COVID-19 Policy Update #204
COVID-19 Policy Update
MONDAY 2/22
It's National Margarita Day. For all those that celebrate, have a great day.
TOP THREE
CDC Study: New CDC study that investigated COVID-19 spread within eight Georgia public elementary schools in the same school district between Dec. 1 and Jan. 22 (includes 24 in-person learning days). During this period the average number of cases per 100,000 residents in the county increased nearly 300%. Findings:
There were 9 transmission clusters in elementary schools including one cluster where 16 teachers, students and relatives of students at home were infected.
In only one of the 9 clusters was a student clearly the first documented case, while a teacher was the first documented case in four clusters.
Of the nine clusters, eight involved probable teacher-to-student transmission. Two clusters saw teachers infect each other during in-person meetings or lunches, with a teacher then infecting other students.
"Although plastic dividers were placed on desks between students, students sat <3 ft apart. Physical distancing of >6 ft was not possible because of the high number of in-person students and classroom layouts."
"In seven clusters, transmission among educators and students might have occurred during small group instruction sessions in which educators worked in close proximity to students."
"The school district mandated in-classroom mask use except while eating, and both reported and observed compliance during site visits was high. However, information obtained during interviews indicated that specific instances involving lack of or inadequate mask use by students likely contributed to spread in five clusters"
“Educators played an important role in the spread of Covid-19 in the schools. Covid-19 spread often occurred during in-person meetings or lunches and then subsequently spread in classrooms,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters at a briefing. ’“The two main reasons for the spread of Covid-19 in these schools were inadequate physical distancing and mask adherence in the schools.”
Assessment, Accountability, and Reporting Waivers: It's not up on their website yet but here's a copy of the email ED sent to the Chiefs. Tests are still required, but accountability school designations and consequences can be waived. There is some additional flexibility for the kinds of tests that can be administered. ChalkBeat has more.
New Jersey: The Governor announced the The Road Forward to "Engage, Recover, and Reimagine Education in New Jersey" which includes two grant opportunities totaling $105 million:
$75 million Learning Acceleration Grant: 75% of a district’s allocation will be used to support research-based academic enrichment activities, such as one-on-one intensive tutoring and summer learning academies, and 25% will be used for strategies to support the broader learning ecosystem.
$30 million Mental Health Grant: Funds will be used to assist districts in implementing school-based mental health supports for all students and educators. These grants will assist school districts in building a tiered, sustainable intervention model of comprehensive mental health supports and services.
FEDERAL
COVID Package: The House of Representatives Budget Committee approved the $1.9 trillion package this afternoon. Full House vote could happen as soon as Friday.
ED: Is seeking input as it considers additional guidance on a range of topics. Suggestions/comments can be submitted to ReopeningK12@ed.gov by March 15, 2021 on any of the following topics:
Providing research-based and practitioner informed strategies related to meeting the social, emotional mental health, and academic needs of students;
Supporting educator and school staff well-being;
Addressing lost instructional time;
Stabilizing a diverse and qualified educator workforce;
Ensuring equitable access to broadband and internet devices;
Providing school nutrition;
Providing all students with access to a safe and inclusive learning environment;
Extending learning time;
Addressing resource inequities; and
Using data to inform students, parents, and educators of progress.
OMB: Senators Romney, Collins, and Manchin said they would oppose Neera Tanden's confirmation. The White House is still backing her, but Gene Sperling's name has already been floating as a possible replacement. Rotherham reacts.
FCC: Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel circulated a report and order for the Emergency Broadband Benefit.
Eligibility includes households where a member:
Qualifies for the FCC’s Lifeline program;
Receives benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program;
Experienced a substantial loss of income since February 29, 2020;
Received a Federal Pell Grant; or
Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating providers’ existing low-income or COVID-19 program.
Discounts:
A $50/month discount for eligible broadband;
A $75/month discount for eligible broadband on Tribal lands; and
A one-time $100 reimbursement for laptops, tablets and computers purchased through a qualified provider.
The FCC is also recruiting outreach partners here.
Next step: Commissioners consider the program structure and rules and then vote. Once that is complete, the law requires the FCC to review requests from interested providers who want to participate in the program, and they will also continue to develop the system to administer the program.
DOL: New hires:
Fernando Ortiz, served as Marty Walsh’s liaison to the Boston City Council
Rebecca Young, served as Walsh’s director of scheduling and advance
Nikki McKinney and Joseph Shantz from Patty Murray's office will join the Dep. Sec's office.
