Ladies and gentlemen, The Weekend. I'll be OOO next Monday so there won't be an update. Try not to generate any COVID news, ok? See you on Tuesday.
TOP THREE
Pandemic Windfall for Schools Has Few Strings Attached: Via The AP.
"Some districts will receive sums amounting to 50% or more of the cost to operate their schools for a year."
"Detroit received the highest rate among big districts, at more than $25,000 per student. It was followed by Philadelphia, with $13,000 per student, and Cleveland, at more than $12,000."
Airborne Transmission of Respiratory Viruses: New paper but also this excellent Tweetorial. Important insight because this debate impacts the type of mitigation measures needed.
"Traditionally, it was thought that respiratory pathogens spread between people through large droplets produced in coughs and through contact with contaminated surfaces." For background, here's an Angry Birds metaphor
"However, several respiratory pathogens are known to spread through small respiratory aerosols, which can float and travel in air flows, infecting people who inhale them at short and long distances from the infected person."
"It is not just COVID-19, but all or almost all respiratory diseases likely have an important component of airborne transmission"
"Once the mechanisms leading to airborne transmission are fully understood—acknowledging that transmission by aerosols is largest at close range—it becomes clear there is an overlap in precautions and mitigation measures for both droplets and aerosols (such as distancing and masks), but extra considerations must be taken into account for mitigating aerosol transmission at both short and long ranges."
"These include attention to ventilation, airflows, mask fit and type, air filtration, and UV disinfection, as well as distinguishing measures between indoor and outdoor environments."
In Britain, Young Children Don’t Wear Masks in School: Via NYT
"The British handled the Delta spike in ways that might surprise American parents, educators and lawmakers: Masking was a limited part of the strategy. In fact, for the most part, elementary school students and their teachers did not wear them in classrooms at all."
"The U.K. has always, from the beginning, emphasized they do not see a place for face coverings for children if it’s avoidable,” said Dr. Shamez Ladhani, a pediatric infectious-disease specialist at St. George’s Hospital in London and an author of several government studies on the virus and schools."
"The potential harms exceed the potential benefits, he said, because seeing faces is “important for the social development and interaction between people."
"Research from Britain suggests that rapid testing might be an alternative. In a study conducted as the Delta variant spread, secondary schools and colleges in England were randomly assigned to quarantine or test."
More via Chalkbeat: "What we know about masks, students, and COVID spread: A Chalkbeat guide"
FEDERAL
CDC: Director Walensky said during a Friday briefing:
"In our outbreak investigations, large-scale quarantines or large number of cases are generally occurring in schools, because schools are not following our guidance, particularly our recommendations for teachers as well as students aged 12 and over to be vaccinated and for everyone right now to be masked."
Also said she does not expect to update school guidance right now.
FCC: 5 million households have signed up for EBB.
Supreme Court Ends Eviction Moratorium: The court issued an eight-page majority opinion, an unusual move in a ruling on an application for emergency relief, where terse orders are more common, the NYT reports.
More via SCOTUS Blog.
"If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue,” the court stressed, “Congress must specifically authorize it.”
"Emphasizing that “our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends,” the court concluded that it is now “up to Congress, not the CDC, to decide whether” to extend the moratorium."
COVID-19 RESEARCH
CDC Study on a School Outbreak: An unvaccinated teacher who unmasked when reading aloud in class caught Covid and spread it to half of the students in the classroom, according to a new CDC study.
"The attack rate in the two rows seated closest to the teacher’s desk was 80% (eight of 10) and was 28% (four of 14) in the three back rows."
"The outbreak’s attack rate highlights the Delta variant’s increased transmissibility**and potential for rapid spread, especially in unvaccinated populations such as schoolchildren too young for vaccination."
"However, transmission to community contacts appeared lower than that of some previously reported Delta variant outbreaks"
Unraveling the Mystery of Why Children Are Better Protected from COVID Than Adults: Via Scientific American.
White House Now Discussing 5-Month Booster Shots: "President Biden told reporters in the Oval Office that he talked with Dr. Anthony Fauci today about the prospect of giving vaccine booster shots after five months instead of eight," Politico reports. CNBC has more.
Quick aside: This is needlessly complicating things. A week ago, officials said it would be 8 months. Just yesterday, officials suggested it might be 6 months. Pfzier's own data submission said 6-12 months.. And here's the thing - the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices hasn't even met to debate the merit of boosters much less the timing.
