COVID-19 Policy Update #285
COVID-19 Policy Update
MONDAY 6/28
Tonight's update pairs well with science. I recently had an amazing meal at Kinship where the cocktail menu featured "English Milk Punch" with the listed ingredients of: a blend of eight spirits, pineapple, black tea, lemon, clarified with milk. I wasn't quite sure what to expect and if I'm being honest, the idea of "milk" in a cocktail sounded terrible. What came out was a complete surprise. The liquid was clear and the taste was a burst of tropical flavors. It turns out that while new to me, milk punch originated around 1688 and has been popular in the south, particularly New Orleans.
I'll leave it to Bror Saxberg to explain the science, but the basic gist is that when milk is added to spirits the proteins bond with the tannins and bitter elements which makes it sweeter and also clearer in color. My test kitchen set out to make some yesterday and the results came out pretty good for a first attempt.
TOP THREE
How States Are Using Federal Funds for Learning Recovery: Super helpful analysis from FutureEd including a spreadsheet summarizing state activities.
Vaccinating Teens: Via CNN: To fully vaccinate children against Covid-19 by the time school starts, many parents must act now.
"It takes five weeks to be fully vaccinated with Pfizer's vaccine, the only one authorized for adolescents ages 12 to 17. That means, for example, Atlanta students need to get their first shot by July 1 to be fully immunized by the first day of school on August 5."
"Vaccination for 12-to-15-year-olds started out gangbusters soon after May 10, when the FDA authorized Pfizer's shot for that age group. In less than one week, 600,000 children in that group were vaccinated, according to the CDC. But the numbers took a nosedive on May 23, the day after media articles appeared about a possible link to the vaccine and myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart, in young people."
"The messaging about Covid vaccination has not been optimal. The federal government moves very, very slowly," said Schaffner, a member of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices."
"I've been talking with other moms, and there just hasn't been much outreach," added Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst and former Baltimore health commissioner. "Every Lyft and Uber should have ads. I drive from Baltimore into [Washington] DC and I don't see billboards about vaccination. Why aren't they everywhere?"
Missed Learning In Texas: STAAR results reveal dramatic drop:
"In districts where fewer than a quarter of classes were held in person, the number of students who met math test expectations dropped by 32 percentage points, and the number of students who met reading expectations dropped by 9 percentage points compared to 2019, the last time the test was administered."
"In districts with more than three-quarters in-person instruction, the number of students meeting math expectations only dropped by 9 percentage points and those who met reading expectations by 1 percentage point. Students of color and lower-income students saw greater gaps as well, although those gaps were smaller than the one between remote and in-person instruction."
"Math test performance saw the most significant drop, from 50% of students meeting their grade level in 2019 to only 35% this year."
“This is probably 800,000 more students in Texas in mathematics that are noticeably below grade level this year as a result of COVID than in normal years,” Education Commissioner Mike Morath said. “It is important to remember that these are not numbers. These are children.”
FEDERAL
Infrastructure: It was quite the busy weekend for the infrastructure deal.
On Friday, the bipartisan infrastructure deal between President Biden and a group of bipartisan senators appeared to be falling apart after Biden's suggestions that he wouldn't sign it unless it came with the reconciliation package. White House staff tried to smooth things over but it took the President issuing a semi-apology and clarification on Saturday to get negotiations back on track.
The President acknowledged that his comments “understandably upset some Republicans, who do not see the two plans as linked" and “My comments also created the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent.” Full statement here.
Both chambers are navigating tricky political dynamics as well as logistical issues: floor time, August recess, debt ceiling, etc. Just one example, Sen. Sanders tweeted yesterday: “Let me be clear: There will not be a bipartisan infrastructure deal without a reconciliation bill that substantially improves the lives of working families and combats the existential threat of climate change. No reconciliation bill, no deal. We need transformative change NOW.” So leadership has its hands full.
The House is marking up their infrastructure bill this week. This is just the marker bill for if/when they head into negotiations with the Senate.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Delta: Delta variant outbreak in Israel infects some vaccinated adults:
"About half of adults infected in an outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in Israel were fully inoculated with the Pfizer Inc. vaccine, prompting the government to reimpose an indoor mask requirement and other measures to contain the highly transmissible strain."
"These so-called breakthrough cases—defined as positive Covid-19 test results received at least two weeks after patients receive their final vaccine dose—are broadly expected as the Pfizer vaccine is highly effective but not 100% foolproof"
Boosters? A study finds that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could offer protection for years.
"The findings add to growing evidence that most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need boosters, so long as the virus and its variants do not evolve much beyond their current forms — which is not guaranteed."
CoronaVac: "Two doses of CoronaVac are safe and provoke a strong antibody response among children and adolescents aged 3-17 years, according to a randomized controlled trial of 550 young people."
Mix-and-Match Vaccines: According to a British study, mixing Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines provides strong protection.
Developmental Milestones: Almost 1 in 4 parents have worried that their child is not reaching developmental milestones at the right pace, according to a new poll from the University of Michigan.
10 Million Data Requests: How Our Covid Team Tracked the Pandemic: Via the NYT
Good best practice: "In addition to publishing data to The Times’s website, we made our data set publicly available on GitHub in late March 2020 for anyone’s use."
