Montana Lowdown

Gov. Steve Bullock is expected to unveil plans this week to begin lifting the statewide stay-at-home order and business restrictions, even as Montana saw its first public demonstration against the current restrictions on Sunday.

Many public health experts say a return to normalcy will require mass testing, along with robust contact tracing, so health officials can rapidly respond to any spikes in COVID-19 infections, which are expected once restrictions begin to ease.

How does contact tracing work? And how can we gauge when Montana is ready to begin lifting restrictions? Matt Kelley, health officer for the Gallatin City-County Health Department, tells freelance journalist Emily Stifler Wolfe, "Contact tracing is the central weapon that we use to find cases and throw a blanket over that case in a way that reduces the risk of exposure."

On April 17, Montana Free Press published Wolfe's story "How contact tracing slows the spread — and why getting Montana back to work requires more of it." Wolfe is our guest on this week's Montana Lowdown podcast, where she talks about what she learned while reporting the piece with host and Montana Free Press editor-in-chief John S. Adams.

As Montana enters its fifth consecutive week of quarantine, many households are feeling the strain of isolation, fear and anxiety. Professionals are warning about increased incidents of domestic violence and sexual assault, while even safe households are experiencing unique stresses related to parenting.

In response to these concerns, Montana Free Press is publishing this episode of the weekly Montana Lowdown podcast focused on resources for victims of domestic and sexual violence, as well as parenting tips from childcare experts.

Pandemic Exacerbates Abusive Behavior

Echoing concerns shared in national publications, local professionals are reporting that the quarantine is exacerbating abusive behavior.

"Abusers use isolation as a way to maintain power and control. And when we see increased stresses at home, a lot of times that also can be a contributing factor for violence," says Jenny Eck, executive director of The Friendship Center, a Helena-based nonprofit that provides resources to victims of domestic and sexual violence. Eck tells Lowdown host John S. Adams that abusers can exploit the pandemic by withholding items like hand sanitizer or masks, preventing victims from seeking medical attention or support from friends and family, and withholding insurance information.

While there is some relief coming to Montana's victims of domestic violence — the federal CARES Act package includes $45 million in funding for crisis centers — Kelsen Young, executive director of the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence warns that "it will probably be another month or two" before the state's allocation makes its way to program coffers.

Young adds that abuse victims are seeing another novel limit in their ability to find safe harbor, as many hotels that previously opened their doors to victims are now being more strict about filling vacancies. As Young tells Adams, "We are hearing that some hotels are refusing to take people that are [exposed to the virus]." Simultaneously, established shelters are limiting the number of people they take in during the pandemic to minimize the risk of viral transmission.

Both Eck and Young note that there are ways for Montanans to help. Eck suggests, "It's really important that you stay in touch. Try to help [victims] have access to a safe way of communicating." And for those Montanans who are able to offer financial support, Young says, "Domestic violence shelters would be a great place" to donate.

Parenting In A Pandemic

Emotionally healthy households are facing their own stresses, with many parents having to balance a dearth of childcare options with professional obligations or new fears about lost wages.

Lowdown producer Alex McKenzie, a new parent to a 7-month-old child, interviewed Wisconsin-based Dr. Laura Froyen, whose work focuses on human development and family studies, and Portland, Oregon-based Tracey Biebel, a licensed clinical social worker and podcaster whose work is focused on "practical parenting and practical living."

One theme repeated throughout both interviews is that there is no universal approach to parenting under quarantine. While some parents are able to take advantage of the recently passed Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which offers expanded family or paid medical leave for certain situations, many other parents are left to balance expert advice on social distancing measures with the realities of their childcare needs.

Asked about the prudence of designating a single person, like a grandparent or other relative, to provide care for a young child during the pandemic, Froyen suggested making an "exclusivity arrangement" in which the childcare provider will not be taking care of any other children, and will otherwise refrain from interaction with the outside world. "You are going to socially isolate, together," Froyen says.

For older children, Biebel suggests a more conservative approach. While she acknowledges that different scenarios may work better for individual families, she cautions that allowing a teenager to have exclusive social interactions with a friend may create a slippery slope. "If you allow one friend, then they're like, 'Well, what about the other friend?" She says the issues with teenagers is rooted in a lack of critical thinking skills: "The brain development just isn't there yet," she says

Froyen and Biebel also weigh in on topics including screen time, the importance of structure during quarantine, and how to communicate about the pandemic to small children without triggering anxiety.

Another shared view between Froyen and Biebel involves lowered parental expectations during the pandemic. Froyen suggests that parents offer themselves "lots of grace and compassion, room to make mistakes, and to repair them." Biebel advises parents to "just sit in it and let it pass, because it will."

