COVID-19 Policy Update #127
COVID-19 Policy Update
WEDNESDAY 10/14
TOP THREE
Reopening Schools Did Not Contribute to Increase Cases in Germany: The IZA Institute of Labor Economics published a paper that analyzed official daily counts of confirmed coronavirus infections by age groups across all 401 German counties.
The researchers "did not find any evidence of a positive effect of school re-openings on case numbers. On the contrary, our preferred specification indicates that the end of summer breaks had a negative effect on the number of new confirmed cases. ... We conclude that school re-openings in Germany under strict hygiene measures combined with quarantine and containment measures have not increased the number of newly confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections."
"Our paper provides first causal evidence of the absence of an increase of cases after school re-openings at the end of summer breaks. This absence of an increase stands in stark contrast to raised concerns about arising hotspots and super-spreading events in schools which dominate debates about school re-openings world-wide. Given the high immediate and longer-run human capital costs of school closures, our results should be taken seriously in re-evaluating the cost-benefit considerations of moving back to on-site schooling."
Promising Study on Transmission Risk: Researchers at Yale's Child Study Center published the results of a study that surveyed more than 57,000 childcare providers across all 50 states finding that adults working in May and June had no additional risk of contracting COVID. The adoption of safety protocols such as handwashing and disinfecting surfaces was seen as important.
Risk Assessment and Testing Protocols for Reducing SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in K-12 Schools: The results of a collaboration among JHU, Rockefeller Foundation, and Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy to 1) help school administrators assess the risk of COVID in their schools, and 2) identify key considerations in developing a screening program to regularly test students and staff for the virus to support schools to open in-person more safely.
FEDERAL
CDC: Released updated guidance on COVID testing in schools which provides additional details as to who should be tested first and how test screening should be incorporated into schools' overall strategies.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
States Face Monumental Challenges Readying Vaccine Distribution: Good article from Bloomberg on the challenges states face with distributing and prioritizing vaccines:
"A panel of immunization experts that advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make recommendations for who should first receive a Covid-19 vaccine once a shot is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. The panel has met to discuss the potential scenarios but won't vote on the recommendations until a Covid-19 vaccine has FDA clearance."
"Getting the vaccine to those workers will be no easy task. Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s candidate, one of the vaccines furthest along in clinical trials, needs to be kept about 94 degrees below zero. The company plans to ship temperature-controlled containers filled with at least 1,000 shots directly to providers, solving a storage issue yet posing a problem for rural states who need to spread those doses out."
Dogs Will Save Us: Time covers coronavirus sniffing dogs.
Who Do Americans Trust With A Vaccine? Yahoo/YouGov poll: 47% of registered voters chose their physician to vouch for a vaccine. Among supporters of President Donald Trump, 41% trust their doctor, while roughly half (53%) of supporters of Democratic nominee Joe Biden agree. Only 16% of voters say they will get vaccinated as soon as a vaccine is available. Toplines and crosstabs.
STATE
Alabama: The Alabama Department of Public Health updated their coronavirus toolkit for schools.
Maine: The state has launched an online tracker of COVID-19 cases reported at all of the state's pre-K through grade 12 schools within the last 30 days.
New York: This received surprisingly little attention but NYC released the results of the first day of random COVID testing in schools. The results are promising: 56 schools participated, 1,751 tests were administered, and there was only one positive result (.06%)
Oregon: Salem-Keizer Public Schools will extend online learning into 2021.
Texas: Statistics from several Grayson County school districts reveal a significant gap in percentages of students at home failing classes versus those in-person.
Alstyne ISD reported 62% of online learners failing at least one class with 54% failing two or more.
Pottsboro ISD reported a 26% failure rate for virtual compared to 5% in person.
Howe ISD reported 65% are failing remotely, and on campus, it’s 9%.
Virginia: Fairfax County Public Schools began the school year with nearly 8,900 fewer students – roughly the equivalent of four high schools.
INTERNATIONAL
Ireland: Northern Ireland is enacting stricter measures due to a surge of cases, including doubling the length of the October school break from one week to two. Education Minister Peter Weir vowed to oppose any move to extend school closures in Northern Ireland beyond two weeks.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Distressed Communities Index: The Economic Innovation Group released an updated Distressed Communities Index. Nearly half of adults in prosperous zips are college grads while over half in distressed zips have at most a HS diploma. While prosperous areas boom, distressed ones have no net job growth to show for the century thus far. EIG estimates that 45% of the population in Mississippi lives in a distressed community, 43% in West Virginia, 39% in Louisiana compared to only 8% in California.
LEARNING PODS
Learning Pods and Microschools Take Root: Long NYT piece.
Delaware Pods: The City of Wilmington, United Way of Delaware, and Wilmington Community Advisory Council are working together to support 12 learning pods for Wilmington students. The effort is supported, in part, through CARES Act funding.
How to Pod: Under their umbrella business Good Girls Unlimited, a mom and an educator are offering a guide for parents looking to set up learning pods of their own.
Cleveland: The Safe Center for Online Learning opened in the Cleveland Public Library. Best Buy and The Clubhouse Network gave the library a $20,000 grant to help launch the program.
RESOURCES
Untangling the Role of Trump, Unions, and Politics in School Reopening Decisions: EdWeek article diving into the Ed Working paper we highlighted in the .
Is Go-Slow Schools’ Reopening Failing Kids?: Interview with Joseph Allen - a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health associate professor of exposure science who runs the School’s Healthy Buildings Program. Worth your time.
Digital Divide: NYT on the shortage of devices and how schools that ordered laptops in the summer may not see them until Oct/Nov.
State-Based Solutions For Connecting People to Mental Health Care and Addiction Recovery Services: New guide from United States of Care, including specific recommendations for education.
College Students Need Mental Health Support: RAND article with some insightful research, including college students' openness to telemedicine
Ed Tech News:
Zoom Apps: Zoom announced it's platform will support third-party apps—called “Zapps" (no, not those Zapps) They also launched a service called OnZoom for hosting paid live events. The company already has an App Marketplace that integrates Zoom into those other apps. The Zapps effort flips that around so other apps can run inside of Zoom.
Engageli: Dan Avida and Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller raised a $14.5 million seed round to launch Engageli which is building a suite of tools to support better online learning and live video conferencing.
Vedantu: Via Hakeema: Vedantu is in talks with KKR and existing investors to raise $100 million.
Podium Education: The company raised $12 million to help colleges offer for-credit tech programs.
Canvas Certifications: Instructure announced a Canvas Certified Educator program. Each program is expected to last four weeks and will lead to a credential through Badgr.
CZI Launches Along: Gradient Learning, the parent company for the Summit Learning program is launching Along, a free interactive video journal that helps teachers foster relationships with their students, no matter the learning setting. Created in response to COVID-19 school disruptions, Along is collaborating with schools to create a space where teachers and students can share one-on-one reflections via recorded video or text conversations and dive into important topics — such as managing stress, staying motivated, and navigating the new challenges.
From a First Grade Teacher: Tweet.