COVID-19 Policy Update #289
COVID-19 Policy Update
MONDAY 7/6
TOP THREE
Infrastructure Deal: The bipartisan 58 member Problem Solvers Caucus endorses the bipartisan infrastructure plan.
Endorsement does not tie it to the reconciliation bill.
In order to be formally endorsed by the caucus, 75% of the members needed to sign on.
A Punchbowl News survey of senior Capitol Hill staffers finds that 40% say that only a “hard” infrastructure bill will pass, and the American Families Plan and the full American Jobs Plan will be left by the wayside.
Newark: The pandemic set back student learning. Newark kept the data under wraps.
"Nearly 80% of third graders and almost 90% of fourth graders would “not meet the passing score” on the state math exams, according to a district analysis that was not made public."
"And this past school year, several educators told Chalkbeat they were forbidden from giving failing grades even to students who never attended online class or completed any work — all while the district insisted its normal grading policies remained in effect. “Their grades aren’t their correct grades,” a district elementary school teacher told Chalkbeat this week, asking to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation. “You couldn’t fail any kids.”
UK: The number of children absent from school due to Covid grew from 250,000 on June 22 to 640,000 last week.
"A 66% increase in the number of pupils infected or self-isolating in the past week."
"In a statement to parliament, the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, said that from 19 July grouping pupils into protective bubbles within schools, colleges and nurseries in England would no longer be required, along with several other preventive measures, with the use of self-isolation for children with close contacts to end in mid-August."
FEDERAL
Midterms: A Punchbowl News survey of senior Capitol Hill aides finds
73% believe that Republicans will control the House. This is down five percentage points from our last survey.
75% of respondents say that Democrats will keep control of the Senate — up five percentage points since last month.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Covid Is a Greater Risk to Young People Than the Vaccines: NYT oped by Jeremy Samuel Faust, Katie Dickerson Mayes and Céline Gounder
"So far, among the 6.14 million Americans 17 and under who have been fully vaccinated, there have been 653 possibly related hospitalizations lasting a day or longer, which could include myocarditis and other conditions, lasting one day or more. If that rate holds, it means that if all 73 million Americans ages 17 and under are eventually vaccinated, there will be around 7,700 hospitalizations."
"Most of these hospitalizations would be like the ones seen so far: brief and uneventful. Over 74 percent of vaccine-associated hospitalizations among this age group that we have data for lasted three days or less. Just 3.5 percent lasted longer than a week."
"According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 0.1 percent to 1.9 percent of all coronavirus infections in young people require hospitalization."
"That means that if the coronavirus were eventually to infect all 73 million children in the United States, we would conservatively expect Covid-19 to be responsible for around 14,600 hospitalizations."
Missed Second Doses: CDC data shows that as of June 16, nearly 11% of people (approximately 15 million) who had sufficient time to get the second dose missed their ideal window.
Johnson & Johnson: Released data demonstrating that its vaccine produced “strong, persistent activity” against the Delta variant and other SARS-CoV-2 variants. The studies also noted that the antibody response lasted at least eight months.
What Parents With Unvaccinated Kids Need to Know About the Delta Variant This Summer: Via WSJ
Good Modeling: Youyang Gu tweeted: "On its last model update on March 5, 2021, http://covid19-projections.com projected that 180 million people in the US will be vaccinated by July 1 (1+ dose). Today, July 1, @CDCgov reported that the US surpassed 180M people vaccinated."
STATE
Colorado: Students won't have to wear masks in schools under new COVID-19 rules
Delaware: The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) has introduced a variety of programs for families this summer, including Sora/OneDrive, a reading app featuring thousands of titles; Zearn Math, on-demand math lessons; and one-on-one tutoring with the support of Back to Basics, Reading Assist and many community-based organizations.
Idaho: The percentage of students in kindergarten to third grade reading at their grade levels this year fell nearly 5% compared to 2019.
69.3% of white students were reading at their grade levels at the end of the school year. About 50% of Hispanic students were reading at grade level, as were 47.1% of Black students.
South Carolina: 25% of districts have been asked to revise their academic recovery plans.