Resources:

Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence

https://mcadsv.com/

National Domestic Violence Hotline

1-800-799-7233

National Sexual Assault Hotline

1-800-656-4673

The Friendship Center

https://www.thefriendshipcenter.org/

406-442-6800

"It's like a response to a lot of crises. That is, it's big and it's immediate, but it's probably full of a lot of loopholes." So says former Montana Senator Max Baucus, assessing the $2T economic relief package recently passed by U.S. Congress in response to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. He adds, "We're probably going to see a lot of inefficiencies, and a lot of people taking advantage of the situation, at the expense of Americans."

For close to 40 years, Max Baucus represented Montana in Congress, before serving as the U.S. Ambassador to China under President Barack Obama.

Baucus was Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee during the 2008 financial crisis, and was a key figure in the creation of legislative measures, signed by both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, that ultimately stabilized the U.S. economy in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage meltdown that crippled global markets.

Senator Baucus then witnessed the populist aftermath of that legislation in the rise of the conservative Tea Party, and the birth of the liberal Occupy Wallstreet movement.

He was a chief architect of the Affordable Care Act, which enabled more than 20 million people to access health care, but came at a great political expense to Democrats who faced conservative backlash at the polls in many states.

Now out of politics and living back home in Montana, Baucus is watching a new world unfold as inefficiencies in the U.S. healthcare system are laid bare as the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on American lives and the global economy.

In February, Baucus endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden's bid for the Democratic nomination to the Presidency, and he now says he sees a need for bipartisan leadership in Washington, telling Montana Free Press editor-in-chief John S. Adams, "The recent partisanship in Washington has stymied any efficient action" on the pandemic and resultant economic turmoil." And while some are questioning the White House's response to the pandemic, Baucus levels a somewhat more measured criticism of the Trump administration: "I'm not blaming Donald Trump personally, but I do think, in our form of government, when there's a crisis, it's the Chief Executive that's got to step up."

Baucus's interview with Adams is featured in the latest episode of the Montana Lowdown podcast, a publication of Montana Free Press.

This week we interview several guests who help illustrate how some of Montana's most vital social services are positioned to deal with the potential of a long-term pandemic. Guests and topics include:

• Rose Hughes, Executive Director of the Montana Health Care Association, on how long-term care facilities are balancing health safety measures with problems related to extended periods of isolation
• Stephanie Stratton, Chief Programs Officer of the Montana Food Bank Network, on how increased demand and limited supplies are challenging the Montana food pantry system
• Freelance journalist Amanda Eggert on how Montana's daycare industry and K-12 educational institutions are responding
• MTFP reporter Eric Dietrich on the state of the State's budget in light of the pandemic (featuring dialogue from Republican state representatives Nancy Ballance and Frank Garner.)

In today's episode:

• The latest statistics on cases in Montana
• Montana petroleum industry sees losses due to price wars and economic fallout from coronavirus
• Fear-driven stockpiling of supplies is a short-term problem, and distributors are confident that supply chains are strong
• Cindy Farr of Missoula County DPHHS talks about coronavirus testing in Montana, and what she expects to see as the pandemic evolves
• Rebecca Dore, a Senior Research Associate at Ohio State University, shares tips on how to manage screen time for kids who are distancing indoors for extended periods

In today's episode:

• The latest statistics on cases in Montana
• Gov. Steve Bullock announces two measures aimed at helping those experiencing financial stress
• Montana announces it will cover the costs of referrals, and in some cases testing, for those who are uninsured and suspect they may have contracted the virus
• The U.S. Department of Commerce will suspend the census until April 1
• Gubernatorial campaigns go digital
• Tourism industry and travel-relates businesses anticipate big losses
• State will extend drivers' license renewals
• Montana Free Press solicits calls from freelance reporters
• We want to know what you want us to cover in this crisis
• We update you on we're evolving our coverage of the coronavirus in Montana

As of today, we're changing the format of our show to focus on delivering shorter, more frequent episodes that keep our listeners informed about the latest news around the coronavirus, and its impacts on Montana.

In today's episode:

• We announce some changes at the Montana Free Press
• The latest stats from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services
• What is social distancing, and why is it important?
• Two new cases confirmed, one each in Missoula and Yellowstone Counties
• Montana announces that tests will now be performed in-state, rather than being shipped to the CDC
• 1000 news test kits are headed to Montana
• Counties begin closing or limiting certain business establishments and other public events
• We begin to look at how the coronavirus could impact June's primary election

"I think it's a universe that I don't really know how to gauge. It's just something that we've never dealt with." So says Lee Newspapers capital reporter Holly Michels, as she tries to make sense of the evolving 2020 political field through the lens of the coronavirus issue.

