COVID-19 Policy Update #133
COVID-19 Policy Update
THURSDAY 10/22
Bad day to launch the COVID-19 Policy Update Quibi show.
TOP THREE
Schools Play Limited Role in Spread of COVID: FT article covering several European studies. "A Norwegian study found most cases reported in schools occurred among pupils infected at home." London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who is compiling a database of reports of “superspreader” outbreaks worldwide said: “Schools should be important given that so many networks come together [there]— with kids, parents and social life... But the signal doesn’t seem to be very strong. We are finding it quite hard to find direct evidence of transmission within the school setting, but we are not doing enough testing.”
Schoolchildren Seem Unlikely to Fuel Coronavirus Surges, Scientists Say: Via NYT:
"Researchers once feared that school reopenings might spread the virus through communities. But so far there is little evidence that it’s happening."
“The more and more data that I see, the more comfortable I am that children are not, in fact, driving transmission, especially in school settings,” said Brooke Nichols, an infectious disease modeler at the Boston University School of Public Health."
"Dr. Rubin and his colleagues have devised new guidelines for when to close and reopen schools as the virus continues to march through much of the United States. The decisions should depend not on absolute numbers — for example, 5 percent of tests turning up positive — but on the trend in case numbers, he said."
"A significant proportion of cases seem to come from activities outside school, Dr. Rubin said. “Most of the transmission, when we see it, is occurring in carpools, during travel leagues, maybe in a locker room, or parties and gatherings that people have on the weekend,” he said."
When Learning Pods Came to Greenbrier Elementary: Long piece in Slate on learning pods in Greenbrier Elementary School in Charlottesville, Virginia. It's well worth the read as it details how families formed a pod, the equity concerns raised, and how a $25,000 Vela Education Fund grant helped the organizers to serve refugees.
FEDERAL
Phase 4:
Speaker Pelosi said that negotiations are “just about there” on a coronavirus relief deal. However, she said it could take “a while” for Congress to actually write and vote on relief legislation.
Meanwhile, “Senate Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as he makes what they see as unacceptable compromises in his quest for a stimulus deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” the Washington Post reports.
ED: Released guidance and template for states to request modifications to their accountability systems for SY 2020-21.
Biden Transition Team: During an EWA forum, Biden Policy Director Stef Feldman wouldn't commit to offering state's assessment waivers. She also "stressed that Biden's education plans are unique to him/. She rejected opportunities to draw daylight between Biden and former President Barack Obama on issues like charter schools and accountability."
COVID-19 RESEARCH
IHME Weekly Brief: Here. Two maps below are estimated month of assumed mandate reimplementation and projection of daily COVID deaths per million by Feb 1, 2021.
STATE
California: New EdTrust West parent poll:
Only 48% of parents said they had regular contact with school personnel to ensure connectedness.
55% of parents would like more real-time instruction for their students.
75% of parents across believe it is important for their child’s school and/or school district to hire and retain educators of color.
77% percent of parents say they support Proposition 15, while 66% say they support Proposition 16.
Georgia: Three Cobb county schools are exploring new technology in keeping schools safe:
Cleanz222, uses low-voltage ultraviolet light to sterilize classrooms during overnight hours.
SymTem, a COVID-19 screening app developed by InfoMart, can be installed on a user’s phone. Once the user answers some questions and logs their temperature, the app generates a digital badge indicating if a person can enter the building or should stay home. Users would log their information in the app before entering the school building.
Illinois:
The state will start sharing data about COVID-19 outbreaks in schools. "The decision comes two weeks after a story by ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune detailed the lack of information available to school officials and parents as they try to decide whether in-person learning is safe. Illinois public health officials told reporters there had been outbreaks in at least 44 school buildings across the state but declined to say where."
Bement school district parents are worried. “We kept them out to keep them safe, because of COVID, but not at the cost of making them fail or held back. Nobody is reaching out from the school to help. We live in the school district, why are we not getting help from the school?” said Kenneth Frieboth.
New York: A group of parents is suing New York City, demanding a full reopening of school buildings.
North Carolina: School, county and state data differ on reported COVID-19 cases.
Ohio: Gov. Mike DeWine says Ohio schools are not proving to be a significant source of coronavirus spread based on state data.
Tennessee:
TN SCORE and Public Opinion Strategies parent poll:
53% of parents say they are concerned about their child’s “academic progress.”
30% are concerned about their child’s “social or developmental skills,” “mental health,” and their level of “physical activity
86% of parents say they are concerned that “other children in Tennessee are falling behind academically, socially, or developmentally.”
71% of parents support “reporting assessment results by school and district even if they are not used for accountability.”
Two special needs students are "Germ Busters" at Alcoa City Schools. With full disinfectant backpacks, they go from room to room in three different schools. They even have their own video
Simulation of Virus Within a Classroom: One of the first studies to simulate aerosol patterns within a classroom and the impact of various mitigation measures. Researchers found that aerosol distribution in the room is not uniform and is strongly influenced by the air conditioning layout. There were significant benefits to windows being open, even when an air conditioner is running. The study also concluded that "Glass screens reduce aerosol transmission from one student to another and should be used."
