For millions of students across the United States, August officially marks the start of the school year. Parents make their yearly trips to department stores in search of school materials, textbooks are ordered, rosters of different classes begin to steadily fill, and the familiar sound of school bells slowly comes back into memory. But this year the situation is different. This year, we face a new challenge the likes of which we have never seen before: COVID-19. On every street and within every neighborhood, households have transformed into makeshift daycares, elementary-style classrooms, and summer camps. What many don’t realize is that as our economy continues to move full steam ahead, the parents that have assumed the role as teachers for their children are facing fewer and fewer options for childcare and schooling services.

It’s clear that these families have an immense weight upon their shoulders, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Congress plays an important role in this conversation, and it’s up to us to alleviate those stressors. The question raised by media pundits – and subsequently the critics of reopening schools – is how we get there. In an article posted in USA Today last week by my colleague, Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, he outlined a pathway forward to safely reopening schools. Here are a few excerpts from the article on solutions we can create:

- Keep existing childcare providers in business and encourage new childcare providers, including home-based providers, to start up in as safe and healthy a way as possible.

- Provide liability protections against frivolous lawsuits. COVID-19 related lawsuits against businesses (including childcare providers as well as K-12 schools), when good-faith efforts to follow best health practices and recommendations are followed, are an existential threat to companies large and small.

- Ensure the Department of Health and Human Services is conducting rapid studies and compiling and publishing existing information on COVID-19 transmission among children.

- Ensure access to testing, including pooled testing & antibody testing, for students, teachers, and staff.

There is no substitute for learning within a classroom, and it is imperative that a viable pathway back to school is created so that students do not fall further and further behind. We can create these meaningful solutions, but my colleagues across the aisle outright deny the opportunity to work with us. On an issue so paramount, and so vital to both families and our country, you can only wonder why Democrats choose to put on their blinders instead of addressing pertinent matters. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: Democrats are choosing posturing over progress. It’s just that simple.    

A New Warning From The Food & Drug Administration

This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the list of hand sanitizers to avoid due to their use of methanol, a chemical that is used in products such as plywood, adhesives, foams, and windshield washer fluid. It’s particularly dangerous if absorbed through the skin or if ingested. Currently, the FDA has identified 59 varieties of hand sanitizer that either contain methanol or similar chemicals that pose serious health risks. The newest hand sanitizer products listed by the FDA have been largely manufactured in Mexico and are not solely produced in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises frequent hand washing with soap and water whenever possible as the best way to reduce the amounts of all kinds of germs and chemicals on hands. If soap and water are not readily available, the CDC recommends that people use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least a 60% alcohol concentration.

Click here to learn more information from the FDA.

New Scam Update

Utility scams are on the rise, but what does that mean for you? In 2019, Duke Energy reported over 7,000 utility scam inquiries in North Carolina, and this year they have already reported over 4,800 to date. Though this new scam is not directly tethered to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s growing exponentially. The fraud begins once a scammer places a fake telephone call with a deceiving caller ID that registers as a utility company. From there, they pose as an agent from a well-known utility company and offer a “refund” to their caller in exchange for personal details such as a date of birth and social security number. This should immediately raise several red flags. First, utility companies will never contact you personally if they issue you a refund. Any refund that is given will not warrant a personal phone call, but rather a deposit in your account. Utility companies or their employees will also never solicit you for personal information over the phone.

Here’s where these scams become even more concerning. Scammers are also posing as employees of utility companies and will make threats to cut off service if personal, identifiable information is not provided to them over the phone. Scammers will even go to the extent of demanding that people purchase prepaid credit cards or gift cards as a supplement to a faux charge that they owe. I cannot stress this point enough: utility companies will never make these demands. When an individual contacts a utility company, the representatives of the company will offer a multitude of options with regards to making payments. Money sent via gift cards or prepaid credit cards will never be one of those options. If you believe you have been contacted by scammers regarding inconsistencies in your utility bills, call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or (919) 716-6000.

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One of my favorite thank you notes from a 5^th District constituent