COVID-19 Policy Update #190
COVID-19 Policy Update
MONDAY 2/1
Tonight's update pairs well with a Long Winter's Nap, a bourbon cocktail with maple syrup infused with cardamom, star anise, ginger, some fir twigs, and a little lemon juice. Pappy Van Winkle also produces a Bourbon Barrel-Aged Pure Maple Syrup for those looking to take their cocktails (or pancakes) to the next level.
TOP THREE
Schools in the Europe: Via The Washington Post:
"The basic scientific thinking in Europe on schools remains largely the same. When students and teachers wear masks, ventilation is good and mixing between classes is minimized, classrooms are still believed to be relatively safe and to play a small role in fueling outbreaks, compared with places such as nursing homes, prisons, food-processing plants, restaurants and bars."
“By themselves, schools are not the main problem, but it makes sense to close them when the numbers are so high that anything can have an impact on the health system as a whole,” said Celso Cunha, director of the medical microbiology unit at Nova University of Lisbon’s Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine."
“If the government reaches the stage where they are saying no one should move around, that should include children,” said Quique Bassat, a pediatrician and epidemiologist who was the coordinator of the Spanish Pediatrics Association’s working group for school reopenings."
“Variant or no variant, the ambition should be to keep schools open,” said Catherine Smallwood, a senior health emergency officer at the World Health Organization."
Pandemic Pushes More Parents to Go All-In for Home Schooling: Via WSJ:
In Connecticut, the number of students who left public schools to be home-schooled jumped fivefold this school year, to 3,500.
In Nebraska, the number of home-schooled students jumped 56%, to 13,426
“We are in a major shift from how we thought about teaching children and running schools for 100 years,” Dr. Murphy said. “Parents have shifted to the place where they feel they need more direct involvement and greater responsibility for what happens with their children.”
Missing in School Reopening Plans: Black Families’ Trust: Via NYT
FEDERAL
COVID Relief Package
A group of Republican Senators offered a $600 billion proposal. Includes $20 billion for education.
Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi announced they have filed a joint budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2021, the first step in using reconciliation to advance the COVID relief package. (Press Release / Summary)
FCC: Is seeking comment on using E-Rate funding to support remote learning (Press release / Public Notice / FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel tweet).
White House:
White House tweet: "We are committed to reopening the majority of America’s schools in the first 100 days. The American Rescue Plan provides the necessary funding to meet that goal and ensure our nation’s schools can reopen and operate safely."
Cedric Richmond said on Face the Nation that schools are on track to reopen by April.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
IHME: Weekly briefing and forecasts.
Vaccine Distribution: An AP analysis of 17 states and two cities shows that Black Americans are receiving the coronavirus vaccine at much lower rates than whites.
STATE
California: The California Teachers Association wants schools in ‘purple’ counties to stay closed for 100 days; vaccinations for staff
DC: The racial disparities over who is returning to DC classrooms puts equity spotlight on reopening plan.
"Families in the poorest ward rejected offers for an elementary school spot at twice the rate of families in the wealthiest one, according to city data."
"Every school has a different reopening plan, bringing back different students. There are schools that are only asking students struggling in certain courses to return. Others are targeting students in certain grade levels, leaving some families who want to return stuck with virtual learning."
"I can’t tell you how infuriating it is as a parent to see Lululemon open and bars and gyms open and school still closed,” Romo said. “I feel like the city has just thrown parents and children under the bus with this.”
Idaho: Families file federal civil rights complaint against Idaho school district over iPads
Illinois: Chicago schools postpone in-person classes over COVID-19 safety plan
Maryland: Prince William teacher alleges coronavirus violations, threatens School Board
New Mexico: Kids ask Dr. Fauci their COVID-19 questions.
New York: Via NYT: 9 Top N.Y. Health Officials Have Quit as Cuomo Scorns Expertise
Ohio:
Teachers union sues Cincinnati Public Schools to stop return of in-person learning
Columbus Dispatch Editorial: This year of all years, we need data from school tests
One Dose? Or Two? Districts and teachers disagree with the Governor on the number of shots needed to safely reopen schools.
Oregon: Editorial: Gov. Brown must ensure teachers' vaccines lead to schools reopening
Pennsylvania: Bucks County Catholic schools shine during pandemic with some see rising enrollment
Texas:
Will require students to take the STAAR test in person
Texas schools' next big pandemic challenge? Getting kids caught up
INTERNATIONAL
UK: New study estimates that children in the UK could lose £40,000 ($54,897) in earnings over their lifetime as a result of missing half a year in school due to coronavirus lockdowns.
