COVID-19 Policy Update #100
COVID-19 Policy Update
WEDNESDAY 9/9
TOP THREE
Number of Children with COVID: AAP reported 513,415 total child COVID-19 cases, representing 9.8% of all cases.
Comparing Children's Flu and COVID: Promising study published on JAMA Open Network: Children with COVID-19 are just as likely to be hospitalized, admitted to an intensive care unit and require mechanical ventilation to breathe as those with the seasonal flu. The analysis found that 17% of children with COVID-19 required hospitalization, with 6% being admitted to an ICU, compared to children with the flu, 21% were admitted to the hospital and 7% to an ICU.
Effective Testing and Screening in Schools for COVID-19: Report from the Rockefeller Foundation and Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy estimating the country may need up to 193 million coronavirus tests each month in order to safely reopen schools and fortify nursing homes, according to a new report. Current testing capacity is about 21 million tests per month. The report outlines the first framework for how to think about testing in the context of K12 schools, including the frequency of testing.
STATE
Colorado: Gov. Polis launched a $32 million Response, Innovation & Student Equity (RISE) fund to help Colorado schools, colleges address COVID-19 impacts.
Applicants can ask for between $250,000 and $4 million depending on the proposal.
Eligible applicants include school districts; charter schools; public degree-granting institutions of higher education; and early childhood councils. Eligible partners include non-profit or community-based organizations; early childhood providers; local government entities; or employers or workforce partners.
Priority will be given to projects that serve: a rural community; or propose to serve schools or districts with priority improvement or turnaround plan types; or address significant academic gaps between students based on income, race or ethnic group, status as an English learner, or disability status.
Florida: Most Broward students able to return to schools full time five days a week.
New York: NYC released 1,485 ventilation reports for all the schools. 96% of classrooms were deemed "operational" but only 43% of bathrooms.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Eviction Moratorium FAQ: From NLIHC
The Social Safety Net in the Wake of COVID-19: NBER paper:
"Congress enacted a number of smart short-term fixes to the safety net that have improved its ability to insure low-income families during this recession, including increasing UI payments and extending eligibility, increasing SNAP payments to some participants, sending cash relief payments (EIP), and introducing a new program to replace missed school meals (P-EBT). Without question, these policies have improved the responsiveness of the safety net to this crisis and have reduced suffering that would have occurred without these actions."
"Even with these valuable policy responses, there is still tremendous unmet need. Food insecurity has sharply increased, as has the share of families relying on emergency food pantries. Some excess suffering occurred because much of the policy response was slow to roll out and reach needy families."
"For example, unemployed workers who report receiving UI have lower levels of food insecurity than do those who unsuccessfully attempted to receive UI."
Immigration and Entrepreneurship: NBER paper: Immigration can expand labor supply and create greater competition for native-born workers. But immigrants may also start new firms, expanding labor demand. The findings of this analysis suggest that immigrants act more as "job creators" than "job takers" and that non-U.S. born founders play outsized roles in U.S. high-growth entrepreneurship.
Shipping Rebound: Container shipping activity has staged a sharp rebound and is nearing pre-pandemic levels. For fun, here's a map of existing cargo, tanker, and fishing traffic.
Not Enough Jobs: The number of unemployed Americans outnumbers the number of open jobs in every state.
RESOURCES
Vaccine Developers Pledge to Uphold Testing Rigor: Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Moderna, Inc., Novavax, Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Sanofi pledged on to uphold the scientific standards that their experimental immunizations will be held against in accordance with high ethical standards and sound scientific principles regarding the conduct of clinical trials and the rigor of manufacturing processes.
Vaccine Hesitancy: A Gallup poll that surveyed respondents between July 20 and August 2 reported that one in three Americans—and four in 10 nonwhite Americans—said they would not get a free, FDA-regulated COVID-19 vaccine if it were offered today.
Learning Loss: Chad Aldeman over at The 74 on estimating learning loss and strategies to address it. Some highlights:
"Surveying the body of evidence from studies in Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota and Virginia, Dave Marcotte and Benjamin Hansen concluded, “the percentage of students passing math assessments falls by about one-third to one-half a percentage point for each day school is closed.”
A follow-up study from Joshua Goodman on Massachusetts found that the number of formal school closures due to snowstorms wasn’t important; what mattered was the total number of days a student missed. He estimated that “student absences could account for as much as one-quarter of the income-based achievement gap in the state.”
"In a normal year, Virginia requires 180 days of instruction, for a total of 990 hours for grades 1-12. Based on my back-of-envelope calculations, my kids will receive a school year of 136 days, but my first-grader is scheduled to receive only 340 hours of instruction, about 650 fewer than normal. If everything goes smoothly, he’ll receive about one-third of a year’s worth of instructional time."
Schools May Get Sued Over COVID: EdWeek article outlining several legal issues:
The main challenge: The “standard of care” continues to shift.
Civil claims related to COVID-19 will probably be hard to prove.
States already offer some immunity defenses for districts. But it’s not clear how they apply to COVID-19 claims.
Some new liability policies are emerging but are untested.
Liability waivers may not be enforceable.
Additional state and federal liability protections may not be forthcoming.
The best defense is a good offense.
A National Policy on Internet Access: OpEd on the E-rate by Sec. John King and FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel.
Reimagining a More Equitable and Resilient K–12 Education System: McKinsey article outlining strategies for recommitting to what works and reimagining systems and structures.
Why Schools Are Struggling To Feed Students: Among low-income households with children who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals, only about 15% have been getting their free or reduced priced meals.
The ABCs of Back to School: A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Families will air at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 12. It will also air on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español.
Teacher’s Pet: Anne Arundel County teacher’s dog assists with online learning.
Stay Home! Back to Work! A Dog and Cat Debate Reopening America: Via WSJ:
Cat: On behalf of cats everywhere, I’ll just say it: We want everyone out of the house.
Dog: As America debates a return to work, it’s important not to rush. We need to balance the economy against the extremely valid concerns about public health and protecting lives. And walks. We need to think about all of the walks.
Dog for the Win: I’m sure the cats are telling you they’ve had it. Never trust a cat. They’re rude animals. They don’t appreciate you.
Football is Back: It's All Coming Back to Us Now.