COVID-19 Policy Update #162
COVID-19 Policy Update
MONDAY 12/7
It's a long update after a long weekend so you get two pairings:
Brown Estate Chaos Theory 2018 (although the name is so vintage 2020). Also, Brown is the only Black-owned estate winery in Napa. It has an amazing backstory (see here and here).
Early Mornings: A drink from Captain Gregory's, a speakeasy in Alexandria, VA. Super easy to make: 1 ounce vodka; 1 ounce amaretto; 1 ounce heavy cream; 3/4 ounce of cinnamon syrup. Shake it all together, pour, and read a COVID-19 update.
TOP THREE
What COVID-Era Learning Looks Like in 144 Innovative Schools Around the Country: From the Christensen Institute. Here's the data portal. One clip:
"Although fully remote instruction didn’t appear notably more likely in schools with greater proportions of Black or Hispanic students, our analysis did show that schools with mostly Hispanic students were about 10 times more likely than others to practice synchronous online learning, in which students log on to online lessons at the same time. Schools with mostly Black students were almost twice as likely as others to do so (again, while controlling for other factors)."
Economic Relief Package:
Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the members who negotiated the bipartisan framework, said “President Trump has indicated that he would sign a $908 billion package"
It looks like the $1,200 direct cash benefits have to wait until after Biden is inaugurated.
Senator McConnell has proposed allowing families to tap their 529 plans to help cover extra educational expenses during the coronavirus crisis.
On Sunday, Sen. Schumer described the compromise as a stopgap to buoy the country until next year. He hopes Washington can pass a “much bigger bill” after President-elect Joe Biden takes office Jan. 20.
The $10 billion for broadband was originally proposed to be block granted to Governors. A number of education groups have argued that a portion of it should be allocated through the FCC's E-rate program.
A Lost Generation: Surge of research reveals students sliding backward, most vulnerable worst affected. Worth reading the entire article. One graph:
FEDERAL
Spending Bill: Congress is likely to pass a one-week stopgap spending bill to buy another seven days for talks on government funding to avoid a government shutdown on Dec. 18. There's a growing sense that Congress might pass a three month CR which would punt the major decisions to March 2021.
FCC: Awarded $9.2 billion to deploy broadband to 5.2 million homes, businesses. Among the awards was $1.22 billion to Charter Communications Inc to provide service to 1.06 million locations, while Elon Musk’s SpaceX won $885 million to serve 642,000 locations. Nearly all the locations will receive broadband with speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps with an overwhelming majority (over 85%) getting gigabit-speed broadband. The funds will be distributed over the next 10 years. (FCC Page / Reuters)
Transition: President-elect Biden announced his healthcare team (announcement and bios here)
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra will be nominated to serve as Health and Human Services secretary
Rochelle Walensky, an infectious disease expert from Harvard will serve as CDC director.
Vivek Murthy has been nominated for surgeon general, the same role he served during the Obama administration between 2014 and 2017.
Jeff Zients will be coordinator of the COVID-19 response and counselor to the president. He previously provided leadership of the 2013 HealthCare.gov tech surge.
Marcella Nunez-Smith will serve as the COVID-19 Equity Task Force chair — a new role in the White House.
Natalie Quillian will serve as deputy coordinator of the COVID-19 response. She previously coordinated the Obama administration’s interagency response to the opioid epidemic.
Anthony Fauci, will remain in his post and also serve as Biden's chief medical adviser.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
When Children Might Receive the Vaccine: Dr. Jose Romero, the chair of the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices:
"He hopes to see trials testing Covid-19 vaccines in young children beginning in the second quarter of 2021."
“We need to see how the studies progress,” he said. “We need to see that data in order to make sure that it is safe and effective in children."
Vaccine Prioritization:
Education groups are urging the CDC to prioritize teachers. AFT's letter included this "Phase 1B recommendations should include educators, school staff and at-risk students...The vaccine must be readily available to them on site to allow for the safe, orderly and timely reopening of schools." Important to note this as it's a new condition for the AFT for reopening schools.
Harvard's Marc Lipsitch argues that teachers may not be part of the vulnerable population that should be prioritized: "Primary & secondary teachers are not the most disadvantaged in US - they have college degrees, middle-class salaries, health insurance, and 70% are white."
Every American will be able to get a coronavirus vaccine by the second quarter of 2021, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in an interview on "Axios on HBO."
Vaccine Distribution: New crowdsourced dashboard to track local news reports and state press releases on how many vaccine doses will be allocated to each state.
Vaccine Hesitancy:
This surprised me: 55% Of FDNY members don’t want to take the vaccine according to a survey conducted by the union.
Via Axios - America's vaccine trust crisis
According to a new Pew survey, fewer than half of Black respondents (42%) said they'd definitely/probably get a COVID vaccine if it were available today.
As the UK prepares to roll out vaccines, skepticism remains.
“What we’re finding is, in the wake of the pandemic, that conspiracy beliefs may have gone mainstream, that they’re no longer confined to the fringes,” Daniel Freeman, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Oxford University, told Reuters.
“Around a quarter (of Britain’s population) are entertaining such thoughts. Another quarter are consistently thinking in terms of conspiracy beliefs, and around one in 10 people seem to have a very high rate of endorsement of conspiracy beliefs.”
Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy:
WHO report (whose authors include Cass Sunstein):
"Behavioural research identifies three categories of drivers of vaccine uptake, in addition to people having the necessary knowledge: 1) an enabling environment; 2) social influences; and 3) motivation."
"The likelihood of vaccine uptake was found to be reduced when a large proportion of people in one’s social network did not recommend vaccination"
"On the other hand, encouragement and social pressure from people that an individual respects and trusts have been found to increase vaccine uptake"
Great thread on Twitter "How to talk with vaccine-hesitant people: a thread for epidemiologists & humans in general, on what the research suggests, and what has worked for me in the past."
