COVID-19 Policy Update #160
COVID-19 Policy Update
THURSDAY 12/3
TOP THREE
Building Confidence in Vaccines: Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are volunteering to get their Covid-19 vaccines on camera to promote public confidence in the vaccine’s safety.
Economic Relief Negotiations:
McConnell and Pelosi met today to discuss the federal omnibus funding bill as well as an economic relief package.
"Compromise is within reach,”McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor. “We know where we agree. We can do this. Let me say it again: We can do this, and we need to do this. So let’s be about actually making a law.”
Pelosi / Schumer statement.
Useful takes on the state of negotiations from the Tax Policy Center and Tax Foundation.
What Concerns Mayors: Menino Survey of Mayors was released today (Press Release / Survey Results / Axios story). Some findings:
Nearly half of mayors expect to see “dramatic” cuts to public school budgets, more than any other budget item presented.
Over 80% of mayors expect racial health disparities to widen in the future.
Only 13% of mayors believe there was enough CARES Act money for small businesses in their cities, while 46% said there was a “large gap” between what was available and what was needed.
FEDERAL
CDC: Director Redfield: "You know, I was very disappointed in New York when they closed schools, when they hit their 3% point, because, as you pointed out, we now have substantial data that shows that schools’ face-to-face learning can be conducted in K-12, and particularly in the elementary and middle schools in a safe and responsible way. We're not seeing intra-school transmission."
Transition:
Brian Deese will head up the National Economics Council
Chief of Staff to the Vice President
, Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President
NYT profile of CEA Director Cecilia Rouse. Her "research has included work on school performance, educational vouchers and diversity in the economics profession. Ms. Goldin calls her “a leading expert on core labor market issues as well as those in the field of education.” Some of the studies include:
COVID-19 RESEARCH
COVID:
More than 2,800 COVID-19 deaths were reported Wednesday - the most the country has ever reported in a single day.
Hospitalizations top 100,000. That's an 11% increase over the past week, and a 26% jump over the past two weeks.
Why Children Are Less Likely to Have Severe Cases: A new study conducted by researchers from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute identified two key factors that have been linked with protecting kids from severe cases of COVID-19: differences in immunity and blood vessel make-up. "Children infected with COVID-19 often have co-infections with other viruses. Recurrent viral infections could lead to improved trained immunity, making kids more effective at clearing COVID-19."
Rapid COVID-19 Tests May Not Be Effective in Children: In a study of 1,600 individuals, Abbott's rapid test Binax NOW detected 96.5% of COVID-19 infections in adults who had been confirmed positive with a slower lab test and 77.8% in people 18 years and younger. In asymptomatic people, it detected the virus in 70.2% of adults and 63.6% of children. More via the NYT.
Vaccine Testing with Children: Moderna announced plans to begin its vaccine testing with children ages 12-17.
Here’s When We May Get a COVID-19 Vaccine for Children: Via Healthline:
Researchers will need to examine the dosages, interval between doses, and the number of doses that work best in children.
This process could take several months suggesting that children may not have an approved vaccine until middle or late 2021.
Cyber Attacks: “A series of cyberattacks is underway aimed at the companies and government organizations that will be distributing coronavirus vaccines around the world, though it is unclear whether the goal is to steal the technology for keeping the vaccines refrigerated in transit or to sabotage the movements." CISA alert here.
STATE
Colorado: The legislature approved more than $65 million for one-time aid to child care providers and for Internet connections for remote learners.
Connecticut: Governor Lamont announces full delivery of 141,000 laptops to PK-12 students, making Connecticut the first state to provide devices to all students in need.
Idaho: The state paid for 102 projects using federal pandemic money, which will connect about 40,000 Idaho households to broadband service, including many in communities as small as 3,000 people.
Maryland: Baltimore reopened online classes today after a ransomware attack forced them to close for several days.
New York: Mayor de Blasio is defending his decision not to extend state funding for on-site coronavirus testing to students in Catholic schools, as he fights a court mandate that the state department of education provide testing to both private and public school students.
South Carolina: There have been more than 4,200 cases of COVID-19 reported in South Carolina schools. Of those, 1,490 happened in schools where five or more cases have been reported among staff or students. WIS News analyzed those nearly 1,500 cases to see where most of them occurred and found 64% of those cases are from high school students.
INTERNATIONAL
WHO: The World Health Organization’s European office is planning a meeting next week with the health ministers of its 53 member states to look into protecting schools from COVID-19.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Home Depot Skilled Trades Initiative: The announced a "Path to Pro" Program which aims to address the skilled labor gap by educating more people in the skilled trades, connecting skilled tradespeople with jobs and careers, and generating interest in trade professions through educational campaigns.
Census Data Reveals Economic Hardship: Analysis from CBPP:
Nearly 83 million adults — 34% of all adults in the country — reported that their household found it somewhat or very difficult to cover usual expenses such as food, rent or mortgage, car payments, medical expenses, or student loans in the last seven days.
An estimated 12.4 million adult renters (1 in 6) reported that they were not caught up on rent.
Up to 30 Million in U.S. Have the Skills to Earn 70% More: Research from Opportunity@Work (Report / NYT Article)
"Government must play a role, the researchers said. But they point out that the private sector, which is by far the largest employer, must alter its perceptions, hiring habits and career development programs to increase opportunity for workers without college degrees."
