COVID-19 Policy Update #131
COVID-19 Policy Update
TUESDAY 10/20
TOP THREE
Promising News - Large Districts Reopening: Via Washington Post: Of the 50 largest school districts, 24 have in-person classes, and 11 others plan to in the coming weeks.
Hybrid Learning: Vox worries it might be the worst of both worlds.
CA Announces It Will Independently Review Vaccines: Gov. Newsom announced that an 11 person panel specializing in epidemiology, biostatistics, and infectious disease will review any vaccine approved by the FDA before it is distributed.
FEDERAL
Phase 4:
President Trump said he would accept a $2.2 trillion deal.
Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said today's “conversation provided more clarity and common ground as they move closer to an agreement.”
But...Senate Majority Leader McConnell told Senate Republicans that he has warned the White House not to make a big stimulus deal before the election. The Washington Post also reports that McConnell said that if a deal was reached and passed by the House with President support, he would put it on the Senate floor “at some point."
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Long-term Health Problems from COVID-19: Oxford researchers released a study of 201 patients with an average age of 44, 90% of whom did not have high risk factors. Only 18% were hospitalized. On average, 140 days after their symptoms began - 98% reported still feeling fatigued, 92% had heart or lung symptoms, 87% had "breathlessness," 83% headaches, and 73% gastrointestinal symptoms. 42% had 10 or more symptoms. "There was evidence of mild organ impairment in heart (32%), lungs (33%), kidneys (12%), liver (10%), pancreas (17%), and spleen (6%)."
Flu Vaccines Might Help Fight COVID: A Dutch study found that hospital workers who receive a flu vaccination were less likely to become infected with COVID-19. "In conclusion, a quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine can induce 40 trained immunity responses against SARS-CoV-2, which may result in relative protection against 41 COVID-19."
Studies Point To Drop In COVID-19 Death Rates: NPR story on two studies. One found that the mortality has dropped among hospitalized patients from 25.6% to 7.6%.
Global Vaccine Sentiment: The Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP) surveyed 13,000 individuals across 19 countries. They found: 72% would be very or somewhat likely to take a COVID-19 vaccine and 61% would accept their employer’s recommendation to do so. The caveat: the survey was administered in June. A number of polls in the U.S. have pointed to a greater sense of hesitancy.
STATE
Florida: The North Brevard NAACP, the Central Florida Urban League and Brevard Public Schools launch a reading enrichment program for low-income students as part of the state's Reading Scholarship Account program. Students are eligible to receive $500 of flexible funding that can be spent on tutoring or other educational services.
Georgia: Update on GA's COVID work (long but covers a lot of territory). The Department of Education also released a "Roadmap to Reimagining K-12 Education" with policy actions around ten themes:
Ensure access to a well-rounded education for every child in every part of the state
Adopt a student-level, rather than grade-level, approach to teaching and learning.
Create multiple diploma pathways.
Ensure every high school student graduates with a jumpstart on post-secondary success.
Continue the reduction of high-stakes testing while enhancing formative tools.
Develop an accountability system that aligns to the unique priorities of local communities and lifts up schools.
Modernize the state’s K-12 funding formula.
Define and provide access to a 21st century classroom for every teacher and student – whether it is at home or in the school building.
Commit that flexibility should be a given, not granted.
Reinvent the teacher evaluation system and elevate the teaching profession.
New York: Auburn School District dismissed two students because they were remote-learning from out of state.
Ohio: Gov. DeWine warns more schools may have to go totally remote due to a surge of community cases.
Virginia: The Fairfax County Education Association is circulating a petition to keep schools online for the rest of the school year.
INTERNATIONAL
Ireland: Became the first EU country to impose a nationwide lockdown. However, schools and child-care services will remain open.
Kenya: Heartbreaking story from the AP: "From ‘role models’ to sex workers: Kenya’s child labor rises."
"The 16-year-old sex worker and her two friends say they hope they won’t be doing this for the rest of their lives, but they think their chances of returning to class are remote."
“Where we come from, we were some sort of role models,” the 16-year-old says. “Our neighborhood, if you get to 16 without getting pregnant and still in school, then you have made it. Having avoided pregnancies, we were this close to graduating from high school and making history.”
UK: The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) warns that children are at risk of being “catastrophically” hit by the “collateral damage” of fighting COVID.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
New Practice Lab: New America launched "New Practice Lab" to link ideas for new social frameworks with people-centered experiments delivering outcomes to foster family economic security and wellbeing.
Apprenticeships: New report from Brookings and Opportunity America on the apprenticeship program FAME. "The study tracked 389 students who began a FAME program between fall 2010 and fall 2016, and compared them with students at the same schools of similar age and academic background. One year after graduation, the typical FAME graduate earned $59,164, compared with $36,379 for the non-FAME graduate. Five years out, the FAME graduate earned $98,000, compared with $52,783 for non-FAME graduates." The WSJ has more here.
Deloitte Holiday Retail Survey: Results and some highlights:
Shoppers expect to spend an average of $1,387 per household during the holiday season, down 7% YoY.
38% shoppers say they plan to spend less this year - a level not seen since 2008.
82% of GenZ shoppers are willing to pay more for socially compliant, sustainable products compared to 63% of GenX and 54% of Baby Boomers.
Revitalize America’s Cities: New paper from AEI's Ryan Streeter.
Child Care: Good WSJ article on the challenges the childcare sector is facing. "Even in good times, the U.S. child-care industry operates on slim margins. Children come and go, which means revenue is unstable. The businesses have little in the way of collateral. Banks are rarely interested in lending to them, beyond costly credit cards, making it difficult to ride out rough patches."
Black Restaurant Accelerator Program: Run by the National Urban League.
LEARNING PODS
Washington: Children in grades 2-6 living in Edmonds have access to a learning pod sponsored by the city: Learning Enhancement and Activities Program.
Shield Pods: At first I thought this was a joke, but it turns out no - it's a real thing.
RESOURCES
Three COVID-19 Education Trends Set to Persist Post-Pandemic: Thoughtful piece including creativity increasing school model flexibility and strong parent-school connections.
Why Ed Technology Can’t Save Remote Learning: Axios article covering a number of issues including tech support and integration.
LearnUpon: Dublin-based LMS provider for corporate e-learning raised $56 million from Summit Partners.
Handshake: Raised $80 million to build a more diversity-focused LinkedIn for college students. Handshake "now covers 17 million job seekers, 1,000 institutions of higher learning and nearly 500,000 employers, with partnerships with some 120 minority-serving institutions, which include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic Serving Institutions in the U.S., to help them and their students better tackle the job-hunting-recruitment market."
Piper Sandler Teen Survey: Results and a few highlights:
8% of teens or an immediate member in their household have had COVID-19.
76% of teens reported going back to school either in a hybrid format or fully virtual
Top-of-mind social/political issues include: Racial Equality/Black Lives Matter, Environment & 2020 Election
Snapchat is the favorite social media platform; Instagram fell from No. 2 to No. 3 as TikTok moved up to No. 2
Dr Arup Senapati: Treats COVID as an ENT and as the Dr. of Dance.