The Partnership for Healthy Cities (PHC) launched an online platform for mayors, city officials and public health practitioners to support their efforts to address the COVID-19 crisis.

The Partnership for Healthy Cities (PHC) today launched a new online platform for mayors, city officials and public health practitioners to support their efforts to address the COVID-19 crisis. The Partnership for Healthy Cities COVID-19 Response Center includes the latest tools and technical resources geared toward urban challenges, ranging from maintaining city services to legal guidance on implementing critical public health measures, for cities at every stage of the pandemic.

Withholding funding from the World Health Organization (WHO) is an attempt by the president to shift blame for his own failures to prepare our country for this crisis – and tragically, it will lead to more suffering and death around the world.

Participants from more than 300 cities around the world, including mayors, local leaders, and members of response teams joined Bloomberg Philanthropies’ fourth virtual COVID-19 Local Response Initiative convening, where President Barack Obama and Michael Bloomberg addressed the mayors on the challenges associated with the pandemic.

While many Americans are watching the daily news conferences by President Donald Trump and some governors, the action behind the scenes is being led by the elected officials who are closest to the public, and who are directly managing the crisis in their communities: mayors.

“As we battle the coronavirus, we know that people with underlying health issues who smoke tobacco or use e-cigarettes may have an increased risk for serious complications. That makes the importance of prohibiting the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes even more urgent, and today we took a major step forward. New York has become the largest state to enact a ban, and I applaud Governor Cuomo and other state leaders for standing up to the tobacco industry and protecting millions of children and families. The youth e-cigarette epidemic is still with us, and getting these dangerous products off the market is even more essential than ever.”

More than 600 participants including mayors, local leaders, and members of city response teams from cities across the United States joined Bloomberg Philanthropies’ third virtual COVID-19 Local Response Initiative convening on April 2, where President George W. Bush and Michael Bloomberg addressed the mayors about the challenges associated with the pandemic.

Bloomberg Philanthropies and the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) today announced the launch of a transportation-focused online resource hub to give mayors, city officials and other practitioners real-time information on the transportation strategies cities are deploying to adapt to the rapidly evolving international health emergency.

Bloomberg Philanthropies, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Johns Hopkins University announced today a joint effort to fund research into the potential therapeutic uses of COVID-19 convalescent plasma, led by Arturo Casadevall, an infectious disease expert and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor who holds joint appointments in the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

More than 500 mayors, local leaders, and members of city response teams from cities across the United States joined Bloomberg Philanthropies’ second virtual COVID-19 Local Response Initiative convening on March 26, 2020, where President Bill Clinton and Michael Bloomberg addressed the mayors about the challenges associated with the pandemic.