Montana's March 9 candidacy filing deadline momentarily grabbed national headlines when two-term Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock entered the race for the U.S. Senate, challenging Republican incumbent Sen. Steve Daines. But while the matchup was widely regarded as an opportunity for Democrats to flip a Senate seat, those headlines were quickly buried under breaking news.

The next day the presidential primary election entered a new phase, with former Vice President Joe Biden winning in several key state primaries, pulling ahead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic nomination. The dust was still settling on that story when the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic, triggering a wave of cancelled events, school closings, and regulations about public gatherings in a growing list of cities nationally and statewide.

Public appearances by President Donald Trump were widely panned as failing to instill public confidence in the face of a national crisis. Stocks plunged, spurring the Federal Reserve to drop interest rates to 0% on Sunday in an effort to stave off a major financial crisis.

The June primary approaches, now with myriad questions about how Montana's elections might be impacted by the pandemic.

In an interview with Montana Free Press editor-in-chief John S. Adams, elections analyst Kyle Kondik, of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, says he expects to see a wave of out-of-state campaign spending on Montana's senate seat.

Kondik tells Adams, "Republicans have to look at [the seat] as an absolute must-hold." He adds that, given Trump's widely criticized response to the pandemic, defending his seat could prove more challenging for Daines, a staunch Trump supporter.

"I'm more hesitant to suggest that coronavirus may not matter in the fall, because it's something that's already affecting so many people, just in terms of disruptions to their daily lives," Kondik says.

Michels's and Kondik's conversations with Adams are featured in the latest episode of the Montana Lowdown podcast, a publication of Montana Free Press.

As financial markets reel amidst the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, journalist Dexter Roberts is looking to the Chinese economy for signs of things to come.

Roberts is an award-winning journalist who spent more than 20 years reporting from Beijing, where he served as the China bureau chief and Asia News Editor at Bloomberg Businessweek. A Montana native, Roberts' journalistic career spanned a period of rapid transformation and explosive economic growth in China, during which he reported on the country's economy, politics, agriculture, and more.

Roberts, who now serves as a fellow at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana, is promoting his new book, The Myth Of Chinese Capitalism: The Worker, the Factory, and the Future of the World. The book makes the case that Chinese policies are actually restricting economic growth and contributing to widening class disparity.

"The myth, in sort of a nutshell, is that China is on an inexorable path toward a vastly expanded middle class," Roberts tells Montana Free Press founder John S. Adams. But the economic reality doesn't support that popular narrative, according to Roberts, who argues that "China is getting old before it gets rich," and that the country is "relegating close to half [its] population to second-class status."

Roberts also sees compounding problems in the country's initial response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, telling Adams that, on the heels of President Donald Trump's trade wars, the outbreak has the potential to upend the world economy for the foreseeable future. And he anticipates that the tumult could be felt here in Montana.

"For a state like Montana, which has a large reliance on agriculture, there is a very obvious fit with China's growth," Roberts says. "I would be ready for the potential of real disruption in the economy going forward."

Roberts' conversation with Adams is featured in the latest episode of the Montana Lowdown podcast, a weekly publication of Montana Free Press.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Whitney Williams may be running her first campaign for public office, but she's no political neophyte. Her father, Pat Williams, served two terms in the Montana House, and nine in the U.S. House of Representatives. Her mother, Carol Williams, was the first woman majority leader in the Montana Senate.

Williams started her own career in the White House, where she worked in the office of First Lady Hillary Clinton, before launching a philanthropic consulting business that works with governments, NGOs, and Fortune 500 companies. Williams positions herself as a job creator and problem solver in her bid to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock.

Williams is in a two-way primary with Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney. Asked to draw a distinction between herself and Cooney, Williams tells Montana Free Press editor-in-chief John S. Adams that voters, "[are] going to have a choice of someone who is a little different, someone who's a business person, who has a fresh perspective, who has a skill set managing multimillion dollar budgets, creating companies, creating jobs."

At a recent candidate forum in Bozeman, Williams and Cooney staked out similar policy positions, including publicly funded pre-K, protection of public lands, and affordability of prescription drugs. In her interview with Adams, Williams expands on the initiatives she would pursue if elected to office, including strategies to cap prescription drug prices.

"Forty percent of Montanans say they choose between putting food on the table and filling a prescription," Williams said. "Montanans are, I think, fed up with this idea that the federal government is going to solve this problem for us, because they're not."

Williams's conversation with Adams is featured on the Montana Lowdown podcast, a weekly publication of Montana Free Press.