“Companies have to see this talent pool and mainstream it,” said Byron Auguste, chief executive of Opportunity@Work. “Systems change in the labor market has as much to do with employers practices as public policy.”
Deaths of Despair: New research:
"Declines in blue-collar jobs may have left some working-class men frustrated by unmet job expectations and more likely to suffer an early death by suicide or drug overdose."
"In the study, the researchers compared life outcomes of 11,680 men to the job expectations they held as high school seniors in the early 1980s. The study showed that men who expected to work in jobs that did not require a college degree but later faced declines in the job market were nearly three times as likely to suffer early deaths by suicide and drug poisoning as men who sought work that required a bachelor's"
Entrepreneur Backed Assets (EBA) Fund: The EBA Fund strengthens the existing financial model of CDFI microlenders by establishing a reliable secondary market for microloans, empowering CDFIs to use their existing portfolio as a financing tool. CDFI small business lenders can reduce their need for subsidy, deleverage their balance sheets, and free up precious assets for strategic investments and growth. The result is more consistently originated high-quality and high-impact loans.
Americans Are Starting a Staggering Number of Businesses During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Via Reason: "The Census Bureau's data... show that more than 1,500,000 business applications were filed between July and September of this year. It's a dramatic spike in new business applications, which average about 800,000 per quarter."
Warner Bros Disrupts Theater Business With Same-day Streaming: Will debut all of its 2021 films in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service on the same day.
LEARNING PODS
Sublime Doughnuts: Johari Dozier is the creator of the “Clean Cargo Project,” an initiative aimed at providing students with basic hygiene items. He converts large trash cans into mobile hygiene closets, filling them up with donated items including toothbrushes, deodorant and feminine supplies and delivering them to schools across the city. His latest effort hopes to deliver them to the 16 learning pods established throughout Atlanta. The pods also provide access to laptops and Wi-Fi for students.
Providing Education Equity for All Families: Via CRPE. Also - CRPE is launching a national crowdsourcing effort to surface interesting examples of pods or learning hubs around the country. Submit examples here.
RESOURCES
How Teachers' Unions Are Influencing Decisions on School Reopenings: Via EdWeek:
“The unions have made it pretty clear that they do not want teachers back in school buildings until they’re 100 percent sure they’re safe,” said Katharine Strunk, a professor at Michigan State University who studies education labor markets.
“The balance of power is off,” she said. “It’s very striking to us as parents and families—we have a group of elected officials who make deals with labor unions and decide what policies we’re going to do, and we’re just supposed to take it and be on the roller coaster ride.”
“What we’re seeing now is just a typical anti-union, anti-teacher animus,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. “We’ve been pretty clear about what is needed [to reopen schools safely], but what is needed has not been a priority. Now there’s blame [directed at] us that the powers that be didn’t prioritize what is needed.”
Families Overwhelmed by Online Learning Turn to Home Schooling: "The Youngs are among the estimated tens of thousands of Michigan students who didn’t return to school as expected this fall. As school officials try to account for those students, they say a sharp increase in home schooling helps explain some of the decline."
If Your Student Privacy Laws Are Making Kids Go Hungry, There’s a Problem: From DQC's Paige Kowalski:
What if a state’s data privacy laws are so restrictive that they’re literally taking food out of children’s mouths?"
"This is exactly what’s been happening in Louisiana, which until recently was the only state that had not automatically administered Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer funding, which provides help buying groceries to families whose children receive free or reduced-price meals at school."
"That’s because a student data privacy law passed in 2014, amid a rising tide of fear about data breaches and information misuse, prevents state agencies from connecting data across systems, leaving no way of connecting free and reduced-price lunch data to the systems used to distribute welfare benefits. Because agencies had no idea who was eligible, the state required an application process, meaning families had to learn about the application and take additional steps in order to receive these benefits. Ultimately, Louisiana’s restrictive privacy law kept needed assistance, like meals, from students during a global health emergency."
How Parents and Schools Can Work Together to Keep Math Learning on Track: Great article from EdWeek including this blurb on Zearn:
"But even when the gap was the largest, some schools in low-income areas bucked the trend, said Shalinee Sharma, Zearn’s founder and chief executive officer. She believes one factor was the strength of parent outreach in those districts. Some districts in low-income areas managed to get a message to parents that they should focus on getting their children on the platform regularly."
"Sharma believes that more districts are seeing the value of focused parent outreach. Districts such as West Baton Rouge in Louisiana are pointing parents directly to Zearn resources online. Educators from Hartford, Conn., schools have made home visits to encourage use of platforms such as Zearn and iReady."
What’s the Least Terrible Way for States to Make COVID-Related K-12 Funding Cuts?: New guidance from ExcelinED, the Aspen Institute, the District Management Group, the Edunomics Lab and TNTP. (Principles)
Op-Eds:
Covid disrupted American kids' schools. It might be a chance to change them for the better.
My Son’s School Has Closed Again. Stop This. Shutting classrooms doesn’t control COVID-19. The young generation is paying a huge price for the sum of our fears.
How the Grinch: Stole Christmas in 2020.