The House and the Senate will be in session this coming week working on a third COVID-19 relief bill. The House returns from a district work week on Tuesday while the Senate cancelled its state work week which had been scheduled for this week.

On the COVID-19 front —

• OPM posted more COVID-19 emergency related guidance for federal agencies on Friday.
• The Wall Street Journal explains the current lockdown rules in New York, California, Illinois, and several other states. The California rule cross references to this Department of Homeland Security guidance on essential critical infrastructure workforce. While the guidance is advisory, the FEHBlog finds it significant that the list of “workers who conduct a range of operations and services that are essential to continued critical infrastructure viability” includes “Workers that manage health plans, billing, and health information, who practically work remotely” and “Workers performing cybersecurity functions at healthcare and public health facilities, who cannot practically work remotely.”
• On Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration issued the first emergency use authorization for a point-of-care COVID-19 diagnostic for the Cepheid Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 test. ” “The test we’re authorizing today will be able to provide Americans with results within hours, rather than days like the existing tests, and the company plans to roll it out by March 30 [a week from today],” explained HHS Secretary Alex Azar. The COVID-19 diagnosis rate will increase more rapidly now that we continue to expand the availability of COVID-19 testing. The Vice President noted on Saturday that 195,000 Americans have been tested so far.
• The Wall Street Journal informs us about how to avoid COVID-19 misinformation. It’s worth reading.