By Representative Carl Albrecht, District 70
I hope you’re having a great summer with family and friends. Please enjoy all the county fairs and activities while staying safe and remaining fire conscious.
Reopening Schools
The reopening of schools has recently been a major topic of conversation. The Utah Department of Health released guidelines for school districts to follow as they are determining how to best serve our state’s students and school districts across the state are finalizing their individual plans to submit to the Utah State Board of Education. Please refer to this article for details on district plans and the health guidelines.
Special Session
The state has an obligation to allocate the remaining CARES money, evaluate all the unfunded bills from the previous general session and address coinciding policy issues. The number of bills in August’s Special Session will be limited to only a handful of crucial requests. August Interim meetings will be Monday through Wednesday, Aug. 17-19, with a Special Legislative Session set for Thursday, Aug. 20.
COVID-19 Update
Utah’s COVID-19 Case Counts from July 20 – July 23
Monday, July 27
- 38,409 positive cases, an increase of 436 from the previous day
- 509,858 total tests administered
- 207 current hospitalizations
- 281 total deaths, seven more than the previous day
Tuesday, July 28
- 38,855 positive cases, an increase of 446 from the previous day
- 514,509 total tests administered
- 211 current hospitalizations
- 286 total deaths, five more than the previous day
- 25,905 recovered cases
Wednesday, July 29
- 39,194 positive cases, an increase of 339 from the previous day
- 518,191 total tests administered
- 208 current hospitalizations
- 292 total deaths, six more than the previous day
- 26,643 recovered cases
Thursday, July 30
- 39,696 positive cases, an increase of 502 from the previous day
- 524,367 total tests administered
- 217 current hospitalizations
- 300 total deaths, eight more than the previous day
- 27,261 recovered case
Friday, July 31
- 40,196 positive cases, an increase of 500 from the previous day
- 528,910 total tests administered
- 213 current hospitalizations
- 304 total deaths, four more than the previous day
- 28,130 recovered cases
For more information, please visit https://coronavirus.utah.gov/. You can also call 1-800-456-7707 to receive the latest information.
Unemployment Update
The Department of Workforce Services released the following:
Currently, we estimate just over 70% of individuals filing for unemployment are considered “job attached,” so they are required to do the weekly job searches. This was put in place early on because of the number of furloughs where employers intended to bring employees back.
As we approach the five month mark of the pandemic, we believe that employers now have a good sense on who they will be bringing back and if not, it means they won’t be bouncing back for some time and their employees need to start looking for other opportunities even if it is temporary.
Now that the federal unemployment $600 weekly stimulus has ended, and even if Congress passes something smaller, we believe that many claimants will start looking for work because they are no longer receiving such a rich benefit. Ending “job attachment” will further increase job-seeking activity, which is critical to support our economy as we recover from the pandemic.
Thank you for the opportunity to represent you. Please contact me with any questions or concerns at carlalbrecht@le.utah.gov, or call or text me anytime.