Ohio's Vaccine Lottery: New working paper on the effects of Ohio's Vax-a-Million lottery on vaccination rates.
"We find that there were 50,000-80,000 additional doses in the two weeks following the lottery's announcement. After that, vaccination rates return to baseline, but we will update these numbers as more data come in.
STATE
Iowa: Polk County adds mental health crisis services for children
New Jersey: Governor won’t require masks in schools in the fall and instead leave it up to each district.
Oklahoma: Thousands of Oklahoma kids stayed in virtual school. What will they do next?
"A thousand students are enrolled for next year in the Oklahoma City district’s online program, called E3. The district finished the 2020-21 school year with 3,400 E3 students."
"Epic Charter Schools doubled its enrollment over the summer of 2020, growing to 55,000 students in a matter of months Epic administrators tentatively estimate enrollment could fall to 45,000 this school year. Even then, Epic would remain the largest school system in Oklahoma."
Wisconsin: Milwaukee Public Schools to require masks for upcoming school year
INTERNATIONAL
UK Reevaluating COVID Rules: A member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said there must be careful thought around putting restrictions on children.
“I think we need to rethink all of our rules about schools, all of our protections about schools, as we move through into the new school year, for a number of reasons," said Professor Russell Viner"
South Africa: A Delta variant surge leads to the government imposing a curfew and closing schools.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Who Paid Los Angeles' Minimum Wage? A Side-by-Side Minimum Wage Experiment in Los Angeles County: Fascinating NBER paper (unfortunately behind a paywall).
"Our analysis shows that the incidence of Los Angeles City’s higher minimum wage fell on customers in high-income neighborhoods, and on landlords and restaurant owners in low-income neighborhoods."
"The mix of responses at restaurants subject to the LA City minimum wage, including price increases, menu changes, and restaurant closures, was affected by proximity to restaurants subject to the lower California State minimum wage. The effect of neighborhood income levels and distance to lower-wage competition has important implications for designing minimum wage policies."
Remote Work Is the New Signing Bonus: Via WSJ
“Remote is going to be the new signing bonus,” he says. “Instead of dangling, ‘We’ll give you $10,000 if you sign for this job,’ it’ll be: ‘Instead of having to commute 35 minutes every day, go to work, and get in your car and drive 35 minutes home, you can work from your home office all the time.’"
RESOURCES
#TurnThePageProject: The Walton Family Foundation and COVID Collaborative launch a digital project that includes unique perspectives from parents, practitioners, and thought leaders on what they think the future of learning looks like.
"The #TurnThePageProject is about writing the next chapter in education, elevating innovative people, perspectives, programs, and policies to ensure this is a moment of reinvention for our schools, for our teachers, and for how students learn."
I had the honor of interviewing an amazing group of leaders: Common, Drew Furedi, Eddie Koen, Elmo, Emily Oster, Jessica Hamilton, Kaya Henderson, Maria Hinojosa, Mikala Streeter, Nekima Levy Armstrong, Shalinee Sharma, Sharon McMahon, Tim Shriver, Tom Frieden, Viridiana Carrizales, Zahir Mbengue, and Ze Min Xiao.
CZI and Gradient Learning Launch Along: A new tool to support teacher-student relationships. Press Release / CBS This Morning / NBC Today Show
"We are committed to partnering with educators and researchers to advance a different vision of the school system – one that can holistically serve all students, especially Black, Brown and Indigenous students," said Priscilla Chan, co-founder and co-CEO of CZI. "We are excited to launch a research-informed tool to support teacher-student relationships, helping teachers make each student feel seen, understood and valued -- which is foundational to learning and wellbeing."
No Vacancy: How a Shortage of Mental Health Beds Keeps Kids Trapped Inside ERs: Via KHN and NPR
"What’s known as emergency room boarding of psychiatric patients has risen between 200% and 400% monthly in Massachusetts during the pandemic."
"The CDC says emergency room visits after suicide attempts among teen girls were up 51% earlier this year as compared with 2019. There are no current nationwide mental health boarding numbers."
"'This is really unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, and it doesn’t show any signs of abating,' said Lisa Lambert, executive director of Parent/Professional Advocacy League, which pushes for more mental health care for children.”
Student Mental Health: OpEd in the Hill: As schools reopen, we must not forget about students' mental health
Are Microschools The Future Of Online Learning?: Via WGBH
Here’s What Happened When We Swapped Out Online School For Time In The Wilderness: Via Huffington Post
Covid Relief Playbook: Smart Strategies for Investing Federal Funding: From FutureEd: A compilation of 18 evidence-based practices that have delivered improvements in instructional quality, school climate, student attendance, and academic achievement.
Summer Learning Strategies
Teacher Mindset Training
Extended Day Programs
Diversifying the Teacher Workforce
Tutoring
Teacher Bonuses
Mentoring
High-Quality Curricula
Combating Chronic Absenteeism
Student Motivation
Early Warning Systems
Mental Health Interventions
Home Visits
Equitable School Discipline
Community Collaborations
Facilities Upgrades
Innovative Staffing Models
School-Based Health Services
It's Monday: Find your groove like this guy.