COVID-19 Policy Update #246
COVID-19 Policy Update
MONDAY, MAY 3
TOP THREE
Emergency Connectivity Fund Program: The FCC released an 80 page proposed order for how they would allocate the $7 billion provided under ARP to close the homework gap. Summaries forthcoming but a couple of quick takeaways:
$400 per device. Waivers can be requested for students with special needs who may need more expensive machines.
$250 per hotspot
They expect services to be between $10-25 per month
Devices and connectivity are primarily for educational uses, but the FCC acknowledges that they may also support other family needs/applications.
Will prioritize reimbursing schools that have already purchased devices and connectivity. Only then, if funds are remaining, will they open a second application window.
July 1 will likely be the starting date for applications.
Court Orders NM to Provide Students with Tech: New Mexico must immediately ensure that at-risk students lacking the technology needed for online learning get devices and internet access under a state District Court.
"In what’s known as the Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit, a judge previously found that the state violated the constitutional rights of students – particularly those who are from low-income homes, are English language learners, Native American or have a disability – by failing to provide them with a sufficient education."
“Children who are lacking access to internet and technology for remote learning are not getting much of an education, if at all, let alone one that is sufficient to make them college and career ready,” 1st Judicial District Judge Matthew Wilson said at the hearing.
AFT Influence With CDC Regulations: Via NYPost: "Powerful teachers union influenced CDC on school reopenings, emails show"
"The close communication between the union and the feds came despite repeated assurances from CDC and Biden officials that the medical guidelines would “follow the science” and be free of political interference."
"McDonald said the agency had worked with a number of other non-governmental parties that would be affected by the guidance and provided them draft copies — including the National Education Association, National Association of School Nurses and National Association of State Boards of Education."
FEDERAL
ED: Cardona says he expects all schools will open this fall
"Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said he expects every school in the country to offer families in person learning, full time, five days a week at the start of the next school year and that he stands ready to increase the Education Department's oversight authority for those that do not."
FCC: The Emergency Broadband Benefit toolkit and resources were released over the weekend.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
COVID-19 Infections Among Students and Staff in New York City Public Schools: New study published in Pediatrics.
Analyzed data on 234,132 people tested for COVID-19 at 1,594 New York City public schools from Oct 9 to Dec 18, 2020.
Only 0.4% were positive for COVID-19.
The prevalence of COVID-19 in the schools was similar to or lower than that in the surrounding community for all weeks studied.
"We estimated the secondary attack rate associated with school exposures was 0.5% and, notably, that a staff person was the likely index case for 78% of these secondary cases. Our findings align with experiences from other jurisdictions that adults are more likely to transmit infection in school settings than children, even in situations, such as in NYC, in which the prevalence of undiagnosed infection was highest in younger children"
"We found that in-person learning in NYC public schools was not associated with increased prevalence or incidence overall of COVID-19 infection compared with the general community"
Globalization in a Needle: "The Pfizer vaccine’s 280 different components, manufactured in 86 different sites across 19 countries, driven partly by the research of Turkish migrants to Germany, that is globalization in a needle.”
STATE
Colorado: Adams 12 Five Star Schools is developing a plan for remote learning during the 2021-21 school year and beyond.
Hawaii: Lawmakers pass bill for schools to disclose COVID-19 cases
North Carolina: Davidson County Schools is launching an online academy.
Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Public Schools will continue their e3 virtual learning program into next school year and beyond.
Utah: Canyons School District will offer students in grades 3-12 the choice of learning online next year.
Virginia: Danville schools are launching a virtual academy using federal funds.
INTERNATIONAL
Ireland: Irish children’s reading skills improved during lockdown.
Also... Ireland's President Michael D. Higgins gives a TV interview while his Bernese Mountain Dog puppy, Misneach, vies for his attention.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Why Work From Home Will Stick: New NBER paper: Based on a survey of 30,000 Americans which suggests that 20% of full workdays will be supplied from home after the pandemic ends, compared with just 5 percent before.