What Happens If Someone Misses Their Second Vaccine Shot?: Good article on some of the challenges:
"As many as 30% of the patients who get the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine may not return for a second, estimates Michigan's Fendrick, an expert in health payment mechanisms and patient incentives."
"The consequences of people skipping a second vaccine dose could be significant. Although the coronavirus is unlikely to become vaccine-resistant, that could change if millions of individuals only get one dose of a vaccine that requires two treatments, said biologist David Kennedy."
"The problem, according to Kennedy: If someone who has had only a single dose is exposed to the virus, their immune system might not be able to kill it off. That could allow the virus to develop a response to the limited immunity provided by that one dose."
"The government is also paying providers significantly more — $28 compared with $17 — to administer a second dose than for a first, a financial incentive for providers to successfully convince patients to complete their treatment. That's on top of the roughly $40 cost per dose of the vaccine, which the government is also covering."
STATE
Arizona: Superintendent of Paradise Valley Unified is resigning amid protests over online learning.
California:
New COVID-19 restrictions face pushback from small businesses. Including this now viral video from over the weekend.
Seven California families are suing the state for failing to provide “basic educational equality” for low-income families. "Despite the state constitution’s guarantee of equity in education, the families said their children have not been provided devices and internet connections; nor has the state adequately addressed mental health, English language barriers and needs of homeless students." More from Reuters and Politico.
Florida: Wow: From the Tallahassee Democrat:
“State police brandishing firearms raided the home of Rebekah Jones, the former Department of Health data scientist who built the state’s much-praised COVID-19 dashboard before being fired over what she said was refusing to ‘manipulate data.'"
“Jones — who launched her own COVID-19 dashboard after she was fired, and used crowdsourcing to raise money to support it — said the agents knocked on her door around 8:30 a.m. that morning, took all her ‘hardware and tech’ after showing her a warrant based on a complaint filed by the Florida Department of Health.”
Illinois:
The Chicago Teachers Union deleted a tweet claiming that "The push to reopen schools is rooted in sexism, racism, and misogyny."
CTU criticizes reopening plan for Chicago Public Schools as unsafe and inequitable.
Kentucky: Gov. Beshear tells school superintendents to plan for coronavirus vaccine distribution.
New Mexico: Santa Fe Public Schools begins homework hotline.
New York:
The state released Interim Guidance on COVID-19 Testing Requirements for Public and Non-Public Schools
The city posted an internal rule Friday for members of the United Federation of Teachers, warning that those who refuse to be tested for COVID-19 in school will be put on leave and taken off the payroll.
Parents protest in Massapequa Park over the state's COVID-19 testing mandate
Washington: How COVID-19 could lead to fewer Washington students going to college in 2021 and beyond.
INTERNATIONAL
Sweden: From the WSJ: "Long a Holdout From Covid-19 Restrictions, Sweden Ends Its Pandemic Experiment"
LEARNING PODS
Pods in LA: The LAUSD has partnered with non-profits to create learning spaces and provide tutors for some children, including homeless children. They mention School on Wheels whose volunteers provide free tutoring and mentoring to children from kindergarten through twelfth grade living in shelters, motels, vehicles, group foster homes, and the streets of Southern California.
DJ Khaled: Who has produced 18 Top 40 hits was featured in People for starting a pod. Quite a Wild Thought.
RESOURCES
Learning Loss: Schools confront ‘off the rails’ numbers of failing grades.
Reopening Schools: Via The 74: States and cities lean into reopening elementary schools first as data affirm lower risk for students, but not necessarily teachers.
Open Schools US: New parent-led advocacy for "#OpenSchools in ALL communities across the United States"
Reopening Schools Before a Children’s Vaccine: Via the NYT:
"Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told Adam last month that it’s “an extra added benefit when we get the vaccine for the kids,” but that it is not a prerequisite for reopening. That has been echoed by many teachers groups and medical experts."
“There’s very little concern or sense that school shouldn’t be open because the kids aren’t vaccinated,” said Colin Sharkey, the executive director of the Association of American Educators."
"Teachers will be in an early group of people to receive vaccines, after health care workers and people living in long-term care facilities."
US Teachers Resist Reopening Schools Despite European Lessons: Via FT:
"Restarting schools in Norway and Denmark, which took the jump earlier than most countries, did not appear to result in a new Covid-19 surge. Since then, the rest of Europe has followed suit. In the UK, France, Germany, Spain and across most of the continent, the reopening has not had any noticeable impact on the pandemic."
"In England, for instance, outbreaks occurred in just four in every 100 primary schools after they opened, although in 22 out of every 100 secondary schools."
"Ms Oster said the highly politicised atmosphere in the US was not helping: “A lot of schools in more liberal areas were thinking about reopening, but just as they were about to do so, the president [Donald Trump] told them they had to. And so a lot of those people turned around and said ‘F-you’.”
Americans' Mental Health Ratings Sink to New Low: 34% say their mental health is excellent, down from 43% in 2019. (Gallup Survey Results / Axios)
Charter-school Networks Are Outperforming Traditional Public Schools: Via the Economist: "Eva Moskowitz, the founder of Success, compares the logistics of arranging high-quality remote learning to the d-Day operation. Children needed laptops, science kits, and noise-cancelling headphones. The 7% of her pupils who live in homeless shelters needed internet hotspots. “Remote 2.0’s” curriculum is continuously refined. Ms Moskowitz tweaked the school schedule, usually sacrosanct, to make more time for small-group learning. Unlike many schools, Success did not abandon learning standards or live teaching after closures started in the spring. It required pupils to snappily start school on time and in uniform. If a child is not at her screen by 9am, parents are called."
Slide on Into the Week: Like these baby pandas.