COVID-19 Policy Update #210
COVID-19 Policy Update
TUESDAY 3/2
TOP THREE
Vaccine Distribution:
Merck will help make Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine - a remarkable agreement among two fierce competitors.
President Biden said there will be enough vaccines for every adult by the end of May, two months earlier than the administration had previously estimated.
President Biden announced a special effort to vaccinate teachers, day care workers and other school staff to get kids back to in person learning. Plan calls for states to provide first shot during the month of March using retail pharmacies.
California: The state's largest teachers union slammed the school reopening proposal presented by Newsom and state Democrats today, calling it "a recipe for propagating structural racism.”
Parents Expected to Opt Children Out of Spring Testing: Via The 74
FEDERAL
OMB: Neera Tanden withdraws as Biden’s budget chief
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Missed Second Shots: "Just over 2.8 million Americans who had received their first shot — nearly 12% of those vaccinated — had not gotten their second dose within the 28-day interval prescribed for Moderna's vaccine."
At Home Testing:
The FDA approved the Quidel QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test, another antigen test where certain individuals can rapidly collect and test their sample at home, without needing to send a sample to a laboratory for analysis.
The NIH launched a study to assess performance and usability of a smartphone app paired with the Quidel QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test
Children of Color Disproportionately Impacted by COVID-19: Via ABC News
A New Twist on Vaccine Hesitancy: Via Washington Post:
Decisions to send the shots to harder-to-reach communities make practical sense, because Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine is easier to store and use.
"But they could drive perceptions of a two-tiered vaccine system, driven along racial or class lines — with marginalized communities getting what they think is an inferior product."
"The issue came up on a recent call between governors and Biden administration officials coordinating the country’s coronavirus response. Gov. Charlie Baker, a Massachusetts Republican and former health insurance executive, stressed the need for prominent health officials to communicate clearly about the benefits of the one-shot vaccine, according to three people who heard his remarks and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation.”
Texas Goes Full Sweden: Governor lifts capacity limits on businesses, ends statewide mask mandate
STATE
Georgia: Opinion: Vaccinating educators now is key to reopening schools
New Jersey: Patterson schools proposed a $12 million learning loss package including $3.9 million for summer classes, $3 million for reading specialists, $2.2 million for a Saturday program, $1.5 million for after-school instruction and $652,000 for high school tutors.
North Carolina: The legislature fell one vote short of overriding the Governor's veto of a bill which would have mandated in-person learning options.
Pennsylvania:
The state is considering COVID-19 vaccine clinics for teachers set up by PEMA and National Guard
ChalkBeat covers what we know about the plan to reopen Philadelphia schools
Tennessee: Memphis students and staff can receive COVID testing about every two weeks tentatively starting this month
Texas: The TEA says changes to the law need to be made if school districts want to open a full-time virtual school.
“There’s currently a provision in state law that limits the amount of funding that a district can get for serving a student in a virtual environment. And part of the challenges, we currently fund schools based on student attendance. So when you’re talking about a virtual environment, the lack of attendance means that we have to have a proxy for that attendance."
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
UrbanFootprint's Data Mapping Can Target Federal Relief to Those Most in Need: Good piece in Fast Company on UrbanFootprint.
RESOURCES
In Their Own Words: Why Health Experts Say Elementary Schools Should Open: Via NYT. A few exceprts:
“We need to rely on science and not emotions to make these decisions. Expert guidance can get our children back to school safely. Keeping them out of school will result in irreparable harm to their education, particularly for minority children and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.” Archana Chatterjee, Dean, Chicago Medical School
“The mental health crisis caused by school closing will be a worse pandemic than Covid.” Uzma Hasan, Division Director Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Saint Barnabas Medical Center
“They suffer socially when they are not in school. They suffer intellectually learning remotely. It puts pressure on working parents. It denies students access to a school lunch that may be their only nutritious meal all day. There are so many downsides to closing schools that have nothing to do with the virus.” Saul Hymes, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine
We are witnessing a significant public health crisis in our children, who are experiencing unprecedented mental illness and physical ailments during this time. This would be mitigated, if not completely alleviated, by in-person schooling.” Kim Newell Green, Pediatrician; Associate Clinical Professor, University of California, San Francisco
“Teachers may have a fear that they are at risk in the classroom. This is not backed up by the data. Teaching is one of the safest essential occupations.” David Rosen, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Washington University in St. Louis
What Reopened Schools Will Look Like: WSJ interview with Nathaniel Beers, a pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., and lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics guidance on schools and COVID.
Americans Agree About More Issues Than They Realize: Axios coverage of new data from Populace's American Aspirations Index.
State Funding for Student Mental Health: ECS landscape analysis of the 50 states.
Polling on Reopening: Via David Winston. Overall, voters split 45-45 in whether they believe that teachers are raising valid concerns or that data show schools can reopen with the proper precautions.
School Reopening: NYT updates their maps based on the CDC's community threshold guidance.
AFT's Randi Weingarten asks, "Should anywhere be fully open? “Only 4 percent of the nation’s schoolchildren live in counties where coronavirus transmission is low enough for full-time in-person learning w/o (mitigation)” per CDC guidelines & an analysis of the agency’s latest figures"
"Jasmine Reed, a CDC spokeswoman, emphasized that the recommendations were not intended to prevent in-person learning. She said the agency objected to categorizing counties by recommendation level, adding that “decisions about learning mode — full in-person, hybrid, or virtual — at each individual school should be made based on a combination of factors, including levels of community transmission, mitigation, and the number of cases in the school (including individuals in isolation and quarantine).”
How Personalized Learning Models Support Social and Emotional Learning: Via New Classrooms.
For Some Black Students, Remote Learning Has Offered A Chance To Thrive: Via NPR.
A 9 yr Old Is Teaching Black History Lessons Online: Says he wants to change the world. Video here (after the ads)