Five reasons for the shift: better-than-expected WFH experiences, new investments in physical and human capital that enable WFH, greatly diminished stigma associated with WFH, lingering concerns about crowds and contagion risks, and a pandemic-driven surge in technological innovations that support WFH.
Three consequences:
Employees will enjoy large benefits from greater remote work, especially those with higher earnings.
The shift to WFH will directly reduce spending in major city centers by at least 5-10% relative to the pre-pandemic situation.
Data on employer plans and the relative productivity of WFH imply a 5 percent productivity boost in the post-pandemic economy due to re-optimized working arrangements.
Interesting FAAMG Q1 Stats: Via WSJ:
iPhone sales alone hit $47B.
Microsoft Teams has 145m daily users, more than 7x the figure from 1.5 years ago
Amazon’s US employee count hit 950k, ~2x the same period last year
YouTube revenue was +49% YoY
Facebook apps (i.e., FB, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp) were used by 3.4B+ people at least once in the past month
What Does the American Jobs Plan Mean for Spatial Inequality? Good brief from EIG
Jobtech Market Map: Great report from Ryan Craig:
School Closures and Impact on Working Moms: Via the NYT's David Leonhardt
"The explanation is obvious enough. Many schools and day care centers have not returned to normal operations. They are open for only a few hours a day, a few days a week or on alternating weeks, making it difficult for parents to return to a full-time job. And parenting responsibilities still fall disproportionately on women."
"Covid presents the sort of small health risk to children that society has long accepted without closing schools. A child who’s driven to school almost certainly faces a bigger risk from that car trip than from the virus."
"For these reasons, a full reopening of schools will bring real, if small, costs and complications. Communities will have to weigh those costs against the enormous damage that closed schools are doing to American women."
RESOURCES
As Schools Spend Millions on Air Purifiers, Experts Warn of Overblown Claims and Harm to Children: Well worth reading this long piece in KHN
"Schools have been “bombarded with persistent salespersons peddling the latest air and cleaning technologies, including those with minimal evidence to-date supporting safety and efficacy” according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Green Schools and ASHRAE."
"Schools in New Jersey have a particularly easy time buying air cleaners called Odorox: A state education agency lists them on their group-purchasing commodity list."
"In Newark, administrators welcomed students back to class last month with more than 3,200 Odorox units, purchased with $7.5 million in federal funds, said Steven Morlino, executive director of Facilities Management for Newark Public Schools."
"Environmental health and air-quality experts, though, are alarmed by the district’s plan. The Pyure company’s Odorox devices are on California air-quality regulators’ list of “potentially hazardous ozone generators sold as air purifiers” and cannot be sold in the state."
The Schools Aren’t Really Open: Via WSJ Editorial Board
"In Los Angeles, middle- and high-schoolers spend only two to three days a week in a physical school building. Teachers often stream lessons virtually even while students are in classrooms. Students usually get less than an hour a day with an in-person teacher, according to the nonprofit Innovate Public Schools. Most elementary schools offer classroom instruction to students for only a few hours each day."
"At Oregon’s Reynolds School District, most schools let children return to the classroom two days each week for only three hours or less. Hours of instruction vary by school, grade level and class, complicating schedules for parents, especially those with more than one child."
These Learning Tools Are Shaping the Online Schoolhouse: Via Wired
How Schools Can Spend $130 Billion Responsibly: OpEd in The Hill by Rick Hess and Pedro Noguera
"The first order of business is for schools to reconnect with all of their students and families."
"Schools also need to figure out just how their students have been affected by the pandemic, in terms of academic progress and social and emotional well-being."
"School districts also need to support high-quality summer options."
"There’s also an opportunity to use the next two years to start rethinking the teaching profession."
Confusing Guidance: Two opinion pieces:
NYPost: The CDC’s cruel, irrational guidance traps our kids in the forever pandemic
Trib: "The ever-confusing state covid guidelines for schools"
Not Your Average Second Date: When Arizona Diamondbacks get involved along with Twitter.