Kristin Garcia will serve chief of staff of the Wage and Hour Division
Tanya Goldman, principal deputy assistant secretary at DOL’s policy office
Alison Burke, as director of digital strategy at the Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
Eisha Misra, as digital engagement director at OPA.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine: UK study finds a single dose of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine reduces risk of infection by 72% and two doses reduced risk of infection by 85%. The protection extended to the UK variant as well.
Vaccine Outreach:
The Health Equity Task Force will hold a virtual meeting on February 26.
CDC is hosting a three day National Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine (Agenda / Resources)
Vaccine: Novavax completes enrolling 30,000 people in U.S. trial of COVID-19 vaccine
Vaccine Manufacturing: Great overview of the complexity of mRNA vaccine manufacturing. An mRNA batch currently takes 110 days from start-finish. “Traditional” vaccines can take months longer.
Some Vaccine Trials Lacked Diversity: Axios article on a JAMA study.
STATE
California:
The state plans to set aside 10% of first vaccine doses for educators, school staff and childcare providers starting in March
Reopening schools debate pins Newsom between allies and GOP recall backers.
San Francisco has among the lowest COVID case rate of major U.S. cities. Its schools are among last to reopen
"Growing increasingly frustrated with the challenges of distance learning, some parents are pulling their children from public schools and enrolling them in private schools."
Kansas: Kansas City Public Schools has modified its reopening plans due to the updated CDC guidance. Instead of bringing all students back full-time as previously stated, they will only bring a portion back and say they will consider using a hybrid model instead.
New Jersey:
Brigantine is an example of what full-time learning during COVID-19 looks like.
85% of the 500 K-8 students have chosen in-person learning.
To supplement the custodial staff, which spends the entire day sanitizing the building, a third-party cleaning company was brought in.
The two school nurses are on call 24/7.
To attract more substitutes, Brigantine raised its certified substitute pay to $200 a day.
New York: The Times Union tracked six months worth of data in the Capital Region showing that school districts have largely been effective at keeping coronavirus out of the schools using strategies like social distancing and mask-wearing.
Pennsylvania: In-person classes. Old buildings. Almost no COVID. Are Philly Catholic schools a blueprint?
Texas: Dallas Morning News Editorial: "It's time to move kids back into classrooms"
"In Dallas, attendance is as big a problem. Last week, our Education Lab reported that 20% of Dallas ISD high school students — roughly 9,000 of them — have stopped attending classes with any regularity, and nearly 12,000 students districtwide have missed 70 days or more since Sept. 8. Those numbers include students logging in virtually."
INTERNATIONAL
Hong Kong: A third of students returned to the classroom.
UK:
Schools will reopen March 8
About 7% of UK children have attempted suicide according to a new study. More from the Guardian.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Opportunity Zones - State of the Marketplace: Report from EIG.
Midwest Labor Markets Shake Off Covid-19 Downturn: Via WSJ:
"Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Cincinnati joined Columbus as having among the lowest unemployment rates of 51 major metro areas at the end of last year."
"Columbus and Cincinnati finished last year with a seasonally adjusted 5.1% unemployment rate. The rate was 4.3% in Indianapolis and 4.7% in Minneapolis. The rates were higher in San Francisco, 7.3%, and Boston, 6.9%"
Food Stamp Entrepreneurs: Via HBS. When SNAP was expanded for some, those newly eligible became 20% more likely to start a business (and 16% more likely to launch an incorporated one).
Tax Policy Center: New post: "Why States and Localities Need More Federal Aid"
"Preliminary data collected by the Urban Institute’s State and Local Finance Initiative show total state tax revenues declined by only 1.8 percent from April to December 2020 compared with the same period in 2019."
"28 states reported declines in overall state tax collections during this period, with seven reporting double-digit declines. The steepest were in states with a relatively high reliance on services and tourism or fossil fuel production, or those that rely heavily on sales tax revenues and do not have an income tax."
Which States Are Taxing Forgiven PPP Loans? Via the Tax Foundation
RESOURCES
Sunday Shows:
MTP: Randi Weingarten:
"It comes down to three things: the layered mitigation strategies, the testing so you can actually see asymptomatic spread, and vaccine prioritization."
Asked about states that have done a good job of reopening schools, Weingarten acknowledged, "There is no perfect solution. But New York City has done a pretty good job in terms of showing the way," she said. She also pointed to the District of Columbia, which she said "actually made sure that every teacher and school employee that wanted the vaccine got vaccinated in the last few weeks," as well as Oregon, West Virginia and Ohio.