The Missing Piece — SARS-CoV-2 Testing and School Reopening: NEJM article discussing the challenges with establishing COVID testing in schools. The authors argue, "Because testing-related challenges pose a serious threat to the viability of school reopening plans, we believe that increasing routine screening using rapid tests in schools should rank among our most urgent national priorities." They further argue future economic relief packages should prioritize funding to support school-based testing.
Evidence of Transmission in Schools by Children: New meta analysis that finds: "In conclusion, although there is limited evidence available to quantify the extent of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools, the balance of evidence so far indicates that the overall IAR and SAR-CoV-2 positivity rate in the school environment are low. Specifically, lower IAR and positivity rates were reported in students compared to school staff, but poor study quality limits our overall confidence in these results."
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Enrolls 12-15 Year Olds in Vaccine Trial: The hospital expanded its Pfizer clinical trial to include 12-15-year-olds. Last week, they started enrolling 16 and 17-year-old participants.
Evaluating the Data: Matt Barnum tries to evaluate the available evidence that makes a case for reopening schools and the case for being more cautious.
INTERNATIONAL
Canada: Dr. Michael Silverman, medical director of the infectious diseases care program at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ont. says sending kids back to school in Ontario has not been the “catastrophe” that some predicted and has largely been done safely.
Singapore: A KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) study found the risk of COVID-19 transmission among young children in schools is low, and those aged under five have the lowest risk of getting infected by adults.
Virginia: Gov. Northam announces $65.8 million to increase child care access.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Urban Flight: New study that "documents substantial urban flight in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic."
"Wealthy individuals, who contribute disproportionately to the local revenue and tax base of cities, are more likely to flee cities. This finding points to important challenges for municipal finances in the wake of the pandemic"
There is possible value of travel restrictions—in the form of banks, quarantine periods, or requiring testing as a precondition for entry—to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
In New York City as much as 15-20% of Manhattan had fled by the middle of the summer in 2020. These individuals came from areas which were disproportionately wealthy, white, and young.
GDP Impacts of Economic Relief: The Hamilton Project estimates the effects on economic activity based on five policies: a second round of direct cash benefits, a resumption of enhanced unemployment insurance benefits, aid to state and local governments, support for small businesses, and other forms of fiscal support. "We find that enacting all five of those illustrative policies and increasing federal spending by $2 trillion would raise the level of real (i.e, inflation adjusted) GDP by 0.2 percent in 2020, 4.0 percent in 2021 and 2022, and 1.6 percent in 2023 above the level it would otherwise be (authors’ calculations)."
WFH: Amazon said its corporate staff members will now be allowed to work from home through June 2021.
Get Paid $52,000 to Eat Cookies All Day: If this is the future of work, I'm all in.
LEARNING PODS
Microschools: Rotherham goes meta asking if microschools are going macro.
RESOURCES
SpaceX Partners with Texas School District: Ector County ISD on Tuesday became the first school district in the nation to partner with SpaceX's Starlink service to provide broadband service to families with no internet access. Chiefs for Change is supporting the effort with $150,000. More on Starlink here. And for fun - here's video of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch and landing.
High Charter Share School District COVID Vulnerability Map: Very cool map and service from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools showing the location of charters and COVID risk based on community transmission.
Show Me The Data: For a fourth year, DQC examined report cards from all 50 states and the District of Columbia to see how well state leaders are using their most public-facing resource to empower the public with quality information. They also released recommendations for state leaders in how to release information during COVID. And recommendations on publicly reporting state data to ensure that every community understands how schools and students are doing.
Protecting Students’ Privacy and Advancing Digital Equity: New CDT report based on polling and focus group research, finds that almost half of teachers have received no substantive training on data privacy, and only four in ten parents say their schools discussed their data protection practices. Despite that, parents and teachers report favorable opinions of the continued use of education technology even after the pandemic ends.
At 12, She’s a Covid ‘Long Hauler’: NYT story covering some of the long-term challenges reported by some COVID patients that I mentioned in . "It has become increasingly apparent that many patients with both severe and mild illness do not fully recover. Weeks and months after exposure, these Covid “long-haulers,” as they have been called, continue experiencing a range of symptoms, including exhaustion, dizziness, shortness of breath and cognitive impairments. Children are generally at significantly less risk than older people for serious complications and death from Covid-19, but the long-term impacts of infection on them, if any, have been especially unclear."
Big Tutoring Investment Round: Beijing-based Yuanfudao said on Thursday that it has secured $2.2 billion from major Chinese and international investors in two recent rounds of financing that it said lifts the company's valuation to $15.5 billion.
Amazing: NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe, briefly touched down on the asteroid Bennu, collected a sample, and is now back on its way to Earth. Watch the video.