfare of the citizens of Texas and Americans.

(“Social distancing” and the shutdown of businesses and on-campus education,

daily reports, travel restrictions, for example.) You will also want to discuss the

disease, who is most at risk, how you get the disease, if young people are at

risk, what some of the social issues raised by this disease are, what the

government—federal and state--is doing to protect people in our country. How

are our nation’s medical communities responding? Also, you must exam the

federalism questions with regard to the powers and responsibilities and actions

of the national government and the governments of the states in dealing with

this issue.

You may include your personal observations and reactions regarding the

pandemic and the governmental response to it.

Read the following articles and use information from each of the 19 articles to

tell that story:

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SOURCES FOR YOU TO USE IN YOUR WRITING ASSIGNMENT THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE RESPONSE BY THE NATIONAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT,

PARTICULARLY TEXAS STATE GOVERNMENT Use each of the following sources at least once in your paper as part of your discussion of the topic of the pandemic, what it is, how it started, how the federal government has reacted to the national crisis, and what the state governments are doing as well (particularly Texas since Texas state government is the focus of GOVT2306. Anytime you quote a source directly or paraphrase material from a source, you must cite the source. You need only place the source number of the article you quote or paraphrase in parenthesis at the end of that sentence. (Source #1) “What you need to know about coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19).” U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC). https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/2019-ncov-factsheet.pdf (Source #2) David Ignatius, Columnist, “How did covid-19 begin? Its initial origin story is shaky. The Washington Post, 2 April 2020 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/how-did-covid-19-begin-its-initial-

origin-story-is-shaky/2020/04/02/1475d488-7521-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html

(Source #4) Dr. Sara Kayat, “Doctor’s Note: Why will it take so long for a COVID-19 vaccine? Scientist say it will take 12 to 18 months before a coronavirus vaccine can be ready. A doctor explains why this is.” Aljazeera, 4 April 2020 https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/doctor-note-long-covid-19-vaccine- 200403163646558.html (Source #5) Ed Pilkinton and Martin Pengelly, “Trump was warned in January of Covid-19’s devasting impact, memos reveal.” The Guardian, 7 April 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/07/donald-trump-coronavirus-memos-warning-peter-

navarro

(Source #6) Martin Pennelly, “Dr. Anthony Fauci counters Trump claims amid crisis: “I just want to get the facts out.’” The Guardian, 23 March 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/23/anthony-fauci-trump-claims-white-house- doctor-coronavirus-crisis (Source #7) Vann R. Newkirk II, “The Cornonavirus’s Unique Threat to the South; More young people I the South seem to be dying from COVID-19. Why?” THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE, 2 April 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/coronavirus-unique-threat-south-young-

people/609241/

(Source #8) Vanessa Caceres, “Why Young People Should Care About COVID-19: The virus affects all of us at any age, experts caution.” US News and World Report, 3 April 2020. https://health.usnews.com/conditions/articles/why-young-people-should-care-about-covid-19

(Source #9) Grace Panetta, BUSINESS INSIDER, “Fauci says America getting back to normal and where it was before the coronavirus crisis ‘might not ever happen’ without a vaccine,” 6 April 2020. https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-us-going-back-to-pre-coronavirus-state-may-never-happen-

2020-4 (Source #10) Cliff Despres, “How Coronavirus Is Crippling Rural Health Care, Especially for Latinos,” Salud America, 20 March 2020. https://salud-america.org/coronavirus-is-crippling-rural-health-care-for-latinos/ (Source #11) “Covid-19 exposes America’s racial health gap—African Americans appear more vulnerable to the virus, The Economist, 11 April 2020. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/04/11/covid-19-exposes-americas-racial-health- gap

Several of the following articles deal with the concept of “federalism”—the sharing of powers between the federal government and the states as called for in the U.S. Constitution. You might want to review the discussion of “federalism” in your textbook, particularly Article I dealing with the powers of Congress "[t]o regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.” Also, review the “reserved powers clause” of the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution of the United States which guaranteed that under the Constitution, ”powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” You may discuss these without a direct citation because this in information that you have learned in your studies of government. You need just make reference to what you’re using…you need not provide a citation as it is common knowledge to a person educated in our government.

(Source #12) Nancy Cooke and Dan Diamond, “’A Darwininan approach to federalism’: States confront new reality under Trump—State governors getting more power from Trump while fearing they lack the federal tools to fight the coronavirus crisis.” Politico, 31 March 2020. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/31/governors-trump-coronavirus-156875 (Source #13) Walter Olson, “Federalism and the Coronavirus Lockdown: Trump can’t order the country back to normalcy by April 30 or any day. That’s for states to decide.” Wall Street Journal, 30 March 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/federalism-and-the-coronavirus-lockdown-11585609012 (Source #14) Donald F. Kettl, “The Federalism Divide Is Shading Government’s response to COVID-19: We can’t afford a government where the odds of an effective attack on the novel coronavirus depend on where citizens live,” Government Executive, 12 March 2020. https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/03/federalism-divide-shading-governments-response-

covid-19/163720/

(Source #15) Elaine S. Povich, “Border Checkpoints Discourage Travelers Between States.” PEW Stateline, 8 April 2020. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/04/08/border-checkpoints-

discourage-travelers-between-states

(Source #16) “On Texas-Louisiana border, vehicle checkpoints put the brakes on coronavirus,” FRANCE24, 8 April 2020. https://www.france24.com/en/20200408-on-texas-louisiana-border-vehicle-checkpoints-put-the-