This Week:
Press Secretary Psaki said the Administration is not considering making funding in the American Rescue Plan contingent on schools reopening. She also said that vaccination teachers "doesn't need to be a prerequisite" to reopening schools.
Representative Scalise said "There's over $60 billion still remaining in previous relief package specifically for reopening schools.
Face The Nation:
Former FDA Director Scott Gottlieb said "I think it's possible that this vaccine gets moved into the high school-age population in the fall."
Fox News Sunday:
Fauci said high school students could begin to be vaccinated this fall. Elementary students won't be vaccinated until 2022.
Burbio School Tracker: Here. Percent of K12 students attending:
Virtual-only schools = 31.1% (from 33.6% last week)
Traditional in-person/every day schools = 42.6%
Hybrid schools = 26.3%
Burbio has launched a CDC School Opening Zone Tracker that as of February 20th shows 76% of the country in the red zone. NBC also launched a map.
Can Mass Self-Testing for Covid-19 Keep Schools Safe? Via WSJ:
"Twice a week, Austria’s 1.1 million schoolchildren now use noninvasive antigen tests, which detect infections by searching for viral proteins. Children collect their samples by turning a swab in their noses before inserting it into a cartridge, dropping a few drops of liquid on it and waiting 15 minutes for the result."
"Two recent reports commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation found that weekly antigen testing of students and staff in K-12 schools could reduce infections in schools by 50% but warned of the logistical, regulatory and financial hurdles in implementing them."
West Coast States’ Failure to Reopen Schools Is a Disaster: Via The Nation
"It is an abdication of responsibility for teachers’ unions and district administrations to reject CDC guidelines on returning to schools over the coming months, and not prepare to reopen classrooms at the end of this academic year—or even the next academic year. And it is a political cop-out for governors to not prioritize funding to reopen in a speedy manner, and to not also be willing to take heat from the unions by pushing districts to reopen."
"What is happening on the West Coast with schools and Covid-19 is, I fear, a version of that war on crime playing out all over again."
"In 2051, I suspect, West Coast politicians who grew up during this pandemic era will still be struggling with the generational legacy of shuttered schools and with the abysmal failure—by politicians, union leaders, and school district administrators, most of whom claim to be progressive and to empathize with the downtrodden—to get them up and running again in a timely manner."
Mayoral Control: Washington Post Editorial Board says "Chicago schools wouldn’t have reopened without mayoral control. Other cities should take note."
"New CDC School Opening Guidelines Fail to Follow the Science:" Vladimir Kogan and Vinay Prasad over at Stat covering a number of issues (including the 3 vs 6 ft debate).
"To justify this tiered approach, the CDC guidelines cite a “likely association” between community transmission levels and the risk of exposure in the schools. But the evidence for this is flimsy."
"The CDC relies almost exclusively on a U.K. study that examined Covid-19 cases and outbreaks — defined as two or more linked cases — in educational settings in England during June and July. The CDC summarizes the study by noting: “For every 5 additional cases per 100,000 population in regional incidence, the risk of a school outbreak increased by 72%.”
"While technically true, that increases is the relative risk, which obscures the study’s key finding about absolute risk: School outbreaks were vanishingly rare in this study —just 0.02% among schools that were open daily during this period — even in areas with high rates of community transmission."
Layered Protections: Interesting thread over the weekend from Dr. Richard Corsi:
"The cost of retrofitting EVERY public school classroom in the entire US w/ a portable HEPA air filter w/ CADR = 300 cfm is approximately $1 billion w/ recurring cost of about $300M/yr for replacement filters. The cost to put a very good portable HEPA filtration system in every classroom in US is less than $10/student/year, with recurring filter costs of around $3/student/year."
"Add 50% efficient masks on everyone (emitters and receptors) and the overall dose reduction is 90% (10 x reduction in inhalation dose)."
"If we layer universal mask wearing w/ portable HEPA and “reasonable” increased ventilation for many schools, it is not difficult to exceed 95% inhalation dose reduction (20 x reduction in inhalation dose)."
Side Note: Does anyone have any verification of this?
National Tutoring Corps: OpEd on how to do it well.
Incredible Video: From Perseverance landing on Mars.
Peter Gabriel: Re-Recorded ‘Biko’ With Artists From Around the World