Pediatricians Besieged by Parents Seeking Vaccine for Kids Under 12: Via Washington Post.
"From all that we are hearing, we do believe that the recommended dose will be lower than for adolescents 12 and up,” said Beers, who repeated the group’s call on the FDA to act as quickly as possible."
STATE
Alabama: Via Made to Save, "Dorothy Oliver helped vaccinate 94% of her town."
California:
Quarantines and teacher shortages: a double whammy for California districts.
Los Angeles County health officials will continue to enforce strict school quarantine rules which are stricter than state guidelines, have raised concerns among some school leaders and parents about academic disruption after thousands of students and staff members were sent home in the opening days of the school year
Bay Area COVID-19 cases are 'turning the corner,' but mask mandate may not be why
"A look at graphs from other county health sites reveals something similar: a plateau or decline sometime in the middle of August that is close enough to the imposition of the indoor mask mandate to where experts are not convinced it altered the trajectory of the surge."
"Despite the absence of a mask mandate, Solano's case curve looks very much like other Bay Area counties."
Colorado: Some school districts are declining state-paid COVID testing.
Florida: A Florida judge said that school districts may impose mask mandates, ruling that Gov. DeSantis overstepped his authority by issuing an executive order banning the mandates, the AP reports.
"The judge also noted that two Florida Supreme Court decisions from 1914 and 1939 found that individual rights are limited by their impact on the rights of others."
“We don’t have that right because exercising the right in that way is harmful or potentially harmful to other people,” Cooper said. He added that the law “is full of examples of rights that are limited (when) the good of others ... would be adversely affected by those rights.”
"In that same vein, he said, school boards can reasonably argue that maskless students endanger the health of other students and teachers."
Maryland: Maryland State School Board adopts emergency regulations requiring statewide mask mandate.
Nevada: Teachers health trust tells providers it lacks money for past claims.
North Carolina:Four times more children infected with COVID-19 this August than last year.
Utah: Gov. Cox said he would issue an executive order allowing local education officials to require masks for students and staff in schools, but school officials told him the issue is now politicized and would be counterproductive.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Inflation: Key inflation gauge rises 3.6% from a year ago to tie biggest jump since the early 1990s.
Consumer Confidence Falls: University of Michigan says: “The Consumer Sentiment Index fell 13.4% from July, recording the least favorable economic prospects in more than a decade."
"The August free-fall in confidence was in response to mounting issues, including rising inflation, small wage gains and slower declines in unemployment,” he said. “The falloff also reflected an emotional response to people’s dashed hopes that the pandemic would soon end and lives could get back to normal."
RESOURCES
90,000 Students Have Had to Quarantine:Because of COVID-19 so far this school year.
Children's Mental Health Gets Millions In Funding From The Biden Administration: Via NPR.
As Schools Reopen, Districts Are Desperate for Bus Drivers: Via the NYT.
"Thousands of school bus drivers were furloughed, fell ill or quit as classes moved online last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, school and union officials said."
"The pandemic made things worse. Many school bus drivers retired or quit out of fear of becoming exposed to the virus in an enclosed space, a risk some new drivers were also reluctant to take. Some quit over mask mandates, while others were furloughed or got sick, further diminishing the pool"
“There are reports of shortages across the country,” said Joanna McFarland, the chief executive of HopSkipDrive, which works with districts on transportation solutions. “It is the worst that we have seen in a very long time, if not ever.”
Back to Class: How Schools Can Rebound: In an innovative series, six newsrooms from across the country highlight promising ways to address some of the most pervasive challenges of this unique moment
The Real Reason Kids Don’t Like School: Via Arthur Brooks in the Atlantic.
Going Beyond ESSA Compliance: A 50-State Scan of School Spending Reports: Via EdTrust.
Enthralling 3-Minute Long Single-Take Drone Tour of the Cowboys’ Facility: There are many ways in which to mark the coming and going of seasons. For me, a new season of HBO's Hard Knocks means autumn is right around the corner. This year they're following the Dallas Cowboy's training camp and they just provided an amazing 3 minute tour of the training facilities taken from an FPV drone.
Football not your thing? Here's an FPV drone of Venezuela's Angel Falls - the world's largest waterfall.