Tennessee: Nashville public school enrollment dropped 5% during the COVID-19 pandemic
Texas: Comcast establishes 50 WiFi-Connected Lift Zones in Houston
INTERNATIONAL
Italy: Health experts have recommended that the coronavirus measures - including masks and distancing - in place at the start of the next school year should be kept the same as last year, amid concerns about a possible new wave of infections fuelled by the Delta variant.
North Korea: Kim Jong Un blames senior officials for COVID-19 failures, specifically the closing of schools for the remainder of the year.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Good Jobs Report: The U.S. economy added 850,000 jobs in June, beating forecasts.
The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.9 percent from 5.8 percent in May.
In April, non-farm payroll additions were revised down by 9,000 to 269,000, while May's were revised up by 24,000 to 583,000.
Average hourly earnings climbed by 3.6 percent in the year through June and 0.3 percent from May.
Economists Predict at Least Two US Interest Rate Rises by End of 2023: The FT-IGM US Macroeconomists Survey polled 52 academic economists on the likelihood that the Fed’s main policy rate would indeed be higher by 0.50 percentage points by the end of 2023, as the dot plot indicated. A majority said the likelihood of a move of that size or greater was above 75 per cent, and a large minority put it as high as 90 per cent.
The Growth of Remote Work and Remote Work Demand: Via Vox/Recode:
"On LinkedIn, the share of US jobs that allow remote work increased fivefold, from less than 2 percent in May 2020 to about 10 percent in May 2021. Those jobs are getting 25 percent of all applications."
"Nearly half the jobs on Hired’s platform now include remote work. That’s up from 10 percent at the beginning of last year."
Upskilling: Facing skilled worker shortage, U.S. companies try to train their own new labor pools.
One Year Later: COVID-19’s Impact on Current and Future College Students: Third Way and New America report which conducted a series of surveys.
65% of surveyed students said that higher education is not worth the cost anymore;
A majority of students are concerned their degree is less valuable because it was online;
When asked what policy should be the most important for the Biden Administration and Congress to implement, 47% selected policies that make higher education more affordable.
Covid-19 Has Persuaded Americans to Leave Cities: Via the Economist
RESOURCES
Racial Gap in Access to In-person Learning Last Year: Really good visualization from the Philadelphia Inquirer of the CDC study we shared last week.
As Schools Reopen, Will Black and Asian Families Return?: Via PBS NewsHour
How the Pandemic Helped Fuel the Private School Choice Movement: Via EdWeek:
"Six states had enacted new programs by July 1, and a bill to create a new program in Missouri awaited Gov. Mike Parson’s signature. Governors also approved expansions of 14 existing voucher and tax-credit scholarship programs by loosening eligibility restrictions or expanding their budgets."
"Among the biggest moves in states’ 2021 legislative sessions: West Virginia created the most-expansive education savings account program in the country, making most of the state’s students eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program, which will provide up to $4,600 in state funds per student. New Hampshire’s budget includes a new educational savings account program available to families with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line."
"The number of education savings accounts programs doubled to 10 as a result of this year’s sessions, said Jason Bedrick the director of policy at Ed Choice, an organization that advocates for such programs."
Brickit’s AI Camera Scans Your LEGO to Suggest Things You Can Build: Has nothing to do with COVID or education, I just thought it was interesting.
8-Year-Olds in Despair: The Mental Health Crisis Is Getting Younger: Via NYT
"Even before the pandemic, a mental health crisis was brewing among children struggling with bullying, abuse, eating disorders, racism or undiagnosed mental health conditions. But now, children are facing even more stressors, like the loss of a family member to Covid-19, adjusting to remote school or the anxiety of returning to in-person school."
"Connecticut Children’s hospital in Hartford does not have any inpatient beds for pediatric psychiatric patients. It takes an average of one week before kids in the emergency room can find a bed elsewhere, Dr. Jennifer Downs, the division head of child and adolescent psychiatry at Connecticut Children’s, said during an interview in late May."
Stuck in the Middle with You: Jimmy and The Roots cover from their homes