Vietnam: Has closed schools in 22 provinces.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
CBO: Upgraded it's economic outlook based on the vaccine rollout and series of economic packages passed in 2020
GDP is expected to return to its pre-pandemic size in mid-2021
The labor force is forecast to rebound to its pre-pandemic level in 2022,
J-PAL North America: The State and Local Innovation Initiative is seeking government partners to rigorously evaluate policies and programs aiming to address critical social issues.
Superstar Cities Are in Trouble: Derek Thompson:
"According to the economist David Autor, remote work suffered from a “telephone problem.” Seven decades after the first telephone was patented in the 1860s, fewer than half of Americans owned one. Behavior dragged behind technology, because most families had no use for a telecom machine as long as none of their friends also owned one."
"The same has been true of remote work. In 2018, it was weird and rude to ask a boss to move a meeting to Skype, or to tell a business partner to fire up a Zoom link because you can’t make lunch. The teleconference tech existed, but it was considered an ersatz substitute for the normal course of business."
"But nobody will forget the lesson we were all just forced to learn: Telecommunications doesn’t have to be the perfect substitute for in-person meetings, as long as it’s mostly good enough. For the most part, remote work just works."
"According to U-Haul’s annual review, California lost more people to out-migration than any other state in 2020, and the five largest states in the Northeast—New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Maryland—joined California in the top 10 losers."
"As home values decline in the superstar cities, they’re rising in major Sun Belt metros such as Phoenix, Nashville, and Austin. They’re rising in midwestern cities, such as Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Indianapolis. And they’re going gangbusters in the Southeast, which accounts for 13 of the top 25 cities with the fastest growth in U-Haul migration in 2020. The top three cities for inbound moves were all in one state: Florida."
The Colleges That Took the Pandemic Seriously: Via The Atlantic
Panic Buying: New study where psychologists found that hoarding essential items in “anticipation of supply-side scarcity is a rational survival strategy.”
"Using data from the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, psychologists found that panic buying was associated with higher income, the presence of children in households, depression and death anxiety, and the mistrust of others or paranoia/"
"Participants self-reported their over-purchasing behaviors, as well as income, feelings of neighborhood belongingness, psychological distress, and other factors that might impact purchasing behaviors."
"They were also to indicate the degree to which they had increased their purchasing of essential items in recent weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic. These items included tinned foods, water, sanitary products like hand sanitizers, toilet rolls, dried food (pasta, rice), bread, pharmacy products (painkillers, cold/flu products), batteries, and fuel. The participants’ response options ranged from 1 or ‘not at all’ to 5 or ‘very considerably’."
"In the UK sample, 36% of the participants admitted to over-purchasing"
RESOURCES
Push to Reopen Schools Could Leave Out Millions of Students: “We’re going to see kids fall further and further behind, particularly low-income students of color,” said Shavar Jeffries, president of Democrats for Education Reform. “There’s potentially a generational level of harm that students have suffered from being out of school for so long.”
Did Closing Schools Save Lives Or Cost Lives? The Debate Continues: Via NPR
A Dying Teacher, Worrying Over Students to His Last Breaths: Via NYT:
"There is no indication that teachers are dying at a higher rate than people in other professions, and no evidence that the coronavirus is spreading faster in schools than in communities at large, especially in districts where health precautions are strictly followed."
"But the special role that teachers play in their communities, through their connection with children and families, and the concern among educators about the safety of in-person teaching have made the losses especially painful and disruptive in many places."
"The lack of contact tracing in most of the country, as well as the rapid spread of the virus throughout much of the United States in recent months, makes it nearly impossible to know where most of those teachers contracted the virus. But their deaths have still contributed to the heated debates in communities over school safety."
What Went Wrong with America’s $44 million Vaccine Data System? Via MIT Technology Review
Clinic workers in Connecticut, Virginia, and other states say the system is notorious for randomly canceled appointments, unreliable registration, and problems that lock staff out of the dashboard they’re supposed to use to log records.
In May, it gave the task to consulting company Deloitte, a huge federal contractor, with a $16 million no-bid contract to manage “covid-19 vaccine distribution and administration tracking.” In December, Deloitte snagged another $28 million for the project, again with no competition. The contract specifies that the award could go as high as $32 million, leaving taxpayers with a bill between $44 and $48 million.
Biden Wants to Reopen Schools Within 100 Days. Here’s Why That Might Not Happen: Via Time's Katie Reilly
How COVID-19 Relief for the Care Economy Fell Short in 2020: Piece by The Next's Levi Bohanan and Julie Kashen
The Year in Review – A Tale of Two Pandemics: Great piece from Tyton Partners looking at the deal activity in 2020.
Crossroads: Challenges & Choices in a Low-Trust World - latest deck from Bruce Mehlman.
Pure Panda Joy: The National Zoo's pandas enjoyed the snow storm with sliding, rolling, and somersaults.