How we can work together to address the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge for our country, threatening our health, wellbeing and democracy. Now more than ever, we need to work together to ensure that our government has a coordinated, strategic response to safeguard the public’s health, protect consumers from emerging dangers and ensure people can still participate fully in our democracy.

U.S. PIRG Education Fund has assembled a COVID-19 response team of policy experts, state advocates, organizers and researchers. And we are coordinating the efforts of the PIRGs around the country through our national office. If we all pull together, we can find concrete ways to protect public health, consumers and our democracy. 

Let hospitals fix their equipment

If a trained hospital technician can repair a lifesaving piece of medical equipment, such as a ventilator, they should be allowed to do so — especially during a global pandemic. But manufacturers often restrict access to service information for the devices they make, making it unnecessarily difficult for hospitals to maintain their own equipment. 

Protect healthcare workers now

We’re months into the COVID-19 crisis, and health professionals in some areas of the country still lack the supplies they need to protect themselves and care for patients.  

Stronger action needed to prevent price gouging

Some businesses are still significantly inflating prices for critical supplies. 

Nursing Home Safety During COVID

At any given time, about 1.3 million people with long-term medical issues or short-term rehabilitation needs are residing in the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes. And too many of them are at risk due to dangerous shortages of personal protective equipment and staff, according to ongoing research by U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group, which has been analyzing government data.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Share consumer tips & resources

How do you avoid phishing and other online scams? Can you get a refund for travel expenses? How do you protect your credit? We’ve assembled a set of consumer tips and guides, and will add more in the days to come.