brakes-on-coronavirus

(Source #17) Luz Lazo and Kathryn Shaver, “Covid-19 checkpoints targeting out-of-state residents draws complaints and legal scrutiny.” WASHINGTON POST, 14 April 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/covid-19-checkpoints-targeting- out-of-state-residents-draw-complaints-and-legal-scrutiny/2020/04/14/3fc0ed42-774e-11ea-b6ff- 597f170df8f8_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_evening_edition&utm_medium=email&utm_source =newsletter&wpisrc=nl_evening (Source #18) Nicole Cobler, “Coronavirus in Texas: Abbott ready to work toward economic revitalization,” Austin American-Statesman, 10 April 2010. https://www.statesman.com/news/20200410/coronavirus-in-texas-abbott-ready-to-work-toward- economic-revitalization (Source #19) John Woo, “Pandemic Federalism,” NATIONAL REVIEW, 20 March 2020. https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/pandemic-federalism/

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MECHANICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR YOUR WRITING

ASSIGNMENT

Mimimum word count of 1,200 words. You may write a longer paper, but you will

be penalized for a shorter paper.

• FIVE POINTS off grade for every 25 words under the 1,200-word count

minimum.

• You must do a word count of your paper and type the word count at the end of

the paper in bold print. FIVE POINTS off grade for failing to do this. When you

type a document on Microsoft Word, Word automatically counts the number of

pages and words at the bottom left of the workspace in the status bar. If you

don’t see the word count in the status bar, right- click the status bar and click

“Word Count.” You can also go to “Tools” on a classic Word menu, pull down,

and click on “Word Count.” On some versions of Word you can click on “Review”

and then on “Word Count.” If your word count is below

• Write your essay on a word processor preferably with Microsoft Word, or a word

processor and then highlight your document, copy it, then paste it onto the

dialogue box on the Canvas site for submission of your paper. Look over the

pasted document to make sure nothing has been left out. (Double-space your

paper when you’re writing it so that it is easier to proof-read when

completed…and you need to proof-read your paper to see if it makes sense,

there are no errors or unattributed quotes or paraphrases, etc. But when you

copy and paste it onto the submission site on Canvas it will be converted to

single-space.)

• WRITE THIS PAPER IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Don’t worry if you’re ESL or if you

don’t think you’re a good writer. I want to hear your ideas, your experiences,

your impressions, all in your own words. I won’t grade for grammar except if

you make careless, egregious grammatical mistakes. I’m primarily grading on

content and meeting the minimum requirements set out in the instructions.

• DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! Do your own work. You have to write what is in your

head, your heart, your mind. YOUR words are better than anyone else’s in

telling me about what you know and what your think and believe. Don’t risk

flunking this assignment by plagiarizing because you can do really, really well

on this assignment without plagiarizing.

• Whenever you use words from a source I’ve provided, you MUST show that you

have borrowed those words. If you don’t that is plagiarism and is an academic

crime that will be punished on this paper and on anything you write in college.

“Quote the source used as you see me doing here and show where you got it

from.” (Source #1) That’s how you can do it for this paper. I will give you the

sources to use. Anytime you quote the source or paraphrase the source and

use it in your paper you must document that by indicating you borrowed it from

that article or web page. I have labeled each of the sources as Source #1,

Source #2, Source #3, and so on. Just put which source you’re quoting or

paraphrasing at the end of the sentence or sentences you’ve used it in and that

will be sufficient to document its use and avoid plagiarism. IF you DON’T know

what plagiarism is all about do a Google search and learn. You should know at

this point in your college career, but just in case, don’t risk making an

egregious error and flunk this assignment by inadvertently plagiarism. Even if

you didn’t mean to do it, you’ll still be punished for doing it. (If you run a red

light and are stopped by the police, try telling him or her “I didn’t know that I

had to stop. It’s not my fault” and see if you don’t get that ticket. And so, at

the end of any sentence where you have quoted a source directly or

paraphrased the information from the source, you would indicated where you

got it simply by typing in parenthesis at the end of the sentence the number of

the article used, as I show you here. (#20)

• DO YOUR OWN WORK! Do not work on this with another student. If you copy

another student’s paper in part or whole, both you AND the student you copied

from will be severely penalized. You will likely receive a grade of F…perhaps

even a grade of ZERO. Be aware, I check carefully for plagiarism and sharing of

work. And I am quite good at finding cheating and more than willing to flunk a

student for plagiarizing and copying another’s work. BUT if you do your own

work, if you correct cite and document where you got words or information from

an outside source, if you follow these instructions, then you likely will earn a

very good grade, a grade which will be 25% of your final course grade.

Remember, you can flunk not only a test or a paper by cheating, but you can

also be tossed out of the class with an F and ever tossed out of college for

cheating. Don’t do it.

• If you have questions about the assignment or need assistance, don’t hesitate

to write me at and I’ll do all I can to help.

• USE THE SOURCES I HAVE PROVIDED IN WRITING YOUR PAPER. You need not

use any other sources other than these to write your paper.

THIS DOCUMENT HAS A WORD COUNT OF 2,176

WORDS

DON’T FORGET TO PUT A WORD COUNT AT THE END OF YOUR PAPER—FIVE

(5) POINT PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO TYPE THE WORD COUNT AT THE END OF

YOUR PAPER!